San Bernardino County Reports 4 More Coronavirus Deaths, 130 New Cases – San Bernardino Sun

San Bernardino County reports 4 more coronavirus deaths, 130 new cases – San Bernardino Sun

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LOCAL NEWS • News San Bernardino County reports 4 more coronavirus deaths, 130 new cases

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https://www.sbsun.com/2020/04/30/san-bernardino-county-reports-4-more-coronavirus-deaths-130-new-cases/[5/1/2020 8:33:33 AM] San Bernardino County reports 4 more coronavirus deaths, 130 new cases – San Bernardino Sun

A message board along the eastbound 10 Freeway in Redlands reminds passing motorists to remain diligent during the coronavirus pandemic Wednesday morning April 15, 2020. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) M

By SANDRA EMERSON | [email protected] |  PUBLISHED: April 30, 2020 at 1:52 p.m. | UPDATED: May 1, 2020 at 6:52 a.m.

San Bernardino County public health officials reported four new novel coronavirus deaths and 130 more cases Thursday, April 30.

Ninety-three people have now died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. And 2,058 people have tested positive, a 6.7% increase from the 1,928 cases reported Wednesday, April 29, according to the county’s online dashboard tracking the pandemic. There were 89 deaths as of Wednesday.

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In the county of more than 2.1 million residents, 19,964 people have been tested for the disease, of which 10.3% were positive.

San Bernardino had the most positive cases, 247, and has surpassed Fontana, which had 245 cases as of Thursday. Yucaipa had seen the most deaths at 21, but 20 of those were at Cedar Mountain Post-Acute Rehabilitation, 20, and Calimesa Post Acute, which had one.

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READ MORE 16 year old sex trafficking victim rescued from The location for 167 cases was undetermined.

Slightly more women tested positive, 50.78%, compared to men with 49%. Meanwhile, 63% of the deaths were men.

Residents 50 to 59 years old have tested positive the most, representing 404 of the confirmed cases, followed by 375 who were 40 to 49 years old and 337 who were 30 to 39 years old.

The majority of those who have died, 52, were older than 75.

There are more cases among Latinos, about 58%, but more deaths among non-Latinos, about 53.7%, the data show.

CASES BY COMMUNITY RELATED LINKS Here is the list of confirmed cases and deaths by city or Coronavirus in San Bernardino County: unincorporated community. Numbers in bold indicate they COVID-19 coverage from The Sun are in the top 5 for most cases or deaths in San Bernardino County. Most parents satisfied with online education, but some worry, according to Adelanto: 30 cases, 0 deaths USC study

Angelus Oaks: 1 case, 0 deaths San Bernardino County reports 4 more Apple Valley: 26 cases, 2 deaths coronavirus deaths, 101 more cases Barstow: 9 cases, 2 deaths Big Bear City: 3 cases, 0 deaths The Mexico Cafe will reopen for a one- day Cinco de Mayo fundraiser Big Bear Lake: 5 cases, 0 deaths Bloomington: 27 cases, 1 death No prom. No awards night. No Blue Jay: 3 cases, 0 deaths graduation? Class of 2020 gets creative Chino: 59 cases, 0 deaths with celebrations Chino Hills: 59 cases, 2 deaths Colton: 69 cases, 9 deaths Crestline: 6 cases, 1 death Fontana: 245 cases, 7 deaths Fort Irwin: 2 cases, 0 deaths Grand Terrace: 14 cases, 1 death Hesperia: 54 cases, 1 death Highland: 64 cases, 3 deaths Joshua Tree: 15 cases, 2 deaths Landers: 0 cases, 0 deaths Loma Linda: 39 cases, 0 deaths Mentone: 12 cases, 0 deaths https://www.sbsun.com/2020/04/30/san-bernardino-county-reports-4-more-coronavirus-deaths-130-new-cases/[5/1/2020 8:33:33 AM] San Bernardino County reports 4 more coronavirus deaths, 130 new cases – San Bernardino Sun

Montclair: 31 cases, 2 deaths Morongo Valley: 5 cases, 0 deaths Oak Hills: 12 cases, 0 deaths Ontario: 151 cases, 5 deaths Piñon Hills: 3 cases, 0 deaths Phelan: 9 cases, 0 deaths Rancho Cucamonga: 116 cases, 5 deaths Redlands: 101 cases, 7 deaths Rialto: 92 cases, 4 deaths Rimforest: 1 case, 0 deaths Running Springs: 3 cases, 0 deaths San Bernardino: 247 cases, 4 deaths Twentynine Palms: 5 cases, 0 deaths Upland: 90 cases, 7 deaths Victorville: 93 cases, 6 deaths Wrightwood: 1 case, 0 deaths Yucaipa: 177 cases, 21 deaths Yucca Valley: 12 cases, 0 deaths Undetermined: 167 cases, 1 death

Staff Writer Nikie Johnson contributed to this report.

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https://www.sbsun.com/2020/04/30/san-bernardino-county-reports-4-more-coronavirus-deaths-130-new-cases/[5/1/2020 8:33:33 AM] https://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/news/s-b-county-provides-information-on-where-to-get-free- food/article_4c0f638e-8b36-11ea-a28a-cb83401b5efd.html

FEATURED S.B. County provides information on where to get free food

Apr 30, 2020

Feeding America gathered hundreds of bags and boxes of food items that were distributed during an event in Ontario on April 24. Food insecurity has reached unprecedented heights for some residents of San Bernardino County because of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic shutdown. (Contributed photo by Mike Myers)

Food insecurity has reached unprecedented heights for some residents of San Bernardino County because of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic shutdown.

To address the skyrocketing demand for food assistance, the county established a Food Assistance Strike Force to coordinate the efforts of the charitable food providers throughout the county that are providing food at no cost to residents in need, the county said in a news release. The Strike Force launched a website on April 30 to inform residents on when, where and how they can obtain food to feed themselves and their families.

The website is a “one-stop-shop” for information on the many different programs being implemented across the county, including delivery locations and times, and eligibility requirements (if any). The website is featured prominently on the county’s COVID-19 website, sbcovid19.com.

In Fontana, food is being distributed on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Living Way Christian Fellowship church, 16725 Valencia Avenue in the downtown area. For more information, call (909) 823-4404 or visit www.livingwayfontana.org.

“We are getting requests from thousands of county residents who have never needed help before, but the County and its community partners are committed to do all we can during these challenging times,” said CaSonya Thomas, assistant executive ofcer of San Bernardino County Human Services. “The county is working with cities, food banks, churches, the Salvation Army, American Red Cross and other philanthropies to compile a database of food providers and publicize these resources broadly.”

The Strike Force has organized ve subgroups, by supervisor districts, to assemble and organize information to share with the public. The goal is to make sure the entire county is covered with programs that are directed to seniors, school children, or the public at large.

All the content featured on the Food Assistance Strike Force website will be shared through the websites and social platforms of all of the county's food assistance partners. Just a few of the programs available to county residents include “Grab and Go” meals distributed at over 30 sites throughout the county, Home Delivered Meals programs and meals to unsheltered individuals through the Project Room Key program.

The county is also working with the state to implement its “Restaurants Deliver -- Home Meals for Seniors” program recently announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Further details about this program will be provided soon, the county said. Coronavirus cases top 2,000 in San Bernardino County as number of deaths approaches 100 By Martin Estacio Staff Writer Posted Apr 30, 2020 at 3:16 PM San Bernardino County saw its second-highest daily increase of reported coronavirus cases on Thursday, with 130 more people testing positive as four more people have died.

The total confirmed cases reported was at 2,058 Thursday, with 93 deaths, according to the county’s COVID-19 Dashboard.

Thursday’s tally of cases was second only to the 159 reported April 6.

More than three-quarters of the 93 deaths have been people aged 60 or older, county data shows, and a majority of those have been male and white.

More than 500 additional people have been tested, bringing the total to 19,964, which accounts for 0.9% of the county’s population. Residents in some communities have been tested more than others, with the top city being San Bernardino at 2,920.

People at undetermined locations made up 4,437 of the total tests.

The number of people hospitalized who are suspected of having COVID-19 and confirmed positive rose from 237 to 279, according to the data.

Out of 312 ventilators being used, 44 people are confirmed COVID-19 patients and 13 are suspected of having the virus, leaving over 80% being ventilated for a different illness.

The number of confirmed cases in the High Desert rose, with the biggest increase seen in Victorville, with seven additional patients. Deaths in the area were unchanged. Here are the total number of cases and deaths in the High Desert as of Thursday:

Adelanto: 30 cases (+5)

Apple Valley: 26 cases (+4), 2 deaths

Barstow: 9 cases, 2 deaths

Fort Irwin: 2 cases

Hesperia: 54 cases (+3), 1 death

Joshua Tree: 15 cases (+1), 2 deaths

Morongo Valley: 5 cases

Oak Hills: 12 cases (+1)

Phelan: 9 cases (+1)

Piñon Hills: 3 cases

Twentynine Palms: 5 cases

Victorville: 93 cases (+7), 6 deaths

Yucca Valley: 12 cases (+1)

Total: 275 cases, 13 deaths

Here are the number of cases in surrounding mountain communities, which totaled 23:

Angelus Oaks: 1 case

Big Bear City: 3 cases (+1)

Big Bear Lake: 5 cases

Blue Jay: 3 cases Crestline: 6 cases (+1), 1 death

Rimforest: 1 case

Running Springs: 3 cases (+1)

Wrightwood: 1 case

California had 49,840 positive cases and 2,014 deaths, according to the Los Angeles Times coronavirus tracker.

In neighboring areas, Los Angeles County reported 23,182 cases and 1,111 deaths as of Thursday afternoon; Orange County reported 2,393 cases and 45 deaths; Riverside County reported 4,031 cases, 149 deaths and 1,483 recoveries; and Kern County reported 893 cases, seven deaths and 524 recoveries.

Nationwide cases stood at 1,068,696 Thursday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University data, which also reported 62,906 deaths and 125,949 recoveries.

Worldwide figures included 3,251,925 cases, 232,936 deaths and 986,464 recoveries, Johns Hopkins data showed.

Martin Estacio may be reached at [email protected] or at 760-955-5358. Follow him on Twitter @DP_mestacio. Hundreds take to Apple Valley’s Civic Center Park for COVID-19 testing By Rene Ray De La Cruz Staff Writer Posted Apr 30, 2020 at 8:04 PM APPLE VALLEY — Hundreds of county residents made appointments for the Victor Valley’s second drive-thru COVID-19 testing event, hosted by the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health.

Sheriff’s deputies along Dale Evans Parkway directed drivers into the screening and testing event that took place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at Civic Center Park in Apple Valley.

Several times during the event, around 120 cars lined the southbound lane of Dale Evans Parkway from Thunderbird Road as drivers approached the park located across the street from the Beyond One Food Mart and gas station.

County spokesperson Sean Wright told the Daily Press public health workers were prepared to test 570 residents who made appointments.

“Once the drivers enter the park, we have four lanes where they are pre-screened and two lanes where they are tested while they remain in their vehicles,” Wright said.

During the event, several drivers and passengers gazed at the long swab held by county health professionals, who explained how they would gather samples by inserting the swab into their nostrils, or their mouth and throat.

Wearing two face coverings, a man, who identified himself as “Frank,” sat in his vehicle after being tested and said the experience was “not that bad.”

“I hadn’t been feeling well, so to be on the safe side I decided to come down and get tested,” Frank said as his muffled words slid through an almost fully closed car window. “I waited in line for about 90 minutes for a test that lasted about 30 seconds.”

An area inside the park’s roundabout, near the aquatic center, was designated for the pre-screening and testing of healthcare workers and first responders, Wright said.

Personnel with the Town of Apple Valley and the Apple Valley Fire Protection District also assisted with the event.

Before and during the event, county employees were seen recording the temperatures of several workers at the testing site.

On April 2, public health workers screened and tested more than 350 drivers for COVID-19 at the High Desert’s first testing event held at the SBC Fairgrounds in Victorville. At one point, the line to enter the fairgrounds was nearly two miles long.

The next COVID-19 testing event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday at Civic Plaza Park, 15833 Smoke Tree Street, Hesperia. The event is booked and appointments are no longer being taken, the county reported.

Registration will open at 10 a.m. Friday for the drive-thru testing scheduled until 2 p.m. May 6 at the Barstow Sports Park, 2800 Mayor Katy Parkway.

The testing event is free, does not require health insurance and is open to county residents by appointment only. Registrants must meet one of the following criteria to be tested:

1. Have one of the following symptoms: fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, muscle pain, new loss of taste or smell, vomiting or diarrhea, and/or sore throat.

2. Be age 65 or over.

3. Be a healthcare worker, including those in congregate settings.

4. Be an Emergency Medical Service worker.

5. Be a member of law enforcement.

As of Thursday, the county reported that 19,965 have been tested for COVID- 19. Residents can apply for all testing appointments by visiting www.SBCovid19.com. Those who cannot access the form online can call the COVID-19 hotline at 909-387-3911 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227, or by email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz. https://www.highlandnews.net/news/public_safety/citrus-valley-hosts-covid-19-testing/article_5ee56f12- 8b04-11ea-96b4-8f81add7d11e.html

BREAKING FEATURED Citrus Valley hosts COVID-19 testing

By Dina Colunga Apr 30, 2020

County healthcare workers take swab samples will conducting a drive-thru COVID-19 testing at Citrus Valley High School on Wednesday, April 29. Photo by Dina Colunga

Citrus Valley High School in Redlands was the site of a county COVID-19 drive-thru testing operation on Wednesday, April 29.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday San Bernardino County Department of Public Health prepared 635 swab tests “The city partnered with the police and re departments and our emergency response team volunteers to make sure everything went smoothly,” said Carl Baker, Redlands’ public information ofcer.

The tests were by appointment only. Residents registered online via the county’s COVID-19 response website.

At the start of Citrus Valley’s testing, there were 40 cars lined up.

Residents with an appointment drove through three stations that facilitated paperwork and tests. County health workers gave specimen numbers to patients who could review their results online after seven days.

Redlands does not have another testing site planned, but Loma Linda Academy has a community testing scheduled for Monday, May 11.

Visit sbcovid19.com to register for community testing events. https://www.highlandnews.net/community/city-initiates-thankful-thursdays/article_d7f73a40-8b34-11ea- 92af-e3625d27a2ad.html

BREAKING City initiates Thankful Thursdays

Apr 30, 2020

Image courtesy of city of Highland

The city of Highland invites its residents to show their gratitude for grocers, health care workers, rst responders and others working and helping the community through the coronavirus pandemic with Thankful Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. each Thursday in May.

Residents are encouraged to give cheer and make noise as a unied showing of thanks. https://www.highlandnews.net/news/highland-to-apply-for-covid-19-recovery-funds/article_8d9c7d98-8b16- 11ea-8e86-7309f3aa38a3.html

BREAKING Highland to apply for COVID-19 recovery funds

Hector Hernandez Jr. Apr 30, 2020

On Tuesday, April 28, the Highland City Council voted to authorize its Finance/Personnel Subcommittee to approve the city’s application for a special allocation of Community Development Block Grant COVID-19 response funds.

The city is allocated to receive $277,080 from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds released to the county. The funds will be available for a two-year period June 1, 2020, to June

30, 2022 and must serve primarily low- or moderate-income populations to prevent⎯ or respond to the spread⎯ of COVID-19 or assist in recovery efforts.

During her report to the council, Assistant Community Development Director Kim Stater shared that, due to the city receiving notice of the grant on April 20 and a May 4, deadline, the application will have to be prepared, reviewed and approved before the next meeting of the full city council.

Mayor Larry McCallon and Councilman John Timmer make up the Finance Subcommittee.

The Highland City Council Finance Subcommittee will meet via teleconference at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 4, to review and approve the city’s application a $277,080 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Block Grant COVID-19 response funds. Residents who want to hear the meeting live can call (844) 855-4444 and use access code 360803#. To submit public comment, email comments to [email protected] by 9 a.m. on Monday, May 4. Comments will be read aloud during the meeting provided they comply with public comment guidelines and do not exceed 3 minutes in length.

Hector Hernandez Jr. Rancho Cucamonga to open basketball, tennis courts; skate park to follow – San Bernardino Sun

LOCAL NEWS • News Rancho Cucamonga to open basketball, tennis courts; skate park to follow North Etiwanda Preserve opened by San Bernardino County

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https://www.sbsun.com/...park-to-follow/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_content=tw-sbsun[5/1/2020 8:54:42 AM] Rancho Cucamonga to open basketball, tennis courts; skate park to follow – San Bernardino Sun

Hikers head into the North Etiwanda Preserve which has reopened in the county area near Rancho Cucamonga Thursday April 30, 2020. Park tennis courts and basketball courts within the city of Rancho Cucamonga officially reopen Friday, May 1, while playground apparatus will remain closed. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

By STEVE SCAUZILLO | [email protected] | San Gabriel Valley Tribune  PUBLISHED: April 30, 2020 at 5:44 p.m. | UPDATED: May 1, 2020 at 12:30 a.m.

Believing that physical and mental health are important, the city of Rancho Cucamonga is reopening recreational facilities Friday, May 1, at all of its parks, the city announced.

Ranch Cucamonga will open all outdoor basketball and tennis courts for residents, as long as players cover their faces and maintain at least 6 feet of distance between them, the city said.

