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Alabama restaurants, bars, salons and gyms to reopen
Alabama’s dine-in restaurants, bars, salons and gyms are allowed to reopen Monday as the state eases restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Kay Ivey last week announced a loosening of restrictions to “provide additional opportunities for people to go back to work.”
Businesses including restaurants, hair salons, bars, breweries and gymnasiums can reopen Monday with rules including crowd limits and cleaning requirements.
The state is also lifting bans on non-work gatherings of 10 or more people. The change will allow churches, if they choose, to resume in-person services.
Theaters, bowling alleys and other entertainment venues remain closed.
The partial opening comes despite an upswing in the number of virus cases in the state
As of Sunday night, about 9,800 people in the state have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Nearly 400 people in the state have died from the illness.
Shanghai Disneyland reopens with antivirus controls
Visitors wearing face masks streamed into Shanghai Disneyland as China’s most prominent theme park reopened Monday in a new step toward rolling back anti-coronavirus controls that shut down its economy.
The park, which closed Jan. 25, will limit visitor numbers and is keeping some attractions closed in line with social distancing guidelines, company executives said.
The reopening adds to efforts by companies and the ruling Communist Party to revive the world’s second-largest economy following a shutdown that plunged it into its worst slump since at least the 1960s.
Long Beach to open more recreational areas on Monday
The city of Long Beach announced guidelines Sunday for the reopening of some pedestrian and bike trails, tennis centers and tennis courts, requiring that users maintain physical distance and wear masks or other face coverings when in close contact with other people.
“We know our community has been anxious to get back outdoors,” Mayor Robert Garcia said in a news release. “Please remember to practice physical distancing so that we can continue to make more places available.”
L.A. County reports 18 more COVID-19 deaths, 484 cases
Los Angeles County public health officials on Sunday reported 484 new cases of COVID-19 and 18 coronavirus-related deaths.
Long Beach, which has its own health department, reported an additional 17 cases and one new death, bringing the county’s total to 31,694 cases and 1,531 deaths.
“Each day, we report these numbers knowing that there are people who are grieving their loved ones who have passed away from COVID-19,” Barbara Ferrer, the county public health director, said in a statement. “To all of you, we are so deeply sorry for your loss.”
Even as stay-at-home orders ease, protesters say it’s not enough
Even as the first weekend of relaxed coronavirus restrictions in California brought people back out to hiking trails, parks and beaches, some protesters took to the streets to argue it wasn’t enough.
The changes in restrictions come amid new reminders that the virus is still a major threat.
Los Angeles County public health officials on Saturday reported 1,011 new coronavirus cases and 44 related deaths, pushing the total number of virus-related deaths to more than 1,500.
Officials say it’s crucial to continue practicing physical distancing and frequent handwashing, and that those who are older or have underlying health conditions should continue to stay home.
“If you are out and about this weekend, please take every precaution since any one of us, even if we are not sick, could be infected with COVID-19 and capable of infecting others,” Ferrer said Saturday.
That includes staying six feet away from others and wearing a face covering if others are near you, she said.
“These actions are critically important,” Ferrer said, “as we begin the journey of recovery so that we don’t find ourselves with large increases in hospitalizations and deaths that would require us to reinstitute restrictions.”
An estimated 1,500 demonstrators turned up Saturday in Huntington Beach, city police spokeswoman Angela Bennett said. They called for both the state and the nation to fully reopen — both economically and socially — and protested precautions that were implemented to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Love your mom, but don’t jeopardize her health by visiting today, California officials say
With some coronavirus restrictions lifted this weekend, officials are warning residents to avoid gatherings on Mother’s Day that could cause new outbreaks.
Officials are particularly concerned about older moms, who are at higher risk of becoming seriously ill or dying of COVID-19.
The director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health told residents last week not to visit their mothers on Mother’s Day, even if wearing masks and keeping six feet apart.
Unless residents live in the same households with their mothers, “the greatest gift we can give to our mothers this Mother’s Day is to stay away,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, who formerly worked in the Obama White House on HIV prevention. “Don’t go visit your mom in person this year.”
In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti on Tuesday said he would allow wholesale florists to open as a horticultural exemption for Mother’s Day.
The city of Pasadena is warning against Mother’s Day gatherings after its Public Health Department recently traced a cluster of at least five COVID-19 cases to a birthday party.
The party was held after the city issued stay-at-home orders March 19 and was attended by a large number of extended family members and friends who did not wear face coverings or stay six feet apart, the city said in a news release.
Bagpiper’s nightly coronavirus serenade sounds a mournful yet hopeful note in Santa Monica park
Palisades Park sits, these days, behind a chain-link fence, courtesy of a pandemic that makes anyplace too tempting for the masses a potentially dangerous place.
With its palm trees, its walking paths, its stunning views of the Pacific, the Santa Monica park has been deserted for weeks.
But each night, a kilted bagpiper slips into a narrow nook in the fencing, turns toward the west, and, just as the sun appears to slip beneath the waves, breaks the silence with a melancholy melody: “Amazing Grace.”
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound. That saved a wretch like me.
The legato notes echo in the empty space.
Andrew McGregor, 40, has been serenading the park alone for about two months, since just before stay-at-home orders were issued and public life in California ground to a halt because of the novel coronavirus. He lives down the street, and he’s at the park every night.
Meet the 73-year-old surgeon working to keep California veterans safe from COVID-19
Dr. Vito Imbasciani has been at war with viruses since he was 5.
Growing up near the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York, he contracted polio in 1952 and couldn’t walk for two months. In medical school in Vermont 30 years later, he saw AIDS steal the lives of otherwise healthy gay men.
Now, Imbasciani, secretary of California’s Department of Veterans Affairs, and his staff are responsible for keeping the novel coronavirus away from the state’s eight veterans homes. California’s defenses are holding.
The explanation, many say, lies in CalVet’s intense preparation, quick response, attention to hygiene and leadership, starting with Imbasciani, a physician and retired colonel who not too many years ago could have been discharged from the military because he is gay.
“We created our own fortune,” Imbasciani said, looking to knock on wood.
Deaths are part of life in the state-run veterans homes. The homes are populated largely by frail men and women, some of them veterans of World War II and Korea, and many from the Vietnam War era. A quarter of the vets admitted to California’s homes in recent years had been living homeless.
COVID-19 has hastened the end for scores of retired soldiers in veterans homes in other states: More than 70 veterans have died of the disease at a “soldiers’ home” in Massachusetts; more than 125 have died in New Jersey’s three homes; more than 60 residents of an Alabama veterans home tested positive, and eight have died.
During the pandemic, Republicans see a rare political opportunity in California
There was no such thing as YouTube or Twitter. President Clinton was on the brink of impeachment. Donald Trump was a New York real estate developer, building his first golf course.
The year was 1998, and it was the last time California Republicans managed to flip a congressional seat from blue to red.
