Transcripts For KPIX KPIX 5 News At 530pm 20240713

It will stay in effect for at least three weeks until april 7 of 2020. That order coming down from the health department. It comes after the county received two additional cases of local transmission from coronavirus over the weekend. Two cases the past couple of days. They are talking about four cases that set them off. They want to go ahead and shelter in place and all individuals in the county are ordered to shelter at their homes. This is very similar to the cdc guidelines the rest of the bay area is adhering to. Maintain social distancing of six feet. You can take a walk and get exercise, but do not go into businesses or other peoples homes and stay away and stay at home. At the live news desk, back to you. There have been 12 coronavirus related deaths in california including the first death of a homeless person in santa clara county. With the shelter in place order in effect, the race is on to find shelter for those with no place to go. Reporter it was a nightmare scenario. A case of coronavirus in a homeless encampment. Concerns are many. Death is a possibility obviously because this is a super virus. Being in the encampment like you said, everyone is more susceptible. Reporter the city of san jose has installed portable toilets and showers. The improvements however welcomed falls short of what they think the homeless will need to survive the outbreak. Just to talk and endless promises that are made are frustrating. The people here shouldve been housed anyway. It to pandemic to get the porta potty in a handwashing station. Reporter the mayor says a critical component will be shelter we are working to identify motels and other locations where we can move folks as soon as testing indicates we need to get them away from others. Reporter homeless men and woman one outreach and education. They feel overlooked even under the best of circumstances i will tell you i only know about this virus from what i picked up off the streets. The city says this is an evolving response and they say they will make arrangements for people to isolate and quarantine themselves outside of camp which they say is not feasible. In san jose, kpix 5. Tesla will continue to build cars in fremont despite the lockdown. They deemed it an essential business. Within the last hour the sheriff tweeted that tesla is not an essential business as defined by the health order. Tesla can maintain minimum basic operations per the health order. The factory employs nearly 10,000 workers and there have been no reported cases at the plant. Elon musk sent out an email saying quote id like to be super clear that if you feel the slightest bit ill even uncomfortable, please do not feel obligated to come to work. He reiterated his belief that the fear surrounding the virus seems bigger than the actual threat. The cdc is loosening its face mask recommendations because there are simply not enough of those respirator masks available. Regular surgical masks are considered an acceptable alternative, even though they offer less protection. Abate area Engineering Firm has rounded up there masks to donate to the medical field. We do a lot of work at Valley Medical Center and they are on the front lines of dealing with patience and we know they are in dire need for masks and we want to make them available. We reached out and they said come on down. They are encouraging other Construction Companies to do the same to extract the San Francisco Unified School District opened its first Distribution Site today so the kids have access to free meals. Eight s cludg this one admission high school. 18 locations will be opened by the middle of the week. Anyone 18 years of age or younger can stop by to pick up breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I think it is amazing we are getting this provision in the city. There are a lot of vulnerable families. A lot of people are working from home and it is a struggle to try and get food even. The program is expected to cost the district more than 300,000. Officials are asking the community to help with donations. A south bay market is bending over backwards to keep seniors safe. It is st. Patricks day, but it doesnt feel like it. How people are celebrating despite the coronavirus. Warrior neighborhood laundromat is considered an essential service. Lets take you live to the press conference in San Francisco. It is absolutely necessary for essential needs and of course, essential services that the city continues to need during what we know has been a very challenging time. We know that this is an evolving situation. As we have said before, our goal is to do everything we can to communicate with the public exactly what is happening on a day to day basis. We know that as an evolving situation, things change. We need to adapt. When we adapt, our goal is to make sure we do what we can to communicate clearly to the public. Also to remind everyone that this is about Public Health and public safety. That has always taken the forefront of all of the decisions we have made with the advice of some of the most world renowned Public Health experts in the country. Today i want to talk about a few announcements in some adjustments to some of the things that we have been doing. As we said, the order went into effect midnight today. So far, so many residents have complied and we appreciate that. We also note that there are more questions and more concerns and issues and i hope to address some of those issues today. I want to start with additional steps we have taken to support our Business Community. We, in addition to a moratoria on residential convictions, thanks to governor gavin newsom, we have the ability and we have issued a directive on commercial evictions as well. We wanted to make sure that businesses as well as residents are not being impacted most likely due to a loss of income. The last thing that they need is an eviction in the midst of this crisis. The fact that we were able to put a moratorium on residential and commercial evictions in the city will hopefully have an impact on supporting our Small Business community. We made that announcement today. This section applies to businesses with the permit to operate in San Francisco with gross receipts of 25 million. This is in addition for what we pronounce for our Business Community including deferring taxes and licensing fees until next year, february 2021. We also launched a relief fund for Small Businesses can receive Grant Funding for assistance. And we also made it clear that we will continue to support our nonprofit organizations in the nonprofit organizations that serve our city. Many of