The Plot, as Waite likes to say, is essentially the brick-and-mortar manifestation of her personal ethos. She’s a longtime vegan activist, and the restaurant was designed to be entirely plant-based and as close to zero waste as humanly possible. Waite herself raised the more than $1 million necessary to transform a 4,400-square-foot building on Coast Highway that used to be a sushi house.  

When The Plot welcomed the public for the first time, Waite was apprehensive but hopeful. 

“Then we had what I consider to be the most incredible opening I could have imagined,” said Waite, a 2012 alumna of Cal State San Marcos. “Our team was great, and the revenue numbers were better than I projected. We had all of February, a month’s worth of data, to see that this model works.” 

By mid-March, only six weeks after the big night, Waite’s world had been turned upside-down – not by a fickle dining industry but by a global pandemic that has devastated nearly every sector of the economy.  

Of course, she’s far from alone. Food and drink companies across San Diego County, and the nation, have been hit especially hard by the coronavirus, and among those trying to weather the storm are multiple small businesses owned and operated by CSUSM alumni.  

Here are the stories of Waite and two others facing the financial fight of their lives. 

The restaurateur 

Waite doesn’t beat around the bush when encapsulating her feelings after her number of open restaurants suddenly went from three to zero less than two months ago.

“It was beyond devastating,” she said. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do as a businesswoman. Just because I’m finally finding a little bit of emotional resilience doesn’t mean that I wasn’t literally in tears for days trying to work my way through this and figure out how to deal with it in the most intentional and best way possible.”

Almost overnight, the number of employees at The Plot and the other two eateries – the Wrench & Rodent Seabasstropub and The Whet Noodle – shrank from nearly 40 to only a handful, and that includes her two partners in The Plot venture (husband Davin Waite, a sushi chef, and Christopher Logan).

After the closings, Waite took a couple of days to salvage as much produce as she could from all three restaurants and, on March 19, launched The Plot Express, the name for her new takeout-based business model. It was originally open for online orders daily from noon to 8 p.m. so Waite could get a sense for customer demand, but she since has scaled back the days and hours to Wednesday through Sunday from 2-8.

The Wrench & Rodent, which specializes in sushi, reopened about a week later and now serves takeout Thursday through Sunday from 4-8. The Whet Noodle, a ramen shop in the same space as Wrench, remains closed.

Waite said both open restaurants are now up to about four or five employees daily, which often includes herself and her fellow owners.

“The Plot Express is holding strong – not crazy busy but staying consistent. Wrench has been quite busy, and we are so grateful for the outpouring of local support,” she said, adding that her team is using the days off to give Wrench, now 7 years old, a much-needed facelift.

Waite has yet to receive any federal money through the multiple relief packages passed by Congress, though she hopes to be part of the next round of funding. She thinks her restaurants could survive at this pace for an extended period if necessary. Of course, she didn’t go into this business, and create a labor of love like The Plot, merely to survive on pickup orders with a skeleton crew.

“We’re not digging a hole by staying open. We’ll be able to at least pay our bills and keep a few staff members on,” Waite said. “But what we lost when we closed our doors to dine-in service is bigger than just our teams. There’s something about hospitality that I loved more than I realized.

“The Plot is not just a business that we take a paycheck from. Everybody who works for it believes strongly in what we’re doing.”

While she waits for the economy, and life in America, to return to some semblance of normal, Waite tries to focus on the positive. Like the renewed enthusiasm she has noticed during the pandemic for local organic farms, including one in Oceanside owned by pop music star Jason Mraz, a community partner of The Plot. Like the local business owner who bought $2,000 worth of Wrench gift cards before the restaurant even reopened out of a desire to help keep it afloat.

Like the City of Oceanside funding a meal program to serve vulnerable populations; the city purchases meals from local restaurants like The Plot, which in turn gives them to organizations in need.

“This is an opportunity to see how strong and resilient your community, friends and coworkers are,” Waite said. “People come into the restaurants and say, ‘We’re here because we want to support you. Thank you for being here, and we want to keep you here.’ I hear that every day, maybe 50 times a day, and it’s so awesome.”

The chocolatier 

Dayleen Coleman admits that she has had a lot of sleepless nights since COVID-19 began wreaking havoc on the economy in mid-March.

It’s no wonder. Coleman, a 2005 CSUSM alumna, is the proprietor of D’Liteful Chocolat, a chocolate shop and patisserie in Lake San Marcos. Filling orders for events makes up 70% of her revenue, and events are out of the question for the time being. And with the retail shop closed to walk-in customers, she estimates that overall revenue is at 15% of normal.

“Basically what we have coming in is just going to pay rent,” Coleman said. “It doesn’t cover payroll, workers comp, all the other things. So that’s what’s keeping me up at night.”

Coleman could have become despondent. Instead, she got resourceful.

On April 1, she launched the D’Liteful Chocolate Club, a monthly service that offers curated boxes of chocolates and other signature treats at a discounted price for pickup, delivery to addresses within a 10-mile radius, or shipping to San Diego and Riverside counties. Coleman modeled it after wine clubs from talking to business connections who work in the industry.

“We’re really hopeful,” she said. “If it does well, then it will be our lifeline and we’ll be OK. They say that tough times bring great ideas. This crisis is making us all get creative and think about other ways that we can make our businesses work, which in the end will only give us another source of revenue.”

Coleman, though, has been frustrated by the lack of federal assistance. She said she hasn’t received any money from the $2 trillion CARES Act and that she’s still waiting for a loan from her bank as part of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). She hasn’t been forced to lay off any of her seven employees (two left on their own), but their hours have been curtailed considerably.

“I’m used to having a certain level of control, and I feel like all the control has been taken away,” Coleman said. “We’re basically counting on our government to kind of rescue us, and they’re all over the place.

“I’m not scared of going under. I’m just scared of what it’s going to look like in the end. I know I’ll have the bones of a business, but I don’t know how much I’m going to have to rebuild.”

The brewer 

Spring is when the sun starts emerging, the tourists start traveling, and in San Diego – the so-called “capital of craft” – the beer starts flowing. In anticipation of increased demand, Culver Beer Co. in Carlsbad brewed about 300 kegs, a huge number for the still-young company, to distribute to local bars and restaurants.

Then the coronavirus came, and the market for all that beer dried up immediately.

“We did a massive push, and now we’re just kind of sitting on that inventory,” said Mike Stevenson, who founded Culver with fellow CSUSM alumnus Ben Fairweather in 2016.

Well, not all of it. Desperation breeds innovation, and Culver has begun experimenting with canning its beer for the first time – no easy pivot to make in the middle of a pandemic. Stevenson said the brewery is now selling mixed four-packs of some of its IPAs in its tasting room, and is exploring options for canning larger volumes of beer, including purchasing a small canning machine.

Still, like most of the more than 100 craft breweries in San Diego, Culver is feeling the pain. After furloughing all of its hourly workers, the company has pared its staff from 11 employees to three. The tasting room remains open for customers to purchase beer to go, and Culver has the added benefit – which many competitors don’t share – of in-house food service (a deli) that accounts for a crucial revenue stream during this crisis.

At their heart, however, craft breweries are not built for takeout. The experience is a big part of the draw. In his conversations with other members of the brewing fraternity, Stevenson can sense the collective anxiety.

“Nobody is going to blatantly admit that they’re failing, but there’s definitely been some concern,” he said. “Everyone has a break-even point that they have to hit every month, and the tasting room is a big portion of that.

“The quarantine definitely took something very sacred away from a lot of people. They like coming to the brewery or pub of their neighborhood to grab a pint or two and just hang out. And that has disappeared. We’ve lost the whole dynamic of our bar. The tasting room is a really lonely place to be right now.”

Culver is in the same boat as thousands of small businesses around the country in that it’s still waiting for its PPP loan to be approved, though Stevenson is optimistic that the company will be included in the next relief package. In the meantime, he keeps filling to-go orders, crunching less-than-rosy numbers, and trying to plan for a future that no one can predict.

“The customer base is everything, and they’ve been really good to us,” Stevenson said. “People are coming back two to three times a week. We feel blessed. We’re very much looking forward to having people eating and drinking in the bar again. However, that seems far away.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Know someone who deserves special recognition for their efforts? Email details to publicity@csusm.edu and we’ll include them in an upcoming edition of this ongoing series.

Damon Adamo, media services engineer, IITS

Students, faculty and staff have come to rely heavily on Zoom for real-time communications while studying and working remotely, and Adamo has been integral to making it a smooth process.

“Damon has worked tirelessly to get people trained on the various aspects of Zoom and has been a great contributor to the success of many campus virtual initiatives,” the nominator wrote.

Priscilla Arciniega, intake academic advisor, Office of Academic Advising

Arciniega took the lead in creating communication platforms and tracking platforms for students and advisers from a variety of campus units to meet virtually.

“She went outside her role in advising to really help out many other units on campus with a key process affecting thousands of students in a positive way to create and support a virtual community, while fulfilling the duties of her position,” the nominator wrote.

Bonnie Campbell, CARE manager, Dean of Students Office

In her role as CARE manager, Campbell has been coordinating prevention, intervention and support efforts to assist students during this challenging time.

“She is getting in touch with students who are overwhelmed and checked out, and generally helping to keep the university running in a student-centered way,” the nominator wrote.

Patty Diaz, SOAR coordinator, Dean of Students Office

Student Outreach and Referral (SOAR) is a centralized service for all members of the campus community seeking to assist students, and the nomination noted how Diaz’s work has been integral throughout the COVID-19 crisis

“The university would be a much bleaker place without her,” the nominator said.

Kim Quinney, assistant professor, history

The student nominator lauded Quinney for her efforts in transitioning to virtual instruction and providing the resources her students have needed to continue to thrive.

