Month: March 2020

By Debra Kahn and Carla Marinucci / Politico / March 30, 2020

State leaders and doctors are cautiously optimistic that the Bay Area’s early moves to lock down residents two weeks ago have prevented surges of coronavirus patients from overwhelming the region’s health care capacity thus far.

Six Bay Area counties were first in the country to adopt aggressive tactics with an enforceable March 16 order requiring residents to stay at home.

By Jeoffrey B. Gordon, MD, MPH / March 24, 2020

We know of only two crucially important rounds remaining in the game of human existence on earth. This round – THE CORONA PANDEMIC -has been more like a rapid play, rough and tumble, basketball game. During pre-game warm up drills, most everyone felt strong and invincible.

Like past pandemics, the corona virus burst on the scene suddenly, but not quite unexpectedly, to start the round. Nonetheless, as we entered the early minutes of the first period we have already lost the game. Asian countries, forewarned by past challenges such as SARS, had plans, staff, capacity.

Editordude: The folks at this nifty website, American Marijuana, have come up with a study on how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed – if at all – marijuana use by American consumers. Written by Dwight K. Blake, it’s based on data from a study of 990 American pot consumers. There’s lots of great graphs and pie-charts on the original site, so we recommend you check those out, as we’ve only included one graph below.

By Dwight K. Blake / American Marijuana / March 30, 2020

As of March 24, 2020, the coronavirus disease had swept through over 195 countries with over 260,000 confirmed cases worldwide. This caused a panic that led people to stock up on foods, toiletries, and other basic needs. But how did it affect marijuana consumers? Let’s take a look at the survey presented below.

by Ernie McCray

To ease my mind in my isolation from humankind, I’ve been basking in memories of better times in my life and I don’t recall ever having more fun than I had at the San Diego Fringe Festival in 2014 – narrating “On the Corner of Rhythm and Rhyme” as a brilliant company of tap dancers, the California Rhythm Project, brought my words to life as they danced to my vocalizing and, in-between some lines, tapped to music, then back to my poetry, in an urban streetscape setting, kicking it off with:

There’s a corner
unlike any other corner
you could ever
conceive in your mind.
The Corner of Rhythm and Rhyme.
And it’s just that, rhythm and rhyme,
big time,
cuz, when your feet
step on the concrete
on the Corner of Rhythm and Rhyme,

By Colleen O’Connor / Times of San Diego

Amid this pandemic, an historic event yet to be named by historians, San Diego faces a pivotal election for Mayor.

San Diego is confronting a massive budget deficit, a pension shortfall, a countywide pandemic, a statewide shutdown, a local economy in free fall, and a yearning for clear direction.

Sheltering in place, working from home—for those lucky enough to still have a job—and fearing the unknown makes the next Mayor’s task all the more critical.

The city budget is projected to face a $109 million funding shortfall for the fiscal year ending June 30. The new $2 trillion federal coronavirus bailout has penciled in massive amounts of money for municipalities and non-profits. All this means a lot of pressure on City Hall.

In an historic first, the Ocean Beach Planning Board will meet this Wednesday via Zoom, which means they’ll have a virtual meeting over the internet. And anyone who wishes can observe and participate – see the information about how to be included either on the official agenda, posted below, or just before the agenda. But this is a first – created by the COVID-19 crisis (and unless the Board has practiced this method, it could be a tad bumpy – but fun! Check it out!)

The meeting will begin at 6 pm Wednesday, April 1 (… and no, this is not an April First joke). Usually the Board meets in the community room at the OB Rec Center.

Most of the agenda has to with the Board’s recent election, appointments to the Board and the election of the new Executive Board.

By Richard Riehl / Riehl World / March 30, 2020

It’s Day 16 of our lockdown in the Château Lake San Marcos retirement community. None of our 140 residents have been diagnosed with COVID 19.

Yesterday, according to Public Health Services, there were 519 cases and seven deaths reported in San Diego County, including 4 cases in San Marcos, 20 in Carlsbad, 18 in Encinitas, 11 in Oceanside, 9 in Escondido, and 10 in Vista.

We pass our time cocooning with the same daily schedule we had before the virus got here.

Awakening at 5 am, we watch the morning news, beginning with BBC America, since our son lives in London with his wife and our 13-year-old granddaughter. Thanks to our weekly Skype video calls, we stay connected with them during their own lockdown.

By Roberto ‘Rob’ Camacho

As more and more states across the country increasingly issue stay-at-home orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic (officially known as COVID-19), it is an understatement to say that the virus has fundamentally turned all of our lives upside down. …

Locally, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has also declared a State of Emergency in the city in response to the ongoing pandemic. Prohibiting all public and private gatherings of fifty or more people, and strongly discouraging all nonessential gatherings of any size in effort to contain the spread of the virus.

The last time my cousin Albert Elliott – known as “Ace” – was in the local news was when his surf shack burnt down. That was last August. Now – he and his spouse Mindy are back in the news as they are the “San Diego Couple home after being stuck in Ecuador.”

Every winter the two head down to Ecuador to do some surfing and hang out for about 3 months. This year – the year of COVID-19 – it was different. Channel 10 got the story:

A San Diego couple was stuck in Ecuador after the country canceled all travel due to the Coronavirus. After several days of travel, the couple is finally back in their home.

The Electric Chair on Newport Ave gets a make-over. … And now, it’s gone.

Thanks to Steve O from Kilowatt to keep us up to date. Here’s what it used to look like:

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is Right

By Jim Miller

Last week in the lead up to the passage of the massive stimulus bill by Congress, I argued that “Whichever package emerges today from the Congress will not be nearly enough to help the majority of Americans weather this crisis. Trump’s hesitance to use the tools of government to take more effective collective action is a predictable product of thirty years of rightwing ideological assault against not just ‘big government,’ but the government period.”

UFCW Local 135 demands that their essential members be designated as emergency frontline personnel in the state of California

Working long hours and exposed to large volumes of customers and patients, essential retail store workers, and pharmacy and other healthcare professionals are unsung heroes on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now more than ever, leadership from the state, county, and cities in San Diego, must do everything in their power to support and protect them.

UFCW Local 135 calls on the state of California to designate their essential members as emergency frontline personnel. This must include, at a minimum: