SLO the virus

Just a few weeks ago San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties wrote a letter to the state requesting a separate Central Coast region, with the hopes that the stay-a- home order could be lifted sooner than the rest of Southern California. But the COVID-19 situation in the Tri-Counties has changed so rapidly since then that some health care professionals no longer believe a separate region would be wise.

“For right now it does not make any sense because we are not in better shape than the other areas,” Santa Barbara County Public Health Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg said. “I think the idea was that, with the Central Coast alliance, we might be ready to get out of this sooner, but I don’t think that is a very viable solution, quite frankly.”

When the counties first made their plea, ICU capacity was solid, especially in Santa Barbara and SLO counties. On Dec. 7, Santa Barbara County reported 51 percent of ICU beds available, while SLO County reported 48.9 percent.

But in retrospect, Ansorg said, the numbers then were good because the surge in hospitalizations from Thanksgiving holiday infections hadn’t yet hit. It takes about two and a half weeks before infections are reflected in the hospitals, and another week before those who don’t recover then move into the ICU. As of Dec. 29, Santa Barbara County reported 6.6 percent of local staffed adult ICU beds remaining.

“What we’re dealing with right now is the direct impact of Thanksgiving,” Ansorg said. “We haven’t even seen our surge from the Christmas holiday yet.”

Ansorg said he was appalled to see how many people traveled over Christmas, with even more traffic through California airports than over Thanksgiving. We won’t see the full impact until January, he said.

“If somebody got infected Dec. 20, we will only see their hospital bump around Jan. 5, and then around Jan. 12 we will see the ICU bump,” Ansorg said. “You don’t need a crystal ball for that—it’s very reliable. With large numbers, that’s what happens.”

Cottage Health infectious disease specialist Dr. David Fisk agreed with Ansorg that the Central Coast is no longer in a position to be considered separately from Southern California.

“I think there’s less of an argument now to try to be a separate region than there was two or three weeks ago, because our COVID numbers have gotten so much worse,” Fisk said.

He believes the stay-at-home order is critically necessary to keep hospitals from reaching capacity.

“It also will take even more than that,” he said. “It’s going to take people taking very seriously the guidance to not get together with individuals out of their own household.”

Fisk said there could come a time in the future when a separate region could make sense.

“But do I think we should start to carve out a separate region today?” he said. “No.” Δ

All of Southern California—including San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties—will remain under a state stay-at-home order into the new year, as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue hitting record highs amid the holidays.

On Dec. 29, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a three-week extension of his Dec. 6 order shuttering many indoor activities and business sectors, in most regions of the state, as demand on hospital and ICU beds soars.

In SLO and Santa Barbara counties, about 200 people are currently hospitalized with the virus—with about 50 in ICUs—both record highs. The death toll is also growing; SLO County reported 36 fatalities in December alone, a rate of more than one death per day.

“This pandemic is taking a human toll here in SLO County and we need every single person to do everything you can to stop the surge and protect the lives of those around us,” SLO County Public Health Officer Penny Borenstein said in a Dec. 29 press release.

According to Borenstein, local ICU capacity is better off than some areas of the Southern California region, which has 23 counties, but it’s still in the worst shape of the pandemic.

On Dec. 29, SLO County and Santa Barbara counties had just 35 combined ICU beds open, according to state and local data.

Regionwide, Southern California has 0 percent ICU capacity, a number that doesn’t mean every bed is filled. The state factors in hospital staff availability, beds for non-COVID-19 patients, and other metrics while calculating ICU capacity.

Borenstein said the state will lift the stay-at-home order when the region’s “projected ICU capacity is equal to or greater than 15 percent.” Health officials said they hope the order will help cushion another expected surge in new cases following the Christmas and New Year’s Eve holidays

Newsom’s order means that wineries, bars, and breweries, salons and personal care services, museums, movie theaters, entertainment centers, and card rooms must close. It bans dining in restaurants and non-essential lodging, and reduces indoor capacity at retail and grocery stores. ∆

More than 15 residents at the 40 Prado homeless shelter in San Luis Obispo have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last several days, forcing it to close to newcomers and sending those infected to motel rooms or trailers, which are now in short supply.

Community Action Partnership of SLO (CAPSLO) Deputy Director Grace McIntosh said that the outbreak started last week, and the facility is now getting weekly testing from SLO County Public Health as it isolates residents who are positive.

