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B’game Town Hall – COVID-19 local updates

The City Council and City staff ran an hour-long Zoom webinar tonight to update about 175 residents on the status of various actions to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.  I thought it was very well done with kudos to the mayor and especially City Manager Lisa Goldman.  The link to the recording is up on the city website here.

If you don't have an hour, here are a few of my takeaways.  The County website SMChealth.org is "information central" for the most current counts of cases and for the status of shelter-in-place restrictions.  It is usually updated mostly in the morning but the FAQs are continuously updated.  The County is taking a number of steps to prepare for the anticipated uptick in cases.  It has rented a number of B'game hotel rooms for non-hospitalization-needed cases; as well as first responders who may not have the ability to do their regular commutes.  The County is also accepting volunteers' contact info and has about 1,000 volunteers already, but there is not yet a clear direction on what they might do.  The same goes for our favorite local preparedness group BNN and its CERT-trained teams.  More info to follow as recommended actions are decided upon.

The County has set up 211 phone service for those that may not know how or where to look on-line.  I have to imagine that is more of a last resort for more complicated questions.

Similarly, if you see things in town that merit some intervention or seem non-essential–like groups of teens congregating in public or gardeners gardening– you can call the Non-Emergency BPD phone at 650 777-4100.  Officers will educate them and disperse where necessary and they have a flyer to hand out–so you should not do it yourself if you are not comfortable–and who would be?  Note that housing construction and repair has been deemed an "essential service" by the county, so don't call about contractors.

The County has allocated $3M of Measure K funds to "help out" and is soliciting donations to a 501c3 named SMC Strong–more to follow when details emerge but I'm guessing you have several ideas on who needs support directly.  CallPrimrose is accepting monetary donations, but no food, clothing, etc at this time.

Those are my key findings from the one-hour webcast and I believe we will be seeing more of these.  In the future, we need to incorporate slides (graphics/text) so that items like phone numbers and websites don't have to be repeated verbally–people still don't reliably get them that way.  This is standard stuff in the corporate world and can easily scale to meet municipal communication needs.  All in all, good show.  It's worth you going to view it–you probably have the time ;-(

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39 responses to “B’game Town Hall – COVID-19 local updates”

  1. Mom

    Perfect. Thank you!

  2. Pat T.

    Thanks for doing collecting and promoting solid, useful information.

  3. Peter Garrison

    Thanks Joe

  4. Cassandra

    As Moe said to the other Stooges: “Spread out.”
    Who needs to spread out? Well, of course, we all in general.
    But how about in general for national, economic and health security?
    How about:
    Silicon Valley?
    Washington’s Boeing and their Silicon Valley?
    New York Stock Exchange?
    No more stack and pack housing?
    Homeless shelters?
    If government wants to save lives most effectively, they would outlaw liquor and tobacco and set a curfew of midnight just for added safety.

  5. Phinancier

    This is helpful, thanks. I may watch it but did they talk about any support for small businesses in town besides what might come from a slice from the county?

  6. Joe

    There was nothing specific beyond the SMC Strong fund mentioned above. There was a question on delaying property taxes which was met with a firm “no” since they need that money to fund everything else. There was also a mention by Michael Brownrigg (we can call him “Michael” again, I think) about continuing to pay housekeepers, caregivers and gardeners thru the shelter order.
    On another note, I checked the SMCHealth.org site and we had 165 cases in the county as of this morning. That is a key thing to watch.

  7. 769,545 People in the county

    https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sanmateocountycalifornia#

  8. Joe

    30 new cases since yesterday– from 165 to 195 as of this morning. Thank you, 769,545–I thought the County was a bit larger, but I guess not.

  9. Joe

    Today’s count is shown as “provisional”– not sure what that means, but it is at 239; up 45 which is 50% higher than yesterday’s increase.

  10. Winnie

    I disagree Joe, the meeting was a virtue signalling event with little or no information that I had not gleened already. ‘Mayor’ calling ‘Vice Mayor’ to chime in. I went to bed that night disturbed by the sense that they know no more than we ourselves know. No leadership and certainly there was no comforter in chief like Dr Fausi or Dr Brix.

  11. Sally Meakin

    Thank you, Joe.

  12. Joe

    Today’s count is 274. Up 35 from yesterday, so a much lower increase than yesterday. It’s just one day’s data point so nothing to applaud very much.
    @Winnie. I do love a contrarian! I suppose it depends on what one’s expectations were going into the webcast. I wasn’t expecting amazing insights–just some localized version of the wider news. I think we got that, but agree not much more.

  13. Joe

    This morning’s count is 277 – only up 3 cases from yesterday! Still way too soon to relax, but going in the right direction.
    I was talking to a friend in Santa Clara county yesterday who was under the impression that they were the Bay Area epicenter. So was I until I went a did the analysis. On a per capita basis, San Mateo county is was just a shade worse hit than Santa Clara county as of yesterday–so stay safe out there.

