The Santa Clara County health officer is warning that a steady rise in coronavirus-related hospitalizations in the county could be the result of the county’s slow reopening.
The warning comes as county officials consider taking further steps to reopen.
Public health officer Dr. Sara Cody warns that the slow uptick in hospitalizations, which now stands at 73, could be the result of reopening curbside retail, manufacturing and other activities.
“It’s not flattening out. It continues to be on the rise,” said another county health official of the disease during a Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday. “So really in our situation the only treatment for COVID-19 was social distancing and shelter in place because there’s no specific treatment, there’s no herd immunity, there’s no vaccination.”
County school superintendent Dr. Stella Kemp, meanwhile, identified a number of tough issues with reopening, saying transporting kids to school safely remains problematic and many families don’t feel safe returning children to the classroom.
“So in Santa Clara Unified what we are looking at is we’re looking at bringing back our youngest and our most vulnerable students early. And then planning for hybrid and virtual learning for our high school students and middle school students,“ said Dr. Kemp.
The county is close to reaching 3,000 cases. While Alameda County has surpassed Santa Clara County in the overall number of cases, Santa Clara County has the highest number of deaths at 145.
