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Bay Area COVID Roundup: Sky-High Rents Continue To Tumble; SF New Year's Eve Bash Raises Major Concerns; Southwest Cancels Layoff Plans

CBS San Francisco Staff Report

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- With a surge in coronavirus cases, the information you need to know is coming fast and furious. Here's a roundup of the COVID stories we've published over the last 24 hours.


Rents Falling Fast In San Francisco-Bay Area Cities Due To Pandemic
SAN FRANCISCO -- Rents continue to fall and disproportionately impact the San Francisco Bay Area housing market, according to a new study. Analysts at AdvisorSmith found that ten of the top 25 cities in the U.S. where rents are falling the most, are in the Bay Area, as compared year-to-year. San Francisco is number 4 in the nation, after Odessa, TX (1); Midland, TX (2); and Williston, North Dakota (3). Other Bay Area communities include Mountain View (5), Sunnyvale (6), Redwood City (8), San Mateo (11), Oakland (15) and San Jose (19). The range of the drop has varied wildly based on location. In San Francisco, rents have fallen from $2,650 per month to $2,081 since 2019. That's a 26 percent drop. In Walnut Creek (76), the rent drop was much less: only a 3.7 percent drop from $2,574 per month to $2,512. Read More

Historic East Bay Movie Theatre Selling Marquee Messages To Stay Afloat
ORINDA -- An East Bay landmark has come up with a creative way to survive the pandemic. The historic Orinda Theatre is letting people put up their own messages on the marquee for a fee. Prices start at $75 and messages will stay up for at least 2 days.The Orinda Theatre was forced to close in March and hopes the funds from the marquee messages will help it stay afloat. The theatre first opened in 1941. Read More

New Year's Eve Bash At SF Restaurant Cites UCSF Health Expert's 'Harm Reduction Model'
As pandemic parklets for outdoor dining sit empty and forlorn amidst stay-at-home order 2.0, a San Francisco's 620 Jones is thumbing its nose at the regulations. The restaurant is advertising for an in-person, outdoor New Year's Eve party on Instagram. The dinner and drag show is planned from 8 pm to midnight, with limited reservations for parties of 4, 6 or 8. The restaurant may not be complying with state and local pandemic regulations, but there are those like Dr. Monica Gandhi of UCSF pushing for a harm reduction model this New Years Eve, if people chose to gather to kick 2020 to the curb. "So, it's acknowledging the reality of the situation that some people are going to gather and saying 'I prefer you not get together. But, if you're going to, let me tell you x,x,x, - how to do it safely.' And that's what harm reduction means," said Dr. Gandhi. Read More

Southwest Cancels Plans To Furlough 7,000 Employees After Trump Signs Stimulus
OAKLAND -- Southwest Airlines employees will be spared the company's next round of anticipated job cuts thanks to the new COVID-19 relief bill signed by President Trump. Earlier in December, the airline announced its plan to furlough some 7,000 employees, but the new relief package has earmarked $15 million for U.S. airlines to cover employees through March 31. Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly told employees in an email the stimulus package will prevent job cuts for all of 2021, according to Bloomberg. Dallas-based Southwest is the largest airline that flies out of San Jose Mineta International Airport. Read More

UCSF Health Expert Pushing 'Harm Reduction Model' For New Year's Eve Revelers
SAN FRANCISCO -- With days to go before New Year's celebrations, and facing a public weary and fatigued after months of repeated lockdowns, some health experts are adjusting their messaging, and offering tips for individuals who choose to gather outside their household during the final holiday of 2020. "I think it's a misconception that by telling people how to do things safely that you're encouraging them to do it," said Dr. Monica Gandhi, Professor of Medicine, Associate Division Chief of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at UCSF. On Sunday, December 27, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported nearly 1.3 million travelers passed through the nation's airports, the highest single day total for 2020, bringing the 10-day total to more than 9.2 million passengers. This comes despite the CDC's recommendation to postpone travel and stay home. Read More

California Regional Stay-At-Home Orders To Remain, Appear To Be Leveling Infection Rate
SACRAMENTO -- The surging coronavirus pandemic is expected to result in the extension of regional stay-at-home orders across California beginning Tuesday, with the Bay Area's orders to be reassessed on January 8th at the earliest, Governor Gavin Newsom announced Monday. The governor and the state's top health official also said the orders appear to be having an effect, with the case rate beginning to level off in most of the state. During his weekly COVID Monday, Newsom acknowledged the certainty of extended stay-at-home orders for Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, the two regions in the state currently reporting 0% of ICU capacity. While the initial three-week stay-at-home order issued for both regions was set to expire Monday, Newsom said that current conditions would lead those orders to be extended for a period not yet specified. "It is clear and it is understandable that it is likely that those stay-at-home orders will be extended," he said. Read More

