Congress Passes $900 Billion Coronavirus Relief Bill, Ending Months-Long Stalemate

Speaker 1: 00:00 A COVID relief stimulus bill has passed. How much help will it be? Speaker 2: 00:05 Uh, we are not done. I think the thing I would say is that, um, I do think it's great that we got something Speaker 1: 00:10 I'm Jade Heintzman. This is KPBS mid day edition. 20,000 doses of the modern of vaccine are in San Diego County. Speaker 3: 00:28 Did the best of our ability in medical science, which is at an incredible level. Now this vaccine is safe and effective, Speaker 1: 00:36 And I look at how tribal casinos are being impacted by COVID outbreaks. Plus, I look at creating equity in STEM fields. That's ahead on midday. Finally, there is a $900 billion stimulus package and in it is a $600 direct payment for many adults in $300 per week and enhanced jobless benefits among many other things. This comes at a time when COVID numbers are surging, businesses are having to close their doors and people are going hungry. It also comes after tough negotiations. The problem solvers caucus, a group of congressional representatives from both sides of the aisle pushed for bipartisan cooperation to get this legislation passed. Joining us is Congressman Scott Peters, a member of the problem solvers caucus, Congressman Peters. Welcome. Speaker 2: 01:37 Thank you, Jay. Thanks for having me. Uh, Speaker 1: 01:39 So I know getting this relief wasn't easy. Can you give us an idea of what's in the bill, especially for working Americans? Speaker 2: 01:46 Sure. I just want to start out by saying that we know people are hurting and our small businesses are suffering and families are struggling to pay the bills and feed their kids. Um, and I think that we share that frustration with our constituents. And one of the things we saw in the problem solvers caucus was after that first bi-partisan cares bell, we just didn't see any progress from leadership. So we came together as a bipartisan group to really promote, uh, what became the framework for this agreement in the house and the Senate. So, um, basically it says, as you mentioned, $600 direct payments to individuals, including adults and children, uh, unemployment supplements. So in addition to what you get from the state, you get an additional $300 per week, uh, in enhanced unemployment benefits for an additional 11 weeks that compares to $600 or under the first bill, but $0 for the past year. Speaker 2: 02:41 So we think that's good. There's support for small businesses, uh, in the, in a second forgivable paycheck protection program, uh, there's housing and rental assistance. A lot of folks can't pay their rent, uh, that hurts them. And it does hurt a lot of landlords as well, uh, and investments that tackle the public health crisis. So $20, $20 billion for the purchase of vaccines and a hundred billion dollars in funding for the FDA and health and human services CDC also that we can deploy these vaccines that offer so much promise and maybe it can help us get our businesses open and get people back to work. Speaker 1: 03:15 So when will people who need benefits start to see them, Speaker 2: 03:20 Uh, the deadline for the one-time payment to, uh, to go out is, uh, mid January, January 15th, secretary Minutian, uh, he thinks that we can get it out before the end of the year. So that'd be terrific. Uh, we wish we wish him well on that. Uh, and unemployment will start now it's perspective. Speaker 1: 03:38 And what about direct aid to cities and States? Speaker 2: 03:42 Well, that was the big thing we, uh, we did not get. And I, um, I think Democrats fought really hard for this Republicans, uh, were expressed the concern extensively that, um, they didn't want to bail out blue States that were in a trouble with pensions. You know, if we're trying to protect employers, which was the whole rationale behind the paycheck protection program, which I supported, you have to recognize the state local governments are among the biggest employers in the, in the United States. And this puts a lot of pressure on police, firefighters, teachers, uh, who really rely on that. So, uh, we are not done. I think the thing I would say is that, um, I do think it's great that we got something. I think, um, getting anything in, in this, um, in, in the way the Congress is now in this age of polarization is really important. And we had no presidential leadership from president from president elect Biden has said that this will be a priority of his. So I think we take a week and get today and then, uh, come January, we'll look to be doing more. And particularly with a focus on state local government aid, I think will be that the thing that, um, is most certainly needed as well as an extension of, of, uh, support for folks who, who are hurting, um, like through unemployment or Medicaid or for food assistance through snap. Speaker 1: 04:56 You know, I understand, you know, that there are many other provisions in this bill. For instance, there are allocations addressing climate change. Can you tell me about that? Speaker 2: 05:04 So he passed two bills. I'm very confused and we pass an appropriations bill as well. Um, the appropriations bill, uh, did have some really important, uh, climate provisions. Uh, I think the most important one is for hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs. Uh, HFCs