Name: San Mateo County will not issue stay-at-home order as other Bay Area counties shut down, health officer says
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San Mateo County will not issue stay-at-home order as other Bay Area counties shut down, health officer says

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SAN MATEO — San Mateo County public health officials will not be following in the footsteps of other Bay Area counties who have implemented new stay-at-home measures as the coronavirus surge continues.In a letter to county residents, public health officer Dr. Scott Morrow said he has not decided, so far, to advance on the shelter-at-home order in the way other counties have.The state’s new region-by-region stay-at-home order took effect Sunday night in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, where the capacity of intensive care units fell to 10.9% and 6.3% respectively, according to state data.Public health officials in the Bay Area — who did not need to take lockdown actions as part of the state-mandated stay-at-home orders — decided to move faster than the state order and adopted the new restrictions starting this week despite 25.7% of regional ICU beds still being open, well over the 15% threshold.Dr. Morrow’s reservations for taking these actions are made clear in the letter, where he says that “just because one has the legal authority to do something doesn’t mean one has to use it, or that using it is the best course of action.”He went on to say that while back in May the shelter-in-place order was necessary as a novel virus spread among the population, “what I believe now is the power and authority to control this pandemic lies primarily in your hands, not mine.”Dr. Morrow’s comments on Monday are deeply contradictory to the general message being spread by the rest of the Bay Area’s health officers, a group of professionals who since the start of the pandemic have aimed to use the power of the state to restrict people’s access to businesses and activities in an effort to slow the rate of infections.The joint action on Friday by health officers in Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Marin counties noticeably excluded three other Bay Area counties who have taken a slower approach. According to the state’s data, the number of available ICU beds in the Bay Area won’t fall below 15% until mid- to late-December.Along with his hesitation to implement similar orders to surrounding counties, Dr. Morrow outlined a dozen other reasons why the Peninsula county won’t be taking those steps. He said in the letter that he doesn’t think the new orders “will do much good” without enforcement mechanisms that have been largely absent since the start of the pandemic.Dr. Morrow also said he’s aware of no data that suggests business activities restricted by the state have had a major impact on transmission of the virus, and also noted that there’s no “good or standard method” for understanding ICU capacity on a county level, “much less on a regional level.”But Dr. Morrow said if the state puts the Bay Area under a stay-at-home order, San Mateo County “will support it.”“It may be that new data convinces me to take this action prior to the State’s action,” Dr. Morrow said. “Either of these situations occurring is really quite moot, because neither absolves you of your personal, social, and moral responsibility to stop the spread and protect your fellow humans, many of whom can’t stay at home because they are protecting you, or are keeping society running, or are at high risk of death.”Public health officials in San Mateo County on Monday reported 251 new cases of the virus, the most cases recorded in a single day since two record-breaking reports on Nov. 28 and Nov. 30. Officials say 176 people have died of the virus in the county, six of whom were reported dead Sunday.PrintThanks for reading!Get unlimited access to enjoy this article and moreAlready a subscriber? LoginView more on

SAN MATEO — San Mateo County public health officials will not be following in the footsteps of other Bay Area counties who have implemented new stay-at-home measures as the coronavirus surge continues.In a letter to county residents, public health officer Dr. Scott Morrow said he has not decided, so far, to advance on the shelter-at-home order in the way other counties have.The state’s new region-by-region stay-at-home order took effect Sunday night in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, where the capacity of intensive care units fell to 10.9% and 6.3% respectively, according to...

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Aldo Toledo

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San Mateo County will not issue stay-at-home order as other Bay Area counties shut down, health officer says

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