tonight on kqed newsroom. restaurants struggling to hang on during the coronavirus crisis, now face a new obstacle to getting financl relief . plus, we will talk ouwith relileaders about the challenges and blessings of leading their communities through this unprecedented time. good evening. and wewsome to kqed om. i am priya david clements. we begin tonight with a look e thdevastating impact the coronavirus has had on small businesses such as restaurants here in the bay area and beyond. this week, the san francisco board of supervisors passed a resolution saying that covid-19 results in property lossor damage, and poses a danger to

the public. the resolution is intended to help small businesses, such as staurants, which have been hit especially hard by the pandemic. restaurants like cassava in san francisco can stay open by shifting to take-t or delivery service only. many of them have applied for federal or city funds to t rvive the crisis. w, some are facing a new hurdle. insurance companies who say the coronavirus has not caused direct physicda loss or ge to the business property. joining me now is you, you roy, general manager avof ca you can, thank you so much for being with me tonight. i understand you and your husband rucassava together. tell me about the restaurant. >> yes. hi, thank you for having us. we have been on - street in outer richmond, san francisco since 2012. we serve the california, modern california cuisine. cuently, we have been serving more mft food. fried chicken, salmon, prime rib, that type of stuff. what we are seeing is that people - holiday food.

everybody wants comfort. so, that is what we are doing w. currently right >> reporter: you are doing it unless take-out. how has the coronavirus impacted your business? y . as everyone knows, the dining businesses shut down. the resulted in 30-40% revenue loss in our restaurant, of the restrant currently. >> reporter: what does that mean to you? have you been able to keep your employees? >> yes. , we have 18 aff currently. we have not had to lay off anyone. that's great. but, everybody is working on reduced hours. , everybody is taking a little bit of a pay cu and i am doing everything i can to just supplement thatin ways, with - family campaign in the beginning. $14,000 so far. by the time the $12,000 came, we were able to split among the staff and everybody got a few hundred dollars, essential,

because thy unemployment mo is not here at all. >> reporter: is that surprising to you? >> given the volume, i derstand it. but, i advised all of our staff to apply it for this earlier, before the shelter in place orodr came. everstarted like on the friday before. the order came on tuesday. and then, some of us received the, you know, the award, the letter, but have not seen the debit card. so, my heart ally aches fo all these you know, people, especially in our industry. that applied and nothing is here. half of our stuff, the employers have to receive letters saying hey, there have been claims filed. i have only got fithat notion for have of our staff. >> reporter: it yosounds like are still working to that process. but, i want to turn specifically to your insurance situation. business has been interrupted. it has not been as usual.

you have not beenable to have people come in and dine in the restaurant. anbu you filed a ness insurance claim with your company. >> yes. >> tell us about that process. and the result. rr>> our insurance r is hartford. package, there is a process as business interruption. so, i originally went on to the hartford's website and filed a aim. very simpleke you would for any car accident or something li that. i did not get the claim number right away i wanted to make sure i had that, so, i called and got it. and the claim adjuster contacted me two days later, and essentially denied, based, reasons, this disaster is not - fire or flood.epal damage. >>ter: what was your reaction? surprise and annoyed.

you know. we spent, what? $18,000 or so peyear on insurance. it is really expensive for restaurants. you know, there are a lot of hards, like the way they run the policy, they think, so, yeah. $18,000 for like last few years. and nothing, you know. our business is terrupted by powers. that is beyond i feel like that is what this product is designed for. you know? i feel like you have to keep your word. >> reporter: if that money comes in when the relief loan money comes in, what are you going to be using for? >> i have not paid pg&e for two months because they said - our lainlord cut the rent half for us. all of my debt servicing is on hold. so, those definitely. f l of our stare paid and i am using their sick hours

