local news •news when will riverside, san bernardino counties … · 2020. 8. 25. · published:...
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When will Riverside, San Bernardino counties get off coronavirus watch list? – San Bernardino Sun
https://www.sbsun.com/...us-watch-list/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_campaign=socialflow[8/24/2020 12:50:39 PM]
By JEFF HORSEMAN | [email protected] | The Press-EnterprisePUBLISHED: August 24, 2020 at 11:58 a.m. | UPDATED: August 24, 2020 at 11:58 a.m.
It’s not yet clear when Riverside and San Bernardino counties will get off the state’s coronavirus watchlist, a status that keeps most K-12 schools closed for in-person learning.
Thanks to a drop in cases, fewer COVID-19 hospitalizations and other improving numbers, OrangeCounty was removed from the list Sunday, Aug. 23. San Diego County came off the list Aug. 18.
Maintained by the state Department of Public Health, the list flags California counties that fare poorlyin a range of public health indicators that measure a county’s progress in controlling COVID-19. Eachof those indicators has a state-set threshold. Counties must stay below those levels for three days
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When will Riverside, San Bernardino counties getoff coronavirus watch list?
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When will Riverside, San Bernardino counties get off coronavirus watch list? – San Bernardino Sun
https://www.sbsun.com/...us-watch-list/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_campaign=socialflow[8/24/2020 12:50:39 PM]
before they can get off the list.
Once a county stays off the list for 14 days, students in kindergarten through 12th grade can go backto spaced-out classrooms if a school district wants in-person instruction. Watch-list counties canreview requests for elementary schools to physically reopen, something Riverside County startingdoing Monday, Aug. 24. In San Bernardino County, one waiver already was granted to the LucerneValley Unified School District, which began lessons last week.
Counties not on the list are still subject to a statewide order issued July 13 that closed indoor malls,hair salons and other businesses.
Right now, Riverside and San Bernardino counties exceed acceptable thresholds for cases andpositive test rates. The state wants case rates of no more than 100 per 100,000 residents. As of
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When will Riverside, San Bernardino counties get off coronavirus watch list? – San Bernardino Sun
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Orange County removed from statecoronavirus watch list
432 new coronavirus cases reported inSan Bernardino County
Riverside County coronavirushospitalizations are lowest since June 15
These 18 San Bernardino County schools
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Monday, Riverside County’s rate was 165.3 per 100,000 and San Bernardino County’s rate was 200.3per 100,000.
Counties are supposed to have a positive test rate of 8% or less. Going into Monday, that rate was10% for Riverside County and 10.4% for San Bernardino County.
Riverside County, which has been on the list since June 17, isn’t sure when it will get off, countyspokeswoman Brooke Federico said.
“Our case rate has been dropping for several days, which is a good sign that spread is slowing,” shesaid via text. “While the positivity rate also dropped last week, we don’t know if it will continue to doso. The positivity rate is based off (of) testing, and our daily volume of testing has gone down.”
More people getting tested will help lower the positivity rate, Federico said. The county offers freetesting by appointment, regardless of whether someone has COVID-19 symptoms and Federico saidresults are usually available in three to five days.
To get a coronavirus test in Riverside County, visitgettested.ruhealth.org.
San Bernardino County has been on the list since June 21.The county’s hospital data is good, “but there’s work to doon the case and positivity rates,” county spokesman DavidWert said via email.
“Increased testing will lead to improvements in thosemetrics, and the county is heavily promoting testing andincreasing availability.”
When will Riverside, San Bernardino counties get off coronavirus watch list? – San Bernardino Sun
https://www.sbsun.com/...us-watch-list/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_campaign=socialflow[8/24/2020 12:50:39 PM]
are seeking waivers to reopen
Riverside County to start accepting schoolreopening waivers next week
COVID-19 testing in San Bernardino County is free andavailable to anyone, regardless of symptoms. To schedulea testing appointment, go to sbcovid19.com/testing-sites.
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Jeff Horseman | ReporterJeff Horseman got into journalism because he liked to write and stunk at math. He grew up in Vermontand he honed his interviewing skills as a supermarket cashier by asking Bernie Sanders “Paper orplastic?” After graduating from Syracuse University in 1999, Jeff began his journalistic odyssey at TheWatertown Daily Times in upstate New York, where he impressed then-U.S. Senate candidate Hillary
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California counties waiting for Newsom's reopening rules - Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-25/california-counties-stuck-in-limbo-waiting-for-reopening-rules-newsom[8/25/2020 8:41:46 AM]
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California counties waiting for Newsom's reopening rules - Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-25/california-counties-stuck-in-limbo-waiting-for-reopening-rules-newsom[8/25/2020 8:41:46 AM]
Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a news conference in Sacramento on Feb. 27. (Associated Press)
By TARYN LUNA, MELODY GUTIERREZ
AUG. 25, 2020 | 5 AM
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared to deliver welcome news on Monday tocounties that have slowed the spread of coronavirus and been removed from the state’swatchlist only to find themselves in limbo as they await his long-promised reopening rules.
The governor said counties must wait two weeks to reopen businesses after they come offthe state’s list, a timeline that would allow Santa Cruz to open later this week and Placerand San Diego to follow the week after.
“There has to be a 14-day period between the application [and] implementation of notonly schools but reopening any sector of the economy,” Newsom said Monday. “So,there’s no delay in that respect for these counties moving forward.”
California counties waiting for Newsom's reopening rules - Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-25/california-counties-stuck-in-limbo-waiting-for-reopening-rules-newsom[8/25/2020 8:41:46 AM]
But later an aide sought to recast Newsom’s comment and it became clear that hemisspoke. The fumble only added to the confusion county officials across California arefeeling about the directives — or lack thereof — coming from Sacramento since thepandemic began. While Newsom has preached the importance of local control, the statehas taken the lead on California’s response and announced public health guidelines withlittle notice and less explanation for how counties should interpret the rules.
“I know these are unprecedented times,” said Placer County Supervisor Bonnie Gore. “Iknow they are busy, but we have residents who are very concerned and I don’t haveanswers. We don’t have the freedom to make our own decisions so we have to ask thestate for direction. I want to be sympathetic to the state, but we have residents asking usand we feel like our hands are tied.”
