Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors Press Availability 20240713 : v

Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors Press Availability 20240713

Thank you all again for joining us this afternoon. As of today, w we have a total f 1,332 cases coronavirus in our city. If you want more information, specific data around zip code and race and the number of people tested, you can check out our website, data sf. Org covid19. Whenever we have Accurate Information and can provide it to the public, we provide it on our tracker and we made a number of announcements about the expansion of our tracker to include a zip code and to look at some of the despairties that exist in our city. The tracker is helpful in that regard and helpful in making sure that we are allocating resources in the places that need it the most. I want to be clear from the very beginning in our Emergency Operations center, we have embedded the office of equity, which is focused on making sure that all of the decisions that we make are looked at through a lense of equity in the communities disadvantaged or left out the larger citywide response, they get the resources and the support that they need. This past monday, cheryl davis here was to talk about an extensive list of things theyre doing for outreach and i want to thank all and all of the city staff that continue to support our most vulnerable residents. Ive just a few updates that i want to talk about and i really want to start give to sf. We have been talking about give to sf from the very beginning because we knew that when this pandemic hit, that it was going to impact people financially. And the city was not going to be able to do it alone. Although weve done a tremendous job, many of our city agencies with reshifting resources that they already have in order to meet needs that we did not anticipate, we know it will be important to get assistance from private contributors. And give to sf, we announced over a month ago and as of today, weve raised over 10 million in private resources to help with give to sf and i want to be clear about the focus of this program. Number one, food security. Number two, housing security. And number three, Small Business support. And in particular, we knew that a few things would happen as a result of this pandemic. There would be people who lost their jobs, but also didnt qualify for unemployment or had no access to resources whatsoever. We knew that food would be a challenge and although weve been able to invest more in programs and also a rent moratorium, an Eviction Moratorium and a number of other things weve put into place, people would need resources directly to ensure that they had food on their tables and that they had access to resources that pay their bills. And again, the spirit of the people of the city has been absolutely outstanding. It just really reminds me of how important it is that we look out for one another and this program, give to sf does exactly that. And i want to just take this opportunity to just talk about what the program has already done. As i said, weve raised over 10 million for this program and already, weve allocated about 5. 35 million to nonprofit organizations and other groups that have distributed the money directly to people that would need it the most, including providing Grocery Store gift cards to low income and nondocumented residents because, again, we know people who are a part of our immigrant community would have the most challenging time getting access to food and we wanted to make sure we prioritize this community as recipients of gift cards so organizations that serve or immigrant community, as well as organizations that serve various lowincome populations throughout the city have been the people that weve counted on to work with us to distribute access to gift cards for grocery shopping. Were providing, as we did early on, grants to Small Businesses, as well as a nointerest loan with flexible repayment schedules because we want to provide not only money that people need in these Small Businesses immediately, but we want to make sure that they have a sufficient revenue to cover their expenses. When i think about the businesses who i know will need help the most and will most likely not be able to recover the cost that the amount of resources that they are losing as a result of these pandemics, i think about the people who do hair, the people who do nails, masseuse, the people who cut your hair, those kinds of services and i know that after were able to move back into a place we can open up those businesses, theyre still going to have some real challenges with meeting the needs of their back rent and other financial issues, as well as their es. Employees. We want to make sure those businesses that do not traditionally qualify for the resources that qualify for the state, that we provide them with some relief directly here in the city. And so, we are also providing funding for people who are at risk of losing their housing. Although we have issued a moratorium on evictions within,w there other challenges besides whats happening with this pandemic that could lead to housing and security and concern about losing not only your housing but your business. So we wanted to make sure that we had a wellrounded network of support as a result to give to sf and we did just that, with the goals of getting the money into the hand os of the people o need it the most. I want to reiterate, for example, if you are someone who has access to other resources, please make sure that you are not reaching out to this fund because there are so many people in need and the fact is, no matter how much money we raise, its going to be difficult to help everybody. So if you need help, we are here to help you, but please dont take advantage of these resources if you dont need them. I want to neighboring this opportunity to also really highlight some of our major contributors to this fund who have been labor been incredibley one, the gershin baker foundation, dr. Erica lawson and jeff lawson, google and stumsky foundation. These organizations have contributed a significant amount of money, not only to give to sf but they also continue to support other nonprofit organizations throughout San Francisco and have been really an important part of the fabric of philanthropic giving. You dont have to have a lot money to give to sf. We have received contributions between 10. 