HomeMy WebLinkAbout03.15.20 Email from Shari McCracken - Governor's Guidance
From:McCracken, Shari
To:Alpert, Bruce;Bennett, Robin;Clerk of the Board;Connelly, Bill;Cook, Holly;Lambert, Steve;Lucero, Debra;
McCracken, Shari;Ring, Brian;Ritter, Tami;Rodas, Amalia;Sweeney, Kathleen;Teeter, Doug
Subject:Governor"s guidance
Date:Sunday, March 15, 2020 7:33:01 PM
Board Members,
The Governor held a press conference today, and then his staff held a conference call with
CSAC members, CAOs/CEOs, and I believe County Counsels, too. In summary, the guidance
from the Governor included:
Self-isolation at home of anyone 65+ years of age;
Self-isolation at home of anyone with chronic health conditions (a disease people have
to live with daily, such as diabetes, heart disease, and auto-immune disorders);
Closure of non-essential commerce such as bars, wineries, and taprooms; and
Reduced capacity in restaurants to accommodate social distancing;
The new guidance is on top of guidance previously issued about large public gatherings and
meetings.
In addition, the State is in the process of obtaining hotel rooms, motel rooms, and trailers to
isolate and quarantine portions of the homeless population, including persons over 65 years
of age or with chronic health conditions, persons testing positive for COVID-19, and persons
known to have come in contact with person testing positive for COVID-19.
The State will be working with counties, public authorities, and the unions that represent IHSS
workers to ensure sufficient assistance for IHSS clients that must self-isolate. The State will
also be working with counties and the private sector to support residents that follow the
guidance to self-isolate, to ensure adequate food and medical supply delivery.
The Governor and California Department of Public Health do not recommend any guidance for
young and healthy people beyond proper hygiene, including hand washing.
Between Executive Orders and State and federal legislation in process, the State and federal
governments are attempting to assist employees who must miss work or lose their jobs due to
COVID-19 safety measures or illness. Unemployment Insurance, Paid Family Leave, Family
Medical Leave Act, and Disability Insurance will be easier to obtain and without waiting
period. In addition, legislation is under consideration to provide employees 80 hours of paid
time off, in addition to what they already receive. My understanding is that employers will be
reimbursed for some or all of those costs, but I don’t have that in writing.
The Governor made it clear that none of us should expect business as usual, and more
guidance and orders will be coming down from the State this week. The County, per State
direction, will need to reprioritize and shift staffing to essential functions and COVID-19
response activities.
Please know that departments are actively working on identifying essential versus non-
essential services and providing direction to staff accordingly. We are also standing up
technological tools over the next few weeks to support additional telecommuting by
employees and meeting support so that we do not have large gatherings of the public.
Though the State has not recommended school closures, many are closing anyway, which will
also have an impact on our workforce.
We have been notified that many State staffs have been directed to work from home and only
participate in meetings via telephone. This includes our CalOES and other State staff support
for Camp Fire Recovery efforts, and we may see some functions temporarily stopped if it
requires State staff to be on-site. The Governor will issue additional directives for State staff
on Tuesday.
We will continue to work with CSAC to obtain waivers of statutory requirements that cannot
be met in the current environment. I will provide guidance to Department Heads momentarily
about flexibility with employees who are members of any of the groups the Governor
recommends self-isolating, as well as employees whose children are out of school or who
must take care of a family member in one of the self-isolated groups. I will provide an update
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to the Board at the March 24 Board Meeting. I am working with the IS Department to allow
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Board Members to call in for the 24 meeting, if any of you fall into one of the groups where
self-isolation is recommended, or you prefer to not be in a public meeting.
Needless to say, it appears that we will get new guidance almost daily, and I will keep you
apprised. We are raising our EOC activation to a Level 2 tomorrow, which means more time
will be spent on EOC functions than daily tasks. I will provide detail on the structure and
assignments tomorrow evening, after staff meets and puts a plan together. Please excuse any
typos, strange formatting, or grammatical mistakes, as I am typing quickly and have two more
communications to get out to Department Heads and employees tonight.
Take care,
Shari