05.15.20 COVID-19 Briefing Live Stream Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
May 15, 2020
Live Stream - Live with the County of Santa Clara
10am PT

Betty Duong: Good morning, welcome to Live with the County of Santa Clara. My name is Betty Duong and I am the Deputy Public Information Officer.

We removed our face coverings shortly before this briefing to allow our American Sign Language interpreters the ability to read our words, read our lips, and to properly interpret for our communities. The total of COVID-19 cases, as of last night, is 2403 and the total number of deaths is 135. Our hearts out to those who have lost loved ones and who continue to be impacted by COVID-19.

If you check our dashboards right now, the numbers are a little behind we are giving you the most up-to-date numbers today, as at this time and our dashes we will be updated later this afternoon. Our briefing today focuses on COVID-19 testing and the county's newest guidelines around testing availability and accessibility.

We have with us today Dr. Marty Fenstersheib. Welcome.

Dr. Marty Fenstersheib: Thank you very much Betty.

BD: Thank you for being here.

DMF: Absolutely.

BD: Will you please say hello to our audience today and tell them a little bit about yourself.

DMF: Sure. Hi everyone. I'm very happy to be here. I'm back at the County. I actually was the Health Officer in this county from 1996 on and started working it back in 1984. So, I've been around for quite a long time. I did retire but I failed at retirement so I came back and I wanted to help the county out in this event right now. It's a one-time, lifetime event dealing with a pandemic and I work with Dr. Cody for many, many years. So, I'm very happy and comfortable working back here. But I am my new title, is the, let me see if I can remember, COVID-19 Testing Officer.

BD: Yes.

DMF: That's me now.

BD: Thank you doctor. And let's see the main message today that we wanted to send out there is that COVID testing is now more widely available, free, and easy.

DMF: That's correct. So up until now COVID testing has really been focused on people who have been symptomatic and so if people had symptoms of being sick they went to their doctor and were tested but we really want to find out the extent of the infections in the community.

So, we are moving to testing people who have no symptoms whatsoever and are called asymptomatic. So, we are focusing on mostly those people right now and really want to find people who may be not showing evidence of the disease and as we know, you could be infected and still be shedding the virus and if you're doing that, then you're putting others at risk. So, you may be putting co-workers at risk or your family members at risk. So, it's very important for people that have a potential for being exposed, say that they are a frontline worker, you work at a grocery store, you work at CVS, you work at any place where you have contact now because you are a frontline worker we want you to be tested.

BD: Yes, and that is the call-to-action right now is that all workers, in the county, who have frequent interaction with members of the public should be tested at least once a month. And with new community testing sites becoming more widely available, just to be clear anyone can get it, any worker with frequent interaction with the public, can get a test for free. By State Order, all test, all COVID-19 testing is now covered by all insurance providers. So, whether you have insurance or don't have insurance, come to a testing site and get tested at least once a month if you are in a job that frequently interacts with members the public. Adding to that list, we also include food service workers. We have a lot of county residents who are now working with Second Harvest Foodbank, doing food distribution at our school districts doing on-site food distribution. We want you to be tested as well at least once a month.

DMF: So, I think the message again is if you are not just staying at home and staying safe by sheltering in place but you're out there doing something, you're out there interacting in any way to keep all of us still going and our lives somewhat normal then we want you to take advantage of testing. Again, you don't have to have symptoms. Maybe somebody else maybe you actually were in contact with somebody who said that they had some symptoms and so you may have been a contact. So, we want you to just say, "I may have been a contact. I need to get tested."

BD: Yes. So, just take that upon yourself, to go ahead and get testing. We're making the access much easier now. It's going to get better. You may run into a couple little barriers as you go but those things are all being worked out.

BD: Yes

DMF: And it should get easier and easier. But we really want, we really have to drive the demands for the testing so we can have more testing. So, we need you to get out there and do the tests. Protect yourselves, protect your co-workers, protect your community, and especially your family. We're finding that most of the, I just read an article today, which said that, we have less chance of getting exposed by just passing somebody on the street when we're taking a walk. The highest risks are in areas where we're working, where there's more people, and especially at home with our families.

BD: Thank you. So, you can check our website www.sccgov.org/cv19testing When you get on to that page, we have information about testing, testing guidelines, who should be tested. And also, links, direct links, to registering for a test at one of the sites that we have stood up over the last couple of days, really, a couple of weeks. So, now the testing is also a little different now right Dr. Fenstersheib?

