The City of Piedmont will implement on April 2 Alameda County’s new health order.

While we are all encouraged to continue to support restaurants  and other local businesses forced to close to avoid social congregating, gardeners who work in social isolation are now under the following limitations by Alameda County:

xiii. Arborists, landscapers, gardeners, and similar service professionals, but only to the limited extent necessary to maintain the habitability, sanitation, operation of businesses or residences, or the safety of residents, employees, or the public (such as fire safety or tree trimming to prevent a dangerous condition), and not for cosmetic or other purposes (such as upkeep);  Alameda County Order

• If landscaping needs are necessary to protect safety and sanitation, please distance yourself at least six feet from the landscaper.

Home construction and remodeling projects are also limited and new home construction and remodeling projects are prohibited:

Residential renovation projects of any kind that are currently underway may continue if necessary to a safe, sanitary, and functional home. Likewise, residential remodeling projects that are partly completed may continue if delaying completion would pose a safety, security, or sanitation risk to residents or impact the habitability of the residence.   Alameda County Order

Presumably, the City will cease issuing Building Permits and will issue Stop Work orders to all current home remodeling projects that are less than essential for safety and sanitation.

The City of Piedmont closed all of its parks effective April 1, 2020, until further notice.

March 31, 2020

ALAMEDA COUNTY HEALTH OFFICER EXTENDS
SHELTER IN PLACE ORDER TO MAY 3, 2020
CITY PARKS TO CLOSE EFFECTIVE APRIL 1, 2020

On March 31, the Alameda County Health Officer extended its shelter in place order for Alameda County residents through May 3, 2020 and strengthened, clarified, and extended the previous order issued on March 16, 2020.

The new order is available on the Alameda County Public Health Department’s website at http://www.acphd.org/media/563688/health…. A summary of changes between the prior order and the updated order is available at http://www.acphd.org/media/563713/summar…, and a Frequently Asked Questions document is available at https://covid-19.acgov.org/index.page.

This revised order makes changes to several important items, including:
• Closing of parks and recreation spaces
• Restricted ongoing commercial and residential construction
• Restricted ongoing commercial and residential landscaping services

Pursuant to the County Order, the City of Piedmont will close all of its parks effective April 1, 2020, until further notice.

The City of Piedmont will have updated information available on its website by Thursday, April 2nd detailing how these changes will affect the Piedmont community. The City asks residents to be patient as the city works to implement the County’s new order.

WE OWE IT TO EACH OTHER TO STAY HOME and are required by the State of California and Alameda County to do so. The best thing we can do for the community and each other is to comply with the order to shelter in place at our homes.

Please visit the City of Piedmont’s COVID-19 webpage for the most up to date information on the City’s response to COVID-19 as well as how the orders affect Piedmonters.

For more information on Covid-19, please see: Centers for Disease Control, California Coronavirus Response and the Alameda County Public Health Department

Around the globe researchers are focusing computing resources to defeating  COVID-19 and invite the public to join the effort.

We’re simulating the dynamics of COVID-19 proteins to hunt for new therapeutic opportunities.

Folding@home, created by Dr. Vijay Pande’s lab at Stanford University, offers a piece of software that runs in the background on personal computers, gaming consoles and even some phones. When researchers at the Pande lab need distributed computing resources for protein folding (hence the name), drug development or other types of molecular dynamics, the process spins up across Folding@home’s network of volunteer machines.

Users are able to select whether their machines can be leveraged at all times, or only when idle; cap the computational intensity of the process; and even compete with each other and join teams to encourage participation (although some of these features are now inaccessible due to overwhelming load on the Folding@home website).

Sign up to Start Folding@ Home here.

Much like Folding@home, Rosetta@home is a network of crowdsourced computers that helps researchers examine protein-related computing problems. Measuring at around 1.26 petaflops of power, Rosetta@home (like Summit) crunched the crucial spike protein of the coronavirus, producing an atomic-scale structure of the protein weeks before its structure was determined in a lab setting. Now, Rosetta@home’s work is being used to develop vaccine trials and therapeutics for COVID-19.

By Oliver Peckham, HPC Wire, March 25, 2020

Sign up to help Rosetta@home here

Numerous commission and committee meetings have been either cancelled or postponed in April 2020 because of the COVID-19 virus. The City Council and Planning Commission will hold “virtual” meetings. Details on public participation will be forthcoming when agendas are posted. 

READ the notice > 2020-04 Notice of Regular Meetings – Scanned.