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Description
May 6, 2020 marks the beginning of National Nurses Week. Today, the County of Santa Clara highlights the important work of public health nurses during COVID-19, including contact tracing and specimen collection.
Recorded May 6, 2020.
The City of Cupertino would like to express its thanks to the County of Santa Clara for the use of their video materials during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information regarding the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in Cupertino, please visit https://www.cupertino.org/coronavirus
B
Good
morning,
I'm
Evelyn
Howe,
with
the
County
of
Santa
Clara
Emergency
Operations
Center
I'm,
going
to
remove
my
face,
covering
to
make
it
easier
for
people
to
hear
me
and
to
support
our
ASL
interpreters.
This
morning.
We
wanted
to
provide
you
with
an
update
on
cases
to
start
off.
As
the
5:00
p.m.
yesterday,
there
are
2255
confirmed
cases
in
Santa,
Clara,
County
and
121
deaths
in
Santa,
Clara
County.
We
continue
to
see
a
slow
increase
in
the
number
of
cases,
as
is
to
be
expected
during
the
shelter
in
place
order.
B
We're
really
excited
today
because
today
is
National,
Nurses
Day,
which
kicks
off
National
Nurses
Week,
and
we
are
I'm
honored
today
to
be
joined
by
two
individuals
who
are
the
backbone
and
the
role
has
been
the
backbone
of
the
public
health
department
and
the
public
health
response
to
kovin
19.
And
we
know
that
nurses
are
on
the
frontlines
of
our
work
in
the
health
care
system
and
in
the
public
health
system
every
day,
and
they
make
tremendous
sacrifices
in
the
care
of
patients
and
in
the
care
of
the
community
as
a
whole.
B
And
so
today
we
want
to
honor
and
highlight
the
work
that
our
public
health
nurses
do
and
share
with
you,
the
the
tremendous
amount
of
work
that
they
do
as
part
of
this
response
today,
I'm
joined
by
Melissa,
shilling
and
Alison
sekolah,
who
are
public
health
nurses.
Welcome
to
you
both
and
thank
you
for
being
here.
Thank
you.
So
not
many
people
understand
what
public
health
nurses
do.
I
think
people
have
a
great
understanding
of
what
clinical
nurses
do
in
the
bedside
and
in
clinical
settings.
C
So
a
general
definition
of
public
health
nursing
is
the
patient?
Really,
isn't
it
just
one
person,
it's
a
larger
group
or
could
be
the
entire
population.
So
a
public
health
nursing
focuses
on
promoting
health,
preventing
disease
and
increasing
the
quality
of
life
for
all
groups
of
people.
So
some
examples
of
Public
Health
nursing
activities
include
identifying
at-risk
populations
such
as
people
are
homeless.
C
You
would
assess
their
needs
and
offer
them
education
or
information,
and
then
also
link
them
to
resources
that
are
available
or
services
in
their
community,
and
this
would
all
be
in
the
hopes
of
increasing
quality
of
life.
So
I
work
as
a
nurse
with
the
first
five
home
visiting
program.
We
have
a
team
of
nurses
that
perform
perform
home
visits
for
at-risk
children,
ages,
zero
to
five.
We
administer
age-appropriate
assessments
to
monitor
children's
growth
and
development
and
identify
any
areas
of
concern.
C
If
we
see
an
area
of
concern,
we
would
make
a
referral
or
link
the
family
or
the
child
to
services
that
are
available
to
them
to
again
increase
the
child's
or
the
family's
quality
of
life
and
hopefully
provide
a
better
health
outcome.
Santa
Clara
County
has
more
than
80
hard-working
public
health
nurses,
who
are
very
passionate
about
their
programs.
So.
D
But,
like
Melissa
said,
we
have
nurses
that
do
home
visits,
we
visit
moms
and
babies.
We
visit
Calvert
issah
pants,
we
visit
adults
and
children
with
complex
health
conditions
and
homeless
clients.
We
provide
education
and
assessments.
We
help
them
develop,
plans
that
meet
their
needs.
We
link
them
with
resources
and
try
to
overcome
any
barriers
that
they
might
have
to
accessing
care.
