Waves Of People Fleeing New York City Make Beach Towns Hot Destinations; Meat Plant Closures Cripple California Ranchers

The New York Times: As Summer Nears, The Hamptons Face A ‘Feeding Frenzy’
The Hamptons summer rental season, which traditionally runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day, got off to an unusually early and frantic start this spring. As New York City and the surrounding region closed down in response to the coronavirus, many residents fled to their weekend houses in the Hamptons or signed leases for properties there so they could shelter in place outside the metropolitan area. (Fischler, 5/13)

The New York Times: Manhattan Faces A Reckoning If Working From Home Becomes The Norm
Before the coronavirus crisis, three of New York City’s largest commercial tenants — Barclays, JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley — had tens of thousands of workers in towers across Manhattan. Now, as the city wrestles with when and how to reopen, executives at all three firms have decided that it is highly unlikely that all their workers will ever return to those buildings. The research firm Nielsen has arrived at a similar conclusion. Even after the crisis has passed, its 3,000 workers in the city will no longer need to be in the office full-time and can instead work from home most of the week. (Haag, 5/12)

Los Angeles Times: How Coronavirus Disrupted California Meat Plants
There’s no shortage of demand for beef.Prices are up. Grocery stores are limiting how much each customer can buy. Last week more than 1,000 Wendy’s restaurants ran out of hamburgers. There’s also no shortage of cattle earmarked to be turned into beef. But prices for those animals have dropped. Sales are down. At a recent livestock auction in the San Joaquin Valley, just a handful of buyers bothered to make an appearance. (Masunaga, Parvini and Rust, 5/12)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus: San Pedro Lawmaker Says Inmates Lack Protection
Days after a seventh inmate at the Terminal Island federal prison died from a coronavirus-related illness, a U.S. congresswoman emerged from the San Pedro lockup Tuesday saying she was disturbed by what see saw inside and that detainees are desperate for protective equipment. After touring the facility, Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán peeled off a suction cup mask, gown and protective visor that allowed her to step into isolation areas of one of the nation’s largest spread of the coronavirus and described inmates screaming for help. Many in the highly infectious units were supplied with just cloth masks. (Winton, 5/12)

The Wall Street Journal: New York City Police Arrest Over 100 People For Crimes Related To Coronavirus
Police made 125 arrests related to the coronavirus pandemic in New York City since the lockdown began, not including violations of social distancing rules, according to figures released by the New York Police Department. NYPD officials said Tuesday the crimes were categorized as Covid-19-related due to the circumstances of occurrence, remarks made by the person who was arrested at the time of the alleged crime or afterward, or statements made by a victim. (Chapman, 5/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont Ousts Public Health Commissioner
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont fired the state’s public health commissioner in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis after a series of disagreements in the past year, a state government official said. Renée Coleman-Mitchell will be replaced immediately by Deidre Gifford, who will continue in her role as commissioner of the state Department of Social Services while serving as the public health commissioner on an interim basis, Mr. Lamont said in a news release Tuesday. (De Avila, 5/12)

Kaiser Health News: Beyond The Glam: Feeding The Coachella Valley’s Most Vulnerable Residents
The Coachella Valley is perhaps best known for big-ticket attractions: its annual namesake music festival and tennis tournament in Indian Wells, and the swanky resort town of Palm Springs. But there’s a flip side to all that glam. Poverty is also endemic to the desert valley, which stretches for 45 miles in Riverside County. The median household income there is roughly $45,500, less than two-thirds the statewide median. (De Marco, 5/13)

Boston Globe: Pandemic Spawns New Spirit Of Collaboration For Boston’s Longtime Rival Hospitals 
During normal times, Boston’s big hospitals compete for doctors, patients, revenues, and prestige. But the pandemic has spawned a new spirit of cooperation among these longtime rivals. Hospitals have been sharing supplies, equipment, data, and even staff as they scramble to treat patients sick with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. (McCluskey, 5/12)

