comparemela.com

Spreading. Here in the bay area the number of pos ive tests generally remains bel of 5 with the exception of marin county where cases have shot up due in part to an outbreak at san quentin prison. Joining me to discuss the prison situation is dr. Matthew willis joining from san rafael. Marin county is experiencing the largest covid spiking the bay area largely due to the outbreak at the prison. In what is done to manage that contagion . We have seen in the past few weses a remarkable incrin cases attributed to marin county because that facility is within our boundaries. There has been alcast 600 s now at that facility and about 600 if you include staff. Up until, for the first three months of our outbreak here in marin county we had a tol of 1000 cases. You can imagine almost 600 in two weeks drives those case rates up dramatically and has established us as havingthe highest incidence they wide. We are working with th California Department of corrections to offer consultation and technical assistance. How this happened, there is a group of mates that ca from another prison who basically brought the infection with them. Right. There were 121 inmates who were transferred up from gino institution for men in southern california. That institution was ving a large outbreak similar to what is being experienced at san quentin. In an effort to get those folks out of there so they have more room within the facility to ey ansferred inmates into differet prisons across the state. Unfortunately, that is a risk for reseating a second outbreak and that appears to be what happenre. How many inmates have been transferred to local hospitals you mark about 25 so far have become ill enough at the facility that they have required to be hospitalized. You have had one death at san quentin and do we know the cause of death for that individual . It is still pending investigation. With almost 4000 inmates we would expect that some people pass for other reasons but of n course w happens in the excoof a outbreak there is a concern that may have contributed. I want understand th situation better at san quentin. There are 3500 pratoners there this point about one in eight is infected. Can you tell me about why more reprecautionary measures not retaken . Whatyou hearing about how this was allowed to happen . It is challenging i think just when you are dealing with a prison system where they are overcrowded at baseline and once the infection gets established the virus gets a foothold in that setting whether it is brght in bya staff member or some other mechanism where the first case starts, once it is established it is challenging to managethe spread because there is little opportunity to isolate people infeed from those who are not just architecturally in terms of the numbers so there is really no substitute for preventi and i think that when we learn that number of inmates had come from a facility that was hang an outbreak who had been exposed, had been untested and had been placed in that facility, at that point we knew the stage se wafor what has unfolded. You expected to see this and there was a warning two weeks xp beforets from uc berkeley and ucsf Health Experts warned there uld be a major outbreak, a catastrophic outbreak if the prison population was not reduced by 50 . Now the suggtion was to do that through the cursor ration. Was there any serious consideratiogiven to at idea . Absolutely. Some of this is who has nd jurisdictioncontrol. We can offer recommendations from a Public Health stamp and, we need to the densify these facilities and isolate people are not. Ffected from those who but, it is up to the Correction System to implement that and operationalize how that worker. That is happenin but, the wheels turn slowly and the numbers of people who are being released are currently not sufficient to achieve that goal of being le to create room to have people far enough apart to prevent spread. There is concern of people are released into the community or go toallocal hospthat infection will spread more rapidly thrommhout the ity. What would you say to that concern . Is that something you are worried about . Thwe know virus is present and we want to t be careful to stigmatize this issue. It is obviously a concern and we are concerned that more measures were not taken early on to prevent this and we recognize that inmates have the highest standard of care when they do become ill. We do not want to act ke one case is a particular risk. We are having isevery case obviously a risk, but the fact is that we have had 5060 casesy in marin coand our native population every day whether it is workplaces or other settings and it really gets back to the fundamental precautions we shouldall take to protect ourselves. So, i am less concerned about inmates being released especially because we are tracking them and we are given their infoaration and we able to follow them just like the other 1000 cases we have had so far in the county. Are there enough safeguards has been happthere, to e what bring this contagion down, to control it at san quentin . We are workg every day with the staff to ensure that they have access to the best available in informion and knowledge. Inhoterms of to manage the situation. Making sure that they have access o protective equipment and the. Face shie they have supply chains for that from the state but sometimes we are able to supplement that at the local level. So much of the challenges built into the environment itself. You have large cellblocks where they have one shared ventilation and hundreds of inmates and not a lot of opportunities to move them around in cethat facility a few become