Communities are now entering the second half of our stay-at-home order and as such the implementation of new policies and procedures has slowed significantly.

All updates from previous weeks are still in effect, with only two large-scale changes that affect all six of our local communities.

From small businesses opening to construction projects, here’s what’s new this week in Bellflower, Lakewood, Cerritos, Norwalk, Paramount and Downey.

All Cities:

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which will give more unemployed workers access to unemployment insurance payments, will begin accepting applications on April 28.

PUA benefits will apply to self-employed workers, independent contractors, those whose wage history isn’t long enough to qualify for unemployment and those who have exhausted unemployment benefits.

Once payments begin, they will be retroactive, meaning those who have been waiting to receive payments for several weeks would be compensated for that time.

If you are not a citizen of the United States, you cannot be paid PUA benefits unless you were legally permitted to work in the United States at the time such services were performed.

In addition, you must be authorized to work for any week of PUA benefits claimed to be eligible for payments.

You must also meet one of the following criteria:

• You have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and are seeking a medical diagnosis.
• You are unable to work because a health care provider advised you to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19.
• A member of your household has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
• You are providing care for a family member or a member of your household who has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
• A child or other person in the household for whom you have primary caregiving responsibility is unable to attend school or another facility that is closed as a direct result of the COVID-19 and the school or facility care is required for you to work.
• You became the breadwinner or major support for a household because the head of the household has died as a direct result of COVID-19.
• You have to quit your job as a direct result of COVID-19.
• Your place of employment is closed as a direct result of COVID-19.
• You were scheduled to start a job that is now unavailable as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
• You are unable to reach the place of employment as a direct result of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

If you work as an independent contractor with reportable income, you may also qualify for PUA benefits if you are unemployed, partially employed, or unable or unavailable to work because the COVID-19 public health emergency has severely limited your ability to continue performing your customary work activities, and has thereby forced you to stop working.

More information can be found on the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance website.

If you have lost your health insurance due to COVID-19 or will soon lose it, Covered California has issued a special-enrollment period for those impacted by income changes, reduced hours or lay off due to COVID-19.

If the following circumstances apply to you, you may be eligible for health care coverage through Covered CA:

• You’ve lost Medi-Cal coverage
• You’ve lost your employer- sponsored coverage
• Your COBRA coverage is exhausted
• You are no longer eligible for student health coverage

More information can be found at the Covered California website.

All other city policies have remained the same within Bellflower, Lakewood, Cerritos, Norwalk, Paramount and Downey.

Street sweeping enforcement, local food assistance, and pharmacy delivery have seen no changes this past week.

Should any new information become available or should new information and policies emerge, Talon Marks is committed to updating readers as soon as possible.

To see Information regarding virtual recreation and local policies, please refer to past updates.