Has Fresno County Flattened the Curve?
Coronavirus numbers are going down and requests to reopen schools and restaurants are going up. Here's last week in Fresno for Sept. 14-19
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☀️Good morning, Fresno! It is Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020.
Things are dark and dire. We learned on Friday that Ruth Bader Ginsburg, feminist icon and Supreme Court justice, passed away from complications of pancreatic cancer. The news shook the political landscape. If Trump is allowed to fill her seat, he would tilt the Supreme Court into a 6-3 conservative majority.
The Supreme Court tasked with deciding the constitutionality of our laws. The same court that saved the Affordable Care Act and gutted the Voting Rights Act. Both were 5-4 decisions.
Twenty years before RBG was nominated to the court, Roe v Wade, the landmark decision that established a right to abortion in the United States, was decided. And now, after her death, that precedent might be overturned.
Our allies are dead and our enemies are in power. Every day seems to bring some new threat to this little dog and pony show we call democracy. But we cannot lose hope. Voting is just the start. Call your senators. Tell them to fight like hell. Get involved in your local races, and your local protests.
Remember, an 87-year-old woman wasn’t the only thing standing between us and a world of new injustice and backsliding. Because we also have you.
-Tommy 💙
Content Warning: There is a story that mentions suicide below.
Fresno By Five
ID: The Fresno County COVID-19 Data Chart showing the total positives, recovered and active cases.
🏥 Coronavirus Updates
As of Sept. 17, the most recent data available at the time of writing, there have been a total of 27,560 total confirmed (+643) cases and 337 (+22) deaths in Fresno County. Currently, there are 96 (-16) hospitalized. A total of 17,296 people have recovered.
New positives haven’t been this low since mid-June, and the positivity rate for this week is also low at 3.7%.
The surrounding counties with the exception of Kings County have reported one of the lowest totals for positive cases since June.
Under the new color-coded system to reopen California, Fresno County is still Purple. We would need to have a positivity rate of less than 8% consecutively for three weeks before it can go down a tier to let more business open.
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.
🥺 Can we have a little reopen? As a treat?
With approval from the mayor and a 5-2 majority vote, the Fresno City Council sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom to ask permission to open indoor dining.
The letter cites the financial hardships of Fresno restaurant owners and employees alike. It argues that the changing weather and unhealthy, toxic air from the wildfires has made patio dining unreasonable.
The council hopes to work with Fresno County health officials and get better contact tracing to determine if indoor dining spreads COVID-19 and figure out where people contract the virus the most.
The two councilmembers who opposed the letter were Councilmembers Nelson Esparza and Garry Bredefeld. Councilmember Esparza said that it is still unsafe to open and could not support the letter. Councilmember Bredefeld says it won’t do anything and probably won’t change Gov. Newsom’s mind.
Councilmember Bredefeld had presented four resolutions to reopen Fresno which was quickly dismissed by the council and were not even heard. Ouch, better luck next time, Garry!
🥺 Small Businesses and Restaurants Receive Rent Moratorium and Delivery App Limits
In addition to the letter, a moratorium on evictions was set in place for small businesses. Tenants have 10 days to provide proof their business is affected and they would have six months to pay the rent.
The moratorium won’t be repealed until 90 days after the coronavirus emergency order is lifted.
Another order was put in place that limits how much delivery apps like DoorDash and UberEats can charge restaurants and users.
Under the order, apps cannot charge restaurants more than 15% for a delivery and it can’t charge the restaurant if the delivery never happens. Other fees cannot be more than 5%.
The order will remain until 90 days after the Coronavirus emergency order is lifted.
🥺 Mask Off
The Joint Military Assistance Command, an organization dedicated to helping veterans and their families, is offering food boxes to those in need with one requirement: No masks. I mean that’s really the whole story and one of them said that wearing a mask would cause people to breathe in more carbon dioxide. Dangerously stupid.
🥺 No Socializing at the Social House
The Clovis restaurant Colton’s Social House received a warning from their landlord, the owners of Sierra Vista Mall, to shut down their unauthorized patio expansion.
According to Sierra Vista Realty LLC, their expanded patio is in violation of their lease. Sierra Vista gave them 15 days to cut the socializing, deadass, on their expanded patio or they will take possession of the property. The price to pay for being social.
