Dear Supervisors Solis, Mitchell, Kuehl, Hahn, and Barger,

You know these facts all too well:

COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise in Los Angeles County. Over 12,000 new cases are being reported every day, with a nearly 12% testing positivity rate. The number of hospitalized COVID patients continues to climb and has now surpassed 4000. There are only 56 available ICU beds in all of LA County and none in Orange County. The seven-day average of deaths in LA County continues to rise at an alarming rate, and yesterday alone, 48 people in Los Angeles County died from COVID-19 related causes.

Exposures and outbreaks are occurring at Los Angeles County worksites with greater regularity. Understandably, workers are growing increasingly fearful as more and more of their co-workers test positive.

Aggressive action must be taken immediately to protect Los Angeles County employees and slow the spread of the virus. Your Board must direct all County Departments to maximize telework assignments to allow all but the most critical employees to work from home until vaccinations become available. And, no worker, no matter how essential, should be required to leave their home if their physician has advised that a serious underlying health condition puts them at greater risk if exposed.

Last March, in the early days of the COVID-19 Emergency, your Chief Executive Officer sent a memo to all Department Heads in which she laid out guidance and expectations for expansion of the County telework program during the pandemic. In recent months, however, many Departments have ordered workers to return to their regular assignments. Your employees and the public they serve can no longer afford to see this pendulum swing in the wrong direction.

With the catastrophic surge that we are experiencing in L.A. County, and with a vaccine around the corner, let your workers stay at home until it is safer - for all concerned – to return.