After more than two decades of losing, that futility may soon come to an end.
A special election to fill a vacant House seat to the north of Los Angeles is highly competitive, both sides agree, pitting Democratic Assemblywoman Christy Smith against first-time Republican candidate Mike Garcia.
The closeness is due in good part to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The contest is one of two special congressional elections being held Tuesday amid the strictures arising from the novel coronavirus, which has reduced competition to a bunkered campaign of texting, remote voter outreach, virtual appearances and — in California — millions of dollars in online and television advertising. The other open seat, in rural Wisconsin, is expected to easily remain in GOP hands.
‘We want to study you.’ Black Angelenos fear another Tuskegee
The invitation to participate in a COVID-19 antibody study arrived in Jacquelyn Temple’s inbox early last month.
Initially, the 72-year-old Leimert Park resident felt hope. She wondered whether the study and accompanying blood test could answer why she had been experiencing months of respiratory problems, even through her coronavirus test had come back negative. Maybe, she thought, the test would reveal that she had been exposed and recovered.
Then she was hit with what she calls “a Tuskegee moment.”
“Every time I think about ‘experimental’ or ‘we want to study you’ or ‘there’s no cure, but we can treat you’ ... Tuskegee is in the back of my mind,” Temple said after deciding to go forward with the antibody study anyway.
Such seeds of mistrust were sowed almost a century ago in a rural corner of Alabama where, for four decades, medical researchers used hundreds of black men as guinea pigs in a government study now known as the Tuskegee experiment.
Latest far-right tactic: Naming names, threatening people who report lockdown violations
Aram Westergreen, a construction worker idled last month in the COVID-19 pandemic, filled out an online Washington state form recently to report a pawn shop open despite a ban on nonessential businesses.
Westergreen lives in Tacoma, Wash., less than an hour from the nursing home where the first COVID-19 death in the United States was reported in late February. With more than 900 deaths statewide since, and a stay-at-home order in place since March 23, Westergreen, like many of his neighbors, has suffered from lost income, but regards social distancing as critical to slow the spread of the pathogen.
To his alarm on Thursday, he opened his email to find a message entitled “Lowlife scumbag whistle-blower snitches.” It was sent from a stranger to about 100 people, informing them that their names, reports and identifying information had been released by the government and shared on social media.
“All you cowards who reported businesses as being open ... guess what ... social media is about to reign fire on you,” the message said. “How can you live with yourself when the REAL DOCTORS have already come out and stated that social distancing is making matters worse? Every one of you slimeballs must only get your news from CNN.”
The emailer was correct in one respect. The Washington Military Department, which is coordinating state response to the pandemic, had responded to public records requests by releasing spreadsheets containing more than 7,600 reports of suspected stay-home violations, including email addresses and phone numbers of those lodging complaints.
Projections show California’s virus toll ‘going up more than we expected’
California is one of a handful of states where coronavirus cases and deaths are “going up more than we expected,” according to the latest projections in a widely relied-upon model of the coronavirus outbreak.
Christopher Murray, director of the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the institute’s latest projections suggested that the nationwide fatality count would reach 137,000 by Aug. 4. It stands now at nearly 80,000.
The picture is mixed in some of the country’s most populous states, he said.
“Some good-ish news coming out of New York and New Jersey and Michigan, where the death cases and death numbers are coming down faster than expected,” he said. “Some other states where cases and deaths are going up more than we expected — Illinois and then Arizona, Florida, California as examples of that.”
Murray also said scientists were tracking how much people were moving about in states where businesses were reopening — and that the additional movement would translate into more infections, hospitalizations and deaths in about the next week and a half.
“We’re just seeing explosive increases in mobility,” he said, “in a number of states that we expect will translate into more cases and deaths, you know, in 10 days from now.”
That is particularly true, he said, in states such as Georgia, which moved more quickly than most to ease shutdowns. “Somewhere like Georgia, which was one of the first — it is in the category of a big increase,” he said.
Other emerging hot spots, he said, include Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota.
Mnuchin says things will get worse before they get better, yet predicts an upbeat economic third quarter
On the heels of the worst unemployment report in U.S. history, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday things were “probably going to get worse before they get better.”
After coronavirus-caused shutdowns brought the economy to a near-halt in April, figures out last week put the jobless rate at 14.7%, the highest level since the 1930s.
Mnuchin, however, repeated President Trump’s prediction that the economy would see a strong third quarter and a still better fourth one. On “Fox News Sunday,” the Treasury secretary said the administration was “very focused on rebuilding this economy” as states began to reopen.
“Next year is going to be a great year,” he said.
As the administration and Congress weigh another economic-stimulus package — something Trump said last week he was in “no rush” to see enacted — the White House is calling for a payroll tax cut, a move opposed by Democrats and some Republicans.
Mnuchin threw cold water on the idea of supplemental funding for states whose budgets were devastated by the virus, imperiling basic public services.
“We are absolutely pushing for the payroll tax cut,” he said, calling it a means of “delivering money to American public and business in a very effective way.”
The Treasury secretary added, “We’re not going to do things just to bail out states that were poorly managed.”
Congressional Democrats point out that many of the states pressing for more federal funding, including New York and New Jersey, are so-called donor states, which pay more in taxes to the federal government than they receive back.
White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett, though, did not rule out additional aid for states and local governments in the next relief package — although he said a decision now would be “premature” until the economic effects of current reopenings were better understood.
“We’ve got a bunch of economies around the country and around the world starting to turn the lights back on,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Hassett said the administration was “watching to see what happens to economic activity and the path of the disease.”
Nurse without N95 mask rushed to treat a ‘code blue’ virus patient. She died 14 days later
The decision that Celia Marcos made, the one that would ultimately steal years from her life, had been hard-wired after decades working as a nurse.
On the ward that she oversaw at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, a man with COVID-19 had stopped breathing. Marcos’ face was covered only with a thin surgical mask, and obtaining a more protective N95 mask before entering his room would have wasted valuable time, her colleagues say.
The 61-year-old charge nurse knew the chest compressions and other breathing treatments the patient needed would likely spew dangerous virus particles into the air that could land on her face and clothing. She would be at high risk of catching the coronavirus.
Marcos raced into the room. Fourteen days later, she was dead.
Health expert contradicts Trump, says virus ‘isn’t going to go away’ without vaccine
A leading public health expert, directly contradicting President Trump’s prediction last week that the coronavirus would vanish on its own, said Sunday that “this virus isn’t going to go away” without a vaccine.
Thomas Inglesby, who directs Johns Hopkins University’s School of Public Health, said on “Fox News Sunday” that the virus would remain a “big problem in this country [and] around the world until we have a vaccine.” He added, though, that treatments being developed might begin to ameliorate the worst effects of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
With the U.S. death toll closing in on 80,000 and well over a million cases reported, Inglesby said, “we’re still in the early stages of the pandemic.”
