Of Broadband, Businesses, and Public Health Amid the Pandemic, Assemblyman Wood Provides His Perspective

Assemblyman Jim Woods

Assemblyman Jim Wood has represented the North Coast in the California State Assembly since 2014. With his district in the grips of the Coronavirus pandemic, he has admired his constituents’ “kindness, generosity, and innovation” while recognizing “how many people are having a really hard time.” In a telephone interview Monday, Wood talked about his fears of an outbreak, his concerns about losing small businesses, and his hopes for extending broadband.

Assemblyman Wood said he feared that “if we don’t have the resources and we have an outbreak it’s going to be difficult.” These fears stem from the North Coast being “an area that has challenges with a lack of primary care, a shortage of doctors and nurses.” In the event of an outbreak “at a nursing home, some of these folks get sidelined and our resource challenges become exaggerated.”

“Humboldt County has a surprisingly large number of cases per capita, Wood noted. “This could also be due to their larger amount of testing. As we see more testing, we’ll see more cases.”

Assemblyman Wood explained that the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services has been sending personnel to support agencies like Mendocino County’s Public Health Department where “the public health department consists of a director and one public health nurse, and that’s a county of 80,000 people.”

Assemblyman Wood championed social distancing as the North Coast’s “best defense” in stopping the virus. “While people have a hard time visualizing preventative measures, California’s social distancing guidelines have been one of the most successful preventative measures implemented at a massive scale,” he explained.

Assemblyman Wood noted, “We’ve already seen a pretty big hit to the North Coast economy.” He identified the service industry amongst some of the hardest hit and conceded that “we’re going to lose some [businesses].”

He pointed out, “Larger businesses have stronger relationships with financial institutions and the ability to access capital in ways that smaller businesses do not.” Financial support is critical to North Coast small businesses because they “are really the economy of the counties that I represent. 85% of businesses are considered small businesses.” Assemblyman Wood described consulting with small business owners he knows who attempted to seek support from the federal stimulus package’s Paycheck Protection Program who found the process “frustrating” and “slow-moving.” Ultimately, Assemblyman Wood asserted that the health of the North Coast’s economy hinges on those small businesses “coming back.” He said, “Keeping them afloat is critical.”

Recognizing the magnitude of the pandemic’s economic impact, Assemblyman Wood suggested a need for further financial support in the form of a California state stimulus package. He explained that the pandemic has shut down Sacramento which doesn’t allow an opportunity for the state legislators to discuss the particulars of such a measure. Assemblyman Wood could give no specifics on this stimulus package but stated, “I do believe that as a state we have to use our resources to help get this economy on the right track.”

Assemblyman Wood offered his appreciation for the efforts made by the North Coast’s K-12 schools to provide meals to their students because their “need doesn’t quit when they’re not in school.”

Regarding K-12 education’s shift to distance learning, Assemblyman Wood recognizes that schools are doing their best, but it can be problematic because “Our district has big areas where we do not have internet access. I worry this might widen the digital divide.” Though appreciative of private companies like Google donating Chromebooks and WiFi hotspots, Assemblyman Wood stated, “We could use all of those donations in our district and still have an unmet need.”

He saw this infrastructural deficiency as an opportunity to start a push towards the installation of broadband internet district-wide: “The best thing that could help our counties is robust broadband district-wide which is something I’ve been working on since I got to the legislature. Sometimes a crisis like this will help to raise the profile of those efforts.”

For anyone on the North Coast that is looking for reliable information about the Coronavirus on the North Coast, visit Assemblyman Wood’s website. Ultimately, Assemblyman Wood knows the Coronavirus pandemic is going to take those of “us at the state and federal levels [doing] more than we’ve ever done to get everyone through this.”