Daily Business Report-July 23, 2020
Image courtesy of Scripps Research
Scripps Research partners with transit
and health workers to study wearable
devices for detecting COVID-19
In a unique research collaboration, digital medicine experts at Scripps Research are partnering with transit and healthcare workers in San Diego to accelerate detection and surveillance of COVID-19 and other viral illnesses using wearable devices.
By analyzing de-identified health data collected from smartwatches and activity trackers, the scientists behind the DETECT study are evaluating whether individual changes in key physiological metrics—such as heart rates, sleep and activity levels—could help detect the onset of viral infection before symptoms manifest.
“Due to the nature of their jobs, transit and healthcare workers are at higher risk of exposure to COVID-19 and other contagious respiratory illnesses,” says Jennifer Radin, PhD, an epidemiologist at Scripps Research who is leading the study. “When your heart beats faster than usual, it can mean that you’re coming down with a cold, flu, coronavirus or other viral infection. Your sleep and daily activities can also provide clues. Being able to detect changes to these measurements early could allow us to improve surveillance, prioritize individuals for testing and help keep workplaces and communities safe.”
Partnering with frontline workers
To enable essential workers to join the study, the scientists distributed 500 Fitbit Ionic™ devices to frontline transit workers and hospital staff across San Diego. The devices were donated by Fitbit, which, together with Scripps Research, recently launched a research consortium to promote institutional collaboration and consumer participation in digital clinical research efforts to help detect, track and contain infectious diseases like COVID-19.
By examining data from individuals at greater risk of virus exposure, scientists believe they may learn more about how to differentiate between specific illnesses, such as COVID-19 or influenza, during early stages using digital devices.
___________________________________
University of San Diego creates
new Real Estate Department
The University of San Diego has announced the establishment of the new Real Estate Department within the School of Business.
Charles Tu, the Daniel F. Mulvihill Professor of Commercial Real Estate and academic director of the Master of Science in Real Estate program, will serve as chair of the department.
The real estate program was previously part of the finance department and will now be an independent department within the University of San Diego School of Business.
“Good business schools innovate new academic programs in anticipation of where the market is going,” says Tim Keane, dean of the USD School of Business. “Great business schools integrate leading edge academic programs with real world projects and enrich our students’ career aspirations through connecting them with industry thought leaders as part of their experience. That integrated approach to student engagement is what makes our Real Estate program the best in the country. Formalizing a Real Estate Department showcases our program as the model for student success.”
Tu; Norm Miller, the Earnest W. Hahn Chair of Real Estate Finance; Jerry Gabe, assistant professor; and John Demas, clinical professor; and more than 10 affiliated faculty member.
___________________________________
San Diego approves region’s first tiny
houses law to help solve housing crisis
San Diego became the first city in the region Tuesday to allow homeowners to install movable “tiny houses” in their back yards. City Council members said before unanimously approving a tiny houses ordinance that tiny houses will help solve the local housing crisis by creating another affordable option for low-income residents that doesn’t require a taxpayer subsidy.
Similar to granny flats, movable tiny houses can also help homeowners cover their mortgage payments by creating a new revenue stream for them.
___________________________________
California could lose congressional
seat under new Trump order
CalMatters
California could lose at least one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives if a memo President Donald Trump signed Tuesday goes into effect that wouldn’t take undocumented immigrants into account while determining congressional representation after the 2020 census, the Los Angeles Times reports.
An estimated 2 million undocumented immigrants live in California, and Trump’s order — almost certain to be challenged in court — drew immediate pushback from state leaders.
Gov. Gavin Newsom: “Counting every person in our country through the Census is a principle so foundational that it is written into our Constitution. This latest action … rooted in racism and xenophobia, is a blatant attack on our institutions and our neighbors.”
Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, a San Diego Democrat and chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus: “We fully expect the State of California not to comply with the memorandum announced today.”
California is likely to lose at least one congressional seat due to glacial population growth. Experts are also concerned that the online-only census could lead to an undercount of the state’s hard-to-reach communities, risking not only power in Washington but also billions in federal funding.
___________________________________
Report: Newsrooms suffer worst
layoffs through June on record
Journalists are currently facing furloughs, pay cuts, and, in many cases, permanent layoffs. According to analysis from global outplacement and executive and business coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., newsrooms have announced 11,027 job cuts this year, up 169.8 percent from the 4,087 cuts announced in the first half of 2019.
