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New County Order Aligns with State, Will Allow for Retail Shopping & Religious GatheringsBeginning June 1, the San Mateo County Health Officer again updated the local Shelter in Place Order to more fully align with the State’s orders and Early Phase 2 reopening plan.
In addition to prior orders this month, the County’s updated order eases a number of restrictions that affect retail, religious gatherings and beach use.
Both the County’s and State’s orders remain in effect until they are amended or rescinded - this means they do not have a specific expiration date. Because COVID-19 continues to spread in our community, San Mateo County remains under stricter mandates including requiring people wear face coverings and practice social distancing.
The Health Officer is monitoring several key indicators, including hospitalizations and infection rates, to inform decisions on whether to modify restrictions.
Key Updates from the May Orders: - Retail Shopping: Starting June 1, retail stores can allow in-store shopping, but must limit customers to ensure social distancing and follow specific safety measures. Curbside pickup and delivery, as well as ordering products in advance, is still preferred and recommended.
- Religious Gatherings: Starting June 1, places of worship can host in-person religious gatherings with additional safety measures including limiting the number of people who can attend to 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is lower.
- Office spaces: non-essential business offices may reopen, but only if they cannot perform their job duties from home.
- Recreation: Rules regarding recreation were eased in earlier orders, and some facilities are reopening including our skate parks and tennis courts with restrictions. Dog parks and playgrounds remain closed, do not use shared equipment with people outside your household. Parking may be limited. See additional City park restrictions on our FAQ page.
- San Mateo County Beaches: Our coastal communities have seen a huge influx of visitors and are working to address the health risks. You should try to avoid visiting during peak hours and gatherings are not allowed. Prior restrictions have been removed, but beachgoers must still follow social distancing and face covering protocols. Other restrictions may be implemented by coastal cities.
- Restaurants: are open for take-out only. Dining is NOT currently allowed under the state or county health orders. However, the City is working closely with our business community to consider ways to provide additional outdoor seating areas for when dine-in is allowed by both state and county health officials. Check out the Downtown San Mateo Association’s guide to see what restaurants are open for some delicious take out in downtown!
- Additional Services Allowed: select services can reopen with additional safety precautions including pet grooming, dog walking, car washes, appliance repair, residential and janitorial cleaning and plumbing. Customers and service providers must wear face coverings and be able to remain 6 feet apart. Salons and barber shops are not currently allowed to open.
Review the Health Order or call 2-1-1 for information about what businesses are allowed to operate.
Want to report a health order violation at a business? Please call our Code Enforcement Division at (650) 522-7011.
It’s important to remember COVID-19 continues to spread in our community, and the County Health Officer Dr. Morrow warns the easing of some restrictions does not mean it’s safe to be out. Everyone should still maintain social distancing, cover your face, and heed all public health warnings. We can all do our part to protect ourselves and each other!
Child Care Updates & City Summer Camps!Child care and recreational programs are an essential need in the City of San Mateo, providing vital support to families and the community. The County Health Officer’s Orders allow for the opening of child care and summer recreation programs, with specific modifications to protect our shared public health. We’re pleased to announce we’ll be providing some summer camp programs this year.?
City of San Mateo Summer Camps
Our Parks and Recreation staff are altering the locations, duration and model of our 2020 Summer Camps to ensure our programs are fun, engaging and most importantly safe. All activities in all camps will follow current health mandates and include temperature taking upon arrival, frequent hand washing, and social distancing requirements. Space is very limited and registration begins Monday, June 1 at 9 a.m. Visit www.cityofsanmateo.org/summercamps for more information! For Your Child’s Safety: Health Order Requirements To ensure your children are enrolled in programs that are following County guides, we wanted to share with the following information about what programs must do in order to comply with Public Health Orders. Compliant with any licensing requirements and in addition to abiding by all other aspects of the State and San Mateo County Health orders, the following regulations apply to childcare establishments, summer camps, and other educational or recreational institutions or programs providing care or supervision for children of all ages: - Programs must be in stable groups of 12 or fewer children who are in the same group each day and for at least three consecutive weeks
- Children cannot change from one group to another or attend more than one childcare establishment, summer camp, other educational or recreational instruction or program at the same time.
