As COVID-19 cases continue to add up in Riverside County, the nonprofit TODEC seeks to remind the farming community of its financial aid program.
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The county’s most recent COVID-19 numbers show a slight decline in the number of infections.
The positivity rate fell from 32 cases to 29 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
But Riverside County spokeswoman Yaoska Machado says hospitalizations continue to rise.
“Currently there are 148 people in intensive care units and in total there are 673 hospitalized for COVID-19,” said Machado.
The virus continues to circulate in the county and the nonprofit TODEC keeps the ‘Safe Harvest’ program alive.
“For workers in agriculture or food processing who are currently positive for COVID or exposed to COVID,” said Luz Gallegos, the executive director of the legal center.
Gallegos says they have helped more than 800 workers in these industries.
“It is a good program for farm workers, because they do not have access to any resources due to their immigration status,” said Gallegos.
Those who qualify receive a thousand dollars and food to cope with their quarantine.
“They have to live in Riverside County, they have to be agricultural or food processing workers and be over 18 years old,” Gallegos added.
Gallegos says that the whole process is simple. Those seeking help can call 1-888-863-3291 from 9 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday.
“The process is very fast, everything is done by phone, they don’t have to go to any office, everything is done from the comfort of their homes,” said Gallegos.
In the county the vaccination rate is increasing.
“Currently 62% of the population in our county is partially vaccinated, and 54% are fully vaccinated, these are good numbers, but they need to increase,” said county spokeswoman Yaoska Machado.
The county continues with its message that those who qualify do not wait any longer to do so.
“It is very important to take into account that 12-year-old children do not qualify and can get sick from COVID-19, we already saw that a few weeks ago a four-year-old girl or boy lost his life and was a completely healthy minor, so this it tells us that no one is exempt from contracting the virus and losing their life, “concluded Machado.
The county reports that from this past Friday to today, more than 17,000 vaccines against COVID-19 were injected.
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