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NEWS YOU CAN USE
News You Can Use
A digest of varied news stories and online resources relating to the COVID-19 crisis
Click on a boldface headline to be redirected to the link.
TOP STORIES
5/13/20: City of Palo Alto issues Emergency Order Requiring the Wearing of Face Coverings Effective 5/13/20
5/12/20: House Democrats Introduce the Heroes Act, Proposing an additional $3 trillion in COVID-19 relief
- View the complete bill summary here
5/7/20: Governor Newsom releases updated industry guidance to assist in the reopening of some sectors
5/6/20: City of Palo Alto announces $500,000 Small Business Recovery Grant Program to uplift Palo Alto small businesses. Sign up HERE to receive more information and to be notified when the application period opens.
- Read the latest County Order here.
- View the Executive Summary here (also available in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog and Vietnamese here)
LOCAL RESTAURANTS OPEN TO SERVE YOU DURING SHELTER IN PLACE
Click here for a running list of local restaurants and those in the greater 650 area code. To be added to this list or make a change, please email info@paloaltochamber.com.
PALO ALTO NEWSVisit the City's COVID-19 website for comprehensive news and resources.
5/1/20: "How New Shelter in Place order Applies to Palo Alto," press release from City of Palo Alto
4/24/20: "Palo Alto braces for $30M revenue drop; City prepares for service cuts as economy sputters," Palo Alto Weekly
4/27/20: "County to Extend Stay at Home order through May, Limited Easing of Restrictions," Palo Alto Daily Post
BEWARE OF COVID-19 SCAMMERS
During this difficult time, scammers are using the situation to take advantage of people. Here are some tips to help you keep them at bay:
Hang up on robocalls - Don’t press any numbers if prompted. Scammers are using illegal robocalls to pitch everything from fake coronavirus treatments to work-at-home schemes.
Ignore online offers for vaccinations and home test kits - There currently are no vaccines, pills, supplements, lozenges or other prescription or over-the-counter products available to treat or cure COVID-19. At this time, there also are no FDA-authorized home test kits for COVID-19.
Fact-check information - Scammers, and sometimes well-meaning individuals, share information that hasn’t been verified. Before you pass on any information, contact trusted sources such as your county or state department of public health, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) to fact-check it.
Don’t respond to text messages and emails about checks from the government - The details of the CARES Act payments to individuals are still being worked out. Anyone who tells you they can get you the money now is a scammer.
Do your homework when it comes to donations - If someone wants donations in cash, by gift card, or by wiring money, DON’T DO IT.
Do not give your personal information or passwords to anyone - As a reminder, your bank, lender, government agency, or any legitimate organization will never ask you to disclose or verify personal information via email or text message, including passwords or log-in credentials. Delete the message without clicking to follow any links provided.
Source: StarOne Credit Union
Helpful fact-checking resources:
- Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 information
- World Health Organization COVID-19 information
- County of Santa Clara Dept of Public Health
Consumer Reports:
- Facebook ads with misleading information
- Coronavirus robocall scams
- Beware of products touting false coronavirus claims
PALO ALTO COMMUNITY FUND MAKES EMERGENCY GRANTS TO NONPROFITS
Palo Alto Community Fund has launched a COVID-19 Relief Fund, created to quickly deploy financial resources to help nonprofit organizations serve the most vulnerable in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Menlo Park. In its first few weeks, PACF has already contributed $500,000 to local organizations for urgent relief, with much more on the way Learn more and contribute here.
FROM THE CITY OF PALO ALTO LIBRARY
Family Resources
Keep yourself and others at home entertained by downloading a movie, book, or video game through Palo Alto Library’s e-library. Palo Alto's e-Library is available 24/7 with tons of digital resources, including eBooks and Audiobooks, streaming movies, TV, music, online learning, and digital subscriptions to newspapers and magazines. Find a new recipe to cook. Read about wellness routines the whole family can do together to reduce stress. View more tips and resources.
