All good things come at a price, and when they're as meticulous, wonderful and small as the Astolat Dollhouse Castle, they should. The astonishing vision, meticulous preparation and incredible items (over 10,000) of the 29-room, 800-pound dollhouse justify the hefty $8.5 million price tag. The seven-level masterpiece was created by artist Elaine Diehl around 1980 and unveiled in 2015. It took no less than 13 years to complete and was estimated at the time to be worth over $2,000 per square inch.

Image – Astolat Dollhouse Castle
That makes this 9-foot-tall dollhouse castle more expensive than a fully furnished 4-bedroom, 6-bathroom, 4,000-square-foot home in San Francisco, and that's just how much money you'd have left over to buy a Tesla even after buying the house, according to the Zillow listing.

Image – Astolat Dollhouse Castle
It may not be a livable space, but it's definitely a stunning one. The tiny objects and rooms of the world's most expensive dollhouse will make you feel like you're Alice in Wonderland. What first catches the eye is the historic exterior of a property that takes its name from the castle in “The Lady of Shalott,” a 19th-century ballad by Alfred Lord Tennyson, according to Bloomberg.

The rooms are illuminated by working chandeliers. Image – Astolat Dollhouse Castle
One can't help but marvel at details like fountains, topiary, and a grand arched entrance with ornate columns. And that's just the outside facade. What lies beneath is truly amazing. Details such as armor, a $5,000 silverware set, artwork, paintings and gemstone collections in the extravagant rooms showcase the talent of the carpenters, goldsmiths, glassblowers and silversmiths.

Experienced carpenters and artists have crafted the incredible miniatures. Image – Astolat Dollhouse Castle
Although all rooms are luxuriously appointed with features such as real parquet floors, hand-stitched tapestries, marble bathrooms and gold trim, it is the library that captured my heart.

Image – Astolat Dollhouse Castle
This outstanding area contains tiny books with real printed pages that can be read under a magnifying glass. In the library, one can (if one really tries) find a Bible that is said to be one of the smallest in the world. Notable items kept here include a $2,500 fold-out secretary bookcase and a miniature Hebrew Torah valued at up to $2,500.

Image – Astolat Dollhouse Castle
Expensive items include a miniature grand piano valued at $7,000, a midget Jeep 949 station wagon valued at over $3,300, and a miniature portrait valued at nearly $2,000. It was apparently so small that it had to be painted with a single bristle brush.

Image – Astolat Dollhouse Castle
Of the seven floors containing regular rooms like the main parlor, dining room, bedrooms and butler's quarters etc, the sixth floor was the most exciting with the grand ballroom, musician's alcove, bar area and living rooms. At the very top of the multi-million dollar miniature house was a wizard's tower with fascinating details like astronomical displays and zodiac signs, a telescope and an observatory.

Image – Astolat Dollhouse Castle
These are just a few examples of the dedication and excellence of the 29-room home, which was unveiled to the public in 2015 to benefit the nonprofit organization Autism Speaks and a selection of other children's charities. The exhibition was hosted by the Nassau County Museum of Art. “The castle is so valuable because of its structure,” said Paula Gilhooley, the museum's curator. She added, “Astolat is one of the most beautiful miniature structures in the world and exhibits a rare combination of sculpture, artistry, engineering and detail that sets it apart from anything that has existed before. Astolat is a tremendous feat of construction and when you see it you will be absolutely speechless.” The museum-quality dollhouse was acquired by collector L. Freeman in 1996 and moved to the Nassau County Museum of Art.

The living area of ​​the house for sale in Francisco. Image – Zillow.

The post 13 years within the making, this extremely detailed miniature dollhouse is price greater than a completely furnished 4-bedroom residence in San Francisco. The home has 27 absolutely wired rooms adorned with chandeliers, gold plated chairs, books, oil portray even the bogs have purposeful plumbing. appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Alphabet’s (GOOGL) autonomous driving unit Waymo launched its fully driverless ride-hailing service in San Francisco. The move marks an attempt to catch up to rival Cruise, which opened its fully driverless ride service to the public in the city a month ago after initially rolling it out to its staff.

