>> hello every one. thank you so much for your patience. good morning i am san francisco mayor london breed with dr. colfax giving an update what is happening with omicron because we are anxious to know when is this going to start dying down? good things are starting to plateau. it doesn't mean we take our guard down. even though we are still seeing additional cases, even though our hospitalizations are very high, we have the capacity to handle what is coming our way,

we are starting to see just a number of plateaus and trends from other parts of the country afternoon world show the people ahead of us and the cases skyrocketing. we are paying very close attention. it seems like san francisco is behind all of that. we are following a very similar pattern to other cities across this country. if that is any indication plus with san francisco being 82% vaccinated it is really hopeful for the future and hopeful that we will continue to move forward. we will see some additional improvements as the days go on. i know it has been a very challenging couple of weeks over the holiday season. as we continue to say one of the most consistent things through

out the course of two year pandemic the light at the end of the tunnel is here. we may go through another tunnel but know there is hope and there is light. i am here just to also say because i know that many people are asking a lot of questions. what is going on with testing? what is going on with the tenderloin emergency plan? why are things not moving as quickly? many of us should understand the city and bureaucracy is challenging. keep in mind that we see these numbers of the omicron variant spike. we also see them spike with city employees. a lot of police officers, firefighters, muni drivers, department of public health workers and those at san francisco general are out with omicron. we are going to continue to

experience this challenge for some time. we ask for people to be very patient with us, to know we are doing our best, working to backfill those positions when they are out with over time and the number of other resources. these are the times we are living in. as a result we just have to adjust to our environment. to talk more specifically about where we are with omicron, what to expect for the future and you know the hopefulness when doctor colfax is smiling and excited and hopeful and giving an indication things are going to get better. i know that is what is going to happen. we get to come outside and play, right, dr. colfax? please welcome for an update on the covid-19 omicron variant and what is happening in san

francisco here is dr. grant colfax. >> good morning everybody. thank you, mayor breed for your leadership as we enter the third year of the pandemic. third year. we are seeing covid-19 cases drop relatively rapidly in the city. we can now say that we are on the beginning of the downward trajectory with regard to the surge. latest data showcases peaked on january 9 with seven day average of 2164 cases per day. it has steadily dropped each day since then to 1076 per day on january 12th. this is good news. it has been a rocky start to 2022. hang in there a little longer. the surge is not over yet. hospitalizations which trail the peak in cases will still continue to go up.

fortunately, for now we expect to meet capacity within the healthcare system to take care of people with covid and other healthcare needs in the hospitals. we are urging people to remain particularly vigilant for a little bit longer. cases are still very high. cases are still very high especially compared to prior surges. we all need to get well past this peak. look, i know that everybody is exhausted. let's give gratitude to front line staff who as the mayor said have been working over time to patch together coverage as colleagues become infected and have to stay home. many of them became infected, too. tonight bely, for the vast majority of our cases in the city, cases are mild because people were fully vaccinated with the first series and for

many people they were up-to-date on vaccinations with regard to boosters. at this point, it looks good with regard to making it through. we are likely to make it through the surge and come out in a much better place. it is important to emphasize with case rates so high what we see across the country, the state and locally we are in a far different place than a year ago with our prior surge. we are getting through omicron, the most transmissible yet. it is more transmissible than alpha and delta. we managed to keep hospitals, clinics and essential services open. most cases have been mild or asymptomatic especially for those up-to-date on vaccinations, especially for those who get the booster. we have proven covid doesn't have to upend our lives even if

we have to be vigilant, smart and flexible to adapt to what is needed when needed. as your public health department i want to stress that our goal is not to prevent every case of covid. omicron proved that is not possible. our goal is to prevent the worst outcomes, severe disease. hospitalizations and deaths. with regard to that, i want to ground ourselves in comparison to last year. last year we lost 165 san franciscans to covid in january of 2021. this month to date we have lost five. now we don't know what covid has in store for us, but we do have great defenses against this virus. vaccinations and boosters and i expect in the relatively near

future effective antiviral medication. we know how to layer defenses. during periods with high transmission when we must protect front line workers and vulnerable by masking, testing, improving ventilation. staying home when sick. omicron taught us we have vulnerabilities in the system of care. we need testing to be accessible, affordable and fast to truly use this tool together safely. we are working with our state and federal partners to make rapid over the counter tests easy to come by and requiring the healthcare system partners to step up and do their part with regard to testing as they have done with hospitalization. we anticipate new tools to become available soon such as retroviral medications to better protect people who are

