Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors COVID-19 Update 20240713

Consistently working on the front lines to help us deal with many of the challenges that exist as it relates to covid19 in San Francisco. As of today, we have 1,754 cases of covid19, and sadly we have had 31 people pass away as a result. Currently there are 84 people that are hospitalized, and for more information, please visit datasf. Org covid19 for details. I want to just start today on a little bit of a lighter note in recognition of so many of the First Responders and Health Care Workers that are on the front lines doing the incredible work to keep us all safe. Monday was International Firefighters day, and i had an opportunity to drop off lunch to our firefighters at station 6, and just express my appreciation for their work. The firefighters and the paramedics and the people who are called to so many very challenging scenes continue to work very hard for our city during this pandemic, and we appreciate the work that they do. And as we know, in the age of social distancing, they dont have the luxury to socially distance themselves when they are trying to save someones life, and they still put their lives on the line, so i want to express my appreciation to the firefighters and paramedics in San Francisco, and also today is the oneyear anniversary of our fire cheer janine scott. Janine nicholson. Got my police and fire chiefs fixed up. Janine nicholson has been on the job for about a year now. Today is her anniversary where she was sworn in. Shes been doing an amazing job, and again, i want to express my appreciation to the men and women of the San Francisco fire department. And today is also National Nurses day, and this is an incredible opportunity. I know so many of you have done really amazing things, whether its coming outside and clapping or singing songs or sending messages to our Health Care Providers as well as our nurses in particular who are doing the hard work, who are directly in contact with people who have the virus and those who are dealing with a number of other health challenges. I want to take this opportunity to especially send a heartfelt thank you to the nurses here in San Francisco and all over the country for the work that you have been doing to help us throughout this pandemic. Those are the real unsung heroes, the folks who have to put themselves on the line, the folks who are asking us to make sure they have ppe so that they can help support the patients that they care so deeply about. So i just wanted to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for your work. I want to talk a little bit about our Small Businesses. Governor newsom plans to announce the next phase in the statewide shelterinplace order tomorrow, and we are working to understand the exact details of what that would entail. And as i said on monday, its important that we work hand in hand with the state on guidelines to reopen, but we need to do so responsibly. And what that means is we the governor is providing the guidelines for the state as a whole, but the reason why our counties have control over whether or not we implement some of those suggestions has everything to do with whats happening with the facts, with the numbers, how many more cases, how many more deaths, whats happening on the ground in our cities so that we can make good decisions to continue to protect people. As much as i want to see so many Small Businesses reopening in San Francisco, i want people to get back to work, i want these places to thrive, i want people in San Francisco to have access to things that they know and love, the challenge we will continue to have in San Francisco in particular is making sure that and dr. Colfax will talk more about this, but the numbers are still going up. The number of deaths are still going up, and we have not lowered the curve, so we have to be mindful of that and we have to be responsible when we look at ways to bring various industries back, implementing the kinds of guidelines that are going to continue to limit direct contact with one other. Already we saw in a study that was done in the mission with the number of people who were infected, many of the folks primarily who were infected are people who have essential workers who have no choice but to go to work to make ends meet and also because they are essential workers. So we want to keep that in mind. The more that people have interactions with other people, the likelihood that other folks will continue to get infected. And so as difficult as i know this has been, we need to keep that in mind when making decisions about reopening. And so im really excited that weve allowed construction to occur in our city. Its not only important for the Job Opportunities for those who work in construction, but its also important for the desperately needed housing thats under construction in San Francisco. In time for mothers day, the flower shops are able to provide deliveries, just in time to send your mom or your loved one or someone you care about flowers, or just maybe order some for yourself. The things that we are doing to try and get these businesses open, we will continue to use facts, use data and get them back in business as quickly as possible. And i will tell you we are working very hard to come up with the kinds of guidelines that will continue to protect Public Health. This is really a longterm plan. The fact is, without a vaccine, we are going to be living with concerns around the covid19 for months to come, and so its time that we started getting creative and providing solutions and making sure that were working around that while still allowing people to open their businesses and to make sure that our economy is not even more damaged than we know it will be as a result of this. And so we will continue to work with the department of Public Health to make good decisions about how to get our city going again, and its going to take time. Its going to take patience. I know were asking a lot of all of you, and i just want to, again, express my appreciation to so many of you who have followed the order and done your part, and its definitely appreciated, and there is Additional Support in that arena needed as well. I also want to express my appreciation for what has been happening in dolores park in particular. We know that there were some challenges this past weekend, in sunday in particular, and as a result of the announcement that i made on monday, people are following the rules, and weve been monitoring the park, along with other parks and other areas in the city, and we want to really express our appreciation. Today is a beautiful day. Im not suggesting you go out and have a picnic and meet with your friends. Those things are prohibited, and we know this weekend is probably going to be nice, so when enjoying the park space and the fresh air, please, please, please make sure that you are only doing it with the people who are part of your household and you maintain six feet distance from all other parties, and you dont invite friends in to have a wine party or a picnic or anything of that nature. This is really about making sure that you have the benefits of our park, but also we have to be very, very careful, because the coronavirus is here in San Francisco, and people are impacted, and this is the last thing that we want to see happen as a result of our hard work and maintaining our distance for all this time. So please continue to follow the order. We will be monitoring dolores park and other hotspots very, very carefully, and if necessary, we will make a swift decision if we see that the park is overrun in a way that we cant necessarily control it. Its for your own safety, so thank you again for your cooperation so far and please continue to follow the order when enjoying our parks. Today i want to just announce a plan, and jeff kazinski who is here from the healthy streets Operation Team will talk more in detail about it, but they have been very, very hard at work. Many of you are familiar with the healthy streets Operation Center which is hsoc, and its part of a group that stands various city agencies where we work with the Homeless Outreach team, the hot team. We work with the San Francisco Police Department. We work with the department of Public Health and a number of other organizations in order to address the challenges with healthy streets in San Francisco. We know that continues to be a challenge, but the reason why weve been able to make gains before this pandemic had a lot to do with this team of people who are