SeaWorld Attendance, Revenue Plummet, How COVID-19 Can Impact The Brain, Checking In On The San Diego Mayor’s Race, The San Diego Museum Of Us Is More Than A Name Change

Speaker 1: 00:00:00 California can't afford the president's unemployment enhancement would create a burn in the likes, which even a state, as large as California can never absorb. I'm Mark Sauer with Maureen Kavanaugh. This is KPBS mid day edition, SeaWorld suffers, drastic revenue loss, submit tourism downturn. Speaker 2: 00:00:29 Usually they furlough 95% of their employees. Their upper level executives took pay cuts. They put off the four big of attractions opening, including a big rollercoaster in San Diego. Speaker 1: 00:00:43 How the battle is shaping up in the San Diego is race for mayor and bell ballparks. Museum of man becomes the museum of us. And it's more than just a name change that's ahead on mid day edition. But first the news Speaker 1: 00:01:00 Governor Gavin do some today. Warren, the California has no money to provide the 25% contribution to weekly unemployment benefits called for by president Trump in his executive orders issued over the weekend and for the state to absorb $700 million per week, potentially close to $3 billion per week. When not if, uh, the identified $70 billion fund, the president is looking to draw down from would create a burn in the likes, which even a state, as large as California can never absorb without again, massive cuts to important services or further burdening. As we say, in this slide, businesses and individuals do some also said it's possible. The state share would rise to 2.8 billion per week. Should federal reserves fall below a certain amount on another critical issue. Newsome SETI is working with other state leaders to extend the moratorium on evictions for renters and homeowners in California. The ban on evictions is scheduled to end in a little over a week from now without an extension. Newsome wants to push that deadline deadline back toward at least the end of August. The governor also addressed a little bit of trouble over delivering accurate numbers on COVID-19 cases and deaths in related news. Dr. Sonia angel is out as the top public health official in California. Replacing her, our doctors, Sandor Sheree as acting health director for the state department of public health and dr. Erica PON as acting public health officer Speaker 2: 00:02:43 With theme parks closed by the pandemic for months, no one was expecting good news and SeaWorld second quarter economic report, but the actual numbers are about as bad as bad can get both revenue and attendance fell. 96% at SeaWorld 12 parks Speaker 3: 00:03:00 Across the country. Only nine have since reopened as San Diego sea world remains shuttered joining us as San Diego union Tribune, reporter Lori Weisberg. She covers tourism and the hospitality industry. Laurie, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Can you tell us what this 96% drop means in actual decreased revenue? What are the actual numbers? Speaker 2: 00:03:23 So, um, during this quarter that was April may and June, which is a very critical time for the theme park industry. Cause you're just heading into really crucial summer season. So for those three months, their revenue was 18 million. Um, a year ago, the same time, it was 406 million. So you can see where the huge difference that is. We'll see. Well, the entertainment has 12 parks, including, um, SeaWorld San Diego and it's aquatic a parking Chula Vista. So they shut down all the parks in mid March in June, they started opening their parks in Texas and Florida. So they started getting some attendance, some revenue, and of course, San Diego, um, zero, because we still don't know in California when theme parks will be allowed to open. So that's why you had such little revenue as such little attendance. Speaker 3: 00:04:16 And what's been the reaction of the financial markets to this news was this incredible drop. Speaker 2: 00:04:22 Yeah, this was expected. So, I mean, I mean, Disney just recently reporting billions of dollars in losses. I'm gonna expect the same from universal. So this isn't unexpected and SeaWorld is doing what you'd expect. It's raising money through issuing high interest corporate debt so that it has cash on hand so far done more than $700 million worth of that. Um, it did it in April and it did again just about a week ago, so it can prop up the company while it navigates this difficult terrain. And they also, of course they did what you'd expect. Initially they furloughed 95% of their employees. Their upper level executives took pay cuts. They put off for big on attractions, opening, including a, a big rollercoaster in San Diego. They put off the opening of those until next year. You should note, they mentioned today that they still own, they still have about 40 to $50 million in unpaid bills on those, those attractions. Cause they didn't have that. They didn't have the revenue to pay that off Speaker 3: 00:05:29 The SeaWorld parks that are open. What kind of business are they doing? Speaker 2: 00:05:33 They don't break out attendance for any of their parts. So we don't know how many people are coming. But what they did say today was between the end of June and August 2nd, from when they started to open, they saw about an average 15% increase in attendance. It's still though, I'm sure, you know, we can see from the numbers, it's still very, so it's hard to know how well they're doing. And then one of those parks in Virginia, they only let them the state of Virginia only less than have 1000 people in the park at a time. So they're very reduced numbers and they acknowledged today that they would have to do about 40% of the business. They did last year to just start to break even, you know, not, may not be profitable, but to actually breaking them. So they, they really obviously need San Diego to open, but they also need the numbers and the coronavirus pandemic to get better because they're having to do, you know, much reduce capacity, not open every day of the week. And then before, you know, it, the summer season will be over Speaker 3: 00:06:39 Any of the other major attractions in San Diego released financial statements, reflecting losses due to the band DEMEC Speaker 2: 00:06:47 We don't know really about Lego land. That's owned by a company called Merlin entertainments. And again, they wouldn't break it down by by parks. So we wouldn't know. Um, but obviously, you know, Lego land itself has been closed since mid March and, and chomping at the bit to, um, reopen the USS midway reopened. But I, I don't know if they've released any kind of numbers and of course the museums there were supposed to open it and then that was shut down again. So while we really, yeah, we don't really have much in the way to report. And then of course there's Belmont park in mission beach. They started to open their rides, but they weren't supposed to, they got shut down of the County. So they just, but they can stay open because they have people coming through for restaurants and hormonal type games, that sort of thing. But so I mean everybody's in, everybody's taking such a huge ship. Speaker 3: 00:07:41 So SeaWorld is really the only amusement theme park that we have any real numbers on in San Diego. How can a theme park come back after this incredible slump? I mean, is there a chance that they won't, Speaker 2: 00:07:53 No one is talking, no one's talking about that. They won't. And that's why I think that money that they're raising, um, is so important. Um, and obviously, um, in California they haven't reopened, but because they have already been able to open their parts in, in States like Texas and