Similarly, Waymo is also offering fully driverless rides to its employees in San Francisco before opening it up to the public. Waymo’s autonomous taxis have been operating in San Francisco for months in a test program, with a human driver behind the wheel. It is now removing human drivers, so the cars will be moving alone to pick up and drop off riders.

While it is the first time Waymo is offering fully driverless rides in San Francisco, it has been offering the service in parts of Arizona’s capital Phoenix, for a few years. The launch in San Francisco comes as Waymo also prepares to expand the service to more areas in Phoenix.

$39 Billion at Stake in Robotaxi Market

Cruise and Waymo have their sights on the potentially lucrative robotaxi market, whose global size is forecast to exceed $1 billion in 2023 and reach $38.6 billion by 2030. Removing human drivers can enable companies to cut their operating costs, which could lead to a more profitable business.

Cruise is initially offering the public free rides as it awaits a regulatory green light to charge fares. Waymo is already charging customers for taking its fully driverless rides in Phoenix.

Cruise and Waymo are units of Alphabet and General Motors (GM), respectively; however, both have also received funding from outside investors. Waymo is backed by Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Mubadala Investment Company. Meanwhile, Cruise is backed by SoftBank, Honda Motor Company (HMC),Microsoft (MSFT), and Walmart (WMT).

What Does Waymo’s Move Mean for Alphabet’s Stock?

Waymo belongs to Alphabet’s Other Bets division, which houses mostly experimental ventures, such as Verily in health technology and Loon in internet service. Other Bets revenue declined to $181 million in Q4 2022, from $196 million in the same quarter the previous year. But the division’s operating loss increased to $1.45 billion from $1.14 billion a year ago.

Alphabet may be able to reduce its Other Bets losses once Waymo begins to charge customers for its fully driverless rides in San Francisco and expands the service in Phoenix.

Wall Street’s Take

On March 29, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak reiterated a Buy rating on Alphabet stock without assigning it a price target. The analyst cautions that the Russia-Ukraine war could reduce online ad spending.

Consensus among analysts is a Strong Buy based on 30 Buys. The average Alphabet price target stands at $3,490 and implies upside potential of 22% to current levels. Shares have gained 38% over the past year.

stock investors

TipRanks’ Stock Investors tool shows that investor sentiment is currently Very Positive on Alphabet, with 2.6% of portfolios tracked by TipRanks increasing their exposure to GOOGL stock over the past 30 days.

Download the TipRanks mobile app now.

To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.

Read full Disclaimer & Disclosure

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A range of economic indicators for San Francisco points to good news and a strong recovery from the effects of the omicron variant of COVID-19, according to a monthly report by the city controller’s office.

Good news came in the form of data from March on job creation, tourism, housing, office attendance and among other indicators, new business formation.

READ MORE: Coastside Volunteers Make, Sell Tamales to Help Ukraine

But San Francisco’s chief economist Ted Egan was real about the state of the economy.

“I don’t think the good economic news in our March report changes the fact that San Francisco still has a long way to go in its economic recovery. Our job creation, tourism, and housing are all moving in the right direction. But they are still well below where we were before the pandemic, and far behind where comparable cities are.”

The San Francisco metro area added 12,300 jobs in February, more than half of which was in the leisure and hospitality sector, a sector hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployment was at 3 percent, the lowest rate for the pandemic era.

The number of housing units permitted jumped again. San Francisco permitted about 325 units in January, up from fewer than 200 in October and fewer than 50 in November 2020.

READ MORE: Judge Rules Landmark California Corporate Diversity Law Unconstitutional

A few new businesses opened at the beginning of the year in the neighborhood services classification, which includes equipment repair, dry cleaning, and among many other things, pet care services.

Local travel is recovering but residents are still cautious about getting out, according to the controller’s office. Weekly hotel occupancy topped 50 percent in mid-March in San Francisco, only the second time that’s happened since the pandemic began.

