San Francisco Chronicle: Coronavirus Is Making Medicare For All Look A Lot Better, Backers Say
Medicare for All didn’t die when Sen. Bernie Sanders suspended his presidential campaign. Far from it. Its advocates predict that support for government-funded health care will grow because of a force more powerful and unpredictable than politics — the coronavirus pandemic. (Garofoli, 4/13)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Coronavirus Deaths Reach 320
Los Angeles County health officials on Monday confirmed 25 new coronavirus-linked deaths, bringing the county’s total number of fatalities to 320 and marking an increase in the mortality rate in Southern California as city and county leaders continued to warn against prematurely ending shelter-in-place orders. Despite the rise in deaths, the county reported only 239 new cases of the virus, the lowest number since March 26. But the county’s mortality rate also jumped over the weekend, rising from 2.8% on Friday to 3.4% on Monday. (Shalby, Wigglesworth, Newberry and Queally, 4/13)

CalMatters: Medical Workers Are Signing Up For Newsom's California Health Corps — Despite Risks
On numbers alone, Gov. Gavin Newsom's health corps shows promise, far exceeding the state’s expectation. But the reserves program also has raised concerns: Will it pull medical professionals from rural areas? And should high-risk people participate? (Ibarra, 4/13)

CalMatters: Gov. Newsom Faces Scrutiny Over Coronavirus Face-Mask Deal
California lawmakers bestowed Gov. Gavin Newsom with unusual power last month before they put their legislative session on hold and left Sacramento, giving him bipartisan approval to spend up to $1 billion “for any purpose” related to the coronavirus pandemic. It was a rare show of unanimity by a Legislature that is often riven by its own factions, and a huge sign of trust in a governor who had been on the job for barely more than a year. (Rosenhall and Morain, 4/13)

Sacramento Bee: Gavin Newsom’s $1 Billion Coronavirus Contract Went To BYD 
Gov. Gavin Newsom brushed off concerns Monday about the Chinese manufacturer his administration is paying nearly $1 billion to make masks to protect health care workers from COVID-19, saying the state’s contract requires that the masks meet federal standards. The Newsom administration is working with the federal government and several private health care companies to assess whether the masks meet quality standards, said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the governor’s Office of Emergency Services. They are being manufactured by BYD, a Chinese multinational company with a subsidiary based in California. (Bollag, 4/13)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus: Healthcare Workers Have To Reuse Masks
The nurse keeps her mask in a Tupperware container. In an unwelcome daily ritual, she dips her face in the plastic tub to put on and take off her N95 respirator, careful not to touch the front in case it is contaminated with the coronavirus. “If you had told me I would be reusing N95 masks before the coronavirus, I would’ve laughed and not believed you,” said Jill Tobin, an emergency room nurse in the Bay Area. “The methods we’re using are not scientific.” (Karlamangla, Chabria and Baumgaertner, 4/14)

Sacramento Bee: Critical Data About Coronavirus Spread Is Kept Secret In CA 
In Siskiyou County, a sprawling 6,347-square-mile region along the Oregon border, local officials have refused to say in which communities the handful of people infected with the coronavirus are living. They say the “privacy of the patients is of utmost priority. ”The county’s top health official thinks people are better off assuming the whole county of about 44,000 people is infected. Because testing for the coronavirus has been so limited, “he wants anyone to assume you can catch it from any town,” said Brooklyn Tupman, a spokeswoman for the county. (Sabalow, Pohl and Rodriquez-Delgado, 4/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Cell Phone Data Show Bay Area’s Early Response To Shelter Orders Paid Off 
Fewer than 200 people in San Francisco and three other Bay Area counties had tested positive for the coronavirus when the region was told to shelter in place, but cell phone data show that residents were quick to surrender to the orders and stay home, according to a federal report released Monday. That early adherence may have helped protect the region from experiencing a far worse outbreak, public health experts have said. (Allday, 4/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Unprecedented’: Bay Area Food Banks Struggle To Meet Demand 
When dozens of desperate people began showing up at its warehouse — which is not a food distribution center — the Alameda County Community Food Bank realized that the coronavirus pandemic and widespread layoffs were causing a hunger crisis. “It was a telling moment when we realized we needed to readjust in real time,” said Mike Altfest, director of community engagement and marketing. “We are seeing an unprecedented surge in demand.” (Said, 4/14)

