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Students in West East Palo Alto have free Wi-Fi

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2020.12.21

Students in West East Palo Alto have free Wi-Fi

Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].

San Mateo County recently completed the second phase of its digital inclusion project and expanded its SMC public Wi-Fi network in the Woodland Park apartment community located in the Westside neighborhood of East Palo Alto.

The project, which will provide free county Internet access to more than 1,800 affordable, rent-controlled apartment units where more than 4,000 residents live, is being done in partnership with the property owner, Sand Hill Property Company.

Among the beneficiaries are 223 K-12 students from Ravenswood City Elementary, Belmont Redwood Shores, Las Lomitas Elementary, Redwood City Elementary and Sequoia Union High public school districts.

As part of the County's public Wi-Fi network expansion, nearly 70 spots have been installed in the Woodland Park community to maximize the number of students, families and local community members who will be able to securely learn and access remotely.

The county said in a statement that since its launch in 2014, San Mateo has been connecting people to the Internet through its free SMC public Wi-Fi network at more than 100 locations, including parks, community centers and public spaces throughout the county.

The document also stated that this latest expansion is part of the SMC Public Wi-Fi Project's goals to provide connectivity to underserved communities, support educational opportunities for students, stimulate local economic development and provide greater access to county services.

"SMC Public Wi-Fi is a central component to connecting students and residents who rely on online access for remote education or work. Our experience over the past five years in building and operating this network has allowed us to rapidly expand SMC Public Wi-Fi in response to urgent community needs," said Jon Walton, the county's chief information officer.

The importance of Internet access was amplified by the "stay-at-home" mandates that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, for while many residents were able to work or learn from home, there were those who were unable to do so because they lacked broadband service at home.

"Internet access is essential for students to have a fair chance at an education," said Gina Sudaria, superintendent of the Ravenswood City School District.

"Without access to online learning and other resources, these at-risk residents will quickly fall behind in their education and in their lives," said Board of Supervisors Chairman Warren Slocum, who represents the Fourth District.

The expansion of SMC's public Wi-Fi network is part of a digital inclusion pilot initiative created in March 2020 to connect county students in four school districts to engage in online learning by the 2020-2021 school year.

The project was funded with part of the $6.3 million Coronavirus Assistance, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) grant to provide students in four school districts with Internet access for online learning.

The first phase of the Digital Inclusion initiative, launched in August 2020, funded broadband service subscriptions for a total of 650 qualified students in the Ravenswood City School District and La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District.

Latinas drive local commerce in San Mateo

Anna Lee Mraz Bartra

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2020.12.21

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Latinas drive local commerce in San Mateo

Anna Lee Mraz Bartra. Peninsula 360 Press [P360]

If your plan was to go and buy all your gifts shortly before the date indicated and now you won't be able to do so because many shops will be closed or restricted and you'll probably have to stand in long queues to get in. Better buy online and buy locally.

Local small businesses enrich the community and strengthen the structures of the social fabric. First, they provide opportunities for asset ownership. When people own property, they develop the habit of thinking ahead and are more interested in local issues.

Those who do not have property can be surrounded by examples of small local entrepreneurs and thus be inspired to become owners themselves and to commit themselves to the community as well.

Large chains and department stores reduce these ownership opportunities. Small local businesses also help cultivate trust among citizens, while large chains and online retailers such as Amazon tend to encourage anonymity.

Trust between citizens is a vital part of a healthy community and is built through reciprocal relationships that are fostered in places like local businesses, where individuals meet and exchange goods and services. In regular face-to-face interactions, trust is built, and trust helps to nurture neighborhood and communality.

Instead of jumping on the Prime Day bandwagon and sending your dollars to Amazon, whose owner Jeff Bezos already has about $184.8 billion, you better

Consider buying local products.

A truly radical act would help local businesses and, in the process, strengthen the local communities in which we live.

Where and from whom to buy in San Mateo?