He noted that while states like New York and New Jersey have managed to slow the rate of virus transmission, it is rising in many other areas. The country as a whole, he said, is on a plateau.
Inglesby said that although the rate of unemployment was “shocking” and must be addressed, he remained concerned about states reopening too quickly in the absence of a robust nationwide program for testing and isolating the infected.
“The bottom line is that we’re not diagnosing enough cases,” he said, “and we’re not tracing their contacts.”
The differences between U.S., European safety nets
The coronavirus pandemic is straining social safety nets across the globe — and underlining sharp differences in approach between wealthy societies such as the United States and Europe.
In Europe, the collapse in business activity is triggering wage support programs that are keeping millions on the job, for now. In contrast, in the United States more than 33.5 million people have applied for jobless benefits, and the unemployment rate has soared to 14.7%. Congress has passed $2 trillion in emergency support, boosting jobless benefits and writing stimulus checks of up to $1,200 per taxpayer.
That is a pattern seen in earlier economic downturns, particularly the Great Recession. Europe depends on existing programs kicking in that pump money into people’s pockets. The U.S., on the other hand, relies on Congress taking action by passing emergency stimulus programs, as it did in 2009 under President Obama and the recent rescue package under President Trump.
Protesters gather outside Mayor Garcetti’s Hancock Park residence to protest health restrictions
At least 100 protesters gathered Saturday outside the Hancock Park residence of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, with marchers calling for the economy to reopen and condemning the health orders enacted in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Los Angeles police Sgt. Zachary Wechsler said the crowd numbered between 100 to 200 people at Getty House, the city-owned mansion in Windsor Square that serves as the residence for L.A.’s mayors. No arrests were made, and the protest lasted about two hours, Wechsler said.
Officer Mike Chan, a spokesman for the L.A. Police Department, said demonstrators had dispersed by about 4:30 p.m. Images of the protest published online showed crowds waving American flags and carrying signs demanding an end to the shutdown.
Grateful hikers return to Griffith Park: ‘Like being set free’
Porsche O’Neil wasted no time going to Griffith Park, enjoying a seven-mile hike Saturday morning featured natural sights and sounds, including two deer browsing in a glade of oak trees while acorn woodpeckers flitted among their gnarled branches.
“Those deer were happy, beautiful and eating without a care in the world,” she said. “And hikers were respectful. Everyone oohed and aahed from a respectful distance. Nobody rushed toward them with cameras. It’s been that kind of a wonderful day.”
Los Angeles County officials reopened trails and golf courses with restrictions Saturday morning. Face coverings are required in parking lots, trailheads and other crowded areas; hikers are required to wear them on trails only if they’re unable to keep six feet apart from others. At some locations, vest-wearing park monitors will keep an eye out for compliance.
City trails also reopened this weekend, with the exception of Runyon Canyon, which remains closed.
The reopening of Griffith Park’s trails Saturday could not come soon enough for Hector Cervantes, a 35-year-old machinist and avid hiker, who said, “After three months at home in lockdown, I was starting to feel like a slave in a prison run by dangerous germs.”
“To finally be outdoors again,” he added, trudging down a shady stretch of Vermont Avenue crowded with fellow hikers, “is like being set free.” Roads into Griffith Park remained closed to traffic.
Flare-ups in Germany and South Korea show the risks in easing restrictions
South Korea’s capital closed down more than 2,100 bars and other nightspots Saturday because of a new cluster of coronavirus infections, Germany scrambled to contain fresh outbreaks at slaughterhouses, and Italian authorities worried that people were getting too friendly at cocktail hour during the country’s first weekend of eased restrictions.
The new outbreaks — and the fears of a second wave of contagion — underscored the dangers authorities face as they try to reopen their economies.
Around the world, the U.S. and other hard-hit countries are wrestling with how to ease curbs on business and public activity without causing the virus to come surging back.
Elsewhere, Belarus, which has not locked down despite increasing case numbers, saw tens of thousands of people turn out to mark Victory Day, the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat in 1945. That was in contrast to Russia, which skipped the usual grand parade in Moscow’s Red Square.
Germany and South Korea have both carried out extensive testing and contact tracing and have been hailed for avoiding the mass deaths that have overwhelmed other countries. But even in those two countries, authorities have struggled with finding the balance between saving lives and saving jobs.
Decision to shelve CDC report came from top White House officials, documents show
The decision to shelve detailed advice from the nation’s top disease control experts for reopening communities during the coronavirus pandemic came from the highest levels of the White House, according to internal government emails obtained by the Associated Press.
The files also show that after the AP reported Thursday that the guidance document had been buried, the Trump administration ordered key parts of it to be fast-tracked for approval.
The trove of emails shows the nation’s top public health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spending weeks working on guidance to help the country deal with a public health emergency, only to see their work quashed by political appointees with little explanation.
The document, titled “Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework,” was researched and written to help faith leaders, business owners, educators and state and local officials as they begin to reopen. It included detailed “decision trees,” or flow charts aimed at helping local leaders navigate the difficult decision of whether to reopen or remain closed.
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Friday that the documents had not been approved by CDC Director Robert Redfield. The new emails, however, show that Redfield had cleared the guidance.
Even though the new CDC guidance — a mix of advice already released along with newer information — had been approved and promoted by the highest levels of its leadership, including Redfield, the administration shelved it on April 30.
Coronavirus case cluster tied to Pasadena party and ‘selfish behavior,’ officials say
The city of Pasadena is warning against Mother’s Day gatherings after its public health department recently traced a cluster of at least five coronavirus cases to a birthday party.
The party was held after the city issued stay-at-home orders March 19 and was attended by a large number of extended family members and friends who did not wear face coverings or stay six feet apart, the city said in a news release.
“One person showed up to the party exhibiting symptoms and joking she may have the virus,” Lisa Derderian, spokeswoman for the city of Pasadena, said in an email. “The aftermath affected several others who became seriously ill because of one person’s negligent and selfish behavior.”
Through contact tracing, a Pasadena Public Health Department disease investigation team discovered more than five laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases among attendees of the party “and many more ill individuals,” the city said. The team identified the woman as the index case, or the first patient in the outbreak identified with the infection, officials said.
“This is an example of how good contact tracing can identify disease clusters and tell us more about the spread of disease in our community,” Dr. Matthew Feaster, an epidemiologist with the Public Health Department, said in a statement.
Vatican Museums prepare to resume visits to the Sistine Chapel
The Vatican Museums are gearing up to resume visits to the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Gardens and papal estate outside Rome after a two-month coronavirus lockdown.
New protocols will require reservations in advance, protective masks and likely afternoon and evening visiting to stagger crowds.
