Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Physicians Fear For Their Families As They Battle Coronavirus With Too Little Armor
Doctors sent an impassioned, desperate letter to Congress describing the lack of protective equipment across the country — from masks to respirators to gowns to goggles. They're using equipment from construction sites and home-repair stores or wearing the same mask from patient to patient. And they worry about what exposure without sufficient protection means for them and their families. (Laura Ungar, )
California Leaders Carefully Watch New York In Hopes Of Avoiding Becoming Next Epicenter: New York state has nearly 40,000 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. That’s roughly half of the country’s total, and 10 times as many as in California. About 385 people in New York have died, or more than a third of the U.S. total and five times California’s death toll. California leaders hope the state will get through its coronavirus outbreak with a far less tragic toll, due to more aggressive moves to shut down social interactions and enact stay-home orders on the West Coast. But they’re still closely following events in New York, where cases are mounting so fast that very ill patients are beginning to overwhelm hospitals. The most important lesson from New York may also be the most difficult, said Shannon Bennett, chief of science at the California Academy of Sciences: Sheltering in place works, and Californians need to stick with it to avoid the East Coast fate. Read more from Erin Allday of the San Francisco Chronicle and Brian Melley of The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Californians completed their first full week under orders to stay at home Thursday, as grim statistics mounted in the coronavirus outbreak: Confirmed cases in Los Angeles County rose by more than half in a single day, reaching 1,200. Nine new deaths were reported in the county, bringing the virus’s toll to 21. “Even more disturbingly, we see that if this rate of increase continues, in six days, we will be where New York is today, the same number of cases per capita as they are struggling through,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said during a somber online briefing Thursday evening. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
California’s Overwhelming Homelessness Crisis Could Be Achilles’ Heel In Containing Coronavirus: A new study estimates that nearly 2,600 homeless people in the Los Angeles area alone will need to be hospitalized for COVID-19, and about 900 of them will require intensive care. If that many homeless people do indeed stream into local hospitals in the coming weeks, it could lead to competition for what public health officials have said is an already insufficient number of beds and ventilators to meet the need. That, in turn, could further crowd out other patients in need of care. Some cities and counties are rushing to open mass shelters and drawing up plans for how to leave some people outdoors. Still others are pinning their hopes on a state-backed effort to secure hotel and motel rooms. Read more from Benjamin Oreskes, Anita Chabria and Doug Smith of the Los Angeles Times.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
San Francisco Chronicle:
As California Braces For Coronavirus Surge, Nursing Students Beg To Enter Workforce Early
By the time Jessica Boykin graduated from the nursing program at Los Medanos College in 2018, she had patched stab wounds, started numerous IVs, and performed CPR on a patient who collapsed in the lobby of an urgent care facility. But nothing prepared the 32-year-old Napa resident for a pandemic that’s sending up to five otherwise-healthy people into her emergency room each day, desperate for oxygen. (Swan, 3/27)
Sacramento Bee:
UC Davis Med Center Staff Fear Patient Exposure To Coronavirus
When he announced that employees of the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento had tested positive for coronavirus, health system CEO David Lubarsky cast blame on the outside world as “very likely” responsible.He noted the hospital’s own infection-control regime for nurses, doctors and other medical staff, and said, “We simply can’t be protected outside of work.” Lubarsky said he expected many more infections among his employees in the days to come as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads.Now, some employees of the healthcare network that employs 11,310 full- and part-time workers are pushing back. They contend it’s preposterous to suggest that UC Davis Medical Center employees haven’t been infected by contact with patients at the facility. (Sabalow, 3/26)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Coronavirus: SF General Hospital ER Staffer Has COVID-19, Workers File Complaint Claiming Lack Of Protections
An emergency room staff member at San Francisco General Hospital who had direct contact with patients has tested positive for COVID-19, according to an internal staff memo obtained by The Chronicle on Thursday. Officials are conducting a “thorough contact investigation to determine further steps to ensure safety” in the emergency department, according to the memo, sent to employees by hospital CEO Susan Ehrlich on Thursday afternoon. (Cabanatuan and Thadani, 3/26)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Reports 9 New Coronavirus-Related Deaths
