Farm workers, grocery store, and fast-food employees, and delivery drivers will receive two weeks of paid sick leave so they won’t feel pressured to keep working while infected with the coronavirus, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced. The executive order signed Thursday covers those who work for large employers, filling a gap left by a federal act this month that required employers to provide emergency paid sick leave but exempted those with more than 500 workers. California’s month-long stay-at-home order that closed many businesses but exempts food suppliers, considering them as essential infrastructure. Newsom’s order mandates sick leave for full-time workers who have the virus or who cannot work because of quarantine orders, in addition to leave they may already have.
More than 950 people have died from the virus in California, according to Johns Hopkins University. However, the virus’s spread in California hasn’t been as devastating as public health officials had feared and the growth in hospitalizations has slowed.
