06.19.2020 COVID-19 Briefing Live Stream Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
June 19, 2020
Live Stream - Live with the County of Santa Clara
10am PT

Larry Little: Hi everybody, thank you for joining us. I'm Larry Little, Public Information Officer here at the County's Emergency Operations Center and today we're going to take a few moments to answer some of your questions that have come to us via Facebook. as well as our website, FAQ, and through our call center.

In just a moment my colleagues, Antoinnae and Todd, will be joining me to assist in answering some of those questions.

But first, let's bring you up to date on information as it relates to COVID-19 in the County of Santa Clara. Here you can see our data dashboard. This was created based on feedback from the community. As of yesterday, we have 3363 total cases, Of course our condolences go out to the families who have lost loved ones due to COVID-19 and we are wishing everyone suffering from COVID-19 a speedy recovery.

Just want to take a few moments to go through the data dashboards here. Some of the information, you can see the age groups separated here based on some of our cases, and I know some people think they're too young to get it, but you can see that our age group 21 to 30 is 14.2%, while the 61 to 70 year old group is at So pretty much everyone is affected here. So we want you to continue to practice social distancing as well as wearing your face coverings when you are out to slow the spread of COVID-19.

One question that came in a few weeks ago was: Why were we making such a focus on people of color getting tested? Okay, if you will look here at the data dashboard, you will see our Latinx community, 42.7% they make up Next, Asian community, 17.5%, and then we have our Black community, total population is of the people of African descent here in the County. And you can see here where Other and White make up about 31% and that's why such a focus on people of color getting tested, because we want to slow the spread of the virus. Of course, you can check out this information for yourself at sccgov.org/coronavirus.

Also want to let you know that I have removed my facial covering, or mask, and so will my colleagues who would join me in just a moment and this is so we don't sound muffled and you can understand everything we are saying.

As you may know, the state of California is allowing several businesses to open today, but we found out earlier this week that personal care services such as salons, tanning salons, nail care services, barber shops, and gyms will not be able to open. Let's just take a look at some of that video from that show.

[Video plays]

Today's Facebook Live briefing will be on the current status of the County's Public Health Order. In that of the beauty industry, personal care services, gyms, and fitness centers. The state of California is allowing more businesses to open this Friday, June 19th.

Hair, nail, beauty, and personal care salons are not reopening this Friday in Santa Clara County. the Santa Clara County Public Health Order remains the same, and and we wanted to spend some time today to talk more about the reasons why behind that.

[Video ends]

So we're going to go ahead and stop that. And we are working with several industries so we can open safely.

I want to go ahead and bring Todd in so we can begin to answer some of the questions. I know we were very disappointed to find out that the salons were not open, because I've learned how to cut my own hair but—

Todd Naffziger: I obviously have not. I am rocking the mop 2020.

Unfortunately I do not have six years of cosmetology experience like Betty Duong does so people in the comments be kind. If you can't be kind be creative.

LL: I know it was a very tough for us to hear the news and I'm so sorry that Betty had to deliver that news, but no one is a better advocate for that industry than Betty and as soon as the segment was over she was already trying to find out what can we do, how can we get more information, how can we come up with a plan. And you know it's disappointing news but, you know, of course, everything here is grounded on—based on science and safety and sometimes that doesn't work in our favor. As getting a haircut or going to the gym.

Todd, so we want to just jump right into it. So much focus has been made on what's closed. Let's talk about what's open in the County.

TN: Absolutely. And I think our website does a very good job of pointing out a lot of the facilities that are currently open right now. So you go to the COVID website on through Public Health, it'll have a very nice graphic there representing what is open. So for example, what's currently is open is outdoor dining for restaurants, a lot of the retail facilities, if not all the retail facilities are allowed to operate at this time, Manufacturing, research, what else, camps for children.

So there's a lot that is available and I could keep going on and on but I'm encouraging our community to check our website because we have a lot of information there that's readily available for them.

LL: All right one question says, "Can I go to my dentist to get my teeth cleaned? Isn't this considered person-to-person contact?"

TN: Absolutely, that's a great question. So dentists are a health care profession that do kind of facilitate a very close contact with their patients and they're allowed to operate under the umbrella of health care because they have a substantial amount of procedures as well as PPE readily available to them now that'll protect them from whatever you know pathogens that may be living in people's mouths for that matter. So people are encouraged to go back to their dentists and utilize the services that they feel that they can safely implement at this time.

LL: Another question, "As a County⁠—as a Santa Clara County resident am I allowed to go to another county for outside recreation like golf or hiking or for services not open here. I've seen that question a lot.

TN: Yeah we actually do get this question quite a bit. People are allowed to leave the County, but only to do essential activities which include hiking, biking, golf in an approved manner that would be consistent with what our Order allows, to go to work and commute home. You would not be allowed to conduct those activities that our Order is not currently allowing for and you would also need to check the website of the jurisdiction that you'll be traveling to, to ensure that you are actually in compliance with what they're providing their community as well.

