Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
With Medical Safety Gear Scarce, People Are Stepping Up. Here’s Help On Ways To Help.
If you or your company have useful supplies and want to donate them, here are some answers to questions you might be asking. (Barbara Feder Ostrov, )
Steep Rise In Hospitalizations In L.A. Signal Oncoming Surge Of Critical Cases: As of March 6, five people in Los Angeles county had been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19. Two weeks later, on Friday, that figure had jumped to 48. By Monday, the total had climbed to 90. Though the raw numbers remain relatively low, the rate of increase has set many doctors and nurses on edge after watching the disease’s alarming trajectory in China, Italy and now New York City. Meanwhile, Sacramento County saw its biggest jump of cases yet on Monday, with 88 reported cases and a fourth death. That represents an increase of 35 cases since the previous report during the weekend, mirroring increased cases statewide and nationally. “We don’t have much time,” said ER physician Dr. Marc Futernick, who works at a downtown L.A. hospital. “These are decisions that we need to make really soon before we are in the throes of the tsunami.”
And in San Francisco, health officials struck a similar tone. “The worst is yet to come,” San Francisco Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax said. “Every community where the virus has taken hold has seen a surge in the number of coronavirus patients who need to be hospitalized. We expect that to happen in San Francisco soon, in a week or two, or perhaps even less.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom warned that California will need more than twice as many hospital beds for coronavirus patients than previously anticipated. Newsom said he believes California will need 50,000 hospital beds for coronavirus patients, a significant increase from the 20,000 beds his administration had forecast last week. The Democratic governor said the state’s 416 hospitals were doubling so-called “surge plans” to 40% of their capacity, which includes providing 30,000 new beds across the system.
Meanwhile, California didn’t get everything it was seeking when it secured a major disaster declaration from President Trump — left out was money for numerous types of individual aid, including broader access to food stamps and unemployment benefits.
Read more from Soumya Karlamangla and Harriet Ryan of the Los Angeles Times; Taryn Luna of the Los Angeles Times; Harriet Ryan, Rong-Gong Lin and Sean Greene of the Los Angeles Times; Dustin Gardiner of the San Francisco Chronicle; and Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee.
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
Bay Area News Group:
Coronavirus: Social Distancing Measures Could Last Two Or Three Months, Newsom Warns
Tough social distancing measures to stamp out the coronavirus’ spread may need to last two or three months in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom suggested on Monday, in a drastic contrast with President Trump, who just minutes earlier had predicted the U.S. economy could reopen for business in weeks, not months. At the same time, Newsom warned that the state needs to increase by two-thirds its capacity of hospital beds in the face of the pandemic, bringing the total beds available by 50,000 to account for a potential surge in infected cases. (Tolan, Kelliher, Rogers and Crowley, 3/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Site Opens For Coronavirus Test Without Doctor’s Order, One Of First In State
Within an hour after Hayward Fire Station 7 began offering free coronavirus testing at 9 a.m. Monday morning — one of the first free testing sites in California with no doctor’s order required — firefighters had screened nearly 300 people for symptoms, collected nasal cavity samples from about 20 of them and prepared to drive the samples across the bay to a lab. By 11 a.m., technicians and clinical laboratory specialists at Avellino Lab, the Menlo Park biotech company that is providing and processing the tests, was running samples through its diagnostic machines. Results were expected within nine hours — far faster than the several days many physicians’ offices are waiting for results for their patients. (Ho and Ravani, 3/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Hospitals Scramble To Hire Nurses For Coronavirus Surge Amid National Shortage
As the surge in new coronavirus patients threatens to overwhelm Bay Area hospitals, some are preparing by aggressively ramping up the hiring of nurses, reshuffling staff and even asking recent retirees to return .Even before COVID-19 posed a risk to the U.S., many hospitals around the country — including San Francisco General Hospital — were woefully short of nurses and other frontline health care workers. Now, as the coronavirus tears through the country, hospitals everywhere are competing for a limited pool of experienced talent. (Thadani, 3/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Coronavirus Brings An End To California’s Good-Times Budget. How Bad Will It Get?
