09.25.20 COVID-19 Briefing Live Stream Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
September 25, 2020
Live Stream - Briefing Live stream
10:00am PT

Larry Little: Hi everybody thank you for joining us I'm Larry Little COVID 19 has impacted all of us in some kind of way but some communities have been hit harder than others and this morning we begin with the focus on the County's efforts mainly in East San Jose and South County to combat COVID 19 and educate Business Owners and Communities on slowing the spread of COVID 19. I'm joined this morning by Melina Torres from the Business Engagement Team and in just a few moments she will be sharing information on this new Outreach Program but first we want to let you know that prior to this segment we have removed our face coverings so everyone including our American Sign Language interpreters can clearly understand and properly communicate the information that we will be sharing this morning thank you for being here

Melina Torres: Thank you so much for having me Larry I know my team's very excited to finally get the word out there and let Businesses know that we know we're there for them there to help them yeah
LL: Yeah I had the opportunity of actually going out with my my co-worker Carolyn to see what you all do and it was pretty fascinating you all met in the park and Willow Glenn and then went out for the day so just tell me uh what is the role of the Business Engagement Team?

MT: So the Business Engagement Team primarily focuses on providing Education and Resources for Businesses in regards to the Pandemic you know and how to run their Business during this time we understand that things you know the Public Health Order is constantly changing it's been changing a lot for the past few months and may foster a lot of confusion so it's important for us to be able to provide that education for those Businesses in Communities where COVID 19 has heavily impacted them

LL: So why is this work important?

MT: This work's important because the Communities that are heavily affected by COVID19 are Communities that may not have the best access to the Education that they need so it's our job to go to these Communities and make sure that you know we bridge any gap between the County and the Businesses in regards to the new Public Health Order and the new Distancing Protocol

LL: So what type of Businesses are you visiting? I know the day I went out with the team we went to Dry Cleaners as well as a Laundromat and we also had some Business Owners come out and meet the team and say what are you doing and they wanted information as well so tell me about the types of Businesses that you're going to?

MT: So we actually um go to Businesses all throughout the County we try to target the areas and zip codes that are both have the highest rates of COVID we try to also target Small Businesses you know not Big Corporate Businesses because most likely those Businesses do have support from HR and Corporate in regards to Social Distancing Protocols so we do target small businesses we've been you know to a lot of local restaurants like you mentioned Laundromats oh we've been you know Pizza places lots of different places um but we try to like I said target Small Businesses to make sure that they also have the resources that Bigger Corporate Businesses might have

LL: So I'm going to flip this computer around just for a moment and so tell me this we went out took video of a typical engagement um so talk about the typical engagement here


MT: Yeah so we'll start off by walking into a Business you know we'll ask to speak to a Manager if a Manager is not available we mentioned that it's equally important to talk to the Employees so they're aware of the Protocol one of the main things that we check when we go into the Business is to make sure that they have the social distancing Protocol Form filled out which is that form with the Green Check Mark and depending on whether the Business or not has it that really helps to guide our conversation you know if they don't have the Protocol Form will educate them on where to obtain it and later when I'm going over the specific resources we give them I'll show you where we guide them to get the Social Distancing Protocol and if they do have the Protocol Form you know we'll commend them for complying with County guidelines we'll also observe the Business and make sure you know there's foot markings in place to show social distancing make sure the Employees and Clients are wearing masks and we also have conversations with the Employees in regards to how they're feeling you know do you feel safe concerned or scared in the workplace do you feel that your Business is doing everything possible to stay safe so it's not just about looking at the Business as a whole you know complying it's also about engaging with the Employees and making sure that their individual needs are being met as well


LL: So are the business owners receptive to you all I know it could be pretty difficult because some of the Businesses have been closed for some time now and mainly the Small Businesses I think one of the Business Owners that you all talked to when I went out you know they were having some issues where they needed to apply for loans so how is the reception of the Business Engagement Team when you go out into the Community?