But the city is still behind other leading destinations when it comes to hotel revenue recovery.

Office attendance continues to recover sharply since the beginning of the year and from April 2020 when it was below 10 percent.

MORE NEWS: Mountain View Police Investigate Death of Los Altos High Student as Possible Fentanyl Overdose

© Copyright 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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• The company is initially limiting the rides to its employees before opening up to the public.
• Waymo’s autonomous vehicles have been operating in San Francisco, but with safety specialists in the driver’s seat.
• The company first began offering autonomous rides in Arizona in 2017.

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Google’s self-driving startup Waymo has begun operating fully driverless rides in San Francisco, the company announced on Wednesday.

The company said that the service is just for its employees at the moment, but it hopes to open the service to the general public soon. The company’s vehicles have been operating in the city for years, but with safety specialists in the driver’s seat.

“This morning in San Francisco, a fully autonomous all-electric Jaguar I-PACE, with no human driver behind the wheel, picked up a Waymo engineer to get their morning coffee and go to work,” the company said on their website.

The company first began offering autonomous rides in the East Valley are of Phoenix, Arizona in 2017. It went fully driverless there in 2020 when Waymo took human safety drivers out of the vehicles.

In addition to San Francisco, the company will now expand its fully automated services to downtown Phoenix, the company said, again initially with company employees before opening up to the general public.

“We’re particularly excited about this next phase of our journey as we officially bring our rider-only technology to San Francisco — the city many of us at Waymo call home,” Waymo Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said in the announcement.

San Francisco has been the location of a number of automated vehicle trials, with California officials allowing a record number of them in 2021. Collisions involving autonomous vehicles also increased sharply that year as a result.

The post Waymo Is Bringing Its Absolutely Driverless Rides to San Francisco appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Waymo is beginning to operate electric Jaguar I-PACE SUVs in San Francisco with no human safety driver at the wheel.

Waymo

Waymo, the first self-driving company to launch a US robotaxi service, said it’s shifting to fully autonomous vehicle operation in San Francisco and expanding the service area where its Arizona robotaxi fleet operates into downtown Phoenix.

The Alphabet Inc. unit, which began testing Jaguar I-PACE electric SUVs loaded up with cameras, laser lidar sensors, radar and computers in San Francisco in 2020, said it’s operating some of those vehicles without a human backup driver behind the wheel. For now, they’ll only be hauling Waymo employees, rather than paying customers. Cruise, backed by General Motors, is starting to offer paid autonomous rides to commuters in San Francisco, although Waymo claims it’s the first company to have robotaxi services in more than one location.

“We’re particularly excited about this next phase of our journey as we officially bring our rider-only technology to San Francisco—the city many of us at Waymo call home,” co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said in a blog post. “We ‘ve learned so much from our San Francisco Trusted Testers over the last six months, not to mention the innumerable lessons from our riders in the years since launching our fully autonomous service in the East Valley of Phoenix. Both of which have directly impacted how we bring forward our service as we welcome our first employee riders in SF.”

The arrival of autonomous ride services in a dense, urban environment like San Francisco is a big accomplishment for a technology that’s proven to be more complex and challenging to perfect than anticipated a few years ago, despite billions of dollars of investment and, in Waymo’s case , more than a decade of R&D. Along with Cruise, Amazon’s Zoox unit is also preparing to launch a San Francisco-based robotic ride service. Competitors including Argo AI, backed by Ford and Volkswagen, and Motional, supported by Hyundai Motor and Aptiv, have plans for their own autonomous ride services in Miami and Las Vegas, respectively.

In addition to its robotaxi program, Waymo is starting to deploy autonomous semi-trucks, initially in Texas, and has been lining up customers and truck builders for what some analysts think could be a compelling business owing to rising demand for freight and a shortage of long-haul truck drivers.

Waymo began giving test rides in autonomous minivans in suburban Phoenix in 2017, and introduced fully autonomous rides in 2020, limiting the service area to East Valley communities including Chandler and Tempe. The company is planning to make the service available in downtown Phoenix as well though just like in San Francisco, initially, only Waymo employees will be getting rides in that part of the city.

