welcome to the w challenge. we will be here to celebrate women's equality day today. so, are you ready to celebrate! awesome energy and the sun is bright today. so now i will talk to my m.c. for today and also one of the cofounders of "the w

challenge." san francisco administrate carmen choo. >> hello, the sun is shining in san francisco. happy women's equality day. for folks who may not know, in 1971, women's equality was established by congress in order to commemorate the passage of the 19th amendment which really provided for the beginning of the women's ability to vote. now, last year, we celebrated the 100-year anniversary of this time period, however, it was covid-19. there were many changes in our life. how we did work. how we interacted with each other. but, what we did see during the pandemic was an incredibly difficult time. it was a difficult time for many of our workers and many of

our most vulnerable, our seniors and we also saw that it was a time which really exposed and laid bear some of the inequities that we face as women. women we saw had greater levels of unemployment during this covid-19 time. greater economic instability, and often being many times the primary care gives of also having to make some of the most difficult trade off decisions or going out to work. it was especially during this time we see how important it is to not only make sure we recognize women's equality day, but also to continue to support efforts like this "the w challenge" that really seeks to uplift the voices of women. we know that when women vote, when women participate, things

can change. [ applause ] >> so today, we have come together in a call to action. many people may not know, september 14th is an election our challenge to all of you is to go out and vote. that deciding the future of your city, your community let's make sure we also get the people around us to get up, to step up and vote. today, we have a number of speakers who are here, who are just amazing leaders in their own right. i'm going to be recognizing a number of people that have joined us today. one of the most amazing leaders we've gotten today is our very own speaker, nancy pelosi.

she needs -- she truly needs no introduction, but if you indulge me. i remember when she first became speaker, we saw the newspaper articles and it said "madam speaker" plastered on top of it and i can remember thinking wow, things are going to change. we have a woman who is really showing the way. making it normal for women to be in power and to have a say and have a seat at the table. so without further adieu, nancy pelosi. >> thank you so very much car men. when it was new. i see carmen in this w challenge rise up in the ranks from one position to another. thank you for devour great leadership as well. it's an honor to be here with you and the mayor and malia.

>> president cohen: and representative stephanie. it's great to be here with you. i just have some special guests with me today, of course, my daughter christine who has on her purple and white which she always wears and i have on the i'm honored their here to get a taste of san francisco and how enthusiastic we are about women 101 years ago after fighting, being starved, women won the right to vote. the newspapers at the time said women given the right to vote,

that could not have been further from the truth. it was a big fight and it was historic and transformative. here we are 101 years later, women in positions of high responsibility, but an attack on the right to vote that's happening in our country. a few days ago, on tuesday, in the house of representatives under the leadership of teri sul, a woman from selma, alabama, we passed the john lewis voting rights enhancement act. [ applause ] to offset the damage that the courts are doing to the right to vote. and in doing so, we also need the senate to pass it and to pass h.r.1 to overturn the voter suppression laws that have been enacted around the country. so we have important work to do. we have important work to do.

and, as carmen said, we have an election coming up in california in just a couple of weeks and we must all vote in that election. how exciting was it to be up there with nancy pelosi speaker of the house and now the vice president of the united states kamala harris standing behind joe biden when he made his speech, when he made his joint his messages message to a joint session of congress. that's for sure. but was really important was a speech he made. it wasn't about women standing behind him, it was about what women were doing going forward and he made a speech where women have made the difference

in supporting a build back better for women. we have child care. child tax credit. paid family and medical leave. child tax credit. the list goes on of what he has put into his agenda which is the biden agenda for women. and this is where women make a difference. we wouldn't have such an aggressive agenda and some of the other initiatives. we have expanded benefits for medicare. expanded subsidies for affordable care act. we will have more this is all about empowering women so that their families are cared for so we can have women in the work

