California Gov. Newsom announced additional safeguards and protections for essential workers in the state.
Newsom said not enough focus has been placed on essential workers in California.
On July 23, California reported 12,040 new cases of COVID-19. The state now has a total of 425,616 positive cases. There have been a total of 8,027 deaths in the state. There are now 34 counties out of the 58 total counties are on the state monitoring list, according to Newsom.
Newsom detailed some preventative measures to include ensuring workers can isolate and quarantine when sick or exposed to the virus. He said it's essential to provide safe and temporary housing for COVID-19 positive and exposed agriculture and farmworkers.
"We have to do more to support some 626,000 crop workers who come and live here year-round," Newsom said adding there will be a housing and harvest partnership to provide access to quarantine quarters for workers in Monterey.
He said the state will build upon the Public Awareness Campaign to reach employers, workers and their families.
"It depends on our ability to keep our essential workers save," he said adding that essential workers like farmworkers, construction laborers, cooks, food preparation workers, laborers and material workers are included in a list of essential workers in a slide broken down by race and ethnicity.
"Overwhelmingly [the] majority you see in certain sectors in our economy is the Latino community, the Black and...LatinX community - look at the farmworkers, the cooks, the food preparation workers, our truck drivers and cashiers," Newsom said. "That's the community that is increasingly and disproportionately being affected by the virus."
EDUCATING EMPLOYERS
When it comes to employer education, Newsom said there will be a new employer safety handbook on safe, clean environments - "that simplify the guidance and make it easier for employers to share that information." He said the handbook will include best practice for an outbreak, and testing information for employees.
EXPAND WORKER PROTECTIONS
Newsom said essential workers would get COVID-19 paid sick leave; workers' compensation for at-risk workers; strategic enforcement of labor laws, and strengthen employer reporting of outbreaks.
"People that are feeling sick, people that are sick we don't want them to go to work," Newsom said adding that includes restaurants that are even offering outdoor dining if a worker falls sick. "These are critical for protecting essential workers."
California has more than 400,000 cases but the death rate in New York is more than California. This week, Newsom addressed the increase in cases saying "it is a sober reminder of why we are taking things as seriously as we are."
"It's not surprising now in some respects as we begin to reopen key sectors of our economy and people continue to mix and people continue to come in close contact with others who may have contracted this disease that our numbers would start to go up in total now the highest in the nation," Newsom said recently.
He said it's a reminder of why the state mask mandate went into place in June and closures of indoor dining at restaurants and other business sectors. He said on Wednesday, California is reporting 127,000 people were tested and yesterday there were 12,807 people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours - the highest reported number in California. He said California also reported 115 deaths.
WHAT'S CLOSED AGAIN IN CALIFORNIA?
INDOOR OPERATIONS at RESTAURANTS STATEWIDE/GYMS, HOUSES OF WORSHIP FOR CA COUNTIES ON STATE MONITORING LIST
In the past few weeks, Newsom released also released new guidelines for barbershops and hair salons to operate outdoors in a safe environment Monday. Previously, Newsom has ordered the closure of fitness centers, houses of worship, hair and nail salons, barbershops in those counties on the state monitoring list last week, which includes LA County and other counties across the state.
He reminded what was closed statewide - indoor operations at dine-in restaurants, wineries, movie theaters, zoos, bars including outdoors - and what was closed in certain counties on the state monitoring list including gyms, shopping malls and places of worship.
LA County Public Health officials have announced the closure of those sectors to mimic Newsom's order: gyms and fitness centers, places of worship, indoor protests, nail salons, massage parlors, tattoo parlors, hair salons, barbershops and malls.
Newsom had ordered the closure of indoor operations at restaurants, wineries, zoos, movie theaters for at least three weeks for certain counties, including LA County, amid rising cases of COVID-19 in the state. Newsom has already ordered the closure of bars in LA County and other counties. Meanwhile, LA County, Orange County and Riverside counties decided to close their bars. The city of LA also ordered the closures of their gyms, hair and nail salons, barbershops and houses of worship.
SCHOOLS UPDATE
Newsom ordered the closure of schools for in-person classes for those Calfornia counties that are on the state monitoring list which is now more than 30 counties. Newsom said schools can physically reopen when its county has been off the monitoring list for 14 consecutive days. Schools that don't meet this requirement must begin the year with distance learning, according to Newsom.
Newsom said the schools in those counties on the watch list can't reopen in-person school until they are off the state monitoring list for two weeks straight unless the district superintendent requests a waiver from the county health officer, which may be granted. They will shift to distance learning in more than 30 counties. That includes Los Angeles County, Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange County and Ventura County and counties up north like Alameda County, Marin County, Monterey and Napa.
Both LAUSD and San Diego School District have already announced that their school year will start online and school campuses will remain closed. LAUSD starts Aug. 18.
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