San Diegans Respond To Mass Shooting Involving Women Of Asian Descent

Speaker 1: 00:00 Shootings in Atlanta, feed fears and sorrow and San Diego's Asian American community. Speaker 2: 00:06 I wish I could say that I'm shocked, but I'm not. Speaker 1: 00:09 I'm Maureen Cavenaugh with Jade Hyman. This is KPBS mid-day edition. Yeah. Speaker 3: 00:13 Yeah. Speaker 1: 00:24 The pandemic toll on small businesses is being felt throughout San Diego. Speaker 3: 00:29 So they have very few Speaker 2: 00:31 And in a sense, they have to try to survive as much as they can. Speaker 1: 00:35 The creative ways San Diego arts community has worked to survive the pandemic. And two filmmakers talk about taking the spotlight at the San Diego Latino film festival. That's ahead on midday edition. Speaker 1: 01:01 The repercussions of a shooting rampage in Atlanta yesterday are being felt in Asian-American communities across the us. Eight people died in attacks on three spas in the area. Six of the victims are women of Asian descent. A suspect is in custody and authorities say the 21 year old white male being held for the shootings claims. They were not motivated by race, but after a year of increasing harassment and violence directed toward the Asian community, many in that community say they've had enough. Joining me is Kerryn Mokapu guy, a member of the California commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American affairs and the board of the San Diego API coalition and Corinne. Thank you so much for speaking with us. Speaker 2: 01:48 Thank you for having me. Speaker 1: 01:50 I ask about your reaction when you heard about this shooting rampage Speaker 2: 01:56 Grief. It, it Siemens grief like so many of us, we have so much to grieve in this time of pandemic. Uh, we have much degree of in terms of the rise in attacks against Asian Pacific Islander people. Um, but the killings yesterday just brought more overwhelming grief. And I wish I could say that I'm shocked, but I'm not, which makes the response even worse. Um, so it's a lot of grief and mourning that we're seeing across the country. At the moment Speaker 1: 02:31 We have previously covered the increased fear in San Diego's Asian American community over the past months, can you remind us of the types of racially motivated incidents that have occurred? Speaker 2: 02:44 Absolutely. So they send you a little Asian Pacific Islander coalition. We have partnered with stop AAP. I hate it is a reporting and documentation effort to provide people with API to send to who believed that they have been attacked, assaulted, or harassed because of their appearance and their race. It gives them the Avenue to report these incidences. The range of attacks we have seen locally have been anywhere from I'll give you a few examples. There is a 75 year old woman who is Japanese American, who actually survived being in the world war two in terming camps. And recently she was verbally assaulted by someone who told her it's your fault. We have COVID. Speaker 2: 03:47 So that is one example. Another example we have learned of recently, who's actually a dear friend of mine. Her name is Donalene Ferrera. She gave me permission to share her name. She is a 40 year old nurse and she was walking in the San Marcus area with her 60 plus year old mother, her 17 year old daughter. And they were just taking a family stroll. When people who were driving by actually stopped their car, got out of the car, started screaming at them, blaming them for Corona virus, blaming them for everything happening with the pandemic. And they even attempted to attack her 17 year old daughter. Um, so those are just two of the examples that we're hearing. It's everything from verbal assault, um, uh, someone was spit on in their car. Um, we're hearing all kinds of incidences that, that unfortunately are rising and have been rising in the past year. Speaker 1: 04:54 How has this threat of violence changed life for Asian American individuals and families in San Diego? Speaker 2: 05:02 Unfortunately, racism against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is not new. However, we are seeing a rise in it because of the rhetoric that we're, that we have heard from decision makers and leaders calling it the Chinese flu and attributing blame to Asian communities. Collectively, we are seeing a concern. Uh, we are seeing a call for our electives, our leaders, to recognize these incidences of hate. We actually have data that is backed up by stop AAPI hate who had been gracious to provide us with regional data. We know that between March to the end of December, 2020, we had 42 incidences of attacks in San Diego alone. And has that Speaker 1: 05:58 Actually changed the way people live? The threat of those attacks, has that changed the way families go out? The time individuals go out? Has it changed lifestyles that you're aware of Speaker 2: 06:10 We're in a pandemic? So I don't, I think what's important is that our communities don't resort to living in fear, we are hoping to form some kind of crisis response, some kind of resource response to folks who feel that their safety may be in jeopardy though. It's conversations are happening. However, I would hope that as a community, we are not going to give into fear and we instead are going to be heartened and lean on the support, the outpouring of support that we are receiving, not just from the Asian Pacific Islander community, but other communities as well. So in terms of lifestyle changes, I think people are being a little bit more cautious. We're wanting to make sure that our elders are not in places by themselves, um, in the evening or really any time. So that is part of our conversation is how can we support those communities who are vulnerable and how can we make sure we're centering them and their wellbeing Speaker 1: 07:21 Authorities in Atlanta, including the mayor there say, it's unclear right now, if the suspect who allegedly murdered these eight people was racially motivated. They say he may have had a sexual motive for the crimes. How convincing is that to you? Speaker 2: 07:37 The fact there's a majority of these people killed were Asian women. Even if there was some kind of sexual motivation, it doesn't change the fact that they are Brown women and frankly, you cannot separate sexual violence, violence against women violence against Brown and black people. It is interconnected. Speaker 1: 07:59 Are you hearing from Asian-American advocates in Atlanta? Speaker 2: 08:02 They're asking that we allow them time to grieve. They are asking that we keep the families of the victims and the communities there from respecting their boundaries