place making the difference who came to the state of the union address of president obama. she said -- he said to her, everyone is standing on your shoulders and she said "get off my shoulders and do your own work." and that is what we're doing here. people always ask me what is in the water in san francisco that you have so many women leaders representing this area. well, what it is is our shared values, our commitment to diversity and i always say our

diversity is our strength. our unity is our power. the unity of women make change, transform our country. when women succeed, america succeeds. thank you all very much. i yield back with carmen choo. >> thank you, speaker. our next speaker is our very own mayor london breed. i think when we talk about what it means to make a difference as a woman leader, you can see it in our pandemic response. san francisco was one of the first cities to come out and to come and act decisively and follow the science when it came to covid-19. hundreds of lives were saved. that is a difference. i want to thank mayor breed for her leadership and just imagine if we had more leaders like

this across the country. thank you. >> well, hopefully, we'll get to a point where we don't have to wear these masks, but in the meantime, are we fired up, ladies! because we know the fight is not over and let me tell you, it is such an honor to be here with our speaker nancy pelosi. i don't know about you, but i don't know a woman who is tougher, more fierce than nancy pelosi. and you all remember that day when she walked out of the former president office threw her coat up and threw her shades on. she was like i'm outy. that's speaker nancy pelosi. she is fierce. she is a woman of courage and she still makes time to not only deliver for the people of san francisco, but also to show up for the people of san

francisco. to show up for her community. and you know why because she's a woman and we know how to multi-task. we'll cook you dinner, do the laundry, save the country all at the same time. she had like five kids while she was running for office, a baby on her hip while she was asking for your vote. that's our speaker and that's women in general. it's what we do. it's why women make such great leaders and as we celebrated the fight that madam speaker talked about to ensure that women have a seat at the table, that we are able to vote and make our own decisions, today is a chance to recommit ourselves to what has happened in the past. today, we show up with our ballots so that our voices are heard so that regardless of who

is in office, they know that they are accountable to women and what we care about. we know that there continues to be work around policies and investments. but, we want to make sure that we remember this day to recommit ourselves to the fight that we know still continues for equal pay. the fight that still continues. so that we can have lack tate stations for women in the work place. so that women are appointed to boards and commissions. so that we're in industries. so that women are in industries that typically, they are not. today, i did a ground breaking. 200 new affordable housing units in san francisco and i'm so proud of my friend lori dunn who is leading in the construction industry. she was leading and championing this project in an industry

predominantly by men. and part of our diversity is ensuring that women are on boards and commissions. we have had a set back on the board of supervisors, supervisor stefani, but we also know with those men, we have to make sure they are held accountable for the things that supervisor stefani continues to push forward. we are grateful to our city administrate carmen choo for her continued work to bring this challenge to the forefront. and, we want to continue to recommit ourselves and to remind people today is a day for uplifting and celebration. yes, challenges continue to persist. work continues to get done and before i just noticed an extraordinary woman and a few other women i want to take an opportunity to acknowledge. we talk about my leadership on covid, but my leadership had everything to do with having a strong team of women leaders in

this city who helped pave the way to make the hard decisions to help save lives and one of those women is standing to my right. mary ellen carol who is the department head of emergency management as well as our fire chief who's behind me janine nicholson. a number of doctors including dr. susan philip and so many other extraordinary women who continue to lead this city, who continue to keep us safe. today is a celebrate. today is a reminder of work that needs to be done and today as you hear for some other inspirational women, madam speaker, we are going to continue to make sure that we rededicate ourselves to getting out the vote. to getting women elected. to holding politicians and others accountable to do what is best to make sure we are serving the people. you have been an extraordinary example of that. we honor you, we thank you and

we that all the men who are here today chief and others who continue to uplift and support women in all the work that they do. thank you all so much for coming. have a wonderful celebration. [ applause ] . >> i want to take time to recognize a few folks who have joined us here. joaquin torres our assess or. our treasurer. former supervisor norman yee. of course, kathryn stefani. but we have a number of departments but also i want to bring in maleah cohen. the first black woman to serve.