Cloud Soap

Ana Tobar is Salvadoran and has a small business where she makes handmade organic glycerin-based soaps, souvenirs and more.

You can find his lavender-scented packages including teddy bear towel on his Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nubesoap/?ref=page_internal

Send an email to nube.soap@gmail.com

Instagram @Nubesoap

Fantasy World Gelatins

Grisel Huitron is from Mexico City. She is a mother of 4 children and supports her sister in taking care of her two girls while she works. Her husband is at home since he lost his job due to the pandemic.

In the mornings he sold take-out and home cooked food such as enchiladas, pozole, chicharrón en salsa verde, empanizafas breasts, beans, rice, salads, golden tacos, pambazos; he changes the menu daily; and on the weekends he makes desserts such as figure jellies and other delicacies.

For this season he's making chocobombs. Delicious chocolate balls filled with chocolates that, on contact with warm milk, melt and leave the marshmallows floating.

You can call him at +1(650) 440-8848 to place orders or write him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/lizeth.mendoza.5015

Sonia Decoratio

Sonia Martinez arrived in the Bay Area from El Salvador 16 years ago. She dedicated many years to the home and to the care of her 3 children who live with her and her husband, who is dedicated to laying wood floors. With the pandemic, her husband's business was severely affected so they had no choice but to innovate.

Now the family depends, in large part, on the sales of Sonia who makes food to order, decorations for birthday parties, anniversaries or weddings.

He learned to cook the well-known cake in El Salvador called Strawberry Cardinal that has a meringue base because he could not find anything like it in the area.

However, if you need something to give as a present this Christmas, Sonia also makes T-shirts to order for the design you ask for.

You can find it on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/SoniaDecoparty/

And on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soniadecoparty/

Yessi's Cake Creations

Yessi was born in Los Angeles to Latin American parents: half Salvadorian, half Mexican. She says she learned to make cakes "at YouTube University.

She made her first cake when she was 19 years old at her sister's house when she arrived at a birthday party and was invited to bake the cake. From then on, during the day she worked in a bank and at night she made cakes. Since she has lived in Redwood City, she has dedicated herself exclusively to baking cakes. Now with the pandemic, she and her partner are completely dependent on the income from Yessi's Cake Creations.

This season, to support others he reduced his prices substantially and supports the organization Giving Fruits that give food to the homeless. She bakes them small cakes in the hope of brightening up their day.

You can find it on their website: https://yessicakes.com/

Or on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/yessiscakecreations/

And on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yessiscakecreations/?hl=en

{“uid”:”CFE6097A-3EED-4F18-A119-4828FA7041DF_1608413568353″,”source”:”other”,”origin”:”unknown”}

COVID-19: Latino Community Organization Key to Support

Peninsula 360 Press

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2020.12.21

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COVID-19: Latino Community Organization Key to Support

Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].

Organizing the Latino community living in the U.S. is key to demanding greater protection and prevention from authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Inés María Quiñones Ortiz, a member of the San José County Neighborhood Defense Committee.

According to Inés Quiñones, the number of infected people has increased in San Jose County, since, to date, it is estimated that there are more than 51,000 people infected, of which 54.4 percent belong to the Latino community.

"In our experience, we know that most of the Latino people who have been infected are Mexicans, which is why we want to have a meeting with the Mexican consulate, to see if they can give us more specifics," he said.

In that sense, he mentioned that they require more information about affected Mexicans, if the people who have died have moved to Mexico and if they are taking other measures to help Mexicans, as stated by the President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

"We are going through that process, which is very bureaucratic, so that we can work with each other to protect people. To make them aware that we have to protect ourselves. We're going to do that follow-up according to their protocol, and if we don't succeed we're going to insist, because that data is necessary," he added.

He also added that many times people do not go to the places where they do COVID-19 tests out of fear, due to their immigration status, "and if that is happening we want to know if the Consulate is offering other types of help so that they can take these types of tests.