1 of 3 Playground equipment remains taped off and closed for use Thursday, April 30, 2020, at Day Creek Park in Rancho Cucamonga. Tennis courts and  basketball courts within Rancho Cucamonga officially reopen Friday, May 1, while playground apparatus will remain closed. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

On May 8, the city is scheduled to reopen its skate park located at Los Amigos Park, 8627 Madrone Ave.

“We encourage you to get outside and enjoy the outdoors. Exercising is good for both your physical and mental health,” the city said in a community update posted on its website.

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READ MORE 16 year old sex trafficking victim rescued from The North Etiwanda Preserve near Rancho Cucamonga also is open for hikers, walkers and bicyclists. Dogs, horses, gatherings and camping are not allowed. This nature area, located at 4887 Etiwanda Ave., is operated by the county of San Bernardino, which has reopened many parks and recreation spots.

In the preserve, winter and spring rains have brought forth the first signs of spring wildflowers, such as thistles and milkweed.

“The return is slowly beginning,” the city wrote in its COVID-19 Update released on Tuesday. “Theodore Roosevelt said, ‘Believe you can and you are halfway there.’ We are halfway there.”

Playgrounds are still off-limits, as are picnic shelters and tables, Jennifer Camacho Curtis, city spokesperson, said Thursday.

For those who don’t play tennis and/or basketball, the city is offering virtual recreational exploring through its website cityofrc.us, which features access to TED Talks and at-home nature activities.

Each jurisdiction is treating safer-at-home orders differently:

• San Bernardino National Forest: All developed sites, such as picnic areas, restrooms and parking lots remain closed through May 15, the U.S. Forest Service announced Thursday. However, the forest is open to walk-ins. Trails, trailheads and general forest areas are accessible to the public. “Outdoor recreation can be beneficial to mental and physical health but must be practiced safely,” the Forest Service wrote in a release.

• City of Upland: City parks and the Euclid Bridle Trail are open. Social distancing and face coverings are required. Park playgrounds and gathering areas are closed. The Upland Gibson Senior Center and the Upland Public Library are closed through May 15.

• City of Montclair: All parks are closed. No park facilities are open. People are allowed to walk through the park only.

• City of Ontario: All parks, green spaces and dog parks are open for passive recreational use only. Tennis courts, basketball courts, playgrounds and sports fields remain closed. The Whispering Lakes Golf Course is taking reservations by calling 909-923-3673 (no walk-ons). Golfers must wear masks and keep 6 feet apart. For a virtual experience, visit the city’s Virtual Community Life & Culture Resource Center for fitness videos, games, science experiments, arts and crafts and a kids’ storytime.

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https://www.sbsun.com/...park-to-follow/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_content=tw-sbsun[5/1/2020 8:54:42 AM] http://www.hidesertstar.com/covid-19/article_37b7ffae-8a6e-11ea-9fae-63583d28cb49.html Reopening school in July? Morongo superintendent says it’s not the current plan

By Jené Estrada, Hi-Desert Star Apr 29, 2020

Students sit down for their rst story time of the year at the rst day of school at Condor Elementary School in August 2019. Morongo Unied schools generally open in late August. Jené Estrada Hi-Desert Star

MORONGO BASIN — The Morongo Unied School District Board of Education held a brief discussion about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement on Tuesday morning that the state may consider opening up schools in July, changing the 2020-2021 school year.

Those viewing the meeting were immediately concerned by this idea, noting the intense heat in the summer months in the desert.

Superintendent Tom Baumgarten assured the board members and the public that opening over summer is not currently being considered by the district. “That came up this afternoon and it will need a lot of discussion,” he said. “There’s a lot of questions we would have. Normally we would open late August and teachers would have to agree to work a longer school year. I see it having a lot of questions and discussions we aren’t equipped to work through right now.” Little League cancels postseason due to coronavirus; San Bernardino loses West Regional – San Bernardino Sun

SPORTS • News Little League cancels postseason due to coronavirus; San Bernardino loses West Regional 'This is a heartbreaking decision for everyone at Little League International,' president and CEO says

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https://www.sbsun.com/2020/04/30/little-league-cancels-postseason-due-to-coronavirus-san-bernardino-loses-west-regional/[4/30/2020 2:34:53 PM] Little League cancels postseason due to coronavirus; San Bernardino loses West Regional – San Bernardino Sun

So. California center fielder Joshua Hughes #4 is mobbed at the plate by So. California center fielder Nyenati Snoh #14 after hitting a home run against Utah during the consolation/elimination game of the Little League West Regional at Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino on Tuesday, Aug 6, 2019. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

By BRIAN WHITEHEAD | [email protected] | San Bernardino Sun  PUBLISHED: April 30, 2020 at 2:04 p.m. | UPDATED: April 30, 2020 at 2:04 p.m.

The Boys of Summer will have to wait a year to take the field again.

For the first time in its nearly 75-year history, Little League International has canceled all World Series and Regional Tournaments due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the youth sports giant M announced Thursday, April 30.

Previously set to vie for the chance of calling themselves world champions this summer, millions of https://www.sbsun.com/2020/04/30/little-league-cancels-postseason-due-to-coronavirus-san-bernardino-loses-west-regional/[4/30/2020 2:34:53 PM] Little League cancels postseason due to coronavirus; San Bernardino loses West Regional – San Bernardino Sun

young ballplayers across 84 countries now must wait for Little League baseball and softball to return in 2021.

Seven World Series tournaments – including the uber-popular Little League Baseball contest in South Williamsport, Pa. – and their respective regional qualifying tournaments have been canceled.

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READ MORE Victorville woman and 2 young sons slain boyfriend “This is a heartbreaking decision for everyone at Little League International, but more so for those millions of Little Leaguers who have dreamt of one day playing in one of our seven World Series events,” Stephen D. Keener, Little League president and CEO, said in a news release. “After exhausting all possible options, we came to the conclusion that because of the significant public health uncertainty that will still exist several months from now … it will not be possible to proceed with our tournaments as we’ve hosted them for nearly 75 years.”

In addition to announcing the cancelation of all tournaments Thursday, Little League International committed to crediting about $1.2 million to chartered programs.

San Bernardino was scheduled to host Western Regional tournaments for both softball and baseball this summer.

For more information on Little League’s recommendations surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, visit littleleague.org/coronavirus.

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https://www.sbsun.com/2020/04/30/little-league-cancels-postseason-due-to-coronavirus-san-bernardino-loses-west-regional/[4/30/2020 2:34:53 PM] How Riverside County seniors at home due to coronavirus crisis can get free food – Press Enterprise

LOCAL NEWS • News How Riverside County seniors at home due to coronavirus crisis can get free food

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By JEFF HORSEMAN | [email protected] | The Press-Enterprise  PUBLISHED: April 30, 2020 at 2:06 p.m. | UPDATED: April 30, 2020 at 2:06 p.m.

In the interest of public safety, critical coronavirus coverage is being provided free to all readers. Support reporting like this with a subscription to The Press-Enterprise. Only 99¢ for a 4-week trial.

Support local journalism

Riverside County has released a list of free food options for residents who are homebound because of

https://www.pe.com/...ee-food/?utm_content=tw-pressenterprise&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social[4/30/2020 3:02:39 PM] How Riverside County seniors at home due to coronavirus crisis can get free food – Press Enterprise

the novel coronavirus pandemic and who are age 60 or older.

The county Office on Aging connects seniors with food delivery for critical emergencies, two-week supplies of pantry and essential items, home-delivered meals and grab-and-go meals.

“We’re averaging almost 1,200 calls a day at this point, and our requests for food have tripled,” Gary Robbins, deputy director for programs and operations for the office, said in a news release.

These options also are available for people with disabilities.

Read Article

An online “Food Access” map on the county public health website, www.rivcoph.org/coronavirus, also has information on food pantries and places that serve free meals.

The county also is looking for restaurants to participate in a senior meal delivery program that would offer up to three meals a day.

Information: www.rcaging.org, 800-510-2020 or email RELATED ARTICLES [email protected].

Little League cancels postseason due to Besides emailing, restaurants interested in the meal coronavirus; San Bernardino loses West

Regional delivery program can fill out a form at www.rcaging.org/COVID-19/Restaurants-Deliver-Home- San Bernardino County reports 4 more Meals-for-Seniors. coronavirus deaths, 130 new cases

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Jeff Horseman | Reporter Jeff Horseman got into journalism because he liked to write and stunk at math. He grew up in Vermont and he honed his interviewing skills as a supermarket cashier by asking Bernie Sanders “Paper or plastic?” After graduating from Syracuse University in 1999, Jeff began his journalistic odyssey at The Watertown Daily Times in upstate New York, where he impressed then-U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Clinton so much she called him “John” at the end of an interview. From there, he went to Annapolis, Maryland, where he covered city, county and state government at The Capital newspaper before love and the quest for snowless winters took him in 2007 to Southern California, where he started out covering Temecula for The Press-Enterprise. Today, Jeff writes about Riverside County government and regional politics. Along the way, Jeff has covered wildfires, a tropical storm, 9/11 and the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino. If you have a question or story idea about politics or the inner workings of government, please let Jeff know. He’ll do his best to answer, even if it involves a little math.

[email protected]

 Follow Jeff Horseman @JeffHorseman

https://www.pe.com/...ee-food/?utm_content=tw-pressenterprise&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social[4/30/2020 3:02:39 PM] Riverside County complains to state about nursing home where 80-plus were evacuated – Press Enterprise

LOCAL NEWS • News Riverside County complains to state about nursing home where 80-plus were evacuated

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https://www.pe.com/...acuated/?utm_content=tw-pressenterprise&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow[4/30/2020 4:21:26 PM] Riverside County complains to state about nursing home where 80-plus were evacuated – Press Enterprise

A patient at the Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Riverside is evacuated to a waiting ambulance Wednesday, April 8, 2020. (File photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

By JEFF HORSEMAN | [email protected] | The Press-Enterprise  PUBLISHED: April 30, 2020 at 3:51 p.m. | UPDATED: April 30, 2020 at 3:51 p.m.

Riverside County is asking state regulators to look into a Riverside skilled nursing facility that was the site of a mass evacuation after an outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center should be assessed prior to reopening and the state should review the actions of licensed staff to see if they “acted in an ethical and professional manner” when they failed to show up for work two days in a row, Dr. Cameron Kaiser, the county’s public health officer, wrote in an April 20 “notice of complaint” to the California Department of Public Health.

Kimberly Richards, listed in state business records as a member of the board of directors for the M company that owns Magnolia Rehabilitation, declined to comment Thursday, April 30, on Kaiser’s letter. https://www.pe.com/...acuated/?utm_content=tw-pressenterprise&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow[4/30/2020 4:21:26 PM] Riverside County complains to state about nursing home where 80-plus were evacuated – Press Enterprise

In an email, state public health officials said their department was at Magnolia Rehabilitation during the evacuation, received the county’s complaint and will address it.

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“(The department) will continue to work with the local public health department and the owners to maintain access to care, and to reinforce proper infection control practices,” the email stated.

In his letter, Kaiser recounted how the county learned of the Magnolia Rehabilitation outbreak after investigating COVID-19 cases at Extended Care Hospital of Riverside, which is next door. Magnolia Rehabilitation’s director of nursing was among those infected and was later hospitalized, Kaiser wrote.

On April 6, a data-entry nurse at Magnolia Rehabilitation requested 25 nurses to cover all three eight- hour shifts on the following day, Kaiser wrote.

“The message concluded with, ‘Please help us with staffing. Our routinely scheduled staff is not showing up to work no call no show [sic]. We have no staff to cover our patients. We are getting weak

every day.’”

According to the county, just one of 13 nursing assistants scheduled to work April 7 showed up. Thirty-three nurses were brought in to staff the facility, and when few staff reported on April 8, Kaiser ordered the evacuation.

The following day, Kaiser wrote he “commandeered” Magnolia Rehabilitation as county staff looked at its feasibility for housing COVID-19 patients. An outside contract cleaner estimated it would cost $197,000 to do a full deep clean, he wrote.

James Atkins, the county’s emergency services RELATED LINKS coordinator, told Kaiser the flooring was uneven on the

facility’s north end, Kaiser wrote. 83 patients evacuated from Riverside skilled nursing home after coronavirus With staffing and infection-control issues expected to outbreak continue and possible fixes needed to address “hygiene and potential building concerns,” Kaiser wrote that the Riverside County skilled nursing facilities have more than 650 coronavirus cases county was filing the complaint as it returns the facility to

the company. How are Inland cities, counties fighting coronavirus in nursing homes?

Newsroom Guidelines At least 30 Riverside nursing facility News Tips patients test positive for coronavirus; Contact Us county cases jump to 799 Report an Error Riverside County sending 4 coronavirus teams to nursing homes

https://www.pe.com/...acuated/?utm_content=tw-pressenterprise&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow[4/30/2020 4:21:26 PM] Riverside County coronavirus health orders likely to be lifted – San Bernardino Sun

LOCAL NEWS • News Riverside County coronavirus health orders likely to be lifted

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By JEFF HORSEMAN | [email protected] | The Press-Enterprise  PUBLISHED: April 30, 2020 at 5:47 p.m. | UPDATED: April 30, 2020 at 7:14 p.m.

In the interest of public safety, critical coronavirus coverage is being provided free to all readers. Support reporting like this with a subscription to The Sun. Only 99¢ for a 4-week trial.

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Public health orders mandating the use of face coverings and social distancing to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus in Riverside County, among other restrictions, could be lifted Tuesday, May 5,

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/04/30/proposal-aims-to-lift-riverside-county-coronavirus-health-order/[5/1/2020 8:33:56 AM] Riverside County coronavirus health orders likely to be lifted – San Bernardino Sun

by the Board of Supervisors on

The agenda includes an item, sponsored by Supervisors Karen Spiegel and V. Manuel Perez, that would rescind the order issued earlier this month and extended on Wednesday, April 29, by Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser until June 19.

The proposal also calls for rescinding county orders that closed all schools until June 19, restricted short-term rentals to S coronavirus-related business and placed restrictions on play at golf courses. P State public health orders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay- By at-home order issued March 19, would remain in effect.

TOP ARTICLES 1/5 Dr. Cameron Kaiser is Riverside County’s public health officer. (File photo by M Watchara Phomicinda, The Press- Enterprise/SCNG)

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READ MORE 16 year old sex trafficking victim By rescinding the county’s orders, supervisors want to put the county on par, regulation-wise, with the rest of California. Legally, the county can be more strict than the state, but not less stringent.

The county has been more strict than the state by requiring residents to cover their noses and mouths in public. Face coverings don’t have to be hospital grade, but Kaiser’s order was intended to prevent

the airborne spread of virus-laden droplets spread by infected people.

Kaiser and county Director of Public Health Kim Saruwatari were unavailable for comment, according to county spokeswoman Brooke Federico.

In a memo to colleagues, Spiegel and Perez lauded the county’s progress in testing more than 50,000 for the virus, slowing the rate of infection so that it hasn’t overwhelmed county hospitals as well as the board’s formation of an economic recovery task force.

“We want people to be healthy, safe and have an income to support their families,” the memo read. “(Rescinding the orders) creates the pathway for our residents and businesses to meet these needs.”

In a news release, Perez praised Kaiser’s actions, which “have no doubt made a measurable impact in saving lives in our county.”

“His early and proactive leadership got us very far ahead as a county. That, combined with data and strong economic arguments, is why I have the confidence that it is appropriate to lift these measures while we continue to align ourselves with the state’s stay-at-home order and roadmap for reopening.”

Earlier Thursday, Supervisor Jeff Hewitt posted a letter on Facebook in which he called on the orders to be lifted. He wrote that he was “shocked and disappointed” to see Kaiser “continue a campaign of fear in such a way.”

“Over the course of the shutdown, thousands of businesses have closed their doors, many of which will never re-open,” Hewitt wrote. “Families have been separated from their loved ones, and hundreds of thousands of hard-working people have been forced to stay at home and not earn a living for their families.”

“I for one have had enough … I will not stand idly by and see (the county) consumed by fear.”

Reached via email, Supervisor Kevin Jeffries said he supports lifting the orders. Supervisor Chuck Washington was not available for comment Thursday evening.

During a Wednesday, April 29, news conference, Kaiser RELATED LINKS said face coverings and social distancing will be the “new

normal” for the immediate future. Riverside County social distancing, face covering orders extended to June 19 “COVID-19 has not been eliminated, and it’s arguable whether we can even say it’s been suppressed,” he said. Riverside County crosses 4,000 “We expect sporadic outbreaks throughout the summer. coronavirus cases; deaths now at 149 And since there will still be virus in circulation, there is a Riverside County eases – but doesn’t end decent chance that it will be back in the fall, and when it is, – coronavirus restrictions on private pools it will be very hard to get that genie back in the bottle.” Riverside County reopens golf courses — In a county news release issued Thursday evening about a with conditions possible decision to rescind county public health orders, the Riverside County golf courses start county noted that the state Department of Public Health reopening as eager players return after and federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention coronavirus closures recommend the use of face coverings, social distancing, and frequent hand washing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

As of Thursday, the county has 4,031 confirmed coronavirus cases and 149 deaths blamed on the virus. More than 50,000 in the county have been tested.

