City of Cupertino, CA County of Santa Clara COVID-19 Videos, 2 Aug 2021

Previous Meeting Next Meeting

⏯

youtube image

►

From YouTube: County Public Health Dept. Press Conference (Indoor Mask Mandate) - August 2, 2021

Description

Santa Clara County is experiencing significant increases in COVID-19 cases, due primarily to the Delta variant of the virus. Emerging evidence indicates that the Delta variant is more transmissible than prior variants of the virus and that even fully vaccinated individuals can spread the virus to others. For these reasons, the Health Officer is issuing a new Health Order requiring the use of face coverings indoors by everyone.

Vaccines remain the most powerful tool in the fight against COVID-19, including the Delta variant. Nonetheless, the Delta variant is infecting a small percentage of the vaccinated — who remain strongly protected against severe illness, hospitalization, and death. In those instances of infection in a vaccinated person, a face covering prevents further spread. Bay Area health officials urge all unvaccinated residents 12 and older to get vaccinated as soon as possible. The new Order of the Health Officer of the County of Santa Clara requires wearing a well-fitting mask indoors in public and non-public indoor settings.

Get vaccinated today at https://www.sccFreeVax.org

This press conference was recorded on August 2, 2021.

For more information regarding the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in Cupertino, please visit https://www.cupertino.org/coronavirus

A

For the latest information regarding the covid 19 pandemic in cupertino, please visit cupertino.org coronavirus.

B

Good afternoon my name is james williams. I'm the county council for the county of santa clara joining me this afternoon is dr george hahn, deputy health officer for the county of santa clara. Earlier today, the health officers of a number of counties around the bay area announced the implementation of health officer orders requiring masking indoors.

B

This order comes basically in light of the delta variant of covid19 and dr hans, going to talk a little bit more about that and build on some of the comments that were shared by the health officers collectively at their press conference at noon.

B

I wanted to take just a quick minute to talk a little bit about what the order itself means in terms of implementation, and then we are available to answer questions that you may have. I think the best way to summarize what the order is asking people to do is this.

B

If you can wear a mask indoors, you should, and if you're doing an activity where you can't wear a mask indoors, you can still do that activity, but you should try to minimize it or move it outdoors and put your mask back on as soon as you're done.

B

If you follow that basic principle, that essentially, is what the order is asking, and I think everything else follows from that: it's not a restriction on any particular activity occurring.

B

It doesn't, for example, forbid indoor dining, but when you can wear a mask indoors, you should, and by doing so it is one very powerful, additional protective measure that we can take to try to bring down the level of community transmission of covet 19 an additional layer of protection in light of this delta variant, and as we continue to urge vaccination, which we know is the most effective tool masking is the next best measure we can take to layer.

B

On top of that, I'm going to turn it now over to dr han we'll talk a little bit about what's going on with the delta variant and then, like I said, we're available for.

C

Questions, thank you and good afternoon. As you know, the delta variant is now the predominant variant here in the bay area and across the country, and what that means is the virus has changed.

C

We knew we had previous versions of the virus that we knew had to deal with and which we had previous guidelines and policies for, but now with this delta vary, that's come up in the last month or two. We now know that even vaccinated people who are infected with the delta variant can transmit it to other people, and so that's why it's important now to recommend and actually in fact order, everyone who is indoors in any indoor space uh with other people who they don't live with, wear a mask again.

C

This does not prohibit any activities, and so, if you're eating you'll take off your mask while you eat and then you'll put it back on after you're done, but the fact of the matter is the delta variant is very contagious and it's much more contagious than previous versions of the covet virus, and that's why it's really important for everyone to mask up whenever they're indoors, with others at this time.

C

In addition, now is a good time to get vaccinated. If you aren't already vaccinated, the vaccine is still doing what it needs to do, which is to stop you from getting so sick that you're going to land in the hospital or die.

