Two Los Angeles City council members introduced separate motions Thursday that would pay Angelenos who have to stay home from work after they test positive for the coronavirus.
Councilman David Ryu wants the city to use up to $25 million in COVID-19 relief money to provide two weeks pay to residents who test positive for the virus and commit to quarantine, regardless of their immigration status or criminal record.
“The only way out of this crisis is through increased testing and staying home if you’re sick,” Ryu said in a statement. “But you can’t do that if you can’t afford to lose a paycheck or you can’t receive federal aid.”
To receive aid under Ryu’s proposal, residents would have to agree to self-isolate and provide information to contact tracers.
“Too many Angelenos are being forced into an impossible choice,” Ryu said. “If we want to bend the curve, we need to make it possible for everyone to stay home when they’re sick – no matter their income or immigration status.”
Council President Nury Martinez introduced a separate motion to provide up to $50 million of CARES Act funding for a paycheck assistance program to help low-income families with rent, food and other expenses and for the “right-to-recover” program.
The program is inspired by one in San Francisco, created to replace wages for people who test positive for the virus and need financial assistance, she said.
Martinez said L.A. should consider creating a similar program, to help those who struggle to provide for their families after contracting the virus.
“While this pandemic is touching the lives of all Angelenos, it is also highlighting the great disparity between the rich and the poor,” Martinez said in a statement. “When low-income workers, including undocumented immigrants, get sick with COVID19, they often have to choose work over health in order to continue to make ends meet and keep their families from ending up on the streets.”
If created, the program would be especially helpful for housekeepers, gardeners, nannies and others who may not qualify for federal aid or other relief programs, according to Martinez.
“While Latinos are dying at twice the rate of White Angelenos in LA County from COVID-19, many of the safeguards meant to assist, including Federal Relief, are not reaching poor, immigrant Latinos and others, who often work as essential workers or simply do not have medical insurance or Paid Leave and cannot afford to stay home,” Martinez said.
So far, L.A. County has reported a total of 185,872 coronavirus cases with 4,552 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
Latinos and those living in the poorest communities have the highest rate of COVID-19 deaths, L.A. County Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a news conference Wednesday.
Across the county, 58 Latinos die of COVID-19 for every 100,000 in the population, a rate that is almost two and a half times the rate of death among white residents, she said.