06.10.2020 COVID-19 Press Conference Live Stream Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
June 10, 2020
Live Stream – press conference
10pm PT

David Campos: Good afternoon, my name is David Campos and I serve as the Public Information Officer for the County of Santa Clara's Emergency Operations Center, Today, we are here to discuss a new order that has been issued by the public health officer for the county of Santa Clara, Dr. Sara Cody, with respect to testing. This order will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on June 15th, which is this coming Monday. Joining me here today are one Dr. Marty Fenstersheib who is the COVID-19 testing officer for the county of Santa Clara, who will be speaking more specifically about the order and what it does. And then also Dr. Jeff Smith who is the county executive. Who is here to answer any questions you may have. Following the main presentation and question-and-answer period in English I also will be making remarks in Spanish. So, with that I'm going to introduce the COVID-19 testing Officer for the County of Santa Clara, Dr. Marty Fenstersheib. Dr.

Marty Fenstersheib: Thank you David. let me preface my remarks today by first saying, how important testing is to our community. Especially as we move towards further opening the County, moving away from shelter in place. We know that lots more people are going to be gathering together, being closer together, and potentially will be exposed to COVID-19. That said, we have social distancing, our masks, hand-washing. But what we really need is to make sure that we test people, and have the ability to contain any flare-ups in cases that we happen to see as this occurs. So, we expect to see more cases. But, we really need testing to be readily available to all of those in the county that are at risk. So that we can contain the virus and keep everyone safe. So, the bottom line is that this order has been issued for the good of testing people and making sure we keep people safe. That being said, the testing in this county has been increasing over the last several weeks. We now have nearly forty-six testing sites available all over the county. And a lot of people have been coming for testing. I must say that at this point the county of Santa Clara and VMC has really borne the brunt of testing those in the community. With drive-through sites, testing at the hospital, and other sites that have been set up as mobile units. That doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of other testing being done. We have our, what we call our pop-up sites, our verily sites, our Co our com our optum serve sites. And we also have the community clinics, where we, excuse me; where we really have seen the numbers not coming up to meeting what We really feel is necessary so that we can meet our goals, is testing by our large healthcare systems. And that is curd for a number of reasons. A lot of them are well-meaning. They want to do the testing. They've come up against a number of barriers. And these barriers are being worked on, such as testing kits. And reagents, the chemicals that they use. However, it's just not happened. We just have not seen the numbers being generated by our large healthcare systems. And so, this order basically is ordering that the, that these large healthcare systems basically. The hospitals all hospitals and their associated clinics, that they provide testing to three groups of people, one those that have symptoms of COVID-19 and show up in their system, no matter where. Number two, those people who have been exposed to a known case a confirmed case of COVID-19 and have been told to go get tested, so that we can contain further that potential infection. And thirdly, and again the largest group, are those people on the front line. Those are the people that are at risk every, putting themselves at risk every day, working in the grocery stores, driving the buses, working in pharmacies, and other frontline types of work. So, those people need to be tested on a regular basis. And our guidance changed nearly a month ago, basically recommending that those people be tested. So that this order will help guarantee that all of those people who are members or who are patients of these healthcare systems and that represents well over a million people in this county are covered by one of these healthcare systems or hospitals. And so, this is a joint community effort. The County can't do it by itself. The small community clinics can't do it by themselves. But, the large community, the large Health Care's centers, the large clinics in this county need to step up. And help provide additional testing, so that we can meet our goal. We have been testing anywhere from 850 to over 3500 people a day. That averages out to about our goal. We really want to get up to the we just can't do that alone. So, we need to help. We ask everyone in the community to join us in this effort. And we feel it was necessary at this point to order, to it, to issue this order. So that we again can do all we can to protect the people of this community. So that they can have access and availability of testing in Santa Clara County. And we think this is for the, this is the right thing to do. Most of the hospitals and clinics are already doing this. The numbers are slowly going up, but they are not there yet. And we feel that we need to, to issue this order. So that we can again get those numbers up and get people protected. So, I'll stop there. And. Jeff would you like to say anything? or?

Jeff: Sure. I think the main message today is that we want all of the citizens of the county to understand that it's important for them to get tested. If they fall into one of those three groups, either they have symptoms, or they've been exposed to somebody who has COVID, or they work on the front lines. Which means that they're around clients and others quite often by necessity. And we want to make sure that the insurers, that make, are responsible for their health care know that they're going to be coming in to ask for tests. And we want to make sure that we provide the incentive, to motivate everyone to get the testing they need. This county is lucky, in the sense that a large portion of the population is insured. And that's fabulous! However, one of the down sides of being insured is that your access to health care is determined by somebody else. And what we're trying to enforce today, is that in the midst of a public pandemic. A crisis we want the individual patient, the individual resident, the individual who's at risk. To make sure that they take responsibility for getting the tests that they need. And they have the access that they need to get that test. We have been for a number of months now telling residents to call their doctor if they have symptoms, or if they're concerned, or call their health system, or call the advice nurse. And this order makes sure that when they do that, they will get a yes. When they're at, when they ask for a test. So, that's what we want to do. We are not trying to be heavy-handed. We just want to make sure that everybody who needs a test, gets a test. Because it's a dangerous time right now. And the only way that we can protect the community and protect the residents is with testing, and appropriate tracing, and isolation as Dr. Fenstersheib said. So, with that. I guess we'll open it up for questions, It's a it's a small number

Anonymous: Dr. Fenstersheib?