working collaboratively to address the challenges on our streets. And so the Human Rights Commission under the leadership of cheryl davis created a Tenderloin Community round table with stakeholders from the neighborhood, and they came up with a comprehensive plan. Part of what they wanted to do, like theyve done, as we said, we embedded in our Emergency Operations center here in muscony, a team that focuses on equity and underserved communities. And as a result, what these what the Human Rights Commission has done, along with a number of other Community Volunteers and folks, they would go out into neighborhoods, like the tenderloin, like the bayview, like the western edition, pass out food, pass out maps, educate the public about coronavirus and challenges, make sure people know how to get testing or other resources. Again, these are a group of people, a lot of volunteers, a lot of people from the community, who were putting their lives on the line to really support and serve the public and to make sure that no one is left out of the equation. And what they notice, the biggest challenge was, of course, sadly, the tenderloin. And so part of the work that came to be as a result of this round table, they distributed thousands of face coverings in this community. They partnered with code tenderloin and the boys and girls club to distribute computers to youth in the community and identify where we need to put internet hotspots so that kids are not they dont fall behind in school. They mobilized Community Resilience care vans with the Police Department to remind people about the importance of social distancing and to and they distributed face coverings, and they educated people on the fact that you dont need a mask. You can also have something thats a face covering, like a scarf or some other thing to cover your nose and your mouth. They distribute learning kits and books and activities to youth and their families. You know, in the tenderloin. So they have been hard at work, but we know the conditions remain particularly challenging. And we sadly have seen a significant increase in the number of Homeless People who are on the streets, which is concerning from both the health of those who are unsheltered and for the health of the residents who live in the community. So to address these challenges, weve developed a plan for responding to the issues of the tenderloin on a block by block basis. Now this plan was informed by ontheground assessments of the tenderloin and numerous meetings with members of the community, nonprofit organizations and businesses in the area. And to start, we identified 13 blocks that are our first priority, and as i said, jeff kazinski will talk a little bit more about that in detail, and i want to really recognize the hard work of everyone who participated. The conversations centered around the need to, of course, clean the sidewalks, clear the sidewalks, have sufficient trash, have access to resources, make sure that there are the streets and the community is a lot more safe, especially because there are a lot of children and elderly people who live in the tenderloin, and so this is a conversation that have been happening for a very long time, and before the pandemic and has gotten even worse since. I want to really recognize that this is going to be a targeted plan. Its going to be a challenging one, and we are set to be as aggressive as we can with implementing it so that the people of that community can notice and see a difference. Thanks to urban alchemy, we have some Community Ambassadors that were bringing on board on a parttime basis. Those are the people that you see who are oftentimes managing the restroom facilities. They are familiar with people in the community, and i want to thank them for their hard work and their dedication because they are showing up to work every single day in these very challenging communities, again, putting their lives on the line. I want to also thank the department of public works and what they do every single day. Cleaning up feces and needles and urine and trash, and i know on monday i expressed a lot of frustration because as much resources as we continue to invest in the tenderloin, and as much work as a lot of people are doing to keep that place clean and accessible to folks who live there, it still continues to be a challenge, and we need to hold everybody accountable. Everyone has to be held accountable. Its not just the citys responsibility. Its the people who are a part of that community, whether they are housed or not, we all play a role in protecting and serving and supporting this particular community, and that is our commitment in outlining a plan that specifically looks at three of the most challenging blocks and puts into place a system that will allow for regular cleaning, trash pickup, food service, trash cans, restroom facilities, wash stations, water, just some of the basic things, and well continue to also through the hotels we provide, ensure that they are available to some of our most vulnerable populations and just a reminder that before this pandemic we had thousands of people who were homeless who were in our system of care, and those will be the people that will be prioritized with any service that we make available because we want to make sure that the folks who have been waiting the longest in many instances, they are oftentimes the ones who are skipped over for services and support, and we need to do a better job at making sure we stick to this system and we prioritize the people who were in our city before this pandemic so they get the support and services that they need. So with that, i want to thank all of you again for your cooperation and continue to the best of my ability, because i got to tell you, this staying at home thing is rough for me too. So i at first i said it with a lot of enthusiasm, and now probably not as enthusiastic as ive asked in the past. Nevertheless, it is necessary. And i want to just remind everyone how important it is so that we can keep our Public Health in tact, we can keep people safe and we will continue to do all we can to provide resources and to make sure that as soon as we can we get our economy going and we provide an opportunity for our business community, especially our Small Businesses that are struggling, to open and operate. So thank you again for your patience and your cooperation, and now id like to ask dr. Grant colfax to come forward and provide us with an update. Dr. Grant colfax thank you, mayor breed. Good afternoon. Im dr. Grant colfax, director of health for the city and county of San Francisco. Before beginning my coronavirus update, i would like to thank the thousands of nurses in the department of Public Health and throughout the city for their dedication and courage as they continue to serve patients and our community during this unprecedented pandemic. This is National Nurses week, and it couldnt come at a better time. All of San Franciscos nurses are demonstrating the utmost professionalism, compassion, courage and heart, as they always do. I personally give thanks to the nurses in our Public Health system as zuckerberg San Francisco general hospital, as laguna honda hospital, our many Health Centers, Public Health Centers Across the city, including maxine hall Health Center, chinatown Health Center, Castro Mission Health Center and city clinic for their provision and care of services for communities across our great city. You provide medical care, but you do so much more. You provide comfort, emotional support, advocacy and, frankly, whatever it takes to help patients and their families. You get it done. I know this from my own personal experience, from working in the Emergency Rooms at zuckerberg San Francisco general hospital, the inpatient units at that hospital and across the city, including at the va and ucsf, to our clinics throughout the city. Nurses are the backbone of our system, a system that requires the skills and wisdom of the nursing profession now more than ever. All of us in San Francisco owe nurses a debt of gratitude, a debt of gratitude that grows every day. You are true heroes. We would not be where we are today, making the progress in the fight against the coronavirus, without your steady hands, warm hearts and Brilliant Minds on the front lines. Thank you. Thank you. Now with regard to where we stand with coronavirus in San Francisco. Today there are 1754 San Francisco residents with confirmed cases of covid19, and sadly 31 san franciscans have died of the disease. My condolences to their families, their