Florida, they are getting some revenue, of course, not enough as I said to break even, but I think they can survive in what's. One odd thing I was surprised to hear today was, um, here, they're struggling just to get by. And yet they said that money that they raised that maybe some of their rivals, or maybe just other theme park companies that maybe can't weather the storm there. They said that this could be a strategic opportunity for them to maybe acquire a hotel or a struggling park and then they could remake it into, um, one of their C well branded parks known as Sesame place. So there, even as they are struggling to survive, they're looking at opportunities, you know, fire sales that might help get through Speaker 4: 00:08:56 This storm and come out the other end, even more profitable. Wow. Well, I've been speaking with San Diego union Tribune, reporter Lori Weisberg, and thank you for that, Lori, thank you. Speaker 1: 00:09:15 Scientists have only been studying COVID-19 for less than a year, which is why information about it continues to change and evolve. KPBS reporter Beth Huck Amando has always been fascinated by the brain. So she asked UC San Diego health. Neurointensivist dr. Nevas Karen GEA about how COVID can affect the brain. Speaker 4: 00:09:37 So I'm someone who's always been fascinated by how the brain works. And I tend to gravitate to pop culture that explores themes involving loss of identity and mind control and yes, the zombie apocalypse. So this also means that I love picking the brains of neuroscientists, like Nevas Koran JIA of UC San Diego health. Now you specialize in something called neuro critical care. So explain what that means. I'm an ICU doctor that cares for patients with severe brain and spinal cord injuries, like big strokes, brain hemorrhages, brain infections, trauma tumors. So I've done four years of specialty training in neurology and another two sub-specializing in neurocritical care. And now at UCFD I lead a dedicated team of neurosurgeon stroke doctors and nurses in our neuro ICU is to help our patients recover. So COVID-19 is what's known as a novel Corona virus and that means scientists have only been able to study it for a relatively short time. Speaker 4: 00:10:38 So remind people what the challenges for scientists and how information can change as there are more patients to study and more time to see what the longer term effects are. Yeah. So any new diseases challenging because there's limited data at first, right? And that may not show the whole picture until more data comes in. We need to document data from thousands of patients before we can trust the patterns we're seeing. And normally it takes years to design studies, recruit patients and perform this study in a scientifically rigorous and ethical way. But now you've got a highly infectious disease that progresses rapidly over days to weeks. So we've got to accelerate that research yet maintain doing it in an accurate and ethical way. We also have to be able to identify patients with the disease, which was initially really challenging because of limited testing. Um, the longer term effects will take time to discover. Uh, so for example, during the Spanish flu pandemic of the early 20th century, nobody knew what the effects would be on babies. So we needed decades of followup to discover what those effects were. And COVID has only been around for less than a year. So decades down the line, we may still be gathering more information. Speaker 5: 00:11:56 And how does this complicate things in the sense that people seem distrustful of information, but part of the issue is that information is changing as scientists and doctors learn more. So how do you grapple with that and try to get information out there that people will trust? Speaker 4: 00:12:15 Yeah, the proliferation of media made it challenging even before the pandemic for people to know what was true, but what mitigated that, uh, is usually scientific studies get done over years, time doctors and scientists discuss agree, find flaws. And then with enough, similar studies distill those findings to a recommendation and pass that on to the public. So despite there being many non-scientific opinions floating around on the internet, it used to be pretty easy for your doctor to identify the reasonable conclusion. What makes Cova different is how rapidly it spreads and kills people. So especially at the beginning, there was no time for those years long scientific studies to happen. So it is understandable. I think at the, uh, at the beginning, when there was little data conclusions were drawn that needed to be revised as more data came in and that made people question, the conclusions we have and questioning is good. As long as when a solid pattern does emerge, like masks decreasing transmission, we need to acknowledge that and put it into action. And that can be hard for people who may have jumped the gun or taken an early stand. So it's easy to see how, as we learn new things that contradict what we knew before that this gets so distrust among the public, you see Speaker 5: 00:13:37 GST has seen a steady flow of COVID patients. What are those numbers like? And how does that compare to anything else you've experienced? Speaker 4: 00:13:44 We've been carrying for about 30 to 50 COVID in patients per day, since March, about 25 of which are on a ventilator in comparison during flu season, we have on average three patients on a ventilator per day. So no, this is not like anything we've seen before Speaker 5: 00:14:02 This began. People were referring to COVID as something like the flu, why has this comparison proven to be an accurate? And what would you say is a better way to look at this Speaker 4: 00:14:11 Disease? Well, it's inaccurate because everybody has some immunity to the flu because we've all gotten the flu at some point or had the vaccine or both. Uh, this means that when we get it again, our symptoms may be so mild. We may not even notice it, but because the world has very little immunity to this new virus, many more people are becoming symptomatic with more severe disease. And that maybe one of the reasons why the current U S mortality rate for recorded COVID cases is 3.3%. And for flu is 0.1%. Uh, another reason why COVID might be deadlier is because on, we not only see evidence of the virus in the lungs, but we also see it in the brain, kidneys, heart intestines, and even the lining of the blood vessels everywhere in the body, which can lead to life threatening clots, uh, that, that could explain while patients with severe COVID are sustaining damage to all their organs, much more than flu patients. Speaker 5: 00:15:13 And this kind of brings us to the part of the discussion that I am most interested in, which is how COVID affects the brain. Cause this is something that initially was not being talked about. So what are the ways that COVID can attack the brain and how does it affect the brain and nerves? Speaker 4: 00:15:30 The thing that's tragic and fascinating about COVID is it can affect the brain and nerves and so many different ways. For example, the damage it causes to blood vessels. I mentioned earlier can lead to strokes and brain hemorrhages in up to 6% of hospitalized patients, low oxygen levels caused by the lung and heart injury can damage the brain and the inflammation itself from the infection can affect the brain and the nerves causing confusion and delirium. In the majority of patients with severe cobot, it can also directly affect the nervous system in a mild cases. It can cause loss of taste or smell or in severe cases. It can cause meningitis. We've also seen it cause an autoimmune reaction where the body's antibodies to the