>> good afternoon everyone. good afternoon ladies and good afternoon to the fellas who love the ladies. love the ladies and support the ladies. we are here to celebrate and we must lift our voices and say, despite the ravages of the pandemic and despite all of what the country has gone through, we still stand here strong, united, and undivided. nothing can stop us and we will prevail. why? because elections have consequences. is that right, madam speaker. we will prevail because we know that through all of our votes, we can change the world. we've seen it done before and we will do it again. through our votes, we elected an administration, a speaker, and a congress that enacted the largest ever federal tax credit for working families. let's give a round of applause

for that. that's huge when i think about speaker pelosi. i think of the member of the press and speaker pelosi said what deal? dead pan. dead serious. i love that. but through our votes, we have fought and we have won $1.9 trillion in covid relief to bring vaccines to all of our communities of color, to fund safely re-opening our schools and here in california, our voices and our votes have led the state budget to do incredible things. it's provided increased funds for health care, invested in early childhood education most importantly it has reduced poverty of 5.3% to grants for families. for families, women, and our children, these victories matter. who knows, perhaps next year, we will be standing where you

are standing and the men will be celebrating themselves all by themselves. celebrating and saying how wonderful these women are and how their lives are so enhanced when a woman is in charge and a woman is running things. i don't know. i'm speaking it into existence. but these things matter because fighting for decent humane policies is key to making womens' lives better and the only way we will continue to make progress is by voting. so ladies and gentlemen, i hope you will join me in making sure that you cast your vote today, tomorrow, or just before september 14th, hold up your ballot if you have it. come on. hold up your ballot if you have it. we're going to march and turn in these ballots today. thank you, ladies and gentlemen, thank you to all of the women leaders who are standing up here with me. thank you. [ applause ] >> i think malia just issued the next w challenge.

next is catherine stefani. focus on making sure that we stop domestic violence. and she is no more dedicated -- there's no dedicated person who is more entrenched in this issue and more dedicated to pushing this than supervisor stefani. so i want to thank her for all of her work and invite her to speak. >> thank you so much, carmen. it is truly an honor and a privilege to be here with these incredible women. speaker pelosi, mayor breed, member cohen, i am just in awe of all of you and thank you again to carmen for bringing us all together today to celebrate women's equality day. you know, i really thought about what i wanted to say today and in light of the fapgt that i have a 12-year-old daughter, i have a lot to say. my daughter stands in my

closet, puts on a blazer and says, mom, when i'm a lawyer i'm going to do this. and i think about her future and i think how we have to protect our future with climate change, with gun violence prevention, with reproduct irights, there's so much we have to do to preserve the future of my daughter and the daughters and sons of all of us. we know why we have women's equality day. we're celebrating our right to vote and we know that not everyone got the right to vote. in 1920. it wasn't until 1965 that black women also received the right to vote. and as speaker pelosi said, we weren't given the right to vote. we had to fight so hard for it and we cannot forget what the women before us had to do to earn this right, to fight for this right. we come together today to honor that and we not only come together today to honor those women who went before us but to shine a light on the inequality that we suffer today. that inequality shows up in our

everyday lives. we know particularly women of color still do not get the bay pay we deserve. we are not equal to men when getting paid. and paying women equally could cut poverty rates in half and bring millions of women and children out of poverty. we work for less and do twice the amount. it's as if someone makes dinner and they get an extra credit button. but i didn't say that out loud. women accounted for 100% of lost jobs in december 2020 while men had a net gain in employment. we know that domestic violence has skyrocketed in the pandemic. and i'm also surprised to her locally with domestic violence, prosecutions are not what they should be and attitudes that victims need to agree to prosecution before we do anything is absolutely wrong.