Los Angeles Times: Most L.A. Nursing Homes With Coronavirus Had Prior Problems
The vast majority of skilled nursing facilities battling outbreaks of the novel coronavirus in Los Angeles County have been cited in recent years for violating federal safety rules on preventing infections, according to a Times analysis of nursing home data. The newspaper’s review found that 89% of facilities with the coronavirus had previous infection control violations that ranged from mishandling patients with highly contagious bacterial infections to not properly cleaning ventilators and other equipment. (Dolan and Mejia, 4/14)

CalMatters: California Nursing Homes: Forced To Take COVID-19 Patients? 
Dr. Noah Marco might never have known that he’d unwittingly admitted a COVID-19 patient into his Los Angeles area nursing home last month if his nursing director wasn’t friends with her counterpart at another nursing home nearby. The elderly man had been transferred to the Los Angeles Jewish Home, where Marco is chief medical officer, from another nursing home just before it experienced a severe coronavirus outbreak that infected 17 and killed two residents.   (Ostrov, 4/14)

Sacramento Bee: Yolo County: Coronavirus Infects 35 At Nursing Home 
Yolo County on Monday announced the county’s first coronavirus outbreak linked to a nursing facility, which now accounts for more than one-third of the county’s confirmed cases, public health officials said. Thirty-five people at the facility have been infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the highly contagious virus, and one has died, the county said in a news release. The confirmed cases include 23 residents and 12 staff members. (McGough and Ahumada, 4/13)

CalMatters: California To Spend Extra $42 Million To Help Foster Youth During Pandemic 
California will steer $42 million toward helping tens of thousands of foster youth as stay-at-home orders have drastically reduced contact and services for some of the state’s “most vulnerable” children, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in his daily update. The new effort to help foster youth came as Newsom also teased that he and his West Coast counterparts, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee would work together on a plan to incrementally reopen the region’s economies. (Cano, 4/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco Program Forges Bonds Between Young, Old During Coronavirus Shutdown 
The coronavirus pandemic has distanced us from each other like no other event in modern memory, but for some older San Franciscans, feelings of separation are nothing new, and the city’s shelter-in-place orders have only made things worse. Now one nonprofit, Miracle Messages, is connecting people in the city who might never otherwise meet in a way that has become suddenly more vital. (DiFeliciantonio, 4/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: Sonoma County Residents Ordered To Wear Masks Starting Friday To Fight Coronavirus
Residents of Sonoma County will be required to wear facial coverings in public starting Friday to guard against spread of the coronavirus, according to an order from the county’s health officer. The order, issued Monday, goes further than previous recommendations by health officials that people cover their faces when they leave home. Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California have recently issued similar orders. (Kawahara, 4/13)

Fresno Bee: California’s Farmworkers Continue Working Amid Pandemic 
Maria Camacho sews homemade coronavirus face masks and sells them to friends and neighbors. It’s how she makes money since losing her job in a Kern County vineyard a few weeks ago. She said her employer cut the workforce, keeping only the workers with the most seniority. (Rodriguez-Delgado, 4/13)

Sacramento Bee: California Pastors Sue Gavin Newsom Over Coronavirus Order 
A group of Inland Empire pastors is suing California Gov. Gavin Newsom in federal court, alleging that his administration is “criminalizing the free exercise of religion” with stay-at-home directives that have prevented people from attending church services. The Dhillon Law Group, which is led by conservative attorney Harmeet Dhillon, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, on behalf of four plaintiffs, three of whom are pastors. (Sheeler, 4/13)

Sacramento Bee: COVID-19: Elon Musk Failed To Deliver Ventilators To CA 
On March 23, Gov. Gavin Newsom made a dramatic announcement: Tesla founder Elon Musk was donating over 1,000 ventilators to California. It seemed like miraculous news at a moment when the state was desperately searching for ventilators to help save critical coronavirus patients. But was it true? Newsom’s office now says Musk was supposed to deliver the ventilators directly to hospitals. So far, however, the governor’s office says no California hospital has received them. (4/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser, Health Care Unions Agree On Child Care, Housing Benefits For Workers In Coronavirus Fight 
Kaiser Permanente will provide additional benefits to workers battling the coronavirus outbreak through an agreement reached Monday with unions. More than 150,000 workers at Kaiser can receive child care assistance, alternate lodging if they contract the virus or work double shifts, and extra leave if they contract the virus, according to a release from the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which negotiated the agreement. (Kawahara, 4/13)