The Vatican hasn’t announced a reopening date for the museums. The head of the Vatican City State that oversees the museums, Bishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, suggested Saturday it might not be ready to coincide with the May 18 reopening of Italian museums.
But he says the Vatican was finishing the installation of scanners to check temperatures of museum visitors and preparing protocols for tours of the Vatican Gardens and the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo on Lake Albano.
The Vatican Museums usually receive 7 million visitors a year and are the main source of income funding the Holy See bureaucracy. Vergez says the museums have a “solid” economic foundation.
The Vatican, a city state in the center of Rome, imposed a lockdown in tandem with the rest of Italy, which was the first European country hit hard by COVID-19. This week, Italy began a cautious and gradual reopening.
Remdesivir to be shipped to six more states
The federal government is sending supplies of the first drug that appears to help speed the recovery of some COVID-19 patients to six states, where it will be distributed by health departments.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Saturday that it is delivering 140 cases of the drug remdesivir to Illinois, 110 cases to New Jersey, 40 cases to Michigan, 30 cases each to Connecticut and Maryland and 10 cases to Iowa. Each case contains 40 vials of the drug, the department said in a statement.
“State and local health departments have the greatest insights into community-level needs in the COVID-19 response,” the statement said.
Earlier this week the government sent 565 cases to New York, 117 to Massachusetts, 94 to New Jersey, 38 to Indiana, 33 to Virginia, 30 to Rhode Island, and seven to Tennessee.
The company that makes the antiviral drug, California-based Gilead Sciences, has said it is donating its entire current stockpile to help in the U.S. pandemic response.
Remdesivir was cleared for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration last week.
The department says the doses have to go to more critical patients including those on ventilators or in need of supplemental oxygen.
Italy says it has released more than 4,000 people from hospitals
Italy says a near-record 4,008 people were released from hospitals in the past day after testing negative for COVID-19 as the country continues its cautious reopening after a two-month national lockdown.
Another 1,083 people tested positive, half of them in hard-hit Lombardy, bringing Italy’s confirmed number of cases to 218,268. Officials say the real number is as much as 10 times that.
Another 194 people died, one of the lowest day-to-day death tolls in recent weeks. The confirmed COVID-19 toll in the onetime European epicenter is 30,395.
Another 134 intensive care beds were freed up, bringing the total number close to 1,000. At the height of the outbreak, there were more than 4,000 people in ICUs, and the wards in Lombardy were nearly saturated.
2 more New York children die from rare syndrome
Three children have now died in New York state from a possible complication from the coronavirus involving swollen blood vessels and heart problems, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday.
At least 73 children in New York have been diagnosed with symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease — a rare inflammatory condition in children — and toxic shock syndrome. Most of them are toddlers and elementary-age children.
Cuomo announced two more deaths a day after discussing the death of a 5-year-old boy Thursday at a New York City hospital. He did not give information about where the two other children died, or provide their ages. There is no proof that the virus causes the mysterious syndrome.
Doctors have recently identified a condition called pediatric inflammatory multi-system syndrome among children who have tested positive for antibodies against COVID-19.
‘Chinese virus’ and other COVID-19 racism have designers, stylists of Asian heritage pushing back
Amid the surge of anti-Asian sentiment in America right now, a collective West Coast-East Coast voice stemming from the fashion community — including stylist Jeanne Yang, designers Prabal Gurung and Kimora Lee Simmons — has risen to speak out against the rhetoric and racism.
During the seven-week period from March 19 to April 30 there were 1,716 reported incidents of coronavirus-related attacks directed at Asian Americans, according to a recent study released by Stop AAPI Hate, a Los Angeles-based organization that was launched in March to record incidents of coronavirus-related discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
To put that number into perspective, just look at three years ago: The number of reports of discrimination against Asian Americans registered in 2017 at the website standagainsthatred.com, started by Washington, D.C.,-based Asian Americans Advancing Justice, came in at 200 for the entire year.
3 more inmates die at Chino prison as infections continue to spread
As an outbreak of the coronavirus continues to rage inside the California Institution for Men in Chino, three more inmates at the prison have died, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Friday.
The prisoners, who died over the course of two days this week at San Bernardino County hospitals, are among a growing number of inmates who have contracted COVID-19. Outbreaks at federal penitentiaries at Terminal Island in San Pedro and Lompoc are among the worst in the nation.
The number of inmates infected at the Chino prison has more than doubled to 332, officials said. Prisoners are housed in large dormitories, and implementing social distancing to stem the spread of the virus has been a struggle. The prison previously had reported only one death, on April 19.
Dana Simas, a corrections spokeswoman, said the families of the three inmates who died have been notified. “No additional information is being provided to protect individual medical privacy,” she said in a statement to The Times.
The increase in the number of coronavirus cases is a result of mass testing of inmates regardless of symptoms, according to Lt. Thomas Lopez, a spokesman for the Chino prison. Inmates and correctional staff at the prison have pushed for more widespread testing as fear has grown that asymptomatic prisoners may be infecting others with existing medical conditions that make them more vulnerable.
Debra Harrison Blagg said she fears for her husband, John Blagg, who is serving eight years for driving under the influence and has suffered three prior heart attacks.
“I am so scared for John I cannot stop crying,” she said.
Three more inmates died of coronavirus and the number who are infected has more than doubled at the California state prison in Chino, officials said.
Merchants rejoice as they finally swing open doors and greet customers — with restrictions, of course
The congratulatory and confusing calls came flooding in Thursday for Ruben Cortez, 36, manager of Lovell’s Records and Tapes in Uptown Whittier.
“Man, I had probably around 20 to 30 calls from people asking me if the store was open or telling me they were happy and they couldn’t wait until tomorrow when they ‘could finally walk inside,’” Cortez said. “I had to tell people that the store wasn’t opening for people to come in, but just allowing for pickups. A lot of people didn’t understand.”
This is how the first day went as some businesses across California were allowed to open on Friday. It was limited, halting and a bit confusing. But merchants said they were grateful to connect with customers directly, even with all the social distancing rules and other safeguards.
New York probing child’s COVID-19 death as states reopen
A 5-year-old boy in New York died from a condition believed linked to COVID-19, and the state’s health officials are investigating several similar cases, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday.
“This is every parent’s nightmare,” Cuomo said.
“While rare, we’re seeing some cases where children affected with the COVID virus can become ill with symptoms similar to the Kawasaki disease or toxic shock-like syndrome that literally causes inflammation in their blood vessels,” the governor said during his daily briefing. “This would be really painful news and would open up an entirely different chapter because I can’t tell you how many people I spoke to who took peace and solace in the fact that children were not getting infected.”
All California voters will be asked to vote by mail in November due to fears, Newsom says
SACRAMENTO —Citing public health concerns over millions of Californians showing up at voting locations this fall, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered ballots to be mailed to the state’s 20.6 million voters for the November election while imposing strict new rules for anyone who participates in person.
