04.03.20 COVID-19 Briefing Live Stream Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
April 3, 2020
Live Stream - Live with the County of Santa Clara
10am PT

EVELYN HO
Good morning, my name is Evelyn Ho. I am the lead Public Information Officer for the county of Santa Clara emergency operations center and with the Office of the Director in the Public Health Department.

Yesterday evening, health officials in the Bay Area issued new recommendations recommending that all individuals wear face coverings when out doing essential activities. We want to talk a little bit about that recommendation today. Wearing face coverings is a choice to protect others in our community. As new research becomes available about the spread of the novel coronavirus, we continue to update our recommendations.

What we understand now is that individuals may not show symptoms and still potentially be spreading the virus. In addition, individuals who may develop symptoms may possibly be contagious for several days prior to their onset of symptoms. Also, those with mild symptoms, which may be confused for other types of illnesses or symptoms may also have the potential for spreading and being contagious. Because of this, face covering is recommended to reduce the risk of that transmission when you are going about your essential activities.

The reasons health officials are now recommending face coverings is to reduce the spread of droplets as you go about your activities, when you go to the grocery store, when you are interacting with others. It also signals that we are in this together and we are here to protect one another. When I wear a face covering, I do it to protect others. Right now I’m not currently wearing one, because we are ensuring sufficient social distancing in our space, and also so that we can clearly communicate this message.

We want to reduce the risk as we go about the things that we need to still do every day as we comply with the shelter in place order, that we continue to reduce the transmission of the novel coronavirus in our community.

I want to be clear that we are not recommending that people utilize surgical masks and medical masks, such as N95s or surgical masks. What we are recommending is that people use other types of face coverings. These masks, as we know, are in short supply across the country. We need to preserve the available inventory of these masks for our healthcare workers who are serving on the front lines.

What we are recommending is that individuals use other types of face coverings using homemade materials. This face covering was made by a 9-year-old. This one was made by a professional quilter. Additionally, you can use other types of face coverings, bandanas, other types of cloths, a scarf, anything that can secure around your nose and mouth and be tied around your face to secure coverage and to minimize the transmission of droplets in our community.

As you are using these face coverings, we encourage you to wash them frequently with hot water and on a hot dry cycle, to ensure that they are adequately cleaned for repeated use. We also, in addition, are recommending and reminding everybody that while you are wearing a face covering, you must still continue to maintain sufficient distance, ensuring 6 feet apart distance from one another as you are participating in your activities out in the public.

We want to continue to urge, and we thank you for following the shelter in place order to stay home as much as possible, to limit your contacts with others. The more we can reduce the number of contacts that we have with other individuals during the day, the more we can slow the spread of the virus. The face coverings that cover your nose and mouth from homemade fabrics and other materials will also ensure that while you are out, that that transmission is also reduced.

We are all in this together, and we thank you for your continued support and participation in protecting the health of our entire communities together. We will continue to provide updated information on our website, sccphd.org/coronavirus. There you will find resources, guidance for individuals, increased information about the new order, shelter in place orders, as well as our updated dashboards that provide information on cases in our county, laboratory testing, and our hospital capacity.

The county of Santa Clara continues to actively respond and plan to the coronavirus spread in our community. We want to ensure the health and safety of all. Thank you very much.