Tag Archives: Re-opening

Benicia School Board, Benicia Unified School District, BUSD Superintendent Charles Young, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Re-opening

Benicia Schools to begin school year in all virtual learning mode

Superintendent Charles Young: Start of School Update 7-17-2020

Jul 17, 2020 | BUSD Latest News, BUSD nCoV

Dear Benicia Community,

On behalf of the Board Trustees and myself, we hope this communication finds you healthy and safe during this challenging and ever changing time in our society due to Covid-19.  The complexity and unpredictability of this pandemic is calling upon all of us to be flexible and responsive in our decision making in order to protect and preserve the health and safety of those we serve.

With that said the Benicia Unified School District will begin the school year in an all virtual learning model.  We intend to work in the virtual learning model for the first quarter of the year. To remain responsive, we will review the status of our virtual learning model at each Board meeting throughout the first quarter.

While we intended to make this decision at our July 23rd Special Board meeting, the rate of case increase in our community, information gathered from our workforce and families, and uneven guidance being shared at the state and local level have compelled us to move up our decision making timeline.  On July 23rd we will instead focus on the details of the virtual learning model and the hybrid learning model that we intend to move into when we can safely move forward.

We know for some of you, this decision might come as a relief and for others, it will cause further challenges.  We all want students back in school, there is no disagreement there, but we must do so through exercising an abundance of caution. We are also reviewing the status of our childcare program to determine if we can safely expand capacity to support more of our families.

If you are not able to watch the Board meeting of July 23rd, please know the meetings are recorded and posted on our website for your convenience.  We will also put together a summary of key points and make that available to you in a Superintendent update..

Thank you so much for being patient, supportive and committed to the safety and well being of everyone in our community.  The Board and I wish there were easier answers to all of this but unfortunately, there are not. For now, we believe this is the most prudent course of action for the start of our school year together.

Charles F. Young, Ed.D.
Superintendent

Mark Maselli
Board Trustee

Diane B. Ferrucci
Board President

Sheri Zada
Board Trustee

Stacy Heldman-Holguin, Ed.D.
Board Clerk

Gethsamane Moss, Ed.D.
Board Trustee

Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Re-opening, Solano County CA

Clear statement on COVID-19 business closures and restrictions in Benicia

City of Benicia Release, July 14, 2020

On Monday, July 13, 2020, Governor Newsom announced the following changes to business operations in Solano County:

NO Indoor Operations Allowed

▪ Restaurants
▪ Wineries
▪ Movie theaters
▪ Family entertainment centers like bowling alleys, miniature golf, batting cages, and arcades
▪ Zoos
▪ Museums
▪ Cardrooms
▪ Fitness centers & gyms
▪ Places of worship
▪ Offices for non-essential services (see State-defined list of business sectors)
▪ Personal care services like nail salons, body waxing, and tattoo parlors
▪ Hair salons and barbershops
▪ Malls (other types of stand-alone retail may remain open following protocols)

These industries MAY continue to operate outside or for pick-up only (as applicable).

No Operations—Indoor or Outdoor—Allowed

▪ Individual Bars, Breweries, Brewpubs, Pubs
Bars, breweries, brewpubs, and pubs MAY continue to serve alcohol ONLY if it is in a sit-down, outdoor setting with food ordered and served in the same transaction.

Questions? Visit https://www.ci.benicia.ca.us/coronavirus to view the Governor’s full order or call the Community Services Phone Line at 707.746.4285.

Thank you for helping to keep Benicia safe!

Effective 7/13/20; Published 7/14/20
Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas

Dr. Matyas on COVID-19 closures in Solano County: “We continue to see a surge…”

State orders Solano churches, malls other businesses to close, again

Fairfield Daily Republic, by Todd R. Hansen, July 14, 2020
The Solano Town Center was closed Monday on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order to close certain businesses again because of Covid-19. (Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic)

FAIRFIELD — The state on Monday ordered Solano and 28 other counties on its watch list to close places of worship, malls and a number of other business sectors due to the rise in hospitalizations and other Covid-19 concerns.

…Covid-19 is responsible for more than 135,000 deaths in the country and more than 7,000 in California, Johns Hopkins University reported.

Solano County Public Health reported Monday that the number of deaths at least partially attributable to Covid-19 rose by three to 31 over the weekend.

“The fatalities are all elderly individuals (who) were exposed by family at social gatherings,”  Dr. Bela Matyas , Solano County public health officer, said Monday in a phone interview.

Matyas also said the number of current hospitalizations is 47, up from 40 over the weekend. The county’s online report initially had the number holding at 40.

“We continue to see a surge in the number of new cases across the county, including a rise in positivity rates, hospitalizations and fatalities,” Matyas said in the statement announcing the health order change.