infected. Cohort in those away from others is an incredible challength sore doing their best but i think the state for at least another few hundred cases. What abouin the population at large throughout marin county mark there have been growing numbers of cases in general throughout the bay area and california. What are you seeing as the y econopens and people go back out . Crease in cases across the county. And through testing and identifying the demographics and occupation of the people coming forward withe disease. I think that we are able to describe it more specifically in the dynamic is primarily the essential workforce. Those people who have been out from the beginning of the shelter in place serving as the are lower income from the latin next communities. Been exposed in that workplace into a household wheryou home might have 510 People Living in o apartment and amplifying the numbers so one case of a worker coming back to usa old and then that one case may become 510 based on who has been exposed and that happening overand over again. That has really driven the numbers upwards. About 90 of the e cases over past three weeks have been attributed to that particular dynamic in the tin next community. Continue to practice to be distancing where your mask and wash your hands. Os seem to continue even as the economy is reopening. Is there anything else you would add to that . Should people be going out and getting a haircut getting a manicure or having dinnerwith their friends mark i think it is important for people to realize that one of the shifts in these shelter in place is moving from a t restrictive policy abPublic Health and putting it more into the hands of individual choice. In the responsibility is being delegated across the community to the Business Owners and our Community Members themselves. Just because it is allowed does not necessarily mean it safe in every case. I think that we need to make sure people understand their own risk and if someone is older or has medical conditionss that might prse them to a more severe outcome should they become ofainfected, sheltering in place is still the safest thing to do. If you are in a business were it seems they are not practicing those guidelines are not enforcing the social th distancing andfacial coverings, those are businesses we may choose to avoid. One laestion. What is the experience like having had the coronavirus . Having had covid19 and how has that impacted your lens on the situation . I was diagnosed about a week after we instituted the shelter in place in the midmarch. And had a few days of mild symptoms and thought i would be in tfortunate group that sort of has a week of mild unfortunately, it took a turn for the worst and i ended up two weeks moor less in bed continuously with fever. I have good home support and i was able to recover completely. But, it definitely, i have a lot more respect for the virus now. I had underestimated the power and it has given me a sense of m whattrying to do fothe mmunity. I underestimated for myself and i do not want to do that for the community as a whole. Thank you for the work that you do, we appreciate it. Goodwill ha67 stores the bay area and hundreds more throughout the state, which all closed under the shelter in place orders. As restrictions have loosened some locations have opened their doors for shopping d donations with new social distancing and contact free procedures. But several local goodwill li stores arely to close permanently as the organization struggles to provide for its employees. Joining me from oaklanllis m rogers, the president and ceo of goodwill of San Francisco san mateo and marin. Thank you r joining us could you tell me about the impact the rondemic has had the state on goodwill and more er narrowlyin the bay area . Absolutely. The pandemic has had a huge impact and really, i want to first talk about why exgoodwill ts. The only reason goodwill exists is to help people who would otherwise be edconsid unemployable to gain employment and to develop skill sets so thsu they can ort themselves and families. So, the folks that we hire are peoplesswho are home formerly incarcerated, low educational skill levels, immigrants, because what we want to do is help people who are sorttiof stigd by their circumstances and help them have a second chanth. Impact on goodwill statewide has been huge. So, goodwill employs 14,000 people in the state of california. As a result of the r utdown or had to shut down all of our retail operations, warehouse operations, our e commerce operations and that meant that 10,000 people acroha californiato be furloughed or laid off. Godwill earns through the businesses that we operate, aout 80 of what we need to function. So, when those businesses were closed we immediately lost 80 of our funding. That is devastating. And so most nonprofits are actually funded through phanthropy or maybe through individual donations but because goodwill is largely self funded by 80 , when the shutdown order came into place we had to shut everythi down which meant there was no work for the employees that we employ have you been able to get assistance from the state where the federal governme or philanthropic donations . Unfortunately not. What has happened is that we and so goodwills are separated by chapters and each chapter there are 157 chapters. In eight of the 14 chapters in california thare fewer than 500 but the rest of us had more than 500 employees investment we were not eligible for any federal aid in the form of dpp and what that meant is that we were put at a marked disadvantage. I think we lost incredible amounts of revenue that we would have used pay folks who