COVID-19 Community Update for May 21

Dear Residents,

The City of Rancho Palos Verdes continues to monitor the spread of the novel coronavirus in Los Angeles County and would like to share the following updates with the community:

The Latest

Fire Station 83

Dinner Donations to Local Fire Stations

Last evening, the City thanked our local Peninsula firefighters and supported one of our restaurants by donating dinner to Los Angeles County Fire Department Station No. 53, Station No. 83 and Station No. 106.
 
Councilwoman Barbara Ferraro, her grandson, and City Manager Ara Mihranian delivered pasta from Avenue Italy in the Golden Cove Shopping Center to express the City’s appreciation and gratitude to these hardworking heroes, who are putting their lives at risk every day.
 
The City encourages residents to support our first responders, health care workers, essential workers and local restaurants, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Find out how you can help at rpvca.gov/coronavirus

Avenue Italy
Let Retail Reopen

Supervisor Hahn Proposes Plan to Allow Retail to Reopen with Safety Protocols

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn is urging Governor Newsom to allow retail businesses statewide to reopen under the same health protocols that “essential” retail businesses have been allowed to operate under. 

Under the State of California’s stay at home order, “non-essential” retailers are closed and have only recently been allowed to open for curbside pick-up only. Meanwhile, “essential” retailers like Target, Walmart, and Costco have been allowed to stay open for in-store shopping with safety protocols in place because they sell groceries and other essential items in addition to non-essential products. 

In a letter to Governor Newsom, Supervisor Hahn urged that these restrictions be adjusted to the smaller retail shops that are losing business every day to big box stores. She has proposed updating the State’s public health order to immediately allow all retailers to open with: 

  • Limited capacity
  • Face covering or mask requirement for employees and customers
  • Physical distancing 

Read the full letter at: https://hahn.lacounty.gov/retailers

Masks

Face Mask Donations

This week, the City received donations of 1,000 face masks from the International STEM Education Association and 700 face masks from the Chinese American Community. These donations will go a long way toward replenishing City staff’s personal protective equipment (PPE) supply! The Chinese American Community previously donated 3,500 face masks, four containers of sanitizing wipes, one refill bottle of hand sanitizer and five bottles of disinfectant spray to the City in March and April. The City is deeply appreciative of the generosity of these donors, who are helping keep our employees and the residents they serve safe. We can’t thank you enough!

Seal

L.A. County's Economic Resiliency Task Force Sets Sights on July 4 Reopening

L.A. County's Economic Resiliency Task Force - created last month to help the County improve the economy, create jobs and return to full employment - has announced its plan to reopen L.A. County by July 4.

The task force, comprised of representatives of County departments, cities, and industry work groups (in diverse areas ranging from bio science, hospitality and education to sports, entertainment and the arts) is forging ahead with concrete proposals for resuming operations safely.

This week's task force meeting included a presentation by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), which underscored the high stakes and urgency of the local economic situation as the COVID-19 crisis continues. Industry representatives described the impacts of COVID-19 on their sectors, as well as some common critical needs:

  • safe reopenings
  • customized guidance & health/safety protocols for sectors
  • new public-private partnerships
  • and revenue streams to create jobs

To learn more about the July 4 reopening plan being proposed by L.A. County's Economic Resiliency Task Force, watch this week's presentation at: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=1160376384321992&ref=watch_permalink

PVPUSD

PVPUSD Updates


The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, with guidance from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, is re-opening facilities in a limited capacity to the community for recreational outdoor activity. Indoor facilities remain closed until further notice.
 
In accordance with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health guidelines, individuals may use accessible open spaces for exercise if they maintain social distancing requirements, while team sports are not allowed. Visitors to school campuses are asked to please stay 6 feet away from anyone not in their own household, wear face coverings and observe posted signage and locked gates. Please be advised that per county guidance, playground equipment, basketball courts, baseball and soccer fields will remain closed.
 
Read more updates at: https://www.pvpusd.net/apps/news/article/1232727

Antibody Testing

Second Countywide COVID-19 Antibody Study Results

The L.A. County Department of Public Health continues to do serology testing with samples of L.A. County residents to allow officials to better understand how many people have been exposed to COVID-19 and how the virus is showing up in our communities.
 
Preliminary findings from the second community prevalence study done in partnership with the University of Southern California and the LRW Group suggests there was not much spread of the virus in the general community population during the time between this study and the study conducted in April.
 
One thousand and fourteen L.A. County adults were tested between May 8 and May 12 using serology testing. Based on results of the second round of testing, the research team estimates that approximately 2.1% of the County's adult population has antibody to the virus. This compares to 4.1% among the 863 adults tested in the April study. The difference between the two results was not statistically significant and could be due to random variation. However, other factors could have contributed to the lower prevalence including different test site locations and recruitment efforts for a higher number of Latinos, Asians, and African Americans. Similar to the previous study, men were more likely than women to have been infected; 2.8% among men and 1.4% among women. There were only slight differences in positivity rates by race and ethnicity. However, there were differences in positivity rates by income levels, where 2.8% of people with a lower income level and 1% of people with a higher income level who were tested were positive.
 
