Official Statement on Taskforce Referral for 4/21 Board Of Supervisors meeting

​I offered a clear, targeted pathway for a broad range of community stakeholders to engage directly with County administration and the Public Health Department in order to have a voice in shaping our recovery. I am heartened that my colleagues joined me in the call to gain a transparent explanation of the road out of the shelter in place for Santa Clara County. And while my colleagues did not agree that the timing was right for the creation of a public-private task force to assist in the transition out of the shelter in place, I plan to reintroduce this idea when we have a clearer picture of the strategy going forward. I look forward to how, together, we can work toward a safe reopening of our communities. – Supervisor Susan Ellenberg

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors Meeting​,  April 21, 2020
Supervisor Susan Ellenberg’s Full Comments on Item 14​

I want to start by thanking Santa Clara County’s Public Health Officer and Administration for the courage that they displayed in the difficult decision to lead the nation in a shelter in place order on March 16; 36 days ago today. As of yesterday, 83 of our fellow Santa Clara Countians have lost their lives to COVID 19. This loss of life has been far too great, but the sobering truth is that had our leaders not taken these measures, the toll would be far, far worse.

But these decisions have been accompanied by enormous sacrifice by the residents of this county. Workers have been laid off, with over two and a half million Californians losing their jobs in the past month, schools have been closed, faith communities shuttered, and families separated. For many of us, our sacrifice is working from home; but for thousands of our fellow Santa Clara Countians, working men and women, their sacrifice is the loss of livelihood and the uncertainty of their next paycheck and meal. I am bringing this referral to ensure that six weeks from now we might be able to say again: “the loss was far too great, but without this proper action it could have been far, far worse.”

My referral is guided by one simple principle: that if government asks its residents to make unprecedented sacrifice for public health, we must hold ourselves to the highest levels of transparency and accountability to protect them.

This referral calls on Administration to do two things:

First, to produce a plan, for public consumption, detailing the public health tools, technology, staffing and funding necessary to support future phases of the COVID-19 disease control and prevention effort.

At our last Board meeting, Dr. Cody laid out four benchmarks that must be met for this County and region to begin the process of opening up our society and economy. I firmly agree with this approach and cannot applaud enough the data-driven and science-led mentality that has saved hundreds of lives in the Bay Area and California. But the residents of this County must know how we are progressing on those metrics, and this Board must know how we can help provide the tools to achieve them, AND if our appointed officials are carrying us as fast as humanly possible towards their conclusion. In this unprecedented time of enormous sacrifice, we as a Board should demand no less.

I asked a series of questions today of Dr. Smith and Dr. Cody driving at these answers. To be completely honest: I should not have to do that, and the public should not have to wait two weeks in between receiving those updates. We should know where we are going, how we are to get there, and how far we are away. And more importantly, the public should know those things with us.

Put yourselves in the shoes of a construction worker, or a waitress, or a small business owner, who today is counting down to May 3 to potentially no longer be laid off in a shelter in place? Put yourselves in the shoes of a parent, waiting to see if their child’s summer camp may still occur in June, or if they can take a trip to visit their grandparents? These are times of shared sacrifice, and the sad reality is that we may need to tell them no to all these things for longer. But how can we justify adding to that the uncertainty of simply not knowing how close we are or how we might get there? Will we extend the shelter in place on May 3, and if so, why? I’m a member of this Board – one of five in Santa Clara County out of nearly 2 million – and I don’t know the answer to that. How could the public? But I do know this – our goal needs to not be to extend the order indefinitely; it needs to be to not have to. Let’s tell the public how we get there.

Second, this referral calls for Administration to create a task force to aid in the eventual re-opening of our economy. Let me start by saying what this is not: this task force is not, in any way, an attempt to usurp or distract the authority of Dr. Cody in making public health decisions for our residents.

But Dr. Cody is a single person – one tasked with the herculean job of mitigating the health impacts of a once-in-a-century pandemic. And questions are going to arise that require a multi-disciplinary approach to get correct. For example, what have we learned from essential businesses, which have stayed open, that could help us start to re-open others? What sectors of our economy and society have been able to innovate through this time, and teach other sectors – and certainly us – how we can model what they have done? What can the faith and non-profit communities learn from business and labor, and vice versa, that may get them all back moving again while also keeping us healthy? What can education leaders learn from other sectors that may help them get schools open in a safe manner for the 2020-2021 school year?

We are better together. This area has some of the most capable minds in the nation and world, and they are ready to loan their talents to a task force that will help advise us on how best to learn from one another at a critical time in our history.

I want to quickly address my colleague’s proposal for an economic recovery task force for nine impacted sectors of our society and economy. For the same reasons I just detailed, I support this proposal, in concept. I agree fully that government should do all in its power to help those most impacted by the shelter in place orders, and I have and will continue to support those measures. But no government action can fully mitigate the poor planning of a re-opening strategy, and I believe they need to be complimentary. Let’s mitigate the impacts, yes, but let’s also begin planning to end the need for mitigation.

I would end with this. Our citizens are facing economic, food and housing insecurity, the loss of education and childcare for their children, distance from their faith communities, separation from family members, mental and physical health concerns, and a growing sense of uncertainty for the future. If we need to be more transparent and listen a bit more than we speak to alleviate some of that uncertainty and maintain a level of trust in what we are asking of them, so be it. Let’s be as courageous and smart in going out of this shelter in place as we were going into it; and then, together, we can look again to a better tomorrow.