those services that are provided to our Homeless Population and our senior population and use can continue to receive support. We are continuing to work with our Philanthropic Partners on a particular fund that will provide relief to residents of San Francisco, again, those financially impacted by the loss of income due to the coronavirus. I want to encourage employers and employees who were impacted to go to the website, and if there are questions and you do not have access to the internet, you can always call 311 if you have any questions. We will continue to do all we can to support our Business Community. We know that this will have a tremendous impact on our economy in San Francisco. Throughout the country, but we want to at least do is everything that we can to get people through this challenge. We are also taking additional steps to strengthen our capacity to respond. In talking with dr. Grant colfax who is currently at our Emergency Operations center, it is clear that we need more capacity in our Healthcare System to deal with the potential challenges including hiring more nurses and healthcare workers. Today i waive the provisions around hiring rules so we can hire qualified registered nurses on the spot. We know that this process typically through our city bureaucracy can take up to six months. Instead of going through that normal process, we will act now and we will not waste time, and we will get those qualified healthcare workers up and running as quickly as possible. And finally, we received a number of questions regarding parking and cannabis. In terms of parking we will stop issuing tickets related to street sweeping and wave tickets given out today. We understand for people who were quarantined it may be impossible for them to move their cars. For those of you who can move your cars during street cleaning, we ask that you do so. It helps us continue to keep the streets clean as much as we possibly can. Your full cooperation would be appreciated at this time. We will not be issuing tickets for street cleaning. In terms of the cannabis dispensaries, that the public of department of health since there are medical uses, dispensaries will be able to operate as essential businesses just as pharmacies are allowed to do. And so i wanted to give you all those up dates. At this time, i want to ask jeff tomlin from the sfmta to provide some overview and updates about what is happening with the sfmta. I know people had a number of questions around parking, tickets and showing and around things related to community. Mr. Tomlin is here to provide you with an up date. Good evening. Im director of transportation for San Francisco. As the mayor has said this is an evolving situation for all of us. Our policies will continue to evolve along with the advice from the Mayors Office and the department of Public Health. You can always go to our website at sfmta. Com as the mayor said effective midnight tonight we will no longer be enforcing the rules for street sweeping. She also said it is important our streets not be allowed to get filthy. If you can, move your car for street sweeping. This will allow the street sweepers which are continuing to operate to keep our streets clean. Citations that were issued today for street sweeping violations, those will be waived. You will need to follow the waiver procedures on our website. We are waiving all late fees and late penalties and deadlines for the duration of the Health Emergency for the full array of parking citation and other citations that we have a post over the last months. The other guidance we issued yesterday still applies. We will be enforcing rules related to Public Health, safety, and accessibility of services. Double parking in the bike lane is not allowed. Parking in the transit lane can be cited. It is important for people who are being quarantined that they still be able to get to the grocery store, pharmacies and other services. We will be continuing to enforce parking meters and make sure the parking availability is still there in our neighborhood commercial districts. There is plenty more details at our website and we will take questions later. I will now turn the microphone over to the doctor. Thank you, mr. Tomlin. Id like to reiterate that we will not be enforcing the parking permits, residential parking permits. There will be no ticketing for residential parking permits as well. We will have an update from dr. Susan phillips with the department of Public Health. Thank you. Good afternoon. On dr. Susan Phillips Deputy Health Officer and director of disease prevention and control for the San Francisco department of health. We all know the coronavirus emergency is changing rapidly. Id like to thank the mayor for her leadership in supporting the shelter in place order issued by our Health Officer and also issued by the Health Officers of the five other most populous bay area counties. We believe this is necessary to preserve health and will save lives. We think the people of San Francisco for the cooperation which we can see just outside of city hall and on the streets of San Francisco right now. We want to think san franciscans to do what they can to help preserve lives. Our stayathome order is very broad. They will be distancing steps that will be needed to prevent transmission of the virus. We need to allow for activities. We have tried to explain what that would entail. Theres a good document allowed that i want you to take a look at. These are broad categories and there will be nuances. One area we want to talk about today is cannabis. For years to San Francisco department of Public Health has recognized that medical cannabis is an essential medical service. We have been permitting medical cannabis in San Francisco long before it was legal and the rest of california. Over 24,000 people in San Francisco have been issued medical marijuana cards. People for apply on medical cannabis for multiple disorders and conditions. I want to clarify that cannabis dispensaries are allowed to remain open for pickup or delivery of these essential medical treatments. People who require cannabis will be allowed and permitted to use on Delivery Services or pickup from dispensaries around San Francisco. Onsite consumption at the dispensaries will not be allowed. Our preference to maintain social distancing is that Delivery Services will be utilized. The reason we are doing this today in the reason we see these clear streets and sidewalks which is heartening is because the protection of health and safety. We know that this is difficult on everyone. We are grateful for leaders like the mayor and the board of supervisors and other leaders