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READ MORE Who cleans up the debris after freeway crashes? Officials said people can still apply for the county’s CalFresh food assistance program by calling 866- 613-3777 or going to dpss.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dpss/main/programs-and-services/calfresh/.

“In the month of March, we saw a 71% increase in CalFresh applications when compared to the same period last year,” Solis said.

Food vendors and trucks already fall into a gray area under the local pandemic orders. Grocery stores and restructured versions of farmers markets are allowed to operate, but Solis said food vendors and

trucks continue to put themselves and others at risk.

Many of the unlicensed food trucks that continue to operate throughout the county have not been requiring patrons to observe social distancing, she said. Social distancing is defined by the county as maintaining six feet between people, and patrons of licensed food trucks are also not allowed to hang out at the truck or gather in large groups.

“During this pandemic, Public Health is asking, pleading with the unpermitted food vendors to do their part as members of the community and to stop operating until they secure a Public Health permit,” said Liza Frias, DPH director of environmental health. “This permit ensures that the vendors comply with all the food safety requirements to ensure the health and safety of not only themselves but also the community they’re serving.”

Food vendors who don’t comply with the orders could face a $1,000 fine or misdemeanor charge.

People can also get health services from the county’s Department of Public Health. Applicants must be 26 years and older, have a low income and be unable to qualify for public insurance. People can go to dhs.lacounty.gov/mhla for more information on health services.

Eviction moratoriums are in place for renters throughout RELATED ARTICLES unincorporated areas of the county and participating cities,

Hope International basketball coach Bill and renters will have a year to pay back the rent they’ve Czech shares his harrowing COVID-19 owed per their rate as of March 4. People can go to recovery story lacountyhelpcenter.gov for more information.

Rent Q&A: Coronavirus-related tenant Solis said the county is working on local business loan and protections could buy you time grant programs to be finalized in the coming weeks.

Which Six Flags parks will reopen first? Through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic https://www.dailybulletin.com/...?utm_content=tw-ivdailybulletin&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social[5/1/2020 8:56:32 AM] L.A. County officials plead for street vendors to shut down during coronavirus crisis – Daily Bulletin

These 6 are the top contenders Security Act, or CARES Act, residents have received or will LAUSD’s college-bound students to get receive a stimulus check, but thousands of county residents help with admissions during coronavirus do not have a bank account to receive the electronic crisis payments.

$5 million donation to help fund another County residents who do not have an account can go to the 20,000 Angeleno Cards, Garcetti says BankOn website to open a bank or credit union account at dcba.lacounty.gov/bankon.

The Women, Infants and Children program, or WIC, also does not fall under the federal public charge rules, and immigrants can apply for resources from it, Solis said.

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https://www.dailybulletin.com/...?utm_content=tw-ivdailybulletin&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social[5/1/2020 8:56:32 AM] Anyone in L.A. County can get tested for coronavirus at L.A. city-run sites, but county sites limit testing to most vulnerable | KTLA

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LOCAL NEWS Anyone in L.A. County can get tested for coronavirus at L.A. city-run sites, but county sites limit testing to most vulnerable

by: Cindy Von Quednow, with reporting by Nouran Salahieh Posted: Apr 30, 2020 / 12:51 PM PDT / Updated: Apr 30, 2020 / 02:57 PM PDT

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a-county-officials-to-clarify-information-on-coronavirus-testing-after-mayor-garcetti-announces-major-expansion/[4/30/2020 3:00:11 PM] Anyone in L.A. County can get tested for coronavirus at L.A. city-run sites, but county sites limit testing to most vulnerable | KTLA

Officials on Thursday said coronavirus testing at Los Angeles county-run sites will be limited to essential workers and other vulnerable populations, but that asymptomatic people can be tested at city-run sites, clarifying remarks made by Mayor Eric Garcetti a day earlier.

While all county residents can make an appointment to get a COVID-19 test through the county’s appointment portal, those without symptoms will be routed to the city’s portal, which is now accepting asymptomatic people.

But testing at county sites outside the city of L.A. remains limited to the following groups:

Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms (expanded) Some categories without symptoms, including: All essential workers (healthcare workers, first responders, utility workers, food supply workers, social service employees and others) Those over 65 years old Anyone with chronic health conditions like diabetes, chronic heart disease, cancer or others Anyone living in institutional congregate living settings like nursing homes, long-term care facilities, correctional facilities, shelters and others. Testing will be done at facilities whether or not an outbreak has occurred there.

Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of the county’s Department of Health Services said Thursday that while asymptomatic people can spread the illness and that people can test positive while never having symptoms, testing should still be limited to those who are at high risk of contracting and becoming ill

“There is no scientific evidence that would clinically indicate a need to test low-risk, asymptomatic individuals, outside of certain scenario, such as people who reside in institutions, in congregate living settings, including people experiencing homelessness, those who can’t obey the stay-at-home orders,” Ghaly said.

Garcetti on Wednesday said that all county residents could get a free coronavirus test regardless of whether or not they are showing symptoms. He noted that L.A. was the first major U.S. city to offer the tests to all asymptomatic residents.

The announcement made during the mayor’s daily crisis briefing, however, caused some confusion, and prompted the county to tweet that officials countywide had not issued new testing guidelines and that a clarification would be made the following day.

Ghaly on Thursday acknowledged the appeal of wanting to be tested, but urged residents to continue abiding by social distancing guidelines and other measures meant to curb the spread of the virus, including frequent hand washing.

“I understand that testing can provide individuals with a sense of security … but I want to caution everyone on holding on too tightly to that security because, medically, it is fleeting,” Ghaly said. “A negative test one day, does not mean that you won’t get infected the next, or the one after that. The same public health measures that are in place will apply to you regardless.”

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Will Orange County enforce Newsom beach closure? Officials vow a fight

Children do ﬂips o the lifeguard tower while others relax on the last day of open beaches in Huntington Beach after Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced the “hard close” of all Orange County beaches. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

By RICHARD WINTON, ANH DO, HANNAH FRY

MAY 1, 2020 | 7:58 AM A legal showdown over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order closing Orange County beaches was shaping up Friday as Huntington Beach voted to seek a temporary injunction and the county sheriff said his department didn’t plan to make arrests for people simply getting out for beach exercise.

The governor ordered Orange County beaches closed on Thursday despite opposition from local leaders who argue they should decide whether it’s safe to hit the sand.

Over the weekend, thousands flocked to Orange County beaches, which remained open even though Los Angeles County’s shoreline was closed.

“Specific issues on some of those beaches have raised alarm bells,” Newsom said. “People that are congregating there, that weren’t practicing physical distancing, that may go back to their community outside of Orange County and may not even know that they contracted the disease and now they put other people at risk, put our hospital system at risk.”

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Newsom said Orange County beaches would be reopened soon if the situation improves.

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After so many sacrifices, some Californians draw the line at closing beaches May 1, 2020

“My job as governor is to keep you safe,” he said Thursday. “And when our health folks tell me they can’t promise that if we promote another weekend like what we had, then I have to make this adjustment. I hope it’s only a very short-term adjustment.”

Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said his department will focus on voluntary compliance and didn’t plan to make arrests. In a statement, he said that most people have acted responsibly at the beach and that they should not fear criminal charges. “From an enforcement component, I have no desire to enforce any aspect of that through arrest,” he said at a news conference.

“My intent … is to seek voluntary compliance,” Barnes added.

The Huntington Beach City Council voted 5-2 Thursday evening to approve filing for an emergency injunction to block Newsom’s directive.

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Photos show county lines separate packed beaches from empty ones April 27, 2020

Earlier in the day, Huntington Beach Mayor Lyn Semeta said the city invested considerable effort and expense to discourage overcrowding at the beaches and worked hard to ensure the public had safe access to the beach for exercise and mental well-being.

“Our experience here locally has been that most people are being responsible and complying with social distancing, and given that Orange County has among the lowest per capita COVID-19 death rates in California, the state’s action today seems to prioritize politics over data,” Semeta said in a written statement.

Orange County officials argue they had made progress in flattening the coronavirus curve, especially compared with neighboring L.A. County, and that a trip to the beach might do more good than harm.

“Medical professionals tell us the importance of fresh air and sunlight in fighting infectious diseases, including mental health benefits,” Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner said.

Until now, the decision of whether to keep California beaches open has been left to cities and counties, which must balance public health risks with providing equitable access to the outdoors.

Los Angeles County — the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in California with more than 1,000 deaths — closed all 72 miles of its coastline. One fear about keeping Orange County beaches open is that residents from harder-hit counties would flock there, potentially spreading the virus.

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Orange County’s coronavirus cases reach new daily high as officials continue to boost testing Orange County sheri’s deputies applaud as nurses from the cardiac rehab unit walk to their cars after a shift at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo this month. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

By HANNAH FRY STAFF WRITER

APRIL 30, 2020 | 3:34 PM

Orange County public health officials reported 145 new coronavirus cases Thursday — the largest single-day increase since the pandemic began — bringing the county’s total case count to 2,393.

This marks the fourth time in the past six days that Orange County has confirmed at least 100 new COVID-19 cases. The increases coincide with a dramatic rise in testing.

So far, 31,534 people have been tested for coronavirus infection in Orange County, including 1,594 on Thursday alone. The county has tested roughly 1,530 people per day on average this week, up from an average of 696 tests being conducted daily a week ago, said County CEO Frank Kim.

The boost in testing is “so important within Orange County to understand how the disease is spreading throughout our community and to provide us good information in terms of addressing the consequences of those infections,” Kim said.

County health officials on Thursday also reported another coronavirus-related fatality, bringing the countywide death toll to 45. The county reported two fatalities the previous day.

But the observed mortality rate associated with COVID-19 — the disease caused by the coronavirus — continues to be just below 2%, significantly lower than the levels seen in neighboring Los Angeles County and statewide.

Officials also attribute the rise in cases and deaths, in part, to outbreaks in nursing homes, which have been hotbeds for the virus across the state.

There have been positive cases of the virus among staff or residents in at least eight skilled nursing facilities in the county, according to the latest information from the California Department of Public Health. The county has response teams that it deploys to skilled nursing facilities and other assisted living homes that help prioritize testing and ensure there are adequate infection control measures in place, said County Health Officer Dr. Nichole Quick.

“We’re working on securing more resources to increase the number of teams we have to respond to any outbreak we have in skilled nursing facilities as we expect to continue to see these,” she said. “Absolutely we are concerned about it and absolutely this is a priority area going forward.”

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Hannah Fry is a Metro reporter covering breaking news in California. She joined Times Community News in Orange County in 2013 where she covered education, Newport Beach city hall, crime and courts. She is a native of Orange County and attended Chapman University, where she was the editor-in-chief of the college newspaper, the Panther.

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NORBERTO SANTANA, JR. Top Orange County Public Health Ocial in Charge of Covid-19 Testing Eort Abruptly Resigns and Retires

Screenshot of County of Orange video, via Facebook David Souleles, Orange County's director of public health services, speaks at an online press conference about COVID-19 on March 30, 2020.

By NORBERTO SANTANA JR. (HTTPS://VOICEOFOC.ORG/AUTHOR/NSANTANA/) h (HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/NORBERTOSANTANA) April 23, 2020

A day after announcing the rollout of Orange County’s ambitious new Covid-19 testing regime for the entire county, Deputy Health Norberto Santana, Jr. Care Agency Director David Souleles abruptly announced his resignation and retirement.

Souleles was the health care agency expert that county ocials pointed to as the person that had designed and would oversee a countywide testing ramp up program that would ensure Orange County residents the ability to get a Covid-19 test whenever they want one.

is is the same testing program that business leaders are desperately depending on in order to be able to open up the local economy.

Instead, Souleles announced on Wednesday morning that he was leaving to spend more time with family.

“I have made the decision to resign from my position with the OC Health Care Agency and retire from government service after more than 16 years with the County of Orange and nearly 32 years of professional experience working in public health, eective May 2, 2020,” Souleles wrote in an email to the county Public Health sta.

Souleles wrote that his last day in the oce would be Friday, May 1st.

“I am looking forward to the opportunity to spend more time with family in the weeks and months ahead,” he wrote.

Souleles is the second high ranking Health Care Agency executive to A pioneering leader in the nation’s rising nonprot news movement and an award-winning abruptly leave the agency as Health Care Agency Director Richard journalist. Santana has established Voice of OC as Orange County’s civic news leader, uncovered Sanchez in March left HCA to take over as CEO of the county health the truths across Southern California governments for more than two decades and reported on insurance plan for the poor and elderly, called CalOptima. Congress and Latin America. While a former HCA executive Bob Wilson was brought out of Subscribe now (https://voiceofoc.org/subscribe) to receive emails letting you know about his latest retirement to succeed Sanchez, some assumed Souleles might work. eventually take over as head of HCA.

Instead, county ocials are conducting interviews for Sanchez’s replacement and a decision on a new director is expected soon.

In his farewell email, Souleles touted the work of his sta, noting “this institution is bigger than any one of us.”

Souleles told staers that “It has been a pleasure and an honor serving with each and every one of you. Together as a team we have done great work to protect and improve the health of our community. You are truly an exceptional team of dedicated public health professionals and our neighbors are better o for the work that you do.

As the HCA makes plans for ongoing leadership in Public Health Services, please know that this institution is bigger than any one of us and you all will continue to do the good work that you do day in and day out on behalf of the people of Orange County.”

Orange County CEO Frank Kim acknowledged it was tough when a key executive like Souleles leaves abruptly in the midst of a crisis but stressed that the nearly 3,000 workers at the Health Care Agency would continue to do their work eectively. In addition to touting Souleles’ work on creating the Covid-19 testing network, Kim also credited his eorts to expand the county health care agency’s website that releases data about Covid-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths – something the county did not do well at the start of the pandemic but has become much better about.

“I think he’s done an incredible job during the middle of a crisis,” Kim said of Souleles. “He’s put in so much time for the community….I couldn’t be more thankful for the dedication he’s shown and the work he’s done for Orange County residents.”

In short, public sector executives who have worked long careers and have good retirement packages, well they retire.

Despite the odd combination of departures for Sanchez and now Souleles, Kim insists the Health Care Agency has the talent to meet the current challenge, saying he had full condence in Assistant Director Lilly Simmering and Public Health Ocer Dr. Nicole Quick, pointing out that both have been eective not only as administrators but as communicators.

“We have a deep bench within our public health department and the sta are ready to shoulder the responsibility that we will ask them to take on while we recruit for a public health director.” We Get Support From:

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Counties Are Taking Varied Approaches To Beaches, Parks As Restrictions Begin To Ease  Sammy Caiola Thursday, April 30, 2020 | Sacramento, CA |  Permalink

Visitors walk on the beach Thursday, April 30, 2020, in Huntington Beach, Calif. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered beaches in Orange County to close until further notice amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP Photo

As the weather warms, Californians will likely feel the urge to flock to the beach and dip their toes in the water. And in most places, they’ll be allowed to.

Despite concerns about overcrowding on the Southern California coast, Gov. Gavin Newsom did not move to close all state beaches Thursday. But he did order Orange County beaches to shut down.

Over the past few weeks the governor has introduced steps the state would need to take to reopen, and a phased approach for how that might happen. Newsom said the state would need to increase its daily testing capacity to more than 60,000 a day before lifting some restrictions. Public health experts say whether people can hit the beach comes down to how crowded a given beach is. When people are less than six feet from one another, the virus can easily spread through droplets in the air. As counties make decisions about which types of outdoor recreation to green- light, health officials are paying special attention to crowded waterfronts.

Dr. Lee Riley, an infectious disease expert at UC Berkeley, said over-full beaches are an example of “a breakdown in maintaining social distancing.”

“The whole point is really to avoid crowds and crowding, and avoid people you don’t really know,” he said. “If you say ‘you can do these things’, people will do it, especially as the weather gets better.”

Restrictions on outdoor areas are already beginning to lift. While bathrooms, picnic areas and parking lots are closed at many state and county parks, trails have mostly been fair game.

In Sacramento County, spokesperson Ken Casparis says waterfronts at county parks will remain open, including the beaches along the American River. And he says picnic areas are becoming available May 1 as part of the county's updated stay-at-home order, but only to people eating with members of their household. Park activities such as boating, tennis and disc golf are newly allowed.

He says summertime river rafting will be off limits because “it’s impossible to properly social distance.”

“People need outdoor activity,” he said. “They need fresh air, sunlight, exercise. We kept the parks open to give people who might not have an area to enjoy the outdoors in, to give them an area to be in during the public health order.”

But Bela Matyas, public health officer for Solano County, said parks should only be used for exercise.

“The concept of inviting people to the park by virtue of it being open for business is what we’ve been trying to avoid, because that’s a signal to gather,” he said.

Solano is considering bringing back activities such as tennis. But he says swimming and sunbathing are a different story.

“There are a number of leisure activities that in theory would pose no risk of transmission if handled correctly,” Matyas said. “It’s a little bit tougher to contemplate how to do that with a beach … when they’re in the water, there’s no way of assuring that they stay physically separate. It’s a less controlled environment, especially when it involves families with children.” As far as beaches go, Casparis says rangers are onsite to monitor overcrowding and are prepared to close them down if they become too packed. He says last weekend they had to close the lot at Tiscornia Park, which is located near downtown at a confluence of the Sacramento and American rivers.