virus accidentally attack the brain and nerves. And that can cause life threatening issues like brain swelling and Jamberry syndrome. And finally, there are psychiatric symptoms that are being reported where seeing people with hallucinations, even psychosis, uh, even after mild Cova disease, which couldn't be from brain involvement. And then there's the anxiety, depression and PTSD PTSD due to the psychological trauma of being hospitalized with a frightening disease. Speaker 5: 00:16:49 Yeah. So this proves to be more scary than a horror film or than zombies themselves. So is this disease seeming to do something that's new and that's never been seen before, or is it just affecting the body in ways that are causing these neurological problems? Speaker 4: 00:17:08 So it's not that these things have never been seen before. We've seen them to very small degrees in, uh, in other viral infections, but I think what's different about COVID is you've got no immunity in most people. And so the effects are, uh, are proving to be very severe and much more common, um, in the nervous system than we're used to seeing in other viruses, because most people have some immunity to those viruses. One of the unique things about Kobe though, is that effect on the blood vessel lining that causes clots everywhere in the body. This is not something we've seen, uh, from common viruses before. And that's why the effects of COVID seem to be, uh, more devastating and causing more widespread organ damage than we're used to seeing with other viruses. Speaker 5: 00:18:04 So can you talk about some of the specific neurological problems that COVID can cause some specific examples of things you've seen or that have been documented Speaker 4: 00:18:13 The neurological problems related to COVID can range from mild like headache or loss of taste and smell, which are very common in symptomatic patients to more concerning things like difficulty concentrating or thinking which people are calling brain fog, uh, to confusion and delirium. And then there are the life threatening complications that we've seen, uh, strokes from those blood clots. I talked about brain swelling, seizures, coma from infection and inflammation of the brain, uh, paralysis from auto-immune attacks on the nerves. Uh, what I'm seeing most commonly is delirium in the very sick COVID patients. And we've seen a number of strokes as well, both of which can have permanent consequences. And although they happen more frequently, the more severe the patient's COVID symptoms, it's important to note that these neuro emergencies can even happen to patients with mild respiratory symptoms. We've seen some young patients with minimally symptomatic COVID with no stroke risk factors come in with devastating, large strokes. Speaker 5: 00:19:20 And what kind of symptoms are there in the sense of how can you tell if you might be having some of these neurological complications due to COVID? Speaker 4: 00:19:28 So one of the ways to remember the symptoms of stroke is the mnemonic be fast, be for sudden balance problems, E for sudden eye or visual problems F for facial drooping, a four arm weakness as for speech problems. And T is time to call nine one one because we have excellent treatments for stroke that can return up to 70% of patients back to a functional life, but they only work if they're started within hours of symptom onset, uh, 2 million neurons are dying every minute you're having a stroke. So that's why it's so important to call nine one one immediately. And that's not an exhaustive list of all the symptoms that could be indicative of neuro complications. If you see somebody convulsing confused sleepier than usual with a bluish tinge to their face, or just generally not acting like their normal self call nine one one. Speaker 5: 00:20:23 So are the neurological complications coming mostly from, or by COVID causing strokes and, and, uh, you know, depriving the brain of oxygen or does the virus actually just directly attack brain cells? Speaker 4: 00:20:39 So the problem with this virus is it can do both. So there are plenty of reports of meningitis and encephalitis or inflammation of the brain from the virus infecting the brain. Um, we also know that even in minimally symptomatic patients, uh, when they, uh, have an MRI, they can demonstrate evidence of inflammation of the brain, even if they don't have neurologic symptoms. So the exact number of patients that's, uh, that are having, um, neuro invasion is unclear, but because an early symptom of COVID is commonly the loss of smell and taste, which, uh, is carried by the nerve from the nose that goes directly to the brain. The olfactory nerve, we are concerned that direct invasion of the neurosystem is happening in a much larger percentage of patients than we would normally expect with, with, uh, with a virus like this. The stroke complications are happening in about 6%. Um, depending on the study that you read of is hospitalized COVID patients and they happen more frequently. The more severe the COVID is. So, uh, those, um, complications, although less frequent are, uh, are, are pretty devastating. Speaker 5: 00:22:08 So for you as a scientist, the complications coming from a stroke are kind of a very predictable sort of thing that you've seen before, but the way in which the virus may be affecting the brain cells directly is the part that's very new and kind of uncharted territory. Speaker 4: 00:22:25 I wouldn't say it's uncharted territory because we do know of other viruses that, uh, that invade the brain and some even more aggressively like the herpes virus. Um, but it's because of the large number of patients that are getting COVID. We are seeing many more patients with neuro complications than we do with say the flu or with other, uh, viral infections. Speaker 5: 00:22:55 Now, another thing about COVID is I've read that about 80% of the people who get it will recover without excessive care. And it seems like this is kind of contributing to how potentially dangerous it is. So at this point in time, we don't yet know like what longterm effects there might be for people who may have even just had a mild case, Speaker 4: 00:23:18 Correct. That's right. What's deceptive is even if you don't end up in the hospital for your respiratory symptoms, you might have other neurologic symptoms that linger for a long time after an initially mild covert infection, many patients have described weeks to months of persistent fatigue or the inability to think clearly loss of smell or taste or other vague symptoms like intermittent tingling or pulse or blood pressure. And on MRI, some patients with no symptoms except for loss of smell, have brain inflammation. And for some of those patients, their symptoms are still ongoing. So we don't know how long they will last or what percentage of people will get them, or whether there are other longterm effects. That's why there are studies going on to investigate those longterm effects. Uh, one is the covert symptom study that you can sign up for online and tracks your symptoms through an app. There's another one in San Francisco that will track patients for two years, and there are neuro COVID clinics. Now opening up to help patients. We have one at UC SD that patients can contact if they're experiencing any post COVID neuro symptoms. Speaker 5: 00:24:30 So what might be the dangers of these neurological complications from COVID as we kind of move forward, Speaker 4: 00:24:36 But for the more severe neuro complications of COVID like stroke or Keon Baret, the risk of death or permanent disability is very real. For example, with stroke, mortality is around 20% and permanent disability, um, happens to about 50% of