CalMatters: Legislature Passes $1.1 Billion In Emergency Coronavirus Funding — Then Leaves The Capitol 
In an urgent attempt to prepare California for a surge of critically ill coronavirus patients, state lawmakers Monday allocated up to $1 billion for an unprecedented ramp-up of hospital capacity, and then, in an extraordinary move, went home for a month — or perhaps longer — effectively shutting down business at the state Capitol as Americans face growing calls to isolate themselves. The move to adjourn until April 13 came as states across the nation enacted sweeping measures to stem the fast-moving pandemic and the nation’s economy began to shut down. (Rosenhall, Becker and Ibarra, 3/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Coronavirus Crisis: California Lawmakers Approve $1.1 Billion Package
The two-bill package passed both houses of the Legislature unanimously only a few hours after it was introduced, a reflection of how pressing both Democrats and Republicans have come to see the situation. Gov. Gavin Newsom made an emergency request for the money, allowing lawmakers to waive a requirement that the measures be in print for at least 72 hours before they could be taken up for a vote. “By taking this action, we are placing an extraordinary degree in trust in Gov. Gavin Newsom,” said Assemblyman Jay Obernolte, R-Big Bear Lake (San Bernardino County). “However, these are extraordinary times, and it makes sense to concentrate decision-making authority to a place where it does expedite getting these funds to the vital uses that will prevent the spread of this coronavirus.” (Koseff, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: California Legislature Passes Coronavirus Aid, Goes Into Recess 
“The passage of this motion gives me no pleasure, but it’s necessary,” said Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, before the Assembly approved the break on a 68-0 vote. “It is a request to step away from our desks much earlier than we’d like. The demands of public health require it.” (Wiley, 3/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Gov. Gavin Newsom Beefs Up Services For Seniors, A Day After Telling Them To Stay Home 
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered state health and social service agencies to redirect services toward senior citizens and people with chronic health conditions — two populations that he’s told to stay home as the coronavirus spreads. The new executive order aims to put more staff in residential care and outpatient facilities, and to add programs that would serve seniors cloistering themselves at home. (Swan, 3/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Coronavirus Shutdown: What Older People And Their Loved Ones Need To Know 
Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging all Californians over 65 to stay at home as much as possible, and that advice was hardened Monday with a shelter-in-place order in six Bay Area counties until April 7 telling everyone to stay inside except for essential outings. Those include travel for needs such as groceries, pharmacy items and health care.Here are some tips, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state Department of Public Health and other sources, on what older adults need to know during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Fagan, 3/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Coronavirus Shutdown: What To Know About Getting Medical Treatment
The shelter in place order by six Bay Area counties is shutting down non-essential services, including medical appointments that are not emergencies, in order to preserve critical health resources for COVID-19 cases and reduce the spread of the coronavirus. “The scientific evidence shows that at this stage of the emergency, it is essential to slow virus transmission as much as possible to protect the most vulnerable and to prevent the health care system from being overwhelmed,” the order said. (Moench, 3/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Coronavirus Shutdown: How Life Will Change With New Shelter-In-Place Order 
Six Bay Area counties are expected to demand residents shelter in place for the next three weeks as health officials scramble to keep coronavirus from spreading across the region.Here’s a quick look at what you need to know about the shelter-in-place order. (Fracassa, 3/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Will The Bay Area Run Out Of Food? Nope. The Supply Chain Is Healthy 
Those picked-over grocery-store shelves don’t tell the full story. The Bay Area is not in danger of running out of food, industry members and experts say, and the food supply chain is as healthy as ever. (Mobley and Narayan, 3/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Coronavirus Shutdown: How Transit Is Working During Shelter-In-Place Order
Public transit in the Bay Area will remain operational, but only for essential travel, and riders are ordered to keep six feet apart.Non-essential travel “on foot, bicycle, scooter, automobile or public transit” is prohibited. (Ravani, 3/16)

Los Angeles Times: How The Bay Area Coronavirus 'Shelter In Place' Order Works
The San Francisco Bay Area is the hardest-hit region in California with regards to coronavirus cases. More than 290 cases have been reported in the six Bay Area counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara, as well as the neighboring county of Santa Cruz.In Santa Clara County alone, more than 130 cases were confirmed and more than 50 have been hospitalized. Officials expect the number of cases to worsen. (Lin II, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: Advice On Self-Isolation In California Coronavirus Outbreak 
Faced with a series of conflicting rules and advice, some California residents on Monday said they were confused and angered by what they consider inexplicable decisions by state and local leaders. In an attempt to quell the spread of the coronavirus to older, more high-risk individuals, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday advised anyone age 65 and older to self-isolate at home, and for restaurants to serve only at half-capacity. (Bizjak, Yoon-Hendricks and Sabalow, 3/16)