FROM THE CALIFORNIA RESILIENCY ALLIANCECOVID-19 has spread across the United States and there are now positive cases in all states. Governors have made Emergency declarations, closing down non-essential government services, businesses, schools and other functions and mass gatherings of people. This paper is offered in an effort to better understand not just the way a pandemic affects various critical infrastructure sectors, but to illustrate the cascading and escalating effects across our nation in various ways. Each of the following sectors lists observations and assumptions, along with current gaps in known information. View full report.
Sector Analysis
- Chemical Sector
- Commercial Facilities Sector
- Communications Sector
- Critical Manufacturing Sector
- Dam Sector
- Defense Industrial Base Sector
- Emergency Services Sector
- Energy Sector
- Financial Service Sector
- Food and Agriculture
- Government Facilities Sector
- Healthcare and Public Health Sector
- Information Technology Sector
- Nuclear Reactors, Material, and Waste Sector
- Transportation Systems Sector
- Water and Wastewater Sector
CORONAVIRUS AND YOUR EVENT: TIPS FOR MOVING YOUR EVENT ONLINEOriginal content provided by EventBrite
Some types of in-person events can work just as well virtually, in the form of an online event.
Over 100,000 online-only events were hosted on Eventbrite in 2019, with a variety of topics including work/life balance webinars, real estate livestreams, and online training courses for court interpreters.
To host an event online, you will want to decide which digital format will work best for your event. For example, you can use a webinar if you have content or slides you want to share with your attendees, or a livestream for events with a larger audience. It’s then fairly simple to set up your virtual event on Eventbrite.
We’ve outlined step-by-step instructions for setting up an online event here. If you’ve decided to host a webinar, this article will help you set up your event with webinar access using tools like Zoom. You can also use Eventbrite’s Digital Links feature, which makes it easy for your attendees to access virtual content and materials related to your event.
Tips for postponing your event
If you’ve made the difficult decision to postpone your event, some tips on how to do it gracefully while continuing to put your attendees first.
- Be sure to have a replacement date and venue in place to spread the word
- Offer to transfer attendees’ spots to the new event
- Offer a refund as well, as your new event date or location may not work for everyon
If your event is already on Eventbrite, follow the steps in this Help Center article to postpone and reschedule your event.
View EventBrite’s Resources for Event Creators
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New Law for Employers
FAMILIES FIRST CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE ACT (FFCRA)
The full text of the FFCRA can be found here.
The FFCRA is a new federal law that requires employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide two new paid leave benefits for eligible employees affected by the COVID-19 virus in 2020. This applies only to those employees (not already laid off) who are home sick. The leave requirements generally provide paid sick time or paid leave under certain circumstances (as described more fully in the notice poster, link #4, below). The FFCRA also provides tax credits that may help employers provide the paid leave benefits.
The FFCRA helps the U.S. combat workplace effects of COVID-19 by reimbursing American private employers that have fewer than 500 employees with tax credits for the cost of providing employees with paid leave, taken for specified reasons related to COVID-19. The law enables employers to keep workers (who are home sick with COVID-19 related illness and therefore unable to work, even remotely) on their payrolls, while at the same time ensuring that workers are not forced to choose between their paychecks and the public health measures needed to combat the virus. The Departmnt's Wage and Hour Division administers the paid leave portions of the FFCRA.
If an employer has fewer than 50 employees and providing the paid leave benefits would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern, the small business exemption may apply. Employers who believe they qualify for the exemption should document why the business meets the exemption criteria unless and until the Department of Labor issues additional guidance on claiming the exemption.
Effective April 1, 2020, employers are required to properly notify their employees of the new FFCRA leave benefits and implement the requirements.
Below are links to important resources that contain compliant employee notices, guidance, and recommendations for employers subject to the FFCRA.
- Department of Labor: COVID-19 and the American Workplace
- Fact Sheet: FFCRA – Employee Paid Leave Rights (in English)
- Fact Sheet: FFCRA – Employer Paid Leave Requirements (in English)
- Compliant FFCRA notice poster for private-sector employees (in English)
- Department of Labor FAQ for the FFCRA employee notice poster
courtesy of Montgomery & Hansen, LLP