San Mateo County Health Officer Statement on Bay Area Stay-at-Home Orders • Hacker News Board

Re: San Mateo County Health Officer Statement on Bay Area Stay-at-Home Orders

#21

Post by tayo42 » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 4:31 AM UTC

Seems like he's being contrarian at times.

> what we have before us is a symbolic gesture, it appears to be style over substance

I think the problem with being idealistic is people will see this leader,(especially in liberal mecca that is the sf bay area or how ever those people talk now) will latch on to this as a reason to do keep acting irresponsibly and justify their behavior.

> Less overall mobility, means less spread. The take home message here is: STOP MOVING!

This is why all the counties should act together, otherwise people just go to the open place to do what they want. The adults act like children and need to be treated that way.

> I continue to strongly believe our schools need to be open. The adverse effects for some of our kids will likely last for generations.

This comes off as dramatic. Like is missing a year of 4th grade going to be a problem for anyone? I barely remember school up until 11th grade at this point. Generations? Why is he saying that?

I agree with this though

> That the State considers pro sports a critical infrastructure (essential) activity undermines this whole rubric in my mind.

Re: San Mateo County Health Officer Statement on Bay Area Stay-at-Home Orders

#22

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 4:31 AM UTC

jaspax wrote: post #15

What a delightful thing to read. It's so rare in this pandemic to see public health officials actually speaking frankly with a full command of the relevant facts, instead of either rottenly repeating the current consensus or sticking their head in the sand about the whole thing. I especially appreciated his points about "essential businesses" being a totally incoherent category, and his unwillingness to impose restri…

[deleted]

Re: San Mateo County Health Officer Statement on Bay Area Stay-at-Home Orders

#23

Post by JamesVI » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 4:32 AM UTC

plasma wrote: post #16

It takes leadership of government, focus, sacrifice, and understanding of the citizens to fight this virus. I'm based in Australia, Victoria (population of 6m+, exceeding the 800k mentioned in the Bay Area [EDIT: San Mateo county]) and we have now had over 30 days of zero cases of coronavirus, after having a peak of 680+ per day [1]. We went into a tough lockdown, stamped out the virus, and are slowly easing restrict…

800k is San Mateo county only.

The whole Bay Area has a population of closer to 8M.

Re: San Mateo County Health Officer Statement on Bay Area Stay-at-Home Orders

#24

Post by hnrodey » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 4:32 AM UTC

The article says in San Mateo county there are an estimated 8000-15000 contagious people.

That’s several times higher than how many positive test results have been logged in the past 14 days.

https://thecovidcomplex.com/state/california/san-mateo/summa...

Disclosure: this is my website based on data from the New York Times.

Re: San Mateo County Health Officer Statement on Bay Area Stay-at-Home Orders

#25

Post by olliej » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 4:33 AM UTC

avalys wrote: post #17

Wow. Lest anyone think that Dr. Morrow is some kind of anti-lockdown activist - back in the spring, San Mateo county had one of the most restrictive and prescriptive lockdowns of anywhere in the US (residents were ordered to limit outdoor recreation to within 5 miles of their home). It takes a lot of guts to just look objectively at the data and do what you think is right, regardless of what pressure you’re getting f…

Well, it's been demonstrated around the country that not locking down is considered perfectly acceptable.

The reason for the lock down is to prevent numbers from skyrocketing - the anemic response from the US ensures long term economic damage due to failure to control the outbreak - the question becomes one of what the numbers in Sean Mateo will do over the next few weeks compared to the surrounding cities. Ignoring of course infections spread to the surrounding areas by San Mateo remaining open.

Re: San Mateo County Health Officer Statement on Bay Area Stay-at-Home Orders

#26

Post by soupson » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 4:33 AM UTC

I understand that Dr Morrow is a health professional and not a writing professional. For this reason, I would recommend that San Mateo county hire a public relations / social media expert to do some editing on this and future posts. It lacks the structure and coherent message that a public notice needs. I read it from start to finish and I’m not sure exactly what purpose it served beyond Dr. Morrow justifying his decision to the public. Which I’m not sure anyone asked for.

I think this could be cut down to a few salient points:

(1) Social distancing, mask wearing, and staying at home are the best ways to keep you and others safe.

(2) Based on the best available information about hospital capacity, San Mateo is not issuing a Stay at Home order at this time. This means outdoor dining, take out, full capacity grocery remain open at the retailer’s discretion. San Mateo will comply with a Governor’s order if and when that order is issued.

(3) Schools will remain open in San Mateo with appropriate sanitation and distancing measures as appropriate.

The other 11 points are not needed and should be eliminated. There is also a significant amount of hedging that is not appropriate for a public official / medical professional. He’s a leader and an expert, he should state his opinion as one.

Re: San Mateo County Health Officer Statement on Bay Area Stay-at-Home Orders

#27

Post by teej » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 4:33 AM UTC

wwweston wrote: post #20

ivankirigin wrote: post #3

This is a surprisingly coherent. I live in San Mateo County. One thing I've noticed is that the cases are not evenly distributed. California has 600/1M new cases, vs 1000/M in South Dakota. LA county has 740/1M. San Mateo County has 313/1M. Within San Mateo County, San Carlos is 119/1M, and East Palo Alto is 675/1M. It's incredibly hard to set policy when everything is so different, down to towns with 30K people a fe…

Aren't the latest California directives attempting to adapt to this at least at the county level by tying restrictions to hospital capacity in each county? https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/12/03/california-health-official...

Yes, but the other Bay Area counties have chosen to shut down way in advance of that.

Re: San Mateo County Health Officer Statement on Bay Area Stay-at-Home Orders

#28

Post by plasma » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 4:33 AM UTC

JamesVI wrote: post #23

plasma wrote: post #16

It takes leadership of government, focus, sacrifice, and understanding of the citizens to fight this virus. I'm based in Australia, Victoria (population of 6m+, exceeding the 800k mentioned in the Bay Area [EDIT: San Mateo county]) and we have now had over 30 days of zero cases of coronavirus, after having a peak of 680+ per day [1]. We went into a tough lockdown, stamped out the virus, and are slowly easing restrict…

800k is San Mateo county only. The whole Bay Area has a population of closer to 8M.

Thank you, corrected.

Re: San Mateo County Health Officer Statement on Bay Area Stay-at-Home Orders

#29

Post by tayo42 » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 4:34 AM UTC

ajay-b wrote: post #13

Agreed, but what is missing from all of these explanations and defenses is a concrete plan for exiting SAH and lockdown orders. Where does it end, or is it preferable that it never ends?

> or is it preferable that it never ends?

Hesitant to respond because I think your fishing for a certain response with that line, but the state has guidelines for each stage of lock down we're in.

Re: San Mateo County Health Officer Statement on Bay Area Stay-at-Home Orders

#30

Post by olliej » Tue, Dec 08, 2020, 4:34 AM UTC

rlt wrote: post #19

sbeller wrote: post #11

Great read. (resident in San Mateo County here) I personally think the whole country should focus more on the greater good for everyone by culling the virus instead of doing this open-nd-close back and forth juggling, as to optimize for the best outcome available (similar to New Zealand). But then again I am not well versed on the Nash equilibrium when it comes to highly infectious diseases.

For better or worse it’s simply not in America’s collective nature to obey authority on the scale you’re hoping for.

Especially when the party in control of the government spent months claiming that it was a hoax.