Fresno Bee: CA Excludes Some State Workers From Federal Sick Leave
Many California state workers in hospitals, prisons, parks and law enforcement are not eligible for the federal government’s recent expansion of paid sick time and family leave, according to new guidance from the California Department of Human Resources. The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act provides two weeks of paid sick leave and 10 weeks of family and medical leave to most public and private workers affected by the coronavirus. The law, which went into effect April 1, covers parents of children whose schools or day cares have been closed. (Venteicher, 4/14)

Fresno Bee: Fresno State Will Open New Lab To Process Coronavirus Tests
Fresno State will open a temporary lab to process coronavirus tests for Fresno County. The lab in the university’s Jordan Agricultural Research Center will not collect swab samples from patients. Technicians will conduct complex biological testing on swab specimens to determine whether a patient is positive or negative for COVID-19, the coronavirus. (Calix, 4/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: Coronavirus: Illegal Nightclub In SF Used Janitorial Company As A Front, Kept Partying During Outbreak
In early February, Mariano Pena Lezama leased a pink warehouse in San Francisco’s Bayview industrial district to house his janitorial company. He said he planned to use the space to park his trucks and store cleaning supplies, according to the warehouse owners’ attorney. But within days, the building at 2266 Shafter Ave. was allegedly converted into an unlicensed after-hours nightclub for mass gatherings of drinking, dancing and gambling, creating one of the region’s more brazen examples of people disregarding shelter-in-place orders during the coronavirus outbreak. (Cabanatuan, 4/13)

Fresno Bee: 428 Freed In Fresno CA Jail Coronavirus-Related Releases
With the state’s 5 p.m. Monday deadline looming for what will result in early jail releases due to the coronavirus pandemic, Fresno County cut loose a total of 428 prisoners by Monday afternoon, the Sheriff’s Office reported. The state Judicial Council has ordered $0 bail for many offenses, which will result in many in lockup being released from custody. (Guy, 4/13)

Los Angeles Times: Emergency Room Doctor, Near Death With Coronavirus, Saved With Experimental Treatment
As critically ill, elderly patients streamed into his emergency room outside Seattle, Dr. Ryan Padgett quickly came to understand how deadly COVID-19 could be. Of the first two dozen or so he saw, not a single one survived. It took longer for Padgett and his colleagues at EvergreenHealth Medical Center — the first hospital in the country to treat multiple coronavirus patients — to learn how easily the disease could spread. (Read, 4/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Coronavirus Patient’s Road To Recovery: ‘Babe, Don’t Let Me Die’ 
Sitting in bed, not long after his wife said goodbye to him at the hospital in Burlingame on March 14, Ken Loo gripped the telephone and pleaded with her, “Babe, don’t let me die. Do whatever you can to save me.” Clarissa Rivera-Loo choked back tears as a doctor came on the line and asked if she was authorized to make medical decisions on her husband’s behalf. (Ravani, 4/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Rep. Mark DeSaulnier Improves, Is Moved Out Of Intensive Care 
East Bay Rep. Mark DeSaulnier has made progress in his month-long fight against pneumonia and has been moved out of a hospital intensive care unit, his sons said Monday. DeSaulnier, D-Concord, has been hospitalized since March 13 with pneumonia that grew out of complications from a broken rib he suffered when he fell while running. The pneumonia was not related to the coronavirus pandemic — his office and family say the 68-year-old DeSaulnier tested negative. (Byrne, 4/13)

Bay Area News Group: Coronavirus: Santa Clara County COVID-19 Death Toll Hits 60
Sixty people have now died after testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Santa Clara County, according to data released by the county’s Public Health Department on Monday. The Public Health Department reported six new deaths and 45 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Santa Clara County. The coronavirus death toll for the Bay Area’s most populous county has now reached 60, just three days after Santa Clara County’s death toll topped 50. (4/13)

Bay Area News Group: Coronavirus: 1 Week Since Last Death In San Mateo County
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in San Mateo County crossed 700 on Monday, though the county’s death toll remained stagnant, marking a week since it last reported a fatality from the deadly new disease. Health officials reported 49 new cases, bringing the county’s total to 701. Since being nearly tied with San Francisco and Alameda County to start last week, the other two counties outpaced San Mateo by more than 100 additional cases each. On Monday, San Francisco’s case count grew to 957, while Alameda County reported its 886th case. (Webeck, 4/13)