San Mateo County Board of Supervisors Ends the COVID-19 State of Emergency

South San Francisco, CA  February 28, 2023 Press Release

The Board of Supervisors today ended the County’s state of emergency due to COVID-19.

The 5-0 vote aligns the County with the state of California.

“While today’s vote ends the emergency phase of the pandemic, it does not end the County’s continued and focused effort to combat COVID-19,” said Dave Pine, president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.

“The County will continue to work closely with community- and faith-based organizations to educate residents about residual risks, vaccination recommendations and programs to buffer economic impacts,” Pine said.

The County activated its Emergency Operations Center on March 2, 2020, following discovery of local cases of COVID-19. The Board on March 10, 2020, ratified a local health emergency by the San Mateo County Health Officer and a proclamation of a local emergency due to the growing pandemic.

Declaring local emergencies allowed the County to act quickly to limit spread of the disease through a series of public health orders. The County was also able to build capacity in the health care system to treat the sick and protect the most vulnerable, then shift focus to providing free vaccines, treatments and tests.

The County also directed local funds and federal relief packages both to respond to the public health crisis and to ease the economic fallout on employees and employers.

“This global event was rough on everyone, and while we didn’t come out of it unscathed, we did better than many other communities,” said Dr. Scott Morrow, the County health officer. “This is thanks to you, the community, for your insightful, wise, and ‘caring for your neighbor’ cooperation. And while this is not yet over, hopefully this will be a once in many generations event.”

Today’s vote ends the emergency phase of the pandemic but not the continued effort to combat COVID-19.

The County will continue to work closely with community- and faith-based organizations and additional partners to ensure all residents, regardless of income, immigration status or other potential barrier.

Here is what you need to know:

Testing
County Health will continue to schedule local vaccination clinics for faith-based organizations and schools through March.

At-home tests available at many stores and pharmacies are free or reimbursable for most people.

The federal government offers free at-home test kits to U.S. households.

For more information about when to get tested, visit the California COVID-19 website.

Treatment
“Medications to treat COVID-19 are free, widely available, and effective for stopping COVID-19 illness from getting serious,” according to the state.

The state provides information on:

• How to find treatment
• Facts about COVID-19 treatment
• When to get treatment
• More information about COVID-19 treatment

If you don’t have insurance or the options above don’t work: Call 833-686-5051 to make a free phone or video appointment through California’s COVID-19 telehealth service.

By the Numbers
As of Feb. 15, 2023, more than 730,000 County residents, or 94 percent of the population, have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Since the pandemic began, 749 people have died from COVID-19 in San Mateo County, according to state data.

Moving forward, County Health is retiring several COVID-19-related dashboards mainly focusing on case and testing data. The state provides case and test positivity data from San Mateo County, which will continue to inform residents about local trends in the progression of COVID-19.

New dashboards will improve the display of hospitalization and death trends to better depict what can be understood about the level of disease severity over time in San Mateo County.