damian trujillo: hello and welcome to "comunidad del valle," i'm damian trujillo, but today, shots, shots, and more shots on your "comunidad del valle." cc by aberdeen captioning www.aberdeen.io 1-800-688-6621 damian: we begin with the monthly visit of the consulate of mexico in san francisco. with me is remedios gomez arnau, the consul general of mexico in san francisco. consul, welcome back to "comunidad del valle." it's been a couple of months. remedios gomez arnau: yes, thank you so much, damian. i'm really excited to be again with you and your program. damian: yeah, well, hopefully one day we'll do it in person

instead of this virtual thing, but, you know, we're not in charge of that. what can you tell us about the latest at the consulado mexicano in san francisco? remedios: well, it's very important just to remind everyone about the appointments because you need to make appointment if you need a passport, if you need a matrícula, but also if you need a visa to go to mexico and, for example, many people from the bay area need visa to become permanent residents in mexico. so for that you need to make an appointment and the best way is that you download the application, the free application, miconsulmex, just as it sounds, miconsulmex, in your cell phone. that's the easiest and the fastest way to get all the information, all the contact numbers, and to schedule an appointment, either by telephone number. if you display that, you have there-- [speaking foreign language] you have that telephone number so from your cell phone you just can push the button

and then you'll get into the mexitel that it's the place to make the appointment. and also to do that on internet, so just to remind everyone that we've tried to improve the application so it's easier for everyone. i mean, you will have to generate a new password. you need to register again. but it will be very easy and if you don't find anything, it's because there are not available appointments yet. but we have emergencies. if you have an emergency you just send an email to confrancisco@sre.gob.mx. that's the institutional email and we will help you with your emergency. damian: all right, we have a lot of topics to talk about and you've covered one of them. but one of them that's not on our list that we're gonna talk about, we haven't talked about before, it is--a lot of my

friends, i see pictures, are going to cancún, they're going to cabo san lucas, they're going on vacation. what's the latest? what should they be aware of because of covid? is there anything that they should be aware of that you know, if they're trying to travel on vacation to mexico? remedios: well, the flights, if you're going into mexico, they don't require you the test, but when you come back to the united states, you do. so just visit our web page. we have all the information for the people that need to visit mexico and if they don't find information we will be glad to help them if they write a message to our institutional email. damian: all right, so just be aware, folks, if you're traveling abroad that there are some regulations still in place. you also have--you wanna educate folks about asuntos financieros and you have a lot of events around financial education. remedios: well, yeah, financial education and literacy, we are starting this coming monday, june 14, our annual week

of financial literacy. it will be from june 14 to june 21. it will be in spanish, though, but we will provide many information about how to open a bank account in mexico from here, how to send money, the easiest and the cheapest way from here. also for people that are interested, to open a social security account for their relatives in mexico to get medical attention and to generate a pension when you retire. we will be providing that information. that's very interesting. and also we will be providing information for people that are living here, of course, about how to deal with, how to recover from your business that was affected by the pandemic, and just connect with us through our facebook page that whole week of june 14 to june 21. damian: all right, well, a lot of great information. we'll have more to cover in our next segment but here is the web address for the consulado general

de méxico in san francisco. they're on folsom street. they've been open, they are open 'cause these are essential services. we'll be back with consul of mexico in san francisco, stay with us. ♪♪♪

consul remedios gomez arnau of the consulate of mexico in san francisco. another topic we wanna talk about is the renaming of the biblioteca octavio paz. tell us what that means. remedios: yeah, on last april 19 we named our library octavio paz, why? well, he's a nobel prize of literature from mexico, the only nobel prize literature from our country and he was someone that came here to san francisco. he studied at berkeley university but very important, he was member of the mexican consulate.

