You spit in our face

San Mateo health officer goes scorched earth on people not social distancing: 'You spit in our face'

By Eric Ting

Dr. Scott Morrow, the San Mateo County health officer, strongly criticized individuals not taking the region's shelter-in-place order seriously enough Monday night, and did not hold back even slightly.

In a strongly-worded message posted to the county's public health website, Morrow writes, "I believe the virus is growing at an exponential rate in our county. Unless everyone does their part and follows the County’s Shelter-in-Place order and the Governor’s Safer at Home order, we will be facing an Italy-type catastrophe very soon. These orders are not recommendations, they are rules to be followed."

Over the weekend, crowds inundated Bay Area beaches and parks, a development that alarmed officials across the region. Morrow was among those alarmed officials.

"My disappointment stems from the fact that many people just aren’t taking this seriously and going about their business as if nothing has changed," he wrote Monday night. "Our world has profoundly changed in an instant. It is now up to you all, the community, to decide what you want your future to be. If you decide you want to do your own thing and follow your own rules, you disrespect us all. You spit in our face, and you will contribute to the death toll that will follow. For those of you who say: 'nobody tells me what to do,' now is a time to make an exception. You can go back to being ornery in the future."

He continues, "Keeping humans apart from other humans is the only tool we currently have to slow this virus’ spread. This is a particularly fraught dilemma, as humans are social animals and they need each other, but we need to make every possible effort to avoid contact with each other."