“It’s all happened very quickly,” McIntosh told New Times. “I’m not surprised. We’ve been so lucky we haven’t had anything since September.”

The 100-bed shelter—reduced to 70 beds during the pandemic—grappled with three positive cases in early September. But this outbreak is considerably worse. McIntosh said that while most of the cases involve minor to no symptoms, a few have required hospitalization. She declined to say whether any residents passed away from the virus, which has killed 66 in the county since March.

In a preventative step, CAPSLO has also moved about a dozen of its most vulnerable residents to motel rooms, which has helped reduce the overall shelter population to less than half capacity.

“My [COVID-19] positives are gone. My elderly and frail are gone. So the numbers here are very low and that’s good. I want to keep them as low as possible,” McIntosh said.

McIntosh added that she’d like to send more 40 Prado residents to motels, but those rooms are in scarce supply.

Back in March, SLO County secured four motels to use as emergency shelter for the homeless during the pandemic. Public Health spokesperson Michelle Shoresman told New Times that those facilities, in addition to trailers, have been able to accomodate all COVID-19 positive residents at 40 Prado.

But beyond that, McIntosh said that it’s a struggle to find homeless individuals safe, socially distanced shelter.

“They talk about ‘Well get them out [of congregate shelters]’—but where?” she said. “Now there’s a shortage of motel rooms. Anyone who’s here, they have nowhere to go. Among them are the older, more vulnerable people, age 65 and over.”

The 40 Prado shelter has protocols in place to guard against COVID-19—including reduced beds, mandatory masks, sanitizing, and plexiglass installed at bunk beds. But McIntosh said that the reality is the residents and staff are at risk, especially when the virus is spreading rapidly in the community.

“It’s my staff who are truly the unsung heroes,” McIntosh said. “My homeless shelter workers who are showing up every day, who get paid way less than health care people, they’re showing up every day knowing that they are exposed. They’re still coming [to work]. To me, they don’t get the immense respect and kudos that they deserve.” ∆

Locals who are eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program can once again renew or apply for it—and Cal Poly’s Dream Center is offering assistance in the process.

The Dream Center is working with attorneys at Immigrant Legal Defense to help students with their pending or new applications. In a statement to New Times, the Dream Center said it provides holistic support for students renewing DACA or applying for the first time.

“We recognize the process can be stressful and incite feelings of anxiousness or fear for individuals. To ensure the wellbeing and safety of our students, we provide holistic services including academic, mental health, and legal services,” the Center’s statement read.

The Trump administration worked to dismantle the Obama-era program when it formally announced it would end DACA in September 2017. It continued to severely limit the program by cutting down the length of deferred action permits and halting the acceptance of new applications.

But on Dec. 4, Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn ruled that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security must begin accepting new applications for the program as soon as Monday, Dec. 7.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, first-time requests for consideration of deferred action that were eligible before September 2017 are now eligible once again thanks to the ruling.

Garaufis also instructed the department to reinstate two-year permits for deferred action for qualifying applicants—in July of this year, the Trump administration had changed the length of time to one year.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services must also accept applications for advance parole documents based on the terms of the DACA policy prior to September 2017. The decision also extends one-year employment authorization documents under DACA to two years.

Eligibility requirements for DACA remain the same: anyone requesting DACA must be at least 15 years old and have been under age 31 on June 15, 2012.

Recent data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shows more than 645,000 active DACA recipients and upwards of 27,000 pending renewals.

Dream Center officials said the attorneys at the Immigrant Legal Defense provide no-cost legal services related to DACA renewals and detained/non-detained deportation defenses.

While there are no fees associated with its services, filing fees vary depending on the number and type of applications submitted.

If a student needs financial assistance, they can contact the Dream Center since it also partners with local nonprofits such as the Central Coast Coalition for Undocumented Student Success, which helps cover filing fees.

“Because immigration cases are highly dependent on unique circumstances, we encourage all individuals to consult an immigration attorney about their specific case. Attorneys will review the case, identify risk factors, and provide legal guidance,” the Dream Center’s statement said.

During this process, the Dream Center coordinator also meets individually with students applying for DACA to ensure they are supported and connected to relevant resources throughout the entire process.

The Center also hosts bi-weekly check-ins for undocumented students and hosts various informational webinars.

“Above all, we want to remind students that they are seen, worthy and valued. Dream Center is here to continuously uplift, empower, and defend students on campus,” its statement read.

