The OC Board of Supervisors is hoarding $554 million in CARES Act federal funding that was allocated to us in mid-April 2020 to help offset COVID-19 related expenses. We want to reopen our local businesses and regain our economic footing, but the only way to do that safely is to institute widespread testing and contact tracing. OC Board members need to act like leaders. Please ask them to serve the best interests of all constituents and distribute that money now!
 
May 12, 2020
 
Dear Chairwoman Michelle Steel and Members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors:
 
We are a deeply concerned group of neighbors, colleagues and constituents who, like many Orange County residents, are eager to move into the next phases of California’s Roadmap to Modify the Stay-at-Home Order(1) but have significant doubts about our County’s ability to assess accurately any movement toward those benchmarks. This issue is further complicated by the Supervisors’ internal conflicts, expressed publicly in recent days. So we are asking you, as members of the Board of Supervisors (BOS), to immediately shift monies from the $554 million cache of CARES Act funding into a County-wide testing and tracing program that more accurately informs our local readiness, as we move into and beyond Phase Two of the statewide Roadmap for reopening.
 
It is crucial that members of the BOS immediately create and implement a cohesive, comprehensive plan for Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) testing and contact tracing that is informed by science and data; meets transparency standards related to privacy, security, and ethics; is non discriminatory and not punitive; and serves equally the needs of Orange County residents in every demographic group and region. 
 
This ambitious but essential undertaking must be funded through the immediate allocation of $554 million in Federal CARES Act monies, which our County received on April 21, 2020(2) to help flatten the COVID-19 curve and assist health care providers in their ongoing efforts to win the battle against this pandemic. 
 
On April 28, 2020, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve Business Guidelines for the safe reopening of local businesses. These Guidelines are vague, as evidenced by conflicting media reports and local residents’ confusion about your own, contradictory statements.  In  the absence of data-supported benchmarks, they are unenforceable. What’s more, they have been weakened by your Chairwoman, who is actively endorsing(3) businesses that reopen early, under demonstrably unsafe conditions(4), while also holding back over a half-billion dollars in Federal CARES Act Relief Funding. 
 
We expect stable leadership during this period of upheaval. We deserve solid decision-making, based on science and informed by sufficient data. We therefore ask that the BOS move swiftly to clear up any discord and confusion, and thwart potential chaos by deploying monies as needed from the $554 million in CARES funds for County-wide COVID-19 testing and tracing protocols, as described above, and then using the data to better evaluate our readiness to move safely into Phase Two of the Governor’s modified Stay-at-Home orders and beyond, in accordance with data-driven, cohesive policies and guidelines.

Sincerely,

Sharon Quirk-Silva, Assembly Member (AD-65)
Farrah Khan, City Council Member, City of Irvine
Jose Moreno, City Council Member, City of Anaheim
Tammy Kim, Finance Commissioner, City of Irvine
Kimberly Adams, Candidate for Tustin City Council
Cassius Rutherford, President, Costa Mesa Democratic Club    
David Duran, Housing is a Human Right OC
Dr. Fred Calhoun, President, OC Chapter of NAACP
Hussam Ayloush, Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations, California 
Jeanine Robbins, Housing is a Human Right OC
Jutta Gamboa, President, Democrats of Greater Irvine
Mike Robbins, People's Homeless Task Force OC
Mohammed Aly, OC Poverty Alleviation Coalition
Patty Yoo, Co-chair, Asian Americans in Action
Rashad Al-Dabbagh, Executive Director, Arab American Civic Council
Tara Steele, President, Newport Beach Women’s Democratic Club
Thomas Fielder, People's Homeless Task Force OC
Indivisible OC45
Iranian Circle of Women’s Intercultural Network
Orange County Equality Coalition
Women For: Orange County
Yalla Indivisible
Fr. Dennis Kriz, OSM - pastor, St. Philip Benizi Catholic Church, Fullerton
Imam Mustafa Umar, Islamic Institute of Orange County
Rabbi David N. Young, Congregation B'nai Tzedek
Rabbi Jill Zimmerman, Path With Heart
Rabbi Laura Schwartz Harari
Rabbi Stephen Einstein, Founding Rabbi Emeritus, Congregation B'nai Tzedek, City of Fountain Valley
Rev. Ken Wyant                              
Rev. Sarah Averette-Phillips, Brea Congregational Church, City of Brea
Rev. Sarah Halverson-Cano, Fairview Community Church, City of Costa Mesa
Deyanira Nevarez Martinez            
Hanieh Jodat Barnes                        
Harry Langenbacher                        
Labkhand (Labi) Bemanian             
Mark Richard Daniels                     
Marleen Gillespie                            
Maura Mikulec                                
Rebecca Kovacs                              
Shirin Sabetpour
Simin Karimi
Felicity Figueroa
Melodye Shore
Naz Hamid
Sudi Farokhnia
Pat Davis
Maria Olivieri Minney
Faye Hezar
Sheena Innocente
Lulu Hammad
                                   

Footnotes:
(1) California’s Roadmap to Modify the Stay-at-Home Order. https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/California-Roadmap-to-Modify-the-Stay-at-Home-Order.pdf
(2) “Billions in Coronavirus Relief Money is Coming to Orange County But Gaps Persist.” (Orange County Register, April 22, 2020) https://www.ocregister.com/2020/04/22/billions-in-coronavirus-relief-money-is-coming-to-orange-county-though-gaps-persist/
(3) Statement of Supervisors Michelle Steel and Don Wagner Supporting Nomads Cantina. https://bos2.ocgov.com/pr-supporting-cantina
(4) Nicole R Monteilh, Facebook post shared with #ReopenOC. “Nomads Cantina Fully Open for Business, and It’s Packed.” https://m.facebook.com/groups/234070164617125?view=permalink&id=247516006605874
 
 
Addendum:
 
Prior to the May 11 Board of Supervisors meeting, we emailed this letter to the entire Board. Our original intent was to present it during the meeting, as part of Agenda Item 3, and to discuss it further during the period for open comments. But due to unsafe conditions at the building entrances, it was impossible to safely deliver it.*
 
We believe it is reasonable to expect active enforcement of the County Health Officer’s Order, the Board of Supervisors’ Guidelines, and the rules set forth in the Governor’s Roadmap for reopening. We were met, instead, by protestors who didn’t wear masks or follow social distancing guidelines. They were allowed to swarm the building entrances, thus infringing on our right to safe access and the opportunity to voice our opinions in the room.
 
In shirking their shared responsibilities to COVID-19 related oversight, the Board of Supervisors denied citizens with different points of view an equal seat at the table. This is an infringement of our civil liberties and we want their assurances that this letter will be added to the public record for the May 11 BOS meeting (under Item 3) and also receive the public consideration it deserves.
 
* Watch video from the Hall of Administration (just prior to the BOS Meeting on 5/11/2020) here: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=872264899919971&id=100014094075833