Board of Health and Human Services

CITY OF LONG BEACH FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2020 BOARD OF HEALTH AND WEBEX VIRTUAL MEETING HUMAN SERVICES MINUTES PHONE: 1-213-306-3065 ACCESS CODE: 146 310 8156, 7:45 AM Milton Smith, Chair Miles McNeeley, Member Silene St. Bernard, DVM, Vice Chair Christopher Robson, Member Sylvia Betancourt, Member Rebecca Ruiz, Member Ralph Brooks, RN, Member Barbara Schwerin, Member Reena Curtis, PharmD, Member Nasir Tejani, MD, FAAP, Member Manorama Gupta, MD, Member Susan Temple, Member Troy Ha, DDS, Member Lydia Vaias, MD, Member FINISHED AGENDA AND APPROVED MEETING MINUTES CALL TO ORDER At 7:49 a.m. the meeting was called to order. Chair Smith presiding. ROLL CALL Commissioners Sylvia Betancourt, Ralph Brooks, Reena Curtis, Manorama Present: Gupta, Troy Ha, Miles McNeeley, Christopher Robson, Rebecca Ruiz, Barbara Schwerin, Nasir Tejani, Susan Temple, Silene St Bernard and Milton Smith Commissioners Lydia Vaias Absent: Also present: Kelly Colopy - Director of Health and Human Services; Anissa Davis, MD, MPH - City Health Officer; Dennis Keith - Executive Assistant; Gretchen Swanson - Rose Park Neighborhood Association APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. 20-084BH Recommendation to approve the minutes of the Board of Health and Human Services meetings held Friday, September 11, 2020. Page 1 of 8 CITY OF LONG BEACH FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2020 BOARD OF HEALTH AND WEBEX VIRTUAL MEETING HUMAN SERVICES MINUTES PHONE: 1-213-306-3065 ACCESS CODE: 146 310 8156, 7:45 AM A motion was made by Member Curtis, seconded by Vice Chair St Bernard, to approve recommendation. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 13 - Sylvia Betancourt, Ralph Brooks, Reena Curtis, Manorama Gupta, Troy Ha, Miles McNeeley, Christopher Robson, Rebecca Ruiz, Barbara Schwerin, Nasir Tejani, Susan Temple, Silene St Bernard and Milton Smith Absent: 1 - Lydia Vaias PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: Members of the public are invited to address the Board on items of interest to the public within the Agency Board jurisdiction. Each speaker will be limited to two minutes unless that time is extended by the Chair. There was no public participation. EXECUTIVE STAFF REPORTS 2. 20-085BH Recommendation to receive, discuss and file a report from the Director of Health and Human Services. Kelly Colopy, Director of Health and Human Services, provided the Board with an update on the following items: • The Department received a $1.1 million, three-year, California Violence Prevention and Intervention Grant to fund violence interruption/gun violence reduction program with an initial focus on the Washington Neighborhood. • The Department also received a $5 million, five-year grant, from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Family Assistance to continue the Fundamentals of Fatherhood Program. • The City opened its Year-Round Homeless Shelter, the Atlantic Farms Bridge Housing Community (ABC), located at 6841-6845 Atlantic Avenue in North Long Beach. The campus will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year-round. • The City is looking to purchase another motel using Project Home Key funds. This will increase the City’s capacity to provide additional transitional living Page 2 of 8 CITY OF LONG BEACH FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2020 BOARD OF HEALTH AND WEBEX VIRTUAL MEETING HUMAN SERVICES MINUTES PHONE: 1-213-306-3065 ACCESS CODE: 146 310 8156, 7:45 AM beds that could become permanent supportive housing. • Everardo Alviso was hired to be the Department’s HIV/STD Strategic Implementation Specialist. Everardo is the Department’s project lead for the HIV/STD Strategy. He has been meeting with community partners and stakeholders and will be meeting the HIV Planning Group next week, and ultimately with be established as the City’s representative on the Los Angeles County HIV Commission. • City furloughs began on Friday, October 2nd. There will be 26 furlough days, every-other Friday, in this fiscal year. Furloughs will affect the Department’s ability to provide services; however, we were able to stagger furlough days in order to maintain operations at the Multi-Service Center. This BH-Agenda Item was approve recommendation. 3. 