The County Executive Officer (CEO) Jeff Van Wagenen decided that former Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser would no longer be employed by the county last Tuesday morning.
“I want to thank Dr. Kaiser for his tireless work throughout this pandemic in service to our residents, communities, county agencies, cities, school districts and many other groups,” said Van Wagenen.
The decision to appoint Dr. Geoffrey Leung to replace Kaiser took place during closed session at last Tuesday’s Riverside County Board of Supervisors meeting.
Recently, Leung has led the county’s vaccine rollout.
According to the county, “Leung earned his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine and a master’s degree in education from Harvard University. He started in the county of Riverside in 2006 and has held the position of Ambulatory Medical Director for Riverside University Health System (RUHS) for the last five years. He’s also been the chair of family medicine for RUHS for the last nine years.”
Riverside County is in the red tier. For more information on state guidance, visit https://covid19.ca.gov/industry-guidance/. Restaurants have reopened indoor dining to a specified capacity.
For rental assistance, visit https://www.unitedlift.org/. Supervisor Chuck Washington’s office let residents know “the program will provide one-time rental assistance support to cover up to 12 months of unpaid rent during the period between March 13, 2020, until the time of application, plus an additional three months of future rent. Eligibility is limited to renters in Riverside County with a current lease agreement who are earning 80% or below of the area’s median income and can document a loss of income due to COVID-19 economic impacts that leave them unable to make their rent. Assistance is provided without regard to immigration status.”
The Hemet Unified School District (HUSD) Board approved “the instructional model and timeline to return to hybrid in-person instruction.” However, students may elect to stay in the full online model.
Students in grades preschool to second grade returned to on-site instruction March 29. Grades three through five will return April 12. Middle school students in sixth grade will return April 12 and grades seven and eight will return April 19. High school students in ninth grade will return April 12 and grades 10 to 12 will return April 19. The district will be on spring break the week of April 5.
HUSD provided an update regarding the percentage of students electing to participate in the hybrid model and the online model.
Elementary: 53% hybrid, 43% online and 4% no response. Will default to online only if unable to reach
Secondary: 43% hybrid, 45% online and 12% no response. Will default to online only if unable to reach
If a child can’t get to in-person class for some reason, they can take their online class. Attendance coding would say online instead of in-person. They won’t be marked absent.
Classroom tables have plastic dividers for social distancing and each classroom will have sanitizing wipes, hand sanitizer, face shields for teachers and/or students, a cloth mask for every student, gloves and lanyards to hold masks when they aren’t being worn.
Planning for graduation is in the works. It will be the original date as scheduled before but the times might be different than years past. Graduation will be more personalized and students will be able to bring their family alongside them for the “graduation experience.” The number of family members per student is still to be determined. A series of stations for photo opportunities, presentations, etc. will be set up around campus. Graduates will be able to walk across the stage. More information will be discussed at the district’s next meeting.
Visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) website at https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs, to become familiar with the laws and regulations pertaining to personal protective equipment, including what is mandatory with regards to respirators, etc.
For information on SBA’s assistance to small businesses, visit sba.gov/ppp or treasury.gov/cares. To contact the county of Riverside’s Business and Community Services department, call 951-955-0493 or send an email to [email protected] for local assistance.
For more information on the COVID-19 shot, visit www.rivcoph.org/COVID-19-Vaccine or call 2-1-1. Seniors can call the Riverside County Office on Aging at 800-510-2020. The state announced that starting April 1, individuals age 50 and over will be eligible to make an appointment, and individuals 16 and over will be eligible to make an appointment starting April 15.
According to the Riverside University Health System – Public Health (RUHS) website, the area of Idyllwild-Pine Cove has a total of 113 reported COVID-19 cases since the outbreak and two deaths reported. One hundred and eight of the 113 people have recovered.
As of press time on March 30, Riverside County has 294,063 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 4,273 deaths related to COVID-19 and 286,949 people have recovered. One hundred and twenty individuals are being hospitalized, and of those, 31 are in the ICU. The county’s positivity rate is 2.7%. The current adjusted case rate per 100,000 is 4.8. The county is reporting that 16.2% of its population has received the full dose of the COVID-19 shot
As of press time on March 23, Riverside County had 293,149 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 4,141 deaths related to COVID-19 and 285,805 people had recovered. One hundred and forty-five individuals were being hospitalized, and of those, 31 were in the ICU. The county’s positivity rate was 3.3%. The current adjusted case rate per 100,000 was 6.1. The county was reporting that 10.7% of its population had received the full dose of the COVID-19 shot.
As of press time on March 16, Riverside County had 292,403 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 4,011 deaths related to COVID-19 and 284,290 people had recovered. One hundred and eighty-eight individuals were being hospitalized, and of those, 42 were in the ICU. The county’s positivity rate was 3.3%. The current adjusted case rate per 100,000 was 6.1. The county reported that 9% of its population had received the full dose of the COVID-19 shot.
To date, 2,701,442 total tests have been given for COVID-19 in Riverside County, according to RUHS.
Information regarding HUSD enrollment and the graduation update provided by Jenny Kirchner.