On the other hand, Inés Quiñones commented that they have also noticed that the people who care for the elderly have complained because not only the elderly are dying, but they are also dying because they don't have enough equipment to protect themselves.

As such, he explained that since the authorities are not doing their part to protect and prevent contagions among the Latino population, they had to take to the streets to tell people through informative posters about the importance of following health protocols.

Among them is keeping an appropriate distance from others, because when people stay within 6 feet of each other then there is less risk that saliva spray from talking, coughing or sneezing can spread to others.

Another measure to prevent contagion is the use of masks, however, he has seen that many people when they leave work remove them and get into their car or take other people, so the protocols are no longer useful and the virus spreads.

"In Santa Clara, the most infected people are those between 19 and 40 years old, so we are seeing that young people are the ones who are getting infected the most. They are our children and that is dangerous because they are the future of our communities," he said.

On top of that, there are Christmas and New Year's celebrations coming up, and the hospitals are already overcrowded, which means there won't be enough space or equipment to care for all the people who need it.

"The organization that comes from the community is the one that is going to make the change. When we criticized that there were not enough places to do exams, the authorities began to mobilize. The organization of the people is the key to get the authorities to mobilize," he said.

In that sense, he said, the Mexican model has been very successful because it always keeps everyone informed about the number of cases that exist daily, as well as the measures that should be followed in health matters.

"That's why it's important for us to talk to the Consulates, so that they do the same here, so that they mobilize and do what they have to do on behalf of the Mexican community," he concluded.

San Mateo: Police investigate Wells Fargo bank murder

Peninsula 360 Press

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2020.12.21

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San Mateo: Police investigate Wells Fargo bank murder

Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P]

The San Mateo County Police Department is actively investigating a homicide that occurred this Saturday, December 19, around 9:25 a.m. in the parking lot of the Wells Fargo Bank, located at 81 West Hillsdale Boulevard.

In a statement, the department said San Mateo police officers arrived at the Wells Fargo Bank parking lot following a report of a shooting, where they located an adult male, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to witnesses, a suspect shot the victim at least five times before fleeing on foot. Meanwhile, detectives learned that this was a specific, isolated incident that did not involve the bank.

"We have launched an intensive investigation to bring all those responsible to justice," the county police department said.

He also urged the public to contact the Police Department if they were near the scene, had a camera in their car, or if they saw anything unusual at the time and place mentioned above.

"We encourage our community to use security cameras. They are especially helpful in identifying suspicious activity in neighborhoods when the cameras are facing the street."

He urged anyone with information or security footage related to this shooting to contact Detective Sergeant Paul Pak at (650) 522-7660 or pak@cityofsanmateo.org.

He said anonymous tips can also be sent to http://tinyurl.com/SMPDTips. Because this is an active and evolving investigation, information will be released as it becomes available, he said.

COVID-19: FDA authorizes use of Moderna's

Peninsula 360 Press

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2020.12.21

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COVID-19: FDA authorizes use of Moderna's

Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an emergency use authorization for the second vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 respiratory syndrome SARS-CoV-2 disease.

The emergency use authorization allows Modern COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed in the U.S. for use in people 18 years of age and older.

"With the availability of two vaccines now available for the prevention of COVID-19, the FDA has taken another crucial step in the fight against this global pandemic that is causing a large number of hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S. every day," said FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn.

In a statement, the FDA said that through the open and transparent scientific review process, two vaccines have been licensed on an accelerated timeline while adhering to the rigorous safety, efficacy and manufacturing quality standards necessary to support emergency use authorization.

"These standards and our review process are the same ones we used in reviewing the first COVID-19 vaccine and intend to use for any other vaccine," the commissioner said.

The FDA determined that the vaccine against the virus meets the legal criteria for release in the U.S. because the totality of available data provides strong evidence that it may be effective in preventing COVID-19.

In turn, the data show that the known and potential benefits outweigh the known and potential risks, which supports the company's application for use of the vaccine in persons 18 years of age and older. With this determination, the FDA can assure the public that it has conducted a thorough evaluation of safety, efficacy, and manufacturing quality.

