Twin Task Forces Launched to Combat COVID
Photo credit Kevin Grieve
Before Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan was sworn in on December 8th, she shared with The Vine that she had big plans. One of her stated goals, bringing together a task force of community experts to advise the city on handling the pandemic, is already in motion.
On December 15th, Mayor Khan announced twin task forces made up of community leaders to address Irvine’s current challenges on two different fronts: medicine and business.
“We have such amazing medical partners in this community,” says Melissa Haley, Deputy City Manager. “The fact that we have Hoag, Kaiser, Memorial Care, Saint Joseph’s, all these different incredible resources at our fingertips. [Mayor Khan] thought it was really important to have this meeting of the minds, if you will, and hear from the experts on where we are and how we can help get out of this. What is it from the medical perspective that can help us now with whatever the next state of this is going to be? And how can we, as a city, be prepared for that? Can we prepare our residents for what that looks like?”
These questions for the medical community are only part of the pandemic puzzle. Mayor Khan assembled the some of Irvine’s business leaders to help.
“We all know that our businesses are struggling,” says Haley. “It is just devastating to see what’s happening out there. When we’re in a place where we can have a safe reopening, [Mayor Khan] wanted to have our leading business experts in the community, so we have folks from the Chamber of Commerce, Irvine Company, and Orange County Business Council that will help meet and advise us to have a dialogue on what is going to be the best thing for our business community. What do they really need? What are they saying amongst each other? We also have the president of the OC Restaurant Association on the task force as restaurants need support. Mayor Khan really wants to be immersed in the dialogues taking place and work with community leaders on solutions.”
In order to get started, the Mayor plans to meet with both task forces on a monthly basis. She will have the first meeting with the medical task force on December 18th. The business task force will meet next month.
“While these task force meetings are not available to the public, it is our hope to engage the community through a number of initiatives and community town hall meetings to provide updates and receive feedback,” says Haley. “[Mayor Khan] wanted to just start having these dialogues with both of them. We quickly put these together. She was just sworn in and we’ve hit the ground running with her in the lead. It is about understanding how we can support these communities. And how we can do a better job of seeing them through this as we’re still in the stay-at-home order. Everybody for a while was just saying, ‘Oh, when we get to 2021,’ but it’s not just gonna change. We’re still in this.”
An enormous future challenge is preparing to vaccinate all 281,707 Irvinites. The medical task force will play a large roll in preparations.
“The vaccine is going to be a huge dialogue now,” says Haley. “I know there’s going to be an ask of the city as well as other communities help disseminate the vaccine when that time comes. I don’t know how far down the road, but it’s a dialogue in the background just so we’re prepared.”
In addition to preparing for the best, these task forces will also look at minimizing the worst.
“We’re really trying to support our community and hear them, which is what these task forces will also help us accomplish,” Haley explains. “We want to emerge out of this safely, and without anybody else losing their businesses or their jobs or their livelihoods. How do we really support people? I think that’s what we’re trying to do. The city’s mission has always been to respect our community, be innovative, be flexible, provide elite level service. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish from this.”
Haley hopes these task forces will serve as a conduit to residents who are hurting.
“We hear you,” says Haley. “We’re trying our best to really understand what is happening at the ground level and how the city can really support you.”
The Business Reopening Taskforce will begin meeting in January 2021. Taskforce members include:
Jeff Davis, Vice President - Entitlement, Irvine Company
Bryan Starr, President and CEO, Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce
Dianne Markis, General Manager, Marriott Irvine Spectrum
Pamela Waitt, President, OC Restaurant Association
Lucy Dunn, President and CEO, Orange County Business Council
The COVID-19 Task Force meeting takes place December 18th. Task Force members will include Irvine City Management staff as well as the following:
Mayor Farrah N. Khan
Marnie Baker, MD, MPH, Memorial Care – Pediatrics
Clayton Chau, MD, OC HCA
Amy Durham, Director of Development, NAMI
Shruti Gohil, MD, UCI – Medical
Grace Lozinski, MD, Hoag
Hassan Movahedi, MD, PhD, Kaiser Permanente
For more information, see the Irvine city press release on Mayor Khan’s task forces.