“It’s not a matter of validating your technology for certain streets, but deploying a confident Waymo Driver that is prepared to handle what could happen on that type of street anywhere,” Dmitri Dolgov, also Waymo co-CEO, said in the post. ” Just as our learnings from Phoenix’s East Valley transferred to San Francisco, our learnings from San Francisco are already informing our progress in downtown Phoenix.”

Though it’s been generating revenue for a few years, Waymo hasn’t yet disclosed that information or said when it expects to become profitable.

The post Waymo Begins Totally Autonomous Assessments In San Francisco, Increasing Arizona Robotaxi Zone appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

In retrospect, Kalkine Equities LLC will publish its “Global Fully Charged” or “Battery” report in the United States. The report aims to provide insight into several high quality battery storage companies. The electric vehicle sector offers some earnings potential; and with the evolving focus on the climate crisis, recent automakers’ announcements to go fully electric by 2030-2035, and overwhelming policy commitments (via $ 3.5 billion Funding from the European Commission according to the Federal Ministry of Economics), immense opportunities can arise in this area.

Companies in the battery storage space seem to benefit from the shift in focus to decarbonization. As oil consumption declines, battery cell and car manufacturers, chemical companies, solar and utility companies will grow, while lithium-ion batteries can serve as the main energy storage due to their longer service life and power density.

Increasing battery storage space with increasing demand

With lithium-ion battery prices falling and battery applications more prevalent, the Global X Lithium and Battery Tech ETF delivered 1-year returns of +53.14%, outperforming the S&P 500 index by ~ 27.0% (December 17, 2021, Source: REFINITIV)

Measures to contain COVID-19 affected deployments in 2019, but when restrictions were lifted, global economies resumed production near pre-COVID-19 levels. With increasing solar coupled storage, the global market for energy storage is expected to make a leap. In the midst of the global outlook, the US is the largest market for energy storage, driven by regulatory requirements and the opening up of the energy wholesale market. Besides that, Australia The residential storage market could be supported by the rise in residential buildings. Other markets, including the UK, Canada, and New Zealand are also constantly changing.

Still, a few factors should be considered, including the lack of market penetration given the early stage, the cost of batteries, government support, and the preference for corporate investment.

With this in mind, Kalkine’s Global Fully Charged Research aims to provide insights into various companies with an emphasis on fundamentals, technical proficiency, climate change strategies, scalability and applicability, and risks and opportunities.

Media contact:
Honey bhargava
[email protected]

SOURCE Kalkine Equities LLC

The post ‘World Totally Charged’ sector shifting in direction of a sustainable future: By Kalkine Equities LLC appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

City officials and community leaders are urging MUNI to fully restore lines, especially in underserved communities.

RELATED: 40 SFPD officers on vacation for failing to get a COVID vaccine

In April 2020, MUNI had to close 51 of its 68 transit lines.

“Our service will be deeply unreliable. There will be long gaps in service,” said the then SFMTA director.

“Today there are five bus routes that are still temporarily suspended and serve all parts of Western Addition and Japantown,” said Jeremy Chan of the Japantown Task Force. “Lines like 2 and 3 are especially important for our seniors.”

Japantown has a high density of senior citizens and senior services.

VIDEO: SF In-N-Out sends a strong message against the COVID vaccine mandate

Pressure from the community was paramount in forcing Muni to announce that service would resume on three of the five lines from February next year.

“We will not use the pandemic to weaken and permanently get rid of buses that are critical to our public transport system,” said San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston.

MUNI told ABC7 News that they made an average of 344,000 trips just last week, compared to an average of nearly 750,000 before the pandemic. This is because the passenger numbers have not recovered.

“It could be partly because people are still working from home, it could be partly because people are concerned about the rise in anti-Asian violence,” Chan said.

RELATED: 120 SFPD officials could lose their jobs because of vaccine mandate

In a statement, MUNI said, “Looking ahead to the next 6 months, our goal is to restore more once we can address long-term funding.”

