CoViD-19: Mass Testing Only Way To Resume Festivals, Schools, "Normal" Life | CA Prioritizes Small Biz Recovery | SDSU Case Counts Continue To Rise

Hummingbirds love the flowers at Africa Rocks at San Diego Zoo (Taken 8.2.2020)

Okay, okay. We got the clarification we needed. Kind of. On the one hand, there are San Diego County testing counts that are somehow getting boggled when reporting to the state. Dr. Wooten says those will take two weeks to work out. Additionally, Supervisor Fletcher maintains that you have to reach a new tier's base level for two weeks before moving, in both a positive or negative direction. Then there's an "adjustment rate" that San Diego received based on testing; we're being adjusted to lower numbers because our testing exceeds minimum required amounts set by the state based on tests/population.

It was my understanding that you had to meet the new metrics for two weeks to move in less-restrictive categories, but apparently the same is for more-restrictive. So supposing we hit the purple tier metric when it's reevaluated on Tuesday, we'd have to hit it a second week to actually move into purple. Or something like that. 

This new tier system was supposed to be more simple, not more complicated, to allow anyone to look at the data and be able to assess where concerns should be, i.e. a restaurant owner could follow the data and know they'd have to be ready to close down some capacity or back to fully outdoor, but that's just not where we are with data anomalies and testing adjustment rates. So I'll keep it zipped, follow their reports and skip the math because it's all just too much of a headache. 

In the meantime, we're still mostly chillin' around the house, though we did leave for a couple hours to hit some tennis balls on some public courts and picked up some steaks from Vons that were still on Labor Day specials. It was my first time shopping there since March.

The County is moving to just one press conference per week on Wednesdays moving forward. Governor Newsom seems to be a little more random depending on the wildfires and information he has to get out. I'll still keep up my dailies here because I'm looking over the data anyway and it's somewhat calming in that nothing really comes as a surprise anymore. Lots of news from today's briefings and stats, after the jump.  

 

