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After COVID-19 outbreaks and the deaths of at least four people who worked in Los Angeles County courthouses, California’s workplace safety agency plans to fine the local court system more than $25,000 for multiple violations.
In a notice Wednesday to L.A. County Superior Court, the state Division of Occupational Health and Safety, known as Cal/OSHA, identified at least three health and safety violations, two of which it deemed serious.
The proposed fines and the finding of serious violations were a blow to a court system that consistently defended its pandemic safety practices in the face of mounting criticism from employees, political leaders and attorneys, as well as a lawsuit from civil justice groups that accused the court of prioritizing the “continuity of nonessential operations over community safety and human life.”
In life an Indigenous leader from Guatemala helped so many in Los Angeles find home, but in death he’s caught between two countries.
Friends and family gather in Los Angeles, California to pay their respects to Policarpo Chaj, K’iche’ translator and spiritual leader, who passed away from Covid-19 Feb. 16, 2021. (Courthouse News photo/ Nathan Solis)
(CN) The Indigenous community leader Policarpo Chaj has closed his mouth, but he’s surrounded by friends and family who say they can still hear his voice.
Chaj turned 49 on Jan. 16, 2021, while intubated at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. During a video call, his cousin Ervin Hernandez asked the nurses to come over to hold the phone up to Chaj’s face so they could sing “Happy Birthday” together.
El Líder de la Comunidad Indígena Tomada por Covid-19 Deja una Impresión Duradera en Los Ángeles courthousenews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from courthousenews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“The truth is that I’m scared,” Tecúm admitted in K’iche’.
For now, the 31-year-old garment factory worker, who speaks little Spanish, doesn’t want the vaccine. But she’s among many who Alba Gonzalez, a 28-year-old staffer at CIELO, an Indigenous organization in L.A., hopes will change their minds after she educates them about the vaccine in their language.
“This is what’s happening in my community now,” said Gonzalez, a Maya from the Guatemalan department of Totonicapán. “It’s a bit difficult but not impossible because I speak the language and I can give them confidence.”