The Davis Enterprise Sunday, September 20, 2020

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enterprise THE DAVIS

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2020

Apartment rentals may replace rotating shelter this winter BY ANNE TERNUS-BELLAMY Enterprise staff writer Just as the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted so many other aspects of life in Davis, so it has upended the community’s tradition of providing overnight shelter to the unhoused during the winter. For 13 years, the Interfaith Rotating Winter Shelter has operated volunteer-staffed congregate shelters that move

between faith-based institutions in town during the coldest months of the year. The program provides transportation, food, bedding and a safe place indoors to sleep to those who would otherwise be out on the streets. But thanks to COVID, indoor congregate settings are no longer safe, prompting discussions between volunteers and the city on how best to provide shelter this winter.

The solution: placing the city’s unhoused individuals in apartments for six months with the goal of transitioning them to permanent housing as quickly as possible. “This proposal takes advantage of an uncommonly high apartment vacancy rate in Davis,” a staff report prepared for Tuesday’s City Council meeting notes. That vacancy rate is the result of the pandemic as well, with many UC Davis students —

including an estimated half of all undergraduates — choosing to remain in their hometowns while classes are conducted online. The city has received federal CARES Act funding that is required to be used to support low-income individuals suffering the impacts of COVID-19, according to city staff. If the council on Tuesday approves the proposal, the city would use those funds to lease up to 25 two-bedroom apartments

for six months to house up to 40 of the most vulnerable members of the local homeless population, starting with those over age 65 or with an underlying health condition that puts them at greater risk. Additional CARES Act funding would cover the cost of health services provided by CommuniCare Health Centers. Meanwhile, the Interfaith

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Yolo’s COVID rate lowest in months BY ANNE TERNUS-BELLAMY Enterprise staff writer

Royce Hall at UCLA is mostly empty in the summer of 2019. More than a year later, that looks like the new normal. ANNE WERNIKOFF/ CALMATTERS PHOTO

End of the tunnel?

Coronavirus precautions at UC system likely until fall 2021 BY MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN

virtually and extremely reduced on-campus housing capacity, through September of 2021, improving gradually each month through July of 2022.

CalMatters Zoom classes will need to stick around for at least another year at the University of California, according to the system’s top health official. Dr. Carrie L. Byington, executive vice president of the sprawling UC Health system, said Wednesday that COVID-19’s impact on public health will require the university to continue its modifications, which include almost all classes done

Byington’s remarks came at the UC Board of Regents meeting during a virtual meeting. After a regent asked if it’s the case that January won’t look much different than the situation on campuses today and that the picture won’t change much by September, Byington said “that is an accurate

summary of my feelings.” “I do think that we will not be back to normal by January, and that we need to plan now for what the winter quarter or winter semester looks like,” she said. Byington also pointed out that the positivity rate for coronavirus cases among young people has risen significantly since the start of the pandemic. It’s the strongest indication that the UC could join the California State University in remaining largely online for the remainder of the academic year. Last week Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White said the system of more than 480,000 students would stay its mostly virtual course. “This decision is

the only responsible one available to us at this time,” he wrote in a public letter. California has taken a far more conservative approach to re-opening than other states. “COVID-19 will be with us for a long time and we need to adapt,” said Gavin Newsom in an Aug. 28 press briefing. Byington echoed those sentiments, channeling historical precedent. “This is not something that will go away quickly,” she said. “The pandemic of 1918, which is the one that we would compare this to most easily, (it) was about four years before things began to really change.”

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churches nationwide, although there are other local standouts. Mary Lynn Tobin, a former pastor at Davis Community Church, was there for 24 years. Rabbi Greg Wolfe has been at Bet Haverim for 25. “I was willing to risk. They were willing to risk,” Banks said of her congregation in a recent interview. “I came here thinking I would stay. I was thinking generations. Marriages to celebrations of life.” A quirky, red-haired minister with an exuberant style, Banks gives time generously to individuals while building broader engagement with the Davis

Enterprise staff writer The Rev. Beth Banks wanted a job at a church with character, a sense of community and willingness to try new things. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis wanted a minister with administrative skill, a strong pastoral presence and the ability to share ministry and be actively engaged in social justice work. The minister and the congregation have been pretty much in sync for two decades. That’s unusual. Ministerial tenure averages five- to seven-years in

VOL. 123 NO. 114

INDEX

School board looks at returning students Enterprise staff writer

WAYNE TILCOCK/ENTERPRISE FILE PHOTO

The Rev. Beth Banks of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis addresses a crowd of about 35 people Thursday in front of Rep. John Garamendi’s office in downtown Davis. community as a whole. The congregation will celebrate her tenure via Zoom on Oct. 4. An initial celebration of

WEATHER

Business . . . . . A3 Forum . . . . . . . .B2 Op-Ed . . . . . . . .B3 Classifieds . . . .B5 Living . . . . . . . . A5 Sports . . . . . . .B1 Comics . . . . . . .B4 Obituaries . . . . A4 The Wary I . . . . A2

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BY JEFF HUDSON

UU minister draws wider circle BY KATHY ROBERTSON

Yolo County’s rate of new COVID19 cases continued to decline over the last week, with an average of 14 new cases a day since last Sunday, according to county data. That would put the daily new case rate for the last week less than 7 per 100,000 residents, a metric required for the county to move out of the state’s purple Tier 1 and into the red Tier 2, allowing additional businesses to resume indoor operations. The county has also met the other metric, a test positivity rate less than 8 percent. In order to move to Tier 2, Yolo County must maintain both metrics for two consecutive weeks, something that may prove challenging for two reasons: any cases caused by social or family gatherings over the Labor Day weekend could still emerge in the next week or so and aggressive testing of thousands of students returning for the fall quarter at UC Davis will likely lead to increased cases overall.

To Today: Sunny and warm. S High 90. Low 58. H

her arrival in May 2000 was put off last spring due to the

On Thursday night, the Davis school board heard a detailed staff presentation regarding preparations for an eventual return of elementary school students to their classrooms. “We know the schools need to reopen ... and we know that we have to make sure students and staff are safe” when they do return, said Laura Juanitas, associate superintendent of student support services. Right now, she added, “We need to evaluate our preparedness to limit COVID exposure” before the district can start bringing elementary students back onto campuses. “We do not control all the factors when it comes to (the) return to campus,” she continued, adding that the California Department of Public Health and Yolo County public health authorities will need to examine and

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