We
also
have
nurses
that
provide
case
management
and
care
coordination
for
foster
youth
for
the
California
children,
services
for
our
lead
program
and
the
child
health
and
disability
prevention
program.
D
We
have
nurses
that
provides
support
and
collaboration
for
perineal
services,
programs
for
our
community
clinics,
for
our
medical,
examiner,
child
child
care
centers
and
our
Maternal
Child
and
Adolescent
Health
Program,
and
also
besides
our
involvement
in
kovat
19.
We
have
nurses
that
investigate
communicable
diseases
and
case
manage
and
control
TB
to
prevent
to
protect
our
community.
What.
B
A
broad
range
of
services
that
the
nursing
provides
within
the
county,
some
of
which
I
do
not
even
know
about,
so
thank
you
for
sharing
one
of
the
things
as
makovan
pandemic
began
to
spread
around
the
globe.
You
guys
were
both
brought
in
in
the
early
early
response
since
February.
Can
you
tell
us
about
those
early
days
and
what
that
was
like,
so.
D
In
the
beginning,
our
communicable
diseases
team
handled
a
lot
of
the
case
management
and
monitoring
for
the
cases
in
our
County,
but
as
the
cases
started
to
increase,
we
brought
in
our
entire
team,
and
we
I
was
really
proud
that
we
were
able
to
really
learn
very
quickly
and
roll
with
all
the
kind
of
changes
and
guidance
that
seemed
to
be
coming.
They
happen
daily
I.
C
So
this
was
in
the
early
time
of
the
virus,
and
it
was
you
know
we
had
mixed
reviews,
we'd
call
people
and
ask
them
to
not
go
to
work
and
to
only
stay
home
if,
unless
they
needed
food
or
medical
attention,
and
then
we
would
ask
them
about
common
symptoms
or
if
they
had
any
for
coronavirus,
trying
to
monitor
and
really
catch
any
of
those
early
cases.
So
we
would
you
know
it
was
it
was
time
intensive
and
we
had.
C
You
know
many
people
to
call,
and
we
stuck
with
that
and
in
the
meantime,
things
really
started
to
ramp
up.
The
CDC
was
I
had
staff
present
to
assist
the
county's
efforts,
and
it
was
a
very
exciting
time.
We
were,
you
know
it.
The
whole
world
was
fighting
the
same
battle
and,
as
cases
started
to
come
in,
it
became
apparent
that
there
wasn't
always
travel
history
at
all
and
that
the
virus
was
had
community
spread.
C
B
As
the
scale
real
increased
in
terms
of
the
number
of
cases
that
also
led
to
the
orders,
the
Health
Officer
orders
that
then
began
to
restrict
at
a
population
level
mass
gatherings
and
then
eventually
the
shelter-in-place
order,
which
allowed
us
to
then
transition
and
pivot.
Some
of
the
work
that
public
health
nurses
were
doing
so
currently,
what
are
the
roles
that
the
public
health
nurses
are
playing
with
in
the
response?
Now?
Okay,.
C
So
the
public
health
nurses
are
split
into
four
groups.
The
first
one
of
the
groups
is
a
provider
intake
unit
and
the
provider
intake
unit
receives
calls
from
providers
who
are
seeking
guidance
on
various
issues
related
to
coronavirus.
Some
examples
of
calls
might
be
that
a
provider
will
call
and
ask
how
do
I
safely
discharge
a
co,
vid
positive
patient
back
to
a
skilled
nursing
facility
or
congregate,
setting
such
as
a
homeless,
shelter
or
a
group
home
or
jail.
Another
question
might
be
after
a
healthcare
worker
test
positive
for
coronavirus.
C
D
So
we
also
have
a
team
of
nurses
that
do
special
investigations
for
people
in
congregate,
settings
and
congregate
settings
or
any
setting
where
people
have
trouble
socially
distancing,
so
long-term
care
facilities,
jails,
dormitories
and
homeless
shelters.
So
our
nurses
provide
guidance
to
these
facilities
to
try
to
lessen
the
spread
of
infection.
