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

Happy Thanksgiving!

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall will be closed November 26-27. Staffed City parks will be closed only on November 26. There will be no trash collection on Thanksgiving Day, and collection for Thursday and Friday routes will be delayed by one day. There will be no COVID-19 Community Update next week, though any major announcements will be shared with the community. The City wishes you a safe and happy Thanksgiving! 

The L.A. County Department of Public Health reminds the public that the best way to celebrate Thanksgiving this year is to stay home and celebrate with people who live in your household. Connect with friends and family you don’t live with using all of the technology that allows us to see and hear each other from afar. If you do choose to gather, closely follow the guidance for private gatherings. Gather outdoors with no more than two other households, and no more than 15 people; wear face coverings unless eating or drinking and stay at least 6 feet apart. Limit the gathering to no more than two hours and do not share food or utensils.

Additionally, the state recommends avoiding non-essential travel and advises those arriving or returning to California from out of state to self-quarantine for 14 days after arrival.

State Issues Limited Stay at Home Order to Slow Spread of COVID-19

In light of an unprecedented, rapid rise in COVID-19 cases across California, Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Public Health today announced a limited Stay at Home Order requiring generally that non-essential work, movement and gatherings stop between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in counties in the purple tier (including Los Angeles County). The order will take effect at 10 p.m. Saturday, November 21 and remain in effect until 5 a.m. December 21. This is the same as the March Stay at Home Order, but applied only between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. and only in purple tier counties that are seeing the highest rates of positive cases and hospitalizations.

This limited Stay at Home Order is designed to reduce opportunities for disease transmission. Activities conducted during 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. are often non-essential and more likely related to social activities and gatherings that have a higher likelihood of leading to reduced inhibition and reduced likelihood for adherence to safety measures like wearing a face covering and maintaining physical distance.

Read more at: bit.ly/calsho111

Los Angeles County to Implement Tighter Safeguards and Restrictions to Curb COVID-19 Spread

Effective Friday, November 20, Los Angeles County will tighten pandemic safeguards and restrictions as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to increase significantly. These safeguards and restrictions protect the public health and safety of our residents, and their ability to be served in our hospitals.

COVID-19 cases have more than doubled since the beginning of November and hospitalizations have increased from an average of about 900 a day to well over 1,000 a day in same time period.

The first measures, effective this Friday, are:

• For non-essential businesses permitted to operate indoors—including retail stores, offices, personal care services—occupancy will be limited to 25% maximum capacity.
• The number of patrons at outdoor restaurants, breweries and wineries will be limited to 50% max outdoor capacity.
• The number customers at cardrooms, outdoor mini-golf, go-karts and batting cages will be limited to 50% maximum outdoor capacity.
• Services at personal care establishments may only be provided by appointment to customers wearing face coverings by staff wearing face coverings.
  • Services that require either the customer or the staff to remove their face covering, such as facials and shaves, are not permitted.
  • Food and drinks cannot be served at these establishments to customers.
• Restaurants, breweries, wineries, bars, and all other non-essential retail establishments must close from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
• Outdoor gatherings remain the only gatherings permitted, and they must only include 15 people maximum who are members of no more than 3 households.

• Outdoor and indoor dining at restaurants, breweries, wineries and bars will be prohibited and these businesses will only be able to offer pick-up and delivery. Businesses in this sector are being notified via email by DPH, which will work with them to ensure a smooth transition.

• A Safer at Home Order will be instituted for three weeks. The Order would only allow essential workers and those securing essential services to leave their homes.
• A 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew would be mandated, with essential workers exempt.

Surge in COVID-19 Cases

As COVID-19 cases surge and hospitalizations continue to rise in Los Angeles County and across California, the L.A. County Department of Public Health urges everyone to take immediate action to slow the spread of COVID-19 and to stay home as much as possible for the next two to three weeks except for accessing essential services.

For residents, Public Health asks you to take the following immediate actions:

• Re-think your holiday plans and cancel any plans for travel outside the region in the coming weeks.
• If you have plans to celebrate Thanksgiving with others who are not in your household, please make sure you will celebrate outdoors with only 2 other households, and no more than 15 people. If you need to be indoors, this can only happen with members of your immediate household. This is particularly important since people will need to take off their face coverings while eating and drinking.
• Stay home as much as possible for the next 2-3 weeks except for accessing essential services. This is especially important for people who are older and people with serious underlying health conditions. When possible, try to use delivery services for groceries and medicines.  If this isn’t possible, assign one person from your household to take care of errands and shopping.
• If you live with people that are older or have serious health conditions, wear masks and keep your distance both indoors and outdoors as much as possible. Higher risk household members should try when possible to eat by themselves and particularly avoid being in close contact with other people who have possible exposures at their jobs or in the community.
• If you are positive or a close contact of someone who is positive, please follow the public health orders to isolate or quarantine for the full amount of time; 10 days for isolating if you are positive and 14 days if you need to quarantine.
• If you have engaged in risky activities where you may have been exposed because you were in a crowd with people who weren’t wearing masks and distancing, please self-quarantine for 14 days.

