San Diego Business Owners Weigh Compliance With Closure Orders

California passed the grim milestone of one million total confirmed coronavirus infections. The only other state to have that many cases is Texas. Meanwhile, tomorrow will start the new “purple” tier coronavirus restrictions for businesses in san diego. Indoor operations for restaurants, gyms and churches will have to close. In Ramona, the staff at Mamma Ramona's restaurant are getting ready to close their dining room. Owner Andrew Simmons bought the italian restaurant right before the pandemic hit. He says he will be complying with closure orders. "I would love to stay open but I don't think the county will allow us and I can't afford to have my restaurant shut down. I have a fixed monthly expense every month, whether we're open or closed. And if i'm closed all my folks are out of jobs and I have no income coming in." Elsewhere in Ramona, Peter San Nicolas of Ramona Fitness Center is one of the many business owners weighing whether or not to comply with closure orders this weekend. “So we can just close down and possibly go out of business - for a lot of people that's what that's going to mean. Or you could stay open and yes go against the orders and maybe still be put out of business. So what's the risk? We could fail either way what do we have to lose.” Back in August, San Nicolas was charged by the district attorney's office for violating a different closure order, but those charges were later dropped. He's also joined other San Diego County gyms in a lawsuit against the state arguing that restrictions are crippling his business. “If we get through a good time of year with january february march with new years people coming back i'll be able to see are we going to make it - now with this shutdown I dont know - but I'm not going to quit” Business owners are planning another "re-open san diego" rally outside the county building on Monday, to again demand local control over coronavirus closures and restrictions. The air and space museum is one of many that will be following public health orders. Museum President and CEO Jim Kidrick says he considered challenging the order to close. He says the museum follows the strictest COVID guidelines and he says the place has excellent air circulation, with its high ceilings. He says the "one size fits all" approach on what places must now close is unfair. Nevertheless, the museum will close, again, tomorrow night. It’s Friday... the 13th. Friday, November 13th. This is San Diego News Matters from KPBS News. I’m Anica Colbert. Stay with me for more of the local news you need to start your day. While San Diego County moved into the state’s covid-19 purple tier, Bay Area counties have moved in the opposite direction -- into less restrictive yellow and orange tiers. KPBS investigative reporter Claire Trageser looked into the differences between these two regions. She says it comes down to timing, politics, demographics and public health history. On March 16, San Francisco Mayor London Breed had a press conference. Her message that day shaped her city's future for months to come. "The new public health order that we're announcing will require San Franciscans to remain at home with exceptions only for essential outings. These measures will be disruptive to day-to-day life, but there is no need to panic." The Bay Area was the first region in the state to issue a stay-at-home order, with the rest of the state following three days later, says John Swartzberg, an infectious disease expert at UC Berkeley. "That number of days doesn't sound like a lot, but given how fast the pandemic was spreading, it helped a great deal." San Francisco's initial response also set the tone for its stance on reopening. Elected officials, health officials and residents all seemed to understand the region would remain restrictive, says Erin Allday, The San Francisco Chronicle's health reporter. "Right from the start it was really aggressive and really fast, and any time there's been a hint of something moving in the wrong direction, they respond to that and clamp down on it." After two months with a statewide "stay at home" order, Gov. Gavin Newsom started allowing counties to reopen businesses. Public health officials now largely view that as a mistake—the state began to see a surge in COVID-19 cases. Counties responded differently. "San Francisco did experience a summer surge, but it never really blew up like it did in some other places. As soon as officials saw that happening, they immediately halted our reopening in July, whereas other counties kept pushing forward." San Diego was one of those counties. Public health officials allowed restaurants to reopen at limited capacity in late May, then salons and barbershops a week later, then gyms, hotels and bars two weeks after that. Supervisor Nathan Fletcher unsuccessfully advocated for a more restrained approach. "The minute we can possibly open things, we open things. They chose to be more cautious and by doing that they have not lived on the precipice of open and close." Allday says the San Francisco region has another asset: its history with public health. The city was the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in the United States in the 1980s, which established a robust public health response. She says it also established a trust between the community and public health officials. "We don't have any of that, 'is this real, do I trust what my leaders are saying?'" Another possible reason San Francisco and Alameda counties have lower case counts is that inequality is more pronounced there than