little by little. we were not qualified for thsi pay advance by the city. so, while these guys can't stay home,you know, they are being paid. >> reporter: how important is this insurance claim money in particular? >> given the circumstances, we are still standing. all afof our is here. but, i mean, never knhow long this disaster will last. you know, the dining that we knowf so far, it will never be the same. so, even when we are able open back up, we never know, you know, what kind of traffic we will get, right? now, now we get to go orders and we figured out how that works. but, nothing is forever, you know? any cash reserve that i could hold onto to keep the place open, yes. it is very important. >> reporter: there is a lot of uncertainty right now. thanyou so much for joining

us. best of >>luck. hank you. hartford, the insurance company which denied uka's claim said they don't ifmment on sp claims. know what they tell us how many other similar claims ngci 19 they have received, or whether they have denied or improve them. hartford referred us instead to the american property-casualty insurance association, a national trade organization for home, auto and inbusiness rers. the association told us that the estimated loss to all businesses, with more than 100 employees could be between 255 - $431 billion per month due ro the virus pandemic. they also said these losses are 43-72 times higher than the monthly commercial property insurance premiums. and that "pandemic out rakes are uninsured because they are uninsurable. all oftothis according ap cia president and ceo, david a sampson. joining me now is lori thomas. san francisco restaurant owner

and the executive director of au the golden gate rent association. lori, thank you so much for joining me. thank you for having me. how do you respond to the insurance industry saying they can't afford to pay out these ai ? >> i don't think anybody can afford anything right now. i think we are all in a period ofstextreme financial ss. and what we would like to do is take a look at seeing where obligations that have been paid ny, many years by restaurants and other business owners can be satisfied when we file the claims. we are just asking for at financial resources we ask vector to be available for us. >> reporter: do you know of a single restaurant in the san frthcisco area, or with golden gate restaurant association membership, whose claims have been approved? >> no. now, we are early in the game. but i have asked around and nobody has received any claims. many have been denied, in fact. we know why. we hag been hearwhy that is. we'll talk more about that.

but unfortunately, no. >> let's get into that. why are they being denied? >> well, muthere are iple types of coverages onliability insurance policies. this is what we're talking about. specifically, liability insurance. some of those coverages, specifically exclude virus. so, that would be a very clear but, there are other coverages which i felt like have - which are standard business interruption that would kick in fo months should there be some sort of a business interruption that was not planned. this clearly falls into. unfortunately, some of those coverages list that you have to have a physical destruction to pay out the policy. so, that is the next tier. and then the tear that i woul really liketo see the company's payout on immediately is the civil authority disruption. civil authority that is is preventing you from access to

your business, that you should have, in this se, in my policy for example, through farmers insurance, it pays out 3 weeks of business interruption. and, the problem is again, that reference is in the fine print of the coverage, that there has to be a physical destruction or some physical prevention from ac yossing the business. >> this is where you are hoping that city, state, maybe federal leaders can step in. ee this the city of san francisco took that stuff and said that covid-19 poses a danger, and that it can stick to the surfaces. and this is an attempt very much to shore up yo argument that the insurance companies should be able to pay out. what can state and federal lawmakers to to help resolve this issue? >> so, then it becomes more complicated, ght? what we nted to do in san francisco is, we are trying to set the lead for the rest of wh the country, e we, we are doing what we think is right and necessary to save business owners. and that is to sayes, this

is a physical destruction. we cannot touch the surfaces. so, s mayor breed gone ahead and that i think has been added i believe to the emergency declaration provision alrey. and then, ththought is that we would work with the state commissioner to try to get him, and i kn he isaware of the situation, to put pressure on the insurance companies to fulfill at least the obvious rts of the policy coverage. certainly for civil authoritit and then would go to the federal level. >> reporter: and we did talk with the state insurance commissioner's office as well. the said they are extremely gaps. verage u he has also asked insurance companies to provide data on commercial business interruption related to covid- 19. so, have you been involved in this personally? have you filed your own claim at this poind w are your restaurants doing? >> my restaurants, unfortunately, close. they are too small neighborhood restaurants. they are dying in. itd not make sense for us financially to do the delivery. although i don't know if you

