Los Angeles Times - 07.03.2020

B2 LATIMES.COM

of residents and travelers
continue to make their way
to Disneyland.
Park officials say they are
taking precautions to keep
visitors safe, noting that
they are relying on guidance
from the federal Centers for
Disease Control and Preven-
tion.
“As part of our commit-
ment to the health and well-
being of our cast members,
guests and the larger com-
munity we are carefully
monitoring the situation
and are in regular contact
with health agencies for in-
formation and guidance,”
park officials said on their
website. Additionally, the
park said it has an onsite
health team and is training
employees about illness pre-
vention.
Meanwhile, other theme
parks were taking similar
measures. In a statement,
Six Flags Magic Mountain
said it had enhanced sanita-
tion efforts in public areas.
“We have added more
anti-bacterial soap and alco-
hol-based hand sanitizers,”
the park said in a statement.
“We are ensuring guest and
employee access to these
preventive enhancements
throughout all areas of the
park, especially in rest-
rooms, food locations and
employee break areas. We
are also encouraging guests
and employees to practice
good hygiene with frequent
and rigorous hand washing.”
These are on the check-
list health officials are issued
for dealing with the virus. In
general, experts have said,
it’s fine to be out in public un-
less you are sick. But Santa
Clara County on Wednesday
suggested that high-risk in-
dividuals — the elderly and
people with a history of poor
health — avoid large public
gatherings.
At Disneyland, many rea-
soned that you could get sick
just about anywhere in the

world. Might as well take

some reasonable precau-

tions, but don’t let fear get in

the way of having fun.

At the park’s entrance, as

the orchestral version of

Snow White’s “Heigh-Ho”

played on speakers, Louiz

Elvira and his wife, Trisha,

were trying to locate a brick

they had sponsored that had

their names etched on it.

The couple, who live just

outside of Oakland, said

they went to the amusement

park after the postpone-

ment of the Natural Prod-

ucts Expo West — scheduled

for the Anaheim Convention

Center — led to hotel cancel-

lations and cheaper room

rates. “The rooms were half-

price so we said, we’re book-

ing it,” Trisha Elvira said.

“But I was very worried to

come here.”

“She was worried about

the crowds and close con-

tact,” her husband said.

“Yeah, it makes me nerv-

ous, but then I finally had to

say forget it, if it happens it

happens,” she said.

The couple said every-

thing they read about the

virus suggested that the

people most vulnerable to it

were elderly and suffering

from other illnesses. None of

those things applied to

them, so they decided the

trip was well worth it.

“As long as you wash your

hands like they say and use

hand sanitizing, I think it’s

OK,” Louiz Elvira said.

Inside the park, there

were only the most subtle

hints that people were think-

ing about the coronavirus.

Some bought hand sani-

tizers from stands. Some

employees joked about in-

vesting in hand sanitizing

companies. There were sani-

tizing stations at restau-

rants. Parents used sanitiz-

ing wipes to clean the hands

of their children. But some

of the most visible acces-

sories for the coronavirus-

concerned — latex gloves

and masks — were uncom-

mon sights. That made Dis-

neyland feel pretty much like

Disneyland on any other

day.

People scrambled to get

photos of Pluto, Mickey

Mouse and Donald Duck.

The cast members hugged

and waved. (No air hugs to

be seen.) The Straw Hatters

played traditional jazz on

the park’s Main Street

U.S.A. while people recorded

and snapped photos.

At the Shooting Expos-

ition in Frontierland, Lind-

say Rasmussen, 26, rum-

maged through her green

backpack. After a few sec-

onds, she pulled out a dollar.

She walked over to exchange

it for quarters at a machine

with her boyfriend, Jarin

McClinton, 32. They in-

serted the coins, then

grabbed rifles and began

shooting at targets as the

sound of thunder and ani-

mals echoed.

The couple — he from

Washington, D.C., she from

Santa Fe, N.M. — said they

weren’t worried about the

virus, given their ages and

good health.

