Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Decedent Testing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee amends, forwards resolution urging post‑mortem COVID‑19 testing and surveillance
Summary
The committee approved edits and forwarded a resolution urging the Department of Public Health and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to expand decedent COVID‑19 testing and surveillance; DPH said targeted testing has occurred since March and OCME reported three decedents tested positive.
The Government Audit and Oversight Committee on June 18 amended and forwarded a resolution urging the Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) to conduct epidemiological post‑mortem COVID‑19 testing, contact tracing and broader surveillance swabbing of decedents to better identify COVID‑19–related deaths and community spread.
Supervisor Aaron Peskin, sponsor of the resolution, cited Alameda County practice and said he had suggested targeted edits. Dr. Susan Philip of DPH told the committee San Francisco has conducted targeted decedent testing in collaboration with OCME since early March and described the proposal’s public‑health rationale: protecting occupational safety, enabling contact tracing of household members, and improving epidemiologic understanding to guide responses.
Dr. Philip said DPH generally prefers tests authorized under Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorizations but acknowledged that reputable laboratories including academic partners can perform validated testing under clear regulations. On retrospective analysis, she said such work is “incredibly interesting and important” but advised it would have limited immediate public‑health impact and recommended performing it “as resources allow.”
Michelle Rippey of OCME said the office “completely support[s] all of these efforts” and reported OCME had three decedents who tested positive for COVID‑19 (one directly as the cause of death, two as another significant condition); she committed to provide the committee with counts and further data.
Supervisor Peskin moved to strike lines 9–13 on page 2 of the draft and to change a grammatical wording on page 2; the committee approved the amendment and forwarded the resolution to the Board with a positive recommendation by unanimous roll call (Peskin, Haney, Marr). DPH said it will pursue a health order to broaden surveillance and will provide data requested by the committee.