Although this round did not include the highest risk groups, Public Health is planning on surveying those living in congregate settings (e.g., skilled nursing facilities, homeless shelters, jails) or persons experiencing homelessness and living on the streets and is also planning a subsequent survey that will include children.

Plasma

Your Blood Could Save Lives

The antibodies of COVID-19-recovered patients could help fight infection in those still suffering from it. The only source of these antibodies is the blood plasma of coronavirus survivors. 

Giving blood plasma to a COVID-19 patient from a person who has healed from it might help the sick person get better faster. But we need more of this plasma to find out. 

The California Department of Public Health has mailed letters, including translation in seven languages, to encourage Californians who have had a positive test to consider donating their plasma to help develop treatments for COVID-19.

Your blood plasma donation could help up to four people suffering from COVID-19.

Who can donate COVID-19 plasma?

  • A person who had a test that showed coronavirus infection, AND
  • Has felt well for at least 14 days, AND
  • Passes the usual rules for blood donation. 

Most blood centers require a negative swab test if you plan to donate before one month has passed since you recovered. The blood center may also have other rules.

Visit, https://covid19.ca.gov/plasma/ to find a donation center near you.

Blood Donations Needed

Upcoming Local Blood Drives

Blood donations have decreased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthy, eligible donors are urged to come out and give to ensure there’s lifesaving blood on the shelves for those who need it.

The American Red Cross is holding a blood drive tomorrow, May 22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 5845 Crestridge Road in Rancho Palos Verdes.
 
Reserve a time online at redcrossblood.org and enter the sponsor code: LDSRPV.
Visit redcrossblood.org/rapidpass to complete the pre-donation paperwork.

The Red Cross has implemented additional precautions to ensure the safety of its donors and staff. There is no evidence that the novel coronavirus can be transmissible by blood transfusion, and there have been no reported cases worldwide of transmissions for any respiratory virus, including the novel coronavirus.

For more information, visit redcrossblood.org or by calling 1-800 RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767)

May 29 Blood Drive

Palos Verdes Peninsula High School is teaming up with UCLA Health to host a local blood drive on Friday, May 29 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Ernie Howlett Park, 2581 Hawthorne Boulevard in Rolling Hills Estates (look for the UCLA Bloodmobile near the tennis courts).
 
In order to ensure measures are met for appropriate social distancing, please make an appointment in the following ways:

  1. Online at www.uclahealth.org/gotblood
  2. Over the phone by calling (310) 825-0888, select option 2 and make an appointment for Palos Verdes Peninsula High School
  3. Or through email at gotblood@mednet.ucla.edu
RPV Together

Be Part of RPVtv’s #RPVTogether PSA

The City invites residents to join us in thanking all of our frontline workers, as well as community members who have stepped up to help our neighbors in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Share your photo, video or message of gratitude on social media with the hashtag #RPVTogether to be included in a special community public service announcement that will air on RPVtv. Submissions may also be emailed to mbarnes@rpvca.gov.
 
We are all in this together, RPV.

Cases


As of May 21, there are 42,037 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Los Angeles County, including the South Bay, so the public should not think one location is safer than another and everyone should be aware and practice physical distancing. The total includes 81 cases in Rancho Palos Verdes, 41 in Palos Verdes Estates, 14 in Rolling Hills Estates and two in Rolling Hills. Countywide, 2,016 people have died.

According to the Department of Public Health, 10 deaths have been reported in Rancho Palos Verdes. The City extends its deepest condolences to the families of these residents.

For a list of cases broken down by city, demographic characteristics, and settings, visit: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/locations.htm

For an interactive dashboard with maps and graphs showing testing, cases and death data by community, poverty level, age, sex and race/ethnicity visit: http://dashboard.publichealth.lacounty.gov/covid19_surveillance_dashboard/

An interactive dashboard of COVID-19 cases in the South Bay maintained by the City of Torrance is available at bit.ly/2XB1fv1. The dashboard reflects information sourced by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

Resources
Always check with trusted sources for the latest accurate information about the novel coronavirus.


Los Angeles County Department of Public Health: publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus
California Department of Public Health: cdph.ca.gov/covid19 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): cdc.gov/COVID19
World Health Organization: who.int/coronavirus
California Governor’s Office: covid19.ca.gov
County of Los Angeles: lacounty.gov/covid19
L.A. County residents can also call 2-1-1
FEMA Coronavirus Rumor Control: https://www.fema.gov/Coronavirus-Rumor-Control
 
Sign up for “Notify Me” city listervs at rpvca.gov/notify

Be sure to also follow the City on Nextdoor, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 
 
Sign up for emergency alerts from Alert SouthBay by:

  • Texting “alertsb” to 888-777, which returns a link to register for Everbridge (for COVID-19-related alerts, text the keyword "cv19rpv")
  • Registering online at alertsouthbay.com
  • Downloading the free Everbridge app on an iOS or Android device from the App Store or Google Play. Select “Find an organization or subscription” and search “alertsb”

Sign up for emergency alerts from Alert LA County at https://lacounty.gov/emergency/alert-la/

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30940 Hawthorne Blvd, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275

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