is a, is a super polluted, which has a much, much more damaging effect on the climate in the short run. It doesn't persist. It's a short-lived climate pollutant than carbon dioxide, but, um, but getting rid of HFCs and changing over to ones that don't damage, the climate are really important. We've got buy-in from industry, and finally we've got a law that's going to send American industry in the right direction. Uh, it's also contains my use at act, which is a carbon capture act. Uh, they use it act supports, uh, techno developing a technology called direct air capture would actually be taking a machine that pulls carbon of the air and puts it into the ground and also, um, provides competitive financial awards for innovative technologies that advanced direct air capture. Speaker 1: 06:05 You know, one thing that's got people outraged about this, um, this aid is, is the three martini lunch tax deduction. Uh, what can you tell us about that and why it had to be included to get this bill passed? Speaker 2: 06:18 Uh, you know, it's, uh, um, it's sort of ridiculous. I think, you know, it's one of those things where, uh, you make a compromise and you have to, you have to give some things to get what you wanted. I don't, I don't think Republicans cared as much about unemployment supplements as we did. Um, so what they wanted was a, you know, a deduction for, um, for lunches. That's one that's readily subject to criticism, but I don't think, um, it was enough to say we should vote against the bill. People are hurting. People are, you know, people are living paycheck to paycheck. Uh, and the choice was never between whether we're gonna add $600 to your unemployment or $300 strips. Your unemployment is between 300 and zero. And I was not willing to, uh, to go with Speaker 1: 07:00 And, you know, giving, given all of the negotiations that had to take place. Are you personally satisfied with the outcome of this? Speaker 2: 07:07 I'm satisfied that we made progress. I'm not satisfied because we're not done a long time ago. I suggested a mechanism called automatic stabilizers that would've said for, for unemployment, for, um, for, for food assistance and for Medicaid, let's set a formula so that this money would be automatically funded depending on economic conditions. If economic conditions persisted in a bad way, the money would automatically be funded. And if, if at one point as we hope, and we expect the economy recovered automatically that that aid would be turned off, that would have prevented a lot of this, but we have to get right back at it, uh, in, in, um, in January, February, because it's not enough. It didn't last long. Speaker 1: 07:54 What's your view on why the Senate came around? Some analysts have tied Republican. Yes. Votes to fears of losing the Senate races in Georgia next month. What's your thought on that? Speaker 2: 08:04 It's hard for me to gauge. I just say that we, we found, um, our house group, the problem solvers caucus, which is Democrats and Republicans found a similar group of Republican and democratic senators who wanted to get something done. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to, um, to, you know, be sent to Washington DC, have this, this, um, awesome responsibility, uh, but not be able to get attention for getting something done. And so, uh, I think there's a lot of pressure from the middle, uh, against the extremes, but yes, I'm satisfied with, uh, with where we are today Speaker 1: 08:36 And, you know, you're starting your fifth term in the house. How has the political climate in Washington changed since you first arrived? Or, or was it, uh, justice as fractious in 2012? Speaker 2: 08:47 It's always been fractious. I can tell you that my goal is to find that sweet spot again, where we can compromise where we can, uh, you know, fight with our values, but beyond the same playing field, come out at the end and take half a loaf and go back for the, for the other half later. I think that's what we need to get. I would say that one of the more complicating factors has been the lack of presidential leadership. I mean, president Trump has been extremely divisive and no one would call Joe Biden, a staunch conservative, but he is bipartisan by nature. Uh, he believes that bipartisanship is an objective. It's not an inconvenience. And I think that that's really, um, that holds hope for us to bring this country back together. Speaker 1: 09:29 Hmm. Do you have any thoughts to share about why the Democrats won the presidency, but lost a dozen house seats in this election? Speaker 2: 09:36 I do. I think, uh, I think we won the presidency because, like I said about Joe Biden, people want, um, someone who has got a record of working with everybody to get things done. I think that's certainly what we see around here. Um, and I think that, um, what president Trump could not have mismanaged the, uh, the pandemic, any worse. I mean, we're the, we're the worst record of any, uh, essentially of any developed nation. Uh, and that's, you know, that's on him. Uh, Democrats need to do a better job of fighting these labels that Republicans have assigned to us like socialists, which I'm not for open borders, which I'm not. Um, and, uh, you know, against the police, you know, I'm endorsed by the police. I want to support the police. I want to