Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Budget And Appropriations Committee 20240712

Roughly five years, i was working as a high school teacher, and i decided to take my students on a surfing field trip. The light bulb went off in my head, and i realized i could do much more for my students taking them surfing than i could as their classroom teacher, and that is when the idea for the city surf project was born. Working with kids in the ocean that arent familiar with this space is really special because youre dealing with a lot of fear and apprehension but at the same time, a lot of excitement. When i first did it, i was, like, really scared, but then, i did it again, and i liked it. Well get a group of kids who have just never been to the beach, are terrified of the idea, who dont like the beach. Its too cold out, and its those kid that are impossible to get back out of the water at the end of the day. Over the last few years, i think weve had at least 40 of our students participate in the city surf project. Surfing helped me with, like, how to swim. Weve start off with about two to four sessions in the pool before actually going out and surfing. Swimming at the pool just helps us with, like, being, like, comfortable in the water and being calm and not being all not being anxious. So when we started the city surf project, one of the things we did was to say hey, this is the way to earn your p. E. Credits. Just getting kids to go try it was one of our initial challenges for the first year or two. But now that weve been doing it three or four years, we have a group of kids thats consistent, and the word has spread, that its super fun, that you learn about the ocean. Starting in the morning, you know, i get the vehicles ready, and then, i get all the gear together, and then, i drive and go get the kids, and we take them to a local beach. We usually go to linda mar, and then occasionally ocean beach. We once did a special trip. We were in capitola last year, and it was really fun. We get in a circle and group stretch, and we talk about specific safety for the day, and then, we go down to the water. Once we go to the beach, i dont want to go home. I cant change my circumstances at home, but i can change the way i approach them. Our program has definitely been a way for our students to find community and build friends. I dont really talk to friends, so i guess when i started doing city surf, i started to, like, get to know people more than i did before, and people that i didnt think id like, like, ended up being my best friends. Its a group sport the way we do it, and with, like, close camaraderie, but everybodys doing it for themselves. Its great, surfing around, finding new people and making new friendships with people throughout surfing. It can be highly developmental for students to have this time where they can learn a lot about themselves while negotiating the waves. I feel significantly, like, calmer. It definitely helps if im, like, feeling really stressed or, like, feeling really anxious about surfing, and i go surfing, and then, i just feel, like, im going to be okay. It gives them resiliency skills and helps them build selfconfidence. And with that, they can use that in other parts of their lives. I went to bring amy family o the beach and tell them what i did. I saw kids open up in the ocean, and i got to see them connect with other students, and i got to see them fail, you know, and get up and get back on the board and experience success, and really enjoy themselves and make a connection to nature at the same time. For some kids that are, like, resistant to, like, being in a Mentorship Program like this, its they want to surf, and then later, theyll find out that theyve, like, made this community connection. I think they provided level playing fields for kids to be themselves in an open environment. For kids to feel like i can go for it and take a chance that i might not have been willing to do on my own is really special. We go on 150 surf outings a year. Thats yearround programming. Weve seen a tremendous amount of youth face their fears through surfing, and that has translated to growth in other facets of their lives. I just think the biggest thing is, like, that they feel like that they have something that is really cool, that theyre engaged in, and that we, like, care about them and how theyre doing, like, in general. What i like best is they really care about me, like, im not alone, and i have a group of people that i can go to, and, also, surfing is fun. Were creating surfers, and were changing the face of surfing. The feeling is definitely akin to being on a roller coaster. Its definitely faster than i think you expect it to be, but its definitely fun. It leaves you feeling really, really positive about what that kids going to go out and do. I think its really magical almost. At least it was for me. It was really exciting when i caught my first wave. I felt like i was, like it was, like, magical, really. When they catch that first wave, and their first lights up, you know their face lights up, you know you have them hooked. I was on top of the world. Its amazing. I felt like i was on top of the world even though i was probably going two miles an hour. It was, like, the scariest thing id ever done, and i think it was when i got hooked he is a real leader that listens and knows how to bring people together. Brought this department together like never before. I am so excited to be swearing in the next chief of the San Francisco Fire Department, ladies and gentlemen, lets welcome, Jeanine Nicholson. applause . I grew up total tomboy, athlete. I loved a good crisis, a good challenge. I grew up across the street from the fire station. My dad used to take me there to vote. I never saw any female firefighters because there werent any in the 1970s. I didnt know i could be a fire fighter. When i moved to San Francisco in 1990, some things opened up. I saw women doing things they hadnt been doing when i was growing up. One thing was firefighting. A woman recruited me at the gaypride parade in 1991. It was a perfect fit. I liked using my brain, body, working as a team, figuring things out, troubleshooting and coming up with different ways to solve a problem. In terms of coming in after another female chief, i dont think anybody says that about men. You are coming in after another man, chief, what is that like. I understand why it is asked. It is unusual to have a woman in this position. I think San Francisco is a trailblazer in that way in terms of showing the world what can happen and what other people who may not look like what you think the fire chief should look like how they can be successful. Be asked me about being the first lbgq i have an understands because there are little queer kids that see me. I worked my way up. I came in january of 1994. I built relationships over the years, and i spent 24 years in the field, as we call it. Working out of firehouses. The Fire Department is a family. We live together, eat together, sleep in the same dorm together, go to crazy calls together, dangerous calls and we have to look out for one another. When i was burned in a fire years ago and i felt responsible, i felt awful. I didnt want to talk to any of my civilian friends. They couldnt understand what i was going through. The firefighters knew, they understood. They had been there. It is a different relationship. We have to rely on one another. In terms of me being the chief of the department, i am really trying to maintain an open relationship with