The decision, Newsom said, reflects the assessment from health officials that the COVID-19 pandemic will not have subsided enough to permit the election to move forward under its traditional rules. While a majority of California’s votes are now cast from a voting place, the change would mark the first time in state history that every registered voter is mailed a ballot.
“There’s a lot of excitement around this November’s election in terms of making sure that you can conduct yourself in a safe way, and make sure your health is protected,” Newsom said during a midday event.
L.A. County beaches likely to reopen Wednesday or Thursday
L.A. County officials say they may reopen beaches as early as Wednesday morning with a range of restrictions, including closed parking lots, piers and boardwalks. Those limits are to be gradually lifted in phases, and details are still to be determined by county public health officials.
“We don’t want a stampede to the beaches. ... This gives us a few more days before the weekend,” said Nicole Mooradian, public information officer for L.A. County’s Department of Beaches and Harbors.
Hold the Champagne: Pandemic, recession fears hammer traditional European products
TOULOUSE, France —The pop of a Champagne cork: Around the world, but perhaps especially in France, few things better symbolize conviviality and celebration than the pouring out of fine bubbly and the clink of raised glasses. But the coronavirus crisis has changed all that.
With France in a near-total shutdown since March 17, large festive gatherings like weddings vanished overnight, restaurants and hotels are shuttered, export markets have cratered, and one of the country’s most emblematic products has suffered a sales collapse.
The pandemic has brought with it dire forecasts of Europe’s deepest recession of the postwar era. According to forecasts this week, the 27-nation European Union’s economy will shrink by 7.4% this year, the steepest fall in the bloc’s history.
Pour one out for 2020 grads. It’ll be hard to find a job in this market
Mia Maloney had what every college senior wants: a cool paid internship in her field secured months before graduation.
The USC senior had accepted her dream role as a marketing intern at a record label in Nashville that represents some of her favorite artists.
Then it was gone.
Because of the uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak, the company called her in March and rescinded its offer.
Public health officials urge caution as L.A. County reopens
Amid a plateau in the number of new coronavirus-related deaths in Los Angeles County, officials Friday were easing into an economic recovery plan.
Some retailers are being allowed to reopen for curbside pickup, and recreational venues such as golf courses and some trails will reopen Saturday.
Still, public health officials are urging caution, saying the healthcare system could be overwhelmed by a surge of new cases if people resume their daily activities without taking the proper precautions.
Los Angeles Flower Market opens in time for Mother’s Day
Most California counties fall short of reopening criteria as cases climb
Most big California counties are not close to meeting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s strict standards that would allow a wider reopening of the economy, including dine-in restaurants and shopping malls, a Times data analysis found.
Newsom announced Thursday a series of benchmarks each of California’s 58 counties would need to reach to significantly reopen. Can the county show that people have stopped dying from the coronavirus? Have new cases fallen to a manageable level? Can officials adequately test people? Do they have enough detectives to track down newly infected people? And do they have enough medical supplies?
The Times conducted an analysis to see which counties could pass just the first two criteria — whether deaths have stopped in the past 14 days, and whether there is no more than one case per 10,000 residents in that same time period. Most of California failed that test.
It’s not your imagination: L.A. traffic is starting to pick up again
During the first month of California’s stay-at-home order, Hollywood writer Jon Hotchkiss went to great lengths to film the vast emptiness of the street grid: walking onto an on-ramp, lingering on overpasses, even strapping a camera on his car and driving through the sparse traffic in the Sepulveda Pass.
Last week, as cars zipped past him on Ventura Boulevard, he realized that the blissful, eerie period of no traffic was already ending.
“I’m seeing more cars everywhere,” Hotchkiss said. “It’s just strange, like: Where are all these people going?”
Like the first tender shoots of spring, or perhaps the proverbial canary in the coal mine, traffic is beginning to reappear in Los Angeles.
With the prospect of empty stadiums, how will the NFL move forward?
Preposterous. Unthinkable. A science-fiction movie. How could meaningful pro football games be played in cavernous NFL stadiums filled with oceans of empty seats?
Steve Young knows how.
“I’ve lived it,” said the Hall of Fame quarterback who began his career with the Los Angeles Express of the USFL. “I played in the Coliseum in front of 10,000 people. It’s so quiet I had to whisper in the huddle. I actually had to move the huddle back. Defensive guys were like, ‘I think he said flanker drive.’ ”
When it comes to easy answers about how to restart the NFL in the age of COVID-19, the silence is deafening.
The rich infected the poor as COVID-19 spread around the world
SINGAPORE —When it arrived in the unforgiving industrial towns of central Mexico, the sand-swept sprawl of northern Nigeria and the mazes of metal shanties in India’s commercial capital, Mumbai, COVID-19 went by another name.
People called it a “rich man’s disease.”
Pandemics throughout history have been associated with the underprivileged, but in many developing countries the coronavirus was a high-class import — carried in by travelers returning from business trips in China, studies in Europe, ski vacations in the Rockies.
White House aide tests positive ahead of Pence trip
A White House aide has tested positive for coronavirus infection, according to people familiar with the matter, the second person working at the executive residence to contract the virus this week.
Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to travel to Iowa on Friday to discuss the effect of the coronavirus outbreak on churches and on the food supply. But his plane left Joint Base Andrews outside Washington more than an hour behind schedule, after some passengers de-boarded.
It wasn’t clear if the delay was related to the positive virus test.
The people familiar with the matter asked not to be identified because the positive test hasn’t been announced. Earlier in the week, a member of the military who works on the White House grounds tested positive for the virus.
Read more>>>
These are the California businesses that can reopen, and these are the rules
After weeks of stay-at-home orders, California will allow some retailers to reopen on Friday.
Here is what is open and what is not based on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan:
Open with curbside service
Bookstores
Music stores
Toy stores
Florists
Sporting goods retailers
Clothing stores
Other “low-risk” retailers
The governor’s office said it also was hoping to allow some manufacturing and logistics businesses to reopen with social distancing and safety rules.
All 10 family members in this house got COVID-19. Their patriarch didn’t survive
The Ramirez family never thought the coronavirus would get them.
They took every precaution, staying cooped up in their Azusa home since the stay-at-home order in March, the family said. Only the family’s father and eldest son went out for grocery runs, fully protected with masks and gloves.
The virus still found its way into the home. Over the course of days, each member of the 10-person household became infected. Three were hospitalized.
The family’s patriarch, Guillermo Ramirez, would not survive the battle with COVID-19. He died April 28 at 47. His family said he had no underlying conditions that would have put him at special risk.
Most California voters back protections for undocumented farmworkers, poll finds
A substantial majority of California voters support work protections for farmworkers — including undocumented immigrants — such as paid sick leave, medical benefits and replacement wages if they contract the coronavirus, a new statewide poll finds.
