As Cases Climb In California, Bay Area’s Nearly 7M Residents Directed To Shelter In Place
Vital businesses like grocery stores, banks and pharmacies will remain open. Even as states across the country ramp up their efforts to slow the spread of the virus, the directive remains one of the most extreme. California was one of the early states hit with the outbreak, and has nearly 300 confirmed cases in the Bay Area alone. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking additional drastic steps, such as asking the elderly to stay at home, but has not ordered a state-wide lock down.
The New York Times:
Shelter In Place: Some Residents In Bay Area Ordered To Stay Home
Across California, as the coronavirus marches through communities, life as everyone understands it in the Golden State is changing dramatically, hour by hour, minute by minute. The state has begun enacting extreme measures to halt the coronavirus outbreak. On Monday, seven counties around Silicon Valley, one of the hardest-hit areas in the nation, announced a shelter-at-home order that begins Tuesday, which Mayor Sam Liccardo of San Jose said was the strongest directive yet in the United States. Residents, including those living in San Francisco, were told not to go out for three weeks except to meet “essential needs.” (Arango, Fuller, Eligon and Dougherty, 3/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Orders ‘Shelter In Place,’ Only Essential Businesses Open In 6 Counties
Six Bay Area counties announced “shelter in place” orders for all residents on Monday — the strictest measure of its kind yet in the continental United States — directing everyone to stay inside their homes and away from others as much as possible for the next three weeks in a desperate move to curb the rapid spread of coronavirus across the region. The directive was set to begin at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and involves San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda counties — a combined population of more than 6.7 million. (Allday, 3/16)
CNN:
Almost 7 Million California Residents Ordered To Shelter In Place.
Other countries have been able to slow the virus infection rate "by implementing extreme measures that make people uncomfortable for the time being, but are necessary to get us to a better place," San Francisco Mayor London Breed told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. The city has put a number of initiatives in place to help those out of work or otherwise hurt by the lockdown, Breed said, including grants for small businesses and a philanthropic fund that the private sector has contributed millions of dollars to help employees. (Mossburg and Waldrop, 3/17)
Los Angeles Times:
How The Bay Area Coronavirus 'Shelter In Place' Order Works
Officials say slowing the spread of the virus is urgent to prevent hospitals from getting overwhelmed. Older adults and those with underlying medical conditions are most at risk for critical illness, with their bodies unable to fight off a viral infection of the lungs that can result in a failure to breathe on their own, septic shock and multiple organ failure. (Lin, 3/16)
Politico:
SF Bay Area Counties Require Nearly 7M Residents To Stay Home
Vital businesses like grocery stores, banks and pharmacies will remain open, San Francisco Mayor London Breed said, and indispensable government services will continue. While bars were slated to close at midnight, restaurants will still fill takeout orders. “These measures will be disruptive to day-to-day life but there is no need to panic,” Breed said at a Monday press conference. “Your garbage will be picked up, police officers will be out there on the front line.” (Colliver and White, 3/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Coronavirus Shutdown: Retailers Face Weeks-Long Closure
On Monday, Laurie Berliner, who sells hand-made hats at a shop called Madge & Me in San Anselmo, was getting ready to close for three weeks. She’ll still make hats during the temporary closure, but won’t sell to customers or operate her store. In San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, Christin Evans, co-owner of the Alembic bar, shuttered the pub and her other shop, the Booksmith, for three weeks, though the bookstore’s website will remain open for business. (Narayan and Li, 3/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Coronavirus Shutdown: What Older People And Their Loved Ones Need To Know
Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging all Californians over 65 to stay at home as much as possible, and that advice was hardened Monday with a shelter-in-place order in six Bay Area counties until April 7 telling everyone to stay inside except for essential outings. Those include travel for needs such as groceries, pharmacy items and health care.Here are some tips, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state Department of Public Health and other sources, on what older adults need to know during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Fagan, 3/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Coronavirus Shutdown: How Transit Is Working During Shelter-In-Place Order
Public transit in the Bay Area will remain operational, but only for essential travel, and riders are ordered to keep six feet apart.Non-essential travel “on foot, bicycle, scooter, automobile or public transit” is prohibited. (Ravani, 3/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Coronavirus Shutdown: How Life Will Change With New Shelter-In-Place Order