- If more than one group of children is at one facility, they cannot mix with each other.
- Providers, educators and other staff cannot serve more than one group of children and must remain solely with that group of children during the duration of the childcare establishment, summer camp, other educational or recreational institution or program.
Review the latest and complete health order at www.smchealth.org. Finally, San Mateo cares about our child care providers. We’ve partnered with Samaritan House to allocate $120,000 to support current child care providers in the City of San Mateo needing rental assistance. Those interested in applying should contact Samaritan House.
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Let's Show Some Pride!Monday, June 1, marks the start of Pride Month and for the first time, the rainbow flag will be hanging at City Hall the entire month of June as a show of unity and support of our LGBTQ community. We’re pleased to welcome representatives of the San Mateo County Pride Center and the San Mateo County LGBTQ Commission to help raise the flag and commemorate the start of Pride Month 2020! You can watch the virtual ceremony during our City Council meeting June 1 at 7 p.m.
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Curbside Pickup at Hillsdale Shopping Center Starting May 26, Hillsdale Shopping Center opened for curbside pickup from specific retailers. In compliance with the County Health Order, everyone must wear a face covering and follow social distancing protocols when visiting the shopping center. The Hillsdale Shopping Center website includes a list of retailers open for curbside pickup, and a map and instructions on how to pick up your merchandise. Open retailers include restaurants, clothing stores, flower shops, and more.
Community Opinion Survey ResultsWe’re pleased to share the results of our 2020 Community Opinion Survey! In our ongoing efforts to engage the public and be responsive to the community’s interests, we partnered with the independent firm True North Research to conduct a survey about our community’s opinions on a variety of topics. This statistically-reliable, comprehensive survey covers resident opinions about satisfaction with city services, quality of life, housing and building, recreation, and communication. The survey was issued between January 27 and February 6, 2020 in English and Spanish, with over 1,200 residents participating via phone and online. The study employed a methodology that would provide statistically reliable results by surveying a random sample of residents who represent San Mateo’s demographics. San Mateo residents completed the survey at a much higher rate than initially anticipated, resulting in a statistical margin of error of just 2.7%. The City Council reviewed and discussed the results with True North Research President Dr. Timothy McLarney during the May 18 City Council Study Session. You can watch the meeting and learn more.
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Free COVID Testing at County Event CenterThe County of San Mateo has expanded our region's COVID-19 testing capabilities. Free drive-thru testing is now available to anyone, with or without symptoms. All you need is to make an appointment online. Testing will continue at the County's Event Center in the City of San Mateo on Mondays and Tuesdays. Sites are also now open in Daly City & East Palo Alto, with another planned for the coastside. Testing is free. You do not need a doctor’s note or medical insurance. Online registration is required. Onsite registration assistance is available. Results are available in 1–3 days. Individuals who test positive will be contacted by San Mateo County Health. To ensure as many people can receive testing, please check if your health care provider offers testing.
To make an appointment, residents can visit Project Baseline’s website.
Check out more information in English and in Spanish. This testing is offered by Verily's Project Baseline, and is in addition to testing through your primary care physician. Learn more about COVID-19 testing in San Mateo County. |
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Public Can Access City’s Online Services Did you know you can access a variety of the City’s remotely? From watching a public meeting to scheduling a building inspection and applying for a permit, there are a variety of online applications and services available to you. Please check out all the handy links compiled on our Online Applications and Services web page.
Moratorium on Commercial Evictions The City’s ordinance that places a moratorium on commercial evictions was initially valid through May 31 to protect commercial tenants from being evicted from nonpayment. With May coming to a close, the City Council voted to extend the commercial eviction moratorium through June 30; the Council may choose to extend this moratorium. Additionally, the Council extended the period by which small business commercial tenants have to pay back deferred rent payments. With certain conditions, tenants – up to 12 months with certain conditions. Check out the Small Business Tenant Projection FAQs for more information. |
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Make Some Noise for the Class of 2020 - Shelter-at-Home CelebrationPlease join neighbors across the mid-Peninsula in MAKING SOME NOISE for our grads. Step outside your front door on Friday, June 12 between 7:00-7:15 p.m. to whoop and holler, applaud, yell, stomp your feet, bang a pot and spoon, whistle, sing, or play an instrument all in the name of our graduates! Residents may also print this sign to post on front doors or windows to show support for the class of 2020. Let’s show all of our students who are moving on to the next step in their education or graduating from high school some encouragement and acknowledge their hard work!
