Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors Press Availability 20240713 : c

Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors Press Availability 20240713

Do we an additional caller . No, we do not. Ok, Public Comment is closed again. Thank you, miss major. We always want to error on the side of public participation. To supervisor preston, to local 798, to the black firefighters, i look forward to an appropriate socially distanced sign in the weeks to come and i know that jeremy spitz will ensure that that sign is fabricated and ready for installation and i look forward to a healthy celebration ahead. With that, a motion has been made by supervisor preston and madam clerk, please call the role. On the motion to recommend by supervisor preston, supervisor preston. Aye. Supervisor safayi. As aye. Supervisor peskin. Aye. You have three ayes. The item is approved and that concludes our meeting. We are adjourned. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor breed is joined by the director of Public Health, grant colfax. The director of the department of Human Services, trent noor. Todays numbers for the number of people who are infected by covid19 here in San Francisco are at 1,340. Sadly, we have had 22 people who lost their lives to the virus. As a reminder, you can find the full dashboard of information at datasf. Org covid19. There is a lot of great information on the number of people who have been infected by zip code, race, and other information that members of the public expressed interest in. As a city, we have mobilized to combat this Public Health crisis. Weve been focusing on our frontline responders, our healthcare workers, and our essential employees and what they need to protect themselves. These are the people who are of course our healthcare professionals, our first responders, and people who are actually our essential city workforce. The folks who are driving the muni buses, the people who are managing traffic. The people who are providing the Grocery Store clerks and others who continue to support the city as we deal with these real challenges. I want to be clear that from the very beginning we knew that it was important to ensure that we were protecting the people that we expected to show up to work in their various capacities. The sad reality is what weve had to deal with around a lack of coordination on the federal level around p. P. E. Has made it really very challenging. Today i want to talk just a little bit about those challenges and what weve faced as we continue to provide the resources necessary to try and protect our workforce, but i want to start by and i want to start by thanking the city administrator naomi kelly and her team and the office of contract administration. Because of their efforts, we have been able to purchase 15 million pieces of p. P. E. Thats the n95 masks, general masks, the gowns, and the other personal protective equipment necessary to keep people safe as they work and as they support our population of people who sadly may be hospitalized due to covid19. The gloves, the gowns, the surgical masks, and those the face shields. And weve received donations from our give to s. F. Program and we truly appreciate the contributions. Our governor, the state, has provided us with 1 million pieces of p. P. E. So we have really been very diligent about getting access to p. P. E. To make sure, as i said, our frontline workers are protected and people have what they need to provide essential services to the city. You hear the conversations that take place not only here in San Francisco but all over the state. The fact that we have declared a state of emergency even in San Francisco as of february 25 of this year, the fact that we have been struggling to get access to p. P. E. Even before then and this has been at the forefront of every conversation that every city has had, expressing a strong need for this personal protective equipment. Yet again, and this is no excuse, but the challenges we continue to face as a result of a coordinated response from our federal government has really put us all at a disadvantage. In fact, i want to talk a little bit about some of the challenges that weve had. Weve had issues of our orders being relocated by suppliers in china. For example, we had isolation gowns that were on their way to San Francisco and they were diverted to france. Weve had situations when things that weve ordered that have gone through customs were compensated by fema to be diverted to other locations. Because again we know that everyone is dealing with a very serious challenge. Even when weve been fortunate enough in some cases to see p. P. E. Get through customs, weve had situations where those items have been taken and put out on the market for the highest bidder, putting cities against cities and states against states. It has been really, ive got to tell you, one of the most frustrating things to deal with. The fact that during the height of this pandemic were still having a conversation about p. P. E. Is it really does blow my mind and it is nothing that has been more frustrating. Because when we talk about the need to get back to opening up our cities and our country, one of the most important things we need is to make sure that people have what they need to protect themselves. That we have p. P. E. And that we have swabs and testing kits so that were able to test more people. So we are i want you to know that we are working tirelessly on this. We are pushing for Creative Solutions to get what we need. In fact, ucsf through their generosity in providing San Francisco general some additional equipment has been amazing. And Dignity Health and having access to their suppliers. Weve all locally here in the Hospital Community have been working together to get everything that we need because we know how critical