Tri County Sentry

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TRI TRICOUNTY COUNTY

ENTRY ENTRY VOL. XXVIII NO. 15

APRIL 10, 2020

Singer Pink

says she had COVID-19, gives $1M to relief funds n See page 12

Adjusting to the new normal

City Parks and Beaches closed on Easter Weekend

By Chris Frost chris@tricountysentry.com

Oxnard-- As Oxnard moves toward protecting the public, City Manager Alex Nguyen gave a detailed report about how the city will move forward.

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ESIDES the social distancing protocols in place, Nguyen also gave a grim fiscal picture for the city and hopes the state or federal government will help.

Police Chief Scott Whitney told the television crowd and the council that things would get worse over the next few weeks, but Oxnard is resilient and will get through this virus. The council participated remotely.

City reapproves Rio Urbana

n City Parks, see page 2

planning permit changes

By Chris Frost chris@tricountysentry.com Oxnard-- The Oxnard City Council reapproved planning and zoning planning and zoning permit 17-610-01 annexation, to include local agency formation commission LAFCO requested language, April 8.

The project has a 15,000 square foot office building and 167 residential units for sale over nine buildings filed by Rio School District in Oxnard and the Pacific Companies in Idaho. n Rio Urbana, see page 6

(File photo)

Community Development Director Jeff Lambert.

Council approves Housing Authority’s five-year and annual plan

By Chris Frost chris@tricountysentry.com Oxnard--The Oxnard City Council approved the Five-Year Public Housing Agency (PHA) Plan, Annual Agency Plan, and Capital Fund Program (CFP) FiveYear Action Plan for Low Rent Public Housing on April 7.

The item is not complete, however, as the adopted form will return to the Housing and Economic Development Committee for further discussion and will be amended by the council

at a later date.

The Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 requires the Oxnard Housing Authority (OHA) to submit a Five-Year Public Housing Agency (PHA) Plan and an Annual Agency Plan.

With the Five-Year and Annual Agency Plan, the program provides policies for the Public Housing Program and the Housing Choice Voucher Program/Section 8 Program. It provides a framework for local accountability, plus an easily identifiable source document.

Public housing residents, Section

(Courtesy photo)

Councilwoman Gabriela Basua

8 participants, and the public may locate information about the Housing Authority’s policies, rules, and regulations.

They can also find agency services.

Housing Director Emilio Ramirez said HUD (Housing and Urban Development) requires a document that shows how the city will operate its programs within the housing authority.

The document identifies the regulations the city will enact and the goals the city will pursue.

The city looks toward adopting

four goals that include investment and economic opportunities, reducing homelessness, rental assistance, and streamlining the operation for clients.

HUD requires the plan 75 days before the next fiscal year, or April 16.

“We had a variety of meetings that took place with our resident advisory board and our tenants that concluded on Feb. 18,” he said.

“The public comment period was through April 3. The plan, in its complete form, is available to the n Housing Authority, see page 3

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TRI-COUNTY SENTRY, FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2020

NEWS Frosted Thoughts

Is helping the homeless a myth?

By Chris Frost chris@tricountysentry.com Oxnard-- Let’s take a minute to discuss an important issue that has not gone away because of the Coronavirus.

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ET’S talk about the homeless for a minute.

When this Coronavirus first appeared in Ventura County, I asked some elected officials how the county would keep them safe, and you can read stories about members of the homeless being sheltered at hotels to prevent an epidemic of people from this community adding to the pandemic. That’s great, but it sure doesn’t fix the big picture.

Finding a home is great, and I know efforts are moving forward on the housing first model. The reality is that chronically homeless people, not someone who lost their job, someone chronically homeless, needs real help.

I have no choice but to question the process. I openly wonder why no one wants to answer questions about how they identify needs for people who need help. Maybe they think that ignoring me will

make me go away.

I did reach out to one member of the homeless community when this pandemic hit, and I offered to interview his friends that he calls his family. I got shot down here and was told the situation was a little volatile at the shelter because they were shuttered inside, and I couldn’t come in.

At the last City of Oxnard town hall, I attended about a new proposed navigation center on B Street in Oxnard. I asked a question about how the city would get members of the homeless community to take the opportunity and accept help. I was told that the city struck a deal with the Salvation Army to engage the homeless, build a relationship, and take that step. City Manager Alex Nguyen says that it takes an average of 60 contacts with the homeless to get this done.

Okay, that sounds good, so I took it upon myself to call the Salvation Army to ask how it was going and ask questions about some of the challenges they face.

It would be a great story if they would have called me back—no such luck.

During the same meeting, I had the chance to speak with

Chris Frost

Mercy House Operating Director Patti Long. Mercy House manages the Oxnard Homeless Shelter and will operate the proposed new navigation center once it gets built. I asked Patti if we could do a story about the people providing service to the community, and she sounded excited and took my card. I got no response from her either. Long before I attended this meeting, I stopped by the Oxnard shelter and made arrangements to supply the community with copies of the paper. I asked the young lady who met me if I could do a story about how Mercy House helps people get a fresh start and

give them help if needed. She offered to speak with her boss, took my card, and I didn’t hear anything back.

Onward I roll, and I thought it would help if I reached out to a member of private business, so I sent an email to Beachside Therapy. I asked the same question, and I expanded it to ask how maybe a dysfunctional family can spiral to gang violence, drug use, and, ultimately, homelessness.

I got no reply again.

I did ask Emilio Ramirez to refer me to someone at Ventura County at a city council meeting.

He offered to get in touch with me, and he didn’t. I also asked to speak with two companies about a job fair planned at the shelter.

I told Mr. Ramirez it would be a great story, and he emailed me and asked for permission. I never heard anything back.

Those of you who know me probably realize that I have an opinion, but before I put this on the page, I will do everything I can to get the story.

Okay, my best friend in college majored in psychology and Dr. Leslie Dozzo, went on to run the Children’s Treatment Center in Albuquerque. New Mexico. The

question stays the same. How does a dysfunctional family lead to homelessness, and how giving people services help stop that problem, and is this a potential cause? I’m not a psychologist, and I wanted to ask that question.

In full disclosure, she and I dated briefly when I was 20, and she broke up with me. I was hurt, but I got over it and moved on.

We did not end amicably.

Now, I know that she probably has no interest in talking to me, but it has been 30 years, and she didn’t return my call. I identified myself as a member of the media and gave my company name to her gatekeeper. I asked for her voicemail, and her gatekeeper refused to patch me through, but he took my phone number. I hope she hates me and didn’t want to talk instead of having a cavalier attitude about helping people.

With no input or story, I hope the homeless people are getting treated better than pushing them out of sight and out of mind. I know the county has a shortage of professionals to help the homeless, but I think that if you come to talk to the press and talk, maybe you’ll inspire people to get involved and help.

