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Coronavirus Reopening Roundup: 16 Die In Vallejo Nursing Home Outbreak; Sonoma County Sheriff's Defiant Stand

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The tsunami of news about the current coronavirus outbreak and now the shelter-in-place can be overwhelming. To help you navigate through what you need to know -- KPIX.com/KPIX 5 News/CBSN Bay Area -- will be publishing a news roundup each morning of the top coronavirus and reopening-related stories from the last 24 hours so you can start your day with the latest updated developments.


Coronavirus Reopening

Victim's Family Voices Concerns After Vallejo Nursing Home COVID-19 Outbreak Claims 16 Lives
VALLEJO -- A COVID-19 outbreak at The Windsor Vallejo Care Center has claimed 16 lives and left 112 residents infected with the virus, according to Solano County health officials. On Thursday, a family of one of the residents who died was voicing concerns about the conditions that led to the outbreak. Shawnie Bennett and some other victims' family members have started a petition on change.org, asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to shut the facility down. "I believe my brother's death could have been prevented had they taken proper precautions," Bennett said. Read More

State To Hire Nearly 2,000 Temporary Staffers To Help Manage Surge In Unemployment Applications
SAN FRANCISCO -- The state Employment Development Department plans to hire nearly 2,000 temporary full-time and hourly staff members in the coming weeks to hasten the delivery of unemployment benefits to workers affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The EDD is collaborating with the California Department of Human Resources, the California Highway Patrol and California Correctional Health Care Services to screen, interview and hire about 1,800 state employees. Those hired will be trained to work in the state's unemployment call centers, process unemployment insurance claims and analyze documents from applicants and their former employers to determine their applicable benefits. Read More

Reopening: Concerned Half Moon Bay Officials Reopen Coastal Beach Parking Lots
HALF MOON BAY -- Officials announced they were reopening beach parking lot along the San Mateo County coastline, but also raised concerns late Thursday about the impact a weekend surge on out-of-town visitors could have on their community. Those concerns were further reinforced by their experience over Memorial Day weekend."Memorial Day weekend on the coastside was, unfortunately, not a pleasant time for the people who live and work in Half Moon Bay," official said in a press release. "With the crowds of visitors came reports of mounds of trash, cars parked haphazardly on neighborhood streets, people walking through sensitive habitat and erosion-susceptible areas and even using lawns as restrooms, beach-goers using the still-under-construction (and blocked-off) Poplar Beach access stairs and other careless behavior." Read More

SF Unveils Reopening Plan For Dining, Shopping, Sporting Events; Extends Health Order Indefinitely
SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Mayor London Breed outlined on Thursday steps to reopen more of the city's businesses and allow additional activities in the coming weeks, including outdoor dining, indoor shopping, and sporting events, while extending the city's modified health order indefinitely. The second phase of San Francisco businesses to reopen have been divided into three groups, 2A, 2B and 2C. Under Phase 2A, businesses such as child care, outdoor botanical gardens and museums, would be allowed beginning June 1. Outdoor curbside retail services have already been allowed since May 18 in the city. Phase 2B and 2C would expand on the types of businesses and activities allowed. Read More

Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick To No Longer Enforce Public Health Orders
SANTA ROSA -- In an open letter to Sonoma County residents, the Sheriff-Coroner Mark Essick on Thursday announced his deputies would no longer enforce the county health department's public health orders, starting in June. Essick's letter, posted on the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office Facebook page, said he has heard consistently that the county's health orders are far more restrictive than Governor Gavin Newsom's orders, despite the COVID-19 infection rate being low compared to other counties. "Yet we continue to see successive Public Health Orders that contain inconsistent restrictions on business and personal activities without explanation," said Essick. Read More

