Daily Business Report-Jan. 11, 2021
The UC San Diego Health Pharmacy team unpacks the first shipment of Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine, moving the doses into storage in -80 freezers, in an area they call the ‘Freezer Pharm.’ (Credit: San Diego Health)
UCSD to help county deliver 5,000 COVID-19
vaccinations per day at site near Petco Park
UC San Diego Health, San Diego County and the Padres are teaming up to vaccinate at least 5,000 health care workers per day against the novel coronavirus, starting today.
Those partners, along with the City of San Diego, will run the “Vaccination Super Station” near Petco Park in an effort to safely vaccinate the 500,000 health care workers in the region eligible for Phase 1A-Tier categories on California’s vaccine priority list.
“The Vaccination Super Station increases our ability as a county to administer the vaccine to health care workers,” said San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Nathan Fletcher.
“Opening this supersized vaccination site will be an important milestone in the state of California’s COVID recovery when it opens on Monday. With UC San Diego Health assisting this new regional partnership, we will get vaccines into the arms of health care workers much faster,” he said.
The decision to begin a large-scale vaccination site was made Thursday and comes as hospitals throughout the county are bracing for a post-New Year’s Eve surge in infections that will challenge the region’s ability to care for COVID patients.
The county previously established four point-of-dispensing sites across the region that were administering hundreds of vaccines to health care workers daily, and those sites will continue to operate.
Starting today, the Super Station will be operating from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week for health care workers. Vaccines will only be administered to health care workers who have made an appointment online.
State Unemployment Development Department
suspends 3.3 million claims
Emily Hoeven | Calmatters
California’s beleaguered unemployment department has suspended paymenton a staggering 1.4 million claims in an attempt to reduce fraud — and disqualified another 1.9 million, suggesting that one-third of all claims submitted amid the pandemic could be fraudulent, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The shocking statistic comes two days after prosecutors estimatedthe Employment Development Department may have paid up to $4 billion in fraudulent claims, including nearly $100 million to out-of-state jail and prison inmates.
Given that 780,000 unemployment claims remained backlogged as of Dec. 31 — and around 1.4 million people will have to go through another round of identity checks — it could take months for many Californians to access their benefits. EDD’s new identity-verification and fraud-detection tool, ID.me — which took the department two weeks to implement — is apparently so plagued with complications that some Californians are reverting to filing paper claims.
Study: E-Cigarettes trigger inflammation in the gut
Touted by makers as a “healthy” alternative to traditional nicotine cigarettes, new research indicates the chemicals found in e-cigarettes disrupt the gut barrier and trigger inflammation in the body, potentially leading to a variety of health concerns.
In the study, published Jan. 5, 2021 in the journal iScience, Soumita Das, associate professor of pathology, and Pradipta Ghosh, M.D., professor of cellular and molecular medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues, found that chronic use of nicotine-free e-cigarettes led to a “leaky gut,” in which microbes and other molecules seep out of the intestines, resulting in chronic inflammation. Such inflammation can contribute to a variety of diseases and conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, dementia, certain cancers, atherosclerosis, liver fibrosis, diabetes and arthritis.
Community Housing Works to break ground
on Ulric Street Apartments in Linda Vista
San Diego-based nonprofit housing developer Community HousingWorks will break ground Tuesday on Ulric Street Apartments in Linda Vista to create opportunities for individuals through safe, stable and affordable homes.
The groundbreaking will be held virtually and include speeches from Community HousingWorks staff and board members; Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher; San Diego Housing Commission President and CEO Rick Gentry, and other notables.
A collaboration of city, county, state and federal resources, Ulric Street Apartments will feature 96 new, deed-restricted apartment homes – with 10 units reserved for chronically homeless veterans and 10 for transition-aged foster youth – conveniently located near public transportation providing residents easy access to transit and employment centers. The development takes advantage of San Diego’s density bonus ordinance, embraces sustainable technologies, incorporates quality design promoting natural ventilation, and offers resident-centered programs and services to help families achieve their goals and enable next generation success. The future Ulric Street Apartments community will be located at 2645-2685 Ulric Street in Linda Vista.