get, I want to, I want them to get it right. Uh, but Democrats, um, we got labeled with a lot of unfair, um, uh, unfair criticism. And I think that we're gonna have to show by what we pass and what we're really for. And I think that'll be a challenge, a challenge to us. It's certainly something I will. Speaker 1: 10:39 I have been speaking with Congressman Scott Peters, a member of the problem solvers caucus, Congressman Peter, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you, Jake. There are 20,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by a Moderna in San Diego County. It's the second Corona virus vaccine, granted emergency authorization by the FDA and CDC over the weekend and quickly shipped out. Here's Dr. John Bradley, a medical director of the division of infectious diseases at Rady children's hospital, which received 3,500 doses of the vaccine yesterday. Speaker 4: 11:16 This vaccine has been incredibly well studied, both vaccines, both Pfizer and Madrona, uh, 40,000 in the Pfizer trial and 30,000 maternal huge numbers. So to the best of our ability in medical science, which is at an incredible level, now this vaccine is safe and effective Speaker 1: 11:35 While some of the first San Diego nursing home residents are getting vaccinated. Joining me to talk about the latest on the vaccine is Jonathan Busen biotech reporter for the San Diego union Tribune. Jonathan, welcome. Thank you for having me. So you reported San Diego now has enough doses of the two vaccines for of San Diego counties, highest risk hospital staff to get one dose, but put that into context for us. Where are we overall in terms of being able to vaccinate other high risk groups? Speaker 5: 12:03 Yeah, we're still at the beginning of the beginning. So, you know, there are about 80 plus 82,000 hospital health care staff, uh, throughout the County and in different healthcare roles. Uh, about half of those are in this highest, highest risk group. So people who are working in ICU emergency rooms who have regular regular contact with COVID-19 patients, and we're pretty much at the point now where we can begin getting each of those people, their first of two shots. Uh, so they're going to need to get a second shot either three weeks down the line, if you're getting the Pfizer vaccine or four weeks down the line, uh, with the Madonna vaccine, but from there, first of all, there are still other people in the hospitals, other employees who aren't part of that frontline healthcare worker category. And there's also this other group of people who live in nursing homes, people who live in skilled nursing assisted living facilities, uh, places that accounted for at least around 20% of COVID deaths in San Diego County. And we're just beginning to see some of those folks get vaccinated. So we're still at a point where there's much more demand for vaccine than there is supply Speaker 1: 13:19 And the modern, a vaccine like Pfizer's is also an RNA type vaccine and is similarly reported to be 94.5% effective, remind us how it works to protect against the virus. Speaker 5: 13:30 Right? So both of these companies' vaccines use a molecule called messenger RNA. It's basically a little snippet, a little piece of the viruses genetic code, and that code has information for making the spike protein. So this is that protein on the surface of the virus that grabs onto yourselves and allows the virus to get in. So by teaching the body to build and then recognize that spike protein, the idea is to have an immune response that can prevent infection and also potentially kill infected cells when somebody gets exposed. Mm. Speaker 1: 14:08 But unlike the Pfizer vaccine, the modern vaccine does not need to be stored at ultra low temperatures. What's different about this vaccine? Speaker 5: 14:16 Well, that is the main difference that the Madonna vaccine can be kept in an ordinary freezer for long-term storage. I can also keep it in a refrigerator for about a month. So having a vaccine that you can keep in the fridge for a few weeks while getting it out to people that need it, uh, next to something that could be more accessible across the County. And also if you think at a national or international level Speaker 1: 14:40 And nursing home residents are being, uh, starting to get vaccinated, explain how the process here is going to work with the partnerships with pharmacist from CVS and Walgreens. What's the timeline on Speaker 5: 14:52 That? Right. So there were a few nursing home residents that were, uh, actually vaccinated yesterday on, on Monday, but that was at a nursing home that's affiliated with sharp Chula Vista medical center, but probably the bulk of San Diego is nursing. Home residents are going to be vaccinated through a program that the CDC centers for disease control and prevention of up with CVS and Walgreens. So the big retail pharmacies that everybody's familiar with and probably within walking distance of your home. So basically nursing homes have signed up to have either CVS or Walgreens bring in pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who are gonna, uh, bring in vaccine and administer that in these facilities. So that should start in California the week of December 28. Uh, we don't know the exact timeline in terms of when certain facilities in San Diego are, are going to be getting