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Supervisor Joe Simitian | District 5
Supervisor Joe Simitian | District 5

Health and Hospital Committee special hearing on Long COVID

On Tuesday, October 26, 2021, the Health and Hospital Committee held a special hearing on Long COVID (when symptoms continue for more than 12 weeks after a COVID-19 infection–severe or mild which cannot be explained by another cause). The hearing included two expert panels discussing Long COVID and how you and our County can prepare to address this health concern.

SCC Health and Hospital Committee Special Hearing on Long COVID

Supervisor Joe Simitian, chair of the Health and Hospital Committee, and  Supervisor Otto Lee, vice chair of the Health and Hospital Committee, moderated the discussion. Panelists included:

  • Brian Block, MD, Assistant Professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, the Associate Director of the Medical ICU, and the Associate Director of Critical Care Ultrasound at UCSF
  • Hector Fabio Bonilla, MD, Co-Director of the Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome (PACS) Clinic, Clinical Associate Professor, Medicine - Infectious Diseases at Stanford Medicine
  • Emily Hough, 2021-22 U.K. Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice at Brown University School of Public Health 
  • Supriya Narasimhan, MD, Chief of Infectious Diseases Division and Hospital Epidemiologist at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
  • Angela Suarez, MD, Medical Director of Primary Care at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center

County Executive Dr. Jeff Smith, Deputy County Executive Rene Santiago, and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center CEO Paul Lorenz also attended and answered questions and provided insight into the County’s response to Long COVID.