06.08.20 COVID-19 Briefing Live Stream Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
June 8, 2020
Live Stream - Daily Briefing
10pm PT

Larry Little: Hi everybody, thank you for joining us. I am lary little, Public Information Officer here at the emergency operation center. As companies and businesses begin to open in the county, workers are returning to entirely new environments. What can they expect? What resources are available to assist them? And how we can help? Jessie Yu from the office of labor enforcement standards, labor. I am sorry, uh labor, office of labor standards and enforcement joins me this morning. And she will be discussing all of the details on how we can help them navigate through uhm returning to an entirely different work place. Uh as well as what businesses can do and what the public can do. Thank you for being here Jessie.

Jessie Yu: Thank you

LL: We will get to that in just a moment. But first we want to bring you up to date on the information for our COVID 19 data dashboard. Uh, as of yesterday we have a total of two thousand nine hundred and fourth two confirmed cases. And in the county one new death, and one hundred and forty-four total deaths. And certainly, our thoughts are with the family’s who have lost loved ones due to this virus. And we are wishing a speedy recovery for everyone currently dealing with the virus. Also, we want to let you know, Prior to this segment Jessie and I removed our facial masks. Uh to assist the uh American Sign Language interpreters. Uh be able to understand and communicate the information that we will be sharing. You know Jessie, I am getting so used to wearing the face mask. I was wearing the other night at home just just walking around and my dogs had beginning had began have begun to associate the face mask with going outside or going somewhere so they were giving me a strange look. I have to be more careful about that. This pandemic is far from over. And a lot of business and work places are opening, people are returning to work totally new environments. And a lot of people just don’t know what to do. I, you know expect more business to be open this weekend. I went to the store and I saw one business that I just knew would be open. And they were partially open, but not letting customers in. And I asked, and they did not know what to do. And it is going to take some time for them to ramp up. And they are getting prepared. I also passed by a restaurant and they got it totally wrong the first day with the outdoor dining. But I passed by yesterday and everything had been corrected. So, thank you for joining us today just bringing us to date on everyone should be doing and what we should be doing as a public to keep workers safe. So first just tell me a little bit about your office that I totally messed up the entire name. And its new, and its going to take some time for us to get used to saying the name of the office. but just tell me what you do.

JY: Sure, thanks for having us here. So, I am with the office of labor standards enforcement. And we were launched in 2017, like Larry said we are a very new office. And our uh mission is to advance labor standards through community and business outreach and engagement. Most of our work is focused on outreach and education. So that means we engage business owners and workers about the rights and responsibilities of business owners and for workers. Uhm currently for COVID-19, most of our work is continuing to do our change education, but specifically towards the social distancing protocols that are in place to keep our community safe.

LL: Thank you so much. So, tell me the role that businesses place to keeping the community safe, especially as we navigate through COVID-19. JY: Right, well like you said a lot more business are going to be opening up, due to the new order in place. And you know we believe that all businesses, the public and workers have a role to play in keeping our community safe. And so for businesses, that means in taking steps to keep their customers safe as well as their employees. And that can be done through the social distancing protocols, which the county has developed to keep keep our community safe.

LL: You know, last week when we did the segment about outdoor dining. One of our community members sent a message saying, this is useless to do this type of segment. Do you think that we forgot how to dine in three months? And you know we take every comment you know. The negative comments, we tried to take them as a constructive criticism. And and actually be productive and answered the questions of the community, and make changes based on that. But you know I thought about that question, because I produced this segment. And I was like, is it useless? And I thought about it for a long time. And people are returning to a totally different environment. The way you did things three months ago is not how we are doing it now. And that is why we have been having so many segments explaining the protocols and the guidelines that have set before. So, just tell me what it is social distancing? And how should it be practiced in in the workplace?

JY: Sure, well the social distancing protocol is a seven-page document that the county's developed to provide businesses an outline on how they can keep their employees and customers safe. And so, it has measures including signage that is required on all public entrances. It has information on how they should wash their hands and how often they should wash their hands. Also, information required during personnel trainings. And information like social distancing and how to maintain a six-foot distance by limiting the number of employees in the workplace or a number of customers at the facility. This document is required for all businesses. They must provide a copy to their employees that is completed. As well as put the two side, put the last few pages on their front entrances. And that is this these two documents here. The COVID-19 prepared check mark and the visitor information form that Is provided on the last two pages of the document.

LL: So, what if someone goes to a business and they do not see these signs?

JY: That is a great question. If you will see these if you don't see these two signs on a local business we encourage the public to reach out to our district attorney's office at [email protected] org, I'm sorry.