C

The vaccine also helps protect against infection, but that's not a hundred percent, and so even though it's still better to um to to be vaccinated than not. um There is a possibility that vaccinated people can become infected and and even transmit the virus, and that's why it's important for everyone to mat to be masked while indoors, when you're in indoor setting the virus is much more easily transmitted than when you're in an outdoor setting.

C

And so that's why we focused on indoor settings to prevent the transmission of the cova virus and with that we'll take questions.

D

Yeah, can you specify the places where the map is absolutely mandated and mandated and where it's not, and, for example, how is this going to affect restaurants.

B

Sure so the question was: can you specify where masking is required and what impact might this have on restaurants or gyms or other businesses? So, first of all, the the setting is very simple anywhere indoors.

B

The santa clara county health order applies to all indoor spaces, public or private, where you are mixing with other people who are not from your household.

B

So if you are at a large indoor gathering, if you are at a a shopping center, if you are at a movie theater, if you're in a restaurant, you need to wear your mask indoors unless you're actively engaged in an activity where you can't do that activity with the mask on. So what does that mean?

B

That means that if you need to remove your mask in order to eat or drink such as at a restaurant or to receive a personal care service like a facial, massage or something like that, you can remove your face covering for that activity.

B

It's basically the same rule that was in place uh before mid-june. So this is not something new. It's the same rule! That's that's in that's, been in place up through today for unvaccinated individuals in indoor settings. It's the same rule that was in place for all of us until mid-june. It is not a restriction or prohibition on any particular activity or any business.

B

But if you can wear a mask indoors, you need to that's basically the bottom line. How.

D

About like a cardio class inside a gym because back in june, that was not permitted normally um so then you know we progressed into permitting these things. So in a gym I was supposed to wear the mask at all.

B

If you can wear your mask in the gym, you need to wear your mask in the gym.

B

If you're showering, you don't need to wear your mask and if you're engaged in a particular activity in the gym, where you're you as an individual are having trouble breathing, then you can remove your mask for the completion of that activity, but at all other times you need to wear your mask and again the principle is very simple, which is: if you can wear a mask indoors, you need to and we're trying to maximize the utilization of masking indoors to provide this added layer of protection without closing any business activities.

B

Imposing capacity limits or shutting down any activities is.

E

The county gonna plan to redeploy its enforcement unit uh on this, and how exactly is enforcement gonna work, so the.

B

Question was about enforcement. If, uh if people have concerns, if they've identified issues, our portal is still live and available at sccovidconcerns.org and our enforcement team will follow up on those just as we have throughout the pandemic.

B

But you know it's. The this community has always had very strong adherence on masking, and I expect that that will.

D

B

There's a question about whether to be special attention to establishments that have broken mask mandates in the past. um You know what I can say on. That is if there was an entity that had subsequent violations, the prior history of violations is always taken into account in terms of, if there's a fine or follow-up actions that are necessary.

B

So that's one of the factors that that goes into things, but there's not going to be any. um You know specific enforcement effort targeted at those entities.

D

As we were in the past, due to the covert to the delta cases going up, is that even a possibility and if so like? Where would you be right now.

B

So the question was about the tears. um You know the the state has retired the the tier blueprint framework which had different levels of restrictions associated with it. That is, uh you know. That was a state framework that wasn't a county framework and the county is not looking at a similar framework, there's something that's very different today than from many months ago, and that is that we do actually have an overwhelming percentage of the population vaccinated.

B

So, even though there are many people who are not yet fully vaccinated, most folks in our county are- and that means the likelihood of hospitalization and death, is greatly reduced and that that puts us in a much better place. So we need everyone else to get vaccinated and you can go to scc. Freevax.Org getting a vaccine is so easy right now, there's ample supply access availability, but this is just an added layer of protection. Given the high levels of transmission that we're seeing james.

F

Are there any differences unique to santa clara county in this order, and what would you say about the fact that we have a couple of counties, napa and solano that are not on board with this be the way people travel? Aren't there some concern there.