Dean Winslow, an infectious disease expert at Stanford University, said the risk of spreading COVID-19 at a beach is “significantly lower” than being in a crowded indoor space, but that “the risk is not zero.”

“A strong breeze, that ideal ventilation that you’d have at the beach, is a good situation for actually dissipating and evaporating these droplets,” he said.

He says people can go to beaches with their families, but they should aim for uncrowded beaches, and stay away from others.

“Ultimately it really does boil down to the density of people within a fairly small area,” he said.

Until there is a vaccine for COVID-19, or widespread diagnostic testing, public health experts say social distancing guidelines should stay in place. Because anyone can be an asymptomatic carrier of the virus, the best way to prevent a spike in illness, and reduce impact to the health care system, is to physically separate yourself from anyone not in your household.

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Beachgoers seen carrying virus more than sand or surf By AMY TAXIN today

https://apnews.com/00ca292a86d27e46599acecd9cb15cca[5/1/2020 8:54:49 AM] Beachgoers seen carrying virus more than sand or surf

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Maureen Osborne is torn by the state’s decision to close the sweeping, scenic beach just a 10-minute walk from her home.

She hasn’t gone there much since the coronavirus outbreak because the neighborhood has become crowded with visitors who park their cars to walk down to the shore — but wishes she could.

https://apnews.com/00ca292a86d27e46599acecd9cb15cca[5/1/2020 8:54:49 AM] Beachgoers seen carrying virus more than sand or surf “It is what it is,” said the 62-year-old, who now carries a mask with her as a precaution when she goes out. “If people are sensible and do what they’re supposed to with the social distancing — but not everybody is.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his decision Thursday to close beaches in Orange County after seeing photos of thousands of beachgoers clustered on the sands during a heat wave last weekend.

The move was backed by those concerned about the virus’s spread and reviled by others. It spurred questions for many living in beach communities who rely on the shoreline for exercise and open space.

Scientists said beaches could contribute to the transmission of the virus because they draw people to congregate in large numbers at a time when virtually all other large group activities — ranging from school to concerts to sporting events — have been shut down.

“The main reason for not going to the beach is just simply you don’t want to go to places where people are congregating. It’s hard to go to the beach and not congregate,” said Ali Nouri, president of the Federation of American Scientists.

https://apnews.com/00ca292a86d27e46599acecd9cb15cca[5/1/2020 8:54:49 AM] Beachgoers seen carrying virus more than sand or surf

“You don’t want to put yourself in a situation where you are exposing yourself, for minutes or hours, to people who may potentially be breathing out — even if they’re not coughing or sneezing — but people who might be breathing out virus.”

The virus can be transmitted through large and also small droplets that are light and don’t fall to the ground quickly but carry through the air. A strong wind on the coast could push these droplets even farther, Nouri said.

Complicating the issue is that the virus can be transmitted by people who don’t have symptoms, he said.

Viruses can live in the ocean, but it isn’t known whether the coronavirus would remain infectious. Most likely, it would be diluted to the point where it is not a concern, Nouri said.

Chad Nelsen, chief executive of the Surfrider Foundation, said there’s a study under way to determine whether the virus remains infectious in sewage, though beachgoers shouldn’t be in the water anyway in the case of a spill. https://apnews.com/00ca292a86d27e46599acecd9cb15cca[5/1/2020 8:54:49 AM] Beachgoers seen carrying virus more than sand or surf As a result, the main risk to beachgoers is their fellow beachgoer, he said.

“The primary concern for contagion is physical distancing at the beach or in the water,” Nelsen said.

Some California counties have adopted measures to try to address the issue. Ventura County allows walking and jogging at the beach, but residents can’t sit on the sand and linger. Los Angeles County closed beaches altogether.

“We actually don’t have anything to suggest that just because you’re outside means that if you’re in close contact with other people this virus won’t spread,” Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.

The beach is more than a fun day in the sun for those who live along Huntington Beach’s shoreline of crashing waves dotted with surfers — it’s a lifestyle.

Osborne said she usually walks with friends on weekends and stops for a bite. She also likes to park along Pacific Coast Highway and take in the views while working in her car.

She hasn’t been able to do either since the viral outbreak, and rarely even goes to the beach to avoid having to walk through congested streets to get there since the city shut down beach parking lots in a bid to discourage crowds.

Ryan Selewicz, 28, lives right on the sand in Newport Beach. People in his neighborhood don’t have yards — the homes are wedged between the road and the beach, where people go to watch the sunset and walk their dogs.

He said he doesn’t know what a beach closure would look like because his patio faces the ocean.

“I don’t really know where people are going to be expected to go now to get out of their house and have their outside time,” he said. “Most people would probably consider that the front of their house.”

—-

Associated Press writers John Antczak in Los Angeles and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.

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CALIFORNIA

California lists dozens of outdoor activities permitted under stay- at-home rules

Daniel Rogerson wears a vintage military gas mask in Santa Monica. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

By HANNAH FRY, PHIL WILLON

APRIL 30, 2020 | 5:36 PM Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday urged residents to avoid the beach — and even ordered the shores of Orange County closed.

But state officials emphasized there are many outdoor activities that Californians can do while adhering to the stay-at-home order, which has helped slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Like what? Well, tree climbing, crabbing, meditation, trampolining, outdoor photography and washing the car to name a few.

There has been a growing push in some communities to ease the restrictions. Newsom announced a plan to reopen the economy over the coming months, but has also urged caution, saying lifting the rules too early could lead to more outbreaks and hurt the economy more in the long run.

“Why put ourselves in that position when we are just a week or two away from significant modifications of our stay-at-home [order], where we can begin ... to reopen sectors of our economy that are low-risk?” Newsom asked Wednesday.

The governor ordered Orange County beaches closed on Thursday despite opposition from local leaders. CALIFORNIA

Reopening California by summer will be an arduous task requiring vast changes — and it won’t be quick April 30, 2020

Newsom said Orange County beaches would be reopened soon if the situation improved.

The state on Thursday released a “non-exhaustive” list of “health activities” permitted under stay-at-home rules.

“It’s OK to go outside to go for a walk, to exercise, and participate in healthy activities as long as you maintain a safe physical distance of six feet and gather only with members of your household,” the state said.

Here are the activities listed:

Athletics Badminton (singles) Throwing a baseball/softball BMX biking Canoeing (singles) Crabbing Cycling Exploring rock pools Gardening (not in groups) Golf (singles, walking – no cart) Hiking (trails/paths allowing distancing) Horse riding (singles) Jogging and running Kite boarding and kite surfing Meditation Outdoor photography Picnics (with your stay-home household members only) Quad biking Rock climbing Roller skating and roller blading Rowing (singles) Scootering (not in groups) Skateboarding (not in groups) Soft martial arts: tai chi, chi kung (not in groups) Table tennis (singles) Throw and catch an American mini-football, frisbee or frisbee golf (not in groups) Trail running Trampolining Tree climbing Volleyball (singles) Walk the dog Wash the car Watch the sunrise or sunset Yoga

Newsom unveiled a broad outline of a plan to lift his stay-at-home order and slowly ease the restrictions on Californians in four stages in the weeks and months ahead. The governor also announced that schools could potentially reopen in July or August, catching educators who were learning about it for the first time off guard.

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Phil Willon covers Gov. Gavin Newsom and California politics for the Los Angeles Times. Willon grew up in Southern California and previously worked for the Tampa ADVERTISEMENT

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Rural California is demanding to reopen now even as Newsom urges patience A pair of bicyclists ride past closed businesses on Plumas Street in Yuba City, Calif., in late April during the coronavirus outbreak. (Associated Press)

By LEILA MILLER STAFF WRITER

MAY 1, 2020 | 4 AM

For Bob Williams, the chairman of Tehama County’s Board of Supervisors, the numbers don’t justify the reality. The rural Northern California community of 65,000 has had only one case of the coronavirus, but it continues to face the same restrictions from the state as denser cities such as Los Angeles, which has had more than 23,000 cases.

That’s why Williams has joined elected officials from the Central Coast, Central Valley, Northern California and elsewhere who have asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to let them gradually lift their stay-at-home order. They have argued that their infection rates are incomparable to hot spots in the state and that the coronavirus appears under control. Tehama County will already suffer from the cancellation of the 99th annual Red Bluff Round-Up, a rodeo that generates $4 million to $7 million for a local economy that only has a sales tax revenue of about $2 million a year. By reopening, Williams hopes to lessen the harm.

“Is it fair to treat Tehama the same as L.A. County?” he said. “I think the locals that are dealing with the problem here are better suited to understand what’s needed in rural California than folks in Sacramento or L.A.”

Six weeks into the governor’s order, pressure has mounted for officials to begin phasing out restrictions. Nineteen counties from Humboldt to Tuolumne have recorded no fatalities from the virus. Moderately populated counties such as Fresno and Santa Barbara have single-digit death tolls.

Last Friday, a letter from elected officials in Northern California’s Butte, Glenn, Tehama, Yuba, Sutter and Colusa counties asked the governor to “allow our counties to exercise local authority to implement a careful and phased reopening of our local economies,” noting they had only one coronavirus patient in intensive care. An earlier letter signed by cities in Stanislaus County proposed steps to loosen restrictions and San Luis Obispo County, which has recorded one death, has also requested permission to reopen.

CALIFORNIA This California county might defy the state and lift stay-at-home order Friday April 30, 2020

One region is moving forward without the governor’s blessing. Modoc County, which has fewer than 9,000 residents and reported zero coronavirus cases, has announced it plans to allow all businesses, schools and churches to reopen starting Friday, as long as people stay six feet apart.

“Our businesses are dying and people need to be able to feed their children and pay their rent,” said Heather Hadwick, the deputy director of the county’s Office of Emergency Services. “We live a different life than the rest of California. We’re very rural and naturally socially distanced in our everyday lives.”

Newsom has acknowledged the differences, stating that not all regions would be allowed to loosen the shutdown rules at once. He’s presented a plan that requires that the state’s 58 counties be able to perform robust contact tracing so they can track potential spread of the coronavirus.

“The state is not one-sized but nor is rural versus urban one-sized as well,” he said this week. “I want to come out together with a certain baseline of expectation … and then make accommodations for variance.”

Jeffrey Martin, an epidemiologist at UC San Francisco, said counties should have a low and manageable level of infection, adequate testing, and the ability to address stigma associated with a positive case.

ADVERTISEMENT “The decision to shelter in place was maybe easy,” he said. “We saw a mounting number of infections and there was really only one thing to do.… In contrast, this opening-up one is a lot harder. We’re not forced to make the decision in a second.”

Mayor Kerri Warren of the city of Willows in Glenn County is among those who have urged for reopening early. The county of 28,000, she pointed out, has had five positive cases.

Willows used to receive substantial tax revenue from a car racetrack in the area, she said. Hundreds of visitors would fill up hotels on weekends. Now, the hotels are nearly empty and only several businesses are open downtown.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses an outline for what it will take to lift the coronavirus restrictions during an April news conference at the Governor’s Oce of Emergency Services in Rancho Cordova, Calif. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

ADVERTISEMENT “Though we sympathize with what’s going on in Southern California, to hold Northern California to those restrictions, it’s not right, because we don’t have the issues they’re having down there,” Warren said. “Whenever we reopen, if the curve is not staying flat or getting flatter, by all means we will do what we have to do and pull back.”

Jared Garrison, the county’s health officer, agreed that it’s time to gradually reopen. Four of the coronavirus cases, he said, were contracted outside the county, while the fifth is unknown.

“We’ve got everything shut down for one case,” he said.

The county’s only hospital had prepared for a surge by expanding beds, building the base for a mobile field hospital, and adding video monitors so nurses could watch patients remotely, among other steps.

It has had no coronavirus hospitalizations. With a reduced number of patients generally, nurses are being asked to work fewer shifts — raising fears they might leave.

“That is the big thing that we really fight in these rural hospitals — it’s staffing, and good, competent staff,” Garrison said. “When someone leaves, they don’t usually come back, unfortunately.”

CALIFORNIA

Reopening California by summer will be an arduous task requiring vast changes — and it won’t be quick April 30, 2020

Other officials who signed the letter are reassured by the fact that the surges they prepared for never came. ADVERTISEMENT

Yuba and Sutter counties have had more than 40 cases, with eight hospitalizations and three deaths. The counties, which will soon expand testing and have a plan for contact tracing, had secured two high school gyms as alternate medical sites.

“The surge hasn’t materialized,” said Ricky Samayoa, the mayor of Marysville, a city of about 12,000 in Yuba County. “That gives me optimism that we are doing the right thing.”

Sandee Drown, who runs the Happy Viking Sports Pub and Eatery in Sutter County’s Yuba City with her husband, favors reopening soon. Their revenue has dropped by about 70% and they’ve had to lay off dozens of employees.

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Drown acknowledged that they might only have every other table in the restaurant available to ensure social distancing. But seating customers, she said, would probably increase revenue by 20%.

“Having customers come in — that’s huge for us,” she said. “We’re barely able to keep our doors open. It’s very stressful.”

In their letter, seven mayors from Stanislaus County in the Central Valley asked Newsom to pursue “an aggressive strategy” to reopen their county. The region has had more than 300 coronavirus cases and 11 deaths, and recently saw an outbreak in a nursing center. So far, more than 90 residents and staff members at the Turlock Nursing and Rehabilitation Center have tested positive. Six current and former residents who tested positive have died.

Raj Singh, a spokesman for the county’s Office of Emergency Services, said that the county has 33 full-time contact tracers. It recently began offering up to 200 tests a day at a community site but has only been conducting about half of that, and is in the process of investigating whether the lower number is due to transportation issues or other barriers.

The Yuba Sutter Mall remains closed due to the coronavirus-caused mandatory shelter-in-place orders in Yuba City, Calif. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

Patterson Mayor Deborah Novelli chose not to sign the letter. She said she’s still hearing that residents with mild symptoms are not being tested and that cases in her city, which has a population of 22,000, have been increasing.

“I empathize with the business community. We need to have the county up and going and functioning, but right now I don’t think it is the time,” she said. “We can’t open up the economy to the detriment of the people.” But Stanislaus County has already formed a task force with leaders from various business sectors to come up with guidance for reopening.

David White, the CEO of Opportunity Stanislaus, an organization that supports economic development, said the group is also preparing a virtual workplace safety training. Participating businesses would receive a sticker they could then display to boost the public’s confidence.

“We’re not going to move ahead of the state,” White said. “What we’re trying to do is provide a safe initiative that could be a model for the state for counties like ours that want to open up cautiously and carefully.”

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Fauci warns states rushing to reopen: ‘You’re making a really significant risk’ By Allyson Chiu

May 1, 2020 at 2:01 a.m. PDT

With the White House’s social distancing guidelines expiring Thursday, leaving states largely in charge of deciding how to move forward, Anthony S. Fauci warned local leaders to avoid “leapfrogging” critical milestones in an effort to reopen their economies amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“Obviously you could get away with that, but you’re making a really significant risk,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Thursday evening on CNN.

Fauci, who has repeatedly cautioned against prematurely easing restrictions, said he already noticed that some states and cities are not adhering to the steps laid out in the White House’s recently issued guidance on reopening — a plan that administration officials say will now replace the expired federal social distancing measures. AD

“If you follow the guidelines, there’s a continuity that’s safe, that’s prudent and that’s careful,” he said.

But if governors rush to reopen when they aren’t ready, Fauci cautioned that the move would likely only set back the progress their states have made.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that when you pull back mitigation, you’re going to start seeing cases crop up here and there,” he said. “If you’re not able to handle them, you’re going to see another peak, a spike, and then you almost have to turn the clock back to go back to mitigation.”

Here’s what Dr. Fauci is concerned about as state… Fauci’s comments come as dozens of states have unveiled plans to begin easing stay-at-home orders, with some changes already taking effect despite the number of coronavirus cases and related deaths continuing to rise nationwide. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), for example, weathered intense criticism, including from President Trump, after announcing that he would lift restrictions on a wide range of businesses ranging from tattoo parlors to bowling alleys, allowing them to open their doors a week ago.

The patchwork effort to return to some semblance of normalcy coupled with the absence of stringent social distancing recommendations has left health experts worried, The Washington Post’s Yasmeen Abutaleb and Rachel Weiner reported. Attempts to reopen states too soon at a time when social distancing remains the most effective way to stem the spread of the virus could increase the risk of new outbreaks, experts say. According to most recent figures, the United States has more than 1 million cases of covid-19 and nearly 63,000 deaths.

On Thursday, Fauci appeared to echo those concerns, but stressed that major problems could be avoided so long as states adhere to the federal government’s reopening guidelines, which he described as “very well thought out and very well delineated.” “I keep trying to articulate to the public and to the leaders, ‘Take a look at the guidelines,’ ” Fauci said on CNN. “They don’t tell you because you’ve reached the end of the 30-day mitigation period that, all of a sudden, you switch a light on and you just go for it. That’s not the way to do it. Each state, each city, each region is going to be a little different.”

Citing the guidelines, Fauci reiterated that states need to report a steady decrease in coronavirus cases within a 14-day period in addition to meeting other requirements before even thinking about moving on to the first phase of reopening.

