2022 champion Nick DeCarlo #17 and runner-up Kellen Chadwick #83 had an intense IMCA Modified battle last season. Photo by Katrina Kniss
By Candice Martin, DCRR Racing Media
There’s no doubt this has been a wetter winter than we’ve had in recent years. The Contra Costa Event Center (county fairgrounds) has received so much rain that it was flooded in areas this year, and Antioch Speedway was under water throughout much of January and February. This has left the crew scrambling to get things ready.
With pumps removing the water from the racing surface, there has been optimism of getting races going in recent weeks. However, steady rainfall has put an end to that. This Saturday night, the 63rd season of auto racing is set to begin with an action-packed card.
The Trifecta of IMCA, Modifieds, Sport Modifieds and Stock Cars, will be competing along with the Pacific Coast General Engineering Hobby Stocks, Super Stocks and the WMR Miidgets.
Though there is rain forecast for early in the week, there is optimism that this week will indeed happen. The season opener is always an exciting time at the race track. Drivers show up with new bodies on their cars or even brand new race cars. The point standings have been wiped clean, and it’s a fresh new start. Anybody can make their move.
Last season saw a spirited duel between Kellen Chadwick of Oakley and Nick DeCarlo of Martinez go down to the final IMCA Modified race with both of them still tied in the end. DeCarlo ended up with his second Antioch championship due to the fact that he had four Main Event wins, while Chadwick had three.
The consistent Bobby Motts Jr of San Pablo ended up third. A competitive field that will include a few past champions is anticipated on Saturday.
Three-time IMCA Sport Modified champion Fred Ryland #7j managed to hold off #15p Andrew Pearce in a thrilling battle last year. Photo by Katrina Kniss
Nobody has won more races in the IMCA Sport Modifieds then Fred Ryland of Brentwood, but the three-time champion needed four wins to hold off young star Andrew Pearce of Oakley for the championship last season.
Another rising star, Jacob Mallet Jr of Oakley, ended up third in the standings and also won the IMCA State crown. This year will be interesting with the return of another three-time champion, Trevor Clymens of Brentwood.
The exciting new IMCA Stock Car division continues to grow by leaps and bounds. This division offers a different yet very exciting style of racing compared to the Modified classes, and drivers are still getting used to these cars.
Past Dwarf Car and Mini Truck champion Travis Dutra of Concord notched his second-straight division championship after a season-long battle with Rio Vista’s Jason Robles. Top rookie Jason Jennings of Pittsburg ended up third in the rundown. New drivers are anticipated this year.
No division offered a bigger car count per week then the Pacific Coast General Engineering Hobby Stocks last season. It was a year of the ladies with Misty Welborn of Castro Valley finishing first, Michaela Taylor of Oakley ending up second, Taylor DeCarlo of Martinez fourth and Jewell Crandall of Antioch fifth. Several drivers have just gotten started in this class in recent years and are getting better with every turn behind the wheel.
Super Stocks have been at the speedway for over 20 years, and Danville’s Jim Freethy won the championship last year over Brentwood’s Joey Ridgeway and Concord’s Jimmy Robbins.
Travis Dutra #22 is the only IMCA Stock Car champion after two seasons, but Jason Robles #78 is hoping to improve on his runner-up status of last year. Photo by Katrina Kniss
Car count is expected to increase a little bit this year. Among the several big events lined up at the track this year will be the Larry Damitz Memorial race on May 13th, featuring the Tri State Challenge Pro Stocks.
Midget racing has been a big deal in California for over 70 years, but the Ecotec motor program introduced by the WMR Miidgets is bringing new blood into the class. They are a division that is in high demand and competes at several venues on the West Coast.
Antioch is looking forward to hosting this coming race, which could have a field of a dozen or more cars. Two of the champions on the tour in recent years are Blake Bower of Brentwood and David Prickett of Fresno.
We’ve definitely needed the rain in California, but now racing fans need a little bit of dry weather. It’s time to go racing, and Speedway Management is optimistic that this week will be the time for it to finally happen.
Once we unleash the beasts, we’ll have racing pretty much regularly all the way through the last weekend of October with a few events lined up in November. Special Sprint Car touring races and big events like the Bill Bowers and Hetrick Modified races are highlights of what should be an action-packed season.
The gates will open at 4:00 with the first race starting at 6:00.
Adult tickets are $20, Senior/Military $15, Kids (5-12) $15 and kids five and under free.
For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com or check out the Antioch Speedway by PROmotions Facebook page.
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By CHP – Contra Costa
This morning, Thursday, March 30, 2023, at about 3:32am, Contra Costa CHP was advised of a vehicle vs. pedestrian crash on Hwy 4 eastbound on the Lone Tree Way on-ramp in Brentwood. At the time of the crash, a pedestrian was within the roadway of the on-ramp. A Toyota Camry traveling on the on-ramp was unable to avoid the pedestrian and struck them. The pedestrian was pronounced deceased at the scene and the driver of the Toyota was not injured.
UPDATE: The Contra Costa County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as Brian Posch, age 50-year-old transient.
This crash is still under investigation. If you have additional information you believe would assist in the investigation please contact CHP Contra Costa in Martinez, (925) 646-4980
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Mayor Thorpe to hold news conference Thursday morning; two other council members unaware of matter
By Allen D. Payton
According to an East Bay Times report, eight more Antioch Police officers have been placed on leave and are under investigation for sending each other racist and homophobic texts in violation of department policies. Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe has called a press conference for Thursday morning at 11 a.m. to speak on the matter.
The officers on leave are in addition to eight other officers also on leave while under investigation by the FBI and Contra Costa DA’s office. (See related article)
Questions were emailed to Thorpe, Acting City Manager Forrest Ebbs, City Attorney Thomas L. Smith, Police Chief Steve Ford and the police department’s spokespeople, Lt. Michael Mellone and PIO Ashley Crandell asking to verify the information in the article and for the time and location of the press conference.
Ebbs responded, “The City of Antioch is investigating allegations revealed by information received against a number of Antioch Police Officers. The City has placed the officers on administrative leave pending the investigation of allegations. Given that this is a confidential personnel matter, no further information can be disclosed at this time.”
Thorpe confirmed the time of the press conference, said it will be held at City Hall and that the information reported in the article didn’t come from him.
Councilmembers Mike Barbanica and Lori Ogorchock said they weren’t aware of the matter before being informed by this reporter. “First I’ve heard or seen” of it, Ogorchock responded.
