SF responds to virus
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Bathhouse hearing delayed
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Coronavirus raises concerns for people with HIV by Liz Highleyman
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ith much still to be learned about the new coronavirus, experts are offering recommendations for people at higher risk for severe complications and making provisions Courtesy CDC for vulnerable popDr. John Brooks ulations. of the CDC At press time, the San Francisco Department of Public Health reported 14 cases of COVID-19, as the respiratory illness caused by the virus is known. Nationwide, there have been 938 cases in 38 states and D.C. and 29 deaths as of March 11, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public health officials from the United States and China, where the novel virus first emerged, gave an update on the growing COVID-19 epidemic during a special session at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections March 10. Two days before the conference was set to open in Boston, organizers decided to make the meeting virtual, with presentations given by webcast, due to concerns about the coronavirus. CROI was just one of many conferences canceled in recent weeks. Organizers of the large International AIDS Conference, scheduled for San Francisco and Oakland in July, have not yet made a decision. “At this point, we are too far away from AIDS 2020 to have a definitive decision yet on whether it will be held in person or virtually until we can observe the course of containment over the next month or so,” conference co-chair Dr. Monica Gandhi of UCSF and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital told the Bay Area Reporter. “We will make this decision thoughtfully and with plenty of time for people to arrange travel if needed.”
Vulnerable populations
While a majority of people infected with the coronavirus have mild symptoms – most often fever, a dry cough, and shortness of breath – around 20% develop more serious illness, including pneumonia. The most severe cases require intensive care and mechanical ventilation. Older people, individuals with underlying health conditions, and people with compromised immune systems have a higher likelihood of developing severe illness. Health officials are particularly worried about the spread of the coronavirus in nursing homes and other residential care facilities, such as See page 8 >>
Vol. 50 • No. 11 • March 12-18, 2020
Permanent SFO Harvey Milk installation set to open to the public
The permanent SFO Harvey Milk installation will open to the public March 24.
by Matthew S. Bajko
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ome March 24, the public will be able to see San Francisco International Airport’s permanent installation honoring the late gay supervisor Harvey Milk in the under-renovation terminal named in his honor. That Tuesday the airport will open to travelers nine new gates in what is known as South Harvey Milk Terminal 1. American
Airlines, Southwest, and JetBlue airlines will relocate their check-in operations to that portion of the building, as where they are now located will be the next area of the terminal to be renovated. Immediately to the left of the new American Airlines check-in area, directly in front of the entrance doors to that section of the terminal, airport visitors will find a small nook that houses the Milk installation. Its design is reminiscent of a 1970s den or rec
room in a private home, as it sports wood paneling, olive green and burnt orange swivel chairs, and a wavy carpet featuring a maroon, green, and red color palette. “It should be a wonderful amenity for everyone flying through here,” said Tim O’Brien, assistant director and curator of exhibitions for the SFO Museum. O’Brien provided the Bay Area Reporter a sneak peek Friday, March 6, of the instalSee page 14 >>
Protest planned over Lyon-Martin clinic’s move
Rick Gerharter
by John Ferrannini
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yon-Martin Health Services and the Women’s Community Clinic will be moving, tentatively in May, to parent organization HealthRIGHT 360’s Integrated Care Center at 1563 Mission Street. The shift, two blocks away from where the clinics currently operate, has angered some trans people and union members, who plan a protest Thursday (March 12). The head of HealthRIGHT 360 said the relocation of the two programs was being made for financial reasons. “Both of them, independently and together, have had significant financial losses every year,” said Vitka Eisen, a queer woman who is HealthRIGHT 360’s president and CEO, in a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter March 9. “In a good year, it was a loss of $400,000 and it peaked out at $1.7 million – it was a total of $5 million over the last six years. Since they can’t be sustainable independently as independent locations we are moving and consolidating them to a block-and-a-half away.” As the B.A.R. previously reported, LyonMartin Health Services has been part of HealthRIGHT 360 since 2015, and Lyon-Martin moved to its current location at 1735 Mission Street in 2017. Founded in 1979, 59% of the patients
Cynthia Laird
Lyon-Martin Health Services and the Women’s Community Clinic are expected to move into HealthRIGHT 360’s Mission Street headquarters this spring.
identify as transgender or genderqueer, and it was named for longtime lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon and her late spouse, Del Martin. The Women’s Community Clinic has been part of HealthRIGHT 360 since 2017 and moved to the 1735 Mission Street location in 2018. It opened in 1999 and seeks to provide a welcoming environment and services for low-income women.
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The moves will be protested with a Community Rally for Lyon-Martin & Women’s Community Clinic Thursday at 6 p.m. at 1735 Mission Street, where the clinics now operate. “We’re trying to preserve the service and minimize losses,” Eisen said, noting that HealthRIGHT 360 would have trouble making payroll, See page 14 >>