vaccine. But, uh, we do know that several of them have signed up for that program. And the vast majority of facilities in California have signed up for that program as well. So we're going to see over the course of the next several weeks, uh, pharmacists going into these nursing homes and administering vaccine there, Speaker 1: 16:08 You know, the infection rate in San Diego County continues to break records with more than 3,200 new cases recorded a day, just over the weekend. Uh, so, you know, despite the vaccine, talk to me about why now isn't the time to let our guards down. Speaker 5: 16:23 Well, now isn't the time to let our guards down because we're still at a point where if you're listening to this conversation, you probably have not been vaccinated. If you probably won't be for some time, uh, we're talking about a very, very tiny number of people who are eligible to get the vaccine, and that's not going to change for several months. So the vaccine isn't really going to be there to save or protect people that get COVID 19 right now. And we're already at a place where we're seeing many thousands of cases every day, hospitals are filling up to the point where they're essentially turning away ambulances and in all, but the most dire of cases. And so the people who are being impacted by this pandemic, aren't benefiting from that vaccine. So it might be good news and it is good news. But you know, when I talked to researchers in San Diego, they say, this isn't the end. It's not the beginning of the end. Uh, it might be the end of the beginning. So we still have to get through this winter. We still have to get into the spring, which is really when a vaccine will probably be widely available. And the more we do now to limit the spread of the virus, the more quickly, and the more effectively a vaccine can bring an end to the pandemic or help bring an end. Speaker 1: 17:39 I've been speaking with Jonathan Musen biotech reporter for the San Diego union Tribune. Jonathan, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Speaker 3: 17:58 I'm Jade Hindman Speaker 6: 17:59 And you're listening to KPBS mid-day edition earlier this year, San Diego counties, tribal casinos bet. Big. They could reopen and still keep COVID-19 at Bay. It's been a bad wager KPBS obtained County records of community outbreak showing hundreds of cases tied to area tribal casinos reporter on meta Sharma has more. There were at least 638 coronavirus cases linked to seven local tribal casinos from June through mid December. The highest are tied to the counties. Two largest casinos VA has casino and resort and sequin casino and resort. There were 166 cases connected to VA Haas and 155 to Siqua. According to records of community outbreaks obtained by KPBS. Speaker 3: 18:46 It's very concerning that there's ongoing transmission in these settings. Speaker 6: 18:50 Ramers is an infectious disease doctor. He says that transmission fuels community spread. Speaker 3: 18:56 It's like a chain reaction. And you know, we're not going to be able to get our hands around this epidemic when there's just this ongoing transmission. Speaker 6: 19:04 Well, most of the cases are linked to VA Husson Sekwan the records reveal that no major casino has been spared. They show 102 cases tied to Berona Hemal 91 Harrah's 57 Valley view 45 and Palla 22 representatives from those five casinos, either declined to comment or did not respond to interview requests to say that a case is linked with a location means that a person was present in the location. Within two weeks of being diagnosed with the disease. It does not mean that the person contracted the virus at the location or infected anyone else there, the County wouldn't harm it on this story. And for months it has refused to release detailed information on community outbreaks, arguing that businesses and organizations would not report them. If they knew they would be public KPBS and other news outlets sued for the records and superior court, but lost the cases on appeal. Speaker 6: 20:02 The County defines a community outbreak as three or more people with COVID-19 who are not close contacts being in a specific place over the same 14 day period. The fact that an establishment is the site of an outbreak doesn't necessarily mean it has unsafe practices. Tori big knife, chief legal officer for VA house enterprises issued a written statement to KPBS. Big knife said quote, while it is true that since reopening VA, Hoss casino and resort has learned of some guests and team members testing positive for COVID-19. Those guests and team members typically interacted with numerous other persons and places other than VA house casino and resort during the potential exposure period end quote Sycuans chief administrative officer, Adam de also said in a written statement, quote, there have been no outbreaks linked to our casino. The casinos closed when the pandemic hit in March, but resumed business in may against the wishes of state and County officials. Speaker 6: 21:04 Tribes are sovereign entities and not subject to state and County health orders. Since reopening the casinos have touted new precautions, sick wan offers COVID-19 testing. VA Haas says it performs contact tracing masks and social distancing are required. They've also intensified sanitation and installed plexiglass dividers. VA has, since