LL: So, you know when I was called to work here in the Emergency Operations Center and everything was pretty new. As a worker I was very nervous because I was like, oh my goodness. I to be around people. And uh I came here all the guidelines and protocols were in place. So, what can workers do to keep themselves safe and and just keep the community safe.

JY: Right, well workers can do a number of things to keep themselves safe as well as the community safe. So, when they are at work they can be informed of their employers social distancing protocols and safety measures their employers taking. They can also make sure that they're provided a copy of the social distancing protocol itself. And the county provides his document in English, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Spanish. And so, we just want to make sure that all workers understand what's inside of the protocols. And what their employer should be doing.

LL: And what can they do at home? Because I know people are going home and you know, they don't know what what everyone in their household who they were exposed to. What can they do to protect workers as they come back to the workplace?

JY:  Right right. Well, well when they're at home they can also screen themselves for COVID like symptoms. And if they do experience symptoms or if they've been in contact with someone who has been confirmed to have COVID-19 they should get tested right away. And they can find their local testing facility at www.sccfreetest.org. Uh, the county also encourages regular testing for individuals that that interact frequently with the public. And so that is workers who interact with the public, should get tested once every three weeks. And then workers at skilled nursing facilities should be tested, once every two weeks. And all of this information can be found on our County web page, again at www.sccfreetest.org.

LL: And what can workers do if they don't feel safe?

JY: Right, well that's a really good question. Because if you don't feel safe it's really hard to go to work and get excited about going to work. And so, if you're not feeling safe and if your employer isn't following the social distancing protocols. We encourage workers to call our free attorney staff advice line, at one eight six six eight seven zero seven seven two five. This is an advice line and partnership with the fair workplace collaborative. And they have an amazing team of attorneys that speak ten languages to meet the needs of our communities. So, that is English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean, Hindi, Farsi, and dari. And so, workers can call the advice line if they have workplace concerns, or if they want to file a noncompliance report. And so, when, if they want to do that. The employer on the. I'm sorry, the attorney on the line will ask them some details like the employer’s name, the employers contact information, the type of business that they that they are, a description of the violation, and whether or not they want to remain anonymous. The county takes every complaint seriously, and will will consider how to best enforce the border to protect the public safety.

LL: And I know uh. You, when you mention an attorney I'm sure ears went up. And people probably think, oh this is a note, another regulatory agency within the county. But, I know because I work in another regulatory agency. And just talk about the steps that you take? Because we always are here to help the community. We're here to help our businesses, and our first step is always to educate.

JY: Yes! Yes, absolutely! And so that's the same for the advice line. The advice line has been supporting our community throughout the shelter-in-place order. And they've received hundreds of calls from individuals who are looking for help or guidance about their labor issues. They've actually received calls outside of our County, throughout California, as well as from other states. And so they've been doing an amazing job to connect individuals to local, state, and federal resources. Like unemployment insurance, if their hours have been reduced or if they've been laid off. Like disability insurance, if they are sick and have to have to quarantine. Also, the California paid family leaves claim if they are caring for individuals in their family who are sick. And also, just speaking to the community about concerns about retaliation, disability, or even financial assistance. And so, you know if they don't answer immediately they make sure to ask individuals to leave a voicemail. And they'll call back within 48 hours.

LL: A lot of useful and helpful information. Any closing thoughts?

JY: Yeah, well in closing we just wanted to say huge thanks to all the workers that have really supported our community through our shelter in place. This is healthcare, restaurants, grocery, and delivery workers. Next, we just wanted to be emphasized that the office of Labor Standards is here to provide education and information to businesses and workers. And we believe that we all have a role to play in keeping our community safe. So, for businesses this means taking steps to make sure that they keep their employees and customers safe. And for workers, it's really on being informed about the social distance protocols and having a copy of that information, so that they have it on hand. Workers can also screen themselves. Make sure to get tested if they have experienced any COVID like symptoms. And they can also call our free attorney self-advice line. Again, at one eight six six eight seven zero seven seven two five. Uhm, if they have any questions about their labor situation or if they would like to file a non-compliance report. And lastly, we just wanted to. I just wanted to thank you for having the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement here. You know, we're so thankful for this opportunity to share more about, how workers can stay safe as they return to work.

LL: Thank you so much. I know many of you still have questions, and maybe we move too quickly for you here today. But you can go to sccgov.org slash coronavirus and find pretty much any information that you need, using the search function on our website. I know some of you have questions. I hear you out there. You want to know, when will the salon open? When can I go back to church? I I'm reading your messages right now. We don't have those answers right now. But, pretty much anything else that you need to know about testing, about workplace information, you can go to sccgov.org slash coronavirus and find the information. Thanks for joining us everybody, continue to shelter in place. I know it's difficult. We're gonna get through this together. We've done great so far. And have a great day. We'll see you next time.