“She has made this period of transition a little less stressful,” the nominator wrote, “and I am truly appreciative of all her efforts.”

Perla Rivas, counselor, TRIO Student Support Services

Rivas developed “TRIO SSS happy hour,” a weekly event that gives students an opportunity to express concerns, ask questions and share helpful tips.

“A clear sign that the students have enjoyed it is by the fact that more and more are joining and asking when the next one will take place,” the nominator wrote. “It is clear that they look forward to seeing each other and taking an hour out of their uncertain lives to just relax and de-stress with one another.”

Peer Advisors, Office of Academic Advising

The team of eight student peer advisors has been working hard to continue serving their fellow students during this difficult time. The team created a virtual advising site, including a virtual front desk that allows students to quickly and easily connect to services.

“Every one of our peer advisors has been exceptional at operating our new virtual front desk,” the nominator wrote. “They know what it is to be students during a very confusing and anxious time. Their own experience with ‘the new normal’ helps them connect to their fellow students who are also trying to figure out both the here and now as well as the future.

“I can’t begin to tell you just how much impact they are having by putting students at ease, answering countless questions and making our students feel comfortable in this new virtual environment we find ourselves in.”

The team includes James Bertel, Varanee Chinnapong, Gladys Guzman Guizar, Berenice Hernandez, Susanne Nordstrom, Alissa-Nicole Penaranda, Lizbeth Urquiza Resendiz and Zohra Sahial.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Know someone who deserves special recognition for their efforts? Email details to publicity@csusm.edu and we’ll include them in an upcoming edition of this ongoing series.

Christopher Bickel, associate professor, sociology

Bickel has gone out of his way to ensure that students are aware of critical resources, showing them how to apply for unemployment, how to make a mask, even how to grow their own food.

“Professor Bickel has been extremely helpful, kind, understanding, and overall an amazing professor to have during this pandemic,” said the student nominator. “I can say with complete certainty that Professor Bickel is one of the most humane professors that I have had.”

Char Booth, associate dean, library

Booth was instrumental in ensuring a smooth departure from the library building for faculty and staff, even remaining on site to make sure library staff and faculty got everything needed to work remotely.

"They exemplify grace and courage under pressure," the nominator said. "They find ways to get the work done (and done well) in a timely manner, especially in these uncharted waters!"

Susan Eldridge, senior instructional developer, IITS

Eldridge has “been an absolute lifesaver” for faculty during the transition to virtual learning, responding promptly to all questions with detailed information so that faculty know exactly how to proceed.

“I know that Susan is there to support me, and as a result, I have very little anxiety about virtual teaching,” said the nominating faculty member. “I imagine that Susan and the rest of the IITS team are incredibly overwhelmed by emails and phone calls during this time of COVID-19, but you would never know it from Susan's prompt and patient responses.”

Holly Hampton, head of user services, library

Hampton has worked tirelessly to ensure that students and faculty have been able to continue to access the library materials they need despite not having access to the physical space in the library.

"I can say without a doubt that Holly puts students first ... always!" the nominator wrote. "For that, and so much more, I am proud to call her a colleague."

Lauren Magnuson, head of collections, delivery and access, library

Magnuson quickly led a major expansion of the library’s digital collections, making a huge amount of content accessible through free, open-access resources and by working with publishers and vendors.

"Through her tireless efforts and outstanding leadership, Lauren has provided access to online academic materials needed to support the campus’ successful transition to virtual instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic," said a nominating staff member.

Barbara Taylor, director, Academic Technology Services

Even before all the details related to virtual instruction were determined, Taylor was providing training and visiting departments in preparation. She continues to be available around the clock to address questions and concerns.

"She responds so quickly to questions," the nominating faculty member said. "She is super helpful and never seems frustrated when we have the most basic tech questions."

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

“You tell them what you do, and they’ll say, ‘Oh, are you a skin doctor?’ ” Morton said with a laugh. 

The coronavirus epidemic, however, has thrust epidemiology – the study of the incidence, distribution and control of disease in a population – to the forefront of scientific disciplines across the globe and even made temporary celebrities out of some of its practitioners. 

It all has translated into a heady experience for Morton, an assistant professor in the Master of Public Health program and one of only two epidemiologists on the Cal State San Marcos faculty. Her expertise lies in chronic disease epidemiology such as diabetes more than in infectious disease epidemiology like COVID-19, and she has served in an academic research environment rather than the climate of an active public health department. But the principles of epidemiology are the same regardless of background. 

“The COVID-19 crisis has been interesting, and I’m hopeful it translates into a broader interest for public health education and training for programs like ours when this calms down,” she said. 

In this edition of Ask the Expert, we talk to Morton about epidemiology and COVID-19. 

Question: Though you don't specialize in infectious diseases, as someone who does this for a living, I imagine you’ve been fascinated by the coronavirus and tracking it pretty closely. What has been your main reaction to seeing its march across the globe? 

Deborah Morton: At one level, so many deaths worldwide and stories of people dying alone without their families is heartbreaking. From an academic perspective, yes, fascinating to watch a pandemic unfold and evolve in real time before our eyes and on our computer screens. Usually we only know pandemics through history and teaching. Public health education for graduate students requires core knowledge of epidemiology. One of the major principles of epidemiology, which originated due to infectious disease, is the process of how epidemiologists investigate outbreaks and how to proceed with identification of the pathogen, course of the disease, transmission, control of the epidemic, treatment and continued surveillance. The epidemic curve, a major principle of epidemiology, is now big news every day – how the curve moves, how it operates, what direction it takes and how predictive it is of the future case and death rates. And with infectious disease, it happens the same way each time. The left-hand side of the curve goes up very fast when there's an outbreak, and then the right-hand side of the curve, as it comes down, is a more rocky, up-and-down pattern that spans a much longer time period. All of this talk about flattening the curve has become standard language that the general public is beginning to understand – a core piece of the content of a course in epidemiology. Many epidemiologists are being consulted and living in the spotlight as experts for how to proceed and predict the future of the pandemic. A highly unusual and historic situation.  

Q: What are your thoughts about where things stand right now, both in the U.S. and worldwide? 

DM: One of the major issues that keeps getting brought up is testing, a very important concept in epidemiology. We teach calculations for sensitivity and specificity of tests along with the positive and negative predictive value associated with a test. How well does the test identify the pathogen? Does it accurately and reliably identify the people who have the disease along with those who don't have the disease? Do we need an additional confirmatory test? How many false positives are there? How many false negatives are there? It’s a two-by-two table – disease, no disease, exposure, no exposure – and those four cells in that little table explain everything. 

Right now, we don't know what the sensitivity or the specificity is of the test they're using to identify COVID, and we're not yet keeping track of the people who have survived – we don't have that number. However, it is one of the key components that fits into the two-by-two table so sensitivity and specificity can be calculated. Not people who had to go to the hospital and not people who died, but the survivors who have antibodies and people who were never tested for COVID itself. These numbers are one of the major puzzle pieces that will take time for the world to know and that we must have for future planning and dealing with recurring outbreaks, which will also happen. 

Q: What would be your primary piece of advice to your students and other people in the campus community? 

DM: Do what you're told by local public health officials because they are the authorities. Generally in a pandemic, the president is not giving updates. It's U.S. Public Health or the CDC that give updates. And in San Diego County, Public Health Services does that every day. Just do what you're told and convince your family to do the same. When they issue a stay-at-home order, they mean it. Public health doesn't ever make decisions or recommendations lightly. 

Q: As an epidemiologist, what in particular strikes you about the numbers or the trends you’re seeing? 

DM: When you look at the Johns Hopkins map that plots all the cases, if you notice, in South America and Africa there have been fewer cases. There are cases all over those continents, and that could be due to inaccurate surveillance and reporting, but they haven't gotten to the level of China, Italy, Spain or New York. I'm wondering if that has something to do with climate. Viruses like cold weather. For instance, influenza likes cold weather, and it travels around the globe every year. That's why it comes back in the fall. So I'm wondering if this is a virus that when the weather warms up, it will help control the transmission. I'm hoping that's the case. That will be known at some point. 

Q: You’ve done a lot of work with the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center at CSUSM and with tribal/reservation communities in general. What do you think about COVID-19 as it relates to underrepresented minority populations, and what are their unique challenges and risks right now? 

DM: Minority populations are already compromised in a thousand different ways. They have higher rates of chronic disease, they have higher rates of heart disease, and they have higher rates of diseases affecting the lungs. The two leading causes of death in the United States are heart disease and cancer – that’s true for everybody, no matter your age, gender or ethnicity. But minority populations have a higher prevalence rate of chronic disease because they don't have access to good health care. American Indians are entitled to health care by Indian Health Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They have hospitals and clinics all over the country, but the care is substandard because they're in remote locations, which is where most Indians live who utilize Indian Health Service. There are 5.2 million American Indians, and only about half are cared for by Indian Health Service. A lot of those patients are from reservation populations. At this point, in all of IHS facilities across the United States, there are 10 ventilators and six ICU beds! These facilities are not funded properly, and seriously demonstrate how minority populations are not cared for with equity, especially American Indians. 

Q: Why does COVID affect people with underlying health issues more seriously? 

DM: We all understand that if a virus, such as a new novel virus, targets your lungs and if your lungs are already compromised, then you have less of a fighting chance than someone who doesn't have underlying comorbidities. But we might not completely understand how a chronic disease such as diabetes compromises your body as well if infected with an additional virus. American Indian populations have diabetes at twice the rate, sometimes three times the rate as the non-Indian U.S. population. And just having diabetes is an independent risk factor for heart disease. So the longer you have type 2 diabetes, the more likely you are to develop heart disease as well. As a population, that puts American Indians at greater risk immediately whether they're an elder or not. 