all of our members in the field so myself and my deputy chiefs, one of the priorities i had was for each of us to go around to different fire stations to make sure we hit all within the first three or four months to start a conversation. That hasnt been there for a while. Part of the reason that i am getting along well with the field now is because i was there. I worked there. People know me and because i know what we need. I know what they need to be successful. I have known Jeanine Nicholson since we worked together at station 15. I have always held her in the highest regard. Since she is the chief she has infused the department with optimism. She is easy to approach and is concerned with the firefighters and paramedics. I appreciate that she is concerned with the issues relevant to the Fire Department today. There is a retired captain who started the Cancer Prevention foundation 10 years ago because he had cancer and he noticed fellow firefighters were getting cancer. He started looking into it. In 2012 i was diagnosed with breast canner, and some of my fellow firefighters noticed there are a lot of women in the San Francisco Fire Department, premenopausal in their 40s getting breast cancer. It was a higher rate than the general population. We were working with workers comp to make it flow more easily for our members so they didnt have to worry about the paper work when they go through chemo. The turnout gear was covered with suit. It was a badge to have that all over your coat and face and helmet. The dirtier you were the harder you worked. That is a cancer causeser. It casser. It is not cancer causer. There islassic everywhere. We had to reduce our exposure. We washed our gear more often, we didnt take gear where we were eating or sleeping. We started decontaminating ourselves at the fire scene after the fire was out. Going back to the fire station and then taking a shower. I have taught, worked on the decontamination policy to be sure that gets through. It is not if or when. It is who is the next person. It is like a cancer sniper out there. Who is going to get it next. One of the things i love about the Fire Department. It is always a team effort. You are my family. I love the city and department and i love being of service. I vow to work hard to work hard to carry out the vision of the San Francisco Fire Department and to move us forward in a positive way. If i were to give a little advice to women and queer kids, find people to support you. Keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep trying. You never know what door is going to open next. You really dont. [cheers and my name is doctor ellen moffett, i am an assistant medical examiner for the city and county of San Francisco. I perform autopsy, review medical records and write reports. Also integrate other sorts of testing data to determine cause and manner of death. I have been here at this facility since i moved here in november, and previous to that at the old facility. I was worried when we moved here that because this building is so much larger that i wouldnt see people every day. I would miss my personal interactions with the other employees, but that hasnt been the case. This building is very nice. We have lovely autopsy tables and i do get to go upstairs and down stairs several times a day to see everyone else i work with. We have a bond like any other group of employees that work for a specific agency in San Francisco. We work closely on each case to determine the best cause of death, and we also interact with family members of the diseased. That brings us closer together also. I am an investigator two at the office of the chief until examiner in San Francisco. As an investigator here i investigate all manners of death that come through our jurisdiction. I go to the field Interview Police officers, detectives, family members, physicians, anyone who might be involved with the death. Additionally i take any property with the deceased individual and take care and custody of that. I maintain the chain and custody for court purposes if that becomes an issue later and notify next of kin and make any additional follow up phone callsness with that particular death. I am dealing with people at the worst possible time in their lives delivering the worst news they could get. I work with the family to help them through the grieving process. I am ricky moore, a clerk at the San Francisco medical examiners office. I assist the pathology and toxicology and Investigative Team around work close with the families, loved ones and funeral establishment. I started at the old facility. The building was old, vintage. We had issues with plumbing and things like that. I had a tiny desk. I feet very happy to be here in the new digs where i actually have room to do my work. I am sue pairing, the toxicologist supervisor. We test for alcohol, drugs and poisons and biological substances. I oversee all of the lab operations. The forensic operation here we perform the toxicology testing for the Human Performance and the case in the city of San Francisco. We collect evidence at the scene. A woman was killed after a robbery homicide, and the dna collected from the zip ties she was bound with ended up being a cold hit to the suspect. That was the only investigative link collecting the scene to the suspect. It is nice to get the feedback. We do a lot of work and you dont hear the result. Once in a while you heard it had an impact on somebody. You can bring justice to what happened. We are able to take what we due to the next level. Many of our counterparts in other states, cities or countries dont have the resources and dont have the beautiful building and the equipmentness to really advance what we are doing. Sometimes we go to court. Whoever is on call may be called out of the office to go to various portions of the city to investigate suspicious deaths. We do whatever we can to get our job done. When we think that a case has a natural cause of death and it turns out to be another natural cause of death. Unexpected findings are fun. I have a prior background in law enforcement. I was a Police Officer for 8 years. I handled homicides and suicides. I had been around Death Investigation type scenes. As a Police Officer we only handled minimal components then it was turned over to the coroner or the detective division. I am intrigued with those types of calls. I wondered why someone died. I have an extremely supportive family. Older children say, mom, how was your day. I can give minor details and i have an amazing spouse always willing to listen to any and all details of my day. Without that it would be really hard to deal with the negative components of this job. Being i am a native of San Francisco and grew up in the community. I come across that a lot where i may know a loved one coming from the back way or a loved one seeking answers for their deceased. There are a lot of cases where i may feel affected by it. If from is a child involved or things like that. I try to not bring it home and not let it affect me. When i tell people i work at the medical examiners office. Whawhat do you do . The autopsy . I deal with the a with the enou with the administrative and the families. Most of the time work here is very enjoyable. After i started working with dead people, i had just gotten married and one night i woke up in a cold sweat. I thought there was somebody dead . My bed. I rolled over and poked the body. Sure enough, it was my husband who grumbled and went back to sleep. This job does have lingering effects. In terms of