Over the past week, the novel coronavirus has continued to spread, prompting a range of containment measures across the globe and locally. Marin is not immune to the evolving set of changes to daily life.
On the coast, as in many areas, a growing number of events are cancelled, stores are stripped of shelf-stable goods and sanitizers, parents face the possibility of weeks with their kids at home, medical professionals are restricted from conducting widespread testing and everyone is grappling with uncertainty.
“As a county, the biggest message that we are putting out is that people need to take all the necessary precautions, but also to stay calm and not overreact,” District Four Supervisor Dennis Rodoni told the Light on Tuesday.
Earlier that day, county supervisors proclaimed a local health emergency and a local state of emergency. Many Bay Area counties have done the same, effectively increasing available resources.
On Monday, the county’s health department recommended the cancellation or postponement of nonessential indoor gatherings of more than 100 people to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. On Tuesday evening, the county’s public health officer, Dr. Matt Willis, handed down more detailed recommendations for residents.
For workplaces and businesses, he advised employers to take steps to allow their employees to minimize contact with large numbers of people, including suspending non-essential employee travel, minimizing the number of employees working within arm’s length of one another, maximizing flexibility in sick-leave benefits, and considering staggered start and end times to the workday as well as remote options.
For people at higher risk for severe illness, including people over 65 or with underlying health conditions—cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, chronic lung disease and severely weakened immune systems—the advice was to stay home and away from crowded social gatherings.
For the general public, Mr. Willis advised staying informed, practicing excellent hygiene and self-care, staying away from people who are sick, and not going to emergency rooms unless it is essential, to leave resources open for those with the most critical needs. To protect the most vulnerable, he also recommended not visiting hospitals, long-term care facilities and nursing homes to the extent possible.
What if you feel sick? “We are not recommending COVID-19 testing for people who have mild to moderate respiratory illness unless they have had contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case or have a history of travel to an affected geographic area within 14 days of symptom onset. Do not go out in public when you are sick. Avoid medical settings in general unless necessary. If you are experiencing cough or fever, and if it is not an emergency, call your doctor’s office before going in. They will help guide any decisions regarding testing,” Dr. Willis stated.
The first Marin resident tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. The man was a passenger on a trip to Mexico with Princess Cruises that returned to San Francisco on Feb. 21; last week, the county’s health department contacted him and the 55 other Marin residents who had been passengers on that trip after it became clear they had been exposed. Those showing symptoms were tested.
The first death tied to the disease in California was another passenger on the same February voyage, a Placer County resident who died last Wednesday. The trip was the second of three recent trips orchestrated by the company that have suffered outbreaks.
The Grand Princess, a different ship from the Diamond Princess that was previously quarantined off the coast of Japan, docked at the Port of Oakland on Monday. There were more than 3,500 passengers and crew on that ship; as of yesterday, 21 people on board had tested positive. Hundreds of Californians who were aboard were bussed to Travis Air Force Base in Solano County for quarantine; their home counties were not disclosed.
On Monday, the county’s health department reported that a total of 15 individuals in the county had been tested, with the majority of results pending. On Tuesday, the department stated in a release, “Due to increased testing capacity at multiple locations, we will no longer be reporting the number of tests performed. We will report the number of confirmed cases, and whether these cases represent known exposures or community transmission.”
Steve Siegel, the executive director of Coastal Health Alliance, said this week that the group had consulted with the county health department for a couple of cases, but no one had met the testing criteria.
Dr. Anna O’Malley, a practitioner for the alliance, expressed frustration with the strict criteria handed down from the Centers for Disease Control, echoing feelings from health professionals across the nation. There was indication that limitations would loosen by the end of the week, she said.
The threat of the virus was discussed with every single one of her patients this week, Dr. O’Malley said. She emphasized social distancing. “I think there is a lot that we can do,” she said. “This is something that we will probably be navigating for many, many months. But there are, for me, little opportunities that exist for us to re-educate ourselves about self-care, to slow down the pace of our lives, and to be really mindful of how we are taking care of ourselves. We need to let go of those things that suppress our immune systems to the extent that we can. We need to look out for our [older] neighbors.”
The most recent advice from the county’s health department was to keep K-12 schools open. “If a staff member or student in a specific school is confirmed to have COVID-19, Marin H.H.S. will consider, based on the specific facts and circumstances of that case, whether closure of that school is warranted,” Dr. Willis advised on Tuesday. “The reason we are not recommending school closures at this time is because children have not been shown to be a high-risk group for serious illness from this virus. As much as possible, children should be allowed to carry on with their education and normal activities.”
At an informational meeting broadcast Monday night by the Marin County Office of Education, both Dr. Willis and deputy public health officer Lisa Santora answered a series of challenges around the decision to keep school open.
Nevertheless, on Tuesday evening, the county saw its first wave of school closures, following the move by universities across the country to send students off campus and transition to online teaching. The Archdiocese of San Francisco closed all of its 90 Catholic schools across the Bay Area through March 25, including seven in Marin, after a student at one school tested positive. That student did not attend school in Marin.
Superintendents for the Shoreline Unified, Bolinas-Stinson Unified and Lagunitas School Districts reported they are preparing contingency plans.
For Shoreline, Bob Raines said that among his top concerns are that over half of students participate in the National School Lunch Program and their families are used to the district providing two meals a day. Many students don’t have internet at home, he said, and though the county office considered coordinating at-home instruction, students at different schools often have different curricula.
“The reality is that when schools close, programs and student experiences suffer; there is no way around it. So a closure would be worse than keeping school open,” superintendent John Carroll, who helms the other two districts, wrote to the Light. “I really hope it doesn’t happen. But if it does, we’ll be ready to offer a minimum level of instruction remotely that should get us through a short period of time.”
What level of disruption is the larger community facing? Dave Cort, the executive director of the San Geronimo Valley Community Center, said he spent Tuesday speaking with all types of community partners to determine which events to cancel. The annual talent show, a 25-year event that raises money for youth programs and typically draws a few hundred people, was postponed indefinitely. Programs that draw smaller numbers, including the food bank and senior lunches, will continue with extra sanitary precautions.
“Today was about nuts and bolts, but also we’re starting to think completely outside the box about all the ways that the community center could serve the community. Maybe we will wind up using our Facebook site to do exercise classes online, encouraging people to do a work-out at home. Or an art class,” he said.
The effect on West Marin’s tourism industry is only beginning to be felt. Aaron Ely, the owner of Point Reyes Vacation Rentals, said he had seen plenty of cancellations, especially from people who were flying to the area or traveling in larger groups.
“But Bay Area people are still coming out,” he wrote. “It seems to be an attractive alternative, since vacation rentals do not involve interacting within close proximity to others. I’ve also had a few others ask me to block more dates so they can spend more time at their Inverness home and less time at their Berkeley home.”
Visit the official Marin County Coronavirus webpage at MarinHHS.org/coronavirus to view answers to frequently asked questions or subscribe to email updates. Individuals can contact Marin Health and Human Services with non-medical questions about the coronavirus by calling (415) 473.7191 or emailing [email protected].