The couple said they

were using sanitizer and

washing their hands. But

Rasmussen conceded that

she wished she had used

sanitizing wipes after hold-

ing the rifle.

“I was very conscious of

it,” she said.

“What are you going to

do?” McClinton said. “There

are so many rides where

you’re going to be touching

things.”

At the park’s Star Wars:

Galaxy’s Edge, some visitors

joked about the plausibility

of finding coronavirus in a

galaxy far, far away. “I heard

there was no coronavirus on

[the planet of] Batuu,” Josh

Graves said, chuckling.

Graves, 33, of North Hol-

lywood, had come to the

park with his wife, Gabrielle,

30, and their son Will, 4. He

said the coronavirus was on

their minds and they’d mo-

mentarily been concerned

for their son. But, like others,

they reasoned that their

youth and health made

them less likely to get ill.

Gabrielle Graves said she

was worried at first because

of the large crowds and the

number of visitors from

other countries. She said

two other families were ex-

pected to come with them to

Disneyland but canceled.

They urged the Graveses not

to go to the park, adding to

her fears. But ultimately the

family decided to come.

As a precaution, they

were washing their hands

and using antibacterial

wipes on dining tables.

“What are we doing to not

get sick, Will?” Gabrielle

Graves asked her son.

Dressed as “Star Wars”

character Kylo Ren, the boy

remained quiet.

“The Force is keeping

him well,” Josh Graves said

with a laugh.

Vir us

concerns

don’t

halt visits

DISNEYLANDofficials said they are taking precautions to keep visitors safe,

relying on guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Allen J. SchabenLos Angeles Times

[Park,from B1]

Blood donations have

started to dwindle as cases

of novel coronavirus contin-

ue to rise.

The toll of the illness has

so far been especially pro-

nounced in the West Coast,

where at least 11 deaths have

been reported in Washing-

ton state and at least one in

California.

But the decrease in dona-

tions has been widespread,

with the American Assn. of

Blood Banks saying that a

number of blood drives in

the U.S. have been canceled,

including one that was ex-

pected to collect 500 units —

enough to help about 1,

patients. (Each donation

can help roughly three peo-

ple.)

The American Red

Cross, one of AABB’s part-

ners, has also reported can-

cellations in blood dona-

tions.

There is currently no

blood supply shortage in the

country. But Eduardo

Nunes, vice president of

quality, standards and ac-

creditation for AABB, said it

would be cause for serious

concern if the decline contin-

ues for weeks over fears of

falling ill to COVID-19.

Experts say the decrease

may simply be related to

people’s fears of gathering in

public and contracting the

virus from others.

A blood donation has a

shelf life of 42 days. To keep

the supply stable, constant

donations are necessary.

“The use of blood seems

to be steady at this point

while collections are drop-

ping,” Nunes said. “We’ve

had a steady depletion of

inventory over the past

few weeks, with no sign that

we’ll be able to make up defi-

cit.”

Before the outbreak of

coronavirus, there was al-

ready a strain on the blood

supply, said Dr. Claudia

Cohn, chief medical officer

for AABB.

One possible reason for

that is that older people —

who have been deemed one

of the most at-risk for the

virus — had been the most

engaged when it came to giv-

ing blood.

But as this demographic

shrinks, others are not filling

the void.

“Younger generations are

not showing up in the num-

bers as the ‘Greatest Gener-

ation’ ” Cohn said. “That is

the fact.”

Officials are already tak-

ing precautionary measures

to boost donations.

The San Diego Blood

Bank in San Diego County,

which has not yet reported

any confirmed cases of the

virus, is asking for donations

in anticipation of possible

travel restrictions that may

arise as the number of cases

continues to grow.

In Washington state,

where at least 11 people have

died, the public health de-

partment said this week

that the coronavirus has af-

fected the state’s blood sup-

ply.

“The COVID-19 outbreak

is starting to impact the

blood supply in [Washing-

ton]. Anyone who is symp-

tom-free is encouraged to

donate blood!” the depart-

ment tweeted.