it's 1950s thinking. in 2018, the united states was named the 10th most dangerous country in the world for women and that's because of domestic violence and because of our gun violence epidemic and who do you think is on the front lines of fighting both those issues? women. so how do we honor the fore mothers and all others who have paved the way. this is what's keeping me up at night. we do not pave a way and create a pathway for california's leading massaganist. i am going to say some of the things he says. we must stand together and vote no on this recall. too much is at steak. we cannot afford to believe complacent. women, you just cannot afford to be complacent right now. the leading candidate to replace the governor who everyone's talking about does not care about women and does not care about the issues.

you know what he says about women and i quote, "women know less than men about political issues, economics and current events. good news for democrats, bad news for republicans. for the less one knows, the easier the manipulation." well i'll tell you, i'll take him on any day. he also says glass ceiling. what glass ceiling. women, women exaggerate the problem of sexism. he compared women on welfare to cats. for the political gain of feminists. in january, 2017, he tweeted that women taking part in the women's march were too unattractive to be sexually assaulted and he also mocked women attending the march as obese. well, i'll tell you what, i was there and i did not see unattractive women. what i saw was a million women fed up with the status quo. fed up with the continued

inequality. fed up with the fact that our reproductive rights are threatened. fed up with the fact that we can't get common sense gun violence prevention passed at the federal level and we cannot afford to sit this recall out. you must vote no. we need to harness that energy that i saw in 2017 and show up to the ballot. we must. our childrens' lives are at steak here. so, please, join me in voting no on this recall. drop that ballot in the mail. show up on election day, september 14th and, please, encourage everyone you know to do the same. we cannot afford to be complacent and hand the state over to people who don't care about our issues. thank you. [ applause ] >> please join me in another round of applause for supervisor stefani. [ applause ] >> thank you so much. just a few more folks to just

recognize here. we have chief bill scott. michael lambert, our city librarian. our board m.t.a. board of directors sharon lye. linda sue. rafael. we've got a ton of women leaders here i just wanted to recognize. maggie wheeland. and virginia don hue. thank you so much for being here with us today. [ applause ] now, it's getting hot so please bear with me two mr. speakers and you're going to see it's worthwhile. two speakers. the first one is going to be kimberly ellis. she has started with the city not long ago as leading the helm on the department of status and women. she's no stranger to the women's empowerment. kimberly. [ applause ]

>> each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women those, of course, were the words of the incomparable maya angelo. the women here today stand up for ourselves, for each other and for all the women who will come after us. good afternoon everyone. i'm kimberly ellis. i'm the director for the department of the status on women. our mission is to promote the equitable treatment of women and girls and nonbinary people with a particular focus on populations in need. today the work of d.o.s.w. is

focused in three core service areas to catalize. those areas are health and safety and civic engagement and political empowerment. through these three areas, the department aims to improve the whole lives of our target communities including the health, wealth, physical safety and well being. our programming is designed to not just create balance when it comes to the construct of gender but also to empower women, girls and nongender people to build pathways to healthy and prosperous extending the right to vote for women across the country. women's equality day is a day

to celebrate that moment which was the result of the tireless effort and leadership of a multi-generational, multi-racial movement including black, indigenous, asian, and latina women who fought, marched, organized, and protested for decades to gain the right to vote. only to be blocked from the voting booths and later written out of history. and, unfortunately, that is the story all too often that women and women of color primarily are counted out. efforts erased and our voices silenced. whether it's through the literacy test, poll taxes, or the violent intimidation of the past or the closing of polling places. the purging of voter roles or the attacks on vote by mail today. the fight for the right to vote continues. this occasion is not only a day

to celebrate, but also a moment to double down on our commitment to continue the struggle so that our democracy is not just representative, but reflective. as we visualize and manifest a more just and equal society for all. over the last century, women have fought to gain access to the classroom, to the board room and to the decision making tables where our lives and livelihoods are determined. with each advancement we have seen and felt, the impact that comes when women actively participate in determining our own futures. we know that diverse voices, perspectives, and lived experiences bring forth new issues, new ideas, and nuanced and sustainable solutions to the halls of power. we cannot and will not sit out and let others define what's important to us, our families, and our communities.