and their privacies. They are asking specifically about, we all advocate for crisis response, increase access to healthcare, mental health care, um, public safety. Those are their asks at the moment. Uh, much of that also has to do with advocacy around understanding and lifting up Asian Pacific Islander voices. And this narrative that there are racially motivated attacks happening. Atlanta is the most severe painful, recent example, but these are incidences that have been happening all over the country and need to be taken Speaker 4: 08:56 Seriously. Speaker 1: 08:58 I've been speaking with Kerryn Mokapu poo guy, a member of the California commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American affairs and on the board of the San Diego API coalition. Corinne, thank you so much. Thank you. Speaker 4: 09:19 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 09:22 Many San Diego businesses and their employees are celebrating the fact that San Diego has moved from the purple into the red COVID tier restaurants, gyms movie theaters shops in malls can reopen or increase their capacity indoors. But despite the good news for many small businesses, the damage has already been done as part of our series pandemic life. One year on KPBS, investigative reporter, Claire triglyceride tells us about the devastating toll the pandemic has had on small businesses. She says their closures mean lost jobs, lost family wealth and afraid community fabric. Speaker 5: 10:01 My grandfather started it in 1941. Uh, and those days it was a small appliance store where he sold radios and photographic records and all kinds of small appliances, Speaker 4: 10:13 A and B sporting goods had been in Greg [inaudible] family for 80, Speaker 5: 10:18 And, uh, I've worked there for 40 years. So I was, I think 22, when I started working there, Speaker 4: 10:25 The store was in good shape heading into 2020. It had orders from youth sports teams, including the entire North park, literally, Speaker 5: 10:33 And then the, uh, pandemic hit. And I knew I was in trouble immediately. I, uh, they, the local little league played one game and then canceled the rest of the season. All the high school sports were closed. And, um, I knew I was in trouble and, uh, but I tried to keep a positive attitude and worked my way through it. But, uh, you know, I knew that, that I was going to have to make a difficult decision and I waited all the way till the end of the year to, you know, make the decision that I needed to make Speaker 4: 11:12 January. He closed a and B's doors stories like show losses have become all too familiar during San Diego county's pandemic year thousands of closed for good, well, countless others are barely holding on as they ride a roller coaster of openings and closings. COVID nineteens final toll on San Diego's economy will take years to calculate. It says Eduardo Velasquez, the research director at the San Diego regional economic development corporation. It may very well be that we won't actually for a long period of time, really how big the impact has been in terms of the permanent firm closures and the true job losses associated with that. But he says a few trends are already clear. Retail and hospitality will be impacted the most and small businesses are more likely to fall into those sectors. Typical, small business really only has about 14 or 15 days of cash on hand to cover their operations. Speaker 4: 12:13 So what that means is is if they have to shut their doors or stop serving their customers for more than two weeks, they burned through all their, their cash reserves. And all of a sudden they're behind on every bill that they pay. This of course means massive job losses. Since February 20, 2,580 businesses have notified the San Diego workforce partnership of layoffs or furloughs accounting for 90,000 employees in a typical year, the partnership receives 100 to 150 such notices. And the closure of businesses goes beyond the financial impact, says Rachel fallen the nonprofits director of business services. It's not only a financial impact, but it's a relationship and sort of emotional, very emotional decision for them about, um, having to consider potentially sacrificing certain things on the family side of the business. Um, and there've been quite a few business owners who have made significant personal investment back into their business to keep it running. That's true. Uh, Veronica Densi who owns the massage business, NOLA San Diego in the East village. Speaker 6: 13:23 So using my disability, I'm a, I'm a disabled veteran, right? So using my disability to try to pad, you know, just so that I wasn't like $20,000 in back rent, you know, um, because I had the hope of being able to open back up one day and I'm doing that. I can't lie. I was dying a little Lucite every time I wrote that check because I was wondering if I was throwing this money away. And, um, I didn't even know if we would ever open again. And then, um, it got to a point where maybe once or twice I had to like dip into like my kid's college fund, I've got three daughters, you know, and I had to dip into their college fund a little bit and I'm just like, okay, well this has to stop. Um, because I can't bankrupt my family with no other answers. Speaker 4: 14:19 And Myra Bella strata who owns El Toro grill Taqueria in city Heights, she says, she's barely holding on, but wants to keep the business to pass on torture Speaker 7: 14:30 Children so they can move up with the best ideas and they can continue. And having something doesn't mean that they have to, uh, be in the restaurant all the time. And I get in a career, you know, but they have something already, so they can start, you know, family businesses are a big source Speaker 4: 14:49 Of generational wealth, particularly for immigrants and ethnic minorities says Juan Pablo Pardo Guerrera and associate professor of sociology at UC San Diego Speaker 8: 15:01 Better at spanning local networks. So they're better at communicating with people inside the neighborhoods, for example, and attracting customers on the basis of the connections that families have made. And they do not require massive capital investments. So part of the, the advantages of small businesses is that they become assets. Um, and they can be passed on to other generations at as assets. There's not the same as what employment you can sort of leave your job to your kids. Speaker 4: 15:31 And Lake was so many of the ills brought by the pandemic. Businesses owned by people of color have suffered disproportionately a nationwide study found that since the onset of the pandemic black and Latino business ownership