why did you want to go into this . I loved science growing up but i didnt want to be a doctor and didnt want to be a pharmacist. The more i learned about forensics how interested i was of the perfect combination between Applied Science and criminal justice. If you are interested in finding out the facts and truth seeking to find out what happened, anybody interested in that has a place in this field. Being a woman we just need to go for it and dont let anyone fail you, you cant be. With regard to this position in comparison to crime dramas out there, i would say there might be some minor correlations. Lets face it, we arent hollywood, we are real world. Yes we collect evidence. We want to preserve that. We are not scanning fingerprints in the field like a Hollywood Television show. Families say thank you for what you do, for me that is extremely fulfilling. Somebody has to do my job. If i can make a situation that is really negative for someone more positive, then i feel like i am doing the right thing for the city of San Francisco. Amc Health Crisis and where do we go from here. Today im joined by our department of Public Health director. Today we have six thousand ninety two cases and sadly sixty seven people have died from covid. Until we have a vaccine and until we are in a better place, we know that we need to continue to socially distance ourself from one another. Wear our mask as much as possible and follow our Public Health guidelines. We know that for months to come, this is something that we are unfortunately going to be living with and the fact is, there is still a lot of work to be done. I just want to say a few things before we get into the details of the budget. The fact is, weve come a very very very long way. Many of you remember even in january where we declared a state of emergency and we Start Talking about the crisis and whats to come, and when we shut down the city, that was back in march and here we are. Its august. We thought that in august wed be in a different place. I think whats happening with san franciscans as hard as weve worked to contain the virus, its gone up and down, and up again. We still have a long way to go. As tired as we are of doing what we need in order to keep one another safe, we have to start getting comfortable with it. We have to start changing our behavior. It really is whats going to make the difference because we notice that recently we had to basically put a pause on our oopenning. Reopening. We saw the numbers spike. Once we saw the numbers spike, behaviors started to change again. Now we see the numbers declining. That doesnt mean we dont have several people every single day testing positive for the virus. That doesnt mean that some of those people, sadly, have lost their lives. We anticipate seeing more. Only we can be the solution to this big challenge. Just think about it. When we first started off, the big conversations were around ppe and testing and other things, weve definitely come a long way. Although, its clear that due to, what i believe a lack of federal response and coordination with our state and cities, its been very difficult for so many of us. We didnt let that stop us. We prepared, we worked hard, we redirected resources, we redirected staff from all over the city. We adjusted to our situation and because of that San Francisco has been a model for the rest of the country. I want us to be even better than that. Its up to us. Its up to us to change our behavior. Its up to us especially because when you think about it, sadly, what we see in terms of businesses not being able to open. Some of our favorite restaurants and retail shops and places where we get our hair and nails done, they may never return. People who need to send their kids to school because we, regardless of the achievement gaps and equipment were providing for low income students were still seeing problems and increase in the achievement gaps. We have work to do. Im asking people in San Francisco to just really change their behavior. I know its not easy. I know we want to enjoy ourselves. But its up to us to make a difference. Today, i want to really talk about our budget and the proposed budget thats working its way through the legislative process as we speak. Part of why we are investing 446 million in response to covid has everything to do with the understanding that were going to be living with this for some time. Thats money that i wish we could divert to other things. But unfortunately this is the reality of today. I hope thats not the reality of our next budget cycle. Were committing about 93 million directly from the general fund. Again, thats money that i wish we could be diverting to other places and the fact is, its going to be important that were prepared and doing whats necessary to keep the public safe. Today, i want to get into our slides and talk a little about our investments so you have a clear understanding of why and whats being invested based on our response based on our budg budget. So lets look at exactly what it is that our response is this year in the budget. It includes 16 point five million for operations. Health response. 62 million for Food Distributions and housing and shelter programs. Its important to remember that this funding really assumes that we dont see any major surges. If that happens, we will need to divert even more resources. Thats why it is so critical that everybody does their part to stop the spread. It assumes that well continue to be reimbursed by fema. We all know how the federal government has been. This is only through june of 2021 for the next year. If this stretches beyond june theres even more of a drain on our budget next year. The funding for communications and operations is critical to not only staffing our Covid Command Center but also providing communication in the many different languages and cultures in San Francisco in different ways. 50 of our cases in San Francisco have been in our latino community. Visitation valley have the highest rates of cases in the city. Communication is key in a Public Health response. Thankfully we have an Incredible Team of people doing this work every single day. One hundred eighty five million for Health Operations is a lot of money. Its important to understand in the context of all the things that were doing as a city. Were talking about testing, ppe, surge capacity, preparations, Contact Tracing, community out reach, out break mitigations and Everything Else required to fight this virus and keep our re residents safe. We have massively expanded our Food Distribution to people in the si city and will continue to this for as long as needed. Keep people fed and increase sanitation conditions on the streets. Pit stops we chose to expand city wide for an additional 16 million. As you can see from the slide, this is a significant investment. In short term options to keep people off the street. Continuing to fund hotel rooms and shelter in place. We also know we need more housing for people which is why this all feeds into our homeless Recovery Plan to create six thousand replacements for our homeless residents. These are absolutely critical for our plan to work. Building on some of our existing programs as well including our waste replacement, meantle healtmental health programs. Educational efforts to support our schools. Mobile testing for neighborhoods that are disproportionately hit. These investments in our budget this year as we know, are absolutely critical in order to get us through the very challenging time and i cant reiterate enough