Update: A body has been found in the area where Roberto Camou went missing

East County Wildfire & Emergency Alerts

April 26, 2020 (Otay) – An intensive search is underway for Bobby Camou, who went on a solo ride on his dirt bike round 10 a.m. yesterday but did not return home.  His daughter, Katie Camou  posted on Facebook this morning, “We are fairly certain he went riding in the Otay Mountains near home. He had planned on being home around 4:30 p.m. and we last heard from him at 12:20 p.m. when he sent us a snap shot of himself taking a break, so not hearing from him is making us very scared.”

According to her post, his phone was pinged last night around 10:30 p.m. San Diego Sheriff and Border Patrol have been conducting searches during today’s high heat with dogs, all-terrain vehicles, drones and helicopters.

April 25, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) - East County Magazine's World Watch helps you be an informed citizen on important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

• House passes $484B coronavirus relief package  (The Hill)
• 8 in 10 American support COVID-19 shutdown, Kaiser Health poll finds (NPR)
• Tribal gaming operations eligible for payroll help (Indian Country Today)
• Trump to suspend U.S. immigration for 60 days, citing pandemic, jobs shortage (Washington Post)
• Trump to halt most green cards, with notable exceptions (Politico)
• These US citizens won't get coronavirus stimulus checks — because their spouses are immigrants (MSN)
• Governors team up to discuss reopening their states. Trump asserts “total” authority to overrule them. (New York Times)
• ‘They’re Death Pits’: Virus Claims at Least 7,000 Lives in U.S. Nursing Homes (New York Times)
• Trump calls to 'liberate' states where protesters have demanded easing coronavirus lockdowns (USA Today)
• The anti-quarantine protests seem spontaneous. But behind the scenes, a powerful network is helping (Washington Post)

WORLD

• China Imposes New Limits as Coronavirus Fears Return (New York Times)
• Imams Overrule Pakistan’s Coronavirus Lockdown as Ramadan Nears (New York Times)
• Limits on testing in Brazil are hiding the true dimensions of Latin America’s largest outbreak (Washington Post)
• Indonesia has the world's biggest Muslim population. It just banned holiday travel over Ramadan (CNN)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

By Katie Cadiao, County of San Diego Communications Office

April 24, 2020 (San Diego) - The number of local COVID-19 deaths went up by two and total cases saw a record increase for a second day in a row with an additional 183 confirmed cases, the County Health and Human Services Agency announced today.

By Chris Jennewein, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Network

Photo:  Lifeguards enforce the closure of city beaches. Photo by Chris Stone

April 24, 2020 (San Diego) - San Diego County officials announced Friday that coastal cities may reopen beach access for swimming, surfing, paddleboarding and kayaking on Monday.

“The ocean is a symbol of who we are as San Diegans, and it is appropriate at this point that we open up limited access to the ocean as a step in our continued progress,” said Fletcher at the county’s daily media briefing during the coronavirus pandemic..

East County News Service

April 24, 2020 (Washington D.C.) – After the first round of Small Business Administration (SBA) funds for businesses impacted by COVID-19 ran out, Congress approved a new round of funding just signed into law by President Donald Trump.  

The funding window for the new round of funding under the Paycheck Protection, which is designed to help small businesses retain workers, opens Monday morning and must be submitted through an approved lender.  Applications previously submitted before the earlier round of funding runs out are also eligible for funding.

Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration Jovita Carranza and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin issued the following statement today on the resumption of the Payroll Protection Program (PPP):

By Al Chavarria

April 24, 2020 (Spring Valley) -- The most important element of our nation is our democracy. The right to vote is as basic of a right as we have. The right to have your voice heard in a nation of multiple voices shouting at the same time. The only way to decide on who will be our leaders is for the majority to decide and the only to do that is to vote! Simple and Patriotic, right?

So obviously with the current pandemic, the only safe way to achieve this in this coming election, is to VOTE BY MAIL. All  states need to prepare now and they should not be afraid to implement this strategy for fear of losing elections.

By Mike Allen

Photo: Clockwise L-R: John Minto, Laura Koval, Ronn Hall, Rob McNelis, Stephen Houlahan, and City Clerk Annette Ortiz

April 24, 2020 (Santee) -- Santee is getting $162,000 as part of the federal government’s $2 trillion stimulus package approved last month to help offset the devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The aid comes from the $150 billion portion of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act aimed at helping the states, counties and cities in responding to the coronavirus. This is the same law that included one-time payments to most tax-paying Americans of $1,200 among a wide variety of economic relief programs intended to mitigate the upheaval caused by the pandemic.

Story and photos by Jake Zawlacki

Photo, left:  Homeless man Mike in downtown La Mesa, April 21, 2020

April 22, 2020 (San Diego’s East County) -- “Things are different,” said Mike, a local homeless man, as I spoke with him in downtown La Mesa yesterday. “Everyone’s afraid of the homeless.”

Mike typifies many homeless individuals living across East County with nowhere to go. The recent halt of new intakes at the East County Transitional Living Center  in El Cajon is only one example of doors closing to homeless people. Just a block from the closed Wells Park in El Cajon, you can see almost 20 migrated homeless individuals now camped in the parking lot outside of the Neighborhood Healthcare Facility.

“We can’t really take showers anymore,” Mike said.

By Rebecca Jefferis Williamson

(Photo, at left, courtesy of Taryl Townsend)

April 21, 2020 (Lakeside) – For East County kids who raise pigs, cattle, sheep or goats through the Future Farmers of America program, a highlight each year is the live auction of their animals at the San Diego County Junior Fair. But due to the fair’s cancellation  amid the COVID-19 quarantine, the Eastern San Diego County Junior Fair’s market animals auction will be held virtually on May 14.

 Don Dyer of Alpine, president of the Eastern San Diego County Jr. Fair (ESDCJF) Lakeside division says the judging, typically done in person, will be switched to online video presentations of the animals. 

“Virtualstockshow.com will facilitate the judging and then the sale of the animals,” Dyer told ECM. “The exhibitors will make a 90 second video showing their market animals which will be evaluated and placed by the fair’s judges. Exhibitors will sign up and submit their videos on Saturday, May 9th.  Judging will happen on Thursday, May 14th, and the auction will be held online on Saturday May16th starting at noon.” 

East County News Service

April 21, 2020 (San Diego) - In April, CalFresh recipients will receive an Emergency Allotment (EA) on their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Card. This benefit was authorized by House Resolution 6201 – The Families First Act signed into law on March 18, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy of Times of San Diego

April 20, 2020 (San Diego) – Over the weekend, hundreds of people held protests locally to call for reopening of parks, beaches and businesses shut down due to county and state health orders to prevent spread of COVID-19.   The protesters gathered in defiance of a county ban on all gatherings and failed even to provide social distancing or wear mask, putting themselves and anyone they come in contact with at risk of catching the highly contagious virus.

Today, the San Diego Sheriff and San Diego Police Department issued a statement which warns, “Although the protests were allowed to take place, we must not forget the public health orders were put in place to protect our communities from the spread of COVID-19. While no citations were issued at the protests, that does not mean prosecution will not be sought, especially to the organizers of these events.”