Coronavirus Causes Biggest Deficit In City History

California is setting aside $75 million dollars for immigrants who are undocumented and impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. Its the first state in the country to offer financial support to the undocumented. Nonprofits from around the state will contribute an additional $50 million to the program. Governor Gavin Newsom says many of those immigrants are still out doing some of the essential work that needs to be done. UNDOCASSIST 1A 0:17 "Ten percent of California's workforce is undocumented. Ten percent. And an overrepresentation of that workforce is undocumented in the areas that are so essential to meeting the needs of tens of millions of Californians today." The program will also provide assistance to people who are ineligible for unemployment insurance because of their immigration status. Individuals can get up to $500, and families can get up to $1,000. And the state expects to reach about 150,000 adults with the money. Immigrant advocates applauded the effort, but say more needs to be done. Kyra Greene, is the director of the Center on Policy Initiatives, a nonprofit that advocates for the local workforce. She says the payment program for undocumented workers is a first step, but shouldn’t be the last. IMMIGRANT ADVOCATE CLIP Undocumented workers are valuable…..absolutely not enough. Of course, there are people and politicians who likely think $75 million for undocomented workers is way too much. By the way if you’ve been on social media, you probably have seen that a few people have already gotten their stimulus checks from the federal government. If you’re wondering where your money is, there is a tool for that. You can check on the status of your money at irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment. BEAT San Diego’s economy is at a virtual standstill. MAYORPRESSER CLIP 1 With sales and hotel tax revenues plummeting, the city is projecting a shortfall of 250 million dollars for the upcoming fiscal year. That’s the biggest deficit in city history. Mayor Kevin Faulconer aims t o balance that deficit by a combination of dipping into reserves and cuts to one-time and ongoing expenses. Under his plan, 354 city jobs would be cut and libraries would be closed on Sundays and Mondays. Also, rec center hours would be reduced by 25 percent and grants to arts organizations would be cut in half. MAYORPRESSER CLIP 2 we're going to keep our focus on essential city services, our public safety, our water and wastewater, trash pickup, street repair, and our homeless services, and we'll continue and then will continue to be our focus. BEAT San Diego County is reducing its jail population under a judicial order to create more space as the pandemic continues to spread in the region and across the state. Sheriff Bill Gore said on Wednesday the department has released more than a thousand inmates to cut the population from 6,500 to 4,345 and plans to release hundreds more this week per a statewide directive. WEDCOVID 2A "The way it looks like now, I anticipate by close of business day or over the next day or two releasing another 400, approximately 400 inmates from my facility on zero bail," BEAT And the San Diego Symphony announced Wednesday that it is canceling the rest of its current season due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The cancellation includes all of the concerts through May. In a written statement, Martha Gilmer, the San Diego Symphony CEO, asked ticket holders to consider donating the value of their ticket back to the Symphony. BEAT And for the latest covid count: Countywide, 2,012 residents have tested positive for the virus… that's an increase of 82 from the day before. Another 7 people died for a total of 60. BEAT I’m Kinsee Morlan and you’re listening to KPBS’ daily podcast, San Diego News Matters. It’s Thursday, April 15. Stay with me for more of the news you need. And if you have a story about how the pandemic has changed your life in surprising or unexpected ways.. Text or call (619) 452-0228‬. MIDROLL 1 AD There have been a lot of memes about how the coronavirus is mother nature’s way of sending us all to our rooms to think about what we’ve done to the planet. And yes, the world is in the middle of an unexpected experiment. Like, in California, which is usually clogged with traffic, there are way fewer cars on the roads because of the stay-at-home order and that has of course resulted in cleaner air. CapRadio's Ezra David Romero reports on scientists who say this moment presents an opportunity in the fight against climate change. ____________________________________________________________________________ PANDEMICAIR [Notes:BODY 3:41] [Notes:AMBI 1] "Okay, let's work on reading the clock." Leila Hawkins has two jobs. [Notes:AMBI 1] HAWKINS: "What time is it right now?" SON: "Seven o'clock" The stay-at-home order has made her a stay at home mom. Her husband is a firefighter and childcare is usually provided by both of their mothers. But to keep their parents safe the Hawkins are staying