The outbreaks at River Ranch Farmworker Center began in the summer of 2020. Amid the stress and uncertainty the pandemic had already inflicted on the residents of the county-owned facilities, the center was forced into a kind of lockdown, and each of its almost 60 residents were put into quarantine.
Every single resident was quarantined for at least seven days, county officials confirmed. After that, the men were retested, and those who tested negative were released. In line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), residents who tested positive were quarantined for 14 days.
Each of the three county-owned farmworker housing centers suffered a mass outbreak of the coronavirus, likely because residents there live in âefficiency units,â with two to a room, according to Napa County Staff Services Manager Jen Palmer, who headed the isolation and quarantine sheltering branch of the countyâs Emergency Operations Center.
Voices from the Vineyard: the Glass Fire was an "ugly" time, workers say. Facing financial pressure from the pandemic and smoke, they felt obligated to work when they could, conditions
Courtesy: Andrew Oman
Santa Maria Bonita teachers rally for improved conditions.
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Dozens of teachers rallied in Santa Maria Wednesday as their union tries to come to an agreement on working conditions with the Santa Maria Bonita Bonita School District.
They say the district has put forth a number of proposals that call for additional required duties beyond a normal workday. They point to a 20 percent increase in the number of classes for junior high teachers.
Members of the Santa Maria Elementary Education Association feel the district s proposals undermine their efforts in the last year during the pandemic.
River Ranch resident Jose Segura at the farmworker center in April. Segura, who does not have health insurance, makes too much money to qualify for MediCal, but not enough money to pay his own insurance premiums, he said. Clark James Mishler
Even if his employer did offer him health insurance, Jose Segura knows he wouldnât be able to afford the monthly premiums.
Segura, 55, has worked as a farmworker for three decades; heâs spent the last two years a resident of the River Ranch Farmworker Center in St. Helena.
His wife and children live in San Joaquin County, Seguraâs home during the off season. Itâs a 120 mile round trip away, and the price of gas could outstrip the $420 he pays each month to live at River Ranch, Segura explained in Spanish. He comes to Napa because he prefers to work in the fields here: between early spring and late fall, the work is plentiful and comparatively well paid, he said.