The status update for 03/31/2020 includes COVID-19 activity in Marin County, information about the new Public Health Order and the revised park closure order, a call for licensed healthcare professionals and a video update from Dr. Lisa Santora.
COVID-19 activity in Marin:
Marin County Emergency Operations Center COVID-19 Dashboard
| Marin Confirmed Cases: | 107 (9.18% increase from yesterday) |
| Marin Deaths: | 5 |
| Marin Persons Tested (at point of testing site): | 755 |
| Marin Hospitalizations: | 14 |
| California Confirmed Cases: | 8,254 |
| California Deaths: | 174 |
To see a breakdown of confirmed cases by age or gender, visit Marin HHS’s data website. In addition, our surveillance team monitors respiratory illness activity and hospital visits. Tracking the total number of visits and those due to respiratory illnesses provides a situational awareness of current resource needs in our community, which helps advance policies to limit community spread and support our excellent healthcare partners’ capacity to respond. Visit the data website to learn more.
Updated Shelter-in-Place Order
Health officers in seven Bay Area jurisdictions – including Marin County - updated a previous stay-at-home order through May 3, 2020 in order to preserve critical hospital capacity across the region. The previous three-week order was set to expire on April 7. While the prior order has been effective in reducing the rate of transmission of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), it is not enough. There has been a significant increase in the number of positive cases, hospitalization and deaths from COVID-19, which is beginning to strain healthcare resources.
The new order adds some clarifying language around essential business and activities, as well as some new directives, including:
- Use of playgrounds, dog parks, public picnic areas, and similar recreational areas is prohibited. These areas must be closed to public use.
- Use of shared public recreational facilities such as golf courses, tennis and basketball courts, pools, and rock walls is prohibited. These facilities must be closed for recreational use.
- Sports requiring people to share a ball or other equipment must be limited to people in the same household
- Requires essential businesses to develop a social distancing protocol before April 3
- Most construction—residential and commercial—is prohibited
- Funerals limited to no more than 10 people attending
- Essential businesses expanded to include service providers that enable residential transactions (notaries, title companies, Realtors, etc.); funeral homes and cemeteries; moving companies, rental car companies and rideshare services that specifically enable essential activities
- Essential businesses that continue to operate facilities must scale down operations to their essential component only
The executive summary of the new order was drafted to provide guidance on the new order.
Updated Park Closure Order
In summary, the new parks order states that individuals may access parks and open space areas that are local to their homes and are easily accessible by foot, bicycle or other non-motorized means, strictly for the purpose of engaging in exercise, as defined by the updated Shelter In Place order. Driving to access parks or open space areas is prohibited, except for individuals with disabilities with vehicles possessing current and valid Disabled Person Parking Placards or License Plates. Above all, all visitors to any park location must continue comply with social distancing requirements and are expected to stay local to the greatest extent possible.
Marin Volunteers Needed: Licensed Healthcare Professionals
The County of Marin Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is activated to support COVID-19 response and Marin Medical Reserve Corps volunteers are supporting our response. Marin County is recruiting volunteers to support our local response efforts and in preparation for medical surge.
Currently, our priority is to accept licensed healthcare professionals: MD, RN, EMT/Paramedic, PA, RT, CNA, etc. If you are interested in volunteering locally to support Marin County’s response to COVID-19 and you are a licensed healthcare professional, visit www.marinhhs.org/mmrc to sign up.
If you are not a healthcare professional and you would like to help with COVID-19, please visit the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership.
Questions can be directed to MMRC@marincounty.org.
An update from your Deputy Public Health Officer
Dr. Lisa Santora provides updated Marin County COVID-19 activity, speaks about the new Public Health Order and the launch of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program.
Where to get the latest information:
Visit the official Marin County Coronavirus webpage (MarinHHS.org/coronavirus) to review answers to frequently asked questions, access guidance for special groups and subscribe for email updates. To view past status updates concerning COVID-19 activity in Marin County, click on the resources tab on the Coronavirus webpage.
Have questions? Individuals can contact Marin Health and Human Services with non-medical questions about the coronavirus by calling (415) 473-7191 (Monday – Friday, 9:30am to 12-noon and 1pm to 5pm).