all of this is now as we go through this and as we have this shelterinplace order. But what happens when we start to look at ways and solutions to get our cities back on track and to get our cities open, its going to be necessary even then because its going to take us a while before we get a vaccine, which means testing and p. P. E. And having not only sufficient supply, but access to get sufficient supply will be critical to the future of this city. We wont give up. We will continue to do what we can to access the equipment and supplies that we need. Dr. Colfax talked about our efforts to expand testing, which is something that we will continue to ramp up. As he mentioned on wednesday, the bottleneck we face right now is often due to the lack of the basic swabs and not necessarily the testing capacity. So we just wanted to make sure that as you hear about some of these challenges that youre aware of why they are challenges. I know it seems as though it should be a lot simpler. We have the money to purchase the p. P. E. Why cant we purchase the p. P. E. . The fact is it is clearly complicated. You hear mayors and governors talk about this on a regular basis. We are getting as creative as we can to get what we need to support our city. In many instances, we have been fortunate beneficiary of the generosity of flex port and facebook and sell force and others who continue to be incredible partners in helping to advocate for and get access to p. P. E. To help our cities move forward. So i want to thank them. I want to just talk a bit dr. Colfax will get into the testing and the p. P. E. And some of the things we need to do that are critical to Public Health. Also in addition to the Public Health crisis that we are in the midst of, there is another crisis that has emerged and that is the economic crisis. The fact is this has been a long time for people who have no other means of access to money. This is a long time to be out of work and to figure out what were going to do. Its one of the reasons we felt it was important, despite whats happening with access to unemployment, to have Resources Available so that people can get food through give to sf and to provide support for our Small Business community. In fact, weve been able to add another 1 million to the Flexible Grant Program that we started a couple of months ago to provide some initial assistance to our Small Businesses. And we will continue to raise private dollars and look for other resources to help support our Small Business community. As we think about the future and what this means, we set up a Recovery Task force a couple of weeks ago. They are going to be convening today to talk specifically about where do we go once we reopen. Even as we look at whats happening with other states that are opening now. As far as im concerned, we dont want to move that quickly. We want to make sure that we have systems in place to protect people. This is going to require an approach where we are working hand in hand with our Public Health professionals. When we look at various industries and we analyze what could be done in order to protect people to allow those industries to move forward, we want to make sure that we are thoughtful in our recommendations, but we are also getting the support and the clearance from our Public Health experts to move in that direction. We know that this weekend is coming up. Today is a Beautiful Day in San Francisco. This weekend is going to be a beautiful weekend in San Francisco. And i want to really take this opportunity to caution people about wanting to get back to things that are more familiar. I know your kids want to play with their friends. I know you want to see your friends. I know so many of you want to have interactions with one another in person rather than over the phone or online. I want to just say that we hear about San Francisco and how great San Francisco is doing all over the world and were being used as an example of how to manage this situation right. But i want to just remind you, we have 1,340 people who have tested positive with the virus. It is estimated that about 12 of the people weve tested overall have the virus, which means that theres a possibility clearly that there are others who are asymptomatic in our community that have the virus and have the ability to infect other people. What we dont want to see on nice days, on days like this, out in the communities and infecting other people. They dont have a mask and not social distancing and going back to the habits that are familiar and engaging with one another and not socially distancing and getting comfortable and complacent. And then a week from now we wonder why our numbers from shot up from 1,340 to 2,000 or more with even more deaths. This is what is at stake. As good as it might seem, the situation were in now, the numbers are still going up. The number in i. C. U. Have gone up. The number of people who are who have passed away continues to rise. That means that now more than ever we cant give us and we have to move forward. I know as i say, i know i say every time we have a press conference i know its hard. I know its hard, which is why its important that as we are talking and convening in our economic Recovery Task force, we are developing ways to make recommendations to the department of Public Health of things that we could potentially make available to the public. So next week well have some more announcements about that, but the goal is we definitely want to work with our Public Health experts and our various industries to figure out are there things we can do. Because the reality is and people are asking about this, will the Public Health order get extended. The likelihood that that will happen is very likely. What that means is another few weeks or even a month of asking you all to comply and to remain at