The City of Palo Alto just announced the Palo Alto Restaurant Relief Grant Program!
This new relief effort to uplift local restaurants during the pandemic following a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) commitment of $1 million to launch emergency relief programming supporting restaurants in East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, unincorporated Menlo Park, unincorporated North Fair Oaks, Palo Alto, and Redwood City impacted by the pandemic. Of the $1 million CZI commitment, $250,000 will support Palo Alto’s Restaurant Relief Grant Program.
The Palo Alto Restaurant Relief Grant Program will provide grants to qualifying establishments to offset losses in revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic state shutdown orders, ensure continued operation, and assist in covering current business operating expenses, including, for example: rent, payroll, and facility modifications needed to accommodate on-site indoor and outdoor dining.
In January, the San Mateo Board of Supervisors matched the $1 million commitment from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to help local businesses hit by the pandemic. The Palo Alto Restaurant Relief Grant Program compliments this effort and is a separate program to San Mateo County’s new Restaurant, Brewery and Winery Relief Program
Please read the press release for complete information. Grants of up to $10,000.00 will be awarded to qualifying businesses.
- The application period will begin February 22, 2021 and close on March 8, at 12:00 p.m.
- Pre-application, FAQ’s are offered in English, Spanish and Mandarin and Tagalog. Link here.
- Program information and pre-application assistance webinars on February 24 at 8:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.
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STANFORD BLOOD CENTER NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT
Our community urgently needs blood donors of all blood types. If you are healthy and eligible, please make an appointment to donate blood at Stanford Blood Center as soon as possible to make sure local patients have the critical blood products they need in the coming weeks. Plus, if you’ve recently recovered from COVID-19, you may be eligible to donate potentially lifesaving COVID-19 convalescent plasma for patients still fighting this illness, and get a $50 Visa gift card as a thanks for stepping up during this period of heightened need. As a reminder, blood donation is an essential and safe activity, even during a shelter-in-place or purple tier designation. Learn how you can save lives during this pandemic by visiting stanfordbloodcenter.org.
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A VIRTUAL TOWN HALL
WHAT: “Vaccines: When, Where and How”
Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian is hosting a series of
virtual town halls for each city in his district to talk about vaccinations –
when residents are eligible, where to get them, and how to sign up.
WHEN: Wednesday, February 24 at 6:30pm
PANELISTS:
County Supervisor Joe Simitian, Palo Alto Mayor Tom DuBois,
Aaron Bloom (Office of County Counsel),
and
representatives from Stanford Health Care, Sutter/PAMF,
and Santa Clara County Public Health
HOW TO JOIN:
Registration Link: https://sccgov-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BGjHMcIvR6SLdv6rmSRvWA
State Announces Lifting of Regional Stay at Home Order, Returning Santa Clara County to Purple Tier
Outdoor Dining, Personal Care Services, and Professional, Collegiate, and Adult and Youth Sports May Resume with Required Modifications; Mandatory Travel Quarantine Remains in Place
Santa Clara County, CA – This morning, the State of California announced the lifting of its Regional Stay at Home Order for all regions statewide, including the Bay Area. Effective today, Santa Clara County has returned to the Purple Tier of the State’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, with some additional local restrictions remaining in place. Outdoor dining may resume today, as well as personal care services and professional, collegiate, and adult and youth sports. The County’s mandatory travel quarantine remains in place, requiring a 10-day quarantine for most people who travel into the county from more than 150 miles away. As always, businesses and individuals must follow both the State and County Health Officer orders, and where there is a conflict between the two, the stricter rules must be followed.
Below is a summary of changes effective January 25, 2021. Revised mandatory directives for each will be published to the County’s website today.
- Outdoor dining may resume, subject to the Mandatory Directive for Dining. Indoor dining remains prohibited. Bars, breweries, distilleries, and pubs may serve alcohol only outdoors and only in the same transaction as a meal.
- Personal care services may resume indoors and outdoors, subject to the Mandatory Directive for Personal Care Services.
- Professional and collegiate sports may resume, subject to the updated Mandatory Directive for Collegiate and Professional Sports.
- Adult recreational sports activities may resume subject to the updated Mandatory Directive for Gatherings, including specific rules in Section 9 of that Directive.
- Youth sports may resume subject to the State’s guidance applicable to those activities, as well as the County’s Mandatory Directive for Programs Serving Children and Youth.
- Most businesses that are allowed to open indoor operations to the public must limit capacity of their publicly accessible space to 20%. The County’s Mandatory Directive on Capacity Limitations has been updated to reflect current openings and closings.
- Outdoor gatherings with up to three households are now allowed for any purpose. Larger outdoor gatherings with up to 200 people are allowed only for political, religious, or ceremonial purposes, or as otherwise specifically allowed by the State. Indoor gatherings of any kind remain prohibited. All allowed gatherings must comply with the County’s updated Mandatory Directive for Gatherings.
- The County’s Mandatory Directive on Travel, which requires most people who travel into the county from more than 150 miles away to quarantine for 10 days upon their arrival, is still in effect.
- The County’s Mandatory Directive for Lodging Facilities is still in effect. Lodging facilities may not provide lodging services for non-essential purposes, such as tourism, recreational, or leisure purposes. Non-essential travel should be avoided, especially in light of new variants of COVID-19 that are circulating globally and in the United States.
Key rules remain in effect and applicable to all businesses:
- Telework: All businesses must continue to require workers to do their jobs from home whenever possible. Workers can go into work only to complete the job duties they can’t complete from home.
- Social Distancing Protocol requirements: All businesses must complete and submit a Revised Social Distancing Protocol for each of their facilities on the County’s website at COVID19Prepared.org. Social Distancing Protocols submitted prior to October 11, 2020 are no longer valid. The Revised Social Distancing Protocols must be filled out using an updated template for the Social Distancing Protocol at COVID19Prepared.org.
- Positive case reporting: All businesses (and governmental entities) are legally required to report to the Public Health Department within 4 hours if they learn that any of their workers are confirmed to be positive for COVID-19. They must also ensure workers alert them if they test positive.
- Capacity Limitation and Metering: All businesses must comply with applicable capacity limitations. All businesses (except for acute care hospitals) with indoor facilities open to the public must establish a “metering system” to ensure that the applicable capacity limits are not exceeded by, for example, posting an employee at the facility entrance to track the number of people entering and exiting.
- Indoor Breakroom Closure: All businesses (except acute care hospitals) must limit employees’ access to indoor workplace breakrooms as described in section 3 of the Mandatory Directive on Capacity Limitations.
For more updates and information, the public may visit the county’s website. Information regarding COVID-19 testing is available at www.sccfreetest.org, and information about vaccine eligibility and distribution is available at www.sccfreevax.org.
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