have seen, but today we just announced that the city of cisa fro is capping the delivery fees for the restaurant commissions at 50%. for the duration of this emergency declaration, which will be super helpful in helping restaurants stay open. who are dodelivery only. that is amazing. my restaurants are closed. today would be the three-week period buthat that ness interruption policy would cover. the specific civil authority one. i put in the claim today. obviously, ther is going be a weight period. everybody is backed up, and then we will go to that i am hoping inthe interim that we can see some progress at the state level. i don't know how this willdrbe sed at the federal level. i think like everything else, we need some federal relief, i would imagine, for the insurance companies to fulfill the claims if it were to be brbeght in and accepted. >> reporter: is there anything hopeful you are hearing from restaurant owners during this time? perhaps about customer support, or changes they have been able jumake to to this new reality? >> so, everybody is - frsupport

their customers. there's a lot of gofundme campaigns designed to get money back into the hands of our workers who are going really well. it is encouraging. people are working to help op restaurants - medical workers, first responders homebound seniors. there was a lot of really - trying to do the delivery. and then to y, we ju announced that the city is going to be tapping the app companies fothis period of emergencies as well, which will certainly help restaurants offering delivery. >> reporter: lori thomas with the golden gate restaurant association. thank you so much for joining us today. hang in there. thank you so much for having us. as millions of americans stay at home, houses of worship are no longer placthat people can gather for support and affirmation. so, religious organizations have had to adapt. conducting services online to keep their followers safeye.

spiritually connected. it is also a time to reflect on and reimagine traditional religious holidays, like paover, easter, and ramadan, which are all taking place this month. rabbi sidney mintz frpe is congregation of a manual in san francisco. rabbi, thank you for joining us. >> reporter: thank you so r muc having me, priya. you have been with temple emanuel for about 20 years. describe your congregation to us. tell us how this crisis has impacted them. >> the congregation is bounded by the gold rush in the 1850s. and, as a 0-year-old congregation withmembership of 2100 families. about 500 thople. anshelter in place and the crisis is being felt in our yommunity has impacted ev from people who are our elders, all the way to children who are now being born. >> and, you have made e transition to online services. how has that been received?

>> the first service that we did was march mo. h ago. and, we live streamed it from inside the empty sanctuary, and on friday night, we would usually 200 or so people. the first serve, 300-400 at the send service. we have 5000 people join us at first friday night. so, there seems to debe a need for spiritual seekers, for people who are feeling isolated and tremendously need community more than ever today. >> what is the experience like for you and your ngregants, to nobe able to come together in person? >> it is a vee big challe for people of all faiths who are used to really being together, face-to-face, holding hands, hugging and kissing. just like anfamily does. any community does. so, it has presented its es challend is the second day of passover right now in the jewish faith. like any other faith, ramadan for muslims, or for eaer, that iscoming up for christians, people want to be together. so, it has really been a challenge. we l d a virtseder last

night. we are having people come together last night before services at eight 30. virtual passover dinners, where they are going to be joined zu together o and then come útogether for the service, eating ritual foods on their own. but trying to celebrate, and in some way feel some joy t traditr.ns have to of >> you find that perhaps your including people who may not have come to a traditional seder? are the new people who are being attracted? >> there certainly are people who are seekers, who have not shn up physically in the building before, who are availing themselves right now at of our services are live streamed or classes or the passover seder. special people so far away from the families, or our living alone. therseems to be much more of a sense of need around creating community even virtually. >> reporter: have you had conversations with other religious leaders, perhaps from other faiths about how they are handling this time? >> yes.