All of the people in this country who are members of minority populations where there are health disparities are at much greater risk than anybody else, whatever the health disparity may be, despite ethnicity, age or zip code. 

Q: What lessons can be applied from past pandemics? 

DM: Everything we know about pandemics can be applied to the current situation. Certainly testing. Certainly procedures when the test does not have known high sensitivity or specificity. Certainly how long it takes to produce a safe and effective vaccine, and certainly treatment. There's no treatment for COVID-19 right now. I’m reminded of HIV when it first emerged; nobody knew what it was. It took a very long time, many years in fact, to develop appropriate drugs that now make HIV a treatable chronic disease. At the beginning of the HIV epidemic, we didn't know how it was transmitted either for a very long time. The country was scared, to say the least. So, yes, of course we can learn from our history, the perfect example being Dr. Anthony Fauci, a force who helped change the world for those who contracted HIV back in the 1980s and has now re-emerged as an important and respected leader during this COVID crisis. 

Q: This seems to be the question on everyone's mind. How long do you think it will take to get a handle on this and resume normal activities? 

DM: As an epidemiologist, my interest is always data-driven. In a recent article, looking at the epidemic curves of the top five global health infectious diseases being continuously surveilled, we can see usual time frames for the lengths of those epidemics. Starting with Zika virus, the first report of it in West Africa was in February 2014; the curve continued to rise until about October and then started to decline. However, not until two years later, in January 2016, was it declared over as an epidemic. For MERS, another coronavirus that hit in Saudi Arabia, beginning in May 2013, it reached its peak, then declined. In April 2014, the curve rose back up again, this time higher than the first time. Epidemics can go on and on and on, because of a country’s resources, vaccine development and equity in treatment. So you are asking the million-dollar question. 

Cases in California are not skyrocketing like they have in New York or in Seattle, and maybe will not because of the measures we've taken in the state and the leadership of Gov. Newsom. But for us in California, we really don’t have a clue yet what’s going to happen because we don’t know when the curve will reach its peak. I'm thinking we won't be back to the new normal until June or July. Even when the curve recedes, there will be spikes in the curve surging back up again. 

Q: So you could envision normal activities resuming in early-to-mid summer and then, based on what happens with the curve, future social distancing measures might be required? 

DM: Yes, social distancing will be extended because until we have a vaccine, COVID can only be controlled by behaviors, personal protective equipment, and isolation and quarantine for those who are sick because of the highly contagious nature of COVID and its ability to survive for up to nine days in the environment.  

Q: I've heard the epidemic curve described as more of a roller coaster because it’s not a steady decline. Do you agree with that? 

DM: Yes, that’s what will happen. When there’s an epidemic and it ramps up with many deaths, that's news and everybody hears about it. But then when the epidemic peaks and starts to come back down, the news goes on to something else and we don't hear about the fact that it takes possibly 18 months to two to three years before that epidemic is considered over and under control by public health officials. Look at the Ebola outbreak in West Africa several years ago. We all heard about it in the news and the Americans who were sent home, treated and survived. But we never heard about when the epidemic in Africa was officially over. We know it ended, but we were never told when it ended. And COVID-19 will probably follow the same pattern because it's a highly contagious virus and viruses are known to be similar in their outbreak patterns. 

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Harvey, though, was seeking to help however she could as the coronavirus pandemic continued its march through San Diego County. So when a friend who’s a nurse at Tri-City Medical Center reached out in late March to tell her that the hospital was now accepting donations of do-it-yourself fabric face masks, Harvey quickly answered the call, sewing three masks for her friend. After expressing gratitude, the friend said she and her colleagues could use as many masks as Harvey could produce. 

“I was like, ‘I’ll see what I can do. I can make a few masks and tell a few people about it,’ ” said Harvey, a Vista resident who graduated from Cal State San Marcos in 2002 with a degree in business administration. 

Harvey posted the request on the social networking service Nextdoor, where it soon attracted hundreds of replies from community members who wanted to contribute to the cause. When that platform became too unwieldy, Harvey created a Facebook page called the San Diego Face Mask Sewing Group.  

She had no idea what she had just unleashed. Three weeks later, the group has almost 1,200 members who collectively have churned out thousands of masks (so many from so many people, in fact, that Harvey is having trouble keeping track).  

“It’s kind of crazy that I’m in this position,” Harvey said with a laugh. “I never, ever thought I would be sewing like this. At first, I felt so unqualified, but I’ve learned so much about the masks, about the process. We have a lot of people who know how to sew very well and some who are trying to hand sew masks. They’re like, ‘We don’t have a sewing machine; can we still help?’ And I say, ‘Absolutely, give it a try!’ ” 

Harvey isn’t the only member of the CSUSM community who’s doing their part to ensure that doctors, nurses and others in the health care field have the protective equipment they need during this crisis. 

• In early April, Art, Media and Design student Sarah Bricke, lecturer Siobhan Arnold and other artists sewed masks for health care workers. The following weekend, Bricke sent many masks to friends and family, and also contributed to a drive for workers at Kaiser Permanente. 

• School of Education professor Ana Hernandez made and donated more than 60 face masks to a local veterinary clinic.  

• School of Arts lecturer Rizzhel Javier turned to her sewing machine and started creating masks after an anxiety attack brought on by the COVID-19 threat. “I could use my energy to be unhappy and have anxiety all day,” Javier told KPBS, “or I could reroute that energy into something more useful and more positive.” 

Harvey started her Facebook group originally to meet the face mask needs of Tri-City Medical Center (and she’s proud to report that those needs, for about 1,700 masks, were met by the end of last week). But when word of the group’s existence got around, requests began pouring in, including from hospitals like Palomar Medical Center, Kaiser, Scripps Encinitas and Rady Children’s, as well as organizations such as Oceanside Unified School District and Carlsbad Police Department. Harvey even filled an order for a Navy ship that has been transformed into a hospital during the pandemic.

“As they come in, we add them to our lists and see if we can grant the wishes that are on those lists,” Harvey said. “We have people who will pick up masks from houses because social distancing is very important. We try to keep people at home at all times and leave things on porches to be picked up.”

Harvey emphasized that the Facebook group is strictly about the donation of masks to hospitals and organizations that need them. She doesn’t accept monetary donations, and no one is allowed to sell masks on the site, either. The site contains plenty of sewing tutorials for people who want to help but don’t really know where to begin.

Harvey hasn’t been counting the number of masks she has cranked out, though she estimates it’s in the hundreds. She has been so busy that it wasn’t until last week that she finally got around to making masks for herself and her husband, Jason, who also graduated from CSUSM in 2002. She enlists Jason and Mason in the effort as well, with all of them taking turns sewing, ironing and cutting fabric, cutting elastic ties and other tasks.

“There’s a lot that goes into one little mask,” she said. “It’s like an assembly line.”

While she oversees a Facebook group with more than 1,000 members, Harvey also homeschools her son and runs not one but two businesses. She owns a real estate brokerage firm named Harvey Homes Real Estate and Property Management and started a company with Mason – Good Karma Candles makes and sells ethically sourced soy candles, with a portion of all proceeds being donated to the Ronald McDonald House.

So she’s busier than ever, yes, but also more inspired than ever.

“It is a very difficult time for so many, and in all of this, I feel like the Facebook group is a light in the darkness,” Harvey said. “The sense of community is incredible. I see kindness, generosity, hard work and exhaustion. Through it all, they persist and push through to help all who come to us. I have never seen anything like it, and I’m so proud to be part of it.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

But nothing could have prepared Neufeldt for the pleasant surprise that she received near the end of a session with members of CSUSM councils and advisory boards on April 2.

Longtime university supporters Carleen Kreider and Dick Lansing announced a $25,000 challenge grant in support of CSUSM’s newly created Student Relief Fund.

“This gift is so generous and means so much to our students,” Neufeldt said. “I can’t thank Carleen and Dick enough. They are a shining example of the generosity that’s happening in so many places at this unprecedented time.”

For Kreider and Lansing, the gift is all part of their ongoing commitment to helping CSUSM students.

“Carleen and I are strong believers in the power of education to open doors and enable dreams,” Lansing said. “At this moment in time, the need has never been greater. We cannot let this crisis prevent students from completing their CSUSM education.”

The contributions of Kreider and Lansing go beyond their financial support. Kreider is a member of CSUSM’s Foundation Board and an executive in residence for CSUSM’s College of Business Administration, while Lansing is a Senior Experience adviser and member of the CoBA Dean’s Advisory Board. Both are also dedicated mentors to CSUSM students.

“We believe deeply in the unique and powerful mission of the university and are pleased to be able to make this challenge gift to inspire others to join us now to support our students,” Kreider added.

The university started the Student Relief Fund to help students through this extraordinary period of uncertainty. The fund opened with $300,000 in seed money, which came from a combination of annual fund support as well as scholarship support raised at the university’s annual gala.

For every gift that comes in to the Student Relief Fund, 10% goes straight to ASI’s Student Emergency Fund, which provides assistance to students who encounter unforeseen financial emergencies or catastrophic events that disrupt their progress toward a degree. The ASI Student Emergency Fund – a collaboration among Student Affairs, University Advancement and ASI – awards up to $250 per student. The Student Emergency Fund recently received an additional $50,000 that was transferred from University Advancement’s annual fund.

The Student Relief Fund has flexibility to shift focus based on student needs, but is currently targeting tuition and fee assistance. CSUSM’s Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships is identifying students who need immediate support through outreach efforts as well as referrals from ASI and the Cougar Care Network.

Through April 7, the Student Relief Fund had received 119 gifts and raised nearly $60,000, which includes the match from Kreider and Lansing. About 75% of donors are CSUSM employees.

