Dr. Matt Willis
Marin County Public Health Officer
Recorded: Wednesday, June 10th

Join Dr. Matt Willis, live Wednesday, June 10th, as he shares his perspective on ways to think about, deal with, and potentially treat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Matt Willis has been the Marin County Public Health Officer since 2013. A Marin native, he completed his MD at Temple University and both medical residency and a Masters in Public Health at Harvard University. He spent time as the US Public Health Service Director of Primary Care on the Navajo Nation and did research at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
As the Public Health Officer in Marin County he led the development of the RxSafe Marin coalition to battle the opioid epidemic. Dr. Willis has recently been in the news not only for leading Marin’s effort against COVID-19, but also for contracting the virus himself. He was diagnosed on March 22, isolated at home, and was back to work by April 20.
“I was sure when I got the disease that in a few months, everyone was going to get it. I was certain my story was going to be boring. Just one of many. That hasn’t really happened.”.
––Dr. Matt Willis
Get ready to join Dr. Matt Willis in conversation, Wednesday, June 10th.
In the meantime, we invite you to take a moment now to help shape this upcoming conversation.
Check out the list of questions submitted by other registered attendees, and then vote to support any that match your interests.
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Could you please discuss the variance of opinions regarding mask wearing? I appreciate that you mention the importance of this in your videos, yet I see many people outside every day who are not wearing masks. San Francisco has mandated mask wearing outside and suggest a distance of 30 feet from others. Dr. Larry Brilliant was just quoted as saying if 80% of us wore masks 80% of the time, the virus would dissipate. I have heard that mentioned by two other physicians lately. I would be willing to wear a mask outside every single day until we have a vaccine. I understand the elation in reopening, but I think people will become much more lax about the issue of wearing masks. They have had great success in Asian countries, as everyone wears masks. It’s very perplexing and frustrating that everyone does not wear a mask outdoors.
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The New York Times published the results of a survey of 511 epidemiologists this week. Please comment. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/08/upshot/when-epidemiologists-will-do-everyday-things-coronavirus.html
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At least in Marin, the demographic with the worst outcome when contracting COVID-19 is the elderly (all deaths to date have been over 65). Given this data, one approach would have been to strongly isolate the elderly who are most vulnerable, and allow the rest of us to go about our lives, with limited precautions. Was this considered as an option, and if so, why was it not adopted?
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Governor Newsom’s first shelter-in-place order was actually directed at those 65 years and older, but he has said very little about this population recently. As there are now phase-in plans for specific workplaces and activities, can seniors also liberalize their activities? If they were employed, is there a recommendation regarding return to their workplaces?
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We have a family member in our home getting cancer treatment. I have put off PT appointments for 3 months and recently rescheduled. The PT therapist would like me to come in for body work for a few weeks. The remainder of appts will be via telehealth. They appear to be sanitizing rooms and the therapist (and I ) are masked. How would you assess the risk at this time?
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The Daily Count of New Reported cases for Marin appears to increase beginning the week of May 17, yet the Daily Hospital and ICU Covid-19 cases do not show such an increase. Why is this? Is this just a factor of the increased testing picking up more cases, but the actual infection level in Marin is remaining relatively constant or maybe even decreasing??
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Big increases in numbers of cases here, but not big increases in hospitalizations. What are the quarantine guidelines for those who test positive? Are they mandatory? What are DPH and providers doing to allow people to stay/recover at home (especially folks who are in multiple-person households?
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