San Diego Colleges Cancelling Study-Abroad Due To Virus And More Local News

March 3, 2020 at 3:00 AM PST

Speaker 1: 00:00 Speaker 2: 00:36 Speaker 1: 00:37 Speaker 3: 01:12 Speaker 1: 01:26 Speaker 4: 01:53 Speaker 3: 01:59 Speaker 4: 02:13 Speaker 1: 02:44 Speaker 5: 03:00 Speaker 1: 03:44 Speaker 6: 04:05 Speaker 1: 04:21 Speaker 7: 04:44 Speaker 5: 05:15 Speaker 7: 05:23 Speaker 1: 05:44 Speaker 8: 05:57 Speaker 1: 06:42 Speaker 3: 07:15 Speaker 9: 07:45 Speaker 3: 07:56 Speaker 3: 08:48 Speaker 3: 09:44 Speaker 3: 10:40 Speaker 2: 11:53 It's Tuesday, March 3rd I'm Deb Welsh and you're listening to San Diego news matters from KPBS coming up. The do's and don'ts and preparing for the coronavirus and a local labs work on a Corona virus vaccine could help during the next global outbreak. Every time we make progress on developing a vaccine like this, we can add that learning to the next outbreak. That and more coming up right after the break. [inaudible] [inaudible] with the death toll and confirmed cases of the Corona virus rising in the United States. Many Americans are preparing for the worst KPBS reporter Prius. Schrader explains what to do and what not to do across the United States. Stores like home Depot, Rite aid, Lowe's, CVS, and Walgreens are all reporting shortages of products like hand sanitizer, disinfectants and face masks due to the Corona virus here in San Diego, dr Abbey Olu latte at sharp Rees-Stealy says people shouldn't be rushing to stores to buy masks. The surgical mass don't protect against the current virus and you definitely don't need one. And in fact what we're finding is that when people put their hands to their face to adjust their mass, you're actually putting yourself at more risk potentially of getting infected with this. Well, experts say there is no need to hoard medical supplies. Prius Sri, either KPBS news due to Corona virus, the centers for disease control and prevention has issued level three travel warnings for China, South Korea, Iran and Italy. A level three advisory means non-essential travel should be avoided. KPBS as Lynn Walsh says, this is causing local universities to cancel some study abroad programs. The university of San Diego has canceled study abroad programs this semester in China, South Korea and Italy. We had some students that are in Rome right now that are doing a double degree program with one of our partners there and they're actually supposed to be there for four semesters and they just started. Yeah, Denise Damon is the associate provost for international affairs at USD and has been working to help 19 students in Italy returned to the States even though they are coming home. She says they will be able to continue their academic work in the U S the university is following federal government recommendations regarding travel, but diamond says they are also working to be proactive. So far the school has canceled summer study abroad programs in China and are still assessing other programs scheduled for the summer and fall. Lynn Walsh KPBS news. There are new locations for San Diego is to register and vote in the 2020 presidential primary election. KPBS reporter Matt Hoffman tells us about four new satellite voting centers with record turnout. Expected County election officials are urging who wants to vote but is not registered to go to one of these new satellite locations. There are four in the County in San Marcos, spring Valley, Chulavista and Carmel mountain ranch. On election day, each will be open from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM people going to one of these sites. We'll have to use the county's new touchscreen voting machines. Election officials said Monday morning there were still about a million mail ballots not yet sent in. At this point, putting your ballot in the mail might be too late. Officials are asking anyone with a mail ballot to take it to a designated drop off location or one of the satellite voting centers, a polling place, or to the registrar of voters office in Kearny Mesa. If you don't have time to vote because you're working, California law says you're eligible for up to two hours of paid time off to do so. Matt Hoffman, K PBS news, election officials say there's no do over for people who voted for president and turned in their ballots in California and have already submitted ballots after voting for a presidential candidate. No longer in the race, but those who have filled out a mail ballot and not yet turned it in. They can make a change. Here's Samma who'd have the secretary of state's office, but if you have your vote by mail ballot and you may have already started filling it out and you bubble the circle for a candidate who subsequently dropped out, you still have options. You can take that ballot with you to the polls and surrender it for a replacement ballot and vote for the candidate of your choice. Three democratic presidential hopefuls have dropped out in recent days. Amy club, a char Pete Buddha judge and Tom Stier. While California is decide on their elected representatives during today's primary election, a local group is making sure that California doesn't lose some of that representation in Congress. After this year's census, KPBS reporter max will the NATL or has the story. The 2020 census is gearing up to be a critical one for California. As more people leave the state in search of affordable housing, California stands to possibly lose a congressional seat after the 2020 census. For neighborhoods like city Heights, which is considered an especially hard to count area because of its high immigrant population, that loss of representation could be coupled with decreased federal support. Martha Romero, who moved to city Heights from Columbia 14 years ago says this is what motivates her to make sure her neighbors get counted. We live in this low income, the people in low income in the people that more suffer the consequences. [inaudible] works part time with mid city community advocacy network to help get out the word about the census for the past few days. She's been going door to door across city Heights to make sure this year census count captures everyone who lives in the community. This year, census forms