that was in the 1940s and he began working here as a local employee and then he became a member of thewas very impord remind everyone that he was here and that's why we named our library at the consulate octavio paz. damian: all right, we do have some final video that we wanna show, just at the consulate when things were normal, but we wanna show you some of that as well. what is it, consul, about the bay area, because you're talking octavio paz lived in the bay area; we know that diego rivera and frida kahlo lived in the bay area; we know that francisco marrero used to study at cal berkeley. i mean, what is it about the bay area that attracts all of these high-powered mexicans to the bay area, including yourself? remedios: ha, ha, well, you have top universities here that the people want to attend. you have a beautiful place, i mean, what else did you need--

do we need, i mean. you have water, you have the ocean, you have mountains. you have technology, you have innovation and support to entrepreneurial street of the people, so we have everything here and that's why the people wanna come here. damian: oh, that's great, well, yeah, they're more than welcome. the more the merrier, we need some smart brains here in the bay area. what about the mural de diego rivera? remedios: oh, well, just be attentive for the announcement that the san francisco museum of modern art, that is sf moma, will be announcing the opening of the great mural painted by diego rivera in 1940 here. it's been at the city college of san francisco but it has been moved, or it's being moved, to the san francisco moma with the help of a binational technical group of people from moma, from fine arts museum, and also technicians from here, from the museum.

and that's a great mural called "pan american unity" and i invite everyone to visit it. it will be free entrance for the mural, then you will have to pay to see other exhibitions, very important at the museum. but this will be for free. just be attentive for the announcement. damian: that's so fascinating. one side note because i've been to palacio nacional and i know that there is a mural there, diego rivera, on one of the big walls, but it's not finished for x reason--he didn't finish it. but nobody wanted to finish it for him. nobody touched it, así se quedó, it stayed unfinished. remedios: well, yeah, because i mean, the great master. who could try to replicate what he did? so i think it was a good idea to just leave it like that. but this mural was completed and it's beautiful and he talks about a very important idea: the pan american unity. and i think that going out from the covid-19, it's very important that we know that only working together we'll be able

to tackle any difficulty that we have to face and i think that this mural comes in a very timely way. damian: yes, no, that's wonderful. thank you for sharing that with us. any final thoughts, consul, before we let you go? remedios: well, just please remember that all the appointments to come to the consulates are for free. there's a new application, there's a new way to doing that in an easier way and please don't pay to anyone to get your appointment, because you will be risking that your appointment will be canceled. damian: yeah, there are a lot of people out there who are trying to kind of screw around with people and not really give them the services that they pay for, so be aware of that. . thank you so much for being on "comunidad del valle." see you again next month. remedios: i'll see you then. damian: gracias, consul. and here's the information. they're on folsom street in san francisco, and there is a web address for more information,

consulado general de méxico in san francisco. up next on "comunidad del valle," the santa clara county public health department. stay with us.

damian: [speaking foreign language] jorge hernández: [speaking foreign language] damian [speaking foreign language] luis hernández: [speaking foreign language] damian: [speaking foreign language] eduardo hernández: [speaking foreign language] eduardo: [speaking foreign language] damian: [speaking foreign language] luis: [speaking foreign language] oscar lara: [speaking foreign language]

jorge: infórmate, edúcate, y vacúnate. jorge: [speaking foreign language] damian: and thank you to los tigres del norte for pushing that message each and every time they can. they've--since we shot that promo, they've all been fully vaccinated and so they're trying to--thing get back to normal as fast as possible so we can all see each other and hug each other and meet and congregate again. and with me now is ricardo romero-morales with the public health department of the county of santa clara. ricardo, welcome back to "comunidad del valle." ricardo romero-morales: thank you, damian, thank you for having me here one more time. damian: boy, you've--it's been 15 months i think since you undertook this, boy, this emergency. how are we doing as far as latinos being vaccinated? i know it varies from county to county. how are we doing in santa clara county? ricardo: great question, damian. well, here in santa clara county, about 55% of the

population who claim to be latino or from latinx descent have been vaccinated which means that about 45% of the population haven't been vaccinated. so it is highly important and we're urging our latino brothers and sisters to please get vaccinated. damian: and who better to be an ambassador to push that message, ricardo, than your brothers and your sisters and your aunts, your comadres, right? you need family to go out and knock on your comadre's door and say, "comadre, you've gotta--you've gotta step up." ricardo: that's right, so we are key players, as community members, in going and educating the ones around us. so going to our comadres, our tías, our tíos, and just talking about our own experiences about how is it that we arrive to the decision of getting vaccinated? why is it that we got vaccinated and what are some of the side effects and the benefits of getting the vaccine? for example, for me, now i feel more comfortable going outdoors, hanging out with some of my friends that probably i have not