City Parks continued from page 1

“We’ll get through it, but we need everybody to do their part,” he said. “There are plenty of heroes, the nurses, and doctors, but we’re asking people to shelter in place. What we’re asking for

is common decency, and you only go out if you absolutely have to perform an essential function.”

When you exercise social distancing, like while you’re shopping, Whitney said the

Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that people cover their faces.

“Social distancing doesn’t apply to the household,” he said. “I’ve heard people talking about they’re my friends, and

we are quarantining with them. Only people who live in the same household are supposed to come within six feet. If you’re not abiding by that, then you’re not providing that common decency that we’re asking of everybody.”

Several council members have taken a leadership role in proper handwashing

techniques (Councilman Bert Perello did a video) and sanitizing work areas and common places, is also essential.

“We have to protect our first responders, and most of our outreach right now is on social media,” Whitney said.

“We’ve closed the lobby at the police department. “We had

too many people coming in coughing and sneezing, and it wasn’t safe. We’ve developed some good protocols, and most of the lobby stuff is done by appointment, and our residents have picked up on that quickly. In some ways, it’s better customer service.”

After working with the n City Parks, see page 3

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TRI-COUNTY SENTRY, FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2020

NEWS Housing Authority continued from page 1

public and our residents.”

The city looks to enact an administrative plan for the Section 8 program.

“One of them is the advancement of public opportunities,” he said. “We’re looking to expand the supply of assisted housing. We’re looking to be able to expand how we offer these economic opportunities, including the implication of these additional vouchers, different kinds of vouchers, new vouchers, and developing different types of rental housing, not just public housing, and decreasing the public housing vacancy rate.”

The proposal also increases housing assistance and creates a housing navigation team.

“We’ve already done that, and it has produced a

significant amount of success already,” Ramirez said. “We also want to expand the family self-sufficiency program, and we need to increase the program participation amongst our clients in public housing. We want to add job-training, educational, and self-sufficiency to that program.”

The city also looks to expand its partnerships with employers and have programs with service and educational partners.

“Oxnard College and the school district is one example,” he said. “We need to revamp our outreach methods to the 3,000 clients; we serve and increase the progress of meetings with our program participants. We

need more engagement with our self-sufficiency program.”

Ramirez wants to expand the resident services program operating in La Colonia.

“We want to make sure we have a better coordination program for our family selfsufficiency program,” he said. “We want to improve our resident advisory board’s engagement and provide more services to the public housing sites in the city and not just focus within the multi-service center. We do a lot of work at the Squire site and the senior site. We want to expand this throughout the city.”

Ramirez thinks a housing authority plays a significant role in ending homelessness.

“We want to increase

admissions into all of the programs, including Section 8, public housing, residency, and self-sufficiency programs,” he said. “We will apply to the mainstream vouchers, which is a new source of vouchers from HUD that focuses on providing housing to homeless individuals directly.

We’ll partner with new local Health and Human Services Agencies to help us provide support services as we engage in the mainstream set aside vouchers.”

Non-profit providers will partner with the city for supportive services and case management, he said, and they’ll continue its partnership with a continuum of care.

In recent months, the city

reenacted the set aside of homeless vouchers for the Section 8 program, and the city is learning its lessons from the mistakes they make and enjoy some success housing people who are otherwise homeless.

Oxnard gets a small allocation of VASH (Veteran’s Assistance Supportive Housing) vouchers, Ramirez said, and the city hasn’t used them well.

“We’ve just started increasing our success using the VASH vouchers, and we are going to apply for a new allocation in the coming year,” he said.

The city hopes the rental assistant voucher users can use them more expediently.

“We need to expand and

offer an increased level of service in our public housing sites,” he said. “That means increasing our portfolio value partially. Not because they need to be good public housing sites. They need to be quality, affordable housing sites.”

Ramirez made changes to his team.

“We merged the capital fund with the maintenance team to provide investment and not just maintenance,” he said. “It’s important for us to transition from affordable housing units.

We are working on providing more opportunities for rental assistance.”

The city has a cumbersome bureaucratic policy to comply n Housing Authority, see page 10

think it will be a problem, but we can’t bank on that, so we have to be sure. It would not be safe for us to have our parks open.”

Over Easter weekend, the City of Oxnard is hard closing all the neighborhood parks and community parks and all the beaches. Ventura County has also closed its parks and beaches, and the City of Port Hueneme has closed its beach and pier.

“We’ve talked to California State Parks,” Whitney said.

“Many people don’t know this, but Oxnard Beach Park is a city park, and as you walk out the beach, that’s a state park. That’s called Mandalay State Beach. We’re working closely with them, and they’re going to keep that beach open like we’re going to keep all our beaches open except for Easter weekend. They’re going to close the state beach on Saturday and Sunday.”

Mayor Pro Tem Carmen Ramirez asked if there will be police enforcement if people

gather over Easter weekend.

“The parking lots for community parks are going to be closed,” Whitney said. “Parking in the neighborhoods sometimes gets crowded, so those areas where we’ve had problems in the past, we’re going to put up no parking signs, and it’s going to be strictly enforced. Extra officers are working on Saturday and Sunday to address this issue, and our recreation and parks department staff is going to be on-hand to address this.

We don’t want to issue any tickets; our intent is not to issue a ticket for a technical violation if somebody is walking through a park. If we have a large group that shows up, and they don’t comply, we will issue them a citation. It’s also a misdemeanor, so they will be subject to arrest if they don’t cooperate.”

Ramirez suggested that Whitney make sure the closure is broadcast on Spanish language radio.

If someone sees a gathering in a park over Easter weekend, Whitney said residents should call 805-385-7740, the nonemergency number.

“We are champions of keeping our parks open, and we’ve been keeping a bird’s eye on them,” Whitney said.

“Our residents are complying, and we appreciate that, and there are few social distancing violations.”

Perello said the City of Oxnard is doing the best it can to take care of the general population.

“We’re not trying to punish people,” he said. “When we see people going into a skate park named after a former council member and parks commissioner, Bedford Finker, who did everything he could to have recreation for the City of Oxnard and help people who didn’t have access. I don’t think, in his good name, we should let people continue to break that fencing and walk right through and not follow the rules about headgear in the park. I hope we continue to pursue this after this health issue passes.”

Nguyen reminded the council and television audience that during the pandemic, there are no residential or commercial evictions allowed.

“We enacted this a few weeks ago, and the governor enacted this statewide,” he said. “We’ve received questions about this and how does it work, and I want to be clear to everyone— no evictions, residential or commercial, during this pandemic. We’re looking to the state to work out some rules for what happens in the

aftermath, and when we get that guidance, we will pass that along.”

Additionally, he said the city would not shut off any utilities because of delinquent accounts, and they would waive any late penalties.

“That’s straightforward,” he said.

“Charter Communications are doing the same, and they are offering free wifi for students if you want to connect with them during this period. Southern California Gas won’t shut anyone off, as well.