dropped by 41% and 32% respectively, meanwhile, white business ownership dropped by 17% Speaker 8: 15:54 Businesses owned by, uh, minorities tend to have less resources. So in a moment of crisis, they're less likely to survive Speaker 4: 16:03 Businesses like a strata city Heights restaurant close. The impact on the neighborhood goes far beyond the services they provide of Guerra said, Speaker 8: 16:12 So this is something that will and can possibly fundamentally reshape the way we experienced the city neighborhoods that have more small businesses that are owned by black and Hispanic owners. We'll likely see more businesses that fail because of how the crisis is affecting them. And that means less revenue generation in those particular neighborhoods. It means less services for people who live in those neighborhoods, also less availability of local employment and all these negative economic outcomes in the long run translate into or lead to, um, sort of worse educational outcomes, worse career prospects, Speaker 4: 16:53 The pandemic, and its massive upheaval of small businesses should be a wake-up call and a chance for regional leaders to show they value. Those businesses says and Rica, Gundry, uh, the director of the city Heights business association. Speaker 8: 17:08 We want dynamic communities with many different types of businesses. Um, we, we tend to forget that small businesses are the biggest employer in this country by far than any other corporation. And so we can't ignore them. We need to support them Speaker 4: 17:28 First loss, the owner of AB sporting goods it's too late. He was unable to get a PPP loan because he didn't have any employees. And while he got $3,000 in a city, small business grant that covered less than one month's expenses, his store in North park now sits vacant and he's left wondering what to do Speaker 5: 17:50 Next. I, uh, thought that I would feel much differently than I do now. I thought that I would feel like there's a huge, uh, weight being lifted off of my shoulders and it has been financially, but as far as, um, knowing what's next for me, I'm still, I feel like I'm floating around in a boat to a certain extent because I'm a routine oriented person. I went to the store every day at seven 30 in the morning for 40 years. So that's, um, that's a difficult, um, routine to, um, you know, to stop all of a sudden clear trigger, Speaker 8: 18:29 Sir, KPBS news, Speaker 1: 18:32 Joining me to continue the discussion about the impact of the COVID pandemic on small businesses is one Pablo part of Guera, professor of sociology at UC San Diego and professor, welcome to the program. Speaker 8: 18:45 Thank you very much, Maureen. Speaker 1: 18:47 Now we heard you comment in the report about how family businesses are a reliable way to acquire generational family wealth. Can you tell us more about that? Speaker 8: 18:59 So one of the characteristics of a small family businesses is that they don't require huge investments to start and they can actually be very small and modest businesses that overtime and by creating a customer base can grow organically and in doing so, uh, accumulate wealth for the, the owners of the business and in particular, the families that are associated to those businesses. Um, and of course they also create, uh, employment locally, which is important, uh, to the city and in doing so also create more opportunities for wealth generation in the long run, Speaker 1: 19:43 Many immigrants to this country start or acquire a small business. Why is that a frequent starting point for people new to the country? Speaker 8: 19:52 That's a really interesting question. And I think that part of it has to do with the fact that entering the employment market or the labor market as an employee is more difficult or people who have experience outside of the United States and credentials that are not from the United States. So for them, it's easier to start something from scratch. They have more control over what they're doing, their sort of future in terms of their business plans and the way that they are presenting themselves to customers and other businesses. Speaker 1: 20:29 So when something like the pandemic comes along, closing these livelihoods for people, what options are left open. Speaker 8: 20:37 So actually that's one of the problems because there are very few options. Um, most of the people who depend on small businesses, particularly those that have less than a million dollars in annual revenue, uh, have no source of additional income, of course, where they contraction of the economy in general finding employment, uh, in other organizations or firms is more difficult. So they have very few options. And in a sense, they have to try to survive as much as they can, the period of crisis, even though on average, they have less resources than larger firms and better capitalized businesses. Speaker 1: 21:19 Have we seen society having this kind of disruption to small businesses before maybe during the great depression? Speaker 8: 21:27 Uh, certainly the great depression is a great parallel. And actually the lessons that we have from the great depression in terms of eight direct and forceful intervention in the economy are important because those allowed for businesses to recuperate some of the losses that they had, some of the spaces and opportunities that they missed because of the depression and to start producing again, wealth and we activating, or we starting the economy. Speaker 1: 21:55 Now we heard that the pandemic lockdowns and business closures have hit minority owned businesses the hardest. Can you give us an idea? What does that look like in the neighborhoods involved? Speaker 8: 22:08 One of the issues or one of the facets of this is that people try to sometimes hustle for a living. And, um, I'm in one of those neighborhoods. And what I've seen lately is that our neighbors and friends in our particular neighborhood have tried to find alternative small side hustles or gigs in order to make ends meet. And this is a great because it's entrepreneurial-ism, but at the same time, it's very precarious and very risky because they don't know where their next paycheck will come from, or indeed how they will pay the bills at the end of the month. So this is generating more anxiety and more precarity and amplifying many of the inequalities that we had seen before the crisis because of the uncertainty that it introduced in particular for these small businesses. Speaker 1: 23:07 You mentioned that the government in, during the great depression had a massive influx of, of programs and, and resources to try to kickstart the economy and small business, what