B

So so the questions are there any differences in the santa clara county uh order, um and what about some other counties, um the uh the orders by and large, even though they're formatted differently, they all say essentially the same thing which is to mask indoors.

B

I think the one difference in santa clara county, which is consistent with the approach that we've taken throughout the pandemic in developing health orders and regulations, is that it applies uniformly to indoor settings, public and private, whereas most of the other orders apply to public facilities and urge masking in private settings, but the top line there isn't um it's basically the same, which is if you're indoors and you're mixing with other folks. You should wear a mask.

F

And the fact that napa and solono aren't on board is that uh that's that's their problem.

B

Yeah I can't comment on on um you know those counties in particular, but los angeles county sacramento county issued orders. Previously the state has issued a statewide recommendation and obviously the cdc has issued a nationwide recommendation and all of those are basically consistent with the orders announced today, and so that recommendation is certainly a statewide one.

B

I'm going to go to this lady, please.

G

What are you advising businesses to do when customers come in and refuse to wear a mask and then a second question for dr han? If you could give us a sense of how many breakthrough cases you're seeing and what type of increase that has been over the last few months.

B

Sure so the first question was: what do we advise businesses to do in terms of the masking requirement? Businesses are required to be enforcing the the masking rules, and that includes putting up signage that informs people that they must mask entering the facility. We also encourage, but it's not mandated that businesses make masks available. If there are individuals entering that, don't have their own.

B

That's not different than the expectation that was in place uh up through mid-june for businesses, and so we would expect that they would be taking the same kinds of steps as they were previously with regard to masking and by the way that they are supposed to be taking now with respect to unvaccinated individuals, because the state does have a masking requirement that is mandatory for unvaccinated individuals entering a facility.

G

But could unvaccinated customers face fines.

B

Persons who are entering a facility without wearing a mask potentially could, just as they could previously, given the health order.

H

I do I know we can't say this is two weeks long. This is a month long, something like that. But what are we looking for to change this back again this time? What would have to change.

B

Dr han may want to add to that, but but the one thing I will say, is throughout the pandemic.

B

What we have always done in santa clara county is look at the science of what's happening broadly in the pandemic and apply it to our local data and make decisions based on that. So you we look at. You know, what's happening with the delta variant broadly, what new information is emerging such as what's come out from the cdc in the last week and then look at what's happening locally and that and then informs the decisions and dr hanan. If you want to add to that.

C

Yeah, certainly this time around we're dealing with delta and we'll have we'll have to keep an eye on what happens with delta or if other variants start to rise.

C

Interestingly, what's happening is the case rates are going up very rapidly and the hospitalization rates are also going up, but less rapidly and almost exclusively amongst folks who are unvaccinated and so we'll certainly be taking a hard look at hospitalization rates and who's getting hospitalized, and that will probably be one of the primary things that we look at in terms of how successful we are in this mask mandate and we'll also be looking at vaccination rates, and so there's there's a host of factors that we'll need to monitor in order to know when would be appropriate to lift any mask mandate and in reference to the question about case rates among vaccinated and unvaccinated and breakthrough infections.

C

So certainly with the rise of delta in the last month, or so, we have seen an increase in the number of cases who have been fully vaccinated uh and we're really working on and digesting the data through that. But the state is, you know, we're sending that data up to the state and that's really the best place to get an idea overall of.

C

What's what's going on, but in general our trends mirror what we're seeing across the bay area and the state which is still the majority of cases, are occurring in unvaccinated people, and the vast majority of hospitalizations are incurring in unvaccinated people. And so what this tells us is.

C

The vaccine is still really good at doing what it's supposed to do, even with the delta variant. It's still really good at preventing serious illness and death, and so that's why it's so critical for everyone to be vaccinated as soon as possible. If you aren't already.

