COVID-19 Community Update for March 25

Dear Residents,

The City of Rancho Palos Verdes continues to monitor the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Los Angeles County and would like to share the following updates with the community:

The Latest


New Public Health Officer Orders

Today, county officials announced new Public Health Officer Orders to ensure that individuals who test positive for COVID-19, and those who are told by a clinician they are presumed to be positive for COVID-19 are required to self-isolate for a period of 7 days and 3 days of being symptom free. Additionally, those who have been in close contact with someone who is positive or presumed positive must quarantine themselves for 14 days from their last exposure to that person.

Home isolation instructions for people with COVID-19 are available at: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/acd/docs/HomeisolationenCoV.pdf

Home quarantine guidelines for close contacts to COVID-19 patients are available at: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/acd/docs/COVHomeQuarantine.pdf

Cases

As of March 25, there are 799 known cases of novel coronavirus 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 social distancing. Thirteen people have died.

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

It’s important to note that the total number of confirmed cases that the Department of Public Health shares every day reflects a moment in time and may not include cases confirmed by commercial labs that have not yet been shared with the Department of Public Health. A commercial lab may share a positive result with a physician before the health department.

Parks Closed

Parks and Nature Preserve Closed

As a reminder, out of an abundance of caution and in accordance with guidance from state and local health officials to slow the spread of COVID-19, the City of Rancho Palos Verdes has closed the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve, all City parks, beaches, community centers, amenities and trails until further notice.

All park buildings, playgrounds, parking lots, restrooms, game courts, and fields are closed. All park programming has been canceled until further notice.
This includes all recreational activities, indoor and outdoor sports leagues, instructional courses, and group sessions/private events.

The closures are in accordance with a local emergency proclamation adopted by the City Council last week and come after City Staff and Park Rangers observed a high volume of visitors to City parks and the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve despite the “Safer at Home” Public Health Officer Order calling for social distancing.

For a full list of closures, read a press release at: bit.ly/2UexWwo

The Great Peninsula Takeout


The Great Peninsula Takeout


Building on the importance of supporting local business, the Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce in partnership with all four Peninsula cities – Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills Estates, Palos Verdes Estates and Rolling Hills - announces “The Great Peninsula Takeout.” The community is encouraged to actively show support for local restaurants by ordering takeout or delivery throughout this period of restricted commerce.

Restaurants are struggling to weather the financial impact of lost dine-in sales.  Supporting our restaurants through takeout orders right now may be the difference between restaurants being able to stay in business going forward or closing permanently. In support of local restaurants, the Chamber and the Peninsula cities are promoting “Takeout Tuesdays AND Takeout Thursdays.” 

The community is encouraged to join in the “Takeout Tuesdays and Takeout Thursdays” initiative by posting on social media and inviting friends and neighbors to order takeout, using Tuesdays and Thusdays as a special reminder.

Residents are asked to show their support by ordering takeout or delivery, not only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but on a regular basis throughout the coronavirus restrictions. Check the web, the Open for Business tab on the City's website, or social media for current listings. The Peninsula community is asked to act together to support each other in new ways amid the coronavirus outbreak. The “Takeout Tuesdays and Takeout Thursdays” program is a concrete step in that direction. 

Utility Updates


A Message from Southern California Edison (SCE)

Like all the residents of this region, the women and men of Southern California Edison (SCE) are acutely aware of the impacts and challenges to our customers, neighbors and communities from the effort to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19. We support efforts to slow the spread and “flatten the curve” of infections to avoid overwhelming our healthcare system. Since the week of March 16th, roughly two-thirds of our almost 13,000 employees have been working from home. We are taking measures to be sure our employees and contractors whose critical work requires them to be at Edison facilities or in the field stay healthy. This means continuing to practice social distancing and hygiene recommendations, enhanced cleaning of facilities and the use of additional protective gear when job tasks require workers to be closer than the recommended distance. Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, SCE has and will continue to provide our customers with a safe and reliable supply of electricity.

We know this is an incredibly challenging time for many customers who are responsibly staying home to prevent the spread of the virus. SCE has therefore taken a number of steps to assist our customers during this difficult time. These steps include:

  • Suspending service disconnections for non-payment,
  • Waiving late fees for business and residential customers, and
  • Postponing certain work that may require a service outage.
SCE will however continue performing work that is necessary to repair deteriorated equipment, protect public safety, respond to emergencies and address the risk of wildfire ignitions. While the decision to proceed with work requiring an outage at this time is not taken lightly, the safety of SCE’s customers, our employees, and the public remains our top priority.

In the event of an outage, SCE has programs in place to ensure that arrangements have been made to protect sensitive customers that have identified special medical needs or other vulnerabilities to SCE.

As an essential service provider, we continue to partner with government agencies and community-based organizations to support our customers through these uncertain times. There is important work that must be done to maintain the reliability of the power system and protect public safety. That work may require customer power outages to ensure that the work can be done safely by our crews and contractors. We are carefully prioritizing outage-related work and evaluating methods by which such outages can be minimized.