“The discretion is given to the governors, they know their states. The mayors know their cities, so you want to give them a little wiggle room,” he said. “But my recommendation is don’t wiggle too much."

While Fauci acknowledged that some local leaders are following the guidance, he said “others are taking a bit of a chance.”

“I hope they can actually handle any rebound that they see,” he added. Later in the segment, Fauci was asked by CNN’s chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta about whether the rise in cases in states that are reopening would be incremental or exponential. In response, Fauci said that though he doesn’t know for sure, he doubted that any area would see “something as explosive as we saw in New York.” New York, which has yet to lift restrictions, is the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak with more than 300,000 confirmed cases and roughly 23,600 deaths.

But he warned that states could really find themselves in trouble if infections managed to “spill over into the general community,” similar to the way the virus spread in New York.

“If you can’t stop that from happening, then I think you’re really going to see the sharp peak,” Fauci said. “That is going to be very disturbing when that happens because it’s really going to take awhile to get it back down.”

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Ensuring survival of SoCal Click here for more headlines Cities after this pandemic

By Fullerton Mayor Jennifer Fitzgerald and Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley

The following opinion article was printed in the Orange County Register on April 29, 2020.

Millions of people depend on their own towns and cities in California for essential human services. The COVID-19 crisis is crushing already cash-strapped California cities. Those towns and cities are beyond frustrated that we’re being ignored by our counties, state and federal government when it comes to financial assistance. That’s why California mayors are asking our government at all levels to come together to bring all California cities immediate and significant relief. We’ve proposed common sense solutions that will allow California cities to continue to thrive despite the current challenges.

Sales tax and TOT tax losses have been devastating. Combined with city COVID related expenses, the culture of our cities hang in the balance as our local small businesses and city governments cling to life during this time.

The City of Costa Mesa has laid off 54 employees and reduced the hours of another 72. Costa Mesa will lose up to $18 million. South Coast Plaza, which generates one-third of the city’s annual budget has been shuttered for the last month. All city events have been cancelled and the OC Fair will likely be cancelled, as well. The City of Fullerton laid off over 150 employees and expects to lose $3 million before June 30th. Fullerton’s mom-and-pop retail base has been decimated and many shops will likely never reopen. At the same time, all of us are having to spend millions on COVID-related expenses. That FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER means that all city essential services are now on table for drastic cuts. We immediately face gut wrenching decisions like calling off city events, closing our museums and libraries, shuttering our Sign Up Now parks, more layoffs and cuts to public safety. For Email Newsletters you can trust.

Mayors across California, including a majority of Orange County Mayors, have come together in the California Mayors Coalition (CaliforniaMayorsCoalition.org) to urge the Governor to take the following actions to save California cities:

The Governor should require free, widely available testing across California’s 58 counties. Each county has their own system right now and most of them are inadequate. The Governor has made testing one of his criteria to opening back up our economy and California mayors stand alongside him: we have to get our residents back to work and our kids back to school. Cities can’t survive otherwise.

The Governor should freeze the current CALPERS rate its members, like cities, pay into the system for the next two years. If CALPERS requires its members to contribute more in light of the current instability of the stock market, many cities will have reduce their level of service across the board to devastating effect. This “break” for CALPERS members will provide the time needed for its members to regain their footing and remain healthy into the future. Also, during this time, current public employee retirees should not receive an annual cost of living increase. As so many current employees are being laid off and masses of Californians are on unemployment, public retirees shouldn’t get an annual raise. Search Search The Governor needs to distribute a portion of the federal COVID response emergency funding to All Content cities who have a population of under 500,000. Out of 481 cities in California only 3 received get direct funding from the current federal emergency relief legislation. Millions of Californians got nothing. Cities up and down this state have declared local states of the emergency and have had to expend millions in COVID response dollars housing the homeless, purchasing remote work technology and supplies, expanding and enhancing disinfecting and cleaning practices across the board. The State and California counties should distribute a portion of the funding they received to all California cities.

Currently, there is a debate in Congress about another federal funding bill which would include funding for cities. Congress and the President must put politics aside and help this nation’s cities. We urge California Representatives and U.S. Senators to advocate for legislation that ensures these federal funds can be used by cities to replace lost revenues, such as sales tax and transit occupancy tax. The federal government is supplementing small business revenue and making direct payments to taxpayers; cities need that same help.

The State government should advance sales tax funding that would have been collected by local governments over the next twelve months to protect cities from insolvency because of lack of sales tax; one of the two main sources of city revenue. The Governor is allowing small businesses in California to defer sending in their sales tax for one year. Small businesses definitely need relief, but that directly hits the main source of funding for city services. The Governor should advance California cities their anticipated sales tax share for the time of that deferral funded from the state’s rainy-day fund. This action is small by the state’s standard, but would hugely help cities throughout our state weather this storm.

Workforce development programs and increased economic development funding must be a priority to put Californians back to work. One in seven California workers are without a job. Jobs and a trained workforce are critical to our local and state economy. The state should immediately create financial resources for local economic development and job training programs. Now is the time for Sacramento to invest in the local community so that the thousands of out-of-work CA residents can access local programs, tailored to local needs; that’s how they’ll be able to feed their families moving forward. Now is the time to come together to ensure the survival of local, essential human services in California. Cities provide those services and our state and federal leaders must join our fight to make sure that can continue.

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Facebook Comments Plugin Obstacles loom as Southern California coroners seek to probe old death cases for earliest local links to coronavirus – Daily Bulletin

LOCAL NEWS • News Obstacles loom as Southern California coroners seek to probe old death cases for earliest local links to coronavirus

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https://www.dailybulletin.com/...utm_content=tw-ivdailybulletin&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social[4/30/2020 4:25:34 PM] Obstacles loom as Southern California coroners seek to probe old death cases for earliest local links to coronavirus – Daily Bulletin

California Governor Gavin Newsom (C), flanked by (from L) Director Mark Ghilarducci, Cal OES, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of Health and Human Services, speaks in front of the hospital ship USNS Mercy after it arrived into the M Port of Los Angeles on March 27, 2020. – The USNS Mercy, a giant US naval hospital ship, arrived in Los Angeles on March 27, where it will be used to ease the strain on the city’s coronavirus-swamped emergency rooms. (Photo by Carolyn Cole / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CAROLYN COLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

By JOSH CAIN | [email protected] | Los Angeles Daily News  PUBLISHED: April 30, 2020 at 4:22 p.m. | UPDATED: April 30, 2020 at 4:22 p.m.

Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was requesting that coroners around the state reexamine deaths that back date back to December in an effort to hunt for previously undetected coronavirus cases.

Reports of California’s first death from the virus, in Santa Clara County on Feb. 6, turned out to be weeks earlier than officials previously had thought that people were succumbing to the illness. That prompted the governor’s request.

Whether local medical examiners actually will be able to test old cases, however, remains uncertain.

A day after the governor made his public request on April 22, the California Office of Emergency Services made calls to Southern California coroners, according to local officials.

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READ MORE Mail voting is OK if done right Capt. Greg Myler runs the San Berardino County Sheriff’s coroner division, and got one of those calls. He said coroner’s employees researched what the Centers for Disease Control require to process samples for coronavirus tests — one of the requirements was submitting at least eight lung tissue specimens from a deceased person being tested.

“We only collect five,” Myler said.

Other requirements also could make testing old cases more complicated, Myler said. In its guidelines, the CDC said any sample stored in formalin — a solution mixing water with formaldehyde commonly used in medical examiner offices to store old tissue samples — for more than two weeks could

produce a false negative.

“These case that the governor’s office are talking about are far older than two weeks,” Myer said.

Newsom’s request reflects the confused testing picture California officials were dealing with in the lead-up to statewide lock down orders and widespread detection of where the virus was spreading.

In her announcement of the death, Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Sarah Cody said a medical examiner got the test results on the Feb. 6 death of the woman after sending her samples to the CDC. It’s not clear why the CDC took so long in sending them back.

Federal officials only approved emergency testing of potential coronavirus samples two days earlier. But the woman’s death prompted new concerns from public health officials that he virus was spreading in communities earlier than that.

Now, trying to go back and resurrect old samples that are viable for testing could be even more complicated — the conundrum for San Bernardino County in trying to get to the bottom of whether people were dying there of coronavirus weeks earlier the previously believed will likely apply to other counties.

Different coroner’s offices don’t all follow the exact same procedures — some might store more tissue samples, others might use different storage solutions. But coroners contacted around Southern California were also still trying to figure out if testing old samples, and getting reliable results, was possible.

The Orange County Sheriff’s coroner division is asking for more guidance from state public health officials on how to proceed with testing

“There’s not a lot of clarity on how difficult or easy this will be,” said Carrie Braun, a spokeswoman for

the sheriff’s department.

No one in coroner’s offices in Los Angeles, Orange or San Bernardino counties were able to say exactly when they began testing for coronavirus among deceased people that they examined. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department medical examiners did not respond to a request for comment.

Medical examiners in L.A. County were “already looking into the feasibility of testing individuals who died in previous months,” before the governor’s request, said Sarah Ardalani, a spokeswoman for the county coroner’s office.

“We are still working things out,” she said in an email.

A review of L.A. County coroner’s death records do not show a spike in deaths over the last few months, even as the county’s death toll from the virus rose past 1,000 this week. In December, the coroner investigated 554 deaths, followed by 578 in January and 573 in February. In March, the coroner investigated 569 deaths.

Coroner’s offices typically handle deaths that occur outside a health care facility, like crime victims and people who died at home.

Still, the governor was hopeful more counties would start investigating when their first deaths occurred.

In his April 22 address, Newsom called the timing of the first coronavirus deaths in the state “profoundly significant.”

“I imagine subsequent announcements that may be made by similar efforts all across the state of California,” he said.

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CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT

How the coronavirus is hampering enforcement of California’s air pollution rules Light trac moves through the Harbor and Century freeway interchange in Los Angeles on April 2, 2020, during the coronavirus lockdown. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times )

By TONY BARBOZA STAFF WRITER

MAY 1, 2020 | 6 AM

The coronavirus is having another unintended effect on California’s environment, hindering the enforcement of clean-air rules that could help protect people’s lungs during the pandemic.

Field inspections have been halted since mid-March at the California Air Resources Board, which enforces rules on trucks, ships and other major pollution sources, because of health concerns about in-person investigations.

“All of our enforcement people are now working on analyzing data that we already have ... and they can do that work from their desks,” Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols said. “They are finding and initiating enforcement activities, but they are not out in the field driving around.”

Still, the hiatus means that an array of pollution sources, from soot-belching diesel trucks and cargo ships to methane-leaking landfills and oil and gas sites are undergoing far less scrutiny, at least on the ground, than is typical.

On-site inspections have also decreased at the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which regulates pollution from stationary facilities such as factories and oil refineries across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

That shift could be most consequential in the state’s smoggiest areas, including communities near ports, warehouses and freight corridors that remain hard-hit by health-damaging pollution. Air quality improved temporarily during the pandemic, in part because of spring weather. But smog has already returned to Southern California, with a string of recent bad air days in spite of dramatic reductions in vehicle traffic emissions under stay-at-home orders.

The prospect of reduced oversight of polluters worries environmentalists, especially at a time when people’s lungs are at risk from the novel coronavirus and need good air quality more than ever.

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“Field inspections are often the best way to ensure that the rules are being followed, and everyone breathing the air in California deserves to know that our lungs and health are being protected,” said Bill Magavern, policy director for the Coalition for Clean Air. “For example, trucks that violate emissions standards expose nearby communities to excessive levels of toxic diesel exhaust, and roadside inspections are the best way to enforce the safeguards.”

In 2019, the state Air Resources Board averaged more than 2,800 inspections a month on trucks, ships, small off-road engines, consumer products and an array of other emissions sources, air board records show. Figures for this year were not available.

After switching to telecommuting on March 17, “we temporarily curtailed physical inspections, in order to meet social distancing requirements, and instead focused on desk audits,” Air Resources Board spokesman Dave Clegern said.

Clegern said the agency’s enforcement program “is open and active. Most of our programs do not rely on physical inspections as the sole means of identifying noncompliance.” Staff members continue to issue citations, close cases and and are able to continue enforcement on a wide range of programs “without conducting physical inspections in the field,” he said.

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The Air Resources Board is updating its protocols and working to procure supplies such as masks, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, and gloves, and expects to increase in- person inspections within the next month, focusing on the investigation of complaints at facilities such as landfills “where inspections are critical to ongoing enforcement,” Clegern said.

Southern California air quality officials said they are still conducting field inspections, though less frequently, and with precautions taken to protect employees and the public.

On-site inspections in March declined by about 15% to 20% compared with a year ago, as did complaints from the public about air pollution, according to estimates released by the South Coast air district.

At the same time, the district said it has ramped up surveillance operations, in which inspectors monitor facilities such as oil refineries, power plants and factories from a distance, using remote sensors and other methods to search for excess emissions without coming into close contact with people inside.

The California Environmental Protection Agency said some of its other boards and departments have also cut field inspections because of coronavirus restrictions. The Department of Toxic Substances Control has temporarily halted in-person inspections of hazardous waste facilities. The Department of Pesticide Regulation is still inspecting produce, but not physical stores or manufacturing facilities. The decline in air inspection visits comes as both state and local environmental regulators in California have announced they will consider requests for temporary relief from compliance obligations that companies are having difficulty meeting because of coronavirus restrictions. Officials have been clear, however, that any leniency they will offer on compliance is far narrower than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suspension announced in March, which indefinitely waives a broad array of health and environmental protections in response to the pandemic.

An April 15 statement from the state EPA said that “remedies, such as the extension of deadlines, may be warranted,” but that regulated parties must submit “time-limited and specific requests that define the hardship” before falling out of compliance.

In addition to continuing investigations and taking action on complaints, the agency said it “will also fill any enforcement gaps left by the U.S. EPA’s decision to reduce environmental oversight.”

“Controlling pollution in communities with high rates of respiratory disease and multiple environmental burdens remains a priority,” the statement said, “especially given recent studies that suggest a correlation between these factors and COVID-19 susceptibility.”

Research by Harvard University scientists in April found substantially higher death rates from COVID-19 in U.S. counties where residents have been exposed to higher smog levels over years. Health experts suspect that bad air makes people more susceptible to the coronavirus, based on past findings about similar viruses.

The South Coast air district has also issued an “enforcement discretion” advisory offering temporary relief from some requirements.

ADVERTISEMENT “You can’t just go out and increase your pollution. You’ve got to abide by those emissions requirements,” South Coast air district Executive Officer Wayne Nastri said. “But if there’s a deadline for a report or if there’s something that you need to submit that’s administrative in nature, we’re going to give you time.”

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Exposure to air pollution linked to higher coronavirus death rates April 8, 2020

Nastri said air district staff made the changes after hearing an increasing number of informal requests, ranging from small, mom-and-pop businesses to sprawling oil refineries, that were having trouble meeting their regulatory obligations because of telecommuting, workforce reductions and social distancing requirements.

Bill La Marr, executive director of the California Small Business Alliance, applauded the air district as being responsive to the concerns of businesses that are either struggling or have been forced to shut down, and may be operating with expired permits or other violations.

“They’re going to be a little more open-minded than they normally would,” he said, which will be helpful to operations facing a slew of new requirements because of social distancing and other health constraints, La Marr said. “It’s going to be a real heavy lift, and some things may just be inadvertently overlooked.”

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When it comes to inspections, La Marr said he doesn’t think anybody is using the coronavirus as an opportunity to skirt emission rules.

“They don’t go out deliberately to do this,” he said. “They’re interested in making money, and wasting product just through nefarious operations really isn’t economically viable.”

The South Coast district, meanwhile, has moved to stop scheduled fee increases on polluters in response to the pandemic, an action that will result in the loss of an estimated $2.5 million in revenue. That money could be used for agency operations such as hiring inspectors. It would also help reduce a massive, long-standing shortfall between what the district spends regulating emissions and what it recoups through fees.

Adrian Martinez, an attorney at the environmental law nonprofit Earthjustice, said the air district’s actions show it is bending too easily to industry complaints.

“Polluting industries have over the last couple decades built up a significant lobbying presence at AQMD to make it really painful and hard to adopt regulations, to increase fees for the agency to do its job and to develop a real air cleanup plan,” Martinez said, “and this is when that effort really shines.”

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Tony Barboza is a reporter who covers air quality and the environment with a focus on Southern California. He has been on staff at the Los Angeles Times since 2006, is a graduate of Pomona College and completed a Ted Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado. News tips? Send messages or documents privately using the Signal smartphone app: (213) 421-1511 .

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CALIFORNIA Spring rain and snow fell short of miraculous for most of California April 30, 2020 Corona doctor with coronavirus thought he’d die; credits trial drug for saving his life – Press Enterprise

LOCAL NEWS • News Corona doctor with coronavirus thought he’d die; credits trial drug for saving his life

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https://www.pe.com/...g-his-life/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_content=tw-pressenterprise[5/1/2020 8:53:45 AM] Corona doctor with coronavirus thought he’d die; credits trial drug for saving his life – Press Enterprise

Dr. Anoop Maheshwari, a pulmonologist who believes he contracted the coronavirus while on the job, is seen Wednesday, April 29, 2020. Maheshwari credits his recovery to his use of remdesivir, an antiviral medication. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press- Enterprise/SCNG)

By DAVID DOWNEY | [email protected] | The Press-Enterprise  PUBLISHED: May 1, 2020 at 6:00 a.m. | UPDATED: May 1, 2020 at 6:01 a.m.