“Donors to the Student Relief Fund are providing critical support for students facing extreme financial hardship,” said Cathy Baur, vice president of University Advancement. “Every donation helps a student in need, and this much-needed support will help them persist beyond these circumstances and make an immediate and lasting impact.”

Visit the Student Relief Fund website for more information or to make a donation.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Now the director of the Office of Safety, Health and Sustainability, she has witnessed three major fires come dangerously close to campus. She has seen her team recover from earthquakes and budget cuts, power outages and major leadership changes.

But last week, she was inspired by the campus community more than she ever could have imagined.

In a matter of a few days, SHS organized a collection of surplus personal protection equipment (PPE) and other items of value from the College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences, College of Science and Mathematics and College of Education, Health and Human Services to donate to local hospitals.

The items were then packed and picked up by local health care partners in the ongoing fight against the spread of COVID-19.

“The philanthropy was amazing because usually in our setting, you’re fighting for resources,” Frasca said. “You order the year before so you have what you need for the next fiscal year. We’re really very cautious with our resources because these are the resources we use to protect the health and safety of our students as well as our employees. And then for the nursing program, they need to know how to use the equipment, so to be able to give that stuff up not knowing if they’re going to be able to get that back, that’s true philanthropy. Pulling that all together is quite amazing.”

Included in the campus-wide donation were four ventilators, 995 N-95 masks, 450 surgical masks, 290 face shields and 40,750 pairs of nitrile gloves. The supplies went to providers who are partners with CSUSM in the university’s various medical majors and minors – Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, Kaiser Permanente and Palomar Medical Center in Escondido.

The SHS team was also able to collect supplies from the Temecula campus and then involved partner Temecula Valley Hospital to provide a set of donated items to that entity as well.

The idea originated when someone reached out to the Office of the President and asked if the campus had any PPE. At the same time, various people from the different colleges contacted their deans to ask if there was surplus to donate. The deans were told to put everything on hold until they figured out what the needs of the campus would be.

CSUSM still has about 70 students living on campus, plus several departments with employees still working on site.

Once they figured out what could be shared, the deans of the three colleges motivated their teams to collect whatever the campus had that could be utilized as surplus. The goods were mostly from instructional labs, research labs and clinical settings that are no longer in use this semester. The nursing program had particularly high-value items, including one ventilator to be donated to each of the four health care partners.

Sarah Villarreal, associate vice president of community outreach, then started talking with the potential recipients while the donation items were quickly put on paper.

“We had no idea how much we really had,” Frasca said. “Visually, it was very different than what it looked like on paper.”

Once the items were put to paper, the real challenge began on April 2. With an assist from a parking officer, Frasca and her team went around campus and gathered everything. The following day, with the help of Distribution Services (which re-opened  just for the occasion), the items were packed, wrapped and placed onto pallets.

Since rain was forecast the following week, the four hospitals were asked late in the afternoon of April 2 if they could pick up the items the following day between 10 a.m. and noon.

“They were pretty shocked with how much we collected,” Frasca said of the reaction. “And very appreciative of the ventilators, of course. Just seeing that appreciation was heartwarming. We’ve received emails thanking the entire campus.

“I want to be clear: My team just collected. We packed. But we were just a cog in this big event starting with the president’s office and the deans of the different colleges. We were just the people allowed to be on campus to muscle all this stuff together. It wasn’t just our team. It was a concerted and organized effort.”

The philanthropic spirit is alive and well at CSUSM. A global event that has negatively impacted so many people has also given rise to stories of unselfishness.

“It’s philanthropy with a lot of hope,” Frasca said. “Hope that we’re able to help today so that maybe tomorrow someone will be able to help us back when we need those resources. The partnerships we have with local health care providers, they provide us and our students the opportunities to learn and train. If we didn’t have those partnerships with them, our students would have nowhere to go. It’s one of those things that you hope you can be there for them as they have been there for us.”

For a few days, Frasca and her team worked around the clock to ensure that CSUSM could offer support where it was needed. The time was spent organizing, planning and finally executing a project she couldn’t have dreamed of a few months ago.

After the collection was gone, she had a few moments to sit back and reflect on a campus normally so full of life and energy but currently quiet.

“That’s why I’ve been here for so long. This is our home away from home,” Frasca said as she was overcome with emotion. “These are our people, so I miss them tremendously. The whole charge of our team is our people and to protect them.”

CSUSM Supplies Donated

Supply, donated amount

Nitrile gloves box (100 ct), 815 (40,750 pair)

Sterile gloves box (40 ct), 37 (740 pair)

Ventilators, 4

N-95 masks, 995

Surgical masks, 450

Procedure face masks, 250

Face shields, 290

Disposable lab coats, 20

Surgical gowns, 33

Isolation gowns, 5

Shoe covers, 50

Safety glasses, 10

Bouffant caps, 14

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

For hours on end, car after car pulled into the circle, many of them parking perpendicular to the curb, rather than the usual parallel style. But instead of being approached by a server on roller skates, the drivers were greeted by an employee from Cal State San Marcos’ Instructional & Information Technology Services (IITS) department.  

This was the first Monday after standard operations at CSUSM had ceased, when the coronavirus outbreak had forced the university to move classes to a virtual environment for the rest of the spring semester, and IITS had mobilized to deal with the resulting crush of requests for equipment – the laptops, monitors, keyboards, headsets and other devices that students, faculty and staff would need at home during this new normal.  

IITS originally planned for two days of distribution, but after Tuesday turned into a marathon 12-hour session, the department scheduled three more. By the end of the fifth day, covering almost 33 total hours, it had handed out more than 1,000 pieces of equipment to more than 400 members of the campus community. In all, over 30 IITS employees were directly involved in supporting the effort.  

“I’d say those were the five most rewarding days since I’ve been at Cal State San Marcos,” said Kevin Morningstar, the dean of IITS and chief information officer of CSUSM, who has worked at the university since 2015. “If you were there, you saw how much this meant to some of the students – they were so emotional and grateful. We do a lot of important things day in and day out, but when you see the almost desperate level of need in some people and you’re able to help them and be a calming influence, that feels good.” 

IITS has been going above and beyond to inspire widespread feelings of calm and gratitude since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic struck CSUSM. From wiping laptops and distributing equipment to helping faculty make the transition to virtual instruction to ensuring that the underlying systems hum along, the department has been at the forefront of the effort to keep the university running as smoothly as possible during this unprecedented time. 

“IITS has always kind of been the wizard behind the curtain,” said Barbara Taylor, the director of Academic Technology Services. “But I think now people are really seeing that there are a lot of people involved who help the campus that they might not realize.”  

IITS snapped into action as the threat of the virus grew more serious in early March. Taylor’s ATS team began working on how to ramp up training for Cougar Courses, the university’s learning management system, scheduling workshops in anticipation of faculty requiring assistance. Over the next two weeks, ATS helped more than 300 campus employees – either in person or, later, virtually – with things like how best to use Cougar Courses in an online environment or how to take advantage of all the services offered by Zoom.  

The need for help is ongoing, and Taylor expects a surge in requests this week now that faculty members have returned from spring break and had time to reflect on their virtual teaching experience so far.  

“We’re seeing new faculty that we haven’t worked with in the past coming to us now, which is a good thing,” she said. “And we’re trying to help them figure out how to teach similar material as they’ve taught before, just in a different way. For example, we’ve had group meetings on how to use Zoom for students to give presentations live.” 

While Taylor’s group was preparing faculty for the shift to virtualized instruction, Nicholas Duarte’s team in Technology Support Services was scrambling to gather up equipment from classrooms across both the San Marcos and Temecula campuses that ended up being distributed at Craven Circle. TSS collected about 500 laptops that had been used in various classrooms and labs. But it wasn’t enough just to round them up. Duarte and team also had to wipe clean the hard drive of each computer and reload with a fresh operating system and programs so that each recipient would essentially be getting a brand-new machine.

“Hundreds of these are less than a year old, so it’s very nice equipment,” said Duarte, the director of TSS. “We provided it to faculty and staff and students to use however they need to, as if it were their own piece of property.”

IITS responded to the crisis in other ways that might be more under the radar. Bill Craig, a longtime CSUSM employee, was appointed director of operations on the very same day that the department initiated its emergency plan. He immediately went to work on readying the university in terms of telephone services and network operations. Along with bolstering the capabilities of the data center to handle the coming load on Cougar Courses, Craig and his team enabled other features to make the transition easier for the campus community, such as extending password expiration parameters and automatically sending employees’ office voicemail to their email accounts.

Last week, IITS also completed the setup for a new service that will allow CSUSM to re-establish phone services for selected departments. This system will forward main numbers to a virtual queue that will ring remotely on the computer of the staff members charged with answering the lines for Cougar Central and other offices frequently contacted by students.

“So for students and parents calling about their financial aid, for example, they’ll still call the same number they’re used to calling, the one that’s published, and this mechanism will get them in touch with the people who need to answer those calls but can’t be at their desks to do so,” Craig said.

COVID-19 has dictated, and IITS has helped facilitate, a work environment that would scarcely be recognizable to the campus community even a month or two ago. In the last week of March, the cumulative number of Zoom minutes at CSUSM increased by 3,200% over the week of Feb. 17. The use of Microsoft Teams is also changing the way CSUSM administrative and academic departments, committees and working groups communicate and collaborate with each other. The adoption has been huge, as more than half of Teams were created in March alone, and the number of private messages sent per day has nearly quadrupled.

“I think we’re not going to go back to the same university we had to walk away from a few weeks ago,” Craig said. “There’s too much new knowledge, too much we know about our technical and personnel capabilities to go back to that. I think we’re going to find a lot of transformation at a lot of different levels. That’ll be exciting and a little uncertain, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Whatever direction CSUSM goes from a technology standpoint, IITS will be leading the way.

