President Donald Trump made it clear Monday that he believes it is in his own “total” power to decide when states will reopen from Covid-19 shutdowns.
The president said at his daily briefing Monday:
“It’s a decision for the president of the United States. With that being said, we’re going to work with the states.”
On another note, the governors of California, Washington and Oregon have formed a “Western States Pact” to coordinate and collaborate reopening strategies in the best interest of residents and based on science and data.
Here in the Bay Area, confirmed cases have blown past the 5,000 mark with nearly 150 deaths reported.
Source: John Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center Covid-19 tracking tool as of Monday 6:47 p.m.
Open SFBay USA coronavirus tracker.Source: John Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center Covid-19 tracking tool as of Monday at 6:47 p.m.
The West Coast is guided by science. We issued stay at home orders early to keep the public healthy. We’ll open our economies with that same guiding principle.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) April 13, 2020
CA, WA, and OR will work together on a shared vision focused on health–not politics. Together–we’ll meet this moment. https://t.co/o1lTRudVwC
Gov. Gavin Newsom Monday said at a press conference that he is working with the governors of Washington and Oregon to decide when and how Western states should reopen their economies and how to handle the risk of Covid-19 moving forward.
A statement issued by the three governors jointly said:
“COVID-19 has preyed upon our interconnectedness. In the coming weeks, the West Coast will flip the script on COVID-19 – with our states acting in close coordination and collaboration to ensure the virus can never spread wildly in our communities.”
The states have agreed on principles that prioritizing health outcomes of residents first. They also said and that science and data, and not political pressure, will guide the states’ governors.
The statement said:
“As home to one in six Americans and gateway to the rest of the world, the West Coast has an outsized stake in controlling and ultimately defeating COVID-19.”
Newsom said he will soon unveil California’s plan to reopen the economy.
Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, will host a virtual town hall Tuesday focused on hate crimes against Asian Americans as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cynthia Choi, co-executive director for Chinese for Affirmative Action and Professor Russel Jeung, who chairs the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco University, will join Ting in the discussion.
The Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council developed a website last month for the public to report incidents.
The public can participate in the town hall at Ting’s Facebook page starting at 2:30 p.m.
Source: The Alameda County Public Health Department with data reported through Sunday and including Berkeley.
Dr. Erica Pan, the county health officer, Monday issued a new public health order requiring all staff, essential visitors and contractors be screened for temperatures before entering licensed long-term care facilities, skilled nursing facilities and other congregate living settings.
Pan said in a statement that healthcare workers who work in these facilities are at a higher risk of coming into contact with someone with Covid-19 and spreading the virus at facilities with a vulnerable populations.
Pan said:
“Due to underlying health conditions and age, the residents face higher risk of serious health consequences including hospitalization and life-threatening illness.”
Anyone with at least a 100-degree temperature will be prohibited from entering the facility.
Additionally, all staff and visitors will need to wear masks that cover their nose and mouth while inside the facility.
The new health order is effective Tuesday.
Source: Contra Costa Health Services as of Monday at 11:30 a.m.
Similar to the order given in Alameda County, Contra Costa County health officials will make effective Tuesday a new public health order require staff and visitors to residential and long-term care facilities be screened for temperatures before entering the facility.
Staff and visitors will be required to wear masks while inside the facility.
Source: Marin Health and Human Services as of Monday.
Source: Department of Health and Human Services as of Monday.
Source: San Francisco Department of Public Health with data through Monday at 9 a.m.
More residents and staff members living and working in The City’s largest homeless shelter have been infected with Covid-19, city officials said Monday at a press conference.
Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the Department of Public Health, said a total of 91 persons from the Multi-Service Center-South have tested positive for the virus. Of the 91 patients, 81 are guests and 10 are staff members.
City officials reported the first cases of infected persons from MSC-South April 5.
The City had planned on using MSC-South as a medical facility, but scrapped the plan after the number of infected persons quickly grew from two to 70 after tests were conducted.
The facility’s residents have been moved to hotel rooms, leaving MSC-South empty, said Abigail Stewart-Kahn, interim director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Services.
District supervisors and homeless advocates said they have voiced for weeks now the dire need to move everyone out of homeless shelters and into hotel rooms. City officials say they have worked for weeks to lease rooms from several hotels citywide.
Breed said at a Monday press conference that the issue was not the ability to secure rooms, but to provide staffing for individuals staying at the hotels.
The mayor said:
“The bigger issue here is we have to make sure that we have around-the-clock staffing, because this is like nothing we’ve ever experienced before. So we are not always able to get access to staffing as quickly as we can.”
Homeless advocates rallied outside The City’s Emergency Operations Center at Moscone South to urge the mayor to move all unhoused people into hotel rooms, including those still living on streets.
The Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday on an emergency ordinance that would require The City to provide 8,000 hotel rooms for homeless people and healthcare workers.
Source: San Mateo County Health Department with data reported through Monday.
Source: Santa Clara County Public Health Department as of Monday.
Source: Solano Public Health as of Monday at 4:30 p.m..
Source: County of Sonoma as of Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
Open SFBay Worldwide coronavirus tracker.Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.
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