San Diego Reaches Milestone — 3 Million Doses Administered

Speaker 1: 00:00 The strategy to get more people vaccinated and avoid another service. Speaker 2: 00:05 I think we're getting into much more targeting at a smaller level with smaller numbers of people. Speaker 1: 00:11 I'm Jade Hindman. This is KPBS mid-day edition. Speaker 3: 00:15 Yeah. Speaker 1: 00:24 The effort to keep the Gaslamp museum open after a hard hit from the pandemic, Speaker 3: 00:30 We've had a really rough year, like a lot of people. And so we're raising funds and raising awareness that the museum is in financial difficulties. And we may go away at the end of June, unless you're able to raise some extra funds and Speaker 1: 00:44 Hear what's happening in the arts this weekend. That's ahead on midday edition. Speaker 3: 00:48 Yeah. Speaker 1: 01:00 San Diego County has reached another milestone, 3 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine administered 44% of the county's residents are fully vaccinated and 42% statewide, but there's many more to go to avoid another surge. The state has hired blue shield to help it distribute vaccines to hospitals and clinics across California. Paul Markovich, president and CEO of blue shield of California. Joins us to talk about the hurdles. The state must overcome to slow the spread of coronavirus. Paul, welcome. Speaker 2: 01:32 Thank you for having me. So what's Speaker 1: 01:34 The demand for vaccines right now. I mean, here in California, eligibility has expanded and so has hesitancy among some people. Speaker 2: 01:42 Well, we went for probably the better part of a five or six weeks averaging over a little over two and a half million administered doses per week. And right now that rate has fallen to 2 million in the last week. And I believe it's going to fall materially below that in the coming weeks. So it's falling off noticeably, uh, the number of people that were vaccinating each week and probably not surprising given that more than 60% of Californians have already received a single shot. And we know from surveys that probably around 20% or so have significant hesitancy to the vaccine. So we're getting to the point where the people who are left to vaccinate are probably harder to reach and are having a little more difficult time getting over the concern about whether to get vaccinated. Speaker 1: 02:31 What does the slipping demand mean for the vaccine supply? I mean, will we keep them or give them to other countries? Speaker 2: 02:38 Well, that's ultimately a decision for the federal government as to what they want to do with the federal supply. We're trying to make use of the supply that we have here as best that we can. And, uh, so I, I'm not sure how to, how to best answer that question. I think the most important thing for us is these are really valuable vaccines. They provide a great deal of protection to the most infectious and deadly virus we've seen in our lifetimes. And I think we'd like to make as extensive use of them as we possibly can. As soon as we can. Speaker 4: 03:10 What initiatives would you like to see to counter vaccine hesitancy? Speaker 2: 03:14 I think when it comes to vaccine hesitancy, the most important thing is to try and meet people where they are. Uh, this is a personal decision and there's people who have concerns about it and understanding what those concerns are, hearing them out and hopefully getting them the information that they'd like to, to hear and see, and particularly to have them hear it and see it from the individual or organization that they find most trustworthy. That's the best way to get people there. And there are different places. Uh, there's different reasons. People have hesitancy to take the vaccine and their level of trust varies depending on the person. So it really is a bit of an individual choice. So I think there's going to have to be a lot of different initiatives to get there, making it more convenient and accessible, making the vaccine more available to smaller physician practices because that's a one trusted source for people is their personal physician, uh, would be an example, but also making it more accessible places like potentially school sites where both the students and their families could get vaccinated is another way to potentially help overcome vaccine hesitancy. Speaker 4: 04:22 Okay. Do you think California is going to reach a 75% rate for vaccinations or that herd immunity everyone keeps talking about? Speaker 2: 04:29 Yes, I believe California will, but I think it's important not just for the state as a whole to get there. I think it's important for every single community to get there. And I think that is going to be more challenging and take a longer period of time because the vaccine hesitancy does vary by geographic area. And so yes, we, I absolutely believe we'll get to that herd immunity level for the state at large. And the, and the bigger challenge will be to get there at every single community level. Speaker 4: 04:56 What adjustments are you making to improve access to the vaccine in communities of concern? Speaker 2: 05:01 Well, we've been, uh, working closely with the state to prioritize the supply of vaccine to the most vulnerable communities and our highest risk populations. We've introduced now on my turn, the ability for people who are home bound or need transportation to get vaccinated in their homes, or get free transportation to a location, to be vaccinated. And there's a lot of work going into the state, announced that it's going out and doing a, working with community organizations to literally go knock on doors and try to convince people to get vaccinated. And we're doing a lot more to work on getting individual physicians, supply the vaccine and sites that are more accessible to people such as the school sites I mentioned earlier. So we want to make it more convenient, more accessible, proactively outreach to people. So there's a lot of work going on, much of it's being managed by the state itself rather than blue shield as the third-party administrator, but we are working closely with the state to