San José, Calif. - Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez – in partnership with the San Jose Sports Authority, San José State baseball and other Bay Area sports teams – is launching a four-week Public Service Announcement campaign today with the importance of masking up, followed by the importance of getting the COVID-19 vaccine and testing.
The campaign will run through February with a new PSA coming out every Friday for the next four weeks.
Spartan catcher Ryan Belluomini was featured in this week's first PSA video.
"Athletes and coaches from the San Jose Sharks, the 49'ers, the San Jose Earthquakes, the San Jose Barracudas, San Jose State University and Stanford University did not hesitate to participate in these important public service announcements for Santa Clara County residents," said Supervisor Cindy Chavez. "I appreciate the leadership of our hometown teams to show-up for our community."
John Poch, executive director of the San Jose Sports Authority, said professional and college athletes and coaches are great messengers on the importance of masking up and getting vaccinated for COVID because people look up to them.
"These are powerful public service announcements because the athletes and coaches are showing a united front in defeating the virus. They believe this is greater than the individual teams. They want to defeat COVID together," said Poch.
Supervisor Chavez said the public service announcements can be used by all government agencies throughout Santa Clara County, Bay Area television stations, public organizations and residents on air as well as on their social media platforms and websites.
"We want to cast a wide net and get the word out far and wide in Santa Clara County on masking-up, getting tested and vaccinated for COVID-19 by being straightforward and fun" said Chavez.