really needed it. And so we inare now a situation where not only did we have to for low folks and so people were unemployed and in San Francisco wehad to furlough 500 employees. We chose furlough because what it did is allowed the employees to still be employees on a temporary furlgh which meant that they were still eligible for unemployment but we were also able to continue to pay Health Benefits because one thing that we cannot imagine is having people in a pandemic and particularly people who are more at risk for things like diabetes and hypertension and asthma and all the comorbidity factors that create cannot imagine people being without Health Benefits. So, the chair of our board incredibly generously wrote a eck for 100,000 tostart a fund to help embeoyees with fits. Every board member and the senior staff member participated and we alsothen started raising money in the community and many Community Members participated which then allowed a lot of folks who e at high risk of complications for covid to help have fialth be during the pandemic. I felt very fortunate we were able to do that. How has th pandemic impacted the donation side of the business . People were not able to ing goods in for quitme. I veto sae a i was jealou s lo ngof the people who were able t clean out the closets multiple times but a lot of people were able to do that. During the shutdown order. Xi people were very s then. Once you clean out your closet you want to get it out of your reuse. People anxious and initially we had some dumping at science but we ask the community to please not dumpd ople listened. So, people hold onto those items, they took them away and when we open the nation sites a couple weeks ago we had lines around the block of people who were turning in a ton of stuff they wanted to donate which terrific because what that is going to do is help us with the Recovery Efforts to get backin business. Can you handle thes donations coming in . We are currently handling the donations coming in and it is allowing us to bring back employees for processing the donations so that is creating jobs as well. It is a lot of donations but are incredibly grateful for th generosity and the Community Around us. What is your expectation about how many stores you wille be ato reopen and how many will be closed for good . It is one of the saddest things because we are employing some of the most vulnerable californians but because we have not gotten relief we are going to have to nuclose a er of stores. I think of the 18 stores we have in my chapter we will have to close probably fiv we also have folks aroust the e of california and some good wells that are struggling. There may be mergers and closures of good wells. It remains to be seen. People are i dont think that people often understand the huge service that goodwill provides to the community on an environmental level but also on an employment level. And we have at my chapter alone, 10 of the people thre we cly employ are homeless or were homeless. 25 were formerly incarcerated. 95 of the people that come to us are low or no income when to they came goodwill and now have jobs and are getting skill sets to move forward. We are really helping some of the st vulnerable lifornians. That is the thing that breaks my heart the most that we are not able to, that weare going to have to contract so that we can continue to help people. The one good thing that has happened is we have been able to help peoplevirtually. It is complicated because a lot of low income people do not necessarily have stable internet were necessary have the tools to get online effectively that we have helped a lot of folks either through online and training. We he moved a lot of things online but we are helping people over the one for the folks who do not have stable Internet Service and actually nt in the last we have interviewed over 1100 people and we have placed 896 people in jobs and a partnership with the city around jofor emergency workers during the epidemic. Were taking the lowests income foin the state and helping them get jobs and we have done that over the last month. Ho can people who might be watching the u . Support there are three ways. The biggest lift is really helping us advocate at the state and federal Level Services that goodwill provides and for some relief for goodwill. The second thing tha can do is donate money. People often dont think about donating money. They think about donating items but the truth is because we make 80 weof what need to operate through the businesses every dollar that you donate, you are getting three. You are leveraging that e. By th donating us some of that extra portant. D to make is ally so, donating to goodwill is great and then finally, people often thk that theyshould not donate their really good items to goodwill because maybe th will not t the value. The fact is that we have a great ecommerce d program we definitelymake sure that the really nice items get channeled to the right places. It does make a difference and allows us to raise more money to further the mission when e people donate higher end items as well. Those e the three things that i think people could practically. Thank you for joining us. Founded in 1977, frame line, e san atancisco intenal lgbt Film Festival is the longestrunning film exhibition event of its kind in the world. It takes place right here in the bay area with approximately 60,000 people flocking to local screenings. Traditionally hosted during pride week this year it is held online and you can catch new films throughout this weekend. Joining mefrom San Francisco is james willey, exec director. Thank you for joining us so, this an