Joint Crisis Response By City, Chamber, and CVA 3/24/20

Joint Communication to Carlsbad Businesses Regarding COVID-19 #2

The City of Carlsbad, Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce and the Carlsbad Village Association are continuing to field calls and answer questions from the business community regarding the coronavirus. We want to help keep you informed so we will continue to send these updates as new information that is relevant to our local businesses becomes available.

Carlsbad City Council Declares a Local State of Emergency

On March 17, 2020 the Carlsbad City Council approved a declaration of local emergency as a result of the spread of COVID-19. This declaration authorized the City’s Director of Emergency Services to obtain local, county, state and federal aid to assist in addressing the city’s state of emergency. If you are a resident of Carlsbad check out our frequent updates at www.carlsbadca.gov.

California Governor Announces Stay Home Order

Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-33-20 that requires all Californians to stay home except to get food, care for a relative or friend, get necessary health care, or go to work at an essential job. The order references the list of essential jobs as those listed by the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). There are 16 critical infrastructure sectors. You can find guidance on the essential critical infrastructure sectors and workforce here.

County Ratchets Up Restrictions

The County of San Diego has updated its emergency order with some new provisions.
All public or private gatherings of 10 or more people are prohibited.
Public or private schools, colleges and universities cannot hold classes or school activities where students gather on school campus.
Daycare and childcare facilities may only operate with groups of 10 or fewer children so long as it is the same group of children each day.
In addition to closing all bars, adult entertainment establishments, and other businesses that serve alcohol and do not serve food, now gyms and fitness centers must be shuttered.

There were questions regarding whether the order applied to breweries and wineries that do not serve food. Like restaurants, those establishments can continue selling their products if they have the proper license and it is taken off premises just like take-out food. For example, sealed containers like growlers, bottles and cans can be sold for consumption off-site if the establishment’s license allows for retail sales. Breweries and wineries that serve food are treated like restaurants which means food and beverage for takeout, curbside pick-up and delivery continue to be allowed.

Businesses that are regulated by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) can find more information from the state here.

Guidance to Businesses on COVID-19

The US Office of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released guidance on preparing workplaces for COVID-19. To reduce the impact of COVID-19 on businesses, workers, customers and the public it is crucial that your company has a plan to address specific exposure risks, sources of exposure, and routes of transmission. You can find the OSHA guidance here.

For businesses that provide an essential service and still have customers circulating through their building like grocery stores and pharmacies it is vitally important to ensure 6’ social distancing. Employees who are sick should stay home. The National Grocers Association has provided member best practices here.

Please do your part by educating your employees about how to reduce the spread of COVID-19. You can find more advice for businesses from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention here.

Guidance for Food and Beverage Industry

You can find guidance from California Department of Public Health for retail food and beverage service locations here. The guidance also includes information for food trucks, certified farmers markets, grocery stores and charitable food distribution sites.

With proper precautions, farmers markets can still operate. This includes precautions to reduce infectious transmission and social distancing. The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health (DEH) has provided clarification that the current order limiting gatherings to less than 10 people does not apply to farmers markets because they provide food which is an essential function. If you have questions, contact DEH’s Information Specialist at (858) 505-6900 or fhdutyeh@sdcounty.ca.gov. We are hoping to have the State Street Farmers' Market back up and running as soon as we can address crowd issues as they relate to public streets. Thank you to Christine Davis and the Carlsbad Village Association for their hard work moving towards this goal.

Disaster Loan Assistance

We know that our businesses and non-profits are in a tight spot. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has a Disaster Loan Assistance Program for situations like this. The SBA recently held a webinar and you can access the slides here. California business are eligible to seek assistance and the application can be filled out online. It is likely that there will be a high volume of applications so if you need assistance apply early.

Let Your Voice Be Heard

Many of our North County Chambers and the San Diego North Economic Development Council want to know what is going on with our local businesses. Thank you to Bret Schanzenbach at the Carlsbad Chamber for taking the lead on putting together a survey for our North County businesses. You can fill out the survey here.

The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Development Center of San Diego and Imperial and the San Diego Regional Economic Development Council have sent out a survey to gauge the impact of COVID-19 on businesses in the region. Follow the link to fill it out.

Getting it Done

Carlsbad companies are diving in to help with many aspects of the COVID-19 response. Thermo Fischer Scientific aims to produce 5 million tests a week by April. Viasat announced its commitment to participate in the Federal Communications Commission’s Keep Americans Connected Initiative. GenMark received emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to use one of their tests in the war against the coronavirus.

There are many more stories of Carlsbad companies leaning in during this crisis and you can find them on our Life in Action website.

Together for Carlsbad

The City of Carlsbad, Chamber of Commerce, and Carlsbad Village Association are working together to support our businesses during these unprecedented times. If you want the most up to date information here are some links to keep handy:

California Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response
County of San Diego Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Response
City of Carlsbad COVID-19 Response
Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce
Carlsbad Village Association

We are a strong and resilient community and we know how to help each other out. With your help our community will resolutely get through this crisis the way we always do – together.

Please feel free to forward these communications to those in your network. To be added to the distribution list or if you have any questions please email business@carlsbadca.gov.