“I am so proud of the work this incredible team has accomplished in such a short period of time,” Morningstar said. “You could see in how smoothly the campus has made the transition that technology was not the impediment to this change. And the fact that technology was not the impediment is a testament to what IITS has been doing.”

Visit the IITS For You webpage for resources available to students, faculty and staff.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

“That has to show just how much she means to me,” Jimenez said.

Jimenez has more than a decade of experience as a head coach, so she is accustomed to players moving on once they’ve exhausted their eligibility. But seeing Eackles and fellow seniors Stephanie Custodio and Jon’Nae Vermillion finish their playing careers last month was more difficult than usual.

Not because CSUSM lost a game on the court, but because the COVID-19 pandemic led to a premature end to the season.

“I feel terrible for all of the players because of how hard they worked and what an incredible season they had, but especially sad for our seniors,” Jimenez said. “All the rest of us get to come back and try again, but the seniors are just done. I hope we get the opportunity to celebrate their success and all they have meant to our program.”

Eackles is back home in Sunnyvale, near San Jose, sheltering in place with her family while continuing her studies through virtual instruction. A biological sciences major, Eackles will graduate in the fall and plans to pursue a career as a veterinarian.

Eackles is keeping in touch with her teammates during this challenging time, and the abrupt end to the season remains a topic of discussion.

The Cougars were enjoying the best season in program history when the postseason was canceled. Their long list of accomplishments included the most wins in program history (25), longest winning streak (11 games) and first California Collegiate Athletic Association conference title. Their efforts led to another program first – a spot in the NCAA Division II Tournament.

The Cougars flew to Hawaii on March 11 to prepare for their tournament debut. As they exited the plane, their phones started blowing up with social media updates, texts and news alerts. Rudy Gobert, a player for the NBA’s Utah Jazz, had tested positive for coronavirus. Then came news that the NBA was suspending play across the league.

“Coach talked to us and she said, ‘As of right now, only family members can come to the games, but we're still going to be playing,’ ” Eackles said. “So we kind of felt relief. She told us that right when we landed, so we thought, ‘OK, hopefully we can just get to Friday and we'll be able to play because we're already here.’ ”

By the next morning, everything had changed. Eackles and her teammates received a text from Jimenez alerting them to an unplanned team meeting. It was there that players learned that the tournament was being canceled and they had to return home.

“You could tell she was upset and our assistant coaches were upset,” Eackles said. “It was just really sad.”

It was a disheartening finish to a historic run.

Eackles recalled Jimenez’s words from the beginning of the season, when she told them they were good enough to win the conference. It didn’t take long for the players to buy in. During the season’s first month, on Nov. 21, the Cougars stunned UC San Diego, then ranked No. 6 in Division II. The victory was both their first against UCSD and their first against a ranked opponent as an NCAA member.

But the most memorable moment of Eackles’ basketball career came three months later in the regular-season finale, when CSUSM beat UCSD again, this time on the Cougars’ Senior Day, to clinch a share of the CCAA regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the CCAA Tournament.

“Chloe has had an incredible career here at CSUSM,” Jimenez said. “She came to us before we had won a single Division II game, and now she is part of a nationally competitive program. It hasn't always been easy during this building process for Chloe, but she has stayed the course, trusted the process and has always had a smile on her face. No matter the position or role she has been asked to play, she has always put the team before herself, and that is what her coaches and teammates will remember most about her.

“I hope our younger players have learned a lot from her and will play as hard as Chloe does and always remember to put the team first. She is leaving one special legacy.”

While the Cougars didn’t get to fully reap the rewards of winning the conference and earning a spot in the NCAA Tournament, Eackles is excited for what their success means for the future of the program.

“It's going to set the bar and it's going to make people want to come play here,” she said. “And it's going to be a really good program from here on out.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Most students were going to brick-and-mortar buildings for their classes. Most college professors and all K-12 teachers were standing before rooms full of kids and young adults, delivering lectures or otherwise engaging them academically in person. 

Almost overnight, that age-old model fundamentally shifted because of the coronavirus outbreak, and in many ways, K-12 schools as well as colleges and universities are still scrambling to adjust to this new reality.  

To help instructors in smoothing that process, we reached out to a pair of faculty members from Cal State San Marcos’ School of Education who specialize in virtual teaching. Brooke Soles is an assistant professor of educational administration and leadership, and Anthony Matranga is an assistant professor of mathematics education and educational technologies.   

Question: What are the most important pieces of advice you’d give to K-12 teachers who are struggling to make this transition in the middle of a school year?  

Brooke Soles: Teacher-student connections matter. Like a physical classroom environment, the teacher is the most important factor in an online classroom. Even if your lesson doesn’t seem to be going well, the students remember how you made them feel. Students have to process feelings like hunger and fear before they can open up to learn intellectually. Yes, I understand that feelings are not a substitute for learning, but by creating a culture of care and working through a cultural proficiency framework, learning will occur. Whether you are sending a video post card through Animoto (a cloud-based video creation service) to your students, simply recording a 60-second Zoom announcement of yourself about the upcoming assignment, or providing a synchronous video chat for informal conversations or structured communication through free protocols from the National School Reform Faculty Harmony Education Center, it remains crucial to stay human and connected while delivering content. As an instructor, consider having students conduct their own brief Zoom meetings, following a set protocol, recording it, and posting it for you to review. Find ways to work smarter, not harder.  

Anthony Matranga: The most important piece of advice I’d give to teachers is to try not to recreate what you do in a face-to-face setting in the online setting. Instead, I’d encourage teachers to take advantage of the fact that collaboration in online settings can be asynchronous. In other words, the learning experience does not have to happen during a specifically scheduled time period during the day like folks are used to in face-to-face settings. Asynchronous collaboration has many benefits and slows down the fast pace of teaching and learning and provides learners and instructors time to think deeply about course content and their peers’/students’ ideas.  

Q: How does that advice differ for an elementary school teacher vs. a middle school teacher, and for middle school vs. high school? 

BS: It is not about time management, but rather attention management. Having worked in elementary, middle and high schools as a K-12 teacher in California and having worked as an assistant principal, principal and county office administrator, I find that no matter what age, people are people, and we get distracted. All classrooms need norms, accountability, connection, collaboration and caring environments to focus our attention to teaching and learning. Our middle school students might be posting to TikTok, but our adults are equally distracted responding to emails while on Zoom. Thus, how can we have not only courageous conversations about race and identity, for example, in our online environments, but also who owns and controls our attention?  

AM: This is a hard question. I don’t see an immediate difference between middle school and high school; however, my thought is that things might be different for elementary teachers because students might need more support staying focused on a task and transferring their thinking into an online space.  

Q: What have you been doing since the COVID-19 outbreak hit to assist instructors in the move online, either on or off campus? 

BS: My main focus has been checking in via email, phone and Zoom with my instructors and students to better understand what support they need and how to co-construct their next steps toward success. Because our Master of Arts in Education program is fully online, our instructors are already 100% online. Yet, some of these instructors are still new to teaching online and are now joining the rest of the teachers across the state who are learning how to teach online because of COVID-19. A unique challenge our program is facing is that our students who are K-12 teachers aspiring to be administrators are working in schools and districts that have closed their physical and sometimes virtual doors to teaching. The challenge right now is not the teaching but how to reduce the anxiety many people are experiencing so learning can occur.  

AM: I have been collecting resources for online teaching and learning, particularly in the area of mathematics education. I have been talking with my mathematics teacher candidates on a regular basis to support them in making the shift to online instruction. I’ve also reached out to some K-12 teachers I have worked with to see if they need help with the transition. I have been attending webinars from professional organizations to continue to learn more about teaching and learning online.  

Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges involved in online teaching? 

BS: Some of the biggest challenges of online teaching come from our own understanding of what we think online teaching can and cannot do. Once we get past the technical aspect of learning the technical – for example, how to click when and where – online teaching really becomes an experience in and of itself. In fact, there are data that show teachers and students have the same connection and learning experiences online as in person.  

In addition, instructors must be vigilant and address the racism, hate and xenophobia that occur online just like the physical classroom. Resources like Teaching Tolerance provide avenues and lessons on how to engage in courageous conversations on this topic. Instructors need to have synchronous opportunities, check blog posts, monitor Zoom chats, and scan the screen for visual signals of behavior that must be addressed. Silence can also mean many things in all settings. Zoom bombing is happening, too. Meeting one-on-one with students or even in smaller groups can benefit all to better understand your online classroom.  

AM: One the biggest challenges I see with online teaching is creating a learning experience for students that feels as if it is not mediated by the internet. I use several strategies to overcome this challenge. The first is to stay in regular contact with the students through a variety of communication mechanisms. For example, I send frequent announcements to a class regarding assignment deadlines, grading, etc. I also try to respond to student questions via email as fast as possible; even if I don’t have the answer to a question, I might say something like “I’m working on this, I’ll get back to you with an answer soon.” This strategy also includes reaching out to students if they miss a deadline for an assignment soon after the assignment was due. The idea is to give the class the sense that you are always online and always monitoring their activity in the online space.

The second strategy I use is to support communication between students. This includes using discussion forums to promote dialogue between students about the course they are completing. I monitor these spaces by subscribing to the course’s discussion forum so that every time someone posts to the forum, I get an email. Often times, questions come up and instead of answering the question, I might look for a student who had a similar question or seemed like they would have a good response to the question and tell the student to go to that person’s thread. In this sense, I am just facilitating conversation, just like you might do in a face-to-face setting. Another strategy I use is keeping track of the students I communicate with and when. For example, I’ll create a spreadsheet that has my students’ names and the weeks of the course. Every time I interact with a student via email, course discussion forum, etc., I tally the interaction on my spreadsheet. This allows me to ensure I am regularly interacting with all students in the class.  

