In This Newsletter:

Fresno County Covid-19 Status

Effective March 19, Fresno Mayor Lee Brand issued a shelter-in-place order for the City of Fresno until March 31. All residents are urged to stay secluded as much as possible and avoid any nonessential excursions. Businesses and facilities that provide staples such as food, healthcare or medicine, housing services, fuel and pet needs are allowed to remain open, as well as emergency repair services such as plumbers. All other businesses have been told to close, although it is not yet clear what the enforcement measures will look like.

    View the full order here: 

    Fresno residents will also get a one-month moratorium from evictions and foreclosures with six months to catch up on deferred payments if they have lost income due to virus measures. Water services will continue during the crisis for every resident, regardless of payment status.

    This new measure does not mean you have to stay locked in a room for the next two weeks. Outdoor activities such as walks or visits to the park are still safe as long as you practice proper social distancing and avoid close contact.

Although California as a whole has reported more than 600 confirmed cases and there are currently two confirmed cases in our county, the low number of testing kits currently available makes it hard to know how accurate the confirmed case numbers are.

    The Fresno County Democratic Party Web site includes the following instructions to minimize your risk of exposure and subsequently transmitting the virus to others:

• Wash hands with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds

• Avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick

• Stay away from work, school or other people if you become sick with respiratory symptoms like fever and cough.

To which the California Department of Public Health adds:

• Cover a cough or sneeze with your sleeve, or disposable tissue. Wash your hands afterward.

• Practice social distancing.

• Following guidance from public health officials.

For more information, you can go to the state government’s special public health page: https://covid19.ca.gov/.

Join Us for a Virtual House Party!

This Saturday at 2 p.m., the California Democratic Party will host its first ever Virtual House Party training. House parties persuade, organize, motivate and activate supporters. Be our guest, as we share our story, share our strategy and ask for your commitment to help us meet our goal of 1,000 Virtual House parties to continue the important work of organizing Democrats in Fresno and across the state. Register here. 

We look forward to you joining us on Saturday. While we practice social distancing, we can still come together as a community of Democrats to continue our impactful work. 

If you have any questions, Krista, the Fresno County field coordinator at 559-313-4345. We’re here for you.

Annual Democratic Fund-Raiser Postponed

Next month was to be the Fresno County Democratic Party’s 10th annual fund-raiser dinner, this year celebrating the past 100 years of the women’s rights movement. However, in accordance with the Fresno shelter-in-place order, the dinner will be postponed. 

    The event will still happen, with all the sponsorship and advertising opportunities intact, however, we cannot yet say when that will be. Planning anything to take place in the next few months will be difficult due to this extraordinary and unprecedented public health crisis.

    If you have any questions about the event, contact us at 559-495-0606 or [email protected] or visit www.fresnocountydemocrats.org.

Fresno Democratic HQ Closed

As part of our effort to protect the health of our employees and volunteers, as well as the larger community, the Fresno County Democratic Party HQ will be closed for the next month or so. As with all things regarding the virus, new information is being assessed each day, and as soon as we have decided on a date to reopen the doors we will let you know.

    However, just because the office is temporarily closed does not mean we are gone. Reach out to us online or through social media. While the country hunkers down into the isolation of voluntary quarantine and social distancing, it is important to remember that all your fellow Democrats are still out there working to make this country better, even if you can’t give them a hug right now.

Devin Nunes Still a Dangerous Fool

While the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and even some officials of the Trump administration are urging Americans to limit exposure to public places not only for their own health but also to limit the overall spread of this potentially lethal virus, Central Valley Congressional Rep. Devin Nunes (R–Tulare) has other ideas.

   Speaking with Fox News, Nunes instead encouraged people to go out to eat more. He said, “But I will just say, one of the things you can do, if you’re healthy, you and your family, it’s a great time to just go out, go to a local restaurant, likely you can get in, get in easily.”

    Health experts discourage this, as even people who weather the virus more easily play a huge role in spreading it to vulnerable populations.

    When Governor Gavin Newsom spoke to the state, he issued a strong advisory that bars, restaurants, movie theaters and gyms should close their doors, though the governor has stated that he is reluctant to issue centralized quarantine orders in such a large and diverse state as California. Nunes, by contrast, encouraged people to “go to your local pub, yeah.”

    The next day, Nunes tried to clarify on another Fox show that he was actually talking about drive-through and takeout options. The fact that he was clearly talking about bars and dine-in seating did not enter the conversation. He instead, and as always, blamed the reporters who repeat the things he said. “These media freaks don’t have a clue what’s going on out in the real world.”

    Three days later, Fresno’s shelter-in-place order went into effect.
 

Democratic Party Headquarters: 1033 U Street, Fresno, CA 93721

Hours: 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Monday–Friday
559-495-0606

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