the Kwan don't intend to close again, despite a new statewide stay at home order amidst skyrocketing coronavirus numbers, Sycuans day stated quote as a tribal government who was responsible for providing medical care, education, police protection, fire protection, et cetera, to our tribal members. We are an essential business SDSU business lecturer, Miro copex as the huge impact. California's 74, a tribal casinos have on the state and local economy create a delicate situation. These tribes throughout California generate Oh, over three and a half billion dollars in tax revenues for the state. Tommy Wolf is a VA house security guard who quit when the casinos reopened in may. He says the tribes are putting profits over public health. And so our players, it's not essential to go gamble, Amica Sharma KPBS news. Speaker 3: 22:26 [inaudible] Speaker 6: 22:28 On the long list of industries disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic is drag as part of our series of pandemic profiles, KPBS, Metro reporter, Andrew Bowen spoke with one local drag queen who also opened a costume shop this year about how the community is trying to survive. Speaker 7: 22:47 Hi, my name is Vivi incognito. I was raised in San Diego. I've been doing drag for about 10 years. Vivian and Cognito is a kind of punk rock, extra terrestrial, post binary drag performer. Prior to COVID. I was performing like two or three times a week. I was traveling every week up and down the coast, booking my own shows and, uh, building my network after COVID happened, all the drag shows got canceled. And when this is something that you do full time and you're only a form of income, it was definitely a scramble to figure out what to do. Next. I know a lot of drag performers went to virtual, uh, drag shows. I actually hosted a few virtual directors, myself, something that I can say about COVID that most drag performers have learned a new skill. Not only do we style wigs style outfits, do our makeup, but now we've, um, had to learn how to record, edit and produce our own like music videos. Speaker 3: 23:58 A lot of fun. Speaker 7: 24:03 Part of being a drag performer is that connection that you get when you're onstage. There's nothing that can replace the energy between the audience and the drag performer. So I know that a lot of that energy and excitement does get lost. When you're just watching the show on a TV screen or on a computer screen, you don't get that dollar exchange. You know, you don't get tipped the same, some performers that energy and that exchange and that creative outlet is really what they have to look forward to week after week. And, um, for a lot of people, there is a lot of depression, a lot of sadness. There's a lot of, uh, creative blockage happening. Cause it's really hard to focus on being creative and, and coming up with like, uh, new ideas and ways to express yourself when you're also worrying about food and, and money and your job. I've had some friends that got a storage unit and had to put their stuff up for a little bit. I'm taking a little break from drag, which is healthy too. Speaker 7: 25:03 Yeah. About 10 years ago, when I first started doing drag, I came into this very store. Um, at that time it was called secrets, wigs, wigs designs, and it was owned by Maria and Maria is a staple in our LGBT local community here. And when COVID happened, I messaged her about, well, what's, what's the plan going to be? And she let me know that she was going to actually have to, um, go out of business. And so when I got that news, I was devastated. I had to make a quick decision what I was going to do. And I talked to the landlord and I decided to take over the store myself. Um, I changed the name to whips and furs. Um, and we expanded on the wigs. Speaker 7: 25:44 We have super deluxe Santa costumes here, full on Santa suits that come with everything. And we also have like these like morph suits here, a lot of drag Queens like to wear these while they perform, it was a tough decision to open up during the pandemic, but I've been just kind of doing whatever I can to keep a float and to keep this store interesting enough to have people coming back. And I planned for after COVID, um, that we're going to have so many programs here at the store. So we'll have makeup tutorials, we're going to have wig styling classes, we're going to be making hit pads. Um, so we're going to be having a lot of, uh, community interaction and a lot of events here that really are going to be a resource and a benefit for the kids. Speaker 3: 26:32 Aye, Speaker 7: 26:33 Cannot wait to hit the stage again. And as a performer during this COVID times, my drag has changed so much. Like I've really like grown through this experience. I know people are getting like super excited and eager to get back out there and stuff, but we all just kind of have to like, wait it out a little bit. Um, that way we can all survive this. And, um, uh, and we can appreciate, you know, being together when this is all over, Speaker 1: 27:04 That was VV in Cognito, a local drag queen and owner of the costume shop whips and furs in North park. I'm Jade Hindman. And you're listening to KPBS midday edition on the final episode of season three of red scientist, host Marto wall explores why the STEM profession doesn't reflect the diversity of the general