There are currently 14 coronavirus cases in Santa Clara County, with one case in Palo Alto because of a Veterans Affairs (VA) Palo Alto Health Care System (a federal agency) hospital transfer from another County in California to Palo Alto. This case is unique and not related to a community spread of the virus. Instead, this case is a contained hospital transfer of an infected veteran from one hospital to another. The ambulance transfer was not by our local Palo Alto Fire Department. The City is encouraging all community members to keep our community safe by preventing the spread of respiratory viruses including COVID-19 by staying home if sick, use hygiene best practices including washing your hands, calling your health practitioner before going to the hospital if you have COVID-19 symptoms and other healthy lifestyle approaches. Help our most vulnerable community members stay safe during this time of heightened health risk.
New Santa Clara County Public Health Department guidance to help protect our most vulnerable populations includes urging those at highest risk including community members who are 80 years old and older and persons with underlying medical problems to avoid mass gatherings such as parades, sporting events, and concerts where large numbers of people are within arm’s length of one another. This would not include typical office environments, grocery stores, or shopping centers, where it is unusual for large numbers of people to be within arm’s length of one another. For the County’s new guidance, go here: http://bit.ly/2VJdIvK. Stanford University also released new guidance, including potentially cancelling events with over 150 people and limiting campus access to visitors that have traveled to high impacted countries (South Korea, Japan, Italy, and China).
For more information and how to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, go to cityofpaloalto.org/coronavirus
