San Diego County public health officials outlined plans Friday to hire hundreds of nurses and other staff to track the pandemic as 147 new coronavirus cases and 10 deaths were reported.
Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said that as testing ramps up, the county is beefing up the team that traces the contacts of those who test positive for the virus.
He said there are now 128 “contact tracers” on staff and hiring is underway to increase that number to 450. He said that number is based on achieving 5,200 tests daily, with 7.5% positive, and then contacting 1,200 people who may have been exposed.
“This is an essential part of the containment of the spread of coronavirus,” Fletcher said, “to have robust testing to be able to rapidly identify positive cases and then have the ability to have individuals go in and find their close contacts.”
Nick Macchione, director of the Health and Human Services Agency, said the county is hiring 200 more public heath nurses to support expanded testing. This will include “nursing strike teams” that focus on individual outbreaks at nursing homes, drug treatment centers, businesses and other locations.
The county has also outfitted two vehicles for mobile testing. “The county’s Live Well Mobile will be in southeastern San Diego tomorrow, and will soon be a daily presence around the county,” he said.
Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county’s public health officer, said there have been 55,199 tests, 3,711 cases and 134 deaths to date. The latest victims were three women and seven men.
She said that based on the latest data, San Diego County residents have succeeded in flattening the curve of the coronavirus epidemic.
“We have definitely flattened the curve,” she said. “I think the major question is, have we peaked? We might be in a plateau actually.”
Fletcher and other officials said the county was making plans for reopening in advance of Gov. Gavin Newsom giving statewide approval.
But the supervisor cautioned that San Diegans must continue to practice physical distancing and now wear face coverings in public. He said COVID-19 will remain highly contagious and a public danger until a vaccine or treatment is available.
“If April was a month of action, then May is a month of adaptation,” he said. “It is adapting the way we go about our daily life.”