LL: You know I saw a lot a lot of comparing goes on.

TN: Yes.

LL: With who's open, what county is open, and this and we haven't opened that. A lot of people we saw were comparing this county to Santa Cruz County and Santa Cruz they are opening gyms, they are opening barber shops. But in Santa Cruz County, they have a population of less than 300,000 people. Here in this county we have two million people. So it's not—I could say it's a grape and grapefruit comparison

TN: Absolutely.

LL: here, but a lot here is opening in the County and when we do open, we want to make sure that it is safe.

This one is about outdoor dining. What is—what is considered acceptable outdoor dining? Can a patio space have walls or does it have to be a space that is open where outside air flows?

TN: Absolutely. Generally, the facility shouldn't have any sides so it should be an open space that was previously allowed to allow for free-flowing air. Because we obviously know that having a solid air flow helps prevent the spread of COVID-19. So we are encouraging people to call the restaurant, find out if they're allowing their outdoor space to be open at this time.

You can also contact the cities to ensure that that business is being in compliance with the local zoning laws with their outdoor space as well.

LL: There was a list floating around about outdoor spaces and some restaurants were missed. We love Gilroy we love South County. Some of the restaurants didn't appear there. So where should people actually check for outdoor dining spaces?

TN: That's a good question. I know that's a comment we consistently get at work and we find like just a hub of information is where these facilities are actually allowed to operate.

We at this time we don't have a master list of all the facilities in the County, so we kind of are encouraging you to contact your restaurants, support them if they're not also providing that outdoor dining for takeout and delivery and so forth.

So it really has to do some footwork on the effort of the of the customer to kind of maybe troll social media, contact your local cities, and contact the restaurant as well to ensure that they're currently allowed to operate.

LL: All right thanks so much, Todd. We're gonna go ahead and bring Antoinnae up, but in the meantime while we're doing that, one question—one statement just came in said, "they never seem to address my questions or concerns". And we have an FAQ team as well as a call center team working seven days a week answering questions.

Also, you can go to the website here to Frequently Asked Questions, because a lot of the questions there's a commonality of a lot of questions that are being asked, and you can find the answers by going to the website and going to the Frequently Asked Questions.

If it's not there, then you can select ask a question or share a concern. We definitely want to hear from the community. Thank you so much for being here.

Antoinnae Comeaux: Thank you.

LL: "Some businesses have already opened in SCC," this is what the question is saying, "and they are on the list that they're supposed to be closed they're not permitted to be open under the current Health Orders. How is this helpful to those businesses that are following the rules?" This is what this business owner wants to know.

AC: So it's really important that we have everyone our community follow the Public Health Order and all of the protocols and social distancing guidelines. So if anyone in the community sees someone that might be in violation of the Order, they can definitely reach out to us through filling out a form directly on our website and that will be funneled directly to our District of Attorney's Office who can take a look at that specific complaint and see, you know, if someone is potentially in violation and our staff at the County will work to make sure that everyone is in compliance and is COVID-19 prepared.

LL: You said District Attorney and I wanted to run out the side door.

The County is here to help businesses. And we're not going around and writing citations. So the first order of business when someone calls, is we want to educate the business, because this is a lot. You know this is not something that we've gone through before. We want to educate the business and make sure that they are aware of what they should be doing, because there's a great chance they don't know.

Next question from a concern community member here in Santa Clara County, "The health of essential workers is paramount. I have observed many businesses where people are not wearing masks and this concerns me. What can I do as a customer?"

AC: So that's a great question. Face coverings or masks are required when anytime you're outdoors or when you're at a business, whether it's outdoor or indoor business. So as a customer, you should look for the checkmark and the visitor information posted at that business to make sure that they are COVID-19 prepared.

This checkmark helps ensure that the business is following the social distancing protocols that are set forth by the Order, and that everyone is well aware of what the requirements and guidelines are to keep the customers and and all the workers safe at that site.

LL: Yeah let me just go to this question because it's related it says, "why should I care about a business displaying a COVID-19 checkmark? Is this important to me as a customer?

AC: It definitely is because that checkmark ensures that that business is working to make sure you're safe, as well as the workers inside. And if you're a worker in that business and you're concerned about the social distancing protocols being whether or not they're being followed, you can call our Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement advice line at that way, County staff can work with that business to help make sure that they are COVID-19 prepared, and all of the protocols are being followed as they should be.

LL: Mm-hmm because if I don't see that checkmark, I'm turning around and going back to the car.

This question says, "I have observed many workers with their masks below their nose and working in very close proximity. Should workers be wearing masks? What can be done by the County to educate these workers?

