my name is doctor ellen moffett, i am an assistant medical examiner for the city and county of san francisco. i perform autopsy, review medical records and write reports. also integrate other sorts of testing data to determine cause and manner of death. i have been here at this facility since i moved here in november, and previous to that at the old facility. i was worried when we moved here that because this building is so much larger that i wouldn't see people every day. i would miss my personal interactions with the other employees, but that hasn't been the case. this building is very nice. we have lovely autopsy tables and i do get to go upstairs and down stairs several times a day to see everyone else i work with. we have a bond like any other group of employees that work for

a specific agency in san francisco. we work closely on each case to determine the best cause of death, and we also interact with family members of the diseased. that brings us closer together also. >> i am an investigator two at the office of the chief until examiner in san francisco. as an investigator here i investigate all manners of death that come through our jurisdiction. i go to the field interview police officers, detectives, family members, physicians, anyone who might be involved with the death. additionally i take any property with the deceased individual and take care and custody of that. i maintain the chain and custody for court purposes if that becomes an issue later and notify next of kin and make any additional follow up phone callsness with that particular death. i am dealing with people at the

worst possible time in their lives delivering the worst news they could get. i work with the family to help them through the grieving process. >> i am ricky moore, a clerk at the san francisco medical examiner's office. i assist the pathology and toxicology and investigative team around work close with the families, loved ones and funeral establishment. >> i started at the old facility. the building was old, vintage. we had issues with plumbing and things like that. i had a tiny desk. i feet very happy to be here in the new digs where i actually have room to do my work. >> i am sue pairing, the toxicologist supervisor. we test for alcohol, drugs and

poisons and biological substances. i oversee all of the lab operations. the forensic operation here we perform the toxicology testing for the human performance and the case in the city of san francisco. we collect evidence at the scene. a woman was killed after a robbery homicide, and the dna collected from the zip ties she was bound with ended up being a cold hit to the suspect. that was the only investigative link collecting the scene to the suspect. it is nice to get the feedback. we do a lot of work and you don't hear the result. once in a while you heard it had an impact on somebody. you can bring justice to what happened. we are able to take what we due to the next level. many of our counterparts in other states, cities or countries don't have the

resources and don't have the beautiful building and the equipmentness to really advance what we are doing. >> sometimes we go to court. whoever is on call may be called out of the office to go to various portions of the city to investigate suspicious deaths. we do whatever we can to get our job done. >> when we think that a case has a natural cause of death and it turns out to be another natural cause of death. unexpected findings are fun. >> i have a prior background in law enforcement. i was a police officer for 8 years. i handled homicides and suicides. i had been around death investigation type scenes. as a police officer we only handled minimal components then it was turned over to the

coroner or the detective division. i am intrigued with those types of calls. i wondered why someone died. i have an extremely supportive family. older children say, mom, how was your day. i can give minor details and i have an amazing spouse always willing to listen to any and all details of my day. without that it would be really hard to deal with the negative components of this job. >> being i am a native of san francisco and grew up in the community. i come across that a lot where i may know a loved one coming from the back way or a loved one seeking answers for their deceased. there are a lot of cases where i may feel affected by it. if from is a child involved or things like that. i try to not bring it home and

not let it affect me. when i tell people i work at the medical examiners office. whawhat do you do? the autopsy? i deal with the a with the enou- with the administrative and the families. >> most of the time work here is very enjoyable. >> after i started working with dead people, i had just gotten married and one night i woke up in a cold sweat. i thought there was somebody dead? my bed. i rolled over and poked the body. sure enough, it was my husband who grumbled and went back to sleep. this job does have lingering effects. in terms of why did you want to go into this? i loved science growing up but i didn't want to be a doctor and didn't want to be a pharmacist. the more i learned about

forensics how interested i was of the perfect combination between applied science and criminal justice. if you are interested in finding out the facts and truth seeking to find out what happened, anybody interested in that has a place in this field. >> being a woman we just need to go for it and don't let anyone fail you, you can't be. >> with regard to this position in comparison to crime dramas out there, i would say there might be some minor correlations. let's face it, we aren't hollywood, we are real world. yes we collect evidence. we want to preserve that. we are not scanning fingerprints in the field like a hollywood television show. >> families say thank you for what you do, for me that is

