For City Council Meeting [August 10, 2021]
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Marcus Fuller, City Manager
FROM: Sean Grayson, Fire Chief
Title
Request City Council to 1) Receive an Update on and Confirm the Continued Existence of the Local Emergency Throughout the City of Rialto in Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak; 2) Adopt Resolution No.7768 Ratifying Emergency Proclamation 2021-01 from the Director of Emergency Services / City Manager to Require Masking of all Persons in City Facilities Consistent with Federal, State and Regional Actions; 3) Approve Actions that Support and Incentivize Community Vaccination; 4) Provide Direction with Regard to Continuing City Events; and 5) Provide any Further Recommendations in Relation to the Local Emergency Throughout the City of Rialto in Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak.
(ACTION)
Body
BACKGROUND
On March 12, 2020, the City Council adopted Resolution 7600 declaring a local emergency in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. In the action staff indicated that the item would be brought back to the City Council for updates at each City Council meeting for the duration of the local emergency. The City Council received an update on and approved continuation of the local emergency at each City Council meeting since the adoption of the resolution. Since the City’s declaration of a local emergency and actions on March 16, 2020, there have been significant directives from the State of California and the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health. All of those orders were resolved on June 15, 2021, as the State of California began a process to roll back all Emergency Orders and effectively reopened the state to all sectors without COVID-19 restrictions for those persons that are fully vaccinated. There have been significant changes in the impact of COVID-19 on the community since State’s rollback of specific COVID-19 protections.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
Metrics
On June 15, 2021 when the state rolled back its various orders the State, San Bernardino County and the City of Rialto were all at metrics for COVID-19 cases near the levels at the beginning of the pandemic and well below all previous surges. Since that time case rates, positivity rates, positivity rates in healthy places, and hospitalizations have all shown a significant increase. As case metrics have gotten worse, daily testing rates have seen a 13% decrease. The following table illustrates the changes in the County with Rialto specific numbers following the same trend on a smaller scale. Rialto specific data is publicly available at <https://covid19-sbcph.hub.argis.com/>
These changes are attributed to many factors with the most significant being:
• The rise of the Delta variant, a reported more transmissible variant, as the most common variant in the County, State and Country.
• The reduction of masking and social distancing of persons in public.
• Vaccination rates not reaching “herd immunity” levels.
• The rise of vaccinated persons testing positive for COVID-19 (although serious illness is rare, transmission from vaccinated persons to unvaccinated persons is of significant concern).
Masks
Under the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) order on June 15, 2021:
Masks are required for all individuals in the following indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status:
• On public transit (examples: airplanes, ships, ferries, trains, subways, buses, taxis, and ride-shares) and in transportation hubs (examples: airport, bus terminal, marina, train station, seaport or other port, subway station, or any other area that provides transportation)
• Indoors in K-12 schools and childcare
• Emergency shelters and cooling centers
Masks are required for all individuals, in the following indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status (and surgical masks are recommended):
• Healthcare settings
• State and local correctional facilities and detention centers
• Homeless shelters
• Long Term Care Settings & Adult and Senior Care Facilities
Additionally, masks are required for unvaccinated individuals in indoor public settings and businesses (examples: retail, restaurants, theaters, family entertainment centers, meetings, state and local government offices serving the public).
On July 27, 2021, the CDC added a recommendation for fully vaccinated people to wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission. On July 28, 2021, the CDPH added a recommendation in the mask requirements for universal masking indoors statewide regardless of vaccination status. Some jurisdictions, including Los Angeles County, and businesses have reinstituted indoor mask mandates.
Vaccinations
Vaccination rates in the City of Rialto have increased from approximately 45% on June 15, 2021, to approximately 50% fully vaccinated as of July 30, 2021. There most granular level of geospatial vaccination information available is at the zip code level. There are three primary zip codes that cover the majority of the City of Rialto although portions of the central City are covered by Fontana and San Bernardino zip codes and the zip code for the southern portion of the City includes the majority of unincorporated Bloomington. These three zip codes do show variation in fully vaccinated population rates for those 12 years of age and older:
Rialto’s overall vaccination rate is slightly higher than the County average; is similar to Colton, Grand Terrace, San Bernardino, Highland, Yucaipa and central Fontana; but is 10% lower than west valley cities, Loma Linda and Redlands. Using only City of Rialto vaccination data, more than 40,000 Rialto residents over 12 years of age and the more than 20,000 children under 12 years of age that live in the City are unvaccinated. The vaccination rate appears to have plateaued in Rialto and much of San Bernardino County which is similar to trends seen throughout California. Even if vaccinations were to continue to climb in Rialto at their current rate, the 70% herd immunity goal would not be reached in Rialto in the 2021 calendar year.
On July 26, 2021, the State of California announced its plan that mandates all state employees either be fully vaccinated or participate in weekly COVID-19 testing protocols. On the same day the CDPH announce a similar requirement for most healthcare facilities in the state regardless of the employer.
Actions for Consideration
Masks have been proven effective as a measure to help reduce transmission of COVID-19. Given the current surge of COVID-19 and the change in recommendations at the Federal and State level. Staff recommends that the City Council adopt mask regulations for City facilities consistent with current recommendations until the current surge returns to the June 15, 2021 baseline metrics. On August 4, 2021 the Director of Emergency Services / City Manager issued Emergency Proclamation 2021-01 which requires all persons to wear masks while inside City facilities. The recommended action is to ratify the Emergency Proclamation by approving the included Resolution. This would have all persons, regardless of vaccination status, wearing masks while inside City facilities (using established exceptions that allow for unmasking on specified conditions like being alone in an enclosed room).