the need to make changes to our behavior. I dont know about you, but as i said before in some of these press conferences, i was a very challenging kid to deal with for my grandmother who raised me. I can remember time and time again, when you tell someone to do something over and over and over again. Dont touch that fire, dont touch that fire. Youre like, i wonder what the fire feels like. You touch it the fire and youre like, ill never do that again. Thats the kind of kid i was. It feels like im a parent telling people in San Francisco over and over again wear your mask, socially distance, do this, do this that. Really, this is about protecting Public Health. This is about getting us back on track. This is not just a problem in San Francisco, its a problem all over world. When you think about it theres some countries in the world that have reduced the virus and gone back to normal. Thats where we want to be. The only way were going to get there. The only way were going to be able to open the gyms and nail salons and visit our parents and grandparents in senior homes and places they are housed, is if we change our behavior. We listen to our Public Health expert. Especially in places like dolores park. Especially in places where people continue to gather and not socially distance. From our contact tracers, we know that many people who are contracting the virus are contracting the virus because they are having gatherings. They are having family gatherings and birthday parties and other events. You know what . Today is my birthday. Im going to socially distance myself and talk to people op opn zoom. If we all did our part rkts wher, where wewould be today. I know youre tired of hearing it from me. I say it time and time again. I cant reiterate enough that we need to do our part. We can be a leader and crush this virus if we all do our part. With that, i want to ask the director of the department of Public Health dr. Grant kol fa x fax to please come forward now. Good morning. Im dr. Grant colfax director of Public Health. Happy birthday and thank you for your commitment when it comes to covid response. When it comes to shelter in place, a surge of covid 19 cases. Our investments in testing, Contact Tracing and Food Security among other items have helped San Francisco manage to slow the spread of the virus. Thank you again for your ladership anleadership and dire. Here is an update of where we are with the virus. As of this morning. Six thousand forty two have been diagnosed and sadly sixty seven of them have died. Were currently caring for 88 in our local hospitals. Thats a slight drop from last week. Its a 20 reduction from our peak in july. Because of our efforts. Because of your efforts such as Face Coverings and social distancing, we have lowered the effective reproductive rate to just below one. The effective reproductive rate or re is a key measure of how fast the virus is spreading. Its the average number of people who become infected by an infectious before. If its above one, the virus will spread and it will spread quickly. When the re factor is below one, its slowing. Our best estimate is that re has been just below one, between point nine eight and point nine five. We continue to exceed our daily testing goals and lead the state and nation it testing. In this next phase of our testing strategy, well be more targeted in our testing even as we expand Testing Capacity in the city. Last week, we brought mobile testing to communities with highest infection rates of covid 19. Including in the bay view, sunny dale, mission and omi. We are indeed following the day awe to identify the communities where testing can have the greatest impact to identify and slow the spread of covid 19. As you saw in the budget presentation, the mayor is proposing a nearly 56 milliondollar budget in testing next year. That number has started to drop from the high point a few weeks ago. Its a cause for great concern and could easily go up again. This is one of our key health indicators. Anything above 15 new cases per day puts us in the red zone on our highest alert level. Were been there for the past few weeks. Weve seen our numbers improving. Lets stay vigilant. Weve seen issues with the state reporting system that may have caused issues with cases. We see many many san franciscans covering their faces. Recent Research Indicates if 80 of a population is regularly using Face Coverings we can prevent out breaks of covid 19. Please, be one of those 80 . Thank you to everyone who is doing their part to reach that critical mat. Why dont we make it ninety. Why dont we make it 100 of people wearing Face Coverings in our city. We know unfortunately some people are not covering their faces complicitily. I see some people trying but maybe they dont know both their nose and mouth need to be covering. Maybe they dont know that face could havings are required in San Francisco for everyone age ten years and up. If you have any questions or doubts, wear a facial covering. Its right thing. Its the safe thimg t ting to t. Its like remembering your wallet or keys. Its a habit were going to need to develop and have with us for some time. My mask protects you. Your mask protects me. This is something we can all do and indeed we must do for each other. We must keep up our momentum and stand our ground and sustain our gains and continue to make progress. Were seeing some hopeful signs. As weve seen before this virus is persistent. We cannot let our guard down. Please, again, continue to do your part. Continue to take caution and care. Take care of yourself. Call your friends and family. We are all in this together. We will get through this together. Together we have the power to save lives and again, crush that curve. Thank you. Thank you dr. Colfax and madam mayor for your time. Well begin our q and a portion. First we have Health Care Related questions for dr. Colfax. What specifically is the city doing to shorten the time it takes to get test results and boboaster Contact Tracing. The turn around times have averaged general 48 to 72 hours. We did fall behind because of the great surge in testing. We have caught up on that. Were increasing looking to expand our city test sf capacity. Those times will hopefully continue to be shorter than a few weeks ago. Weve trained three hundred people in Contact Tracing. Were try to go catcing to catcm the flood of cases. Making great progress on that. We continue to expand our capacity and Contact Tracing. As you see in the budget theres investments to strengthen that work going forward. Thank you doctor. Have any out breaks been traced to a gathering in dolores park. Where are the out breaks happening. We know that out breaks occur when people gather. Indoor gatherings are more at risk than outdoor gatherin gatheringpeople doing essential work and need to work in close proximity, we need to have that happen. Lets not gather for things that could otherwise be delayed or be done on zoom or in other virtual ways. With regard to specific out breaks, i cant comment on drawing conclusions from the gathering at dolores park except to say thats behavior that were very concerned about it. Our message continue continues o not gather unless absolutely essential. Do not gather out side your immediate household. If you do, wear those face masks and use good hygiene and socially distance when possible. Look, when i walk or drive around the city, we know this is still not happening to the degree it needs to be. We need to hit that 80 mark. Lets go for 90 or one hundred. We need to