Stay. At. Home.

Good Morning, I’m Annica Colbert….it’s Wednesday, December 30th. Nurses Protesting In The North County That story next, but first... let’s do the headlines…. State officials are extending stay-at home orders for Southern California. That means San Diego businesses will remain shuttered for indoor operations. Intensive care capacity in the region is maxed out and doesn’t show any signs of improving. In fact, says California Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly, hospitals are planning for what’s called crisis care. ...Meanwhile, San Diego county health officials reported more than 2500 new covid-19 infections on Tuesday and 31 new deaths. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria says he’s reached an agreement to extend the city’s contract with S-D-G-and-E until June. SDG&E’s franchise agreement with the city - in place since 1970 - runs out in mid-January and is currently being renegotiated. Gloria will bring his proposed extension for a vote at the city council meeting to TODAY. Tens of thousands of people have traveled through San Diego International airport over the holidays. Thousands more are expected to travel before the holidays are over. TSA says about one-point-three million moved through the nation’s airports on Sunday. An airport spokesperson told KPBS the airport has taken multiple precautions to protect people. From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need. Registered nurses and caregivers protested from their cars outside Palomar Health facilities in Escondido on Tuesday. KPBS North County reporter Jacob Aere has more. Earlier this month, a streetside protest was held outside of Palomar Health Poway to challenge a waiver that increases the amount of patients assigned to each nurse. Tuesday protestors took to their cars, and horns, to get their message across. Sue Phillips is a registered nurse at Palomar Health Escondido and a member of the California Nurses Association union. She says that increasing nurse-to-patient ratios would worsen an already difficult situation. “... to be slapped in the face by the hospital right before Christmas, right through all of this. It is undeniably exhausting.” Palomar Health says it is one of 170 hospitals in California that have applied for the same waiver. Jacob Aere, KPBS News. Governor Gavin Newsom says equity is a big component of who gets the COVID-19 vaccine and in what order. And Newsom had this to say when asked about the possibility of medical professionals either cutting ahead of others or using their positions to get friends or family vaccinated sooner. “I just want to make this crystal clear. If you skip the line or you intend to skip the line, you will be sanctioned, you will lose your license. You’ll not only lose your license; we will be very aggressive in terms of highlighting the reputational impacts as well.” Newsom also says the majority of Californians are complying with current COVID-19 restrictions. This, despite publicized incidents of restaurants, casinos and other California businesses trying to organize large events under the radar, Coming up.... We check in with Scripps Health and Sharp Grossmont in San Diego on how they’re weathering the covid-19 surge. That’s next, just after this break. With holiday gatherings and christmas shopping... COVID-19 continues to spread at a fast pace. ICU’s are filling up to capacity and now the Governor has extended stay-at-home orders. It’s an effort to slow the spread just as vaccines are being dispersed. With ICU capacity at 0%, how are hospitals faring? Chris Gorder is the CEO of Scripps Health, and Scott Evans is the CEO of Sharp Grossmont. They spoke with KPBS Midday Edition Host Jade Hindmon about their situation, starting with Chris Gorder. That was Scott Evans, CEO of Sharp Grossmont speaking with KPBS Midday Edition Host Jade Hindmon. And for our arts segment today… The Studio Door learned to pivot long before the pandemic. It has had to change locations and rethink both what a gallery and an artist space could be. But with COVID-19 restrictions, arts organizations like the Studio Door have to find creative ways to stay operational. KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando spoke with The Studio Door’s Patric Stillman for this pandemic profile. STUDIODOOR 1 (ba) Five years ago Patric Stillman opened The Studio Door in North Park as a place where art and commerce could intersect. But he encountered setbacks and had to close the business. The Studio Door reopened early in 2019 at its new and current location in Hillcrest. But then 2020 hit, and like so many arts organizations, it has had to deal with a pandemic that limits how it can operate. Stillman is an artist who prides himself on also being a good businessman so he was able to tap into financial assistance from the federal Paycheck Protection Program as well as from the city and county of San Diego in order to stay open. Plus he discovered that artists are considered light manufacturing so long as they keep to their studios so that allowed them to continue working. But with many businesses closed and restaurants doing mostly take out, foot traffic has been heavily reduced in hillcrest, leaving the gallery in a bit of a ghost town. Stillman remains undaunted and is pushing ahead with his regular January programming featuring six artists in the main gallery. PATRIC STILLMAN: The challenge now is to come up with ways that we can do that in person but also online. So we're doing a lot more artists videos, interviews, spotlights on specifics works of art. Actually moving the direction of the gallery in ways that we hadn't before. If there is a silver lining then it’s that some of the innovations employed to stay open during the pandemic will prove useful even after lockdown restrictions subside and the gallery can return to be a physical and not merely virtual gathering place for the community. Until then, artists will have to continue to tap into their creativity. Beth Accomando, KPBS News. ….That’s it for the podcast today. Be sure to catch KPBS Midday Edition At Noon on KPBS radio, or watch KPBS Evening Edition at 5 O’clock on KPBS Television. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Annica Colbert. Thanks for listening and have a great day.