Zip code-based reopening? + Unemployed Californians speak out + A special Sac Bee offer
Good morning! It’s Wednesday AND it’s vice presidential debate day! We can hardly wait!
LAWMAKERS SAY WE SHOULD REOPEN BY ZIP CODE
California should adopt a zip code-based approach to reopening from the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s the argument being made by conservative lawmakers Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, and Sen. Brian Dahle, R-Bieber, as well as Folsom Mayor Sarah Aquino and Sacramento County Supervisor Sue Frost, in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“The current system for evaluating local health metrics and allowing communities to reopen is based on a countywide structure that fails to take into account vastly different data points within the same county. It also relies upon the assumption that a ‘community’ is defined by arbitrary county lines, when in reality there are many contiguous communities across the state that are not bound by the borders of their respective counties,” the letter reads in part.
They go on to use the example of Folsom, which borders El Dorado Hills in El Dorado County.
“Both communities have similar rates of COVID-19 and are separated by a single freeway exit. And yet, Folsom is deemed higher risk by our state’s system. Its business community is forced to comply with more restrictions and its schools have not been able to reopen on the same timeline,” the letter reads.
It’s worth noting that this call for action runs diametrically opposed to the equity metric announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly on Tuesday. That metric essentially ties a county’s ability to advance through the assorted color tiers to the positivity rate of the hardest hit communities in that county.
This is intended to get counties to focus on reducing spread in hard-hit communities such as Latino and Black communities, which have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
Needless to say, Kiley wasn’t a fan of this announcement, tweeting Tuesday that “Gavin Newsom is now restricting basic liberties to impose a phony notion of ‘equity’ invented by the government. There are some very bad precedents for this in world history.”
UNEMPLOYED CALIFORNIANS SPEAK OUT AHEAD OF COMMITTEE MEETING
Before the Assembly Budget Committee meets Wednesday to discuss the situation with the Employment Development Department, jobless Californians are set to voice their concerns about the massive benefit backlog.
Sen. Jim Nielsen’s, R-Tehama, office is organizing the gathering of disaffected Californians to “call on the governor to immediately take action to help those who have lost their jobs due to the government-imposed lockdown,” according to a statement from the senator’s office.
More than 1.6 million Californians have been unable to collect unemployment benefits because they’re in a backlog that EDD can’t work down until January. An estimated 100,000 Californians were unable to apply for benefits during EDD’s two-week “reset” period, Nielsen estimated.
Among those speaking on Wednesday, besides Nielsen, are La Toya Horne of Sacramento, a hair stylist who says she lost her home because of a delay in EDD benefits; April Carlton of Citrus Heights, who says she was initially denied EDD benefits because of a 2018 name change and who is still waiting for benefits; and Rick Walters of Yuba City, a building official who says he was denied benefits because of “identity issues.”
The event is set to begin at 11 a.m., at the EDD office at 722 Capitol Mall. The committee meets at 1 p.m. at room 4202 of the State Capitol.
A SPECIAL OFFER
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We’re still answering that question, but now some of our stories — those that take the most work and expertise — are available only to subscribers. With the coronavirus reducing the money The Bee gets from advertising, we need subscribers more than ever to support work.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Trump’s misinformation hits home for me. I lost my uncle to #COVID19 yesterday. I’m just one of hundreds of thousands who are mourning due to the pandemic. We know COVID is deadly. We are following the science, wearing masks, and keeping distance. We will not be misguided.”
- Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
Millions of unemployed California residents will have to wait at least another month — and probably longer — before an extra $300 a week or more is available in supplemental jobless benefits from the federal government, via David Lightman.
School re-openings have not yet contributed to a rise in COVID-19 cases, California’s top health official said in a press conference on Tuesday, via Andrew Sheeler.
Gig workers already lost once under Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, via Jeong Park.