we have been in contact, not th only with rabbis and cantors all over the bay area, but with the interfaith council, and with our partner on organizathat are helping to serve people who are especially vulnerable at this time. pastors and ministers and rabbis all over thcountry, to talk about how we can support one another. and also around innovation, because for some organizations, it is been a real struggle to been online and access people very, very helpful and it has created a lot of solace for people who were trying to create a irsense of ual sanctity and community when it is now two dimensional. >> it is not easy to have a virtual seder.there are other e seymour difficult to transition to the online worl how are you dealing with time sensitive lifecycle events? i am talking about births, about death, about coming into age ceremonies. perhaps a marriage or a dding po can be pod a little bit, although people may not want to do that. that is a possibility, at least. on the othehand, a burriss is

very time sensitive. >> you're absolutely right, priya. nobody wants to postpone their joy. and we certainly also want to offer people any opportunity we can. so, we have a virtual bris's already where the rabbi is on the screen and - for the person who does ritual circumcision is there for the family and the hbaby. e not done a virtual wedding at. but that is also a possibility. we hahad virtual bar and at mitzvah ceremonies. with all of the restrictions that are literally moving and having to burypeople alone, without family members, even at the gravesite. >> as a rabbi, you often hear are doing. ory of what are the members of your congregation telling you about their experience, and the feelin they are going at this point? >> we thk that onthe one hand, people are feeling severe anxiety. some depression, sadness, loneliness, wanted to reach out even more. and, having a sense of real

uncertainty, and wanting to be able to cling to their faithan, knowing their community is there for them. on the other hand, priya, i have to say, even moreerso, has been an outpouring of people who have called and said what can i do? this feels like a moment for me to serve. i am out of work, but have a car. can i go grocery shopping? can i show up and six feet away dr something off? we have a congregational family that is making hundreds of haulers, except not this week. i don't know e if they making matz this week but they have been making hundreds of haulers and actually having a contra of periving them all over the city, dropping them off and walking six feet away, texting and just seeing eachfaother's s even from six feet away if you are alone in your home, that is joy for people. >> reporter: what is it like for you to be a spiritual leader and advisor during this time? >> it has stretched all of our reserves. for me personally, being in lya fawith some kids who are home, some kids are not. it feels like i need different types of sanctuary.

although i am inside most of the time, i make sure every nday that i go outside, and i have a session with my dwgorgeo d tree in the backyard, where i sit and i feel my own breath and i feel the breath of the universe. and, i get tapped into the rhythms of nature. and i think all eiof us er, if you saw the incredible full moon the other ght, we were spring is actually happening. that has given me a lot of solace. just talk to and see the people in my community. >> thank you so much karen i sydney vance. thk you for being with us today. >> thank you so much and happy passover. i extend a warm welcome to ople of all iths and ú thank you. her. >> delivering sermons in a house of rship emptier parishioners can for religious leaders accustomed to communion with the congregation. joining me now to diisuss this vanessa southern, the senior meeting minister at the first unitarian society of san francisco. thanks for being with us. >> thank yo priya. thank you for having me on. >> what has it been like for

you to be contuing to preach every week. but, to empty pews, and have your congregation watch you online? >> it is strange. i mean, we have bee that we had live streaming for a year. so, we got over that technical challenge early, and a lot of congregations are scrambling to keep how to ep connected through worship at this time. but that was easy for us it's not bad. i'm used to the camera being to the side. really adjust being moved about thine who are present worship. now, the camera is front and center and i am speaking through it and imagining all of my people. there, and connecting to them through it. it is very different. worship is always collective. it is about ustogether. there is laughter there. you can see what people are struggling. and now, it is just me and the worship leaders. it is totally different. >> can you describe your urch and the congregants to us? >> yeah, the congregation has been around since 1850s. so, very early in california's

history, one of our first ministers was thomas starr kane sponsible for making ly california freestate. that was central to his ministry. so, huge connection to the civiva es and the issuof the time. that has been part of her life forever. and we are a wide range people from a wide range of backgrounds and still very connected to the city. >> you are involved in services during the week, but also other groups, i am assuming through the rkweek to >> normally. we would have lots of things. our center has 2000-3000 people use it. not juchurch members. all different kinds of groups. community groups. the activists, aa groups. but no all of that put to a halt. so, we are trying to experiment with fferent ways toget connected to our members and different ways to offer people to connect to each other. but th is all new.