especially vulnerable to severe disease. as we come out of onl omicron we will drop restrictions when and where they may being sense. we acknowledge that individuals have different level of comfort with the risk of covid and because of certain medical conditions. your risk assessment may vary. what you are willing to do with yourself and family may change depending on your risk assessment. individuals may want to adapt to their own risk and comfort level within the conditions stipulated under our health orders. we ask you to be tolerant and work together to make each other feel comfortable and supported. it is certainly possible we will deal with other variants in the future, hopefully, we will be

able to wait covid among the other infectious diseases we have to contend with by not letting them up end our lives. san francisco, thank you for all you have done and continue to do as a city and we will continue to get through this together. thank you. questions? >> i am confused. you are saying that the cases are beginning to fall rapidly downward. the surge is not over? >> well, the cases are still high. it depends if you depend surge as straight up. we are still in the surge. cases are higher than ever before. i just want to make sure that people understand that we are not out of the woods yet.

cases are still extremely high. they plateaued and are going down. they are at a high level. we are looking at data from other places where it had been ahead of us and it showed that cases could go up fast, come down fast. we are on the downward trend. they could go back up. we hope that is not the case. given where we have been for over two years now, i think the point is cases are starting to come down. hospitalizations are still going up. the rate of increase is starting to slow down. the important news is that hospital capacity still remains robust. we still have capacity to take care of people if they have covid or other medical conditions in the hospital system that is a key metric going forward. >> what type of restrictions are you talking about?

>> well, it will be combination of factors we are looking at. it is too premature to speculate the order they would be lifted. we would look at similar processes by which we have lifted restrictions after the prior surges. it is the layered defenses we required. you know we have had the indoor masking back into place. that is something we would look at in other similar restrictions. i don't want to jump too far ahead. we are still at high rates. hospitalizations are going up. they will level off we expect soon. important thing is after having been through the surges we want to be responsive in a way that reflects that we need to live with this virus. we don't want to hold onto restrictions waiting for omicron or covid to go away.

that is not going to happen any more. we will reach a place where covid is endemic. we will live with the virus. our lifting of restrictions will reflect that new reality. [indiscernable] >> the prior boosters is that going to help us? >> i refer you to the healthcare orders with regard to where people are required to have boosters. our point is that omicron has shown that people need to be up-to-date on vaccinations to be as protected as possible from omicron with regard to hospitalizations which is our goal here. getting people access to boosters is key. one of the reasons we have been so successful with the surge is because we have a high booster

rate. 61% of people vaccinated in the city have received a booster and are up-to-date on vaccinations. that is far higher than the national or state average. we want people to continue to get boosters. we will make them available in the healthcare systems including health department and pharmacy partners. [indiscernable] >> it is clearly important that we have testing capabilities

throughout san francisco that people can trust. unfortunately we have had challenges with bad operators. i really applaud the city attorney's office and the city attorney for taking action and paying close attention to challenges that could arise for people taking the situation for granted. >> it is not unchecked power for the police department. the fact is we want to address the challenges of crime in our city. in facts, you know, everyone is now carrying around all of these gadgets, phones, some someone's face in the public. anyone not law enforcement can see everything going on. people from all over the city and when you talk about a situation for example what happened in union square. the fact that there was a lot of

online chatter, our officers were aware and needed another resource through video to observe the behavior and because of our ordinance could not, there are a lot of things that could have been prevented based on information we get. we are not only asking to allow this to happen based on evidence. part of my ordinance is to say we have to also report this information like when this is accessed by the san francisco police department it will be made public, it will be provided to the board of supervisors. if there is a need to do an investigation or anything about why they chose to do it and it t wasn't necessary, that will be dealt with. the goal is to address public safety. the fact we need the tool. responsible use of this tool to do so.