Newly Passed Relief Bill Too Late To Help Some Bay Area Businesses
PLEASANTON -- The second stimulus bill was signed into law over the weekend, offering cash for many Americans hit by the pandemic, extended unemployment benefits and a quarter-trillion dollar Paycheck Protection Program. For some businesses, it will be a lifeline to keep them afloat. For others, it is too little, too late. News of a renewed PPP loan program offered some relief at the Togo's sandwich shop in Pleasanton, where many of the nearby business parks have shut down. "And not having those people as customers. We're down 65-70 percent," said owner Teralyn Fredricks. "So being able to use this money to keep my staff working, to keep my restaurant open, would be wonderful." PPP loans are forgiven if they're used for essential business purposes such as salaries or rent. But businesses have to take a large financial loss to qualify. Read More

Monterey Bay Aquarium Lends Hospital Ultra-Cold Freezer To Help Store Pfizer Shot
MONTEREY -- The Monterey Bay Aquarium has stepped up to help fight COVID-19 in the community by loaning an ultra-cold freezer to a nearby hospital to store the Pfizer vaccine. The aquarium lent one of its two freezers to Nativdad Hospital in Salinas on December 11, days before the hospital received its first 975 doses. Hospital officials said they originally planned to hold the Pfizer vaccine on dry ice, as they awaited delivery of a freezer purchased with the help of donations earlier this month. Natividad Hospital assistant administrator Andrea Rosenberg said, "that would have been a lot of extra work." "We are very grateful to the Aquarium for our collaboration," Rosenberg went on to say. Read More

House Passes Bill To Increase Stimulus Checks to $2,000
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday voted to pass a bill to increase the $600 stimulus checks to $2,000, with 275 members voting for the bill and 134 voting against it. The bill received the needed two-thirds majority of the members voting to pass in the House. But it faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where two-thirds majority is also needed in order for the bill to head to President Trump's desk. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not indicated if he will bring a vote to the floor on the larger checks. Mr. Trump last week urged Congress to increase stimulus checks to $2,000, threatening not to sign the COVID-19 relief economic relief package that gave Americans $600 checks. But on Sunday night, the president  gave in and signed the legislation. Read More

Stimulus Package Update: When Should The Checks Start Arriving?
WASHINGTON -- With President Trump's signature, the $900 billion COVID relief bill became law Sunday evening, along with the $1.4 trillion spending bill to fund the government. The signing came after days of demanding changes to the stimulus package passed by Congress on December 21. The development heads off a government shutdown. But in the week of delay, approximately 12 million people saw their unemployment benefits lapse. The stimulus package includes another round of stimulus checks. Every adult with a 2019 adjusted gross income less than $75,000 should receive $600. That amount will be smaller for those who earned between $75,000 and $87,000. Those who earned more than $87,000 will not receive anything. Parents will also be paid $600 for each dependent child under the age of 17, with no cap on the number of children. Read More

'I Think The Overall Trend Is Good'; Resistance To COVID Vaccinations Waning
GREENBRAE -- Each week, as more shipments arrive in the Bay Area, more residents are getting the COVID vaccine shot, but some new national surveys indicate the willingness of people getting inoculated isn't at the level that's needed for herd immunity. Like many other states, California has received a lot fewer doses than first anticipated for hospital workers. This comes as some highly-publicized polls show there's still some convincing to do to get enough people on board. Nearly 2 million Americans have received shots in the arms with the COVID vaccine. "I felt like I could finally take a deep breath, for the first time since March, it was just such a relief," said Zuckerberg SF General Hospital registered nurse Valerie Alexander. Read More

Activists Protest San Francisco Plan to Reduce Homeless Population in City Hotels
SAN FRANCISCO -- Protesters demonstrated in San Francisco Sunday over what they say is the city's effort to phase out the shelter-in-place hotels for the homeless. When the pandemic hit, San Francisco leased hotels to house 2,300 homeless people most vulnerable to the virus. But city officials have been nervous about that because funding was coming from FEMA. "…With the understanding that we potentially had a 30-day window in the future at which FEMA was going to cut funding and we would have to figure out how to house 2,000 people," explained T.J. Holsman, an organizer for an advocacy group called "Hotels Not Hospitals." Sunday, housing activists gathered in Union Square to protest what they believe is and effort by San Francisco's Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) to phase out the shelter-in-place hotel program. "The city will be kicking thousands of people out of the only shelter they have as COVID cases and deaths are at the highest they've ever been!" said activist Sylvia Viviana. Read More

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