General Atomics to further develop
railgun projectile tech for Army
GovCon Wire
General Atomics’ electromagnetic systems business has received a U.S. Army contract modification to advance hypersonic projectile technologydesigned to integrate with a railgun system and intercept targets in electromagnetic environments.
The Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center issued the award as part of efforts to demonstrate the potential of projectiles, guidance and control electronic systems to support the U.S. military’s command network for air and missile defense platforms, General Atomics said.
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) will produce the guided weapon for demonstration with a U.S. Navy railgun during test-firing exercises slated to take place this year at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS, said the effort will serve as a step toward the integration of railgun projectiles into air and missile defense missions and the precision engagement of airborne threats.
“We are looking forward to verifying the projectiles’ capability to sustain data links, control its trajectory via actuated control surfaces using command guidance, and hit moving airborne targets, all while undergoing incredible G-forces and at hypersonic speeds,” said Nick Bucci, vice president of missile defense and space systems at GA-EMS.
Civic Community Partners announces
financingfor new retail store and
employment center in Escondido
Civic Community Partners announced the closing of a $9 million New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) investment with Goodwill Industries of San Diego County to finance a new retail store and community employment center in Escondido. Located at 315 W Washington Ave., the project will transform a former Rite Aid into a retail store that will receive and sell used goods and the new employment center will assist those with barriers to employment and provide training and job placement assistance. U.S. Bank was the investor for the project.
The New Markets Tax Credit Program, established by Congress in December 2000, permits individual and corporate taxpayers to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making equity investments in vehicles known as Community Development Entities (CDEs). The CDEs in turn use the capital raised to make investments in low-income communities. The NMTC Program was extended five years under the recently enacted federal COVID relief bill.
Civic Community Partners, formerly known as Civic San Diego Economic Growth and Neighborhood Investment Fund, is working to identify qualified projects to receive this type of investment.
Ray Akhavan appointed
general counsel of DermTech Inc.
San Diego-based DermTech Inc. announced the appointment of Ray Akhavan to the role of general counsel. Akhavan will serve on the executive leadership team and have responsibility for all legal, intellectual property and compliance matters.
Akhavan has more than 16 years of experience that includes private practice at a prominent international law firm, as well as with leading companies in consumer genomics and cancer diagnostics.
Most recently, Akhavan served as associate general counsel and chief IP counsel at Ancestry, and prior to that as general counsel and chief IP counsel at Caris Life Sciences. Akhavan’s experience also includes working as a research biologist in the National Institutes of Health, and as a patent examiner at the United States Patent & Trademark Office.
Akhavan was awarded a J.D. from Washington College of Law at American University and an M.S. in Molecular Biology from George Mason University.
Alan Nevin’s 2021 Economic Forecast
To say that 2020 was a difficult year would be an understatement. From an economic standpoint, it was on par with the 2008 financial crisis. However, there are a few major differences. We have looked at several key economic indicators to better understand what lies ahead, both nationally and locally.
Download Alan Nevin’s 2021 Economic Forecast
Viasat inks deal with Delta to provide in-flight Internet
Carlsbad’s Viasat has landed a contract to deliver in-flight Internet connectivity to more than 300 Delta Air Lines aircraft starting summer 2021. The North County company is currently a top supplier to more than 1,300 commercial aircraft through other airlines, including JetBlue, American Airlines, and United Airlines.
ClickUp raises $100 million,
becomes San Diego’s latest unicorn
San Diego-based ClickUp has just secured $100 million in VC funding and has reached a $1 billion valuation, making it San Diego’s newest tech unicorn. The business productivity software company added more than 100 jobs after moving its headquarters to San Diego from the Bay Area last year.
