07.22.20 COVID-19 Briefing Live Stream Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
July 22, 2020
Live Stream - Briefing Live stream
10:00am PT

Larry Little: Hi everybody thank you for joining us I’m Larry Little public information officer here at the county's emergency operations center. And this morning I’m joined by Omar Torres community leader and former school board member And in just a moment we will discuss the  Impact of COVID-19 on schools communities students educators and families but first I want to let you know that safety is a priority for us  here at the emergency operations center and we have removed our facial coverings so everyone including our american sign language interpreters  can clearly understand and communicate the information that we will be sharing this morning. so I want to just jump right into it I remember growing up in Arkansas and we would have uh it would snow from time to time and we would miss probably one week and the parents would just go crazy they didn't know what to do the schools didn't know what to do so i can't imagine what it's like having COVID come and wreak havoc on schools uh right now and so what has been the reaction of parents uh in your district.

Omar Torres: right well not only in not only in my district but throughout throughout the county and throughout the nation as well. They are worried and concerned that the the issues that we've had in the educational system has been exacerbated by COVID-19. they have always been there however you know public public private partnerships have been trying to get up to speed uh to deal with these uh injustices in our educational system however COVID-19 has exacerbated that but I’m I’m really uh excited and I’m really excited and happy that our pri public-private partnerships like the city of San Jose and the county of Santa Clara and numerous school districts are making sure that our kids are going to be connected to to online learning so.

LL: So, what are some of the effects that covet is having on communities and schools that in your particular area you're in the east San Jose area correct.

OT: Yes so when we're talking about east san Jose we're talking about overcrowded conditions we're talking about our families moving place to place being displaced gentrification and unfortunately we're also talking about a terrible digital divide and our east San Jose downtown and throughout Santa Clara county because there's pockets of of poor neighborhoods in Santa Clara county however in some some zip codes we know that that the problem and the situation is even worse and so our kids haven't been able to to connect digitally because they don't have the necessary tools and the resources to do it.

LL: Yeah that was one of the issues uh with a distant uh distant learning uh talk about some of the issues uh where in some communities distant landing learning worked fine but in in areas where disproportionately affected where their income levels fall into a certain range you know they didn't have internet access just share information about that?

OT: Yeah well it's unfortunate that with school districts now doing online learning most of our kids who cannot log on unfortunately did not attend school also parents were concerned that when they were connected that it was only an hour or two hour instruction and we know that children are better served when they're in school for five plus hours because they're learning and their brain is is stimulating however once that two hour is is done uh you know they're they don't have any follow-ups they don't have extracurricular activities that they could that they could do and unfortunately, that's that is a massive situation in in east San Jose and downtown San Jose where our Kids even though they're connected are only learning an hour a day.

LL: So, what has been your message to uh parents and community members?

 OT: My my message has been that we have to uh connect them to resources that are that are important I think one important message and and this is an important message is that the city of San Jose is going to be investing 20 infrastructure for online learning throughout our city of San Jose and that the county has invested we have incredible school districts like eastside union who have who are who are making sure that children in the east side also are being connected online so when we talk about the importance of public-private partnerships in the educational system it's very important to do that because we just need to speed it up for the kids to be online

LL: So, what will be your message to students because you know some students uh were not performing well when they were in uh taking in-person classes what would be your message to students who are struggling to reach their uh academic goals right now?

OT: Right for me it's it's it's it's very i've been losing sleep because education is is a priority for myself and for my community I didn't go to the best schools I didn't have enough of the resources for me to be successful in elementary and middle and high school I had wonderful parents and I did have wonderful teachers however those resources were lacking for myself and so, when I see kids now you know I think it's it's unfortunate what we're going through but I as I always told students wherever I went wherever I presented wherever I served I said do not give up right now we're we're in in trying times but do not give up on your on your education make sure that you're learning I think this is a great ex a great time to pick up a book and start drawing or doing crossword puzzles reading I struggled reading my whole life but I continue to force myself to to read but not only read my passion is is is politics and learning about community but also learning about now that COVID-19 is happening i read about uh scientific research about what's happening with COVID-19 or you know animals and so it's it's you you just have to break out of your the box that you're in to learn.

LL: So, what are you hearing from teachers and administrators?

