Tuesday’s City Council Special Joint Meeting with Bexar County Commissioner’s Court demonstrated the unified effort between the County and City to defeat COVID-19. The focus of the meeting was on Dr. Barbara Taylor, Chair of the COVID-19 Health Transition Team, who provided guidance to city and county leaders as they formulate plans to reopen our community.
Dr. Taylor mentioned that the guidance provided is based on existing public health evidence, data, and expertise and informed by shared values, including a commitment to equity and service to the community.
Reopening the local economy will require careful consideration of the risk of individuals contracting COVID-19. To help with the reopening process, the health transition team has developed these progress indicators, reflective of an effective community response to COVID-19:
- A sustained decline in the number of new cases of COVID-19 for more than 14 days
- The ability to perform tests for the virus in all people with symptoms of COVID-19, their close contacts, and those in public facing roles
- Effective contact tracing capacity to identify all close contacts of people diagnosed with COVID-19 and offer testing to those whom it is indicated
- A prepared healthcare system that can safely care for all patients, including sufficient hospital capacity, workforce, and PPE for healthcare workers
In addition, warning indicators are needed to help with continued monitoring of the epidemic as our community gradually re-opens. Below are warning indicators that signal increased public health safety measures may be needed:
- A decrease in the number of days it takes for the number of COVID-19 cases in our community to double
- An increase in the percentage of COVID-19 tests suggestive of active infection that are positive for COVID-19
- An increase in indicators of health system stress, such as reductions in personal protective equipment, hospital bed, or ventilator capacity, and increases in emergency medical system calls
Other recommendations from Dr. Taylor and the COVID-19 Health Transition Team include:
- Expansion of existing public health capacity for contact tracing and follow up
- Testing for active infection should be expanded to a capacity of 3,000 daily, which is twice our current testing capacity as of April 20, 2020
- Guidance for businesses and other sectors of the economy based on the risk of someone becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2 in that setting. Risk includes:
- Contact intensity
- Number of contacts
- And modification potential
To help combat the spread, the city has recommended a phased process:
- Phase 1: Stay home, work safe
- The goals of phase one is to slow the spread of COVID-19, increase testing capacity, ensure healthcare system has adequate capacity to treat COVID-19 patients and others and prepare for the next phase.
- Phase 2: Staged reopening by risk assessment
- This is a cautious step towards re-opening parts of the community, determined by specific risk of activities. Approaches and strategies to guide this phase two include resuming activities in stages, continued risk mitigation, community outreach and recommended monitoring.
- Phase 3: Easing of restrictions in the context of improving conditions
- The goal of phase three is to ease restrictions further. During this phase, coronavirus cases have decreased. Strategies and approaches include continued increased capacity in operations across businesses, universal hand hygiene, surface cleaning standards and eased restrictions related to isolation and social distancing. High-risk businesses and enterprises not meeting safety guidelines will receive targeted support, education and restrictions until guidelines are met.
- Phase 4: Pandemic Preparedness
- This phase begins once COVID-19 is no longer a threat to our community. This is where the city and county will begin developing a pandemic preparedness plan.
All guidance offered must and will be adaptable to new developments such as new research and breakthroughs in testing and treatment. Other key breakthroughs include a vaccine and knowledge of disease transmission.