For information and guidance on physical distancing, visit publichealth.lacounty.gov/coronavirus.

FDA Authorizes First COVID-19 Test for Self-Testing at Home

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first COVID-19 diagnostic test for self-testing at home and that provides rapid results. The Lucira COVID-19 All-In-One Test Kit is a molecular (real-time loop mediated amplification reaction) single use test that is intended to detect the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19.

The Lucira COVID-19 All-In-One Test Kit test has been authorized for home use with self-collected nasal swab samples in individuals age 14 and older who are suspected of COVID-19 by their health care provider. It is also authorized for use in point-of-care (POC) settings (e.g., doctor’s offices, hospitals, urgent care centers and emergency rooms) for all ages but samples must be collected by a healthcare provider when the test is used at the POC to test individuals younger than 14 years old. The test is currently authorized for prescription use only. 

According to Lucira Health, the test kit is expected to be available to patients served by Sutter Health in Northern California, and Cleveland Clinic Florida in Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, in the near future. By early spring 2021, it is expected to be available nationally through health care providers.

Read more at: bit.ly/2UAMLsv

Relating COVID-19 and the Flu

A lot of people are relating COVID-19 to the flu as a way to dismiss warnings about the risks associated with the new virus. Last year’s flu season was a particularly severe one and tragically, the County of Los Angeles estimates that 3,133 people passed away from the flu or complications related to flu here in the county. It is estimated that around 11% of the population nationally gets the flu in a given season, which for L.A. County would equate to more than 1 million people.

To date, 7,363 people in L.A. County have tragically passed away from COVID-19. We have identified 353,232 cases of COVID-19 here in L.A. County, though there are likely many more people who were at some point infected and did not know it. COVID-19 has caused more death even though it has infected fewer people.

L.A. County reminds the public that this should serve as a very simple demonstration of how much more dangerous COVID-19 is than the flu. It is deadlier and people can become very sick, sometimes for weeks and months. In addition, we are still learning about this virus, but we do already know that, for some, the complications from COVID-19 can last for a long time.

The impact of COVID-19 on the body can be devastating. It is important for everyone to understand that, especially people who may have heard that it is no worse than the flu.
This does not take away the importance of being immunized for the flu as L.A. County will see both the flu and COVID-19 at the same time this fall and winter. This will create even greater demand on our healthcare system, potentially making it more difficult for all to access needed care.

Everyone 6 months and older should be immunized against the flu. It is safe and there are many places across the county you can be immunized. You can talk to your provider, visit a pharmacy, or visit PreventFluLA.com, to find immunization sites in your community.

Holiday Safe Shopping Tips

California’s grocery community is asking consumers to plan ahead for Thanksgiving, wear a mask and maintain social distancing when visiting your favorite neighborhood store.

Here are the California Grocers Association’s 10 Holiday Safe Shopping Tips:

1. Plan your holiday meals at least two weeks in advance. Buy non-perishable items ahead of time. Utilize designated turkey pick-up stations, if available.
2. Consider online options such as delivery or curbside pick-up for ordering your turkey or pre-prepared Thanksgiving side dishes.
3. Bake in extra time for your visit during the holiday season. Grocery stores will be enforcing state COVID-19 mandates that limit store occupancy.
4. Avoid visiting a store during week of Thanksgiving if possible.
5. Always wear a mask when inside the grocery store as is mandated in California.
6. Keep a distance of two shopping carts between you and your fellow shoppers and grocery store employees. Do not crowd the checkstand.
7. Consider shopping during off-peak hours to avoid store crowding. Do not bring extra people to the store if at all possible.
8. Treat essential grocery employees with kindness. Be patient as they go about their work including additional cleaning protocols and offer a hearty “thank you” when you can.
9. Inspect items with your eyes instead of your hands to limit unnecessary handling of store products.
10. Buy only what you need for your holiday meals. There is enough for all.

YMCA Fall Day Camp November 23-25

The San Pedro & Peninsula YMCA is offering Fall Day Camp for kids November 23-25 (three days) at the San Pedro Main Branch! Unplug and take a well-deserved break from virtual learning. YMCA Day Camps are a great enriching environment that helps kids build self-esteem, learn social skills and explore the world around them, all in a safe and nurturing program, that adheres to all COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

For fee information and to register, visit bit.ly/32yBaOO.

Download flyer at bit.ly/3lnlhC9. 

If you have questions, please email SpencerYamasaki@ymcala.org or call 310-221-3795.

Looking for a fun and safe activity to get your child outside this holiday season? Elf in the Park Starts December 1!

Rancho the Elf has been having fun causing all kinds of mischief in the City’s parks! Each week in December, he will be visiting a different RPV park. Use the clues below to find him:

• December 1-6

• December 7-13

• December 14- 20

• December 21-27

• December 28-31

Rancho grew up in a forest and he loves to go hiking in his free time, so this park on Forrestal Drive sounded like a whole lotta fun!