OT: Well they are they are concerned because they do want to go back to to to the classroom and they hope that they will however I know many friends who are teachers and they're they are excited that they don't have to go into the classroom because right now is not the time to go to the classroom our cases are surging you just mentioned that we had over a thousand uh this week that's scary and so and now we're seeing maybe because COVID-19 is is evolving now we're seeing a lot more kids who are who are being diagnosed with with COVID-19 and and that that's scary that to me is scary and so right now is not the time to be in classrooms or impact impact rooms as you know also in the east side we have we don't have the infrastructure in some schools to separate by six feet or rotate and so so right now is the time to to not be in the classroom but we also have to make sure that that children are learning so, it's the safety of the teachers and the and the learning for the kids.

LL: So, we got a message uh I believe it was uh this week or last week they're all running together now um where a teacher was concerned about having to wear a facial covering all day what are your  thoughts on students and teachers wearing face coverings?

OT: Well I don't want to be rude but doctors and nurses wear face coverings all day long it it is it is something that I do also get tired of but I know that my decision is is very important because if I don't wear a mask I might get COVID-19 and take it to my family or take it to work and it it might kill somebody and so it's important that we wear masks two hours 15 minutes whatever it may be wear your mask that's the important part that's going to stop the the COVID-19 from from spreading.

LL: So, someone put a comment here saying private schools are opening public schools are not can you just kind of speak to that because I I I don't think they understand the difference.

OT: Yeah so so public schools are governed by school boards private schools are governed by board of directors and so it's unfortunate that some school boards cannot hold private schools accountable and to me that  that's very scary I didn't know that private schools some of them were going to in-class learning unfortunately, that's their right because they have a board of directors that's probably pushing the admin and the teachers to come back uh so it's unfortunate that uh private schools are returning to the classroom that is that is very that's not good.

LL: Yeah and sometimes private schools they have a little bit more money than public schools.

OT: They definitely do and that's why we're in this situation yes.

LL: Right so uh what are your hopes for the uh schools reopening in in the 2021 school year.

 OT: Right I think that school districts need to be prepared to hit the ground running a lot of our kids are going to be behind and they need to create a concrete plan to make sure that our children are are succeeding academically COVID-19 has has just destroyed our well destroyed uh has made the situation worse already. And so, we need to be prepared so when children come back to school that our school districts have the resources that they have a plan and that our children are safe.

LL: Yeah so, the uncertainty of COVID-19 has caused many families to adjust the way they live from distant learning to child care I talked to a few parents uh just yesterday and I wanted to share the story with you

Suzanne Lew: okay so my eldest is 17 and he's going to be a senior this year and my youngest is 12 he'll be 13 this year and he's going into seventh grade.

Erin Fitzgerald: And he's seven going into the second grade

LL: Well I I hope at least he has some very cool masks to wear.

EF: He does he's got some new cool masks we even ordered face shield so, he's got all the gear.

LL: But what has it been like for your children?

 SL: Initially it was weird you know for everyone we all had to adjust to it so they had assignments they were able to connect with their teachers they do miss their friends but then they did say to me that they were connecting with them online

EF: And this is someone who is not getting the same level of social stimulation is not getting or physical activity this is someone who is like craving that that interaction with other folks someone who has a lot of energy and so when you have a child with that you know needs to move needs to have fun and play with other kids like and they're not getting that they're they're going to act up so that's what then that's what it's been like at home I think he's lonely you know I think he's wanting to get out a lot we've been pretty upfront with him from the very beginning about what's happening and  just validating that this is a really hard experience for him it's a really hard experience for his friends it's really hard for all of us and he's been you know pretty resilient I think like he enjoys the extra time with his parents.

LL: So, what has it been like for you and your husband uh you know within not going to school and you going to work?

SL: Well I learned to sleep with earplugs because they're uh sometimes they're on a lot later at night you know and they're really active at night and I need to go to sleep and I like it quiet so i've learned to sleep with earplugs um for my husband life didn't really change for him because he's a first responder already so you know he has his normal schedule the only thing for him is you know he was coming home late sometimes but schoolwork wise our kids were really good with getting all the work done and then now we're into summer and but again it's a lot of adjustment for us because we had to um modify the way you know we were doing things because we're so used to always going out and now we're in the beginning was like we're stuck at home and all we see is each other so, for my husband and i going to work um it was a little bit nice you know because we're still interacting somewhat even social distancing where we're interacting with people from we worried about the kids though but the kids kept telling us that they were okay.

