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COVID-19

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Latest News – COVID-19

ILG is committed to helping local government leaders navigate the complexity of their important roles. As such, we want to ensure that local leaders and our business and community partners are equipped with the latest information and resources related to COVID-19 pandemic recovery efforts.

This resource page is updated regularly. Please also be sure to follow ILG on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on the latest news related to the pandemic recovery. In addition, we have compiled a number of useful links with COVID-19 information for cities, counties and special districts and included them below.

California’s local governments are working closely with local and statewide public health officials and policymakers on COVID-19 recovery efforts while also continuing to prevent the spread of the virus and virus variants.

The safety and well-being of our communities is paramount. Please encourage your communities to continue to remain vigilant against the virus. Continue to follow your local and statewide public health guidelines for practicing proper hygiene and preventative measures.

Local leadership is always on display during times of crisis and we are heartened by the many examples of collaboration and good governance we have seen across the state throughout the pandemic.

Local Government Resources

County Tier Level Changes

A statewide recommendation for all California residents to wear a mask indoors regardless of vaccine status has been issued following a rise in COVID-19 cases due in large part to the Delta variant. The CDC has issued a similar recommendation citing the spread of the virus and break-through cases in the vaccinated and hospitalizations and deaths on the rise across the country among the unvaccinated. The recommendation was issued a little over a month after Newsom reopened the economy and discontinued the Blueprint for a Safe Economy color-coded county tier system. 

Counties across California have begun to issue mask recommendations and mandates. The following counties are requiring masks regardless of vaccination status in indoor settings:

  • Los Angeles 
  • Yolo
  • Sacramento

A number of our partners have developed resources to help local governments navigate the COVID-19 pandemic recovery and relief efforts.

State and National Resources

  • The California Department of Public Health released “Beyond the Blueprint”. The only COVID-19 restrictions in place is for indoor events over 5,000 and outdoor events over 10,000. Counties can be more restrictive than the state and employers must comply with CalOSHA emergency orders, which were updated and immediately went into effect via Governor EO on June 17.

  • Vaccine Update: 43,772,466 total vaccines administered.

  • All Californians 12 years of age and older are eligible to receive the vaccine. 

  • For detailed information about the vaccines click here.

  • For the latest information on the vaccine distribution click here.

State Resources

National Resources

Executive Orders, Directives and Guidelines

To access all Executive Orders signed by Governor Gavin Newsom click here.

State Legislative and Budget Updates

The state legislature’s upcoming deadlines include:

  • Aug. 16 Legislature reconvenes from Summer Recess 
  • Aug. 27 Last day for fiscal committees to meet and report bills 
  • Aug. 30- Sept. 10 Floor session only. No committee may meet for any purpose except Rules Committee, bills referred pursuant to A.R. 77.2, and Conference Committees 
  • Sept. 3 Last day to amend bills on the floor 
  • Sept. 10 Last day for any bill to be passed. Interim Recess begins upon adjournment.
  • Oct. 10 Last day for Governor to sign or veto bills passed by the Legislature before Sept. 10 and in the Governor’s possession on or after Sept. 10.

