• Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Aug. 11 that the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a new public health order requiring all school staff to either be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or get tested once a week. “To give parents confidence that their children are safe as schools return to full, in-person learning, we are urging all school staff to get vaccinated,” Newsom said in a statement. “Vaccinations are how we will end this pandemic.” The order took effect on Aug. 12, with compliance required by Oct. 15, according to the governor’s office. The state is providing schools with testing resources through the California COVID-19 Testing Task Force. “There’s no substitute for in-person instruction, and California will continue to lead the nation in keeping students and staff safe while ensuring fully open classrooms,” CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Tomás J. Aragón said in the statement. “Today’s order will help the state’s continued efforts to increase vaccinations, similar to the orders encouraging state and health care workers and businesses to get vaccinated.” In school settings, universal masking will be required going into the next school year. “Educators want to be in classrooms with their students, and the best way to make sure that happens is for everyone who is medically eligible to be vaccinated, with robust testing and multi-tiered safety measures,” California Teachers Association President E. Toby Boyd said in the statement. “Today’s announcement is an appropriate next step to ensure the safety of our school communities and to protect our youngest learners under 12, who are not yet vaccine eligible, from this highly contagious Delta variant.” California is also requiring vaccination verification or weekly testing for state workers. Health care workers in the state must be fully vaccinated by Sept. 30.
• On Aug. 10, the Allan Hancock College Board of Trustees adopted a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students, faculty, and staff. The decision requires that everyone is fully vaccinated by Oct. 1, unless exempted for religious or medical reasons. The college will also require masks. The Santa Barbara City College Board of Trustees adopted a similar requirement on Aug. 5. The resolution requires vaccination by Oct. 1 in order to enter a Santa Barbara City College campus building, attend an in-person class, or use a service located off-campus. “This applies to all students, employees, and members of the public unless they have obtained an approved exemption based on medical, disability, religious grounds, or a deferral based on pregnancy,” according to the college’s website.
• After voting to pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) spoke about the bill in an Aug. 11 press conference. According to a statement from the senator’s office, “the bill is the largest investment in our nation’s infrastructure in nearly a century and will provide billions in federal funding for communities across the Golden State.” Padilla said he has spent the past months visiting different parts of the state to find out what California’s priority infrastructure needs are. “I’m proud to have championed measures in the bill that will strengthen our electrical grid, that will fund water conservation programs, and improve sustainable transportation options—including electrifying the nation’s school bus fleets,” Padilla said, according to the statement. “California stands to receive tens of billions of dollars to upgrade physical infrastructure, improve public transit, and secure safe clean drinking water. Cities will also be able to apply for billions of dollars in additional grants to fund weatherization programs to weatherize essential infrastructure, better prepare for wildfires, and so much more.”
This article appears in Aug 19-26, 2021.
