South San Francisco, CA March 30, 2020
San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa reports daily on the numbers of those in our County who have tested positive for COVID-19, along with the death toll. While we must remember each number is a real person, there is some hope that perhaps our shelter in place actions truly are saving lives. Today there are 6 deaths listed, the same number as Friday, which was up from the first death on March 24th.
When interviewed by Alex Mak, Managing Editor of BrokeAssStuart.com UCSF’s Dr. Nathan Teismann said “It seems very likely, that the ‘shelter in place’ policy has had a significant, positive effect on containing the spread of COVID-19 in the Bay Area.”
Dr Teismann went on to elaborate “Over the weekend, we typically see around 200 patients per day in the ER, and this weekend we saw less than half of that volume, approximately 80-90 people we’re seen on Saturday, about half of those patients came in because of symptoms suspected of being COVID-19.” He said this was consistent with reports from other Bay Area doctors. {CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE}
However, Dr Teismann, along with others, warn that the top of the curve has yet to come, proving the wisdom of our sheltering in place extension through the month of April. In addition, we received notice today that our County is ‘preparing for a possible projected surge in COVID-19 positive patients at area hospitals by welcoming federal and state partners who are bringing critical supplies to the San Mateo Event Center’.
So, while we must continue to do our part, by doing nothing more than remaining sheltered in place, we may be encouraged to know these efforts really are saving lives.