July 28, 2020
Yesterday, the County of San Diego updated its public health order to reflect new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which no longer recommends for individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 to be tested again to determine if they can stop isolating at home and return to work.

Those with COVID-19 who were directed to care for themselves at home can stop isolating under the following conditions:

  • People with mild to moderate symptoms – at least 10 days have passed since symptoms began, have not had a fever for 24 hours without taking fever reducing medications and other symptoms have resolved.
  • People with severe or critical illness or who are severely immunocompromised – at least 20 days have passed after symptoms developed and one day after fever resolution and improving symptoms.
  • People who are severely immunocompromised but have no symptoms – after 20 days since testing positive.
  • People who tested positive for COVID-19 but never developed symptoms – after 10 days since the date of their first diagnostic positive test.

The change is a result of the CDC learning more about COVID-19 as time goes on and more data becomes available. View the county’s updated health order specific to isolation of people with or likely to have COVID-19.
 
Update on outbreaks
Since Thursday, 10 new outbreaks have been confirmed. Four in a restaurant/bar, three in businesses, and the other three in a church, gym and food processing facility. In the past seven days, 13 community outbreaks were identified, still exceeding the trigger of seven.

The number of outbreaks in community settings has seen a big spike in July. Of the 120 COVID-19 outbreaks confirmed in community settings since the pandemic began, 59 have been reported in July. The total has surpassed the 34 that were reported in June and the 27 that were confirmed during the first three months of the pandemic.

Restaurants with bars make up most of the community outbreaks confirmed to date. The County Department of Environmental Health continues to work with restaurants to make sure they are following the public health guidelines. Below is a new chart from the county that provides a summary of all COVID-19 community outbreaks by industry sector. 
Here are the latest charts and graphs shared during the county’s briefing yesterday. The county continues to hold news conferences on Mondays and Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m. You can watch live or after the fact on the  county’s social media   channels. 

Update on other triggers
The county continues to miss two other benchmarks, case investigations and number of cases per capita. Only 10% of case investigations were initiated within 24 hours of notification over a seven-day period. This is still far below the goal of 70%. The county hopes to improve this number with the addition of 97 more case investigators last week, and another 200 in the weeks ahead.

The state’s threshold of no more than 100 cases per every 100,000 residents is also in the red, currently at 144 in San Diego County. This is down from 154.8 last Thursday, which is a good direction.
The rolling 14-day average of positive COVID-19 tests based on total tests has decreased to 5.7%. This is also good news since that metric was inching toward the threshold of 8% last week.

Since my last update on Thursday, Carlsbad has 33 more cases for a new cumulative total of 445. We estimate 127 are active right now. San Diego County reported 523 new cases for July 26. To date, 27,507 positive cases have been reported in San Diego County.

Another trigger being watched closely is the hospital bed capacity. Currently, 72% of hospital beds are full in San Diego County, just 8% below the threshold of 80%.

Meet our new Library & Cultural Arts Director
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a long road that doesn’t seem to have an end in sight anytime soon. It continues to take a village made up of committed city staff and strong leadership to help navigate and support our community through these challenging times. Much of our staff have worked at the city for many years, making them an extension of our community. This is the case for the newest member of our city leadership team, our new Library & Cultural Arts Department Director Suzanne Smithson.

Suzanne has worked for the library longer than she has not worked for the library in her life. She started work for the city in 1991 as a part-time library clerk and has played a big role in the process of evolving our library services and resources to continue to make them available during COVID-19. Check out this short video to hear about Suzanne’s vision for the department and why she feels Library & Cultural Arts programs and services are at the heart of the community.

Today’s City Council meeting
We’ll be providing the City Council with an update on the city’s overall response to COVID-19, including spending to date. You can see the full agenda  on the city’s website. The City Council will also consider administrative enforcement of the face covering requirements included in the state and county public health orders. If approved, this enforcement could allow the city to issue administrative citations for those who violate the health orders and don’t wear face coverings when entering businesses or anywhere else where they could come into contact with others.

The meeting starts at 3 p.m. and can be watched on the  website or city cable channel . If you’d like to make comments, remember to  sign up by 2 p.m.   today and then call in starting at 3 p.m. so you can provide your input verbally by phone.

Small actions make a big difference
I realize much focus the past few weeks has been on the importance of wearing face coverings. While this is for good reason, the California Department of Public Health guidance on face coverings emphasizes that they should not be a substitute for social distancing or washing your hands.

One of the easiest ways that we can all help slow the spread of COVID-19 is by washing our hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Here’s a reminder from the CDC on five steps to follow every time:

  1. Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap and apply soap.
  2. Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers and under your nails.
  3. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
  4. Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
  5. Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them. 
Clean hands can stop germs from spreading from one person to another and throughout our entire community. So, in addition to wearing your face covering and maintaining social distance, please take the extra 20 seconds to wash your hands super well. These are all small actions that have the power to make a big difference. Let’s do our part, make a difference and help slow the spread.

Care for Carlsbad
I’d like to end today’s update with this fun 10 News story I came across about a Carlsbad family who continues to spread joy in our community in a unique way. The family, with the help of their favorite characters from Toy Story, creates different scenes each week to bring smiles to their neighbors’ faces and remind us that we are all in this together.
We want to see more photos of what you or your neighborhood are doing to care for our community. Please send them our way by email to communications@carlsbadca.gov .

Please do your part and take the steps to help slow the spread. Wear a face covering, avoid crowds, wash your hands, maintain social distance and continue to #Care4Carlsbad. Together, we can make a difference.

Thank you!

Scott Chadwick
City Manager
City of Carlsbad | Website