HOPEFULS FOR 79TH SPEAK ON PANDEMIC RESPONSE
Five for Assembly discuss schools, testing, recovery
As soon as COVID-19 vaccines arrived in San Diego County, state Assembly candidate Akilah Weber, a physician with Rady Children’s Hospital and UC San Diego Health, got in line to receive her first shot.
One of her opponents, San Diego businessman Marco Contreras, said recently he’s open to receiving a COVID-19 shot when it’s his turn, but he hasn’t decided whether to get vaccinated.
Their differing stances on vaccination is a reflection of how differently each of the five candidates running for the open seat in California’s 79th Assembly District approaches pandemic questions.
Voters get to decide this spring who will fill the post former Assemblywoman Shirley Weber held before she was appointed California Secretary of State.
Contenders for the seat include Democrats Akilah Weber, an obstetrician/gynecologist and La Mesa Councilwoman who also is Shirley Weber’s daughter; restorative justice consultant Aeiramique Glass; labor organizer Leticia Munguia; teacher and union leader Shane Parmely, and Republican businessman Marco Contreras.
As infection rates decline in San Diego, the candidates’ positions on vaccine distribution, testing, and reopening schools and businesses are becoming key points in their campaigns.
As of Wednesday , San Diego had 8.8 cases of coronavirus per hundred thousand people — down from nearly 70 per hundred thousand in January. And the percentage of COVID-19 tests that confirm infections was 2.9 percent, a sharp drop from its January high of over 14 percent positivity. Those numbers place the county on the cusp of the less restrictive red tier of COVID-19 restrictions, which would allow more schools and businesses to reopen.
In interviews with the San Diego Union Tribune’s Editorial Board, the candidates took a look back at what they consider are the state’s missteps during the pandemic and looked ahead to the next phase of recovery.
As a state representative, Akilah Weber said, she would have pressed for quicker turnaround of COVID-19 tests at the start of the pandemic, with convenient testing locations in all communities. Tests at the hospitals where she works returned results in 24 hours, she said, while many county testing sites took three to seven days to provide results, leaving up to a week in which an infected patient could spread the illness.
“As a region we needed to make sure that there was testing available and accessible,” she said. “We needed to make sure that regardless of where you were, that the testing came back within 24 hours.”
Glass said the state could have improved its communication strategy on COVID-19, particularly to underserved communities hit hardest by the pandemic.
“I would have credible messengers out there, holding socially distanced events, knocking on doors,” she said. “I would have put money and resources into making sure people had vaccinations, had (personal
Police on Thursday released the name of a 23-year-old man who was found shot to death in his apartment in El Cajon last month.
Police identified him as Jaylin Moore. Aside from his name, police declined to release new information about the investigation into the Feb. 26 homicide.
Lt. Keith MacArthur previously said officers checked on reports of gunfire about 4:10 a.m. in the area of Magnolia Avenue south of East Washington but didn’t find a crime scene.