1. 5 million. If this is something youre able to do to help others, please look at our website or call 311. We want to ensure its reaching people who need it the most and thank you all for stepping up to support people in our city to make sure no one is left behind. I want to talk a little bit about testing expansion. From the very beginning, we announced a number of test sites to help some of our First Responders and city employees, in particular. And as many of you know, testing is very, very challenging to do because we have limited test capabilities available and so, we want to be very strategic about how we make testing available. Of course, anyone exhibiting symptoms should be tested, whether they have insurance or not and the fact that here in San Francisco, weve not only extended our capacities to meet the need of many of our First Responders and Healthcare Professionals and muni drivers and others, but we are today taking it even a step further. The selma location that we opened is available to anyone in San Francisco who exhibits any type of symptoms as it relates to the covid19 virus. Again, your immigration status, your lack of insurance, nothing should be a barrier to being able to get tested and we want to make sure that if you think that you have symptoms, then were able to test you and this will be used for covid19 testing and data. But we wanted to take it a step further and the location were testing First Responders and people who work in our Healthcare Industry that it was limited to that particular group of people, we know there are a lot of other people on the frontlines and when we talk about essential workers, essential workers doesnt only mean people who work in the Healthcare Industry or those Public Safety folks who work for the police and fire departments. It also means our Grocery Store clerks. It also means our janitors and our inhome support services, people who we need to continue to work to support other folks throughout the city and so, if you are in a category of an essential worker, the location where we are testing our First Responders and our Healthcare Professionals, we are extending the ability to test you at this particular site. Dr. Colfax will talk a lot more about the specifics of that, but again, we do not want anything to be a barrier to making sure youre able to get a test now, especially if you exhibit the symptoms. Dr. Colfax will also talk a little bit more about how were limiting the number of symptoms that would allow for testing, p you think youve been in touch with someone with covid19 or in some way, youre infected, we want to expand the number of people that we can test and he will talk a little bit more about that as resources come ind as we evaluate on a daily basis, we will expand our ability to test more people. Last week talked about Contact Tracing and trying to identify not only the person, family members who have contracted covid19, but also others that theyve come in contact with. Our goal is to do everything we can to enhance Contact Tracing, expand testing capacities. Because as we talk about reopening our city and oh region, these tools are going to be critical to our ability to move forward in this direction. So if you are someone who needs tested, please give us a call at 3311 and we will get you to a location to get test results. Dr. Colfax will talk about this more, if youre an essential worker and you think you have symptoms and you get tested today and you find out tomorrow that youre negative and youre back at work and youre working and later on, a week later, you significanexhibit symptoms agait you to get tested again if you think theres a possibility that you may have the virus because you are out there working and being exposed the virus because of your interactions with the public. And so, we want to keep that in mind as we move on about our lives, but especially as we look at the possibility of reopening our city, and these are the things well need to Pay Attention to in the future. I want to thank color, Carbon Health and one medical who are collaborating with us to help provide these Additional Resources for testing and i want to thank the port of San Francisco and the department of Public Health, as well, because it does take a lot of people and resources to put together any of these testing sites and the goal is to, again, to try to test as many people as we possibly can. If you have questions and you need to be tested, please call 311 or visit sfgov citytest. Hope flehopefully we are gettina point we can get back to our daily lives. Were not there yet and were hoping to get there. A couple of weeks ago, i, along with the president of board of supervisors, norman yee, to start a Economic Recovery Task force. That is being cochaired by our recorder carmen choo, the labor council, executive director, rudy gonzalez, and the director of the San Francisco chamber of commerce, rotney fong. And the goal of this Economic Recovery Task force is to work with a