friends and their community. I would also like to provide an update today on a few aspects of our progress and where things stand in the fight against the coronavirus. I want to start with the issue of testing. As of today, 27,334 people in San Francisco have been tested for covid19, and over the last period of months, 8 , on average, have tested positive. We are continuing to strive to reach our goal of universal access to testing for all san franciscans. As we announced monday, we now provide free universal testing for all essential workers, regardless of symptoms or potential exposure. And today at laguna honda hospital we are starting our routine testing at Nursing Homes of both staff and patients. And fortunately we have already seen a significant uptick in the number of tests conducted across the city. 700 people were tested yesterday at the city test sf site alone in the largest day of testing since we opened that service. I am glad that people are starting to take advantage of this option, but we can still do more, and indeed we must still do more. If you have been showing up to work during this stayathome order, you can now get tested and tested for free. There are several options now for testing, including your own health care provider, the two city test assess sites, and the four department of Public Health Community Test sites. These sites are open to Health Care Workers, First Responders, grocery clerks, construction workers, drivers, child care workers, workers at outdoor businesses, and others who continue to leave their homes to serve the community during this pandemic. Please call 311 or visit sfgovgettestedassess for more information and to see a map of all the test sites in the city. We know that essential workers are more at risk because they interact daily with other people and cannot easily maintain social distancing by staying at home. In fact, a recent study by ucsf in partnership with the Health Department and the Latino Task Force reinforced this fact. The study found that workers tested in the Mission District had a higher rate of positive results than residents and that many of these workers were asymptomatic. This is why getting tested regardless of symptoms is key to our response, and this is why we are moving forward in our vision for universal access to testing for all in San Francisco. We need to do everything we can to support workers in all aspects of health and safety during the pandemic. This includes access to testing, but it also means support for successful isolation and quarantine so that people can get well and limit the risk of exposures to members of their households. We are committed to working with communities to better understand the type and kinds of support that people need. The expanded testing is a step in the right direction, an important step in the right direction, and i encourage all essential workers to make use of it. And as we test more people, we naturally expect to find more cases. So this added resource is very important. Expanding testing is a key piece of our recovery plan. And now i would like to review other major elements we have in our plan. I want to make sure that everyone in our Community Knows how much we are measuring our readiness to open, how much and how. Now as much as i want, and i think everyone wants, reopening to happen, we must continue to follow the science, data and facts. Remember, the virus is still out there, and it thrives when we get together and socialize. We should celebrate our progress and the fact that we have saved lives across the bay area and the state. We have truly saved lives. For instance, our mortality rate in San Francisco is one quarter of that in new york state, and our mortality rate in San Francisco is half of the california state average. And yet we must also recognize that we are still very much in the midst of a pandemic. It is not over yet, not by a long shot. The virus doesnt have a timeline. It was here in february. It was here in march and april, and it will be here in the summer and fall and beyond. And the more people move around, the more contact they will have with others, the more likely it is that the virus will spread. It is highly contagious. We know that there is more virus out there than ever before, and there are still outbreaks in our communities. We remain focused on protecting the health of the most vulnerable populations, those who live in congregate settings. In the bay area we will be watching five key indicators to track our progress. They are that the number of patients in the hospital with covid19 is low and flat or decreasing for a sustained period of time. Number two, that we have enough personal protective equipment, ppe, for all our Health Care Workers to respond. Number three, that we have expanded testing to meet the need, especially for people in vulnerable populations, essential workers and communities that are affected by health disparity. And not only that that testing is expanded, but that we have the Wraparound Services to support individuals and their families in the event that they test positive. Number four, that we have the capacity to investigate every case of covid19, to trace each persons close contacts, and to isolate and quarantine the people who need it. And number five, that we have the ability to measure the rate of new cases of covid19 to determine whether it is decreasing, staying flat or increasing. This will take ongoing effort as we are still building our Surveillance Systems across the bay area with the help of scientists from ucsf, the zuckerberg institute, and berkeley. I know that there is a lot of excitement and hope about reopening, and i personally look forward to that too. And yet we must hold steady and let the data guide us. We must maintain our gains. Otherwise the virus will quickly outrun us, and a surge will occur. And at the same time, we cannot lose sight of the fact that life will be better in may. Right now Outdoor Activities and businesses can resume with proper precautions. This is going to improve our lives and our outlook. I notice, too, that surveys show that the vast majority of the public want to continue our restrictions to keep themselves, their family and their communities safe. They know how important it is that we slow the viruss spread. The vast majority of the public support Public Health measures to slow the virus down. And at the same time, i recognize that San Francisco residents and businesses have made tremendous sacrifices to flatten the curve and protect Community Health. We must continue to Work Together so those sacrifices dont go to waste. We will keep watching the indicators and work with our region and state on the most reasonable next steps. Reasonable and responsible and driven by data and science and facts. There have been many questions this week about the governors plans and their impact on San Francisco. Let me clarify the San Francisco and Bay Area Health orders currently in effect through may do not permit Curbside Pickup from nonessential businesses. The governors guidance to retailers coming out thursday will spell out the states expectations. We will study those very carefully. However, it is important to remember that the rule of thumb is whichever order is more restrictive is the order that will take precedence going forward. We are working and my team is working very hard to help find ways to reopen more businesses and activities safely while sustaining the progress we have made. We are developing carefully stepwise approaches, working to mitigate risk and protect the Public Health as much as possible. We are partnering with the Mayors Office of Economic Workforce Development to ensure that the voices and ideas of local businesses help craft this next phase. We are hoping some pilot programs can go into effect this month, but these will be with considerable restrictions to ensure safety. Now i want to add a few remarks to the announcement of a blockbyblock plan to address the issues in the tenderloin that are impacting the quality of life for residents in that neighborhood. Jeff kazinski, manager of the healthy streets Operation Center, or hsoc, will provide more details in a moment. But i want to highlight to help departments support for and participation in this critical work. The health of the Tenderloin Community has been and continues to be a priority for us. We operate a Primary Care Clinic there and have a longstanding relationship with the community and our patients. We have participated in hsoc since the beginning, and the Health Department