05.04.20 Press Conference Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
May 4, 2020 Live Stream - Live with the County of Santa Clara
12:30 pm PT

Cindy Chavez: It is my honor to be here with you today to talk about our favorite topic and that is testing. We all know that testing is the direction we need to go in to make sure that we're able to get people back safely to work and safely to their lives. We have a great group of people who are going to give you different perspectives on that today. I'm going to start by introducing our Public Information Officer and Deputy County Executive and also former Supervisor in San Francisco County, David Campos to get [No Audio Available]

David Campos: [No audio available] you will be hearing today is about the opening of two sites, two COVID-19 testing sites that we hope will be ready to open on Wednesday of this week. We're still not, we [do not] have an exact final date and time but we are aiming to open Wednesday.

And we are grateful to the two locations that have opened their doors to engage in this. This is James Lake High School which is behind us and then we also have Christopher High School in Gilroy that will also be a site. And this is important to note that this is part of an effort that was started by Governor Gavin Newsom who announced a few days ago that there would be 80 sites throughout the state that would focus on providing testing to underserved communities. When we heard that announcement, the county quickly reached out to the state and said we need sites available in Santa Clara County which is why we are here today.

The partnership today is with a vendor that was contracted by the State of California and the county has been facilitating that vendor opening this site. That vendor is OptumServe and this will be a diagnostic test that essentially will be provided to any member of this neighborhood of the public that has symptoms that are COVID like symptoms. When the person wants to be tested because they have those symptoms, there is information of where they call to make an appointment or where they go on a website to make the appointment.

A number of questions will be asked and based on that, the appointment will be made. We also note that there will be information available in different languages including Spanish and we are working to make sure that Vietnamese is also available. Once the test is performed, it will take about two days, 48 hours, to get the results.

Again, the point here is that the County of Santa Clara wants to make sure that the most underserved communities in the county are served through this process and we're proud to be here and grateful to the leadership of the Board of Supervisors who have been pushing for this effort. We also have elected leaders from other parts of the county. So, with that I'll turn it back to president Chavez, thank you.

CC: I also just wanted to have a very special thank you to Principal Menendez, who's the new principal of James Lick High School, and really sprang into action and what a year to have your first year being principal of a new school.

So, we're really grateful to him one of the leaders on the board that's been leading the charge on our COVID-19 response has been Supervisor Dave Cortese and it's my honor to invite him to the podium.

Dave Cortese: Thank You president Chavez. Thank you, all of you journalists, for being out here and continuing to help us get the information out to the public. You can't have a testing center that works if nobody knows about it.

And right now, as much as we've had, in as much as we've had a bottleneck throughout the nation on testing, this is a big day and the sign of things to come especially with the public-private partnership that is taking some of the burden off of the County of Santa Clara in the public sector for scaling this testing to the point that we need to keep people safe and healthy. I'm very honored to be out here at James Lick High School having had about two dozen relatives graduate from this school and also living very close by in the area and of course much of the attendance boundary of this school straddles district 2 supervisorial residents, Cindy Chavez's district and my district, district 3, which goes east and north from here.

So, we're very pleased to have this facility here to help more people, to save more people from hardship, and of course to save lives. I want to say that testing, as already been pointed out by me and others, has been a bottleneck but it's also one of the most critical indicators that we have that's going to allow us to come out of shelter-in-place which I know is on everybody's minds and we've had some progress today with getting some people back to work in some industries and even some recreational areas. But if you look at the four indicators that we need to meet according to the Public Health Officer, to get society back to congregating and convening, that's not going to happen without robust testing.

So, grateful to be here, grateful to see this happening, and I know the Board of Supervisors will continue to provide resources as much as is necessary to grow programs like this. Thank you.

CC: Thank you Dave. You know one of the things you learn in a crisis is who your partners are and I want to introduce one of the most important partners we've had countywide and that's Dr. Mary Ann Dewan, who's the CEO of the County Superintendent of Schools. Actually, she's got a better title than CEO, so let's invite her up.