It is important to be aware that the fire season will begin in the region shortly, and we cannot afford to forget the impacts that catastrophic wildfires have had on our region in recent years. We are going to do all we can to avoid catastrophic wildfires, while striving to minimize the impact of power outages on our customers and your constituents. SCE is committed to provide timely customer notifications for any planned work that is continuing and to taking measures to shorten the impact of these critical planned outages where possible. This includes increasing workers on specific jobs, in order to do work safely and as quickly as we can.

SCE understands the concern regarding the impacts of outages on our customers that are now at home. However, in providing guidance and issuing “Safer at Home” orders, both the federal and state governments have recognized the critical and essential nature of ongoing work to utility systems during the COVID-19 period. For example, the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (CISA) provided guidance to states and local governments regarding the critical nature of energy systems and ongoing maintenance of those systems by utility workers. CISA’s guidance defines critical infrastructure workers to include:
  • Workers who maintain, ensure, or restore the generation, transmission, and distribution of electric power, including call centers, utility workers, reliability engineers, and fleet maintenance technicians [,and]
  • Vegetation management crews and traffic workers who support [them.]
Governor Newsom adopted CISA’s guidance and exempted such critical utility workers from his Stay at Home Order. Governor Newsom’s Executive Order of March 19, 2020 states in pertinent part:

The federal government has identified 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States, that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, economic security, public health or safety, or any combination thereof. Californians working in these 16 critical infrastructure sectors may continue their work because of the importance of these sectors to Californians’ health and well-being.

Governor Newsom’s Executive Order can be found at: https://covid19.ca.gov/img/Executive-Order-N-33-20.pdf. CISA’s guidance on identifying critical infrastructure workers can be found at: https://www.cisa.gov/identifying-critical-infrastructure-during-covid-19.

In accordance with Governor Newsom’s Order, SCE’s workers will continue necessary work which includes:
  • Replacing deteriorated or certain older equipment such as poles and transformers;
  • Performing vegetation management to mitigate the risk of contact between dead or decayed branches or other debris from making contact with our lines; and
  • Implementing other methods to harden our system against the risk of fire and other system hazards including the addition of guy wires, circuits, relays, or weather sensors.
Again, where possible, SCE has taken steps to postpone certain work that may result in an outage. However, SCE must carefully balance requests to postpone work given the risk of system failure or the potential development of other hazards. It should be noted that a system failure could result in outages that would take considerably longer to address than SCE’s planned preventative work.

SCE will continue to coordinate its activities with jurisdictions to ensure the safe and orderly flow of traffic and will continue to take precautions to protect sensitive customers that have identified their medical or other needs to SCE.

A Message from Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas)

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation continues to develop, we are doing everything we can to enhance the safety and wellbeing of our customers and employees. We are also committed to providing safe and reliable service and we do not anticipate any service disruptions at this time.

SoCalGas is closely monitoring the situation with local, state and federal health agencies, as well as monitoring and reinforcing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Our internal teams are taking a number of precautionary measures to mitigate exposure to the virus and we are regularly communicating with our employees.

We understand that timely and accurate information is important, and we will provide updates on an ongoing basis.

What to Expect for your Natural Gas Service
  • Rest assured, your natural gas service will still be there for you.
  • We are committed to providing safe and reliable natural gas service to our customers.
  • We are making some temporary changes to some of our customer service operations, consistent with guidance from public health officials.
  • We will continue to make essential and emergency service appointments, including reports of suspected natural gas leaks, carbon monoxide checks, gas meter turn-ons, natural gas outage and pilot re-lights.
  • For now, some appliance check-ups and non-essential service calls - things like inoperative pool heaters, barbecues, and fire pits are being suspended.
  • During emergency service visits, SoCalGas technicians may ask homeowners to move to another room to maintain a 6-foot distance, per CDC guidelines.
Bill Payment Options & Services During COVID-19
Where and How to Make a Payment

SoCalGas branch payment offices are now closed to the public. Some Authorized Payment Locations may close or provide intermittent service. But, don’t worry. There are many other ways to pay your bill. They include:
  • Drop off payment at depository boxes at our existing branch offices (include bill stub or account number with payment).
  • At any one of our Authorized Payment Locations www.socalgas.com/pay-bill/ways-to-pay/payment-locations
  • Online at www.socalgas.com/pay-bill
  • By phone, to pay by credit, debit card or e-check, call 1-800-427-2200
  • By mail, send bill stub with check or money order to:
SoCalGas
PO Box C
Monterey Park, CA 91756-0000

What we are Doing to Help Customers
  • As a reminder, we also suspended service disconnections until further notice. This means no customer will have their natural gas turned off due to non-payment.
  • We are committed to helping customers experiencing hardships, including from COVID-19.
  • Customer service representatives continue to be available 24-hours a day, 7 days a week to answer your questions, help you select a payment option, or determine if the service your calling about needs our attention right away. If in need of assistance, we encourage customers to call us at 1-800-427-2200.
  • For our Small Business Customers, we are waiving late payment fees.
Scam Alert

SoCalGas is aware that scammers are taking advantage of the COVID-19 outbreak to send phishing emails, texts and social media posts. Please note that SoCalGas has suspended service disconnections to customers who have a hard time paying their bills and does NOT call to demand payment. Please be on the lookout for scams asking for personal information or selling phony products and never click on malicious links or attachments. For the most up-to-date facts, visit the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO) websites.

