List of Resources Available to California Residents During the COVID-19 Crisis - March 23, 2020
ICCNC has put together the following list of the resources available to the community members and California residence in dealing with COVID-19 crisis.
If you have information about additional resources to deal with this crisis, please send them to info@iccnc.org.
Free Community Based Health Center
ROOTS, a community based health center in Oakland and San Jose offers free Clinical and Mental Health Services, as well as Emergency bridge unit housing, food, hygiene products, and diaper distribution to people in need. You can visit the site:
https://rootsclinic.org/novel-coronavirus-covid-19/
Emergency Paid Sick Leave
The new law mandates that all public employers and private employers with fewer than 500 employees provide 2 weeks of emergency paid sick leave and up to 10 more weeks of emergency family medical leave if impacted by COVID-19. However, this paid sick leave is not available to everyone: exemptions exist for health care workers, emergency responders, and small businesses with fewer than 50 employees.
What employees should know:
Workers will be entitled to emergency paid sick time at full pay, up to $511 per day or $5,110 total. (Full-time workers will be entitled up to 80 hours of paid sick time, and part-time employees will be entitled to the average number of hours they work over a 2 week period.)
People who are self-employed but work for another employer (like Lyft and Uber drivers) are eligible for a tax credit of up to 2 weeks of sick pay at their average pay and 12 weeks of family leave pay at two-thirds their normal rate.
Workers are also eligible for emergency paid sick time if they are caring for others who have been impacted by coronavirus. This also includes the worker who is caring for a son or daughter if a school or place of care has been closed due to coronavirus. Leave taken to care for children whose schools or daycares have closed is paid at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate of pay, with a maximum of $200 per day, or $10,000 total.
Employers cannot force you to use up your vacation or other sick time before receiving this benefit.
Employees who take public health emergency leave are entitled upon return from leave to be restored to their job position or to an equivalent position with equivalent employment benefits and pay..
Unemployment Insurance (UI)
As employees lose hours or their jobs because of temporary work closures due to COVID-19, individuals will need help. UI helps workers and their families get through hard times with cash benefits from states. Under the new emergency fund, $1 billion will be available for states to meet increased demand for UI benefits from people impacted by COVID-19. Contact https://www.edd.ca.gov for additional information about eligibility and filing requirements should you need it. State has waived the one week waiting period. Please note State of California has created a page for all the benefits under the COVID-19 ACT
https://edd.ca.gov/about_edd/coronavirus-2019.htm Benefits are not only for people who have been laid off, they also apply to caregivers, those who are quarantined and workers whose hours have been reduced. However, employment insurance does not apply to freelancers or independent contractors.
Food and Nutrition Services
Meals on Wheels in all the counties of the Bay Area will provide free meals for the seniors.
The emergency fund provides Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) https://www.getcalfresh.org/?source=g2&gclid=Cj0KCQjwmdzzBRC7ARIsANdqRRlHI6nzU9vdoL1lAd97MTKSjFIXygkPJlQnfEcGRJspxJDXP1Zf1vkaAqUpEALw_wcB
assistance to families with children who attend a school that has been closed due to COVID-19 and who would otherwise receive free or reduced-price meals. In order to be eligible, the child’s school must be closed for no less than five consecutive days. This fund also expands federal support for senior meals, food banks and additional food program flexibility to help children who depend on school meals. However, for residents of Oakland with children under 18, on Mondays and Thursdays, they can go to 12 designated sites (for the location, Click https://www.ousd.org/Page/19078) between 8:00-12:00 pm to grab bags of prepared meals as well as groceries to take home. Please note that food is "grab & go" and that campuses will not be open for dining.
Food is available to any OUSD student or family or child under 18, free of charge
Please bring a grocery bag or cooler to bring food home for the week
Services to Small Business Owners
Interest Free Loans to small businesses throughout the country
Small business owners can apply for up to $15000 of interest free loans with 6 months deferred payment by applying through KIVA.
If you are a small business owner in Oakland you can take the COVID-19 impact survey, this will help the authorities to prioritize resources to help business owners.
https://oaklandca.formstack.com/forms/covid19_business_impact_data_survey
Internet
Comcast is offering two months of free to Internet service effective Monday, March 16, 2020, through the Internet Essentials program. This offer is available to new and existing customers. Additionally, Xfinity WiFi hotspots (Links to an external site.) are now available free of charge to the public.
