| Over the weekend the county reported 445 new positive cases for a new total of 5,836. Carlsbad’s case numbers increased by two from Friday to a new total of 71. Sadly, the county reported nine new deaths, bringing total deaths from COVID-19 in San Diego County to 209. The availability of testing continues to increase, meaning that even though we are seeing more cases, the percentage of positive cases based on testing is hovering around 3% to 4%. You can see this trend line in purple on the graph below. |
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| Here is a link to the charts and graphs released over the weekend:Saturday, May 16Sunday, May 17 City casesConfirmed cases by cityMap showing case numbers in the countyCases by ZIP code San Diego casesSan Diego County case portalInteractive dashboard California casesNEW California data portalInteractive dashboard COVID-19 cases and nursing homes U.S. and global casesGlobal and national case numbers Graffiti responseYou may have seen over the weekend on social media that someone spray-painted swastikas and “SS” on the old train station and around the coastal rail trail entrance on Oak Avenue. Vandalism of any kind will not be tolerated in Carlsbad and is especially troubling when it contains symbols of hate and intolerance. Please know that our Police Department began an immediate investigation, and we ask anyone with information to call 760-931-2197. COVID-19 update at Tuesday’s City Council meetingTuesday’s City Council agenda is now available. Please remember that all City Council meetings will start at 3 p.m. through the duration of the public health emergency. You can watch online or on the city’s cable channel and provide comments on any item by emailing clerk@carlsbadca.gov. If you’d like your comment read out loud, please indicate that at the top of your email. We continue with our regular (every two weeks) update on the city’s response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. This is a chance to hear directly from the heads of all the major city services, like the police chief, fire chief and the person in charge of city finances. In addition to going over current issues and activities, these updates are an opportunity for the City Council to provide direction on any changes they would like to make in how the city is responding. Other topics Tuesday include:Accepting a nearly $200k donation from the Library & Arts FoundationEmergency responder leave benefitsDesign services contract for the Hub Park trail on the south shore of the Agua Hedionda LagoonTwo neighborhood traffic safety projectsContract with Community Resource Center using homelessness prevention and intervention fundsReport on potential service and deployment improvements for the Fire Department 10,000th senior mealFriday, we marked another milestone in our senior lunch program – the delivery of the 10,000th meal since the beginning of the COVID-19 public health emergency. You may recall that when the stay at home order began, we had to shut down in-person dining at the senior center. Instead, we arranged to have senior lunches packed up for pick up and delivery. These meals are provided through the county’s Aging and Independent Services senior nutrition program. To meet the increased demand, the city has redeployed our Parks & Recreation staff, some of whom you can see in the photo below. Remember, we have information about all meal programs on our website. Please take a look and help share this information so that no one in our community has to worry about finding their next meal. |
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| Face coverings distributionThe city has received a good supply of disposable face coverings and for the second weekend in a row our community emergency response team volunteers set up along the upper Sea Wall to distribute them. These volunteers, called CERT members, are specially trained by the city to assist in emergency response activities. |
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| In all, they distributed 3,350 face coverings over the weekend. Remember, under the county health order, everyone should have a face covering with them when they leave home and wear it when they go into a business and when they cannot maintain a 6-foot distance from people not in their households. Face coverings help reduce the spread of COVID-19 by keeping droplets from infected people from getting into the air and potentially infecting others. This is especially important since you can be infected without showing any symptoms. CARES Act funding for citiesTomorrow, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors will discuss options for sharing some of the funding it got from the federal relief package called the CARES Act. Under the act, cities with 500,000 in population and over and counties received money from the federal government for COVID-19 response efforts. The county received over $300 million. There are two proposals for how to share the money with cities and unincorporated parts of the county. Here is a link to the different ways you can watch the meeting. It starts at 9 a.m. At home activitiesCity staff continue to come up with new ways of providing activities to do from home. Please check these out if you’re looking for something new to do for yourself or your families. Free eResources – eBooks, online courses and more available from home eBooks & eAudiobooks– We just added new youth selectionsMango Languages – Choose from 70+ languages Flipster – Digital magazines (People, Money, Time and more) BookFlix – Children’s video storybooks Lynda.com – Professional development video courses Ancestry Library Edition – Genealogy resource Britannica School – For elementary, middle and high school students Alexander Street – Streaming classical, jazz, world and American roots music Innovation continues in CarlsbadA Carlsbad-based biotech company called Leading Biosciences has gotten approval from the FDA to test a new approach to COVID-19 treatment. It has a drug focused on intestinal problems that could help COVID-19 patients recover more quickly. The premise is that since some COVID-19 patients have gastrointestinal symptoms, preventing the coronavirus from killing intestinal cells and breaking down the lining of the intestines could also prevent digestive enzymes from getting into the lungs. You can read more about this innovative approach here. “The Last Dance” has a Carlsbad connectionIf you’ve been passing time by watching the Michael Jordan documentary, “The Last Dance,” you’ll enjoy this next update. In 1992 Michael Jorden signed an exclusive deal with Carlsbad-based Upper Deck, which specializes in trading cards and other memorabilia. With the popularity of the new documentary, the company is seeing a surge of interest. You can read about it in this article from over the weekend. Thanks, and keep up the good work!I am happy to share that our parks and trails monitors reported overall good compliance with the health orders over the weekend. People are keeping their distance as they enjoy these newly opened areas. We aren’t sure what to expect from the state and county this week in terms of changes, but I will keep you posted. In the meantime, please continue to follow all of the health orders. As a reminder, we have some simple resources to help you see what’s open, what’s still closed and what the rules are in Carlsbad. Scott ChadwickCity Manager |
