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COVID-19 Reopening Roundup: Play Ball, Cutout Baseball Begins; Fall Prep Sports Cancelled; Haircuts Moving Outdoors

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The tsunami of news about the current coronavirus outbreak and now the reopenings can be overwhelming. To help you navigate through what you need to know here's a news roundup of the top coronavirus and reopening-related stories from the last 24 hours.


San Francisco 49ers May Be Scrapping All Preseason Games
SANTA CLARA -- The San Francisco 49ers and other NFL teams have offered to scrap all preseason games to lure their disgruntled players into training camp amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by The Associated Press on Tuesday. If it proves to be true, a highly anticipated preseason matchup between the 49ers and the now Las Vegas Raiders will not take place in Santa Clara on Aug. 21. The players' association had sought no preseason games and the league had reduced the exhibition schedule to two games. But on Monday evening, the NFL said it would eliminate those preseason contests and also would offer players 18 days for acclimation, up from seven days. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the offer had not been made public. Another part of the offer is to provide a means for players concerned about participating in training camp and/or games to opt out and receive a stipend. Read More

Baseball Returns! Giants, A's Play Bay Bridge Series With Cardboard Fans
OAKLAND -- It's time to play ball again. All nine innings of Monday night's Bay Bridge Series game are in the books. The Giants and A's played at the Coliseum without fans but many say this was the next best thing. You could still hear the crack of the bat and the umpire behind the plate, but in the stands, there was not a single fan or vendor, just cutouts filling the seats. "I used to run down the bleachers when they had stairs and try to get the Mark McGuire homerun ball," says A's fan Larry Lawrence. While fans like Lawrence can't be at the Coliseum, there's no shortage of excitement. Lawrence adds, "It's on my bucket list. The Oakland A's are going to be World Champions of 2020. COVID or no COVID." Read More

Peninsula Supe Warns San Mateo Co. Could Be On COVID-19 Watch List 'Forever'
SANTA MATEO -- A Peninsula lawmaker warns San Mateo County will make the state monitoring list by Tuesday or Wednesday, and could remain on the list for "forever" if people don't change their behavior. "We could be in this watch list forever so if we don't change our behaviors and if we don't change our actions we could be in this forever," said Supervisor David Canepa. "We really need people to wear their damn mask. Make no mistake about it, if we do not take action right now, the consequences are going to be catastrophic." San Mateo County is the only Bay Area county that has not made the state's watch list. Up until recently, it has been able to keep its COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations below the state's threshold. However, the numbers have been increasing. As of Monday, the county reported 4,551 confirmed cases and 114 deaths. Read More

CA Hotels Sue To Overturn Emergency COVID-19 Ordinance To Increase Cleaning</b.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Leaders with the state's hotel industry on Monday announced they've filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court, seeking to overturn an emergency ordinance passed earlier this month that increases cleaning at the city's hotels and commercial offices. In addition to increased cleaning as a precaution against COVID-19, the "Healthy Buildings" ordinance, which was signed by Mayor London Breed last week, also requires that hotel and office employees get training on the new standards and that they be granted protections against retaliation for refusing to perform the work under unsafe conditions. According to the Hotel Council of San Francisco, the California Hotel and Lodging Association, and the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the ordinance not only endangers workers, it could result in hotels laying off thousands of workers. Read More

Gov. Newsom Announces Hair Salons, Nail Salons, Barbershops Can Reopen By Working Outdoors
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new guidelines on personal care services that will allow for nail salons, hair salons, barbershops to reopen their services by moving outdoors. The announcement comes a week after Newsom ordered salons to close all counties on the state's watch list of increasing coronavirus cases. The governor noted that the state had intended to put together guidelines for the outdoor operation of personal care services such as hair and nail salons and barbershops last week when the initial rollback of reopenings was announced, but that certain complications slowed the completion of those guidelines. "Turned out that was more challenging than it may have appeared. The good news is we now have new guidelines out on the COVID-19.ca.gov website clarifying what we can and can't do as it relates to hair cuts and activities that we want to move from indoors to outdoors for personal care services industry," said Newsom. Read More

