Maria Millan, CEO and president of the Oakland-based agency, told her 34 employees yesterday that the action was being taken in compliance with legal orders issued by six Bay Area counties. The agency's staff will continue their work from home or elsewhere.
The stringent directives affect seven million people and businesses ranging from retail to entertainment. But many enterprises were exempted because of the services or goods they provide, such as supermarkets and banks.
Violation of the orders is deemed to be "an imminent threat to public health," a formidable piece of legalese that can be enforced by police.
The orders generally ban public gatherings, which would seem to mean effectively a ban in the Bay Area on public gathering of signatures to qualify a $5.5 billion stem cell research measure for the November ballot. The agency is running out of money and hopes to stave off its financial demise with approval of the measure next fall.
The deadline for completing the tedious qualification process for the ballot measure is June 15. Backers of the measure had hoped to have more than enough signatures by the end of April.
Yesterday's orders are in effect until at least April 7.
As a practical matter, the process of soliciting signatures for ballot measures in California was already encountering barriers because of safe distance and other concerns.
The campaign has not yet responded to questions concerning the impact of coronavirus situation.
The agency, formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), had already allowed its employees to work from home. The agency funds research but does not actually perform it.
Americans for Cures, a Palo Alto patient advocacy group supporting the measure, said it would be working remotely in compliance with the new orders. The group was founded by Robert Klein, who oversaw preparation of the proposed stem cell initiative.
The agency says that none of its current portfolio, which includes 60 clinical trials, has specific application to the coronavirus. Here is the text of the note that Maria Millan, CEO and president of CIRM. sent to the agency's team yesterday.
"As we enter week two of our agency-wide telecommute, the COVID-19 crisis continues to intensify, resulting in additional containment measures with an increasing number of school, university and business closures, cancellation of gatherings, and severe travel restrictions. In addition, a three week 'shelter in place' order has just been issued for six counties in the Bay Area- San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Marin, Contra Costa. As stated last week, this situation remains fluid, we are monitoring it closely and I am remaining in close contact with the LT, HR and our Board so we can continue to take appropriate action as needed.
"We are committed to working with our community to deploy containment measures in order to 'flatten the curve' of this outbreak and, as always, we are committed to the health and well-being of our employees and their families. In this spirit, and taking into account the containment response timing in our local communities, we will extend the CIRM agency-wide telecommute plan to April 13 . We will be in constant contact and will notify you of any additional changes. To date, there have been no documented or reported COVID-19 cases or exposure in CIRM employees. "Thank you for continuing our important work at CIRM, for your responsive support of our programs/grantees/patient advocates during this crisis and for continuing to execute our strategic goals. I’d like to acknowledge our IT department who have armed us with the technological tools to work remotely, our project managers for coordinating us and keeping the schedules on track and leadership for enabling their teams to remain productive. "Please feel free to contact your manager, HR, Maria B or me if you have any questions related to CIRM’s COVID response or if you need assistance in transitioning to the agency-wide CIRM telecommute plan. "Take good care & look forward to working with you from a distance (for now)."
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