Q: What pieces of technology or programs do you think would be most beneficial to teachers dealing with this situation? 

BS: Start with the one thing that works for you. There are so many options now. I recommend flipping the script by having students bring what they like to you or have seen to the classroom. What are they already using that is engaging? I understand social media use is a tricky area, yet having a conversation about what is appropriate and why is also realistic. Everything is a learning opportunity. You do not have to be the expert; you just have to be curious. Now, how will you connect it to your content?  

AM: I think the most important pieces of technology are those that allow for communication between students. Many universities have learning management systems with discussion forums, which I think are great for collaboration, particularly the asynchronous collaboration that I mentioned earlier. However, there are other technologies such as Edmodo and Google Classroom that can serve similar purposes. In addition, platforms such as Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Slack and so on allow for synchronous, video-based communication. I also think Twitter and other apps geared for mobile communication can be effectively used to support productive collaboration between students. With that said, I think the most effective online instruction uses a variety of these communication technologies in order to appeal to students’ different interests and learning styles. 

Q: Most teachers can no longer fill up the whole school day with virtual instruction. What do you think parents can or should be doing to help fill the void?  

BS: Work with your colleagues and school leaders to figure out what our collective future looks like. I do not consider this as helping to fill a void. It is most definitely a period of transition, transformation and the unknown. It is a time of free play coupled with lots of reading. And perhaps it is a time to better understand how to engage in play, innovative practices and even video games with our families and communities, as Dr. Sinem Siyahhan, CSUSM School of Education faculty, discusses in her book, “Families at Play.” How are we changing the narrative we are telling ourselves about what is happening and what will happen? 

AM: Well, I’m not sure I have the answer for this, but I can tell you what my wife and I have been doing with our 5-year-old and 18-month-old girls. My kids love animals and going to the zoo, so our breakfast routine has included watching a YouTube video from a series the Cincinnati Zoo is doing. Each day they spotlight a particular animal, and the zookeeper talks about the animals and answers questions from the “live” audience. I have also been trying to teach my 5-year-old some basic coding using an app on the iPad. We asked our 5-year-old what she wanted to learn, and she said to “tell time.” So we have been working with her on learning how to tell time. We also read together and do other things like build a boat out of pillows and “paddle to La Jolla,” and we have had several trips to “the beach,” which is the patio area of our apartment. We also watch movies, exercise, and cook together. It has been interesting so far, but I guess my recommendation would be to involve your kids in things you are interested in doing and also get involved in the things your kids are interested in doing.  

Q: What do you say about the problem of students who don’t have the same access to the technology and equipment necessary for online education? 

BS: This is a serious equity issue. Not all families have access to reliable Wi-Fi. Parents have been laid off due to COVID-19. Families are negotiating space at home for those who have been infected with the coronavirus. Two-parent households are both working from home with kids. Single-parent households are doing the same with more responsibilities. This is everyone; not just our students, but our teachers and faculty, too. Figuring out how to get food into the home without exposing loved ones to the coronavirus is a daunting task, let alone figuring out how to pay for that food with the income-earner falling ill. Thus, it is our responsibility as teachers, school leaders and community members to work together to find solutions for the good of everyone.  

AM: This is a hard one. Zoom and other video communication technologies are data-heavy and require up-to-date technology and strong internet connection during a particular time period of the day. Therefore, I think asynchronous collaboration can help with this issue because students can participate via text-based communication (which is less data-heavy than video) during a time when they may have access to a friend or family members’ technology. With that said, I’ve heard that schools are trying to provide some students with technologies as well as set up hotspots to improve access to strong internet connection.  

Q: Do you foresee a crisis like this making online education more palatable or appealing to teachers? 

BS: We have to change our mindset. It is really not just about going online. It is about how the way of life as we know it has changed because of COVID-19. It seems “going to online instruction” is being conflated with “this is absolutely terrible.” I love teaching. Whether it is online, in person or in blended modalities, teaching and learning are my thing. I challenge myself and others to use a future studies frame to examine what possible, probable and preferable futures we would like to envision. We have to meet the students, technology and ourselves where we are and go from there. 

AM: I hope so! While I don’t see teaching moving exclusively online for a long time or if it even makes sense to do that, I think at least hybrid instruction has benefits that can improve student learning in all classrooms. For example, teachers could incorporate online discussions into their class that occur before the face-to-face class session. The teacher could then read the discussion before the class and identify interesting themes in the discussion, misconceptions, etc. that can be used to inform the face-to-face discussion and questions the teacher might ask during the discussion.  

However, there may be environmental benefits to moving to exclusively online instruction. For example, as we are seeing, reductions in travel because of the pandemic are resulting in improved air quality in China and potentially in the United States and globally in the weeks to come. Travel for educational purposes is not the sole contributor to CO2 emissions in the world; however, the more we move instruction online, the larger impact education can have on reducing CO2 emissions.  

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Each person in the huddle offered a number from one to 10, with one representing “I’d rather be anywhere else” and 10 equating to “There’s no place I’d rather be.” Then someone threw out an ice-breaking question of the day: “What have you learned in the last few months?” 

After checking in with a 10, Villarreal gave an answer with his tongue firmly in his cheek. 

“What I’ve learned,” he said, “is that you can catch a virus from drinking Corona beer.”  

With that welcome dose of levity in the air, it was time to get to work. For the next 3½ hours, from 6:30 until 10, Villarreal and his team operated a drive-through line for Epiphany Prep students and their families to pick up the food and school work they need during this unprecedented period, when much of the country has come to a standstill because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

“We’re battling through what is the social norm of staying home,” said Villarreal, the assistant superintendent at Epiphany Prep and a 2010 graduate of the Joint Doctoral Program (JDP) in Educational Leadership at Cal State San Marcos and UC San Diego.  

“But what we’re really doing is serving the people we came into this community to serve – not when it’s convenient for us, but rather when they really need us.” 

Villarreal is one of five CSUSM alumni who are part of the effort. The other three on site every weekday morning are Blanca Zuñiga, Epiphany Prep’s counseling coordinator and a 2013 CSUSM graduate with a degree in human development; Johanna Sanchez, the school’s coordinator of Multiple Language Learners and a 2013 CSUSM alumna; and Arturo Venegas Montiel, an aide in Epiphany’s before- and after-school program who’s scheduled to graduate this year with a bachelor’s in criminology and justice studies.  

There’s also founding principal Ana Lozano-Partida, a 2018 product of the same JDP program that Villarreal completed, who’s leading a newly implemented distance learning initiative with teachers and support staff. 

“I’m so proud, and CSUSM should be proud, of this group,” said Villarreal, whose wife, Sarah, is a longtime employee of the university. “We tell them you have every right to be at home; you don’t have to be here. But everyone has decided to be out here on their own.” 

Epiphany Prep, which opened in 2016, serves 757 students from transitional kindergarten through eighth grade, and it will be promoting its first class this year. More than 95% of the students are Latino and from low-income families, so their need for food services and educational work that’s not reliant on the internet remains acute while school is on hiatus.

The drive-through line started on March 16, the same day that Epiphany Prep closed as a result of COVID-19. For the last two weeks, the volunteer staff members have handed out an average of about 150 academic enrichment packets and 250 food bags per day. And since each bag contains both breakfast and lunch, that’s nearly 500 meals served to students every day.

“As we see the students through the car windows, they’re waving at us, there are smiles on their faces,” Montiel said. “And we have the same reaction. We’re happy to see all of our students.

“Some of our students by now have access to the internet, but these packets allow them to continue to develop their learning, to continue to have some type of structure at home. As for the food, it brings peace to my heart that we’re helping to ensure they’re eating every day.”

For the small percentage of students whose families have yet to stop by the school for either food or academic packets, Epiphany Prep plans to initiate this week a service that it’s calling Eagle Eats – in a nod to the food delivery service Uber Eats, but with the school’s mascot – in which Villarreal will drive around Escondido and drop off the needed items at the homes of the families.

“We’ve identified them to be the neediest students on campus, and those are the ones who are worrying us right now,” Villarreal said. “They’re not coming to us, so we need to take it to them.”

Villarreal said he has received no reports of anyone in the Epiphany Prep community contracting COVID-19. As for the morning volunteers, they are taking all the necessary precautions, including having a safety officer on hand, wearing gloves and keeping attuned to social distancing.

Zuñiga said her work and her relationships with students and their families is too important for her not to be deeply involved during this crisis.

“I have real heart for this work and am committed to serving not just our students but our community as well,” she said. “I know that I could be at risk, but it’s not something that I think about. I’m more focused on, ‘What impact am I making today?’ ”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Burns has been teaching part-time at CSUSM since 1999, but his primary focus is as a research scientist at Decision Research, an Oregon-based institute that focuses on judgment, decision-making and risk perception. For three different periods between 2013 and 2015, he served months-long stints inside the Department of Homeland Security as a scientific adviser. 

Burns specializes in analyzing risk and how the public responds to crisis, meaning his students were kept well-informed as the coronavirus first began to spread in China and then throughout the world. Now that the virus has infected thousands of Americans and is deeply affecting nearly every aspect of our daily lives, we sought out Burns to draw on his decades of expertise.  

Question: What are your thoughts so far on the public response to this crisis, both worldwide and in the U.S.? 