  14. Joe

    Today’s count is 309.
    Up 32 cases from yesterday–so the “curve” is mostly a straight line: +30, +45, +35, +3, +32 over the last five days.

  15. Joe

    The county site (https://www.smchealth.org/coronavirus) went to a graphical dashboard for reporting, but the number of cases is the same as yesterday–309. I’m not sure what to make of that so we will see what tomorrow brings. You can now see the age distribution of the cases and the deaths.

  16. Joe

    Interesting change/update from the city newsletter today:
    “Most construction—residential and commercial—is prohibited”.
    I’m guessing too much activity was proceeding under “residential construction” so it is now prohibited.

  17. hollyroller@gmail.com

    As I recall, @ three fifths of the housing in Burlingame is Rental. I have been reading about Statewide Rental Strikes as well as a Non Eviction law that will be in place soon, if not already.
    This will happen. How do all the Burlingame landlords feel about this?
    How will they recoup what is owed?

  18. Joe

    There must have been some new cases on Monday that did not get into yesterday’s count. The County on-line dashboard has a new look and a new total of 388 today. That is up 79 cases in two days so still linear from the trend line of last week.

  19. Joe

    Good stuff here:
    The Burlingame community is raising money, lifting spirits and supporting the local economy with a charitable program buying meals for medical workers fighting on the frontlines to stop the spread of COVID-19.
    An online fundraiser started to purchase lunches and dinners from Burlingame restaurants for delivery to emergency workers at Mills-Peninsula Medical Center raised approximately $21,000 overnight through crowdsourcing website GoFundMe.
    Burlingame resident Jeff DeMartini said he was initially inspired to launch the fundraiser out of gratitude for those working long hours to protect the community, while exposing themselves to the threat of contracting the potentially lethal coronavirus.
    https://www.smdailyjournal.com/lifestyle/food/burlingame-fundraiser-buys-local-meals-for-mills-peninsula-medical-center-workers/article_5e857914-73ca-11ea-82b0-8f3da5ea3ca4#utm_source=smdailyjournal.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1585749612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

  20. hollyroller@gmail.com

    Bless you Mr. Jeff DeMartini.
    How about the City of Burlingame throw in a Few Shekel’s?
    Free Bayside Hotel Rooms for these Angels to Decompress in?

  21. Joe

    +65 cases today so some acceleration from the trend line.

  22. Lorne

    Thanks for the heads-up re: Jeff DeMartini’s wonderful initiative- my family just donated. Per the immortal words of my favorite band: “Don’t tell me this town ain’t got no heart.” 🙂

  23. Joe

    Only up +33 today to 486–half of yesterday’s increase!
    Dave Pine is asking the main question:
    “When will it end?” Pine said. “The public is really eager to understand.”
    He said Wednesday that, “It’s incumbent on the county, particularly with the shelter in place being extended, that we do our best to articulate when shelter-in-place would be scaled back or stopped.”
    The requirement is tough on people — and tougher without an idea of when the measure might end, Pine said.
    https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/san-mateo-county-supervisor-asks-how-long-shelter-in-place-order-will-be/article_a2c12caa-7496-11ea-be7e-c7464c2757e2

  24. Joe

    Another pretty quiet day +52 cases. 538 cases in 31 days for a population of 3/4 million people.

  25. hollyroller@gmail.com

    In your opinion Mr.Joe, what does that figure represent?

  26. Peter Garrison

    It’s difficult for me to wait. Maybes can drive me nuts. Yes or no is a better answer for my mental health. When will this Stay Home thing end? Relatively easy for me, but the economic hit is going to be hard for others for a long time…
    In the meantime, how about this thought-experiment.
    Let’s say the number of infections trend downward for 2 weeks. The authorities jointly declare a set “Personal Freedom/Responsibility Day to take place in another 10 days. Businesses are advised to be ready to open with the social distancing procedures they think appropriate as citizens are advised to social-distance and wear face coverings.
    Personal Freedom/Responsibilty day is declared 10 days later and business slowly creaks back to life. If an outbreak of the virus begins to reappear, a 7 day SIP is requested as a civic duty.
    In the meantime, during the PFR Day experiment, the citizens’ ability to shame, nag and hound people and businesses who shirk their civic duty should keep things in line as the experiment continues.
    If after a month, the infection rate is low, then we consider the virus as we do any other flu.
    OK- another thought experiment:
    Now that we have the ability to detect and sorta track an epidemic/pandemic and see the deaths approaching and surrounding us, then, ethically, why would we not close down the nation for a month-long Winter-Flu Break every flu/cold season?
    Shouldn’t every disease death count as much as one from Covid-19?
    And, to take the thought-experiment further, why not enforce the prohibition of real killers such as alcohol and tobacco, and cars that can go faster than 20 mph.
    To balance the thought experiment with societal values, remember the debate about the California water crises and the worries about how much water almond growers or cattle ranchers use? Never mentioned is the amount of water vineyards use.
    OK- Have fun with these Thought-Experiments! Only serious responses recognized.