[indiscernable] >> my response is that the voters will decide because we are talking about the fact that, you know, we have major challenges with public safety. when i say public safety not just about theft. it is about assault and the number of people who have been attacked on our streets, the number of people who have been robbed and as salted. we want to make sure that we are using every tool at our disposable responsibly to keep people from san francisco safe. i don't think what i propose in my ordinance is unreasonable in light of everything that has been happening in san francisco. >> the voters of san francisco support you. go forward with it. >> thank you very much. from the mouths of citizens. >> mayor, could you address the

businesses and restaurants in san francisco that have had a lousy christmas. >> everyone had a lousy christmas. >> what words do you have for them for some of the restrictions to be lifted? >> my hope is that yes, as dr. colfax said. we also have a responsibility to follow the state orders. mostly when we look at the data, hospitalization rates, number of people who sadly passed away, it makes it possible for us to potentially remove a significant number of restrictions. i think ultimately regardless of the restrictions that is not keeping people away from these places. it is really not wanting to contract omicron. that is really what people are focused on is keeping distance to not get it. it is highly infectious and

challenging, people are getting it. the good news is that people for the most part are not ending up in the hospitalizations and dying in numbers we experienced this last year before we had access to the vaccine. i am hopeful and optimistic for the future and sadly so many small businesses and restaurants and families and people not able to get together is very, very challenging. my hope is as we begin to reopen and see numbers decline we are careful and go out and support our restaurants. we order pick up from the restaurants and support our small businesses. it is going to take all of us to get through this. part of that is san franciscans doing more to support our businesses. my drycleaner i have been going to the same drycleaner since i

had a drycleaner. i am not getting as many clothes cleaned as before. talking to find out how can i as long time customer be supportive? donations are helpful to the businesses you care about and support in that way. >> thank you very much everyone.

>> i try to start every day not looking at my phone by doing something that is grounding. that is usually meditation. i have a gym set up in my garage, and that is usually breathing and movement and putting my mind towards something else. surfing is my absolute favorite thing to do. it is the most cleansing thing that i'm able to do. i live near the beach, so whenever i can get out, i do. unfortunately, surfing isn't a daily practice for me, but i've been able to get out weekly, and it's something that i've been incredibly grateful for.

[♪♪♪] >> i started working for the city in 2005. at the time, my kids were pretty young but i think had started school. i was offered a temporarily position as an analyst to work on some of the programs that were funded through homeland security. i ultimately spent almost five years at the health department coordinating emergency programs. it was something that i really enjoyed and turned out i was pretty good at. thinking about glass ceiling, some of that is really related to being a mother and self-supposed in some ways that i did not feel that i could allow myself to pursue responsibility; that i accepted treading water in my career when my kids were young.

and as they got older, i felt more comfortable, i suppose, moving forward. in my career, i have been asked to step forward. i wish that i had earlier stepped forward myself, and i feel really strongly, like i am 100% the right person for this job. i cannot imagine a harder time to be in this role. i'm humbled and privileged but also very confident. so here at moscone center, this is the covid command center, or the c.c.c. here is what we calledun -- call unified command. this is where we have physically been since march, and then, in july, we developed this unified structure. so it's the department of emergency management, the department of public health, and our human services hughesing partners, so

primarily the department of homelessness and supportive housing and human services agency. so it's sort of a three-headed command in which we are coordinating and operating everything related to covid response. and now, of course, in this final phase, it's mass vaccination. the first year was before the pandemic was extremely busy. the fires, obviously, that both we were able to provide mutual support but also the impact of air quality. we had, in 2018, the worst air quality ten or 11 days here in the city. i'm sure you all remember it, and then, finally, the day the sun didn't come out in san francisco, which was in october. the orange skies, it felt

apocalyptic, super scary for people. you know, all of those things, people depend on government to say what's happening. are we safe? what do i do? and that's a lot of what department of emergency management's role is. public service is truly that. it is such an incredible and effective way that we can make change for the most vulnerable. i spend a lot of my day in problem solving mode, so there's a lot of conversations with people making connections, identifying gaps in resources or whatever it might be, and trying to adjust that. the pace of the pandemic has been nonstop for 11 months. it is unrelenting, long days, more than what we're used to, most of us. honestly, i'm not sure how we're getting through it. this is beyond what any of us

ever expected to experience in our lifetime. what we discover is how strong we are, and really, the depth of our resilience, and i say that for every single city employee that has been working around the clock for the last 11 months, and i also speak about myself. every day, i have to sort of have that moment of, like, okay, i'm really tired, i'm weary, but we've got to keep going. it is, i would say, the biggest challenge that i have had personally and professionally to be the best mom that i can be but also the best public certify chant in whatever role i'm in. i just wish that i, as my younger self, could have had someone tell me you can give it and to give a little more