crush this curve. Thank you. The next set of questions are from the associated press. How have the states problems with cal ready effected San Francisco effective reproductive rate. Its based on the number of hospitalizations. Our data is not part of that calculation. Were confident in our ability to estimate based on the hospitalization rates in the city. How can we be sure cases are going down if there is under reporting by the states system. The number of hospitalled cases are going down in our city. Thats what we base the reproductive rate on. Its on those numbers sm the nu. The number of cases diagnosed with covid 19, that number could change based on the correction from the state. We hope to have tha that tha th. Thank you, doctor. What are the major factors contributing to the numbers leveling off . What wewe cant draw any one action with regard to cause and effect with regard to the decline in the number of cases. I do think a few weeks ago our recognition that we were in the midst of another surge and the reproductive rate was going up rapidly. We worked with comeupit communiy members, key stake holders and people in neighborhoods most effected to work to really get the message out that everyone needed to be aware of this. Access testing. If you were in an area experiencing out breaks to wear those facial coverings and not gather. I hope people heard this and people are doing their part to flatten and hopefully crush the curve. I will say that the reproductive number is just about at one now. We need to see that trend continue so we get much much lower. Im hopeful that we continue to go in the right direction. Thank you, doctor. Have you considered further restrictions or enforcement measuremeasures foreplaysesmea. We need to give people thank you, doctor. The next question comes from sf examiner. Business owners from the small industry and other personal services have been frustrated that they cannot fully reopen even after sanitation guidelines. What is your level of concerns. Right now we are on the state watch list and have been since late july. No further reopenings can happen until were off that watch list and receive updated guidance from the state. And what might be plausible going forward. Thank you. Our next question. If the reproductive rate is not below is only based on hospitalization and not positive tests it does not include asymptomatic people. How is that viable. Its an estimate. Its an estimate that we have been working with u c berkeley and u c sf and cal San Francisco researchers with regard to developing a model that takes exactly that into account. Uses the hospitalization number and extrapolates that to the broader population at large to come up with an estimate of the reproductive rate. Its publicly available with regard to what the reproductive rate estimate is. You can dig deeper into that on the website which we can certainly provide to you. Thank you, dr. Colfax. There no further questions at this time. This concludes todays press conference. Thank you madam mayor and dr. Colfax for your time. Ime leadership of the department of Public Health flattened the curve in San Francisco. The steps we have taken together have saved lives. One of the reasons the city acted so quickly so early was to not overburden our Health Care Systems. As the state of california and bay area counties have begun to gradually reopen, we are seeing some troubling signs. We have a seven day average of ninety eight new cases per day. Our demand for acute care for covid positive patients has goan each week. Today dr. And i are announcing the establishment of our first low acuity medical site. Located a 163. It will open with twenty patients. Its not expected to treat covid positive patients. When i starred this i facility i was truly impressed at the first rate medical facility. The citys ability to confront covid 19 depends on our ability to care for those with all manner of conditions. Sprained angels to heart attacks. Other ailments are not stopping just because of the pandemic. Opening this facility will shore up our ability for the hospitals to treat covid 19. It is not a drop in acute care site testing location or shelter. Please do not visit this location if you are seeking any of those services sm as the district two supervisor i would be remiss to not note the response to local emergencies. Were an incredible resource and im grateful for the partnership with press i hapartnershipwith. A good mark morning. Im director of health. Thank you for your support during this unprecedented time. Today like if everyday, i check the number of patient patients h covid 19. Unfortunately that number is higher than ever before and continues to climb. That number dropped to just 26 patients six weeks ago. Today, its one hundred and seven. Of those one quarter are very sick and in intensive care. Across the city we have more than six thousand cases of covid 19. And look, it took us thirty eight days to go from two thousand to three thousand cases. Of half as long to go from three thousand to four thousand. In just ten days we went from five thousand to six thousand cases of covid 19. Let me be clear, we are in a major surge of covid 19. The virus is moving fast and more people are getting seriously ill. If things continue, we estimate well have more than 750 san franciscans in the hospital by october. Plausible worst Case Scenarios put us at twenty four hundred hospitalizations and eighteen hundred deaths. These scenarios unfortunately become more likely as each day goes by with the current trend. Today, fortunately all patients are getting world class treatment from the most caring professionals sm we wisals. We still have capacity to care for patients. It is good news that our Health Care System has not yet been overwhelmed as we saw in new york. Many are contributing to that by staying home, avoiding gathering, covering your faces when go ting out, washing your hands sm you are preventing more illness and spread and keep our Health Care System functioning. Our city must prepare for this surge. How many peoplethat puts us in the red zone of one of our key health indicators. Weve been there for over a month. Its extremely sobering that we reached this point. Its extremely concerning. Our reopening remains on pause. The main reason we joined the watch list was because of our rapidly growing rates. Our goal is to keep the increase to less than 10 . Since january the Health Department has been planning and preparing for covid 19. We built up the capacity of our Health Care System. We added testing sites a sites. Today supervisor stephanie announced, were creating a care site that we hope we will not need. Its located in the presidio but will serve all san franciscans. It will serve patients who no longer need acute care but are not ready to go home. They would have medical medical supervision and care from staff. I hope this day wont come. We hope our hospitals will never need to open the relief that this site represents. That depends on you. All of us. Please. Please wear a mask. Its really not that hard. I want to see San Francisco open schools instead of medical sites. We want to see houses of worship open their doors. Sit in their favorite barbers chair. Hug our grand children again. We can make that happen. We still have time to turn this around. If we want those things we cant take chances and hope this virus is not as infectious as the data and facts tell us it is. Everyone needs to behave as though each of us has covid 19. Think about that. We know half as many