Under a system developed by the state, counties are added to the monitoring list andmust shutter additional businesses if they experience three days of elevated diseasetransmission, increased hospitalizations or limited hospital capacity. Counties drop off thelist if those trends reverse and they meet the state standards for another three days.
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California counties waiting for Newsom's reopening rules - Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-25/california-counties-stuck-in-limbo-waiting-for-reopening-rules-newsom[8/25/2020 8:41:46 AM]
Eight counties in California have been removed from the list and are waiting for stateguidelines to instruct them on how and when they can begin reopening some of thebusinesses and sectors they had been forced to close, such as indoor church services,gyms and malls.
Though the governor said Monday that the process would begin two weeks after a countyfalls off the list, he meant that no counties had been off the list for more than two weeks,the length of time they must wait before opening schools, said Kate Folmar, aspokeswoman for California Health and Human Services.
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“Our revised framework to be released later this week will give more clarity on how long ofa pause is required between tightening and loosening restrictions on sectors,” Folmar said.
By most measures, California’s first reopening didn’t go as well as Newsom had hoped.
The state ultimately allowed counties to reopen before they met state thresholds forcontact-tracing staff and daily targets for testing. Newsom also loosened rules that hadbarred counties with COVID-19 deaths in the previous two weeks from reopening, one ofseveral changes he said in mid-May would have allowed 53 of 58 counties to begin thatprocess.
The virus surged and by July, the state began implementing business restrictions again.
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California counties waiting for Newsom's reopening rules - Los Angeles Times
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This time around, the governor has said the state will keep tighter controls on countyreopenings. As the state develops a new process, the Newsom administration has alsobeen grappling with record-setting wildfires, a historic heat wave, power outages andlightning strikes.
Santa Cruz became the first county removed from the watchlist following data issues thatforced the state to freeze the list, much to the dismay of local officials. The countydropped off the list days before major wildfires ignited in the region.
“Unfortunately, us coming off the watchlist coincides with the fires,” Santa Cruz CountySupervisor Ryan Coonerty said. “There hasn’t been a lot of time to work through theimplications of coming off the watchlist. This crisis has surpassed our previous crisis. But asthings stabilize, we will try to figure these things out going forward.”
Since Santa Cruz County was removed, Coonerty and fellow Santa Cruz County SupervisorZach Friend said there has been no communication from the state about what that means.
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“The county has not received a timeline or metrics, and neither has any other county I’vetalked to,” Friend said.
The lack of clarity from the governor’s office predates the most recent round of disasters.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said the governor’s announcements andorders have lacked detail and been difficult to implement. She also said that counties havenot been given enough notice before the state announces major decisions.
Barger cited a recent example of contradictory messaging from the state public healthdepartment and the state Board of Barbering & Cosmetology over the ability of hairsalons to operate outdoors. The board and the department disagreed about whetheroutdoor salon services were allowed and Newsom was forced to publicly clarify that they
California counties waiting for Newsom's reopening rules - Los Angeles Times
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were allowed days after he shut down businesses.
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“It causes confusion,” Barger said. “When you’ve got industries that are already frustrated,that becomes even more exacerbated.”
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and County Supervisor Greg Cox joined the chorus ofcounty officials seeking more information earlier this month. In a letter to Newsom onAug. 14, they requested “clear and consistent” reopening guidance for counties that arenow in compliance with the state’s metrics.
“The lack of a consistent process for these businesses, with logical, data-driven triggers,exacerbates an increasingly difficult economic situation, and undermines the credibility ofand compliance with the state’s public health order,” they wrote.
As county officials await more information, Gore said that every day the state does notrelease the rules is another day cash-strapped businesses are unable to plan for theirfuture.
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“Our businesses want to hear this now,” she said. “Businesses need time to adjust. Theyare just waiting.”
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More counties removed from California's COVID-19 watchlist - Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-24/more-counties-removed-california-covid-19-watchlist[8/25/2020 8:43:11 AM]
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More counties removed from California's COVID-19 watchlist - Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-24/more-counties-removed-california-covid-19-watchlist[8/25/2020 8:43:11 AM]
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday more counties came off California’s COVID-19 watchlist over the weekend after posting declines in cases,transmission rates and hospitalizations for three consecutive days and that guidance was expected to be released this week.
By COLLEEN SHALBY | STAFF WRITER
AUG. 24, 2020 | 12:59 PM UPDATED 6:18 PM
More counties came off California’s COVID-19 watchlist over the weekend after postingdeclines in cases, transmission rates and hospitalizations for three consecutive days.
Orange, Mono and Sierra counties were removed from the list after meeting six safetythresholds that state officials established to measure the spread of the virus, as well ashospitalizations and capacity in hospitals’ intensive care units.
Being placed on the list forces counties to close various types of indoor activities, butbeing removed from it does not immediately allow the three counties to open up morewidely. Indoor operations at nail salons, barbershops and fitness centers, among otherbusinesses, must remain closed until the state’s top health officer revises the order thatspells out the rules for the watchlist.
For the last few weeks, state health officials have been promising to release updatedguidelines for the watchlist following the discovery of a technical glitch in the state’sdatabase of test results that prompted officials to suspend the use of the list.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that guidance was expected to be released this week.
Removal from the list does give a county the ability to reopen schools for in-personlearning. If a county remains off the monitoring list for 14 days in a row, schools teachingany grade level would have the green light to reopen. No county has met that bar, in partbecause the watchlist was frozen after the glitch.
Sierra County was most recently added to the list, on Aug. 17, whereas Orange and Monocounties have been on it for more than a month. While the watchlist was frozen, local
More counties removed from California's COVID-19 watchlist - Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-24/more-counties-removed-california-covid-19-watchlist[8/25/2020 8:43:11 AM]
officials in both counties expressed frustration with a lack of communication from the stateabout the timing and requirements for removal from the monitoring chart.
“The issue for us and perhaps many counties is how to get off the list when the metrics arebelow the state thresholds for the required 14 days,” Mammoth Lakes public informationofficer Stuart Brown said in mid-August. “We have been unable to get any clarificationfrom the state, and [it’s] even harder now with Dr. Sonia Angell’s departure.”