MF: Yes

Anonymous: Can you tell us what percentage of the testing done so far has been done by these large health care providers?

MF: Uhm its a small number. Again, as I mentioned the the brunt of these have been done by Valley Medical Center and all of its clinics. So, it's, I can, we can get you the exact numbers. I don't have those all in my head, but it's a small portion of the total tests that have been done. So, again when and when they ramp up and and and meet the demand that they're rare patients have. Then we will surpass the number that we need to in order to protect this community. But we want to make sure that everybody who is covered or who isn't covered has the cap capacity to find a place to get a test, and can get a test on demand.

Anonymous: Have there been many instances where individuals have gone to their health care providers in the count asking for a test and were denied?

MF: We have certainly heard incidences where people who for mainly, people who have been asymptomatic who have shown up and just said. You know I have no symptoms but I think I'm at risk for whatever reason and have been told that that there's no capability for them to be tested. So, this isn't across the board. You know, I'm not saying that they are not doing it. That these systems are not doing any testing. But they're just not doing them to the level that we really need in this county. To be able to move forward and not see the hospital beds fill up and ICU beds fill up. And we can go back to a really really effective containment strategy and stay safe.

Anonymous: Have you given these health care providers goals that they need to make? How are you going to asses if that are adhering to the order?

MF: Well, the whole idea is that this is not a punitive type of order. So we're working together, we were on a call yesterday with the hospitals. The state was on the call also because there's some issues about having enough of the chemical reagents. And the state is willing to help in providing those or finding them for them. So we're not really holding them to a number. We just want them to make sure that they meet those criteria. And for their own members or patients, if somebody comes in with symptoms, or is it, or who is a contact, or says I work at a grocery store and I'm constantly being exposed every day of my job I need to be tested that they are tested. So that's what we want for most.

Anonymous: And you had mentioned how often do you recommend that they get tested compared to other front line workers?

MF: Right. In our guidance we have recommended that those workers on the front line be tested at least once a month, but no more than every two weeks. So, it's not something we're saying every day you have to run for tests. We do not want people to do that. But if you're, if you're working on the front line in any of those, in any of those categories get yourself tested at least once a month.

Anonymous: Not enough people know where the test centers are or they're not aware that they are expected to go get tested. Given that bottleneck, is the, it's not this issue with the health care providers. Is that really the most pressing issue facing the county at this point? Or are there other issues that are pressing as well?

MF: Well it's a mixture of a lot of things. I mean we are doing our best to increase the demand to get the word out. Not everybody is on social media and not everybody watches TV. We're in the communities, in our hardest hit communities. Such as on the east side of San Jose, up in the North Mountain View area down in Gilroy. We are boots on the ground there. But we're using any means we can to get the message out. And and we are hoping that the large healthcare systems also through their mechanisms of reaching out, to their members and their patients will also provide them with the incentive, if they meet these risk categories. To come on in and get tested. That's the only way we can do it, a community-wide effort. Everybody on board, everybody working toward the same goal.

Anonymous: Do you hope to reach a higher test per day at this point?

MF: Yes, I really did. When I. When I was asked to come on and do this, I, we were asked to meet the original number of 200 tests per hundred thousand which was four thousand. And as I mentioned even though our range has been close to that four thousand at any number of single days. On average we haven't, we haven't gotten up to that number yet. There's nothing magic about the number. We probably have to go far beyond that. It's more important of course, where we test and who we test. So, we want to be in those areas that are high highly impacted. And we also want to test those people who are at most at risk. And certainly, the people with symptoms and certainly all of those contacts that we're going to find from every one of these cases that are identified. So, the more people that you test the more cases that you will find. More confirmed cases that you will get. So is there a percentage of people that are being tested that are getting that are being diagnosed for COVID-19 not just the overall number but the overall testing.

MF: Well the, that's the positivity rate. And so, the positivity rate meaning, how many people you test, how many of them turn out to be a positive test. And if you look at the whole county the number is pretty lower, in like one to two percent positivity. But, if you look at areas, say in East San Jose. There is high as six seven percent. So, again it depends where you go. That is why you need to focus on the areas where people are most at risk. So, we want to keep that positivity rate low. But we still have to test and we will for sure find additional positives and cases. Because then we will know that we're doing enough testing. And then we can contain them and keep that from spreading and causing hospitalization numbers to go up, and and widespread outbreaks. Which we don't want as we open up.

