Stay in Place, Cover your Face, Maintain your Space

Stay in Place, Maintain your Space, Cover your Face

Week five of living with the invisible specter of COVID-19. Much of life has been put on pause, or gone virtual, or been completely reimagined. But we are muscling through. Between our essential service workers (we howl for our heroes!), neighbors supporting neighbors, community partners and philanthropy, public sector and private sector all rowing together, we are supporting each other and our entire community while we flatten the curve, prevent the spread of the virus, and keep many, many folks from becoming seriously ill. Together we have bought time for our health care system to rally together, become better prepared to care for those in need of hospitalization. By our actions, we have put ourselves in a better position to start the return to normal -- when the time is right.

I’ve been doing my best to keep you informed with regular newsletter updates, connect you with other sources of information and opportunities to stay abreast of the most current information relevant to COVID and our county. This week I participated in a Community Conversation featuring our Deputy Public Health Officer Dr. Lisa Santora, Dr. Dustin Ballard from Kaiser, and Deputy Fire Chief Mark Brown. The panel provided an overview of Marin’s COVID-19 response, our surge planning, answered questions about testing, the shelter in place order, and what comes next. Stay tuned for more of these Monday Community Conversations.

Adding to the repertoire a more “real time” way to hear from you, share information first-hand, and stay connected virtually. Inviting you to join me next Thursday, April 23, at 5pm via Zoom. I’ll start out with a few updates, then be happy to answer your questions and address your concerns. While COVID news will be front and center, we can also cover what else may be top of mind. To join, follow the instructions at the end of this newsletter. If you have a question you’d specifically like addressed during the Zoom session, send it to me in advance at krice@marincounty.org, and put in the subject line: “Conversation with Katie.”

If you’re new to Zoom, you can click here for a quick tutorial that you may want to do beforehand. Note that you can also join by phone if that works better for you.

Look forward to talking soon and please feel free to share this invite with your neighbors.

 

 

Quick Covid Update

 

For those of you who are not getting the daily Marin HHS – COVID-19 website update, please subscribe here. As of April 17 at 5pm, Marin had 187 confirmed cases, up from 154 a week ago, and had tested a cumulative 2483 people, up from 1956 tested a week ago.

 

With transmissions and hospitalizations way down, it would be easy to feel a false sense of security. False being the operative word. There is no vaccine for this virus. It is highly contagious and life threatening for many. And it is still out in our community.Hence:

Stay in Place. Maintain your Space. Cover your Face.

Today, Marin’s public health officer, Dr. Matt Willis announced a new public health order requiring the use of face coverings when completing essential activities. The new order will go into effect at noon, Wednesday, April 22. Everyone is asked to wear a face covering when they are interacting with others who are not members of their household in public and private spaces. Specifically, the order states that people must wear face coverings when:

• Inside public spaces or waiting in line to enter public spaces

• Waiting for or riding on mass transit or other shared transportation
• Seeking health care
• In common areas of buildings, such as hallways, stairways, elevators and parking facilities.
• Workers at businesses physically open and in areas where the public is present, likely to be present, or at any time when others are nearby.
• Workers in any space where food is being prepared and/or packaged for sale.
• Drivers/Operators of public transit.

Additionally:

• Children aged 12 years old or younger are not required to wear a face covering.
• Individuals engaged in outdoor exercise such as walking, hiking, running, or bicycling or running are not required to wear a face covering but should carry one with them and must continue to practice physical distancing.

As Dr. Willis explains in this video message, the face mask requirement does not change the current shelter in place order, which will remain until at least May 3. However, as Dr. Willis states, key to modifying the existing May 3 order will be demonstrating our ability as a community to interact as safely as possible in public. Face coverings will be key to interacting safely.

For more information, read today’s press release.

 

Thursday, April 23, 5pm – Conversation with Katie

 

See Zoom info below:

 

https://zoom.us/j/95736610086?pwd=blkwVnYvaXFCVjFrVmdqYm4wTGh5QT09

 

Password: 972236

 

Or iPhone one-tap :

   US: +16699006833,,95736610086#,,#,972236# or +13462487799,,95736610086#,,#,972236#

Or Telephone:

   Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):

       US: +1 669 900 6833 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 929 205 6099 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 301 715 8592

   Webinar ID: 957 3661 0086

   Password: 972236

   International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/abNX45O0zQ

 

 

Contact Info:

Supervisor Katie Rice

415-473-7825

krice@marincounty.org

www.facebook.com/D2KatieRice

 

District 2 Aides:

Nancy Vernon

415-473-7351

nvernon@marincounty.org

Jen Gauna

415-473-6159

jgauna@marincounty.org