Angell, Newsom’s director of the California Department of Public Health, resigned Aug. 9,days after the state revealed problems with its database. State epidemiologist Erica Pantook over as the acting health officer following the resignation.
Thirty-five counties currently are on the state’s watchlist, Newsom announced at a newsconference Monday. At least one — Amador — is slated for removal as early as Tuesday.To be removed from the list, a county must show that fewer than 100 people per 100,000have tested positive for the virus, the rate at which people test positive for the virus isbelow 8%, and the number of people hospitalized has not climbed more than 10% over athree-day period. In addition, more than 20% of intensive care beds in hospitals and 25%of ventilators have to be available.
“We are seeing a decline in the overall monitoring list,” Newsom said, stressing thatprogress made in populous areas such as San Diego County, which was removed from thelist last week, and Orange County is particularly noteworthy.
Last week, Newsom said San Francisco County was expected to come off the list soon. But
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More counties removed from California's COVID-19 watchlist - Los Angeles Times
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a week later, the county remains on the list for COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations andhospital capacity that exceed the state’s required metrics.
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Some counties, including Santa Clara, reduced their virus counts enough to be removedfrom the state watchlist, only to be added back when their numbers climbed again.
Los Angeles County remains on the state’s watchlist for a case count that exceeds 200infections per 100,000 people. Last week, Los Angeles County’s chief medical officer saidnew coronavirus cases might drop below 200, the minimum at which officials can apply forwaivers to reopen elementary schools.
During a news briefing Monday, Los Angeles County’s health officer, Dr. Muntu Davis,reported 13 additional coronavirus-related deaths and 1,198 more cases in the county.Davis emphasized the need for residents to maintain social distancing practices and avoidgatherings outside of individual households — behaviors that have contributed to theoverall decline in daily cases, hospitalizations and deaths the county has seen in recentweeks.
Daily hospitalizations decreased by 45% from a peak of more than 2,200 in mid-July,according to data released by the county Monday. Officials also reported that while thecounty saw about 3,200 new cases per day in mid- to late July, as of Aug. 22 there hasbeen a weekly average of 1,400 daily new cases.
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“If we can maintain this lower transmission, it means we could begin to think about schoolsreopening,” Davis said.
Asked whether officials are concerned that the county could see a sharp surge in casesafter the approaching Labor Day weekend, as happened following Memorial Day and theFourth of July, Davis said health officials are engaging in discussions with city mayors
More counties removed from California's COVID-19 watchlist - Los Angeles Times
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about steps that may need to be taken to prevent another post-holiday jump in infections.
“It’s always a concern if people are going to be around others who are not part of theirhousehold,” he said.
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Colleen Shalby
Colleen Shalby is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. She previously worked at PBSNewsHour in Washington, D.C. She’s a graduate of George Washington University and anative of Southern California.
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Coronavirus trends falling in LA County; health officer says he knows why – Daily Bulletin
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Coronavirus trends falling in LA County; healthofficer says he knows whyWith 13 deaths reported Monday, Dr. Muntu Davis remained cautious. Butthere was hope in the trends, showing fewer hospitalizations and cases, hesaid.
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Coronavirus trends falling in LA County; health officer says he knows why – Daily Bulletin
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By RYAN CARTER | [email protected] | Daily NewsPUBLISHED: August 24, 2020 at 3:19 p.m. | UPDATED: August 25, 2020 at 7:37 a.m.
Coronavirus deaths in Los Angeles County continued to fall on Monday, Aug. 24, a sign that stringentefforts to control the virus are trending toward a point where businesses could again begin to offerdining indoors and residents could once again hold gatherings at their homes, officials said.
But we’re not there yet, warned L.A. County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis, who said that even whenwe are, masks and social distancing will be part of the equation.
Davis reported 13 new deaths related to the virus, which so far across the county has been lined to5,558 deaths. News cases stood at 1,198. The number of hospitalized was 1,219 — much lower thanthe averages seen in mid-July that consistently topped 2,000.
Of the most recent deaths, most had underlying conditions. And while most — nine — were older than80, one of the dead was between 30 and 49, and another between 50 and 64.
This illustration provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in January 2020 shows the 2019 Novel Coronavirus(2019-nCoV). (CDC via AP)
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Coronavirus trends falling in LA County; health officer says he knows why – Daily Bulletin
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USC reports ‘alarming’ coronavirus spikewith 43 cases in off-campus housing
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The report did not include updated numbers for Long Beach and Pasadena, which operate their ownhealth departments.
Another two Long Beach residents died from coronavirus-related causes, officials announced,bringing the city’s death toll to 203. The city also reported 131 new cases, bringing the city’s total to10,147.
As of Monday, Pasadena reported no additional deaths fora total of 111 — the city’s 19th straight fatality-free day —and eight new cases for a total of 2,299.
Even with deaths still climbing overall in L.A. County, Davis
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Coronavirus trends falling in LA County; health officer says he knows why – Daily Bulletin
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echoed a recent refrain from other local and state publichealth officials: Stringent efforts to physical distance andtougher enforcement in recent weeks are showing successin pushing back a surge of cases, hospitalizations anddeaths that emerged in late June and in July.
At the beginning of June, he noted, there were around1,300 cases per day in L.A. County, a leveling off afterweeks of stay-home orders in March and April. But then, asmore businesses reopened in late May and June andpeople “were not careful about wearing maks,” the numbers went up to 3,200 average cases per dayby mid to late July.
Correspondingly, what had been average numbers of 5% to 6% positive tests back in June had byJuly increased to between 8% and 9% positive cases — ultimately sealing L.A. County’s spot on thestate’s monitoring list. That list requires that per capita, the rate comes down to fewer than 100positive cases per 100,000 people before a county can clear the list.
As of Monday, L.A. County was at 204 cases for every 100,000 people. It was still still high but wasmoving in the right direction to meet the state’s threshold — a trend Gov. Gavin Newsom said Mondaywas being seen across the state.