doap donte symptoms at some period. Be careful. Every time you wear a mask, socially distance. Wash your hands. Avoid gatherings. Youre moving closer to the day we can live more like we did before march. Everyday you take a risk you move us farther away from that day. We can prove testimon works aga. Covering our faces may be the most important. On friday San Francisco updated the orders. Everyone over the age of ten should wear a Face Covering. If youre alone in a space that people might use later, cover your face. If youre handling food for other face, cover your face. Basically, cover your face. If youre passing someone on the sidewalk, your face must be covered. Other things we must do. Washing our hand hands, stayingx feet apart. If you are meeting. Meet out side if you can. Of course, please you must stay home if you can. Short of the vaccine or cure of covid 19 these are the most effective interventions that we have available to us. They work if we take them up and practice these behaviors everyday. You can do this. Its up to us to flatten the curve again. Thank you. Thank you doctor and thank you supervisor stephanie for your time. Well begin the q and a portion of this meeting. We have a variety of questions for dr. Co lfax. The first question is from the associated press. We havent seen the devastation in the homeless communities. Why do you think that is . I think its a number of factors that so far have helped us avoid worse Case Scenarios with people experiencing homelessness, we took action early on with our partners and support of housing and with our Community Seven is agency part mere ins. Ensuring that best practices were rapidly a applied. People had the materials necessary to reduce the spread. Other key interventions that we did is make available hundreds of hotel rooms so people experiencing c homelessness were able to shelter in place. Over thirty five hundred people have been placed in those hotel rooms. Weve done a lot of out reach work on the street. Providing hygiene. We had an intense Clinical Team that provided health care for people before the pandemic. This team has been working around the clocke clock to ensue people get the best care. Its a variety of actions that weve taken to avoid some of the outcomes weve seen in other jurisdictions. Thank you, doctor. The next set of questions are from ab c seven. Face shields should be worn in addition to face masks. Do you for se for see this beina requirement. The most important thing is that we ensure in public that everyone is wearing a Face Covering if they are over ten years of age. Weve been very clear that protecting our Health Care Workers is key. How close is San Francisco to getting off the watch list . We continue to see increases above the 50 hospitalization rates. I cant speculate on how soon. We are in a major surge here and anticipating on average seven hundred fifty in the hospital by october. If were on and off the watch list what is key is we work to flatten the curve and recommit ourselves. We did it before and we can do it again. Its going to take the whole community to make this work. Are social gatherings the major reason for the surge. Its a major ko contributor. People should not be using testing to determine whether they should gather. If someone is infected, the virus is extremely contagious. They are contributing to this increase. If you go to a gathering and somebody has the virus and is going to transmit it. We have to understand that with more virus in the community you saw how quickly we went from four thousand to five thousand tcases. Please, please dont gather. We have a handful of questions about San Francisco issuing fines on people who dont wear masks in public. Weve been emphasizing the needs of these masks and the social distancing as we continue to emif i if emphasize. Were schorrin exploring how wey increase enforcement particularly in situations where requirements that are very clear are not being followed. This would be enforced following up with businesses an other situations where people gather. Were working with communities for voluntary compliance. Were looking at increasing enforcement. In regards to the press ci the. Who is paying for it and who will staff it . The city is funding the site. It will be staff by Health Departments and u c sf providers. Well take care of 93 patients. M what has it historically ben used for and is it prepared to accept patients. It will depend on the capacity of our hospitalization across the city. If theres a need to move people out of the hospital quickly and make room for covid 19 patients. I cant speculate on the past use of the site. Thank you for your time today that conclawed concludes the prs conference. For additional questions please for additional questions please youre watching coping with covid19. Todays special guest is assessor carmen chu. Hi, im chris mannis and youre watching coping with covid19. And today my guest is carmen chu, the assessor for the city of San Francisco and was cochairing the Economic Recovery Task force. Shes here to talk how about how the task force is guiding the city through the Covid Recovery and reopening. Welcome to the show. Thank you very much, chris, for having me. We begin by talking about the creation of the economic recovery tack force and its purpose and role. Absolutely. So i think about our cities with that very first month of covid and the truth is that everything moved so quickly. And i can still remember when i was at the press conference that announced our state of emergency and not only that but very soon after we were in a shelterinplace scenario where many of us had never imagined that wed ever see in our lifetime, much less having to deal with a global pandemic. During that time there was a lot going on in peoples minds about how concerned and worried that meant for themselves and their families, but almost immediately i think that the city also began to feel what the Economic Impacts were of shelterinplace and business closure. Remember at the time that all but essential businesses were open so very quickly we saw a lot of businesses who were, frankly, worried about whether they could even come back and open at some point in time or how theyd make it through and we saw quickly a sharp amount of job loss that happened in the city as well. So we knew pretty soon thereafter that we needed to start doing a lot of work to plan ahead for what economic recovery would look like. So there, alongside with the president of the board, norman yee, had a task force to try to get a number of people together to be thinking about what is it that the city can be doing now to start planning for our economic recovery, to have it successful for the midterm but also for the long term going forward. So we have a group of people who are just amazing, people who are contributing to our communities. So weve had large and Small Businesses. Businesses from a crosssection of Different Industries and services, from different neighborhoods. We had academia who are part of this task force as well as different foundations and Profit Service providers who are all part of the ecosystem that makes San Francisco special. So the task force is really meaning to pull together the thinking about how the city could help us to facilitate going back to a reopening scenario, but how to have different scenarios and policies to ensure that we can be successful during an interim period as long for the long term. Great. Now weve all heard about the Economic Impacts of the covid19 had across the country. Can