Some 80% of state voters support employers providing full replacement wages to farmworkers to stay home when sick with COVID-19, while 79% back equitable pay for such workers regardless of legal or guest worker status, according to a survey from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies released Friday.
Just over seven in 10 believe that undocumented and legal workers should have equitable medical and paid sick leave should they catch the virus, with support heaviest among voters in Los Angeles County and the Bay Area. More than nine in 10 voters support providing hand-washing stations, personal protective equipment and work conditions that enable farmworkers to practice social distancing.
Outbreak at Tyson pork-processing plant infected 1,031 workers, officials say
WATERLOO, Iowa — Local officials say the coronavirus outbreak at a Tyson Foods pork-processing plant in Iowa infected more than 1,000 workers, a far greater number than the state or company has acknowledged.
Black Hawk County health officials said Thursday that they have identified 1,031 workers at the Waterloo plant who have tested positive for the coronavirus or for antibodies that show they had been infected. That would be about 37% of the plant’s 2,800 workers.
California begins reopening economy as select businesses unlock doors
California will begin a modest reopening of its retail economy Friday, allowing some businesses to offer curbside service while keeping the vast majority of shops closed amid continuing coronavirus concerns.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan allows bookstores, music stores, toy stores, florists, sporting goods stores, clothing stores and a few others to reopen for curbside pickup only, unless barred by tougher local restrictions. Manufacturers and suppliers that provide goods for those businesses also will be allowed to resume operating.
The state is recommending that retailers continue to encourage physical distancing and implement “hands-free” ways for customers to pay. Manufacturers should close indoor break areas, and warehouses should carry sanitation materials during deliveries and provide employees with personal protective gear, said Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s secretary of Health and Human Services.
Senate Democrats propose monthly $2,000 stimulus checks
Senate Democrats want to provide every American earning under $120,000 with a $2,000 monthly check to get through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plan, introduced by Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), is one of the most ambitious – and likely most expensive – put forward as lawmakers begin to focus on the next piece of legislation to respond to the virus.
Democrats are eager to further stimulate the economy with payments to individuals and local governments beyond what Congress approved earlier this spring in the CARES Act. It provided many American adults with a $1,200 payment.
“The CARES Act gave Americans an important one-time payment, but it’s clear that wasn’t nearly enough to meet the needs of this historic crisis,” Harris said. “Bills will continue to come in every single month during the pandemic and so should help from government.”
Republicans, citing the growing deficit, are tapping the brakes and hoping to do more targeted legislation. No top Republicans or Democrats – nor the White House – are participating in negotiations, leaving a dim outlook to quick legislation.
The new $2,000 plan would submit payments to every American adult and include $2,000 per child for up to three children. Monthly payments, retroactive to March, would go through the pandemic and for three months afterward.
In response to Democrats’ concern that the prior $1,200 payments did not go to Americans married to immigrants, lawful permanent residents of the United States would be eligible under Harris’ plan. It would cover every U.S. resident, regardless of whether they have filed a recent tax return or have a Social Security number.
Progressive Democrats in the House released a similar plan to provide monthly $2,000 payments to adults in the U.S. over age 16.
Spain considers regions for rollback of lockdown
MADRID — Spain’s government is deliberating which regions can roll back lockdown measures next week.
The regional authorities of Madrid, hardest hit by the coronavirus, are pushing the government to allow them to loosen restrictions. However, that position appears to have led to the resignation of its regional director of public health on Thursday.
Madrid’s regional chief Isabel Díaz Ayuso told Spanish state broadcaster TVE on Friday the capital was prepared. She says, “for there to be no more infections there would have be zero movement and that would lead to (economic) ruin.”
Government deputy prime minister Pablo Iglesias say it’s likely Madrid would have to wait, accusing Díaz Ayuso of “wanting to make propaganda from something as serious as saving lives.”
Madrid leads Spain with 8,500 confirmed deaths from the virus that has killed more than 26,000. Officials in Catalonia, the second-hardest hit area, have said they are not prepared to move forward with the rollback.
Spain reported 221 deaths on Friday, down from daily totals of more than 900 deaths a month ago.
Column: Sick of religious limits on care, a hospital seeks to end partnership with Catholic system
There may not be many reasons for optimism in American healthcare just now, but one glimmer of hope has emerged in Orange County, Calif., where a prestigious hospital says it’s fed up with the Catholic Church’s restrictions on healthcare.
Hoag Memorial Hospital of Newport Beach, which was founded as a Presbyterian institution in 1952, is suing to extricate itself from a partnership it entered with a Catholic hospital system in 2012.
The deal was controversial from the start, in part because the Catholic partners imposed an abortion ban on Hoag’s doctors even though they’d been promised that the deal would have no impact on their practices.
This L.A. banker thinks the New Deal can point the way to recovery
The damage to the U.S. economy from the coronavirus is devastating: 33 million unemployed and an expected drop in second-quarter gross domestic product of up to 40%. But there’s no consensus in Washington about how to fix it.
President Trump has tweeted for the elimination of payroll taxes, a possible capital gains cut and a big infrastructure package.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday the Democratic plan for the fourth stimulus package will focus on a bailout of state and local governments, funds for testing and direct cash assistance to individuals.
Other Republican voices have called for a pause after more than $2.5 trillion in stimulus spending so far, but Russell Goldsmith, 70, the dean of Los Angeles bankers, says now is not the time to hit the brakes.
At protests, mostly white crowds show how pandemic has widened racial and political divisions
The crowds protesting California’s stay-at-home orders aimed at stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus have a litany of grievances: Open the beaches. Free the churches. End the tyranny of a governor who has gone too far.
They hop barricades to surf. They cite the Constitution. They wave American flags. They sport Trump 2020 gear. They rail against vaccines. In other states, including Michigan, protesters have shown up at government buildings carrying rifles.
Despite their varied causes, the protesters have been almost entirely white — even in California, a state that mostly is not.
The raucous protests in wealthy, coastal Orange and San Diego counties and at the state Capitol in recent days have, for many, highlighted racial and class disparities amid a pandemic that has killed more than 2,500 Californians — a disproportionate number of whom are black, Latino and poor.
An Orange County cafe opened in defiance of Newsom. Now it’s the center of stay-at-home resistance
When Jeff Gourley welcomed diners into his San Clemente restaurant, Nomads Canteen, last week for the first time since mid-March, the response was so overwhelming that he quickly ran out of food — and had to close again.
Gourley made attempts to socially distance customers by spreading out tables inside and having patrons wait on the restaurant’s sunny deck. But the eatery quickly filled with customers eager to get out of the house and return to some sense of normalcy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We ran out of everything, down to the bare walls,” Gourley told the Orange County Register this week. “It was record-breaking. We sold every tortilla, bottle, can and every margarita.”