  27. Mom

    This is in today’s Daily Journal
    San Mateo County is developing an agreement with Stanford to use modeling to determine when the shelter-in-place order for coronavirus can end, County Manager Mike Callagy said.
    “This really is a science that can be developed and relied upon,” Callagy said.

  28. Joe

    Only 17 new cases today (555 total). The number is quite low, but we are not yet to the point where one could say we are ready to get back to “normal” whatever that might end up being. I haven’t been adding deaths to this thread–too morbid, but that number is really, really low.
    Once we get some news on how much testing is really going on in the County and, even better, some sense of how many people have a fever and a cough and are just staying home because going into a hospital seems even more dangerous, then we can assess where we are regarding Pete’s “Personal Freedom/Responsibility Day”.

  29. Joe

    Today’s count it 579, up only 21 from yesterday. The County’s chart is off somehow showing a daily increase of twice that number. I’m using the exact figures they show in big font everyday.

  30. Joe

    Today’s count of cases is really, really low. 5 new cases. That’s the lowest since early March. If this keeps up, something is going to have to change regarding the shelter-in-place rules. I hope the County and the State are thinking about some hybrid rule–recall Dave Pine was asking this question more than a week ago.

  31. Joe

    Another very low increase in cases– +5 today just like yesterday. Total is 589. The County has added another section to the dashboard showing how many people are hospitalized with COVID-19; right now it’s 159. Each section of the dashboard is still not totally in sync with each other, but I believe the big “New Cases” entry is probably the most accurate.

  32. Joe

    Looks like the County has stopped updating the update page…………. the update was on April 6th. Can’t imagine why that is the case.
    Update: I figured out the browser glitch. +32 Tuesday, +22 Wednesday, Total now 633 as of yesterday. Still quite good, so keep it up.

  33. Joe

    Today’s update came later than usual – another LOW day, only +5 cases to 638.
    I forgot to mention the various programs that the City is looking into–Michael Brownrigg and Donna Colson are leading the charge on how to help local businesses:
    Burlingame officials blessed a package of programs worth an estimated nearly $1 million proposed to help suffering local businesses and residents recover from the hard times brought by COVID-19.
    Launching a grant program targeting businesses, offering a gift card program to residents, paying merchant fees to business improvement districts and temporarily waiving downtown parking fees were among the initiatives considered by officials Monday, April 6.
    https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/burlingame-imagines-virus-relief-programs/article_1e349888-794a-11ea-aa9e-5f648ac12010

  34. Joe

    12 new cases today up to a total of 652 since March 4th. The low numbers are causing people to ask if our high interactions with China due to Silicon Valley business interactions has given us a bit of herd immunity ahead of many places elsewhere in the country. Interesting theory.

  35. Joe

    The County numbers from last week appear to be shifting a bit retroactively, but that is probably to be expected. The changes are small. Right now the County is reporting 21 new cases over the weekend and a total of 701. The bar chart next to the 701 count actually shows 698 so again a tiny discrepancy.
    You can see the shift since that is an increase of 49 cases (or 46 if you go by the bar chart) but only 21 came in the last two days.
    There is also a new section of the page showing total tests given (6773) and the positive percentage (10.3%) so that is helpful to know.

  36. Joe

    14 new cases yesterday, but the total went up +20 to 721.
    County Health officer Scott Morrow has this to add:
    My best guess is that approximately 2-3% of the SMC population are currently infected or have recovered from the infection. That’s around 15-25,000 people and they are all over the county and in every community. I don’t believe this number is off by a factor of 10, but it could be off by a factor of 2 to 3. Without the SIP, it could have well been over 50-75,000 by now, and that would have overwhelmed our healthcare system. So if you want to get a sense of how many infected or recovered cases are around you, just multiply your city population by 2 or 3%. My best guess on the number of people who are capable of transmitting the virus now is just under 1%, or approximately 5-7,000 people.
    —————
    The city website lists our 2017 population as 30,686. Let’s round it up to 31,000 and take the higher 3% estimate from Morrow. That means we have about 930 people that live in town and are infected or recovered and about 310 who are infectious.

  37. hollyroller@gmail.com

    Another Excellent comment Joe.
    How many Latin people cooking “Take Out” @ Broadway/Burlingame Ave?
    Low wage Service Workers live in very crowded conditions…
    It is not uncommon that 4-6 Adults live in a One Bedroom.
    Anyway “Take Out” is Gambling with CV19.

  38. Joe

    Life is a gamble, sir.
    8 new cases today. Yesterday’s count went up by 2. The total is now 747. Only 390 tests have been given over the last two days and the positive rate is basically the same.

  39. hollyroller@gmail.com

    How did this happen everyone?
    Is this what happened to the Dinosaurs?
    Most likely, “The Dino’s” were unable to Communicate and Plan..
    Lucky for us “they” left us Oil.
    Listening to “The Trump” Message seems like listening to Dinosaur’s POV.
    Happy Tax Day All.
    Hillsider and I are looking forward to 4/20.

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