• State of California Governor Newsom Media Briefing
• Economic Recovery
• "Governor Gavin Newsom, joined by Senator Anna Caballero, signs bills to help small businesses recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic." 
• 48.5% of Californians employed by small businesses
• 7.1 million people employed by small businesses
• 4.1 small businesses operate in California
• SB 1447 - specific to pandemic recovery
• Expands COVID-19 specific assistance programs  
• Establishes a hiring tax credit for eligible businesses (<100 employees, income loss of more than 50% since 2019) 
• $100 million designated for program
• Additionally, $125 million dollars set aside in budget for iBank loan program
• Additional $25 million on 'first loss payments' (means the State guarantees loans made by private sector)
• $10 million in "SEED" programs specific for immigrants to start businesses
• California created a manufacturing platform with 450+ businesses as a marketplace specific to the development of PPE
• Shop safe, shop locally
• Extended re-licensing requirements
• Extended sales tax deadlines
• Created interest-free loans 
• PPP Loans $68.6billion in California to conform with Federal rules, waive state tax requirement in PPP
• Accelerating bonds - $406million (Budget Junior bill)
• Wildfires
• 28 Fire complexes still burning
• 7606 total fires have burned 
• 2.3 million acres have burned
• 14,000 lightning strikes
• Heatwave/Heat dome + Santa Ana/Diablo winds can't be legislated
• California COVID-19 Stats:
• 1,616 New Cases/739,527 Total Cases (0.2% increase)
• 83 New Deaths/107 14-day average daily deaths/13,841 Total Deaths (0.6% increase)
• 3.6% 7-day positivity/4.0% 14-day test positivity rate 
• Media Questions:
• A framework around equity is foundational, not "liberal idealogy". State and counties should be focusing on testing the BIPOC communities who are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Testing is evaluated to make sure 
• EDD fraud is high, but investigation continues, new technology will be implemented by end of September
• Balancing push and pull to deal with fraud quickly, while dealing with payments to people entitled to them swiftly
• State has created a new IT system to remedy CalRedie reporting problems
• Doesn't know anything about the Bob Woodward book, won't comment
• California has received supports and requests from White House
• In response to Capitol religious gathering, Governor has requested new protocols, limitations, and requirements be met in order to get CHP permits for events, and must be in partnership with California Dept. of Health. New requirements will mandate social distancing, physical distancing, wearing masks, no singing. People will be affected by this event who weren't even there, because people will bring sickness into homes and community at large. New restrictions will be forthcoming that balance constitutional rights with public safety for all gatherings and events. 
• New State Supreme Court Justice will be named soon. (Vacant since Jan)
• No emergency legislative sessions are planned at this time.
• What happens when this "bill comes due" for all the small business programs? You have to stimulate the economy, the sooner people work, the revenue starts to come in to offset those supports.
• State has well-defined and well-established protocols for prisons, for inmate release to ICE, and compassionate release  
• The economy can only reopen and schools can only return if we don't stop the spread of COVID-19. It's irresponsible to attend these large gatherings, to not wear a mask, to not social distance. 
• San Diego County Media Briefing
• "Our region is being tested like it's never been tested before" - Supervisor Cox
• Must be in one tier for two weeks of data before movement into higher or lower tier
• County Case Rate Increasing; Could Move to Lower Tier - County News Center (9.9.2020)
  Should the County positivity rate hit 8% and the case rate continue to increase to more than seven cases per 100,000 residents for two consecutive weeks, the region would have to be moved to the Purple Tier.
• Six No-Appointment COVID-19 Testing Sites Now Open 
• Info at 211
• CSU San Marcos, USD, SDSU, Tubman-Chavez Community Center, Mar Vista High School, San Ysidro Port of Entry PedEast
• Wildfires:
• 300 Evacuees are currently using hotel rooms
• Wildfire/Covid-19 Screening tool to help screen evacuees and frontline workers and volunteers
• ReadySanDiego.org
• Valley Fire Now 27% Contained - County Emergency (9.9.2020, 8:16pm)
• 17,665 Acres/27% contained
• FEMA & OES has expanded Great Plates through October 9
• www.aging.sandiegocounty.gov
• 1-800-339-4661 select option 7
• SDSU Campus issues
• 440+ cases confirmed connected to SDSU/4 cases probable  
• 457 campus violations reported last week. Currently stands around 500. 
• SDSU has implemented monitoring
• Prioritized private security, patrolling for safety violations and report to university administration
• Shuttles doing patrols looking for social activities
• University does have some authority off-campus for very narrow violations
• SDSU has implemented Communication & Education campaigns
• SDSU has implemented Stay-at-home order for on campus residents
• SDSU has implemented Stay-at-home advisory for off-campus residents extended through Monday
• SDSU students should be commended for their cooperation because the more cooperation, the safer the campus and off-campus community, and the faster they can get back to school. 
• 212 classes were in-person, after pause the school is down about 30 which still have to be in-person for licensure or other reasons, and are 8 students or fewer.
• 136 students in quarantine remain in res halls; 169 in isolation rooms.
• COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO COVID-19 STATS:
• State Data:
• 211 New Cases/41,079 Total Cases
• 2 Deaths/709 Total Deaths
• 6.9 cases/100k population (7-day average with 7-day lag, Updated 9/8)
• 4.3% Test Positivity (7-day average with 7-day lag, Updated 9/8)
• County Data:
• 247 New Cases/41,324 Total Cases 
• 12 New Daily Deaths/721 Total Deaths
• 6.9 cases/100k population (7-day average with 7-day lag, Updated 9/8)
• 5% Daily Test Positivity/4.5% Test Positivity (14-day average)
• Case Investigation is 97%
• 3 New/22 Community Outbreaks (7-day)/70 Active Outbreaks
• Media questions
• State is having an issue getting full testing data from all testing sites in the County
• State created an adjustment factor if County is testing higher or lower than required. San Diego is on hold until data challenges are resolved. Expected to take two weeks to fix.
• Just because students aren't getting hospitalized, doesn't mean they won't have 'long-haul' COVID-19 symptoms or take it into the community, so yes, the cases are concerning
• Overall trend in San Diego is slight increase due to more reopenings, increasing school activities, and holiday weekend. 
• Halloween: LA has rescinded banning of festivities. San Diego will await CDC guidelines to recommend proper activities for Halloween.
• Mission Bay parties and other potentially superspreader events are always a concern. 
• COVID-19:
• Reading & Leeds boss tells parliament “festivals can go ahead with adequate testing”"Trying to open without full capacity is just not an option" - NME (9.8.2020)
• COVID-19 Is Transmitted Through Aerosols. We Have Enough Evidence, Now It Is Time to Act - Time (8.25.2020)
• The US needs 200 million tests a month to reel in Covid-19 pandemic, report says - CNN (9.9.2020)
• Researchers at The Rockefeller Foundation and Duke University published a report today that includes projections for the testing capacity needed to safely resume social activities, including reopening schools for in-person classes and supporting other high-risk populations (eg, nursing homes). The report indicates that the US could need 193 million tests per month to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk to the point that the public could resume priority activities (e.g. in-person schooling) in a reasonably safe manner. The researchers also note that, while testing capacity is expected to increase over the coming months, it could be January before national capacity reaches 200 million tests per month, unless additional tests become available or production capacity is increased more rapidly than current projections. The COVID Tracking Project estimates that national testing capacity is currently 21 million tests. - Johns Hopkins Center For Health (9.9.2020)
• Why COVID-19 Is More Deadly in People with Obesity—Even if They're Young - Science (9.9.2020)