PCC is a Vote Center!

If you choose to vote in person, PCC is the place to go. Plenty of free parking in Lot 1 and then walk over to the Vote Center in Creveling Lounge. The Vote Center is open every day from Saturday, October 24 through Monday, November 2 from 10am-7pm and is open on Election Day, November 3 from 7am-8pm.

I was on a webinar with an election expert and he said the gold standard of voting is in-person at a vote center BEFORE election day. He said if you are healthy and are comfortable voting in person, to do it because votes at a vote center are so much quicker and easier for the Registrar to count. Pro tip: bring you ballot packet with you for a super fast check in. Vote by mail or vote in person, it doesn't matter just as long as you get out and VOTE!

2021 Classes to Be Online

PCC President, Dr. Erika Endrijonas officially announced that both the 2021 Winter Intersession and 2021 Spring semester will be mostly online, with limited face-to-face instruction (primarily labs for nursing students). Making the decision to remain online in Spring 2021 in mid-September may seem a bit premature, but we are making the decision and announcement soon so that students and faculty can prepare. The CSUs (Cal State Universities) have already decided to remain online in Spring 2021 and it is likely the UC system will also remain online. While there is nothing I would love more than seeing all of our students on campus, it still is not safe, and we do not have any indication that a vaccine will be available or widespread enough by the start of Spring to make a different decision at this point in time.

Regarding sports, Dr. Endrijonas made the following statement...

I know many of you are wondering about what will happen with Athletics given that we have made this decision. Back in July, the California Community College Athletic Association Board, which I chair, decided to move all Fall sports to Spring 2021. The COVID Work Group of the CCCAA developed a schedule that has early Spring and late Spring competition seasons for all sports. This COVID Work Group will meet on September 23rd and September 29th to formulate a recommendation regarding Athletics for the CCCAA Board to consider in October or, at the latest, at its November 6th Board meeting. At the same time, CCCAA Interim Executive Director Jennifer Cardone and I met with Lande Ajose in Governor Newsom’s office yesterday to discuss their Higher Education guidance related to athletics. A key point we made was that their guidelines were developed with the NCAA in mind, not with the CCCAA in mind. We requested a review of the guidelines, especially as it relates to practice/workouts and COVID testing. In short, I don’t have an answer, but folks are working on what the plan will be for athletics in Spring 2021. Stay tuned!

And finally, with regards to replacing PCC’s science building...

I will end with good news: the Sarafian building has cleared its final hurdle in the Department of Finance and the Chancellor’s Office, which means we will put the construction management team in place shortly to start taking the Sarafian building down. We can’t implode the building for a variety of reasons, so it’s going to be dismantled floor-by-floor. The only upside to not having students on campus for the remainder of the year is that this very messy, truck-intensive job will not have to work around lots of students walking by.

COVID-19 Update 9/9/2020

Below are the most recent Coronavirus updates. If you have any questions, contact Student Health Services.

Blueprint for a Safer Economy

The new state plan for reopening released on 8/28/2020 had its first numbers update on 9/8/2020. There are a lot of details about how counties can move between tiers, how to count cases and how to adjust those numbers for testing activity. There is also more to be developed for addressing health outcomes and assessing the ability to address the most impacted communities within a county. Follow the link on the Blueprint homepage for “learn more about tier assignments” for these details and a link to current adjusted numbers for counties. The state is using 10,257,557 as L.A. County’s population.

COUNTY RISK LEVELAdjusted cases/day/ 100,000 persons# of adjusted new cases for L.A. County/day% positiveTier 1 Widespread Many non-essential indoor businesses closed>7>718>8%Tier 2 Substantial Some non-essential indoor businesses closed4-7396-7185-8%Tier 3 Moderate Some indoor businesses open with modifications1-3.9103-3952-4.9%Tier 4 Minimal Most indoor businesses open with modifications<1<103<2%

COVID-19 and College Towns

        There are 203 counties in the U.S. where college students make up ≥10% of the population. Half of those counties have had their worst weeks of the pandemic since August 1st and half of those have new infections peaking now.

        Makes me wonder about the ~100 counties NOT having their worst weeks since August 1st. Are they all in NY, NJ, Florida, Texas and California which peaked earlier?

Buckle your Seat Belts, It Could Be a Bumpy Ride

        We won’t know for ~3+ weeks which direction COVID-19 case counts in L.A. County will go and how far following Labor Day weekend. Did the beastly weather drive more gatherings inside to escape the heat making transmission easier? Was Redondo Beach a one-off or was it the face of Southern California?

        There are lots of factors that will affect where LA County cases are in the next weeks besides the Labor Day weekend but at least our average case count now is about 1,000/day lower than prior to July 4th. Let’s see where we go from here.

Vaccine Manufacturers Pledge

     Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, BioNTech and Sanofi have signed a joint statement that they will not submit vaccine candidates for FDA review until their safety and efficacy is shown in large clinical trials.

Basic Preventive Measures are Still the Tools You Have to Make a Difference

• WASH YOUR HANDS

• MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCING

• WEAR A CLOTH FACE MASK

• ISOLATE/QUARANTINE WHEN INDICATED

• CHOOSE GREAT VENTILATION

• GET YOUR FLU SHOT (MANY PHARMACIES HAVE IT NOW)

Quick Links to Resources

• If you are looking for a test because you had close contact with a suspected/confirmed case or because you have symptoms, you need to quarantine/isolate. L.A. County updated their isolation instructions on 7/27/2020 – use the link to get up-to-date instructions: o   Short URL for home quarantine instructions webpage with multiple languages: ph.lacounty.gov/covidquarantine o   Short URL for home isolation instructions webpage with multiple languages: ph.lacounty.gov/covidisolation