As both the number of confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths in Los Angeles County rose by more than half Thursday, public health officials warned that the trajectory of new infections would likely grow dire in the coming weeks. Health officials reported nine new deaths, bringing the death toll to 21. Officials also reported 421 more confirmed cases of the virus, for a total of 1,229, an increase of 52% over Wednesday. (Wigglesworth, Vega, Megerian, Chabria and Nelson, 3/26)
Los Angeles Times:
Coronavirus In L.A.: Analyzing The Rise Of Cases, Deaths
Los Angeles County on Thursday saw a spike in both confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths. Officials have expected the number of cases to increase as more testing became available, and that is occurring. The question is: How much longer will the case numbers explode so dramatically? Many of those now listed as being infected got sick before social distancing rules were imposed across California, so it’s still not fully clear how much the restrictions might slow the spread. (Wigglesworth, Karlamangla and Chabria, 3/26)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Resident At Laguna Honda Hospital Tests Positive For Coronavirus, 150 Employees To Be Tested
For the first time, a resident at San Francisco’s huge city-run nursing home has tested positive for the new coronavirus — a troubling and potentially dangerous development at the facility known as Laguna Honda. Six staffers have already tested positive, and most of the 750 long-term residents are elderly with underlying health conditions. (Thandani and Fagone, 3/26)
Bay Area News Group:
SJPD Finds Cache Of Masks, Donates Them To Hospitals
One afternoon last week, San Jose Police Department property supervisor Anna Hawkes was awash in news of widespread shortages of masks and other supplies at area hospitals straining to keep up with the spiking number of people needing hospital care for COVID-19. It prompted her to remember that there might be a stashed-away cache of hospital-grade masks somewhere in one of the department’s warehouses, stockpiled after the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic. So she and other staff began hunting for the pallet. (Salonga, 3/25)
CalMatters:
Farmworkers Unprotected As Face Masks Are Scarce
Masks shield them from pesticides and field dust, which cause respiratory problems. And as California enters fungicide season, soon followed by fire season, growers and laborers worry there won't be enough masks due to the coronavirus. (Cimini, 3/26)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Coronavirus Cases Climb As Testing Grows: 26% Test Positive At Hayward Site
More than a quarter of the people tested for coronavirus at a Hayward site that opened this week turned up positive, city officials said Thursday, as confirmed cases climbed in the Bay Area, topping 1,400, with at least 32 deaths. At the city-run site, 26% — 54 out of 207 tested Monday, its first day — were positive, as new sites open daily in the Bay Area and confirmed cases of the illness caused by the coronavirus rise. (Moench, 3/26)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Kamala Harris Tries Shaming Big Employers On Coronavirus Sick Leave
When it comes to large corporations that don’t provide paid sick leave for workers, Sen. Kamala Harris is ready to resort to public shaming. Harris, D-Calif., sent a letter Thursday to the CEOs of 36 large corporations — including McDonald’s, Walmart, Kroger and Burger King — demanding they “put public health ahead of profits” and provide two weeks of paid sick leave and 10 weeks of family and medical leave for all workers during the coronavirus pandemic. (Gardiner, 3/26)
Sacramento Bee:
California State Workers Have Leave To Use For Coronavirus
Workers with a decade of experience in California state government have been through tough times before. The state instituted furloughs during the Great Recession that lasted five years, requiring workers to take off about three weeks per year without pay. While the furloughs took a bite out of their incomes, the cost-saving measure added to workers’ banks of paid leave. Now, as state offices stay open while the coronavirus spreads, some tenured employees may draw on weeks or months of accrued leave rather than going in to work. (Venteicher, 3/27)
Sacramento Bee:
Answers About Coronavirus Stimulus Checks About Unemployment
Yes, the money from Washington will start flowing. But probably not until April, and in some cases even later. First, the legislation needs to be passed by the House and signed into law by President Donald Trump. (Lightman, 3/27)
Sacramento Bee:
Some Sacramento City Employees Keep Working During Coronavirus
It’s been a week since Sacramento County issued a mandatory “shelter in place” order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but Ignacio Moreno still has to report to work every day to trim trees around the city of Sacramento. After work, he returns home to his wife and 12-year-old son, who suffers from severe allergies and asthma attacks, potentially placing him in a high-risk category for contracting the virus. (Clift, 3/27)
CalMatters:
California Coronavirus: State Is Scrambling To House Homeless
Chris wants a motel room. So do his neighbors. Their homes are the dozen or so tents that straddle North B Street in an industrial part of Sacramento. They’re aware that the novel coronavirus is spreading and is potentially lethal. Fortunately, no one in the camp has shown symptoms. (Levin, 3/26)
Los Angeles Times:
Silicon Valley Faces Tough Coronavirus Projections
Silicon Valley could see a coronavirus-related death toll of 2,000 to 16,000 by the end of May, depending on how seriously people take the order to stay at home as much as possible, according to projections presented at a San Jose City Council meeting this week. The thinking behind the rough estimates illustrates why health and elected officials across California have sounded the alarm about the exponential rise in coronavirus cases reported since the beginning of March. (Lin, 3/26)
