Sara Cody
Sara H. Cody | |
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Public health director of Santa Clara County, California | |
Assumed office July 6, 2015[1] | |
Health officer of Santa Clara County, California | |
Assumed office October 2013[1] | |
Preceded by | Marty Fenstersheib |
Personal details | |
Education | Stanford University Yale University School of Medicine (MD) |
Known for | First mainland U.S. official to implement a stay-at-home order to combat COVID-19 outbreak. |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Epidemiology and public health |
Institutions | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |
Sara H. Cody, M.D.,[2] is an American doctor, epidemiologist and public health official serving as the health officer and public health director of Santa Clara County, California, at the time of the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak. Cody continues to maintain a regular presence in the media to communicate COVID-19 news and policy.
Education
Cody graduated from Stanford University, receiving a degree in human biology, and subsequently completing her Doctor of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine. Following an internship and residency in internal medicine at Stanford University Medical Center, Cody completed a two-year fellowship in epidemiology and public health, as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer ("disease detective") with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[3]
Career
During her fellowship as an EIS officer, she investigated the 1996 international outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 that was linked to unpasteurized Odwalla apple juice, which killed a 16-month-old girl and sickened 70 people, of whom 25 were hospitalized and 14 developed the hemolytic uremic syndrome.[4] She also led an investigation into a salmonella outbreak in Santa Clara County that was traced to cheese made from raw milk and sold in local Hispanic markets.[5] After completion of this fellowship, Cody joined the Public Health Department of Santa Clara County. In 1998, she became the deputy health officer for the county. In this role she oversaw surveillance and investigation of 83 reportable diseases, conducted investigations on outbreaks, and responded to SARS, H1N1 and other public health emergencies.[6][7] In the years after the September 11 attacks, Cody worked with the then-county health officer Marty Fenstersheib to model Santa Clara County's emergency response to a bioterrorism attack or pandemic. This model included such measures as social distancing, shutting schools and at its most extreme, stay-at-home orders.[8] In 2013, Cody moved into the role of county health officer.[3] In 2015, she was also appointed director of the Santa Clara County Public Health Department and has since maintained the dual role.[6]
COVID-19 outbreak
Along with other public health officers in the region, Cody was largely credited for promptly advocating for measures that would limit the spread of COVID-19 when the pandemic reached the United States in 2020.[9][10] She led the Santa Clara County Public Health Department to establish an incident command center on January 23, three days after the first confirmed case in the country, then established a contact tracing mechanism in an effort to stop the propagation of the disease.[8] Cody issued the first guidelines on the closure and cancelation of public gatherings on March 3, extending them to sporting events, festivals and bars on March 9.[8] She was an early advocate of requiring residents to "shelter-in-place", which was put in effect on March 16 in seven counties of the Bay area,[11] with California Governor Gavin Newsom adopting that policy for the whole state three days later.
Cody explained that "If you are going to do something really drastic like shelter-in-place, you want to do it as early as you possibly can. Because if you wait to do it, you get all the harms, all of the social and economic disruptions, but you miss a lot of the benefit."[12][10]
COVID-19 cases in Santa Clara County, California
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Cody has made regular appearances on Bay Area press and video conferences, explaining county health policy and reminding residents that the COVID-19 battle is a long-term health concern: "Because we flattened the curve, it doesn’t mean that we are done. Because we are far, far, far from done."[17] In a press conference in April, Cody confirmed that the first United States COVID-19 death had actually occurred in the Bay Area on February 6, some 23 days prior to the previously known first death. This was the first of three early COVID-19 deaths, which Cody described as "iceberg tips", suggesting that there was a vast and unseen propagation.[18] Following one news conference, she became the subject of a viral meme, after she implored citizens to refrain from touching their faces, then licked her finger to turn a page.[8]
Cody received threats from residents unhappy with the drastic nature the measures put in place. In late August, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office announced that they had arrested a man suspected of sending her several threatening letters, which used language typical of far-right movements. Police found 138 firearms at his residence. Charged with stalking and threatening a public official, he remained in jail while waiting for court proceedings. The police maintain 24-hour protection around Cody.[19][20]