do you think the government should do now? Do you think Biden's relief packages enough? Speaker 8: 23:24 Well, I, I indeed think that the package is a tremendously good start. It's a good way to reactivate the economy after this, uh, period of crisis and economic downturn. At the same time, we are still facing long standing and qualities that have to be addressed by systemic interventions, uh, beyond the pandemic. And can you give us an example of what that would be? One of the strategies there of course is trying to tackle or target aid and targets, um, funding to businesses that are historically disproportionately affected by both inequalities and the economy and structural inequalities in society and in particular by this pandemic. Yeah. Speaker 9: 24:11 Now that we are out of the most restrictive lockdown, businesses can start reopening. How would you encourage people to support small businesses? Would it be like heading to the local hardware store instead of home Depot, things like that? Speaker 8: 24:26 So, yes, completely. One of the strategies is, um, trying to support your local businesses because those are at the end of the day, the ones that will create both employment and better conditions in your community. So indeed if you have the option between going to home Depot and your local hardware store, go with the one that is closest to you, and that is closest to your community. I've been speaking with Juan Pablo, Speaker 9: 24:54 Kara professor of sociology at UC San Diego. Thank you so much for you Speaker 8: 24:58 Joining us. Thank you. Speaker 9: 25:13 You're listening to KPBS midday edition. I'm Jade Heintzman with Maureen Kavanaugh. As we continue to learn more about the Corona virus, how it transmits and how it mutates. There are still many questions about what happens to the human body during an infection, from inflammation to blood clotting, the symptoms affect people in various ways. It's something researchers are still learning about. Joining me is Dr. Michelle Ritter and infectious disease specialist with UC San Diego health. Dr. Ritter, Speaker 10: 25:44 Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. Speaker 9: 25:46 When COVID-19 first emerged, many researchers believed the Corona virus caused a respiratory infection that could result in permanent lung scarring. Since then though, we've, we've seen other serious long-term side effects stemming from COVID infections. How much has our understanding of how this virus impacts the body during infection changed? Since then? Speaker 10: 26:08 I think the difficulty is we still don't know a lot as we've followed more and more patients. We started to see what symptoms patients can develop and which ones seem to last a little longer. I will say that what we've realized is that this virus seems to affect many more parts of the body. Then just the lungs, um, neurologic, um, uh, heart issues all over the body. We can see symptoms. And I think what's got to be known is how, uh, how many long-term sequella will happen in, in each organ area. Um, and, and how much the virus is doing. How much is it just from recovering from the illness? It's a little hard to know this point. You mentioned Speaker 9: 26:44 Long-term sequentially. Explain that. What is it? Speaker 10: 26:47 So we've been following patients since March with COVID and what we find is that, first of all, it behaves very differently in different people. Some people get no symptoms, some get very mild, some get one set of symptoms and others, another. And so the illness itself is incredibly variable. And then the other thing we find is how quickly people recover is, is very variable as well. So there are some people who at the end of their 10 days of isolation feel great, but there are a lot who don't feel quite like themselves yet. And, um, there's different symptoms that may linger in that. And some are fatigue, brain fog. We have patients then who also have pulmonary issues that linger a long time, a cough that doesn't seem to want to go away or shortness of breath that seems to linger longer than usual. And a lot of times we see these symptoms with normal imaging. Speaker 10: 27:36 So it's a little bit hard to pinpoint what is causing these ongoing symptoms. Um, more rarely we have issues with the neurologic symptom, um, system. We've had patients who have certain neurologic issues. Definitely those are a whole lot more rare to come by, um, but then cardiac issues as well. So I think what's difficult is that, um, whether or not someone has long-term sequella is, is unknown, um, when they first have their illness and what type of long-term sequella. And what we're trying to understand is what's causing these, um, and how to treat people, because at times it may be that some of the symptoms are not things that we're going to have a magic pill to get rid of. It's going to be, how do we help these patients cope, help them, um, do what they can to recover and regain their lives. Um, if they're the ones who happen to be unlucky enough to have these lingering system symptoms Speaker 9: 28:25 And, you know, everyone is different, but for the most part, the virus is still the same. So why do you think it affects people in such different ways during an active infection? Speaker 10: 28:35 So we're still trying to figure that out. I mean, the things we do know is that older patients definitely seem to get hit harder than younger patients. It's kind of amazing. And, and maybe as a parent, one of the few lucky things about COVID is that while I worry about my mother and, um, grandparents, I don't have to worry quite as much about my kids in general. Now there's definitely exceptions, but age definitely seems to correlate with severity of illness. Um, and, and again, these longterm sequelae as well. Um, and then after that medical problems, so there are certainly high risk medical problems associated with having more severe disease, such as, um, being significantly overweight, having a BMI greater than 35 diabetes immunosuppression. So, so we have an idea that certain medical problems in age definitely affect how someone responds to COVID, but some of it just seems to be bad luck. Speaker 10: 29:25 Um, it, it, it seems that way now, will we find over time that there is some sort of marker, some sort of genetic factor that, that causes one person to be sicker than others, perhaps there's also the thought that perhaps the load of virus, someone is exposed to, or the inoculum can affect how sick they get. And that's part of why we promote the use of masks, because the idea is maybe if you're exposed to a smaller inoculum, your chances of being at asymptomatic