20-086BH Recommendation to receive, discuss and file a report from the City Health Officer on Communicable Disease Control activities. Dr. Anissa Davis, City Health Officer, provided the Board with an update on the following items: • There has been an increase in Typhus cases in Long Beach. Annual average is approximately eight cases; however there have been 12 to date. • The Department issued its annual Flu order providing guidance to healthcare workers regarding obtaining a flu vaccination and wearing a mask. • Flu PODs are currently ongoing every Thursday at Veterans Stadium and Saturday at Cabrillo High School through November 28th. Over 700 individuals were vaccinated during the first week. • The Annual 2019 Communicable Disease Morbidity Report was released. Highlights of the report include a measles outbreak of 2019, which included one Long Beach case and 1,200 cases nationally; the Candida Auris emerging fungal pathogen which was seen for the first time in Long Beach, and Southern California, in 2019; a spike in Pertussis cases; and an increase in Shigellosis cases, a 122% increase over the past five years. • The Centers for Disease Control released a health alert related to a cluster of HIV diagnoses among injection drug users, an 11% increase from the previous year. Long Beach has not seen an increase among this population. Page 3 of 8 CITY OF LONG BEACH FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2020 BOARD OF HEALTH AND WEBEX VIRTUAL MEETING HUMAN SERVICES MINUTES PHONE: 1-213-306-3065 ACCESS CODE: 146 310 8156, 7:45 AM • A question was asked regarding mosquito-borne disease activity in Long Beach. Dr. Davis indicated that while mosquito activity was pronounced this year, mosquito-borne illnesses have been low. This BH-Agenda Item was approve recommendation. REGULAR AGENDA 4. 20-087BH Recommendation to receive and file a presentation from the Rose Park Neighborhood Association on the Safe Streets and Sidewalks Program. Gretchen Swanson, from the Rose Park Neighborhood Association, provided the Board with a presentation on their Safe Streets initiative, a multi-year, multi-phase effort to increase pedestrian safety. This BH-Agenda Item was approve recommendation. 5. 20-088BH Recommendation to receive an update regarding the Department's COVID-19 activities. Dr. Davis announced the following: • The City released information regarding the school waiver process for transitional kindergarten through 2nd grade. • An outbreak at California State University Long Beach (CSULB) where there currently has seen a total of 33 cases, 25 of those among students. Exposure was related to association with on and off-campus parties. Staff are working with CSULB on mitigation and prevention strategies. • Outbreaks within long-term care facilities in the City have substantially decreased. Currently only two Long Beach facilities currently have active cases. • Staff are currently looking into COVID vaccine planning which will involve strict CDC guidelines for vaccine storage and administration. Ms. Colopy provided additional information on the following: Page 4 of 8 CITY OF LONG BEACH FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2020 BOARD OF HEALTH AND WEBEX VIRTUAL MEETING HUMAN SERVICES MINUTES PHONE: 1-213-306-3065 ACCESS CODE: 146 310 8156, 7:45 AM • Current total case count in Long Beach is 12, 281, with 64 new cases within the past 24 hours. Hospitalizations remain relatively stable, with 45 currently hospitalized. The positivity rate is currently 3.4% with a case rate of 7.1/100,000. • Hair salons and nail salons have been allowed to reopen at 25% capacity. • Working with local bars, breweries and wineries to allow them to partner with a local food vendor, with an approved kitchen, to reopen for business. • Three mobile testing pop-up sites were conducted focusing on the Latinx community. Additional pop-up testing will be scheduled, focusing on neighborhoods with the highest case rates. • $11 million in CARES Act funding needs to be spent by the end of December. An RFP for meals and grocery distribution services was released. A second RFP for these services may be issued in the future. A larger RFP was also released for providing assistance to Nonprofits, mental health and domestic violence providers, older adult services providers, and basic needs. A discussion ensued regarding the long-term effects of COVID-19, and on any plans that might exist to address those effects. A brief discussion ensued regarding the criteria by which school waivers are issued. This BH-Agenda Item was approve recommendation. 6. 