extremely fulfilling. somebody has to do my job. if i can make a situation that is really negative for someone more positive, then i feel like i am doing the right thing for the city of san francisco. >> coping with covid-19 with chris manning. >> hi. i'm chris manners, and you're watching coping with covid-19. my guest today is tanya peterson. she's the director of the san francisco zoo on sloat boulevard, and she's here today to talk about how the zoo's managing during the pandemic and how they're reopening. tanya, thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> i'm really pleased to hear

that the zoo has reopened again. that's great news. can you tell us what changes you've made to make visitors to the zoo feel comfortable and safe when they're there. i understand now you have to make reservations, and there's only a limited number available each day. >> we were making changes before shelter in place. fortunately, because we work with animals, and we have a vet hospital on-site, we have the safe coverings before the shelter in place. while we were closed, we made some internal and external changes. the first one, i guess, would be on-line reservations. you now need to make reservations to visit the zoo, just like your favorite dinner restaurant. that is an effort to slow down congestion. try to keep everything smooth,

and we can control the number of families coming in over the course of time. >> that's great. what about the indoor exhibits and the playground. are those off limits now? >> well, they're not off limits, but the playground, we had -- we had started child care program for essential workers even when we were closed, and the playground is used exclusively by our child care programs. so if you can think of the zoo, 100 acres, about a good third of it right now is reserved for child care, so what we do is we have the -- we've got the children in their safe pods. they're with each other for three weeks. they're in a controlled environment, and in the morning, one pod has the playground, we disinfect, and in the afternoon, another pod comes. all indoor spaces were closed before the shelter in place. the one thing i'm asked most frequently about is the train.

we have a 100-year-old train, and as soon as we can disinfect that, we'll get that open, because that's the number one question i guess, when is the train reopening. >> is there a map how you're supposed to walk around the zoo? >> yes. in certain areas, we created a one-way path. we try to make it fun. they're generally in the shape of bear paws and colored -- you know, follow the blue bear paws, follow the red bear paws -- but we've tried to make it fun. when children have not been out for three months, they were climbing anything and everything. we didn't anticipate that, so we put coverings open water

fountains, statue signs. kids had been cooped up, so they went crazy the first few days. more control in place. >> that sounds great. how did the zoo's residents respond to a lack of visitors. did you observe any behavioral differences? >> absolutely. we have some shy residents, gorillas and orangs. we have a male orangutan, he would blow me kisses. the rhinos, they would come out when i would feed them. >> how does it feel to have the zoo open again to the general public, even if it's a limited

fashion? >> it feels fantastic. i'm a mother, and i know it's been hard on kids. to be able to open safely outdoors -- we're one of the few zoos on an ocean, so you've got the coastal air coming through. we see families or self-ascribed pods coming through. it's been great for our staff and for our visitors. it's been heart warming, all the true experiences the first few days. >> clearly. you have a lot of mouths to feed. how did you cope with the pandemic so far? were you able to get some financial assistance, and how can viewers contribute if they'd like to? >> well, thank you. we received some help, but we

burned through that quickly, and we received some financial donations. we burned through a lot of our funding, and we were really feeling it. all of the people who supported us and hung in there, i thank you. you can join as a member. it's a tax deduction. david attenborough said it best. if the zoo becomes extinction,

we all do. in the wild, poachers are getting the best of the wild anima animals, but i think with the help of the zoo and the community, we can save the animals. >> where can i go if i want to donate? >> you can go to sfzoo.org. you can join, become a member or make a donation. it takes about $30,000 a day to feed all of our 2,000 animals, so you can pick how you want to help. >> well, i appreciate you coming onto the show today, miss peterson. >> thank you. the animals and i thank you from the bottom of our hearts. >> you've been watching coping with covid-19. for sfgovtv, i'm chris manners.

thanks for watching. [♪]

