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 |
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#NoSuperSpreaderSunday
The L.A. County Department of Public Health reminds sports fans to please plan to enjoy the Super Bowl without putting your friends, your family and your neighbors at risk.
Super Bowl parties have the power to derail our recovery and given the likelihood that there are more infectious variants circulating in our community, let’s not take chances with our own health and the health of others by creating easy opportunities for the virus to spread. Be safe and save lives. |
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Outdoor Dining Service Returns with New Mandatory Safety Measures
Last week, the L.A. County Department of Public Health modified the Health Officer Order to closely align with the sector reopenings permitted in the state's Blueprint for a Safer Economy most restrictive purple tier. Outdoor dining at restaurants, wineries, and breweries may reopen with additional safety measures in place to mitigate the increased risk since customers are permitted to spend time unmasked at these businesses. Indoor dining is not permitted. All employees that can come in contact with customers must wear both a face covering and a face shield at all times. Persons from different households are not allowed to share a table. All establishments must post signage to this effect and verbally inform customers that everyone sharing a table must be from the same household. Tables must be positioned at least 8 feet apart and televisions or other screens must be turned off. The order also removed operating hour restrictions for non-essential businesses.
For the latest updates, visit publichealth.lacounty.gov/coronavirus. |
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Remaining Vigilant Against This Deadly Virus
We are at a critical moment in the pandemic. We are all still living through the nightmare of a surge; last week, on average, 217 people died each day in L.A. County from COVID 19, and two days last week, we reported that more than 300 people died each day.
The revised Health Officer Order issued on Friday is a detailed blueprint for everyone to follow to ensure we see a continued downward trend in the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Some restrictions have been lifted, but now is not the time to relax. Now is the time to remain super vigilant against this deadly virus and continue to stay home as much as possible. Don't gather with people indoors. If you must gather, do it outdoors, create a stable group (two other households, and you only see each other), with distancing and face coverings on at all times.
Let’s keep reminding each other of how important it is to follow the rules to protect ourselves, our friends, our essential workers. Together, L.A. County can keep working to reduce cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. |
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L.A. County Updates Travel Advisory and Guidance
Despite recent decreases in the current COVID-19 surge of cases and hospitalizations and given the new daily cases and hospitalizations remain high, it remains imperative that residents continue to take steps necessary to curb the spread of COVID-19 and contain new sources of infection. The County of Los Angeles has issued the following guidance for travelers:
Non-Essential Travel - L.A. County residents should continue to avoid all non-essential travel and stay within 120 miles from their place of residence, unless they are traveling for essential purposes. "Non-essential travel" includes travel that is considered tourism or recreational in nature. "Essential travel" is travel associated with the operation, maintenance, or usage of critical infrastructure or otherwise required or expressly authorized by law (including other applicable state and local public health directives), including work and study, critical infrastructure support, economic services and supply chains, health, immediate medical care, and safety and security.
- All non-essential travelers from other states or countries are strongly discouraged from entering the County of Los Angeles and need to self-quarantine as outlined below.
- All persons arriving in or returning to the County of Los Angeles from other states or countries, must self-quarantine for 10 days after arrival, except as necessary to meet urgent critical healthcare staffing needs or to otherwise engage in emergency response. Additionally, this does not apply to individuals who routinely cross state or country borders solely for the purpose of essential travel.
Quarantine Requirements
If you do travel into L.A. County from outside of California, you need to self-quarantine for 10 days after you arrive and must limit your interactions to people in your household/people with whom you live. If you travel into L.A. County solely for essential work purposes, you need to still self-quarantine outside of your work for 10 days and ensure you do not mix with others outside of those necessary to conduct your essential work.
Learn more on the L.A. County Department of Public Health Travel Advisory & Guidance webpage. |
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PVPUSD UpdateOn February 3, Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Alex Cherniss provided an update on the status of in-person and distance learning, safety measures in classrooms, a future partnership to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to employees, and more.
PVPUSD elementary schools have been granted waivers for in-person instruction for grades TK-2. By the middle of February, all preschool and TK-2 grade hybrid programs will have returned to campus for in-person instruction under LACDPH protocols and the TK-2 waiver. Many started back this week. In addition, special education programs have returned for these grades.
In addition, a variety of high-need programs and after-school activities have returned to campus this week including special education programs 3-12, at-risk learning pods 6-12, and high school athletics programs. Extracurricular programs such as STEM, music, drama, middle school sports, and other site-specific programs are in the process of either returning or considered for return as after-school school camp activities under the LACDPH health and safety guidelines.