20-094BH Recommendation to discuss the rescheduling of six of the upcoming Board of Health meetings due to the City's implementation of mandatory staff furloughs. The Board discussed the need to reschedule 50 percent (six) of the Boards future meeting dates due to the City’s implementation of mandated staff furloughs. The Board reviewed the affected dates and identified new dates for the November 2020, December 2020, and January 2021 dates. These new dates would effectively be one-week later than the originally scheduled meeting dates. The Board will revisit this issue at a future meeting after January 2021 to reschedule the remaining three dates. Page 5 of 8 CITY OF LONG BEACH FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2020 BOARD OF HEALTH AND WEBEX VIRTUAL MEETING HUMAN SERVICES MINUTES PHONE: 1-213-306-3065 ACCESS CODE: 146 310 8156, 7:45 AM A motion was made to reschedule the November 13, 2020 meeting date to November 20, 2020; the December 11, 2020 meeting date to December 18, 2020; and the January 8, 2021 meeting date to January 15, 2021. Yes: 13 - Sylvia Betancourt, Ralph Brooks, Reena Curtis, Manorama Gupta, Troy Ha, Miles McNeeley, Christopher Robson, Rebecca Ruiz, Barbara Schwerin, Nasir Tejani, Susan Temple, Silene St Bernard and Milton Smith Absent: 1 - Lydia Vaias 7. 20-089BH Recommendation to discuss Board goals and infrastructure. Chair Smith discussed approaching and scheduling introductory meetings with new Councilmembers as soon as possible after the election. This BH-Agenda Item was approve recommendation. 8. 20-090BH Recommendation to discuss reimagining City support for the Health Department. Ms. Colopy indicated that the Health Department had received an additional $1.5 million in the 2021 Budget. This funding is specifically identified for youth development, violence prevention and equity work. This BH-Agenda Item was approve recommendation. ONGOING BUSINESS 9. 20-091BH Recommendation to receive, discuss and file an update regarding the enforcement of the Health Order requiring the wearing of masks in public to combat COVID-19 transmission. Chair Smith encouraged the City to take a stand towards enforcement of the order and encouraged Board members to champion this cause during any forthcoming meetings they may have with Council Districts. Page 6 of 8 CITY OF LONG BEACH FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2020 BOARD OF HEALTH AND WEBEX VIRTUAL MEETING HUMAN SERVICES MINUTES PHONE: 1-213-306-3065 ACCESS CODE: 146 310 8156, 7:45 AM This BH-Agenda Item was approve recommendation. 10. 20-092BH Recommendation to receive and file an update on the status of the City's implementation of the legalization of cannabis. There was no new information to provide on this item. Ms. Colopy indicated that staff were still looking into equity opportunities. Boardmember Temple indicated that she was looking for educational opportunities within the school system. Opportunities exist to provide cannabis education within grade schools; however, opportunities are difficult to identify in High Schools, especially with there being no current requirement to teach Health as part of High School curriculum. A brief discussion ensued regarding the sharing of Health Department social media messaging with the LBUSD and on the potential for Board involvement in advocating for health education to be reinstated as a required course. Chair Smith briefly discussed the potential opportunity in partnering with local youth leadership groups. This BH-Agenda Item was approve recommendation. 11. 20-093BH Recommendation to receive and file an update on Community Hospital. There was no new information to provide on this item. This BH-Agenda Item was approve recommendation. ANNOUNCEMENTS There were no announcements. ADJOURNMENT At 9:58 a.m. the meeting was adjourned. Page 7 of 8 CITY OF LONG BEACH FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2020 BOARD OF HEALTH AND WEBEX VIRTUAL MEETING HUMAN SERVICES MINUTES PHONE: 1-213-306-3065 ACCESS CODE: 146 310 8156, 7:45 AM Note: A digital recording of this meeting will be available in the Health and Human Services Department. The City of Long Beach provides reasonable accommodations in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. If a special accommodation is desired, or if an agenda is needed in an alternative format, please contact Dennis Keith, Executive Assistant, 48 hours prior to the meeting at (562) 570-4014 or (562) 570-6626 (telecommunications device for the deaf), or by email at dennis.keith@longbeach.gov. Page 8 of 8