as we witnessed in the past several elections, women are the margin of victory. and to reiterate what our speaker of the house nancy pelosi always reminds us of, when women succeed, we all succeed. and, when women vote, we all win. in honor of our fore mothers and sisters in the struggle, i join my colleagues and fellow women leaders here to urge you to make your voices heard and cast your ballot today and no later than september 14th in the up coming special election. happy women's equality day to all. thank you and good afternoon. >> all right. ladies. are you ready for your last speaker? >> yes we are. >> all right. it's hot because voting's hot,

everyone allison go who is the s.f. president of the league of women voters. [ applause ] >> hi everybody. thank you for having me on this very warm, sunny, san francisco day. so today's really special to me. women's equality day both as a young women and immigrant and for those who can't see me. i'm very excited to be standing here and sharing this podium with so many of my heroens. what a great group of speakers we have today. thank you to everybody who has helped plan this today especially my legal of women voters volunteers who have helped out with this. anyway. my name is go.

we are nonpartisan focused on voter education and advocacy here in san francisco for over 100 years. our league is older than the national league and we're proud of that. this current election is unlike most elections and with unprecedented challenges. this election is different than most. one, election day is september fourteenth. two, it's nice and simple. there's nothing to worry about. and, three, since we are in the middle of a global pandemic, the state of california has continued to lead on voter accessibility and has mailed every registered voter a mail-in bawl if you haven't received it or need to update your registration, contact the board of elections. we have a lot of f.a.q.s and information about where you can

return your ballot on our website at lwffv.org/vote. we are also working really hard on redistricting. many folks hear about federal redistricting, but did you know that you too can get involved in the process right here in san francisco. redistricting will change our board of supervisors district lines and affect our daily life. we have resources and information on our website again lwvsf.org/redistricting including a recording of our recent webinars and defining your communities of interest. we only get this chance to redraw our voting lines once in a decade. now the census data is out and we're off to engage with our local government. so you should get involved either with us or on your own and the redistricting task force needs to have the final set of district maps done by

april 2022. so now is the time to make your voice heard and we need your voice so that our voting maps are fair and equitable. we have 9 san franciscans who have been pointed to your local redistricting task force. you want to get to know them, we have their bios on our website if you've ever walked down a san francisco street and thought about how one side is in one district and the other side of the street is a completely different neighborhood or if a neighborhood you think looks, feels and if you caught the san francisco chronicle article

last week. one of the supervisors took the time to walk all 50 miles of district lines. it's a really great article and i highly recommend you check it out. so, just to wrap it up. friendly reminder, turn in your recall ballot by september 14th and then get involved with local redistricting. thank you for having me. thank you for all of speakers. happy women's equality day. [ applause ] >> thank you for getting out here, allison. i do want to recognize supervisor safai who has joined us as well. let's get on the steps and take a quick group photo. thank you.

all right everyone. hi, i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i want to thank you all for joining us today. i want to give a shout out to the folks vax to max. i want to thank you for hanging out and trying to get people to vaccinate because i know you want to go back to school quickly. i don't know about you, but when i was a kid, i wasn't pushing to go back to school on any given day and clearly our children need to be back in school. and part of making sure they're

back in school, making sure they're safe. making sure our communities are safe is important for us to do our part and this is how everyone can do their part is at least get vaccinated. in san francisco, about 84% of san franciscans have received at least their first dose of the vaccine, but sadly, with the african american community, that's about 64%. with the latino community, it's at about 74%. and we need to make sure that those communities are getting the vaccine because what we're seeing with almost 100 people now in the hospital that most of those folks are african american and latino. and so it's important to us because also, the other issue is that most of the people who are in the hospital, i think dr. colfax has the specifics, but they've not been vaccinated. so even if, you know, i as a