is higher as well. So I think there's a lot of known. We have some knowledge, but to completely understand why there's such differences and how it behaves. We just don't know yet. Speaker 9: 30:02 And while there's still a lot that we don't know, um, can you talk about how much of a challenge that's been in terms of finding treatments for people during their infection? Speaker 10: 30:13 Yeah, I think it is hard to know. I think, uh, for us, um, we've had a few treatments that have shown promise, um, uh, during the hospital for quite a while now, there's, um, medications like rum, desert veer, and steroids like dexamethazone. And then, uh, another medication bear sitting there is being studied a lot in the outpatient setting. We've had some really good success with monoclonal antibodies, but currently the monoclonal antibodies are just being used in the high risk patients, not in everybody and the medications in the hospital are used only if you're severely ill enough. So we still have that group who doesn't quite meet the criteria who still are getting sick. If we could pinpoint further, um, what makes one person gets sicker over the other and, and, and find a way to prevent that cascade, whatever it is that puts that person into, um, the amount of inflammation that causes such severe disease, that would be ideal. Speaker 10: 31:06 And there are a lot of studies looking at these different pathways and, and where we could perhaps kind of stop the cycle, stop people from getting sicker. I feel like we've made some headway in terms of the monoclonal antibodies, um, but there's still a long way to go. And, and I think we don't completely understand what pushes someone from just having that acute illness to moving into this long-term sequelae. And that's a huge question. What is it that causes some people to recover quickly and be done with COVID and those other ones that are going months still with symptoms and not quite able to get back to working and get back to their lives like they'd like to, and I don't think we know yet, but there's certainly is a lot of research ongoing, which is wonderful. Speaker 9: 31:46 Our ability to treat active cases of COVID-19 changed a great deal from when this pandemic first began. Speaker 10: 31:52 I think so well not videos is significantly is with light, I will say, um, as an outpatient physician. So as a physician who generally is seeing the patients who are recovering at home from COVID-19, we've seen a significant difference since the, um, initiation of monoclonal antibody therapy. Um, we've found that if we give it to some of the high risk patients who generally we would have been very concerned would have ended up in the hospital, the ICU just based on their medical problems and their age. Um, we found with monoclonal antibodies, we've had many of them do very well. Um, and, uh, something we are studying ourselves right now, um, and across the country, everybody's looking more closely at that. That for me, has changed my ability to treat outpatients. Um, and I've been very with that now, currently, not everybody has access to the monoclonal antibodies. Speaker 10: 32:44 Um, it's, they've not been studied long enough for everyone to embrace them either. Um, the infectious disease society of America still does not recommend routine use of them. And so we still are not at a point where we have a clear treatment. Um, but just for myself, I feel like that's given me some hope, um, and the inpatient treatments as well. Sometimes they seem to be effective. And then we have patients where they just still get horribly ill with, with those medications being given. We certainly do not have a magic bullet. We certainly do not have a perfect treatment for it right now. Um, but there's been some improvements that I've seen that it has made me feel better. And I think the biggest thing is just our knowledge that prevention can be the best treatment, meaning if we can just prevent infections, get people back sedated. So having the vaccine available has also changed kind of our faith and our ability to handle this, this illness. Um, but it's too bad there isn't the perfect treatment quite yet, Speaker 9: 33:37 A year into this pandemic. What is the biggest mystery to the medical community? Speaker 10: 33:43 I think part of it is understanding why this virus behaves so differently in different people. That's a big mystery still. That's not completely understood. Um, I think, you know, and another big difficulty is what's going to happen going forward, especially with these variants. Is this going to be a virus that's going to stay with us for years to come? Is this going to be like an influenza where every year there's certain variants that appear, and we're going to need a new booster of a vaccine. Um, when are we going to reach that point where we really feel safe getting back to our normal meaning, not wearing masks everywhere, hugging people like we used to when you walk down the street and run into them. All of that I think is the big unknown. I think especially as of today, I would say for, for us in our clinic, trying to decide what's going to happen with COVID because our, um, our work is dependent on how many cases there are. Speaker 10: 34:37 And right now it's quiet as can be. So we're waiting to see what happens with these variants. Are they going to start spreading, are we going to end up with another surge just because of these variants and that is really unknown right now. So, um, I think while a year ago, I, would've never predicted we would be in the same state that we are right now. Um, I think the hope is we won't have this continue, that we really have reached this point where things are significantly improved and we can move on with our lives, but I don't think we know yet. And I wish we did, but we're not quite there yet. Speaker 9: 35:12 Generally, you know, many health experts have caution that even though COVID can be asymptomatic, that doesn't mean that the body will be completely unaffected. What are some of the ways that you've seen this, these asymptomatic cases affect patients? Speaker 10: 35:26 So, I mean, there's been very few cases, but I we've had some extreme ones in terms of someone who, when they had their acute illness really had no symptoms or very mild symptoms. And then later on had kind of a post-inflammatory sequella meaning their body's immune response to the virus while it wasn't, um, very strong during the illness itself after recovery, their immune system kind of went off kilter and caused a disease. And the most severe, I think I saw was a, um, a young gal in her twenties who, um, had COVID 19 and, um, ended