“I sure did not,” Barbanica responded when asked if he had heard about the matter. He then called Ebbs. Barbanica said Ebbs told him he had briefed Thorpe on the matter, just not the rest of the council.
“I told the acting city manager, we are a General Law City not a Charter City and if one council member was made aware, the entire council should have been made aware. For the mayor to be briefed and not the rest of the city council, this is unacceptable,” said Barbanica. “I asked him why I wasn’t made aware of this and why wasn’t the rest of the council made aware, and why did I have to learn of this from the media.”
The District 2 councilman said Ebbs told him Thursday morning, “in a very short period of time he was going to get communication out to the rest of the city council.” That was expected to be received by 10 a.m. prior to the press conference. “I’m waiting for the details to come out before making any additional comment,” Barbanica added. But he said he had an appointment in San Francisco at the time and couldn’t attend the press conference. “Had I been briefed about it, yesterday, I could have rearranged my schedule.”
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Our Neighborhood Voices, a growing statewide coalition of communities, claims the bill is a permanent extension of SB 35, gives developers unlimited ability to develop nearly anything, anywhere in California
California lawmakers recently introduced legislation that would permanently strip local communities of nearly all important land use decisions. While the legislation – SB 423 – is touted as a tool to solve our affordable housing crisis, local elected leaders say that the legislation undermines local democracy by removing the ability of communities to plan and prepare for what is built in their neighborhoods. It also can accelerate damaging ‘Builders Remedy’ projects across the state that see massive projects built in residential neighborhoods without adequate planning for water, schools, transit, safety fire danger and other priorities.
SB 423 also removes vital protections in our Coastal Zones – something no other housing bill has dared to do. Californians have consistently supported protecting our coasts – this bill removes many of those protections forever.
“I was hoping SB 423 might be a tool to help us solve our affordable housing crisis, but it is not,” said Susan Candell, Lafayette City Councilmember. “Instead, it is the state’s final end game to undermine local democracy in cities and counties, and unleash unlimited development, including the ‘Builders Remedy,’ even in our treasured coastal zones.”
SB 423 can potentially release the ‘Builders Remedy’ where developers can just about build anything, anywhere. SB 423 is a permanent extension of SB 35 – a 2018 law that forces local governments to approve certain developments under a streamlined process if they fail to build, not just approve, but build enough housing to meet their Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) numbers. Complex interactions with many other bills lead cities again to be subject to the ‘Builders Remedy’ in 2025 for Southern California and 2027 in Northern California.
The RHNA numbers – which are set every eight years – “laid out impossible goals this cycle,” explains Jovita Mendoza, Brentwood City Councilmember. “Virtually no cities or counties will be able to meet their RHNA numbers. Cities and counties are now set up to fail, and as a result, local governments will lose their ability to have a say about what gets built in our communities. Instead, under SB 423, that approval process will be turned over to developers permanently.”
Coastal zones have been protected from profit-driven overdevelopment since the passage of the California Coastal Act of 1976. This new proposed legislation would virtually undo decades of work to protect California’s coastlines.
“Now local oversight, those who are the stewards of the coastal zone, is removed. Instead, those decisions are handed over to developers and their allies in Sacramento. We all know we need affordable housing in every part of California, but this bill drastically reduces the required affordable units,” said Redondo Beach City Councilmember Nils Nehrenheim.
Our Neighborhood Voices is a non-partisan coalition of residents and elected officials from every corner of California who believe that land use decisions should be determined by local communities and their elected leaders – not one-size-fits-all laws from Sacramento and for-profit developers.
To get these important questions in front of voters, Our Neighborhood Voices is organizing to qualify a citizen-led ballot initiative that would protect the ability of local communities to adopt laws that shape local growth, preserve the character of neighborhoods, and require developers to produce more affordable housing and contribute to the costs associated with it.
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Jessica Russo was arrested by Pittsburg Police in Antioch on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Photos of scene by Allen D. Payton. Gregory Rossignon is still wanted for the March 22 murder.
Following hours-long stand-off outside home male suspect still wanted; his father says female suspect pregnant with male suspect’s child
By Allen D. Payton
Shortly after 2:00 pm Wednesday, March 29, 2023, the Pittsburg Police Department’s Special Response Unit served a search warrant at a residence in the 2000 block of D Street in the city of Antioch for two suspects wanted for murder of a Pittsburg convenience store clerk on March 22. During the service of the warrant, Jessica Russo was located and arrested. She was booked and taken to the Martinez Detention Facility.
Pittsburg Police officers near the house on D and W. Madill Streets in Antioch. Members of the Pittsburg Special Response Unit with the department’s Bearcat armored vehicle.
After a methodical and exhaustive search of the residence was conducted, Gregory Rossignon remains outstanding and still wanted for murder. During the search officers approached the house and several times, broke windows, dropped a phone with a phone line into the house, called out on the loudspeaker for Rossignon to pick up the phone and dial a number to speak to police. The officers flew drones inside and outside and deployed four rounds of a chemical agent believed to be tear gas inside the home. After the second round of gas another woman emerged from the residence about 5:53 p.m. and was detained, placed in handcuffs and escorted from the scene.
Pittsburg officers at front door breaking out windows, tear gas smoke emerged from the house’s attic, and a second woman was detained.
About 7:35 p.m., Rossignon’s father, who identified himself as Gregory, Sr., arrived on the scene and asked to speak to his son “so everyone comes out of this alive”. He referred to Russo as his daughter. When shown a photo of Russo and asked if she was who he was referring to, Rossignon, Sr. said, “yes, I call her my daughter. She’s pregnant with my son’s child…my grandchild.” He told police, “I’ll strip down if you need me to and walk in there to talk to my son.” Later, a woman drove up to the scene and told officers she was the suspect’s mother. Officers took both parents to an area on Lawton Street where they waited but did not speak to their son.
A drone was sent into the house through windows police had broken out. Gregory Rossignon, Sr., the suspect’s father, arrived on the scene offering to speak to his son.
At about 9:15 p.m., an officer said he expected to wrap things up shortly, but that they had not had any contact with the suspect nor could confirm that anyone was still in the house.
The Pittsburg Police would like to thank the Antioch residents who live in this area for their patience during the service of the warrant. Several residents were escorted by police to their homes on D Street. But one mother and daughter who live next door to the house had to find somewhere else to stay for the night. Although offered to stay at a Pittsburg motel by one of the officers, they chose to stay with friends. The woman said she expected to return to her home Thursday morning.
