Saturday, April 11, 2020

Speaker 1: 00:00 It's Saturday, April 11th I'm John Carroll and you're listening to San Diego news matters from KPBS coming up. The pews will be empty at San Diego area. Churches this Easter Sunday, how clergy are adjusting to get out their message. The state makes an offer to take care of the caregivers and how the San Diego food bank is handling a big increase in demand for food assistance. That and more coming up Speaker 2: 00:38 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 00:38 local religious communities are facing an Easter Sunday with empty houses of worship. Thanks to the coven, 19 pandemic KPBS reporter Eric Anderson has the details. Speaker 3: 00:49 Social distancing will keep churches from filling up this Sunday, but it's not stopping the celebration of Easter in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy spirit. That's John Dolan and auxiliary Bishop of the San Diego diocese delivering mass this week. San Diego's nearly 1 million Catholics got dispensation to miss in-person mass, but they don't have to go without diocese. Spokesman Kevin Eckery says the church is delivering services on their website. Speaker 4: 01:15 We're doing everything we can, whether it's through the schools or through our parishes to stay closed and promote best practices we can with respect to the shutdown orders. Speaker 3: 01:24 Other churches are also using the internet like the rock church in San Diego. Pastor miles MacPherson says his congregation is realizing that God is more important than ever. Eric Anderson KPBS news, Speaker 1: 01:37 the San Diego food bank hosted another drive through mass food distribution Friday and Chula Vista KPBS reporter Shalina cha Lani says, the food bank is doing this to shorten lines at its main sites throughout the County. Speaker 5: 01:53 Cars line up for a San Diego food bank pop up and Chula Vista workers tossed 25 pounds worth of food in the back of cars so that people can stay socially distance. Jim fluoro, CEO of the San Diego food bank says the demand for food is increased with more and more people losing work. Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Speaker 6: 02:13 we're feeding about 350,000 people a month before the crisis we're projecting we're gonna probably feed 600,000 people in this month. Speaker 5: 02:19 Only the first thousand cars here were able to pick up food Friday morning, but flouro says residents who don't make it to the mass distribution can still get food at the food banks. 200 distribution sites across the County. Shelina Celani K PBS news. Speaker 1: 02:33 It's hard to know now what longterm impacts the Corona virus pandemic will have on students, but has schools make an unprecedented pivot to distance learning? Many teachers are feeling overwhelmed. KPBS education reporter Joe Hong spoke to educators about their efforts to make sure students are still learning. Speaker 4: 02:53 What I love so much I can't do, which is be with my kids. I'm sorry. Speaker 1: 02:58 Kristen Brown is a first grade teacher at silver Speaker 7: 03:00 gate elementary school. Brown's at home, but her work days are often longer than they were when schools were open. Brown students submit written assignments as well as recordings and she needs to carefully read and listen to each one to make sure they understand the material. Speaker 8: 03:13 I mean, at school I can see their learning in their eyes. I can see it, you know, I can walk past their desk and I can know if they got it or not. And that takes me the blink of an eye Speaker 7: 03:23 like teachers across the world. Those in San Diego County face both the Titan illogical and emotional challenges of distance learning in the Corona buyer's era. Chris Hidalgo is a first grade teacher at Phinney elementary school in Chula Vista. Speaker 9: 03:36 It's new. It's surreal. Um, and it's really for it and I'm adjusting to it. Um, I do get teary eyed and emotional because I missed the actual physical scene. My kids, Speaker 7: 03:49 it all goes, said she expects to work through the weekend to master the technology before distance learning launches on Monday. Speaker 9: 03:55 My husband said, you worked a long time yesterday. I said, yeah, I worked till almost 10 last night and I'm going to do that because that's what I need to do for my kids. Speaker 7: 04:04 Joe Hong KPBS news, Speaker 1: 04:04 some healthcare workers are sleeping in their cars or staying in hotels during the coronavirus pandemic. Now the state of California says it will help pay for that lodging more from cap radios. Nicole Nixon, Speaker 10: 04:18 some workers are staying in hotels to keep their families safe from exposure. Others want to be closer to their patients. So governor Gavin Newsome says he's extending hotel discounts and stipends normally used for government travel to the States health care workers, which he called frontline heroes. He says, moral support for these workers is good, but it's not enough. Speaker 11: 04:38 We need to do more than that and provide the kind of support, uh, that increasingly is needed, uh, for a workforce that is deeply stressed out, deeply stretched. Speaker 10: 04:48 Newsome says these hotel rooms won't interfere with rooms. The state is leasing to protect homeless people during the crisis. He also announced that several airlines have offered to cover travel costs for medical volunteers coming in from out of state in Sacramento. I'm Nicole Nixon. Speaker 1: 05:04 San Diego County officials are urging residents to refrain from gatherings and to maintain social distancing. Over the holiday weekend. KPB has health reporter Taryn Meto says the reminder comes as four more. San Diegans have died from coven 19 Speaker 10: 05:19 official say data show San Diegans are taking fewer unnecessary trips for retail and recreation around the region, but they encouraged residents not to let up, especially during Passover and Easter. The county's Dr. Eric McDonald says San Diegans have for weeks made sacrifices to curve the spread of coronavirus that stretches from job losses to missing opportunities to visit a loved one in a medical facility. But he says they matter. Speaker 11: 05:45 What it really means is that we're saving lives. And so for those who have made the sacrifices, um, we thank you and what to let you know that it directly affects other people's lives Speaker 1: 05:58 and wellbeing. So thank you. Speaker 10: 05:59 Officials also set an estimated 373 patients have recovered from the virus. That's an increase from 201 earlier this week. Taryn mento KPBS, Speaker 1: 06:12 thanks for listening to San Diego news matters. I'm John Carroll. If you're not already a member, please consider supporting this podcast by becoming a KPBS member today. Just go to kpbs.org and click on the give now button.