Additionally, he said that business tax payments and parking tickets would be deferred.

“We will not be ticketing cars right now during streetsweeping hours in this emergency,” he said.

There are “a variety” of food distribution services available, he said, and the way to find them is to look at Oxnard.org or the county’s food share or vcemergency websites, and residents will see the locations in Oxnard and around the county.

“A lot of these locations may run out of food from time-to-time, so you want to check and make sure they’re open on their stated days,” he said.

Ventura County has undertaken a large outreach program to connect with farmers in multiple languages.

“They’re reaching out to the farmworkers, companies, and the farmers,” he said.

There are also hotels open to quarantine members of the homeless community that have symptoms or have been tested. Oxnard has opened a temporary shelter so it can achieve proper social

distancing.

The city seeks partners to help people with their unemployment checks if they’ve been laid off or seek payment for payroll protection from the federal government.

“As these applications are complicated, my concern is that all these residents who are eligible for all these benefits will have a difficult time obtaining them,” he said.

“As soon as we get the logistics worked out, we will announce the details. We hope to do this in the next couple of weeks.”

The city projects that sales tax will decrease by $3 million in the last quarter of the fiscal year 2019-2020 because of the coronavirus. Additionally, Governor Gavin Newsome ordered to defer sales tax payments for some larger and smaller businesses in some categories for between three and 12 months.

“That will present a cashflow problem for us and all cities in Calif,” Nguyen said. “In Oxnard, we will not receive approximately $8 million in sales tax payments because of the governor’s deferral in the final quarter of this year.”

The hotel tax will decrease by $1.6 million by June 30.

“We also should expect the gas tax we use for roads maintenance to decrease,” Nguyen said. “That’s not good news for us, either.”

The city doesn’t have exact data for miscellaneous fees, he said, but the best guess is that it could mean another $1-2 million decrease.

“What is happening to the world around us is n City Parks, see page 6

City Parks continued from page 2

police union, the department has revised its schedule to eliminate the overlap, and Whitney appreciates their willingness to help. The city also plans to keep as many parks and beaches open for as long as they can. There are some parks where that is not safe, including the skate park, the three dog parks, and park amenities like the restrooms, playground equipment, picnic tables, and barbecue areas. Only the open spaces at the parks will stay open.

“We are going to close the parking spaces for the community parks, Oxnard State Beach Park, Oxnard College Park, and a few other of the smaller parking lots near the beaches,” he said.

Over Easter weekend, he said the community parks in Oxnard are busy and shoulder-to-shoulder with people.

“I think that 85-90 percent of the people practice social distancing, but not everybody,” he said. “I don’t

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TRI-COUNTY SENTRY, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020

SENIOR Dispatches from Dystopia

The mettle of the better angels of our nature is being tested

Do not fall victim to a COVID-19 scam!

WASHINGTON—The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will begin to distribute COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments in a matter of weeks. For most Americans, this will be a direct deposit into your bank account. For the unbanked, elderly or other groups that have traditionally received tax refunds via paper check, they will receive their economic impact payments in this manner as well.

With any good news story from the IRS, comes an opportunity for criminals and scammers to take advantage of the American public.

• Scammers may try to get you to sign over your check to them.

• Scammers may use this as an opportunity to get you to “verify” your filing information in order to receive your money, using your personal information to file false tax returns in an identity theft scheme.

Between these two schemes, everyone receiving an economic impact payment is at risk.

The Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is working tirelessly alongside our civil counterparts and law enforcement partners to identify scams and halt wrongdoers from taking advantage of the American people.

Special Agent in Charge Ryan L. Korner warns, “unfortunately criminals are taking this unprecedented pandemic as an opportunity to exploit the public. It is critical now more than ever to remain vigilant for scams that are attempting to steal your personal information and your money. All Americans should specifically be on the lookout for scammers trying to directly steal their COVID-19 Economic Impact Payment, as well as fraudsters trying to trick them into providing sensitive information by convincing them it is required to receive their payment from the IRS.” “While much of the country is working from home, scammers and con artists are also working – on schemes to steal your money,” said United States Attorney Nick Hanna. “Criminals are taking advantage of the health emergency, so I urge everyone to heed the warnings to protect your personal information, your bank account and anything potentially valuable to a fraudster. The Justice Department will vigorously investigate and prosecute criminals, but we need everyone to be extra careful so they can avoid becoming a victim.”

So like most of the world, I got laid off from a couple of part-time gigs in the last few weeks.

Finally! I made the headlines, and not for any of the reasons my parents had predicted. (Point goes to L Ron!)

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OU know how it is. Everything is just a story in the paper; tch tch tch and turn the page… until it affects you.

Then that random news item becomes mighty real, mighty tactile, mighty fast. George Carlin nailed the phenomenon perfectly. Cleaned up for a family publication, he said, “You ever notice how other peoples’ stuff is [poop], but your [poop] is stuff?”

That’s what bad news is like. And the current tsunami of ever-more discouraging developments isn’t just other peoples’ sad stories any more… it’s directly impacting our stuff.

Traditionally, that’s when Americans draw the line. When we all feel endangered, when we all feel attacked. Pearl Harbor. 9/11.

When the “Roseanne” reboot got cancelled.

Can we puh-lease add global pandemic to the list?

We’re in objective trouble when the first thing we hear upon waking up in the morning is that big cities in America are stacking coronavirus victims like cordwood in hospital halls, waiting for refrigerated trucks to take them away… and we just get on with your day because that’s just another day these days?

Just another day we can’t go to work, catch a movie, eat out—even leave the house!

(Unless you live in one of the remaining handful of livefree-and-die utopias where the Republican governors have so far refused all entreaties to sign stay-at-home orders.

States whose intransigence will consign the rest of America to endure the epidemic that much longer.)

Remember joking about living in a post-truth world the last few years, where objective facts no longer mattered? Oh, aha ha ha ha haaa.

Turns out, ‘global pandemic’ is a fact that still carries some currency. By print day, Wednesday, things in our land are universally predicted to be

terribly grim. Mass-casualties grim. I don’t want to think about it. Nobody wants to think about it because we all feel so damned helpless. And we are helpless. God’s been thinning the herd with plagues since Bible times and doesn’t show any inclination to change tactics. (God needs to get in touch with his sponsor and start working his steps again but that’s another column.)

In the meantime, while we are mostly helpless in the face of the pandemic and its economic consequences, 2 Corin:4, 8-9 reminds us we are never truly helpless except when we do not help each other. “We are hard pressed on every side, but not dismayed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”

We’re still alive and we still have our wits about us.

“Shelter-in-place” doesn’t have to be a prison sentence. We don’t have to be angry about it and we sure don’t need to be fighting online about it, which is where the story is getting to in the news cycle. Fingerpointing and blaming when by every reasonable metric we ought to be pulling together.

