By Grace Leung, Newport Beach City Manager
More than 400 workers are continuing to assess and clean tar balls from the October 2 oil spill in Orange and San Diego counties. There is no official timeline for the remaining cleanup. However, the tar washing up on beaches is steadily decreasing and the Unified Command response team, led by the U.S. Coast Guard, anticipates that some stretches of the shoreline may require no further cleanup.
For now, the Unified Command will continue to send crews to survey the beaches and will respond to emails of tar ball sightings at tarballreports@wildlife.ca.gov.
All beaches and harbors are open. Fishing and the collecting of shellfish is still prohibited along the coast while testing is underway to determine the impacts of the spill on local marine life. For updates on fishing from the state Dept. of Fish and Wildlife visit https://socalspillresponse.com/fisheries-closure/.
Residents and businesses impacted by the spill are encouraged to call a claims hotline at (866) 985-8366. If your boat requires decontamination, please call that number to schedule a cleaning appointment at the Marina Park station.
For more information and updates, please visit Newport Beach’s web site at www.newportbeachca.gov/oilspill and the official incident response website at www.socalspillresponse.com.
COVID-19 Cases in Newport Beach
As of October 21, the total cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in Newport Beach was 5,037, an increase of 29 cases from October 14. The total number of cases in Orange County as of October 21 was 302,235, an increase of 1,291 cases from October 14. The number of recovered COVID-19 patients countywide as of October 21 was 290,795. These figures are provided to Orange County by the California Department of Public Health. The County’s daily, weekday update of COVID-19 case information is available at https://ochca.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/cc4859c8c522496b9f21c451de2fedae. Those seeking vaccination options can visit the HCA page at https://occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/covid-19-vaccine-distribution-channels by the California Department of Public Health.
Homelessness Update
- 15 people who had been experiencing homelessness in Newport Beach are now sheltered in the Costa Mesa Bridge Shelter.
- One person from Newport Beach who was temporarily residing in the Bridge Shelter secured permanent housing through the Street2Home program with the Illumination Foundation.
- City Net, the City’s contract homeless services agency, ordered Social Security award letters for several clients matched to Emergency Housing Vouchers. Emergency Housing Vouchers are funded by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and allow people to pay affordable rent based on their fixed incomes. Nine people experiencing homelessness in Newport Beach have been awarded vouchers so far and are working with a housing navigator to locate apartments. The voucher program is administered by the Orange County Housing Authority.
- City Net completed a housing assessment with a family that was matched to a housing voucher last week.
- City Net’s licensed clinical social worker met with four clients to verify and sign disability forms for placement into supportive housing.
- City Net enrolled a couple into their services and completed a housing assessment.
- City Net ordered identifying documents (including a photo ID, birth certificate, and Social Security card) for several people enrolled in their services.
- City Net transported a person to the DMV to obtain a new photo ID.
To donate to those experiencing homelessness in Newport Beach, please visit our Good Giving Program web page at https://newportbeachca.gov/trending/community-issues/homelessness/how-you-can-help.
4th Annual Halloween Spooktacular – Saturday, October 30
Please join us for the return of our annual Halloween Spooktacular event on Saturday, Oct. 30 from 3 to 6 p.m. at Mariners Park. The event will have activities for the whole family to enjoy, including a haunted maze, bounce houses, live music, costume contests, carnival games, trunk or treat, and food trucks.
More information is available at https://newportbeachca.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/67265/18104?backlist=%2fgovernment%2fdepartments%2frecreation-senior-services.