seen in the past 15 months or so. so just being vaccinated just adds that little layer of protection and feeling safe. damian: yeah, if you notice a lot of reporters on nbc bay area, a lot of us are not wearing masks anymore because we are fully vaccinated. that's, you know, if we're outdoors and separated from people but still, there is that precaution. so i know that a couple of months ago i did a report on--that only a third of the county latinos had been vaccinated. now you're saying it's up to over 56%. what do you think changed? what happened with the county that maybe you learned something and did something differently that made it jump from one-third to over one-half? ricardo: well, we have been working very closely with our community partners. we also have been expanding the hours of our operation so we've expanded to night hours and weekend hours to making sure that people who are working 8 to 5 have the opportunity to go get

vaccinated after work or during the weekends. we also have community workers that are going door to door, knocking and educating the community about vaccines and how to make an appointment. they even help them book an appointment right on the spot. we also now have a mobile vax van which is going around. this is--we're calling it the vaxmobile, you know, like the batmanmobile? in this case, the vaxmobile, which is going around in different events in the county, like, for example, soccer fields and where people congregate and go play a game, we're gonna be pulling in and just vaccinating people, those who wanna be vaccinated. damian: i know that last time i checked, the asian american community in this county was at 80%, 90% vaccination. they're getting it done. we're still at 56%. what are they doing differently that we're not, or maybe they're just not--they don't have the same misconceptions that we as latinos have, i'm not sure.

ricardo: well, something--what we do know is that people in the asian community are more united. they work together and they are able to encourage each other and they not only help each other by taking each other to their appointments but also sharing the information and addressing any myths or misconceptions about vaccine. so that is something that we could also improve as latinos. damian: that is where the comadres come in. i'm telling you, the key is in the comadres, they're gonna get it done for us. well, for more information-- damian: that's right, cafecito. contact the public health department. you can schedule your appointment, you can pass this email to that comadre. it's gonna be on your screen. there it is. you can schedule your appointment right there, right on that website, for the county of santa clara. other counties around the bay area have similar websites, just google the public health department in your county. you can schedule your appointment right there. we'll be back with ricardo, talk more about the efforts to get more latinos vaccinated; stay with us.

ricardo, with the public health department of santa clara county and, you know, ricardo, this is graduation time. students are graduating. people are upset because, you know, they're at a stadium, high school stadium, and only two parents are allowed, no other family members, but that's on us, right? i mean, if we're not--if we're gonna stay at 56% vaccination rate, that's on us. if we wanna get back to normality, if we want to fill up those stadiums at graduation, we need to get vaccinated. ricardo: that's right, so we have all been hearing about june 15 being the key date for everything to completely reopened. but, however, it also depends on the vaccination efforts and all those numbers. so at this point we need to continue to push our comadres, our tías, our tíos, to making sure that they're fully vaccinated. we all wanna go to that party, we all want to go dancing. we wanna go to the boda, to the quinceañera, but we shouldn't be doing all those activities at this point unless

we're vaccinated because we don't know who else is going out there and we don't know if they're vaccinated or not. so we all have to do our granito de arena to make sure that we all protect one another. damian: yeah, i mean, june 15 is just tuesday and so people think that "things are back to normal now, i guess, like, oh, everything's fine," but no, not when we're at 56%. there's still that other 44% that we haven't gotten the message to and that message needs to get across. otherwise, pa qué? ricardo: that's right, yeah. it all depends on all of us. damian: it really does. now, i know that i did a story this past week at stanford that they're going to go in their trials right now to vaccinate 5- to 11-year-olds and that's important for anybody who has a school-aged child because if you want your children to go back to school, well, guess what? there's gotta be a vaccination there in order to have these classrooms where they used to be before this pandemic. and so tell us, you'd mentioned about an effort to maybe have

vaccination sites at schools to expedite that process. ricardo: that's right so we're partnering up with a number of community organizations as well with the santa clara county office of education here in santa clara county and this is to making sure that we are reaching out to all of the parents of kids who are eligible to be vaccinated at this point, that is people who are 12 years and older. once we reach out to--once we're able to vaccinate people who are 5 to 11, we will continue with those efforts, but at this point we're working with schools, with school districts, to making sure that we at least go one week in there, one week into another district, to vaccinate those folks who haven't had an opportunity to get vaccinated just yet. damian: my twins are 13 and fully vaccinated. my oldest is almost 16, fully vaccinated. only my son had minor symptoms and so, i mean, i don't know

