Business Sector Weekly Telebriefing Recap - 8/12/20

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for our weekly COVID-19 Business telebrief. A special thank you to our telebriefing guests, Gary S. Johnston, Chief Resilience Officer / Agency Representative, San Diego Office of Emergency Services, and Dr. Thomas R. Coleman, Medical Director, Maternal, Child and Family Health, Health and Human Services Agency, and Vince Nicoletti with the County’s Compliance Team, for joining us to help inform and answer questions for the community about important COVID-19 topics.

Opportunity for Restaurants and Food Providers:
We are excited to announce two opportunities to contract with the County of San Diego to provide meals to older adults and individuals with health conditions and disabilities that make it difficult to prepare or obtain food. These programs are a win-win for the community: they support vulnerable residents and provide an economic boost to local restaurants and food providers during these difficult times.

1. Great Plates Delivered: Home Meals for Seniors (RFQ 10461)
   1. ​​​​​​Food providers prepare three nutritious meals daily and deliver to residents in one daily delivery between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Meals are served 7 days per week.
2. Great Plates 2.0: Dinner Delivered (RFQ 10462)
   1. ​ Contracted restaurants and food providers will prepare and deliver one nutritious dinner meal per day to qualified older adults and individuals with chronic illnesses/disabilities. Delivery must take place between 12 and 4 p.m. Meals are served 7 days per week.

Interested providers are encouraged to refer to the Statement of Work for each program on the County of San Diego BuyNet website and apply at: https://buynet.sdcounty.ca.gov. The deadline for applications is Monday, August 17 at noon. Great Plates Delivered Program Information.
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To recap, we discussed the following highlights:
Public Health Order updated on 8/7 for section 16ciii pertaining to employer responsibilities if an employee is diagnosed with covid-19.

• Provide notice of the exposure to any employees, and contractors (who regularly work at the workplace), who may have been exposed to COVID19, as stated in the State’s COVID-19 Employer Playbook for a Safe Reopening, available at {https://files.covid19.ca.gov/pdf/employerplaybook-for-safe-reopening--en.pdf}.

Safe Reopening Compliance Team:

• California health and safety code requires government agencies to take necessary actions and measures to ensure compliance with the health order to promote and ensure public safety.
• Last week, the Board of Supervisors approved moving forward with a team that would include 6 county staff and bringing on 29 additional staff to follow-up on health order complaints.
• The Healthy Compliance Call Center (858) 694-2900  was activated last Tuesday to accept health order violations.
• Safe Reopening Compliance Team currently coordinating with each of the incorporated cities when complaints are received. 14 of 18 cities want to take the lead of initial engagement with the businesses or entities in regards to concerns.
• Majority of complaints come from voluntary compliance with adjusting business operations to adapt with what the health order says.
• Roles and responsibilities:
  • If the team reaches out to a business or entity not in compliance with an egregious case, they will work with the County’s Public Health Officer to issue one of two orders:
    • A cease and desist letter for the operation that is not in compliance
    • A close order for that entity
  • Local law enforcement is responsible for issuing citations.
  • The goal is to work through voluntary compliance as much as possible to be flexible and be consistent with the Public Health Order across the region.

State COVID-19 Watchlist:

• For the county to get off the State monitoring list, each metric must be in the green for three consecutive days.
• Does NOT mean an immediate reopening of all entities.
• Up to the State’s public health officer to determine reopening indoor operations.

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Followed by Questions asked from the community, and answers:

• Privacy Protection when Reporting Positive Employee Cases
  • The phone number for employers to notify the County of employees with COVID-19 is (888)950-9905. It is a secure hotline managed by staff trained in privacy and security.  Public health labs and other testing labs report positive cases but the requirement is for employers to report as well. [Posted 8/12/20]
  • Consult with an attorney if you are concerned about the privacy – there is a public health portion requirement of HIPAA that requires the collection of this type of data. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Reporting Requirements for Positive Employee COVID-19 Cases
  • An employer should report any positive employee COVID-19 case to (888) 950-9905. Consult the Employer’s Playbook – employers should contact local health department in any jurisdiction in which the employee resides even if that is not San Diego County. At this point employers are required to disclose name and date of birth. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Closure of Day Camps when Summer Over
  • Currently there is no plan to prohibit or cease Sport Day Camps at such facilities. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Preparing for Reopening of Closed Indoor Business
  • An indoor movie theater is not considered an essential business. In addition, indoor operations are currently prohibited by the state. Conducting routine inspections of the facility for security, maintenance, and other operational requirements is expected/anticipated and “reasonable”. Preparing employees to reopen will have to be done virtually/remotely until such time indoor operations are permitted. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Reporting Workplace v. Non-workplace Related COVID-19 Positive Cases
  • Since there is countywide community transmission, an employer can’t determine if transmission happened in the workplace or in the community. The Public Health Order Section 16c guidance refers to the need to report when an “employer becomes aware that an employee is diagnosed with COVID-19”, so employers should report any employee whether they work on site or not. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Childcare Support for Working Parents
  • The County Board of Supervisors approved additional funding for Day Care providers via Cares Act funding -- $25M to help address the childcare need. The key is getting off the State’s County Monitoring List so we can expand in-person reopening of schools. We are going to work through the school waivers as quickly as possible to alleviate some of the pressure of child daycare. 14 consecutive days after we’re off the State watchlist, schools are allowed to be open (which will be a district-level decision). [Posted 8/12/20]
• Live Entertainment at Restaurant/Bar
  • Unfortunately – “no live entertainment” is permitted by the State at this time. There is still State concern that live entertainment could create a congregate setting. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Recommended v. Required to Notify Employees Exposed to COVID-19
  • Section 16ciii of the Public Health Order required that employees “provide notice of the exposure to any employees, and contractors (who regularly work at the workplace), who may have been exposed to COVID-19.” [Posted 8/12/20]
• Increase in Children Testing Positive for COVID-19
  • See the report from National Academy of Pediatrics regarding the statistics around children’s COVID-19 positive cases: testing, cumulative totals, and increase in cases. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Face Coverings for Children Aged 2 and Older
  • Per County Child Care FAQ: in accordance to the Public Health Order and the COVID-19 UPDATED GUIDANCE: Child Care Programs and Providers children ages 2 years and older should wear face coverings, especially when indoors or when a six-foot physical distance from others cannot be maintained.  Further, the guidance indicates that face coverings are strongly encouraged for young children ages two years and second grade, if they can be word properly. Per State Child Care Programs and Providers guidance: Persons younger than two years old - these very young children must not wear a face covering because of the risk of suffocation. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Church Gathering Guidelines
  • No changes under current closures = no indoor services. All services must be outdoors, and although there is no limit on number of people, the natural setting must allow 6ft separation between people from different households. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Outdoor Pickleball
  • If it is part of Youth Sports Day Camp, then it is allowed with proper separation and face coverings. If adults are playing, it is not currently allowed.  [Posted 8/12/20]
• When Indoor Activities will be Allowed
  • As soon as we get off the State monitoring list (3 consecutive days of meeting the State’s metrics), we will be engaging the State to discuss what we can start reopening. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Development of automated system to report positive cases to the County Health Department
  • Automated process is not yet developed, so please continue to use the phone number at (888)950-9905 until it is. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Information an Employer Needs to Provide if Contacted after Reporting a Positive Workplace COVID-19 Case
  • See Responding to COVID-19 in the Workplace guidance from the California Department of Public Health regarding additional information that may be asked of the employer about the employee to help the investigation. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Need to Report Cases of Employees that Have Been Working from Home
  • Yes, this is how the Public Health Order is written – all employee COVID-19 cases must be reported. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Earliest Time Schools could Reopen
  • After coming off the State watchlist, schools will be allowed to reopen after 14 consecutive days of meeting the State’s metrics. The only exception would be for TK- Grade 6 elementary schools with an approved waiver. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Trends for Companies Reporting Cases or Outbreaks
  • There is no information available yet in regards to trends due to the incubation period and the Public Health Officer order reporting updates being a recent change. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Prompt Notification and Confidentiality of Positive COVID-19 Workplace Cases
  • Please refer to the Employer’s Playbook and review its content thoroughly. In regards to confidentiality concerns, consult with your attorney and review HIPAA guidelines on confidentiality protection. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Cardroom Operations
  • Allowed to operate cardrooms outdoors. Tents may be used as long as one of the four sides of the tent is open. [Posted 8/12/20]
• COVID-19 testing data
  • When calculating the data on COVID-19 positive cases, the metrics for the number of people tested include duplicates and people retested. However, the parameters for COVID-19 positive cases do not include retest or duplicates. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Causal factors for restaurant outbreaks
  • The research reflects that restaurants are a leading category where outbreaks are occurring due to close exposures indoors, often when people are not wearing face coverings. [Posted 8/12/20]
• COVID-19 city level trend data
  • Individual city level trend data is available on the County’s data dashboard. To see city-specific details, please click on your city on the rightmost column, and then the blue line graph will adjust after a few seconds. You can hover over each day for additional information. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Day camps
  • There is no limit of campers for Day Camps. The limit for Sport Day Camps is a maximum of 12 campers. The Youth Sports guidance has no limitations on numbers of players. [Posted 8/12/20]
• Focus on highly impacted areas
  • Teams of promotoras who speak English and Spanish are being deployed into Latino communities  that are being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Their work is being done through a collaboration between the County, Project Concern International and South Bay Community Services. In addition, testing sites  have been determined by an analysis of case data and there’s been a  significant focus on the Latinx community and corresponding communication efforts. [Posted 8/12/20]

Websites/Resources mentioned:

• State Employer Playbook for Safe Reopening
• To report health order violations, call the Health Compliance Center at (858) 694-2900 or email SafeReopeningComplianceTeam@sdcounty.ca.gov
  • Includes reporting businesses that are open and have been ordered to close.
• Phone number for employers to notify the County of San Diego Public Health Services about an employee who tests positive with COVID-19: (888) 950-9905. Leave a message with:
  • Your name and contact number
  • Name of Business
  • Employee’s name, date of birth, and contact number
• Coronavirus-sd.com - Data Dashboard
• K-12 Resources For School Staff Students And Families 
• State Guidance for Face Coverings
• Great Plates Opportunity for restaurants, caterers, and food providers
  • The deadline for applications is Monday, August 17 at noon.
• Join the San Diego County Registrar of Voters Zoom Call:
  • www.sandiegocounty.gov/covidfaithbased or
  • https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/covidcommunitybased
• San Diego County COVID-19 Resources and Updates
• Public Health Order

We will be meeting again Wednesday, August 26th from 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM. To request resources, ask questions, or address concerns, please contact COVID-Business@sdcounty.ca.gov.