CalMatters:
California Coronavirus: What Happens To Science When Researchers Shelter In Place
As California officials desperately try to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, Chris Miller is coaxing a sample of the virus to grow in a secure laboratory at UC Davis. Working in a laboratory nestled inside containment rooms and cut off from the world by filters, scientists dressed in space suit-like protective gear are feeding cells to a virus isolated from a COVID-19 patient at UC Davis Medical Center. (Becker, 3/26)
Fresno Bee:
CA Woman Released From ICE Custody During Coronavirus Crisis
Immigration authorities this week released from custody a 64-year-old Kern County woman considered a high-risk for severe illness from the coronavirus, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Sofia Bahena Ortuño, who suffers from diabetes, hypothyroidism and occasional high blood pressure, was released from custody Tuesday, the same day the ACLU sued ICE on behalf of Ortuño and a dozen other undocumented immigrants who also have health issues that could be complicated by COVID-19 infection. (Amaro, 3/26)
San Francisco Chronicle:
As Blood Supplies Run Critically Low, UCSF Students Organize Emergency Drive
The coronavirus pandemic has caused a critical shortage of the nation’s blood supply. With shelter in place mandates keeping people home and locations where blood donations typically take place, such as schools and office buildings, remain shuttered, thousands of blood drives have been canceled across the country. (Vaziri, 3/26)
Sacramento Bee:
6 At California Senior Facility Test Positive For Coronavirus
Six residents of an Elk Grove senior living facility have apparently tested positive for the coronavirus, according to an email sent to family members Wednesday obtained by The Sacramento Bee. The facility, Carlton Senior Living in Elk Grove, was home to a woman in her 90s who contracted the disease earlier this month and died at the hospital. That was the first Sacramento County death tied to the new coronavirus and apparently the first confirmed case in a California senior facility. (Clift, 3/26)
Fresno Bee:
Tulare County Now At 20 Confirmed Case Of Coronavirus
Sierra View Medical Center in Porterville confirmed its first positive COVID-19 case on Thursday. The individual is currently in critical condition and in isolation at the hospital. The patient tested positive Wednesday and is believed to have contracted the coronavirus via travel outside of the United States. All employees and physicians in contact with the patient are wearing personal protective equipment, SCMC stated. (Tehee, 3/26)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno County Coronavirus Update March 26: There Are 27 Cases
Fresno County now has eight new cases of COVID-19, according to the latest figures provided Thursday afternoon by the county’s Department of Public Health. It’s the largest daily increase in positive tests for the coronavirus since the region received its first confirmed case of the potentially deadly virus on March 7. And the Department of Public Health is awaiting results of other tests. (Anteola, 3/26)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno Domestic Violence Rises With Coronavirus; Shelters Open
Domestic violence calls have increased in Fresno County as coronavirus continues to spread and keep more people at home. The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and Fresno Police Department have both filed more felony and misdemeanor domestic violence reports. The sheriff’s office saw the largest spike. It reported filing 77% more domestic violence reports last week compared to the week before (32 reports March 16-22, compared to 18 reports March 9-15, and 18 reports March 2-8). (George, 3/26)
San Francisco Chronicle:
‘Refugees’ Flee Bay Area For Taiwan, Hoping To Leave Coronavirus Behind
Leaving the Bay Area is on a lot of minds, as local infection numbers escalate. Reports of local public health supply shortages have emerged, as news from Italy and New York reminds citizens how horrifying it can be for the sick, especially the elderly, when hospitals exceed their capacities. Several Bay Area residents have confirmed they left the country, started a planned trip early or are making plans to leave the U.S. following concerns about care here. (Hartlaub, 3/27)
Sacramento Bee:
Coronavirus Crisis Will Test And Define Gavin Newsom’s Career
“Gov. Jerry Brown once described the job of California governor as a ‘career-ender.’ Gavin Newsom seems destined to test this theory.” I wrote these notes in January, before any of us knew how the coronavirus would soon disrupt our lives. (Gil Duran, 3/27)
Los Angeles Times:
Coronavirus: Cuomo And Newsom Fill In Trump's Leadership Vacuum
On Tuesday, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, spoke to the media from a Manhattan convention center that’s being converted into a 1,000-bed hospital for COVID-19 patients. No one delivers bad news as well as Cuomo. He is a master of rue. Also bluntness. And that combination is what New York, and the nation, is starved for these days. Not condescension. Not soothing blandishments. Not dangerous Trumpist lies that imply the sick will rise from their beds and the dead from their graves on Easter Sunday. (Virginia Heffernan, 3/26)
Los Angeles Times:
If Hospitals Overflow With Coronavirus, Who Gets Treated?