Dr. Mary Ann Dewan: Thank you so much President Chavez and the Board of Supervisors for this opportunity. We are really thrilled this service to the community is being offered at two to school sites in Santa Clara County, James lick High School, here in the Eastside Union High School District in San Jose and the Christopher High School in the Gilroy Unified School District. We're extremely grateful for the leadership of the school board members and the superintendents of those two school district, Superintendent Chris Funk here at Eastside and Superintendent Debbie Flores and Gilroy who've been strong partners and leaders and wanting to ensure that these types of services are available in their communities.

We think that the school sites are an ideal opportunity because it's a sight known to families, it's known to the community, and very accessible to the community as well. I want to say that in times of crisis the importance of partnership is elevated and we have an extreme amount of gratitude to President Chavez and the Board of Supervisors, Dr. Jeff Smith, and Dr. Sara Cody for all of our collaborative efforts and response to COVID-19. This expanded access to testing will be core as we plan for future operations of schools. I want to also just remind everyone that schools are throughout the county providing meals, distance learning, and childcare. And the employees of our districts are contributing so much and under such difficult circumstances.

This is a great opportunity to also share that this week is Teacher Appreciation Week and May 6th is School Nurse Appreciation day. What a great time to remember them as well. James Lick High School is one of many facilities throughout the county and providing this meal service and is doing things to keep our essential workers safe and care for our well-being and those who manage and work at essential businesses.

Also, I just wanted to point out that this particular site offers community Wi-Fi through a Wi-Fi hub so that the students and families around can access digital resources for distance learning. So, school sites are an outstanding location for us to provide this testing response and we're grateful for the opportunity to serve the community.

CC: Thank you and speaking of incredible partners and leaders, I get to introduce Jackie Franco, who's the Eastside Peace Partnership Resident Leader. Welcome.

Jackie Franco: Our communities in East San Jose have been deeply impacted by COVID-19. Even before, people were struggling with housing and financial insecurities.

Now, those worries have been intensified and many people are having to make hard decisions on whether they pay rent or buy food, go to work or lose a much-needed paycheck broadening and providing testing sites in our most vulnerable communities is a big and needed step in addressing those inequities and systemic barriers that are keeping our people at higher risk for exposure.

I want to thank the State and the collaboration with the Santa Clara Public Health Department for providing these tests sites not only for the community but in our communities and making them more accessible to us who are at higher risk and as well as a message for our people in our community that these sites are open, you will not be turned down for lack of insurance, and your immigration status does not matter. Thank you.

CC: As we said there are many partners and it's really my pleasure to introduce the Mayor of Gilroy, Roland Velasco, who will be hosting one of the sites in his City at Christopher High School, welcome.

Mayor Roland Velasco: So, thank you all for being here today. As Supervisor Chavez mentioned, Christopher High School will be a testing site and I really have to thank not only supervisor Chavez but the entire Board of Supervisors for their willingness to partner with the City of Gilroy and the Gilroy School District.

You know I raised the issue of testing in South County, you know, it floated up to me that there was going to be a possible testing site. I raised it to Supervisor Chavez on Friday afternoon and by last night she was on the phone with me, telling me all the details of the testing site. So, I certainly appreciate her leadership in in providing the services down there. On behalf of a grateful City Council, we have to have these types of services throughout the county. Only then will we be able to start to reopen our businesses and I certainly appreciate the fine work of the Public Health Department in trying to get these testing centers going. This is a fabulous partnership. This testing center will be open to anybody without insurance, regardless of immigration status, those essential workers, health care workers, first responders will be able to come in and get tested. So, this is a great opportunity for all of South County.

So, thank you so much to supervisor Chavez, thank you so much to the entire Board of Supervisors. The city of Gilroy truly appreciates it, thank you.

CC: And our last speak, pardon me, our last speaker is the Councilmember for this area, and again another very enthusiastic leader, really and reminding us how important testing is as Mayor Velasco has done for us as well, and that's Magdalena Carrasco.

Magdalena Carrasco: Thank you. Thank you all for being here and I want to thank all the partners for their presence and for their strong advocacy for testing, especially in vulnerable communities. I'm the council member for district 5 East San Jose, our beautiful East San Jose. And I often say what makes it beautiful is the dynamic families that work so hard to contribute to this wonderful County and this wonderful city.