AT&T is providing free access to its WiFI hotspots throughout the country. Charter is offering free Spectrum broadband and Wi-Fi access for 60 days to households college students who do not already have a Spectrum broadband subscription and at any service level up to 100 Mbps. To enroll call 1-844-488-8395. Additionally, all WiFi hotspots are now free of charge.
T-Mobile is providing unlimited data to all current customers who have plans with data for the next 60 days. It will also provide additional data to mobile hotspot users.
Verizon is waiving late fees and suspending service termination for customers negatively impacted by the global crisis.
California Connects: California Community Colleges students are eligible for this mobile hotspot service powered by Sprint, which offers nationwide 4G LTE connectivity and allows users to connect up to 10 WiFi enabled devices for up to 10 hours on a single charge for only $19.99 a month.
Keep Americans Connected Pledge: AT&T, Comcast, Charter, Cox, Google Fiber, Spring, Verizon, and T-Mobile will not disconnect any customers for the next 60 days regardless of payment status.
COVID-19 Testing
Whether people rely on their employer’s health care coverage, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare, or the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace, this emergency fund makes everybody eligible for COVID-19 testing. It also creates a new Medicaid
option for states to cover uninsured individuals for testing, but this specific state Medicaid option does not provide COVID-19 testing for immigrants who are ineligible for federal nonemergency Medicaid. However, receipt of testing or other health care services through the National Disaster Medical System will not be considered a negative factor in a “public charge” determination, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services.
COVID-19 Testing Offered by the City of Hayward
The City of Hayward will open on Monday a testing facility so sick people, first responders, and health-care workers with recent suspected exposures to the novel coronavirus can be tested for infection.
The COVID-19 Testing Center, at Hayward Fire Station #7, 28270 Huntwood Avenue., has been established to take pressure off hospital emergency rooms, provide quicker answers for recently
exposed first responders and health care workers, and to enhance the region’s capacity to suppress new transmissions through isolation after testing.
“Suppression, through isolation after testing, or SIT, as we call it, is an approach that has proven to be most effective in countries on the leading edge of this pandemic,” said Hayward Fire Chief Garrett Contreras.
The Station 7 COVID-19 Testing Center is made possible through a partnership with Avellino Lab USA, Inc., of Menlo Park, a global leader in gene therapy and molecular diagnostics with a focus in precision medicine for eye care.
The Testing Center, which will operate everyday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., will be staffed by Hayward Fire Department firefighter-paramedics, and supported by ambulance company emergency-medical technicians (EMTs).
It is free to the public and open to anyone regardless of where they live or immigration status.
People who present themselves for testing will first go through a two-step screening process for COVID-19 disease before being administered a test, which involves swabbing of the nasal cavities and back of the throat.
To be tested, people will be screened for illness, which includes fever, cough and/or shortness of breath, and/or other respiratory symptoms. No referral from a medical doctor is required to be screened. Results can be available in as little as six hours or the next day in most cases.
The Center is outfitted with enough kits to test up to 350 people a day—and the Hayward Fire Department and Avellino are working with other Bay Area communities to help open additional testing sites elsewhere in the region.
For more information on coronavirus and the City of Hayward’s response to the pandemic, go online to the City’s COVID-19 Updates webpage. Or call the Hayward COVID-19 hotline at (510) 583-4949, which is staffed 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week.
How to Make Hand Sanitizer Lotion and Disinfectant Wipes at Home
Hand Sanitizer:
2/3 cup rubbing alcohol of at least 70% alcohol concentration.
1/3 cup Aloe Vera
*When using rubbing alcohol with higher alcohol concentrations, add water to the mix.
Mix well and fill dispenser of choice
DIY Disinfectant Wipes:
2 cups of warm water
1 cup rubbing alcohol of at least 70% alcohol concentration.
1 tablespoon of dish soap
Mix well Sanitizer:
2/3 cup rubbing alcohol of at least 70% alcohol concentration.
1/3 cup Aloe Vera
*When using rubbing alcohol with higher alcohol concentrations, add water to the mix.
Mix well and fill dispenser of choice
DIY Disinfectant Wipes:
2 cups of warm water
1 cup rubbing alcohol of at least 70% alcohol concentration.
1 tablespoon of dish soap
Mix well, add mixture to half a roll of paper towels in a Tupperware container
Again, the World Health Organization says hand-washing with soap and water is the best way to clean your hands
We expect more COVID-19 support and resources to follow from the government agencies and other non-profit organizations. We’ll do our best to update the team in the days ahead, including updates and additional information on COVID-19 federal emergency funds and legislation as they materialize