School-age youth are invited to join the Recreation Department for Coyote Hills Outdoor Summer Day Camps starting the week of June 29th and continuing through July 2020! Staff has developed comprehensive camp safety guidelines based upon National guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and the American Camping Association. Protective measures for staff and campers, includes thorough pre-screening measures, separating groups of campers, and modifying camp activities.

Campers will still enjoy an outstanding Coyote Hills Camp experience each week with a fun new theme in the great outdoors at Prewett Park on Lone Tree Way next to the Antioch Community Center and Antioch Water Park and across from Deer Valley High School. All games and activities have been developed to meet current health guidelines including social distancing.

Many seasoned camp staff are returning to camp this summer and look forward to seeing campers and families! Registration is now open online only at www.antiochca.gov/recreation/activity-registration. For general information summer recreation programs and reopening plans call the Antioch Recreation Department at 925-776-3050.

Families can still get outdoors while staying at home – host a family camping event right in your own backyard! June is “Great Outdoors Month” so the Antioch Recreation Department is hosting a Community Campout in your backyard on Saturday, June 20, 2020. Prepare for an unforgettable evening in nature, from gathering the right camping supplies to making the perfect s’more. There are camping and nature movies you can watch, games that all ages can play, and the unforgettable campfire songs. Every campout should end with stargazing and a song or two. The Recreation Department has pulled together a list of resources for planning your backyard campout, even if you still choose to sleep in the house!

Visit the campout page https://www.antiochca.gov/recreation/virtual-recreation-center-and-network/ to get started. Families are encouraged to share their “camping” pictures on the Recreation Facebook page www.facebook.com/antiochrecreation starting Saturday, June 20th. Great Outdoors Month began under President Clinton in 1998 and has grown into a month-long celebration of the outdoors. Today, during COVID-19, parks and outdoor places have become essential to a healthy and active life for all family members.

For more information about the Antioch Community Campout – In Your Backyard – call the Recreation Department at (925) 776-3050.

Outdoor swimming pools are now approved for lap swimming! The Antioch Water Park will be open for lap swim only beginning, today, Monday, June 15th. Lap swim will be offered in 30-minute sessions, 8am-11am and 4pm-6pm seven days a week for swimmers 12 years and older. Residents can add another fitness activity to their routine and enjoy being outdoors. In order to meet health and safety guidelines all swimmers must reserve time for swimming in advance; the number of swimmers allowed at one time is limited.

Interested swimmers must call the Antioch Water Park at 925-776-3070 to reserve a lap swim time. Reservations open on Tuesday, June 9th and swimmers will be able to schedule time for as long as lap swimming is offered. The cost for lap swim will be $4 per session.

In order to comply with the guidelines, bathrooms will be available but locker rooms will be closed. Water Park staff will be complying with local Health Orders to ensure the cleanliness of the facility, and the safety of each individual guest. Swimming is an excellent fitness activity for all ages and each swimmer will be given their own lane so they can swim at their own pace.

For more information about the Antioch Water Park summer season, season passes, swimming lessons, and general summer recreation programs please call the Water Park at 925-776-3070. Recreation staff is working each day to assist Antioch families. For more information visit www.antiochca.gov/water-park.

Plus, small outdoor gatherings, childcare and camps for all children, and libraries with curbside pickup; protests of up to 100 people with social distancing and masks also allowed (LOL – no, seriously. They’re “allowed” now)

By Kim McCarl, Communications Assistant, Contra Costa Health Services

Thanks to substantial progress being made in the fight against COVID-19, Contra Costa County residents can go back to work, shop at local retail stores, get childcare and hang out with small groups of loved ones starting June 3.

Indoor retail shopping, business offices, outdoor museums and pet grooming are among the businesses that will reopen in Contra Costa County under the latest shelter-in-place order released today. The order also permits services that don’t require close customer contact, such as housekeeping, car washes, plumbing and pet grooming.

The new health order also allows small outdoor social gatherings, as well as childcare and camps for all children, not just children of essential and allowed workers. Those childcare services and camps still can only have up to 12 children in stable cohorts.