>> i am the supervisor of district one. i am sandra lee fewer. [♪] >> i moved to the richmond district in 1950 mine. i was two years old. i moved from chinatown and we were one of the first asian families to move out here. [♪] >> when my mother decided to buy that house, nobody knew where it was. it seems so far away. for a long time, we were the only chinese family there but we started to see the areas of growth to serve a larger chinese population. the stress was storage of the birthplace of that. my father would have to go to chinatown for dim sum and i remember one day he came home and said, there is one here now. it just started to grow very organically. it is the same thing with the russian population, which is another very large ethnic group

in the richmond district. as russia started to move in, we saw more russian stores. so parts of the richmond is very concentrated with the russian community and immigrant russian community, and also a chinese immigrant community. [♪] >> i think as living here in the richmond, we really appreciate the fact that we are surrounded three natural barriers. they are beautiful barriers. the presidio which gives us so many trails to walk through, ocean beach, for families to just go to the beach and be in the pacific ocean. we also also have a national park service. we boarded the golden gate national recreation area so there is a lot of activity to do in the summer time you see people with bonfires. but really families enjoying the

beach and the pacific ocean during the rest of the time of year. [♪] >> and golden gate park where we have so many of our treasures here. we have the tea garden, the museum and the academy of sciences. not to mention the wonderful playgrounds that we have here in richmond. this is why i say the richmond is a great place for families. the theatre is a treasure in our neighborhood. it has been around for a very long time. is one of our two neighborhood theatres that we have here. i moved here when i was 1959 when i was two years old. we would always go here. i love these neighborhood theatres. it is one of the places that has not only a landmark in the richmond district, but also in san francisco. small theatres showing one or two films. a unique -- they are unique also

to the neighborhood and san francisco. >> where we are today is the heart of the richmond district. with what is unique is that it is also small businesses. there is a different retail here it is mom and pop opening up businesses. and providing for the neighborhood. this is what we love about the streets. the cora door starts on clement street and goes all the way down to the end of clement where you will see small businesses even towards 32nd. at the core of it is right here between here and 20 -- tenth avenue. when we see this variety of stores offered here, it is very unique then of the -- any other part of san francisco. there is traditional irish music which you don't get hardly anywhere in san francisco. some places have this long legacy of serving ice cream and being a hangout for families to

have a sunday afternoon ice cream. and then also, we see grocery stores. and also these restaurants that are just new here, but also thriving. [♪] >> we are seeing restaurants being switched over by hand, new owners, but what we are seeing is a vibrancy of clement street still being recaptured within new businesses that are coming in. that is a really great thing to see. i don't know when i started to shop here, but it was probably a very, very long time ago. i like to cook a lot but i like to cook chinese food. the market is the place i like to come to once a year. once i like about the market as it is very affordable. it has fresh produce and fresh meat. also, seafood. but they also offer a large selection of condiments and sauces and noodles. a variety of rice that they have

is tremendous. i don't thank you can find a variety like that anywhere else. >> hi. i am kevin wong. i am the manager. in 1989 we move from chinatown to richmond district. we have opened for a bit, over 29 years. we carry products from thailand, japan, indonesia, vietnam, singapore and india. we try to keep everything fresh daily. so a customer can get the best out a bit. >> normally during crab season in november, this is the first place i hit. because they have really just really fresh crab. this is something my family really likes for me to make. also, from my traditional chinese food, i love to make a kale soup. they cut it to the size they really want.

i am probably here once a week. i'm very familiar with the aisles and they know everyone who is a cashier -- cashier here i know when people come into a market such as this, it looks like an asian supermarkets, which it is and sometimes it can be intimidating. we don't speak the language and many of the labels are in chinese, you may not know what to buy or if it is the proper ingredients for the recipe are trying to make. i do see a lot of people here with a recipe card or sometimes with a magazine and they are looking for specific items. the staff here is very helpful. i speak very little chinese here myself. thinks that i'm not sure about, i asked the clerk his and i say is this what i need? is this what i should be making? and they actually really helped me. they will bring me to the aisle and say this is battery. they are very knowledgeable. very friendly. i think they are here to serve not only the asian community but to serve all communities in the richmond district and in san francisco. [♪]

