D.C. Has Hundreds Of Thousands Of Workers Who Keep The Country Running. What Happens If There’s A NYC-Like Outbreak?
Escalating infection numbers across the D.C, Maryland and Northern Virginia area could impede the government’s ability to deliver unemployment checks, small-business loans and safety-net services. Media outlets cover news on the outbreak out of Texas, California, Arizona, Louisiana, Texas, Nevada and Montana.
Politico:
D.C. Leaders Fear An Outbreak That Cripples The Country
Imagine New York City now, except with hundreds of thousands of federal workers tasked with running the nation’s response to coronavirus living there. That's where government officials and health experts across the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area fear the region is heading. The pandemic has gone easier on the capital than some other major metro areas, but it is about to hit hard, they say. And the scenario could have dangerous repercussions for the country, stifling the national response by federal employees on the front lines of fighting the virus. (Cadelago and McCaskill, 4/1)
The New York Times:
44 Texas Students Have Coronavirus After Spring Break Trip
Two weeks ago, amid the coronavirus pandemic, about 70 students from the University of Texas at Austin partied in Mexico on spring break. The students, all in their 20s, flew on a chartered plane to Cabo San Lucas, and some returned on separate commercial flights to Texas. Now, 44 of them have tested positive for the virus and are self-isolating. More students were monitored and tested on Wednesday, university officials said, after 28 initial positive tests. (Montgomery and Fernandez, 4/1)
CNN:
Spring Breakers From UT Austin Who Ignored Public Health Advice Test Positive For Coronavirus
Dozens of spring breakers from Texas boarded a plane for fun and came home with coronavirus. About 70 people in their 20s chartered a plane from Austin, Texas, to Mexico for spring break two weeks ago. They went against the advice of White House officials who asked that people avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 and nonessential air travel. Now 44 of those people have tested positive for coronavirus -- all of them University of Texas at Austin students, a university spokesman told CNN on Wednesday. (Zdanowicz, 4/1)
CNN:
US Coronavirus: California Governor Gavin Newsom Appeals To 11 States That Haven't Ordered Residents To Stay Home
Coronavirus deaths across the US have topped 5,000 and all but 11 states have issued sweeping orders for residents to stay home -- affecting nearly 90% of the country's population. "What are you waiting for? What more evidence do you need? If you think it's not going to happen to you, there are proof points all over the United States, all over the world," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. (Maxouris, 4/2)
Los Angeles Times:
Coronavirus: California May Face 5,000 Deaths A Week
California faces 5,000 coronavirus deaths a week if the state’s stay-at-home policies are relaxed too early, a health officer in the Bay Area said Tuesday. “Some of the modeling is predicting — at the peak — up to 5,000 deaths a week throughout California,” Dr. Chris Farnitano, health officer for Contra Costa County, told his Board of Supervisors. (Lin, 4/1)
Los Angeles Times:
California Coronavirus Cases Closing In On 10,000
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday advised the Department of Water and Power to shut off utilities to nonessential businesses violating the city’s order to close, he said at an evening news conference. The mayor’s order follows a crackdown from city prosecutors targeting businesses that have been deemed nonessential and yet have remained open for business and given more opportunities for the coronavirus to spread in Southern California. (Fry, Vives, Luna and Lin, 4/1)
Los Angeles Times:
Coronavirus Pandemic Photos: Southern California Scenes
These are some of the unusual new scenes across the Southland in the age of the coronavirus outbreak. (3/31)
Stateline:
Coronavirus And The States: Unaccompanied Minors Can Now Be Sent Home; Feds Relax Health Care Rules
As the COVID-19 crisis unfolds, the Trump administration has reversed long-established protections for children from Central America found alone at the border. Unaccompanied children caught at the border may now be sent back to their home countries, despite a long-established policy that they be turned over to host families in the United States during court proceedings, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection policy sent to Stateline. (Henderson, 4/1)
Propublica/Arizona Daily Star:
Intellectual Disability Service Providers Want To Protect Clients. The State Isn’t Telling Them How.
Christi Estrada has no idea when she’ll be able to visit her son again.John Estrada, 33, has autism. He lives in a government-funded group home in Tucson, Arizona. In mid-March, Christi received a call informing her that John’s house was quarantined because of fears of COVID-19. He was not allowed to go to a day program where he worked one-on-one with a care provider, participated in games, drew on his iPad and went hiking and bowling. Christi was barred from visiting. (Silverman, 4/2)
New Orleans Times-Picayune:
How Many People Could Die From Coronavirus In Louisiana By May? Models Say Hundreds To Thousands
The statistical models guiding the federal government response to the coronavirus crisis offer a grim outlook for Louisiana that’s in line with warnings from Gov. John Bel Edwards who has said the worst of the crisis is still to come.But in a disaster with no modern precedent in the U.S., the models — and the charts and graphs they generate about when coronavirus cases could peak — have been among the most critical tools for leaders as they try to understand what needs to be done. (Adelson, 4/1)
Houston Chronicle:
‘There’s More People Being Infected’: Houston Area’s Coronavirus Cases Rise Steeply Past 1,000
On March 4, authorities announced the first positive case of the new coronavirus in the Houston region. Case counts increased slowly; it took two more weeks for the area’s numbers to surpass 50. Then the daily increase started to pick up: The total number of cases passed 100 after two more days, neared 500 after another week, and, at month’s end, surpassed 1,000. Nine deaths were linked to the virus. (Foxhall and Hensley, 4/1)
Houston Chronicle:
Texas Shop Selling CBD Oil Challenges County Shutdown Order And Wins
A Central Texas city has reversed its position that a local store selling CBD oil and vaping products did not qualify as an essential business under restrictions intended to keep the COVID-19 virus from spreading. In an email sent Tuesday afternoon, the City of Beverly Hills, a small municipality surrounded by Waco, told Fatty’s Smoke Shop it could reopen so long as its clerks followed social distancing best practices. (Dexheimer, 4/2)
Las Vegas Review-Journal:
COVID-19 Could Kill More Than 900 People In Nevada, A New Model Touted By White House Shows
COVID-19 could kill more than 900 people in Nevada by August, with the daily death toll peaking at 19 on April 20, according to a new model forecasting the spread of the new coronavirus.Nevada’s peak use of hospital resources could occur a day later, the model predicted as of Wednesday. By then, Nevada’s hospitals would need about 1,000 more beds than they currently have, and 305 more beds in intensive care units. (Hynes and Davidson, 4/1)
Billings Gazette:
Billings Hospital's Emergency Director: Families Should Have A Plan For COVID-19
Families should consider how they could safely quarantine a person in the residence, or whether they need to go somewhere else. How would families provide food, medication and other essentials for their quarantined loved one? What happens if the infected person has to be hospitalized or needs medical care (Kordenbrock, 4/1)