How does Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine work?

The vaccine contains a small part of the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA that instructs cells in the body to produce the virus's signature spike protein.

After a person receives the vaccine, their body produces copies of the spike protein, which does not cause disease, but causes the immune system to learn to react defensively, producing an immune response against SARS-CoV-2.

It should be noted that this vaccine is administered in two doses, one month apart.

Safety data available to support it in the U.S. include an analysis of 30,351 participants enrolled in an ongoing U.S. randomized placebo-controlled study.

The FDA said the most commonly reported side effects, which usually lasted several days, were pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, swollen lymph nodes in the same arm as the injection, nausea, vomiting and fever, which occurred after the second dose.

The approval comes a week after the FDA gave the green light to the vaccine against COVID-19 of the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer in collaboration with the German BioNTech, which is already distributed and applied in several states of the country.

COVID-19: FDA approves emergency use of Modern

Peninsula 360 Press

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2020.12.18

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COVID-19: FDA approves emergency use of Modern

Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an emergency use authorization for the second vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 respiratory syndrome SARS-CoV-2 disease.

The emergency use authorization allows Modern COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed in the U.S. for use in people 18 years of age and older.

"With the availability of two vaccines now for the prevention of COVID-19, the FDA has taken another crucial step in the fight against this pandemic that is causing a large number of hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S. every day," said FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn.

In a statement, the FDA said that through the open and transparent scientific review process, two vaccines have been licensed on an accelerated timeline while adhering to the rigorous safety, efficacy and manufacturing quality standards necessary to support emergency use authorization.

"These standards, and our review process, are the same ones we used in reviewing the first COVID-19 vaccine and intend to use for any other vaccine," the commissioner said.

The DA determined that the vaccine against the virus meets the legal criteria for release in the U.S., since the totality of available data provides evidence that it may be effective in preventing COVID-19.

In turn, the data show that the known and potential benefits outweigh the known and potential risks, which supports the company's application for use of the vaccine in persons 18 years of age and older. With this determination, the FDA can assure the public that it has conducted a thorough evaluation of safety, efficacy, and manufacturing quality.

How does Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine work?

The vaccine contains a small part of the SARS-CoV-2 virus mRNA that instructs cells in the body to produce the virus's signature spike protein.

After a person receives the vaccine, their body produces copies of the spike protein, which does not cause disease, but causes the immune system to learn to react defensively, producing an immune response against SARS-CoV-2.

It should be noted that this vaccine is administered in two doses, one month apart.

Safety data available to support it in the U.S. include an analysis of 30,351 participants enrolled in an ongoing U.S. randomized placebo-controlled study.

The FDA said the most commonly reported side effects, which usually lasted several days, were pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, swollen lymph nodes in the same arm as the injection, nausea, vomiting and fever, which occurred after the second dose.

The approval comes a week after the FDA gave the green light to the vaccine against COVID-19 of the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer in collaboration with the German BioNTech, which is already distributed and applied in several states of the country.

COVID-19: Pandemic should not be an excuse to backtrack on migrants' rights, UN

Pamela Cruz

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2020.12.18

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COVID-19: Pandemic should not be an excuse to backtrack on migrants' rights, UN

Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].

The COVID-19 pandemic cannot be an excuse to backtrack on the commitments made to promote and protect the rights of migrants, regardless of their legal status, stressed the United Nations.

In the framework of the International Day of the Migrant, which is commemorated every December 18, the organism explained that it cannot be a pretext either for making more arrests, besides the forced return to their countries of origin without the due process, in many cases in violation of the international law.

For the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, this is a year of crisis in which "millions of people have suffered the pain of separation from friends and family, the uncertainty of employment and have been forced to adapt to a new and unknown reality".

This year, he said, there has been an awareness of our dependence on migrants, who are often invisible in communities, but have played a leading role in the frontline response to the health crisis, either by caring for the sick or ensuring food supplies during confinements.

