County COVID-19 Death Toll Reaches 53, More Than 1,900 Cases Confirmed

Speaker 1: 00:00 San Diego County health officials reported 83 more coronavirus cases and six more deaths yesterday, even as the curve in the region continues to flatten slightly. The latest numbers come as the Del Mar fair board announced the cancellation of the 2020 County fair after governor Newsome said yesterday that mass gatherings are not likely to be allowed for the foreseeable future. Joining us now to discuss the latest Cove in 19 developments in San Diego is County supervisor Nathan Fletcher, who's been leading the counties daily coronavirus press briefings. Thank you so much for joining us. Supervisor Fletcher. Thank you for having me. So yesterday the governor shared his strategy for approaching an end to coronavirus restrictions and they include more testing, protecting vulnerable residents, expanding hospital capacity before lifting those restrictions. He said local authorities would have quote a profound, an outsize influence on this is San Diego County on the same page as the governor on his six guiding principles. Speaker 2: 00:57 We are. And it really tracks very closely with a number of internal conversations and efforts and in large part, the way we're structured. Um, I do want to, I want to be clear though, what the governor is talking about and what's being contemplated a is a gradual easing of restrictions, not a point in time lifting of all. Um, and I think it is important to note that as we move forward through this process, I'm the six point in there, the governor reiterated was that there may be the dial may get turned into listening. Uh, we may see concerning or troubling things, uh, similar to what they're seeing in Singapore for example. And then we may have to dial some of those back. The hope is obviously that as we begin the easing, we can, and you want a steady state as we move true. Uh, but there really are a number of factors that have to be considered and all of the sacrifice has been made and all of the effort that has been taken, Oh, we don't want to waste bye by undoing and to rash away or, or, or an unjustified way that could lead us right back to them situation. Speaker 2: 01:55 Yeah. It really is above most important that we get this right, not only to protect public health and protect life, but to protect the integrity of the economy. As we begin to come back, we would like [inaudible] come back on smooth as trajectory as possible. Speaker 1: 02:08 Right. But will the County have the final say on when and exactly how to lift the restrictions? Speaker 2: 02:14 Yeah. That that really is to, to be determined I think. I think what the governor alluded to was was counties are in very different situations. They're in very different places. They have different economic bases. They have [inaudible] public health positioning. Uh, here in San Diego we moved much earlier than many other counties declaring the state of emergency a month before we had a single positive case. Uh, I would say we are doing much better than, than most other urban counties in California. And so I think that what you will see a is not necessarily a one size fits all state approach. Uh, but some distance fresh and given the County is really based on their ability to comply or have you planned to address the six core areas that the governor outlined and we are working tirelessly on each of those six and the governor's announcement helps us sharpen our focus on those core areas, which really are the key things you need to begin to be able to ease the restrictions and start the recovery process. Speaker 2: 03:07 I mean, Newsome did mention that widespread testing would be critical. What is San Diego's current testing capacity? Well, we're assessing it in real time with the, what the capacity is. There's really two questions and it is important to note that when we talk about testing, um, it, it's not like a, uh, pregnancy tests that you break out of a kid and you do something too and it gives you a result. One analogy that's been used in the past is you may have a printer, uh, but if you don't have toner and you don't have paper, it's not functionally a printer. And so we are working. We have an entire task force dedicated to working with both with what we have internally at the County lab with what our healthcare system partners have internal to them along with what's available to commercial labs to really get a clear picture of the capacity that everyone has and then establishing the criteria of who should be tested. Speaker 2: 03:53 The environment we're in now where we're still telling people if you have symptoms you don't need to go hospital stay home is a vastly different testing, a requirement to meet that need versus an environment where we are doing rapid and mass testing of everyone who instantly has it temperature in order to isolate them. You're welcome. We're envisioning for testing capacity needed coming out of this is very different than testing as we needed. Okay, and so we're assessing what do we have today, what do we need to be able to come out in this and how do we bridge that divide moving forward? Right. We're a bit behind Los Angeles, it seems. My guy said, he said that all LA residents with coven 19 symptoms can