will be going out either by mail or electronically. By the 12th of March, matched with Lynn Adler, K PBS news, state water pollution. Regulators in San Diego are asking federal officials to do more monitoring of water flows that could contain cross border pollution. KPBS reporter Eric Anderson has details. The regional water quality control board has issued an investigative order that requires more monitoring of sewage tainted cross-border flows. The order tells the international boundary and water commission to monitor more than a dozen locations over 18 months. Regional board executive director David Gibson says the order also calls for the testing results to be made public. All right. Now this monitoring isn't taking place. During the recent flows that we've had, I asked the international boundary water commission if they had done any monitoring. They had not. Gibson says the regional board is in the process of tightening the pollution requirements for the international wastewater treatment plants permits. That's a way of controlling cross border flows. Eric Anderson. KPBS news researchers are trying to pump out a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus, but that can drag on while scientists search for the part of the virus that activates the body's defense without causing the illness. A newer approach to using DNA is far cheaper, easier, and does it use the virus at all. But no DNA based vaccine has ever been licensed like dozens of others produce the traditional way. KPBS health reporter Taryn Minto goes into the San Diego lab and meets the team trying to break that barrier. Brown liquids sloshes inside glass cylinders on a countertop at a Novio pharmaceuticals. The noise of brewing a DNA-based vaccine isn't overwhelming, but the stench smells like you're in a college bar. You have expect your feet to stick to the floor as the scent of stale beer lingers inside the second floor. Lab research associate Joseph fader cracks open the door to combat the odor smelling. He says it's just the smell of Ecolab. Bacteria used to grow the DNA medicine. So one of the ways that I've been explaining it is like say your favorite fruit is strawberries, right? You like strawberries, but you don't like eating the plant, but you need the plant to grow the strawberries. So the poli cells are the [inaudible] and an OVO is trying to grow life saving fruit amid a raging storm. As the Corona virus is battering cities around the globe, including the U S the company is raising to offer the world a life raft with its DNA based vaccine. It uses sort of a blueprint of the virus that tells the immune system how to build its defense without ever introducing the germ Novio senior vice president Kate Broderick is at the helm. Well, I'd go up to this bar legacy even today. I'm like, Oh, the lead researcher at the center of a Novios coronavirus vaccine operation says she manages the long days by starting with yoga helps so much because otherwise your brain never turns off and ends the days with what many other working parents use to unwind a glass of wine, any kind of wine, a very large one don't really care. So let's go in between those brief moments. She's pushing the vaccine forward. The company has made progress just weeks after an international body in Europe asked to join the Corona virus vaccine rate. We have now started testing the vaccine in the lab and we are extremely encouraged by the data. But the positive results in a tray don't always mean a vaccine will prevent disease in humans and Novios other vaccines for Zika. Merz and HPV have shown positive results in the first two out of three trials. But no DNA based vaccine has overcome the final hurdle. If ENOVIA does navigate those uncharted waters, it'll generate a master vaccine that could be quickly modified to combat whatever virus is the next to emerge. So the manufacturing remains the same. The we, we monitor, uh, formulate the vaccine and the vial remains the same that we deliver. The vaccine remains the same, but just that tiny little piece of genetic information differs. And so every time we make progress on developing a vaccine like this, we can add that learning to the next outbreak or the next bite is that we talk and Novio is trying to make it to human trials by summer, a five month turnaround. The final steps to get there are happening outside the lab and behind the desk of Stephanie Ramos. It's a very um, intensive process here. The director of preclinical development is helping pull together reports, results, summaries and other information that can total to more than 8,000 pages. And that all gets into like a massive document that's sent to the FDA process is expedited under the outbreak circumstance. So that means a lot of overtime and Indian takeout, you have one Indian meal you're good for like the rest of the day. She says the long hours and weekends are worth it because the climbing death toll from Corona virus reminds the researchers what they're up against. It makes you feel good that you're doing everything you can to to do your part to get that vaccine out there faster. Ramos is approaching this not just as a scientist, a handmade mother's day gift sits on her desk, do take to heart what is going into people. You know, we're not just here to say check. Yeah, we did our job check. Yeah, we did it first. No. Since our interview, another company announced its experimentally designed vaccine for Corona virus is ready for the first stage of human trials, and Novio is still working toward that milestone, but achieving successful results will be the bigger deal, not only for this virus, but for the next one that scientists know is coming, but aren't sure when or where. Taryn mento KPBS news, thanks for listening to San Diego news matters. If you like the show, do us a favor and tell your friends and family to subscribe to the show. [inaudible].

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The coronavirus has forced local universities to cancel study programs to four countries. Plus, satellite voting centers are open and the country registrar wants people to use them. And, local groups are knocking on doors to make sure people are counted by the U.S. census.