Dr. Anoop Maheshwari, who has been working on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis treating people with respiratory illness, didn’t think he would live through the night.

It was Tuesday, April 14. Maheshwari, a 59-year-old Corona resident who exercises regularly, had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. He was gravely ill.

“I was struggling to breathe,” Maheshwari said.

And, he said, “being a pulmonary specialist myself, I knew where all this was headed.” M

Maheshwari, who was being treated at Hoag Hospital Newport Beach, was getting worse. Doctors contemplated putting him on a ventilator.

“That night was very emotional for me,” said Maheshwari, who couldn’t have visitors. “I did not think I was going to see the sunrise. I called my family. I talked to my kids, my wife, my sister, my father and my mother. I said my goodbyes.”

A pulmonary critical care specialist, Dr. Adarsh Sharma — a friend he has known for 30 years — walked in.

“I looked into his eyes and I told him, ‘I am not going to make it,’” Maheshwari said. “I could see the tears in his eyes. He looked into my eyes and said, ‘Anoop, you cannot give up. You have to fight for me.’”

That night, Maheshwari said he received the fourth of nine doses, via IV drip, of the antiviral medication remdesivir, which is showing early promise as a potential treatment for COVID-19.

rendezivir

He made it through the night. The next afternoon, his oxygen level improved slightly. In a couple days he was feeling better.

After nine days of hospitalization, Maheshwari was released Monday, April 20.

He credits remdesivir for the turnaround.

“It holds promise, I think,” he said. “It’s still in the study phase. But in my case, I firmly believe that it saved my life.”

On Wednesday, April 29, The Associated Press reported that for the first time, a major study suggests

that an experimental drug — Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir — works against the coronavirus.

In a study of 1,063 hospitalized patients, remdesivir shortened the time to recovery by 31% — 11 days on average versus 15 days — for those given usual care. The drug might be reducing deaths, though that’s not certain from the partial results revealed thus far, The Associated Press said.

“What it has proven is that a drug can block this virus,” the National Institutes of Health’s Dr. Anthony Fauci said, according to The Associated Press report.

No drugs have been approved yet for treating COVID-19, which has killed about 230,000 people worldwide since it emerged late last year in China, The Associated Press reported. The news that a potential treatment showed promise spurred a stock rally.

One of 68 trial sites for the study was UCLA, with its hospitals Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood and UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, said Dr. Otto Yang, the university’s lead investigator on the remdesivir trial.

Yang said between five and 10 people were given the drug, but it’s not known exactly how many or who were administered the treatment.

“It’s certainly a step in the right direction,” he said of the study. “It clearly is not a magic bullet that is a cure for the disease. The results, of course, are preliminary and we don’t have the full picture.”

On the positive side, Yang said, patients recovered faster. But the drug didn’t significantly lower the death rate.

Many of those who received the drug were very sick and “already at death’s door,” he said.

Maheshwari, who is affiliated with several Riverside County hospitals and has offices in Corona, Riverside, Moreno Valley and Lake Elsinore, said he was treating patients who had contracted COVID-19 when he got sick.

He believes he was infected after examining — around April 1, with protective gear — a 35-year-old slightly overweight but otherwise “perfectly healthy” man at Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center in Riverside whose health deteriorated rapidly.

“We had to put him on a respirator,” Maheshwari said.

As of Thursday, April 30, that 35-year-old man was still hospitalized but no longer on a respirator, he said. The patient did not receive remdesivir.

On the first Monday of the month — April 6 — the doctor was tired and took a break while working at his Corona office.

“I told my staff that I was going to take a nap,” he said. “I took a nap for an hour, which is really unusual for me.”

Two days later, Maheshwari was much more fatigued and spent the next few days resting. He said he slept 16 hours a day.

By Saturday, April 11, he said, “I couldn’t even get up and walk 10 to 20 feet.”

So Maheshwari checked himself into the Parkview emergency room. His oxygen level had dropped to 86%. He tested positive for the coronavirus.

Parkview doctors called Hoag Hospital and arranged for him to be transferred and put on remdesivir. Maheshwari said he received treatments nightly but continued to worsen.

“My breathing was getting much, much worse,” he said. “It was a horrible feeling.”

The slightest exertion was consequential.

“Turning in bed made my oxygen level drop,” he said.

Then he turned a corner.

Maheshwari is grateful for the support and personal attention Hoag doctors gave him.

For example, he said, Dr. Lalita Pandit, a hematologist, brought Indian dishes cooked at home. “She called my wife, asking what I would like.”

Maheshwari loves Indian food. He was born in India and his family came to the United States when he was 11.

The ordeal was a learning experience.

Maheshwari said he believes the experimental drug can help others. And he has a message for healthcare professionals.

“Don’t make the mistakes I did, in ignoring the symptoms I had,” he said.

The doctor said he should have gone to the emergency room three days earlier.

“I don’t think I would have come that close to death if I would have done that,” he said.

Maheshwari also has a message for everyone else. RELATED LINKS “Take this very seriously,” he said. Remdesivir trial shows positive results Maheshwari is recovering at home. with early coronavirus treatment, company says He plans to return to the front lines and begin seeing A 1st: US study finds Gilead drug works patients again in early May, although at first on a scaled- against coronavirus back schedule. Woman, 20, who worked at Riverside “I’m still a little weak,” he said. “But each day is better.” nursing home with outbreak dies from coronavirus

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David Downey | Reporter Dave is a general assignment reporter based in Riverside, writing about a wide variety of topics ranging from drones and El Nino to trains and wildfires. He has worked for five newspapers in four states: Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and California. He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Colorado State University in 1981. Loves hiking, tennis, baseball, the beach, the Lakers and golden retrievers. He is from the Denver area.

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https://www.pe.com/...g-his-life/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_content=tw-pressenterprise[5/1/2020 8:53:45 AM] CORONAVIRUS Target, Walmart workers and others plan 'sickout' protests over coronavirus safety The grassroots eﬀort spreading through social media is coinciding with International Workers' Day, which is typically marked by labor rights demonstrations.

An Instacart employee uses his phone to scan an item for a delivery order in Tucson, Ariz., on April 4, 2020.Cheney Orr / Reuters

May 1, 2020, 2:04 AM PDT By Erik Ortiz

A Target worker in Virginia wearing his own mask, gloves and safety glasses said he felt helpless recently when customers swarmed him as he organized a clearance area. Another Target worker, a cashier in North Carolina, said he welcomed the installation of plexiglass partitions at the registers over a week ago, but said they should have come sooner. A Whole Foods worker in Portland said she and some of her colleagues are feeling "scared, angry and devastated" after a fellow employee died from the coronavirus last week.

To convey their concerns, they plan to call out of work Friday as part of a nationwide employee "sickout" involving Target and Whole Foods, as well as Amazon, Instacart, FedEx and Walmart.

Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

The grassroots eﬀort — the latest example of a wave of worker activism during the coronavirus crisis — is asking customers to boycott those companies' local stores and services Friday to coincide with International Workers' Day, also known as May Day, which in a normal year is marked by massive labor rights demonstrations in major cities.Privacy - Terms "As workers, we have agency, we have the ability to change things, and we don't have to be passive spectators in our political and social lives," said Adam Ryan, a Target employee in Christiansburg, Virginia, and a liaison with Target Workers Unite, a rank-and-ﬁle initiative supporting the sickout.

Grocery workers protest amid new concerns about their safety from virus APRIL 9, 202002:19

While it's unclear how many Target employees, along with those working for other companies, will stay home, Ryan said there are at least 100 Target stores and distribution centers where at least one worker has agreed to a sickout pledge.

The company said in a statement that concerns are being raised by a "very small minority" of its 340,000-member front-line workforce.

This latest incarnation of worker solidarity comes at a precarious moment for the broader labor movement, labor studies experts say, as the pandemic has led to tens of millions of Americans ﬁling for unemployment and could gut or radically alter countless industries for years to come.

While these workers, lauded for being essential and risking their own health during the global crisis, may win protections and beneﬁts, the changes are not guaranteed or permanent, according to Janice Fine, the director of research and stratey at the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers University.

Recessions, like the one many economists believe the U.S. is already in, puts workers, especially lower-wage ones, at a disadvantage, she added.

Privacy - Terms "Given how bad it's going to be, we can expect more worker exploitation, a greater degree of wage theft and a lower level of power on the part of workers," Fine said. "In a situation like that, where you have a lot of workers looking for employment, it makes the ability of collective action so much harder. On the other hand, because we don't know yet to what depths the recession will reach, COVID19 means all bets are oﬀ."

Worker concessions

These "sickout" protests follow earlier eﬀorts, including some Instacart shoppers and Whole Foods workers staying home in late March and hundreds of Amazon tech and fulﬁllment center employees calling out last week to protest what they say are unsafe and unethical working conditions.

To acknowledge and compensate workers for the risks involved at jobs that require public interaction, several large retailers and supermarkets have oﬀered bonuses and wage hikes.

At Target, workers in April were given masks and gloves to wear, signs were hung and ﬂoor decals placed to encourage customers and workers to stay 6 feet apart, and contactless order pickup has been made available. The big- box retailer has also extended its temporary $2 an hour wage increase to May 30, and will continue to provide other beneﬁts, including free back-up care for employees who need help with children or elderly family members and 30- day paid leave for employees who are elderly, pregnant or have certain underlying health conditions.

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The investment is worth at least $300 million, and while Target CEO Brian Cornell said last week that online sales have surged, he warned the company will see lower proﬁts because of coronavirus-related costs.

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Four Target workers who plan to call out Friday told NBC News they are protesting the slashing of hours, unstable schedules, and the need for greater health benefits. They also said the company had initially rebuffed attempts by employees to wear masks and that the "hazard pay" increase of $2 an hour was already in the works apart from the pandemic. They added that they're concerned about a flood of customers when they reopen the Starbucks kiosks within Target stores in coming weeks.

A Target spokeswoman said in an email that the hourly wage increase was provided "to recognize the signiﬁcant contributions our front line team members are making."

Andrew Stacy, who averages about 30 hours a week at his Indianapolis store, said that although he enjoys his job and the people he works with, he wants to send a message to those who are making decisions: "This is being misconstrued as a bunch of people complaining about their job. But I just want it to be safe for all of us."

Employees at Targets in Chicago; El Paso, Texas; Fargo, North Dakota; and Pensacola, Florida, have tested positive for COVID19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, in recent days.

Privacy - Terms With the ﬂush of stimulus checks to American households, workers have noticed a surge in shopping.

Some workers have suggested limiting foot traﬃc inside stores or closing stores to customers in favor of online ordering and drive-up service only. Policies surrounding closing access to stores, however, have been found to disadvantage people who don't have internet access, can't aﬀord online ordering fees or are on food stamps.

Target said that it began requiring masks when federal guidance changed and that "when concerns have been brought to our attention, we've taken additional action, including increasing the frequency of overhead announcements and adding more signage."

But Cassidy Melczak, who works in the electronics department of a Target outside Charlotte, North Carolina, said customers have largely failed to change their behaviors in stores, while masks are being improperly worn and employees remain confused about policy changes. Customers are coming in, she added, but just to get their hands on the latest Nintendo Switch.

"They call us essential workers," Melczak said, "but I think what they really mean is disposable."

Amazon warehouse workers have put out their own demands in recent weeks, including the release of more information about COVID19 infections at facilities and for wage increases and paid sick days to become permanent.

A spokeswoman for Amazon, which also owns Whole Foods, said the company has made more than 150 changes to date and that all employees have been given masks, temperature checks, hand sanitizer and increased pay and time off. While Amazon has successfully staved off past attempts by workers to organize, there has been increasing pressure from leaders of America's largest labor unions, as well as elected officials, to protect workers and not fire employees who've been critical.

"While we respect people's right to express themselves, we object to the irresponsible actions of labor groups in spreading misinformation and making false claims about Amazon during this unprecedented health and economic crisis," spokeswoman Kristen Kish said. "The statements made are not supported by facts or representative of the majority of the 500,000 Amazon operations employees in the U.S. who are showing up to work to support their communities."

The role of unions

Typically, when the economy is doing well and the labor market is tight, workers' wages improve and they have more bargaining power, Fine said.

In recent years, on the public sector side, teachers from West Virginia to Chicago have walked oﬀ the job and held multiday strikes to successfully win raises and contract deals. Meanwhile, drivers for Uber and Lyft, who are nonunionized and work as independent contractors, rallied for more rights.

Workers who were already organized before the pandemic were on better footing to ask for new safety measures and pay increases now, said John Logan, a professor and the director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University.

The United Food and Commercial Workers union, for instance, has seen its locals negotiate comprehensive safety agreements with supermarkets, including paying employees who have to self-isolate and paid breaks for employees to wash hands, and have pushed stores to limit the number of customers at a time and provide workers with personal protective equipment.

Privacy - Terms Logan said organized employees don't have the same fear about demanding certain protections and beneﬁts, and are in a position to negotiate for those again in future contracts. He added that large retailers where workers are not unionized also "can't be expected to roll out safeguards" voluntarily or in a timely manner.

But even as workers continue protesting through sickouts and walkouts during the pandemic, Logan said there remains the "specter of pandemic-era unemployment as a way to get workers not to organize."

In general, union membership has been hobbled in recent decades, falling from about 1 out of 5 workers in the early 1980s to now about 1 out of 10, federal data shows. The decline of the manufacturing industry and an increase in opposition lobbying have strained the movement, on top of more recent accusations that the Trump administration has willfully undermined worker protections.

Some unions will have to confront a harsh reality. UNITE HERE, which represents hotel, casino and service workers in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, New Jersey, and elsewhere, has seen 98 percent of its more than 300,000 members lose their jobs in the past two months.

Dermot Delude-Dix, a research analyst with the union's local in Philadelphia, said despite the layoﬀs, UNITE HERE is helping workers through a relief fund to pay for food, rent and insurance, and is pushing to ensure workers can return to their jobs when businesses reopen and that their rights are protected if a business changes hands.

He predicts the "road to recovery will be long," but remains optimistic that workers are in a stronger place to advocate for themselves because of what they're enduring in their workplaces now.

"All of this has brought to the forefront how important these jobs are to our society and in the supply chain that runs from the meatpacking factories to the grocery stores to the grocery delivery services," Delude-Dix said. "For some, the people behind these jobs are seen as human beings in the public eye for the ﬁrst time. That's powerful."

Erik Ortiz

Erik Ortiz is a staﬀ writer for NBC News focusing on racial injustice and social inequality.

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WORLD & NATION

‘A tracing army’: As they reopen, states look to contact tracers in COVID-19 fight

Nurse practitioner Gregory Pierre swabs Leonardo Toledo Martinez for coronavirus testing last month in Miami. (Lynne Sladky / Associated Press)

By KURTIS LEE NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT

APRIL 30, 2020 | 11:36 AM UPDATED 3:58 PM With governors around the nation lifting stay-at-home orders implemented to slow the spread of coronavirus, many are now seeking new combatants: contact tracers.

These hired public health officials work with patients to help them recall everyone they had close contact with during the time when they were most infectious. It’s no easy task.

On Thursday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that about three dozen contact tracers would be needed for every 100,000 people in affected areas. He estimated New York would need between 6,400 and 70,000 contract tracers, depending on the outcome of projected cases.

“It’s not rocket science to do it on an individual basis. The problem is the scale that we have to do this at,” Cuomo, a Democrat, said during a news conference in Albany.

“It will require, under any estimate, a tracing army to come up to scale very, very quickly,” Cuomo said.

New York state has remained a hotbed of the coronavirus outbreak, with 305,000 cases and more than 23,300 deaths. The state’s stay-at-home requirement is set to expire on May 15, but could be extended.

Cuomo said next week the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority would halt service from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. to disinfect trains. The subway system normally runs 24 hours, with service only halted during emergencies.

Nationwide, the death toll from COVID-19 approached 63,000 on Thursday, and the number of confirmed cases has surpassed 1 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.

With little support from the federal government — White House guidelines suggests that states conduct contact tracing themselves — the effort has fallen on governors and locals leaders to implement as they reopen. By Friday, over 30 states will have lifted stay-at-home orders to some extent.

Earlier this month, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, announced an effort to set aside $44 million for contact tracing. Washington’s Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee has said his state plans to recruit and train roughly 1,900 contact tracers by mid-May. The Seattle area was among the first virus hot spots in the country.

In Indiana, officials announced a program this week that includes having 500 trained contact tracers in place in the weeks ahead.

“As we fight the spread of COVID-19, we need the ability to rapidly contact positive patients and their close contacts to determine who else might have been exposed,” Indiana’s Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb said. “Centralizing this work will allow us to quickly identify individuals who need to be quarantined, reduce the risk of additional infections and take actions to ensure our schools, workplaces and public settings are safe.” ADVERTISEMENT

On Thursday, several states — Idaho, Pennsylvania, Texas, to name a few — have stay-at-home orders that will expire. Still, most businesses in those states will have limited capacities.

But some states are expanding orders and current orders are receiving strong push-back.