The Pittsburg Police Department is asking anyone with information related to Gregory Rossingnon’s whereabouts to contact the local police. We are also asking anyone with information contact Detective Jonathan Elmore at 925-252-4875 or the Pittsburg Police Department Tip Line at 925-252-4040.
See more photos and video at facebook.com/antiochheraldca.
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
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Arrested for sex crimes against minors in Contra Costa
By Ted Asregadoo, PIO, Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office
As the seven-count felony case against Christopher George Miller continues in Superior Court in Martinez, the investigative team who arrested him in a sting operation for arranging to engage in sex acts with a minor are asking the public for help.
The investigation into Miller started in 2022 when he was employed at Deer Valley High School in Antioch as a campus supervisor. A parent of a student reported to school officials that Miller was sending inappropriate texts to the student regarding marijuana use at the school, as well as sexually suggestive messages. (See related article)
The Contra Costa County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) adopted the case about three weeks ago to see if Miller (who was then a former employee at the high school) would sell marijuana and arrange to meet for sex. Posing as a 13-year-old girl on a chat app Miller used, a Detective with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office started communicating with him. At one point while exchanging texts, Miller offered to sell the fictitious teen marijuana — and later the chats became more sexual in nature.
Miller arranged to meet the teen for sex at a park in Martinez on March 16th, 2023. Participating ICAC members from the Sheriff’s Office, Concord Police, Danville Police, Pittsburg Police, and the District Attorney’s Office met him at the park and arrested Miller on marijuana possession with the intent to sell to a minor and other charges related to contacting and arranging to engage in lewd and lascivious acts with a minor. He was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility and arraigned on a total of seven felony charges on March 21st. His preliminary hearing is set for April 3rd at 8:30 am in Department 25 in Martinez.
According to the charging document filed on March 20 by the CCDA’s Office, Miller was charged with seven felonies, including P0288.3(a), Contact with Minor for Sexual Offense on or about June 14, 2022; PC288.4(b), Meeting Minor for Lewd Purposes between March 10 and 16, 2023; PC288.3(a), Contact with Minor for Sexual Offense on or between March 10 and 16, 2023; PC288.2(a)(2), Distributing Or Showing Pornography To A Minor on or about March 14, 2023; PC288.2(a)(2), Distributing Or Showing Pornography To A Minor on or about March 15, 2023; PC 664/PC288(a), Attempted Lewd Act Upon A Child on or about March 16, 2023; PC 664/HS11360(a), Attempted Sale/Offer To Sell/Transportation Of Marijuana on or about March 16, 2023.
ICAC Senior Inspector Darryl Holcombe notes that Miller may have been in contact with other victims. He’s asking the public to email him at the District Attorney’s Office if they have information related to Miller’s case. He can be reached at: DHolcombe@contracostada.org.
Case No. 01-23-00820 | The People of the State of California v. Miller, Christopher George
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
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El Condado de Contra Costa Examina a la Comunidad para Planificación de las Artes y la Cultura
By Kristi Jourdan, Office of Communications & Media
What is the future of Contra Costa County’s arts and cultural landscape? As part of the County’s efforts to develop an Arts and Culture Strategic Plan, a survey will be available to residents during the month of April to gather community feedback.
The County has contracted with Arts Orange County as Project Manager to lead the arts and culture planning process. The goal is to guide an arts and cultural planning effort through an inclusive community engagement process that recognizes and respects the geographic and demographic diversity of the County. The process also includes an inventory of the County’s arts and cultural assets, including organizations, venues, and public art.
The survey will be open until April 30, 2023. To participate, visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/NSMSL2B
A Spanish language version of the survey is available at www.surveymonkey.com/r/YJHCQDH
¿Cuál es el futuro del panorama artístico y cultural del Condado de Contra Costa? Como parte de los esfuerzos del Condado para desarrollar un Plan Estratégico de Arte y Cultura, una encuesta estará disponible para los residentes durante el mes de Abril para recopilar comentarios de la comunidad.
El Condado ha contratado a Arts Orange County como Gerente de Proyecto para dirigir el proceso de planificación de las artes y la cultura. El objetivo es guiar un esfuerzo de planificación artística y cultural a través de un proceso inclusivo de participación comunitaria que reconozca y respete la diversidad geográfica y demográfica del Condado. El proceso también incluyeun inventario de los bienes artísticos y culturales del Condado, incluidas organizaciones, lugares y arte público.
La encuesta estará abierta hasta el 30 de Abril de 2023. Para participar, visite www.surveymonkey.com/r/NSMSL2B Una versión en Español de la encuesta está disponible en www.surveymonkey.com/r/YJHCQDH
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By Joe Guzzardi, Project for Immigration Reform
Within less than 72-hours, President Joe Biden bailed out the Silicon Valley Bank and the equally insolvent Signature Bank. The banks’ abrupt failures caused a withdrawal rush on other banks across the nation that Social Science Research Network analysts fear could force nearly 200 depositories to shut their doors. Even insured depositors – those with $250,000 or less in the bank – could have problems withdrawing their cash if these institutions faced the same run-on cash that Silicon Valley experienced a week ago.
The hastily contrived plan included providing SVB’s depositors with access to all their funds, effectively averting painful financial uncertainty and the threat of heavy losses for thousands of venture-backed startups. Signature Bank, which had followed SVB into insolvency, received the same guarantee.
More important, the Federal Reserve will provide a massive lifeline to the nation’s banks that would assure that similarly reckless lenders have access to funds that would keep them afloat and, hopefully, subdue any growing nationwide panic. Biden has since called for Congress to impose stiff penalties on executives at mid-sized banks whose ineptitude leads to bank collapse.
In short, the administration’s bailout plan handed SVB a blank check to cover all its depositors who not coincidentally are mainly Bay Area venture capitalists, Biden’s donor and voter base. All accounts are now covered with FDIC insurance, even those above the $250,000 limit. S&P Global, which provides intelligence and assessments to worldwide corporations, found that tech companies had $151.6 billion in uninsured deposits at SVB, or 93.9 percent of the company’s total holdings.
The SVB fallout has been headlines since Day One; the story is evolving. But, behind the scenes, the Biden administration is working feverishly to grant more favors to his tech pals. The tech industry, led by Lyft, Meta, Twitter and Amazon, has fired at least 150,000 workers. Among those laid off were foreign workers in the U.S. on temporary H-1B visas. The visa allows for a grace period of up to 60 days for those laid off to find another employer sponsor or they must return home. Before coming to the U.S., each H-1B visa employee knew and agreed to the guidelines which included the possibility that, if laid off and unable to find another job, they would have to leave.