[Spanish]
Me da muchísimo gusto estar aquí el día de hoy. Hoy iniciamos un programa sumamente importante si vamos a controlar los casos de COVID-19, también conocido como coronavirus. En el condado de Santa Clara los últimos números representan 38% de latinos con casos de COVID-19 cuando solo el 27% de la población son representados por latinos. Menciono esto porque somos representados mas allá en el mundo bello de COVID.  ¿Porque es importante esto? Porque esto representa más números que en la población.  Y por eso tener aquí un sitio en el mero distrito donde vivimos las familias, los individuos más vulnerables es no nomas critico es esencial si lo vamos a controlar dentro estas comunidades. Quiero agradecerles a todos los aliados que se encuentra aquí por hacer la decisión tan importante de tener aquí un sitio donde la comunidad puede tener acceso para estos exámenes.  Son gratuitos y son accesibles a las familias que lo más necesitan.

So, I wanted to make sure that our community understands how important it is that we have sites that are not just accessible but it is available, free of charge, on a schedule that's flexible, if we're ever going to control and we're ever going to be scientifically informed as to this little virus called COVID-19. We don't have a cure, we don't have a vaccine but, we can be informed and it can inform policies that can change the lives of many especially those that are most marginalized and most vulnerable.

As the latest numbers that were reported yesterday in Santa Clara County, the Latino population makes up 38% of the COVID-19 cases yet only makes up 27% of the entire population and the stark difference is important because of the demographics that it represents especially in this community when as Jackie, just mentioned this is a population that has been vulnerable for so many reasons pre COVID due to rent, due to food insecurities, lack of job opportunities, and educational gaps. And so, we must do everything that we can to curve not just the not just flatness, you say, the curve regarding the cases, but really to do everything in our power to make sure that these vulnerable communities are not left behind. And so, with that, I am very grateful that we have initiated two, not just one but two sites, at PAL Stadium and now in the very heart of the east side of San Jose at James Lick, where people can walk or can drive up to, I know that the logistics are being worked out, and we'll make sure that people who don't have internet access will also still have access to testing.

But very grateful to the President of the Board Cindy Chavez, to our staunch champion David Cortese, and to all of those who have really pushed this forward. The numbers at the beginning of the pandemic did not reflect these disparities but they were reflected throughout the country and I knew in my gut that that we would catch up eventually. As now we have.

So, thank you so very much. Thank you again to our supervisors for constantly reminding us that our most vulnerable cannot be left behind. And with that I'll turn it back over to our Board President.

CC: So, with that what we would like to do is answer questions. Instead of doing one-on-ones it might be safer just to do it this way, so if you have questions for anybody please let us know and we can get started. And Roger, I see you pointing. Oh, to Len. Okay.

[Inaudible]

Reporter 1: [Inaudible] and events in Santa Clara County is having some of the most stringent requirements. Your thoughts on that at this early stage of that idea out there.

CC: So, first of all I want to say how much I appreciate the leadership that the governor has taken in really protecting the State of California. Part of the reason that the county has been more rigorous than most places I think is that we've been really trying to use the information that we had initially to make sure that we were making decisions that were really based in the science and what our concerns are about a new curve. What I can say, because I can't speak for our Public Health Officer, but I can speak on behalf, I think of myself and Supervisor Cortese, that this will be a discussion that we'll have in depth tomorrow at our board meeting at one o'clock because that's when we do our COVID briefing. We'll take into account what the governor is doing, the kinds of rules he's putting around that, I don't know any of that detail but we'll look forward to learning more.

[Inaudible]

CC: So, each site, right now is committed to 132 people in each location but of course, and I should also say this is a partnership with the governor's office, and one of the things that will continue to work with them on is increasing capacity as we're able to do so. So, this is, in our perspective and I know Mayor Velasco's made this clear to me, he wants a lot more testing in his community. So, we'll be putting that pressure on the governor's office as well to make sure we can ramp up.

[Inaudible]

Correct.