vaccinated person gets a vaccine, if i get the and the fact is that person can get sick and end up in the hospital and that person can potentially day. this really is a matter of life or death. i understand people have concerns. and i understand that people are frustrated with the mask mandates and all the other requirements. i get it. this has been tough and it's been a long time, but as i have said time and time again just because we are tired of the vaccine -- i mean, just because we are tired of covid-19, just because we are tired of all the rules and regulations and being told what to do, just because we are sick of it, doesn't mean it's sick of us. it's not gone because we want it to be gone. so what this means is we have to do even more and as a result, we have decided to take

our case to the public in a different way. if you have at least five to twelve people who want to be vaccinated, we will bring our doctors and nurses and equipment and other resources to you. all you have to do is go sf.gov/vaxtoyou. so we'll provide you all with that information. it's important that we make it as easy as possible. there are a number of pop-up locations in the mission. we are trying to make this as easy as possible. and we know and vaccines

specifically in the african american community. the fact is we're at a different time where we really need to focus on saving lives. we've not even had six hundred deaths even in one of the densest cities in the last 15 months because of this virus. if we go at the rate that we're going, we expect within a couple of weeks according to dr. colfax to lose at least 300 people. that's why we've had to put together the appropriate vaccine outreach team as well as mandatory mask indoors even for those who are vaccinated. the last thing we need that's

the easiest thing you could do to support one another. we should be so proud. san francisco's a dense city and we had one of the lowest death rates. we all came together in the beginning of this pandemic. we took care of our neighbors. we went we got that last hurdle l, that last stretch. it's like the nineth inning and we just need one more hit out the ball park. and if we all just roll up our sleeves and start to get vaccinated even though we have concerns, we're doing it for

our fellow san franciscans. and, so with that, i want to turn it over to dr. grant colfax. >> good afternoon everybody and thank you, mayor breed for your ongoing leadership during this pandemic. i want to thank chiba piano lounge for sponsoring this. and, of course, the amazing dph team, the mobile team led by dr. mary mercer. just remarkable work. we have 77% of eligible san franciscans now fully vaccinated in our city. so this is a remarkable achievement and, i think while the next few weeks will be very challenging and we're seeing covid-19 increase dramatically in our city, it's very important to remember that hundreds if not thousands of lives have been saved. we're in a much better place than during the fall and winter surge because people are vaccinated.

because these vaccines work. because they keep you out of the hospital. because they are saving lives as we speak. if you are not vaccinated in san francisco. this is not a good time to be vaccinated. the delta variant is here. it accounts for more than 90% of our cases now. and it is a highly transmissible and there's emerging evidence that it's more likely that you would end up in the hospital compared to the virus we were dealing with just a few months ago. this is covid on steroids. the difference now between being vaccinated and not getting vax if you do get covid-19, it could be -- if you're vaccinated versus not vaccinated, it could be the difference between spending a few days in your bed at home, versus spending a few weeks in

an i.c.u. bed. very important that people get vaccinated. we know that the health officers across the region, recently instituted an indoormandate effective today. that is a temporary measure to decrease the spread of the virus. we were at just twelve cases of covid-19 just a few weeks ago in late may and early june. now we're over 200 a day. we need to continue to slow the spread. do our part. we will bring the vaccine it to you. the mayor just announced this. we're doing everything we can. we will work with you. we will get the team there, let's max the vax across the city. 77% more to go. we're doing everything we can to get people vaccinated. the vaccines continue our way out. these next few weeks are going to be challenging. the best protection is the vaccine, the masking, and telling your friends, your family members, your community

members get vaccinated today. thank you. >> any questions about the vaccine related stuff? >> if i had told me in my family, would you come to my house? >> yes. we can do that and we've already been doing that. so people can sign up and we will be there. >> can people come up and say, hey, i live outside san francisco, it's going to take a long time for me to make an appointment. >> we're really focusing on san francisco's residents at this point to try to get those numbers up and we're coordinating with other counties. so i think if people have other questions, we can put them in touch with the local health department to make sure they get vaccinated as well. >> i'm wondering if you can talk about zuckerberg sf general and the decisions of the supplemental costs of those getting johnson and johnson

