The San Jose City Council pandemic management team updated the council on the status of the new coronavirus during Tuesday’s meeting.
“The city of San Jose is coordinating directly with Dr. Sara Cody and [Santa Clara Public Health Department] to manage information response and public education,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said. “The county is the lead agency and we are actively in communication with them, many times a day.”
The management plan, which was created on Jan. 24, has a total of five stages. The first is a means for the city to stay alert and monitor any rise in cases in San Jose, according to the city’s verbal report.
Liccardo said the third confirmed case on Friday brought the city to stage three of the pandemic management plan and brought the city to medium risk.
City staff said the management plan escalated to stage three after Santa Clara County told them about the first likely case of community transmission.
There are 14 cases confirmed in Santa Clara County, according to the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.
The council said it will continue to monitor any further changes in the pandemic with assistance from the county and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mental health
The council approved a plan to connect residents who struggle with mental health with appropriate resources in an effort to reduce suicides.
The council unanimously voted to adopt a policy on suicide prevention to raise awareness of mental illness within the community.
On Nov. 15, 2011, the City of San Jose adopted a resolution supported by Santa Clara County for a Prevention Strategic Plan, which aimed to bring awareness of mental illnesses that affect
San Jose locals.
However, council members established a new policy to support the county’s plan and provide guidance and information to city employees, city facilities workers and San Jose residents.
The memorandum describes the policy as an effort to make the city a proactive partner with community services and establish a service hub to connect residents with the help they need.
“It came forward in 2017 and it’s been a long project,” San Jose resident
Paul Escobar said. “But I think what staff has produced here really leverages the city’s unique relationship with residents in order to raise awareness about suicide and suicide prevention and helped us save lives in the city of San Jose.”
According to the city’s analysis, suicide rates are a growing crisis affecting residents of all ages. The report stated that in 2017, over a million adults in the United States seriously considered suicide.
According to staff reports on data collected by the CDC, about 3.2 million people in the United States reported making plans to commit suicide in 2019 and more than 1 million admitted to attempting suicide in the past 12 months.
In a memorandum addressing the council and the mayor, Councilmember Raul Peralez said that suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States.
Reports from city staff said the overall suicide rate in California is 10.7 deaths per 100,000 people.
But according to city reports, Santa Clara County has one of the lower suicide rates in the state with 7.5 deaths per 100,000 people.
“150 youths have died by suicide since this was first introduced,” said Mary Gloner, San Jose resident and executive director for Project Safety Net, a community coalition dedicated to youth well being and suicide prevention in Palo Alto.
Gloner expressed concern for the youth population because they are one of the most vulnerable demographics.
“In San Jose, the [approximate rate of] youth suicides is 4.6 youth per 100,000 residents,” Gloner said.
Other San Jose residents expressed their concern for homeless people who struggle with mental illness and self harm.
Residents expressed concerns about alcohol and drug use among the homeless population, describing using these substances as an act of suicide in public.
Peralez agreed with the residents’ comments and said this policy is important.
“It’s left to our first responders to deal with the mental health needs of individuals out in the street and that’s why I’m so pleased right now that this policy that we have is finally bringing us to the forefront and partnering with the county’s strategic plan,” Peralez said.
Peralez discussed suicides that took place at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library in the past few years.
“There [were] several repeated suicide attempts there within the building from the top floor,” Peralez said.
He said that San Jose State and the city are going to work together to prevent any more tragedies from occurring in the MLK Library.
“The university in the city worked together on preventative barriers, and since then there’s been dramatic reduction in regards to attempts at least happening there within [the Dr.] Martin Luther King Jr. Library, but that’s just physical barriers, right?” Peralez said. “Our attempt here is now to actually be able to provide more upfront resources before we actually get to just, you know, deterring somebody from a particular location.”