away. She's teaching her six-year-old, Taj, how to tell time. [Notes:AMBI 2] SON: "The long hand was on the 12 and the shorthand was on the seven." And she's a chemist at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont. [Notes:AMBI 3] HAWKINS: What do you think I do for work? What's my job? SON: "Science" HAWKINS: "Any particular kind of science? SON: Air pollution Neither Taj nor Hawkins will be visiting her lab anytime soon because the campus is shut down. But working from home hasn't stopped her from gathering data. [Notes:AMBI from lab comes in] Hawkins' lab is on the top floor and uses a series of octopus-like tubes that allow her to gauge air quality through a hole in the roof. She uses a mass spectrometer to measure the amount - and type - of pollution. She can see the measurements every 10 minutes on her home computer. [Notes:HAWKINS 1] "Yeah, the air seems cleaner, but it's definitely not zero." There are still pollutants in the air like organic materials from cleaning products, perfumes and shampoos, as well as fumes from cars. [Notes:HAWKINS 2] "The silver lining is not that we have good air quality now. It's what scientists can learn from this information." Let's talk about that information. In LA there are around 35 percent fewer cars on the road and around 65 percent fewer in the Bay Area, according to the air districts in each region. Since Californians have been staying home over the last three weeks many varieties of pollution are down, according to the private air quality company Aclima. For example, compared to the last few years particulate matter has dropped by as much as 35 percent. Those tiny particles can cause major health issues and come from things like cars or factories. And levels of a pollutant called black carbon have been cut in half since sheltering in place began. Meg Thurlow with Aclima says it's been … [Notes:THURLOW] "an unprecedented natural experiment. And it's helping us understand how pollution levels are impacted by large scale behavior change." [Notes:COHEN 1] "We can see that from the ground and from space." That's Ron Cohen. He studies air quality at UC Berkeley. He says the statewide data are similar to measurements from cities like LA or San Francisco. His results show nitrogen oxides are down by a third. That comes from burning fossil fuels. Cohen's excited about the results, but he isn't happy it's coming at the expense of the economy. [Notes:COHEN 2] "We don't want it to go much further because half the nitrogen oxide emissions are trucks and those trucks are our lifeline. They're bringing us all the goods and services we need." Air districts in rural areas like the Central Valley, and even in Sacramento, aren't seeing as significant reductions possibly because the populations are smaller. Still, Cohen says the positive results present a teaching moment about how our actions can prevent climate change from worsening. Kate Gordon, the governor's advisor on climate agrees. [Notes:GORDON] "It feels like a real reckoning moment. California is in the best position probably of any state to try to rise to that challenge, but that doesn't mean it's gonna be easy." [Notes:laughs] Gordon says people are realizing how much work can be done remotely and says this could be something that continues. For instance, if all state employees worked from home one day a week that would be a 20 percent cut immediately in vehicle miles traveled for that sector. [Notes:AMBI 4] taekwondo sound fades in Back at home in Claremont Taj is taking a virtual taekwondo class. [Notes:AMBI 4] taekwondo sound comes in the clear for a second This happens often as Lelia Hawkins teaches college courses on climate change remotely. She hasn't told her son about global warming yet. [Notes:HAWKINS 3] "I am worried he's gonna come in and hear the things that I'm saying to the students, internalize them and then start asking questions." [Notes:AMBI 5] taekwondo sound "quitting is not an option sir" Ambi fades under track. It's those questions air quality scientists, like Hawkins, want people to start asking before the skies get smoggy again. In Sacramento, I'm Ezra David Romero. People who get infected with coronavirus may not only experience physical effects, but also psychological ones. KPBS Science and Technology Reporter Shalina Chatlani spoke with the UC San Diego researchers who wrote about this idea in a peer-reviewed article published this week. PSYCHIATRIC 1 UC San Diego psychiatrists reviewed evidence from past epidemics, like the deadly and widespread 1918 flu. And they looked at more recent data too, says UC San Diego psychiatrist Emily Troyer. TROYER: The Sars outbreak in the early 2000s and the Mers outbreak several years later we do see small case reports of individuals developing neurological symptoms or psychiatric symptoms… and so neuropysychiatric symptoms were relatively understudied compared to the respiratory symptoms Troyer says some patients with severe cases of viral infection may have experienced some inflammation in the body's nerve system.. leading to these