'Shocking': Santa Clara Co.'s Dr. Cody On Lack Of COVID-19 Funds

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody called the elimination of COVID-19 funding from a recent $1.5 trillion federal spending bill “breathtaking and shocking” on Thursday.

Cody made the remarks during a news briefing marking the two-year anniversary of the pandemic in which she expressed optimism about the state of the pandemic in Santa Clara County.

“Right now, COVID funding has essentially collapsed,” Cody said. “That is breathtaking and shocking. We’re in the middle of a global pandemic and federal funding has collapsed. So we’re watching that.”

Cody said that while the county is in “a pretty stable place” in the pandemic, federal funding will be necessary to maintain the infrastructure for testing, vaccines and treatment.

“I think we all need to really hope that some funding gets back on track,” Cody said.

Cody noted that the BA.2 variant, a subvariant of omicron, is becoming more prevalent in the Bay Area. In Santa Clara County, wastewater detection systems indicate that BA.2 variant numbers are higher in the northern part of the county.

“Not so much in Gilroy and quite a lot in Palo Alto,” Cody said.

Cody credited county residents for being “gritty,” “scrappy” and “dedicated” through the past two years. She said she doesn’t anticipate issuing another shelter-in-place order, even if there is another surge because of the increase in resources, information and treatment for COVID-19.

Moving forward, Cody encouraged residents to keep a stockpile of at-home tests and masks.

“I feel optimistic because of how our community has pulled together collectively,” Cody said.