Social/Physical distancing practices have been proven effective in reducing the transmission of COVID-19. In conjunction with the mask order, the City has reestablished the six-foot spacing for employees and visitors inside City facilities and is implementing the social distancing practices already utilized at City Council meetings for all in-person meeting in City facilities. The City will continue to require COVID-19 surveillance of all persons entering City facilities beyond lobby areas or remaining in City facilities for greater than 10 minutes.
It has been reported that 99.5% or more of all COVID-19 deaths reported in California since June 15, 2021, have come from unvaccinated persons. Vaccination reduces individual risk and the collective community risk. Staff recommends that the City Council direct action by the City with regard to the following vaccination incentive framework:
• The City would provide a $50 gift card to the first 1,000 people that become fully vaccinated (receive a second dose of Pfizer or Moderna or the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine) at the Rialto Farmer’s Market, Grace Vargas Senior Center or Rialto Community Center vaccine events.
• The City would also provide a raffle of prizes at the end of the program to participants.
• To be eligible persons must have been vaccinated at one of the designated sites between August 11 and September 29, 2021 and show proof of residency or employment in Rialto.
Events, Facilities and Programing Impacts
The rapid rise in COVID-19 transmission will impact City events, facility usage and programming. Although the mask and social distancing requirements provide an additional means to reduce transmission, additional action for City events, the use of City facilities and for City provided programming will be necessary. City events may need to be changed for format or cancelled during the current COVID-19 surge. Staff requests the City Council provide direction with regard to continuing City events with the September 11th ceremony being the next occurrence. For facilities and programing this includes reduced occupancy for all community services programming and the discontinuation of the lease/rental of City facilities for events/activities where social distancing cannot be accommodated. Additional restrictions on events, facility use and/or programming may be implemented by the City Manager as needed.
Continue the Local Emergency
There are still significant impacts on our community, our businesses and to our City services. As such, a local emergency still exists in Rialto in response to COVID-19. The recommended action will continue the local emergency until the next regular Council meeting action on the subject.
COVID-19 Council Committee
On August 2, 2021 the City Council appointed COVID-19 Committee (Mayor Robertson, Councilmember Perez and City Clerk McGee) met and recommended that the City Council approve the actions recommend in this staff report. They also recommended continued engagement with the Rialto Unified School District specifically with regard to vaccination coordination; this work is in progress.
Status of Eviction and Utility Moratoria
On March 24, 2020, the Rialto City Council adopted Ordinances 1637 and 1638 issuing a moratorium on eviction of commercial and residential tenants respectively. These moratoria are permissive under the California Governor’s Executive Order N-28-20 and subsequent revisions that suspend the state law the preempts the City’s abilities to enact such moratoria under normal conditions. These moratoria will end concurrent with the rollback of the Governor’s Executive order on September 30, 2021, unless rescinded earlier by the City Council. The recommended action maintains the moratoria.
In April of 2020 the Rialto Utility Authority (RUA) along with Rialto Water Services (RWS), instituted a moratorium on water shut-offs for non-payment for customers who have water/sewer accounts. In addition, the RUA/RWS is currently waiving all late fees associated with these accounts. The RUA/RWS is experiencing an increase in the past due accounts and amounts and encourages customers to take advantage of the CARES Act funds for utility and rental assistance. The RUA/RWS is offering the ability to set up payment plans to assist customers in paying their past due amounts. The moratoria on shut-offs and late fee accrual is be considered by the Rialto City Council Water Sub-Committee and brought to the City Council for recommended action in September of 2021. The recommended action maintains the moratorium.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The requested City Council action is not a “Project” as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Pursuant to Section 15378(a), a “Project” means the whole of an action, which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. According to Section 15378(b), a Project does not include: (5) Organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY
The requested action is consistent with General Plan goals 5.7 “Maintain a high level of emergency response capability” and 5.8 “Provide effective and comprehensive policing services that meet the safety needs of Rialto.”
LEGAL REVIEW
The City Attorney has reviewed and supports this staff report.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The financial impact of the local emergency remains unknown at this time. Expenditures related to the event to date have been accomplished within existing purchase orders and the City Manager’s authority and have been attributed as an event expenditure.
Any additional expenditures using the Director of Emergency Services authority under the local emergency will be presented in subsequent reports to the City Council for the duration of the local emergency.
The vaccination incentive program in the amount of $55,000 would be funded with the use of CARES Act CDBG-CV funds already allocated by the City Council for testing and vaccination support in account 234-500-1857-2060-COVID19.
Operating Budget Impact
This report does not impact the Operating Budget.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council:
• Receive an update on and confirm the continued existence of the Local Emergency throughout the City of Rialto in response to the COVID-19 outbreak;
• Adopt the resolution ratifying Emergency Proclamation 2021-01 from the Director of Emergency Services / City Manager to require masking of all persons in City facilities consistent with Federal, State and regional actions;
• Approve actions that support and incentivize community vaccination;
• Provide direction with regard to continuing City events; and
• Provide any further recommendations in relation to the Local Emergency throughout the City of Rialto in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.