Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, September 01, 2020
Discussion
SUBJECT:
Title
COVID-19 UPDATE (CITY COUNCIL)
Body
I. SUMMARY
During this unprecedented pandemic, the City of Carson has had to adhere to Federal, State and County Executive orders, which initially helped slow the spread of the virus but it did so by shutting down our local businesses and severely impacting our economy. Our residents and businesses were directed by the State to follow stay-at-home orders, with the exception of employees who were determined to have an essential job or for residents to shop for essential needs. For the first time in its incorporated history, the City was not allowed to operate in any capacity outside of health measures dictated by the Federal, State and County governments.
The Governor began to reopen the state in various phases, allowing cities and businesses to reopen but with restrictions. This has helped fuel the resurgence of the economy; but at the same time thousands of positive cases have been reported in multiple counties causing the Governor to reevaluate the state’s position and restrict several businesses to essential services and limited services at this time.
As of the preparation of this report on August 26, 2020, Los Angeles County Public Health Department has reported 1,637 confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the City of Carson, with 221,331 cases within Los Angeles County (which includes cases reported by the Long Beach and Pasadena Health Departments). One should assume that this underreports the actual spread of the virus since those who do not display symptoms or are otherwise mildly impacted have not been tested.
II. RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
1. DISCUSS and PROVIDE direction
Body
III. ALTERNATIVES
TAKE another action Council deems appropriate.
IV. BACKGROUND
On March 17, 2020, the City Council unanimously voted (5-0) to declare a local emergency in response to COVID-19. The declaration of a local emergency enables the City to be more efficient and effective in its response to the outbreak, puts in place a framework that supports the continuity of essential public safety services, seeks and utilizes mutual aid, and ensures the City has all available tools at its disposal to keep the community safe. The declaration also allowed the City to seek reimbursement of funds from the State and Federal government.
With only essential services being provided, the City of Carson saw a declining number of daily cases due to social distancing and other restrictive measures. After the Governor’s implementation of reopening phases, which were intended to jump start the state’s economy, there has been a massive surge in positive COVID-19 cases. The Governor identified multiple counties throughout the state of California where this was a concern, including Los Angeles County, and reversed course to restrict some businesses and temporarily close others.
The City has seen a rise in the number of employees who have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. This has led the City Manager to reduce services back to those that are essential and to reduce visitation by the public to City Hall by limiting appointments to two (2) days a week. To further combat and slow the spread of COVID-19, the following additional measures have been set in place:
1. Deep Cleaning Services by a professional cleaner of City Hall, Community Center, Corporate Yard and City Parks.
2. Sneeze Guards and Stanchions purchased to separate the public and staff throughout all City facilities.
3. Providing Telecommuting to all employees who are eligible and meet criteria.
4. Reducing staff to be physically present on a needs basis.
Discussed below are recent initiatives and programs initiated by the Disaster Council and the City Council since the Declaration of Emergency.
Food Programs
Immediately following the Declaration of Emergency, the City Administration mobilized a Grab ‘n Go lunch program for seniors, Carson Essentials To-Go Program and a grocery delivery program in partnership with Norms. This program has received funding by the Watson Land Company, the Carson Company, the Carson Community Foundation and Phillip 66.
In addition, in partnership with the Lighthouse, YMCA Meals on Wheels, and the ERB Foundation, the City is providing meals and food kits to seniors and homebound residents. <http://ci.carson.ca.us/CoronaVirus.aspx>
Due to the change in the Los Angeles County funding structure, the Meals on Wheels program will have additional meals for pickup while fewer meals will be delivered. Those who require delivery of meals, services for delivered meals will continue without interruption.
Food Program Stats as of August 25, 2020:
Grab and Go: 64,123
Meals on Wheels Delivered by city staff: 11,146
Resource Call Center calls handled: 10,444
Carson Essentials to Go: 1,117
Carson Grab-n-Go Program:
The Lighthouse has agreed to extend the Grab and Go Program through the end of June 2021. While The Lighthouse provides 600 meals daily at no cost to the city, the staff cost to run the packaging and distribution portion of the program is approximately $600 per day, ($2,400 per week, $9,600 per month). When the program ends in August, seniors will be encouraged to transition to the Meals on Wheels program pending availability. The registration process for Meals on Wheels currently takes 1-2 weeks. Meals on Wheels will be extending delivery services through December 2020, but the YMCA will depend upon delivery teams made up of city employees if the program is to be expanded to serve more people.
Carson Essentials To Go Program:
This program was created to support homebound and vulnerable residents in need of a safe alternative to grocery shopping during the pandemic. The City of Carson appropriated $150,000 from the general fund to support this program. Local businesses and organizations made generous contributions that allowed the packages to be discounted by as much as 25% for local residents. The City of Carson partnered with Norms Restaurant to create a variety of affordable grocery packages. City employees take orders over the phone while Norms staff members package the items. Carson employees deliver the packages to homes using proper PPE and practicing social distancing. Countless residents have called for this program to continue, especially as the virus continues to spread across LA County. Because it is fee based with a subsidy through the generosity of our contributors, we foresee continuing this program as long as funding and staff are available. To date, the Carson Essentials to Go Program has a remaining balance of $34,606 that will be used to subsidize the program going forward.
