Our health department just reported that 14 additional Long Beach residents have died due to COVID-19. This loss of life is devastating. It is double the largest loss of life we’ve experienced in a single day since the pandemic began.
We have now lost over 333 Long Beach residents. This virus is the single largest threat we have ever faced, and remains the biggest threat to life.
My prayers and love goes out to each and every family, especially now during the holidays. I understand the loss and pain.
I know that for many, fatigue around this pandemic has set in, but now more than ever, our hospitals need all the help we can provide. I am asking you again — please do the right thing.
You can do your part by wearing a mask and continuing to physically distance, even during the vaccination process, which has begun and is going well. I am incredibly thankful to our health care workers and our public health teams who are rolling out the vaccine as quickly as possible.
The magnitude of the loss of life we are experiencing each day is beyond tragic. Please help our health care workers take care of those who have already been hospitalized by staying home. Sacrificing this year’s traditions and celebrations so that we can have many more surrounded by all those we love is worth it.
Many of us derive our identities from our work or our occupations. But few people assume an identity derived from an idea. The Do-Good Daniels did.
Robert, a postal worker turned owner of a cleaning supply business, and Christi Daniels, a program manager for Nordstrom department store have been married for seven years. They have four boys ranging in age from 15 to 6. But generosity was a part of their identity long before they became local celebrities after being featured on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2018.
“It’s important to us to always give when we can,” Christi said. “You could be one paycheck away from having a really hard time.”
At the time, they were living in a two-bedroom apartment in Hawthorne with their sons. Even with their combined income, Southern California housing costs made it difficult to find an abode to comfortably fit their family. Still, they sponsored a family headed by a mother whose husband recently died.
Robert and Christi’s lives changed dramatically when the couple decided to submit a video for the Ellen DeGeneres Geico Skybox contest. Winning would get them a seat in the Geico skybox to watch The Ellen DeGeneres Show live. So the Daniels filmed themselves singing and dancing while dressed like a pair of Santa’s elves.
Although she was a fan of the show, Christi had no previous experience of doing something like that. She said something just told her to do it. But she first had to convince Robert.
When he first heard the idea, he was skeptical. After Christi asked for the fourth time and he saw she was serious, he agreed.
“If we’re going to do this then we gotta do it right,” Robert recalled saying.
Robert described the chain of events, from the making of the video and submitting it to getting a call back from the show within a short period of time almost as a blur.
“When we submitted it, our video instantly won first place,” Robert explained. “They called us like the next morning. It was a really fast process. I’ve never seen a show work like that. I was like what is this about? Then they told us they wanted us in the skybox. It all happened within a week.”
Apparently what clinched the win for the Daniels was a note Christi submitted with the video explaining that the video spiced up their love life. During the show, DeGeneres made light of the note, but the wheels of fate had already begun to turn.
Initially only Christi and Robert were invited to sit in the box seats at the show. When they submitted the video only they were visible. Unseen in the video were the boys, who were singing in the background. The couple reasoned with the staff that because the boys participated in the production of the video they should be able to sit in the skybox with them. The boys weren’t able to sit with them, but the couple was told to bring their boys with them.
Christi explained that while the boys didn’t get to sit in the box seats, DeGeneres’ staff got to observe the family dynamics of the Daniels family and got to know them, particularly as the boys complained about not being able to sit in the skybox and meet Ellen.
It was during this time that Ellen DeGeneres’ staff learned that the family was experiencing financial hardships of their own.
The family made such an impression that they were later invited back to the show, an episode entitled 12 Days of Christmas during which DeGeneres and General Mills Cheerios Cereal gave the family two checks totaling $1 million, $500,0000 for their own financial hardships and $500,000 to give back to the community how they saw fit. The way they spent that money was documented in a web series, naturally called The Do Good Daniels.
Since the series has ended, Robert and Christi have bought a house in San Pedro, where they live with their four boys, RJ, Dylan, Tristan and Houston. They also founded the nonprofit organization, Friendd, which helps families in need.
“We go around, and we kind of just help people that are … just going through life’s challenges,” Robert said. “It’s been really hard [during] the holidays for some people.”