“As we go through this, it’s been lessons learned. I think more people are getting it. That’s beenhelpful,” Davis said Monday, as he walked through charts showing declining trends of hospitalizations,cases and deaths.
“The work we have all done as a community and the sacrifices we are making are working,” Davissaid. “We’re preventing COVID-19 infections, including serious illness and deaths.
Coronavirus trends falling in LA County; health officer says he knows why – Daily Bulletin
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Coronavirus state tracker: Hospitalizationsdown 17% in last 14 days in California onAugust 24
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L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer has noted that the county now meets five of thestate’s six criteria for controlling infections, falling short only in the per-capita rate of people testingpositive for the virus.
But that rate is pivotal to getting off the state’s monitoring list, which would allow more businesses toreopen for schools to welcome students back to campus.
Orange County has crossed that threshold Sunday, and Riverside and San Bernardino were gettingclose on Monday — at 158 per 100,000 and 191 per 100,000 respectively.
L.A. County is one of 35 counties in the state still on the list.
Davis said getting there is going to take more sacrifice and a healthy dose of caution.
For businesses, Davis said that means continuing to adhere to strict physical distancing protocol andheeding the county’s order to report when three employees test positive over a 14-day period. Forresidents, it means wearing masks, physical distancing and not holding gatherings at home withpeople form outside the household.
“We must own our role in this recovery,” he said.
On the same day he and the governor were touting positivetrends, USC health officials were reporting an “alarming”spike of 43 coronavirus cases confirmed in off-campushousing facilities, along with 100 students in quarantine dueto possible exposure to COVID-19.
According to Dr. Sarah Van Orman, head of USC StudentHealth, 14 cases were identified through general populationtesting among students not showing any symptoms, while29 more were confirmed through contact tracing and testingof people showing symptoms or who were exposed to theillness.
With Labor coming fast, Davis said health officials weretalking with city officials, particularly in beach communitieswhere crowds are an annual Labor Day happening.
The question is, will health authorities ease up or tighten
Coronavirus trends falling in LA County; health officer says he knows why – Daily Bulletin
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restrictions as the holiday approaches?
“It’s an active discussion, but we’ll make that call as we finish those discussions,” he said.
Ferrer noted recently, too that “we’re looking to what we can do differently around Labor Day,” thoughshe didn’t offer specifics in terms of what steps might be taken to prevent a repeat of the post-July 4and Memorial Day spikes, but Ferrer said she hopes people take heed of the public-gatheringrestrictions during the upcoming Labor Day weekend.
“Cautious reopening means we take to heart the lessons we learned from July and move forward in anew normal of making the infection-control practices part of our day-to-day lives for the foreseeablefuture,” Davis said.
City News Service contributed to this story.
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Rancho Cucamonga hands out free thermometers to businesses – San Bernardino Sun
https://www.sbsun.com/...-to-businesses/?utm_medium=social&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow[8/24/2020 2:32:50 PM]
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Rancho Cucamonga hands out free thermometersto businessesThermometers will help businesses monitor the health of staff during theCOVID-19 pandemic
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Rancho Cucamonga hands out free thermometers to businesses – San Bernardino Sun
https://www.sbsun.com/...-to-businesses/?utm_medium=social&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow[8/24/2020 2:32:50 PM]
By STEVE SCAUZILLO | [email protected] | San Gabriel Valley TribunePUBLISHED: August 24, 2020 at 2:16 p.m. | UPDATED: August 24, 2020 at 2:17 p.m.
The city of Rancho Cucamonga has handed out 90 thermometers to business owners in the city aspart of an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
All the businesses that reached out to the city received thermometers, said Joseph Ramos, the city’semergency management coordinator, during the City Council meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 19.
The city’s supply came from the state, which gave out 50,000 to every county. San Bernardino Countygave 90 thermometers to Rancho Cucamonga.
A Rancho Cucamonga firefighter drops off a free thermometer to a local business. The giveaways were approved by the City Councilon Aug. 19, 2020. (Photo courtesy of the City of Rancho Cucamonga)
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Rancho Cucamonga hands out free thermometers to businesses – San Bernardino Sun
https://www.sbsun.com/...-to-businesses/?utm_medium=social&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow[8/24/2020 2:32:50 PM]
San Bernardino County reports 211 newcoronavirus cases, 1 more death
Coronavirus: Jobless workers can receive$300 extra in California
When will Riverside, San Bernardinocounties get off coronavirus watch list?
Zoom gets glitchy as many start first dayof school
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RELATED ARTICLESRamos said businesses will use them to help monitor thehealth of staff, an additional safety mechanism for localbusinesses, he said. It will also help them reopen theirbusiness, he said.
Rancho Cucamonga had 2,267 total cases of COVID-19 as of Monday morning, Aug. 24, according tothe San Bernardino County Department of Health.
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Rialto school district collecting devices fordistance learning after malware attack
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Rialto school district collecting devices for distance learning after malware attack – Daily Bulletin
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By ERIC-PAUL JOHNSON | [email protected] | The Press-EnterprisePUBLISHED: August 24, 2020 at 4:33 p.m. | UPDATED: August 24, 2020 at 9:23 p.m.
The Rialto Unified School District has suspended high school classes indefinitely under its BridgeAcademy online distance learning program while the district’s information technology departmentinvestigates a malware attack on its systems.
Digital devices handed out to high school students, teachers and staff for distance learning will becollected throughout the week, the district announced late Monday. Chromebooks and iPads issued tomiddle and elementary school students have not been impacted, however, and students may keepthose devices.
A staff member disinfects an iPad during a drive-thru electronic distribution event Monday, Aug. 3, 2020, at Simpson ElementarySchool in Rialto. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
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Rialto school district collecting devices for distance learning after malware attack – Daily Bulletin
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Earlier Monday, district spokeswoman Syeda Jafri said it was too early in the investigation to knowwhether any devices used by teachers or students actually have been compromised.
“Instruction was being done on our district’s network, so the district is taking precautionary measures,”Jafri said.
The district has reminded high school students, teachers, parents and guardians not to use thedevices or any related programs, services and applications.