He added that migrants must also play a central role in the recovery and ensure that, regardless of their legal status, they are included in countries' response to the pandemic, particularly in health and vaccination programmes.

"We must reject hate speech and acts of xenophobia. We must also find solutions for migrants who have been stranded, without income or legal status, and without the means to return to their place of origin," Guterres added.

The Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), António Vitorino, also recognized the important work that migrants have done as frontline actors in maintaining essential services.

"The dedication and entrepreneurial spirit they have shown reminds us that when we move from pandemic response measures to recovery efforts in the coming months, migrants must be an integral part of the return to normalcy," he said.

Human rights are not a prize or reward, he explained, but "are an inalienable right of all people, regardless of their origin, age, gender and legal status. However, for migrants to be able to fully contribute to their and our recovery, we must support and protect them.

In turn, UNESCO's Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, urged the international community to promote the fundamental rights of migrants, such as security, dignity and peace, as this is an imperative duty.

"As Iranian novelist Dina Nayeri writes: it is the duty of every person born in a safe room to open when someone in danger knocks on the door. This duty is part of our humanity, a humanity on the move through ideas, people and cultures," she said.

According to a Department of Homeland Security estimate, there are 6.6 million migrants in the U.S., of which Mexicans remain the largest undocumented immigrant community, accounting for 51 percent of the total.

That community is followed by undocumented immigrants from El Salvador, with 7.0 percent; Guatemala, with 5.0 percent; India, with 4.0 percent; China and Hong Kong, also with 4.0 percent each; and the Philippines, with 2.0 percent.

According to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), undocumented persons represent 23 percent of U.S. immigrants, with naturalized citizens representing 44 percent, legal permanent residents 28 percent, and temporary visa aliens 4.0 percent.

It is worth mentioning that California is the state that hosts the most undocumented immigrants, with 2.62 million, representing 24 percent of the total, followed by Texas, with 1.73 million (16 %); New York, with 866,000 (8.0 %); and Florida, with 732,000 (7.0 %).

A different kind of holiday

Anna Lee Mraz Bartra

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2020.12.18

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Anna Lee Mraz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].

By official orders of 10 counties in the San Francisco Bay Area we must remain indoors and private meetings of any size are prohibited. It means that this Christmas we cannot go to grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins, or to close friends.

That does not mean that we are alone, and it is okay if Christmas is not celebrated this December 24 and 25, because we must give priority to personal care and extreme precautions.

There are ways to party from a distance. You can make a video call, or you can make a video and send it lovingly to all your family members and acquaintances; you can have a Christmas in the car and drop off packages to your loved ones.

You can enjoy the live programs that will be made online this holiday, starting with the Christmas Festival of Casa Círculo Cultural on Saturday December 19, 2020 by Facebook live: @circulocultural.rwc

As cases of coronavirus in the bay continue to rise and, worse, increase dramatically, we must think ahead about how we will handle the big holidays like Christmas and Lunar New Year, which researchers are warning could become super spread events.

According to Julia Marcus, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass., in an interview with Nature, one of the most respected journals on science, she said:

"We are already at a high level of community outreach, and we are about to see many people traveling and meeting indoors. It's hard to see how these meetings are going to end well.

It's time to get even more creative. It's better not to party together today, to wait until it's safe when the vaccine is in everyone's hands and we've created herd immunity. This Christmas better be virtual so we can continue to celebrate for many more years.

COVID-19: Mexico City declares maximum alert for hospital occupation

Peninsula 360 Press

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2020.12.18

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COVID-19: Mexico City declares maximum alert for hospital occupation

Cristian Carlos. Peninsula 360 Press.

"We really wish we weren't living this situation," said Mexico City's head of government, Claudia Sheinbaum. "The most important objective, at this moment, is prevention: to reduce contagion, to reduce hospitalizations".

