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Latest updates:
NEW COVID-19 CASES, DEATHS: Santa Clara County reported 2,492 cases and 138 deaths on Wednesday, up from 2,461 cases and 137 deaths on Tuesday. Seventy-nine people are hospitalized. San Mateo County on Wednesday reported 1,738 cases of COVID-19 and 75 deaths, up from 1,690 cases on Tuesday. There were no additional deaths reported between the two days. Seventy-one people are hospitalized as of Tuesday, an increase by 11 from Monday.
SANTA CLARA COUNTY OPENS NEW TEST SITES: Free COVID-19 tests are now available to all Santa Clara County residents, even if they don’t have symptoms or health insurance, at two new locations in San Jose, county and city officials said Wednesday. Read more here.
PALO ALTO TO OPEN PARKING LOTS AT PRESERVES: The city of Palo Alto, which closed parking lots at open space preserves in late March due to crowding, plans to open them later this month. Vehicles will be able to park at Arastradero Preserve as of May 23. Parking at the Baylands and Foothills Park is currently allowed only during the weekdays and will be permitted on weekends starting on May 30.
Below is comprehensive coverage of the Midpeninsula’s response to the new coronavirus by Palo Alto Online, the Mountain View Voice and Almanac in chronological order. For coverage by subject — how the virus is affecting public health, residents, schools, cities, businesses, nonprofits, arts groups, etc. — please go to our Wakelet page.
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Latest COVID-19 statistics
Santa Clara County’s total of coronavirus cases is inching closer to the 2,500 mark. Out of its 2,492 cases reported on Wednesday, 79 people are hospitalized. One more person has died of the disease, raising its total number of deaths to 138.
Hispanic residents account for the most COVID-19 cases in the county, according to the data, which breaks down cases by race/ethnicity. This group, which represents 26% of the county’s population, makes up about 970 (or 39%) of the county’s 2,492 cases.
Forty-eight new cases were reported Wednesday in San Mateo County, where the total rose from 1,690 to 1,738. The jump is the highest recorded in the county since April 3, when 78 new cases were recorded, according to county data. Of the total 1,738 cases, 71 are hospitalized, an increase by 11 from Tuesday. The county’s number of deaths remains at 75.
Santa Clara County opens new COVID-19 test sites
COVID-19 tests are now available to all Santa Clara County residents at two new locations in San Jose, county and city officials said Wednesday.
Verily Life Sciences, the life science research arm of Alphabet Inc., will offer free testing to all county residents, even if they don’t have symptoms or health insurance, at Police Athletic League Stadium at 680 S. 34th St. and the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds at 344 Tully Road.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez implored residents to get tested as soon as they can as the county seeks to reach an average of 4,000 tests per day. Chavez also said that local officials can and will help residents who struggle to sign up for testing due to obstacles like language barriers.
Patients can self-administer the test in their vehicle by using a smaller swab similar to a Q-tip to swipe the inside of each nostril for 10 seconds. The entire testing process can be completed in as little as three minutes, according to Verily.
Read more here.
Read our previous updates dating back to late February here.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Find comprehensive coverage on the Midpeninsula’s response to the new coronavirus by Palo Alto Online, the Mountain View Voice and the Almanac here.
With the new orders that Landlords cannot evict for non-payment of rent, are Newson and City Councils doing the same for Mortgage Lenders and suspending Mortgage payments on those rental properties?
Why did it take the JCC so long to curtail operations? There can be no excuse for the delay and putting the community at risk.
No matter how many one way trails and crowd management steps are put into place, they are encouraging and enabling community mixing by allowing their parking lots to be open. The fact that they actually have to crowd manage in certain commuter parks like Rancho San Antonio says it all. They are knowingly attracting members from various communities who then mix, maybe get gas or shop either here or somewhere on the way home, then go back to their home communities. That’s a textbook and efficient way to spread this virus.
How is this still happening with all we know about the danger and the spread?!?!?!
You cannot be safe by simply avoiding the park either because of how this is spread.
Please contact MidPen directly and insist they come into compliance and stop fostering the spread by simply closing the large parking lots. We have to NOT mix communities.