who have taken this bold steps. Our Health Priorities as voice yesterday really remains protecting the most vulnerable populations who are at risk from coronavirus including Older Persons and people with chronicle conditions. The shelter in place order is a way of protecting them. We are protecting Health Workers in our healthcare capacity against the sudden surge of People Better ill and require treatment. Our healthcare workers are our main focus. They are on the front lines protecting us every day. They are needed when people become ill. We must provide these workers with the support, protection, and supplies and we are committed to doing that. In terms of healthcare workers as you have heard from the mayor, the mayor has issued a declaration to expedite the hiring of nurses and other healthcare professionals. This will be a critical boost to help prepare and respond tomorrow to coronavirus as an emergency. Covid19 has put significant pressure on our Healthcare Systems and around the world. San francisco is moving proactively to hire workers so the city will be evermore prepared to respond to covid 19. Healthcare workers are keeping her Community Health and safety and todays action will help us bring on more nurses to help us meet the demands of the response and augment and support the workforce already there in place and working hard every day often over time and extra days in order to staff or hospitals and clinics. We will speed up today and the hiring process from six months to a period of high ring on the spot for qualified applicants and starting within one week. This weekend dph will host an invitation only nurse hiring fair at San Francisco General Hospital and we will continue until all vacancies are filled. This will offer same day hiring and new nurses will be at work as soon as the following weekend. We are seeking to fill 100 are in vacancies with an emphasis on emergency and intensive care unit nurses we know will be needed. This process is part of our citys response to covid19 and builds upon the hr improvements underway and sped up our plan in place which was to reach 45 days to fire. We understand that that is too long for an emergency which is why the mayor issued the declaration today. This will bring on 100 new nurses to staff or hospitals and clinics and allow us to employ permanent staff and use fewer agency staff. It will result in improved continuity of care for our patients and increase our capacity to serve patients as well. This is just part of the overall readiness we have been undertaking. This includes stocking supplies, meeting regularly to discuss planning, reducing patient volumes, reducing elective surgeries and nonvital outpatient services. This is to make sure we have a welltrained and well supplied workforce and we are prepared for but 19. We have with us our police chief, bill scott to talk about the first day and what his officers have been doing throughout the city to help communicate the stayathome order that had taken effect at midnight last night. G scott . Good afternoon, everyone. We believe our city is really ahead of the game and one of the leaders in trying to address this issue and prevent the spread. With that, the San Francisco Police Department beginning at midnight commence to doing bar checks and restaurant checks. The order went into effect for midnight as the mayor described and at midnight our Police Officers were dispatched at the district stations around the city to follow up and check with the bar owners or operators and Restaurant Owners to make sure we have compliance. I am happy to report we had no issues last night. We checked every bar that we could in every restaurant that we could. We are pleased to say that san franciscans by and large or adhering to disorder and particularly in terms of the bar closures and restaurant closures. Our officers are on the streets and we are checking businesses. We are asking for voluntary compliance. It is really importance that everyone Pay Attention to what is going on and comply voluntarily. However, this order does have the ability to enforce. It is a misdemeanor to not comply with this order. As a last resort we will be prepared to enforce. One of the things i would like to say to the public is to think of it this way and make everyones life easier. If you have someone in one of these vulnerable populations that you care about, it should be personal to you. Think of that person. Think of that person in your life that you care about who was in one of these vulnerable populations. And then think of whether or not your actions may put that person at risk. I think if you reflect on that, your answer will probably be the right answer and it will make everyones jobs including the San Francisco Police Officers much easier. That is what we are asking everyone to do. The department is in good shape. A radio call load has been managed properly and we are working within the City Infrastructure to make sure we respond in a coordinated fashion with the rest of the departments that have a stake in this. So far, things are running quite smoothly. It is a very rapid evolution. We have to be adaptable and flexible, and be ready to respond to what ever comes up next. Thank you for your time. Thank you, chief scott. I wanted to open it up for any questions. I am sure is quite shocking just like where we are now. When i first issued the declaration of emergency on february 25, there were a lot of people who basically did not understand why i was doing it when we had no cases to report in San Francisco. We are at 43 at this time. We have seen in other countries without intervention or planning or doing what were doing today, the impacts on Public Health in those communities. I think that the governor is being realistic about what we need to prepare for. I think that we prepare for what might happen and we are in a better situation if things change. We should prepare for the fact that kids may not be able to go back to school and finish up the school year and what are the alternatives . What will be due once we are over this hump . He is preparing us for the long term impacts. This is not something that we think based on the science and based on the data and working with our healthcare experts that we think it is just going to blow over like a cold or the flu. This is significant, and we want people to understand the severity so that they can follow the orders that we are putting forth. Unfortunately, that could include the school year could be potentially, you know, not possible for kids which is extremely sad and unfortunate. We need to prepare for that. We are basically working with sf usd an