Some Bay Area DMV Offices Reopen For Customers With Existing Appointments
SANTA CLARA -- On Thursday, California's Department of Motor Vehicles reopened dozens of offices around the state, but the setup is different from what it was before the pandemic. Week 10 of the coronavirus lockdown brought new signs that life is slowly getting back to normal in California. Another 46 DMV offices opened up Thursday morning, with nine of them located in the Bay Area. KPIX 5 cameras were there when the Santa Clara DMV office opened its doors for the first time in two months. It was obvious it would not be business as usual. Read More

NorCal's Lassen County Sees 1st COVID-19 Cases, Slows Reopening
SUSANVILLE -- A rural Northern California county that had been one of the state's two counties without any reported coronavirus cases now has at least five, prompting the county to temporarily rescind its orders allowing the reopening of restaurants, shopping and other services. Lassen County, home to about 30,000 people, had reported no coronavirus cases until May 22. There were five known cases as of Wednesday afternoon, with 222 tests pending results. In total, at least 814 people had been tested, according to county data. The county began reopening businesses under state guidance on May 11. It is now the first county to revoke its attestation to the state that it can safely reopen. Read More

Oakland Bishop: Return To Normal Worship Will Take 'Quite Some Time'
OAKLAND -- The leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland has told pastors and parishioners that reopening churches for worship will be approached in a deliberative manner and that it "will be quite some time" before returning to familiar ways of worship. In a statement to Catholics of the Diocese, Bishop Michael C. Barber indicated that the guidelines from Governor Gavin Newsom and public health authorities need to be followed. "Governor Newsom and the California Department of Public Health have issued overarching guidelines for places of worship that are positive, constructive and fundamentally in alignment with the recommendations the California Catholic Bishops have offered in consultation with State and local officials," said Barber. Read More

Santa Clara County Seeks Hundreds Of Contact Tracers To Track COVID-19 Spread
SAN JOSE -- Santa Clara County is putting out the call to seek hundreds of contact tracers for tracking coronavirus cases. The county has signed up as many as 100 volunteers, but is looking for as many as 800 more. County Executive Jeff Smith wants the public to know, it's not dangerous. "It's not something that puts you at risk of getting the disease at all," Smith said. "It's really something related just to collecting information and spreading information, not spreading virus." Smith said the work is done by phone. Without contact tracing, officials warned the community could be stuck in a longer period of sheltering and social distancing. Read More

San Jose Leaders Propose Sweeping Public Safety Cuts To Close Gaping Budget Hole
SAN JOSE -- With San Jose's income streams being ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, city leaders are considering shaving more than $10 million off public safety in next year's budget. The cuts would affect the hiring of police officers and firefighters, reduce access to community services, and delay the expansion of a long-awaited fire station in the city's Willow Glen neighborhood. With the city's finances in tatters and a $71.6 million hole in the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, San Jose leaders are proposing sweeping cuts to city functions as they face a grim economic future. But public safety personnel said the proposed cuts would bring the city back to a time when crime rates were high, 9-1-1 response times increased, and residents' quality of life deteriorated. Read More

Budget Battle: State Senate Plan Would Reject Most Of Newsom's Cuts
SACRAMENTO -- The California Senate's plan to make up the state's estimated $54.3 billion budget deficit rejects Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposed cuts to public education and health care programs — and instead takes more money from reserves and delays billions of dollars in payments to school districts. The Senate's plan, unveiled late Wednesday, would spend about $8 billion more on public education than Newsom's plan. But most of that money would be in deferred payments to school districts. It means school districts could go ahead and spend the money and the state would reimburse the districts later. Read More

Santa Clara County Sheriff Reports 3 New COVID-19 Cases Among Inmates
SAN JOSE -- The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday announced three new cases of COVID-19 coronavirus among inmates at its jails since last weekend. The first of the three was an inmate who tested positive Saturday after being arrested on suspicion of numerous felonies on May 9. He was housed in one of the county Main Jail's nine "14-day separation units" established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Inmates in the units receive daily temperature checks and COVID-19 tests before being able to integrate into the larger jail population, according to the sheriff's office. Read More

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