Middle and elementary school students can expect to hear from their principals about returning to
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Malware attack prompts suspension ofonline instruction at Rialto Unified SchoolDistrict
New school year starts with someglitches, lots of participation in the InlandEmpire
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class, the district said late Monday.
It was not known how long high school classes would be suspended. The malware attack came justtwo weeks into the new school year. Classes began Aug. 10.
“It really is a day-by-day situation,” Jafri said. “District officials are working with our IT staff andprincipals on what steps to take.”
The district first reported a system outage Friday morningon social media and later said the interruption was theresult of malware. It was unknown Monday whether theattack might be ransomware. Jafri said the district has notreceived any ransom demands.
The Rialto Unified School District includes 29 schools andone adult school. Jafri said there are approximately 25,000students and 1,300 teachers within the district.
The malware attack in RUSD is among a handful oftechnological issues school districts have encountered as anew year of distance learning begins because of thecoronavirus pandemic.
Zoom experienced partial outages Monday morning, andthe Corona-Norco Unified, Moreno Valley Unified, MurrietaValley Unified, Redlands Unified and San Jacinto Unifiedschool districts were among those in the Inland area that were affected in varying degrees by theoutage. Some schools briefly switched over to an alternate platform, and most of the Zoom issues
Rialto school district collecting devices for distance learning after malware attack – Daily Bulletin
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seemed to have been resolved by the afternoon hours.
Two schools in the Beaumont Unified School District had classes interrupted by hackers last week. Adistrict official said inappropriate language was used and content of a graphic nature was displayed inthose instances. The school district is conducting an internal investigation and the Beaumont PoliceDepartment also is looking into the matter.
Staff writers Jessica Keating and Eric Licas contributed to this report.
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Eric-Paul Johnson | ReporterEric-Paul Johnson has been covering high school sports for The Press-Enterprise since 1999, specializing in football,girls volleyball, girls water polo and softball. He is a stat junkie who created and maintains a record book for highschool sports in the Inland Empire. Eric-Paul is a lifelong resident of Riverside and graduated from Bethel Christianand Cal Baptist. Eric-Paul enjoys going to concerts and twice has worked as a photographer at the Coachella ValleyArts & Music Festival.
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San Bernardino declines to extend $50,000-a-year contract with state lobbyist – San Bernardino Sun
https://www.sbsun.com/...-state-lobbyist/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_campaign=socialflow[8/24/2020 2:33:01 PM]
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San Bernardino declines to extend $50,000-a-yearcontract with state lobbyistCity staffers last week proposed keeping Joe A. Gonsalves & Son onthrough October 2022
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San Bernardino declines to extend $50,000-a-year contract with state lobbyist – San Bernardino Sun
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By BRIAN WHITEHEAD | [email protected] | San Bernardino SunPUBLISHED: August 24, 2020 at 2:09 p.m. | UPDATED: August 24, 2020 at 2:11 p.m.
San Bernardino leaders did not extend a $50,000-a-year contract with state lobbying firm Joe A.Gonsalves & Son last week, but could reconsider the pact when a new city manager comes aboardearly next year.
Council members Sandra Ibarra, Juan Figueroa, Fred Shorett and Jim Mulvihill voted againstrenewing the contract Wednesday, Aug. 19.
Councilman Henry Nickel attempted to push the decision to a later date, but did not gain enoughsupport.
“We need to have the capability of engaging with our legislators and administrators in Sacramento,”he said. “We’re dealing with a lot of matters that go right up to Sacramento. I would like to give theopportunity to our city manager candidates to determine whether those (lobbying) services are
San Bernardino has opted against extending a contract with state lobbying firm Joe A. Gonsalves & Son. (Photo by Brian Whitehead,The Sun/SCNG)
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San Bernardino declines to extend $50,000-a-year contract with state lobbyist – San Bernardino Sun
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San Bernardino commits additional $10million to replace Mt. Vernon Bridge
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required or not.
“These are critical services,” Nickel continued. “Other cities utilize these services, and I want to makesure our city manager has these resources to be successful.”
Joe A. Gonsalves & Son was hired in October 2019 with $50,000 in salary savings city leaders hadcreated a few months earlier by slashing the pay of former City Attorney Gary Saenz and former CityClerk Gigi Hanna, a move the City Council later had to reverse.
The city hired the Sacramento-based lobbying firm toprovide information on new state legislation and policieswhile helping San Bernardino secure funding for new andplanned projects.
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San Bernardino out $33,000 after endingcontract with lobbyist
San Bernardino to use $150,000 in salarycuts to fund state and federal advocacyfirms
Judge tells San Bernardino it has noauthority to slash pay of city attorney,clerk
A report prepared this month by assistant City ManagerRebekah Kramer was short on details about the firm’scontributions, saying only that it “assisted the City with anumber of state legislative advocacy issues includingefforts to secure funding for the replacement of the MountVernon Bridge.”
City staffers last week proposed extending the $50,000-a-year contract through October 2022.
“We’ve got other places to spend our money,” Shorett, who opposed the initial contract last year, saidahead of the vote Wednesday. “I’ve met with the Gonsalveses, they’re great people, but I haven’tseen anything except emails giving us updates on legislation. We can do that on our own.”
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California wildfires reveal problems with emergency alerts - Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-25/wildfires-continue-to-illuminate-holes-in-californias-emergency-alert-messaging[8/25/2020 8:41:31 AM]
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California wildfires reveal problems with emergency alerts - Los Angeles Times
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Firefighters battle flames in Vacaville recently. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
By JOSEPH SERNA | STAFF WRITER
AUG. 25, 2020 | 6 AM UPDATED 7:17 AM
In Napa County, a wildfire alert meant for cellphones would not connect, because of acoding error.
In Sonoma County, similar alerts were sent to areas that required no evacuation, andlinked to an evacuation map that was a year old.
And in Solano County, an emergency operations official missed a call to report for workbecause his phone was set to vibrate.
As fire crews battle a massive system of wildfires sparked by freak lightning storms,emergency officials are learning once again of the technological shortcomings of localizedalert systems.