population. She talks to people who study this problem to understand how to make scientific spaces more equitable. Here's an excerpt from that episode, Speaker 8: 27:36 Dr. Mika is Strada is a social psychologist at UCF. Who's done research on persistence of undergraduates in science, why some underrepresented students stay in their STEM majors and others don't in the middle of her study though. She flew to DC for a conference about the subject. Speaker 8: 27:58 Experts gave talks about a variety of topics, including kind of the hot subject of the time, which was this issue of self-efficacy, which is the idea that the person may or may not have confidence that they can do the science and without self-efficacy, the theory was people would leave science they're going on and on about this. And, and by the end of the second day, I was just kind of tired of hearing this I'm Latina. And I knew that that wasn't why I left. So I kind of left the room and was standing outside and a crowd of maybe seven or eight other people that were there. And we were all minorities. And we had all left the room where they were describing and trying to figure out why we leave. Speaker 8: 28:45 So they all started chatting with each other and none of them had taken the, you know, quote unquote traditional route in academia and pursued tenure track jobs, which effectively meant they all had left the pipeline. And we started talking about why did we leave? And in that conversation, it became really clear that none of us left because we felt like we couldn't do the science. We all felt we could do the science we left because the social experience was exhausting. Mika took that insight and modified her study design. She was already measuring self-efficacy, but she edited new questions to our survey to measure scientific identity and values. And sure enough, when you do a simultaneous analysis of those at those variables, the big predictor was not efficacy. It was the sense of identity that I belong to this community of scientists and that the values were in alignment with my own values. Speaker 8: 29:43 What Mika and others have uncovered is that there's a big social component to persistence. You know, it doesn't take a scientific study to Intuit that negative experiences brought on by racism, by microaggressions are not going to make students feel like they belong to a scientific community. Of course, there are other factors that are important too. And that's why Mika along with other scientists studying this issue, we're invited to make recommendations to undergraduate institutions, things that they could do to mitigate the large dropout rates of underrepresented minorities. And they came up with five recommendations. So here they are recommendation one track the demographics of your students in STEM majors. How representative are they of the general population, which departments are doing best right now, this isn't happening everywhere. It's a problem because if you have a class, let's say somebody has a intro chemistry class and their retention rates are fantastic. Speaker 8: 30:53 African-Americans Latinos, native Americans. Everybody loves that class and they stay in the sciences after clearly that class is doing something right. They could be a role model to the rest of the university on how to do it. And they don't even know what's happening. They don't even know. And same way. They don't know the, the class that is totally losing everybody on to recommendation. Number two, the second piece was to create strategic partnerships with programs that create lift. There are programs around the country that have already been shown to increase the likelihood of underrepresented students graduating with STEM degrees, like the Meyerhoff program, which started 22 years ago at the university of Maryland Baltimore County, Dr. Gentry Patrick, from our last episode, he recently started a similar scholarship program and he partnered with the Meyerhoff to learn from their success. All of these programs that have shown success, they tend to have similar components like having cohort structures, having summer bridge classes, lots of focused mentorship, as well as paid research opportunities. Speaker 8: 31:58 Okay. So the third thing was to unleash the power of the curriculum. The way science is taught can lose the interest of certain students when you have an intro to science class, and there's no mention at all about how this is relevant to anything, besides learning the language of science, you're going to lose the interest of a certain demographic. And Mika says that now is as good a time as any to re-imagine what equitable curriculums could look like we're in COVID right now. And that means a lot of the universities have gone online. And this is a nasal opportunity to update your curriculum in a way that is more inclusive and is ways in which to engage students. And that brings us to the next recommendation. The fourth one was to address student resource disparities. So there's concrete elements of like some students are working full time. Speaker 8: 32:52 In addition to going to school, this is a huge barrier for some, how are students who work a full-time job supposed to compete with students who have time to focus purely on their studies? Um, some programs like Gentry's pathways to STEM provide that extra