DMF: Yes, yes. So, the testing used to be pretty invasive, meaning, you know, it may have hurt a bit because the swab that we used was inserted very far into your nose all the way back into your nose and your throat and it makes people very uncomfortable. So, here's the change and this is really significant. We are going to be introducing the use of a nasal swab. It may look a little different than this one. This was the only one I could find for the purposes of the demonstration but it's.

BD: They're at the site. There all at sites.

DMF: Yes. It will be at the sites. You don't have to bring anything. But you will be handed the swab yourself. So, you will be self-administering the swab. Nobody will be sticking something into your nose. You will be given the swab and you will be asked to actually insert it and I'll do this for you. Insert it on one side of your nose and then on the other side and you don't have to go in more than a half an inch and go around about four times, and then slowly remove it and there'll be a container to put it in. So, that's it it's very, very simple It doesn't hurt it's very fast and you'll do it on yourself. So, it's simple.

BD: Yes, thank you and it's free. So, it's free and easy accessibility is much more broaden now and availability continues to increase every day. I want to also clarify that at this time none of our testing sites are testing for antibodies, we are doing purely diagnostic testing is that right Dr. Fenstersheib?

DMF: That's correct. There's always questions from everyone about what type of testing we're doing. All of the testing that we're doing at all of these sites is called a PCR test and that's actually looking for active virus. So, we'll be able to tell if people have been infected and if they have virus. The antibody test is a test that we have to do with your blood. We would have to take some blood and we would be looking for the evidence of past infection but we're not, but the sites are not doing that right now maybe in the future.

BD: As our testing capacity expands.

DMF: Yes, and maybe when those tests become more reliable and then we'll be doing those. But right now, don't ask for an antibody test because it's not available. But the PCR is there is very important test and it'll tell you if you're currently infected.

BD: Okay. So, to recap, the Public Health Department is strongly urging all workers, in jobs that require frequent interaction with members of the public, to get a test as soon as possible and then to test at least once a month. This includes all those working in grocery stores, restaurants, food service, gas stations, convenience stores, and more. This also includes healthcare workers and first responders. Additionally, the County is also recommending anyone with a pending scheduled medical or surgical procedure, to get tested and of course as always if you are experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms you should definitely get a test.

Dr. Fenstersheib, in the feedback that we often receive, our residents, you know, usually have really, you know, a lot of questions about what our operations look like behind the scenes and you know what is the Emergency Operations Center. In this case, you are our COVID-19 Testing Officer and you have a whole testing unit that you lead. Can you tell us a little bit about what that unit does and what it looks like?

DMF: Sure. I'm not far from here, from the studio. We have our Emergency Operations Center. And that is where, that's the hub of all of the operations, all of the all of the work that's being done to protect our community in many, many areas. And there certainly has been testing up until now so it's not like, automatically, suddenly, we set this up and now we're doing testing. Testing has been done but we decided to put a special unit in place in the Emergency Operations Center, so we can bring together all the pieces of testing. We have to coordinate with laboratories, we have to collaborate with people that are supplying us with the swabs, we have to collaborate with the community, and get the messages out because if we set up sites and people don't show up then we have you know we have no testing.

BD: Defeats the purpose.

DMF: So, the key thing and we also are sending out a new guidance to our providers in the community, the doctors and the hospitals, telling them that we really are now recommending that people who have no symptoms, who are asymptomatic but who may be at risk because of that exposure in the community, that they are to be tested. So, that the community, physicians, hospitals will also know this and be able to provide the service to you. But again, it's the unit is a group of very talented and hardworking people, who are trying to put all of this together and be as efficient as we can.

BD: Thank you and thank you for your work. So, once again for more information about testing please visit www.sccgov.org/cv19testing. For information about all things COVID, our guidelines, policies, and FAQs at the county, you can check, www.sccgov.org/coronavirus. At that site you will find language options for our four other languages in addition to English. These are complete recreations of our English language website so that we can make sure information reaches everyone.

Thank you everyone for joining us today and for those, and you know, I'd be remiss to mention 2-1-1 as an additional option to call in should you prefer to dial in and have someone speak to you directly about testing. They can also direct you to the testing registration sites.

Thank you so much. Please get tested. Please stay sheltered in place. Please stay safe and well.