Suddenly, however, the H-1B visa’s reasonable conditions are unfair and unacceptable. Led by Biden’s 25-member Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, lobbying to extend the job search period from 60 to 180 days has intensified. The Immigration and Citizenship Status Subcommittee’s final recommendations included not only extending the 60-day time allotment, but also granting the foreign nationals employment authorization documents (EAD), and travel permits to those who have approved I-40 employment documents in the E-1, E-2 and E-3 categories, and have waited in the immigrant visa backlog for five years, regardless of whether they’re able to file for adjustment of status applications.
To have meaning, immigration laws must be adhered to, enforced and not changed to satisfy the whims of special interests. Distributing EADs, mostly to Indians, before green cards become available would incentivize more foreign nationals to flood the immigration sponsorship program and increase the years-long backlog.
The tech layoff – with more to come – should provide employment opportunities for U.S. workers, displaced or denied opportunities for more than three decades since Congress created the H-1B visa in the Immigration Act of 1990. Instead, U.S. tech jobseekers will have to compete with the recent 85,000 H-1B visa winners in the just-completed 2023 lottery, and the recipients of the administration’s pending green card giveaway largess.
Consistent with its open border policy that puts migrants first, the Biden administration ignores U.S. tech workers’ needs and protects legally deportable aliens even though settled immigration law calls for their removal.
Big tech’s insistence that it needs an ever-higher H-1B total has always been suspect. But this year, with massive industry layoffs, the lottery should have been canceled. Furthermore, circumventing immigration laws to create more loopholes for fired H-1Bs, as the expansion lobby is doing, is indefensible.
ABOUT JOE GUZZARDI
Joe Guzzardi is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist who writes about immigration and related social issues. Joe joined Project for Immigration Reform in 2018 as an analyst after a ten-year career directing media relations for Californians for Population Stabilization, where he also was a Senior Writing Fellow. A native Californian, Joe now lives in Pennsylvania.
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Hit-and-run suspect Ralph White III. Source: KTVU
Being held on $1.32 million bail
By Ted Asregadoo, PIO, Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office
Murder charges are part of a six-count felony complaint filed today by the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office against 20-year-old Ralph Ellsworth White, III of Vallejo (born Feb. 11, 2003). The charges stem from a short high-speed police pursuit that resulted in a vehicle collision that took the life of a mother and son in Rodeo. (See related article)
The incident occurred on March 23rd around 7:30 pm when Hercules Police were notified by the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office of a stolen Mazda SUV traveling eastbound on I-80 toward the City of Hercules. A peace officer with Hercules Police saw the stolen vehicle exit Willow Avenue and attempted to pull the vehicle over. White accelerated the SUV away from the police vehicle, and shortly after, collided with another vehicle near Parker Avenue and 4th Street in Rodeo. White fled from the crash on foot, but officers found him at a nearby liquor store. He was placed under arrest and booked into the Martinez Detention Facility in Martinez.
The impact of the collision killed the driver of the vehicle, 31-year-old Ryniqueka Dowell, and injured her six-year-old twin sons – one of whom died on March 27th from crash-related injuries. The other boy suffered a broken leg and other injuries.
According to the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, White is being held on $1.32 million bail in the Martinez Detention Facility, as of Tuesday, March 28, 2023.
White will be arraigned on March 29th at 1:30 pm in Martinez on the following charges: Two counts of murder with two enhancements for committing the offenses while on bail. White also faces felonies for fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s vehicle and causing serious bodily injury, a hit and run resulting in the death or injury to another person, carrying a loaded unregistered firearm, and receiving stolen property (i.e., a motor vehicle).
Case No. 02-23-00447 | The People of the State of California v. White, Ralph Ellsworth, III
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
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After April 3 state order expires
Staff in local skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) will be required to continue wearing masks under a new Contra Costa County health order.
The order, which requires masks to be well-fitted and cover the nose and mouth, will also apply to paramedics, emergency medical technicians, contractors and vendors when they enter these facilities in Contra Costa. The masking order will not apply to SNF patients or visitors seeing their loved ones.
The County’s health order will go into effect on Monday, April 3, immediately after the state’s COVID masking order for healthcare settings expires.
“Requiring staff at SNFs to wear well-fitting masks will help protect their vulnerable elderly patients from being infected with COVID,” said Dr. Ori Tzvieli, the County’s health officer, who is issuing the order. “We know from our experience during the pandemic that the people SNFs serve – seniors with serious underlying health problems – are the ones who are most susceptible to severe outcomes from a COVID infection.”
Since the pandemic began in 2020, 57% of the deaths from COVID in Contra Costa have been among people ages 75 and older.
There are 30 SNFs in Contra Costa. Skilled nursing facilities provide a higher level of medical care than other long-term care facilities. The order will not apply to assisted living facilities, residential-care facilities or board-and-care homes, although masking is still highly recommended in those settings.
Hospitals and outpatient healthcare clinics in Contra Costa County will not be subject to the new County order, although local health systems can choose to enforce their own masking policies. Dr. Tzvieli said hospitals have robust infection-control policies and personnel and can determine if and when masking is required.
California’s pandemic-related health emergency ended on Feb. 28. While the state is lifting its masking requirements for healthcare settings on April 3, local health officials can still issue their own masking orders.
Under the County health order, a well-fitted mask is defined as covering the nose and mouth and it’s strongly recommended that SNF personnel use higher-quality masks, such as an N95 or KN95/94, to provide the maximum protection.
County health staff were asked why the order is still necessary when there has been less than a 1% infection rate in the county in the past 60 days and according to a physician at John Muir Medical Center Concord, the latest COVID strain is treated like a bad cold and they no longer hospitalize for it.
UPDATE: According to Contra Costa Health spokesman Will Harper, “The new local order is narrowly focused on skilled nursing facilities and not any other settings. We are focusing on SNFs in this order because they are where we have seen some of the worst impacts of COVID in Contra Costa County, and we are being cautious with removing one of the last major layers of protection in this setting. As we said in the press release, requiring staff in skilled nursing facilities to wear masks will help protect the vulnerable elderly patients they serve.
From March 2020 to August 2022, deaths of residents of skilled nursing facilities accounted for approximately 27% of all deaths from COVID in the County and, looking more broadly, since the start of the pandemic, 57% of the deaths from COVID in Contra Costa have been among people ages 75 and older.”
