Category: Uncategorized

Dear Friends:

Sometimes it seems like it!  I do a lot of regular walking in both Davis and in the Bay Area and since "Winter" hit, it appears that there are far fewer walkers outside than before.

Maybe people are not really wimpy, maybe it is that they are confused by the requirements of the Health Order from our Yolo County Health Officer, Dr. Aimee Sisson, MD, MPH.

So, I wanted to make sure it was ok to go out walking because in general following the Health Order is a good idea!   With that in mind, I went to the Yolo County Dashboard this morning and clicked on:

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Dear Folks:

Quick but very exciting note from the news in the Bay Area.  

In Santa Clara County, East San Jose has had a lot of cases of coronavirus during this pandemic.  This is a heavily Latino population (muy buena gente!) who live in crowded settings due to EXTREMELY expensive housing, do a lot of front-line work, etc.  This population has greater exposure and greater incidence of coronavirus.

So, the Santa Clara County Director of Testing and Tracing, Dr. Fenstersheib (MD, MPH), reached into his bag of tricks and has directed his staff to go door to door in East San Jose and provide residents with test kits which they return to the Public Health Outreach Worker on the spot.  Results come back quickly.

This door to door direct service is a new thing in the US, but Public Health Departments in Mexico have been doing this kind of outreach for years via health department employees (often nurses) who provide vaccinations door to door in many parts of Mexico.  This results in a much higher pediatric vaccination rate than in the US.

Bravo to Santa Clara County for borrowing this public health methodology from Mexico and applying it here in the US.  It is very promising!

Regards,

John

PS  CBS News coverage of this new program: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/12/10/santa-clara-county-to-send-teams-door-to-door-to-administer-covid-tests/

Dear Folks,

Good evening!  I am trying to prepare for the Yolo County Health Council meeting which starts at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning so I hit the Yolo County Coronavirus Dashboards: https://www.yolocounty.org/health-human-services/adults/communicable-disease-investigation-and-control/novel-coronavirus-2019/dashboard-and-documents to see what I could find on contact tracing.

Why look up contact tracing?  According to this UC Davis Health piece on Coronavirus (https://www.yolocounty.org/health-human-services/adults/communicable-disease-investigation-and-control/novel-coronavirus-2019/dashboard-and-documents) I should be VERY interested in this activity because: "Contact tracing is crucial part of good public health."

OK, so what did I find about contact tracing in Yolo County on the Yolo Dashboards?  Um……Zilch.  Nada.  Bupkis.  Oh, my!

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Dear Folks:

Somebody I know who runs a small business in Davis has been asking me a number of very cogent questions regarding the handling of the Coronavirus in our County.  

Here is what he wrote me a couple of weeks ago:

"So Nov 23 was a bad day for Yolo County, with 108 cases reported. And Davis was not good, with 25 of those. But  as usual, Woodland was by far the highest, with 53 cases.
Has the county health agency just given up? With numbers like that, are they actually looking at Woodland as a 
local hot spot and redirecting resources? 

Are they actually making use of these numbers that tell 
them where and how many cases are occurring? Or have theyjust given up on contact tracing?"

When I chatted with him a few days ago, he said, "The same questions apply, John!".  And he confirmed that again this morning.

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Hey Folks,

Give THIS a listen!  Dr. Sisson lays it out clearly and precisely….. what are the new rules and why.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KigMOsfR57g&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3v6hv-v5jsKt0t6PdV9jdBM-EkzCgKqu_vJGHMZQjNTsfuwgZFncVgqvA.

She has a gift (of communication) and I am glad she is using it for our benefit!

Regards,

John

Dear Folks,

Well, they might be your neighbors!  Or your friends!  Or your co-worker!  Or someone you know from church/temple/mosque. Or someone you don't know yet but would like to know because they represent your district in Yolo County.  (Note:  Supervisors are elected from districts now and a specific set of Health Council Members are selected by the Supervisor to represent the public interest in their district.)

Here is a link to the roster from the Yolo County website (this website is chock full of good information, do you ever visit it?  I recommend it!)

https://www.yolocounty.org/home/showpublisheddocument?id=65970

BTW, I tried to copy and paste it below, but it did not come out so well.  That's after switching from the Safari browser to the Firefox browser, which yielded an improvement but it is still not that great.  Try the link, please. 

Don't forget, there is a Health Council meeting this Thursday morning and they will be discussing all things health related with a big dose of discussion on COVID-19.  The public is always welcome at Health Council meetings, but you may want to check with "your" representative on the Council before Thursday to see what's happening, how they plan to contribute this Thursday, etc.

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NOTE:  The Health Council meets this coming Thursday at 9 a.m. and the meeting is open to the public.  

Good morning!

During this pandemic, friends in Yolo County have been asking me serious questions like "who is in charge over there?!".  

Good question to ask when we are being asked/"ordered" to shut down our personal and business lives in a fundamental way in order to save lives and help keep people healthy.  

So, I have previously posted information that Brian Vaughn, MPH is the Yolo County Health Department Public Health Director.  And I recently posted an interview with Dr. Aimee Sisson, MD, MPH who is Yolo County's Health Officer.  And I have noted that Yolo County has not one but TWO PhD level County Epidemiologists.  And now I am going to tell you about the Yolo County Health Council.

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Dear Folks:

You didn't forget did you?  

Your property taxes pay for a lot of stuff…. including HELP support the Yolo County Health Department.  Although the reality is that public health in the United States is often funded in a "share" arrangement…… money originates in the Federal Government, then goes to the State Government and then to the County Government.  But all of it comes from YOU… the American tax payer.

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Well, let's note right up front that epidemiologists are not infectious disease physicians.

I like to tell this little story/thought experiment:

Q:  If I have a lung infection, who should I go see, an infectious disease physician or an epidemiologist?

Most people get the right answer.

But then I ask:

Q:  If society has an epidemic, should we consult an infectious disease physician who treats a single patient at a time or an epidemiologist who studies diseases and makes decisions for whole populations of people?

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By Kelsey Fortune

During Tuesday’s City Council Meeting, the Council appointed commission members. I was hoping to be one. Instead, after making my apology public, I was called out and shamed in a public forum where I had no option to respond.

I missed my interview. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but we are living through difficult times right now. Staff and I had scheduled a fifteen-minute interview with Dan Carson and Gloria Partida on Monday, November 23rd. Unfortunately, my grandmother, who has been in a nursing home since a stroke in the Spring of 2019, was diagnosed with COVID-19, and my mind was elsewhere. I forgot about my interview completely.

I emailed an apology. The following morning, I realized my mistake. I was extremely disappointed with myself for missing such an important meeting. The whole day was filled with guilt and sadness. I emailed the staff member with whom I had been corresponding about the interview.

“I want to sincerely apologize for missing my interview yesterday. My grandma has been diagnosed with COVID, and I am completely consumed with this news. I'm sorry that I wasted Dan and Gloria's time. I hope that I can still be considered to serve on a commission.”

I received a compassionate response from staff on Monday, November 30th. I understood this to mean that my application had been forwarded along with this information.

“I am truly sorry to hear about your grandma’s diagnoses, and wish her a speedy recovery!! Your application has been forwarded to the entire City Council for their consideration. Appointments will occur tomorrow at their Council meeting.”

I called in to apologize during public comment. Instead of responding with compassion, Council responded by called me out in their discussion. It was stated that this was the first they were hearing from me. From my perspective, that is not true. I reached out the day following the missed interview. Regardless, speaking this way about a private citizen in a public forum where they cannot respond is inappropriate, unprofessional, and humiliating.

Please consider what you expect from our elected officials.