in San Diego County, says Rebecca Fielding-Miller, an epidemiologist at UC San Diego. "It comes back to housing prices. People who live in (San Francisco and Alameda) counties are people who can afford to live there, whereas the essential workforce doesn't live in the same county. Across San Diego, our housing prices are diverse enough that frontline workers also live in San Diego County." Despite its demographics, there is plenty San Diego County can control, she says. The county could adopt a more gradual strategy of reopening, and further boost its outreach efforts in the South Bay and other parts of the county that are being hit the hardest by COVID-19. Claire Trageser, KPBS News Meanwhile, the planet is still warming. Salk Institute researchers are looking at a widely grown grain as a possible remedy for climate change. KPBS Reporter Erik Anderson has details. San Diego researchers are looking at a number of plants that could absorb carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the ground. Carbon is a by-product of fossil fuel consumption. More carbon in the air accelerates the warming of the planet’s climate. Salk researcher Wolfgang Busch says agricultural plants like the grain, sorghum, could help, if their genetic makeup was adjusted to help. Increase the ability of plants like sorghum and capture carbon in the soil. Also at the same time make sorghum better at growing in warmer and dryer environments. San Diego based Sempra is funding the five year two million dollar study. Sempra is an energy company with extensive natural gas assets. Erik Anderson KPBS News Major financial losses at the Del Mar fairgrounds have meant changes to the state owned property. KPBS North County reporter Tania Thorne has details. The cancellation of the San Diego County Fair and large events due to COVID 19 has brought a 90% loss of forecasted earnings to the Del mar Fairgrounds. This has forced large layoffs, leaving only about 15% of staff in charge of socially distanced events planned. Carlene Moore, interim CEO of the Del mar fairgrounds, said the San Diego County fair is expected to make a comeback this Summer, with some changes… "A little bit of that return to normal in terms of activity just not necessarily return to normal in terms of crowds." The drive through Scream Zone was very successful - and they are excited to launch the Holidays in Your Car drive through light show beginning December 5th. TT, KPBS News. Students from both sides of the border will take part in a diplomatic exercise… using video games. KPBS reporter Max Rivlin-Nadler tells us how video games are now being used to promote empathy. Lual Mayen is a 25-year-old South-Sudanese refugee who started his own video game company while still living in a refugee camp. Mayen will be a panelist at today's virtual event co-hosted by the San Diego Diplomacy Council. He's seen, personally, how video games can bridge the distance between people with vastly different life experiences. Videogames are something that we can use to create awareness, to help people understand empathy. we can use games to bridge global communities, to bring global communities together. Mayen has designed a game that helps players understand the challenges that refugees face, while also raising money to support those in refugee camps. As part of the event, high school students in the U.S and Mexico will play the video game "Among Us," where they'll have to work collaboratively to solve a mystery. Max Rivlin-Nadler, KPBS News It’s Friday the 13th so celebrate with a horror comedy set on that unlucky day. KPBS film critic Beth Accomando reviews Freaky, the latest from the director of Happy Death Day. The film opens today at South Bay Drive-In. Remember Freaky Friday where a mom and a daughter swap bodies? Well since it’s 2020, a year that seems particularly cursed, things are going to be a little freakier. So now we have a serial killer and a teenage girl changing bodies. CLIP Guys he’s here somewhere and he’s wearing my body, he’s wearing my face he’s like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And if we don’t capture him first, god knows how many people he’s gonna kill. The chief joy of Freaky is Vince Vaughn as a bullied high school girl finding empowerment in the 6’5” body of a deranged murderer. Writer-director Christopher Landon isn’t as clever in sending up genre tropes here as he was in Happy Death Day but Freaky makes a diverting Friday the 13th treat thanks to Vaughn’s performance. Beth Accomando, KPBS News. Coming up on the Podcast….a conversation with the Vice President of the San Diego Unified School board, now that Prop 15 really has been defeated. The ballot measure would have raised billions of dollars for schools by raising commercial property taxes. That interview next just after this break. After over a week of ballot counting in California, it appears that state Proposition 15 has been defeated, getting only 48-percent of the vote. That initiative would have raised property taxes on industrial and commercial property worth over 3-million dollars, basing their tax rate off of their current market value. Prop 15 was expected to raise billions of dollars for local governments and school districts. Richard Barrera is Vice President of the San Diego Unified school board. He told KPBS Midday Edition host Maureen Cavanaugh this would've been big for our district. That was Richard Barrera, vice president of the San Diego Unified School Board, speaking with KPBS Midday Edition Host Maureen Cavanaugh. That’s it for the podcast today, thanks for listening and have a great day.