Mayor’s Fresno Recovery Committee Update

Mayor Lee Brand today provided a report on hisFresno Recovery Committee (FRC), which held its first meeting yesterday afternoon and included future plans for the advisory group.

Two additional members were added to the FRC prior to yesterday’s initial meeting.  Dr. John Moua, Board-Certified in Pediatric Pulmonology and Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) was added.  Also, added were Dr. Ardavan Kheradpir, DMD, MD and Dr. Shannon Barnhart, DDS of the Fresno Madera Medical Society.

The Director of the Fresno County Department of Public Health (FCDPH), Dave Pomaville, gave the committee a detailed report on the spread of COVID-19 in Fresno County and the FCDPH’s on-going efforts to increase testing and build its contact tracing capabilities, as well as its understanding of how Fresno County and the region can meet the Governor’s six criteria for increasing modifications to state and local shelter-in-place restrictions. 

The FRC also asked Mayor Brand to create subcommittees to investigate particular areas of concern and provide detailed input for the whole committee to evaluate.  The Mayor and his team are developing the subcommittees and will be communicating with the FRC as a whole later today with their recommendations and to plan future meetings.

In addition to reviewing the Governor’s re-opening criteria, the Fresno Recovery Committee also discussed what the City and County can do to expedite attainment of those goals and looked at several specific industry areas where restrictions could be loosened.

“I greatly appreciate the input of everyone at yesterday’s meeting.  It was a very productive and very encouraging.  We have our work cut out for us, but I am confident that the recommendations and advice of this committee will help us make better policy going forward,” said Mayor Lee Brand.  “Our goal is the well-being of everyone in the City and County of Fresno.  We believe that we will develop reasonable measures and protocols that will not only get people back to work, but will also protect the health and safety of employees and their customers.”

The Mayor will be issuing further updates and briefings as the Fresno Recovery Committee continues to meet and make progress.