We're joining the Cities of Burlingame, Hillsborough, Millbrae, San Bruno and San Mateo, as well as the Burlingame, Hillsborough City, Millbrae, San Bruno Park, San Mateo-Foster City, and San Mateo Union High School Districts to celebrate and recognize graduates from all local public and private high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools as a community - safely and while sheltering-at-home.
Photo Submissions - Share Your Signs of Hope Our community has been incredible lifting each other up and sharing messages of positivity as we all cope with sheltering in place. We've received an incredible batch of photo submissions for our Signs of Hope Campaign, and we'd love to see yours, too!
We're collecting and posting pictures that represent the kind, caring, and supportive community that surrounds us here in our city. Thank you notes, window paintings, neighbors helping neighbors. Look around you and send us a picture of anything that symbolizes the resilience of our community and amazing city. Email your picture(s) to: socialmedia@cityofsanmateo.org.
We know life in San Mateo is quite different than what we’re all used to right now, but our community is strong when we come together and support each other. Check out some of the Signs of Hope below, and on our Facebook Page. Stay tuned for more as we continue to share the inspirational messages and signs of hope surrounding San Mateo!
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Dear Neighbor - Letter Writing CampaignThe Health Plan of San Mateo is hosting a Dear Neighbor postcard writing campaign and is looking for volunteers to write short postcard messages to our most isolated community members letting them know we are thinking of them. These postcards will be sent to low-income older adults and people with disabilities. All postcard recipients live here in San Mateo County. HPSM will provide the postcards and mail them – simply add your handwritten messages! Volunteers who can write in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog or Russian can sign up to help. |
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Virtual Gardening WorkshopHorticulture specialist Suzanne Bontempo will discuss how to identify the bugs in your garden, how to keep the good ones around and which plants are good bug magnets. She will share kid-friendly worksheets. No charge, but advance registration is required at https://bawsca.org/conserve/programs/classes. They will receive an email with instructions on how to access the webinar on Zoom.
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Summer Fun with Virtual Activities Aquatics & SwimmingDue to current COVID-19 health orders, our Parks and Recreation Department has made the difficult decision to cancel all private, semi-private, and group swimming lessons.
Safety and health remain our top priority moving into the summer, as we continue to change and alter our programs to best serve our community. This situation is fluid and once updates have been made, they can be found on our Aquatics web page: www.cityofsanmateo.org/aquatics. We will be updating the page frequently this summer.
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Help & Resources for SeniorsAre you an older adult? Do you need assistance, food or someone to chat with? There’s help! Call (650) 780-7542 Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. to talk with someone who can help you stay healthy, well and connected. Peninsula Family Service and the Peninsula Health Care District offer this free service to adults 60+ years. It’s available in multiple languages. Please share this information with those in your community too! You can always find more resources by calling 2-1-1 or visiting: the County's Resources web page or www.cityofsanmateo.org/coronavirus |
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Older adults who are sheltering in place, unable to access meals, and ineligible for other nutrition programs, can receive free meals delivered to their homes. San Mateo County is participating in the State’s Great Plates Delivered program, set up to support adults at high-risk from COVID-19 by arranging for restaurants and other food providers to deliver food to homes across San Mateo County.
Residents who qualify are encouraged to call (800) 675-8437 and speak to multi-lingual county staff to apply for meal delivery services. To qualify, San Mateo residents need to meet the following: Individuals 65 and older, or 60-64 and at high-risk as defined by the Centers for Disease Control, including those who are medically documented as COVID-19 positive, COVID-19 exposed, or living with an underlying health condition; Live alone or with one other program-eligible adult; Are not receiving assistance from other state or federal nutrition assistance programs; Earn no more than 600% of the federal poverty limit, which is $74,940 or $101,460 for a household of two; Are unable to prepare or obtain meals.
The Great Plates Delivered program provides three restaurant meals a day, five days per week. Delivery is arranged by the food provider and requires that delivery workers be pre-vetted by background checks and other screening tools. Call (800) 675-8437 to apply.
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