Libraries can reopen for curbside pickup service and protests of up to 100 people will also be permitted. Religious services will be able to resume on June 15, although with some limitations. In the coming days, the County will be consulting with the state about reopening swimming pools and outdoor dining.

“This latest step toward reopening our county is a reflection of our successful collective effort as a community to limit the spread of the virus,” said Dr. Chris Farnitano, the county’s health officer. “I know there’s a lot of frustration out there, but it’s important to keep in mind that interventions like social distancing have saved lives.”

To date, 37 people have died from COVID-19 in Contra Costa, a county with a population of 1.15 million people. Dr. Farnitano said had the county had not acted early and aggressively, enacting the initial shelter-in-place order on mid-March, ten times as many people would have died from the virus.

Contra Costa has made significant headway in meeting its five indicators for reopening. Aside from new cases and hospitalizations not increasing, all eight hospitals have attested they now have a 30-day supply of personal protective equipment, one of the five reopening indictors. Hospitals also have sufficient capacity to handle more patients. While progress has been made in testing, the county still needs to triple the amount of tests being done to reach its goal.

The latest health order follows previous relaxations of the shelter in place that allowed construction, real estate transactions, curbside retail and manufacturing, recreational activities like golf and tennis and reopening of outdoor businesses like nurseries.

This Order supersedes the May 18, 2020, Order of the Health Officer directing all individuals to shelter in place (“Prior Order”). This Order continues to restrict most activity, travel, and governmental and business functions to essential needs and to the Outdoor Activities and Outdoor Businesses that the prior Order allowed to resume.  But in light of progress achieved in slowing the spread of COVID-19 in the County of Contra Costa (the “County”), the Order allows a limited number of Additional Businesses (as described in Section 15.n…and in Appendix C-1) and Additional Activities (as described in Section 15.o…and in Appendix C-2) to resume operating, subject to specified conditions and safety precautions to reduce associated risk of COVID-19 transmission.

What’s Allowed Now

Businesses include indoor retail, shopping malls, shopping centers and swap meets, manufacturing and logistics and warehouse facilities.

The additional activities now allowed include social gatherings of persons in a Social Bubble, as defined below, may take place if: the gathering takes place outside only, and the participants comply with all other applicable requirements under this Order. In addition, persons in social bubbles over 12 years of age are strongly encouraged to maintain social distancing from each other w ear face coverings

Finally, protests are also allowed now. Subject to requirements and restrictions of the local jurisdiction in which the protest takes place, persons may participate in protests if they wear Face Coverings and comply with Social Distancing Requirements, and attendance does not exceed 25 percent of the area’s maximum capacity or 100 persons, whichever is lower. (Editor’s Note: Seriously, that’s what the order includes. We will see if that part of the order is enforced).

As a condition of operating under this Order, the operators of all businesses must prepare or update, post, implement, and distribute to their personnel a Social Distancing Protocol for each of their facilities in the County frequented by personnel or members of the public.

An email asking if churches can reopen their administrative offices was sent to the spokesperson for the county health services. No response was received prior to publication. Please check back later for updates to this report.

To see the full order, click here. To see additional details on orders from the county health officer visit https://www.coronavirus.cchealth.org/health-orders. For more details about COVID-19 in Contra Costa County, visit cchealth.org/coronavirus.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

But no churches until June 15 and only outdoor events

By Dr. Chris Farnitano, Contra Costa County Health Officer & Anna Roth, Contra Costa County Health Director

May 30, 2020 – If we continue to make progress in our fight to contain COVID-19, Contra Costa County will be relaxing more restrictions on businesses and social activities in the coming days and weeks. Details will be announced on June 2. Below are some of the most significant changes being considered:   Effective Wednesday, June 3

Businesses

• Office-based businesses (telework remains strongly encouraged)
• Services that don’t require close customer contact, such as housekeeping, car washes, pet grooming and plumbing
• Outdoor museums, and open gallery spaces and other public spaces with modifications
• Indoor retail stores, including shopping malls and swap meets

Activities

• Childcare, including child and youth educational activities and camps for all children, not just essential and allowed workers
• Small outdoor social gatherings with social distancing (household support bubbles and child extracurricular activities)

Effective Monday, June 15

These are higher risk activities and thus restrictions would be relaxed at a later date.

