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

Updated Masking Guidelines for Fully Vaccinated People

Last week, 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.

The state will be keeping current masking guidance as it is until June 15, and L.A. County will do the same. This means that our guidance remains in alignment with the Health Officer Order of May 3.

It is important to note that the CDC announcement last week was not meant to eliminate current safety modifications at local and state levels, and as we have now heard from CDC, they are acknowledging the importance of maintaining local protections and recommending that there be no changes at schools, many worksites, and public transit. To prevent increased circulation of variants or virus mutations that result in new variants of concern, it remains important to do everything we know how to do to prevent transmission.

This guidance includes following sensible masking requirements that will remain in place in L.A. County until we increase vaccination rates. Knowing that at indoor settings and crowded outdoor places where many may still be unvaccinated can result in easy virus transmission, L.A. County will be aligning with the state to continue masking requirements for everyone at large indoor and outdoor events, on public transportation, and at all retail and business establishments that are open to the public until June 15. Workplaces remain under Cal/OSHA masking and distancing requirements, which have not yet changed. And for unvaccinated people, masks are still required outdoors any time distancing cannot be maintained.

Request a Mobile Vaccine Unit for Your Workplace

If you want a COVID-19 vaccine but are having a hard time getting away from work to get one, you can now submit a request to the L.A. County Department of Public Health for a mobile vaccination unit to come to your business or workplace to vaccinate you and your colleagues. Learn more at: bit.ly/3eKyvIw.

ICYMI: L.A. County Vaccine Town Hall for Parents

In case you missed it, you can watch a recording of the L.A. County Department of Public Health’s recent virtual vaccine town hall for parents on YouTube at: youtu.be/QbFmFD-ixIU. Get the latest vaccine updates, including information for children, and hear experts answer questions from the public.

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

COVID-19 FAQs: Will the COVID-19 vaccine affect my fertility?

If you are trying to become pregnant now or want to get pregnant in the future, you can receive a COVID-19 vaccine. There is currently no evidence that any vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems — problems trying to get pregnant. CDC does not recommend routine pregnancy testing before COVID-19 vaccination. If you are trying to become pregnant, you do not need to avoid pregnancy after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. Like with all vaccines, scientists are studying COVID-19 vaccines carefully for side effects now and will report findings as they become available.

Source: CDC

For more FAQs, visit the Beach Cities Health District’s COVID-19 vaccine webpage at bchd.org/covidvaccine.

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.

SBA Retaurant Revitalization Fund Applications due May 24

Applications for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Restaurant Revitalization Fund are due May 24 by 8 p.m. ET. 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.

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:

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.

Thursday, June 10
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Ascension Lutheran Church
26231 Silver Spur Road

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 20, there are 1,238,121 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Los Angeles County (population 10.17 million). The total includes 1,522 cases in Rancho Palos Verdes (population 42,747), 470 in Palos Verdes Estates (population 13,522), 284 in Rolling Hills Estates (population 8,113), 57 in Rolling Hills (population 1,940), and 65 in the unincorporated areas of the Peninsula (population 1,921). Countywide, 24,140 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/