Once you find him, please take a selfie with Rancho and share it using #RanchoTheParkElf

Participating Parks: Point Vicente Interpretive Center, Fred Hesse Jr. Community Park, Robert Ryan Park, Ladera Linda Park, and Eastview Park.

For more information, please contact the Recreation and Parks Department at parks@rpvca.gov  or 310-544-5260.

Virtual Frozen Story and Craft Time December 10

The City of Rancho Palos Verdes invites you to join Olaf for a Virtual Frozen Story and Craft Time  December 10 at 6:30 p.m.

Olaf will read a story and you can create your own miniature Olaf. Registration is required before December 7. To register, visit: apm.activecommunities.com/rpv.

Pre-assembled Frozen-themed craft bags will be available for pickup December 7-10 during regular business hours at RPV City Hall, 30940 Hawthorne Boulevard. A Zoom link will be emailed by December 8.

For more information, please contact the Recreation and Parks Department at parks@rpvca.gov  or 310-544-5260.

PVPUSD Fall Parent Education Series

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District and South Bay Families Connected invite parents to attend a virtual Fall Parent Education Series with Dr. Moe Gelbart. The final event in the series is December 2 at 9 a.m. and is titled, “Building Resilience & Paving a Path for Success: Tips for Elementary Parents.” The event will be live-streamed and recorded, and information will be posted on pvpusd.net.

For additional online youth wellness resources, including resources to support youths during distance learning, please visit southbayfamiliesconnected.org/pvpusd  

DMV Extends Learner’s Permits Expiring Through May 2021

The California Department of Motor Vehicles is extending driver’s license permits with expiration dates through May 31, 2021, to give student drivers more time during the COVID-19 pandemic to complete the prerequisites needed for a provisional license, including 6 hours of behind-the-wheel instruction with a driving school and 50 hours of supervised driving practice.

Eligible permits are extended six months from the date of expiration or to a date 24 months from the date of application, whichever is earlier. The DMV previously extended permits expiring between March 1 and November 30, 2020. The DMV has alerted law enforcement of the extensions, which require no individual action on the part of drivers.

The DMV resumed behind-the-wheel drive tests with new health and safety protocols on June 26, and appointments to take the test are available.

Read more on the DMV website.

Small Business Strong Webinar November 20

Entrepreneurs, innovators and job creators are facing many challenges, as the way we live, play, and work is disrupted due to COVID-19. Learn to grow your business and sharpen your skills by joining the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Strong webinar this Friday, November 20 at 11 a.m.

The Small Business Strong series focuses on practical tips and techniques to survive the current economic crisis that small businesses are facing. Expert consultants will walk you through the process on how to start applying them towards your business.

Register at: bit.ly/smbizstron

L.A. County Launches Digital Contact Tracing for COVID-19, Aiming to Reduce Exposure Notifications from Days to Hours with Healthvana

This week, L.A. County launched a new feature that lets individuals with a positive COVID-19 test immediately and anonymously notify anyone with whom they have recently come in close contact using their mobile phones.

L.A. County has partnered with Healthvana since April 2020, which already delivers test results for county-operated sites. Test result notifications are sent via text message or email the moment the lab processes the sample. With this added feature, individuals who receive a positive test result can easily click a link within the web-based patient portal to enter contact information for any recent close contacts.

These close contacts instantly receive a notification from Healthvana alerting them that they may have been exposed to COVID-19 with links to resources, including locations where they can schedule a free COVID-19 test.

The contact tracing feature will be initially rolled out to county-operated testing sites. There are currently over 180 total testing sites across the region which include county-operated sites, City of Los Angeles-operated sites, state-operated sites and locations run by community clinics, pharmacies, and various other testing partners. Healthvana has delivered over 750,000 COVID-19 test results to county-operated testing sites since late April. L.A. County was one of the first counties to deliver test results via Healthvana, which has been proven successful: 50% of individuals view test results in 10 mins or less; 75% view their test results in one hour or less; and 90% view their test results in four hours or less.

For more information and a list of testing sites, visit covid19.lacounty.gov/testing.

L.A. County Animal Care and Control Waives Cat Adoption Fees in November and December

The L.A. County Department of Animal Care and Control is waiving cat adoption fees for the months of November and December. The department is hoping to get more animals out of its care centers and into homes. This waiver does not include license and trust deposit fees. For more information, visit animalcare.lacounty.gov.

Upcoming Local Blood Drive

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 on Tuesday, December 1 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Pacific Unitarian Universalist Church, 5621 Montemalaga Drive in Rancho Palos Verdes.
 
Reserve a time online at redcrossblood.org and enter the sponsor code: PACIFICUNITARIANCHURCH.

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)

Reminder: Space Open in After School Recreational Enrichment Program

Registration is currently open for the After School Recreational Enrichment Program offered by the San Pedro & Peninsula YMCA and the City at Hesse Park! The after school program for grades K-5 takes place from 3-6 p.m. Monday-Friday from through December 18. 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. Registration remains open.

For more information and to register for the After School Recreational Enrichment Program, visit bit.ly/3jg58gA or ymcala.org. Download a program flyer at: bit.ly/3gunjxl

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.

Cases

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.

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/