Students interested in DACA services can contact Dream Center Coordinator Vania Agama at [email protected], or make an appointment through the Center’s website. ∆

Local and state officials from across California are celebrating one of the first successful efforts to band together in the fight against sea level rise, a contentious issue that has historically had stakeholders on all sides up in arms.

At a California Coastal Commission and local government workshop on Dec. 17, commissioners and local government representatives discussed the Sea Level Rise Working Group’s recently released joint statement on adaptation planning, a set of guiding principles that will be used as a framework while developing plans for the anticipated impacts of sea level rise to coastal cities throughout the state.

The statement, which was released publicly in October and approved by the Coastal Commission in November, includes various goals for how and what kinds of plans should be developed in the coming years—plans that maintain consistency throughout the state while also addressing the needs unique to each city, incorporate the best available science, and use various environmental thresholds to trigger adaptation responses.

The Sea Level Rise Working Group—which had representatives from the California Coastal Commission, the California State Association of Counties, and the League of California Cities—had been working on its joint statement for the past year, according to Pismo Beach Mayor Ed Waage, who also serves as chair of the League of California Cities’ Coastal Cities Group.

“I think that working group statement is a testament to all the progress we’ve made,” Waage told New Times.

There’s no definitive plan yet for how cities will adapt to looming sea level rise—Waage said more of that challenging work will come in 2021—but he said this is the first time that the Coastal Commission and local municipalities have really dedicated themselves to working together on this pressing issue.

Past efforts to address sea level rise have been marred by tensions between the Coastal Commission and local governments, and environmentalists and coastal property owners. But in the last few years, Waage said leaders have been taking a different approach.

“Instead, we are working together to find ways to creatively solve these problems,” he said.

At the Dec. 17 meeting, other officials from cities and counties throughout the state agreed and vowed to continue pushing forward as a unit.

“I’m really delighted about where we are with this joint statement,” Imperial Beach City Councilmember Ed Spriggs said. “I think it reflects tremendous progress. It may not seem like it, but there’s a lot there that is a foundation for the way forward.” ∆

As Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties await a response from the state about creating a new region on the states’ five-region map for COVID-19 restrictions, Ventura County’s ICU capacity decreased to less than 2 percent.

The three counties sent a letter on Dec. 7 asking the California Department of Public Health to consider the Central Coast as a separate region for the purpose of stay-at-home order decisions. The Central Coast is currently lumped in with the Southern California region, which includes counties that have historically struggled more with containing the virus.

Regions with less than 15 percent ICU capacity are under stay-at-home orders, and on Dec. 16, the Southern California region had 0.5 percent of ICU beds remaining. The three Central Coast counties combined had 30 percent capacity, Santa Barbara County Public Health Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso said at a Dec. 15 Board of Supervisors meeting.

This is one reason the counties argue for a separate Central Coast region. At a Dec. 8 board meeting, county officials also pointed to the “history of collaboration and partnership between the three public health departments” as another reason to create a separate region.

“We are unique, we are common, and we have a lot of strengths in the three counties in terms of doing joint prevention and treatment efforts to reduce case rates and testing positivity,” Do-Reynoso said on Dec. 8. “We have ran our numbers, and we consistently have a higher ICU capacity jointly between the three counties.”

But Ventura County is quickly becoming an outlier. While San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties continue to show strong ICU capacity, at 47.9 and 38.4 percent respectively on Dec. 15, Ventura’s capacity is much worse.

On Dec. 10, Ventura had 11 percent capacity, according to reporting by KCLU, and less than a week later, on Dec. 15, Do-Reynoso reported that Ventura had 1.4 percent capacity.

The three counties still maintain an average of 30 percent capacity, Do-Reynoso said. But with Ventura’s reduced ICU capacity, it’s unclear whether the state would consider a plea for a separate region. Do-Reynoso said that county officials have not yet received a response from the state.

In the meantime, county public health officials must stick to state orders. At the Board of Supervisors’ Dec. 8 meeting, Santa Barbara County Counsel Michael Ghizzoni said that “the Public Health Department itself, by statute, must follow the directions of the state public health officer.”

Other counties that have indicated they would defy state orders, “were then told what funding consequences would fall from that, whether it’s CARES Act or different state funding programs,” Ghizzoni said.