>> what is wonderful about living here is that even though our july is a very foggy and overcast, best neighborhood, the sleepy part outside on the west side is so rich with history, but also with all the amenities that are offered. [♪] kids, night terrors. we see again, across -- -- >> you're watching coping with covid-19 with chris manners. >> hi. i'm chris manners, and you're watching coping with covid-19. today, my guest is an infeshttious disease specialist and leading the covid disease

tracing team for the san francisco department of public health. she's here to talk about the city's contact tracing program and how to slow the spread of the virus. doctor, welcome to the show. >> thank you so much for having me. >> can we begin by talking about when the city's contact tracing program began and what are the services? >> sure. so we began contact tracing on the first day that we had a case here in san francisco, so that was march 5 of this year. the purpose of our program is to provide comprehensive services to people who are close to and diagnosed with covid. this includes anyone who's newly diagnosed gets a phone call from our trained health professionals in which we talk more about their diagnosis, make sure that they have accurate information. we then go into understanding a little bit more about their symptoms and trying to better understand when they first may

have become infectious to others. as part of that, we will then talk about anyplaces they may have visited for an extended period of time and people they were in contact with. we then seek to better understand the individuals that they were in touch with by collecting names and phone numbers so that then we can reach out to these individuals and make sure that they have the information that they need in order to quarantine and get access to immediate testing for covid. >> how does the program work? how many people are actually acting as contact tracers, and what do they do? >> so we had over 100 people activated with the city to provide active contact tracing actions for san franciscans. so this team is highly trained in being able to provide everyone diagnosed with covid with information about what this means to them and make sure that they know the

resources that are available to them so that they can safely isolate. this team then also has worked with several social workers as well as other city departments to make sure that this individual has wraparound services in order to complete their isolation in quarantine. in general, we have staff that represents all diverse backgrounds in san francisco, and they are also able to provide linguistically appropriate services to make sure we are able to meet the needs of the people being diagnosed. >> that's great. when we run a huge program in the mission district, what role did contact tracing play in that effort. was there anything notable? >> so previous to this pandemic, san francisco public health has been tracking communities disproportionately affected by covid-19.

we provided a large community-based testing campaign in the mission. as part of this campaign, we found that while latinos made up 44% of the people who were tested, they made up 95% of people who ended up being diagnosed. we also found that 90% of the people who were diagnosed with covid-19 could not work from home, suggesting that this disease is impacting communities that may be unable to work from home or have the resources to stay at home during their shelter in place order. so as part of these activities, it's really a reflection of what we're seeing citywide in that we need to make sure that people who are at the greatest risk for covid have the resources needed in order to take time off of work as necessary, as they're diagnosed with covid. >> i think as we've seen in new york, density is a huge factor,

so it makes sense that there would be quite a few cases in the mission district. >> yeah. we did find that the median size of the household was greater than three, and the majority of people who had been diagnosed with covid, so this does go back to the fact that covid is really likely to transmit within households, and we need to make sure that households have the information that they need if somebody is diagnosed with covid, and that they can appropriately cleanup, clean their spaces, and they can self-isolate, and as necessary, they have access to city funded hotel rooms where they can safely isolate or quarantine for the required period of time and reduce their risk of spreading covid to others. >> just to confirm, these tests are completely free, right? what kind of turnaround do we

have? >> so fortunately, san francisco offers free testing to san franciscans who have even one symptom consistent with covid-19. what you need to know about this testing is that you have to schedule it on-line, but that you don't need any medical insurance, and you don't need a doctor's note. in addition, testing is available to all san franciscans regardless of immigration status. you'll be able to get your test results in just one to five days after getting a test, and you'll get follow up through the health department if you're found to have covid-19, including access to all of our tracing activities that i've talked about today. so if you have an opportunity to test for covid, i recommend that you go for it because it's important that we all really understand that testing is part of our new normal and a really important pillar for our fight against covid transmission here in san francisco. >> now, some communities have

been responding differently to the virus. some have been asking their citizens to keep a diary so they can remember who they've seen, while others are encouraged to download an app to their phone so they can keep track of tracing. have we considered any of these steps. >> so a major part of tracing is to talk to someone about where they've been and who they've been in contact with prior to developing symptoms or on the date of their test. this requires jogging somebody's memory, and as we all know, it can be hard to recall all of the things that one has participated in days -- in the past several days. so we recommend that everyone pay attention to what they're doing as we lift our shelter in place orders, and we are carefully looking at the possibility of being able to support and being able to understand where someone may

