California’s food chain workers affected by COVID-19 are getting two weeks of supplemental paid sick leave, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.
The governor signed an executive order that will allow for additional paid leave for food sector workers who have been exposed to or tested positive for COVID-19, or told they must self-quarantine or isolate because of the virus, he said in his daily briefing.
Newsom said he hopes the additional pay would alleviate anxiety among workers and make them feel more comfortable staying home from work when they’re sick.
“I hope this will significantly address the anxiety our farm workers have, anxiety our fast-food workers have, anxiety around the delivery of our food and those workers have about their own health,” the governor said. “We don’t want you going to work if you’re sick and we want to make sure that you know that if you’re sick it’s OK to acknowledge it, and it’s OK to let your employer know and still know that your’e going to get a supplemental paycheck for a minimum of two weeks.”
The paid supplemental leave extends to California’s grocery store employees, agricultural workers, delivery drivers, staff at larger fast-food chains and others hired by large employers in the food industry. The order would fill in the gap left by federal relief that provided similar benefits to employers with fewer than 500 employees, according to Newsom’s office.
“I want you to know you’re not disposable. You are essential and you’re valued and I want from the bottom of my heart to extend my deep admiration and appreciation to you,” the governor told pharmacists, grocery store employees and other food sector workers, calling them “unsung heroes.”
With shoppers flooding grocery stores and buying items in bulk as the pandemic first started taking shape in the state, there were supply chain and logistic warehousing concerns, as well as concerns raised from grocery workers themselves, the governor said.
“A lot of folks could easily dial it in, file for unemployment insurance, call it a day, wait for this thing to pass. But there’s dignity with work and no one that I know of in this essential workforce has done that,” Newsom said. “You’ve done it at a great cost, you put your personal health on the line every single day … I just want to compliment you for holding that line and continuing to help us reduce our own stresses.”
The state reached out to the California Grocers’ Association and the workers’ unions to see what their needs were, and have since worked out a framework to support supplemental paid leave and address sanitation issues, according to the governor.
Newsom’s new executive order also provides new health and safety standards that have workers at food facilities wash their hands every 30 minutes, or as needed.
The announcement came as California recorded a spike in coronavirus-related deaths reported statewide.
The governor said Thursday that 69 people have died due to COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. The Los Angeles Times, which is conducting an independent, continual survey of dozens of local health agencies across the state, reported 101 new deaths statewide— making it California’s largest single-day death toll.
In Los Angeles County, officials reported 55 coronavirus deaths Thursday, again recording the highest one-day increase of fatalities for the third day in a row in the nation’s most populous county.
As of Thursday, 890 people have died of the respiratory illness and 26,182 people have tested positive statewide, according to the governor’s office.
Officials are looking into revising the state’s number of COVID-19 fatalities in the coming weeks as they assess how many deaths across California’s health care centers are actually linked to the respiratory illness, according to Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Department.
Across California, 3,141 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, including 1,191 in intensive care units. Newsom noted that, for the first time during the outbreak, the number of hospitalizations decreased from the previous day, by 0.9%.
Hospitals are being impacted differently.
Some are using up to 80% of their ventilators, but the state’s hospital system still has 9,357 that are not being used, Newsom said.
