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San Diego joins protests following the death of George Floyd | Kate Morrissey Jun 02, 2020

Show notes

After spending most of the afternoon in a standoff with police in downtown San Diego, protesters calling for justice for black people killed by police found a place to breathe.

They suddenly turned away from the officers who had fired tear gas, flashbangs and less-lethal ammunition at them and made their way to the County Administration Building, where the group of roughly 1,000 held a moment of silence for more than six minutes.

Speakers called for unity and end to racial inequity in policing.

“Black lives matter now and forever,” one man said, addressing the crowd through a megaphone.

Local auto sales are rebounding despite COVID-19 | Rob Nikolewski May 29, 2020

Show notes

The more upbeat tone in San Diego has been mirrored across the state. All 160 dealers who responded to a survey released Wednesday by the California New Car Dealers Association said their showrooms are open and 94 percent reported increased traffic.

“There’s a lot of pent-up business,” said Campos, who estimated his dealership has brought back about 90 of the roughly 100 employees it laid off or furloughed. “Customers are tired of being locked up indoors, they’ve been wanting to buy a car for months.”

But the survey also highlighted the financial impact of the shutdown. Since mid-March, 54.5 percent of the dealers reported decreases in sales of between 30 to 60 percent. Another 25 percent said sales had fallen between 60 and 80 percent.

“Those are Great Recession numbers,” said Brian Maas, the president of the new car dealers group. “And it took 2 1/2 years for that drop to occur and this happened in eight weeks.”

Could poop be the key to see where COVID-19 is going to hit? | Lyndsay Winkley May 29, 2020

Show notes

Most of what we know about COVID-19 comes after people are infected, but current science suggests that fecal matter can show where outbreaks hit before people become symptomatic.

With no county fair, the Del Mar Fairgrounds asks Congress for cash | Phil Diehl May 27, 2020

Show notes

The Del Mar Fairgrounds needs you, according to a new website saveyourfairgrounds.com created to spread the notion that without financial assistance the state-owned property could be closed.

Fairgrounds officials are urging residents to write their elected officials in support of $20 million the 22nd District Agricultural Association, which runs the facility, has requested in federal economic aid for state and local agencies affected by the COVID 19 pandemic.

If you need a sample letter, the website provides one. Same with email and tweets. Or you can telephone your representative, share your fairgrounds photos, or buy a fairgrounds printed tee-shirt. The talent that normally markets the San Diego County Fair, cancelled this year because of the pandemic, is recruiting people to help push for financial aid.

Did San Diego follow the rules this Memorial Day weekend? | Tarcy Connors, Sam Hodgson May 26, 2020

Show notes

It was a Memorial Day unlike any in memory. But the spirit was the same.

Be it donning masks and watching video on a flight deck without crowds, joining a parade of cars, or feeding hungry veterans, San Diego County — home to the highest concentration of the nation’s military personnel — honored its fallen heroes Monday with socially-distant, pandemic-shaped tributes.

“It’s not about the audience, it’s not about the pomp and circumstance,” Navy Rear Admiral Bette Bolivar said during a gathering at the USS Midway Museum. “It’s about what’s in your heart and honoring those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.”

And San Diego’s beaches — the region’s other usual Memorial Day gathering site — saw plenty of people, including some who had to be shooed along for trying to get together in defiance of state and county orders.

We're in Stage 2. What happens now? | Greg Moran May 22, 2020

Show notes

Before San Diego County could allow some restaurants and shops to welcome customers again, it first had to show state officials in myriad ways that it was prepared to handle a broader reopening of society amid the coronavirus pandemic.

That proof is contained in a 188-page application filed with the state, full of details on health care system capacity and the steps the county has taken to both combat the outbreak, and get prepared if infections surge again.

While county officials have kept up a steady stream of information on the pandemic, primarily through news conferences held daily for more than a month up to this week, the report provides a new level of detail — including specific metrics surrounding case totals and hospital capacity that, if triggered, could prompt authorities to scale back the reopening, or even plunge the county back into lockdown.

Read the story here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-05-21/county-stage-2-plan-detailed-readiness-to-reopen-triggers-that-could-lead-to

The full report: https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/44/65/4a08ea09451fa513d37c80b4f39b/cosd-covid-attestation-and-containment-final-rev-05-19-2020.pdf

Programming note: The next episode will be Tuesday.

San Diego didn't have a COVID surge. El Centro did. | Paul Sisson May 22, 2020

Show notes

A brigade of ambulances, in the air and on the ground, worked through the day Wednesday to take the pressure off of El Centro Regional Medical Center, which has found itself at ground zero in a cross-border surge of COVID-19 patients that threatened to overwhelm the inland region’s two main hospitals.

Officials announced Tuesday morning that they were diverting all ambulance deliveries of additional COVID-19 patients to facilities in San Diego and Riverside counties, but those measures had been removed early Wednesday at El Centro Regional and neighboring Pioneers Memorial Hospital in nearby Brawley.

Hospitals all along California’s southern border have seen increasing emergency traffic and hospital admissions in recent weeks, and many have linked the slow surge to significant and deadly outbreaks underway in Mexico.

While COVID-19 patient counts have been up and down at hospitals in Chula Vista, a clear and fierce surge arrived in Imperial County over the weekend, flooding emergency rooms for days.

COVID-19 hasn't yet sickened the luxury real estate market | Philip Molnar May 20, 2020

Show notes

What is happening in the luxury market does not reflect housing as a whole in San Diego County. While the median home price has hardly moved since the crisis began, around $590,000, housing insecurity has only increased in recent months as thousands of San Diegans have lost jobs and reported trouble paying rent.

Read about an estate for sale in Alpine: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2020-05-18/looking-to-escape-covid-check-out-this-8-9m-ranch-in-alpine

Watch the video here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/1fenmrn9kom-123

Retailers, restaurateurs prepare to reopen | Lori Weisberg, Brittany Meiling May 19, 2020

Show notes

San Diego County supervisors gave the go-ahead Tuesday for the county to accelerate its entrance into Stage 2 of reopening, which will allow retail shopping and restaurants to cater to in-person patrons while abiding by social-distancing guidelines to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Additionally, the board voted 4-1 to make a request to the governor to launch a pilot program for reopening some Stage 3 activities in the county as well including some youth sports and clubs, outdoor religious services, research labs, and therapeutic and peer support groups of less than 10 individuals.

The pilot, if approved by Gov. Gavin Newsom, would also allow salons and fitness facilities in San Diego County to operate at 25 percent capacity by appointment only, as well as open up pools at HOA/Condominium/Apartment complexes at 25 percent capacity.

Supervisor Nathan Fletcher was the lone supervisor to vote against pursuing the pilot program, saying that since the county hadn’t yet fully implemented Stage 2, it wasn’t time to move toward Stage 3.

Policing in the age of COVID-19 | David Hernandez May 19, 2020

Show notes

Faced with a new threat in the line of duty, police officers and sheriff’s deputies have had to adjust to unprecedented work conditions. Tasked with responding to constant violations of ever-changing county orders — like unpermitted activity at beaches and parks, even sizable protests against the orders — in addition to the usual crimes, they gear up in masks and gloves, among other precautions, to subdue the unseen culprit behind the pandemic.

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