Seven protesters from Poor Magazine, a publication and activist organization, attempted to occupy the Marriott Marquis hotel in downtown San Francisco on Monday morning to demand that the city house more homeless residents in the thousands of hotel rooms left vacant during the coronavirus pandemic.
Category: Coronavirus
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Community, Coronavirus, Health, Housing, Neighborhoods, Social Justice
Testing in Mission Shows Virus Hits Workers, Latinos at High Levels
A Mission District coronavirus testing initiative has shown stark disparities in who has been getting sick — 95% of those who tested positive in this initiative identified as Hispanic or Latinx. Most earned less than $50,000 a year. But evidence of this disparity had been mounting even prior to the testing, when doctors in San Francisco hospitals saw that the majority of the coronavirus patients who needed to be hospitalized were also Latino.
Posted inCoronavirus, Labor
Weekly Unemployment Payouts in State Skyrocket to Record $4.4 Billion
California doled out a record $4.4 billion in jobless benefits last week, more than triple the amount it paid out the previous week, data from the state’s Employment Development Department shows. In the week ending April 25, the state disbursed $1.4 billion in benefit payments.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Community, Coronavirus, Health, Neighborhoods, Social Justice
Mission Coronavirus Tests Reveal Longstanding Inequities
In late April, a coalition of medical, community and government organizations called Unidos en Salud tested nearly 3,000 people in one Mission District census tract for the new coronavirus. Sixty-two of them tested positive, slightly more than 2% of those tested. Among those testing positive, 95% identified as Hispanic or Latinx, though they made up only 44% of those tested.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, City Hall, Coronavirus, Health, Homelessness
S.F. Targets 13 Tenderloin Blocks for Tent Relocation, Cleanup, Services
In response to an increase in tent encampments in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood, city officials will target 13 blocks with outreach, services, cleaning and enforcement. People living in some encampments will be asked to relocate to permitted sites, and the city will open one such site with 50 spaces on Fulton Street between Larkin and Hyde streets.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Coronavirus, Social Justice
Activist: Racists Stoke Anti-Asian Fears to Divide Us
Nearly 1,500 reports of anti-Asian hate incidents have been recorded nationwide by an online tool launched in March called Stop AAPI Hate, referring to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The site captured reports of Asian Americans being chased out of stores, coughed on, beaten up, sprayed with sanitizers, barred from restaurants and more.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, City Hall, Coronavirus, Health
Testing Expanded for Essential S.F. Workers
As part of an effort to expand testing to all San Franciscans the city is offering free coronavirus testing to all essential workers, even those without symptoms.
Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the city’s Public Health Department, said Monday that testing is now available to all public and private workers deemed essential, regardless of whether they have symptoms.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Coronavirus, News
Sustaining Local Media During the Public Health Crisis
Even as more people than ever are turning to local media for reliable information during the COVID-19 crisis, many local outlets are actually laying off staff because of a collapse in the advertising market.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Coronavirus, Homelessness
Service Provider: Homeless Are Always ‘Last in Line’ for Help
Among the most exposed and often vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic are people who don’t have a place of shelter. Joe Wilson, executive director of Hospitality House, a nonprofit that offers a variety of services from employment guidance to emergency shelter, said the city seems to be waiting for people to get sick before intervening.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Community, Coronavirus, Social Justice
Activists Warn Anti-Asian Racism Likely to Worsen After Lockdown Lifts
A national tool created in March to track incidents of anti-Asian discrimination, harassment and violence received almost 1,500 reports within a month. Activists expect incidents of discrimination and even life-threatening violence to escalate after shelter-in-place orders are lifted, and they’re already organizing against that possibility.