support those efforts. Speaker 4: 06:01 And now the teenagers can get the vaccine. What changes have been made in the process for instance, are you partnering with any school districts or what about in San Diego specifically? Speaker 2: 06:12 Yes. Well, we certainly are, um, uh, along with the state and the local health jurisdictions like San Diego County, uh, trying to work to do a number of things, one is to again, identify those pediatricians that have the ability and the willingness to be vaccinators, because one of the trusted sources for vaccines for children is a, is the pediatrician. We believe that school sites can potentially provide that opportunity. So getting access to those school sites when folks are in the classroom and hopefully making it easy for family members to join them is I think another way that we can do that, I think there's a multitude of ways to reach that population, but those are probably the two main ones we're focused on right now. Speaker 4: 06:58 The big supersize still useful, or is the need for them diminish Speaker 2: 07:02 The nature of them is definitely diminishing. And, uh, I think we're getting into much more targeting at a smaller level with smaller numbers of people. I think, uh, I mentioned school sites, but I think religious institutions, uh, are another place where we could potentially find people gathering. You can imagine that I know that in Los Angeles, they're actually going out and trying to bring back scene to the beaches and find people who are there at the beach to see if they want to get vaccinated. I know in Seattle that they, uh, set some vaccine out for people who are coming to a baseball game. So, you know, I think however, convenient we can make it an accessible. We can make it for people. That's the sort of thing we're going to need to do. And I don't think there's probably going to be enough demand to support mass vaccination sites for a whole lot longer Speaker 4: 07:53 Speaking with Paul Markovich, president and CEO of blue shield of California. Paul, thank you so much for joining us. Speaker 2: 08:00 It was my pleasure. Thank you for having me, Jane, Speaker 4: 08:14 The oldest standing structure in downtown San Diego is not immune to the pandemic's devastations KPBS reporter. Melissa May explains the trouble facing the historic heart of the Gaslamp district. The Davis Horton house is home to the Gaslamp museum, but it's been closed to the public since March, 2020. Now in financial distress, the Gaslamp quarter historical foundation has started a GoFundMe page to keep the museum open Rianne and Luna is the foundation's executive director. Speaker 3: 08:44 We've had a really rough year, like a lot of people. And so we're raising funds and raising awareness that the museum is in financial difficulties. And we may go away at end of June, unless you're able to raise some extra funds Speaker 4: 08:58 Due to the pandemic restrictions. The foundation's normal revenue from tours and lectures disappeared, and their biggest fundraiser of the year was canceled twice. Speaker 3: 09:07 The Shamrock block party downtown every year. Speaker 4: 09:09 Now they're trying to raise $150,000 to keep the museum open built in 1850, the Davis Horton house marked the beginning of what is now the 16 and a half block Gaslamp historical district. Speaker 5: 09:22 This is really the centerpiece of the historic district because without us, we wouldn't have a historic district. Speaker 4: 09:29 Sandy Willhite is the lead tour guide and historian for the Gaslamp quarter historical society. She knows the importance of several buildings on fifth Avenue, but the little yellow saltbox museum, some most important the Davis Horton house originally served the military. Speaker 5: 09:45 It was home for officers army of the Pacific San Diego was originally just like a little blip where they stopped to refuel, but they did have the army presence here. And they lived in this house. The officers, Speaker 4: 10:00 The house is named after William Heath Davis it's first resident, as well as Alonzo Horton known as the father of San Diego. It then became Speaker 5: 10:08 The first County hospital and a German immigrant lady named Anna Shepherd. Single mother opened this up and he charged a dollar a day per patient. Speaker 4: 10:21 Eventually the house was donated to the city to become a museum. After four years of renovations, the Davis horn house opened to the public. You can and, Speaker 3: 10:29 And take a look and see, you know, the history of San Diego kind of play out within these rooms is really special and there's not anything else like it in San Diego Speaker 5: 10:39 Get up and close and personal with the artifacts. Don't touch them, but you can get writing there and lookout them. Speaker 4: 10:45 If the museum did close, Speaker 3: 10:47 The building itself would return to the city. Um, the collections would have to be dispersed to other institutions. And so their original, um, donors, which would be very sad to lose this collection, especially some of it is historic to the house itself. And for that to leave you you'd never get this museum back. Speaker 4: 11:06 The museum staff and volunteers say closure would also mean uncertainty for the houses, permanent residents volunteer. Charlotte Perry says she knows the house is haunted. Speaker 5: 11:16 I hate to lose those ghosts too. They'd have to move someplace else. Where would they go? And they don't mind if you, you know, listen, photograph, they don't care. They think it's nice to have company and they would be very lonesome too. Speaker 4: 11:29 The museum is now open Fridays and Saturdays for self guided tours, Melissa Mae KPBS news. You're listening to KPBS midday edition. I'm Jade. Hindman happening this weekend. We have art made by construction, a Speaker 1: 11:54 Virtual Baroque concert, several art opening receptions, and the Barrio art crawl and a final week of a play that imagines Martin Luther King Jr's final night. Joining me is KPBS arts editor and producer Julia Dickson Evans with all the details. Welcome Julia. Hi Jane. Thanks