Keeping us fighting among ourselves garners a lot of clicks and makes a lot of anonymous internet Titans wealthy beyond the dreams of kings…

Media’s—both professional and social—filthy business model is destroying the country I grew up infatuated with and they’re doing it for dollars.

Friends, continuing to fight among ourselves at this point in time would be stupider than

Fighting among ourselves at this point in time would be stupider than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, it would be like getting into a fistfight over the seating assignments. rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, it would be like getting into a fistfight over the seating assignments. Let’s don’t get fooled again.

Let’s use this unwanted free time to do something great.

This health threat has reduced us all to our most elemental selves; carbon-based lifeforms who want to survive. So we’re staying home and surviving.

And wasting a marvelous, unexpected opportunity to make our country great again— ourselves, at the local level. In our own neighborhoods, even within our own families.

Since my income has shrunk and my prospects remain limited, family and close friends have been in contact with me, making sure I was okay. Letting me know they cared. And the most sincere communiqué came from a cousin I haven’t spoken to— up until then—for, oh, about the length of the current administration. Her reaching out unexpectedly really moved me. She reached out not as a member of this sub-category or that niche of carbon-based lifeform, but because of our common humanity.

She inspired me to do the

same and the first person I went to was a high school friend with whom I had broken over politics ages ago. For months now he’s been trying to re-friend me on Hatebook and this weekend i finally clicked “Accept.” And… and it’s good.

Politics aside, we’re still the same guys who’ve been best friends since junior year at Amphi High.

Let’s commit to taking these cabin-fevery days that a) the Lord, or b) cruel fate has granted us and put them to some good use. There’s nothing wrong with America that a cessation of internecine hostilities won’t at least improve.

We are all fighting over seating assignments on the Titanic now.

I just know we can be smarter than that; we’re the country that developed chicken-breastbun technology!

Let’s try it, one maga-maniac or Hillary-hugger in our lives at a time. Put this paper down or close the tab and get back in touch right now with the first person you think of with whom you’ve lost touch over manufactured, commoditized ‘fightin’ words’ in the last decade or so.

And just ask ‘em how they are. Let them know you still care—that’s it—and see what happens.

It rocked my world. And my most fervent wish is that you’ll give it a try and it’ll rock your world, and the world of someone you get to love again, too.

L Ron Brooks is an author, educator and licensed pet groomer living far from the home he loves.

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TRI-COUNTY SENTRY, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020

SENIOR Nursing home infections, deaths surge amid lockdown measures

By Jim Mustian, Bernard Condon and Candice Choi WASHINGTON— Nursing homes across the country have been in lockdown for weeks under federal orders to protect their frail, elderly residents from coronavirus, but a wave of deadly outbreaks nearly every day since suggests that the measures including a ban on visits and daily health screenings of staffers either came too late or were not rigorous enough.

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ECENT outbreaks in Tennessee, New Jersey, Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland have pushed the death toll at the nation’s nursing homes to at least 450 and highlight the biggest gap: Screenings of doctors, nurses, aides and other workers do not involve actual testing but the taking of temperatures or asking health questions that still allow infected, asymptomatic people to slip through.

“It’s still been like Swiss cheese with people coming in and out of there, and thus you’ve got these explosions in senior facilities,” said John BaRoss of Long Valley, New Jersey, who recently pulled his 85-year-old mother out of an assisted-living center out of fear of infection.

After an outbreak of 100 infections and four deaths at the Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing outside Nashville, Tennessee— where the National Guard was called in to help evacuate the facility—Sumner County Mayor Anthony Holt blamed staff members who came to work despite showing symptoms for COVID-19 and “exposed a lot of patients.”

“Things got out of hand,” Holt told the Associated Press.

“Once employees became symptomatic, they should have asked them to go home immediately and called the health department. I don’t think that occurred.”

After an outbreak near Dayton, Ohio, killed six people and infected nearly 50 at a pair of nursing homes less

Photo by Dan DeLong for KHN

Josie and George Taylor stand on the porch of their home in Everett, Washington, on March 24. They are two of the first people in the U.S. to recover from novel coronavirus infections after joining a clinical trial for the antiviral drug remdesivir.

Ailing couple gambles on trial for COVID-19 cure Courtesy khn.org than 10 miles apart, health officials began scrutinizing medical specialists such as phlebotomists and respiratory therapists who work in multiple facilities a day. One such health worker who visited both homes tested positive for COVID-19.

In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan said an outbreak that spread like “wildfire” at a Mount Airy nursing home, killing five and infecting 77, apparently began with an asymptomatic health worker who made it past a temperature check screening and “infected the population.”

Some relatives of those at the Sundale nursing home in Morgantown, West Virginia, where 29 residents and staff have tested positive, say more should have been done to keep coronavirus out before the federal restrictions took hold in mid-March.

“The day before the shutdown, we just walked in wherever. There was no signin. There was nothing,’ said Courtney Templeton about her last visit to her 69-year-old mother.

Templeton also faults the home for not testing residents fast enough and not keeping healthy ones separate from those just back from a nearby hospital showing COVID-19 symptoms, including her mother’s roommate.

“She came back coughing and had a fever,” Templeton said of a visit two weeks ago, after which she began begging the home to protect her mother.

“Can’t you keep the incoming patients separate? Can’t you keep them quarantined for 14 days?”

Last week, Templeton got word both the roommate and her mom had the disease.

Though the federal

government has not been releasing a count of its own, an AP tally from media reports and state health departments indicate at least 450 deaths and nearly 2,000 infections have been linked to coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes and long-term care facilities nationwide.

And for the nation’s more than 15,000 such facilities and the 1 million people who live in them, experts say the situation could get worse before it gets better.

They say the crisis has only deepened a chronic staffing shortage at nursing homes because more workers are selfquarantining or staying home with their children. There is still not widespread testing of staff or patients, and shortages of masks and other protective gear persist.

“It’s an emergency situation, and it’s just been totally neglected in all the national policy,” said Charlene Harrington, a professor emerita at the University of California San Francisco and former state health official. “They’re not focusing on the fact that these are the most vulnerable of people in the whole country.”

And even more ominously, overcrowding in hospitals has some states seeking to force nursing homes to take patients who are recovering from COVID-19, raising fears they could spread it to residents inside.

New York issued a statewide advisory last week forbidding nursing homes from denying residents admission “solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19,.” California told its nursing homes to make similar preparations. Massachusetts announced plans to designate

specific nursing homes as care centers for COVID-19 patients—a move that has set it apart from other states “Sending hospitalized patients who are likely harboring the virus to nursing homes that do not have the appropriate units, equipment and staff to accept COVID-19 patients is a recipe for disaster,” said Mark Parkinson, president of the American Health Care Association.

