Daily Business Report-April 7, 2020
Marcelo Prado and Katie Zegarski of UC Davis Health load coronavirus samples onto trays. (Photo courtesy of UC Davis)
Governor calls on task force
to fix coronavirus testing shortfall
California is finally making a dent in the backlog of tests for the novel coronavirus that, at peak, left 65,000 people waiting to find out if they were infected. But that still isn’t good enough, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a briefing Saturday where he announced a new effort to increase daily tests five-fold.
The effort, helmed by a new testing task force, will create five to seven of what Newsom called high-capacity testing “hubs” through a new partnership with UC San Diego and UC Davis. The goal is to increase high-capacity testing and end a massive backlog that, at times, has left people waiting as many as 12 days to receive results.
“All of that frustrating you, certainly frustrating me,” he said. “The testing space has been a challenging one for us, and I own that, and I have a responsibility as your governor to do better, and to do more testing in the state of California.”
Newsom’s latest update tallies 126,700 people who have been tested for the virus that has landed at least 1,008 people with confirmed infections in the intensive care unit, and killed more than 237 people.
Of those 126,700 people tested, 13,000 are still waiting on results, Newsom said. It’s a sharp decrease from the 59,500 tests with results that were still pending as of last Thursday. But it’s still not good enough, Newsom said.
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No COVID-19 deaths reported
on Monday; cases jump to 1,404
For the first time in over a week, no COVID-19 deaths were reported in San Diego Sunday, but cases jumped to over 1,400, the County Health and Human Services Agency announced Monday.
The number of local COVID-19 deaths remains at 19 and the age range is between 25 and 98 years of age. Fifteen people who have died were men and four were women.
COVID-19 Cases Increase to 1,404
Through April 6, a total of 1,404 COVID-19 cases have been reported in San Diego County, including 78 new cases in the last day.
Of San Diego County’s cases, 739 (52.6 percent) were men and 657 (46.8 percent) were women. The gender of eight people is unknown. Of the known cases, 269 (19.2 percent) have required hospitalization and 102 (7.3 percent) of the total number of cases had to be placed in intensive care.
The county will now begin reporting the ethnic breakdown of COVID-19 cases. Of the 1,326 cases reported Sunday, 358 (27 percent) did not indicate an ethnic background. Of the 968 remaining cases, the ethnic breakdown is as follows:
51 percentWhite
29 percentHispanic
11 percentAsian
6 percentAfrican American
3 percentOther
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2020 BIO International Convention
in June moved to online platform
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) said it will be moving the 2020 BIO International Convention scheduled for June 8-11 in San Diego to an online platform, in lieu of an in-person event for this year. The decision was based on the impact of COVID-19, the safety of the attendees and global health recommendations regarding large, in-person gatherings.
BIO Digigal 2020 will focus on partnerships and virtual collaboration with its BIO One-on-One Partnering system allowing attendees to schedule virtual meetings using their preferred method—whether that is a teleconference system, video meeting service, or another medium—to maximize their business development and licensing potential.
The new format will include expert-level educational content focused on the most pressing industry topics including COVID-19, infectious diseases, vaccine development, digital health, business development, and the latest therapeutic advancements in biotech. Panels will run across four days, mixing live and on-demand sessions.
In 2021, the Convention is planned to take place in Boston from June 14-17.
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Cox Media offers free TV advertising
to San Diego County restaurants
To help San Diego restaurants reach customers as they’ve shifted to delivery and takeout services during the coronavirus pandemic, Cox Media, the advertising sales division of Cox Communications, is offering free television advertising to bring public awareness to those restaurants that remain open and ready to serve.
Local San Diego restaurants can take advantage of the free TV advertising to:
- Let their community know they’re open for business;
- Highlight that they’re following protocols for safe food handling;
- Create an offer to drive traffic.
“As our community is impacted by this pandemic, it’s important for us to support our local businesses, and one way we can do that is to provide free television advertising to local restaurants to let their customers and the public know they’re open for business,” said Leslie Talansky, vice president of Cox Media in San Diego.
The free advertising will include graphical information about the restaurant, so no video footage is required, and the advertising will run for a minimum of two weeks for each restaurant. Airtime is limited, so interested restaurants should call 1-855-755-2691 or email MarketingInsights@CoxMedia.com to reserve a spot.
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General Atomics flys SkyGuardian RPA
as part of NASA demonstration
San Diego-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA‑ASI) flew its SkyGuardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) in the skies above Southern California on April 3 as part of a joint flight demonstration with NASA. GA-ASI was selected to participate in NASA’s Systems Integration and Operationalization activity, which includes multiple flight demonstrations focusing on different types of Unmanned Aircraft Systems and their respective flight environments.
GA-ASI and NASA have worked collaboratively since 2014 to prove the safety of flying large UAS in the National Airspace System.
GA-ASI demonstrated ways in which SkyGuardian can be used for a variety of commercial and public services applications, using its onboard sensors. Services featured in the demo included inspections of hundreds of miles of rail, power line, communication and canal infrastructure, agriculture monitoring and topological surveys, as well as wildfire and flood monitoring.