EF: Uh for for my partner and I we've we've Tried to split the load you know in terms of parenting and teaching but she also has an incredibly demanding schedule and so a lot of a lot of this is required of on the part of our child we've created schedules the three of us together and again trying to split up our time one tool that's been sort of successful for us is this tactic that's part of this parenting method called love and logic where we put kind of the responsibility on him to complete his assignment at his you know at his own pace and so that can look like say he has math we tell him you can have your lunch when your math work is done and then that kind of eases any need for fighting or rebelling so that's been somewhat successful but you know every day has been every day's been hard because we still have our work to do he still needs the same he still needs attention.

LL: What are your thoughts about school reopening I know you've had some conversations have been a part of meetings about reopening?

SL: So, um we're actually i'm actually quite excited for schools to have a plan um I know that there's some fine-tuning that the each school district has to have but I’m excited to to read it to see it to see what they want to do but I know that I have to do my part and my part is teaching the kids on what to do to prepare for reopening and um because just like how it needs to be safe for us when we leave the house it does need to be safe for them to leave the house as well so, I think that um you know I can't rely on the school to be honest to to keep everything safe for them everyone has their own individual responsibility to be safe and I know that it can be difficult for some of the younger kids and and it can be difficult for actually any kid but I’m trying to do my part to have the kids recognize what they need to do you know and I want them to regardless if they go off to school or they leave the house you know to do some other activity or just even walk around the house you know in the neighborhood I want them to practice social distancing I want to remind them to wear their face covering when they go into school I want I’m going to give them a short supply of Like sanitizer wipes so that they can wipe down their desks and you know and anything that they think that may have been touched like somebody else it's it's okay for them to to go ahead and wipe things down and you know um do things like that so I I just want to help them with that especially wearing face coverings throughout the day my older son has already said to me that he wants to go back he  wants to have some in-person instruction with his teacher and interactions with his classmates my younger son he can go either way but he's kind of leaning more now towards returning to school.

 EF: Well our school district has notified us that they won't be they will be operating remotely until October 4th um and until cases are stable so, you know while this has been an incredibly stressful time we we support the district's decision. I think this is it's important to realize that this is not forever this is a means to an end and so as much as we can we'll we'll try to support his learning.

SL: You know it's it's not the norm but we have to make the best of what we got right now in order for all of us to be safe.

LL: And we continue to encourage people to be safe practice social discipline mask up and stay at home if you don't need to go out if we take a look at the data dashboard here and you can see Omar we are surging cumulative uh cases right now 8046 new cases as of yesterday 254. we've had 178 deaths no new deaths uh thankfully and look at the hospitalizations I remember a few weeks ago it was down in the 50s now it's up to 167 so we are seeing a surge in the numbers here and I think one thing that people should think about is you know a lot of people want different businesses to be open but if the numbers keep going up you know those businesses may not be able to stay open and it may delay school starting as well and it also puts our youth at risk what would be your advice to everyone uh when it comes to following the guidelines and protocol to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the county?

OT: Right Larry actually I wanted to go back to the question that was asked on Facebook I was able to obtain some information so not all private schools are going back to their classroom there's going to be a hybrid of online learning and staggered attendance and so, I would check in for that per individual who asked that question I would check in with with your students private school okay and and i'm not sure i'm going to have the opportunity to say it at the end but I also want to thank teachers who are being incredibly flexible with our children and their families during these difficult times so thank you very much teachers but also thank you very much parents for keeping your children safe and also being a teacher during these trying times.

LL: So, what would you say for people who say oh I don't need a mass to go somewhere or I don't need to be six feet apart it's not going to happen to me.

OT: Yeah I have to I have to remain pg on this one but it shouldn't be politicized wear your masks that's the important part you saw the numbers the only people that are going to be suffering is our children because they're not going to be able to go back to school also, our universities as you know are going to be online and it's we just need our folks to have a great education and be ready to hit the ground running when our economy improves.

LL: Omar thank you for being here uh if you would like more information regarding guidance for coronavirus in schools you can visit sccgov.org forward slash coronavirus select the learn what to do drop down and select corona virus in schools there  you will find a 22-page document on reopening of Santa Clara county k-12 schools for the 2021 school year. all right well that's going to do it for today thanks for joining us remember to join our Facebook live in Spanish beginning at 11 o'clock and on Thursdays we have a Facebook live in Vietnamese have a safe day everyone take care of yourselves mostly take care of your neighbors and we will see you next time.