Federal directives on nursing home coronavirus prevention followed the nation’s biggest outbreak in one place, the deaths of 40 at the Life Care Center nursing home near Seattle. A government inspection found infections at the home and others nearby were likely caused in part by employees working while sick.

A March 13 order from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says nursing homes should immediately halt visitors and nonessential workers, cancel communal dining and group activities, and actively screen residents and staff for fever and respiratory symptoms.

But the order did not mandate regular testing of staffers, which nursing home providers and advocates say is not possible or practical because of the limited availability of tests and delays in getting results.

“In an ideal world, would everyone have been screened with COVID tests? Of course.

But this is all we could do,” said Kathleen Hill O’Neill, a nursing home consultant and instructor at the University of Pennsylvania.

The restrictions have done little to slow the daily drumbeat of new infections.

SEATTLE—For 10 days last month, they lay in side-by-side isolation units in a Seattle-area hospital, tethered to oxygen and struggling to breathe as the coronavirus ravaged their lungs.

After nearly 52 years of marriage, that was the hardest thing: being apart in this moment, too weak to care for each other, each alone with their anxiety and anguish.

“I worried about my husband a lot,” recalled Josie Taylor, 74, who fell ill a few days before George, 76. “Yes, I was concerned about me, but I was more concerned about what was going to happen to him.”

Despite their personal uncertainty, when a doctor approached the Taylors at their bedsides to ask if they would consent to join a study of an experimental drug to help experts learn to treat the devastating infection, each agreed.

“My answer was absolutely yes,” Josie said. “My feeling was anything I can do to help. Even if you’re stuck in an isolation room, this is affecting so many people and we have to do everything we can.”

In late March, the Taylors were discharged from EvergreenHealth medical center, heading home a few days apart.

They returned to their tidy white house in Everett, tired, worn — and wondering if the clinical trial they had joined is the reason they survived the deadly disease.

The couple are among the first patients in the U.S. to recover from COVID-19 after agreeing to participate in a National Institutes of Health randomized controlled trial of remdesivir, an antiviral drug made

by Gilead Sciences that once aimed to treat another infectious disease, Ebola.

The study is part of a surge in efforts to beat back the virus that as of Sunday evening had sickened more than 337,000 people in the U.S. and led to more than 9,600 known deaths.

“You pray that you got the drug,” said Josie. “The fact that we both recovered so quickly? You hope that’s the reason why.”

But neither the Taylors nor Dr. Diego Lopez de Castilla, the 41-year-old physician heading the trial at the Kirkland, Washington, hospital, know now whether the couple received injections of remdesivir — or an identical-looking placebo.

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TRI-COUNTY SENTRY, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020

NEWS STATEPOINT CROSSWORD THEME: NAME THE ANIMAL

City Parks continued from page 3

also happening to us as a local government,” he said. “It’s happening to all other local governments, as well. We are working on a balanced financial plan to get us through the next 15 months.”

The federal stimulus package, he said, does not provide funding for cities smaller than 500,000 people.

“We are working hard in Sacramento and Washington to advocate a bailout package for cities with populations below

500,000 in the next stimulus package,” he said. “I believe that it will be for most cities in this country. We all have a desperate need for support as our revenues decline rapidly; our ability to provide essential services will also decline. I’ve already started talking with our labor leaders for support, going forward.”

The city is also looking at the budget and development deals that would bring new jobs to the community, despite the circumstances.

“The reality ahead of us is unchartered,” Nguyen said.

“We don’t know how bad it will get or how long it will be. A common phrase you hear nowadays is that we’re in unprecedented times. We need to be open-minded, creative, innovative, and patient. We’re all in this together.”

He thanked all the public employees across every government.

“We are driving people hard to keep everything functioning,” he said.

the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 (Government Code Section 56000) and include annexations into the city and Calleguas Municipal Water Districts and detachments from the Ventura County Resource Conservation District, the Ventura County Fire Protection District, and County Service Area No. 32; municipal water district.

“The approval requires that it is consistent with the Oxnard and Callegas sphere of influence and is consistent with the guidelines for orderly development, and the annexation includes terms and conditions appropriate to LAFCO’s rules,” he said.

The reorganization will not cause any significant environmental impacts, he said, and revising the maps will meet LAFCO’s standards.

“These are cleanup items that make sure we meet the expectations of the LAFCO executive director,” he said. “When we submit the application to LAFCO, the executive director can deem it complete and process it normally.”

During public comments, Tony Tellamonte expressed his gratitude to the staff and the council for processing the recommendation with the support of LAFCO. He wished the council well and asked them to stay safe.

Mayor Pro Tem Carmen Ramirez expressed her support for the item.

“The Rio School District needs this to support all of its programs,” she said. “It’s about time. I also want to disclose that I am the current chair of Ventura County LAFCO, and members of the board selected me, and there is no conflict. I will support it here and at LAFCO.” Councilman Bert Perello had a question about the new site coming in with no environmental issues.

“The water coming in that will be required for this site, is there going to be an issue with respect to having the amount of water to supply this site,” he asked. “Is there going to be a tradeoff of wells that the Rio School District has?”

Lambert said the agreement is a document approved by the planning commission and the city council.

“There is an adequate supply of water through for this project,” he said. The item passed unanimously.

Rio Urbana continued from page 1

ACROSS 1. Spoil 6. Delivery service 9. Gallup’s inquiry 13. Madison Square Garden, e.g.

14. One of the Tudors 15. Pinkerton’s gallery member 16. Beneath, to a poet 17. Bird-to-be 18. Not slouching 19. *Koko or Digit 21. *George or Marcel 23. Langley agency 24. Can of worms 25. Pine juice 28. Up to the task 30. Most recent 35. Furnace output 37. Gives a helping hand 39. Veranda in Honolulu 40. *European sea eagle 41. Waterwheel 43. Ladder crosspiece 44. *Valued for its down 46. Steelers’s Chuck 47. Genealogical plant?

48. Treat for Dumbo 50. Hoofbeat sound 52. “To ____ is human” 53. Jim Carrey’s 1994 disguise 55. Garden cultivator 57. *Roger or Peter 60. *Rocket or Rascal 64. “Random” audience member 65. Mozart’s “L’____ del Cairo” 67. Resin-producing tree 68. Like haunted house 69. Time delay 70. City in Germany 71. Not a bee 72. Pilot’s deadline 73. Not those DOWN 1. Pirates on a plank?

2. Black and white treat 3. *Papa or Mama 4. Clown act

5. Perennial garden flower 6. Iris holder 7. *Babe or Wilbur 8. Fraternity letter 9. Politician’s barrelful 10. Curved molding 11. Famous Australopithecus 12. “____ the wild rumpus begin!”