stroke survivors with Yon Baret up to 20% of patients are left with significant disability. And even if you don't have visible damage to the brain from COVID just being in the ICU and being delirious puts you at high risk for what's called post intensive care syndrome or pics, which can lead to persistent fatigue, cognitive problems, similar to Alzheimer's and psychiatric problems like PTSD for years, following discharge from the ICU, we know that these symptoms occurred in about 30% of hospitalized, SARS patients, and one recent French study suggests it's occurring and around 30% of COVID patients requiring ICU care as well. Speaker 5: 00:25:37 There are also some psychiatric complications that have come from COVID. Can you discuss some of the specifics about that? Speaker 4: 00:25:44 Yes. So last month there was a, a publication describing multiple patients with otherwise mild COVID who experienced visual hallucinations, auditory, hallucinations, OCD, like behaviors, uh, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Um, so this could be due to injury to the brain, or it could also be due to the very real psychological trauma of being hospitalized and isolated with a scary disease. Speaker 5: 00:26:14 A lot of the coverage of COVID talks about it in terms of numbers, how many might get sick? How many might die and are these percentages larger, small, but why should we care about this? Even if some of the numbers being discussed are not large, Speaker 4: 00:26:28 The percentages of people that are hospitalized and die of COVID may seem small. The problem is the total number of patients infected with COVID in the U S is very high making the absolute number of patients that will develop neuro problems. Also very high. So according to the CDC, almost 5 million Americans have been infected and over 40,000 hospitalized. So if 6% of our hospitalized COVID patients suffer strokes, that's 2,400 patients having strokes. And if a third enter the ICU and half get pics, that's 6,000 people. So that's a lot of pain and suffering and a lot of money for rehab and nursing facility care that will be needed. So that's why it makes sense not to treat these complications after they occur, but to prevent yourself from getting COVID and the first place, which is why wearing your mask and social distancing is so important. Speaker 5: 00:27:25 Well, and it also seems like another potential thing to consider is that we don't know how many people have come down with the disease might end up having longterm health issues that will have a burden on the healthcare industry in years to come. Speaker 4: 00:27:43 Absolutely. Um, you know, for a stroke, for example, we know that the U S spends $34 billion per year on caring for stroke patients. So patients that suffer neurological complications of COVID, um, the, at least the more severe ones may have similar disabilities requiring similar amounts of expensive care. So there is a big unknown as to, uh, what amount of pain, suffering, and dollars. This is going to cost. Speaker 5: 00:28:13 I'm going to bring a little pop culture into this because we did discuss world war Z and its author. Max Brooks talked about COVID when I interviewed him. And he described it as COVID is like the slow moving George Romero's zombies. It's easy to underestimate them. A Bola was like the fast moving ones that everybody was afraid of. And we're quick to kind of, uh, mobilize against. So it seems like there's this kind of surreal quality to the current pandemic because so much of life still seems normal, but why should people take this disease seriously? Speaker 4: 00:28:50 It's true. So much seems normal until you or your loved one contracts. It, people need to take this disease seriously because at best your asymptomatic, but could give it to a vulnerable person who could die. And at worst, you might be one of the unlucky people who develops a disabling or lethal complication. And it's totally true that it's like the slow moving zombies. People are like, Oh, I'm young, I'm healthy. I can prevent the zombies from catching me. That's, there's this same misconception with Cova too, that young, healthy people don't get significant disease, but we have absolutely seen them get severe symptoms. I've seen fit 40 year old nurses and construction workers with no other medical problems die in front of me. And, uh, that is the harsh reality of this disease. Speaker 5: 00:29:39 And for you personally, I mean, you, you talk about having to witness somebody dying from this disease. How is this affecting you? Speaker 4: 00:29:46 So the emotional burden of seeing patients die and not be able to see their loved ones as they die is really, uh, very distressing. Um, and it has resulted in a lot of depression and anxiety among many of my colleagues. Uh, and it's also really scary because every day we know we're going into a high risk place where people may be infected. Our daily routine is totally disrupted. When we enter the hospital, we go through this gauntlet of questions to make sure we're not infected. We have to wear a mask and eye protection. At all times, I'm using a Kleenex or my elbow to touch buttons and door handles. We have to stay three feet away from our colleagues. We can't eat or drink with them, which means we're doing a lot of our patient care over teleconference. We can't get really physically close to patients for a prolonged period of time who aren't wearing a mask. Speaker 4: 00:30:40 And when we see COVID patients, we have to wear head to toe protective gear. Uh, when I get home, I decontaminate an outdoor shower as do many of my colleagues. And then I decontaminate all the items. I brought home from the hospital and then wash all my clothes. So there's a lot of things that go into staying safe. And for the nurses who have to be up close to their patients, it is really scary because they can't distance. And although we've been very lucky at UCFD, that we've always had the appropriate PPE. Uh, and very few of our employees have gotten infected at work. It is still terrifying. I've had nurses tell me that they cry every time they go home from work, because they're scared of coming back. Speaker 5: 00:31:24 And as a scientist, how are you viewing the way the media and particularly social media are handling information? There seems to be quite a bit of misinformation out there, as well as people, not trusting doctors, not trusting the CDC or the who, but believing in any study that might suggest a cure that somebody shares on social media. So do you feel that this kind of an atmosphere or mood is something new that you haven't seen before? Is it a challenge for you to get good information out there? Speaker 4: 00:31:58 So, uh, it's not new, unfortunately, um, during the Spanish flu pandemic, for example, people were also desperate. Some were a Hawking quinine as a treatment, which it's not, uh, for the flu and protesting against mandatory ask laws then as well. But as it became clear that quite I didn't work and mask wearing, did people eventually came around as I'm optimistic, they will today. So yes, it is a challenge to get good information out there because it takes time to do good studies and then get the answers out there in a way. So people know they're legitimate, but what's important for people to understand is that are still going through the process of doing those studies and we need patients help to participate in them. So we can understand this disease. Speaker 5: 00:32:48 And just to briefly return to world war Z. Was there anything in that book that you felt people could actually learn from, or that was predictive of our current pandemic in a way that lends some insight into