Criticism
On several occasions Cody has cited the effectiveness of the enacted mandates, without providing data or evidence to back up her claims.[21] The mandates were set without any exit metrics to be tracked.[22] On one occasion, Cody cited masks as the reason why Santa Clara county had minimal influenza cases in the winter of 2021, while not mentioning the entire area was under shelter in place at that time, with only essential businesses open, and without mentioning that many places throughout the world which had no mask mandates had no influenza cases either.[23]
Personal life
Cody is a resident of Palo Alto.[8]
References
- ^ a b "County of Santa Clara Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody to Lead Public Health Department" (Press release). Santa Clara County Office of Public Affairs. June 26, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
- ^ "Public Health Department Directory". Santa Clara County Public Health. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
- ^ a b "Dr. Sara Cody". sccgov.org. April 14, 2020. Archived from the original on April 25, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
- ^ Cody SH, Glynn MK, Farrar JA, Cairns KL, Griffin PM, Kobayashi J, Fyfe M, Hoffman R, King AS, Lewis JH, Swaminathan B, Bryant RG, Vugia DJ (February 2, 1999). "An outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection from unpasteurized commercial apple juice". Annals of Internal Medicine. 130 (3): 202-9. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-130-3-199902020-00005. PMID 10049198. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
- ^ Smith, Perry (February 8, 2012). "Disease Detectives: An Inside Look at the Epidemic Intelligence Service". Stanford Journal of Public Health. 2 (1). Retrieved March 8, 2022.
- ^ a b "County of Santa Clara Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody to Lead Public Health Department". sccgov.org. Archived from the original on April 25, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
- ^ "Dr. Sara Cody". Santa Clara County Public Health. April 14, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Sulk, Julia. "Meet the doctor who ordered the Bay Area's coronavirus lockdown, the first in the U.S." mercurynews.com. Bay Area News Group. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- ^ Maddow, Rachel. "Doctor Whose Prescience Saved Countless Lives Reflects On First Stay-at-home Order". msnbc.com. NBC Universal. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- ^ a b Khanna, Ro. "Why Silicon Valley got coronavirus response right". sfchronicle.com. Hearst Newspapers. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- ^ Rodriguez, Olga. "Fast decisions in San Francisco Bay Area helped slow virus spread". post-gazette.com. PG Publishing Company. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- ^ Kerman, Dan. "What Santa Clara County's Dr. Sara Cody knew that led to declaring health emergency". kron4.com. Nextar Broadcasting. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- ^ "COVID-19 case counts by date". County of Santa Clara Open Data Portal. Santa Clara County Public Health Department. November 10, 2023.
- ^ "COVID-19 cases by gender". County of Santa Clara Open Data Portal. Santa Clara County Public Health Department. November 10, 2023.
- ^ "COVID-19 hospitalizations by date". County of Santa Clara Open Data Portal. Santa Clara County Public Health Department. November 10, 2023.
- ^ "Count of deaths with COVID-19 by date". County of Santa Clara Open Data Portal. Santa Clara County Public Health Department. November 10, 2023.
- ^ Crowley, Kerry. "Santa Clara County health officer: 'COVID-19 is something we're going to be managing for a very long time'". mercurynews.com. Bay Area News Group. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- ^ Hamilton, Matt; St. John, Paige. "A healthy woman suddenly died. She was the first known coronavirus fatality in the U.S." Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- ^ "Police: Teacher with far-right ties harassed health officer". Associated Press. September 1, 2020. Archived from the original on September 2, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
- ^ Green, Jason; Salonga, Robert; Webeck, Evan (August 31, 2020). "Gilroy man with apparent ties to 'Boogaloo' movement charged after mailing threats to Santa Clara County health officer". Mercury News. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "San Francisco Bay Area to drop some indoor mask mandates". KCRA. October 7, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
- ^ SFGATE, Eric Ting (September 29, 2021). "'Concerned': Bay Area elected officials battle health officers on masks". SFGATE. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
- ^ SFGATE, Eric Ting (September 29, 2021). "'Concerned': Bay Area elected officials battle health officers on masks". SFGATE. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
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