This year’s total through June is 116 percent higher than the 5,104 newsroom cuts announced through June 2018. That year’s full-year total of 11,878 was the worst year for newsrooms since 2008, when 14,265 newsroom cuts were announced. Through June, newsroom cuts are their highest point since Challenger began tracking them in 2003.
“Newsrooms have had a rough few years, as revenues declined and consolidation in the industry decimated news teams. Coupled with a hostile environment for many journalists, news has become an increasingly difficult career path,” said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
“That said, the importance of reporters and newsrooms that hold themselves to a high journalistic standard cannot be understated, especially during a global pandemic and a divisive election year,” Challenger added.
___________________________________
H2 Hawkins + Hawkins Architects earns
3 Coveted Gold Nugget Award honors
Judges for the 2020 Gold Nugget Awards have named H2 Architects as Award of Merit winners for three separate projects in its annual competition, which honors architectural design and planning excellence and draws entries from throughout the United States and internationally.
H2 Architects earned its Merit honors for the following projects:
Golden Hill B Street— Best Multi-Family Housing Community under 15 DU/Acre.
This 22,131-square-foot project was developed by Janco Developr LLC and consists of 11, three-story townhomes with approximately 1,700 square feet per unit and a two-car garage on the lower level of entry for each. R&R Construction was the general contactor.
Lofts on Laurel— Best Renovated, Restored or adaptive Re-Use Residential Project.
This 1960 medical building was repurposed Into a 26,194-square-foot mixed-use residential/retail building Including 21 residential units and 1,773 square feet of retail space. The developer Is Janco Developer LLC and the general Contractor was R&R Construction.
Nautilus (AKA The Collins) — Best Renovated, Restored or adaptive Re-Use Residential Project. Developed and constructed by Murfey Company, this 1964 21,531-square-foot La Jolla medical office was converted into a mixed-use residential and retail development Including 15 residential units, 3,054 square feet of retail and 1,565 square feet of office space.
Chosen from the elite pool of Merit Award winners, Grand Awards will be announced on July 24. The 2020 Gold Nugget Awards will be presented in a virtual event.
___________________________________
S.D. Women’s Week Leadership Conference Goes Global
New virtual format with no boundaries features Daymond John, Linda Cureton, Ed Smart, Amy Trask
San Diego Women’s Week, celebrating 11 years of inspiring, empowering and connecting women is now virtual with leadership events for all ages and professions. Attendees enjoy virtual networking, keynote speakers, panel discussions, and more, all wrapped around creative solutions to everyday issues affecting leaders in the workplace and in their daily lives.
WHEN: Wednesday, Aug. 26 – Friday, Aug. 28, 2020
WHO: Keynotes for 2020 Leadership conference include:
- Daymond John from Shark Tank: Powershift, Transform Any Situation, Close Any Deal, and Achieve Any Outcome.
- Linda Cureton, Former CIO – NASA: Managing and Leading in a Tough Environment.
- Ed Smart, Father of Elizabeth Smart: Two Miracles, and Standing up for Yourself.
- Amy Trask, Former NFL Team Executive – Los Angeles Raiders: Leadership Vulnerabilities.
WHERE: Wednesday – Virtual Women and Wine 6-7:30 p.m.
Friday – Virtual Leadership Conference 8:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Click here for complete list of speakers and additional details.
___________________________________
Afira DeVries named CEO
of Monarch School Project
The Monarch School Project announced that Afira DeVries has been named chief executive officer of the nonprofit after a nationwide search led by a team of current and former board members. She will assume the post on Aug. 17.
DeVries most recently served as the United States director of Spring Impact, a global nonprofit focused on scaling social impact solutions. Previous to that, she served as president and CEO for the United Way of the Roanoke Valley in Southwestern Virginia and chief development and innovations officer of United Way of Tampa, Fla. She succeeds Erin Spiewak, who held the post for eight years during which time the school successfully opened its current location at the Nat and Flora Bosa Campus.
Afira DeVries has enjoyed a two-decade career as a health and human services executive, successfully leading innovation and growth for six thriving nonprofit organizations. Having generated more than a quarter billion dollars in support of social innovation over the course of her career, her extensive development, leadership and programmatic design experience will contribute to the vision and strategic direction of the Monarch School Project.