They
recommend
and
facilitate
testing
and
if
needed-
and
that
is
one
way
we
can
help
to
control
outbreaks
in
these
settings.
C
Specimen
collection
is
another
area
and
we
have
two
teams
of
nurses
dedicated
to
taking
specimens
seven
days
a
week.
The
focus
of
the
specimens
that
we
take
and
run
through
our
Public
Health
lab
are
first
responders:
health
care
workers
and
people
who
reside
in
skilled
nursing
facilities
or
other
congregate
settings
such
as
the
group,
homes
or
shelters.
So
the
type
of
specimen
that
we
gather
is
a
nasopharyngeal
swab
and
it's
swabbing
the
nose
going
in
through
the
nose
to
the
back
of
the
throat.
So
it
goes
somewhere
in
between
like
the
ear
and
the
nose.
C
It's
not
a
pleasant
thing,
and
it's
interesting.
Sometimes,
when
I
hear
how
many
people
want
the
test,
because
it's
really
not
a
pleasant
thing,
but
we
do
that
test,
and
so
the
results
will
be
given
in
order
to
get
people
back
to
work
or
appropriately
isolate
patients
and
keep
the
community
safe.
So
the
also
the
specimens
are
either
collected
at
a
personal
residence
or
at
the
facility
or
congregate
setting
or
soon
as
we
set
up
drive
through
specimen
collecting.
D
So
we
also
have
a
case
intake
and
tracing
unit.
We
call
all
confirmed
cases.
So
if
people
with
kovat
19,
we
provide
education,
we
discuss
isolation
with
them
and
identify
if
they
have
any
reason
if
they
need
any
resources
so
that
they
can
be,
they
can
stay
isolated
and
we
also
gather
important
information.
The
public
health
needs
to
evaluate
how
the
disease
is
affecting
our
community.
D
Another
thing
that
we've
returned
to
is
contact
tracing,
so
we,
when
we
talk
to
COBIT
positive
people,
people
we
identify
anyone,
they
might
have
had
close
contact
with
in
a
period
where
they
might
have
been
infectious.
Then
we
call
those
people
and
we
discuss
isolation
and
recommend
testing,
which
is
necessary
so
that
we
can
stop
the
spread
of
clove
in
nineteen
great.
B
And
that
contact
tracing
piece
is
one
of
the
key
indicators
that
the
health
officers
are
using
as
we
continue
to
monitor
on
the
status
within
the
county
and
very
evaluation
of
our
current
orders
to
shelter
in
place,
I'm
so
around
contact
tracing.
It's
a
key
area
that
the
public
health
department
has
a
priority
to
really
expand
the
strong
capacity
that
we
currently
have
in
contact
tracing
that
public
health
nurses
have
been
providing
since
the
beginning
of
this
response.
B
Currently
we
have
the
capacity
within
our
public
health
nurses
and
our
contact
tracing
team
to
respond
to
the
cases
at
the
rate
that
they
are
increasing.
Currently
we
are
preparing
to
scale
that
effort
to
a
very
large
workforce
that
will
require
the
part
of
our
other
public
agencies,
our
community-based
organizations
and
other
partners,
and
as
well
as
within
the
county
as
well
I'm
to
step
up
a
large
workforce
to
provide
that
case
investigation
in
contact
tracing
for
any
easing
of
the
shelter-in-place
order
to
occur.
B
We
expect
that
cases
will
increase
when
that
happens,
and
in
order
to
break
chains
of
transmission
to
interrupt
those
chains,
so
that
transmission
doesn't
become
exponential
and
overrun
our
health
care
system
and
leading
to
eventual
significant
amounts
of
death.
We
have
to
have
a
robust
contact
tracing
in
case
the
investigation
unit.
So
the
significant
work
that
the
public
health
nurses
and
that
unit
have
began
begun
to
build
over
the
last
several
months
will
be
scaled
up
to
a
large
proportion.
B
We
will
continue
to
provide
updates
to
our
partners
and
to
the
public
about
that's
very
significant
effort.
What
plans
are
underway
right
now
to
scale
that
effort
to
stand
up
individuals
very
very
quickly?
