Food Systems
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Farmers Markets, as Essential Food Sources, Adapt to Pandemic

04.24.2020
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Farmers markets are able to reconfigure stalls and have the advantage of often being open-air, but they are also adapting to social distancing health orders by increasing access to fresh produce for low-income customers. Shoppers who use CalFresh, the state’s food assistance program, have been receiving additional assistance at some farmers markets during April — markets generally match up to $10 worth of CalFresh benefits with tokens for produce, but some have been doubling that figure for the month. » Read more

City Hall
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San Francisco Shelter-in-Place Order Could Be Extended Next Week

04.24.2020
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San Franciscans could be required to shelter in place well beyond May 3, the expiration date of the city’s current public health order.
In a brief aside during Friday’s Department of Emergency Management press conference, Mayor London Breed said that her administration could make an announcement about extending the order as early as next week. » Read more

Homelessness
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City Outlines Plan to Move Homeless Into RVs

04.24.2020
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Vulnerable homeless people will finally start moving into recreational vehicles and live-in trailers in mid- to late May as part of a plan to curb the spread of the coronavirus that San Francisco officials announced Friday.
In an email to Randolph Quezada, director of communications for the Port of San Francisco, the Human Services Agency outlined the department’s plan to place unhoused people over age 60 or with underlying health conditions in 29 recreational vehicles leased by the city and 91 live-in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. » Read more

Homelessness
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Leader Urges School District to Host Tent Camp

04.24.2020
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The president of the San Francisco Unified School District board plans to propose next week that the district offer at least one of its campuses as one of the city’s first-ever approved tent camps for homeless people.
The move is in response to Supervisor Rafael Mandelman’s Tuesday resolution urging the Board of Supervisors to support the concept, which would provide occupants bathrooms, tents and other amenities while enabling them to socially distance to limit the spread of COVID-19. » Read more

Economy & Business
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Stanford Volunteers Developing Financial Support Hub

04.23.2020
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A group of Stanford-affiliated volunteers has set out to develop a tool to make accessing financial support, whether public or private, easier. The project, called Healthier Finance, is part of Stanford’s COVID-19 Response Innovation Lab, in which volunteers from a broad range of disciplines including medicine, business and media hope to collaborate to create technology and systems that are needed during the pandemic. » Read more

Health
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Essential Workers, Symptomatic Residents Can Now Get Coronavirus Tests

04.23.2020
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City officials on Wednesday announced expanded access to coronavirus testing. Tests have become available to essential workers who must leave their homes to work and to anyone who has symptoms, regardless of ability to pay. A doctor’s note is not needed to schedule a test, nor is insurance, though those who have it will be asked to provide their insurance information when they schedule the test. » Read more

Homelessness
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Approved Tent Camps for Social Distancing Get Thumbs-Up in Report

04.22.2020
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Approved tent camps can help homeless people socially distance when they can’t stay in hotel rooms or other single-occupancy housing, UC Berkeley researchers said.
“Encampment residents should be encouraged to space tents further apart,” said the report on addressing the needs of the homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic from the university’s School of Public Health. » Read more

Health
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In Bid to Slow Pandemic, Officials Ramp Up Tracing of Patients’ Contacts

04.22.2020
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As the coronavirus curve flattens and San Francisco contemplates lifting shelter-in-place orders, public health officials are building a workforce of contact tracers to prevent a surge of transmissions.
Using a new data-tracking tool, the contact tracers will reach out to individuals who have been exposed to COVID-19 to inform them of the risk, ask them to quarantine and offer clinical guidance. » Read more