provides outreach, street medicine, Overdose Prevention and opioid treatment, Harm Reduction, and Environmental Health services to protect the health and safety of the people in the tenderloin who are experiencing homelessness and those that are housed. The tenderloin is a vibrant community of families, merchants, artists, restaurants, governmental and civic organizations. We know, i know that the coronavirus emergency has made life harder for the tenderloin. The department is committed to partnering with other city agencies and communities and business organizations to help improve the situation. Our Community Health Response Team and street medicine teams are on the front lines and expanding their outreach efforts in helping people protect themselves from the spread of the coronavirus. Our Environmental Health inspectors conducted an initial assessment of the areas identified in the plan, which helped to form the basis of the report. These inspectors will continue to provide input and guidance on interventions that may be necessary in the neighborhood to protect against rapid spread of the coronavirus. And now, jeff kazinski will further describe the goals and activities of the citys plans to support this important community, and i would like to personally thank him for his leadership in this effort. Thank you. Good afternoon. Im the manager of the healthy streets operations center. Hsoc is a multidepartmental collaborative that was stood up to address unsheltered homelessness and related street conditions here in San Francisco. Before i start, i want to thank all of the frontline outreach workers involved in hsoc, the hot team members, paramedics, Police Department, Public Health, outreach workers, public works employees and the nonprofit partners whoever day are out in the streets working with our unsheltered individuals and people who are struggling on the streets to help them shelter in place in a for people who actually have no shelter. Its challenging work. They are putting their own health at risk by doing this work, and it is such an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to work with them. Also want to thank the staff who are working behind the scenes, both at the department of emergency management, the dispatch workers and Police Officers who are there helping guide the efforts of the frontline staff, as well as our small but mighty team here at the Emergency Operations center, many of whom helped work on a plan that im going to talk about today. Clearly the challenges of unsheltered homelessness have grown exponentially during the covid19 crisis. Prior to this crisis, we already faced challenges with not having enough shelter and Affordable Housing to meet the needs of our community. Mayor breed had been working tirelessly and continues to work tirelessly on this issue, but this pandemic has forced us to thin out the shelters, and it has also required that we follow the cdc guidance to not disrupt homeless encampments. And where is that is a challenge for some, i just want to point out that many of the fantastic results that weve had here in San Francisco that dr. Colfax spoke of are because were following these guidelines. Nonetheless, this has created challenges in our community and some pretty jarring numbers. In 2016, august of 2016, we estimated that San Francisco had about 1200 people, 1200 tents on our streets and in our public places. By april of 2019, that number was below 400. I believe it was about 385. Recently we did a count in april of 2020, and there were close to 1200 tents again in the city and county of San Francisco. The tenderloin is by far the most impacted and hardesthit neighborhood in this current situation. Theres over 300 tents in the tenderloin, 20 large encampments, and thats an increase of almost 300 since just january of 2020. This has had negative impacts on Public Health and on Public Safety in the neighborhood. And this is not acceptable. The tenderloin is a special neighborhood. Its home to many lowincome families and individuals to formerly homeless individuals, to many seniors, to families and children, to people with disabilities. It also hosts the secondlargest africanamerican population in the city. Multigenerational households, from yemen, latin america, the philippines, vietnam and other regions. It was the center of tenants rights and lgtbq activism in San Francisco. And the neighborhood has dozens of historic businesses. Its also the densest neighborhood in San Francisco, and its also a place where openair drug dealing, drug sales and use, sex work and homelessness are acute. While this neighborhood has its challenges, its also one of the most vibrant and one of the most loving neighborhoods in San Francisco, and its residents deserve better than what is happening there right now. The urgency of this comprehensive plan that ill speak about in a bit has been driven through a lens of human dignity, of equity, of Public Health and of Public Safety. And it is a high priority for mayor breed who instructed the department a few weeks ago to put this plan together, and it has been a high priority for her since this crisis started. I will tell you that when mayor breed travels in the tenderloin, which is often, my phone starts ringing almost immediately to try to address some of the concerns that the mayor is seeing as shes travelling through the neighborhood, that were all seeing as we travel through these neighbourhoods. So in order to come up with some solutions to the complicated problems in this neighborhood that they were facing prior to this crisis and now have been made worse during the crisis, many city leaders, the mayor of course, and departments and many of our nonprofit providers during the past few weeks have been working to put together a very comprehensive plan. The Human Rights Commission really served as a center of gravity around this issue. They held Community Round table meetings with many stakeholders in the tenderloin and worked closely with them to gather their input and to make sure that the voice of the neighborhood was front and center in the development of this plan. We also conducted the quarterly tent count on april 22. Dph conducted an assessment on april 22, and then on april 28, over 50 City Employees and Community Volunteers and nonprofit employees went to 49 blocks in the tenderloin, assessed everything that was going on in those blocks, looked for challenges, as well as opportunities, and did assessments, Health Assessments and housing assessments of over 300 unsheltered individuals on the streets. That information was compiled into this plan. It was reviewed by the mayor, her staff, city leadership, departmental staff, and most importantly members of the tl community. I want to emphasize that the plan that we produced is not a final plan. It will never be a final plan. Its a living document. It will continue to evolve. The situation on the ground changes sometimes hourly, and were going to continue to take feedback from the community and evolve this plan as we move forward. So let me address some of the elements of the plan for you. To address the concerns that we saw and heard from in the community, weve outlined a number of recommendations, and as the mayor pointed out, there are 13 high priority blocks that we are going to focus on first. But were going to address every block in the tenderloin. Some of the recommendations that were moving forward on right now are addressing encampments by offering safe sleeping alternatives to unsheltered individuals, other places that they can camp and have their tents that dont impact house residents and businesses in the city. To continue to facilitate social distancing compliance by closing streets, adding additional sidewalk space by closing those streets, limiting parking and taking other measures. Ensuring that all residents, housed and unhoused, have a safe passage to and from their homes and to and from the businesses that they need to frequent. Were going to improve access to hygiene stations, restrooms, Garbage Disposal for unhoused individuals, as well as increasing access to food and water for housed and unhoused residents alike. We want to increase Police Presence to address crime in the neighborhood, but not to address social problems in the neighborhood. For that were going to continue activating outreach workers and nonprofit employees to continue to work closely with unsheltered individuals to help encourage them to be as safe as they possibly can, and not to impact the safety of other people in the neighborhood. Were going