COVID-19 News: March 24, 2020

With the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, it feels like there are new orders and recommendations every day! To help you sort through and stay on top of this deluge of information, this newsletter will summarize the major changes and materials from local, state, and federal authorities, public health officials, and other official sources.

  • On March 23rd, the City of San Francisco posted a Guidance for Tenants and Landlords in light of Mayor Breed’s March 13th Executive Order imposing a temporary moratorium on eviction for non-payment of rent by residential tenants directly impacted by this crisis. This Guidance is linked here, along with the Second Supplemental to the Mayoral Proclamation Declaring the Existence of a Local Emergency, which imposed the moratorium.
  • On March 18th, a Fourth Supplemental to the Mayoral Proclamation Declaring the Existence of a Local Emergency was issued, declaring a temporary moratorium on eviction for the non-payment of rent by commercial tenants directly impacted by the crisis.
  • OSHA published their Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19. This contains many recommendations for employers regarding how to classify employee exposure risk and how to protect workers within low, medium, high or very high risk categories. Guidance attached.
  • As of March 23, under executive orders issued by the governors of New York and Michigan in response to the coronavirus pandemic, law firms in Michigan are not considered essential, while New York attorneys can use offices in the state only when supporting essential functions.
  • In a press conference last night, when asked by a reporter what would happen if (paraphrasing) President Trump lifted orders and began production in the US to stem the down economy, the Governor responded that it would not impact California’s shelter-in place orders or other Executive Orders. Essentially, he was saying that California will still be locked down for as long as it needs to be to make it through this crisis. The link to the full press conference can be found here: https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1MnxnQXjEdOJO

Additionally, private tech companies are taking steps to address the increased dependence on technology due to shelter in place measures. Both Comcast and AT&T have removed data caps for their home Internet service plans for the next 60 days and T-Mobile has removed their data cap on its mobile phone service. Most Internet service and mobile phone providers have taken steps to expand support to existing customers by allowing service to continue uninterrupted if bill payment is delayed or unpaid. They have committed to not disconnecting service in cases of non-payment and waiving late payment fees by signing the FCC’s Keep Americans Connected Pledge. Check out the FCC’s website for the full list of companies that have signed the pledge.

For more information about COVID-19’s impact on California’s political and administrative landscape, visit our coronavirus webpage.

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2020-04-07T18:54:33-07:00March 24th, 2020|
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