Coronado Community Update from Mayor Richard Bailey:
Read or watch above to learn about the latest COVID-19 counts, regional efforts to level the playing field for small businesses, the single biggest thing you can do now for our local businesses and potential antibody testing in Coronado.
SD County COVID-19 Numbers as of 4/19
County Population: 3,338,000
Tests Administered: 32,639
Confirmed Cases: 2,213
Hospital Bed Capacity: 7,000
Currently Hospitalized: est. 250-300
Deaths: 71
Confirmed Cases in Coronado: 6
What’s Next
The current county health order is in effect until May 1 and is likely to be extended for two or four additional weeks.
However, there are bipartisan discussions between mayors throughout San Diego county for establishing protocols for the reopening of businesses and public spaces when certain conditions, such as number of coronavirus cases and/or hospital utilization rates, are met.
Some have stated that we can’t reopen anything “too soon.”
The truth of the matter is that no one knows what “too soon” looks like, as there were never any conditions established to trigger the closures of businesses and public spaces in the first place – the county simply ordered everything to close.
Since there were no conditions established for the closures, we do not have an objective standard for success to measure our current progress against.
The bipartisan coalition of mayors is pressing for the county to establish standards so the public knows what they are working towards.
Another issue with the current state and county health orders are that many of the policies are arbitrary.
Why are big box retailers allowed to operate with hundreds of customers at a time when small local businesses are prohibited from opening at all, let alone having a single customer inside, even if following the same social distancing guidelines?
The current policy even prohibits mom and pop stores from delivering merchandise from their retail locations to customers, but Amazon is allowed to continue selling and delivering the same products.
This is arbitrary and unfair to the very businesses that are the fabric of communities here in Coronado and throughout California.
The bipartisan coalition of mayors is working together to propose changes to the health orders that reconcile some of these inconsistent policies and establish clear objectives for success.
The County of San Diego did not close down overnight – the closure happened in a phased approach so the reopening will likely happen in a phased approach as well.
How can you help local businesses?
The City of Coronado is considering a business lifeline loan program on Tuesday. While this might bring some small relief temporarily to some businesses, the truth is we do not have enough funds or liquidity to help most, let alone all of our local businesses.
The single biggest help for our local businesses would be passage of a bill to provide additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program.
The city will be sending a letter to our congressional representative, Scott Peters to urge support. Your voice helps too!
Please contact Congressman Peters and make the case for supporting the bill as it provides money directly to our local businesses. His office can be contacted here: https://scottpeters.house.gov/contact
Antibody Testing in Coronado
Recently, local news reports have covered the commercial availability of antibody testing.
It is important to know, the vast majority of these tests, while they may have been cleared for emergency use by the FDA, have not been approved by FDA.
Unfortunately some of these tests in the US, and around the world, are turning out to be inaccurate and generating false positives or false negatives.
It is widely believed that antibody testing will be part of the puzzle to reopen the economy again.
There is no countywide plan for antibody testing at this time, however, the city council will be considering establishing a partnership with Sharp Coronado to administer FDA approved antibody tests that provide our community with accurate health information.
It is my hope the county health department will consider a coordinated partnership with all cities to more accurately understand the rate of transmission of Covid-19 and set policies accordingly.
I know these are stressful times for all of us.
While the City of Coronado has limited say over state and county policies, our commitment to all of you is to continue advocating for policies that are based on data, common sense, and the best interest of our community.
The reality is that it is going to be awhile before things ever return to normal.
We’re all in this together, Coronado.
So let’s focus on the task at hand one day at a time, think critically, and treat one another with respect.