Answer: It's hard to know what went on in China because it’s difficult to get really good information. And their response was largely dictated by the government – stay home and all that. We have a little more information about public response in Europe, and particularly the United States. At Decision Research, we've looked at this stuff for 40 years – not me, but people who have gone before me. And it's quite understandable that when you have a threat like the coronavirus, it pushes all our buttons. It has the ability to kill lots of people, to make a lot of people sick, it travels unseen. The symptoms don't show up for a while; you may have it and don't know it, so you're always kind of living on the edge. There's a lot of uncertainty about it. There were some initial missteps in the United States about how to handle it. It didn't help at all that many people were calling this a hoax. So what this does is create a lot of fear.  

Q: What’s the antidote to that? 

A: One is trust. For example, when President Trump declared a state of emergency last week, the Dow bounced back to the tune of almost 10%. Our research would have predicted that because what the public is looking for right now is a certain amount of certainty. They want people at the national level, the state level and the local level to be saying, “Look, here's what we know about the crisis, here's what we don't know yet but we're investigating, and here's what we're doing about it. And here's what you can do about it.” Because deep within every one of us is the desire to control our fates. And when it's unclear what we should be doing or what the government is doing, people are filled with fear, and that gets expressed in a lot of ways.  

I would predict that, for a while, the public is going to remain very, very concerned. What people naturally pay attention to is not so much the levels – the total number of people who have been infected or the total number of people who have died. We're amazingly insensitive to those kinds of large numbers, and that's been well-researched. What we are very sensitive to are changes in those levels. As we see these reportings continue to climb, that makes us nervous, that hits the fear bell. Particularly if we see these numbers begin to accelerate, and we will see these numbers accelerate for a while, because this is what we mean by exponential growth. As soon as you see the numbers start to come down, turn in the other direction, even if the number of reported infections or deaths is very high, that will begin to quell fears. It sends a signal to people that we've got our hands around this, it's under control. There's light at the end of the tunnel. 

Q: For a lot of people, this feels like something without precedent in their lives. Do you feel the same way? 

A: There's certainly no recent precedent, and by recent I mean decades of history. I'm looking back 40 or 50 years, and at no time have I seen something like this. I've lived through the Cold War, when we were always on the alert for Russian bombs. With 9/11, there was a huge amount of fear, and people were not getting on airplanes. The difference between then and now is that, post-9/11, the risk of you been killed or affected by a terrorist act was always vanishingly small. And yet, we wouldn't get on airplanes, and the financial losses were staggering. But when you look at studies that examine how we recovered from 9/11, we were resilient. People are amazingly resilient once they understand that it’s a controllable situation. Even with the financial crisis of 2008, there was no good news for the entire fall season, but when we tracked people through a national panel, their perceptions of risk came down, their fear came down, because we have a natural tendency to recover. We have good psychological mechanism that says the sky isn't falling.  

For most of our students here, this is the first global crisis they've faced. Many were too young to remember the 2008 financial crisis. They’ve already been affected by this. It's no small thing to go from in-class teaching to virtual instruction, because a lot of these students build relationships with their classmates and their professors. They rely on that, and now they have to adapt. But as I've said to my students, you're going to learn through this crisis something that we as professors would be hard pressed to teach: Adversity can be a good thing. It can make you better, it can make you stronger, it can give you a more balanced perspective on your life. 

Q: You mentioned some early missteps in the U.S. crisis response. What do you think those are? 

A: The State Department, the CDC and NIH were all getting reports about what was going on in China. I think all these experts knew that those numbers were underreported, and even the underreported numbers were very, very grim. Because of the draconian measures that China took early on with massive quarantines, it bought the rest of the world possibly a month or more to prepare. They slowed down the spread of the virus, flattened that curve as much as they could. Some nations took that time and made good of it: South Korea, Singapore, for example. We were very slow to respond. And it isn't that the CDC or NIH was slow. It was people at the top who didn't think it was as serious as some of their medical experts were saying. This isn't me being partisan; go Google all the statements surrounding this.

What you really want to do in any crisis is get on top of it as soon as you can and communicate very clearly with the public about what you know and what you don't know. You should speak with one voice, and if there's disagreement among experts, you can say that there's disagreement, you can express the uncertainty. But you shouldn't be saying one thing one day, another thing another day and have it appear like it's politically motivated, as opposed to a genuine concern for welfare. People are amazingly tolerant to uncertainty if they feel like they're being told the truth.

Q: As an expert, how do you analyze risk when it comes to the coronavirus? 

A: It has three components to it. There's the threat of exposure, meaning what's the chance that the virus will make its way to my eyes, nose or mouth? Second is vulnerability. How vulnerable am I? How sick will I be if I actually come in contact with the virus? And then there's the consequences. Suppose that you do get very sick. Well, that probably means you're going to end up in the hospital, in the ICU possibly, on a ventilator possibly, or even die. The reason it's important to break risk up like this is that our greatest leverage is reducing the probability of exposure. How do we do that? Social distancing, washing our hands, avoiding touching our face. That's where we flatten the curve. Vulnerability, we have less control over because it's hard to change our underlying conditions, of which I consider age one. Though we can to a certain degree. This is why we always tell college students not to burn the candle at both ends. Get rest, eat sensibly, manage your stress level, drink plenty of fluids. That actually does influence your vulnerability to some extent.

Q: By this point, we’ve all experienced or seen pictures of long lines at grocery stores, hoarding, runs on certain products. Is that something that should be expected in a crisis like this? 

A: Yes, absolutely. These types of responses are understandable. It can become a problem if a select portion of the population has all the goods and there are no more canned goods to buy. As long as the shelves can be reasonably replenished, this is a natural human response. It's one thing people can do to comfort themselves that they're doing something.

You want a signal about a crisis, have long lines at the grocery stores. We often take our cues about how risky something is by what other people are doing. The fact that people are hoarding food is neither here nor there about the real risks. But most of us are not medical experts, so we're going to take our cues where we can get them, and that's a big one. If I were a public health official, I would be reminding the public that it's perfectly fine to stock up food. But let's not take that as a signal that the sky is falling.

Q: What do you say to what I assume is a rapidly dwindling number of people who think this is overblown? 

A: I would have accepted that a month ago, maybe three weeks ago. I would have said, “Well, maybe it is. Let's hope it is.” It would have been understandable. Now I would hope that if people have any doubts about the overblownness, go to the CDC, John Hopkins, NIH, your local public health department and look at what the facts are. These folks have expertise and have no other motivation than to help solve this problem, period. All the rest of the people have mixed motivations. The people peddling conspiracy theories, they either have economic motivation or they’re motivated by malicious mischief. They just like to scare people and create havoc. For others, they buy into and share these conspiracy theories because that is their way to wrap their mind around the problem, feel like they have some control over the situation. Now that's not harmless – like the way stocking up on food is – because if you tell people it's a hoax, maybe they won't take it as seriously as they should.

Q: What are your biggest concerns going forward? 

A: First and foremost is the race to flatten the infection curve before the U.S. and other nations hit their health care capacity thresholds. This is the top priority right now. We need to take all reasonable measures to slow down the spread of the virus because otherwise we could be looking at truly horrific public health statistics. Second, we need to take appropriate actions, including clear communication, to restore public confidence to mitigate the likely economic consequences that are coming, including loss of jobs and the closures of small businesses. When there's severe economic fallout, the people most vulnerable are those who are most affected. And finally, I fear the stigmatization of certain groups. It won't be limited to the Chinese. It could be Iran. It could be Italians. It could be, in general, foreigners. Our nation already has big fears about mass immigration, people overrunning our borders. In the aftermath of this, people will look for scapegoats. All of us have a strong tendency to want to hold people culpable for things. It is true we could have handled things better. But it's no nation's fault, it's no ethnic group's fault.

There are going to be big lessons learned. If there's a silver lining here, we all knew it was a question of when, not if, a pandemic would come. And now we figured out we weren't as prepared as we thought we were. This is a wakeup call.

For the latest updates on the coronavirus situation at CSUSM, visit the university’s COVID-19 website. Any additional questions can be emailed to covid@csusm.edu.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

During a four-day transitionary period, from Monday, March 16 through Thursday, March 19, there will be no in-person classes at CSUSM or CSUSM at Temecula, and courses that are currently offered online will continue as usual.  

Starting on Friday, March 20, classes will be conducted remotely for the remainder of the semester, including final exams. During this period, the campus will remain open, but students and faculty can expect reduced operations as departments and facilities implement flexible or rotating work schedules.  

As of the morning of Friday, March 13, no CSUSM employees or students are reported to have COVID-19, the disease associated with this coronavirus. But university leaders stressed that this step is being taken out of an abundance of caution because of the rapid spread of the virus.  

“We understand how difficult this time is for our campus community,” CSUSM President Ellen Neufeldt. “This certainly is not how anyone could have imagined the spring semester unfolding. But in our meetings over the last couple of days with students, faculty and staff, it’s clear that we’re in this together and dealing with the situation with the positive spirit and compassion that I’ve come to expect from our campus. We deeply appreciate the work everyone is doing as we navigate this disruption together as best we can.” 

On Thursday, it was announced that there are now five confirmed cases of coronavirus in San Diego County. All colleges and universities in the county have made or are in the process of making the transition to virtual instruction. On Friday morning, San Diego Unified School District, one of the largest districts in California, said it will close all its schools effective Monday, March 16, with a goal of reopening on April 6 as conditions warrant. Several other districts in North County followed suit later in the day, including San Marcos Unified with a preliminary closure starting Monday. 

At CSUSM, all university-sponsored events through the end of April have been canceled, and events on May 1 or later will be evaluated at a later date. As of now, CSUSM still plans to hold commencement, which is scheduled for May 15-16.  

In response to the unprecedented challenge of shifting all instruction to a virtual model in the middle of a semester, the Faculty Center will be offering drop-in hours during the transition period next week for faculty to receive help from colleagues who are Quality Learning and Teaching (QLT) reviewers. QLT reviewers are CSUSM faculty who have successfully taught online and have been certified to review online courses. Additionally, Academic Technology Services is holding workshops on Cougar Courses and Microsoft Teams over the next few weeks.

