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

L.A. County Reviewing New CDC Mask Guidance for Fully Vaccinated People

Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released guidance indicating that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can safely resume activities that were done prior to the pandemic. L.A. County and the state will review the recommendations in order to make sensible adjustments. In the interim, please note that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear a mask when indoors around other fully vaccinated people, or outside in uncrowded areas. When at businesses and in crowded venues, both indoors and outdoors, masks are still required to be worn by everyone.

It remains important to protect workers at all worksites and all worksites must follow the requirements set forth by California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Cal/OSHA. Everyone must continue to adhere to required distancing and masking at all workplaces. Until Cal/OSHA changes these requirements, the county cannot be less restrictive. Proposed changes to Cal/OSHA’s workplace safety standards were posted for consideration at the May 20 standards board meeting.

Vaccinations Now Available for Ages 12+

Following authorization by the FDA and CDC, starting today, L.A. County vaccination providers may begin offering the Pfizer vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds at vaccination sites that offer the Pfizer vaccine. Teens should be accompanied by a parent, guardian or responsible adult, and present a photo ID and verification of age. For a full list of sites across the county offering Pfizer vaccines, please visit bit.ly/PfizerSites. To schedule an appointment, visit VaccinateLACounty.com. Walk-ins are welcome at all eight county-run sites. Parents or teens with questions about the vaccine should contact their healthcare provider or visit the Public Health website for more information on vaccine safety and efficacy.

Navigating Your Feelings About Reopening

After living with COVID-19 for more than a year, L.A. County is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. More than 8 million vaccine doses have been administered in the county and we continue to move forward through the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy. With more sectors and businesses reopening, people are heading back into the office and students are going back to school in-person. While getting back to life is wonderful news, this transition to the new normal can feel overwhelming and bring with it a wide range of emotions – excitement, anxiety, hope, stress, even fear.

Find tips to help with the transition as we navigate this new normal in a recent blog by Kerianne Lawson, Chief Programs Officer of the Beach Cities Health District.

Virtual Events

L.A. County Vaccine Town Hall for Parents May 18

Join the L.A. County Department of Public Health May 18 at 6 p.m. for a virtual vaccine town hall for parents. Get the latest vaccine updates, including information for children, and hear experts answer your questions.

The event will be live-streamed on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube @lapublichealth. Submit a question at tinyurl.com/vaxtownhall4parents.

For information on COVID-19 vaccinations in L.A. County, visit vaccinatelacounty.com.

Virtual Safe in the South Bay Series: COVID-19's Mental Health Impact on Youth, Adults and Older Adults

The Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce and 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.

We all have a new sense of gratitude as we move toward reopening in L.A. County. But we’ve been through a lot this past year. There are significant ramifications everyone is dealing with related to loss, our sense of safety and security, isolation and loneliness, and uncertainty. Join an esteemed panel of experts May 19 at 12 p.m. who will address these issues and provide information, resources and important perspective on how to build our coping, resiliency and re-emergence skills.

Panelist include:

Howard Barker, Community Liaison, Clear Recovery Center
David Hart, Ph.D., Director of Community Health, Always Best Care South Bay/West Los Angeles
Ioana Pal, Psy.D., Clinical Psychologist, Stramski Children’s Developmental Center at MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach
Edna Osepans, LCSW, Clinical Social Worker, UCLA Health

Register at bchd.org/safeinthesouthbayseries.

Financial Resources

Are you a senior behind on your rent?

Older adults facing eviction may qualify to receive financial assistance and rent relief. Call 213-610-1589 or email APShomesafe@wdacs.lacounty.gov with questions. Learn more: bit.ly/APSHomeSaf

Schedule Your Free Session With a Financial Navigator

Need help coping with financial difficulties related to COVID-19? L.A. County
Financial Navigators are available to help you find resources during this difficult time.
The Financial Navigators Program is designed to help residents deal with the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing remote assistance in navigating critical financial issues and making referrals to other social services and resources. Trained Financial Navigators will provide structured guidance over the phone that will help people strategize around supports for disruptions to their income and other financial concerns.
Some of the topics that may be discussed during the session may include:

Prioritizing payments for expenses like housing, food and insurance
Maximizing income, through accessing unemployment benefits, emergency loans and other public benefits
Managing debt by providing guidance on contacting and negotiating with creditors
Avoiding scams

For assistance, visit bit.ly/FinNav or call 800-593-8222.

Apply for the SBA Restaurant Revitalization Fund

The U.S. Small Business Administration has opened applications for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. The online application will remain open to any eligible establishment until all funds are exhausted.

Established under the American Rescue Plan, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund provides a total of $28.6 billion in direct relief funds to restaurants and other hard-hit food establishments that have experienced economic distress and significant operational losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This program will provide restaurants with funding equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business and no more than $5 million per physical location. Funds must be used for allowable expenses by March 11, 2023.

Learn more at sba.gov/restaurants.

Outdoor Recreation Programs

Painting Rocks!

Throughout the month of May, paint a rock or rocks from your backyard and place them in the Robert E. Ryan Park Rock Garden at 30359 Hawthorne Boulevard.

Paintings of local points of interest, views, animals, etc. are encouraged but not required.

The City of Rancho Palos Verdes reserves the right to remove any rocks
it deems inappropriate for this family friendly activity. Rock size not to exceed 6"x 6".

For more info, call 310-544-5260 or email events@rpvca.gov.

Find more activities in the Spring 2021 Recreation Guide!

Registration Open for After School Recreational Enrichment Program

Registration is open for the After School Recreational Enrichment Program offered by the San Pedro & Peninsula YMCA and the City at Hesse Park!

Register your child today at bit.ly/sppyenrichment

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.

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

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.

Upcoming Local Blood Drives

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 upcoming blood drives in Rancho Palos Verdes:

Tuesday, May 18
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.

Monday, May 24
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Ascension Lutheran Church
26231 Silver Spur Road

Sunday, May 30
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
31290 Palos Verdes Drive West

Reserve a time online at redcrossblood.org and enter the sponsor code: SPLC.

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)

Data

Cases

As of May 13, there are 1,236,456 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Los Angeles County (population 10.17 million). The total includes 1,513 cases in Rancho Palos Verdes (population 42,747), 469 in Palos Verdes Estates (population 13,522), 283 in Rolling Hills Estates (population 8,113), 56 in Rolling Hills (population 1,940), and 65 in the unincorporated areas of the Peninsula (population 1,921). Countywide, 24,057 people have died.

According to the L.A. County Department of Public Health, 56 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.

Vaccinations

According to the L.A. County Department of Public Health, as of May 2, 67.4% of Rancho Palos Verdes residents age 16 and over received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine

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