California wildfires reveal problems with emergency alerts - Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-25/wildfires-continue-to-illuminate-holes-in-californias-emergency-alert-messaging[8/25/2020 8:41:31 AM]
Despite heeding much of the emergency management guidance dispensed in the lastyear from Sacramento, counties dealing with the LNU Lightning Complex fire burning inNorthern California have nonetheless encountered issues.
When the LNU Lightning Complex fire exploded over 36 hours between Tuesday andWednesday last week, expanding from three burns across 12,000 acres to more than ahalf-dozen fires scorching more than 120,000 acres, some parts of the Bay Area wereknocked back on their heels.
In Vacaville, where police, firefighters and Solano County sheriff’s deputies wereevacuating people door to door in the middle of the night, someone had to go to thehome of an Emergency Operations Center worker and wake him up because his cellphonehad been set to vibrate, officials said.
In Napa County, emergency managers considered sending out a targeted Amber Alert-style message to cellphones telling residents to stay vigilant in case they need to evacuate,but ultimately did not.
“During the construction of the message content, it was discovered that the [alert]vendor’s software contained an error, so we instead issued our message utilizing theNIXLE alert tool,” said Janet Upton, a county spokeswoman.
And then there is Sonoma County, where, unlike three years ago when the previousemergency management director failed to alert some residents of a fire at all, thedepartment’s current leader is concerned with having alerted too many.
“Using this system is like doing your taxes every time,” Chris Godley, Sonoma County’sdirector of emergency management, said of their alert software. “It’s a very challenging,technical process each time you do this, even though we’re relatively well-versed.”
Though the LNU Lightning Complex fire began as a pair of fires on Aug. 17, it didn’t reallytake off until the next day, when a vast heat wave stoked life into those and several otherblazes that had been quietly smoldering after a weekend lightning storm.
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“We didn’t expect the fire to come into our county the way it did,” said Solano CountySheriff’s Deputy Le’Ron Cummings.
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Indeed, on the Vacaville Police Department Facebook page, the department told residentsat 10:40 p.m. Aug. 18 that “there is currently no danger or evacuation orders to theresidents of Vacaville. If for some reason this changes, we will work nonstop to notify ourcommunity via social media, phone or in person.”
Less than an hour later, evacuations were underway. The county blasted out messagesthrough its Alert Solano program and posted them on social media and shared them withthe media, but none of those approaches work when a person is tuned out and loggedoff.
So the city also sent out people like Vacaville firefighter Joe Scarrott and his crew, whowent into the Vacaville foothills, darkened without power, to go door to door to tellresidents to get out now.
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“Both sides of the road are on fire, look up the road, it’s on fire, trees are on fire,everything is on fire,” Scarrott said. “It was a wild night.”
At one point, Scarrott tried a home on the edge of the wildland that would be among thefire’s first potential victims. No one answered the front door, but he had a feelingsomeone was there, so he opened the front door — this was the kind of neighborhoodwhere people don’t lock their doors at night, he said.
An elderly woman was in the darkened entryway, startled by Scarrott and his headlamp.Scarrott told them there was a fire and they needed to go. The woman’s husband toldScarrott they were trying, but the power was out and they couldn’t open their garagedoor to drive away.
The firefighter lifted it up and fashioned a pry out of a broomstick so the door would stayopen and they could drive out. Scarrott then moved on to the next house.
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“The fire was nipping on backyards probably 20 minutes after we finished,” he said.
One person has died from the fire in Solano County, but the individual’s identity and thecircumstances of the death were available.
On the other side of the fire, Napa and Sonoma counties were dealing with kinks in their
California wildfires reveal problems with emergency alerts - Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-25/wildfires-continue-to-illuminate-holes-in-californias-emergency-alert-messaging[8/25/2020 8:41:31 AM]
emergency software.
After a scathing report in 2018 faulted the response to disasters in the previous 12 months,in particular in Sonoma County, agencies in the region worked to improve how they’dnotify the public before the next wind-driven fire.
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Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties, among others, introduced high-low sirens, modeledafter the European siren sound intended to alert the public of an imminent disaster. Allthree also boosted public enrollment in their subscription-based alert system.
But notably, in light of last week’s evacuations, Sonoma and Napa aimed to tap the federalIntegrated Public Warning and Alert System (IPAWS) and its Amber-Alert style warningcalled an Wireless Emergency Alert.
“It’s extremely helpful where you may not get tourists signed up for your local [program],”said Henry Wofford, Napa County sheriff’s spokesman. “Our whole purpose is to get it intheir hands on their cellphones, in case they’re not at home, in case they’re in theirbackyard watering their lawns.”
But because of a coding error, that message didn’t go out in Napa County, where threepeople have been found dead. The county did go door to door and send out severalalerts on social media, traditional media and through its subscription-based software.
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In Sonoma County, officials have sent out roughly 20 Amber Alert-style messages todifferent slices of the community, not all of them hitting their mark, Godley said. Two havehad errors.
“One was set to call a larger area than intended. It’s over-warning, but it’s not a horriblemistake given the nature of this fire,” Godley said.
The second error sent residents to an evacuation map for last year’s Kincaide fire, whichwas the largest evacuation ever in Sonoma County. The error was caused by coding in thewebsite itself and was fixed after it was found, Godley said.
But unlike his predecessor, who avoided using the federal alert system at all because of itsflaws, Godley said he will use it while still wanting it to be improved. He just wants the
California wildfires reveal problems with emergency alerts - Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-25/wildfires-continue-to-illuminate-holes-in-californias-emergency-alert-messaging[8/25/2020 8:41:31 AM]
message blasts to be more accurate and expire when they’re supposed to. Sometimes anevacuation alert will pop up two days later if a cell tower has regained power.
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“It’s beyond confusing,” Godley said. “In Sonoma County, we’ve been under trauma forseveral years and those calls can re-trigger that trauma.”
The LNU Complex fire has burned 351,817 acres and is 25% contained.
