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*Note--Chapter 8, Prohibition of Smoking in Certain Public Areas, added by Ord. No. 4219 (N.S.), effective 1-17-74. Repealed and new Chapter 8 added by Ord. No. 4556 (N.S.), effective 9-18-75. Amended by Ord. No. 9970 (N.S.), effective 3-12-09, as Chapter 8, PROHIBITION OF AIDS DISCRIMINATION. (Provisions previously codified at § 32.1201 et seq., added by Ord. No. 7435 (N.S.), effective 2-11-88)
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The Board of Supervisors finds as follows:
(a) The medical condition described as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, commonly known as AIDS, is a deadly disease which has the potential to affect every segment of the County's population.
(b) AIDS was first recognized in 1981 by the United States Public Health Service's Center for Disease Control and Prevention based on the study of a pattern of unusual illnesses among young, single males reported by the medical centers associated with University of California at Los Angeles and New York University.
(c) AIDS/HIV, in the opinion of the scientific and medical community, is caused by a virus known as HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) which attacks and cripples the body's immune system and neurological system, thereby leaving the body vulnerable to opportunistic infections, certain cancers and neurological diseases.
(d) A person afflicted with AIDS suffers a variety of bacterial, viral and/or fungal caused illnesses, cancers, protozoan and neurological conditions which debilitate the body resulting in a high mortality rate within several years after HIV infection.
(e) Transmission of the virus has occurred through transfer of blood, blood by-products and body organs, through intimate sexual contact, through sharing contaminated hypodermic needles or perinatally.
(f) No evidence exists to indicate the spread of the virus through casual contact, such as contact at work or at school, through the air or water or through the handling of food by persons having the AIDS virus.
(g) Medical studies of family groups in which one or more persons have been diagnosed with AIDS/HIV show no spread of the virus other than through sexual intimacy or through the exchange of blood, such as mother to infant or needle sharing.
(h) A public health danger represented by the HIV virus and its subsequent manifestation as AIDS is exacerbated by the lengthy incubation period during which an apparently healthy but infected individual may spread the disease to other persons through the transfer of blood, blood by-products, body organs, semen or vaginal/cervical secretions, perinatally or through sharing HIV contaminated hypodermic needles.
(i) AIDS/HIV has been recognized as a national public health emergency with a large proportion of the cases diagnosed in California.
(j) AIDS/HIV, in the opinion of the scientific and medical community, will continue to increase at a significant rate within the County for the foreseeable future.
(k) Persons with AIDS/HIV face potential discrimination and this potential for discrimination is sufficient to justify a County ordinance to prohibit discriminatory practices which are not adequately regulated by federal and State law.
(Amended by Ord. No. 8358 (N.S.), effective 3-17-94; amended by Ord. No. 9970 (N.S.), effective 3-12-09)
It is the County's public policy that it is necessary to protect and safeguard the rights and opportunities of persons with AIDS/HIV from discrimination in employment, housing, business establishments, testing and the use and enjoyment of County facilities and services.
(Amended by Ord. No. 8358 (N.S.), effective 3-17-94; amended by Ord. No. 9970 (N.S.), effective 3-12-09)
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