nudge. so indirectly, people have helped me because they have seen something in me that i did not see in myself. there's clear data that women have lost their jobs and their income because they had to take care of their safety nets. all of those things that we depend on, schools and daycare and sharing, you know, being together with other kids isn't available. i've often thought oh, if my kids were younger, i couldn't do this job, but that's unacceptable. a person that's younger than me that has three children, we want them in leadership positions, so it shouldn't be limiting. women need to assume that they're more capable than they think they are. men will go for a job whether they're qualified or not. we tend to want to be 110% qualified before we tend to step forward. i think we need to be a little

more brave, a little more exploratory in stepping up for positions. the other thing is, when given an opportunity, really think twice before you put in front of you the reasons why you should not take that leadership position. we all need to step up so that we can show the person behind us that it's doable and so that we have the power to make the changes for other women that is going to make the possibility for their paths easier than ours. other women see me in it, and i hope that they see me, and they understand, like, if i can do it, they can do it because the higher you get, the more leadership you have, and power. the more power and leadership

we have that we can put out >> first of all, thank you for coming to celebrate this incredible milestone. i am really excited that she accepted. because i know what you often times may see is the fights between kim and i. what you don't know is about the friendship and the amount of love and respect i truly have for her and her work ethic from the moment i met her actively engaged in labor in a way that brought the conversation to a different level around women and minorities and their role in leadership and labor. it is good to see more women

step up and in fact, it is 125 year history not one woman has ever led the san francisco labor council and kim is doing that, which is absolutely extraordinary. [applause] and you are the first executive director of the labor council to serve on this work force investment board because i didn't want to appoint the others. just kidding. but in fact, you know, this is so important. when i think about growing up in the western addition and the fights that we used to have to be included in the placements and job opportunities that exist in the city, i feel like we have come a long way but we still have a long way to go to make the real connections between people in many of the communities that many of you

represent but himself the same people who want these opportunities, the new jobs that come to san francisco. not just the work related to construction and engineering but as you know there are even shortage of nurses. the work you have done with nuhw was extraordinary onever the years. how that played a role to make sure there is a real connection between people and the opportunities, through organized labor to make sure they get their fair share, the appropriate pay and benefits and the ability to take care of themselves and their families. you have been doing this work for a really long time. i know that you are going to bring a really strong voice to this body. in the process you are going to make a lot of folks upset what it is you have to say, but i wouldn't have wanted it any other way because some things need to be upset. some things need challenged.

in fact, i am not afraid of a challenge and not afraid of the conversations that need to be had to get to a better place that is what we want. we want a better place so people have better lives. you have dedicated your lives to public service. organized labor but public service because of the people that you know you represent. the people that you know are counting on autophytes for them and make the right decisions that are going to have an impact onnary families and livelihood. regardless of disagreements at the end of the day the underlying message i know that is most important to much of you and i know is important to kill is the fact that we want to fight for better lives for the people we represent. that is why you are going to be serving on this board, and i appreciate and honor that you

accepted this opportunity. i am looking forward to seeing something change for the better for workers throughout san francisco. with that let's debt you sworn in. (applause). >> i will put on my mask. covid is running rampant and we are close to each other. place raise your right hand and repeat. i say your name do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies foreign and domestic that i bear true faith and allegiance to the same. that i take this obligation

freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i am about to enter and during such time as i serve as a member of the work force investment san francisco board for the city and county of san francisco. congratulations. [applause] >> here is a little city seal pen with my signature. i give this to all people i swear in to serve.

ladies and gentlemen, the latest person for the board tackling work force in san francisco and making real change. [applause] >> thank you, mayor breed, for taking time-out of your schedule to do this. thank you to the leaders of labor here today, especially my board members, susan, mike, charlie, debra, and my good friend karen. i want to thank you for taking time for the swearing in. it means a lot to me because i have always been really challenged by the fact there rvs and have notes in the work force, and i really want to fight overcoming making sure that everyone becomes a very.

everyone has an opportunity to get a job and a wealthy job and to join a union if they so choose. that is my mantra since i was little. it is my mantra to this day. i will fight to make sure. that is what the labor council is about making sure there are opportunities for people and career ladders. that has always been what i have been about. i want to make sure that happens. we have seen companies take advantage of people especially during strikes when they go into poor neighborhoods to try to recruit scabs. we knead to emphasize recruiting people to getting into them into construction and janitors and construction trades and up the ladder and nursing, healthcare. these are all opportunities they should all have.

we want to make sure that the san franciscans that we all know and love have that opportunity and that is my goal for this. i really intend to implement a labor caucus to make sure that we are doing what we need to do to give every san franciscan the opportunity be to participate from our economic recovery from covid and overall economic recovery as we get on with opening up the city and making sure that people come to san francisco. those the obstacles before us. i hope we overcome them altogether as we move along. thank you. [applause].