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
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2022 champion Nick DeCarlo #17 and runner-up Kellen Chadwick #83 had an intense IMCA Modified battle last season. Photo by Katrina Kniss
By Candice Martin, DCRR Racing Media
There’s no doubt this has been a wetter winter than we’ve had in recent years. The Contra Costa Event Center (county fairgrounds) has received so much rain that it was flooded in areas this year, and Antioch Speedway was under water throughout much of January and February. This has left the crew scrambling to get things ready.
With pumps removing the water from the racing surface, there has been optimism of getting races going in recent weeks. However, steady rainfall has put an end to that. This Saturday night, the 63rd season of auto racing is set to begin with an action-packed card.
The Trifecta of IMCA, Modifieds, Sport Modifieds and Stock Cars, will be competing along with the Pacific Coast General Engineering Hobby Stocks, Super Stocks and the WMR Miidgets.
Though there is rain forecast for early in the week, there is optimism that this week will indeed happen. The season opener is always an exciting time at the race track. Drivers show up with new bodies on their cars or even brand new race cars. The point standings have been wiped clean, and it’s a fresh new start. Anybody can make their move.
Last season saw a spirited duel between Kellen Chadwick of Oakley and Nick DeCarlo of Martinez go down to the final IMCA Modified race with both of them still tied in the end. DeCarlo ended up with his second Antioch championship due to the fact that he had four Main Event wins, while Chadwick had three.
The consistent Bobby Motts Jr of San Pablo ended up third. A competitive field that will include a few past champions is anticipated on Saturday.
Three-time IMCA Sport Modified champion Fred Ryland #7j managed to hold off #15p Andrew Pearce in a thrilling battle last year. Photo by Katrina Kniss
Nobody has won more races in the IMCA Sport Modifieds then Fred Ryland of Brentwood, but the three-time champion needed four wins to hold off young star Andrew Pearce of Oakley for the championship last season.
Another rising star, Jacob Mallet Jr of Oakley, ended up third in the standings and also won the IMCA State crown. This year will be interesting with the return of another three-time champion, Trevor Clymens of Brentwood.
The exciting new IMCA Stock Car division continues to grow by leaps and bounds. This division offers a different yet very exciting style of racing compared to the Modified classes, and drivers are still getting used to these cars.
Past Dwarf Car and Mini Truck champion Travis Dutra of Concord notched his second-straight division championship after a season-long battle with Rio Vista’s Jason Robles. Top rookie Jason Jennings of Pittsburg ended up third in the rundown. New drivers are anticipated this year.
No division offered a bigger car count per week then the Pacific Coast General Engineering Hobby Stocks last season. It was a year of the ladies with Misty Welborn of Castro Valley finishing first, Michaela Taylor of Oakley ending up second, Taylor DeCarlo of Martinez fourth and Jewell Crandall of Antioch fifth. Several drivers have just gotten started in this class in recent years and are getting better with every turn behind the wheel.
Super Stocks have been at the speedway for over 20 years, and Danville’s Jim Freethy won the championship last year over Brentwood’s Joey Ridgeway and Concord’s Jimmy Robbins.
Travis Dutra #22 is the only IMCA Stock Car champion after two seasons, but Jason Robles #78 is hoping to improve on his runner-up status of last year. Photo by Katrina Kniss
Car count is expected to increase a little bit this year. Among the several big events lined up at the track this year will be the Larry Damitz Memorial race on May 13th, featuring the Tri State Challenge Pro Stocks.
Midget racing has been a big deal in California for over 70 years, but the Ecotec motor program introduced by the WMR Miidgets is bringing new blood into the class. They are a division that is in high demand and competes at several venues on the West Coast.
Antioch is looking forward to hosting this coming race, which could have a field of a dozen or more cars. Two of the champions on the tour in recent years are Blake Bower of Brentwood and David Prickett of Fresno.
We’ve definitely needed the rain in California, but now racing fans need a little bit of dry weather. It’s time to go racing, and Speedway Management is optimistic that this week will be the time for it to finally happen.
Once we unleash the beasts, we’ll have racing pretty much regularly all the way through the last weekend of October with a few events lined up in November. Special Sprint Car touring races and big events like the Bill Bowers and Hetrick Modified races are highlights of what should be an action-packed season.
The gates will open at 4:00 with the first race starting at 6:00.
Adult tickets are $20, Senior/Military $15, Kids (5-12) $15 and kids five and under free.
For further information, go to www.antiochspeedway.com or check out the Antioch Speedway by PROmotions Facebook page.
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By CHP – Contra Costa
This morning, Thursday, March 30, 2023, at about 3:32am, Contra Costa CHP was advised of a vehicle vs. pedestrian crash on Hwy 4 eastbound on the Lone Tree Way on-ramp in Brentwood. At the time of the crash, a pedestrian was within the roadway of the on-ramp. A Toyota Camry traveling on the on-ramp was unable to avoid the pedestrian and struck them. The pedestrian was pronounced deceased at the scene and the driver of the Toyota was not injured.
UPDATE: The Contra Costa County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as Brian Posch, age 50-year-old transient.
This crash is still under investigation. If you have additional information you believe would assist in the investigation please contact CHP Contra Costa in Martinez, (925) 646-4980
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Mayor Thorpe to hold news conference Thursday morning; two other council members unaware of matter
By Allen D. Payton
According to an East Bay Times report, eight more Antioch Police officers have been placed on leave and are under investigation for sending each other racist and homophobic texts in violation of department policies. Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe has called a press conference for Thursday morning at 11 a.m. to speak on the matter.
The officers on leave are in addition to eight other officers also on leave while under investigation by the FBI and Contra Costa DA’s office. (See related article)
Questions were emailed to Thorpe, Acting City Manager Forrest Ebbs, City Attorney Thomas L. Smith, Police Chief Steve Ford and the police department’s spokespeople, Lt. Michael Mellone and PIO Ashley Crandell asking to verify the information in the article and for the time and location of the press conference.
Ebbs responded, “The City of Antioch is investigating allegations revealed by information received against a number of Antioch Police Officers. The City has placed the officers on administrative leave pending the investigation of allegations. Given that this is a confidential personnel matter, no further information can be disclosed at this time.”
Thorpe confirmed the time of the press conference, said it will be held at City Hall and that the information reported in the article didn’t come from him.
Councilmembers Mike Barbanica and Lori Ogorchock said they weren’t aware of the matter before being informed by this reporter. “First I’ve heard or seen” of it, Ogorchock responded.
