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Volume 137, Number 41 — Locally owned since 1884
Yolo County sliding closer to purple tier By Anne Ternus-Bellamy McNaughton Media Yolo County could find itself back in the purple tier next week as daily new cases of the novel coronavirus continue to rise. When the state Department of Public Health updates county data on Wednesday (a day later than usual because of the election), Yolo County’s adjusted new daily case rate will have risen to 7.3 per 100,000 residents, according to the county’s new health officer, Dr. Aimee Sisson. That exceeds the metric for the red tier, where the county has been since late September and which allowed multiple businesses to reopen indoors with limited capacity. The state blueprint for reopening features four tiers based on the risk of COVID-19 transmission, with purple as the top tier where virus transmission is most widespread and business activities most restricted. Yolo County spent multiple weeks in the purple tier before moving to red on Sept. 29. “While Yolo’s metrics land in the purple tier at this time,” Sisson told county supervisors on Tuesday, “we will remain in the red tier for the coming week. “Next week, if our metrics once again fall in the purple tier, we may have to move backward into the purple tier.” However, she said, the state last week changed its process for moving counties into more restrictive tiers. Previously, if a county’s metrics fell within a more restrictive tier for two weeks in a row, it would be moved to that tier. Now, Sisson said, before moving the county, the state will look at the most recent 10 days of data
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and if there are “objective signs of improvement,” that county would enter an observation period and would remain in the less restrictive tier for another week. The bottom line for Yolo County: If on Nov. 10, the county still meets the purple tier metrics and there have been no signs of improvement, the county will be moved back to purple and restaurants, gyms, places of worship and other businesses will have 72 hours to close indoor operations. The data the state will be using for tier updates on Wednesday is based on the week of Oct. 18-24 when the county reported 119 new cases of COVID-19, Sisson said. Fourteen of those cases, she said, or 12 percent of the total, were from the outbreak at the Alderson Convalescent Hospital in Woodland. But Sisson said she does not expect cases at Alderson to continue to drive up the county’s daily case rate as the outbreak there has ebbed. Rather, she said, it is cases in the general public that have been increasing recently. “That is not just Yolo County,” said Sisson. “Just about every county in the region is seeing increases in cases.” Going forward, she said, “as this virus spreads, particularly as the weather gets cooler and more people are spending time indoors where we have a higher risk of aerosol transmission, I think there is potential for seeing cases continuing to increase.” County staff plan to issue a press release Wednesday that will describe the process going forward and try to provide businesses more clarity on what to expect in the next couple of weeks.
Weather Date
Rain High Low
Oct. 28
.00
80˚ 37˚
Oct. 29
.00
78˚ 38˚
Oct. 30
.00
79˚ 40˚
Oct. 31
.00
80˚ 41˚
Nov. 01
.00
80˚ 41˚
Nov. 02
.00
81˚ 42˚
Nov. 03
.00
85˚ 43˚
Rain for week: 0.00 in. Season’s total: 0.01 in. Last sn. to date: 0.03 in. Winters rainfall season began 7/1/20. Weather readings are taken at 9 a.m.
The hometown paper of Susan Reimers
Winters, Yolo County, California, Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Free emergency meals for Yolo youth extended through June 30 Winters JUSD requesting families fill out meal applications By Crystal Apilado Editor-in-Chief On Oct. 9 the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) extended flexibilities for the emergency free meals to continue to be available to all children throughout the entire 20202021 school year. A media release from U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue stated the unprecedented move is part of USDA’s unwavering commitment to ensuring all children across America have access to nutritious food as the nation recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. “As our nation recovers and reopens, we want to ensure that children continue to receive the nutritious breakfasts and lunches they count on during the school year wherever they are, and howev-
Crystal Apilado/Winters Express
USDA Farmers to Families Food Boxes are available during the Tuesday drive thru meal pick up at Waggoner Elementary school starting at 11 a.m. er they are learning,” now.” In addition, the said Perdue. “We Cathy Olsen, the Winters Farm to are grateful for the Director of Food Ser- School nonprofit will heroic efforts by our vice at Winters Joint continue to provide school food service Unified School Dis- produce to families professionals who trict, confirmed Win- direct from local are consistently serv- ters youth ages 18 and farms. ing healthy meals under will be able Winters JUSD conto kids during these to receive the free tinues to ask families trying times, and we USDA Farmers to who have students in know they need max- Families food boxes See MEAL, Page 3 imum flexibility right through June 30, 2021.
City looking to community to help support efforts for local seniors Deadline for applications coming up on Friday, Nov. 6 By Crystal Apilado Editor-in-Chief Local residents and organizations have been making great strides to enhance and provide amenities to make Winters an age-friendly community for senior citizens. The City of Winters is currently accepting applications to serve on the Fundraising Committee for Winters Senior Center Furniture and Fixtures and a term of service on the Winters Senior Commis-
sion. However, the deadline is looming near on Friday, Nov. 6 and the City is asking community members jointing to consider helping in the endeavor to help serve our aging community population. Mayor Wade Cowan said applicants of all ages are encouraged to apply in order to provide a variety of perspective and experience. He said while the City is hoping to get representation from all of the different senior groups in town,
you don’t have to be a senior to serve on either opportunity. “You don’t have to be a senior to help with the seniors,” Cowan said. “None of these positions have any (max) age restrictions.”
Fundraising Committee for Winters Senior Center Furniture and Fixtures
The City is seeking applicants to serve a two-year term on the Fundraising Committee for the Winters Senior Center Furniture and Fixtures.
By Crystal Apilado Editor-in-Chief Small cohorts of students enrolled in the Winters Joint Unified School District special education program are officially meeting on campus for in-person learning in Phast 2 of the school districts reopening plan. Assistant Superintendent Sandra Ayón said while the small cohorts started first at Shirley Rominger Intermediate School, all of the school sites have rolled out the Phase 2, in person small cohort plan for their special education program.
However, staffing challenges have kept interventions for students enrolled in the ESL program (English as a second language) or who are socioeconomic disadvantaged (foster and homeless youth) to online Zoom engagements. According to Ayón, moving the special program students forward to in person learning was easier because they already have staff specifically for the special education program. It’s harder to provide separate in person learning opportunities for students in ESL or socioeconomic disadvantaged because the teachers providing those services
are also teaching social distancing classes.
Phase 3 planning
Winters JUSD administrators plan to present an update to the Board of Trustees at the school board meeting this Thursday, Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. Ayón said there are many moving parts, and with the guidance constantly changing new challenges have come up with previous Hybrid Learning and Long-term distance learning models. However, site administrators and their teams have persevered and
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Special education cohorts meeting in person
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The City Council approved the establishment of the fundraising committee as a means to purchase items for the Winters Senior Center (soon be under construction) that are not included in grant and CDBG program income funds. Types of items include, but are not limited to: tables, chairs, kitchen utensils, televisions, couches, and major appliances as needed. In addition to fixtures and furniture,
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