up, um, getting particularly, uh, at the time barely had any symptoms. And so she wasn't, um, she didn't even seek treatment, um, but got tested and was positive. And then months later started to notice weakness in one of her legs. And so was evaluated by neurology, had an MRI showing multiple brain lesions and after biopsy, um, was found to have a vasculitis that was felt to possibly be a post-infectious vasculitis and meaning that her body's response to the virus at the time was mild. Speaker 10: 36:32 But afterwards her immune system's reaction was to cause this inflammation of the blood vessels in her brain. Um, so she's been treated with medications that turned down the immune system, um, to cause some immunosuppression and we'll be on those for quite some time and is doing very well. But that to me was one of those examples of, um, a patient who not only was asymptomatic or barely symptomatic, I should say. Um, but very young was right in that age range that generally we tend not to worry about someone in their twenties, otherwise healthy, um, you know, not obese. We usually don't think of severe disease, but it reaching the point where she needed a brain biopsy and was told for a while she might have brain cancer. And then it ended up being this likely this post COVID, um, uh, neurologic sequelae was, was pretty impressive. Speaker 10: 37:19 So it happens, I would say it's definitely rare. It's definitely the exception, but it is possible. And that's scary because, um, if you're someone who thinks that, you know, even if I get sick, I'm young, I'm healthy. I won't get that sick. I can go on this vacation. I can hop on that airplane. Maybe I don't need to wear a mask because I'll be fine when you have these cases where maybe you'll be fine in the short term, but there could be a long-term problem that comes up that comes up from this. That's kind of scary. And I think it's important to understand that when we make behavioral, you know, um, decisions about what we're going to do, um, how safe we want to be with our behaviors. Cause COVID no one's immune to the effects of COVID unfortunately, Speaker 4: 38:02 Is that a concern that you have for children too? It is. Speaker 10: 38:05 I think for myself, um, I mean, NISC is a perfect example. There are most kids, you know, get very mild disease, so, you know, asymptomatic, but there's that handful who don't, who that have problems afterwards. And I think definitely, um, you know, when you look in terms of numbers, my concern is not quite as high to the point where, um, you know, I'm panicked all day long, but I certainly will not have my kids hanging out with anybody without masks. Um, you know, there's reasons to be careful. We can't completely let our guard down. Um, but I think these are still the exceptions. Um, but I think in a more importantly, when you're looking at young people and being careful, um, I think the main thing we have to realize is that the risk is not just to the individual in terms of getting COVID. Speaker 10: 38:52 The risk is to the whole population, to our whole community. So even if a child doesn't get very sick, even if they don't get at my FC, even if they recover quickly and it's no big deal that transmission that they have could have led to transmission of someone older and with more medical problems who could get horribly sick or even die from COVID. And so I think, you know, our attitude towards it has to be careful, not just, you know, for our concerns for ourselves or our kids, but just for everybody, you never know who that person is going to be. Who gets, um, has the bad luck. If you want to call it bad luck of getting severe disease or having it longterm sequella and, and you don't want to reset for family and you don't want to risk that for others. And that's why we have to be so careful. Speaker 1: 39:34 I know we call this a Corona virus, but this really isn't behaving or affecting people like any other coronavirus we've seen. Speaker 10: 39:41 No, and I, again, I, the best example to compare it to is, is influenza where we have lots of influenza strains that we've seen before that our bodies are used to, and we get sick, but not that sick, but if you get an influenza spread from a bird, let's say, so, you know, another species, it's a whole new ball game. And it really comes from the fact that they're so different, um, from the viruses we are used to. So this COVID 19 is so different from our usual Corona viruses, which cause just the common cold generally. Um, and it's just in it's makeup, it's so different. And so our bodies do not know how to process it the same way. And so the amount of inflammation, some of us, um, that results in some of these patients is, is severe. So it really is, you know, it'd be lovely if it was closer to our usual coronavirus, but it's just not. And this is something that infectious disease doctors know of and kind of have worried about long time. It's this moving from one group of animals to the humans that can really cause these more severe illnesses. Speaker 1: 40:44 I've been speaking with Dr. Michelle Ritter and infectious disease specialist at UC San Diego health. Dr. Ritter, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. The last 12 months in San Diego was spent mostly not going out. People didn't go to museums or galleries. We didn't see plays or live music for would be audience members. It was difficult, but for many, it meant a complete upheaval of their livelihood, KPBS arts editor and producer, Julia Dickson Evans spoke with organizations across the County about how they were affected by the pandemic and what they are anticipating going forward. Here's Julia COVID 19 has the lives of over Speaker 11: 41:34 Half a million Americans, 3,462 were San Diego wins and more lives will be lost. The San Diego art world shouldered a lot of impact from the pandemic, including the grief. Barry Edelstein is the artistic director at the old globe. He reflected on the loss. Speaker 12: 41:55 The virus hit our family. The virus took artists from us in the American theater. The virus took the great Larry bossa. One of the great advocates for the arts in San Diego. The virus took members of families, of globe staff members and families of globe artists. So, um, there's been a sort of sense of grief of just the sheer human toll of this terrible pandemic Speaker 11: 42:22 In an effort to decrease the number of people sickened or killed by the virus. School was moved online. Restaurants were asked to only offer takeout, theme parks, movie theaters, museums, and music venues were closed and in-person shows and events were canceled. Speaker 13: 42:40 Hi, my name