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COVID-19 Lockdown: LA Nursing Home Residents Risk Eviction If They Break The Rules : LAist
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COVID-19 Lockdown: LA Nursing Home Residents RiskEviction If They Break The RulesBY JACKIE FORTIÉR IN NEWS ON AUGUST 24, 2020 7:00 AM
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Under near constant video surveillance, she'll only talk on her cell phone when she's sure noone can overhear. She eats her meals alone and spends most of her time in her room. She feels
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like she's in prison, not a nursing home.
"In the beginning, all of the measures were supposed to be to help seniors," said the woman,whom we'll call Lucy. "And yet, we were basically locked away and they threw away the key. It'slike we don't even exist."
It has been more than five months since nursing homes locked down to try to protect theirhighly-vulnerable patients. But even with strict rules in place, more than 2,000 of L.A. County'snursing home residents have died from COVID-19 since March.
Most of the county's nursing homes have yet to reopen to visitors. Those new rules meant tokeep out infection have also kept residents confined and isolated from their families and friends.
That's taken a toll on people like Lucy, who spoke to us on condition that we not use her realname because she fears retribution from administrators. She reached out to us after reading ourcoverage of nursing homes.
We spoke with other nursing home residents who described conditions similar to Lucy's, butthey refused to speak publicly, terrified that they would be punished by staff or management.
The isolation has taken a mental and physical toll. Dozens of complaints are filed with countyofficials every week by nursing home residents desperate to leave their confined quarters butwho fear even a walk outside could lead to eviction and homelessness.
DOOR CODES CHANGE TO KEEP RESIDENTS FROM RETURNING
Before the coronavirus, Lucy would sign out and leave the L.A. nursing home she's lived at fortwo years to get her hair cut or go to the grocery store. That changed in March when thepandemic hit.
"There was never like a general announcement, it was just suddenly, we're not allowed out," shesaid, adding the door codes were changed, making it impossible to let yourself back in.
Lucy hasn't left the facility since it was locked down in mid-March. The only outdoor access shehas is a small employee parking lot encircled by a locked fence. She's been told if she so muchas walks around the block for some fresh air she'll be evicted from the facility, the only home shehas.
"We get complaints from the residents saying, 'They're holding us here against our will. They'rethreatening to evict us if we leave,'" said Molly Davies, the nursing home and long term careombudsman for L.A. County. She estimates her office receives between 25 and 35 complaintslike Lucy's every week. Residents report being barred from leaving even for doctor'sappointments, Davies said.
Her office investigates complaints and monitors the safety and well-being of residents but can'tenforce regulations — in L.A. that's up to the County Department of Public Health.
A slew of employees come and go every day to work in nursing homes. In their free time, theygo grocery shopping and run small errands. Davies said residents are entitled to the samefreedoms, so long as they take appropriate precautions like wearing a mask and physicallydistancing.
"It's a violation of the residents' rights ... we're talking about nursing homes, we're not talking
COVID-19 Lockdown: LA Nursing Home Residents Risk Eviction If They Break The Rules : LAist
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about prisons," she said.
The California Association of Health Facilities, a trade group that lobbies for 80% of the nursinghomes in the state, doesn't see it that way.
Competent residents have the right to leave, said DeAnn Walters, the association's clinicalaffairs director. But she said the risk of asymptomatic spread could mean a resident is placed ina 14-day quarantine when they get back.
"There shouldn't necessarily be this, 'You're not allowed to go anywhere,' but there will be a lotof education around the risk of going out to themselves, to the others in the facilities," Walterssaid.
She maintained that employees differ from residents because they have training in infectioncontrol. And Walters argued that because facility administrators want to reduce the number ofpeople infected in the community surrounding their nursing home, they need the flexibility torespond to local COVID-19 conditions.
IS THREATENING EVICTION LEGAL?
Nursing home critics challenge the basis for some of these rules.
"In the absence of consistent and widespread testing of health care workers at these facilities, itis the height of hypocrisy to say that residents must not be readmitted in order to preventtransmission of the virus," said Mike Dark, an attorney with the watchdog group CaliforniaAdvocates for Nursing Home Reform.
Instead of infection control, the motivation to keep residents from leaving boils down to money,he said.
"There have always been problems with nursing homes finding ways to kick residents —especially Medi-Cal residents — out so that they can make that bed available for a morelucrative Medicare patient," Dark said.
Threatening eviction is a tactic that started long before the pandemic, he argued. Most nursinghomes are for-profit, so they want shorter-term residents on Medicare, which provides a higherreimbursement rate. Usually, there are legal safeguards to prevent financially-motivatedevictions.
"In normal times if a resident walked out and then was not permitted back in, that would be aplain violation of the law," Dark said. "It would be called a wrongful refusal to readmit and anursing home could face penalties [from the state health department] and even financial fines."
But is it against the law now? Dark said it largely depends on how the policy is communicated tothe resident. The new coronavirus regulations make that murky.
"If they have a policy of not readmitting people after they go out but it's unwritten and peoplearen't told about it so they can't even know that that's the consequence of leaving the facility,that could certainly get them in trouble with [the California Department of Public Health] andshould be the subject of a complaint," he said.
Calling it "a legal grey area," Dark said if a resident has been informed beforehand in writing thatthe facility won't allow re-entry due to fear of contagion, it may be much harder to get that
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COVID-19 Lockdown: LA Nursing Home Residents Risk Eviction If They Break The Rules : LAist
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resident reinstated.
"It puts them in a terribly dangerous situation, without a place to stay during a pandemic," hesaid. "Many of those people, especially ones without families, will become homeless."
HOW MUCH LONGER INSIDE?
Lucy isn't ready to gamble on becoming homeless just for the sake of taking a walk. But shesaid there needs to be a better balance between protecting vulnerable people from thecoronavirus and the mental and physical toll of strictly limiting their movements.
After more than five months locked inside a nursing home where she both contracted andrecovered from COVID-19, Lucy just wants to get out, even for a couple of hours.
"I lost a lot before I came here," she said. "I need to be somewhere I'm not being videotaped.Sometimes I just need to cry. I need to be away from here to do that. I just need to be free tothink and feel."