At a press conference, the head of government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, said that, even with "all the efforts of the citizens and the government," contagion from SARS-CoV-2 - the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 disease - has increased, as well as hospitalizations and deaths in the country's capital.

Also present at the press conference were Mexico's Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell and the Governor of the State of Mexico, Alfredo del Mazo Maza.

"Even as we expand hospital capacity, we need to decrease the contagion curve. We are asking all citizens to make an effort. So far, the Mexican capital has a hospital occupancy rate that is close to 75 percent.

"Mexico City goes to a red light," Sheinbaum decreed. "For this reason, together with the State of Mexico, from tomorrow, we have to reduce the activity -economic-, reduce mobility. The maximum alert in the country's capital will be in effect until January 10.

During the course of this Friday, December 18, it is expected that, in the state gazettes, both in Mexico City and in the State of Mexico, it will be published which are considered essential activities, but he advanced that the Vice-Minister of Health of Mexico, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, has informed that, within these essential economic activities are the same ones that were contemplated last June:

Sale of unprepared and prepared food - only in the form of delivery without consumption on site
The energy sector.
The transport sector
The manufacturing sector
The health sector
Funeral services
Financial Services
Construction services
Telecommunications services.
Sale and manufacture of medicines.

"2020 and 2021 will be very special years for the history of humanity; therefore, it is not the time for parties," said Lopez-Gatell. "Let's wait, let's be patient, there will be an opportunity to celebrate," he added regarding the beginning of the December festivities in the country.

Finally, Claudia Sheinbaum, head of the Mexico City government, thanked and called on its population to "make an extraordinary effort" so that, during the period at the red light, anyone who falls ill from COVID-19 "can always have a bed in a hospital". He urged the population to stay at home, to respect physical distance - known in the country as "healthy distance" - to wash their hands frequently, one person per family to shop, and reiterated, on two occasions, to refrain from any kind of external gathering.

Sheinbaum also said that if any person from the capital has been in contact with a person who is sick with COVID-19, they should isolate themselves in quarantine and request medical support to be assigned to a hospital.

COVID-19: Stress associated with alcohol consumption in the U.S.

Peninsula 360 Press

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2020.12.17

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COVID-19: Stress associated with alcohol consumption in the U.S.

Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].

The COVID-19 pandemic, which brought a first order of stay home last March, as well as other stressors for adults in the U.S., such as job loss, are associated with changes in heavy drinking.

According to research published in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse , heavy drinking can be defined as having five or more drinks for men and four or more drinks for women within two hours.

Thus, the study notes that 34 percent of respondents reported heavy drinking during the pandemic, while binge drinkers were more likely to increase their alcohol consumption compared to pre-pandemic - 60% - than non-binge drinkers - 28%.

After adjusting for sociodemographic data, the report reports that for every week's increase in the time people spent at home during the pandemic, there was a 1.21 greater likelihood of heavy drinking.

In turn, households with children were 0.74 less likely to drink excessively during the pandemic compared to households without children

In addition, those who reported a previous diagnosis of depression or depressive symptoms during the pandemic were more likely to drink heavily, compared to those who reported no previous diagnosis or depression during the pandemic.

It should be noted that the study collected data on sociodemographic factors, alcohol consumption and COVID-19-related stressors - household composition, employment status, length of stay at home and depression - through a web survey in the United States.

The research, carried out on 1,982 participants from March to mid-April 2020, used multivariate logistic and multinomial regression models to evaluate the associations between VOC-19-related stressors and excessive alcohol consumption.

Thus, the study also points out that the socio-economic level - NSE - of the sample was relatively high, where more than 70 percent of the respondents reported an annual income of more than $80,000, potentially indicating more disposable income.

Hazardous alcohol consumption has been associated with higher incomes, since in April 2020, Forbes reported that wine and liquor sales had increased by 55 percent in the United States.

The research concludes that specific stressors related to VOC-19 are associated with increased alcohol consumption, so the unintended and side effects of the VOC-19 pandemic could have lasting consequences for the health of the population.