home as you continue to follow the social distancing orders that we put forth. But what it also means is an opportunity for us with our economic Recovery Task force to start to explore ways in which we can make some things available that are currently unavailable to all of us. So it is a process. Because how we reopen is going to be important to ensuring that we do it responsibly so we dont go backwards. We also have to make sure that we have enough of the p. P. E. And the testing necessary so that if we do decide to allow a particular industry or something to become available that were able to deal with that, that we put the appropriate requirements into place of social distancing and we also have the appropriate p. P. E. So that theyre able to protect themselves. And, more importantly, we have the testing and we have the capacity in our hospitals necessary to deal with a surge at any time. Its a process. Its a process that requires patience. Its a process that requires resources. So i want to thank the people in San Francisco especially for just supporting the process and being responsible and helping us through this pandemic because it is important that as many of us as we possibly can, that we comply with this order and that we continue to do our very best to stay at home, go out and get fresh air if we need it, and keep our distance from people when were outside. The mask does not mean that you can come closer to people. It means were asking you to wear a mask to protect yourself and to protect other people, but were still asking you to keep a distance of 6. The mask does not take the place of social distancing. I also just want to say i also heard of a number of situations where people have been walking and theyre not wearing a mask and theyre just outside walking and theyve had people make comments and threatening comments in some particular instances. I want to be clear. We are not asking or requires that people wear masks when theyre out walking their dogs or taking a walk or theyre doing their jogging or maybe riding their bike. Were asking when you are at the Grocery Store or in line at the Grocery Store or at the gas station or in line at the gas station, at the pharmacy or in line at the pharmacy. Any facility where you are in contact for the most part in line with other people, thats when were asking you to wear a mask. I also want you to reiterate if youre not a police officer, please dont ask like you are a police officer. We have Police Officers to police our streets. What we dont want to have happen is the continued animosity towards someone who appears to not be following the directive and an altercation occurs and tension occurs and it goes worse. More than ever, we need people to be understanding and nicer to one another. We need goodness and we need kindness. We need you to focus on you. We need people to focus on the fact that they and their family should be complying with wearing a mask or keeping their distance. We dont need people to police other people because that could turn into an even worse situati situation. We understand it might be frustrating to see someone violating the rules, but again i guarantee you if you are following the rules and doing everything that you can, you are setting the example. Others will follow and well be better off for it. I appreciate if we all continue to do our very best, we all continue to put some goodness and positive energy out there in the universe. This is challenging for all of us. It is difficult for all of us. None of us is immune from the physical and emotional impacts that this is taking on our city. I want us to remember that and do the very best we can as we weather this storm. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. If there is any information youre looking for, please feel free to check out our website, sfgov. Org. Or call 311 if you have any concerns or need help or support or food. Please call us. We really are in this together. What impacts one person in our Community Impacts all of us. Thats why its so critical. We have been in this situation for some time now. Now is not the time to give up. Now is the time to rollup our sleeves and just keep it moving and do the very best we can because what we want to do is look back on this pandemic and be proud of what weve been able to do here in San Francisco to protect and to save lives. Thank you again for your cooperation. At this time, i would like to introduce our director of the department of Public Health, dr. Grant colfax. Thank you, mayor breed. Good afternoon. Im dr. Grant colfax, director of Public Health for San Francisco. I would like to express my gratitude and thanks to the mayor for her leadership and the work shes done with regard to to ensuring that our frontline workers, our teams throughout the Health Department, and the patients who we care for has had access always to the necessary personal protective equipment, the p. P. E. , according to c. Dc. Guidelines for them to be safe and for our patients and their families to be as safe as possible. The p. P. E. Continues to be an issue. Our supplies have sometimes gotten quite low, given the challenges across the city, across the region, across the nation. Its taken tremendous amount of work. I just want to express gratitude again for ensuring that people have consistently and had and always have had the p. P. E. That they need that is necessary and in accordance with the science, the data, and the facts. Today i want to provide you with the facts and the effects of the coronavirus in our community. Even as we continue to make progress as we flatten the curve, we continue to see impacts on our most vulnerable population. The story here in San Francisco, the data and facts condition to tell the story here in San Francisco and

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