you tell us about the experiences in San Francisco . I mean, i would say that just listening to the businesses and to the individuals and residents. Its been very dire. You can imagine for a business that has been open for quite some time, you know, and they are still continuing to have to other things but meanwhile they had absolutely no income for most businesses that are closed to help to offset that. Many of these businesses have taken loans out that they have actually secured with their own assets, like their home. They have secured it, you know, they cant repay loans, they have to potentially sell or do something with the other personal guarantees they have. Locally here in San Francisco we have also i tried to respond with the local programs that we thank would be helpful. Everything from the deferral of business taxes and business licenses, and the grants to support businesses and Different Community groups to support workers and so on, to try to help to transition. But that being said, its been significant hardships for individuals, as well as the business side or those unemployed or people who are not seeing that wealth in the sector. The particular areas that the task force are focusing on, can you talk about them specifically . Yeah, yeah. At some point we think about the larger economy. And its a wide and a big economy. We have so much entrepreneurship and different types of activities and things that we do. And also its really important parts of our economy that make San Francisco special, our arts and our culture, all of these things help to contribute to the vibrancy that i think is San Francisco. When we think of economic recovery, its broad and its also something that is going to be very different from sector to sector. So i think this is truly something that we keep in mind is that ultimately the ones that we are able to open, with the Economic Activity that is really tied to how we individually take responsibility to be sure that we keep safe. And so the way that were thinking about economic recovery is about, you know, how to make an interim period short of having a vaccine or a Health Breakthrough for an economy that is resilient. Theres a strong recognition that even before covid19 hit that the economy wasnt doing great for everyone, right . A lot of people were left behind, frankly, from the last economic cycle. We were not just faring very well. And so one of the things that were thinking about is how do we think about San Francisco with the emergency sectors and how to create more equity, how do we create more opportunities for all of our communities to be able to thrive going forward. So we really are intentional about wanting to think about policies that help to develop San Francisco better actually than the way that things were before. Some of the areas that we think that we want to put our efforts around are a few areas. So we want to see for jobs and businesses. We definitely to want to think about Economic Development and how it is that we allow for the right kind of growth in our economy. We want to make sure that were focusing on our vulnerable communities. So truly thinking about, you know, who has been most impacted, who you do we make sure that when we think about the investments for the future that that economy includes those individuals and communities as well. And finally we also want to think very intentionally about how we support the arts, hospitality, culture and entertainment. This is a big part of San Francisco. People come from all around the world to visit our beautiful city because they recognize not only the natural landscape is beautiful but also the vibrance and the warmth of our communities and the culture that were able to share here and the food that we can provide and the festivals and concerts, all of these things that makes San Francisco so special. And at the same time these are exactly the types of things that are probably not going to come back very quickly. And as we begin to reopen, what is the Task Force Helping for local businesses and employment . We really want to make sure that the ontheground experiences that businesses have and the common sense kind of things that they may be able to do, are able to be incorporated with our Public Health officials. Aside from that were working very hard to try to find just the solutions that allows the businesses to be able to populate more flexibly. So you have probably heard that the city is opening up outside dining and not only that but we have created and launched the shared spaces program. This really allows for the businesses to be able to utilize either the curbside space, the street space potentially and the sidewalk space, and allow a path of travel for their businesses. Yeah. And letting businesses use outside spaces is a great idea, especially since we learned that being outdoors is safer. So what is next after reopening . What are the lessons that we have learned and how can we create a better economic environment in the city . Yeah, i think is such a huge question because i think that all of us are very much thinking about social equity and i think that theres a lot of opportunity for us to be thinking about doing it better and more inclusive and create more opportunities for our communities who have been left behind. In particular for our black community in San Francisco. We know that this is something that we want to focus on and we want to make sure that were actually creating a better system going forward. Oh, i totally agree. So, finally, if somebody or a Small Business is interested in learning more about the Economic Recovery Task force, where would they be able to find Additional Information . Well, im glad that you said that. We definitely have heard from we have heard from so many people across the city. So first off i want to thank all of those toke folks who have reo us. But the place you want to go is our website at onesanfrancisco onesanfrancisco covid19recover y, that is a website with our information, including our meeting agendas and our minutes, a video reporting as well so they can keep uptodate. And theres an email and a survey that you can fill out there and you can see it. Thats great information and i really appreciate you coming on the show. And thank you for the time you have given me today. Thank you, chris. I really appreciate it. Stay safe. You too. Thats it for this episode and well be back with more pandemicrelated information shortly. You can been watching can the coping with ko covid19 for sfgovtv. Thank you for watching. What were trying to approach is bringing more diversity to our food. Its not just the old european style food. We are seeing a lot of influences, and all of this is because of our students. All we ask is make it flavorful. [ ] we are the first twoyear Culinary Hospitality School in the united states. The first year was 1936, and it was started by two graduates from cornell. Im a graduate of this program, and very proud of that. So students can expect to learn under the three degrees. Culinary Arts Management degree, Food Service Management degree, and Hotel Management degree. Were not a cooking school. Even though were not teaching you how to cook, were teaching you how to manage, how to supervise employees, how to manage a hotel, and plus youre getting an associate of science degree. My name is vince, and im a faculty member of the hospitality arts and Culinary School here in San Francisco. This is my 11th year. The policemrogram is very, ver in what this industry demands. Cooking, health, safety, and