Matyas once again urged Solano County residents to take precautions to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

“While it may be difficult, especially during the summer, we strongly urge all Solano County residents to limit or avoid in-person gatherings, as we know the recent rise in Covid-19 cases is due to families and friends getting together with people outside their households and infecting each other, which can be especially dangerous when transmitted to high-risk individuals,” Matyas added in the statement.

Since the county’s Friday afternoon update, Solano added 144 more Covid-19 cases to bring the total to 2,219, but experienced a decrease in active cases, from 435 to 301, which is explained, in part, by the fact so many had become sick at the same time and are now past the infectious stage at the same time. Hospitalizations reported since the beginning of the outbreak was listed at 114.

The county released its amended health order Monday evening to reflect the state order. But hours before that, the Solano Town Center mall had already locked its doors.

In addition to churches and malls, also ordered closed by the state are nail and hair salons, fitness centers, personal care establishments such as tattoo parlors, and some offices.

Gov. Gavin Newsom noted in his comments that over the previous 14 days, hospitalizations in the state had risen by 28% and intensive care admissions are up 20%.

However, those rate increases are actually slower compared to the rate for the prior two-week period, the state reported.

The positive rate for Covid-19 testing, according to the state, is up to 7.7% over the past seven days.

Fairfield as of Monday afternoon added 45 confirmed cases since Friday for a total of 765; Vallejo added 41 for a total of 747; Vacaville added 34 for a total of 354; Suisun City added 18 for a total of 160; Dixon added four for a total of 122; Benicia added one for a total of 41; and Rio Vista added one for a total of 22…. [continued]

Benicia CA, California, Controlled shutdown, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Dixon CA, Fairfield CA, Re-opening, Rio Vista CA, Solano County CA, Suisun City CA, Vacaville CA, Vallejo CA

All Solano cities included in most severe COVID19 shutdown orders: Benicia, Vallejo, Fairfield, Vacaville, Suisun, Rio Vista, Dixon

State of California – COVID19.CA.gov, July 13, 2020

County data monitoring

California is monitoring COVID-19 closely in each local community and keeping the public informed. We’re teaming up with counties to fight it with every tool we have: current local data, testing, contact tracing, infection control, emergency supplies, containment measures, and more.

Counties should be ready to restore limitations if outbreaks increase. The State Public Health Officer may take action if needed.

Effective July 13, 2020,  ALL counties  must close indoor operations in these sectors:
    • Dine-in restaurants
    • Wineries and tasting rooms
    • Movie theaters
    • Family entertainment centers (for example: bowling alleys, miniature golf, batting cages and arcades)
    • Zoos and museums
    • Cardrooms

Additionally, bars, brewpubs, breweries, and pubs must close all operations both indoor and outdoor statewide, unless they are offering sit-down, outdoor dine-in meals. Alcohol can only be sold in the same transaction as a meal.

 Counties that have remained on the County Monitoring List  for 3 consecutive days will be required to shut down the following industries or activities unless they can be modified to operate outside or by pick-up.
    • Fitness centers
    • Worship services
    • Protests
    • Offices for non-essential sectors
    • Personal care services, like nail salons, body waxing and tattoo parlors
    • Hair salons and barbershops
    • Malls
The following counties have remained on the County Monitoring List for 3 consecutive days:
Affected counties as of 7/13/20
  • Colusa
  • Contra Costa
  • Fresno
  • Glenn
  • Imperial
  • Kings
  • Los Angeles
  • Madera
  • Marin
  • Merced
  • Monterey
  • Napa
  • Orange
  • Placer
  • Riverside
  • Sacramento
  • San Benito
  • San Bernardino
  • San Diego
  • San Joaquin
  • Santa Barbara
  •  Solano 
  • Sonoma
  • Stanislaus
  • Sutter
  • Tulare
  • Yolo
  • Yuba
  • Ventura

The State Public Health Officer may take additional action if needed.

Track county data and monitoring status

What is allowed to open in my county?

Use the map above to see which category your county falls into. See guidance for each of the mentioned industries.

For counties on Monitoring List for 3 consecutive days  [includes Solano] 

The following industries must close indoor operations, but they may be modified to operate outside or by pick-up:

  • Dine-in restaurants
  • Wineries and tasting rooms
  • Movie theaters
  • Family entertainment centers (for example: bowling alleys, miniature golf, batting cages and arcades)
  • Zoos and museums
  • Cardrooms
  • Hair salons and barbershops
  • Gyms and fitness centers
  • Personal care services, like nail salons, body waxing and tattoo parlors
  • Places of worship
  • Offices for non-essential sectors
  • Malls

NOTE: Imperial County is open to the essential workforce only (Stage One). Alameda and Santa Clara County do not have an attestation and can only open industries open statewide.