ILG Partner Resources

Renne Public Law Group

Richards Watson Gershon

Best & Krieger

Partner Hanson Bridgett 

Liebert Cassidy Whitmore

Tripepi Smith

bangthetable

Burke Williams & Sorensen

HdL Companies

Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard 

Southern California Edison

ClearGov

Local Government COVID-19 Response Highlights

  • Cities of Alameda, Foster City, Petaluma, Redwood City and San Mateo restricted or reduced traffic on designated roads so residents would have more space for socially distant exercising. Open streets without traffic are helping provide more space for residents to safely be outside and for businesses to increase their foot traffic while helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Read more.
  • City of Bakersfield launches new business assistance grant program. Read more.
  • City of Benicia created an online LEGO® camp to keep kids connected through creative, COVID-19 safe recreation programs. Read more.
  • City of Beverly Hills approves $700K rent relief program. Read more.
  • City of Burbank In the continued effort to slow down the spread of the Coronavirus, pedestrians & bicyclists no longer have to press the Walk Button at intersections. All Burbank signals have been set so the Walk signal turns on automatically between 6AM-10PM. Read more.
  • Camarillo Health Care District is providing dementia and resources for caregivers throughout the pandemic. Read more.
  • Chino Valley Fire District continues to deliver to seniors during the crisis. Seniors and others at high risk of contracting COVID-19 can contact the Fire District and ask that firefighters and other employees pick up and deliver prescriptions and groceries and perform other essential services. Read more.
  • Coachella Valley Public Cemetery District approved funding to help families bury loved ones during pandemic. Read more.
  • City of Costa Mesa partnered with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to create a high-quality summer camp offering sports, music, and art activities to local youth, including those in underserved Communities. Read more.
  • City of El Cajon brought their “Rec Squad” online providing a series of videos to keep kids entertained including arts and crafts lessons, cooking instruction, sports, camp games, and nature activities throughout the pandemic. Read more.
  • City of El Centro hosted a virtual meeting to discuss improvements to their Downtown area. They took official comments from residents via Zoom and Facebook live. El Centro, is one of ILG’s BOOST communities, which is working on enhancing their public engagement efforts virtually during COVID-19. Read more.
  • Elk Grove Unified School District created drive through zones outside 13 schools so that families can pick up food for their children. Read more.
  • City of Fresno, even before Gov. Newsom’s June 18 Executive Order requiring all Californians to wear face masks in public, is providing 10,000 disposable surgical masks for small businesses to hand out to their customers and 4,000 cloth masks for employees. Read more.
  • Hanford Fire Department introduced new Fire Recruit Pups to improve first responder’s health as tensions continue to rise during the pandemic. Read more.
  • City of Lancaster created a campaign called “Turn your Tassel,” in which the city provides an array of tactics to celebrate the graduating class of 2020 through social media campaigns, banners, certificates, and videos. The city also encouraged residents to decorate their yards to celebrate graduates with free take-home celebration kits provided by the city. Read more.
  • Los Angeles County is giving $10,000 each to businesses as Coronavirus hits bottom lines. Read more.
  • Modoc County has become the last best place to avoid the deadly virus. This high desert county of alfalfa fields, wildlife refuges, and 9,000 people has not recorded a single case of COVID-19. Not even one. Ever. It’s the only county in California that appears to be coronavirus free — one of only five in seven Western states that can still make that claim, at the moment. Read more.
  • Monterey and Ukiah Public Libraries in partnership with the California State Library, are starting the COVID-19 Diaries compiling any essays, poems, letters, photos, videos, or other artworks about individual experiences in the pandemic. Read more I Read more
  • City of Morgan Hill hosted a virtual Business Resiliency Roundtable Webinar focused on discussion around the reopening of retail businesses within the City and answering questions from their community. The video was broadcast live through the City’s Facebook page. Watch.
  • Natomas Unified School District is practicing social distancing with “drive through” school food service. Read more.
  • Nevada and Santa Clara Counties worked together to get treatment to critically ill Coronavirus patient. Read more.
  • Orange County’s Clerk Recorder is offering marriage licenses and civil marriage ceremonies through a pop-up mobile ticket counter for couples whose marriage appointments were postponed due to closures and stay-at-home orders. Read more.
  • Palo Alto Unified and La Honda-Pescadero School Districts are looking at bringing in outdoor educators who lost their jobs when programs were canceled in response to the pandemic. Schools can bring them in to share their expertise by working with students on playgrounds, in school gardens or at nearby parks. Read more.
  • City of Paramount is partnering with its community to provide free 24/7 academic support to its students including multilingual live help and essay review for all subjects from trained, qualified tutors. Read more.
  • Placentia Library District continues to reach out to the public, receive positive feedback, give patrons a feeling of comfort with their programs and services, and most importantly, become a dependable constant to its patrons during this time through unrelenting passion to serve the community regardless of circumstance. Read more.
  • City of Sacramento launched a new webinar series to help local Sacramento businesses survive, thrive and retain employees through the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more. The City also created new virtual resources and activities to help keep youth socially engaged. Read more.
  • City of San Diego is converting its convention center to a homeless shelter. Read more.
  • San Diego County’s small army of public health investigators & contact tracers are working on identifying every resident who has been exposed to #COVID19. No small task within a county of 3.3 million people. Read more.
  • City of San Francisco rolled out a Shared Spaces Program to assist business by providing flexible use of sidewalks, streets, and other public spaces to serve customers. Under this program, restaurants can use a portion of the public right-of-way, such as sidewalks, parking lanes, streets, or other nearby public spaces like parks and plazas for restaurant pick-up and outdoor dining. Read more.
  • City of San Jose distributed hand-washing stations, portable toilets, and clean water to homeless encampments. Read more.
  • City of Temecula developed a COVID-19 smart phone app, dedicated hotline and email address, along with many other forms of rapid response communication tools and technologies, for citizens to report, communicate and understand the City’s recovery efforts, among many forms of rapid response communications the City set up. Read more. The city and Temecula Valley Unified School District partner to create free WiFi gardens. Read more.
  • Ventura County created a Pandemic Rental Assistance program to help reduce the amount of tenants’ back-owed rent, while assisting landlords. Read more.
  • Yolo County and Washington Unified School District teamed up with a local restaurant to serve over 10,000 families in need Read more.

Other News

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