capital other schools make it possible to get work, study jobs, ensuring that students get paid for working in laboratories. And this approach can help not only by providing a job for the student, but also by providing research experience, which has been shown to increase persistence. And finally, there's step five, firing creative juices. How do we make science meaningful and joyful and creative part of this is covered in step three, a curriculum development, but some of it requires things outside of the classroom. It can mean societies or clubs where students from similar backgrounds can express themselves through science and get support by sharing common experiences. There's one group of institutions that retains black undergraduates in STEM better than anyone else. And that is historically black colleges and universities HBC use there haven't been major studies into the reason why they're so successful. So what we have to go off of is the testimonies of those who have attended HBCUs, who expressed a sense of belonging, wealth of representation, institutional support, and research opportunities. Speaker 1: 34:30 That was a clip from the latest, rad scientist episode to learn more about. What's known about retaining underrepresented minorities at later, stages of education listened to the full episode. All you have to do is search for red scientist and your favorite podcast app, or go to kpbs.org. Backslash red scientist, Arts organizations have been hit hard by the pandemic, but San Diego opera discovered that some of the lessons it learned from an earlier financial crisis have proven useful during these current challenging times KPBS arts reporter, Beth Armando Amando speaks with the operas general director, David Bennett about adapting to ever-changing guidelines for operations Speaker 9: 35:16 David, when you stepped in to help out the opera at the time when it was facing closure, I went to one of your town hall meetings. And one of the concepts that came up way back then was the idea of being nimble. So how has that played into this whole pandemic? We have a core at the Speaker 10: 35:38 Opera as a result of the near closure. We wrote new core value, mission, vision statements. And one of the core values that came about at that point was through nimble adaptation to the changing marketplace. We preserved the future of San Diego opera. That was one of our core values. Now that was really in response to, I think, a financial changing marketplace, right? The fact that we almost closed, but boy, there is not true or words that could be spoken about where we're living right now as a company, right? We were the first opera company in the United States to have to postpone or cancel performances due to COVID. So we, it hit us very early in March and then we had to postpone the rest of our season. And so since then, all we have done is think about being nimble and pivoting and trying to find ways and explore ways to produce opera that can guarantee safety. So that's paramount, artistic success is important and engaging with our community is important. Those are all wonderful things, but making sure that we can have an activity where the safety of our audience and all of our employees are, are guaranteed is really the most important. Speaker 9: 36:51 Well in opera too, you have singers who their voice is, their instrument, and the idea of getting a virus that, you know, in part in attacks, you know, your ability to breathe and use your lungs seems like a particularly intense concern for you. And when you did finally get to do a staged performance, what were some of the restrictions and kind of adaptations that you had? Speaker 10: 37:18 Well, as you mentioned, singers are sort of singing is kind of a unique activity that you have to have concerns of COVID right, because of aspirin nature and sort of the volume of activity that happens with opera singing. So space was a very important consideration and we had a lot of going back and forth with the union that represents singers, American Guild of musical artists. And one of the protocols that they established was for an outdoor performance, which we did each singer had to have 120 square feet of their own space. And you couldn't encroach in this space of another singer. So that was a challenge. And that was defined by 15 feet in front of your mouth and the next singer, and then four feet on the side. So of course, if the singer turned, then you had to increase that base of 15 feet. Speaker 10: 38:06 That was a challenge. And as you know, a lot of the storytelling of opera is with actors, singers being very close to each other. KJ Lita Manina is in of wham when Rodolfo feels the hand of a Mimi for the first time and says, your hand is cold. Your tiny hand is cold, which is a foreshadowing of course, knowing that we need will die at the end, but it's sort of hard to have Rodolfo Mimi hold hands when they need to be 120 square feet apart. So had to come up with some creative solutions to make sure we told the story of labile whim within the constraints of safety Speaker 9: 38:42 And talk a little bit about how you've adapted. Um, you guys have come up with a couple of different kind of solutions. So what have you learned through this pandemic and what kind of opportunities are you seeing for having some sort of opera performance