🥺 What’s going on with schools? Education Stories around the Valley
The infamous Immanuel Schools in Reedley has continued in-person teaching, violating orders from Fresno County officials and a Superior Court judge. An injunction was filed on Tuesday to halt in-person classes. Officials have not decided on what action to take next.
A graduate student was denied a tenure-track job at Fresno State because it came out that they had been falsely claiming they were Black. Spoilers: they are actually Italian. Some say Italians are the PoCs of White people. Guess Fresno has our own Jessica Krug, who claimed they were Black for years but were actually very white.
Dayana Jiselle of Fresnoland talked to some Fresno teachers to see how they’re adapting to distance learning.
🥺 Fresno Youth Suicides Attempts Spiking
Fresno County health officials have seen a spike in suicide attempts in young people, given these times of immense uncertainty and “disaster and crisis fatigue.”
A study published by the CDC also has found that from June 24-30 this year there was increased substance use and suicidal ideation among the population of young adults, minorities and essential workers.
🥺 Creek Fire Updates
As of Sept. 19, the fire is now 22% contained.
It has burned 248,256 acres and is now the 10th-largest wildfire in California history. The cause is still under investigation
A total of 1,024 families had to evacuate. Some evacuation orders had been lifted and families can return to their homes and cars.
Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings National Parks are all closed due to the hazardous air quality.
The County of Fresno is opening a Local Assistance Center on Monday to connect all those affected by the Creek Fire to the proper local agency and resources.
Donations keep flocking in but some are no longer accepting physical donations due to the high volume.
People are still doing great work helping out. Check out Fresno’s favorite, Yasmin Mendoza with Modesto rapper, Bankrol Hayden, making deliveries.
🥺 The Not-So-Big Fresno Fair is now open for driving thru
The drive-thru Big Fresno Fair is here so you can get your block of french fries and deep-fried Oreos.
It will be open from Oct. 9-18
Mon - Thurs: 4:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Fri - Sun: 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.For the menu of food and more information, go to their website.
🥺 This TikTok Cold War Sucks
Make sure to download TikTok before you can’t download it. It was supposed to be taken off app stores today but a deal made between Oracle and TikTok has delayed that for a week.
TikTok is still set to be banned and unusable on Nov. 12 through Pres. Trump’s Executive Order unless it resolves the security concerns the administration has with it.
Where am I supposed to do the WAP dance challenge now?
If you would like something added to the Community Board, email us at contact@fivebyfivenine.com or DM us on social media @fivebyfivenine
📌Community Board
[EXTENDED] Help the Fresno Police Reform Commission
The Fresno State Sociology Department is seeking community input on how to reform the Fresno Police Department. Take the survey here. Complete this by Sept. 21.
uSpark Valley broke down the results and they want more young people to respond to the survey.
Fresno County TRUTH Forum
ICE Out of Fresno is asking for community members to demand transparency and call for an end to the entanglement between ICE and the Fresno County Sheriff's Department.
In August, the Fresno Bee wrote a story on how Sheriff Mims had lied about the number of transfers the Sheriff’s Office made to ICE. Read more here.
On the Instagram post is a script to send to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors.
Anti-Displacement Task Force Meeting
A meeting for the Anti-Displacement Task Force meeting will be held via Zoom on Monday, September 21, from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. It’s exploring ways to keep low-income residents to remain in their neighborhoods that will be affected by the Transform Fresno project.
Register for the Zoom here: bit.ly/ADTF-Sept21
Keep Fresno Beautiful Clean-Up Event
A clean-up event will happen in downtown Fresno on Saturday, September 26, from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Check-in begins at 9:30 a.m. in front of the Shepherd's Inn (935 Santa Fe Ave) in downtown Fresno. Register here.
🎧 On the pod this week
The civic socialists sit down with Salvador Solorio-Ruiz, a progressive challenger for one of three seats on the Delano City Council. The fellas talk clean water access, immigrant working conditions, curbing gang violence without more cops and how he will further support the Philippine’s flagship fast-food chain, Jollibee.
Follow Sal @solorio_sal and check out the campaign salvadorfordelano.com
Listen to the episode on these other podcasting platforms:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor | Google Podcasts
Also pls give us 5 Stars on Apple Podcasts 🥺 👉 👈
This newsletter was written by Ram Reyes (@vibesradiator) and edited by Tommy Tribble (@tomiiwrites) | Follow Five By Five Nine on Instagram & Twitter