MT: For the most part it's uh it goes pretty well we understand the frustration of a lot of Business Owners we feel you know they lose hope when we go to them they're like oh well I've tried everything I could but I'm about to close my Business we just need to open back up but for the most part they're very grateful for the Resources that we do give them you know we give them Resources so they could Apply for Grants as well as guide them to places where they if they need more PPE they could get that as well at first there's some Businesses that you know they're a bit apprehensive because they think that we're an Enforcement Team but we're not an Enforcement Team at all we're just there for Educational purposes only we're actually trying to prevent you know the Enforcement Team from coming over to make sure that they're complying with guidelines

LL: Yeah and that's one great thing about the County we do have an Enforcement Team but it's always Education first and a lot has been invested in this Program so that we Educate because we definitely don't want to put Pressure and Fines on our Small Businesses and of course the main goal here is to keep the Community safe and slow the spread of COVID so of course every time there is a Disaster or a Pandemic which we've never had like this in this magnitude before you have fraud so there could possibly be someone posing as someone from the Business engagement team going out to to the Community so what can Business Owners look for to be to verify that it's actually somebody from the Business Engagement Team

MT: Yeah absolutely that's understandable the Business Team we do carry Badges with us and in that Badge it'll have our Photograph and our Name and what the Business can do is ask for the Name ask for the Employer you know we're with working Partnerships USA and they can also call the phone number at the bottom of the batch which is the Business Call Center and then um they can ask them for Names to verify that we're with the Business Engagement Team

LL: Okay so so when a Business is apprehensive about someone coming in just say again what they can do?

MT: Yeah so they could go ahead and call that number at the bottom the Business Call Center they can ask for the Name which should be on the Badge you know our Name the name of the Employer is Working Partnerships USA and with that Business Call Center they can just verify that we're part of the Business Engagement Team

LL: Okay so talk about some of the Resources that you provide for these Businesses when you go out?

MT: Yeah absolutely uh we carry these little COVID Kits with us that we provide to every Business we start off by mentioning this Postcard and like I stated earlier the first thing that we check in a Business is to make sure that they have the Social Distancing Protocol Form which is this green check mark right here and if the Business doesn't have it we tell them you know it's okay we're not here to punish you or find you you just visit this top website which is COVID19prepared.org it takes about 10 minutes to fill out it just ask for the basic information of the Business and as well as a checklist that they have to check off just to make sure that they're complying with all the County guidelines and then this postcard also has the Business Call Center number that's the one I mentioned earlier from our Badge just in case they have any questions in regards you know to whether they need help with Loans or any other Financial need they can call the Business Call Center as well and this Postcard also has other information in regards to you know where to access free testing and what to do if an employee does test POSITIVE for COVID19. and this Postcard is more for the Business as a whole we also do provide this SCC can Hotline Number and this is for more like individuals and Employees that may need help with Food, Housing or Unemployment because we understand you know this Pandemic has hit hard to everyone so the individual needs of the Employees are important as well

LL: Awesome so tell me um your personal experience why did you get involved with this team?

MT: I feel like part of being young is having an ambition and desire to you know make a difference in the World and do well and I really wanted to get involved somehow and I realized that if I really wanted you know to make a difference somewhere I had to start in the Community in my own Local Community I was like born and raised in San Jose so joining this team was very rewarding because I got to visit places you know that I grew up visiting and being able to help them out that was that's been the best part for me

LL: It is awesome to be able to serve the Community I wasn't born and raised in San Jose but I got here as fast as I could thank you for being here and sharing all of this helpful information very important information today

MT: Okay thank you so much for having me

LL: Yes thank you all right Facebook LIVE in Spanish comes up at 11 O'clock and also we have Facebook LIVE in Vietnamese on Thursdays at 10 a.m. you can go to our website at SCC Free Test for all the Testing Locations that we have across the County also Free Flu Shots we want to get our Flu Shots we don't want to be dealing with COVID and Flu at the same time so you can get Flu Shots tomorrow's beginning at 9 00 a.m. until 4 pm at Moore Park Avenue here in San Jose again that's 2400 Moore Park Avenue here in San Jose also Temperatures are expected to rise through on Sunday so it's going to be very Hot you want to be aware of that those Hot Temperatures will continue through next week so stay tuned to our Social Media platforms for information regarding if there will be cooling centers that's all the information we have for today we will see you back here on Monday at 10 a.m. thanks for joining us have a safe weekend you