sanitation issues are included in it. Its quite a complete program to prepare them for whats happening out in the real world. The first time i heard about this program, i was working in a restaurant, and the sous chef had graduated from this program. He was very young to be a sous chef, and i want to be like him, basically, in the future. This program, its awesome. Its another world when youre here. Its another world. You get to be who you are, a person get to be who they are. You get to explore different things, and then, you get to explore and they encourage you to bring your background to the kitchen, too. Ive been in the program for about a year. Twoyear program, and im about halfway through. Before, i was studying behavioral genetics and dance. I had few injuries, and i couldnt pursue the things that i needed to to dance, so i pursued my other passion, cooking. When i stopped dance, i was deprived of my creative outlet, and cooking has been that for me, specifically pastry. The good thing is we have students everywhere from places like the ritz to we have kids from every area. Facebook and google. Kids from everywhere. They are all over the bay area, and theyre thriving. My name is jeff, and im a coowner of nopa restaurant, nopalito restaurant in San Francisco. I attended city college of San Francisco, the culinary arts program, where it was called hotel and restaurant back then in the early 90s. Nopalito on broderick street, its based on no specific region in mexico. All our masa is hand made. We cook our own corn in house. Everything is pretty much hand made on a daily basis, so day and night, were making hand made tortillas, carnitas, salsas. A lot of love put into this. [ ] used to be very easy to define casual dining, fine dining, quick service. Now, its shades of gray, and were trying to define that experience through that spectrum of service. Fine dining calls into white table cloths. The cafeteria is Large Production kitchen, understanding vast production kitchens, the googles and the facebooks of the world that have those kitypes of kitchens. And the ideas that change every year, again, its the notion and the venue. One of the things i love about vince is one of our outlets is a concept restaurant, and he changes the concept every year to show students how to do a startup restaurant. Its been a pizzeria, a taco bar. Its been a mediterranean bar, its been a noodle bar. People choose ccsf over other hospitality programs because the industry recognizes that we instill the work ethic. We, again, serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Other culinary hospitality programs may open two days a week for breakfast service. Were open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner five days a week. The menus always interesting. They change it every semester, maybe more. Theres always a good variety of foods. The preparation is always beautiful. The students are really sincere, and they work so hard here, and theyre so proud of their work. Ive had people coming in to town, and i, like, bring them here for a special treat, so its more, like, not so much every day, but as often as i can for a special treat. When i have my interns in their final semester of the program go out in the industry, 80 to 90 of the students get hired in the industry, well above the industry average in the culinary program. We do have internals continually coming into our restaurants from city college of San Francisco, and most of the time that people doing internships with us realize this is what they want to do for a living. We hired many interns into employees from our restaurants. My partner is also a graduate of city college. So my goal is actually to travel and try to do some pastry in maybe italy or france, along those lines. I actually have developed a few connections through this program in italy, which i am excited to support. Im thinking about going to go work on a cruise ship for about two, three year so i can save some money and then hopefully venture out on my own. Yeah, i want to go back to china. I want to bring something that i learned here, the french cooking, the western system, back to china. So we want them to have a full toolkit. Were trying to make them ready for the world out there. I love teaching. It is such an exhilarating experience when people began to feel their own creativity. This really is a place where all people can come and take a class and fill part of the community. This is very enriching as an artist. A lot of folks take these classes and take their digital imagery and turn it into negatives. There are not many black and white darkrooms available anymore. That is a really big draw. This is a signature piece. This is the bill largest darkroom in the u. S. There are a lot of people that want to get into that dark room. I think it is the heart of this place. You feel it when you come in. The people who just started taking pictures, so this is really an intersection for many generations of photographers and this is a great place to learn because if you need people from different areas and also everyone who works here is working in photography. We get to build the community here. This is different. First of all, this is a great location. It is in a lesspopulated area. Of lot of people come here just so that they can participate in this program. It is a great opportunity for people who have a little bit of photographic experience. The people have a lot, they can really come together and share a love and a passion. We offer everything from traditional black and white darkrooms to learning how to process your first roll of film. We offer classes and workshops in digital camera, digital printing. We offer classes basically in the shooting, ton the town at night, treasure island. There is a way for the programs exploring everyone who would like to spend the day on this program. Hello, my name is jennifer. My name is simone. We are going on a field trip to take pictures up the hill. Cmon, cmon, cmon. Actually, i have been here a lot. I have never looked closely enough to see everything. Now, i get to take pictures. We want to try to get them to be more creative with it. We let them to be free with them but at the same time, we give them a little bit of direction. You can focus in here. That was cool. If you see that . Behind the city, behind the houses, behind those hills. The see any more hills . These kids are wonderful. They get to explore, they get to see different things. We let them explore a little bit. They get their best. If their parents ever ask, we can learn they can say that they learned about the depth of field or the rule of thirds or that the shadows can give a good contrast. Some of the things they come up with are fantastic. That is what were trying to encourage. These kids can bring up the creativity and also the love for photography. A lot of people come into my classes and they dont feel like they really are creative and through the process of working and showing them and giving them some tips and ideas. This is kind of the best kept secret. You should come on and take a class. We have orientations on most saturdays. This is a really wonderful location and is the real jewel to the community. Ready to develop your photography skills . The Harvey Milk Photo Center focuses on adult classes. And saturday workshops expose youth and adults to photography classes. roll call . All right. Thank you, so much. I just wanted to welcome everybody to todays meeting. I want to extend my appreciation to uesf and president and her