Anonymous: Marty is there a possible connection between the order, the new order and the timing in terms of reopening? loosening of the previous order.

MF: Well, I mean. I think a reopening in general we you know requires some attention paid to what we can then offer the community. So, uhm we emphasizing, and I'll do that right here. That people wear their masks, their their facial covering. And when they're out in public it's really important to do that, because you're protecting the person that's across from you. And they will be doing the same to you. Washing your hands, social distancing, and then the testing. So, as we open up, and we open up even more down the road. We have to include all of these protective measures. And testing is certainly one of them.

Anonymous: As you know we have had recent protest involving hundreds of people, many of them wearing masks. But many were not. Do you have any advice for people involved in those protest? On whether they should be tested?

MF: Yes! Uhm as far as for protesters. They again are out there, and and and they have the right to do that. And that's absolutely okay. Weight, from a public health standpoint we worry about them. We look at the pictures and we see some people with no masks and people who are very close together. Other people that are screaming, and and spreading potentially spreading the virus. So yes, we recommend that those people be tested. I would say sometime about three to five days after your last exposure in some type of protesting gathering. Because the virus needs a little bit of time to incubate before we probably can get a positive test out of it. But yes, if you were in a protest and with a large gathering of people, get yourself tested. Are there any health care providers in particular that you think should be doing more? I remember in a recent board of supervisors. I think Kaiser was identified, a couple of other local ones? Any that you would say should be doing more at this point?

MF: Well. We, you know in this order we're basically saying all the health care providers. So without singling them out. Yes, it is it's Kaiser. It's Pam. It's Stanford, and all the all the rest of the hospitals. As I say, the one organization that is really stepped up to do more than their share has been Valley Medical Center. And so, the most of these numbers that we're seeing in that, in in our testing levels have come because of a Valley Medical Center. Which means that if Valley Medical Center can do it and find the reagents. Then any of those other systems can do the same. And with the help of the state they should be successful in maintaining a high level of testing.

DC: Thank you very much I'm gonna just say a few words in Spanish.
Buenas tardes mi nombre es David Campos soy ejecutivo adjunto del Condado de Santa Clara. Y hoy estamos anuncianda la presentación de una nuevaa orden de salud pública . Que la oficial de salud pública del condado Santa Clara Sara Cody acaba de presentar. Esta orden de salud pública requiere que lo, la instituciónes  grandes de hospitales, del condado de Santa Cara. Las instituciones privadas que provean pruebas de COVID-19 a sus pacientes. Estamos hablando de organizaciones, hospitals privados que cubren mas de la mitad  de las población del condado. Más de un millon de personas ah estas, esos hospitales, esas institutions, a sirven la necesidad medica de sus  miembros. Y ahorita desfortunadamente estas insitituciones no le estan proviniendo a sus pacientes, a sus miembros el número de pruebas de COVID-19 necesarias para poder contenere el Virus. La gran mayoria de pruebas que se ha hecho en el condado. Que se hacen cada dia son hechas por parte de el condado de Santa Clara. No por parte de hospitals privados. Entonces sabemos como condado, que para poder tener el número de pruebas necesarias para contener este virus. Es necesario que no solamente el condado hagan estas Prebys disponibles. Pero también estas instituciones hagan esas paribas disponibles para sus pacientes. Asi que, hemos tratado de trabajar con estos Hospitales, con estas instituciones. Pidiendoles de que hagan mas pruebas disponible as us miembros, a sus pacientes. Desfortunadamente a esto no ah ocurrido. Y es por es razón que hoy estamos ordenando, con esta orden pública. Que estas organizaciones, y instituciones medicas, y hospitales, y sus clinicas afilias. Que pruebe que le proveer prevas de COVID-19 a cada uno de sus pacientes.  Y estamos enfocando en tres classes de personas. Primeramente las personas que tienen síntomas de COVID-19. Esperamos que es esas personas reciban estas pruebas. Segundamente, personas que han sido expruestas a alguien que tenga COVID-19. Esas personas tambien necesitan receive la prueba de COVID-19. Y el tercer grupo son personas que debido a su trabajo se exponen cada dia. Esan en en las lineas frentes trabajando. Ah. Y por esa, por ese trabajo son expuestas a este virus. Esas tres classes de personas, de categoria de personas.  Necesitamos que estas instituciones les hagan los examenes disponibles. Los examenes de COVID-19 es la única forma con la coopération de estas instituciones. Que como condado Podemos hacer el número de pruebas necesarias, Y no solamente numero. También en los lugares necesarios, en las comunidades mass afectada. Muchas gracias.

Anonymous: Can you just say your name and title again, just so they have it connected with you?

DC: Yes, David Campos, Public Information Officer for the Emergency Operations Center for the County of Santa Clara. Thank you.