to be increasing Health Services in the neighborhood and working with Small Businesses through outreach and education. I know that thats a lot of words and that may be a bit vague, so i want to be a little bit more specific about work that has already happened, because a significant amount of work had begun weeks ago. We werent just writing a plan. We were actually implementing it as we were writing it. In the past few weeks weve installed six water manifolds to provide better access to drinking water. I want to thank the puc for their partnership in making that happen and the public works department. Of course weve added additional food drops so that before there were only a few places where people could get food and lines were getting quite long and social distancing was challenging, so we added additional places where people can get food and well continue to do that. Very recently added four 24hour pit stops in the neighborhood. We also, and i think this is very significant and have been working very hard to identify highrisk unsheltered individuals in the tenderloin and helping move them to shelterinplace hotel rooms. I want to thank director roar and dr. Stewart khan for their leadership and partnership in making this happen. We are on tuesday opening up a safe sleeping village on fulton street between hyde and larkin and i want to thank our friends at urban alchemy that are willing to operate that place. It will be 50 camp sites, if you will. People can set up tents safely and services will be available to them on site to help reduce the number of people camping out on sidewalks and we will be expanding into additional locations in and around the tenderloin in the coming weeks. Were going to keep expanding pit stops and adding garbage cans. We have already been out marking sidewalks where people are lining up to show folks what six feet is like to ensure social distancing. Going to continue conducting outreach to people on the streets which in the tenderloin which were doing every day. That includes Health Assessments and also includes providing people with masks and other supplies that they need to be able to shelter in place safely. And were going to be creating a Community Ambassador program with local nonprofits, hopefully putting up to 50 people on the street every day in the tenderloin, helping remind people to social distancing, helping to keep the streets clean, but also reporting back to the city any problems that they have identified. And we have a number of next steps moving forward with this plan. We are gonna set up a more regular feedback process led by the hrc with our nonprofit stakeholders there. We are going to, as youll see in the plan, theres block theres plans for all 13 blocks. Were going to start operationalizing those plans with a specific timeline and resources needed that includes lists of lots and other spaces that can be used as alternatives to sleeping on the street. Were going to be getting a plan for Small Business outreach, and i know that this as dr. Colfax said, were not sure how long this shelterinplace orders are going to be going on or how long this that this is going to be a challenge for some time. However, we also want to start thinking about a postcovid19 plan to ensure safe streets in the tenderloin so that the work that were starting now continues into the future to continue to improve conditions in the neighborhood. Thank you all very much for the time, and we will introduce chief scott as soon as i clean up for him here. Good afternoon. As i always start my remarks, i like to start with thanking our mayor london breed and our director of Public Health dr. Grant colfax for their amazing leadership during this very challenging time. I want to start with how we are looking so far this week in the advent of the most recent updated Public Health order. Overall, we are seeing more people outside, which we expected, with all the good weather. We are pleased to see that the vast majority of the folks that we have encountered continue to adhere to the Public Health orders. As you may know, during the first week of our updated health order, the new provisions offered modest relaxation of some of the restrictions in the Previous Health order for outdoor businesses and recreational facilities. And we continue to engage and remind people that the order is still in tact and still in effect, and i want to reiterate what dr. Colfax said and what mayor breed said, during my remarks today. Please maintain a social distance of at least six feet. If you must go outside, wear your face coverings, when youre in line or inside of an essential business or other places where social distancing is required. And we know this is a challenge for many people, but we ask that you continue to stay vigilant and continue to practice those Public Health directions. People should wash their hands often, and please continue to shelter in place. People watching the news in other parts of the country, and even other parts of the world, have seen that San Francisco has been a model, and we have been successful and we have done it the right way. And i know it may be tempting to fall off a little bit. People are getting anxious. People are tired of being inside, but we do need to stay vigilant. As dr. Colfax and mayor breed pointed out, this virus is not going away. The virus is not taking a vacation, neither should we. We continue to follow mayor breeds lead, and we need to continue to follow the Public Health guidelines. I cannot emphasize that enough. Now i can tell you as the chief of police that i have received calls from departments and chiefs from around the country, and they have asked, you know, what are we doing, allow are we doing what were doing, and i think thats a testament to the fact that, number one, weve been successful and, number two, that were doing things that a lot of people are trying to emulate, and thats thanks to you all. Thats thanks to the people of our great city, and we would like to keep that momentum going. First and foremost, you know, for the San Francisco Police Department, the work that we have done and will continue to do will be with the support of and in collaboration with members of our communities, and thats really important, because our premise and our preface has been voluntary compliance from day one, and we cannot get voluntary compliance without the support of the community. So were going to continue to model the behavior and continue to work with our community members, as jeff kazinski just stated, with the tenderloin plan, and in other parts of the city, and we ask for your cooperation and your voluntary compliance. Weve had a successful [indiscernible] and i think by far im proud to say that ive been a member of this outstanding team. Lets keep up the work. Lets keep up the vigilance and lets keep people healthy, safe and most importantly alive. Ill go to our enforcement efforts for covid19 since our last press conference on monday weve added one citation to the total, so now we have 22 total Public Health order citations, and the breakdown is 12 businesses and 10 individuals who have been cited. In total weve had 103 warnings or admonishments, and again i will explain that admonishments means that these are our final warnings to these particular individuals and businesses before we move to enforcement with a citation. And the breakdown of that 103 is 57 businesses and 16 individuals. As far as our Crime Statistics, today id like to talk about our yeartodate Crime Statistics. I know i usually report on weektoweek Crime Statistics, but i think its important to let you all know how were tracking yeartodate. Our Violent Crime is down 6 from this time last year. Thats a reduction of 91 fewer Violent Crimes. Our property crimes are down 12 from this time last year which is a reduction of 1,895 fewer property crimes. Now with that, i would emphasize also, as you know, this city, our city has had challenges with autoburglaries. Our autoburglaries are down 22 from this time last year, which is a reduction of 1,647 fewer crimes. Now we do realize and understand that some of the reasons for this reduction, that there have been far fewer people on the streets which limits the opportunities. But also, i want to thank the men and women of the San Francisco Police Department, and i want to thank our community, because as we continue to ask you to report crimes, you are doing that. And our men and women of our Police Department are responding. We have arrested many of the individuals who were committing burglaries in our city, burglary