“I sure did not,” Barbanica responded when asked if he had heard about the matter. He then called Ebbs. Barbanica said Ebbs told him he had briefed Thorpe on the matter, just not the rest of the council.
“I told the acting city manager, we are a General Law City not a Charter City and if one council member was made aware, the entire council should have been made aware. For the mayor to be briefed and not the rest of the city council, this is unacceptable,” said Barbanica. “I asked him why I wasn’t made aware of this and why wasn’t the rest of the council made aware, and why did I have to learn of this from the media.”
The District 2 councilman said Ebbs told him Thursday morning, “in a very short period of time he was going to get communication out to the rest of the city council.” That was expected to be received by 10 a.m. prior to the press conference. “I’m waiting for the details to come out before making any additional comment,” Barbanica added. But he said he had an appointment in San Francisco at the time and couldn’t attend the press conference. “Had I been briefed about it, yesterday, I could have rearranged my schedule.”
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Our Neighborhood Voices, a growing statewide coalition of communities, claims the bill is a permanent extension of SB 35, gives developers unlimited ability to develop nearly anything, anywhere in California
California lawmakers recently introduced legislation that would permanently strip local communities of nearly all important land use decisions. While the legislation – SB 423 – is touted as a tool to solve our affordable housing crisis, local elected leaders say that the legislation undermines local democracy by removing the ability of communities to plan and prepare for what is built in their neighborhoods. It also can accelerate damaging ‘Builders Remedy’ projects across the state that see massive projects built in residential neighborhoods without adequate planning for water, schools, transit, safety fire danger and other priorities.
SB 423 also removes vital protections in our Coastal Zones – something no other housing bill has dared to do. Californians have consistently supported protecting our coasts – this bill removes many of those protections forever.
“I was hoping SB 423 might be a tool to help us solve our affordable housing crisis, but it is not,” said Susan Candell, Lafayette City Councilmember. “Instead, it is the state’s final end game to undermine local democracy in cities and counties, and unleash unlimited development, including the ‘Builders Remedy,’ even in our treasured coastal zones.”
SB 423 can potentially release the ‘Builders Remedy’ where developers can just about build anything, anywhere. SB 423 is a permanent extension of SB 35 – a 2018 law that forces local governments to approve certain developments under a streamlined process if they fail to build, not just approve, but build enough housing to meet their Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) numbers. Complex interactions with many other bills lead cities again to be subject to the ‘Builders Remedy’ in 2025 for Southern California and 2027 in Northern California.
The RHNA numbers – which are set every eight years – “laid out impossible goals this cycle,” explains Jovita Mendoza, Brentwood City Councilmember. “Virtually no cities or counties will be able to meet their RHNA numbers. Cities and counties are now set up to fail, and as a result, local governments will lose their ability to have a say about what gets built in our communities. Instead, under SB 423, that approval process will be turned over to developers permanently.”
Coastal zones have been protected from profit-driven overdevelopment since the passage of the California Coastal Act of 1976. This new proposed legislation would virtually undo decades of work to protect California’s coastlines.
“Now local oversight, those who are the stewards of the coastal zone, is removed. Instead, those decisions are handed over to developers and their allies in Sacramento. We all know we need affordable housing in every part of California, but this bill drastically reduces the required affordable units,” said Redondo Beach City Councilmember Nils Nehrenheim.
Our Neighborhood Voices is a non-partisan coalition of residents and elected officials from every corner of California who believe that land use decisions should be determined by local communities and their elected leaders – not one-size-fits-all laws from Sacramento and for-profit developers.
To get these important questions in front of voters, Our Neighborhood Voices is organizing to qualify a citizen-led ballot initiative that would protect the ability of local communities to adopt laws that shape local growth, preserve the character of neighborhoods, and require developers to produce more affordable housing and contribute to the costs associated with it.
Read MoreJessica Russo was arrested by Pittsburg Police in Antioch on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Photos of scene by Allen D. Payton. Gregory Rossignon is still wanted for the March 22 murder.
Following hours-long stand-off outside home male suspect still wanted; his father says female suspect pregnant with male suspect’s child
By Allen D. Payton
Shortly after 2:00 pm Wednesday, March 29, 2023, the Pittsburg Police Department’s Special Response Unit served a search warrant at a residence in the 2000 block of D Street in the city of Antioch for two suspects wanted for murder of a Pittsburg convenience store clerk on March 22. During the service of the warrant, Jessica Russo was located and arrested. She was booked and taken to the Martinez Detention Facility.
Pittsburg Police officers near the house on D and W. Madill Streets in Antioch. Members of the Pittsburg Special Response Unit with the department’s Bearcat armored vehicle.
After a methodical and exhaustive search of the residence was conducted, Gregory Rossignon remains outstanding and still wanted for murder. During the search officers approached the house and several times, broke windows, dropped a phone with a phone line into the house, called out on the loudspeaker for Rossignon to pick up the phone and dial a number to speak to police. The officers flew drones inside and outside and deployed four rounds of a chemical agent believed to be tear gas inside the home. After the second round of gas another woman emerged from the residence about 5:53 p.m. and was detained, placed in handcuffs and escorted from the scene.
Pittsburg officers at front door breaking out windows, tear gas smoke emerged from the house’s attic, and a second woman was detained.
About 7:35 p.m., Rossignon’s father, who identified himself as Gregory, Sr., arrived on the scene and asked to speak to his son “so everyone comes out of this alive”. He referred to Russo as his daughter. When shown a photo of Russo and asked if she was who he was referring to, Rossignon, Sr. said, “yes, I call her my daughter. She’s pregnant with my son’s child…my grandchild.” He told police, “I’ll strip down if you need me to and walk in there to talk to my son.” Later, a woman drove up to the scene and told officers she was the suspect’s mother. Officers took both parents to an area on Lawton Street where they waited but did not speak to their son.
A drone was sent into the house through windows police had broken out. Gregory Rossignon, Sr., the suspect’s father, arrived on the scene offering to speak to his son.
At about 9:15 p.m., an officer said he expected to wrap things up shortly, but that they had not had any contact with the suspect nor could confirm that anyone was still in the house.
The Pittsburg Police would like to thank the Antioch residents who live in this area for their patience during the service of the warrant. Several residents were escorted by police to their homes on D Street. But one mother and daughter who live next door to the house had to find somewhere else to stay for the night. Although offered to stay at a Pittsburg motel by one of the officers, they chose to stay with friends. The woman said she expected to return to her home Thursday morning.
