Tag Archives: Coronavirus COVID 19

Benicia, Coronavirus, Covid 19

Coronavirus – Benicia closes Senior Center and Community Center

This notice appeared around 2:30pm March 13 on Nextdoor:

City Closes Community Center and Senior Center

Based on recommendations from Solano County, we are cancelling all programming at the City Gym and Senior Center, and closing the two facilities until March 31st. The City will continue to post updates about COVID-19 on the website at www.ci.benicia.ca.us/coronavirus.

In a March 12 press release, the City of Benicia announced detailed closures and postponements:

In response to the guidelines, the City of Benicia has canceled or postponed the following:

  • All senior activities at the Benicia Senior Center will be cancelled from March 13 – March 31, 2020 except for the Meals on Wheels program on Friday, March 13. Staff is working with Solano County to provide home delivery of Meals on Wheels beginning Monday, March 16.
  • Due to the difficulty in achieving recommended social distancing, the following meetings or events have been canceled through March 31
    • Benicia Public Library:
      • After School Zone, all storytimes, all book clubs, art gallery
        receptions, board games evenings, ESL classes, GED
        classes, Great Decisions discussions, Language Lab,
        Resume & Career Counseling, Technology Help, Teen
        Advisory Board, Writers’ Salon, Writer’s Workshop
      • March 12: Arts and Culture Commission meeting
      • March 14: Friends of the Library Book Sale
      • March 15: Three Poets Welcome Spring event
      • March 16: Art Gallery Committee meeting
      • March 17: Objective Planning Standards Stakeholder
        meeting
      • March 19: Public Art Subcommittee meeting
      • March 22: Ramana Vieira and Ensemble
      • March 29: Poet Jane Hirschfield
    • City Hall Commission Room:
      • March 16: Community Sustainability Commission meeting
      • March 25: Economic Development Board meeting

City Hall, Benicia Public Library and Benicia Community Center remain open and operational with appropriate measures in place to protect the health of staff and the community.

Benicia Unified School District, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County Schools

Benicia and Solano County Schools closed for 2 weeks due to coronavirus threat

BREAKING NEWS – This school closure letter just arrived:

March 13, 2020, 1:40 PM

Dear Benicia Unified Families,

In light of the ever-changing situation with COVID-19, Solano County schools will be closed ­­­­­­­­­for 2 weeks beginning Monday, March 16, 2020 through Friday, March 27, 2020.  We will make a determination at that time about any further closures.

We did not take this decision lightly and recognize that this may cause a hardship for some families.  Each school district and charter school will continue to communicate directly with families and staff with updates about re-opening, learning alternatives, and the availability of school meals.

School administrators across Solano County appreciate the proactive illness prevention steps that our families and staff have committed to. Illness prevention steps make a significant difference in safeguarding the health of our communities, and we encourage continued attention in this effort.

We will be sending follow-up communication regarding specifics for BUSD school closures.

Sincerely,
Dr. Charles Young
Superintendent
Benicia Unified School District Superintendent

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Travis Air Force Base

First person account of troubled quarantine at Travis Air Force Base

Two Crockett residents were on the cruise ship, now quarantined at Travis, can’t get tested

Here is a first-person account of bureaucratic delays and health care failures from Salli Spoon, who is quarantined at Travis AFB and wrote to Donald Zampa:

SALLI SPOON of Crocket CA, now at Travis AFB:

“I and my fellow quarantined passengers need your help.

All of us have been exposed to coronavirus. We are in federal custody at the Travis Air Force base. We have yet to be tested for coronavirus. We were first told we would be tested before we disembarked. We were not. Then we were told we would be tested upon our arrival at Travis. We were not tested. Yesterday morning I asked when we would be tested. I was told that we would be tested only if we requested testing. I requested testing. Yesterday evening, I asked when I would be tested, per my request. I was told I would be assigned a “case worker” in two or three days. This person would answer all my questions.

In the meantime, a Canadian from the Grand Princess was tested when this person arrived in Toronto. This person tested positive.

Our population at Travis is older and, many, have underlying health issues. Testing would let us know if there are any active cases and would establish a baseline to work from. This would let the government know that when they release us that we would not be carrying the virus into the general population.

Please, wherever you live, call you Senators and congresspeople let them know what is going on here. Please ask them to put pressure on get more testing kits;

Thank you for your help.”

[Mr. Zampa has sent this to Congressman Mike Thompson]

Coronavirus, Covid 19

Maddow interview: how China handled coronavirus – a model for U.S.

[BenIndy Editor: This 6-minute interview is a wake-up call for the U.S., a detailed description of how China has attacked the coronavirus.  This is shocking, informative and very important.  – R.S.]

How A Country Serious About Coronavirus Does Testing And Quarantine

MSNBC, The Rachel Maddow Show, March 12, 2020

Donald McNeil, science and health reporter for the New York Times, talks with Rachel Maddow about how China handles a person who may have contracted the novel coronavirus, with an eye on breaking the chains of transmission and protecting hospitals from being overwhelmed, and with a process that stands in stark contrast with the U.S. for its competence.  Aired on 3/12/2020.