Local health orders are meant to show how the state’s orders will specifically impact the county, Ghizzoni said, but they can’t go as far as defying state orders altogether. Doing so would not only be illegal and present funding risks, but would also “cause confusion for our residents and businesses,” he said. Δ

Local veterans and their families can receive free COVID-19 tests and also get connected to benefits, housing, food, and other services at an upcoming “pop-up” clinic on Dec. 18 at the San Luis Obispo Vets’ Hall.

Between 9 a.m. and noon, veterans and family members may drop by the facility at 801 Grand Ave. to self-administer a COVID-19 test with supervision from a nurse and speak with staff members from other vet-focused agencies.

SLO County Public Health announced the event on Dec. 15 in partnership with the SLO County Veterans Services Office, Behavioral Health, the SLO Vet Center, and the Community Action Partnership of SLO County.

“As we’re all aware, our vets are some of the most underserved populations in our community,” Veterans Services Officer Morgan Boyd told New Times by phone. “As with other underrepresented communities, they have a higher rate of getting COVID. We want to provide them an opportunity to be as safe as possible.”

Boyd said events like these are increasingly difficult to hold due to the pandemic and stay-at-home orders, yet are critical for reaching out to veterans in the community. He emphasized the opportunity to personally connect with veterans and check-in on their needs and well-being.

“To me, it’s equally as important as these COVID tests that we engage with some of these veterans,” Boyd said. “During these unprecedented, trying times, we want to make sure our vets and family members who might need access to behavioral health support, and housing support, and food, that we can maybe provide them with a little bit of relief during the holiday season.”

All vets who attend the clinic will go home with a resource bag filled with information on available benefits and services and other “swag.”

Nationwide, COVID-19 is hitting veteran communities hard, particularly at VA hospitals and nursing homes, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article. On top of that, pandemic isolation is hurting veteran mental health, Boyer said.

“Veteran suicide is rampant in this country and it’s going up because of the isolation that’s required due to COVID,” he said. “I’m hopeful some of them will come out and, just through engagement, identify the resources they need to be supported.” ∆

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established National Influenza Vaccination Week—Dec. 6 through 12—in 2005. Although the week recently passed, it's not too late to get vaccinated against the seasonal flu.

Karim Henin, CVS' licensed district leader and pharmacist for the Central Coast region, told New Times that he and other health care providers strive to ensure that critical health care resources are reserved for those who have tested positive for COVID-19, which is why it's so important for individuals to keep themselves protected from contracting the seasonal flu.

“In addition, individuals who are at a high risk of contracting a respiratory illness, such as flu and pneumonia may also have a greater risk of complications if they contracted COVID-19,” Henin said.

The CDC recommends that anyone 6 months of age and older can receive the flu vaccine, and Henin said CVS Pharmacies can administer the vaccine for individuals three years and older in the state of California.

Henin said the flu vaccination is beneficial, and it's important to get it every year because the body’s immune system response to the vaccine declines over time. It takes up to two weeks for an individual’s immunity to build up after getting the flu shot.

“That’s why the CDC recommends that individuals make plans to get vaccinated early in the fall before the flu season begins and no later than the end of October, typically,” he said.

The flu season could last until the end of February or March.

In September, SLO County Public Health Officer Penny Borenstein urged residents to get vaccinated against the flu in order to “prevent a twindemic of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza.”

County health department spokesperson Michelle Shoresman said the call for vaccination still holds true today as flu cases usually peak in January for SLO County, so it’s never too late to get the vaccine.

“Especially in a time when COVID cases are increasing, we want to keep the incidence of flu down as much as possible,” Shoresman said.

According to the county health department, those at higher risk for severe flu include people 65 years and older, people who smoke or have underlying medical conditions like diabetes, pregnant women and children under 5 years of age, residents in long-term care facilities, and minority groups who are disproportionately affected by chronic medical conditions.

Nationally, CVS Pharmacies have already administered 9 million flu shots, which is approximately the same number as 2019 Henin said.

But it's ready to break the trend and see that number double as there are sufficient supplies for the public.

“Locally, within the Central Coast we’ve actually experienced the same national trend with a lot of our locations doing twice as much immunizations compared to the prior season,” Henin said. “That’s something that really brings joy to our hearts as pharmacists, because we’re about giving back to the community and the public that we serve understands the importance of receiving their flu vaccination.” ∆

Despite the latest wave of increased COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations throughout California and the resulting implementation of a regional stay-at-home-order, State Parks has no known plans to close the Oceano Dunes to vehicles as it did at the beginning of the pandemic. While that’s good news for off-roaders, some Oceano community members say the decision will encourage non-essential travel into the area and could potentially lead to further coronavirus spread on the Central Coast.