15. Hertz offering 20. Labanotation founder 22. Doesn’t mix well with water 24. Wilma and Fred’s hometown 25. *Dolly 26. Eagle’s nest 27. *Giant or Red 29. *Simba or Elsa 31. Queen of Hearts’ pastry 32. Accustom 33. Not so crazy

34. *Detroit mascot 36. Not quite an adult 38. Perfect houseplant spot 42. Luau greeting 45. S. E. Hinton’s “____ Fish” 49. Chi precursor 51. Place for a square 54. Furry scarf 56. What’s in your e-wallet?

57. Actress Perlman 58. Runs, as on TV 59. Radar flash 60. Indian music 61. Yorkshire river 62. Lode deposits 63. Supreme Court number 64. Make a seam 66. *Tom or Sylvester

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

The council’s approval instructs the staff to submit an application to the Ventura County LAFCO for reorganization that includes annexation of the parcel at 2714 East Vineyard Avenue.

C o m m u n i t y Development Director Jeff Lambert presented the item to the council and said it’s a redo of action the council did in Feb of 2020.

In Feb., the council approved the project, including annexation through the Local Area Formation Committee, and the city provided that to the LAFO executive director on February 25.

“He provided feedback that there were several areas and components of that resolution that needed to be adjusted to meet LAFCO’s requirements,” he said.

The city needed to make sure it got done according to

10

TRI-COUNTY SENTRY, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020

NEWS Working remotely CSUCI pulls together to print 3-D protective face shields

By Staff Reports CSU Channel Islands may be operating in a virtual environment right now, but CSUCI faculty, staff and students from several different academic programs have mobilized and fired up 3-D printers to print badly-needed protective face shields.

S

O far, 51 printers are humming away in University members’ garages, kitchens, bedrooms and dens across the region in an effort to help medical personnel protect themselves as they treat patients diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus.

“Otherwise our printers were just going to be sitting and gathering dust,” said Computer Science lab technician Ricky Medrano. “My printer is running in my bedroom 24 hours a day. It’s the white noise I go to bed with.”

The movement began about two weeks ago with Chemistry Lecturer Safa Khan, Ph.D., who worried constantly about her husband, a physician who was working at the Ventura County Medical Center (VCMC) and Santa Paula Hospital.

“I was crying every day,” Khan said. “My husband told me somebody donated a welder’s mask and they were using garbage bags as protective gowns.”

Then it occurred to her that the

CSUCI campus had 3-D printers that could perhaps be operated remotely and campus members had their own personal 3-D printers at home.

“I emailed my program chair, my colleagues and asked if they knew anybody with a 3-D printer who would be willing to print face shields,” Khan said. “Within about two hours I had hundreds of responses. It was amazing.”

The volunteers came from several different academic programs including Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Science & Resource Management, Art, and

Computer Science to name a few.

“When I first heard we had to stay home and work from home, I was reading the news and saw something about the need for 3-D face shields,” Medrano said.

“Initially I was going to do it on my own, but five days later, I heard from Safa that they had a project going and I decided to jump in.”

When Professor of Chemistry Phil Hampton, Ph.D., heard about the project, he alerted the numerous contacts he developed as Director of the VC STEM Network, a web of schools, universities, businesses and

others interested in promoting Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) education.

Hampton learned that a longtime contact of his, DeAnza Academy of Technology and the Arts Technology and Aeronautics teacher Alex Wulff, had just begun a face shield 3-D printing project with a team of STEM students he mentors called STEMbassadors.

CSUCI volunteers joined forces with the STEMbassadors project, printing shields that Wulff and the students deliver to VCMC. “The connection with CSUCI has been incredibly helpful,” Wulff said. “Because we’re part of the VC STEM network, I could get in touch with Phil (Hampton) and then get in touch with makers throughout the region.”

Khan had procured a $3,000 grant from Adobe to use for Earth Day, but with Adobe’s enthusiastic permission, she used the grant to purchase plastic for the shields instead.

Other larger plastics companies wanted Khan to pay more than she could afford with the grant, so she was grateful when a smaller Camarillo plastics company, American Plastics Corp., offered to donate plastic at no cost.

“It was another way to give back,” said American Plastics President Robert Washington.

“I and my entire staff are doing whatever we can to help. We’re grateful to be a part of the solution.”

Khan was thrilled when CSUCI, the STEMbassadors and all the other volunteers received an email from a VCMC Emergency Room physician.

“Just a quick maiden voyage to report. I used a face shield for an intubation tonight and it was PERFECT. Goggles fit underneath just right. Band has perfect elasticity. Easy to clean.

I’m a huge fan…really well designed.”

Hampton is contacting more than 80 other STEM networks across the country to see if they would like to join in the effort.

Wulff said he was impressed with the connections CSUCI had throughout the community, and about the generosity of spirit from CSUCI campus members.

“It’s abundantly clear there are no egos here,” Wulff said. “It is just ‘How do we help?’”

Specifications for face shields are available on an open source file released by Josef Prusa, a 3-D manufacturer in Prague, Czechslovakia: www.prusa3d. com/covid19.

If you can help with this effort, please email: safa.khan@csuci.edu or visit: www.stembassadors.net Khan has created a website documenting the progress of the face shield project at: www.spark.adobe.com/page/ QKsdO1qkE7a3M If you’re unable to print shields but can sew masks or make a donation, contact Amy Towner at amy.towner@ventura.org or visit: www.hcfvc.org.

Housing Authority continued from page 3

with HUD regulations, he said, and the city wants to streamline the entire process.

“The Housing Authority is an amazing bureaucracy itself, and we are going to try and reduce the administrative burden,” Ramirez said. “We’re going to apply to Living to Work, which allows us to streamline operations. We are going to make changes to the recertification process to enable us to do that online, rather than in person.”

The city will also use consistent forms and not have different forms that depend on which staff works on them.

“We are going to make a concerted effort to improve customer service across the agency,” he said. “We’ve heard that we need customer service improvement for landlords, tenants, public housing, maintenance, and everywhere. We’re going to do that. I just assigned a

team that’s going to produce a plan. We’ve applied to HUD for technical assistance for a better customer service program. They just approved an internal grant that would pay for that.”

Ramirez also wants approval for the capital fund program, which provides for improvements in the public housing assets.

The grant request is for $2.1 million and approves the five-year action plan, the agency plan, the PHA plan, and the capital fund budget.

During Council comments, Mayor Pro Tem Carmen Ramirez said some of the non-profits are in trouble because of the coronavirus, and they’ve lost their funding.

“We need to get the word out to all the non-profits who work with the folks that need all the services and are eligible for some of those small business loans,” she said.

“Especially the homeless.”

Councilman Bert Perello wanted to know if the two resident members of the housing board are okay with the plan. Commissioner Andrade attended the meeting and approved the plan.

Councilman Oscar Madrigal asked what the public housing vacancy rate currently sits at.

The current rate is low, Emilio Ramirez said, and it sits at approximately 2.5 percent.

Madrigal thinks expanding the self-sufficiency program is excellent.