Read the full update on the PVPUSD website.
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Letter on Establishing Vaccination PODs on the Peninsula
On January 29, City staff sent a letter on behalf of the city managers of the four Peninsula cities to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Department of Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer seeking to establish local COVID-19 vaccination PODs on the Peninsula. Specifically, the letter proposed establishing vaccination sites at Ernie Howlett Park in Rolling Hills Estates; and at City Hall, Hesse Park, the Point Vicente Interpretive Center and the Point Vicente Lighthouse in Rancho Palos Verdes. The city managers requested guidance on the next steps necessary to set up local PODs as quickly and efficiently as possible. Read the letter at rpvca.gov. |
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COVID-19 Vaccine Myths vs FactsThe L.A. County Department of Public Health reminds the public that while you may have heard different things about the COVID-19 vaccine on social media or through friends and family, it is important to know the facts.
Myth #5: They say that childhood vaccines can cause autism –don’t these vaccines contain dangerous chemicals that can have serious health effects?
The Facts: Not true on either count. Childhood vaccines are one of the best and safest protections against dangerous diseases that have been developed and these vaccines have been carefully tested for safety as well. - First about the autism scare –it was started by an English doctor who was later shown to be a fraud. The lie lived on because some celebrities bought in and ran with it. The result? Millions of dollars wasted on proving the truth over and over (for example, one study looked at every single baby born in Denmark for 8 years and showed there was absolutely no link). Even so, some scared parents still avoid vaccines and we see deadly outbreaks of diseases we could totally prevent.
- The list of ingredients in the COVID vaccines is pretty simple –mRNA, plus some fats (called “lipids,” which is another word for fats) plus some salt and sugar to stabilize the mix. You can actually find the ingredients on the Food and Drug Administration’s COVID-19 vaccine website. Nothing you’ll see is out of the ordinary.
For more myths and facts, and more vaccine information, go to vaccinatelacounty.com. |
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COVID-19 Vaccine FAQs: Can I give COVID-19 to others after I am vaccinated?
We don’t know. The Beach Cities Health District notes that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna clinical trials tested the vaccines' ability to prevent symptomatic COVID-19 disease in vaccinated individuals. The trials did not test if vaccinated individuals could still become infected with COVID-19 or transmit the illness. But just because this wasn’t tested in the clinical trials doesn’t mean the COVID-19 vaccine isn’t preventing vaccinated individuals from catching and transmitting the disease. Based on experience with other vaccines and early data, it is likely that people who are vaccinated will at most have an asymptomatic illness and will be less likely to pass the virus to others. Since we just don’t know if a person can give COVID-19 to others after vaccination, it remains essential to continue to follow the public health protocols such as staying home as much as possible, wearing face coverings, physically distancing yourself from others you do not live with, washing your hands frequently and avoiding crowds.
To learn more, visit the Beach Cities Health District’s dedicated COVID-19 vaccine webpage at bchd.org/covidvaccine. |
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Safe in the South Bay: State of COVID-19 Vaccine
The Beach Cities Health District’s Safe in the South Bay Series is bringing health experts, cities, chambers, schools and community members together around this fast-moving pandemic. The live-streamed series #4 on February 4 at 5 p.m. will focus on COVID-19 vaccinations and the psychology and resilience of living during a pandemic. Join an esteemed panel of experts who will provide the most up-to-date information on COVID-19 vaccines and the ways residents, organizations, businesses, schools and the Beach Cities community can support COVID-19 recovery. Register at bchd.org/coronavirus. |
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Governor Newsom Signs Legislation to Extend Eviction Moratorium and Assist Tenants and Small Property Owners Impacted by COVID-19
Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation to extend the state’s landmark eviction moratorium through June 30, 2021, protecting millions of Californians struggling as a result of the economic hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. With the passage of SB 91, California leads all states by enacting the strongest renter protections in the nation.
On January 25, Governor Newsom, Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon announced an agreement on the legislation to extend the eviction moratorium established last year under AB 3088, which was set to expire at the end of the month.
The legislation signed by the governor pauses evictions for tenants who declare under penalty of perjury an inability to pay all or part of the rent due to a COVID-related reason. Tenants are still responsible for paying unpaid amounts to property owners, but those unpaid amounts cannot be the basis for an eviction, even after the moratorium ends.