it? Speaker 4: 00:33:01 Yeah, so I think there are a number of things that max Brooks, Scott, right in his zombie apocalypse book. So one of the most salient ones I think is because no one wanted to believe that a serious pandemic was occurring in the book. There was a delay in using the right tactics to combat it, which resulted in a lot of preventable death and suffering. So while Cove is not a zombie apocalypse, it would be great if we could learn from world war II, take this pandemic seriously and initiate appropriate containment tactics to prevent it from snowballing, as opposed to the book, we don't have to fly to Canada to escape this pandemic. All we have to do is wear a mask and social distance. Speaker 5: 00:33:44 Anything needs to be done moving forward. What kind of treatments are there or what kind of things are you seeing that might be helpful or hopeful to people. Speaker 4: 00:33:51 Cool. And so I'll, I'll take your question in reverse, if you don't mind, um, in terms of treatment for severe COVID, there are a number of promising medications under investigation, but of course the best treatment will be to prevent getting it in the first place. So there are multiple vaccine trials going on worldwide. Um, UCFD is participating in many of those medication and vaccine trials, uh, for treatments for the neurologic complications, because these are all conditions we've seen before. We already have excellent treatments for stroke. For example, we have clot busting drugs and procedures to remove brain clots that can return folks to a functional life up to 70% of the time, as long as they reached the hospital within hours of their symptoms. And we also have excellent neurocritical care treatments for the other conditions, but to get them may require access to a hospital like UC SD that has neuro critical care, resources and specialists. Speaker 4: 00:34:50 So moving forward, if we can all try to be patient and continue to wear our masks and social distance, so we can slow the pace of infections, it will give us time to do the research, find out what really works and help make sure there's an ICU bed for you or your family. If you need it. This, I think is a, is a team sport. One of my colleagues said, team human against team virus. And the game is changing as we go on, but it's like that saying United, we stand divided. We fall. If we all work together, we can beat this thing. Speaker 5: 00:35:25 And because there's so much information out there and so many sources people can go to, how can people keep up with changing or updated information? And what would you suggest is a good way to kind of Speaker 4: 00:35:38 Test the information or determine whether something is actually valid or worth listening to? Yeah. So for physicians, um, besides reading the literature, as it comes out, a lot of us are constantly discussing what we are seeing in real time with our colleagues across the world, uh, for the general public, the CDC and County websites on COVID-19 are pretty comprehensive and well updated. Uh, UCS D and other academic hospitals also have great COVID websites with a lot of resources and can direct you to local clinics, hospitals and nurse lines, where you can ask for help. Um, in terms of determining what, uh, information is solid, the best way to figure this out is to ask your physician. All right. Well, I wanna thank you very much for taking some time to talk about COVID and COVID in the brain. Thanks. It's been a pleasure. Speaker 6: 00:36:36 That was dr. Nevas car and JIA speaking with Beth Amando. Speaker 6: 00:36:45 This is KPBS mid-air edition. I'm Mark Sauer with Maureen, Kevin he's been the front runner all along endorsed by the San Diego union Tribune. He served in the job for a time and appear to be cruising to victory. She is the political fighter who came from behind to eke out a primary victory, and now has doubled up her opponent in the latest fundraising, tally Todd, Gloria and Barbara Bree are staging remote campaigns to become San Diego mayor in these strange times. And joining me to examine the race in these dog days of August is KPBS Metro reporter, Andrew Bowen. Hi Andrew. Hi Mark. Thank you. Well, let's start with that headline on fundraising, Barbara Bree and her supporters are claiming a momentum shift with the report that she more than doubled Todd Gloria's hall from mid February to the end of June, but those numbers are maybe a bit misleading, right? Speaker 6: 00:37:34 Well, if you're talking about whether she'd double the Todd Gloria's fundraising, that is slightly misleading, because that would include breeze own contribution of $150,000 in either loans or a donations to her own campaign. So her dollar figure, uh, just over 681,000 is more than twice. Gloria's a dollar figure of about just over 289,000. Um, it's a little less than twice if you subtract her own contributions, but ultimately what these numbers mean is that a Bree is continuing to get support from her base of supporters and she will have the resources that she needs to actually, uh, do this campaign that the thing to remember about fundraising, as it doesn't necessarily indicate how much support someone has in a community, it just means, you know, how much money they will have to spend on getting their message out on a TV ads and mailers and things like that. And in that regard, uh, you know, this is going to be a pretty, um, competitive race. We should also note that Gloria does have more cash on hand as of the closure of this financial reporting period, which is the end of June. Speaker 1: 00:38:46 And so we have two Democrats squaring off here, but Bree made it into the general election with a remarkable comeback. After it looked like Republican Scott Sherman or a colleague on city council had won following that March 3rd primary. How did she overtake Sherman two weeks later? Speaker 6: 00:39:00 Yeah, it was just those daily counts that we were monitoring on the registrar of voters website, um, as they updated each figure every day. Um, a lot of the late arriving votes were what trended toward Brie and pushed her into that second place spot after Scott Sherman, um, or ahead of Scott Sherman rather. Um, she said, I talked to her on election night and she said, you know, this is what she was kind of expecting that, um, Democrats and independence, uh, were likely waiting to mail their ballots until the last minute, because if you recall at the time, um, we didn't know who was going to be the presidential, uh, democratic nominee. And so a lot was changing there and it made, it would make sense that a lot of people might've been kind of waiting to see who would drop out at the last minute and then mailing their votes, uh, you know, closer to election day. Ultimately she got about 1200 more votes than Sherman. So it was definitely very close, Speaker 1: 00:39:53 Close will still Todd Gloria was the clear vote winner. Do we have any reliable polling now in the mayor's race? Speaker 6: 00:39:59 I'm only aware of two polls that have been released publicly since the primary. Um, one of them came from the Lincoln club, a conservative political group, and it showed debris and Gloria pretty much neck and neck. The Lincoln club typically endorses Republicans, and they haven't endorsed anyone in the mayor's race officially. But if you read between the lines and a lot of the questions of this poll, and they released quite a bit of information about what they asked voters, um, if you also read the press release where, uh, you know, when they announced the results, it's pretty easy to kind of interpret that they may not have endorsed Bri outright, but, uh, she does appear to be their preferred candidate. Um, so, you