Modern Healthcare: COVID-19 Treatment For Homeless Gets $1M From Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente has pledged $1 million toward efforts to prevent and treat COVID-19 cases among the nation's homeless population. The Oakland, Calif.-based health system on Monday partnered with the advocacy group National Health Care for the Homeless Council to fund at least four housing activist groups in California, Seattle and Portland, Ore. Those areas account for nearly half of all coronavirus cases in the U.S. and have some of the largest homeless populations in the country. (Johnson, 3/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Coronavirus Makes Homeless People Vulnerable Like Never Before 
To be able to self-quarantine is a privilege, kind of like stocking up on groceries and singing a nursery rhyme while washing your hands. When you live on the streets, potable water is too precious to use on your hands. Michael Stein, a professor of health law, policy and management at Boston University, says we should have known something like this was coming. (Taylor Jr., 3/16)

Fresno Bee: Coronavirus Recession Will Hit CA Worse Than Rest Of U.S. 
The U.S. economy has entered its first recession in 11 years, and it’s likely to be slightly more severe in California than the rest of the nation, a new forecast from the UCLA Anderson School of Management said Monday. By the first quarter of 2021, California is expected to lose more than 280,000 payroll jobs, the report said. More than one-third of those jobs would be in leisure and hospitality and transportation and warehousing. (Lightman, 3/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Coronavirus Shutdown: Retailers Face Weeks-Long Closure 
On Monday, Laurie Berliner, who sells hand-made hats at a shop called Madge & Me in San Anselmo, was getting ready to close for three weeks. She’ll still make hats during the temporary closure, but won’t sell to customers or operate her store. In San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, Christin Evans, co-owner of the Alembic bar, shuttered the pub and her other shop, the Booksmith, for three weeks, though the bookstore’s website will remain open for business. (Narayan and Li, 3/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Mayor: City Will Foot Businesses’ Bills For Coronavirus Sick Days 
San Francisco will pay for five additional sick days for private-sector workers harmed by the new coronavirus as it expands relief efforts. Mayor London Breed is setting aside $10 million to help those financially strapped by the growing pandemic. (Cassidy and Li, 3/16)

Fresno Bee: Low Income Workers Risk Paychecks In The Face Of Coronavirus 
Mary Ellen Sanchez, a single mother of six in Fresno, works as an in-home supportive service provider for two women. One is paralyzed from the neck down, and the other one is in her late 60s. Like over 400,000 in-home supportive service workers across the state represented by SEIU 2015, she receives only two days of paid sick leave a year, whereas California mandates at least three days for full-time employees. And in the era of COVID-19, she’s on the front lines: the elderly and immunocompromised are most at-risk for contracting the novel coronavirus. (Tobias, 3/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Out Of Work Because Of Coronavirus? These Businesses Are Hiring 
With the stock market in freefall and much of Northern California on lockdown because of fears of the spread of the coronavirus, people are seeing their livelihoods threatened and facing the inability to work or layoffs. But some essential industries like delivery services and grocery stores are hiring. (DiFeliciantonio, 3/16)

CalMatters: Coronavirus: Bay Area 'Shelter In Place' Order Leaves Businesses, Workers Scrambling
With Bay Area residents ordered to start sheltering at home Tuesday to help stop the spread of coronavirus, labor groups, businesses and workers are scrambling to understand how the lockdown will affect thousands of workers who aren’t telecommuting or whose jobs can’t be done remotely. On Monday, less than 24 hours after Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday put out an urgent call for bars and nightclubs to shut, for restaurants to halve their number of tables and for millions of seniors and others with chronic conditions to self isolate, six Bay Area counties and their public health officers went much further, issuing an order carrying the force of law for residents to shelter at home for three weeks, until April 7. (Hellerstein, 3/16)