On Thursday, preparations were once again underway to reopen Nomads Canteen, with limited hours through Sunday. Gourley did not respond to a phone call and email requesting comment Thursday, but the restaurant has been outspoken about the reopening on social media.
Fears of a second surge haunts California as it begins slow-speed reopening of economy
SAN FRANCISCO —Reopening California’s devastated economy is increasingly looking to be a slow, deliberative process in many parts of the state as Gov. Gavin Newsom issued strict protocols that communities must satisfy to speed reopening and health experts warned of the risks of a surge if social distancing is abandoned too early.
California will take baby steps in the process on Friday, as a scattering of retail businesses are allowed to reopen for curbside pickup.
But that will still leave huge sectors of the economy shut down, and leaders in communities across California will have to declare they’ve reduced the coronavirus danger to open up more businesses, such as restaurant dining rooms and shopping malls. That is going to be a challenge in hard-hit areas such as Los Angeles County, which has seen more than 1,400 deaths — more than half of the state’s total — and is still recording hundreds of new cases a day.
How to get legally married during the crisis
Instead of a bouquet, a masked bride holds a bottle of Corona beer in her Instagram wedding photo. A groom gamely wields a can of disinfectant. It’s hard to tell if anyone is blushing behind the masks. Marriage in the time of coronavirus, like many aspects of life, has changed.
Couples in Southern California looking to say “I do” before the pandemic hit had plenty of options. For a fee, a wedding planner could handle everything from the flowers to the vows. Or the couple could sprint down to the courthouse themselves for a quick civil marriage.
Now, tying the knot has become more complex. How do you get a marriage license? Can you get a marriage license?
Here’s how it works now, and in some cases doesn’t, in Southern California.
Lebanon’s mosques open for Friday prayers for the first time in nearly two months
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s mosques welcomed worshipers for Friday prayers for the first time in nearly two months, as authorities eased restrictions designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
The Interior Ministry announced that churches and mosques could hold congregational prayers on Sundays and Fridays if they limit capacity and respect social distancing guidelines.
Mosque officials sprayed worshipers with disinfectant as they entered the buildings and took their temperatures. Masked worshipers sat, contrary to tradition, at considerable distances from one another and were obliged to bring their own prayer mats.
The minister of education says Lebanon’s schools and universities would resume May 28. They are expected to be open until the end of July when a two-month summer recess begins. Students from first to third grades will continue distance-learning.
India records nearly 3,400 new infections in last 24 hours
NEW DELHI — India has recorded 3,390 new coronavirus infections and 103 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Total cases in the country of 1.3 billion people surpassed 56,000, with 1,886 fatalities, according to health ministry data. More than 16,500 people have recovered.
The coastal state of Maharashtra remains the worst affected, with almost 20,000 cases and 651 deaths.
India began a mammoth evacuation exercise late Thursday, bringing back the first batch of its citizens stranded overseas. More than 340 Indian nationals returned home on the first two flights from the United Arab Emirates.
National carrier Air India will conduct 64 flights to 12 countries from May 7-13 to bring back about 15,000 Indians stranded because of the coronavirus lockdown.
India is also using its Navy to bring back stranded citizens. The country suspended all international travel in March before going into a strict lockdown to slow COVID-19 cases.
Iran allows prayers at some mosques to resume
TEHRAN — Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said Friday that prayers are resuming in mosques in 146 cities with minimal risk conditions for spreading the coronavirus after being banned for more than two months.
The report said prayer gatherings would continue to be banned in major cities, including all provincial capitals, for now.
Iran is battling the worst outbreak in the Middle East while under heavy U.S. sanctions. Officials said Thursday that the death toll from COVID-19 rose to nearly 6,500 among more than 100,000 confirmed cases.
There are currently no plans to reopen the country’s religious shrines, including the most important Shiite holy site in the country, the Imam Reza Shrine in the northeastern city of Mashahd.
Afghan health minister tests positive
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan officials say the country’s health minister has tested positive for the new coronavirus as the country recorded 215 new infection cases in the last 24 hours.
The ministry confirmed Friday that Ferozuddin Feroz had tested positive for the virus.
Afghanistan has recorded more than 100 deaths from the virus out of more than 3,700 confirmed cases.
According to the U.N. migration agency, more than 270,000 Afghans have returned home from Iran, the Middle Eastern country hardest hit by the highly contagious virus.
The returnees are going back mostly untested and unmonitored to cities, towns and villages around the country, threatening to create a greater outbreak in Afghanistan that could overwhelm a healthcare infrastructure already wrecked by decades of war.
Jobs report expected to show biggest labor market shock in U.S. history
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy suffered perhaps its biggest labor market shock in history last month, as government figures to be released Friday are expected to show the COVID-19 pandemic erased 20 million or more jobs and sent the nation’s unemployment rate to about 16%, the highest since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
As recently as February, the United States had enjoyed record economic expansion and the lowest unemployment in half a century, 3.5%. Not only is that gone, but more bad news is almost certain in the weeks and months ahead.
“It’s just staggering,” said Holly Wade, director of research and policy analysis at the National Federation of Independent Business.
The unemployment rate was 4.4% in March and 701,000 jobs were lost that month, the Labor Department previously said in capturing early stages of the economic damage.
Grasping for reasons to be hopeful, analysts noted that a large majority of April’s payroll job losses will be classified as temporary, and some furloughed workers have been recalled in recent days as more states begin to relax lockdowns and lift stay-at-home orders.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park to reopen Saturday without access to some popular trails
WASHINGTON -- When the Great Smoky Mountains National Park becomes one of the country’s first national parks to reopen Saturday, some of its most popular trails will remain off limits.
Major roadways, most trails and some restroom facilities will be accessible, but it’s unclear when the Laurel Falls, Chimney Tops and Alum Cave trails will reopen, park spokeswoman Dana Soehn says. She says safety will be stressed as officials seek to follow federal and state guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“We think that access to the three most heavily used trails just simply wouldn’t be possible with CDC social distancing guidelines,” Soehn said.
The push to restore access to some of the country’s most treasured spaces comes six weeks after the park abruptly shut its gates after visitors weren’t following social distancing guidelines.
Located on the Tennessee-North Carolina border, the Great Smoky Mountains is the nation’s most visited national park.
Worrisome new cluster of cases in South Korea linked to a popular nightclub
SEOUL — South Korean officials are concerned after finding more than a dozen coronavirus infections linked to club-goers in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area.
The new infections raised fears about another surge in transmissions after the country eased social distancing measures amid a slowing caseload the past few weeks.
South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 12 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours before midnight Thursday, the first time in five days the daily jump was more than 10.
Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip said the country detected at least 13 more cases in the following hours, all linked to a 29-year-old patient who visited three nightclubs in Seoul’s Itaewon district Saturday before testing positive Wednesday.
Kim said there was a “very high possibility” more infections will be confirmed as health workers scramble to trace the patient’s contacts. He said the clubs’ visitor lists show more than 1,500 customers combined on Saturday.
