CALIFORNIA SAFEGUARDS BOOSTED

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday that he is calling for additional safeguards to protect people from COVID-19 in the workplace, according to KCRA 3 News.

Newsom began his briefing with a numbers breakdown of the race/ethnicity of frontline essential workers to highlight that Latinos face a disproportionate risk of becoming infected.

"When you go to the grocery store, and you have the abundance that doesn't exist in almost any other part of the globe, at the scale and scope it does here in a dense, urban setting ... you go to that store and see that abundance, don't forget the folks that made sure to make that abundance available to you," Newsom said.

A new program called Housing for the Harvest will provide safe isolation spaces for agricultural and farmworkers who test positive or are exposed to COVID-19, according to Newsom.

Newsom said that his administration will continue to work with the state legislature to build on executive orders regarding workers' compensation, COVID-19 paid sick leave and enforcement of labor laws and employers reporting outbreaks.

"We have gaps in our paid sick leave in the state of California," Newsom said.

The legislative session will resume next week, and lawmakers will be able to do some voting from home. At least seven people who work at the state Capitol have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks, including a Southern California assemblyman who ended up in the hospital.

In the Assembly, the four leaders will cast votes for the absent members. In the Senate, absent senators can cast votes remotely in committee hearings.