“I know, because of the tough times we are facing, once this program gets rolled out, the numbers will be there for other reasons,” he said.

“The numbers may not be excellent at first, but they’ll eventually get there.”

Council Member Vianey

Lopez called it an extensive plan that covers many of the city’s residents.

She asked Ramirez to expound on the capital fund plan and verify if the amount gets based on approving the entire plan.

“The capital fund is a grant that we receive from HUD to maintain, improve and repair our public housing sites,” Ramirez said. “The amount that we are asking is the amount that is being requested. If it’s approved, we will submit for that whole amount.”

Councilwoman Gabriela Basua has concerns about the entire package.

“When we are updating a document, we should use the tracker to cross out and inform the council about what is changing,” she said. “This is not only for our purpose, but it is about transparency.”

Basua said the wording

doesn’t have a significant amendment, but if it impacts a current group, it is an impactful event.

She feels the definition of homelessness in the administrative plan is too broad, and with clarified intent, Basua is concerned by its effect.

“I noticed that you’re giving preference to the homeless, which is great, but the way you define it concerns me,” she said. “How are we going to reach out to families on the waitlist, and how can they change their preference?”

Ramirez said he has a redline version of the proposal that he can give to Basua.

City Manager Alex Nguyen echoed comments that Basua made about how the new plan will change people already on the waitlist for public housing.

“If we draft the language

correctly, and I work with Councilwoman Basua to make sure it gets drafted correctly, we do not think it will be a significant change because it does not affect a person’s status,” Ramirez said. “The intent of this is to capture that scenario that, in this case, a 22-year old person and child is couch surfing. If we leave them in the chronic homeless condition, they may not qualify.”

Ramirez suggested changing the definition of homelessness and not include any examples.

“We can say an individual or resident who lacks a fixed and regular nighttime residence and not include the examples,” he said. “I’m fine with that, and in a practical sense, I should mention that the way we verify a person’s homelessness is by receiving certification by their case manager.”

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TRI-COUNTY SENTRY, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020

HEALTH Pet fostering takes off as coronavirus keeps Americans home

By Margery A. Beck and Scott McFetridge OMAHA, Neb. (AP)— The Simeon family was heading home to Omaha from a Smoky Mountains vacation when Kim Simeon spotted a social media post from the Nebraska Humane Society, pleading with people to consider fostering a pet amid concerns about how the coronavirus would affect operations.

A

day later, a 1 1/2-year-old black lab mix named Nala was nestling in at her home.

Nala is one of 35 dogs and cats that have been placed with Omaha-area families as part of an emergency foster care program.

“I just felt like, with all the virus stuff going on, it just seemed like a need we could help with,” Simeon said. “We’re all quarantined anyway. I mean, what a perfect opportunity to do something good.”

Amid an avalanche of bad news, Simeon’s story and thousands like it across the country are prompting smiles as suddenly isolated people rush to care for animals, easing a burden on shelters and providing homes—even if just temporarily—for homeless dogs, cats and other pets.

Shelters from California to New York have put out the call for people to temporarily

foster pets. Thanks to an overwhelming response from people who suddenly found themselves stuck at home, shelters say they have placed record numbers of dogs, cats and other animals. If past trends hold, many of those who agree to temporarily care for a pet will ultimately decide they want the animal to stay for good.

“We have a waiting list of 2,000 people wanting to foster,” said Dr. Apryl Steele, president and CEO of Dumb Friends League shelter in Denver. It’s the largest animal shelter in the Rocky Mountain region, caring for an average of 22,000 animals a year.

Steele said the initial push there to foster animals came not from the shelter, but the community.

“We had people reaching out to us all of a sudden,” she said. “People just wanted to do something to help. We realized

pretty quickly that we could soon be facing a shutdown of our adoptions and got on board.”

Shelters have several reasons for pushing to foster out animals, Steele said, including the fear that they might have to stop adopting out animals if people can’t visit them or that they might see an influx of people surrendering animals amid economic woes. But the overriding factor, she said, was concern for workers’ health.

“We need to get to a skeleton staff, stat. We can’t do that if the shelter is full,” she said.

Stephanie Filer, spokeswoman for Animal Rescue League of Iowa also noted that shelters are seeing a drop in donations—a normal occurrence during an economic downturn. The Des Moines-based organization and others have also had to cancel fundraising events because of virus containment

efforts.

The good news is that when Filer’s group put out a call for temporary homes for at least 80 cats in their care, it received some 160 applications within 12 hours. She noted that 60% to 70% of people who foster an animal opt to keep the animal permanently.

“A crisis brings out the worst in people and the best in people, so we are thrilled to see some exciting things come from this awful situation,” she said.

Since mid-March, the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has seen 1,600 people volunteer to foster, and the Oregon Humane Society in Portland has seen 1,000 new foster volunteers.

The outpouring comes at a critical time because animals produce lots of litters in the spring, said Dr. Jennifer Scarlett, president of the San Francisco SPCA. “You have shelter leaders around the country who are just looking at this tidal wave that is coming our way,” Scarlett said.

In Washington, D.C., the Humane Rescue Alliance said more than 1,000 people signed up to foster in a 10-day period this month.

One of those was firsttime foster volunteer Katie Lee, who is now caring for Calvin, a 2-year-old terrier mix. A move to working from home during the coronavirus scare prompted her decision, because “at least I’m home a lot.”

Paramedics using telehealth to keep mildly ill patients out of hospital Goal is to preserve hospital beds for COVID-19 patients

By Suzanne Potter LOS ANGELES—If you call an ambulance in Los Angeles these days, you may wind up videoconferencing with a nurse practitioner at home instead of going to an emergency room.

Paramedics in Los Angeles are trying a new telehealth program to treat people with mild illnesses on the scene, which saves precious hospital beds for severely ill COVID-19 patients.

Sean Ferguson, firefighter specialist with the L.A. County Fire Department, said in cases of mild illness, a nurse

practitioner can provide the right level of care.

“They can then further evaluate the patient, make their own medical assessment, create a treatment plan and even prescribe medicine to them,

thus saving them a trip to the emergency room,” Ferguson said.

The fire department for the City of L.A. also is participating in the program, which is free to patients and saves them a very

expensive trip to the ER. This is one of the first large-scale paramedic telehealth programs in the country to be created in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Ferguson said people call ambulances for non-emergency reasons on a regular basis— sometimes even if they’ve just run out of a prescription—and that puts a strain on hospitals.

“We still encourage people to call 911 if they believe they have a medical emergency,” he said, “and then through our medical assessment on scene, we may then conference them in to these nurse practitioners.”

Hunt for medical supplies creates marketplace of desperation

By Brian Witte ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP)—Shady middlemen, phantom shipments, prices soaring by the hour, goods flown in on a private plane.