State House News Service: Lawmakers Want More Data From State Health Dept. On COVID-19 Cases 
The Senate on Monday approved a bill to step up daily COVID-19 reporting from the Department of Public Health after adding reporting requirements for state-licensed care facilities, gateway cities, and impacts inside state prisons and county jails. Under the bill, a redraft of legislation that passed the House three weeks ago, DPH would report daily data on resident and staff COVID-19 cases at facilities licensed by state agencies like DPH and the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, including long-term care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, and assisted living residences. The bill, if passed, would also require daily reports on the number of cases and fatalities among inmates and staff at all correctional facilities. (Doran, 5/12)

The Oklahoman: Hospitalizations Related To COVID-19 Down Dramatically In Oklahoma Since March
The number of Oklahomans hospitalized with COVID-19 related illnesses plummeted in the last six weeks even as hundreds more state residents tested positive for the disease. The steep decline in hospitalizations was accompanied by a significant drop in the number of people requiring intensive care. On Monday, there were 83 patients in ICU beds in Oklahoma with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19, down from 243 on April 1. (Casteel, 5/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: Alameda County Supes Approve $318 Million To Hire Additional Staffers At Santa Rita Jail 
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $318 million windfall to boost staffing at the embattled Santa Rita Jail over the next three years, in a plan that will fund more than 450 new positions at the sheriff’s office and the jail’s behavioral health team. The 3-2 vote came after a panel of independent experts deemed the jail and its mental-health services severely understaffed — a determination that was made as part of a class-action lawsuit against the jail. (Cassidy, 5/12)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Reserve Veterans Home Faces Grim Mortality Rate, But Not All Were Diagnosed Coronavirus Deaths
The state’s deadliest known cluster of coronavirus deaths to date has decimated the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Home in St. John the Baptist Parish, where COVID-19 has killed 28 residents – almost one of every five people who was living at the home when the first case was reported March 23. But that grim statistic doesn’t fully capture the toll at the state-run nursing home in Reserve. Since the pandemic started, 22 others have died there in cases that were not attributed to the virus, more than double what would be expected in normal times.  (Russell, 5/12)

Houston Chronicle: Houston A Bright Spot Amid Spiking Texas COVID-19 Numbers
As Texas confronts a huge spike this month in new coronavirus cases, the best glimmer of hope may be in Houston. One month after Texas Medical Center leaders proclaimed the area had begun flattening the COVID-19 curve, the rate at which disease spreads through the community, Harris and surrounding counties have firmly settled into a plateau, the number of new cases typically coming in at between 100 and 200 a day. That is a far cry from the 786 new cases the area reported April 9. (Ackerman and Dempsey, 5/12)

Boston Globe: Raimondo: Furloughs Likely For State Employees As R.I. Faces $800 Million Budget Crunch
Governor Gina M. Raimondo on Tuesday said she does not see a way to avoid furloughs and layoffs for state employees now that the pandemic has punched an $800 million hole in the state budget. ...The governor said she has held off on making such moves as the state takes stock of how much the coronavirus outbreak is choking off revenue and how much more federal funding it can expect. (Fitzpatrick and McGowan, 5/12)

WBUR: As Georgia Lifts Restrictions, Its Hospitals May Be Unready For A COVID-19 Surge
Georgia — one of the first states to reopen its economy — may not have enough hospital beds to treat a new wave of critically ill patients infected with the coronavirus, according to internal federal government documents obtained by the Center for Public Integrity. A slide prepared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for an interagency briefing last week said Georgia's intensive care unit beds were 79% full on May 6, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Whyte, 5/12)

WBUR: Healey Report Highlights COVID-19 Impact On Environmental Justice Communities
Communities of color have the highest rates of COVID-19 infection in Massachusetts. And according to a report released Tuesday by Attorney General Maura Healey, overcrowded housing, income inequality, underlying health conditions and institutional racism all play a role. Healey also singled out another culprit: air pollution. (Moran, 5/12)