unusual year for anyone. But, this s been ina special challenge for you because your first year as executive director, you just joined us from sydney in august. Tell us about the challenges of pivoting to move this festival online. It is not the year we expected but it has been okay. We have had to pivot to online instead of having the beautiful theater as our main home with dozero of screenings hout the week. Instead we have got 16 amscing enings online. They are great films. We knew that we had to still celebrate pride. It isanso impo frame line and pride have been connected for 44 years. We cannot let this weekend go without showing amazing movies and connecting with our community and it is just putting frame line back out there into the world. You have onevent that is not virtual. It is actually a drivein. Tell us about that one. It is great. There is an amazing movie de by oakland filmmakers. It is called ahead of the curve and we are screening at that the west wind drivein in concorde saturday night at 9. I it going to be so much fun. It is just a really great movie about the founding of curve magazine whi was a very influential lesbian magazine and is sucha joyous ride about the creation of this iconic magazine and the influence that it had the celebrities on the cover and how people connected through it and now, what happens isis it looking more towards digital instead of print. I love thmovie and i really think people are going to have so much fun on saturday night sitting there in their cars honking their horns and having a great time. So, we are thrilled to be doing it. I think it will be the most fun you can have saturday night in the bay area. You seem to be encouraging people to oucome tell me about the other films being screened right now. Another one that is a bit of fun is called stage mother it ishe story about a texas christian woman whinherits a gay bar in San Francisco. And they are famous for their dragon acts. What they do this revitalize drag club and have a lot of fun and this christian woman has to kind of come to terms with what sacufrancisco gay ure is like and likewise they have to come to terms with her. But, it is a fun, good movie and stars jackie weaver who has been nominated for an oscar twice and lucy lu who is very great and fun and we miss seeing her as ten as we used to. And it has got a lot of great drag talent. Ok you are g for a great fun night join us for stage mother pretty can watch any time over the last four days. I want to turn to the Supreme Court Decision Just last week. De a historicsion in which members of the Lgbt Community were granted the right to work without discrimination througho the nation. That is a right we have had in localifornia for a time but it is historic that it has been expanded. Discussion that are ongoing as part of the frame line Film Festival Community Conversations mark of course lk have about it on daily chats. It is not like we have the o officegossip around anymore but it is important and we are thrilled that this has come down. It makes a lot of difference for more than half of the states in the United States and i know that people will be going to work feeling more secure and to me vethat is important because people should never have been able to be firefor being gain this era. Has that impacted filmmakers within this coamunity across ica you mark im sure it has and stateby state. Overall, we arlucky that e filmmaking community is often welcome but you cannot say that is the case in every set and you cannot say that was the case in every workplace. E we thrilled that people have the freedom to be who they are as they create this amazing work that they are doing. What are the drawbacks and o challengesing online . For me, itti is conn with the community face to face is what i miss and fiwhen a and is, you miss the applause that you can hear and i miss people cheering at the screen and doing all those things. What we have done is try to make it asstrong as possible even though we are virtual. We have done lots of recording from the cast theater and recorded the organist which is an iconic part of frame line before the film. We recorded that before the films to kind of give that vibe. But, that is what it is, it also has some pluses also. We are more accessible than ever before. And you cannot watch our programming from anywhere in california, and you cado so now from the comfort of your n home and watch three four totals in a night if you want, just sit there and watch. It has its pluses as well and people are already enjoying it. We started screening myesterda night and the response has been fantastic. The executive director of frame line, thank you so ch. Visit frame land. Org to visit more about thisneyears and buy ticketnitos trs which will stream online. The festival runs through sunday pretty can find more coverage at kqed. Org. You can reach me through my soal media handle. For all of us here at newsroom, thanks for watching, good night. Scott theirus spikes. And the president s poll numbers sink. Weve been hit badly. Weve had now over0 120, deaths and weve had 2. 5 io miinfections. Robert across the country states report record highs in coronavirus cases. But the president rains defiant. Pushing to reopen the economy and rallying his base. President trump lock them up, yeah. Lock them up. Robert and as the nation wrestles with its past, the road to Police Reform remains uncertain. The senate will havech a ce to honor George Floyds life or too nothing. N if you allow amendmenl in the house bil, then you wont accept howndments on the senate bill,

© 2024 Vimarsana

comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.