SB 91 also establishes the State Rental Assistance Program to allocate the $2.6 billion in federal rental assistance California will receive. The program will target aid to income-qualified tenants most at-risk with unpaid back rent. Assistance will also be extended to property owners who agree to waive 20 percent of unpaid rent. By agreeing to this waiver, property owners will become eligible for 80 percent in rent reimbursements for amounts owed between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021.
Read the full announcement on the California Governor website.
For more tenant and landlord resources, visit landlordtenant.dre.ca.gov or call 1-833-422-4255.
Governor Newsom Announces Pilot Partnership with Biden Administration to Open Community Vaccination Sites in Los Angeles, Oakland
On Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom and the Biden-Harris Administration announced a pilot project to establish community vaccination sites in Oakland and Los Angeles.
These pilot sites, which will be based at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum and California State University, Los Angeles, are part of the wider effort to establish 100 vaccination sites nationwide in the federal administration’s first 100 days. The sites will be co-run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the State of California through the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES).
FEMA will provide resources and federal staffing support to establish these new community vaccination centers as well as operational support.
In order to expand the reach of these state-federal sites further into the communities, each of these new sites will be paired with two mobile vaccination clinics which can be deployed to multiple locations to amplify and provide distribution to areas that otherwise lack sufficient support.
Preparations and buildout of these two locations are now underway and the sites are expected to be open to eligible members of the public beginning February 16.
Registration for vaccine appointments at these two sites will be available through the state’s MyTurn scheduling system in the coming days.
Read more at wp.me/pa2L1o-5P8
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DMV Now Offering Behind-the-Wheel Driving TestsThe California Department of Motor Vehicles has resumed behind-the-wheel driving tests statewide. The DMV previously postponed all behind-the-wheel tests through the end of January for the health and safety of customers and employees during the statewide surge in COVID-19 cases.
The DMV will automatically reschedule customers for behind-the-wheel drive test appointments that were canceled between December 14 and February 1. Rescheduling is expected to begin in the next two weeks, and customers will be notified by text of their rescheduled appointment. DMV anticipates new appointments for behind-the-wheel tests will be available in mid-February once all previously postponed tests have been rescheduled.
In-vehicle testing is a requirement for first-time driver’s license holders and commercial license applicants. The temporary suspension included commercial and noncommercial tests, but did not apply to motorcycle drive tests, which can be conducted at a safe distance.
Learn more at: bit.ly/36jELSK |
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City Hall to Remain Temporarily Closed to the Public through February 12; Outdoor Recreation Classes to Return February 8
Although COVID-19 cases are trending down in L.A. County, because transmission remains relatively high, and to limit public contact to protect the health and well-being of residents and City staff, City Hall will remain temporarily closed to the public through February 12. The City remains open for business, however, by telephone, email, online and limited curbside services. Some employees are working on rotation and may be working remotely.
Please visit the appropriate department page on the City website for a list of phone numbers and email addresses to accommodate your needs. For a list of departments, visit the Department Directory on the City website. As a reminder, all City park buildings are closed. Following the revised Health Officer Order, outdoor recreational programming, including the YMCA After School Recreational Enrichment Program, will resume on February 8. |
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Registration Now Open for After School Recreational Enrichment Program
The After School Recreational Enrichment Program offered by the San Pedro & Peninsula YMCA and the City is returning February 8 at Hesse Park! Registration is now open at bit.ly/3ohQiIw.
The after school program is for grades K-5 and will take place from 3-6 p.m. Monday-Friday at Hesse Park through June 11 (the program could be expanded to Eastview Park if there is enough interest).
This program is 100% outdoors and features activities covering science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM), individual conditioning physical exercise, enrichment, and much more, all designed to maintain physical distancing and follow Los Angeles County Department of Public Health protocols. Fees are $100 per week, per child.
For more information, visit ymcala.org. Download a program flyer at: bit.ly/3gunjxl |
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Outdoor Recreation Classes Start February 8
In accordance with L.A. County’s revised Health Officer Order, the Recreation and Parks Department is pleased to announce the return of in-person, outdoor organized group classes and activities for all ages starting February 8!
Classes include yoga, dance, fitness, lacrosse, art, enrichment, and more.
Activities are held on-site at outdoor park facilities in accordance with Los Angeles County Department of Public Health protocols. Space is limited.