number of stakeholders throughout San Francisco and when i say stakeholders thats from the Nonprofit Community and business areas. So, again, i go back to the folks who do hair and nails and making sure theyre represented in this economic Recovery Plan and organizations that serve the community, people who are community stakeholders, we want to make sure that we are thinking about what happens after we start to get back to our daily lives. What happens with our restaurants and tourism . What happens with our hospitals and our hotels . What happens with Job Opportunities that may no longer be available and what other industries will be coming increasingly available as a result of this pandemic. How do we repurpose our educational institutions and other resources that we have available to fit the needs of what is our new normal . How do we shift our focus so that those who have lost their jobs and have no access to other opportunities or have limited skillsets, how do we reshift our focus to make sure that they have opportunities . This Economic Recovery Task force is about the future. And just so you know where we stan as istand, as of april 4th0 people in San Francisco have filed for unemployment and we anticipated that another 40,000 people in San Francisco will file for unemployment. The recession that happened in 2008 and 2009, 45,000 people applied for unemployment. And today, in 2020, were already at over 60,000 which means that were going to have some real challenges with our economy and that will not just be the economy here in San Francisco. It will be all over the country and all over the world. And how are we going to redirect our focus on recovery so that people are able to get jobs and take care of themselves and their families . And this Economic Recovery Task force is critical to the success of our future. I mentioned last week or maybe the week before i dont think i can keep up with the days that we anticipate a 1. 1 to 1. 7 billion budget deficit. So the citys budget deficit, a number of Companies Might be going out of business, restaurants, Small Businesses and we have some real challenges ahead which is why this Economic Recovery Task force and the work they do to help with plan for our future is so important. So i just want to appreciate all of the work that they are doing and just remind everyone that this will be a very challenging time. One in which i know that because we are here to work together, that we will get through it. And in that regard, theres a lot that were going to need to do to support our Small Businesses and our Business Community in general. Because of the real challenges that they face. From the beginning, we provided grants to Small Businesses that, basically, were quickly swallowed up and we have deferred the payment of your business tax until february of 2020. We actually deferred the payment of certain fees for a few months with the commitment to defer those fees to a longer period of time and, also, i think its important as a city that we look at all of the fees that we charge our businesses and make some decisions to eliminate fees in general that have a negative impact on the ability for our Small Business community to return and that is something were going to continue to work on. And i want to just talk a little bit about the announcement that was made yesterday by myself and treasurer cysneros to delay the fee for four months until september 30th. This Business Registration fee that businesses pay, the fact that were delaying it until september will be helpful to our Business Community. This will lead up to 49 million in deferrals for at least 90,000 businesses in the city. And were also extending the deadline again for the unified license fee, which is a fee we had initially extended for three months. This fee that includes charges to restaurants, bars, small retailers, hotels, tour operators and other businesses and it has been especially hit hard by the pandemic. Were extending that to ensure that we support our Small Business community and with an opportunity to try to reevaluate what fees we can eliminate entirely. So i want to express the need to continue to make sure that not only are we dealing with the Health Impacts of the coronavirus here in the city. At the same time, there are other challenges and other needs that need to be met and so part of what we have to do in addition to our physical and Mental Health and wellbeing, we have to focus on our economic health. And so that will be a critical focus for us over the next couple of weeks. And so, for my business that needs any support or has any questions or theres any way we can help you, please reach out at oewd. Org covid19 or call 311. For any of the announcements that you hear today, if you dont have access to the internet, you can call 311 and you will be transferred to the right location or provided a phone number or information on how you get access on what we talked about here. And if you have access to the internet and you cant remember all of these websites, because i definitely cant, please just go to sfgov. Org and you should able to find information about any city services. Theres a tracker for the information on the number of people who have the virus in the city with details and theres information about food and access to food. Theres information about housing and other things. Theres just a lot of great information if youre looking for it or if its confusing and you want to just get straight to the point, you can either do a search our sfgov. Org or call 311. We will continue to work with our federal and state partners to get even more resources for the people here in

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