While MUNI has suffered losses, the transit system has received millions in federal aid.

“This is a question, are we going to take a savings approach where we don’t spend the money we get from the federal government because we’re saving it for a rainy day, or are we now spending aggressively to make sure we? restore bus traffic so people can have their buses and the economy can recover, “said Supervisor Preston.

Some routes have been closed due to operator bottlenecks due to the city’s mandate that after November 1st, only vaccinated employees are allowed to work.

Copyright © 2021 KGO-TV. All rights reserved.

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All workers at San Francisco International Airport must now be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, airport officials and the Mayor of San Francisco London Breed announced on Tuesday.

According to Breed’s office, the new requirement is the first in the country for an airport.

“We know vaccines are the most effective way to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 and reduce hospital stays and deaths,” Breed said in a statement. “This new requirement supports our aggressive measures to protect the health and safety of our region and our continued economic recovery.”

Airport Director Ivar Satero said, “As SFO prepares for the upcoming holiday travel season and the return of pre-pandemic passenger numbers, we are committed to providing a safe airport facility for the traveling public and our local staff.”

The new rule applies to all airline employees, service employees, concession employees and construction workers. Free vaccines are available to employees of the SFO Medical Clinic.

Some employees may be exempted from the rule for medical or religious reasons. However, the exempt employees must be tested for COVID-19 on a weekly basis.

Failure to comply with the new rules could result in fines, city officials said.

The post San Francisco Worldwide Airport employees should be totally vaccinated efficient instantly | Native Information appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Seyfarth Synopsis: On October 13, 2021, the San Francisco Department of Public Health issued a revised COVID-19 health ordinance. Of interest to many employers, the city has set out when certain companies – such as office workplaces – can allow fully vaccinated individuals not to wear face-covering indoors. She also outlined the vaccination guidelines, according to which the city will abolish the requirements for universal indoor face coverage altogether.

Like Tony Bennett, who sang his heart out about San Francisco, the city’s mayor had great news. After the mayor made changes last week, the SFDPH finally enacted a revised public health ordinance with two major changes to the city’s rules on indoor face covering. A redline of changes to the order can be found here and updated FAQs about the order can be found here.

It calls for me high on a hill – requirements for indoor face covering are relaxed

With effect from October 15, 2021, the ordinance relaxes the requirements for indoor face covering for fully vaccinated stable cohorts in offices, work vehicles, indoor fitness shops, adult lectures and classes (but not in high schools or grammar schools) and religious gatherings. Personnel in these rooms can remove their face covering indoors if the company complies with the city’s strict vaccination regulations.

The requirements for removing indoor face coverings vary slightly depending on the type of company. For example, to benefit from the new rules in offices, employers must ensure that:

• All persons entering the facility provide evidence that they are fully vaccinated;
• No person is unvaccinated because of a disability / religious exemption;
• The only people in the office are “staff” of the business. “Personnel” is defined as employees, contractors and subcontractors, independent contractors, vendors authorized to sell goods locally, volunteers and others who regularly provide on-site services at the Company’s request. When a visitor is present, everyone in the office space must wear face-covering except as noted below;
• The company controls access to the office space to ensure that anyone entering is fully vaccinated. People who occasionally / occasionally enter the practice (e.g. delivery staff) do not have to present a vaccination card, but must wear a face covering;
• There are no children under the age of 12 present;
• The company has implemented at least one of the following ventilation strategies: (1) all available windows and doors that are accessible to fresh outside air are opened for as long as the air quality and weather conditions permit; (2) fully functional HVAC system; or (3) appropriately sized portable air purifiers in each room; and
• The employer has not seen a COVID-19 outbreak (three or more cases in a rolling 14 day period) in the last 30 days.

Over the blue and windy sea, uncontrolled settings still require masks

A workplace with unvaccinated employees. If offices do not have fully vaccinated staff on site, the layout allows the offices to provide special work areas where fully vaccinated staff can remove their masks. The FAQs make it clear that these “fully inoculated” areas must be separated from one another by doors, walls or a gap. Employers must also control access to the rooms to keep anyone out who is not fully vaccinated. And all people must wear a mask when in indoor common areas such as hallways, lobbies and elevators where such access cannot be controlled.