For Robert, it was a no-brainer on how to spend the initial $500,000 donated by DeGeneres and Cheerios.
“Because we already had relationships, we [were] already thinking, ‘How can we do great in the community? Who can we bless? Who can we find?’” he remembered.
The Daniels family used the money to donate Skechers sneakers for the elementary school their children previously attended in South Los Angeles. In addition, they bought a wheelchair accessible van for a nonprofit called Sisters in Watts. They also revamped a community center in a homeless shelter in Los Angeles called A Place Called Home, including the donation of new computers. In addition, they gave $10,000 to a young man who lived at the shelter to help pay for his college tuition.
The family spent the full $500,000 donated to them by The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Cheerios in the series, but since then, the foundation has had personal donors, as well as organizations that it has partnered with.
“That’s the great thing with having this experience,” Robert said. “We have piggybacked off of that, people have seen us with that and wanted to help.”
The foundation has been working with medical professionals that have been fighting the spread of COVID-19. It has partnered with organizations from the San Fernando Valley to visit different hospitals and bring snacks to hospitals, including Torrance Memorial and Little Company of Mary. It has also started its own registry.
Robert and Christi’s children are involved with the organization as well. Robert said they enjoy helping other people, such as giving homeless people food and hygiene products. The entire family volunteers together.
“I love the fact that we get to change people’s lives just by being who we are,” Robert said. “It’s just catapulting us into a whole ‘nother life, to where we get to actually take what we have and share it on a whole other level.”
At one point in his life, Robert aspired to be a pastor, but he now focuses on doing ministry without an official church title. Christi is more interested in couples ministry. She said that many people have asked her for relationship advice.
“People reach out all the time, like, ‘You guys seem to have so much fun,’ or ‘How are you guys doing it with the kids and you guys still have fun with each other, and every time I see you, you guys are so in love,’” Christi said. “That takes work.”
Christi would like to tell their story, and help build strong marriages.
Christi and Robert don’t pretend to be perfect. They’ve had their ups and downs like everyone else. Despite the changes brought to their lives due to The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Christi and Robert are still the same Do Good Daniels giving to others despite their own financial hardships.
“[It’s] very important,” Robert said. “Especially in our homes nowadays, we just don’t have enough fathers that stick around.”
Robert noted that he and Christi are both philanthropists and activists. With the finishing of two books, Robert is set to become an author and a motivational speaker. He even has his own podcast called, RiseshineNdogood. As of late, Robert has taken on a new task: health, fitness and healthy living starting with the mind, body and soul. Anyone who saw him on the DeGeneres show versus now would be shocked by his weight loss journey. Robert has lost 75 pounds.
The first of Robert’s two books, Break the Chain, is a self-help book that draws from his life about overcoming limits, pathways to success, child rearing and avoiding passing on toxic child rearing practices. The other is Robert’s autobiography, Beating All Odds.
Robert was raised by his grandmother. His father was gunned down before he was born. Robert’s mother died from a drug overdose a month and eight days after he was born.
“I was born into this world as a drug baby,” Robert said. “Within that, there were just so many obstacles. … I had to learn how to turn my weaknesses into strengths, because I wasn’t a kid that could learn like everybody else.”
Robert has attention deficit disorder, and trouble with reading and writing. Robert said he didn’t know how to channel his energy or how to get people to pay attention to him so that he could get the help that he needed.
“The book is all about overcoming … in spite of all the things that I’ve been dealing with,” Robert said. “I’ve even been beat, I’ve been … molested, I’ve … just been exposed to some real harsh things growing up, and having to learn how to find my place and give it to my children of what my experiences have been like, so they don’t have to experience the same thing.”
Though their nonprofit is small, Christi and Robert have big plans for San Pedro, where the family has now lived for a year. The plans include trying to help homeless people and support low-income families.
Robert said that he wants Friendd to work with other nonprofits in San Pedro, such as Harbor Interfaith and others engaged in the work of assisting the poor and the disadvantaged.
“It’s very important to us that we find a way to bridge the gap between the nonprofits here and become very familiar with them … becoming familiar with us … combine forces, and try to get what needs to be done around San Pedro,” Robert said.
Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks contributed to this story.
Los Angeles – City Attorney Mike Feuer, along with six California District Attorneys, announced today that a $3.5-million stipulated judgment against Walgreen Co. or Walgreens, has been reached which settles allegations that the pharmacy giant unlawfully disposed of hazardous waste in violation of both state laws and terms from a prior judgment over similar allegations. Judgment was entered by the Alameda County Superior Court and includes civil penalties and costs, supplemental environmental programs and enhanced compliance efforts.
The current settlement follows a 2013-2020 investigation of Walgreens during which time prosecutors allege that the company, the nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain, improperly disposed of hazardous waste in municipal landfills not authorized to accept it. The unlawful waste included items such as over-the-counter and prescription medication, electronic devices, batteries, aerosol products, cleaning supplies and other toxic items generated through the company’s normal business activities. This settlement also resolves allegations that Walgreens failed to shred or otherwise destroy customer records containing confidential information before disposal.
This stipulated judgment requires Walgreens to pay $3.5-million, consisting of $2.8-million in civil penalties, $300,000 in supplemental environmental projects and $400,000 for reimbursement of investigative and enforcement costs. In addition, the settlement requires Walgreens to continue to employ four California-based compliance employees to oversee its hazardous waste compliance program and to undergo waste audits in at least five percent of their California locations to ensure such waste and confidential consumer information is properly disposed of.
This is the second settlement resolving allegations that Walgreens mismanaged hazardous waste in California. In June of 2012, the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office along with several other district attorneys’ offices across the state filed a complaint in Alameda County alleging that Walgreens violated state statutes and regulations governing the handling and disposal of hazardous waste. That lawsuit was ultimately resolved by a stipulated judgment, entered into in December of 2012, for which Walgreens paid $16.57 million in penalties, costs, and funding for supplemental environmental projects, and was required to comply with injunctive terms.
Walgreens, like all retail stores, is required to properly manage hazardous waste that is generated in the normal course of business and to maintain such waste in labeled and segregated containers to ensure that incompatible hazardous waste does not combine to cause dangerous chemical reactions.
LOS Angeles – The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health or Public Health, Dec. 22, has surpassed 9,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths. L.A. County has experienced more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths in just two weeks; on December 8 the County reported 8,000 deaths. This is an average of nearly 73 COVID-19 deaths per day over the past two weeks.
To date, Public Health identified 647,542 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 9,016 deaths. Today, Public Health has confirmed 88 new deaths and 12,954 new cases of COVID-19.
There are 5,866 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 20% of these people are in the ICU. The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 today is again a new high. Today’s daily hospitalization count has increased more than 2,700 daily patients from two weeks ago, when the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 was 3,113.
Testing results are available for more than 4,425,000 individuals with 14% of people testing positive.
The University of Southern California’s Center for Social and Economic Research continues to conduct a weekly representative survey with L.A. County residents about their actions through the pandemic. As cases continue to surge, nearly 80% of survey respondents indicated they visited a grocery store or pharmacy in the past week. Thirty percent of survey respondents indicated they visited a friend, neighbor or relative, and 30% of the respondents indicated they had visitors at their residence.
If the survey is representative of L.A. County residents, more than 3,000,000 residents are not following the safety guidance that directs us to not gather with people outside our immediate household. Being in close physical distance with non-household members, especially when unmasked and not distanced, increases risk and contributes to easy spread of the virus. Many people infected with COVID-19, are asymptomatic and unknowingly spread the disease to others, including to those who have underlying health conditions with increased risk for serious illness and death.
SAN PEDRO — Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office has dedicated $330,000 to a program designed to support struggling restaurants and families in need.
“People are struggling,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “Through no fault of their own, people have lost jobs and wages, and small businesses have been shuttered. We designed this program to get food on families’ tables while at the same time supporting restaurants that are struggling right now.”
The funding is being distributed to ten non-profit organizations across the Fourth Supervisorial District. The non-profits will use the funding to purchase gift cards from small restaurants in their communities and distribute them to local families in need.
