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As of May 8th, lower-risk businesses can reopen with social distancing guidelines. The new guidance can be found at https://covid19.ca.gov/roadmap/. Stage two will gradually be implemented but so far allows:

• retail (curbside and delivery only);
• related logistics and manufacturing;
• office workplaces;
• limited personal services;
• outdoor museums;
• child care; and
• essential businesses can open with modifications

Since the Stage-2 opening, there has been a 3% increase in COVID-19 deaths and tested cases. Individuals are encouraged to maintain vigilance and safe practices. As such, a reminder 0f businesses still disallowed from opening are:

• Personal services such as nail salons, tattoo parlors, gyms and fitness studios
• Entertainment venues with limited capacities, such as movie theaters, gaming, gambling, and arcade venues, and pro sports
• Indoor museums, kids museums and gallery spaces, zoos and libraries
• Community centers, including public pools, playgrounds, and picnic areas
• Limited-capacity religious services and cultural ceremonies
• Nightclubs
• Concert venues
• Live audience sports
• Festivals
• Theme parks
• Hotels/lodging for leisure and tourism – non-essential travel
• Higher education

For more info visit: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/Local-Variance-Attestations.aspx

Executive Order N-64-20 will allow all registered voters in California to vote by mail in the November 3, 2020 General Election. The Governor’s office will continue to work with the Legislature and the Secretary of State to determine how requirements for in-person voting opportunities and other details of the November election will be implemented, while preserving public health and giving county elections officials needed flexibility.

The full Order can be read here: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/05.08.2020-EO-N-64-20-signed.pdf

Friday will bring the releases of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (“HEROES Act”). The bill provides relief for essential workers, such as aviation, rail and Amtrak workers, extends work visas for immigrants, and further provides assistance to state and local governments, hazard pay for frontline health care workers, forgiveness of student debt and bolstering Medicaid and Medicare, provisions to assist farmers, protect renters and homeowners from evictions and foreclosures, and extends family and medical leave provisions previously approved by Congress.

The Bill does not have wide support, unlike previous stimulus bills to assist with COVID-19. After the infamous handling of the PPP, as well as a several trillion dollar price tag on for economic stimulus payments, conservative lawmakers have advised this bill will not pass the Senate. With the economy set to reopen soon, the fate of this bill is unknown.

The full bill can be read here: https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20200511/BILLS-116hr6800ih.pdf

Sacramento County
The Sacramento County Public Health Officer​ issued a new Public Health Order effective May 2nd, and will be in effect until May 23, 2020, unless extended. The Public Health Order reinforces the direction for all individuals to stay home and extends the terms of the order to continue social distancing and reducing person-to-person contact to further slow transmission of COVID-19.

Note that you may be reported for violations as individual can call 3-1-1 and report you. See more info at: https://www.saccounty.net/COVID-19/Documents/May1_ExecutedHealthOrder_SignedNewStayathomeOrder-FINAL.pdf

Placer County
Placer County will let their Stay-at-home order formally expire May 2nd; however, they remind residents that little will be changes as it was only in place because “[t]he local order was intended to complement the indefinite statewide shelter-in-place order issued by Governor Gavin Newsom on March 19.”  The statewide shelter-in-place order will still be in place, thus residents will need to continue their quarantine. See more info at: https://www.placer.ca.gov/6571/Placer-County-looks-ahead-to-phased-reop

San Francisco County
The San Francisco Department of Public Health, in coordination with other Bay Area health departments, is extending its Stay Home order to May 31st in order to maintain progress on slowing the spread of the coronavirus. In recognition of the gains made to date, the new orders will allow some lower-risk outdoor activities and jobs to resume May 4, provided that specific public health requirements are followed. This order takes effect at 11:59 p.m. on May 3, 2020. It will remain in effect until 11:59 p.m. on May 31, 2020 unless the Health Officer determines changes are warranted. See the order at: https://sf.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/2020.04.29%20FINAL%20%28signed%29%20Health%20Officer%20Order%20C19-07c-%20Shelter%20in%20Place.pdf

Relaxed quarantine restriction come May 4th include:

• all construction will be allowed to resume as long as specific safety measures are in place;
• businesses that operate primarily outdoors, such as plant nurseries, may reopen;
• employees of a business allowed to operate under the order can also access childcare programs that are allowed to operate;
• outdoor recreational facilities, like skate parks, can reopen; and
• residential moves will be allowed.

YOLO County
It is currently unclear if the stay-at-home order will continue past May; however, like Placer County, residents and business will be bound by the state-wide shelter-in-place Order. Yolo has uniquely made it mandatory that all individuals wear facemasks while outside.

