Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board
of Supervisors
From: Louise Rogers, Chief, San Mateo County
HealthScott Morrow, MD, San Mateo County
Health Officer
Subject:
Declaration of Local Health Emergency RECOMMENDATION:
title
Adopt a resolution ratifying and extending the
declaration of local health emergency by the San Mateo County
Health Officer.
body
BACKGROUND:
Section 101080
of the California
Health and Safety Code authorizes a
local health officer to declare a
local health emergency within the
health officer's jurisdiction, or any part
of that jurisdiction, when the
health officer determines that there is an imminent and proximate threat
of the introduction
of, among other things, any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease.
Under the
Health and Safety Code, a
local health officer's
declaration of a
local health emergency shall remain in effect for no more than seven days, unless the
declaration has been ratified by the governing authority
of the
local jurisdiction in which the
local health emergency has been declared.
DISCUSSION:
On March 3, 2020, County Public
Health Officer Dr. Scott Morrow declared a
local health emergency in San Mateo County due to the introduction in the County
of a novel coronavirus, named "COVID-19" by the World
Health Organization ("WHO"). In his
declaration, Dr. Morrow noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") has stated that COVID-19 is a serious public
health threat.
He also stated that the number
of reported COVID-19 cases has escalated dramatically over a short period
of time and that, as
of March 1, 2020, the WHO reported 87,137 confirmed cases
of COVID-19, with 79,968 cases in China and the remaining 7,169 cases in 58 other countries. The WHO also reported that, as
of March 1, 2020, there have been 2,873 deaths in China due to COVID-19, and another 104 deaths in other countries. (These numbers continue to increase; ...
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