psychological impacts. She says it's important to be cautious when comparing this data to that of coronavirus, but the history shows that health experts should be on the lookout for psychological symptoms like insomnia, hallucinations and anxiety among COVID-19 patients. Hydroxychloroquine. (hi-DROX-ee CHLOR-oh-QWIN) President Donal Trump has repeatedly recommended the drug during his news briefings as a potential treatment for the coronavirus - but it's largely untested. Inewsource reporter Mary Plummer has more on the drug's usage and availability in San Diego. _______________________ MALARIA DRUG 1 Some local hospitals are stockpiling the drug for COVID-19 -- others say they won't use it to fight the virus. And San Diego patients who've long relied on hydroxychloroquine for other conditions are running into drug shortages. Here's Laurie Madigan: MADIGAN: For someone like me with rheumatoid arthritis, it's the difference between life with manageable pain and life with excruciating pain <10 seconds> Madigan ran into refill delays - but eventually secured a three month supply. Inewsource found availability varies. Kaiser and Scripps are saving the drug for severly sick Covid-19 patients and restricting some prescriptions. San Diego pharmacist Sally Rafie cautioned against using the drug for COVID-19 - saying the side effects can land you in the hospital: RAFIE: Rather than the heart beating, normally it can throw it into an arrhythmia or abnormal rhythm <5 seconds> County health officials say they do not recommend the drug for coronavirus patients. But Kaiser, Scripps and Sharp all confirmed to inewsource that they've used it. For KPBS, I'm inewsource reporter Mary Plummer. inewsource is an independently funded, nonprofit partner of KPBS. BEAT Everyday we learn more about COVID-19... and as news comes in, the challenge is to sort fact from fiction. San Diego County's daily briefings have been a source of mostly reliable information. But inewsource investigative reporter Jill Castellano found some factual errors in the past month. KPBS’s Alison St. John spoke to her about her process and her findings. ___________________________________________________________________ JILLFACTCHECK Midday clip So I transcribed all of them and look through them carefully to look for inconsistencies, uh, confusing or questionable statements, and then compile those into nine examples, which you can see on our website at [inaudible] dot org I fact check those against what I learned from the CDC, reading research papers, other news articles, um, and tried to paint a picture of some times where the County may not have provided the most accurate information possible. Although it wasn't common, I think it was worth pointing out. And what I realized was that a lot of these examples actually focused on a County public health officer. Wilma Wooten, who oversees a budget of $100 million, has a staff of more than 500 people and she speaks quite a bit at these press conferences. And some of the information that she's provided has been confusing and to some, a little bit concerning as well. Speaker 1: 01:42 Now one of the statements you fact checked was about whether people who are asymptomatic and pass it along to others. What did you find? Speaker 2: 01:49 Yes. So in mid-March, the County public health officer, Wilma Wooten, she was interviewed by a local pastor named mile miles MacPherson and she said something that was surprising and a little confusing. She said, you cannot spread the Corona virus if you don't have symptoms, but this was mid March and at this point in time there was evidence from multiple research papers that had already shown that was not the case. Here you can listen to a clip of that conversation. Speaker 1: 02:18 You are not actively displaying symptoms. The thinking right now is you cannot spread that to another person. Oh, I heard. I heard it was that you could without symptoms are a lot of rumors true here. That makes me feel good. That makes me feel good. Speaker 2: 02:37 Uh, I did contact her via email and her office and like I mentioned, I was able to get a written statements. She didn't answer directly, but the spokesperson said that Wooten was following the CDC guidelines at the time. But as you probably heard in that clip, even MacPherson at that point said that he had heard something different about asymptomatic transition and it was clear at that point in time that asymptomatic transmission was possible even according to the CDC. If you go back and look at the CDCs website from that time, you can see that they had already acknowledged that people without symptoms were spreading the virus. Now, one of the other topics that you looked into is caused a lot of confusion in the community about which businesses can stay open during the pandemic. We know the County has been answering a lot of questions about this. Speaker 2: 03:21 What did you learn through your reporting? Yes. This definitely has been a point of confusion and a lot of questions. It has to do with what's considered an essential