CalMatters: California Coronavirus Layoffs: Workers Fear Unemployment 
Restaurant workers are facing unemployment. Other workers fear they will run out of sick days. (Tobias, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus To Hurt Local Restaurants, Bars On St. Patrick’s
St. Patrick’s Day festivities will be muted across Sacramento this year, but the party will (quietly) go on. Gov. Gavin Newsom called for all bars, breweries and wineries to close and all restaurants to cut seating in half Sunday to limit the spread of coronavirus and its affiliated disease COVID-19... No Sacramento-area bars outspokenly defied Newsom’s request in the 24 hours since he made it. Many bars, however, serve food as well and most have chosen to identify as a restaurant in this case - that is, continue serving meals and drinks while cutting seating in half. (Egel, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus Is Closing These Sacramento Restaurants And Bars 
Gov. Gavin Newsom called for all California restaurants to cut occupancy by 50 percent on Sunday to combat the new coronavirus and its affiliated disease, which has killed six people statewide and infected more than 300 others. Some went above and beyond. These Sacramento restaurants have voluntarily closed to limit the spread of COVID-19. All closures are indefinite unless otherwise noted. (Egel, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus CA: Raley’s Mass Hiring At 20 Stores Amid Crisis
Northern California supermarket chain Raley’s is mass hiring for personal shoppers at many of its locations, as millions of Californians are limiting exposure to the public due to the rapidly developing coronavirus crisis. Safeway also announced a surge of hiring for in-store employees and delivery drivers at its Northern California, Nevada and Hawaii stores. (McGough, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus Pushes CA Based Save Mart To Hire For 1,000 Jobs
The Save Mart Cos. with grocery stores in Sacramento, Modesto, Merced and Fresno is looking to hire nearly 1,000 employees throughout California and northern Nevada due to increasing demands spurred by the coronavirus crisis. The Modesto-based company, which includes 205 FoodMaxx, Lucky and Save Mart grocery stores, also is hiring for jobs at its warehouses in Roseville and Merced. (Ahumada, 3/16)

Los Angeles Times: LAPD Shifting More Cops To Street Patrol To Help With The Coronavirus
The Los Angeles Police Department will shift half the detectives working in its community stations to daily patrol in order to ensure public peace. Mayor Eric Garcetti made the announcement Monday evening, saying that the city’s detectives will start working on the streets to “help supplement our patrol officers.” (Winton and Smith, 3/16)

CalMatters: California Fears Census Undercount Amid Coronavirus Outbreak 
A global pandemic is upending California's 2020 census outreach efforts while community organizers report difficulty getting residents to set aside privacy concerns — and government distrust. The risk of an undercount could cost a congressional seat and billions in federal funding. (Castillo, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus: 2nd Sacramento County Resident Dies Of Virus 
Health officials on Monday announced the second death due to the coronavirus in Sacramento County. The county in an update to its website reported one additional case of COVID-19 for 33 total, up from 32 on Sunday, and said there have now been two deaths. The first death was a woman in her 90s residing at an Elk Grove assisted living home who died last Tuesday. Authorities did not provide further details on the second individual, except that this person was also “older than 70 and had underlying health conditions,” according to the county website. (McGough, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento, California School Teacher Dies From Coronavirus 
A temporary volunteer and substitute teacher who worked at Sutterville Elementary School in February and tested positive for coronavirus died on Sunday, according to a statement released by the Sacramento City Unified School District. The district announced last week that the substitute tested positive for the virus, and responded by deep cleaning the school. (Morrar and Bizjak, 3/16)

WBUR: LA Superintendent Says District Needs To Continue Providing ‘Social Safety Net’ During COVID-19 Closure
In California, 51% of school districts are shut down — including all 900 campuses in the nation's second largest school district, Los Angeles Unified Schools. Superintendent Austin Beutner says schools will be closed for at least two weeks with no definitive date to reopen. ...Of the nearly 700,000 LAUSD students, 80% rely on free or reduced lunches and at least 18,000 are homeless. (Mosley, 3/16)

Bay Area News Group: Gilroy: 1 Dead From Coronavirus, Another Sick, Mayor Says
One person has died from COVID-19 in Gilroy, according to the city’s mayor, while another person is ill from the virus.Mayor Roland Velasco confirmed the death in a Facebook post late Sunday, noting that both cases involve “elderly” people. (Kelliher, 3/16)

Los Angeles Times: LAUSD To Open Resource Centers Amid School Closures
Los Angeles school officials were racing Sunday to organize the complex logistics of opening 20 meal pickup sites and 40 family resource centers to serve students who will be displaced from campuses beginning on Monday in an unprecedented shutdown to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The food distribution sites and resource centers are widely seen as vital in a school system where 80% of students are from low-income households and 18,000 are homeless. (Blume, 3/15)

Sacramento Bee: CA State Employees Still Have To Work Amid Coronavirus Closures 
The Bay Area is on lockdown. The president wants people to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people. Yet thousands of California state workers are still leaving their homes to go to work in well-populated office buildings, awaiting further guidance from Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Venteicher and Bollag, 3/16)

Fresno Bee: Yosemite To Close Hotels, Facilities In Response To Coronavirus
Yosemite National Park hotels and restaurants are expected to close by noon Tuesday to lessen the risk of coronavirus (COVID-19) spreading to park visitors and employees of the popular California park. Some Yosemite employees received this information Monday night in an email from the park’s concessionaire, Yosemite Hospitality, a subsidiary of Aramark. (George, 3/16)