know, reading those results, showing them neck and neck, you might, um, you might, you know, assume that, or take those results with a grain of salt and assume that the Lincoln club might have, um, tried to craft their questions to make Bree a little bit stronger. Speaker 6: 00:40:51 Gloria released his own poll, also showing him, uh, leading Brie by 15 percentage points. He got 41% and she got 26% in this poll that was commissioned by his own campaign. That, of course also you have to take with a grain of salt. Um, he didn't release the questions in that poll. It was just a summary of the breakdown of, of who supported him versus who supported her. Um, you know, he mentioned that Bri leads among Trump supporters, uh, which are, uh, as a minority in the city of San Diego. Um, but you know, maybe he's trying to kind of craft this narrative of, of tying her to Trump. So all of these polls that we have, you know, I haven't seen any from a news organization or a more neutral party. So, um, you know, the best poll we have to go after is the March 3rd primary, and Gloria definitely beat Bri pretty handily there. Speaker 6: 00:41:38 And both Gloria and Brie are Democrats, even though the office is technically nonpartisan, any major specific issues where they disagree. You know, it's interesting, COVID-19 has completely appended the campaign, um, up to up ended the issues that the candidates are talking about, but the points where they diverge are pretty much the same. Um, I would say housing is, is a major point of contention between the two of them. Gloria really embraces the yes in my backyard or UMB movement to build more homes, to pass policies that make building more homes, a lot easier. Um, Bri walks a very fine line in this space. She never, uh, outright opposes new housing or, you know, is, is very, um, qualified whenever she talks about opposition to housing and she points to votes where she's actually supported new housing on the city council, but at the same time, she also embraces the skepticism of growth and has voted against, uh, some policies that would have made growth, uh, you know, easier and faster in San Diego. Speaker 6: 00:42:35 Um, she, she often pivots to the issue of short term rentals that sort of long standing issue in San Diego that we haven't been able to figure out. Um, she said repeatedly that she would enforce the, what she believes. And the city attorney believes is a ban existing ban on short term rentals, things like Airbnb, um, Gloria supports regulating them and licensing them. Um, so that's another issue where they disagree and who knows what the future will be regarding that and several other issues. And that's one of the things I wanted to wrap with here are the challenges facing San Diego's next mirror, several seem obvious starting with the pandemic slamming the economy and the city's budget, which by law has to be balanced each year, right? Yes. And balancing the budget will be very hard for the next mayor, particularly because I think it's a, you know, what we're hearing from economist is that it'll likely be a couple of years before we can get our, um, tourism hot and hospitality industry back up to where it was pre pandemic, um, which is a, you know, a big economic driver, a driver in San Diego. Speaker 6: 00:43:36 Uh, the next mayor will have some reserves to draw funds from, uh, in the city. Um, Faulconer mayor Faulkner, left them mostly untouched in this current fiscal year. Um, but there are also structural problems that the city has had for many years and will continue to have into the future, even without the pandemic things like the infrastructure deficit, things like homelessness, uh, the lack of funding for affordable housing. So all of those things are going to be a big challenge for the next mayor, regardless of who it has. Lots of challenges going forward here. They'll all of them assuming the route to revolve around this pandemic. Uh, unfortunately I've been speaking with KPBS, Metro reporter, Andrew Bowen. Thanks Andrew. Thank you Mark. Speaker 3: 00:44:21 As they gear up for this falls elections, many States are looking at ways to keep the voting process secure from hackers, malware, and disinformation. So they're in the national guard Speaker 7: 00:44:32 To provide cyber security expertise from Denver. Megan, Verli prepared this report for the American Homefront project. Speaker 8: 00:44:40 We want to encourage folks to be able to exercise their right to vote. It is safe. It is secure, and it's something that we are protecting Speaker 7: 00:44:48 On the morning of Colorado's recent state primary Denver County clerk. Paul Lopez stood in front of a mobile voting center to praise the lengths. His office was going to, to keep voters safe from COVID-19 elections Speaker 8: 00:45:01 Are wearing masks. They're sanitizing, our stations, Speaker 7: 00:45:05 But literal viruses. Aren't the only ones election officials have to worry about behind the scenes efforts are underway to make sure the computer systems elections rely on aren't compromised by bad actors. A Senate intelligence committee report last year concluded Russia targeted voting systems in all 50 States in 2016, Colorado secretary of state, Jenna Griswold says they're likely to try again. When we are in the COVID-19 crisis, there is a tendency to drop the ball on the fact that Russia is actively trying to undermine our democracy in our partnership with the national guard is just one of many things we do to make sure that Coloradans can have confidence in our election results. Colorado started working with the national guard on election cybersecurity seven years ago, around the time it was moving to all mail ballots. This year, his team is made up of a half dozen guard members, including captain Reese Watkins. Speaker 8: 00:45:57 I'm the cyber network defense manager for the cyber protection team. Once before Speaker 7: 00:46:02 Skins is a programmer in his daily life, others on the team work in corporate security in similar fields. He says they're used to operating in the private sector, not just on the heavily protected systems used by the military. Speaker 8: 00:46:14 Almost every single person on my team has the day to day job that we do this full time. So it helps us stay in the current workforce and know exactly what's happening in real life Speaker 7: 00:46:26 General, the team's job isn't to fight threats, just to find them that can be anything from someone spreading misinformation on social media to direct attacks on the state's crucial voter registration database, what they spot they pass on to Colorado's own it professionals to address captain Watkins says their real strength is as a set of fresh eyes searching for vulnerabilities. Speaker 8: 00:46:48 When you're looking at your home, right? You don't see very many things that are wrong until someone comes over and visits and they see something wrong with your house. You're like, wow, that, uh, your window's broken and you, Oh my gosh, I didn't even notice that. So that's kind of what we're there to do is just be another set of eyes Speaker 7: 00:47:04 This year, more than 30 U S States have some sort of it partnership with their national guard to provide election support. Colonel George Haynes is chief of cyber operations at the national guard Bureau in Washington, DC. He says States and federal security agencies in general have been doing more to collaborate on cyber security. Since the last presidential election, Speaker 8: 00:47:23 We have seen a increase in partnership and increase in information sharing, uh, an increase Speaker 9: 00:47:30 In, um, working together through tabletop exercises, through, uh, sharing of tactics, techniques, and