COVID-19 Test Site
The City was able to arrange, at no cost to Carson, free COVID-19 testing for residents and non-residents alike in collaboration with a nonprofit entity, U.S. Health Fairs. It is one of the first facilities to allow testing without the requirement that the individual has symptoms or was exposed to someone with COVID-19.
We are beginning to receive statistics from U.S. Health Fairs regarding Carson residents who have tested at its drive-thru test site. To provide an early look at some of this information, we have included below the early data for what we hope will soon be a comprehensive statistical report.
Test Site and Call Center Stats as of August 26, 2020:
COVID Testing Call Center calls handled: 5,764
COVID Tests Administered: 16,210
Week of August 20th
|
Total Tested thru August 20th |
443 |
|
Total Positive Cases |
21 |
|
Carson Residents Tested |
164 |
|
Carson Positive Cases |
13 |
Ethnicity Distribution of Carson residents tested
Kids Club/Summer Day Camp
Per guidance provided by State and County authorities, the City was permitted to reopen a number of programs, namely Kids Club/Summer Day Camp and the Aquatics Program.
On August 14, 2020, Summer Day Camp transitioned to Kids Club as children went back to school. The first day of Kids Club was August 17, 2020. The following table summarizes the number of participants since we have opened and the capacity per location:
Week of August 24, 2020
|
PARK |
ALL DAY |
AFTERNOON |
TOTAL |
|
Calas |
5 |
0 |
5 |
|
Carson |
0 |
5 |
5 |
|
Del Amo |
6 |
0 |
6 |
|
Dolphin |
9 |
0 |
9 |
|
Veterans |
3 |
5 |
8 |
Aquatics
The Aquatics Program was permitted to reopen for limited service on July 29, 2020. Foisia Pool and Dominguez Aquatic Center are now open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from 10:00 AM through 7:00 PM. Carson Pool and Hemingway Aquatic Center are open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, from 11:00 AM through 7:00 PM. Currently, Family Swim is offered at all Aquatic facilities; Lap Swim at Foisia Pool, Dominguez Aquatic Center, and Hemingway Aquatic Center; and Swim Conditioning at Foisia Pool only. Protocols have been established at all sites to ensure the health and safety of both staff and participants. Until the positive cases of COVID-19 decline, we will not increase these hours.
City Hall Appointments
To date, City Hall is currently operating by ‘Appointment Only’ for necessary services. Residents can visit the City’s website to contact the department they are interested in conducting business with or can call the main City Hall Office line at (310) 830-7600.
Below are the numbers of residents who have come to City Hall for services:
For the week of August 17th - August 20th:
|
CITY HALL |
APPOINTMENTS |
|
Human Resources |
4 |
|
Purchasing |
3 |
|
Public Works |
0 |
|
Building & Safety |
25 |
|
City Clerk/City Manager |
2 |
|
Business License |
14 |
|
Community Development |
2 |
|
TOTALS |
52 |
To further reduce the number of residents coming to City Hall, Building & Safety will continue to promote its online Plan Submittal process and determine what additional technological improvements can be made. Business License saw an uptick in appointments due to Fire Work citations and requests to see an Administrative Law Judge for extensions of citations.
Small Business Programs
The City of Carson, in partnership with the California Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA), launched the Carson Small Business Coronavirus Business Assistance Program to provide support for small business impacted by the COVID-19 virus and associated restrictions. The program has been providing technical assistance to businesses seeking Emergency Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding, other loan programs as well as general business assistance in managing this crisis. Businesses in Carson are eligible for emergency loans of up to $10,000 from the City of Carson’s own Loan Program funded with $500,000. Please visit carson.cceda.com or call (213) 348-7504.
At the direction of the Disaster Council, staff created a Temporary Outdoor Dining and Retail Operations Expansion Program to support businesses adversely affected by the County’s social distancing requirements. The City has streamlined the process by waiving permit fees allowing the Community Development Director to approve the requests and allow the companies to restart their operations as soon as possible. Staff mailed the notice and application to 330 restaurants and 1800 retail establishments. The next phase of this effort will be visiting shopping centers to hand-deliver hard copies of the information and application.
Businesses that have responded are service oriented businesses such as beauty salons and nail shops (7), places of worship (1), and restaurants (4) with requests including but not limited to expansion onto the sidewalk and parking lots.
City Events
When the emergency was first declared, the City Council acted to cancel all City Events through the end of the 2020 calendar year. On August 4, 2020, the City Council unanimously extended the cancellation of all City sponsored events through March 31, 2021. This decision recognized that the first wave of the coronavirus has continued since the initial outbreak with record numbers of new infections in Los Angeles County. With growing concerns of the expectant second wave during the upcoming flu season, it is expected that the State and County will continue their orders disallowing the gathering of masses of people such as would occur at City Events. Staff will continue to monitor the status and provide updates and recommendations to the City Council.
V. FISCAL IMPACT
Staff costs are being incurred by the City for the coordination, surveillance, communication, and management of the COVID-19 local emergency, as well as costs for procuring related services and supplies. City costs are either being covered by existing department appropriations or new appropriations from the General Fund. All costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic are being tracked separately in the City’s Disaster Fund and staff will pursue any available Federal and State reimbursements for eligible City costs incurred. The City will realize small savings as a result of City Council’s action to further extend and suspend City sponsored events through March 31, 2021.
VI. EXHIBITS
None
Prepared by: David C. Roberts, Jr., Assistant City Manager