shots. [inaudible] mrna pfizer. >> so i just want to make it really clear, we have not changed our policy as a health department and as a city with regard to following cdc guidelines for administering vaccines. if people have received a johnson and johnson and are requesting a second shot, we will accommodate them, but our policy has not changed nor has it changed at zuckerberg general hospital. >> have there been studies on that? >> yes. so in consultation with infectious disease experts, the decision was made again. if people are requesting a second shot after johnson and johnson, we will accommodate that, be but we're not changing our policy at this point. >> any indication it does improve the efficacy of the johnson and johnson shot? >> i think the important thing is right now we don't have

conclusive data on additional shots beyond what the cdc is recommending. but, again, in consultation with infectious disease experts, we do think this is safe and accommodate people if they so request. >> break through cases, are they mostly people who have been vaccinated with johnson and johnson or why johnson and johnson? >> so i think really the key point is that break through cases remain relatively rare compared to people who are not vaccinated. that's really important. all these vaccines are incredibly effective in terms of reducing the risk of hospitalization. and, again, we're continuing to follow cdc guidelines whether they are the mrna or johnson and johnson vaccines. accommodating people and are requesting an additional shot. but the break through infections, i think really, i understand the focus on break through infections here, but i think it really misses the big picture. the key reason we did the indoor mask mandate and so

forth is because we need to get more people quickly vaccinated as soon as possible. that includes the johnson and johnson mrna vaccine. we will follow cdc recommendations going forward. >> are you still administering the j&j? >> absolutely. it's a good vaccine. and we will continue to administer it. we have lots of vaccines available. if people want the mrna vaccine, we will do that. we have the menu and it's available. >> what would you say to people who are tired of wearing masks and being [inaudible] ? >> well, i'm disappointed that the health office, i'm sorry that we had to go to indoor masking as well. it's the right thing to do in terms of where we are right now. especially, our projections are showing cases are going to continue to increase through this month and early september, so we really need to slow down the transmission. what i would say if you're tired of wearing a mask, if

you're not vaccinated, for god's sake get vaccinated and get your family and friends vaccinated. >> had is there an now that this delta variant is surging and it is so much more contagious, a lot of those sites, they've shut down? >> so we're continuing to work with our other health partners across the city to ensure there's adequate testing for people. d.p.h. has been doing over 40% of the tests that have been administered. so just to emphasize that piece working with kaiser and c.p.m.c. but we're exploring a number of possibles. we know that compared to where we were, there's a lot more home testing available. so we're encouraging people to use that and talking to our partners about expanding testing options in the future. and at the health department, our testing focus remains in our clinics for the skilled nursing facilities and

shelters. those are really key areas where we're going to continue to support testing. >> a lot of people are excited to get an appointment online. what would you say in terms of wait times and is the city considering those mask mandates [inaudible] ? >> so, again, we're looking at options to potentially expand testing and encouraging our other partners, kaiser to expand testing and we have drop-in testing as well. we have pop-up testing where covid-19 is most prevalent. so if those drop-in sites where people can literally walk in, you can still get tested on a drop-in basis. >> roughly 5,000 tests are being done a day. where do you expect to see that number -- where do you want to see that number? >> yeah. i think testing is obviously an ongoing key issue for us to

support cross the city. i don't want testing to distract us from the need to get fully vaccinated. i'm hoping we can mitigate some of the wait times. i expect those to unfortunately continue to go up. you know, we're down to fewer than 2,000 tests a day, now we're at 5,000. if we expand up to 9,000 a day, we're going to continue the need to expand. and/or to use those home testing kits and use the kaiser ucsf and other health care systems in addition to look at what the health department has available. >> the city is spending more resources on these mobile vaccination sites. >> well, the vaccine because it's more complex, we will have always spent more resources because testing is a little bit easier. we are going to continue to