Facility Limitations

Some of our facilities offer events and seminars. At this time, we’ve cancelled these events and seminars and will continue to update our customers who have shown interest in attending.

Closure Information


For a list of school, library, transit and other local closures, visit the Closure Information page on the City’s coronavirus webpage.

Open for Business


Need a list of Peninsula restaurants that are serving takeout and delivery? Or updated grocery store hours? Check out the Open for Business tab on the City’s coronavirus webpage. If you would like to add your business to this page or provide updated information, please email slee@rpvca.gov.

Watch the latest episode of RPVtv’s “Around the Peninsula” featuring an interview with PVP Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Eileen Hupp to find out how you can support local businesses during the coronavirus outbreak: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etJcYqikC9o  

How You Can Help

Med Supply Graphic

Want to help our nurses, doctors and health care workers? If you want to donate/know of businesses that may be able to help with personal protective equipment, such as surgical masks, N95 face masks, face shields and other supplies, email medsupply@dhs.lacounty.gov

PVPUSD School Board Member Linda Reid is coordinating a volunteer effort to match up senior citizens needing errand/grocery/meal help in PV with volunteers. PVPUSD students, parents, and alums unexpectedly home from college will assist! Any older residents may email Member Reid at reidl@pvpusd.net to be matched up with a local volunteer during this difficult isolating time. 
 
Neighborhood Watch block captains are available to assist any and all individuals who would like some form of assistance at this time. Those who are not yet a part of Neighborhood Watch can contact Gail Lorenzen at rpvnw@ix.netcom.com
 

Blood Donations Needed

Blood Donations Needed
 
The American Red Cross faces a severe blood shortage due to an unprecedented number of blood drive cancellations during the coronavirus outbreak. There is no clinical evidence that COVID-19 is transmissible through blood. Healthy individuals are needed to donate now to help patients counting on lifesaving blood, platelets or AB Elite plasma.
 
The Red Cross also urges organizations to maintain scheduled blood drives. Donating is a safe process and people should not hesitate to give or receive blood or platelets. The Red Cross has implemented additional precautions to ensure the safety of its donors and staff.
 
This blood shortage could impact patients who need surgery, victims of car accidents and other emergencies, or patients fighting cancer. Learn how to donate at redcrossblood.org or by calling 1-800 RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767)

Senior Support

Please consider checking on your older neighbors or those with underlying health conditions. There are ways to let people know you care while keeping a safe distance (e.g., a phone call, a text, a note under their door to make sure they have everything they need). Self-isolation doesn’t need to mean loneliness. Lomita Sheriff’s Station deputies are available to provide a “welfare check” for seniors. Residents are encouraged to call the station’s non-emergency number at 310-539-1661 if they are aware of seniors who are at risk or may need attention. We are all in this together.

City Hall Closed


As a reminder, to reduce the risk of community spread of COVID-19, through at least April 19, City Hall and park buildings are closed to the public, and all recreational activities, classes and events at City facilities have been canceled. Advisory board meetings have been canceled through the end of March. The City will primarily be providing essential city services that are necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of our community and City employees. To facilitate these measures, all non-essential staff will be working remotely. Inquiries will be reviewed daily and will be responded to on a case-by-case basis. Please note that our response to your inquiry could be delayed.

Community Development Department applications and permit requests may be submitted to planning@rpvca.gov. 

Non-emergency service requests may be submitted at http://www.rpvca.gov/FormCenter/NonEmergency-Customer-Service-Requests-3/NonEmergency-Customer-Service-Requests-43. 

Public Works service requests may be submitted at https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/6d13530e7ca84edbb5c4e022bdc54da8. 
 
Please visit the appropriate department page on the City website for a list of phone numbers and email addresses to accommodate your needs:
 
City Manager
City Clerk
Community Development
Finance
Human Resources
Public Works
Recreation, Parks & Open Space
RPVtv
 
Overall Staff Directory

Resources


Always check with trusted sources for the latest accurate information about 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
 
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/ 

The City Council is committed to keeping you informed on this ever-changing situation, and thanks you for your cooperation and support. The City reminds all residents that closures and cancellations announced by the City and other agencies and institutions are being implemented because public health officials advise that social distancing is the best and most effective tool to slow the spread of coronavirus.

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30940 Hawthorne Blvd, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275

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