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8.A. - Page 5 of 21 <br />File Number: 21-150 <br />Enactment Number: ORD 1618-2021 <br />belts, and shopping carts, there have been highly publicized outbreaks of COVID-19 among grocery <br />store employees in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the health threats that these grocery and drug store <br />workers face cannot be overstated; and <br />WHEREAS, Latinos comprise about 40 percent of California's population but 55 percent of <br />positive cases, according to state data as of February 4, 2021, and according to health experts, one of the <br />main reasons Latinos are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 is because many work in jobs deemed <br />"essential," that require them to leave home and interact with the public, many in the retail food industry, <br />which includes grocery stores; and <br />WHEREAS, on August 28, 2020, the State released the "Blueprint for a Safer Economy" that <br />assigns counties into color -coded tiers based on a county's case rate and test positivity rate, and that <br />permits operations of certain businesses and activities based on a county's tier; <br />WHEREAS, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an emergency regional stay at home order on <br />December 3, 2020, as a result of the critically low availability Intensive Care Unit ("ICU") beds; and <br />WHEREAS, on January 17, 2021, the California Department of Public Health reported another <br />COVID-19 variant that had grown more common across the state since December, with worrisome signs <br />that this variant may be highly transmissible; and <br />WHEREAS, despite the rescinding of the statewide December 3, 2020 emergency order, the <br />State is believed to be in the height of the pandemic with a stay at home order in many regions of the <br />state, including the Bay Area region, where ICU capacity is 24 percent, and region are a long way from <br />minimal risk where there would be one (1) daily new case per 100,000 or less than two (2) percent <br />positivity; and <br />WHEREAS, based on the case rate and positivity rate, San Mateo county has been listed in the <br />"purple" and most elevated risk tier under the State blueprint, representing "widespread" risk throughout <br />the county, since November and continues to be listed in this tier; and <br />WHEREAS, grocery and drug stores are the primary points of distribution for food, medicine, <br />and other daily necessities for the residents of the City of South San Francisco and are therefore essential <br />to the vitality of our community; <br />WHEREAS, given this essential role, grocery and drug stores have largely remained open <br />throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, with many workers continuing to perform their job duties in <br />person; and <br />WHEREAS, the City of South San Francisco recognizes that grocery and drug store workers <br />must be justly compensated for the clear and present dangers of doing their jobs during the pandemic, <br />and increases in wages result in more money being spent to stimulate our local economy; and <br />WHEREAS, grocery and drug store workers -should they and members of their family become <br />infected -risk being unable to work and earn an income, and an inability to pay for housing, childcare and <br />healthcare costs; and <br />City of South San Francisco Page 2 <br />47 <br />