Covid-19 and Cupertino

Cupertino took the Covid-19 pandemic seriously as soon as it became clear how serious it was and when we realized that our County Health officials were not taking the necessary steps to combat the spread. Our actions and our diligence paid off in terms of slowing the spread.

Infection Rate

Cupertino currently has the lowest infection rate, by far, per capita, of any city in Santa Clara County (date is current as of September 13, 2020). See https://www.sccgov.org/sites/covid19/Pages/dashboard-cases-by-zip-code-and-city.aspx

City	Cases	Population	%
Cupertino	104	60,614	0.17%
Saratoga	104	30,886	0.34%
Los Altos Hills	30	8,517	0.35%
Los Altos	111	30,588	0.36%
Palo Alto	259	67,019	0.39%
Los Gatos	160	30,922	0.52%
Monte Sereno	19	3,492	0.54%
Sunnyvale	871	152,323	0.57%
Milpitas	494	77,457	0.64%
Mountain View	520	80,993	0.64%
Santa Clara	901	126,209	0.71%
Campbell	317	42,470	0.75%
San Jose	12,803	1,026,658	1.25%
Morgan Hill	560	43,876	1.28%

Much of the difference is due to the vastly different demographics between cities but that doesn’t explain the difference entirely, for example the big difference between Saratoga and Cupertino or between Los Altos and Cupertino. Some of the difference is because of steps taken by our City Manager and by a majority of our City Council.

PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)

Due to the lack of action by the Santa Clara County Department of Health with regard to face coverings, at my urging the Cupertino City Manager and the City Council implemented a face-covering order for our City. This passed by a 4-1 vote with all of the pro-resident council members voting yes.

Other cities in the county followed our lead in implementing face covering orders. City officials throughout the County still have no idea why Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Sara Cody was so adamantly opposed to mandating face coverings. I was on twice-weekly phone calls with elected officials and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. We were literally begging Sara Cody to implement a face-covering order but she adamantly refused to do so even though all the other Bay Area Counties had implemented face covering orders. Quick action by our City Council is definitely partially responsible for our low infection rate.

Face Covering Distribution

In the early stages of the pandemic, when face coverings were in short supply, Cupertino received many mask donations both from individuals and from non-profit organizations. We distributed these face coverings to businesses and institutions with at-risk employees.

Especially important was the distribution of masks to senior-living communities because that's where other area cities have experienced big Covid-19 outbreaks, and these are among the most vulnerable residents. We provided thousands of masks to Sunny View, Chateau Cupertino, and The Forum. I personally delivered masks to some of these senior-living communities (one staff member who took the boxes of masks jokingly said, "wow, you're the first mayor in the history of Cupertino to deliver masks by bicycle during a pandemic").

Cupertino Mayor Steven Scharf Delivering Face Masks by Bicycle

 Receiving Mask Donations at City Hall

Testing

Cupertino has done testing in Creekside Park and at the Senior Center. Walgreen's in Cupertino is also doing testing. While the demand for testing was very high a couple of months ago, with long waits, we now have sufficient testing capacity and the County is literally begging people to use the testing capacity that is available. You do not need health insurance in order to get a free test.

Moving Forward

The pandemic is not over. There could be a second wave of infections when schools return to in-classroom learning, when families gather for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and when flu season makes people more vulnerable. The air pollution caused by the wildfires has caused an increase in infection rates.

We all are weary of Covid-19 and how it has changed our lives but we must not let our guard down. Had the rest of the country taken the pandemic as seriously as we did in Cupertino we would likely already be well on our way to a full recovery.

Covid-19 should not have to be a campaign issue, but the reality is that the choice of elected officials matters greatly in an emergency. We have seen the disastrous results in states whose governors decided to base their decisions on political considerations rather than on science. It matters at the local level as well. Only one Cupertino City Council Member ignored science and voted against protecting the public health; our face-covering emergency ordinance passed on a 4-1 vote but it really should have been 5-0. Imagine what would have occurred had the make-up of the City Council been different.

None of us on the City Council are experts on the spread of infectious diseases. When we ran for City Council none of us could have ever imagined that we would be tasked with responding to a public health crisis because our County would not. Four of us were willing to put political considerations aside, listen to public health experts, and act in the best interests of the community. Elections matter.

Let’s Build a Better Cupertino for All!

Paid for by Steven Scharf for Cupertino City Council 2020 FPPC ID #1388099