• Limited-capacity religious services and cultural ceremonies up to 100 people. These would be limited to outdoor events only.
• Protests up to 100 people; limited to outdoor events only

The state has a timeline for opening higher risk activities like swimming and salons, which can be found at covid19.ca.gov.

By Brooke Converse, Library Public Information Officer

The Contra Costa County Library is launching new storytime content in two different platforms aimed at providing families with library programming during the COVID-19 health crisis.

Online Storytime is a series of videos created by some of the Library’s best storytellers. Each storyteller films a 10-minute video from home that includes reading books, singing songs and having fun.  A new video will debut every Tuesday and Thursday at 10 a.m. on the Library’s Facebook page (@ccclib).

Video Storytime is an ongoing series for the library and the first episode of season two is live on the Library’s YouTube channel (theccclib) right now. Video storytime includes singing, rhymes, finger plays and more. A new playlist will debut every Wednesday. Video Storytime was created in partnership with Contra Costa Television (CCTV) with funding provided through a Pacific Library Partnership Innovation Grant. The segments are produced and edited by library staff.

“We have so many amazing people on our staff and they are eager to share their storytime talents with families,” said County Librarian Melinda Cervantes. “We are very busy behind the scenes creating new content and testing ideas to serve people with and without library cards while we all stay safe at home.”

All 26 branches of the Contra Costa County Library are closed and staff is actively working on new ways to provide library services remotely during the closure. The Library website includes links to many free online resources including eBooks, streaming movies, tutoring, newspapers, magazines and much more. Library staff are curating booklists and resources to help parents who may be homeschooling their children.

Those without a library card, can sign for an eCard and get access to many of the same resources.

For questions about Library services and programming or account information, contact the library via online Chat Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or visit ccclib.org.

For the latest information about COVID-19 in Contra Costa County and tips on staying healthy, visit contracostahealth.org.

Benefits Auto-Issued for the Month of March

On Thursday evening, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a statewide shelter-in-place order for all Californians, except certain essential employees and residents acquiring necessities, such as food, prescriptions, and health care.

WIC provides healthy foods and support services to families.  If your income has been affected by recent events, and you are pregnant, recently had a baby, or have an infant or child under the age of five, you may be qualified to receive WIC services.  Applying is easy and quick.  You will receive your food benefits within a few days. You can apply online at cchealth.org/wic or call 1 (800) 414-4WIC.

WIC food benefits are considered an essential service. We will strive to continue to serve our community during this time under the governor’s and local Health Officer’s order.  Currently, we are providing all WIC services over the phone, including new enrollments.  To protect you and our WIC staff, all in-person appointments are suspended at this time.  Please stay at home.  The new WIC Card and WIC app make it easy for you to access your benefits electronically.

Community members should call their local WIC offices to enroll or certify, obtain future food benefits, reschedule, get breastfeeding help, or to get questions answered.

• Concord & Crossroad WIC: (925) 646-5370
• Brentwood WIC: (925) 513-6880
• Pittsburg WIC: (925) 431-2460
• San Pablo WIC: (510) 942-4000

Please note that California WIC started monthly auto issuance of benefits and extended some certifications for those who were eligible.  This means if you have a WIC card, you may already have your benefits pre-loaded.  You can check your California WIC app for benefits.

If you have any additional questions, please contact your local WIC program at 1 (800) 414-4WIC.  For further Covid-19-related information, please visit the county website at:  cchealth.org or CDPH website.

WIC and Contra Costa Health Services are committed to providing the individuals and communities we serve with high quality, comprehensive, community-directed care that is accessible to all and culturally and linguistically appropriate.

Please note that WIC is safe to use and does not affect immigration status for anyone who is currently in the U.S.  WIC is not considered a part of public charge.  We are here to help!