is one of the few Crime Statistics in which were up in terms of burglary were up 11 over this time last year, which is a difference of 190 additional crimes from this time last year. But weve made a lot of arrests, and we will continue to respond and we will continue to bring those to justice who are insistent on preying upon particularly in this time during the Public Health emergency, preying upon those who cant help themselves, particularly our vulnerable population. The other area that were up that i am sad to report are homicides, which we are three above where we were this time last year. We have 16 year to date, and we had 13 this time last year, but we have made some arrests, even this week, on homicide suspects, and we will continue to investigate every case and hopefully bring the people that committed these heinous crimes to justice. As always, i want to encourage everyone to report crimes when you see them, particularly Violent Crimes. Call 911 to report Violent Crimes in progress. We will respond. We will be there to help, and we will do everything that we can to bring the people committing these crimes to justice. Please also note, and ive said this in Previous Press conferences, that we have our implementation of our text 911 service, and if youre unable to make a phone call, but you have access to your ability to text, please text us and we will be there. For crimes that have already happened and for nonviolent property crimes, please call our nonemergency number at 4155530123. You can also call 301 or utilize our website at San Franciscopolicedepartment. Org to request a police to report or file a Police Report that qualify for online filing. Id like to end by just saying, again, lets continue to stay vigilant. You know, there are a lot of people that are doing the essential work thats necessary for us to survive. Our Grocery Store workers, our mechanics, our bus drivers, our Police Officers, our nurses, our firefighters, the list goes on and on. When we ask you to abide by these Public Health orders, think of those people. Think of the people that are coming to work, risking their families, risking their own health so you can have food on the table. Think of them. Wear your face coverings. Think of them when we ask you to wash your hands often. Think of them when we ask you to keep six feet of social distance. We have to stop the spread of this virus, and we know in our city were able to do it and we will do it, so thank you very much, and i think were going to open it up to questions. Chief, were going to go ahead and start with you. Okay. Okay, first question is from holly mcdeed. There have been reports that nonessential businesses around the bay area are breaking shelter in place orders and reopening. To what extent is that happening in San Francisco and how does the city plan to address these concerns . Well, let me start by saying, holly, first of all weve had really good success with our compliance pathways, and were going to continue that same posture. Midnight on march 17 we said that we were going to be out in force, number one educating people when we had our first Public Health order. And thats what we did, and we have been doing that ever since. So for those businesses look, some of this is confusing for people. The orders are changing. You have a national narrative, you have the state, you have other parts of the state that are opening up, and people some people are confused about everything thats going on. Thats why we need to follow our mayors guidance. We will be out to help educate, and for those people who are egregious after weve educated them and sorted things out, we will fight those people. We have done it and we will continue to do that. So our model has worked. I think thats a part of the reason that we are that successful at this point, as we are, and we will continue that model, and we will have common sense, compassion and balance, and we do understand that peoples lives have been up ended and peoples Financial Futures are uncertain, and we get that. So were going to continue to police with empathy and balance and compassion, but we still need to do our job and keep people healthy and safe. The next question is from heth knight, San Francisco chronicle. Will the new tenderloin plan include measures to combat rampant drug dealing and drug use in the neighborhood . Thank you, heather, for that question. Absolutely it will. The San Francisco Police Department look, a lot of these issues are social issues, but crime is a policing issue, and when you talk about drug dealing, we know that people have come into the tenderloin particularly during this pandemic, and they have taken advantage of vulnerable people. We have made arrests in encampments. We have seen people go in with bags of drugs and distribute them to others to sell in these encampments, and we have arrested those people. We have confiscated their money. We have confiscated their drugs, and we will continue to do that with a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm to try to keep people safe. So yeah, you can expect more of that, and as we roll out this tenderloin plan, one of the things that im very happy with is that in my discussions with the communities, and on the many Conference Calls that weve had, the community is asking for us to be there. They are asking for us to enforce. They are asking for us to get the drug dealers away from this vulnerable population and off the streets, and thats what well do. Thank you, chief. The following questions are for mayor london breed. Madam mayor, your first question is from politico. How does San Francisco plan to spend funds received through the cares act, and are you running into frustrations on how its spent or not allowed to be spent . Mayor london breed well, for the most part we are spending the funds on testing, on contact tracing, on hotel rooms and other expenses specifically related to the financial impacts on the city as it relates to the coronavirus that are nonfema expenses. And yes we would like more flexibility on spending these dollars because that would be helpful. It is going to be expensive for us to manage this challenge, but ultimately we are going to continue to move forward and do what we can and work with the federal government to try and get a lot more flexibility than we currently have. The next question is from angela hart, Kaiser Health news. Madam mayor, what is your response to the criticism that the city is moving too slow on providing safe hotel and motel rooms for Homeless People . Mayor london breed well, first of all i would like anyone to name any other city thats doing better than San Francisco as it relates to getting people who are homeless into hotel rooms. We have over a thousand people that we have been able to get into hotel rooms, people who are were a part of our Shelter Systems and a part of our very vulnerable populations. And it is continuously a real challenge, of course. As i said before, the problems that existed with our homeless populations, specifically the challenges around Substance Use disorder and mental illness, they dont just go away, and so i do think its important that on any given day when there isnt a pandemic, it is already challenging. And we have a number of incredible organizations that are consistently working with this population. But now its a lot different, and in the age of social distancing, what we are trying to do with, again, a very challenging and vulnerable population, is provide resources as rapidly as we can. And it is not easy. It is not easy logistically, and its not just about having the resources and moving faster. Of course wed like to move a lot more faster than we are, but its so critical that when we are opening up any hotel room we have to make sure that the people that are working in that hotel, whether its the people who work for the Hotel Directly or the people who work for the city or they work for the nonprofit organizations, that we keep them as well as the people who are homeless that we are providing housing for, the goal is to keep everyone safe. What we dont want to do is create another outbreak situation or another challenge unnecessarily so by doing this wrong. There is so much this city is doing right, and i want to take this opportunity i just need one second. I forgot the list of Service Providers. Because not every Service Provider in this city has stepped up and agreed to help at this time and to put their lives on the line to manage these hotels and provide services and oversight and resources to our