C

I do also want to keep in mind that there is a large segment of our population, namely our children, who are unable to get who are vaccinated because they're not eligible yet, and we want to try to protect our children as much as possible and one of the best ways we can do. That is to wear a mask uh with with children around, and so that's why anytime you're in an indoor indoor space with anyone who you don't live with, we really do um think it's important for you to wear a mask.

D

Can you specify a little bit as far as the spaces per day and how we're doing in the emergency rooms and the hospitals as far it's outside.

C

um I don't have that number right in front of me, but what I can say is uh the vast majority of cases are delta variant and so chances are. If you get kova today, it's going to be from a delta variant, that's the most most likely scenario. What I can also say is that the case rate amongst people who are unvaccinated is at least several times higher than if you're vaccinated, and that is a trend that we're seeing across the bay area.

D

How they've gone new cars.

C

uh I don't have that right for me, yeah.

E

Well, will this uh continue like the enforcement that you're going to do? Will it be mainly complaint based or are you guys going to look for you know businesses or places that are not adhering to these rules? Yes,.

B

The question was around enforcement um and and throughout the pandemic most of the enforcement efforts have been complaint based and we do have our portal and we anticipate continuing with the same uh general approach that we've taken.

B

You know if there's a need to adjust, we can make adjustments, but, um but you know again, I'm on on masking um you know, using a face covering indoors is something that is very simple: we're used to it now uh we um still have to be using face coverings in all sorts of different settings. So you know this. uh Today's order announcement isn't something novel or difficult or complicated. It's actually pretty straightforward and the biggest thing that I want to emphasize for folks is you don't need to digest complicated regulations?

B

It's really straightforward. If you can wear a mask while doing an activity indoors, you need to wear a mask indoors. That's it's that simple.

B

It doesn't require anything more complicated than that, and so because it's that simple and straightforward, because it's something that we're used to now uh is certainly our expectation and I'm sure it will be true that in this community we will have excellent adherence to masking indoors, and I think we all want to see the community transmission of covid come down with this delta variant.

B

We need to get everyone else vaccinated. We need to encourage our neighbors and friends to get vaccinated, but masking is an important thing. We can add right now to bring this overall community transmission down.

E

You know in response to the county's enforcement last year, there's been kind of a disconnect between the threat posed by the virus and the fines that were given out to establishments based on the fact that those establishments didn't have outbreaks last year. So fines were given out to establishments that that didn't have outbreaks, and I guess I wonder if that aspect of the enforcement will change.

B

Yeah, I I think you might be referring to an article in yesterday's paper, and I would just say that, from our perspective, the premise behind that analysis is faulty and reflects a misunderstanding of what the outbreak data is and what subset of cases it represents.

I

Would you consider implementing more program, 19 testing for people.

B

So the questions about testing, I'm actually glad you asked about testing. We have definitely seen an increase in demand for kova testing. You can go to scc-freetest.org.

B

Our testing infrastructure has remained very robust in our county and we're continuing to ramp testing capacity up to meet the increase in demand, but we have maintained a lot of access to testing and testing continues to be available for free. We also still have in place the county's testing order for large health systems, and so you can also obtain testing through any of the large health care systems in santa clara county.

C

I do want to add that now is the right time to return to activities you know preferably outside you know, if you plan to have a gathering in your home, uh you know it's good to at this point, move it to be outside whether it's a backyard barbecue or something like that outside is certainly safer than indoors, and even if you're indoors.

C

There are other measures you can take in addition to masking to help increase safety, and that includes maximizing ventilation, which thing are things like: opening windows and doors or running the hvac system, and there are masks that are certain masks, are better than others.

C

Not all face coverings are created, equal and so we'd recommend at least the medical grade, such as a surgical mask to wear, and you know, for example, you wouldn't want to wear things like nut eaters, and so I think, if, if we can get the word out, that the kind of mask that you wear also makes a difference, that would be an important.

A

A

For the latest information regarding the covid 19 pandemic in cupertino, please visit cupertino.org.

A