Participating non-profits include:
The Volunteer Center South Bay-Harbor-Long Beach
Community Family Guidance Center in Cerritos
Boys & Girls Club of Whittier
Downey Unified School District’s True Lasting Connections Family Resource Center
Feed and be Fed in San Pedro
SBCC/ South Bay Center for Counseling
Rowland Heights Chinese Association
New Horizons Caregivers Group in Hacienda Heights
Latinos in Action in Long Beach
Asian Empowerment Association in Long Beach
YMCA of Greater Long Beach
Of the $330,000, Hahn’s office has allocated $300,000 for restaurant gift cards. $30,000 will be donated to the non-profits for their work identifying families in need and distributing the gift cards.
Participating non-profits are still in the process of selecting restaurants to purchase gift cards from. Small restaurants that do not offer gift cards will be given specially designed vouchers.This program is being funded through discretionary funding allocated to Supervisor Hahn’s office.
LOS ANGELES – As COVID-19 cases across the state soar, Metrolink – Southern California’s regional passenger train service – is again stepping up efforts to keep safe and healthy its riders and employees, the essential workers keeping our communities functioning. Metrolink announced Dec. 22, the addition of new antimicrobial air filters on all its train cars to ensure the air passengers breathe throughout their journey is safe and clean.
In March, Metrolink began implementing a new multi-faceted health and safety program to keep riders and Metrolink employees safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. These efforts include a face-mask requirement at station platforms and aboard trains, enhanced cleaning and sanitizing measures, and partnerships with leading health and safety institutions for guidance on health matters.
The air filters capture airborne microbials and destroy them on contact. The filters screen out 99.99% of the staphylococcus bacteria, 99.91% of the H1N1 virus, 99.96% of E. Coli bacteria and 99.58% of the SARS virus.
The new filters work with Metrolink’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning or HVAC system, which is itself another protective layer. Intake vents draw in outside air, send it through the HVAC system, then distribute the filtered and cleaned air into the cars. Through this process, the filters screen out and kill not only viral and bacterial particles, but biological and atmosphere odors, providing a more pleasant experience for riders.
Long Beach received $40.28 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding this summer. The City Council approved a spending plan for the CARES Act funding in July to help support residents, businesses and nonprofit organizations during the pandemic.
Twenty-three CARES Act programs have been implemented in Long Beach across six City departments.
LOS ANGELES – The County of Los Angeles Dec. 22, announced that $46.2 million of federal CARES Act funding has been distributed to more than 1,400 community-based businesses to help retain or hire employees, implement COVID-19-related safety measures, and comply with local health orders. At the direction of the Board of Supervisors, the Los Angeles County Department of Workforce Development, Aging, and Community Services or WDACS, along with REDF, a venture philanthropy focused on building the employment social enterprise sector, partnered to provide these CARES Act funds to small businesses, social enterprises, B corporations, non-profits, and Community Business Enterprises or CBE, located in economically disadvantaged communities throughout Los Angeles County. The businesses that received funding represent a wide variety of products and services, from restaurants to education and childcare to retail. More than 1,400 small businesses and non-profit organizations were awarded funding, out of more than 2,400 total applicants. This is a 60% acceptance rate. 34% of funding went to businesses or non-profit organizations led by people of color A total of $46.2 million was awarded to businesses and non-profit organizations throughout all five Supervisorial Districts in Los Angeles County, helping to avert more than 5,700 estimated layoffs. $33.3 million was awarded to small businesses $12.7 million was awarded to social enterprises, B-Corps, and CBEs
LONG BEACH— The City of Long Beach Dec. 22, reached a grim milestone, reporting 14 new fatalities from COVID-19. This is the highest number of fatalities Long Beach has ever reported in a single day — the previous record of deaths reported in a single day, set on Dec. 14, was seven.
These deaths were preventable. Over Thanksgiving, people gathered with their family and friends. This massive exposure created a surge, not only among those who gathered but also afterward through community spread.
Our average number of new cases went from 47 per day, on Nov. 1, to 622 on Dec. 18. That’s an increase of 1223%. We know that hospitalizations increase about two weeks after a surge begins, and deaths typically follow two weeks after that. Our actions from this past month are coming home to roost.