Face coverings must be worn in public settings, such as:

• Waiting in line to go inside a store
• Shopping at a store
• Picking up food at a restaurant
• On public transportation (or waiting for it)
• In a taxi or rideshare vehicle
• Seeking healthcare
• Going into facilities allowed to stay open
• Working an essential job that interacts with the public
• Children 2 years and older should be encouraged to wear a mask when around others closer than 6 feet. When they do, they must be supervised by an adult.

Face coverings are NOT required to be worn by people who are:

• At home.
• In the car alone or with members of their own household.
• Children under the age of 2 years old due to the risk of suffocation.
• Outdoors, walking, hiking, bicycling or running. However, people must comply with social distancing during these activities, including maintaining at least 6 feet of distance from other people. People should also have a face covering readily accessible.
• Residents with a health condition whose medical doctor has advised against wearing a face covering and can provide documentation.

Businesses must:

• Require their employees, contractors, owners, and volunteers to wear a face covering at the workplace and when performing work off-site;
• Inform customers about the need to wear a face covering, including posting signs and advising those in line or in the store;
• Take reasonable steps to keep people who are not wearing a face covering from entering their business, and
• Refuse service to anyone not wearing a face covering.
• Individual violators are unlikely to be cited however essential businesses and other enterprises will be expected to enforce this order. Everyone has an opportunity to contribute to public health and the welfare of our community by following this health order. Individuals that choose not to wear face coverings may encounter difficulties such as being refused access to public transit and essential businesses.

See more info at: https://www.yolocounty.org/Home/Components/News/News/11623/26.

Three initiatives have been announced to support Californians over 65 years young who are isolated at home during the stay at home order. California is launching a meal delivery program, a partnership to make wellness check-in calls, and the expansion of Friendship Line California. These actions will support the approximately 1.2 million Californians over the age of 65 who live alone.

Restaurants Deliver: Home Meals for Seniors
This first-in-the-nation program will ensure vulnerable older Californians have consistent access to nutritious meals while staying safe at home. The Restaurants Deliver: Home Meals for Seniors program will enlist community restaurants to prepare meals that will be delivered to older Californians who are isolating at home during California’s stay at home order. The program will also support local restaurant workers and owners who have lost business during the pandemic. The program will be administered by local authorities and will serve older Californians who are ineligible for other nutrition programs. Details for using it can be fund here: https://covid19.ca.gov/restaurants-deliver-home-meals-for-seniors/

Social Bridging Project
The Social Bridging Project will mobilize more than 1,000 callers to proactively reach out to older Californians who are isolating at home. The project will combat social isolation through direct, one-on-one communication with older Californians, many living alone and isolated. Listos California is partnering with the California Department of Aging, United Airlines, Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), and Sacramento State University to make calls to older Californians. Callers will check on the individual’s well-being, connect them to resources, and connect with them on a personal level.

Friendship Line California: 1-888-670-1360
California is expanding Friendship Line California to support lonely and isolated older Californians across the state. Friendship Line California is toll-free and available to provide emotional support to older Californians facing loneliness, isolation and anxiety. The California Department of Aging is partnering with the Institute on Aging to support this effort.

For more info, or to use these services see: https://covid19.ca.gov/restaurants-deliver-home-meals-for-seniors/ and https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/04/24/governor-newsom-announces-initiatives-to-support-older-californians-during-covid-19-pandemic/.

For those with children at home, California may reopen schools as early as July. Schools will not be fully functional as there will be major changes to physical education classes and recess at schools, as well as processes to deeply clean and sanitize schools, parks and playgrounds to keep infection rates down. The certainty of this decision is low, however, as  this comes at a time where the stay at home order has been extended statewide to May 15th for larger communities such as LA and the Bay Area.

Governor Newsom’s decision to reopen schools and the economy is still being decided, where he officially asked the media to check in in mid-May. His decision will be based on six factors:

1. expanded testing to identify and isolate patients,
2. maintenance of vigilance to protect seniors and high risk people,
3. being able to meet future surges in hospitals with a “myriad of protective gear,” continue to collaborate with academia on therapies and treatments,
4. to redraw regulations to ensure continued physical distancing at private businesses and schools; and
5. develop new enforcement mechanisms to allow the state to pull back and reinstate stay-at-home orders.