homeless population. I want to specifically acknowledge and thank epitch Palestinian Community services, five keys, st. Vincent de paul, Catholic Charities and larkin street. These are the organizations that have stepped up and provided the support that we need, along with a number of Disaster Service workers, including the director of our library here in San Francisco, michael lambert, who is a site manager at one of these hotels. So i want to be clear that there are so many people that are putting their lives on the line, and it is not easy to do this work, and the fact is we are trying to do it while socially distancing ourselves in the process from a population that may not always follow our guidance or our direction, but we will continue to push. We will continue to try, and i want to really thank the people who are out there on the front lines every day doing this work, despite the criticism, despite the push and the pressure from people who arent even on the front lines who have no idea what its like to be in those situations, working hard to support this population every single day. Thank you for showing up. Thank you, mayor breed. The following questions are for dr. Grant colfax, department of Public Health. Dr. Colfax, your first question this sunday is mothers day. What are the citys suggestions on how residents celebrate it this year . If we wear masks and maintain social distance, can we visit our moms in person . Dr. Grant colfax so i would strongly recommend compliance with the shelterinplace order, that you celebrate mothers day from a distance from your mother. Dont go visit your mom if shes not part of your immediate family and household on a daily basis. There are other ways to celebrate. Its beyond my expertise to tell you what you should get for your mom, but flowers, phone calls, engagements on social media, hearing your voice, pictures are some of the things that ive been thinking about. But please, i think the greatest gift you can provide to we can give to our mothers this mothers day is to stay away, to be at a distance. Please keep them safe. Many mothers are highly vulnerable to covid19, and so please respect the order, celebrate using social media, phone calls and other mechanisms, but dont go visit your mom in person this year. Thank you. Next questions are similar questions from maureen kelly. There are some who are raising concerns that the department of Public Health is blurring the line between Harm Reduction and enabling when it comes to the citys practice of delivering alcohol, marijuana and tobacco to homeless addicts in isolation and quarantine. Can you please explain the citys philosophy behind this practice . Well, look, our philosophy in terms of treating people who suffer from addiction, Substance Use disorders, is really again focused on science and the medical literature, which shows that a Harm Reduction approach, which includes the continuum from supporting abstinence and recovery to helping people who continue to use to reduce their harms. There is there are decades of there are decades of literature supporting this approach. Right now with regard to supporting people who are at risk or who need to be in quarantine or isolation because theyre covid positive, our focus needs to be on supporting them and meeting them where they are, meeting them where they are so that they can be cared for in the most appropriate way, in a way thats good for them and for our community. So whether that includes ensuring that they have access to counselling, our Behavioural Health experts are Offering Services every day. Medicationassisted treatment, including nicotine and opiate replacement, Behavioural Health counselling, and in cases where people decide that they are going to continue to use, our focus is using the best evidence to help people manage their addictions, and in some cases this will include helping them manage their alcohol use and their nicotine use so that they can stay safe and in place as much as possible to help their community and to help themselves. Thank you. The next question is from charles rain, citizen news. Does a serological or diagnostic testing passport seem likely for san franciscans who want to return to work in the future . Dr. Grant colfax well, look, the World Health Organization issue add warning last week against the use of these socalled immunity passports. We simply do not know what the utility of an Antibody Test yet is. We are obviously looking at that very carefully. What an Antibody Test means in terms of shorterterm or longerterm immunity is developing. The science is still not there yet. So we will certainly be looking at how testing for a diagnosis of covid19 is integrated into our next steps with regard to a gradual reduction in the restrictions around social distancing, but certainly antibody passports, to speculate anything beyond what ive said would be premature at this time. The next question is from San Francisco chronicle. How many Staff Members and residents have tested positive for the virus and died at Central Gardens . So at this point we have a total of 72 cases of covid19 diagnosed in Central Gardens. We have 37 staff and 39 residents. Overall, there have been 160 cases of covid19 confirmed in the 21 nursing home facilities across the city. I want to emphasize that these facilities are overseen by the state and also emphasize that we are requiring all nursing facilities in the city to test for covid19, and as i said previously, we have started this work in laguna honda. At laguna honda, we are continuing to have our 21 cases of covid19 diagnosed, and to date there have been no deaths at laguna honda. As a followup, you previously said that San Francisco does not count a nursing home death or case within the countys number if the resident lives somewhere else. We checked with several other counties. All count those numbers within the county, despite where the nursing home residents has a registered address. How do you explain that discrepancy . Dr. Grant colfax so thank you for letting me clarify the issue. So first of all, we count covid19 cases during our outbreaks as cases, regardless of the county of residence. So when i report these outbreak numbers around Nursing Homes, that includes all the residents, not where their home address is. And our measurement of confirming deaths at with covid19 is not specific to Nursing Homes. Its not even specific to covid19. Its basic vital statistics, that if a person dies, even in the confines of the city, but has a permanent address somewhere else, that death is reported in that jurisdiction. Next question is from jany harr, associated press. How much outside room time is given daily to people in hotel rooms recovering from covid19 . Do they get smoke breaks . Dr. Grant colfax depending on the facility, i cant speculate on the exact amount of time, but i can say in referring to the work that the agencies are doing, that the mayor thanked personally, and across the entire spectrum of our support system for people in isolation and quarantine, we work with people to ensure that they get the breaks as much as possible that they need in order to maintain their isolation and quarantine, to support them, and to support the safety of the community. Next question is from joshua sabotini, San Francisco examiner. Can you expand on your remarks if there were some pilot programs this month related to business, and does that mean the city will allow retailers like bookstores to have Curbside Pickup . Dr. Grant colfax so again, i think once we see what the governor releases later this week in terms of guidelines and recommendations, we will be studying those very carefully in the local context in which, again, we will continue to follow the data, science and facts, collaborate with our Business Leaders and other partners to start establishing some very specific parameters, including how potentially Curbside Pickup could potentially be executed. Thank you, dr. Colfax. The next set of questions are for director trent roar, Human Services agency. Good afternoon. Trent roar, Human Services agency. Director roar, your first question is from angela hart, Kaiser Health news. Please explain how the city has been approaching hotel and motel owners for leasing their spaces out for project room key. What are the challenges in the state providing assistance . Thanks for the question and the opportunity to clarify project room key and its sort of role in county operations. Before i respond to that question, i want to piggyback a little bit on what the mayor how the mayor