And hospitalizations keep going up: Since Thanksgiving, the number of Long Beach residents hospitalized with COVID-19 increased from 67 to 154, a 129% increase, and hospitalizations in our area hospitals increased from 111 to 367, an increase of 230%. The number of weekly deaths has more than tripled. Sadly, we will hit more milestones regarding daily fatalities.
We can and must stop this trend.
For many people, Christmas is the most important holiday of the year. It connects them to their family and their faith. I know it’s hard to be away from loved ones at this time of year — it’s hard for me, too. But I urge you, even if you feel you and your friends and family have been safe, to gather only with the members of your own household. We are seeing a big surge in testing so that people can find out if they are safe to travel or gather. A negative test only tells you that the virus is not detectable at the time of the test. But it can take a few days after you’ve been exposed to the virus before you have a positive test yourself, so traveling with a negative test today doesn’t mean you aren’t bringing COVID-19 with you to your Christmas gathering.
Since the pandemic began, 26,717 people in Long Beach have tested positive for COVID-19. Many of them are still actively infected and, thus, contagious. And of the 333 Long Beach residents who have died, 63 passed away just this past month. They were our neighbors, our parents, our children and our friends.
If we don’t want to see another, even stronger surge, we need to make sacrifices this holiday season. Stay home as much as you possibly can; wear a face covering over your nose and mouth whenever you are out; and whatever you do, don’t gather with others outside your household, either inside or outside. Our lives depend on it.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health or Public Health has confirmed 56 new deaths and 11,271 new cases of COVID-19. To date, Public Health identified 634,849 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 8,931 deaths.
Since November 9, average daily deaths have increased from 12 average deaths per day to 84 average deaths per day last week.
Since the beginning of the surge in November, cases have increased by a staggering 862%. For the past three weeks, the County has nearly tripled the daily average number of cases; from 4,000 new cases a day to over 14,000 new cases a day.
Public Health again confirms the highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations reported in a day with 5,709 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized. Of the 5,709 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized, 21% of these people are in the ICU. Since November 9, average daily hospitalizations of people with COVID-19 increased more than 650%.
Without a change in how we celebrate the winter holidays, Public Health warns that Los Angeles County will experience a surge on top of a surge on top of a surge. Hospitals are already over capacity and the high-quality medical care we are accustomed to in LA County is beginning to be compromised as our frontline healthcare workers are beyond stretched to the limit.
L.A. County continues to experience a surge in cases among healthcare workers. This past week, 2,191 healthcare workers tested positive for COVID-19. In the last three weeks there have been over 5,500 new cases among healthcare workers. In early November there were 40 new cases among healthcare workers per day; last week there were 313 new cases of COVID-19 among healthcare workers per day.
The significant increases in cases among our healthcare system is happening at the very time we need our healthcare workers healthy and available to treat the thousands of new COVID-19 patients, and all the other urgent cases that enter our hospitals.
The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine recently received emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to prevent COVID-19 severe illness and shipments began going out on Sunday. In addition to the Pfizer vaccine, this is the second COVID-19 vaccine that is allowed to be distributed throughout the country. Public Health anticipates receiving 116,600 doses of the Moderna vaccine in this first shipment later this week. These vaccines will be used to protect workers and residents at 338 skilled nursing facilities in L.A. County. Estimates indicate that 70,000 healthcare workers and residents in these facilities will be offered the Moderna vaccine. Vaccine also will go to L.A. County EMTs and paramedics on the frontlines of the pandemic. Public Health anticipates nearly 16,000 EMTs and paramedics will be receiving the Moderna vaccine in this first round. Additionally, Moderna vaccine doses will be used to inoculate an additional 300 healthcare worker teams serving as vaccinators and recorders.
Last week, L.A. County received its first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine. This shipment represented 82,873 doses that have been distributed to 83 acute care hospitals through the county. A second allotment of 48,750 Pfizer vaccine is anticipated to arrive this week and will continue to be used to vaccinate healthcare workers at acute care hospitals.
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