Further restrictions for non-office businesses. The order makes slightly different demands on other types of businesses. For example, indoor classes and “other similar gatherings”, in addition to the above cases, may only drop their indoor face covering requirements if the gathering does not exceed 100 people and the class is a “stable group of people”, who meet regularly (e.g. no drop-ins for sports classes).

Your golden sun will shine for me with an acceptable vaccination certificate

The order does not change how companies can check vaccination status. The following are also accepted as proof of vaccination: (i) the CDC vaccination card, (ii) a photo of a vaccination card as a separate document, (iii) a photo of the vaccination card stored on a telephone or electronic device, (iv) vaccination documentation from a healthcare provider, (v ) written self-certification of vaccination signed under penalty of perjury; or (vi) a personal digital digital COVID-19 vaccination record from the state of California or similar documentation issued by another government jurisdiction or licensed private company.

The City by the Bay presents some practical challenges

Implementation. Implementing this ordinance can pose challenges for employers where small cable cars rise halfway to the stars. First, the order does not include flexibility for placement. If an on-site employee remains unvaccinated due to a religious exception or medical precaution, face-covering must be worn throughout the office unless the employer separates all unvaccinated individuals in a separate part of the office.

Metrics for overriding other face coverage rules. Second, and perhaps of more permanent concern, the city also released the metrics of when their broader order of indoor face coverings will be lifted. The city will issue a new health ordinance if:

• The number of cases in the city has been at or below the CDC level of yellow transmission for at least three weeks (i.e., fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days and less than 8% of positive tests in the last seven days). );
• The total number of patients admitted to the city due to COVID-19 is no more than 65; and
• Either 80% of the total city population (including children of all ages) have received their last dose of vaccine; or 8 weeks after the FDA issues emergency approval of a COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11.

Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma counties, and the city of Berkeley have reportedly agreed to follow a similar framework. And in addition to San Francisco, Contra Costa will also allow fully vaccinated groups to forego masking on November 1, 2021.

Workplace solutions

For many businesses with employees clamoring to take off their face coverings indoors, the recent San Francisco Health Ordinance could raise more questions than answers. We are here to help you address these challenges and answer your other questions related to COVID-19.

And keep an eye out for additional warnings. If the past 18 months have taught us anything, it is that public health orders can change rapidly as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves. Contact your Seyfarth attorney, including a member of Seyfarth’s occupational safety team, to ensure your company is complying with the ever-changing COVID-19 rules and regulations.

Modifications made by Coby Turner

The content of this article is intended to provide general guidance on the subject. Expert advice should be sought regarding your specific circumstances.

The post I Left My Masks In San Francisco—For Absolutely Vaccinated Workplaces – Employment and HR appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Seyfarth Synopsis: On October 13, 2021, the San Francisco Department of Public Health issued a revised COVID-19 health ordinance. Of interest to many employers, the city has set out when certain companies – such as office workplaces – can allow fully vaccinated individuals not to wear face-covering indoors. She also outlined the vaccination guidelines, according to which the city will abolish the requirements for universal indoor face coverage altogether.

Like Tony Bennett, who sang his heart out about San Francisco, the city’s mayor had great news. After the mayor made changes last week, the SFDPH finally enacted a revised public health ordinance with two major changes to the city’s rules on indoor face covering. A redline of changes to the order can be found here and updated FAQs about the order can be found here.

It calls for me high up on a hill – the requirements for face covering indoors are relaxed

With effect from October 15, 2021, the ordinance relaxes the requirements for indoor face covering for fully vaccinated stable cohorts in offices, work vehicles, indoor fitness shops, adult lectures and classes (but not in high schools or grammar schools) and religious gatherings. Personnel in these rooms can remove their face covering indoors if the company complies with the city’s strict vaccination regulations.