is Tim Mays. I'm uh, the owner and founder, one of the founders of the Casbah also a partner of the soda bar. So when this first started in April, March, April, the first two months were spent canceling shows, rescheduling shows, cause everybody thought by, you know, last summer things would be okay, how, how could, how long could this last? I had a bunch of shows booked in late may then I thought, okay, we'll be good. By late may Memorial day weekend is going to be huge. You know, and obviously that wasn't the case. I've got some shows that I've probably rescheduled three or four times, Speaker 11: 43:16 But like the rest of the art world, Tim Mays, and the Casbah adapted, they started streaming live music from the venue. Something that may continue once in-person shows are again allowed before the pandemic, the San Diego museum of art had already begun focusing on its digital efforts, but the closure of the museum sped up and increase the museums, virtual presence. Something that of Alaska is the executive director and CEO of the San Diego museum of art says isn't going away. Speaker 14: 43:47 It has really broadened the capacity, the accessibility to different audiences. So there is obviously a silver line and there's a piece that also, um, has, uh, taught us. So we're not changing. Now. We will not get back to only physical spaces. We know we have to continue providing this virtual platform. And as I like to say, they will be two avenues that run in a parallel way Speaker 11: 44:15 Throughout the pandemic. Businesses have had to respond to state orders on when and how they could be open. That was also the case for museums. The San Diego museum of art we opened in September and was open for two and a half months before closing. Again, we don't, it is Speaker 14: 44:32 Absolutely fundamental to open the doors of a museum. We think it has been a mistake in a way, right, to keep them closed for so long because people do need a response, right? And the soul gets nurture with the art. We know that art matters, but art in this moments of crisis and, uh, helps responding many of the quandaries and questions that appear in our brains. Speaker 11: 45:00 The pandemic moved us outside and that included the arts. The front made that transition by painting five murals outside of its gallery and projecting a photography exhibit on its outside walls. Speaker 15: 45:13 We were able to bring art to the streets and why not give some hope to the people and something to look at and some something to, to feel proud of in the community of Sunday CDOT, that was very hard hit. My dependence Speaker 11: 45:30 Francisco Morales says he was able to experience a sense of being back to normal with appointment viewings and in November at a gallery opening with a small group of people, Speaker 15: 45:40 You just go inside to see the exhibition. And then we were outside because we had the projection on the facade and the general feeling was happiness of being together. And everybody feeling safe, everybody wearing masks, everybody keeping their distance, but we were able to have some kind of social, um, moment and felt really good, really, really good, because that was before the last, very strong, loud, down in the holidays in December in January. So I think that kept us alive in a sense that the spiritually, you know, satisfied for a while, Speaker 11: 46:20 When things reopen, it will be a new normal and the longterm financial impact on surviving organizations and the loss of those that couldn't make it through is yet to be seen. The Casbah is Tim Mays is working with the San Diego independent venue association, part of the national movement to fight for relief for event venues. Speaker 13: 46:42 There is the shuttered venue operators grant. That is part of the bill that passed in late December. And we've been waiting patiently for them to roll out the application process for that it's being administered by the SBA and they have yet to release an application. So it passed like December 27th. Here we are mid, mid March Speaker 11: 47:05 With San Diego County now entering the red tier many museums, including those in Bubba park. Like the San Diego museum of art have announced reopening dates that for some begin this week, performing arts organizations continue to think about when and how they'll fully reopen for the globe. They're hopeful that their existing outdoor theater will help, but with capacity, it will still be a challenge to pull off productions. Here's Barry Edelstein with the old globe. Again, Speaker 16: 47:35 Basically life at the globe right now is about spreadsheets and models and scenarios. And every day we sit down together and we say, all right, what if it's this? What if it's that? What can we do here? What can we do there? What have we learned? What has changed as we dry with all of our might to get going again, Speaker 11: 47:54 As for live music at the Casbah Tim Mays says that because of financial reasons, they may not be able to reopen until the state will allow venues to operate at at least half capacity. Speaker 13: 48:05 I have a lot of things on the books for October, November, December. So yeah, there's, there's no certainty at all, but things are progressing and people are starting to book things, uh, when we can reopen, I think things are going to be enthusiastic. People are going to be so happy to be out and see live music or a DJ, or see their friends and, uh, participate in some sort of social event Speaker 11: 48:29 For the time being uncertainty and adaptation will continue to take center stage I'm KPBS arts editor and producer Julia Dickson Evans. Speaker 17: 48:46 You're listening to KPBS midday edition. I'm Jade Hindman with Maureen Cavenaugh, San Diego Latino film festival kicked off last week and continues through the weekend. KPBS reporter Beth Armando speaks to two filmmakers whose work will be showcased Silvana Bizarros. Winter song was shot in Tijuana and Baja and Stephen Dobros documentary 18th and grand. The Olympic auditorium story looks to the famous LA sports and music venue. The San Diego Latino film festival is continuing through this weekend. And I have two filmmakers here who are going to talk about their work. First of all, Silvana I wanted to ask, what is it like showing your film during a pandemic where you can't have the same in-person experience that you might have for all of us. It's a little bit of football, Mer, and not being able to have this human contact, but at the very same time, I feel that that pandemic has brought so many huge, complicated issues to people's lives. That I feel everyone is dealing with a lot of very different circumstances