Title
Urgency Ordinance amending Title 8 of the South San Francisco Municipal Code to add Chapter 8.77 "COVID-19 Hazard Pay" to require grocery and drug stores in the City to pay employees an additional five dollars ($5.00) per hour in hazard pay during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
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WHEREAS, on March 19, 2020, the California State Public Health Officer, designated specific sectors and their workers, including grocery and drug stores, as Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers ("essential workers") to ensure the "continuity of functions critical to public health and safety, as well as economic and national security"; and
WHEREAS, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, grocery and drug store workers in the City of South San Francisco have continued to report to work and serve their communities, despite the ongoing hazards and danger of being exposed to and infected by the novel coronavirus, helping to ensure individuals throughout the City of South San Francisco have had access to the food and medicine they need during this pandemic; and
WHEREAS, essential grocery and drug store workers are not highly paid and cannot choose to work from home-they must come to work to do their jobs, which involve heightened risk of exposure and infection of COVID-19 through substantial interaction with customers on an ongoing basis and indoors where there is less air circulation; and
WHEREAS, according to an October 29, 2020 study published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, a comprehensive test of workers at one grocery store resulted in 20 percent of grocery workers testing positive for COVID-19, even though three of four workers were asymptomatic; and
WHEREAS, according to an August 2020 article in The Washington Post, at least 130 U.S. grocery workers had died from COVID-19, and more than 8,200 have tested positive for the virus; and
WHEREAS, according to a January 2021 article in The Washington Post, the United Food and Commer...
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