we have not needed to do this very much in the past. >> yeah. you are learng your way through. at the beginning, you started by trying social justice he. you do not close your doors. e a lot sanitizer. you kept people at least i'm six feet apart. and some churches have decided to continue to meet person, despite warnings from health officials. what do you fe you give up and you lose by not meeting in person? >> for a lot of our people, being at church is onr of th major places of connecting to other people. to know them another name and give them a hug. so that is a huge loss. it is a ge loss for all of us. particularly for some people, we are worried beabout. use they are very much a learn. there home alone. there is no one there with them. so, we lose that. and, we lo that connection to each other. having said that, right now, ous connection is a dang thing.and what love looks like action right now is to stay apart. and that is really hard to rs unnd in your bones. when really love looks so often like holding hands and giving

each other a hug at abservice. >> lutely. and you certainly have been talking with yomembers during this time. what are the issues and concerns that are coming to the top for them? >> so, we arlucky right now. in our congregation, and maybe in the bay area, that we have been able tobend atthe curb. a big concern initially was who was going to get sick? and we have had relatively few. grateful for that. to figure out who is vulnerable. so, who is alone? who is immunocompromised and cannot go out? it waelderly and should not go out? and how many things separate them from danger? if they only have one neigor or friendwho is bringing them groceries, we need to know that. there was someone who suffers from anxietyor depression, we need to know that, so we can keep track of people and catch them if something happens or in goes wrong the safety net. >> that is a big concern. un >> it like the times are certainly shaping the messages you share, which i am sure they do at all times. are you finding yourself

úringing new terial to your parishioners? do you find yourself having new lessons that you have learned? through this time? >> yeah. it feels like, like with everything else for all of us, there is no planning. and we g e just dodeep listening. every week has been so different. we have had denial, and we have had grief, anwe havehad anxiety and we have fear and we have impatien. so, every week i feel like we are doing deep listening about, where are we now as a mm ity? and what do we need to hear? what is the struggle that we need to respond to and worshi to give ople a handhold through that week? and it is week to week. and the hope is that doing thal struggling together through all the suffering, that maybe we get what we always get out of these times. those du pieces thatcome out of suffering and the struggle to face it head on, which is wisdom and co assion. and my hois that in all of us staying together through this and responding in the moment to what is coming up that we can do this with greatewisdom and great

compassion. that would not make this all work while all. this is a horrible chapter in our lives together. but it would be something we coulaytake to carry with us. >> and this sunday would typically be a day where your halls would be packed. it is easter. has the easter sry brough you a new comfort this holiday season? >> a new challenge, i would actually say. for me. mu it is so a story about resurrection and rebirth. right now, it feels almost like we are more in holy week times, where we are journe difficult journey, where we know loss is going to be a part of it. and, we arnot yet to the easter. for me, will not let not yet there. >> reverend, where do you find strength, hope, sustenance, when so many are looking to you to provide it for them? >> i think i find it where we aritall finding in the healthcare workers and the essential workers who are

keeping all of us safe and taking ucare i think i find it in the extraordinary beauty of the world, and the thgs that we have right now and all of our courage and staying home and reducing the number of losses at this time. >> vanessa seven, thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you. as always, you can find more of our coverage at kqed.org /kqed newsroom. i am priya david clements. you can threach me ugh my soda my social media handle, priya d clements. thank you for joining us. stay safe.

>> a restless president and nation. president trump: we're going to be opening up very, very, very, very soon, i hope. robert: president trump at odds with his own officials. >> now is no time to back off. now is the time p to your foot on the accelerator. because we're going in the right direction. robert: but with unemployment rising, the president feels pressure to reopen the economy. in hot spots, black americans face alarming rates of infection. >> why is it that the prest people always pay the highest price? robe: and on capitol hill, a debate over funding. >> my colleagues must not treat working americans as political hostages. >> we need more oversight in terms of how this work and