More details at: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/28/politics/california-phased-reopening-plan/index.html

On Tuesday, April 21, 2020 the U.S. Senate passed the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Environment Act:  A $484 billion relief package to fund small business loans, hospital aid, and testing for COVID-19. Of that $484 billion, $310 billion will go directly to PPP funding. The original PPP program ($349 billion) ran out of money less than two weeks after it opened, having approved over 1.66 million loans, thus the renewed funding could likewise be quick to be depleted.

Besides decreased funding, concerns exist due to a lack of changes to the original PPP’s guidelines, which became infamous due to what was seen as an inability for “mom & pop” small businesses to find a lender to apply to in time. Still, the new PPP Act has yet to approved by the House, so its final form is unclear. Nevertheless, there are some small improvements in that, of the $310 billion authorized for the Paycheck Protection Program, $60 billion will be set aside for smaller lending facilities, including “community financial institutions, small insured depository institutions and credit unions with assets less than $10 billion.” There will also be $10 billion for grants under the Emergency Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, $50 billion for disaster recovery loans and $2.1 billion for additional salaries and expenses for the Small Business Administration.

The bill will also provide $75 billion for hospitals and health care providers stretched thin by the pandemic to address Coronavirus expenses and lost revenue, and an additional $25 billion to facilitate and expand “necessary expenses to research, develop, validate, manufacture, purchase, administer and expand capacity for COVID-19 tests.”

More details at: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/21/politics/chuck-schumer-coronavirus-relief-small-business-cnntv/index.html

This bill has since been passed by the house on 4/23/20 with no changes made, and will be signed into law later today.

Starting Friday in Marin County & Sonoma County, people must wear masks at all times when using essential services such as the grocery store or riding the bus. Fremont is also requiring masks. The city has issued an executive order making it mandatory for workers and customers at most essential businesses to cover their faces. This means wearing masks at restaurants, gas stations, grocery and hardware stores. For those who don’t comply, the fine is up to $100.

Countering this move, some counties are relaxing restrictions. For example, Santa Cruz County has already taken a small step in reopening its beaches and parks. Bay Area public health officials will watch the reaction to the beach and park reopening carefully before considering whether to open similar waterfront sites, such as Ocean Beach in San Francisco, Pillar Point Harbor in San Mateo County or Jack London Square in Oakland.

For more info see: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/coronavirus/face-mask-requirements-begin-to-take-effect-in-some-parts-of-the-bay-area/2274570/

Executive Order N-51-20 was signed and helps workers from large employers in the food sector industry impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with two weeks of paid sick leave, filling a gap left by federal relief that had provided similar paid leave benefits for employers with fewer than 500 workers.

“These workers on the front lines of this crisis are our unsung heroes for continuing to work to ensure that Californians have food on their tables during these challenging times, and we must do everything in our power to make sure they are taken care of at home and in the workplace. Making sure they have paid sick leave and added protections in their place of work is critical,” said Governor Newsom.

Additionally, the Executive Order provides health and safety standards to increase worker and customer protection by permitting workers at food facilities to wash their hands every 30 minutes, or as needed, to increase proper sanitation measures. An important update, that perhaps should have been part of their job well before COVID-19.

The full order can be read here: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/4.16.20-EO-N-51-20.pdf

The wildly infamous Payment Protection Program (“PPP”) officially opened on April 3rd but ran out of money less than two weeks later on April 16th. Its nature as a forgivable loan, or at worst one with 1% interest, made it a popular request for donors, but less so to the banks themselves. As such, banks prioritized their current customers, yet even so, the fund quickly ran out before many small businesses were able to apply. The PPP has caused quite the media storm, so much so that some companies are giving back their PPP loans to offset their bad press (i.e. Shake Shack returned their $10 million loan in lieu of bad press). As expected, several banks are now being sued and accused of prioritizing their big customers over smaller businesses. The accuracy of these allegations is unknown; however, banks such as Chase state that “[e]ighty percent of PPP loans processed through Chase went to businesses with less than $5 million in revenue. About half went to small businesses with less than $100,000[.]”

Regardless, we know a lot of people missed out on applying. In response, Congress is looking to approve an additional $450 billion in funding to the PPP programs (as well as for COVID-19 testing). The agreement is expected to be reached later on Monday, April 20th, and may be submitted as early as Wednesday the 22nd for full Congressional approval. As such, those who missed out on the PPP loans may get another opportunity to apply.

More info: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/04/20/small-businesses-sue-chase-bank-over-handling-stimulus/5163654002/ AND https://www.inquirer.com/politics/nation/coronavirus-covid-trump-congress-democrats-second-stimulus-bill-small-business-loans-testing-20200419.html