that I, I guess I just feel very alleged that in this super complicated times, I just have a film and someone's watching and it's of course upsetting, but at the very same time, I think that these also show us how much film can just survive in between all of this huge and radical things happening in the world. And Steven, what is it like for you to show your film in a virtual setting? Speaker 16: 50:14 Similarly, I'm just grateful and in the grand scheme of things, to be able to make a film and have it come out and have it in the world in whatever form is, is, is really, uh, uh, a blessing. And Speaker 18: 50:28 You actually had to complete your film in the pandemic. Was that a challenge? Speaker 16: 50:33 Yes. Um, we were very close to the end and we had a screening scheduled March 27th of last year, when things shut down, all the studios, all the post-production studios shut down. So we had our color, correct. A guy got sick with COVID and everything took a long time, but we were able to get it done, but it was, it was, it drew everything out a lot longer. It took months and months and months to finally get things finished. Speaker 18: 50:59 And Savannah, tell us a little bit about your film called the English title is winter song. Speaker 17: 51:03 Yeah. Um, the Spanish title is [inaudible] and all this is a film we did as a school project. This is my thesis to finally finish college and it turned out to be a feature film, and it's a road trip that it starts in Mexico city about these two friends that are broken hearted and they just want to leave and do something with their lives. So they ended up, uh, driving till, uh, Baja, California, and like to the border with the us. So I guess like the film is really about that journey, I guess, like it may sound a little corny, but like I really wrote this film thinking about my own personal experience on being brokenhearted and how, you know, like friendship, music and traveling really changed my perspective and helped me to go through it. So this film, I guess, has all of those elements and hoping that other people that can watch can also relate Speaker 18: 52:02 Savannah, your film was made before the pandemic. But I have to say that it's a very visual film and allows for a lot of space to be kind of contemplated. And that seems to connect very well with how we're feeling right now. Speaker 17: 52:14 Thank you. It's sexually so crazy for me to think that when we filmed this, we never thought that, you know, a few years later we wouldn't be able to travel and experience. I have these human connections. So I really hope that like people watching right now home can, can remember that all of those sands were great and that we should keep fighting to have the world back. And I appreciate when we get to have those moments of truly in our lives. And yeah, like the film is really like visual in the way that it's, it's about the experience of the main character and how she feels while she's struggling, the thing she sees and how, how she feels them. And that's what we wanted to portray with a camera too. Speaker 18: 52:56 Steven, your film is a documentary and it's about the Olympic auditorium. Tell people what that place is and what attracted you to making a film about it. Speaker 16: 53:06 It's a venue. It was a mostly a fight venue located in downtown Los Angeles. That was a, that opened up in the 1920s and the building still exists now, but it, uh, it closed for sporting activities in, in 2005. And what drew me to the subject, what I found interesting about was it was this sort of central hub for the city, and it was where the battles of Los Angeles were sort of fought out. Some of those were ethnic battles and because it's Los Angeles, many of the main characters, but the, the fighters, the wrestlers, the boxers and the fans were Mexican American and Mexican. And so it had a very central and emotional place in the hearts of so many people. And as I approached it, that emotion and that connection really made it much more salient and much it made it deeper to me. Speaker 18: 54:04 And I understand that the Olympic auditorium played a part in the Zoot suit riots. What was that? Speaker 16: 54:10 During world war two, there was a lot of service, white Anglo service men sort of ran amuck, you know, going after Latino Zoot suiters, but you goes and what we, we use the character of Enrique bolognaise, who was the fighter Mexican American boxer, or born in Mexico, born in Durango, but came to LA to seek his fame and fortune as many fighters did. And he was a favorite. He was a Pacheco himself and he became the most beloved fighter probably in LA history. He was emblematic of that and was so, was seen as a hero by the Mexican-American crowd at the time. Speaker 18: 54:50 Silvana what do you feel is the importance of showcasing your film at a Latino film festival? What do you feel that does that is different from screening at elsewhere? Speaker 17: 54:59 Like we were so happy when we got selected for the San Diego Latino film festival, because I mean, first of all, we shoot this film, like really a few steps from like San Diego, like really across the border, even the border itself. So I think that for Oz first, it was like connecting with, I guess, one of the main audiences, because I think that something that was very interesting for me to see how California is, how the culture is so like mixed and how there are so many elements of like, uh, the U S culture in Baja, California, and otherwise it's the same way also in San Diego. Like I think that for us, it's pretty hard to see how families get divided and how all of this context is going on the border. And I feel that being able to have a film that can connect both places, it's, uh, pretty amazing for us. So I think that for all us being part of like the Latino community, it's super important and it's been a statement towards what we do and the way we want to show our own stories and our own narratives and, and show our own landscapes that sometimes that, that may lose when it is filmed by people that are not related with that directly. So I think that it's, it's amazing to open this conversation inside the Latino community. Speaker 18: 56:21 I want to thank you both for talking to me about your films, playing at Speaker 3: 56:24 The San Diego Latino film festival. And we will go out with some of the music from winter song that was Beth DACA. Amando speaking with filmmakers Silvana Lazaro and Stephen Dobro, winter songs, screens tonight at San Diego, Latino film festival and 18th and grand, the Olympic auditorium story screens, Friday and Sunday, all screenings are online. [inaudible].