and community for them? Speaker 10: 39:02 Well, clearly San Diego, we have some advantages in San Diego that other places don't have and it's our climate, right? So outdoor activity is much safer than indoor activity. We know that, I mean, that's been proven everywhere and our climate here allows us to have outdoor activity for a longer period of time than other cities. So that's our first sort of big learning experiment, I would say. And it's taught us that we need to be producing outdoors more than we have in our past. So I think that will be something we'll continue to look at post COVID right now, in terms of safety, our audiences confined to their cars. That's really the only kind of performance with a live audience that is permitted. I think the next step will be once we have some vaccine in making its way through our community will be outdoor performances with a live audience outside of cars and spaced, and then we will get back into the theaters. So there's still more learning to do with what kinds of activities that we'll be able to be outdoors outside of cars. And I think that's going to be our next step. Speaker 9: 40:06 Now, I also remember from that town hall meeting, that one of the things you were exploring at that point were some really interesting outdoor venues. Speaker 10: 40:15 If you remember, I threw up a picture of Mount helix because, you know, and that was just something that I was fascinated by, by seeing that gorgeous, then you that's sitting on top of Mount helix and I thought, wouldn't that be a great place to do a performance? Well, maybe it's time for us to start thinking about that again. And of course the proximity we have to the ocean of finding some way to get an audience and performers near the ocean for a performance would be magical. So, so challenges can give you a lot of opportunities. Let's put it that way. Speaker 9: 40:44 Now, another thing that's very challenging for a company during the pandemic is that the rules are constantly changing based on how many COVID cases we have. And how do you kind of plan for the fact that you can't really plan all that securely for what you want to do. Speaker 10: 41:04 Time horizon for planning is much shorter. And that means our commitments to contracting artists and, you know, just making the sort of finality is also much closer to the performance date, but that's the world that we live in. I will say most organizations are not actually hiring artists right now. So it's a little bit of an ongoing conversation with the people that we intend to engage, to say, it's going to be a tighter timeline of whether we're able to make a commitment or not. Right. Uh, as a matter of fact, the LABA wham, we didn't actually know where we were going to be able to do LABA lamb until about a month before we started doing rehearsals. Again, we typically hire contract singers 24 to 36 months in advance. It's a whole nother world right now. Speaker 9: 41:49 How is it for an arts organization financially in these times because you obviously can't generate the same kind of income you had when you were charging for live performances. Speaker 10: 41:59 Correct. So I'll use Boaz as an example. My goal, which I shared with the staff is that we reduce the production expenses to virtually the same level as we did revenue. So the impact on us as a company and particularly on our cashflow would be almost the same as had we done it at the civic theater. Now we didn't quite make that because it needed to be within the realm of that. But what we did find was that we had some new sponsorship opportunities that came to us because we were doing something outdoors that really reached the whole community in a way that it didn't, if we did it at the civic theater. So some of that was offset by new sources of contributions. Funnily enough, you may know, as a nonprofit, every time we open our doors and we put on a production, we lose money because we never raise enough in ticket revenue to cover all the costs. That's why we're a nonprofit, right? So if you're getting rid of the production expenses and you're getting rid of the revenue, you can exist for a little while, but how long you can be an opera company that's not producing opera and still stay in business is the big challenge. So luckily we're staying very close with all of our patrons. We have a lot of online, online activity and people are being generous right now. So we're feeling good for the time being, Speaker 9: 43:19 Was the opera able to sustain itself in terms of, did you have to lay people off? Have you been able to keep your full staff? Speaker 10: 43:28 You know, we've been very lucky because we haven't had the furlough or lay anyone off. We did receive the PPP funds that came through during the summer, which helped us retain employees, but we've still been in a situation that we haven't had to do that, which has been terrific. Speaker 9: 43:43 All right. Well, I want to thank you very much for talking about pivoting in the pandemic Speaker 10: 43:48 That where we all live right now, being comfortable with pivoting is I think a lesson for all of us Speaker 3: 44:03 [inaudible] Speaker 9: 44:05 Was about Dr. Mondo speaking with San Diego operas, David Bennett go to SD ahpra.org for the latest updates about upcoming events and performances. Speaker 3: 45:57 [inaudible].