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Bubble Watch: 5.5% of mortgages in California are delinquent – San Bernardino Sun
https://www.sbsun.com/...re-delinquent/?utm_medium=social&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow[8/25/2020 8:41:41 AM]
By JONATHAN LANSNER | [email protected] | Orange County RegisterPUBLISHED: August 25, 2020 at 7:00 a.m. | UPDATED: August 25, 2020 at 7:01 a.m.
“Bubble Watch” digs into trends that may indicate economic and/or housing market troubles ahead.
Buzz: An estimated 5.5% of all first mortgages in California were delinquent in July.
Source: Black Knight’s tally of skipped mortgage payments counts all homeowners tardy onpayments whether they are in forbearance plans or not.
The Trend
BUSINESSHOUSING
Bubble Watch: 5.5% of mortgages in California aredelinquent277,000 more late-payers than before the pandemic struck.
• Opinion Columnist
Bubble Watch: 5.5% of mortgages in California are delinquent – San Bernardino Sun
https://www.sbsun.com/...re-delinquent/?utm_medium=social&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow[8/25/2020 8:41:41 AM]
California delinquencies have risen from 1.8% in February. Yes, they’ve tripled in a period ofunprecedented economic volatility due to business limitations amid the coronavirus pandemic. It’s anupswing that translates to 277,000 more late-payers than before the pandemic struck.
Still, California’s delinquency rate is below the national average of 6.9%. The U.S. slow-pay rate was3.3% five months earlier.
The Dissection
A big economic challenge amid the pandemic has been estimating how many folks who lost variousforms of income would make their house payments.
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Bubble Watch: 5.5% of mortgages in California are delinquent – San Bernardino Sun
https://www.sbsun.com/...re-delinquent/?utm_medium=social&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow[8/25/2020 8:41:41 AM]
Well, California could be in a mess like Mississippi (11.8% of mortgages delinquent) or Louisiana(10.8% late). So, we can be thankful that tardy first mortgages are worse in 36 states.
Let’s note that 3.5%, a big chunk of California’s unpaid mortgages, are “seriously delinquent” — 90days or more late. The only good news here: It’s a rate that is also below the national rate of 4.1% forseriously late mortgages.
Sign up for The Home Stretch newsletter and its new Bubble Watch edition. Get a twice-a-week serving of hot housing news from around the region! Subscribe here.
How bubbly?
On a scale of zero bubbles (no bubble here) to five bubbles (five-alarm warning) … THREEBUBBLES!
Yes, forbearance programs look generous, perhaps even so generous some folks are skippingpayments because of the terms. Users pay back the money at the end of the loans and supposedlysuffer no reports of tardiness to credit bureaus.
Various foreclosure moratoriums have, to date, kept bank repossessions at bay. How long that willlast is a grand question.
Black Knight also noted that new delinquencies – borrowers who’ve missed just one payment – arefalling nationally, “suggesting that the initial inflow of new COVID-19-related delinquencies hassubsided.”
Still, it’s unnerving to have that many folks not paying. It’s not extreme heights of the bubble-burstingdays surrounding the Great Recession. But this is not some mere blip to be ignored.
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Bubble Watch: 5.5% of mortgages in California are delinquent – San Bernardino Sun
https://www.sbsun.com/...re-delinquent/?utm_medium=social&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow[8/25/2020 8:41:41 AM]
How California home prices hit recordhigh despite coronavirus
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Jonathan Lansner | ColumnistJonathan Lansner has been the Orange County Register's business columnist since 1997 and hasbeen part of the newspaper's coverage of the local business scene since 1986. He is a native New
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8/25/2020 Jobless rate goes down to 13.3 percent in California, 13.1 percent in San Bernardino County | Business | fontanaheraldnews.com
https://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/business/jobless-rate-goes-down-to-13-3-percent-in-california-13-1-percent-in-san/article_de26b216-e3cb-11ea-a… 1/2
https://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/business/jobless-rate-goes-down-to-13-3-percent-in-california-13-1-percent-in-san/article_de26b216-e3cb-11ea-a9a8-b3fa4c3c4a4b.html
Jobless rate goes down to 13.3 percent in California, 13.1 percentin San Bernardino County
Aug 21, 2020
California's unemployment rate went down to 13.3 percent in July, according to data released by the CaliforniaEmployment Development Department.
California’s unemployment rate improved to 13.3 percent in July as the state’s employers added
140,400 jobs, according to data released on Aug. 21 by the California Employment Development
Department (EDD) from two surveys.
This comes after June’s record gain of 542,500 jobs and record losses from March and April in a data
series that dates back to 1976.
California has now regained nearly a third (31.1 percent) of the 2,625,500 non-farm jobs lost during
March and April as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
8/25/2020 Jobless rate goes down to 13.3 percent in California, 13.1 percent in San Bernardino County | Business | fontanaheraldnews.com
https://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/business/jobless-rate-goes-down-to-13-3-percent-in-california-13-1-percent-in-san/article_de26b216-e3cb-11ea-a… 2/2
Despite the unemployment rate of 13.3 percent being noticeably lower than the record high of 16.4
percent from April and May, it is still above the 12.3 percent mark set during the height of the Great
Recession (March, October, and November 2010).
Nine of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs last month. The category of trade,
transportation, and utilities (+40,900) had the largest job gain due to the performance of motor
vehicle and professional equipment wholesalers, as well as automobile dealers.
Losses in the construction sector (-14,800) were largely due to weak hiring in residential
construction despite hiring in non-residential construction being strong.
The unemployment rate in San Bernardino County in July was 13.1 percent, slightly lower than the
state's rate. The Riverside County jobless rate was 13.7 percent.
In response to the EDD's report, Chris Dombrowski, the acting director of the Governor’s Of�ce of
Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), issued the following joint statement with California
Labor Secretary Julie A. Su:
"As we slow the spread of COVID-19, in the midst of high heat alerts and �res, we continue to work
with the federal government and ask Congress to allocate additional funds for unemployed workers
and employers who have had to reduce or pause operations during this challenging time. A strong
economic recovery is tied to keeping the social safety net funded so workers and small business
owners can continue to make ends meet. A successful recovery also depends on Californians
choosing to wear face masks, staying at home when possible, and following state and local guidance.
Our actions save lives and help our economy recover more quickly.”