The requirements for removing indoor face coverings vary slightly depending on the type of company. For example, to benefit from the new rules in offices, employers must ensure that:

• All persons entering the facility provide evidence that they are fully vaccinated;
• No person is unvaccinated because of a disability / religious exemption;
• The only people in the office are “staff” of the company. “Personnel” is defined as employees, contractors and subcontractors, independent contractors, vendors allowed to sell goods locally, volunteers and others who regularly provide on-site services at the Company’s request. When a visitor is present, everyone in the office space must wear face-covering except as noted below;
• The company controls access to the office space to ensure that anyone entering is fully vaccinated. People who occasionally / occasionally enter the practice (e.g. delivery staff) do not have to present a vaccination card, but must wear a face covering;
• There are no children under the age of 12 present;
• The company has implemented at least one of the following ventilation strategies: (1) all available windows and doors that are accessible to fresh outside air are opened for as long as the air quality and weather conditions permit; (2) fully functional HVAC system; or (3) appropriately sized portable air purifiers in each room; and
• The employer has not seen a COVID-19 outbreak (three or more cases in a rolling 14 day period) in the last 30 days.

Over the blue and windy sea, uncontrolled settings still require masks

A workplace with unvaccinated employees. If offices do not have fully vaccinated staff on site, the layout allows the offices to provide special work areas where fully vaccinated staff can remove their masks. The FAQs make it clear that these “fully inoculated” areas must be separated from one another by doors, walls or a gap. Employers must also control access to the rooms to keep anyone out who is not fully vaccinated. And all people must wear a mask when in indoor common areas such as hallways, lobbies and elevators where such access cannot be controlled.

Further restrictions for non-office businesses. The order makes slightly different demands on other types of businesses. For example, indoor classes and “other similar gatherings” may, in addition to the above cases, drop their indoor face covering requirements only if the gathering does not exceed 100 people and the class is a “stable group of people”, who meet regularly (e.g. no drop-ins for sports classes).

Your golden sun will shine for me with an acceptable vaccination certificate

The order does not change how companies can check vaccination status. The following are also accepted as proof of vaccination: (i) the CDC vaccination card, (ii) a photo of a vaccination card as a separate document, (iii) a photo of the vaccination card stored on a telephone or electronic device, (iv) vaccination documentation from a healthcare provider, (v ) written self-certification of vaccination signed under penalty of perjury; or (vi) a personal digital digital COVID-19 vaccination record from the state of California or similar documentation issued by another government jurisdiction or licensed private company.

The City by the Bay presents some practical challenges

Implementation. Implementing this ordinance can pose challenges for employers where small cable cars rise halfway to the stars. First, the order does not include flexibility for placement. If an on-site employee remains unvaccinated due to a religious exception or medical precaution, face-covering must be worn throughout the office unless the employer separates all unvaccinated individuals in a separate part of the office.

Metrics for overriding other face coverage rules. Second, and perhaps of more permanent concern, the city also released the metrics of when their broader order of indoor face coverings will be lifted. The city will issue a new health ordinance if:

• The number of cases in the city has been at or below the CDC level of yellow transmission for at least three weeks (i.e., fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days and less than 8% of positive tests in the last seven days). );
• The total number of patients admitted to the city due to COVID-19 is no more than 65; and
• Either 80% of the total city population (including children of all ages) have received their last dose of vaccine; or 8 weeks after the FDA issues emergency approval of a COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11.

Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma counties, and the city of Berkeley have reportedly agreed to follow a similar framework. And in addition to San Francisco, Contra Costa will also allow fully vaccinated groups to forego masking on November 1, 2021.

Workplace solutions

For many businesses with employees clamoring to take off their face coverings indoors, the recent San Francisco Health Ordinance could raise more questions than answers. We are here to help you address these challenges and answer your other questions related to COVID-19.

And keep an eye out for additional warnings. If the past 18 months have taught us anything, it is that public health orders can change rapidly as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves.

The post I Left My Masks In San Francisco—For Absolutely Vaccinated Workplaces | Seyfarth Shaw LLP appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.