Governor Newsom announces coming statewide regional stay at home orders, but school policy left unchanged
At a press conference on Thursday, Governor Newsom announced new statewide regional stay at home orders that when implemented will significantly restrict activity throughout the state in order to address surging COVID-19 cases. The stay at home orders will be triggered when ICU capacity hits 15% in five designated regions throughout the state.
According to the Governor, four of the state’s five regions will likely reach the threshold to be placed in a regional stay at home order as early as this weekend, including Northern California, Greater Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley, and Southern California. The Bay Area region is likely to be placed under a regional stay at home order starting in mid to late December. The orders will last a minimum of three weeks.
The regional stay at home orders come as COVID-19 cases continue to surge throughout the state. According to the LA Times, over the last week the state has averaged 14,869 cases per day, a 47.8% increase from two weeks ago. And there are now 8,517 hospital patients statewide with a confirmed case, a change of 98% from two weeks ago.
In the midst of this surge, the Governor’s announcement of more restrictions makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, he didn’t change the state’s approach to the physical opening of schools, with many schools throughout the state continuing in-person instruction despite the surging cases.
After careful consideration, last month CFT President Jeff Freitas released a statement calling on school districts throughout the state to transition to distance learning as cases were beginning to surge. With the Governor’s announcement of the pending regional stay at home orders, CFT’s position remains the same - schools that are in-person should transition to distance learning until the surge is under control.
CFT President Jeff Freitas welcomes LA Community College trustee Andra Hoffman to his weekly Up Front broadcast
CFT President Jeff Freitas will be joined by Andra Hoffman on his weekly Up Front broadcast this Friday at 3:00 p.m. Andra is the President of the Board of Trustees of the LA Community College District and a CFT member. They will discuss how community colleges are poised to help our most vulnerable students and workers recover from the economic fallout from the pandemic. To tune in to the broadcast, go to the CFT Facebook page or the CFT YouTube page.
Join an AFT phone bank to reach out to voters in Georgia
CFT members who are interested in reaching out to voters in Georgia to make sure that they cast their ballot in the January 5, 2021 runoff election are encouraged to join one of the many phone banks being run by the AFT and their partners in The New Georgia Project Action Fund. Phone banks are being run on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays at 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., and 2:00 p.m. PST. Register here.