Curt Bailey, president of

Seattle nonprofit Blood-

works, issued a public call for

1,000 people to donate at a lo-

cal community blood center.

Still, the Red Cross is ask-

ing that people who have re-

cently traveled to China,

Iran, Italy and South Korea

or have come into contact

with a person suspected of

having the virus, refrain

from making a donation for

28 days.

“We ask that only healthy

people give blood,” Cohn

said, emphasizing that peo-

ple are unlikely to be ex-

posed to a knowingly sick in-

dividual at a blood drive be-

cause good health is a re-

quirement to donate.

Blood banks say

donations down

Officials worry that

coronavirus spread

could affect supply.

By Colleen Shalby

At a town hall 16 months
ago, Los Angeles Mayor Eric
Garcetti and City Council-
man Mike Bonin endured a
public flogging from resi-
dents who were incensed by
a plan to build a homeless
shelter across the street
from some of the priciest
real estate in Venice.
The opposition contin-
ued, first with a scathing so-
cial media campaign and
then with a lawsuit.
But all that was only a
bittersweet memory last
week, when Garcetti and
Bonin stood before an ap-
preciative crowd of home-
less advocates and service
providers to open Pacific
Sunset, a 154-bed bridge
home shelter for men, wom-
en and young adults. It was
built — rapidly — across
from that pricey real estate
on the site of a vacant Met-
ropolitan Transportation
Authority storage yard.
“We will never let opposi-
tion stop us from the great-
est fight of our lives,”
Garcetti said Tuesday, re-
calling the night he de-
scribed as “the most trau-
matic public meeting I’ve
ever done.”
The opening of the Venice
shelter was the emotional
highlight of several events
over the last two weeks,
demonstrating that mo-
mentum is finally building to
address street homeless-
ness in the city and county of
Los Angeles.
On Feb. 20, Garcetti had
appeared with Councilman
Paul Krekorian under De-
partment of Water and
Power utility lines in North
Hollywood to celebrate the
completion of the city’s first
so-called navigation center,
where homeless people can
store their possessions in 120
bins, use the showers and
toilets and connect with
case managers.
On Feb. 24, Gov. Gavin
Newsom visited families
who were moving into tem-

porary homes in 10 state

emergency trailers that, on

his order, were donated to

the county, trucked to South

Los Angeles and installed on

a former city parking lot.

Then on Wednesday, the

day after the Venice facility

opened, Garcetti joined

Councilman David Ryu for

the groundbreaking on what

will be a 100-bed shelter on

Riverside Drive in Los Feliz.

That shelter, scheduled

to open in early summer, will

be one of four in Ryu’s dis-

trict and among the 25 shel-

ters that Garcetti has prom-

ised will be open by July, pro-

viding 2,000 emergency shel-

ter beds under his A Bridge

Home program. Ten of those

shelters are open with 673

beds.

And on Friday, the skid

row nonprofit Union Rescue

Mission held a groundbreak-

ing for a 374-bed shelter it is

building with private financ-

ing in South L.A. Angeles

House, scheduled for com-

pletion next year, will be a

three-story building provid-

ing private quarters with

kitchens and bathrooms to

86 families, said Andy Bales,

the mission’s president.

Los Angeles County

opened a new 40-bed shelter

in San Pedro on Monday.

The $300,000 renovation of a

former county health clinic

on West 8th Street was com-

pleted in six weeks, Supervi-

sor Janice Hahn’s office said.

It will be run by Harbor In-

terfaith Council.

Plans for the Venice shel-

ter triggered a lawsuit by an

advocacy group, the Venice

Stakeholders Assn., arguing

that the city and other gov-

ernment agencies had failed

to properly review how “this

large and extraordinary

project” would affect the

neighborhood.

A Superior Court judge

ruled against the group, cit-

ing a state law, championed

by Assemblyman Miguel

Santiago (D-Los Angeles),

that exempts any shelter or

homeless housing project in

Los Angeles from the Cali-

fornia Environmental Qual-

ity Act if it receives funding

from key state and local

sources.