>> in 201,755.7 million passengers traveled through san francisco international airport. we have on average 150,000 people traveling through the airport every day. flying can be stressful so we have introduced therapy dogs to

make flying more enjoyable. the wag brigade is a partnership between the airport and the san francisco therapy animal assistant program to bring therapy animals into the airport, into the terminals to make passenger travel more enjoyable. i amgen fer casarian and i work here at san francisco international airport. the idea for therapy dogs got started the day after 9/11. an employee brought his therapy dog to work after 9/11 and he was able to see how his dog was able to relieve passenger's jitter. when we first launched the program back in 2013, our main goal was to destress our passengers however what we quickly found is that our

animals were helping us find a way to connect with our pang. passengers. we find there are a lot of people traveling through the airport who are missing their pets and who are on their road a lot and can't have pets and we have come in contact with a lot of people recently who have lost pet. >> i love the wag brigade. >> one of my favorite parts is walking into the terminals and seeing everybody look up from their device, today everybody is interacting on their cell phone or laptop and we can walk into the terminal with a dog or a pig and people start to interact with each other again and it's on a different level. more of an emotional level. >> i just got off an 11.5 hour

flight and nice to have this distraction in the middle of it. >> we look for wag brigade handlers who are comfortable in stressful situations. >> i like coming to airport it's a lot of fun and the people you talk to are generally people who are missing their dogs. >> they are required to compete a certification process. and they are also required to complete a k9 good citizen test and we look for animals who have experienced working with other organizations such as hospitals and pediatric units and we want to be sure that the animals we are bringing into the airport are good with children and also good with some of our senior travelers. i think toby really likes meeting kids. that is his favorite thing.

he likes to have them pet him and come up to him and he really loves the kids. >> our wag brigade animals can be spotted wearing custom vets and they have custom patches. >> there is never a day that repeats itself and there is never and encounter that repeats itself. we get to do maximum good in a small stretch of time and i have met amazing people who have been thrilled to have the interaction. >> the dogs are here seven days a week, we have 20 dogs and they each come for a two hour shift. >> there is a lot of stress when people have traveling so to from these animals around to ease the stress and help people relax a little bit. i think it's great. >> one of our dogs has special

need and that is tristine. he wears a wheel around. >> he has special shoes and a harness and we get it together in the parking lot and then we get on the air train. he loves it. little kids love him because he is a little lower to the ground so easy to reach and he has this big furry head they get to pet and he loves that. >> he doesn't seem to mind at all. probably one of the happiest dogs in the world. >> many people are nervous when they travel but seeing the dogs is just a wonderful relief. >> what i absolutely love most about it is the look on people's faces, so whenever they are stressed and flying is stressful these days you get these wonderful smile.

>> i am the mom of lilo the pig and she is san francisco's first therapy pig. >> lilo joined the wag brigade as our first pig. >> wag brigade invited us to join the program here and we have done it about a year-and-a-half ago. our visits last 1.5 to 2 hours and it does take a little bit longer to get out of the terminal because we still get a lot of attention and a lot of people that want to interact with lilo. >> i feel honored to be part of the wag brigade. it's very special to meet so many people and make so many

feel happy and people that work here. it's been a great experience for me and a great experience for to toby. >> it's been an extremely successful program, so the next time you are here, stop by and say hi.

sustainability mission, even though the bikes are very minimal energy use. it still matters where the energy comes from and also part of the mission in sustainability is how we run everything, run our business. so having the lights come on with clean energy is important to us as well. we heard about cleanpowersf and learned they had commercial rates and signed up for that. it was super easy to sign up. our bookkeeper signed up online,

it was like 15 minutes. nothing has changed, except now we have cleaner energy. it's an easy way to align your environmental proclivities and goals around climate change and it's so easy that it's hard to not want to do it, and it doesn't really add anything to the bill.

>> president walton: good afternoon and welcome to the february 1, 2022 regular meeting of the san francisco board of