Protesters in Michigan marched through the state Capitol in Lansing against a stay-at-home order that, in recent days, was extended by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer until mid-May. Some carried firearms, which are allowed under state law inside the Capitol building. Earlier this month, several hundred marched outside.

Black communities in the state, primarily in Detroit, have seen high rates of infections and death due to, among other things, a lack of quality healthcare and inequities in housing.

In Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz extended a stay-at-home order until May 18 that was supposed to expire next week.

“We are on a very fine line with this virus that can come very, very quickly,” said Walz, a Democrat. “It won’t be a slow burn. It will be exponential growth.”

His state has seen 5,100 cases of the virus and 350 deaths.

More than 200 workers at the JBS plant in rural Minnesota tested positive for coronavirus earlier this week, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Several meatpacking plants have shuttered nationwide in recent weeks due to workers contracting the virus.

This week President Trump signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to keep meatpacking plants in the U.S. open during the pandemic.

On Thursday, Trump met with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, at the White House. He’s the third governor to meet with Trump this week, following Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, also a Democrat, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican. Murphy announced he will reopen all state parks and golf courses on Saturday. He said social distancing will still be required for the foreseeable future.

“The curves, thank God, are beginning to show promise,” Murphy said in his Oval Office meeting. “And we’re beginning to take some baby steps on that road to reopening.”

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Californians broadly trust state government on coronavirus, mistrust Trump, poll finds A new survey ﬁnds that 70% of California voters approve of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press )

By DAVID LAUTER WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

MAY 1, 2020 | 4 AM

California voters give broad approval to Gov. Gavin Newsom amid the coronavirus crisis, and despite widely felt economic pain, large majorities want to go slow on ending stay-at-home orders, a new statewide poll finds.

The poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies documents the hardship caused by the pandemic and the economic disruption surrounding it. The poll found 16% of California voters already reporting that they were unemployed when the survey was taken, April 16-20.

Nearly 4 in 10 expect they may lose their job as a result of the pandemic, with that concern heaviest among the state’s African American and Latino populations and those without a college education. Nearly 7 in 10 voters fear the possibility of getting sick with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

Nine in 10 voters say they see the pandemic as a threat to their personal or family health, with 52% calling it a major threat; 83% call it a threat to their personal finances.

Amid that widespread anxiety and disruption, voters want officials to take their time about ending restrictions on business and public gatherings. By 70% to 30%, the state’s voters say they’re more worried that shelter-in-place orders will end too soon, causing the illness to spread more, than they are that such orders will continue for too long and damage the economy.

Voters express considerable confidence in the state government, which, along with local officials, have imposed orders banning public gatherings and closing many businesses.

Newsom benefits from that, with 70% of California voters approving of how he’s doing his job, the poll finds. The governor’s high standing and the priority voters put on keeping restrictions in place to protect health could give him considerable leeway to take controversial decisions, such as his order Thursday to keep Orange County beaches closed.

Newsom approval by political affiliation

Approve strongly Approve somewhat Neither approve nor disapprove Disapprove somewhat Disapprove strongly

Democrat 54% 33% 9% Republican 11% 21% 15% 20% 34% Other 29% 28% 20% 9% 13%

Poll conducted online in English and Spanish April 16-20 among 8,800 registered voters statewide. Results for the full sample have an estimated margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction. Note: In some cases, numbers do not add up to 100% due to rounding. UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll

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The governor’s standing is up 10 points from the last time the Berkeley IGS poll asked about it, in September. The increase reflects significant upticks in the share of Republicans and self-described moderates who say they approve of the job the liberal Democratic governor is doing.

That increase fits a nationwide pattern in which governors of both parties who have ordered aggressive measures to combat the spread of the virus have seen a positive response from voters. “That’s what we’d normally expect to see,” said UC Berkeley political science professor Eric Schickler, co-director of the Institute of Governmental Studies. Across the country, “governors are benefiting” from the tendency of voters to rally around their leaders, at least initially, “during a time of national crisis.”

President Trump, Schickler noted, is the great exception to that rule, a head of government who has not had a significant rallying moment as a result of the crisis.

The poll bears that out. California voters have much less confidence in the federal government and Trump, whom many of them blame for problems with the national response to the virus: 61%, for example, say the president is mostly or completely responsible for the shortages of tests and medical supplies that have dogged efforts to combat the virus.

Only about 2.5% of the state’s voters report that they’ve been tested, with an additional 6% saying they have tried to get a test and were unable to do so. About one-third say they know someone who has been tested, and about half of those say they know someone who has tested positive.

Slightly less than 4 in 10 state voters say they have confidence in the federal government’s response to the pandemic. A similar share say they trust national leaders to provide accurate information about the disease, compared with 6 in 10 who do not trust them.

National leaders rank slightly below television news (49%) and considerably below newspapers (60%) as a source of information that voters at least somewhat trust, the poll found.

ADVERTISEMENT By contrast, 77% trust state and local leaders to provide accurate information, 87% trust the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 92% trust scientific experts such as university researchers.

The UC Berkeley poll was conducted by email in English and Spanish among 8,800 registered voters statewide, an unusually large sample that allows detailed analysis of sub-groups. The results have an estimated margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction.

Because the poll questioned registered voters, it may not completely capture the extent of economic disruption the pandemic has caused. While about 82% of eligible California adults are registered to vote, those who are not registered are, on average, younger and poorer.

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How the Berkeley IGS poll is done June 13, 2019

The poll reveals the strong impact that partisanship, and views of Trump, have on how people view the pandemic. Just 30% of the state’s voters approve of the way the president is handling his job, with 20% approving strongly. By contrast, 64% disapprove, with 55% doing so strongly.

The minority who strongly approve of Trump and those who identify themselves as conservative have notably different views of the pandemic than the rest of the state’s voters. Just over half of voters statewide say they see COVID-19 as a “major threat” to their personal or family health. That share falls to just over one-third among those who identify as “very conservative.”

Perception of the illness as a major threat is also somewhat higher in Los Angeles County, which has had the most confirmed cases, than in some other parts of the state.

In L.A. County, 56% say they see the illness as a major threat, while in the Central Valley, San Diego and Orange counties and the far northern parts of the state, concern is slightly below the state average, between 48% and 49%. The level of concern in the Bay Area and the Inland Empire is at the state average.

Those who strongly support Trump are less likely to believe that social distancing measures are effective in combating the virus and oppose continuing them, although even among that group, 57% say that staying home as much as possible is an “extremely effective” method of stopping the spread of the disease.

Among those who strongly disapprove of Trump, the share who see staying at home as extremely effective is much higher, 90%.

Similar gaps showed up in questions about the effectiveness of wearing masks and staying six feet away from other people.

Strong supporters of Trump are also somewhat more likely than the rest of the state’s voters to say that eating a healthful diet or taking vitamins are effective ways to stave off the illness. Medical experts say that’s not the case.

The numbers show the power that partisanship has to affect people’s opinions, said IGS co-director G. Cristina Mora, associate professor of sociology at UC Berkeley. “When it hits at your everyday behaviors, that’s particularly striking,” Mora said.

Trump has vacillated in his support for social distancing.

The White House coronavirus task force has repeatedly urged Americans to stay at home, maintain distance from other people and wear masks in public.

At times, Trump has backed that message. At other times, he has called for quickly ending restrictions on commerce and public gatherings and has supported protesters who have demonstrated in California and other states to call for rolling back the rules. He has also publicly said that he won’t wear a mask.

Those who want commerce reopened quickly say they fear the damage to the economy from closures outweighs the injury caused by the virus. Strong Trump supporters embrace that view, in sharp contrast with the rest of the state’s voters: By 78% to 22%, Trump’s strong backers say they worry more that the restrictions will be kept in place too long and damage the economy than that they’ll be ended too quickly.

By contrast, African American and Latino voters, although they report more economic distress, are less likely to support a quick end to the stay-at-home restrictions.

By a wide margin, 70% to 8%, with 22% unsure, California voters say they believe that the economic damage is leading to more inequality in the U.S. The poll provides extensive evidence to back that belief, finding that the cost has fallen most heavily on people of color and those with the lowest incomes. How COVID-19 is economically affecting Californians Participants were asked their level of concern about work and income

Very serious problem Somewhat serious problem Not much of a problem No problem at all Not sure

Not being able to pay for basic necessities 23% 18% 24% 35% Losing my job 25% 13% 17% 41% 5% Lacking paid sick leave 23% 11% 14% 46% 5% Reduced wages or work hours 29% 17% 14% 36%

About 30% of Latino voters say the pandemic has caused them to lose income because of reduced hours at work, and an additional 18% say it has caused them to be laid off. That’s almost twice the share of white voters who say they’ve suffered from lost hours or a layoff. African American and Asian American voters fall between the other two groups.

White voters and those with incomes greater than $100,000 a year are far more likely than others to say that the pandemic has caused a loss of money in the stock market or retirement funds, reflecting their greater likelihood of having investments in the first place.

Just over half of those who earn less than $20,000 a year see the pandemic as a major threat to their employment, more than twice the level among those earning $200,000 or more. Latinos, at 49%, and African Americans, at 44%, are more likely than whites, 30%, to see a major threat to their employment. Asian Americans, at 42%, fall close to the statewide average. Similarly, 37% of Latinos said they faced a “very serious” risk of being unable to work remotely or working under dangerous conditions, compared with 16%of whites, 26% of African Americans and 28% of Asian Americans.

Just over half of the state’s voters say they are currently working, with 23% retired and 9% students in addition to the 16% who are unemployed.

Of those who are working, just over half say they are able to work from home, and about 1 in 5 say they leave home to go to work but that their work involves minimal contact with other people.

That leaves 23% of the state’s workforce, or about 1 in 8 voters, working in jobs that require regular contact with other people. That share is highest among those with no more than high school or trade school degrees and lowest among those with college or graduate degrees, the poll found.

Also among those who are working, 37% said they expected they would not get paid or would lose their jobs if they got sick and couldn’t work for two weeks or more, while 53% said they expected they would still be paid and 10% were unsure.

Not surprisingly, those with the lowest incomes and least education were most likely to be at risk of not being paid. Among those earning $200,000 or more, 72% said they expected their pay would continue if they couldn’t work; that fell to 24% among those earning less than $20,000.

A large share of California voters say they worry they might inadvertently spread the illness to others. Contrary to the stereotype of young people not taking the virus seriously, that concern is most widespread among voters between 18 and 35, with nearly 6 in 10 saying they are “very concerned” about infecting others.

ADVERTISEMENT Despite such worries, however, only 19% of the state’s voters said that since the coronavirus outbreak, they were “rarely” feeling happy or satisfied with their lives. Just over one-third said they were “sometimes” happy or satisfied, while most, 45%, said they remained happy or satisfied “often” or “very often.”

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David Lauter

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David Lauter is the Los Angeles Times’ Washington bureau chief. He began writing news in Washington in 1981 and since then has covered Congress, the Supreme Court, the White House under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and four U.S. presidential campaigns. He lived in Los Angeles from 1995 to 2011, where he was The Times’ deputy Foreign editor, deputy Metro editor and then assistant managing editor responsible for California coverage.

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MORE FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES CORONAVIRUS Government orders 100,000 new body bags as Trump minimizes death toll Federal coronavirus response documents obtained by NBC News suggest that the president's optimism about "Opening Up America" is at odds with dire warnings from inside his administration.

President Donald Trump during the Coronavirus Task Force news conference at the White House on April 13, 2020.Yuri Gripas / Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images

April 30, 2020, 6:04 PM PDT By Jonathan Allen, Phil McCausland and Cyrus Farivar

WASHINGTON — The federal government placed orders for well over 100,000 new body bags to hold victims of COVID19 in April, according to internal administration documents obtained by NBC News, as well as public records. The biggest set was earmarked for purchase the day after President Donald Trump projected that the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus might not exceed 50,000 or 60,000 people.

That batch is a pending $5.1 million purchase order placed by the Department of Homeland Security on April 21 with E.M. Oil Transport Inc. of Montebello, California, which advertises construction vehicles, building materials and electronics on its website. The "human remains pouches" have not been paid for or shipped to the Federal Emergency Management Agency yet, according to the company's marketing manager, Mike Pryor.

"I hope to God that they don't need my order and that they cancel it," Pryor said in a text message exchange with NBC News.

Privacy - Terms Body bag contracts bid by Homeland Security and the Veterans Affairs Department are just one illustration of how Trump's sunny confidence about the nation's readiness to reopen is in conflict with the views of officials in his own administration who are quietly preparing for a far worse outcome.

Around the same time it wrote the contract for the body bags, FEMA opened up bidding to provide about 200 rented refrigerated trailers for locations around the country. The request for proposals speciﬁes a preference for 53-foot trailers, which, at 3,600 cubic feet, are the largest in their class.

Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

The cache of internal documents obtained by NBC News includes an April 25 "pre-decisional draft" of the coronavirus task force's "incident outlook" for the response, a summary of the task force leaders' meeting the same day and various communications among oﬃcials at several agencies. The documents show that task force members remain worried about several major risks ahead, including insuﬃcient availability of coronavirus tests, the absence of a vaccine or proven treatments for the coronavirus, and the possibility of a "catastrophic resurgence" of COVID19.

April 7: Trump says he downplayed coronavirus because he's America's cheerleader APRIL 7, 202006:47

When asked in the past about the contrast between his assessments and those of senior oﬃcials on his task force, Trump has described his role as "cheerleader" for the country. "I want to give people in this country hope," he said in March.

The president has also said testing "is not going to be a problem at all." But officials from FEMA and the Department of Health and Human Services clearly disagree. They flagged concerns with the testing plan in the draft of the incident outlook report, which was circulated to task force members along with a summary of the meeting. Privacy - Terms The list of testing problems includes: "Limited number of diagnostic supplies. Limited capacity of test facilities. Limited trained response personnel to administer the tests. Unknown epidemiological information regarding COVID- 19. Access to testing sites by underserved areas and at risk populations. Effective vaccines and therapeutics will not be available in sufficient quantities to meet the need. PPE is required by [medical countermeasures] developers and manufacturers."

Task force officials raised those possibilities as they developed the "incident outlook" two days before Trump unveiled his "Reopening America Again" plan Monday. That stratey is designed to hand off more responsibility for the response to governors and local officials.

The documents show that the White House and its coronavirus task force are making a quick transition toward an advisory role in public health decisions made by states while maintaining the power to acquire goods and allocate them. Simultaneously, the administration is preparing for many more casualties.

The body bag order, conﬁrmed by internal administration communications obtained by NBC News, is in addition to shipments of several thousand more body bags from vendors for the General Services Administration and the Defense Logistics Agency.

The VA, meanwhile, paid the supply distributor ISO Group $293,780 for an unknown number of body bags to be fully delivered Thursday. The contract states that the purchase is "in response to COVID19." ISO notes on its website that the federal government has awarded eight contracts for that speciﬁc body bag in the past 90 days for a total of $12.1 million.

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The VA and ISO did not respond to NBC News' inquiries about the contracts. A senior White House oﬃcial declined to comment on the body bags.

Privacy - Terms White House coronavirus guidelines to expire as testing challenges continue APRIL 29, 202001:29

Sam Imbriale, a senior aide at Health and Human Services, told members of the federal response team over the weekend that all resource request forms used by state, local and private-sector oﬃcials to seek federal supplies and other assistance must now be routed to the White House, according to a person who heard his remark to dozens of people on a phone conference.

NBC News' request to HHS for an interview with Imbriale was routed to FEMA's media relations team, which did not respond, and the senior White House oﬃcial did not reply to a question about the remark.

The senior White House oﬃcial, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump is taking into account the dangers associated with loosening stay-at-home restrictions and is following the advice of the coronavirus response coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, and other doctors on his task force in moving forward.

"At each of the three phases, they make recommendations for what needs to be done to safely begin reopening, while keeping in place mitigation eﬀorts like social distancing," the oﬃcial said in an email. "Dr. Birx, for example, has been in consultation with states, on behalf of the White House, to advise if they are ready to move toward reopening based on a number of factors, one of which is testing capacity."

Trump and his top advisers have long said more widespread testing is the predicate for resuming commercial activities paused by eﬀorts to prevent the spread of the disease.

"We want to reopen, and the testing is not going to be a problem at all," he declared Monday, adding later that "the fact that people aren't allowed to have their freedom causes a tremendous amount of problems, including death."

Privacy - Terms The White House oﬃcial said the federal government is "ramping up" testing capacity rather than "slowing down" and noted a new deal with the Maine-based company Puritan to produce an additional 40 million testing swabs. The administration says 5 million tests have been administered so far — a number equal to about 1.5 percent of the national population — and that the goal for states to be ready to reopen is the ability to test 2 percent of their populations per month.

The push to kick-start an economy that is hemorrhaging workers as it shrinks has drawn little public criticism from within the administration, even as many health experts say loosening stay-at-home rules could greatly increase the number of casualties from a pandemic that has already claimed more than 62,000 lives. But similar concerns were ﬂagged in the preliminary version of the document supporting his stratey that was developed by sub-units of the coronavirus task force made up of employees of FEMA, the Defense Department, HHS and other federal agencies.

Millions of Americans will see coronavirus restrictions eased by Friday APRIL 29, 202001:50

The interagency teams concluded that governors, mayors, community leaders and individual Americans may resist Trump's pressure precisely because they believe it will lead to more death.