procedures. Speaker 7: 00:47:40 It's important says Hanes because the threats are just increasing. Speaker 9: 00:47:44 The cyber domain is maturing just like the other, you know, air land, sea space domain. Speaker 7: 00:47:50 The guard's role in election cyber security has been developing for many years and will continue into the future. It may be dwarfed this fall by their boots on the ground. Operations. Many States are calling on their guard to help with the physical challenges of conducting their elections during a pandemic. I'm Megan Riley in Denver, this story was produced by the American Homefront project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans funding comes from the corporation for public broadcasting. Speaker 9: 00:48:25 How does using marijuana after work hours affect your ability to do your job? The answer may surprise you a new study from SDSU Fowler college of business focuses on how pot, whether you use before, during or after work affects work performance. The study's author, SDSU management professor, Jeremy burner, servery 281 employees and their supervisors. He spoke with KPBS evening edition host Maya Trabelsi about what he found. Here's that interview Speaker 7: 00:48:57 For this study, you recruited 281 employees and their direct supervisors through social media. Tell us about the parameters of the study Speaker 9: 00:49:07 You were trying to address. We were trying to figure out whether or not cannabis says anything about an employee. So obviously if you've been paying attention to the news at all over the last two or three years, we know that cannabis and its popularity has really exploded. You know, you just look at organizations, they're literally spending hundreds of millions of dollars every single year testing applicants, testing employees. And we don't really know if there's a reason for them doing that. I mean, does it make sense? You know, if there were some employees and yeah, it would make sense then the screen, your applicants, but if employees are using cannabis on the weekend or after work and it's not impacting their work performance, then why would we as organizations? Or why would we as society outlaw this type of use, Speaker 7: 00:49:50 You say are the benefits of after hours cannabis use in terms of productivity during the week. Speaker 9: 00:49:56 But it seems like, you know, if you've had a really stressful day and you go home and maybe use cannabis help you relax, well, then you're able to get a better night's sleep and you actually wake up the next morning feeling more energized. And so that can then show up in your workplace performance. Now you contrast that with somebody that may be waking up and using cannabis, and then they're starting their day with kind of a diminished state of mental capacity, or, you know, they might be distracted, that's different, but if you're using it afterward, then it's just helping you relax. Speaker 7: 00:50:29 So doctor, would you equate it with de-stressing after a long day with a glass of wine? Speaker 9: 00:50:36 Yeah, I think that's actually a really good point. But unlike, say using wine or other alcohol where you might have two or three glasses of wine, or do you have too many beers and you wake up with a hangover, you don't feel particularly good and that might show up in your performance cannabis. And especially, you know, some of the participants that were in this study were using edibles and using that the end of the night so that they could actually sleep better. And then they actually woke up without the hangover that you might find with alcohol, but feeling more energized because you had this really nice night asleep, if you're using cannabis for the job or while on the job, you know, while you're at work or maybe on your lunch break that actually negatively affected your performance across several different dimensions as rated by your supervisor Speaker 7: 00:51:20 As a social scientist. What surprised you the most? Speaker 9: 00:51:23 I think the most surprising finding was the fact that afterward cannabis use didn't relate to a single form of performance. So we had five different measures of performance each completed by the supervisor. And if you're just simply using cannabis afterward, it did not relate to any of those things. Even though, again, you know, we've got these general policies that says, Hey, you can't be using these substances whenever, but when you look at the actual no more fine grain analysis using it after work, didn't relate to any form of performance, none like, so for me, I mean, I was completely caught off guard by that Speaker 7: 00:51:59 You say that organizations are spending billions of dollars each year to counter what they see as a problem. Is there a message here for organizations to consider in their policies about substance use during work hours? Speaker 9: 00:52:11 Yes, I think so. And especially, you know, if employees or applicants start to challenge some of these policies in the court of law, an organization is going to have to actually show, Hey, this is a valid requirement of our work. And this study, at least, you know, from an outsider's perspective might cast some doubt on that. So, uh, it definitely would behoove an organization to look at this a little bit more closely. And if nothing else, you know, don't make these overly broad generalizations. Speaker 7: 00:52:41 You talked a little bit about the timing of cannabis and in relation to drug testing, what are the challenges that organizations with strict substance use policies face when determining when cannabis was actually used, whether it was during the day or after hours? Speaker 9: 00:52:57 Well, that's the thing, right? That organizations are faced with right now because your traditional drug tests, you know, a urine analysis or blood analysis, it's not going to tell you when they used it. You know, when you send it an applicant for a drug test, or when you send the current employee that maybe had an accident, you know, on the job to get a drug test, it's not going to tell you, okay, this person used cannabis, you know, an hour before their work shift, or maybe used it right before that accident occurred. It's just going to say whether or not these things are his system or her system. Speaker 10: 00:53:26 And so, you know, there's a big debate, no question about whether or not that's a valid way to assess employees or applicants or whoever it may be. Speaker 3: 00:53:36 I hope that this research will help Speaker 10: 00:53:39 More than anything. I just hope that we, as a society, as government agencies, as organizations rethink some of the stereotypes that we have, some of them might be valid, but we should actually be making our decisions and policies based on actual data, not based on lingering stereotypes, you know, from 20 or 30 years ago, Speaker 3: 00:53:59 Dr. Jeremy burner, thank you so much. Speaker 10: 00:54:03 Absolutely. My pleasure. Speaker 3: 00:54:12 This is KPBS mid day edition. I'm Maureen Kavanaugh with Mark Sauer, the coronavirus pandemic and racial justice movement are changing the way we live and the way we think about the future in Bellville apart, both of those profound events are changing the way we think about the past. The 100, five year old museum of man is now the museum of us and curators say it's more than just a name change. Although closed during the pandemic, the museum has been carrying out its mission of decolonizing its collection and exhibits. Johnny me is Micah Parson. He's CEO of the museum of us and Michael, welcome to the program. Speaker 10: 00:54:53 Thanks so much, Maureen. I'm really happy to be here. Speaker 3: 00:54:55 The museum of man