The COVID-19 catastrophe is about to require Americans to make tough decisions for how to allocate scarce resources that can determine life and death. This is especially true with ventilators and beds in intensive care units. Many hospitalized patients in ICUs are dying of cancer or advanced irreversible dementia, or are on ventilators because of irreversible heart, lung or liver failure. In a large proportion of these kinds of cases, the physicians caring for the patient recognize that death is imminent, but treatment continues, often because families are unwilling to recognize the inevitable. (Neil S. Wenger and Martin F. Shapiro, 3/26)
Sacramento Bee:
CA Gov. Newsom Must Solve For Both Coronavirus, Homelessness
Dear Gov. Newsom: Your steady leadership during this coronavirus pandemic sets an example for others to follow. But your order for Californians to shelter-in-place underscores a tragic reality: Too many Californians today have neither shelter nor place. That’s because California was already struggling to contain the public health emergency of epidemic homelessness before COVID-19 hit. (3/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Coronavirus Pandemic: What We Must Do For The Homeless
Our health and our destinies are inextricably tied. Nothing demonstrates that like the current COVID-19 pandemic. As with most catastrophes, the coronavirus will have a disproportionate impact on the poor and homeless. But unlike events bound by geography, this pandemic crosses the borders of race, gender, class and status. With approximately one-quarter of the nation’s homeless population residing in California, homelessness was already at crisis proportions. And now, our homeless communities — living in close proximity, in unsanitary conditions and frequently with underlying health conditions — are more likely to contract, transmit and die from coronavirus. (Karen J. Hanrahan, 3/26)
San Francisco Chronicle:
COVID-19 And The Economic Destruction Of The Bay Area
The COVID-19 crisis is attacking and killing people with the weakest immune systems. The same will be true for the impact of the pandemic on the Bay Area’s counties and cities. It will kill those with the weakest fiscal immune systems. From an economic perspective, the pandemic is unprecedented. The U.S. economy has ground to a halt and the stock market has lost several trillion dollars in a dramatically short period of time. (Grady Means, 3/26)
CalMatters:
Coronavirus Highlights The Need To Correct The State’s Philanthropic Inequality
Since Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide shelter-in-place order, food has been flying off grocery store shelves. As Californians enter full panic buying mode, the state’s food banks have been hit with a surge in demand from laid off workers that reveals the inequality of philanthropy across the state. (Dobkin, 3/24)
Los Angeles Times:
Coronavirus: 'Postponed' Abortions? That's Called Having Babies
As attempts to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic go, here’s a reprehensible one: the effort by some conservative states to halt abortions by arguing that they are “nonessential” medical procedures. Sounds ridiculous, but that’s the way officials in Ohio and Texas have interpreted emergency health orders intended to conserve medical equipment and gear needed for hospitals during the crisis. It should be obvious that an abortion can’t be “postponed” until the pandemic clears up like a facelift or cataract surgery or routine dental work. If a woman doesn’t get get an abortion in a timely fashion, she can’t get it at all. (3/27)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Planning, Speed And Action: How SF City Hall Is Leading The Way In Confronting Coronavirus Threat
They’ve prepared for an earthquake. They’ve prepared for a terrorist attack striking the Golden Gate Bridge. They’ve helped their city weather plane crashes and mass shootings. But San Francisco officials haven’t prepared for something quite like this — a virus that could kill thousands of people and crush the health care system and economy while it’s at it. (Heather Knight, 3/27)
Los Angeles Times:
My Mom Is A Hypochondriac. I Know Coronavirus Fear Is Its Own Disease
Two weeks ago, when restaurants were still open, I watched a friend at lunch repeatedly spritz his hands with hand sanitizer. It seemed more compulsion than prudent protective measure. If he keeps this up for the duration of this pandemic, I thought, there’s a good chance the skin on his hands might not hold up. In a market, I saw a man load 50 rolls of toilet paper into two carts, elbowing others away, as if his life depended on this act of hoarding. (Deborah A. Lott, 3/27)
Sacramento Bee:
Coronavirus: CA Must Follow Science, Protect Grandparents
Would you risk the lives of your parents, grandparents or friends to boost Wall Street profits during the coronavirus pandemic? There’s only one correct answer: “Hell no!” (Gil Duran, 3/24)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno CA Must Improve Social Distancing To Slow Coronavirus
More dogs got walked last weekend in Fresno and Clovis, I’ll wager, than over any weekend in years. More people jogged through their neighborhoods. More families went out for bike rides, or piled into the car for a trip to Woodward Park. This at a time when all of us are supposed to be staying home, by order of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, to help slow the spread of the highly contagious COVID-19 virus. (Marek Warszawski, 3/24)
Los Angeles Times:
Dear Los Angeles: You Still Need To Pick Up Your Dog's Poop
Even though we’re in the middle of a deadly pandemic, you still have to pick up after your dog. Each. And. Every. Time. It. Poops. Many of you did not abide by this basic tenet of dog ownership before the coronavirus struck. Fewer of you seem to be abiding by it now — if my neighborhood strolls and those of Twitter users across the country are any indication. (Matthew Fleischer, 3/25)