what more you can say to convince people, other than the free bobas you're offering because, you know, you're adding incentives to get more of these teens vaccinated, the teens who are lagging behind. ricardo: that's right, so we've been definitely reaching out to youth with boba, free boba tea, as well as gift cards. we have been partnering up with the san jose earthquakes to give out autographs for people to get vaccinated. what we really want is to continue to protect the health of our community and our loved ones because we wanna make sure that whenever our grandmother, our mom, goes out to the store, she's protected because we have all collectively been vaccinated. damian: yeah, no, that's absolutely correct. well, it's all about us doing our part and our comadres. that's it, i think we're on to something. i think the comadres are our future ambassadors. ricardo, any final thoughts that you'd like to add before we let you go? ricardo: just take advantage of this opportunity. right now, it's summertime.

this is the perfect time to get vaccinated. as we transition into the fall, some of our sites may be closing, especially the mass vaccination sites, so we wanna make sure that you are able to identify where those sites are. so you can always visit our website which is sccfreevax.org or call 211 to identify a site near you. damian: that's great 'cause i know--we have some echo there. i know for a fact that the skating rink at eastridge will close at the end of this month. levi stadium, hey, the niners are gonna play. that's gonna be closing so you're right, absolutely right, get vaccinated now before you do have to stand in long lines later on in the fall. ricardo, thank you so much. great information. appreciate all your work. ricardo: thank you. damian: gracias, ricardo; for more information, log on to the county web site. you can actually schedule your appointment there to get your vaccine in santa clara county. and if you live outside of the county, log on to your county's web site and they have similar sites there so you can all

schedule your vaccines to get vaccinated. well, thank you for joining us. you can also contact us here on "comunidad del valle." you can follow me on twitter. my handle is @newsdamian. instagram is @newsdamiantrujillo. also pick up a copy of "el observador" newspaper and support your bilingual weeklies all across the bay area. a few years ago we lost a great friend of mine, a great musician, and an awesome person, an awesome soul: rudy madrid of rudy and the cruisers. could have been in hollywood. he could have been in the rock 'n' rock hall of fame but he chose to stay local and do the gigs at small venues and we had him on "comunidad del valle" several times. i just wanted to play something back because it's brought back so many memories, so thank you for joining us. here is now, rudy madrid of rudy and the cruisers. ♪ [singing in foreign language] ♪ ♪ [singing in foreign language] ♪

♪ [singing in foreign language] ♪ ♪ [singing in foreign language] ♪ ♪ [singing in foreign language] ♪ ♪ [singing in foreign language] ♪ ♪ [singing in foreign language] ♪ ♪ [singing in foreign language] ♪

♪ [singing in foreign language] ♪ ♪ [singing in foreign language] ♪♪ damian: here's old brown eyes with a little bit of old blue eyes, rudy madrid and the cruisers. ♪ now, the end is near. ♪ ♪ and so i face the final curtain. ♪ ♪ my friend, i'll say it clear. ♪ ♪ i'll state my case of which i'm certain. ♪ ♪ i've lived a life that's good, i've traveled each ♪

♪ and every highway. ♪ ♪ but more, much more than this, ♪ ♪ i did it my way. ♪ ♪ regrets, i've had a few. ♪ ♪ but then again, too few to mention. ♪ ♪ i did what i had to do ♪ ♪ and saw it through without exception. ♪ ♪ i've lived a life that's good, ♪ ♪ i've traveled each and every highway. ♪♪

. narrator: when you see this symbol, you know you're watching television that is educational and informational. the more you know on nbc. sheinelle: hey, i'm sheinelle jones and we're about to journey around the globe to meet some of the cutest and wildest kids in the animal kingdom. this is "wild child". today, we journey around the world to find our favorite animal families of the fall. we'll immerse ourselves in the sensational colors of this season and try to keep an eye on these baby chameleons. and later, we'll see what all of the buzz is about over these beehives.wi these

little hatchlings.