In a January budget proposal of record size, Gov. Gavin Newsom touted a projected multibillion-dollar surplus and new programs to reshape homeless services, boost wildfire prevention and provide health care for immigrant seniors living in the country illegally. That plan has been dashed by the economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus outbreak, which experts say is pushing the U.S. into a recession. (Koseff, 3/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Coronavirus Forces Workers To Choose Between Health And Paycheck
Teresa Trejo has spent the last two decades shuttling between jobs at the L.A. Convention Center and Dodger Stadium. Her work as a barista and a bartender serves as the main source of income for her family, which includes her 7-year-old son, whose fears around the coronavirus have steadily grown. For Trejo, 46, the effects of the outbreak hit swiftly two weeks ago, when both her workplaces shuttered and her hours were cut indefinitely, forcing her to file for unemployment. Like other Americans who don’t have the luxury of a work-from-home option, Trejo is finding that the virus will disproportionately affect those whose livelihoods depend on daily human interaction. (Shalby, 3/24)
CalMatters:
California Coronavirus: Parking Lots Close At State Parks
Following a sunny weekend when Californians flocked to beaches and hiking trails despite a government order to stay home, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday a “soft closure” of state parks to curb the spread of coronavirus. While not completely blocking access to natural open spaces, the governor’s action immediately closes parking lots at many state parks and beaches, in an effort to drastically reduce the number of visitors. (Rosenhall, 3/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Jam-Packed Parks Prompt Officials To Cut Back On Access To Keep People Apart
The crowds that swarmed Bay Area beaches, parks and other natural areas over the weekend created fury among residents and others fearful of the fast-spreading coronavirus, prompting some parks to issue closure orders while local leaders wondered how to keep people away from one another. Many park officials are now contemplating further restrictions and closures after thousands of people got the notion this weekend that a quiet park would be just the ticket after a week of sheltering in place. (Fimrite, 3/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco Closes Playgrounds Amid Coronavirus Concerns
Playgrounds in San Francisco are closed as officials reinforce social distancing measures in the effort to stop spread of COVID-19. Mayor London Breed noted the closure of playgrounds in a news conference Monday. Tamara Barak Aparton, a spokesperson for San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Department, said most of the city’s playgrounds were closed over the weekend. (Kawahara, 3/23)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento CA Police Dispel Coronavirus Enforcement Rumors
The Sacramento Police Department on Monday dispelled some rumors about law enforcement as residents throughout California have been ordered to stay at home to slow the coronavirus spread. In a news release, police officials responded to questions they’ve received from residents about how police will enforce the county’s stay-at-home order to limit the number of people infected with the respiratory illness COVID-19. Sacramento police officers will not stop people only to question them about where they’re going or the purpose of their travel, according to the department. (Ahumada, 3/23)
Bay Area News Group:
San Jose Reports Crime Drop In First Week Of Stay-Home Order
Reported crimes dropped significantly in the Bay Area’s largest city last week, in yet another sign of the dramatic ways that the coronavirus pandemic — and social distancing mandates aimed at stopping its spread — have changed life in the region and statewide. Data from the San Jose Police Department, obtained by this news organization Monday, shows that in the week after six counties implemented a sweeping shelter-in-place order, violent crime in the city declined by 46%, falling from 101 reported cases to 56 cases in the week of March 15-21, compared to the same week the previous year. The county’s stay-at home order went into effect at 12 a.m. on March 17. (Salonga, 3/24)
Bay Area News Group:
Coronavirus: Bay Area Distillers, Brewers Make Hand Sanitizer
Falcon Spirits distiller Farid Dormishian is known for his award-winning bottles of herbal amaros and vapor-infused gins. But during the coronavirus pandemic, he is converting his Richmond boutique operation into a production line for another type of alcohol: hand sanitizer. “We’re a tiny distillery but this is an easy way we can help everybody,” says Dormishian, who is creating the gooey substance for local first responders only. He has an order from the City of Berkeley for 1,000 bottles. “The sooner we can get rid of this (virus) the better.” (Yadegaran, 3/23)
Sacramento Bee:
California Towns Demand Tourists Stay Home Over Coronavirus
Stacy Corless opened Facebook on Monday and saw someone suggest it was time to start slashing visitors’ tires. It was startling evidence to Corless, a Mono County Supervisor, that a frantic fear of outsiders had gripped some people in the ski resort community of Mammoth Lakes. “I’m really concerned about the level of vitriol and xenophobia,” she said. “I’m worried someone is going to get shot.” (Sabalow and Pohl, 3/24)
Bay Area News Group:
Coronavirus: FoodMaxx Store Closes After Employee Dies
A grocery store here has temporarily shut its doors for cleaning and sanitizing after an employee who contracted COVID-19 died. The FoodMaxx on Parkmoor Avenue near Meridian Avenue is temporarily closed after store employees learned of their coworker’s death. (Crowley, 3/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
As Bay Area Residents Scramble To Make It Home, Some Question Health Screening At SFO
When Rochelle Jue and Melissa Riches met in the International Terminal at San Francisco International Airport on Monday, they bonded because both were trying to find their kids. Jue’s son Simon was returning from India via Vancouver; Riches’ daughter Lindsay Millett from Brazil by way of Chicago. Both in their 20s, Simon Jue and Millett both had their mission service for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cut short because of the coronavirus pandemic. Whirlwind flights were booked over the weekend to get them back home — Jue to Livermore and Millett to Portola Valley. (Moench, 3/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Gutted By Coronavirus Outbreak, SF’s Poshest Hotels Compete For New Clientele: Quarantined Residents
In the latest sign of just how topsy-turvy our strange new world has become, some of San Francisco’s fanciest hotels are competing for an unlikely clientele: SRO residents who need to be quarantined because of exposure to the coronavirus. The Palace Hotel with its gleaming Garden Court dining room — replete with ornate chandeliers and marble columns — offered up its rooms. So did the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel, perhaps best known for its Top of the Mark bar in the clouds, famed for its martinis and stunning views. (Knight, 3/23)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno CA Councilman Says Coronavirus Reaction Gone Too Far
Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld posted a video message about the novel coronavirus outbreak on Sunday in opposition to decisions made by elected officials based on experts’ recommendations. Bredefeld posted his video to Facebook late Sunday arguing there has been an overreaction by city and state leaders who have ordered residents to stay home during the virus outbreak. “Shutting down our entire economy – the best economy in the world – is not the way to go,” Bredefeld said in his video. “There are ways to prevent this disease without destroying our economy.” (Miller, 3/23)