What sounds like an organizedcrime thriller is now the new reality for governors desperately trying to find the medical equipment their states need in the throes of a pandemic. With the federal stockpile dwindling fast, and the Trump administration limiting access to what’s left, state leaders are going to extraordinary measures on their own to secure faces masks, ventilators, gloves and other equipment essential to fighting the outbreak.

They’ve ventured into a global marketplace one governor described as the “wild, wild, West,” only to compete against each other and their own federal government. They’ve watched the price of a ventilators double and masks go for 10 times their original price. They’ve turned to rich friends and businesses for help. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker enlisted NFL owner Robert Kraft to send the Patriots team plane to China to retrieve over a million masks.

In New York, an epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., Gov. Andrew Cuomo has looked closer to home to secure ventilators, issuing an order that forces even private hospitals to redistribute ventilators to the hospitals most in need.

“Let them sue me,” Cuomo said.

All this has led many governors to call on the federal government to centralize purchases. But President Donald Trump has not appeared inclined to intervene in the private market. And the White House made clear this week that Trump views the federal stockpile as a “backup” for the states.

“It is the greatest frustration,” said Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican who heads the National Governors Association. “We have states out competing on the open markets with totally uneven distribution of these things, and now the federal government competing with us—and other countries competing against us—and then a very limited supply of all of these things and no real coordination of where it’s going.”

Hogan said there has been progress from the Federal Emergency Management Agency distributing supplies from the nation’s dwindling stockpile, but he described it as a “tiny percentage” of what is needed.”

“We’ve been buying up everything that we can possibly get our hands on in the open market all over—not just domestically, but all over the world, from places like Korea and China and other places,” he said.

12

TRI-COUNTY SENTRY, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020

ENTERTAINMENT

Singer

says she had

Pink COVID-19 GIVES $1M TO RELIEF FUNDS

Comic book retailers adjust to virus’ impact on industry

By Tyler Hammel CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP)— Starting on April 1, many comic book shops will not have a fresh crop of issues, which are released weekly, for the first time in recent memory—making purveyors of masked superheroes and illustrated stories the latest industry to face big changes due to the novel coronavirus.

Most publishers have paused both physical and digital releases following the decision of Diamond Distributors— which has exclusive rights to distribute big labels such as Marvel Comics, DC Comics and Image comics—to indefinitely pause shipments of comics to distributors.

According to a statement from Diamond last week, the decision was influenced by the global coronavirus pandemic.

Kate DeNeveu and David Murray, owners of Telegraph Art & Comics, which has two locations in Charlottesville, said that while losing sales from weekly issues will have an impact, they’re focused on moving a swath of other products.

“We tend to order pretty tightly when it comes to new issues—around 90% of the issues we order go directly to subscribers,” DeNeveu said. “Right now we’re focusing on keeping up relationships with subscribers through email and social media and helping them find new stories.”

DeNeveu and Murray opened a second location near Hillsdale last year, allowing them more space to purchase and showcase products. According to the pair, buying collections and other collectibles allows a shop to set itself apart from other retailers.

“Vintage and used comics has been a growing part of our business for the last year; if you’re only buying stuff from Diamond then you’re basically working for Diamond,” DeNeveu said. “The good thing about books is that they don’t go bad and so if they sit on the shelf for a little while it’s not a huge problem.”

While DeNeveu and Murray are still able to operate their store online, they said they do miss their two full-time and four part-time employees, who are temporarily out of work.

While the Telegraph owners are optimistic, Stephen Lotts, owner of Secret Lair in Harrisonburg, is more concerned about disruptions in the industry.

LOS ANGELES (AP)— The singer Pink had tested positive for COVID-19, she said Friday, also announcing that she is donating $500,000 each to two emergency funds.

I

N a pair of tweets, she said she and her threeyear-old son were displaying symptoms two weeks ago, and she tested positive after accessing tests through a primary care physician. Her family had already been sheltering at home and continued to do so, she said.

They were tested again “just a few days ago,” and were negative.

The Grammy Award-winning artist behind eight studio albums and hits like “Get the Party Started,” “What About Us,” “Raise Your Glass” and “Just Give Me a Reason” called for for free and widespread testing.

“It is an absolute travesty and failure of our government to not make testing more widely accessible,” she wrote.

“This illness is serious and real.

People need to know that the illness affects the young and old, healthy and unhealthy, rich and poor, and we must make testing free and more widely accessible to protect our children, our families, our friends and our

communities.”

She announced she’s donating $1 million across two coronavirus-related relief funds, with $500,000 each going to the Temple University Hospital Fund in Philadelphia and the COVID-19 response fund run by the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles.

The Temple University donation honors the singer born Alecia Moore’s mother, Judy Moore, who worked at the hospital’s cardiomyopathy and heart transplant center for nearly two decades, she said.

She called health care workers “heroes” and ended her post with an appeal to the public.

“These next two weeks are crucial: please stay home,” she wrote. “Please. Stay. Home.”

[COVID-19] affects the young and old, healthy and unhealthy, rich and poor, and we must make testing free and more widely accessible to protect our children, our families, our friends and our communities.

PINK

HBO documentary sheds new light on ‘Atlanta Child Murders’

By Jonathan Landrum. Jr. LOS ANGELES (AP)— Anthony Terrell believes an imprisoned man currently serving two life sentences may not have been the person who murdered his brother as part of a killing spree that rocked Atlanta four decades ago.

Terrell hopes new light can be shed nationwide on the murders that terrorized the African American community in the city within a two-year time span with the HBO documentary “Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children.” The five-part series, which begins Sunday, will explore how the victims’ family members and others remain skeptical about Wayne Williams being the sole killer, despite evidence linking him to those murders and 10 others.

“I really want them to find out who did it,” said Terrell, whose 12-year-old brother, Earl, was one of the 29 abducted and killed between 1979 and 1981. “It would be closure to a lot of parents and others who want answers. It’s more than just blaming Wayne Williams.

His name was embedded in everybody’s heads. Let us be focused on something else. He was convicted of two adults, but the rest were children.

What about them?”

Williams was convicted in 1982 in the deaths of two adults, who were thought to be among 29 Black children and young adults killed by the same person. After Williams’ conviction, police closed the rest of the cases, blaming them on Williams without formally charging him.

The 61-year-old Williams says in the documentary that he never killed anyone. He has appealed his convictions, but they have been denied several

times.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Police Chief Erika Shields are leading a charge to reopen the investigation. The series kicks off with Bottoms’ announcing the city’s effort to re-examine evidence.

Last year, Bottoms said she was hopeful that technological advancements and newly available genetic databases could turn up new information.

Terrell said the reopening of the case is long overdue, but hopes the documentary can show the lack community’s plight while enduring the tragedies in their neighborhoods in Atlanta.

“This documentary could enlighten a lot of curious people,” he said. “I want people to know what happened in Atlanta. Why don’t people know? They need to know.”