have been and who else may have been exposed to covid. but as part of that, we're keeping careful caution and doing our due diligence to ensure that people's privacy and confidentiality is maintained. this is the number one priority for us in the department of public health. we want anything that we offer through an app to be supplementing instead of replacing our currently contact tracing efforts. >> so it seems like any app-based program the city might offer would be on a strictly opt-in basis? >> absolutely. we would want people to choose whether or not they want to participate in any of these app-based programs, and it would strictly be voluntarily if they were diagnosed with covid and they wanted to share information with the department of public health and others. we really want to make sure

that any app that we recommend as a department is completely confidential and maintains the highest levels of privacy, and also is able to supplement our current offering of contact tracing and not become a distraction whereby people are getting notified that don't have contacts or information that they need in order to take the appropriate next steps. >> yeah. i think it would address people's concerns if it's strictly voluntarily whether you use the app or not. so finally, what would you say to our residents is the best way to stay safe during this pandemic? >> well, i like to boil is down to a short little phrase. cover your face, test early, and trace. and what i mean by that, as well as our shelter in place restrictions, we really want people to continue into their new normal life wearing a mask. we know that this is a very

protective way of preventing the spread of covid, and we want everyone to adopt this practice in their life as they move forward. we also want people to pay a lot of attention to their bodies as we begin to get back into the world as well as any symptoms that may be consistent with covid-19. fortunately, we have the tests here in san francisco to make sure that every san franciscan can access a test if they have symptoms. so if somebody is experiencing any symptoms, we want them to seek out those testing services immediately and isolate and note their results. and finally, if somebody is diagnosed with covid-19, we want to make sure that they have been paying attention to who they've been spending time with in the days prior to their symptoms or the days prior to their tests. so that includes an element of tracing your foot steps, as i like to say, and being mindful

of your actions, particularly any interactions where you may not have been masked or may have been spending time with people over ten minutes and less than 6 feet apart. by keeping track of people you may have been in contact with, it'll be much easier to work with the health department and reach out to those individuals to make sure that they know that they were exposed to somebody with covid-19 and they can get the appropriate testing and quarantine so we can ongoingly reduce the risk of transmission to others. >> that's really fantastic information, doctor. i really appreciate the time you've given us today. i know you're really busy. >> yeah, i appreciate the conversation. >> thanks again. that's it for this episode of coping with covid-19.

for sfgtv, i'm chris manners. thanks for watching. >> roughly five years, i was working as a high school teacher, and i decided to take my students on a surfing field trip. the light bulb went off in my head, and i realized i could do much more for my students taking them surfing than i could as their classroom teacher, and that is when the idea for the city surf project was born. >> working with kids in the ocean that aren't familiar with this space is really special because you're dealing with a

lot of fear and apprehension but at the same time, a lot of excitement. >> when i first did it, i was, like, really scared, but then, i did it again, and i liked it. >> we'll get a group of kids who have just never been to the beach, are terrified of the idea, who don't like the beach. it's too cold out, and it's those kid that are impossible to get back out of the water at the end of the day. >> over the last few years, i think we've had at least 40 of our students participate in the city surf project. >> surfing helped me with, like, how to swim. >> we've start off with about two to four sessions in the pool before actually going out and surfing. >> swimming at the pool just helps us with, like, being, like, comfortable in the water

and being calm and not being all -- not being anxious. >> so when we started the city surf project, one of the things we did was to say hey, this is the way to earn your p.e. credits. just getting kids to go try it was one of our initial challenges for the first year or two. but now that we've been doing it three or four years, we have a group of kids that's consistent, and the word has spread, that it's super fun, that you learn about the ocean. >> starting in the morning, you know, i get the vehicles ready, and then, i get all the gear together, and then, i drive and go get the kids, and we take them to a local beach. >> we usually go to linda mar, and then occasionally ocean beach. we once did a special trip. we were in capitola last year,

and it was really fun. >> we get in a circle and group stretch, and we talk about specific safety for the day, and then, we go down to the water. >> once we go to the beach, i don't want to go home. i can't change my circumstances at home, but i can change the way i approach them. >> our program has definitely been a way for our students to find community and build friends. >> i don't really talk to friends, so i guess when i started doing city surf, i started to, like, get to know people more than i did before, and people that i didn't think i'd like, like, ended up being my best friends. >> it's a group sport the way we do it, and with, like, close camaraderie, but everybody's doing it for themselves. >> it's great, surfing around, finding new people and making new