business, meaning businesses that provide necessary services for residents. When a reporter asked Wilma Wooten whether hair and nail salons were considered essential businesses and could stay open during the pandemic, her response wasn't exactly clear. She said beauty parlors can stay open if they want, but they should be following social distancing rules and people who are inside the nail salons and hair salons to try to stay six feet away from each other and then she added this. Many of you have been to to nail salons. If you get a pedicure, the person is at your feet. That's about six feet. If you get a manicure, you are across from a table that might not be exactly six feet, but many of the operators are wearing masks and if someone is sick themselves, they should not be going to these businesses. Speaker 2: 04:19 Well, we've come quite a ways since then, haven't we? What's the issue with what Wooten said then? Yes. We certainly have come quite a ways. We understand better, more about social distancing. If you're touching someone's feet or hands, it seems pretty clear that you're not six feet away from them. You're actually in direct contact with them. In the eyes of the CDC, they call this close contact and they actually say this is the main way the virus is spreading. When you're in close contact with someone. For an extended period of time. So actually going to nail salons could increase the chance that you get the Corona virus, even though at the time Wooten was saying it's okay for these businesses to stay open and to be clear, it's changed. Since then, the governor issued an executive order closing nonessential businesses and nail salons now are closed. Speaker 2: 05:08 So none of the county's nail salons are open at this point. Oh, another the, the, the points that you fact check focus on statements made by County supervisor Nathan Fletcher about releasing data on the number of Kovac 19 patients who are homeless. Tell us what you reported on that. Yeah, so in the story we laid out some accounts where supervisor Nathan Fletcher, um, explained what can and cannot be released when it comes to homeless people contracting. COBIT 19. So back on March 31st supervisor Nathan Fletcher announced the first three cases of homeless people contracting the Corona virus. He said they were all unsheltered. They were moved to a nearby hotel room. Then the next day he switched gears a little bit. He said that moving forward into the future, the County would no longer be breaking down and classifying the percentage of positive cases by sheltered or unsheltered so the County would no longer be providing this information to the public. After that, after some pressure from journalists, he then decided on Monday to release this information. He said while the previously we decided not to release this information quote, we do believe that it is appropriate to share them on an ongoing basis given the challenges coronavirus presents to this population. So the story kind of shows that change in reasoning and understanding and information that's been released over time. Speaker 1: 06:32 Earlier today we did speak with supervisor Fletcher and we asked him about your reporting and here's what he said Speaker 3: 06:38 though it was a little perplexing that folks said, we really want to know this data. And we said we're not able to provide that data. And then we worked really hard to provide that data and then we started providing that data and then we were criticized for those actions. Speaker 2: 06:51 Well, first of all, I want to thank supervisor Fletcher and the other health officials for their hard work. And like supervisor Fletcher said to you, he and others have been working really hard to make information available. And I think they've done a really good job of that. Our story is not intended to be any sort of take down or really even a criticism, but just to give people the most accurate information possible. And you can see if you've read our story at [inaudible] very clearly lays out what was said when, um, we're not trying to criticize anyone, but I think if you go online and you read it for yourself, um, you can make that decision. Speaker 1: 07:26 Good. Well, it's always good to remind everybody to keep our critical faculties, uh, very active during this period. So thank you, Jill, for your reporting. Speaker 2: 07:36 Thanks so much for having me on. That was Alison St John interviewing inewsource reporter Jill Castellano for KPbS midday edition. Inewsource is an independently funded, non-profit partner of KPBS. BEAT Lots of local musicians are keeping their concerts going by performing virtually. People can watch for free...some do ask for donations or payments via venmo or paypal. Here’s a little song from San Diego musician Alfred Howard. He calls it “Quarantine Song No. 8.” I’ve been listening to his creations and there’s something really beautiful and calming about them. They’re just super intimate and raw. ALFREDHOWARDCLIP That’s it. Back with more of the local news you need tomorrow. Thanks for listening.