10.28.20 Facebook LIVE Briefing Q&A

The County of Santa Clara
October 28, 2020
Live Stream - Briefing Live stream
10:00 AM

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Todd Naffziger: Good morning everyone and uh welcome again to facebook live with the County of Santa Clara my name is Todd Naffziger. I am a public information officer for the emergency operations center. I'm going to be removing my face covering so that we can really make sure our communication is clear but as always myself and my co-star here will be remaining appropriately distance during the entirety of our show today i am again adjoined with India Fonseca to help kind of facilitate and answer some of these questions that we keep getting from the public, so as usual, we've got a number of people calling in and emailing us asking for clarification on some of the aspects and guidelines that are in our directives and our order so for example one of the questions that we've received is i see a different check mark in front of a business window that i'm used to seeing it may be blue maybe green or it may be orange so what what has changed? so as of october 5th we have a new check mark that businesses should be let me see there we go the businesses should be presenting in their window so it's no longer blue it'll be a orange check mark with a new date additionally what follows this check mark is that businesses are required to submit a new social distancing protocol and they can do that on our website at covid19prepared.org now if you're say an employer and i'm sorry an employee and your employer refuses to say put up a new sign or submit a new social discipline protocol you can actually issue a complaint to our complaint line on our website at sccovidconcerns.org.

India Fonseca: That is that is correct um but for just general information you can find the social distancing protocol information on our website that Todd mentioned but the steps are as follows so you complete the social distancing protocol to receive and you'll receive with that the confirmation uh that you submitted the social distancing protocol, the check mark the actual copy of the social distancing protocol, and employers must provide a copy to the employees to their employees, as well as have an updated COVID-19 prepared sign that todd demonstrated a social distancing protocol visitor information sheet at all entrances to your facility or worksite to be viewed by the public the signage required in the revised protocol at each entrance of the facility will inform visitors and remind visitors of social distancing requirements face coverings and health and hygiene requirements.

TN: great awesome thank you very much for that indira i think another question we're also getting to is ... that i'm a frontline worker and my healthcare company i'm sorry my healthcare provider has still refused to test me, well what can i do? so under the accountability testing order that went into effect on September 16th your healthcare provider is required to test you if you meet those specific criteria outlined in the order that defines you as a a front line worker and again if you are still experiencing these kind of treatment from your health care provider you can issue a complaint to our complaint center at sccovidconcerns.org. we have people there constantly going through all the concerns that they receive to make sure they are funneled to the appropriate people and that your concern is addressed in a timely manner as well too.

IF: absolutely and another question that we received is i recently visited a restaurant with outdoor enclosed dining. is that allowed? to operate for outdoor dining service a facility must allow for the free flow of outdoor air throughout the entire space and satisfy the following conditions: and i'm going to be holding up what is permitted and what is not, under art directive. the facility used used for outdoor dining must meet one of the following two criteria: criteria number one, the facility is completed completely uncovered and open to the sky meaning no shade structures are in use other than individual table umbrellas such as outdoor courtyard or patio; number two, if the facility is covered in whole or in part by a temporary or permanent shade structure such as an awning at least 50 percent of its perimeter is open to the outdoors and this is a graphic that can be found on our website, and if you need additional guidance feel free to contact our business call center. in addition partitions or barriers around or within the facility may be used and do not qualify as closed sides so long as they are no more than four feet in height as demonstrated in this image.

TN: awesome. great, India. i know that's a question we're receiving a lot especially through the emails and to our carl center and i know the weather's starting to get a little bit colder so i know a lot of the restaurants and facilities out there are really going to try to make their patrons as comfortable as possible, to really encourage them to be outdoors and dine as well too especially given all the COVID concerns that are going on right now. IF: absolutely yeah and we want and we have our website we have our resources we have our business call center that are ready to help i know that our directive sometimes can be a little extensive so you're more than welcome to contact us we have staff ready um to answer your questions as business owners and what to expect as consumers as well. TN: absolutely and please continue to support your local restaurants by either ordering out or take out or ordering for delivery as well too support local business as best as you possibly can. so another question we received is what excuse me. what do i do if i identify a business that is not following the rules? and so with that being said i've kind of alluded to a very uh strong theme which is if you are a employee or if you are a community member and you have a concern about a business that is not following the rules please go to our website at scccovidconcerns.org; that site is there to help facilitate the communication from our community to our center to make sure that your questions and concerns get to the right people and that they are actually addressed in our community. with that being said we have teams that go out to conduct compliance and education. our County's approach is very education first so we want to make sure those businesses are educated to make sure that they're aware of how to better operate their business and we have a team that specializes in going out there and visiting those businesses. if we do have say a business that refuses to change, then yes we have a compliance team that will go out there and make sure that they do follow the rules to protect our community, because right now our biggest concern is making sure that we eliminate and prevent the spread of COVID-19 within our community

IF: absolutely and in addition if a business has questions about an individual that has contacted them or is authorized by the county the health officer and the state health officers you can definitely contact your business call center to verify um the business call center as you know the number is 408-961-5500 and ask for confirmation as well.

TN:absolutely make sure that you are protected as a business and you continue to to protect your business by making sure people are there to better serve you as well well with that being said do you have any other questions you want to address? uh.

IF: absolutely so my last uh question that we've been receiving is what types of face coverings are safe to wear and which ones are not um so face coverings the purpose of face coverings um are to ensure the safety of yourself and others so face coverings that you wear to work or at a business may be either disposable surgical mask or reusable cloth mask that you make or buy and must have at least two layers of material fit snugly over the nose mouth and chin hooking around the ears or tying behind your head do not wear your face covering below your nose or with the top tucked under your chin the following categories are face coverings do not provide enough protection against the spread of COVID-19 such as neck gaiters and valve masks so those are not recommended at the moment.

TN: great and i know that's kind of been a big theme recently as well too because as people continue to wear their face coverings i think we try to be as more stylish as we can to match our outfits as i've been seeing some very creative face masks out there in our community and even at my own workplace as well too. well thank you all again for tuning in with us um. we will have another facebook live on friday as well too at the same time please everyone be safe out there and continue to get tested thank you very much.

IF: thank you!

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