AC: So workers definitely should be wearing their masks properly. So that means covering your nose and your mouth and that it you know it's fitted correctly. So for the County, we're really trying to make sure that we have up-to-date guidelines and information available on our website, on all of our social media accounts, to educate folks that we are encouraging folks to wear these masks and follow these guidelines. And you know if you think that we should be doing more outreach to the community, if they're specific organizations or groups that we're not reaching, please share that feedback with us.

You can reach us again directly on our website. Give us that feedback through the form that's available. And let us know and we're more than happy to continue to increase our outreach and make sure the message is getting out to everyone in the community.

LL: I like that you said, because we're always looking for the community to reach out to us. One of our comments here says, "tell us something new."

We're waiting to hear from you. What do you want to hear? What do—I mean what is it that you would like to know? We depend on the feedback of our community in moving forward in this pandemic.

Okay, next question says, "a lot of people are walking in my neighborhood with no masks on. Should they be wearing masks? And I think they're exercising."

AC: Yes, so when you're exercising outdoors, you're not required to wear a mask. You know, if you're running, going on a hike, or even walking around your neighborhood. But what you should do is have your mask or face covering with you handy in case you're not able to practice social distancing.

So if you're walking by, you know, a group of people that's not part of your household you'll want to have your face covering with you to kind of quickly put on so you can protect yourself and the folks that you're passing by when you are exercising outdoors.

LL: All right this one's coming from a small business owner, says, "where can I find information about resources that are not— where can I find information about resources that are available?" And it looks like this came from someone in the personal care business and they've been deeply affected by. Where can they find information about resources?

AC: So if your family member or, you know, someone your community has been affected by COVID-19, we know that we all have. But if they're in need of, you know, things like food assistance, health care services, financial help, legal assistance, legal assistance, other support services, the County is here to direct folks to the right places.

So we do have a community resources page on our site. Again, you can reach us again on the form or by calling 2-1-1 to help direct you to the right place where we can get you the assistance and help that you need as quickly as possible.

We want to be very responsive to the community's needs, and we know that a variety of folks are impacted by COVID-19 in a lot of different ways, and we want to be there to help.

LL: All right thanks so much this one is going on to testing, "I visited one of your testing sites, when can I expect results?"

AC: So if you tested at one of our pop-up sites, and you did—and if you tested positive at one of these pop-up sites, so those are the sites that change every week and where we post a schedule of that, you know, on social media and on our website, so if you test positive at a pop-up site, you will get a phone call within 48 hours of the date that you tested.

People who tested negatively through those pop-up sites will get their results via the mail. If you have not received your results at one of these pop-up test sites, please call the Santa Clara Valley Medical Connections line at 888-334-1000. So it's really important to, you know, kind of look, pay attention to your phone, or, you know, the mailbox when you are visiting those pop-up sites, because that is the primary way that they will get back to you.

LL: And is there an age limit for testing?

AC: So there isn't an age limit, but depending on the testing site, there may be age requirements. So if you're at one of our pop-up sites, the—all ages will be tested. The same goes for providers, they should be testing folks of all ages, but if you're going to one of the sites that are served by OptumServe or Verily, there are age requirements.

OptumServe tests folks who are 12 or over and Verily requires folks to be 18 or over. And also just as a reminder, if you're visiting one of the pop-up sites, we we suggest that is those are for sites for folks who are not symptomatic, and if you are symptomatic, we encourage you to look at a—to contact your provider or go to one of our community sites.

LL: And next, is there antibody testing available now?

AC: Currently, antibody testing is not available. We will be considering, you know, considering that for the future, but right now it is—it's not available at our sites. All right.

LL: Hey thank you so much for joining me and answering all of those questions. I'm just going through some of the comments here, but thank you so much.

If you have any questions, just go to our website, it's very very useful. You can go here use the search engine, for example if you're looking for FAQs you just type in FAQ and the information comes up there. Anything you're looking for, you're looking for testing, any information you're looking for it is going to be there.

We want to thank you for watching. We know this is a very difficult time. We thank you for everything that you're doing to keep this community safe. All the decisions here, they're not easy. I mean they're affecting everyone, but they are rooted in science and safety and sometimes that does not always give us the favorable answers to do the things that we want to do, but if we continue to shelter in place, social distance, and wear our facial coverings, the numbers are going to go down and we are going to get to a better place.

Many of you watching here, you're very tech savvy, so you can easily go to Google and search and you see some of the places that have opened, some of the states that opened too soon, they're seeing a spike in the numbers. Even in this state, our neighbors to the south, they are also seeing numbers spike, and we've been holding steady for a while. So we appreciate everything you're doing.

We look to hear from you. We want to know what you would like to know from us. We appreciate your feedback. Have a safe weekend everybody and stay— we will see you next time.