[Inaudible]

Each site.

Roger, I see you pointing. No?

[Inaudible]

Reporter 2: How were the sites selected? Out of all the locations it could have been, how did this and Gilroy… [inaudible]?

CC: So, the governor's office set forward a standard of making sure that all Californians were within 30 minutes of a location. And so, to be able to make sure they got that goal, they reached out to the contracts and the partnerships they have statewide, those contractors and the governor's office worked with the county to look at how to make sure that we were properly spread around.

And so, let me just give you an example of that. Clearly, we needed more support in South County and clearly the east side and I think Magdalena made a really good point about those percentages but what we'll also remind you is that we started with the site at the fairgrounds, in partnership with Google and Verily, that fairground site frankly was a little bit been being underutilized I would say. There was an opportunity for them to do more. They were very open to that and that's why they're going to be at the location that Magdalena talked about with PAL Stadium.

So, what we're trying to do is make sure that by density and by access that we have the most people in our community will have access to these sites. Not only do we have to focus on East Side but we have to focus on all of Santa Clara County and making sure that we have tests availability across the county.

[Report Inaudible]

CC: Yeah, I don't...

[Reporter Inaudible]

CC: So, part of that is being dealt with by the location but the first thing else says on the Verily Google sites, you can go on Baseline, the website Baseline, you can fill out a questionnaire and it will prioritize you. Now, right now, we still have some set priorities that are looking at people who are symptomatic and then people who are, well before them, is people who are living in facilities like skilled nursing facilities, then it's people who are symptomatic, then it may be first responders that are asymptomatic.

What we're hoping happens is that we have enough tests available that we can test people who are both symptomatic and asymptomatic that's really what the goal is because I think part of the reason that Verily wasn't seeing as many people as they were expecting is we had less people showing symptoms I think because as a community we've done such a good job in flattening the curve but what our goal is to make sure that tests are available for everybody. Everybody needs access to them.

Good?

Okay. Let me swap places with you.

Reporter 3: [Inaudible] ... you share the view that your community has a higher number of incidents of COVID-19, disproportionately higher than .... 	[inaudible]

MRV: What I was getting at, did I say that? What I was getting at is that we're trying to spread out these facilities throughout the county and as Supervisor Chavez has mentioned, we're trying to spread out these facilities throughout the county to address the testing of both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals and this is a first one in South County to be able to reach you know the people, have easy access to.

Reporter 3 [inaudible]

MRV: Well, yes of course. You know South County is really unique. And you know I'm just a good old Gilroy boy and you know I could say you know Gilroy is great but we need partnerships with the county with the state to help us down there frankly I mean the county is the one that is really leading the effort. Our incidences are high and this is something that we're going to be able to work in and hopefully with the support of the state be able to ramp up the services there. [Inaudible]

CC: I apologize I don't know the answer to that. So maybe David knows the answer to that.

DC: So, the question is whether or not we have any plans to do other types of testing including drive up, drive-thru type testing. We'll be making more announcements in the next couple of days and there'll be a presentation tomorrow at the Board of Supervisors. You know this is one of difference of many strategies that we're undertaking to ramp up testing across the county. So, we'll be able to say more at that time.

Question moderator: One final question right here.

Reporter 4 [Inaudible]... two sites at James Lick High and Christopher High, people need a visit Verily.com in order to make an appointment?

CC: No, no let me I confuse you I'm sorry. Go ahead, will you repeat the question?

DC: So, the question is how do people access or make appointments to get tested at this site, at James Lick and at Christopher high school?

And we invite people to go to our website which is sccgov.org/CV19testing and as you can see on the county website it will take you to a link that goes to this site which is lhi.carelhi.care and that site is the site that is being used by the vendor OptumServe to get specific information from every individual that wants to be tested and the site will make an appointment for that individual.

You may also call the following phone number and it's also on our website and it's in the press release and the media statement. It's 1-888-634-1123. 1-888-634-1123 and there are bilingual people who can respond to questions and make appointments.

So again, we encourage anyone in this community to access the website and call the phone number.

CC: No, no, I was just gonna say thank you. I was going my keys are here.