Fresno Bee: Tulare County, CA Has A Third Case Of Coronavirus 
A third coronavirus case has been reported in Tulare County. The patient is in critical condition and in isolation at Kaweah Delta Hospital in Visalia. The hospital in a new release Monday night said all physicians and employees in contact with the COVID-19 patient are wearing personal protective equipment. (Valenzuela, 3/16)

Fresno Bee: CA Superior Courts Consider Suspending Operations 
A Fresno defense attorney is calling on the Fresno County Superior Court to follow the lead of other counties in California and scale down or close operations to limit the potential spread of the highly contagious COVID-19 virus. Eric Schweitzer, a Fresno lawyer and president of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, said this is a public health issue as much as it is a criminal justice issue. (Rodriguez, 3/16)

Fresno Bee: Fresno CA Hospitals Gear Up For Added Testing, Virus Prevention
Hospitals in the central San Joaquin Valley are rolling out emergency tents and limiting patient visits as the response to the novel coronavirus widens across the country. Hospital officials say the hospital tent extensions are meant to keep patients with possible COVID-19 at a safe distance from others. Testing for the coronavirus is becoming increasingly common at hospitals, although wait times are expected in places where there is high demand. (Rodriguez-Delgado, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento CA SacRT Expects Cornavirus Driver Shortages 
Sacramento Regional Transit officials Monday afternoon announced they anticipate driver shortages in the coming weeks and asked bus riders to check for cancellations as authorities try to slow the spread of coronavirus, which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19. RT is adapting its operations in response to COVID-19, and officials recommend bus riders check the RT alerts webpage for possible bus trip cancellations. (Ahumada, 3/16)

Fresno Bee: Fresno CA Mayor Declares COVID-19 State Of Emergency 
Fresno Mayor Lee Brand declared a state of emergency on Monday in response to the coronavirus and announced a number of measures the city is taking to serve residents during the pandemic. The Fresno City Council voted unanimously to approve the mayor’s declaration during a special meeting on Monday. The council also OK’d a price-gouging ordinance. (Calix, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: Caltrans Closes Oakland Office After Positive COVID-19 Test 
Caltrans planned to close an office in Oakland on Monday after an employee there tested positive for COVID-19, according to a Sunday night email. Separately, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System closed its Sacramento headquarters for cleaning Monday after an employee there showed symptoms and went home. The employee has been tested for COVID-19, according to a CalPERS news release. (Venteicher, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus Forces Courts To Delay Trials And Close Doors 
Courthouses across California on Monday dramatically drew down operations and even closed their doors as life under COVID-19 continued to grind communities to a standstill. But Sacramento Superior Court remains open even as confirmed cases in the county continue to mount and a second person has died of the virus. (Smith, 3/17)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento CA YMCA Turning Fitness Centers Into Child Care 
The YMCA in the Sacramento region is turning some of its fitness centers into emergency child care sites, so medical staff and first responders have somewhere for their children as they respond to the coronavirus spread and an increasing number of COVID-19 cases. The YMCA of Superior California, which encompasses Sacramento, Yolo County, Oroville, Gold Country and the Yuba-Sutter area, is canceling all its services except for child care. It is temporarily transforming its fitness centers, where possible, since there are a shortage of child care facilities available. (Ahumada, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus Concerns Keep Sacramento Libraries Closed For Now 
All 28 Sacramento-area libraries will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday as library director Rivkah Sass asks the library board to approve shutting down the branches through the end of March to help mitigate the spread of the new coronavirus. Sass said a special meeting of the library board was scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday during which she will ask for permission to shut the branches at least through the end of the month, “with the flexibility to reassess as more information becomes available.” (Stanton, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus: Another Case At Elk Grove CA Senior-Living Home 
Every day for the past week, Darlene Lyttle has called, messaged and Facetimed her 79-year-old father, a resident at Carlton Senior Living in Elk Grove. She’s anxiously tried to learn what’s happening at her dad’s assisted living facility, where officials over the weekend announced that a second resident had tested positive for the new coronavirus and that all residents were ordered to isolate themselves indefinitely. (Pohl and Finch II, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: Red Hawk Casino Stays Open Amid CA Coronavirus Outbreak 
The Red Hawk Casino in El Dorado County remained open for business Monday afternoon amid the coronavirus outbreak in the Sacramento region. Casino officials were telling guests changes to their operations were being made as part of COVID-19 prevention. (Ahumada, 3/16)