now get same day or next day crew and a virus tests. Do you think we can get there pretty soon? Well we have to assess what is out there and what is valid. Speaker 2: 04:39 LA County is making decisions of, of what, what tests they're comfortable using based on what they see conditions on the ground. San Diego is going to do the same. Uh, it was just a week or two ago, there were multiple reports out that San Diego County had done more testing per capita than any County in California. Yeah. It appears some of the others have caught up, but it really is important that that we only use reliable test a test that has not been validated a test. We do not have a confidence in, uh, my generated tests that you can put on a chart and say that we're doing more, but it might not necessarily be helping. And so we're very mindful cause we evaluate what's out there, that we're making sure that, that we're really adhering to things that we have a degree of confidence in. Oh, because we want the [inaudible]. Speaker 2: 05:22 I worked out of the highest with confidence, a vehicle, Johnny. I do the testing to be and it's being utilized is the best. Okay. Now KPBS just published a story today about advocates who are calling for the County to release the names of nursing homes where code 19 outbreaks have a could and Los Angeles has released this information. Is that something San Diego is considering doing? Well, are our public health experts have, have walked through on multiple occasions criteria, which is if there's something that the public needs no, because it would change a behavior and an action. Oh, then we do disclose the location of, of outbreaks. Uh, we have done that and we will do that moving forward. But as a general practice or principle, well, you don't disclose every individual business or location that has them. Our County does move aggressively and they have early, um, with, with dedicated efforts around nursing homes, uh, prior to any outbreaks for things that they should do, what they should be mindful of. Speaker 2: 06:18 And then the minute there's a positiveK [inaudible] there was a very concerted effort, a very intentional effort with additional staffing, additional support, additional it'll help, uh, to, to ensure that those, those facilities are getting every possible resource to take every possible step. [inaudible] yeah. [inaudible] uh, when it comes to releasing the individual locations, ultimately that is a decision of a, of our public health experts. Um, and, and I, I trust their judgment in when they need to and when they do not need to release that, but congregate care living centers. See nursing homes, senior centers are our, some of our highest priorities. And received the highest attention. Supervisor Fletcher, I mean you, you mentioned about uh, releasing results when some action is needed and in this case it's possible some family members might decide to pull their loved ones out of a facility if there was evidence of test results. Speaker 2: 07:10 So don't they have the right to know that I have faith and confidence in our, our public health team that when necessary, uh, they will release all of all of the appropriate information. Okay. Now what about the surge? Is the County still operating as if a surge of patients at local hospitals is on the way? Well, the, these are some of the things we don't know. We've seen tremendous progress in flattening the curve. Uh, we've seen a tremendous, uh, uh, success certainly relative to other jurisdictions. Um, when we talked to the hospitals, it is, it is not just the availability of ventilators in rooms. It really is the availability of personal protective [inaudible]. I, in terms of what they're posture is in. Uh, we did considerable early efforts around raising the bar of, of health system Cassidy. Uh, we are well under that bar now. All right. Speaker 2: 07:57 And we certainly hope to continue to be, uh, in that posture and, and in that status. But again, if you go back, whether you look at and other jurisdictions as they, as they came out of this, they saw significant increases Singapore earlier. There's others examples of that. Or if you go back to 1918, Oh, and you can see multiple jurisdictions and had a second wave that was significantly greater than their first wave. Um, and so I think we have to continue to prepare and plan for the worst, um, and, and then adjust accordingly, uh, as we move through this. And those are the actions that we take daily and evaluate in the data, evaluating the trends. The need for hospitalizations tends to be a lagging indicator behind positive. That's true. Um, because a lot of times individuals, uh, we'll show symptoms. They might get tested, uh, their, the severity of it will increase. Then they may need to be hospitalized a week or so later, then they may need to move to an ICU bed. And so the hospitalization rates can often be a lagging indicator. Oh, the positive test rates. Uh, but we're in daily communication with our hospitals systems to really assess what is the capacity they have and then what are the actions that we should take, uh, to, to be appropriate to that. Well, supervisor Fletcher, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. That was sending you a County supervisor, Nathan Fletcher.