Register today at apm.activecommunities.com/rpv. |
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REACH Program Returns Virtually
The REACH program, which serves the social and recreational needs of youths and young adults with developmental disabilities, has returned with virtual activities! (Stay tuned for updates on outdoor programming).
Although Nature Walks are postponed, REACH participants will still have a variety of (virtual) enriching activities to choose from! Recreation and Parks is excited to share the February REACH Program calendar and can’t wait to start serving and engaging with our wonderful REACH participants.
To RSVP for any of our upcoming activities and if you have any questions, please email reach@rpvca.gov.
If you are a person with a disability and need an accommodation to participate in programs, services, activities and meetings, contact the City's ADA Coordinator/Risk Manager at 310-683-3157, adarequests@rpvca.gov, 30940 Hawthorne Blvd., Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275, at least 48 hours in advance to request an auxiliary aid or accommodation. |
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Small Business and Nonprofit Grant Alert
Local businesses and nonprofits may be eligible for a new grant opportunity administered by the California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) at the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development.
The California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program provides micro grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 to eligible small businesses and nonprofits impacted by COVID-19 and the related health and safety restrictions. The current application window ends on February 8. For more information about the state's application process, visit careliefgrant.com. |
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L.A. County Launches Loan Program to Help Stabilize Small Businesses
L.A. County has launched the Small Business Stabilization Loan Program designed to provide eligible businesses with a competitive interest rate for loans ranging from $50,000 to $3 million.
The Small Business Stabilization Loan Program application portal opened on Jan. 28, and will remain open indefinitely. The Program offers technical assistance from partners who offer complementary online webinars, one-on-one financial consultations, application assistance, and an evaluation of a business' readiness to submit an LACDA loan application. Technical assistance is available in various languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin), and Korean.
For more information on the requirements to apply for the Small Business Stabilization Loan Program, please visit BizStabilization.LACDA.org or call 626-586-1550.
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Peninsula Seniors Virtual Activities
Peninsula Seniors is a nonprofit organization offering activities and services that enhance and enrich the lives of senior adults on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and in the surrounding community. While you’re staying safer at home, join Peninsula Seniors for a variety of Zoom activities throughout the week. For a calendar of activities for both members and non-members, visit pvseniors.org/events. |
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Palos Verdes Peninsula Village Zoom Info Session February 12
The Palos Verdes Peninsula Village builds community with older adults while they remain in their homes as they age. PVP Village has been serving its members throughout the COVID-19 crisis with a calendar full of virtual social opportunities, continuing transportation to essential appointments, computer help including Zoom and FaceTime, grocery shopping, handyman help and referrals.
For information about this dynamic and caring community of friendship and support, contact Executive Director Marianne Propst to participate in a Zoom information session on Friday, February 12 at 1 p.m. You also may call for an informal chat or to arrange a socially distant visit.
Call 310-991-3324 or visit www.peninsulavillage.net for more details. |
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It’s Takeout Thursday!With the recent outdoor dining prohibition in Los Angeles County, our local restaurants need our support now more than ever! All residents are encouraged to participate in The Great Peninsula Takeout, a Peninsula-wide effort to support local restaurants. Join our community in this "Takeout Tuesdays and Takeout Thursdays" initiative by posting on social media and inviting friends and neighbors to order takeout!
Check the Open for Business page on the City website for a list of local restaurants offering takeout, delivery and curbside pickup. |
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Upcoming Local Blood DrivesBlood 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 upcoming blood drives in Rancho Palos Verdes:
Tuesday, February 9
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Pacific Unitarian Universalist Church
5621 Montemalaga Drive
Reserve a time online at redcrossblood.org and enter the sponsor code: PACIFICUNITARIANCHURCH.
Wednesday, February 24
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
5845 Crestridge Road
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 a limited time, the American Red Cross is testing all blood, platelet and plasma donations for COVID-19 antibodies. Help save lives and get insight into whether you may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus.
For more information, visit redcrossblood.org or by calling 1-800 RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) |
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CasesAs of February 4, there are 1,134,338 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Los Angeles County (population 10.17 million). The total includes 1,148 cases in Rancho Palos Verdes (population 42,747), 349 in Palos Verdes Estates (population 13,522), 226 in Rolling Hills Estates (population 8,113), 40 in Rolling Hills (population 1,940), and 47 in the unincorporated areas of the Peninsula (population 1,921). Countywide, 17,539 people have died. According to the Department of Public Health, 38 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 the L.A. County Department of Public Health's Locations & Demographics page.
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.
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