At the same time, The Monarch School Project also announced the recent appointment of six new board members:
Debra Molyneux, community volunteer and past Monarch School Project board chair
Graeme Reid, assurance partner, Ernst & Young LLP
Jennifer LeSar, president and founding CEO, LeSar Development Consultants
Jill Skrezyna, community volunteer
Ryan Alfred, president, Digital Assets Data
Sam Attisha, senior vice president and region manager, Cox California
___________________________________
Commentary
Newsom may have erred on re-opening amid
pandemic, but he has embraced accountability
By Jessica Levinson, Special to CalMatters
Jessica Levinson is a professor at Loyola Law School and the director of the Public Service Institute at Loyola Law School, jessica.levinson@lls.edu. She is the host of the “Passing Judgment” podcast. @LevinsonJessica
Hi again. I am writing to inform Gov. Gavin Newsom that I am changing our relationship status to “shaky at best.”
Remember me? Three months ago I wrote that Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States should pass the baton to Newsom. I was, among other things, impressed by his strong-handling of the COVID-19-induced crisis.
Newsom did what leaders should do. He listened to experts. He respected the views of epidemiologists. He shut us down and created a plan for re-opening. He told us we must have standards for testing and tracing prior to re-opening. Simply put, he saved many of our lives.
But then a funny thing happened on our path to re-opening. We had about 100 miles ahead of us, and then Newsom told us it was safe to take a short-cut. Even though the longer path was paved, and the short-cut was rickety and had no marked signs, we were told a short-cut was going to be OK. The short-cut appears to have led to a spike in cases, and we are now slowly shutting down again.
California is buckling under the weight of an uncontrolled pandemic. Our Golden State is racing to play catchup to testing and tracing metrics that were never met. In the meantime, cases surge, hospitals are stretched to capacity and our number of daily deaths cast a pall over our past optimism.
The full weight of California’s failure to contain COVID-19 does not rest solely, or even mainly, on Newsom’s shoulders. California is huge in every sense – landmass, population and percentage of the global economy. But we are not our own nation. We are but one of 50 states. And the staggering dereliction of duty, and failure of leadership on the federal level has crippled our nation.
Imagine your kitchen is on fire because your stove is malfunctioning. Governors are left trying to bring the dishes outside while they wait for the federal government to fix the stove. Put another way, governors are left placing proverbial Band-Aids on gushing wounds.
And then, of course, there is the mirror. We should look in it. Many of us should feel deeply ashamed. We partied when we should have distanced. We went to bars when we should have gone to parks. We screamed misdirected complaints about masks when we should have worn them.
Speaking of masks, the irony that those complaining about loss of liberty and then refusing, in the face of agreement by the scientific community, to wear a mask is beyond confounding.
If you want the state to open, if you want more freedom of movement and activities, wear a mask. If you prefer more restrictions and more spikes and more danger to those around you, refuse to wear a mask. By all means, take your principled stand in favor of freedom while you trample on all of ours.
Our elected officials can only bring us so far. At a certain point, we must also take some responsibility. Unless of course, all of us bemoaning government intrusions would prefer, well, much more drastic government intrusions. That is, after all, one way to force more of us to comply with health and safety measures. Too many of us are like a child who complains that his parents don’t trust him and shouldn’t impose a curfew, but then stays out all night.
But still, Newsom ripped the Band-Aid off too soon. One can understand why; Newsom was under a political pressure offensive from every side. Frustrated residents, lawmakers, elected officials complained bitterly about the restrictions Newsom put in place. Elected officials flooded the airwaves and begged for the easing of restrictions. Restless business owners pushed to open their doors. Some used lawsuits as pressure tactics to force Newsom to lessen restrictions.
With the benefit of hindsight, Newsom should have stayed the course. He had the legal authority, the moral authority and the opportunity to look like a leader who did not fold, even in the face of extreme political pressure.
Unlike many other elected officials, Newsom has been fairly clear that the buck stops with him. He may have erred, he may not have fully embraced those errors, but he has embraced accountability.
Newsom’s political brand appears to be largely built on being one step ahead of public sentiment. Remember, he was the mayor performing same-sex marriage before it was legal. Now is the time to think about what many of us know now, and even more of us will realize years from now. The governors who listened to the scientists, who put health and safety over public perception and political pressure are those who will be celebrated.
Jessica Levinson has also written about the Supreme Court ruling on the Electoral College, and Republicans versus the right to vote.