“This is an unprecedented scenario for our university and others, and we know it poses tremendous challenges for our faculty,” said Ranjeeta Basu, interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “We are committed to helping faculty during this transition and ensuring that they have the right tools to be successful.”

CSUSM students naturally are left with a host of questions during this difficult time. For students who live in University Village Apartments or The QUAD, both will remain open for those who would like to stay. For anyone who prefers to leave given the change to virtual instruction, they have the option to terminate their housing license with no fee. The deadline to indicate intent to stay or move is Friday, March 20 by filling out this form. Those who plan to move out should plan to do so between Saturday, March 21 and Sunday, April 5.

More answers to housing questions can be found here.

Students who paid for parking permits can request refunds on a prorated basis by filling out this form, but are reminded that the campus will remain open with available services and that the permit will no longer be valid once a refund is processed. Future visits to campus would require a day pass.

On Tuesday, March 17, it was announced that Kellogg Library will be closed until further notice and that the library will continue to serve students and faculty online. Visit http://biblio.csusm.edu/allvirtual for library and research needs.

Students who feel ill with a fever, cough and/or shortness of breath are urged to call their medical provider or Student Health and Counseling Services at 760-750-4915 and ask to speak to a nurse or medical provider for further guidance. Another valuable resource for students is the Cougar Care Network, which can be reached at ccn@csusm.edu or 760-750-7627.

For the latest updates on the coronavirus situation at CSUSM, visit the university’s COVID-19 website. Any additional questions can be emailed to covid@csusm.edu.

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

As of Monday, more than 110,000 cases had been confirmed in more than 100 countries and territories around the world, with major outbreaks in China, South Korea, Italy and Iran. More than 3,800 people have died.  

Coronavirus reached the United States in late January, and the number of confirmed cases has surpassed 500. Twenty-two people have died, including one in California. Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency, saying it will “help the state further prepare our communities and our health care system in the event it spreads more broadly.” 

Based on current trends, that seems inevitable. To learn more about coronavirus, and to try to separate fact from fiction, we turned to a pair of experts from the Cal State San Marcos faculty: biology professors Bianca Mothé, an immunologist, and James Jancovich, a virologist.  

Question: How concerned do you think people should be? 

James Jancovich: My opinion is it's going to continue to spread. I don't think there's too much you can do about it at this point. It has been disseminating; we just don't know how far it's disseminated. The labs that are testing are expanding, so I think we're going to have a better idea about what its dissemination rate is, but I don't think panicking is going to help anything. Even if the dissemination rate continues to go up, the mortality rate is still pretty low.  

Bianca Mothé: There are a lot of pathogens out there. When you think about it in the context of infectious diseases, you have TB and in specific areas of the world, you have things like Ebola that just circulate and people get sick. For something like Ebola, there’s a really high mortality rate, and we've had outbreaks of Ebola that have transmitted to the U.S., which is much more alarming. In terms of the average person who doesn't have any additional underlying health conditions, you could get something and not even know whether you have COVID-19 (the name of the disease caused by coronavirus) or a cold or a flu. For the normal person, I don't think there’s a reason to be completely panicked, like this rush to buy hand sanitizer and masks running out.  

Q: There's been a lot of discussion in the media about historical antecedents for this virus, from SARS to the Spanish flu of 1918. As experts, what do you think is the most direct comparison? 

JJ: I guess it's closest to SARS. But it's different than SARS in that SARS was transmitted when people started showing signs of disease. And with coronavirus, I don't think we know the complete parameters of when this is being transmitted. But between SARS and flu, I think those two are probably pretty close in terms of models that we could follow.  

BM: In terms of transmission from an animal source, SARS is probably the closest. I think there's been more human-to-human transmission with this infection, which would probably make it more comparable to something like flu, and flu has many more numbers and infects many more people. SARS had a greater mortality rate but didn't infect as many people, whereas here you're probably getting many more infections, probably most of them untested at this point, but a lower mortality rate. 

Q: What has surprised you most about the coronavirus so far? 

BM: We've seen SARS and MERS, which were other coronaviral infections, but they didn't have the ability to spread like this particular coronavirus. 

JJ: That it hasn’t happened before. With world travel these days, you can go around the world in less than 24 hours. Diseases pop up constantly, especially zoonotic diseases. Typically, zoonotic diseases jump from animals to humans, and it's a dead-end pathway. You rarely see human-to-human transmission at that point. If this is what happened here, and it now has jumped and allowed more human-to human-transmission, I'm kind of surprised it hasn't happened before. I would have expected this to be more periodic and cyclical in some ways. 

Q: Because this is a virus that's spreading so fast in our social media age, there's a lot of misinformation out there. What are some of the most prevalent myths you’ve heard, and what is the truth? 

BM: I've seen some bad information. Hand sanitizer is probably protective. But the first time people were reporting on hand sanitizer, they were mislabeling this as like a bacterial infection, along the lines of, “Hand sanitizer kills 99.5% of all bacterial pathogens, including coronavirus,” and I was like, “Oh, no, don't forget this is a virus, it’s not about bacteria.” I think that was a mislabeling, which probably led to this over-panicking, like, “If I have hand sanitizer, I'll be OK.” There’s also this discussion of going into big crowds and we’re beginning to see some large functions getting canceled, and I'm not sure we're at that point yet. There's no evidence that says you can't go into big public places because if you do, you will catch this. For people who have vulnerabilities, it's something to consider, but I don't think it warrants canceling large functions or concerts.

The mask discussion is also interesting. If someone is sick, then maybe they should have a mask. But if you're on the other end, if you don't want to catch it, a regular mask isn't going to help you unless you have an N95 mask (a special surgical mask). If you do have coronavirus, a regular mask will keep your droplets from going out. But once those droplets are out there, they can go through a regular mask. I've been to a doctor for a couple different things recently, and you cannot find a mask in a regular doctor's office. They're all gone.

JJ: Don't touch your face all the time. That's the other thing. It's the concept of contact. If someone is sick, they will sneeze, that virus will last on surfaces for a while, someone else will touch it and then scratch their face, rub their nose.

Q: For people who might tend to brush this off as no big deal, why do you think it's important to keep the conversation going? 

BM: There's an opportunity to educate. It is an outbreak. There's a lot that we don't know about it. It's not to be alarmist that this is going to be the next 1918 Spanish flu. But vulnerable populations, like people with preexisting health conditions or the elderly, are more susceptible to infection. We should be cognizant of that, have a continual discussion and monitor what's happening in the news cycles, but there doesn't need to be a panic that if you catch this, everybody will die in your local community.

JJ: Diseases like this happen a lot and usually just kind of fizzle out and stop. So it’s about understanding that this could happen at even a bigger scale, and making sure that we're prepared for it in whatever way that may be in terms of education, medical care.

Q: From your understanding of viruses, is there anything that makes this one especially dangerous or problematic? 

JJ: Nothing that I've read sticks out. RNA viruses mutate much faster, so this is one where I would expect some change over time. It's just a matter of how long it will take.

BM: I was at an NIH Study Section last week called “Vaccines Against Microbial Diseases,” with a lot of colleagues who think about this all the time. As they’re beginning to prepare vaccine candidates, they're using traditional approaches. This is not a unique pathogen that has a different composition from other viruses. If anything, I think my colleagues dusted off a lot of approaches that they were using for SARS, so animal models that were developed at the time and different vaccine compositions. If the resources are available, this will allow for a vaccine to be designed and tested. You should be able to make a vaccine for this.

Q: Have you changed any of your behaviors or advised others to do so? 

BM: I work with the CSU Student Success Network, and we put together professional development for 80-plus faculty, staff and students. We have a session coming up in early April. I haven't changed anything I'm doing, but I'm about to send out a communication to all of those participants to say that we're monitoring the situation and these are some of the criteria that we will take in consideration if we were to change the delivery of that session, like via video conference instead of in person. I haven't changed classes, but I’m making some alternative plans if there’s a public health threat issued by officials and we can't get large gatherings of people together.

JJ: I have supplies to last for a while – at least a month or two of food and water. But I've always kind of had a supply of things. I tell people always to be prepared because in Southern California, you never know when there might be an earthquake or wildfire. There are so many people in such a small little area, and in case of an emergency, there's nowhere to go, you can't drive anywhere. So always be prepared – that goes back to my Boy Scout days.

Q: I’m going to ask you to put on your prognosticators’ hats. What’s your best guess about what the next year will look like, in terms of best-case, worst-case or most likely scenario? 

JJ: If trends continue, the infection rate will continue to go up. If the mortality rate stays about the same and the coronavirus affects a million people, obviously you're going to have a lot more people succumbing to the disease. But at some point, it's hopefully just going to complete its cycle. The worst-case scenario, I think, is that it gets some sort of mutation that makes it a little bit worse and increases the mortality rate, which is possible, especially with RNA viruses. But now that they've kind of opened up the testing, I think we're going to see the number of cases increase, which will make the mortality rate go down. The biggest issue is if it mutates more and becomes much more pathogenic or increases the mortality rate, but I think it'll fizzle out before then.

BM: We're beyond the initial containment. It's not like we can shut down borders for every country. We have it circulating so we're going to get higher numbers, and the question is: How high will they get? There's lots of unknowns, and I think that's probably one of the biggest unknowns. But most of the cases are probably transmission from people who are feelings some symptoms. So if you can practice good public health and keep those people from being out in public, hopefully you can contain and not get those crazy numbers.

For information about CSUSM's preparations for the coronavirus, visit our Incident Response website. 

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306