Learning Pods Give Students Social Interaction And Parents A Break During Distance Learning
PLEASANTON -- Most Bay Area students will start school with distance learning this Fall. There's a push to create 'learning pods' to help them maintain some social interaction and give parents a much-needed break. Learning pods would basically be small home school groups of 3 to 4 children and would really help parents working at home, trying to juggle it all. The idea is gaining traction with parents and teachers. At Cottonwood Creek K-8 School, Mrs.Eisenstad was setting up her fourth grade virtual classroom. She's getting her lesson plan in place to distance teach and hoping her students are ready to distance learn. "I think the biggest thing we have to remember right now is that parents are going to play a much more active role in getting our kids on track," Eisenstad said. Read More

Santa Clara County Superintendent Discusses Distance Learning Plans For Fall
SAN JOSE -- South Bay non-profit Parents Helping Parents hosted Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools Mary Ann Dewan on Monday to discuss back-to-school plans amid the COVID-19 pandemic and resources available for parents. Since Santa Clara County is on the state's watch list, all schools -- private, charter and public -- are required to start the academic year with a distance learning model to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. This may put children with disabilities at a disadvantage, but Dewan said the county has been preparing resources throughout the summer to accommodate all needs. "We recognize that this is not the ideal way for some services to be provided and that may mean additional support is provided to adults, so training to teachers, professionals and support for parents," she said. Inclusion Collaborative is a resource hub for parents started by the County's Office of Education to assist with distance learning. Read More

San Quentin Death Row Inmate Troy Ashmus Dies Of Apparent COVID Complications
SAN QUENTIN (CBS SF) -- Another death row inmate at San Quentin State Prison, child rapist and murderer Troy Ashmus, has died of apparent complications related to COVID-19. Ashmus, 58, was pronounced dead at an outside hospital from what appear to be coronavirus complications, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The exact cause of death will be determined by the coroner. He is the 12th San Quentin inmate to die since the start of the pandemic. In 1984, Ashmus was a 22-year-old carnival worker when he raped and suffocated 7-year-old Marcella Davis in Sacramento County. He was sentenced to death in 1986. Read More

Online AIDS Walk San Francisco Raises Nearly $1 Million
SAN FRANCISCO -- Organizers of the AIDS Walk held annually in San Francisco refused to let the COVID-19 pandemic bring them to a standstill, holding a virtual event for the first time in its history and raising nearly a million dollars for the cause. AIDS Walk San Francisco and New York teamed up for the online event on Sunday. There were cameos from big-name stars, including Vanessa Williams and Gloria Estefan. Their message: the AIDS epidemic is far from over, and there's still more work to be done. "We've had great success with HIV but it took years of study, it took years of research. It took years of development of beds," said Brett Andrews, CEO of PRC.Organizers noted the inescapable parallels between the early days of the AIDS epidemic and the current coronavirus crisis, a poorly understood disease, spreading seemingly unchecked. Read More

California High School Football Among Fall Sports Delayed To Winter, Spring Due To COVID-19 Pandemic
SACRAMENTO -- High school football and other sports typically played in the fall have been pushed to the winter and spring months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Interscholastic Federation announced Monday. According to a statement by the CIF, football, along with volleyball, water polo, cross country, traditional competitive cheer, field hockey, gymnastics, skiing and snowboarding, are impacted. Meanwhile, regional and state championships have been reduced to one week for all sports. The CIF said the delayed sports would likely begin in December or January, depending on the CIF section. Bay Area counties are covered by five separate sections (North Coast, Sac-Joaquin, San Francisco, Oakland and Central Coast.) For volleyball, water polo, and cross country, playoffs and state championships would be in March. Read More

Five-Day Caregiver Strike Begins At Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital
SANTA ROSA -- More than 700 caregivers began a five-day strike Monday at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, demanding more benefits and personal protective equipment. The workers, represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, are asking for more benefits and for the hospital management, part of the Providence St. Joseph Health hospital chain, to rethink the proposed contract that gives them less sick days during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tyler Hedden, chief executive of Providence St. Joseph Health-Sonoma County, said in a news release that hospital management is deeply disappointed in the NUHW to strike during the pandemic at a time when Sonoma County cases are increasing. Tammie Campbell, a radiologic technologist who has worked at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for 12 years, says the strike had been put off for five months, but is now the health care workers' last option. Read More

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