The Pittsburg Police Department is asking anyone with information related to Gregory Rossingnon’s whereabouts to contact the local police. We are also asking anyone with information contact Detective Jonathan Elmore at 925-252-4875 or the Pittsburg Police Department Tip Line at 925-252-4040.
See more photos and video at facebook.com/antiochheraldca.
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
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Arrested for sex crimes against minors in Contra Costa
By Ted Asregadoo, PIO, Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office
As the seven-count felony case against Christopher George Miller continues in Superior Court in Martinez, the investigative team who arrested him in a sting operation for arranging to engage in sex acts with a minor are asking the public for help.
The investigation into Miller started in 2022 when he was employed at Deer Valley High School in Antioch as a campus supervisor. A parent of a student reported to school officials that Miller was sending inappropriate texts to the student regarding marijuana use at the school, as well as sexually suggestive messages. (See related article)
The Contra Costa County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) adopted the case about three weeks ago to see if Miller (who was then a former employee at the high school) would sell marijuana and arrange to meet for sex. Posing as a 13-year-old girl on a chat app Miller used, a Detective with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office started communicating with him. At one point while exchanging texts, Miller offered to sell the fictitious teen marijuana — and later the chats became more sexual in nature.
Miller arranged to meet the teen for sex at a park in Martinez on March 16th, 2023. Participating ICAC members from the Sheriff’s Office, Concord Police, Danville Police, Pittsburg Police, and the District Attorney’s Office met him at the park and arrested Miller on marijuana possession with the intent to sell to a minor and other charges related to contacting and arranging to engage in lewd and lascivious acts with a minor. He was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility and arraigned on a total of seven felony charges on March 21st. His preliminary hearing is set for April 3rd at 8:30 am in Department 25 in Martinez.
According to the charging document filed on March 20 by the CCDA’s Office, Miller was charged with seven felonies, including P0288.3(a), Contact with Minor for Sexual Offense on or about June 14, 2022; PC288.4(b), Meeting Minor for Lewd Purposes between March 10 and 16, 2023; PC288.3(a), Contact with Minor for Sexual Offense on or between March 10 and 16, 2023; PC288.2(a)(2), Distributing Or Showing Pornography To A Minor on or about March 14, 2023; PC288.2(a)(2), Distributing Or Showing Pornography To A Minor on or about March 15, 2023; PC 664/PC288(a), Attempted Lewd Act Upon A Child on or about March 16, 2023; PC 664/HS11360(a), Attempted Sale/Offer To Sell/Transportation Of Marijuana on or about March 16, 2023.
ICAC Senior Inspector Darryl Holcombe notes that Miller may have been in contact with other victims. He’s asking the public to email him at the District Attorney’s Office if they have information related to Miller’s case. He can be reached at: DHolcombe@contracostada.org.
Case No. 01-23-00820 | The People of the State of California v. Miller, Christopher George
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
Read MoreEl Condado de Contra Costa Examina a la Comunidad para Planificación de las Artes y la Cultura
By Kristi Jourdan, Office of Communications & Media
What is the future of Contra Costa County’s arts and cultural landscape? As part of the County’s efforts to develop an Arts and Culture Strategic Plan, a survey will be available to residents during the month of April to gather community feedback.
The County has contracted with Arts Orange County as Project Manager to lead the arts and culture planning process. The goal is to guide an arts and cultural planning effort through an inclusive community engagement process that recognizes and respects the geographic and demographic diversity of the County. The process also includes an inventory of the County’s arts and cultural assets, including organizations, venues, and public art.
The survey will be open until April 30, 2023. To participate, visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/NSMSL2B
A Spanish language version of the survey is available at www.surveymonkey.com/r/YJHCQDH
¿Cuál es el futuro del panorama artístico y cultural del Condado de Contra Costa? Como parte de los esfuerzos del Condado para desarrollar un Plan Estratégico de Arte y Cultura, una encuesta estará disponible para los residentes durante el mes de Abril para recopilar comentarios de la comunidad.
El Condado ha contratado a Arts Orange County como Gerente de Proyecto para dirigir el proceso de planificación de las artes y la cultura. El objetivo es guiar un esfuerzo de planificación artística y cultural a través de un proceso inclusivo de participación comunitaria que reconozca y respete la diversidad geográfica y demográfica del Condado. El proceso también incluyeun inventario de los bienes artísticos y culturales del Condado, incluidas organizaciones, lugares y arte público.
La encuesta estará abierta hasta el 30 de Abril de 2023. Para participar, visite www.surveymonkey.com/r/NSMSL2B Una versión en Español de la encuesta está disponible en www.surveymonkey.com/r/YJHCQDH
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By Joe Guzzardi, Project for Immigration Reform
Within less than 72-hours, President Joe Biden bailed out the Silicon Valley Bank and the equally insolvent Signature Bank. The banks’ abrupt failures caused a withdrawal rush on other banks across the nation that Social Science Research Network analysts fear could force nearly 200 depositories to shut their doors. Even insured depositors – those with $250,000 or less in the bank – could have problems withdrawing their cash if these institutions faced the same run-on cash that Silicon Valley experienced a week ago.
The hastily contrived plan included providing SVB’s depositors with access to all their funds, effectively averting painful financial uncertainty and the threat of heavy losses for thousands of venture-backed startups. Signature Bank, which had followed SVB into insolvency, received the same guarantee.
More important, the Federal Reserve will provide a massive lifeline to the nation’s banks that would assure that similarly reckless lenders have access to funds that would keep them afloat and, hopefully, subdue any growing nationwide panic. Biden has since called for Congress to impose stiff penalties on executives at mid-sized banks whose ineptitude leads to bank collapse.
In short, the administration’s bailout plan handed SVB a blank check to cover all its depositors who not coincidentally are mainly Bay Area venture capitalists, Biden’s donor and voter base. All accounts are now covered with FDIC insurance, even those above the $250,000 limit. S&P Global, which provides intelligence and assessments to worldwide corporations, found that tech companies had $151.6 billion in uninsured deposits at SVB, or 93.9 percent of the company’s total holdings.
The SVB fallout has been headlines since Day One; the story is evolving. But, behind the scenes, the Biden administration is working feverishly to grant more favors to his tech pals. The tech industry, led by Lyft, Meta, Twitter and Amazon, has fired at least 150,000 workers. Among those laid off were foreign workers in the U.S. on temporary H-1B visas. The visa allows for a grace period of up to 60 days for those laid off to find another employer sponsor or they must return home. Before coming to the U.S., each H-1B visa employee knew and agreed to the guidelines which included the possibility that, if laid off and unable to find another job, they would have to leave.