At the opening last week,

Garcetti and Bonin were

met by an appreciative

crowd, affirming that the re-

sistance they faced was a mi-

nority of Venice residents.

“If the price of making

sure that the kids of Venice

don’t need to walk in the

middle of the street to get to

school because the side-

walks are filled with en-

campments is a string of

profanities on my social me-

dia accounts, that’s the price

we will pay because the al-

ternative is just absolutely

unthinkable,” Bonin said.

Pointing out wildlife mu-

rals painted on the shelter

buildings by local artists,

Bonin said the project was

“by and of ” Venice, not just

for Venice.

The 3.15-acre campus will

include an outdoor covered

eating area and an area for

pets. The main building, a

steel-frame, plastic-skinned

temporary structure, is di-

vided into two bays with cu-

bicles and cots for 66 men

and 34 women. The 54 youth

beds are distributed over

five modular buildings. Ad-

ditional modular buildings

hold showers and bath-

rooms and offices for staff.

Meals will be served from

a food truck.

The $8.5-million Venice

shelter received funding

from the city, the state and

private donors, including an

anonymous $3-million dona-

tion. L.A. County will pay for

operations.

The nonprofit group Peo-

ple Assisting the Homeless

will run the shelter and pro-

vide services for adults.

Venice-based Safe Place for

Youth will serve the young

adults, ages 18 to 24.

As soon as the crowd dis-

persed last week, People As-

sisting the Homeless began

admitting clients who had

been pre-selected by out-

reach workers from Safe

Place for Youth and the

Venice-based St. Joseph

Center. By Thursday, 58

adults and 26 youths had

checked in.

The navigation center in

North Hollywood is a more

modest facility, with a row of

showers and toilets, a large

modular building filled with

120 trash-can-style storage

bins and a smaller building

for staff.

After it opens Thursday,

it will be a daytime drop-in

center only.

During the ceremony

marking its completion, site

director Laurie Craft of the

homeless services organiza-

tion Hope for the Valley ac-

knowledged that such cen-

ters have been criticized as

Band-Aids rather than a so-

lution.

“Band-Aids facilitate and

promote healing,” Craft

said. “They prevent things

from getting worse.... Navi-

gation centers are entry

points into the system. They

are places for people to be-

gin, to prevent an individu-

al’s housing crisis from get-

ting worse.”

By summer, it will be-

come an access point for two

East Valley shelters now

under construction.

A push by the city, the

county and St. Joseph Cen-

ter, and an outpouring of vol-

unteer labor, transformed a

city parking lot into SOLA

Open Air, the new South

L.A. trailer home, in only

three weeks.

It began with a call from

county Supervisor Mark

Ridley-Thomas to Va Lecia

Adams Kellam, St. Joseph’s

president, asking if she

would be interested in run-

ning a pop-up shelter in the

parking lot on the same

block as the agency’s South

Los Angeles satellite near

85th Street and Broadway.

“I knew this could hap-

pen,” Adams Kellam said. “I

was so ready for the call.”

Leases were executed,

permits were obtained, util-

ities were installed and wel-

come kits were prepared, all

for an estimated $300,000,

plus several thousand dol-

lars in donations.

As of last week, nine fam-

ilies had moved in and the

10th was on the way. All had

been living on the street, in

cars or in vans when St. Jo-

seph outreach workers told

them homes were waiting.

“You never hear of any-

thing happening that

quickly,” Adams Kellam

said.

Progress in homelessness response

PACIFIC SUNSET, a 154-bed bridge home shelter for men, women and young adults, was built — rapidly —

across from pricey Venice land on the site of a vacant Metropolitan Transportation Authority storage yard.

Irfan KhanLos Angeles Times

Opening of a shelter

in Venice is highlight

of an eventful 2 weeks

of fresh momentum.

By Doug Smith