for having me. So first we have an art exhibition created by a steamroller. Tell us about Mesa college, art galleries, heavy duty exhibition. Speaker 6: 12:20 I love how analog and, and virtual this whole project is. It all started by giving 16 artists, big wooden boards for them to design a woodcut on. And some of them cut some burned their designs into place. And then they all gathered in the college parking lot to ink the boards, and then they lay cloth on top and literally drove a steam roller over them, transferring the design onto the cloth. And now they've hung each of these canvases on the chain link fence around the parking lot on the Mesa college campus. And it opens this afternoon with a drive in drive through reception. And the first 200 visitors will even get a set of small art cards of the prints. And then the exhibition will be on view in the lot during that campuses open public hours for about a month Speaker 1: 13:08 Heavy duty, a steam roller printmaking exhibition opens today in Mesa college parking lot, one from two to five and will be viewable Monday through Friday from 10 to 4:00 PM through June 4th. Okay. Next from the use of non-digital machinery in visual arts to the use of traditional Baroque musical instruments, what does Bach Collegium San Diego have to offer this weekend? Speaker 6: 13:33 Bach Collegium is known for using period instruments to create these really authentic performances of classical works. And this is their final offering from this very strange virtual season for them. It's called Bach and his rivals the exciting music scene drama of Leipzig in 1722 it's the year that Bach Telemann and Grosvenor were all competing for a job. It was the highly sought after role of Thomas Kantor, the music director of the famed St. Thomas Church and bought collegiate and will perform works by each of these composers as a sort of pretend fantasy audition. And one of the compositions is this piece by Bach. I'm going to bust out my German here. They're new than Lieben got last belt. Speaker 7: 14:36 [inaudible] Speaker 6: 14:36 All of the works. They'll perform. They're all Baroque, but they really show off the wide range of moods and styles inside the era. I think a lot of us have this idea that Baroque equals Francy harpsichord music, but there is more to it. And yes, buck eventually got the gig, Speaker 1: 14:52 Right buck and his rivals streams on demand beginning Saturday at 5:00 PM through June 30th and art opening receptions are back. Saturday is the monthly Barrio art crawl with three art exhibitions alone in the bread and salt complex. Tell us about these and how this will work with COVID restrictions, Speaker 6: 15:13 Three art opening receptions, and pop-up events in the bread and salt complex. And all of these will be masks required indoors, and they'll also be keeping an eye on capacity, but it's really great to have events and receptions to go to first Neil Kendricks, we'll open a solo show called mirror mirror lights, camera dreams in the main bread and salt gallery space. That's a series of experimental short films and projections. These are all dedicated to the memory of his father and they're going to be shown together for the first time. The gallery has even installed these rows of vintage theater seats to set the mood as well. And then at the adjacent Athenaeum art center, flora wilds will install her large scale sculptural work made of repurpose clothing. It's called false neutrals, fake naturals, and that's previously been installed, modified and documented in different environments throughout the state and we're next. And also best practice gallery just moved into a new space at bread and salt. And the inaugural exhibition in their new space is work by three B collective. That's a Los Angeles based collective of six artists. And they're working in painting sculpture, video and a site-specific mural. And as a bonus, don't miss Tatiana or T's Rubio's newly completed massive stop. The spread mural. That's on the side of the silo tower, viewable outdoors. So if you're not quite ready for indoor events, this is a piece of art you can even see from interstate five, Speaker 1: 16:47 Three new exhibitions, and one outdoor mural can be viewed at bread and salt gallery during the Barrio art crawl event, Saturday from five to 8:00 PM. And in the theater world, Rouse devout theater company has paired up with American history theater and type-A to present a play about Martin Luther King Jr's last night. Tell us about the mountaintop. Speaker 6: 17:09 This is a fictionalized account, and it's based of course, in the history of that exact day. It's at 2019 play by Katori hall and local director. Candace crystal has brought this to local audiences in the form of this filmed stage production. It features a single setting, a room at the Lorraine motel in Memphis, and just two characters, Martin Luther King, Jr. And the brilliant Kamay who is a housekeeper at the hotel, she gets sort of inadvertently roped into this transformative exchange with Dr. King. And one of the great things about the script is the way it allows heroes like Dr. King to have flaws. I recently spoke with director Candice, crystal, and I loved what she had to say about this here's Candace crystal. Speaker 8: 17:55 One thing that our dramaturg Kimberly King and I discussed in depth was this deification of our heroes, Dr. King was put on this pedestal and it was a situation where any wrong Dr. King did was magnified because of who he was. And I think it's really important as a community that we realized even our leaders will have flocks. It's not his job for me to hold him in this highest steam. He did his job. He pushed the movement forward. Speaker 6: 18:24 That's the mountain top director, Candace crystal, the play streams on demand on Saturdays and Sundays through May 16th for details on these and more arts events go to kpbs.org/arts, where you can also sign up for Julia's weekly KPBS arts newsletter. I've been speaking with KPBS arts editor and producer, Julia Dixon Evans. Julia. Thanks. Thank you so much. Have a great weekend.