has been such a fixture in Volvo, apart for generations, but I've learned that museum officials have actually been thinking about changing the name for years. Tell us about that. Speaker 10: 00:55:07 Yeah, that's very much the case. It really started in the late eighties and early nineties, Maureen, when a group of citizens went to the museum and said, Hey, it's time to change the name that it doesn't feel inclusive. And it excludes so much of the population. And there were a series of debates in the community letters flying back and forth in the union Tribune. As you can imagine, both for and against, uh, the museum surveyed its membership and also brainstormed, probably a couple hundred names, uh, that were possibilities for consideration and did all sorts of research. And, uh, in the end, decided not to change the name. And I think that's sort of the last, uh, effort in earnest was in 1991. And along those lines, Speaker 3: 00:55:54 Since that time, the selection has been made for museum of us. And I'm wondering why now, why is now the time you've chosen to change the name? Speaker 10: 00:56:04 The world has changed a lot in the last 29 years, right. You know, massive upheavals and the way we communicate and relate to one another. And, um, the museum had considered changing its name in the, over the past couple of decades. But my board in earnest about three years ago that it was time. And we started down a path of our own and started with a large number of stakeholder groups where we brought different folks together and ask them about what they thought of the name, change idea and possible contenders. And again, we brainstormed about 200 or maybe even 300 names. And out of those stakeholder groups, there were about five or six that kept rising to the top. And we ended up doing extensive testing in the community on those names. Uh, we did a survey that we, uh, submitted to about 15,000 people and got many, many responses. Speaker 10: 00:57:02 And then we did a, uh, installation in our retender where we asked visitors to chime in on the different names. And, uh, while we still thought the name change was about three, four, or maybe even five years out when we were first forced to close our doors, uh, in mid March, uh, we really focused on how do we use this time to become a better version of ourselves when we get out the other side. And I made the case to the board that now was the time that the world was in such a process of change and people were open to new ideas, uh, and there was just so much going on that it would be the perfect opportunity to approve a new name. And so at our June board meeting the board, did Speaker 3: 00:57:44 The name change, reflect a new mission for the museum? Speaker 10: 00:57:48 Well, our mission at the museum has been inspiring human connections by exploring the human experience for the last 10 years or so. And it has led us down a path of a very different kind of museum than decades past. We have brought to the community, all sorts of cutting edge exhibits that are really about what it means to be a human today and how we make meaning out of the world. One of the major areas of focus that the museum has taken on is its anti-racism work through an exhibit called race. Are we so different? And that has been a permanent installation for the museum for many years now. And it led us to do an enormous amount of soul searching and looking at our own past. And I'm trying to carve out a better future and a component that emerged out of that was our work with native American groups in particular and indigenous peoples to really reflect on the history of how the museum and other museums like ours have treated indigenous peoples it's led to our decolonizing work, uh, which really tries to carve out a new relationship with indigenous communities. One based on respect and dignity, and really focusing on humanity and bringing folks together. And, um, the name really reflects a journey we've been on. And, um, the name change is an important step in that journey. Uh, we've come a long way, but we also know we have a long way to go. Speaker 3: 00:59:15 Can you describe how the effort to decolonize is translated into what people will at the museum of us? How has it changed some exhibits that maybe San Diegans are familiar with? Speaker 10: 00:59:28 One of the things that it has really changed is the items and belongings that are on display for many years, the museum, uh, unwittingly perhaps, uh, put on display items that were sacred and ceremony on nature, that from the perspective then indigenous community were never intended to be seen by anybody other than the individuals in that community that were meant to interact with those, those objects and belongings. Um, so that's a very significant step we've taken is really overhauled everything that we've had on display and remove them from public viewing. If it's not appropriate. Visitors also see a huge shift in our language that is in the exhibits and installations. In the past, we have often used language that is quite honestly demeaning to indigenous peoples and doesn't recognize that they are alive and well and thriving and challenged. And in many ways, just like any group, often the ways that we have displayed or represented indigenous peoples in the past that they were a static peoples frozen in time. And we have really shifted from that. So we are engaging in, in all sorts of new language in our exhibits, that includes truth telling about the past and some of the atrocities that occurred owning those, uh, those acts and, you know, trying to move on in a much better way in partnership with those communities. Speaker 3: 01:01:03 Have you gotten any negative reaction let's say from donors or longtime supporters about the museum's name change and the museum's new direction? Speaker 10: 01:01:13 We have had some negative reaction. There are some donors and supporters who have struggled with our new direction and new name, but I will say that those numbers have really been dwarfed by the number of people who are absolutely thrilled that such an iconic institution in San Diego is really taking a step forward in a way that is consistent with its values. And I think in a way that is consistent with the values of the community. In many ways, we are really a place where our goal is to bring people together and to help them see their shared humanity and the ways that we're more alike than different in the hope that when there are difficult conversations to be had, whether it's about race or the relationship with native and indigenous peoples or other challenging topics that we can find common ground and agree to disagree, but do so in a respectful way and hopefully learn something from each other in that process, Speaker 3: 01:02:13 Your hopes for the museum of us, how do you see it continue to evolve as a cultural force in San Diego? Speaker 10: 01:02:21 You know, I hope that the museum of us is a place where people can come and connect with the best version of ourselves, that it it's a place that brings out the best of who we are, but it also helps us see the best in other people. And it helps us see the world through, you know, walk a mile in another shoes, essentially that it's a place where people can sit in generosity and not in judgment, bring a curiosity to understanding different people and their worldviews and why they have come to see the world that way. And ultimately come together at this divided time when we need places like the museum of us, more than ever. Speaker 3: 01:03:07 I've been speaking with Micah Parson, CEO of the museum of us in Balboa park and Micah. Thank you. So Speaker 10: 01:03:14 My pleasure Moraine, thank you.