Fresnans Respond to George Floyd's Death and Fresno Reopens
Welcome to the very first issue of Five By Five Nine, your weekly rundown of what happened in Fresno.
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Good morning! It is Saturday, May 29, 2020. Welcome to the very first edition of this newsletter. I’m pretty nervous about finally sending this out but I’m hoping this will be helpful for y’all to understand what is going on in our lovely city of Fresno in an easy, digestible format. So here goes. -Ram
Fresno By Five Minutes
Fresnans Respond to George Floyd’s Death
It has been a hectic week following the death of George Floyd on Monday at the hands of police officer Derek Chauvin. Protests have ignited across the country, some escalating into riots. His death has touched the activists and citizens of our community as well.
Several vigils happened on Friday. One was held in southwest Fresno at the corner of Fresno and C streets led by The Reverend Dr. Floyd Harris Jr. to about a crowd of 30 people chanting “No justice, no peace.” Another vigil was held later that day at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno along Alluvial Avenue. Over a hundred people attended and were advised to wear masks and had several Black speakers under their Black Lives Matter banner in front of their church. I attended this vigil and it was uplifting to see so many White and Non-Black people of color were there in solidarity.
Another protest is planned for this Sunday, May 31, from 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. It will start at Fresno City Hall. Click here for more information about the protest. Please be safe, wear a mask and maintain social distance.
Former Fresno police officer and city councilman and now CEO of Central Valley NMTC, LLC Oliver Baines explains the level of mistrust stemming from the historic relationship between African-Americans and law enforcement, saying “it is baked into the DNA of African-Americans around the country.” The president of the Fresno Police Officers’ Association says he was “shocked” and claims it is “contrary to our training.”
The Fresno chief of police posted on the Fresno Police Department Facebook that he is “saddened over the loss of George Floyd" and angrily called for accountability of the officers involved. Please remember that Fresno PD itself does not have a good track record of holding its own officers accountable.
Fresno has reopened. What is open exactly?
Shelter-in-Place Ends
Even with all the protests happening around the country, it’s easy to forget that we are still in a pandemic! On Tuesday, May 26, Fresno’s Shelter-in-Place order ended. It authorized *almost all businesses.
These businesses that did not make the cut are:
Bars and nightclubs (I miss you, Tioga-Sequoia 😢)
Wineries, tasting rooms, and lounges
Entertainment venues
Gyms and fitness studios
Public events and gatherings
Community centers, public pools, playgrounds, and picnic areas
Convention Centers
Concert venues and festivals
Live audience Sport Venues
Theme parks
Hotels and lodging for leisure and tourism
Nail salons and tattoo parlors
Every business not included in this list are authorized to conduct business.
Mayor Lee Brand announced Friday that yard sales and personal property sales are now also authorized by state and Fresno County health guidelines. They must adhere to social distancing protocols and must not have more than 10 people at the property at the same time.
Malls, Dine-In Restaurants, and Barbershops are open
Restaurants are allowed to open after completing the Fresno County and State requirements to open. These requirements include ensuring social distancing be in place and barriers to be placed.’
There are no hard rules on capacity as long as it can maintain social distancing. Expect all employees to wear masks and gloves. Welcome to the new normal!
GVWire did a write-up of what restaurants are opening up. Check it out here.
If you have dined-in somewhere or know of restaurants that are opening for dine-in shoot us an email at contact@fivebyfivenine.com and we will create a master list of restaurants opening up.
The line outside of Fashion Fair on May 26, 2020. Photo via Gilbert Magallon/ABC30
People gathered outside Fashion Fair’s doors for the historic mall’s grand reopening. 50 to 55 of the 140 stores have opened and more are expected to open. According to the Fashion Fair website, the food court is open as well. I hope Hot Dog on a Stick survives this pandemic.
Long lines were also spotted at multiple Ross locations in town. People just love Ross.
Several barbershops and hair salons are slowly opening up. Previously deemed non-essential, barbers and hairdressers can resume business.
People were quick to make their haircut appointment. Tye Featherstone, owner of The Great American Barbershop, says his website had traffic exceeding 2,500 people, all trying to make appointments.
Church and State Clash
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on Tuesday to adopt the governor’s guidelines to allow religious services to resume. Under the state guidelines, churches are allowed to reopen but require them to only allow 25% of the Church’s capacity or 100 people, whichever is smaller. It also includes extra precautions that limit the usual church rituals, such as hugging and sharing prayer books, to limit transmission of the coronavirus.
But several church leaders in Fresno are upset they cannot have more people in churches. Pastor Jim Franklin of Cornerstone Church will join a lawsuit in the Eastern District Federal Court.
The Catholic Diocese of Fresno has not announced any plans to reopen.
Fresno County COVID-19 Stats: Where we stand
As of May 29, the most recent data available at the time of writing, there have been a total of 1,714 total confirmed cases and 35 deaths in Fresno County. A total of 542 people have recovered and 202 have ever been hospitalized.
One of the deaths was a Fresno nurse, exposed back in March. A candlelight vigil of 400 people gathered at Kaiser Permanente Fresno in honor of Sandra Oldfield, 53. The California Nurses Association cites the hospital's lack of personal protective equipment as the direct cause of death.
14 COVID-19 patient deaths and 89 COVID-19 patients have been at Dycora Transitional Health & Living, a nursing home located in Downtown Fresno, almost half of all COVID-19 deaths.
A second Fresno County jail inmate has tested positive and is now in quarantine in the jail. According to the Fresno County sheriff’s spokesperson Tony Botti, the inmate has been moved to an isolation pod.
Testing is available around Fresno. Visit lhi.care to set up an appointment. It’s free even without insurance. If you have insurance, you can also try these other testing sites here.
Lastly, it was really, really, hot.
Like really hot. Did I already say it was hot? Because it hit over 100 degrees Fahrenheit from Tuesday to Thursday, with Thursday reaching a high of 106. We actually broke a record from 1974 on Wednesday, beating the high of 104 with a high of 105. Good job us!
Despite the hot weather, people still lined up outside Fresno State Gibson Farm to buy their famous sweet corn. Over 300 people lined up, six feet apart from each other, for an average of an hour and 15 minutes to get corn. If you too want to power through the heat to taste the Fresno State famous corn, it’s open daily, just make sure they haven’t sold out for the day. Tends to happen pretty quick.
And that about wraps up this first email for Five By Five Nine! Thanks for reading and if you thought it was informational, please forward it to a friend. I would appreciate feedback as many things will probably change week to week as we try and figure this out.
Edited by Tommy Tribble