We
thank
you
for
those
who
have
reached
out
to
us
to
partner
with
us
in
that
effort,
and
we
will
continue
to
build
on
those
partnerships.
I
wanted
to
close
with.
Okay.
Do
you
reflect
on
some
of
the
more
difficult
moments
that
you've
had
in
this
response?
There
have
been
challenging
moments,
I'm
sure
there
have
been
I.
D
Think
it's
been
challenging
just
to
be
in
our
unit,
sometimes
and
and
speak
to
the
nurses
that
have
been
caught
up
talking
to
families.
Families
have
been
very
affected.
Families
who
have
had
family
members
die.
Family
members
who
have
lost
their
jobs
and
to
hear
that
day
after
day
has
been,
has
been
difficult,
but
has
really
humanized
this
for
all
of
us
and
makes
our
work
feel
very
important.
I.
C
Remember,
in
particular,
I
was
in
case
monitoring
and
I
was
calling.
We
had
lists
of
patients
to
go
through,
they
were
all
positive
patients
and
there
was
one
family
that
had
several
members
that
were
positive
and
I
called
and
was
checking
in
with
my
list.
You
know
of
symptoms
to
go
through
and
in
talking
to
one
of
the
family
members.
They
had
no
symptoms
at
all,
yet
they
were
positive
and
one
of
their
family
members
was
in
the
hospital
and
the
the
person
I
was
talking
to.
C
You
told
me
that
their
other
family
member
was
actually
going
to
die
and
had
been
intubated,
so
they
had
never
talked
to
them
since
they
had
gone
into
the
hospital
and
I
felt
really
bad
for
that
patient,
because
we're
calling-
and
we
have
a
long
list
of
people
to
call
but
I
spent.
You
know
extra
time
because
I
really
wanted
her
to
know
that
and
I
told
her
I've
been
thinking
about
you
since
yesterday
and
that
she
wasn't
just
a
number
she
was.
You
know
we
really
did
care,
so
that
was
difficult.
What.
B
A
powerful
reminder
that
of
those
cases
that
we
announce
every
day
as
that
number
increased,
that
each
one
of
those
is
an
individual
within
our
community,
that's
connected
to
family
and
friends
and
communities
who
care
about
them.
Thank
you
guys
for
being
on
that
front
line
of
working
with
each
of
these
individuals,
which
the
providers
I'm
hearing
those
stories.
What
important
and
powerful
work
that
you
do,
that
you
lead
both
with
the
science
and
the
evidence
and
with
the
compassion
as
well.
So
we
really
appreciate
that.
Thank
you.
So,
on
that
note,
I
mean.
C
B
You
truly
are
part
of
the
first
response
in
this
on
the
frontlines
working
with
individuals
with
patients
with
that
touch
of
that
special
nursing
touch
that
you
provide,
and
we
are
eternally
grateful
for
your
work,
and
we
want
to
invite
the
public
to
take
the
time
today
to
thank
a
nurse
if
you
can
and
then
this
coming
week,
knowing
the
sacrifices
that
they
make
in
the
protection
of
our
community.
And
finally,
we
want
to
remind
the
public,
as
the
weather
is
again
beautiful
out,
that
the
orders
to
shelter
in
place
still
hold.
B
Please
try
to
reduce
your
contacts
to
the
extent
possible,
Rudy,
even
essential
activities
that
may
be
allowed
under
the
order
that
all
of
those
choices
to
reduce
context
help
to
break
those
chains
of
transmission.
You
we
may
not
know
that
we're
infected
because
of
a
symptomatic
spread
so
as
much
as
possible
to
reduce
those
contacts
limit
exposure
if
you
are
out
maintain
social
distance,
provide
good
hand-washing.
Wear
a
face
covering
and
continue
those
practices.
B
We
know
we've
been
at
this
for
many
many
weeks
and
we
have
to
continue
to
keep
going
and
in
the
meantime
we
are
here
for
you.
We
will
continue
to
stand
up
the
public
health
operation
more
and
more
to
respond
and
we're
constantly
growing
and
evolving,
as
our
nurses
have
shared
today.
So
thank
you
for
your
partnership
with
us
and
have
a
great
day.