"Late indicators and human decision making may delay mitigation to prevent catastrophic resurgence," the "incident outlook" report developed by FEMA and HHS says in a subsection titled "risks/limiting factors" for the objective of "minimizing transmission & risks to public health."

The other listed reasons demonstrate federal oﬃcials' fears that reversing stay-at-home rules and social distancing guidelines could have fatal consequences.

Privacy - Terms "States may not be following the recommended 'gating' process to make community mitigation adjustments," the document says. "Individual mitigation measures (e.g. hand washing) are often easy to support, but stricter community mitigation measures (e.g. social distancing) can be disruptive making them difficult to sustain. Individuals travelling from high impact areas to low impact areas may have contracted COVID19 but are asymptomatic. Mitigation fatigue. Community mitigation measures may not have the desired impact. Insufficient [state and local] staff to implement moderate mitigation measures."

The president is aware of the worries and shares concerns about the potential for a resurgence, the White House oﬃcial said.

"Our guidelines are based on strong public health science and have been vetted through the interagency," the oﬃcial said. "But we also understand the novel nature of this virus and that nothing is foolproof. We are encouraging extensive mitigation eﬀorts in the public space to ensure health and safety."

Download the NBC News app for full coverage and alerts about the coronavirus outbreak

Some of Trump's advisers have put more emphasis on health risks and less on immediate economic peril. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allery and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday that there could be "a bad fall" if states and cities reopen too early.

"If by that time we have put into place all of the countermeasures that you need to address this, we should do reasonably well," Fauci said in remarks to the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. "If we don't do that successfully, we could be in for a bad fall and a bad winter."

The April 25 meeting was attended by, among others, FEMA Director Pete Gaynor; Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of health and human services for health; Rear Adm. John Polowczyk, vice director for logistics of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is the supply-chain lead for the coronavirus task force; and staff from the White House's National Security Council. The NSC staff members dialed in by videoconference, according to the summary of the session.

The preliminary incident outlook draft also laid out challenges to stabilizing the medical supply chain and health care systems — including the risk of disasters on top of the COVID19 crisis — as Trump tries to reduce the federal role in the response and put more responsibility on state and local governments.

"Food/water or other large commodity mission resulting from an additional disaster declaration would reduce response capabilities for COVID19," the document says.

The resiliency of the U.S. health care system faces hurdles, too, according to the incident outlook draft.

"Additional disasters may further stress the healthcare system," the document says. "Lack of [personal protective equipment] will decrease eﬀectiveness of proposed strategies. Essential pharmaceutical supply shortages. Infection rate and absenteeism of workforce. Non-pharmaceutical interventions may not have the desired impact."

The primary complication for communications during the period of transition to more localized control of the response, according to the incident outlook report, is "lack of trust in government messaging."

Jonathan Allen reported from Washington, Phil McCausland from New York and Cyrus Farivar from Oakland, California.

Privacy - Terms CORONAVIRUS Industry exec: White House plan to send a week's worth of masks, gloves to nursing homes is not enough One industry exec said the 7 million masks FEMA is sending means only 7.7 for each staﬀ member. "We need more from the federal government."

Cheyenne Pipkin, left, visits with her mother Loraine Franks her grandfather Jerry Hogan, a Vietnam Veteran, who is lying on a bed at Lindsey Gardens after testing positive for COVID-19, on April 27, 2020 in Porterville, Calif. Jeremy Hogan / Echoes Wire / Barcroft Media via Getty Images

April 30, 2020, 3:58 PM PDT By Laura Strickler

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that nursing homes, which have been ravaged by coronavirus, had been "a little bit of a weak spot" in the U.S. response to the disease, and announced FEMA would ship a seven-day supply of gowns and masks to the nation's 15,000 long-term care facilities.

But nursing home residents have accounted for a quarter of the nation's 60,000 reported COVID19 deaths, and for some industry leaders and advocates for residents, a week's supply of personal protective equipment is not an answer.

"This is the ﬁrst sign in months that our calls for PPE prioritization for providers of aging services are being heard -- but this action is far too little, far too late," said Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO LeadingAge, an association of

6,000 nonproﬁt providers of aging services, including 2,000 nursing homes. Privacy - Terms Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.

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Sloan, who was standing in the room when the president made the announcement during a White House event for seniors, says the 7 million surgical masks FEMA is sending to nursing homes will provide only 7.7 masks for each nursing home staﬀ member. "Nursing homes now need 20x more PPE than usual," she said. "We need more from the federal government."

The shipments to nursing homes are expected to begin the first week of May and finish by mid-June, according to a coronavirus task force document. Documents about the pending shipments specify that each facility will receive an allotment of goggles, masks and gowns based on the staffing size of the facility.

The for-proﬁt nursing home industry was also represented at the White House event. A spokesperson told NBC News in an email in response to the announcement, "We appreciate anything we can get."

The shipments, which are intended to "supplement existing PPE eﬀorts by the federal government," will be prioritized for hotspots with the ﬁrst shipments sent to New York, Northern New Jersey, Boston, Chicago and Detroit. Assisted living facilities, which are home to more than 700,000 elderly Americans and have also been battling coronavirus outbreaks, will not be included in the shipments.

Coronavirus pandemic reveals broken system in U.S. nursing homes APRIL 21, 202002:16 Privacy - Terms Sloan says FEMA has told her organization that if there are critical PPE needs they should contact their local or state public health emergency management agencies to get more help. "The problem that this does not seem to acknowledge is that in fact, our homes have been yelling from the rafters that supplies are needed. WE HAVE!"

"Nursing homes need more than seven days of PPE," said David C. Grabowski, a professor of health-care policy at Harvard Medical School. "This is a good short-term stop gap. However, these shipments will have to be continual for this to be even a medium-term solution. Thus, give the federal government credit for recognizing this issue, but I hope this is the start of a larger initiative."

Trump also announced new guidelines for nursing homes during the Thursday event. He said the administration will require nursing homes to report COVID19 cases to residents and their families, as well as reporting them directly to the Centers for Disease Control.

He also said testing data at nursing homes will be posted online for everyone to see. In addition, he announced a commission for safety and quality in nursing homes to prevent future outbreaks and more funding for nursing home inspections.

Materials sent to reporters after the event did not list any participant names. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not immediately respond to a request for the names.

Laura Strickler

Laura Strickler is an investigative producer in the NBC News Investigative Unit based in Washington.

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Privacy - Terms Victorville woman and 2 young sons slain, boyfriend sought – San Bernardino Sun

NEWSCRIME + PUBLIC SAFETY • News Victorville woman and 2 young sons slain, boyfriend sought

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https://www.sbsun.com/...riend-sought/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social[4/30/2020 12:55:31 PM] Victorville woman and 2 young sons slain, boyfriend sought – San Bernardino Sun

Louis Gabriel Lucero (Courtesy San Bernardino County Sheriff)

By RICHARD K. DE ATLEY | [email protected] | The Press-Enterprise  PUBLISHED: April 30, 2020 at 11:22 a.m. | UPDATED: April 30, 2020 at 11:23 a.m.

The bodies of a missing Victorville woman and her two sons, ages 9 and 12, have been found slain in the desert and a man described by authorities as the woman’s boyfriend is being sought as a suspect, the San Bernardino County Sheriff said Thursday, April 30.

Erlinda Villareal, 42, shared a home with the man being sought in connection with the triple slayings, Louis Gabriel Lucero, 35, the department said.

Villareal and Lucero were gone from the home in the 15400 block of Ferndale Road when deputies went to check on it Wednesday shortly before 11 a.m. Deputies had been told the couple had not been seen or heard from since early that morning, and began investigating.

Sheriff’s dispatch got a call at 5:36 p.m. from an off-roader in the desert near Waalew Road and Corwin Road in Apple Valley reporting the discovery of three bodies. M

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SKIP AD 16 year old sex trafficking victim rescued from At 5:36 p.m. Sheriff’s dispatchers got a call from an off-roader in the desert near Waalew Road and Corwin Road in Apple Valley reporting the discovery of three bodies.

Homicide detectives believe the woman and her sons left the Victorville home with Lucero, were slain at an unknown location, then were left in the desert.

Law enforcement began to search for Lucero, who was considered armed and dangerous, and was believed to have fled in a 2008 silver Ford Explorer.

On Thursday about 12:23 p.m., authorities arrested Lucero some 800 miles northeast of Victorville in Eagle County, Colorado on an unrelated charge, the sheriff’s department said. He will be held in custody on that current charge, along with the warrant for the triple homicide.

Lucero will be scheduled for an extradition hearing before returning to San Bernardino County, the department said.

Investigators said the two slain boys are Villareal’s sons, but not Lucero’s, sheriff’s spokeswoman Cynthia Bachman said Thursday. Their names are being withheld until identified by the coroner. https://www.sbsun.com/2020/04/30/victorville-woman-and-2-young-sons-slain-boyfriend-sought/[5/1/2020 8:34:07 AM] Mojave Water Agency launches water awareness video contest By Rene Ray De La Cruz Staff Writer Posted Apr 30, 2020 at 8:25 PM APPLE VALLEY — The Mojave Water Agency is looking for residents to produce creative home videos that will deliver an important message about water conservation.

And to sweeten the deal, the Apple Valley-based agency it’s giving out free Visa gift cards for the most creative entries.

A $200 Visa gift card will be awarded for first place, with a $100 card going to second place and $50 for third place, agency officials said in a statement.

MWA Board President Thurston “Smitty” Smith said the contest was launched for May’s “Water Awareness Month,” a time when Californians reflect on using water wisely.

“Living in the desert should make water conservation a way of life, and we’re hoping to receive some creative, fun videos to remind all of us to conserve,” Smith said.

As the state heads into the dry, summer months, the California Department of Water Resources said now is the time to show appreciation for the water that fuels the economy and sustains ecosystems.

MWA believes the contest will do just that.

Submitted videos should be 30 to 45 seconds in length and must incorporate two themes: “Water conservation is a way of life” and “Together we can do this.”

The contest is limited to one entry per family. Video submissions should include name, email address, phone number and signed model release forms.

Videos are due by 5 p.m. May 15. Questions about the contest, submitted videos and links to produced videos should be emailed to Arlynn Caasi at [email protected].

Model release forms and water conservation information can be found at www.MojaveWater.org.

Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227, or by email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz. https://www.highlandnews.net/news/political/new-superior-judge-appointed/article_0292376a-8b07-11ea- bf1a-3b57529b0211.html New superior judge appointed

Apr 30, 2020

Newly appointed San Bernardino County Superior Judge Shannon L. Faherty Courtesy photo

On Tuesday, April 27, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the appointment of 14 California superior court judges, which include two in Alameda County, three in Los Angeles County, two in Orange County, two in Sacramento County, one in San Bernardino County, two in San Mateo County, one in Santa Clara County and one in Yolo County.

Shannon L. Faherty, 39, of Rancho Cucamonga, was appointed to serve as a judge in the San Bernardino County Superior Court. Faherty has served as a commissioner at the San Bernardino County Superior Court since 2018. She served as a deputy district attorney at the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Ofce from 2006 to 2018. Faherty earned a Juris Doctor degree from Southwestern Law School. She lls the vacancy of a new position created on Sept. 24, 2019. Faherty is registered without party preference. San Bernardino leader calls for resignation of public safety appointee over ‘unpermitted’ caravan – San Bernardino Sun

LOCAL NEWS • News San Bernardino leader calls for resignation of public safety appointee over ‘unpermitted’ caravan Councilman Jim Mulvihill this week requested Damon Alexander, his opponent in November's election, resign from his post

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By BRIAN WHITEHEAD | [email protected] | San Bernardino Sun  PUBLISHED: April 30, 2020 at 1:24 p.m. | UPDATED: May 1, 2020 at 6:56 a.m.

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/04/30/san-bernardino-leader-calls-for-resignation-of-public-safety-appointee-over-unpermitted-caravan/[5/1/2020 8:33:44 AM] San Bernardino leader calls for resignation of public safety appointee over ‘unpermitted’ caravan – San Bernardino Sun

Damon Alexander, left, and Councilman Jim Mulvihill are vying for San Bernardino’s 7th Ward council seat. (Courtesy photos)

A San Bernardino councilman has called for the resignation of his appointee to the Public Safety Commission for purportedly skirting city law in spearheading a caravan of first responders that honored health care workers at two local hospitals last week.

In an email to Damon Alexander, Jim Mulvihill, who represents the 7th Ward and will face Alexander in a November runoff for the council seat, admonished his appointee for allegedly violating city law and state COVID-19 guidelines in planning, organizing and participating in “an unpermitted civic event.” S “Your actions have compromised the health and welfare of our residents and placed our city in disrepute,” Mulvihill wrote Alexander Tuesday, April 28. “Your actions demonstrate a lack on your part of the required good judgment necessary to continue as a representative of the Seventh Ward on the A

Public Safety Commission.” By

Mulvihill, who appointed Alexander to the post in 2016, goes on to request his resignation.

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https://www.sbsun.com/...-10-freeway/?utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_medium=social[4/30/2020 12:57:08 PM] Sheri’s: Victorville man out on bail arrested for possession of rearms, cannabis By Gabriel Kelvin Posted Apr 30, 2020 at 12:01 AM Updated Apr 30, 2020 at 9:15 PM VICTORVILLE — Sheriff’s deputies arrested a felon here Wednesday who officials say was found with a semi-automatic handgun, cannabis and a large amount of cash.

David Deon Porter, of Victorville, who had previously been released on bail for two other charges, was taken in to custody at his home in the 14300 block of Borego Road after deputies served a search warrant for unspecified reasons, according to a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department statement.

The Victorville Police Department’s Gang Enforcement Division led the investigation and arrested the 24-year-old Porter shortly after, the Thursday statement said.

In the home, deputies discovered a semi-automatic handgun that was reported stolen in Kingman, Arizona; a high capacity magazine for the gun; marijuana and marijuana-related paraphernalia; and a large amount of cash, the statement said.

Porter was booked at the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto for being a felon in possession of a firearm, receiving stolen property and committing a crime while out of custody on bail, according to the statement.

Porter again posted bail and was released from custody shortly before 9:30 p.m. the same day, booking records show. No court dates are scheduled.

Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to contact Deputy Z. Rugge, Deputy M. Young at the Victorville Police Department at 760-241-2911 or Sheriff’s Dispatch at 760-956-5001.

Callers wishing to remain anonymous can contact the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800- 782-7463 or online at www.WeTip.com. Stretch of Highway 38 named in memory of Mentone firefighter who died in 2017 blaze – Daily Bulletin

NEWSCRIME + PUBLIC SAFETY Stretch of Highway 38 named in memory of Mentone firefighter who died in 2017 blaze

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https://www.dailybulletin.com/...?utm_content=tw-ivdailybulletin&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social[5/1/2020 8:56:44 AM] Stretch of Highway 38 named in memory of Mentone firefighter who died in 2017 blaze – Daily Bulletin

A stretch of Highway 38 was named in memory of Brent Witham, a firefighter who died in the 2017 Lolo Peak Fire. (Photo courtesy of Nick Litt)

By ROBERT GUNDRAN | [email protected] |  PUBLISHED: April 30, 2020 at 7:07 p.m. | UPDATED: April 30, 2020 at 7:24 p.m.

A stretch of Highway 38 near Mountain Home Village has been named to honor a U.S. Forest Service firefighter from Mentone who died after he traveled to Montana to fight the 2017 Lolo Peak Fire.

The sign, which reads, “USFS Firefighter Brent M Witham Memorial Highway,” was placed along Highway 38 on Wednesday, according to Witham’s friend Nick Litt.

F https://www.dailybulletin.com/...?utm_content=tw-ivdailybulletin&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social[5/1/2020 8:56:44 AM] Stretch of Highway 38 named in memory of Mentone firefighter who died in 2017 blaze – Daily Bulletin

1 of 3 U.S. Forest Service firefighter Brent Witham. (Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service) 

Witham was part of a hotshot crew with the United States Forest Service. The crews either hike or are dropped into remote areas to carve out fire breaks during a wildfire. Members of hotshot crews usually are sent in with only the equipment they can carry. Witham was a sawyer, someone who cuts down trees.

He died within minutes when a tree he was cutting down struck him. He was 29 years old.

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READ MORE Who cleans up the debris after freeway crashes? Witham was close to his family and held a strong faith, said Litt, 34, also of Mentone.

“To me, Brent was always someone who wanted to do the right thing for the right reason,” Litt said. “He made a big impact on my life.”

Litt, who moved from Orange County to Redlands in 2008, met Witham through mutual friends.

In 2017, Witham went to Montana to fight the Lolo Peak fire, which wound up burning more than 53,000 acres.

Witham was honored with a procession on Aug. 7, 2017 and a memorial service three days later at the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino that was attended by about 1,500 family members, firefighters and local, state and federal officials. He was buried later that day at Montecito Memorial Park and Mortuary in Colton.

The hotshot crew member, who was single, used to enjoy trips to the river with friends, playing video games and doing yard work at his father’s home, Litt said.

Witham’s drive was infectious, Litt said.

“It’s something that actually gave me the drive to go back to school,” he said, “and I want to work for the Forest Service at one point in honor of him.”

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https://www.dailybulletin.com/...?utm_content=tw-ivdailybulletin&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social[5/1/2020 8:56:44 AM]