I hate my local government.
I feel badly for everyone who is trying to earn a living.
The secondary effects of this lockdown are enormous: suicide hotline call number are way up. Police report a significant increase in domestic violence and child abuses calls.
Vote every incumbent out next election.
By the way: the State of Texas announced the end to their lockdown on this coming Thursday.
Yet again San Mateo County and related local Governments are putting business concerns ahead of the safety and the well-being of the elderly, people of color, our kids and the housing insecure. If they are not trying to burn us out, they are exposing us to contagion.
These Government Do-gooders will tell you it is to help some group or other. But really it is so they can gain influence and scrape tax dollars. Like building expensive housing in fire prone areas is a pretence for helping the housing insecure, we will be told that going to stage 2 will help small businesses – it will not. As infection rates go up Facebook will do well. But the small businesses, restaurant owners and employees are going to suffer both illness and continued loss of business. Stage 2 is going to be round 2, the second wave of virus infection. The San Mateo County government should be ashamed of themselves. I will only shop for necessary food in Santa Clara where it is safer.
@scared: You can solve your problem by self-isolating and living your life in your own personal bubble. Have groceries delivered to your house, Amazon shipments to your front door. Remember to thoroughly disinfect all deliveries. Do not go outside!
And, please, let the rest of us get on with our businesses and our lives as we wish.
> And, please, let the rest of us get on with our businesses and our lives as we wish.
And, please, let the rest of us – who are cautious and aware of the public safety risks, not have to pay the price for those with low impulse control who want to ‘open’ up.
Once your second wave hits, please suffer at home, do not clog medical facilities with your self inflected covid cases, clogging and denying health services for those who showed personal responsibility and helped to protect the community by not “going on with their lives as they wish.”
There were no clogged hospitals with the so-called first wave. In fact, hospitals were so under-utilized that Stanford had to give their health care workers a 20% pay cut. They had no patients. Remember when Czar Newsom predicted that 56% of Californians would be infected? Well, we’re st about .2% (2 tenths of one percent ) infected. Way to go Gavin!!
So I take your second and third waves with an absolute grain of salt. Sorry-no sale! I’ll wear a mask, practice reasonable social distancing, but want to get back at it on a daily basis. Shopping, eating, living.
I haven’t changed my routines or habits at all. I do a minimum to be responsible but it’s ridiculous to keep people inside for this long. If you don’t want the virus maybe you should stay home? And if you do go out then just be reasonable. Portola Valley has fewer cases because we have more space—think of it as a Wyoming of the Bay Area. Because of this, we shouldn’t have these restrictions imposed upon us. PV should open up (maybe for residents only) and everyone should go back to normal!
@low impulse control kids
You do not understand, the personal responsibility crowd really, really, really, really need to get a haircut and go out to bars.
“I haven’t changed my routines or habits at all.”
”…let the rest of us get on with our … our lives as we wish.”
Personal responsibility.
Occasionally, when I see statistics I try to understand their meaning. This article, listing 2492 cases and 138 deaths means that 5% of THE PEOPLE TESTING POSITIVE have died. If we knew the population of the county, which is being counted as I write, we would find the percent of residents even having the disease is low and very low for those dying. It doesn’t mean this is not serious, because it is, but it does mean the odds of dying from CV 19 are low. I believe in taking all the precautions, but I am not frightened. If I take care of myself, I’ll be fine. It’s vital to keep a positive outlook, even while staying home.
It is untrue that Stanford and other healthcare providers “had no patients”. They did; they also had some deaths. Because of our Stay At Home orders, however, the numbers were low enough that they were not overwhelmed. That’s a good thing because San Mateo County STILL does not have sufficient supply of PPE (30 days) to cover a spike of local needs. Remember that this is a global pandemic and the shortages of PPE and medications is global so our healthcare system must compete globally to meet needs since there aren’t sufficient supplies nationally.
Stanford, and other healthcare systems, are scheduling elective procedures. That will help their revenue and help patients, while also utilizing more of the PPE that’s in short supply. The best thing we can do is manage ourselves responsibly, following the guidance of public health professionals.