December 31, 2020 Edition

Governor Newsom Announces Vaccine Partnership with CVS and Walgreens

This week, Governor Newsom announced that California opted into the federal COVID-19 Pharmacy Partnership, under which CVS and Walgreens will administer the Pfizer vaccine to residents and staff of long-term care facilities. CVS and Walgreens will first vaccinate staff and residents at nursing homes, before moving on to assisted living, residential care, and other long-term care facilities. For more information, please see the press release.

Governor Releases California’s Safe Schools for All Plan

This week Governor Newsom released the California State Schools for All Plan, California’s framework to support schools to continue operating safely in-person and expand the number of schools resuming in-person instruction. The framework has four key pillars:

  1. Funding to Support Safe Reopening. Governor Newsom’s January budget will propose $2 billion to support safety and mitigation measures for schools that have resumed or will be phasing in in-person instruction by early spring.
  2. Safety and Mitigation Measures for Classrooms. The Administration is encouraging and supporting key measures, such as testing for staff and students, providing masks, supporting improved communication between schools and health departments for contact tracing, and the prioritization of school staff for vaccinations.
  3. Hands-on Oversight and Assistance for Schools. The Administration has created a cross-agency team with representation from CDPH, Cal/OSHA, and educational agencies to provide support to schools as they develop and implement COVID-19 safety plans.
  4. Transparency and Accountability for Families and Staff. The state will host a dashboard showing the reopening status of their school, available funding, and outbreak data. The state will also a mechanism for reporting concerns to the Safe Schools for All team. The state will provide interventions starting with technical assistance and, if needed, legal enforcement.

Details about the plan can be found at the links below:

CDC Update on COVID-19

On Wednesday, December 30, the Centers for Disease Control held a Media Telebriefing on the COVID-19 response. The telebriefing featured Dr. Henry Walke, CDC’s COVID-19 Incident Manager and Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. The transcript of the telebriefing can be found here.

Homekey Projects Close Escrow

This week, the Governor announced that all 94 Homekey projects closed escrow, providing 6,029 housing units for people experiencing homelessness in California. Under the Homekey program, local entities partnered with the state to acquire and rehabilitate various housing types to serve people experiencing homelessness or those at risk of serious illness from COVID-19. A total of $750 million in federal Coronavirus Relief funds were allocated to 51 applicants for 94 projects. For more information, please see the press release and website:

Press Release

Website