Peninsula 360 Press. Bay City News.
The complete health order can be found at https://www.smchealth.org/health-officer-updates/order-no-c19-11-health-officer-county-san-mateo-social-distancing-guidelines
Starting this Monday, San Mateo County will launch a monitoring unit that will warn and sanction businesses that do not comply with the health order related to COVID-19.
During a meeting with the media on Wednesday, county manager Mike Callagy said people will be able to call 211 or go to the website to inform businesses that are outside the norm.
Callagy said the oversight unit will be working with the businesses to make sure they understand what is required of them. Under the county's health order, businesses must implement social distancing protocols, require face masks and masks, and provide alcohol-based hand sanitizer, water and soap.
Companies must also prepare and distribute a health and safety plan to their staff.
"We don't intend to go out and sanction business," Callagy said on Wednesday. "We want to go out and work with businesses to make sure they comply with the rules and provide a safe and healthy environment for the people who visit them.
The monitoring unit will first issue a warning to businesses that are outside the regulation. If the business ignores the warning, Callagy said the unit would move to civil penalties and then to criminal prosecution, if necessary.
Under the county's declaration of emergency, approved by the Board of Supervisors on Aug. 4, businesses can be fined between $250 and $3,000 per violation of the rule, depending on the severity of the violation, prior warnings, actions taken or intent to profit.
Callagy said he wasn't aware of any business that had been sanctioned. However, he said, he had heard of businesses that disobeyed such regulations, such as allowing people to enter without a mask. The county has a list of such businesses and plans to contact them when the unit becomes operational on Monday.
"It's irresponsible to act that way," Callagy said. "A lot of businesses are acting appropriately and making sure people maintain a healthy environment, and making sure they are part of the process of us moving forward, not backward," he said.
San Mateo County is currently at the red light - a severe risk - of California's Plan for a Safer Economy. Moving to the orange light - moderate risk - will relax restrictions and allow more businesses to prepare for reopening. To move to the orange level, Callagy said the county needs businesses to comply with the rules.
During the week of Oct. 3, San Mateo County met some of the criteria that fall within the orange level threshold, with a positivity test of 2.5 percent and a health equity metric of 4.8 percent, thus measuring test positivity for sites in the lowest quartile of the state's Healthy Places Index.
However, the county's case rate of 4.7 per 100,000 is higher than the previous week's 4.3, and exceeds the threshold of 3.9 for the orange level.