responded to i think it was your question, ms. Hart, on the characterization of San Franciscos Hotel Leasing being slow. You know, slow is an interesting word to use. You know, its a distributive word thats usually use to compare pace relative to Something Else or relative to a benchmark or relative to other areas doing similar work, and its difficult to use that adjective when talking about a deployment that know county or state has ever done before, no county Human Services agency or county government has attempted to lease and rent hotel rooms directly from hotel owners, and so this is all new territory. So to characterize it as slow, i often wonder, slow compared to what . Because there really is nothing to compare it to. I should say that, you know, im on calls with my county colleagues throughout the state regularly sharing best practices, trying to problem solve together, and i can assure you that were all facing the same difficulties in leasing up rooms, whether its negotiations with Hotel Ownership groups that are overseas, whether its Hotel Ownership groups who are reluctant to rent their hotels to homeless, deployment of staff, unique setup at hotels all present challenges in terms of pace. But in these discussions, you know, in sharing these challenges, what certainly is clear when looking at San Franciscos progress relative to our homeless population, whether its statewide or the bay area, theres a couple numbers id like to share. The first is that San Francisco has about 5 of the states homeless population, but when you look at the total number of rooms being leased statewide under project room key, San Francisco has about 15 of those rooms. Again, we have about 5 of the homeless population. When you narrow down to the bay area and the bay area counties, San Francisco has about 20 of the bay area homeless population. A little over 8,000 homeless is about the same as almeda county, a couple thousand less than santa clara county, so of the 20 of homeless in the bay area and you look at the rooms that San Francisco county has actually rented, we have 45 of the total rooms rented in the bay area are in San Francisco county. So i dont know if those numbers indicate that were slow. I dont know if they indicate that were fast, but certainly when measuring against a benchmark or other counties, we seem to be doing well in terms of ramping up to meet our needs of our homeless and other vulnerable populations. Now specific to your question about room key, so project room key is the statewide the name of the program, and really what project room key is is a Funding Source for counties and general county Human Service agencies to lease hotel rooms. The guidance for project room key wasnt announced until march 27, and it was along with 150 million statewide to counties to support our operations. And as ive mentioned before up here, we started our operations in San Francisco three weeks before the project room key guidance was announced. We started on march 9. The mayor and myself and the director of health met with the Hotel Council on march 18 to share with them our need for hotel rooms for our isolation quarantine needs, as well as for our homeless individuals. We released our request for hotel quotes on march 19, and we entered into our first contracts a week later and opened our first hotels on march 30, which was three days after the project room key guidance was announced. So we started before the state was really activating their response. We thank the state for their partnership. We certainly thank the state for our share of the 150 million that theyve appropriated for this cause, and all the rooms that are leased through San Francisco countys efforts, through my Human Services agency and our staff, along with the Citys Department of real estate and the city attorneys office. We approached these leases directly using our county staff, working directly with hotel owners in negotiating and developing and signing contracts, and were not relying on the state to negotiate for us. Were fortunate in San Francisco. We have the Institutional Capacity to do this on our own. I think project room key is really providing support to counties that might be smaller, dont quite have the infrastructure that we do, or counties, frankly, that are very, very large who need the Additional Support from the state. But at this point, San Francisco is able to do this on our own with our own staff and resources, and our partnership with the Hotel Council and other hotel groups, leadership of the mayor, and were able to do this on our own and arent needing to rely on the state, but do appreciate their leadership and certainly the resources theyve allocated to us. The next question is from mission local. According to the latest alternative housing update, there are still hundreds of rooms available. Are there plans to move homeless residents not just those who are considered vulnerable . Yes, you do correctly note that there are empty rooms, according to the report that we release daily, and let me help clarify why. There are two categories of rooms that we have secured and staffed. One is for isolation and quarantine purposes, and these are for individuals who are covid positive or who are showing symptoms. They need to isolate or be quarantined because they dont have a place to do that. Principally these are homeless individuals. We have 530 rooms under contract for isolation and quarantine. Only 248 of them are occupied. What does that mean . That means that we have almost 300 empty rooms that are available should we need to isolate our quarantine additional individuals. This is an intentional design. We want to have flexibility to be able to respond when theres an outbreak at a congregate setting, like shelters that weve had, at mse south, where we were able to successfully quarantine 90 people over the next day, when we have outbreaks at Skilled Nursing facilities or nsros. We have built this system to allow us to respond to those pressing Public Health needs that are, frankly, very difficult to predict. So you will see on an ongoing basis several hundred rooms that are being held and that are open to respond to outbreaks and the need to quarantine individuals. The next group of hotels are for vulnerable homeless individuals, either from our homeless shelters or from our streets, and these are individuals age 60 or older or those who have Underlying Health conditions. We do close to 300 vacancies among those hotels. 260 of which are in two hotels that we have under contract, and we are working with our nonprofit partners to develop the Site Management staffing. Our nonprofit partners have been stretched. You heard early the mayor thanking them for their work and their partnership, but the reality is they are the experts in providing the leadership and the management of these sites, and were working with them to identify staff to do so. These two hotels totalling 260 rooms we hoped to have online by this week. It looks like that will be towards the beginning of next week. We continue to prioritize the vulnerable population. This is a population that fema is reimbursing for, and they are reimbursing for it because this is the guidance from the cdc that these are the most vulnerable individuals to covid and those who could become the most sick if they get the virus. Those 60 and older and with Underlying Health conditions. Lastly on the hotels, we continue to actively negotiate with hotels to meet our estimated need of 7,000 rooms. We are currently in active negotiations with nine hotels totalling 1381 rooms, 1,381 rooms. Most of these should come under contract by the end of the week, and if not, definitely anticipate by early next week, unless we run into unexpected problems with the negotiations. We wont stop at those 1300 plus rooms. We continue to negotiate with or enter into and assess hotels for potential negotiation constantly. This is a rolling activation that we will keep building on. Thanks. This concludes our questions for todays press conference. Good morning, everyone. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the april 27th, 2020 meeting of the rules committee. Im supervisor hillary ronen, chair of the committee. With me on the Video Conference is rules Committee Vice chair catherine stefani. Id like to thank sfgov for staffing this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements . Clerk yes. Due to the covid19 Health Emergency and protocols, board members, City Employees and the public, the board room is closed. However, members will be participating rot