Of the 13 new cases confirmed on Friday, Kim says 12 were club-goers, including three foreign nationals and one soldier. The other was an office colleague of the patient who was first detected.
The country has not reported a daily jump above 100 since April 1, which allowed officials to ease social distancing guidelines, schedule the reopening of schools and allow professional sports to return to action without fans in the stands.
Australia has three-stage plan for reopening economy by July
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia plans to reopen its economy in three stages by July, but there are no plans to open the country to general international travelers in the foreseeable future.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday that the states will set their own pace in easing coronavirus restrictions, and details of the second and third stages of the plan had yet to be finalized.
Australia’s two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, are continuing to record new cases daily while the other states and territories have gone multiple days without finding new infections despite ramped-up testing.
Queensland will relax its social distancing rules for Mother’s Day on Sunday by allowing up to five people from one household to visit another household, and the Northern Territory will open pubs next week for the service of alcohol with meals.
Under Stage 1 of a national plan agreed upon by federal and state leaders on Friday, small cafes and restaurants will open as long as each patron has at least about 40 square feet of space.
Children will return to classrooms and groups of 10 people will be allowed to gather outdoors. Playgrounds, golf courses, swimming pools and libraries will reopen.
Nightclubs and other drinking venues without seated dining will not reopen until Stage 3.
Morrison said he was open to the possibility of international students returning to Australian universities on charter flights, but general international travel will not open up “in the foreseeable future.”
Should migrant workers be allowed to sleep in bunk beds?
YAKIMA, Wash. — The price and availability of apples in grocery stores this fall could come down to a critical question on the farm: whether migrant workers should sleep in bunk beds.
Each spring, as many as 30,000 farm laborers — most of them from Mexico — begin arriving in Washington state on guest worker visas and live in close quarters in housing that employers are required to provide. A typical room has two bunk beds.
The coronavirus pandemic has thrown the system into disarray, with public health officials and the union representing the workers warning that the sleeping arrangement could spread infections.
But farmers say banning employees from sleeping in top bunks — as the state has proposed — would force them to cut their work forces in half and drive many into bankruptcy, devastating the region’s economy and the nation’s fruit supply.
Washington produces 65% of the country’s $2.4-billion fresh apple crop, as well as cherries, peaches, berries and other fruit.
Representatives from the United Farm Workers and the powerful farm lobby spent seven hours Wednesday in an online meeting organized by Gov. Jay Inslee’s office to discuss the draft regulations with health, labor and industry officials.
In the meantime, workers are already arriving under contracts signed months ago.
Hand sanitizers and temperature checks: LAFC tries to adapt to the new normal
After nearly two months of seeing his team only on Zoom or Facetime, Bob Bradley was back at LAFC’s training facility Thursday, where he got to see many of his players work out in the flesh.
It was an important first step back from the coronavirus-induced shutdown that suspended the MLS season March 12. But, Bradley added, it didn’t feel like normal.
“No, not really,” he said. “It’s great to see guys. Every player is excited just to get back on the field, put on their football shoes, get some touches, get some fitness.
“It’s a start. But that’s still a long way from the game.”
Souplantation’s buffet-style restaurants closing for good due to the coronvirus
Souplantation, the popular buffet-style dining brand founded in San Diego 42 years ago, is closing all of its restaurants permanently, a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic that is likely to be the death knell for all self-serve eateries.
The permanent shuttering of the 97 restaurants, including 44 in California, was announced Thursday following weeks of efforts to salvage San Diego-based Garden Fresh Restaurants, the parent company of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes. The closing will mean lost jobs for 4,400 employees.
“The FDA had previously put out recommendations that included discontinuing self-serve stations, like self-serve beverages in fast food, but they specifically talked about salad bars and buffets,” said John Haywood, CEO of Garden Fresh. “The regulations are understandable, but unfortunately, it makes it very difficult to reopen. And I’m not sure the health departments are ever going to allow it.
Masks will be required on L.A. Metro buses and trains starting Monday
After pushback from bus drivers and elected officials, Los Angeles County’s transit network — the busiest on the West Coast — will require all passengers to wear masks on board starting Monday.
For the first seven weeks of the coronavirus crisis, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority had balked at requiring masks, saying enforcing the rule on the vast system would not be practical.
The policy change follows criticism from Metro bus drivers, who said the lack of masks on board made them scared for their health and for the well-being of essential workers on board.
“We want our bus operators to know that we are listening to them,” Metro said in a statement on its website. Officials said they are “acutely aware that some employees have been on social media and telling the news media that this is a change they want.”
Gov. Newsom doesn’t see packed stadiums for sporting events any time soon
The NFL is releasing its 2020 schedule Thursday night. The Rams put suites on sale for their new stadium Thursday morning. Major League Baseball would like teams to play in their home ballparks at some point this summer.
This return to normality was forcefully challenged by California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday. Hours after the president of the New York Yankees talked about how fans would return to his stadium, Newsom said he did not envision fans packing any of the stadiums in his state in the months ahead.
“It’s difficult for me to imagine a stadium that’s filled until we have immunity, until we have a vaccine,” Newsom said at his daily news conference.
By that standard, the All-Star game at Dodger Stadium would not be played this season, at least not on its scheduled July 14 date, and the Dodgers, Angels, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics likely would not play before large home crowds this season, if they played at home. A league spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
San Francisco will allow certain businesses to reopen beginning May 18
San Francisco officials announced Thursday that certain retailers such as bookstores, florists and music stores will be the first stores allowed with operate storefront pickup beginning May 18.
The move marks a moderate step in easing stay-at-home restrictions. San Francisco has been more conservative than other California counties, which plan to reopen some businesses Friday based on new rules from Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“We have been hard at work to find ways to reopen more businesses and activities safely and responsibly,” said Mayor London Breed in a statement. “Giving businesses the option to reopen and provide storefront pickup will provide some relief for everyone in our city — allowing some people to get back to work, while still protecting public health. The last thing we want is to see a spike in the number of cases or hospitalizations, so we’re going to be keeping close track of our key COVID-19 indicators and will be ready to make any adjustment needed to keep our community healthy.”
California to reopen 25 DMV field offices on Friday
SACRAMENTO — Six weeks after closing field offices to the public because of the coronavirus, the California Department of Motor Vehicles will reopen 25 locations to people with appointments on Friday, including offices in Los Angeles, Inglewood, Glendale and Santa Ana.
The agency, which closed all 170 field offices to the public on March 27, will open others in the coming weeks in phases and will require customers to wear face coverings and remain six feet apart in line, officials announced Thursday.
The DMV will also limit the number of people allowed inside the buildings at any given time and will send text messages to people waiting outside to let them know when they can enter and be served. As a result, the DMV is warning of extended wait times.