December 31, 2020
New Year's Eve Message from AFSCME Local 685
Please be safe this New Year’s Eve and in the days, weeks, and months ahead. Our hearts are with everyone who is mourning the loss of a family member, co-worker, friend, or neighbor.

This is a moment to be thankful for what we have, double down on our individual and collective efforts to stay safe, and honor the Department of Public Health’s revised orders.
"Correctional and detention facilities pose unique challenges to communicable disease control. Incarcerated/detained persons commonly live in congregate settings, increasing the risk for COVID-19 to spread once introduced to the facility. Additionally, the high turnover in certain types of correctional environments, such as jails, coupled with the frequent traffic of staff and incarcerated/detained persons between facilities and outside systems (courts, medical appointments), heighten the threat of community spread. These challenges present critical opportunities to strengthen existing infection control measures and implement novel and responsive strategies."

Click here to read the Dept. of Public Health's Guidance for Correctional & Detention Facilities.
COVID-19 Update for L.A. County
Los Angeles is a COVID-19 hotspot, with a current positivity rate of 17%.
According to the County’s Department of Public Health, “a person now dies every 10 minutes from #COVID19 in LA County. This sobering fact highlights what we already knew: this New Year's Eve is unlike any other. Cancel travel plans and avoid gathering to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.” (Twitter: @CountyofLA)
The following are the Department of Public Health’s revised orders:

"The Revised Order is effective 11:59PM (PST) on December 30, 2020, and will remain in effect for as long as the State Public Health Officer’s Regional Stay at Home remains in effect in the Southern California Region...

"This Revised Temporary Order’s intent is to continue to ensure that County residents remain in their residences except as necessary to conduct activities as required by law or as specifically permitted in this order, to limit close contact with others outside their household in both indoor and outdoor spaces and to further reduce the increased risk of community transmission of COVID-19 resulting from the unprecedented surge of new daily cases...

"Persons arriving in the County of Los Angeles from anywhere outside of the Southern California Region (Region) on or from non- essential travel, including returning County of Los Angeles residents, must self- quarantine for 10 days after arrival. Such persons must stay at home or another place of temporary shelter and away from contact with others, including those in one’s household (unless they are also under quarantine), for a period of 10 days. Quarantine may end after Day 10 if the traveler(s) never had any symptoms and they continue to monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms for 14 days after arrival. If such quarantined person develops symptoms of or tests positive forCOVID-19 during the quarantine period, they must isolate themselves as required by the Health Officer’s Order for Isolation. For purposes of this Revised Temporary Order, non-essential travel is defined as travel or transportation that is conducted mainly for tourism, recreation, or visitation purposes."

Click here to read full Order.
LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn Requests USNS Mercy to return
Supervisor Janice Hahn announced Wednesday that she wrote Gov. Gavin Newsom a letter requesting that he work to bring Army National Guard medical personnel and the U.S.N.S. Mercy hospital ship to Los Angeles County amid a surge in COVID-19 patients.

Click here to watch story.
U.S. CDC Guidelines for New Year’s Eve – and Beyond
"The safest way to celebrate the new year is to celebrate at home with the people who live with you or virtually with friends and family. Staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others."

Click here to read CDC message on New Year’s Eve.