The Oceano Dunes (State Vehicular Recreation Area) reopened to street-legal vehicles on Oct. 30 after a seven-month closure that started as an effort to reduce crowds and discourage travel to slow the spread of COVID-19. Now with cases of COVID-19 raging throughout the state, some community members are questioning State Parks’ differing response.

But local campgrounds within the State Parks system are closed and safety measures are being enforced, and for now, the department says that’s enough.

“While the new order is asking Californians to stay home as much as possible and for campground sites in impacted regions to close, the state also recognizes that mental health is physical health,” State Parks wrote in an emailed statement to New Times. “As such, State Parks welcomes the public to recreate in the outdoors provided that they stay local, plan ahead to find out what is open, wear a face covering, practice physical distancing and avoid gatherings with people outside the immediate household. Oceano Dunes SVRA and Pismo State Beach are open for day use recreational activities, including for street legal vehicles.”

Conservationists have been fighting the park’s reopening to vehicles since the Oceano Dunes first closed due to COVID-19 on March 26. Despite budding reopening plans in the summer, State Parks agreed to keep the Oceano Dunes closed to vehicles through Oct. 1 in a consensual cease-and-desist order with the California Coastal Commission.

In the order finalized on July 7, State Parks agreed to halt a number of development activities that the commission claimed were unpermitted and possibly harmful to snowy plovers. Without vehicles in the area throughout the spring, snowy plovers built nests outside of their "seasonal exclosures"—designated breeding areas that are off limits to vehicles and visitors—and State Parks had attempted to prevent plovers from nesting in those areas in preparation for reopening.

On Oct. 20, State Parks announced plans to reopen the Oceano Dunes to vehicles in three phases that are “designed to support a safe and healthy environment for employees, visitors, and natural resources such as the endangered Western snowy plover and California least tern.”

Since the park reopened to vehicles on Oct. 30, more than 25,000 vehicles have entered the grounds, according to data State Parks shared with New Times. An average of about 700 vehicles entered the Oceano Dunes SVRA each day in the last two months.

In a Nov. 26 letter to New Times, Nipomo resident Dorothy Hines said that’s too many, and that keeping the park open to vehicles is an “invitation to continued high levels of COVID-19 cases.”

“Given all of the closure mandates in other parts of the county,” Hines wrote, “Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area must be re-closed to vehicles.” ∆

In January, four San Luis Obispo County cities as well as Santa Maria, Guadalupe, Solvang, and unincorporated Santa Barbara County will switch electricity providers to Central Coast Community Energy (3CE)—a budding regional alternative to PG&E.

Local residents interested in learning more about the transition or asking questions can log onto two 3CE public forums scheduled for Dec. 8 and/or Dec. 10 at 6 p.m.

The Dec. 8 forum will be held in English and include introductory remarks from Santa Barbara County 1st District Supervisor Das WIlliams and 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann. The Dec. 10 event will be held in Spanish, with words from Santa Maria City Councilmember Gloria Soto.

After their comments, 3CE officials will give a presentation “covering 3CE, enrollment, what customers can expect, and a Q&A addressing questions live,” according to a press release.

For the enrolling communities, which include Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, Pismo Beach, and Paso Robles in SLO County, 3CE will become the default power provider, with an option to opt-out and remain with PG&E. The joining municipalities all voted last year to make the transition.

A public entity, 3CE promises its customers slightly lower electricity rates, a carbon-free portfolio, and community reinvestments—essentially taking charge of power procurement while PG&E continues to maintain infrastructure.

San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay kicked off 3CE’s expansion south of the Santa Cruz-San Benito-Monterey tri-county region in January 2020. By the end of next year, the utility is poised to serve more than 400,000 customers from Santa Cruz to Carpenteria.

“3CE service represents a choice and alternative to receiving electricity service solely from investor-owned utilities,” 3CE’s press release read. “3CE is one of 24 community choice energy agencies serving more than 10 million customers throughout California. … 3CE will now oversee electric generation; how and where electricity is generated as part of its newly approved 100 percent clean and renewable energy by 2030 goal from new projects which will support an estimated $4 billion of economic development.” ∆