look at the ability to expand. we can do both things at the same time. but we're at a different stature now. so we need to do both things well at the same time. >> can you expect restrictions here in the city and if businesses were to require that you be vaccinated in order to enter that business, would the city approve that? >> yeah. we're very supportive of businesses and other entities requiring proof of vaccination for people to enter the premises. >> and, now, new york city is doing that. they're talking about they want restaurants and venues and fitness centers proof of vaccination. at least is the city considering taking that step? >> we're exploring that. again, right now, we've seen that a number of bars and restaurants and other entities are doing that and we're very supportive of that and encouraging people to take advantage of that policy with regard to showing proof of vaccination at these entities.

>> one more question. what goes into deciding if san francisco wants vaccine mandates like new york city. like why not yet? >> well, i just think we're exploring the pieces right now. again, i think that the good news is that san francisco businesses were one of the first in the country as far as i know to adopt this voluntarily. and i think it's really trying to determine, you know, in working with various entities is there a need to implement policies similar to new york's or is this going to happen more on the basis of what's being driven in the community. i think we saw that in other situations with the pandemic as well is people, communities are adapting the practices that they know slow the transmission. so we're exploring that. the thank you. >> what do you say about the people that are afraid about the side effects of the vaccine and that's why they don't want to take it?

>> yeah. we know and there have been millions of people in the united states these vaccines are incredible safe. look who's dying of covid-19 right now, it's people who are unvaccinated. these vaccines work, they're safe and effective. thank you. so i want to thank ned and israel from chiba lounge for hosting us today. are there any other questions related to the vaccine? all right. any other questions in general? >> [inaudible] >> well, what i want to start by saying is the stipulation that i signed with the ethics commission after having numerous discussions, i feel is fair, we worked out an

agreement with the staff to address some of the challenges that we are listed in the stipulation and in particular, there were mistakes made. i take full responsibility for those mistakes and i've learned a lot since becoming mayor and being in office and as i said in my statement, i made it clear that at no time have any of the things related to this stipulation had any impact on the decisions that i've made as mayor. and, my hope is that over time, i've been able to prove that and overtime, moving forward, i'll be able to continue to approve that. >> [inaudible] >> well, i hope that the work that i've done and addressing one of the most challenging times in our city's history which is not directly related to the challenges that exist in the stipulation. i would hope that my record and what i've done over the past couple of years will make a difference as well as the work that i'm -- that i do moving

forward. i mean, it's difficult because, you know, people may look at this, of course, and feel a certain kind of way. i can't completely control that. i can only make sure that i do exactly what a leader in this city should do. when you make a mistake. you step up, you take responsibility for your action. you put it all out there and you hope that people will look at it and realize that, you know, you're human just like anybody else and the goal is to make sure that i completely make it clear to the public that at no time in any of these, you know, challenges that existed that, you know, i allowed any of this to impact the decisions that i've made in running the city and it's going to take some time to demonstrate and ensure the public that my goal is to lead this city, to continue to do my job and at no time have i ever

allowed any of these issues to interfere with the decisions that i make in this office and i will continue to do that. >> did you believe you were doing anything wrong at the time [inaudible] the letter heads regarding the letter for your brother or [inaudible] and do you recognize that those things --? >> at the time that i did them, no i did not. >> and now? >> and, now i do understand that they are a problem and i will be doing things differently. for example, the event, the pride parade in san francisco, i've always had a float during the pride parade, it's just the way that it was covered during this time period was different that how i had covered it before and so i realize that that was problematic even though this is -- the pride parade is not a campaign event, it's not -- it's a civic occasion. it's a way in which mayor and public elected officials all participate, but i've always had a float and in this particular case, there was a

mistake made and so we're correcting that mistake. okay. any more questions? all right. thank you.

>> i would like to remind everyone to please mute yourself if you're not speaking. the first item of the agenda is roll call. president mccarthy? vice president tam? >> present. >> commissioner alexander tute? >> present. >> chairwo