Daily Admin Update
Day 35
Good Morning Friends,
I have been popping into classrooms, student specials and staff meetings. It is clear to me that as a community we all very much prefer meeting together with our kids in classes. I am not sure what things will look like in the fall but we as a staff will be well prepared and are very much looking forward to seeing your kids again.
One of our CoOp members shared with me another mental health resource. Access and Crisis Line it is a phone line where a trained mental health professional will answer the call 24/7, and you can remain anonymous. The number is 1888-724-7240.
Additionally, I would encourage you to reach out to me if you and your family are in need. We as a community are here to support you. Just send me a brief email and I will do what I can to help problem solve during these super challenging times.
With Love,
Sarah
Hillcrest Farmers Market Returns, But With New Rules
The Hillcrest Farmers Market reopened on Sunday with San Diego Police and County Health officials on-site to ensure safety protocols were in place.
The popular gathering was closed five weeks ago, and it used to attract 10,000 people each weekend.
On Sunday, we got a glimpse into the future of San Diego shopping.
"Honestly, I am just really excited for something to be happening again and something to do," market neighbor Whitney Love said.
Cinthia Landau also lives nearby, and she shares Whitney's enthusiasm.
"I love it. It is my Sunday ritual," Landau said. But she'll be sitting it out this Sunday.
"Honestly, I don't think I am going to go just to be safe. My mom would probably be really mad at me if I went," Landau said.
Getting the market back open has been a process of gut checks and creating new safety rules.
"We don't want you to stay," Hillcrest Business Association Executive Director Benjamin Nichols said. "There is not going to be any entertainment. There is not going to be food vendors or anything like that."
The Hillcrest Business Association is in charge, and Nichols said it would operate the market more like a grocery store.
Visitors are encouraged to wear masks and gloves. There are no food samples or touching the food, and only 50 shoppers will be allowed at a time and proper social distancing will be enforced.
The market was open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the first hour reserved for senior citizens.
At one point, the line was wrapping around the DMV parking lot with eager shoppers waiting six feet apart.
Nichols said they had around 25 vendors compared to 150 they would typically have.
Although it was not a social event it once was, maybe this is the beginning of what shopping has to be to bring business back on its feet.
"That's one of the main reasons we are doing it, is to try to provide an economic outlet for farmers whose produce is really going to waste," Nichols said.
Organizers encouraged customers to come alone, and not to bring family members or pets.
Nichols said this is part “experiment.”
They expect to reopen next weekend.
-NBC 7
CalMatters events
martes 21 abril de 6 p.m.: Jacqueline García, periodista de La Opinión, en compañía de algunos expertos, explicará cómo los californianos, especialmente las personas que no cuentan con su estatus migratorio legal, pueden obtener ayuda financiera para cubrir los gastos en alimentos, renta de vivienda y ayuda financiera en efectivo en caso de una emergencia.
Contact Tracing
Before San Diegans can break the chains of alienation and go skipping back into the sunlight — by which we mean, you know, ease up on social distancing — hospitalization rates will need to flatten and testing will need to become widespread.
We’re not there yet.
But once that happens, the task of restarting life and the economy will depend on how effectively public health officials can reconstruct the steps of people who test positive for COVID-19 to get a sense of who else might be infected.
This concept is known as contact tracing, and in San Diego County it’s done the old-fashioned way: Officials interview the sick.
-VOS