Suddenly, however, the H-1B visa’s reasonable conditions are unfair and unacceptable. Led by Biden’s 25-member Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, lobbying to extend the job search period from 60 to 180 days has intensified. The Immigration and Citizenship Status Subcommittee’s final recommendations included not only extending the 60-day time allotment, but also granting the foreign nationals employment authorization documents (EAD), and travel permits to those who have approved I-40 employment documents in the E-1, E-2 and E-3 categories, and have waited in the immigrant visa backlog for five years, regardless of whether they’re able to file for adjustment of status applications.
To have meaning, immigration laws must be adhered to, enforced and not changed to satisfy the whims of special interests. Distributing EADs, mostly to Indians, before green cards become available would incentivize more foreign nationals to flood the immigration sponsorship program and increase the years-long backlog.
The tech layoff – with more to come – should provide employment opportunities for U.S. workers, displaced or denied opportunities for more than three decades since Congress created the H-1B visa in the Immigration Act of 1990. Instead, U.S. tech jobseekers will have to compete with the recent 85,000 H-1B visa winners in the just-completed 2023 lottery, and the recipients of the administration’s pending green card giveaway largess.
Consistent with its open border policy that puts migrants first, the Biden administration ignores U.S. tech workers’ needs and protects legally deportable aliens even though settled immigration law calls for their removal.
Big tech’s insistence that it needs an ever-higher H-1B total has always been suspect. But this year, with massive industry layoffs, the lottery should have been canceled. Furthermore, circumventing immigration laws to create more loopholes for fired H-1Bs, as the expansion lobby is doing, is indefensible.
ABOUT JOE GUZZARDI
Joe Guzzardi is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist who writes about immigration and related social issues. Joe joined Project for Immigration Reform in 2018 as an analyst after a ten-year career directing media relations for Californians for Population Stabilization, where he also was a Senior Writing Fellow. A native Californian, Joe now lives in Pennsylvania.
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Hit-and-run suspect Ralph White III. Source: KTVU
Being held on $1.32 million bail
By Ted Asregadoo, PIO, Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office
Murder charges are part of a six-count felony complaint filed today by the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office against 20-year-old Ralph Ellsworth White, III of Vallejo (born Feb. 11, 2003). The charges stem from a short high-speed police pursuit that resulted in a vehicle collision that took the life of a mother and son in Rodeo. (See related article)
The incident occurred on March 23rd around 7:30 pm when Hercules Police were notified by the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office of a stolen Mazda SUV traveling eastbound on I-80 toward the City of Hercules. A peace officer with Hercules Police saw the stolen vehicle exit Willow Avenue and attempted to pull the vehicle over. White accelerated the SUV away from the police vehicle, and shortly after, collided with another vehicle near Parker Avenue and 4th Street in Rodeo. White fled from the crash on foot, but officers found him at a nearby liquor store. He was placed under arrest and booked into the Martinez Detention Facility in Martinez.
The impact of the collision killed the driver of the vehicle, 31-year-old Ryniqueka Dowell, and injured her six-year-old twin sons – one of whom died on March 27th from crash-related injuries. The other boy suffered a broken leg and other injuries.
According to the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, White is being held on $1.32 million bail in the Martinez Detention Facility, as of Tuesday, March 28, 2023.
White will be arraigned on March 29th at 1:30 pm in Martinez on the following charges: Two counts of murder with two enhancements for committing the offenses while on bail. White also faces felonies for fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s vehicle and causing serious bodily injury, a hit and run resulting in the death or injury to another person, carrying a loaded unregistered firearm, and receiving stolen property (i.e., a motor vehicle).
Case No. 02-23-00447 | The People of the State of California v. White, Ralph Ellsworth, III
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
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After April 3 state order expires
Staff in local skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) will be required to continue wearing masks under a new Contra Costa County health order.
The order, which requires masks to be well-fitted and cover the nose and mouth, will also apply to paramedics, emergency medical technicians, contractors and vendors when they enter these facilities in Contra Costa. The masking order will not apply to SNF patients or visitors seeing their loved ones.
The County’s health order will go into effect on Monday, April 3, immediately after the state’s COVID masking order for healthcare settings expires.
“Requiring staff at SNFs to wear well-fitting masks will help protect their vulnerable elderly patients from being infected with COVID,” said Dr. Ori Tzvieli, the County’s health officer, who is issuing the order. “We know from our experience during the pandemic that the people SNFs serve – seniors with serious underlying health problems – are the ones who are most susceptible to severe outcomes from a COVID infection.”
Since the pandemic began in 2020, 57% of the deaths from COVID in Contra Costa have been among people ages 75 and older.
There are 30 SNFs in Contra Costa. Skilled nursing facilities provide a higher level of medical care than other long-term care facilities. The order will not apply to assisted living facilities, residential-care facilities or board-and-care homes, although masking is still highly recommended in those settings.
Hospitals and outpatient healthcare clinics in Contra Costa County will not be subject to the new County order, although local health systems can choose to enforce their own masking policies. Dr. Tzvieli said hospitals have robust infection-control policies and personnel and can determine if and when masking is required.
California’s pandemic-related health emergency ended on Feb. 28. While the state is lifting its masking requirements for healthcare settings on April 3, local health officials can still issue their own masking orders.
Under the County health order, a well-fitted mask is defined as covering the nose and mouth and it’s strongly recommended that SNF personnel use higher-quality masks, such as an N95 or KN95/94, to provide the maximum protection.
County health staff were asked why the order is still necessary when there has been less than a 1% infection rate in the county in the past 60 days and according to a physician at John Muir Medical Center Concord, the latest COVID strain is treated like a bad cold and they no longer hospitalize for it.
UPDATE: According to Contra Costa Health spokesman Will Harper, “The new local order is narrowly focused on skilled nursing facilities and not any other settings. We are focusing on SNFs in this order because they are where we have seen some of the worst impacts of COVID in Contra Costa County, and we are being cautious with removing one of the last major layers of protection in this setting. As we said in the press release, requiring staff in skilled nursing facilities to wear masks will help protect the vulnerable elderly patients they serve.
From March 2020 to August 2022, deaths of residents of skilled nursing facilities accounted for approximately 27% of all deaths from COVID in the County and, looking more broadly, since the start of the pandemic, 57% of the deaths from COVID in Contra Costa have been among people ages 75 and older.”
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
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