Six Bay Area counties are expected to demand residents shelter in place for the next three weeks as health officials scramble to keep coronavirus from spreading across the region.Here’s a quick look at what you need to know about the shelter-in-place order. (Fracassa, 3/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
SF Mayor: City Will Foot Businesses’ Bills For Coronavirus Sick Days
San Francisco will pay for five additional sick days for private-sector workers harmed by the new coronavirus as it expands relief efforts. Mayor London Breed is setting aside $10 million to help those financially strapped by the growing pandemic. (Cassidy and Li, 3/16)
Los Angeles Times:
Gov. Gavin Newsom Escalates Coronavirus Effort, Asks All California Restaurants And Theaters To Close
Citing the need to “align” the efforts of local and state officials to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Monday that all California restaurants should close their doors to dine-in customers and that gyms, health clubs and movie theaters should also shutter their operations. The announcement, made during a brief presentation on Facebook Live, represented an expansion of the state’s public health efforts and a reversal from just 24 hours earlier as to whether restaurants should curtail their operations. (Myers, 3/16)
Los Angeles Times:
Coronavirus Forces Sweeping, Radical Changes In California
Coronavirus cases in California continue to rise as officials turn to extraordinary steps to slow the spread. L.A. County officials announced the closure of all bars, fitness centers and movie theaters and directed restaurants to move to takeout only. The directive applies to all 88 cities and unincorporated regions of the county, including Los Angeles, which issued a similar directive Sunday. (Willon, Wigglesworth, Luna, Newberry and Shalby, 3/16)
Los Angeles Times:
Coronavirus: California Lawmakers OK $1 Billion For Response
California lawmakers approved a plan Monday to spend as much as $1 billion on the state’s emergency medical response as it readies hospitals to combat an expected onslaught of patients due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The proposals, drafted quickly in response to the rapid rise in confirmed cases of the virus, will provide needed funding to open two additional hospitals in California amid concern that the state does not have the capacity to care for a surge in patients. The bill appropriates $500 million for emergency response from the state’s general fund with an additional $500 million available if needed. (Gutierrez and Myers, 3/16)
Sacramento Bee:
California Asks Seniors To Isolate. How That Would Work
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recommendation that hospitals and nursing homes severely restrict visitors threw hundreds of thousands of California families into disarray and heartache Sunday. Newsom said his directive is an advisory, not an order, but he’s confident California hospitals, assisted-living facilities and others will follow the guidance to limit visitations in all cases except for “end-of-life” scenarios. (Sabalow and Kasler, 3/15)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Gov. Gavin Newsom Beefs Up Services For Seniors, A Day After Telling Them To Stay Home
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered state health and social service agencies to redirect services toward senior citizens and people with chronic health conditions — two populations that he’s told to stay home as the coronavirus spreads. The new executive order aims to put more staff in residential care and outpatient facilities, and to add programs that would serve seniors cloistering themselves at home. (Swan, 3/16)
Los Angeles Times:
LAPD Shifting More Cops To Street Patrol To Help With The Coronavirus
The Los Angeles Police Department will shift half the detectives working in its community stations to daily patrol in order to ensure public peace. Mayor Eric Garcetti made the announcement Monday evening, saying that the city’s detectives will start working on the streets to “help supplement our patrol officers.” (Winton and Smith, 3/16)
WBUR:
LA Superintendent Says District Needs To Continue Providing ‘Social Safety Net’ During COVID-19 Closure
In California, 51% of school districts are shut down — including all 900 campuses in the nation's second largest school district, Los Angeles Unified Schools. Superintendent Austin Beutner says schools will be closed for at least two weeks with no definitive date to reopen. ...Of the nearly 700,000 LAUSD students, 80% rely on free or reduced lunches and at least 18,000 are homeless. (Mosley, 3/16)
Modern Healthcare:
COVID-19 Treatment For Homeless Gets $1M From Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente has pledged $1 million toward efforts to prevent and treat COVID-19 cases among the nation's homeless population. The Oakland, Calif.-based health system on Monday partnered with the advocacy group National Health Care for the Homeless Council to fund at least four housing activist groups in California, Seattle and Portland, Ore. Those areas account for nearly half of all coronavirus cases in the U.S. and have some of the largest homeless populations in the country. (Johnson, 3/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Coronavirus Makes Homeless People Vulnerable Like Never Before
To be able to self-quarantine is a privilege, kind of like stocking up on groceries and singing a nursery rhyme while washing your hands. When you live on the streets, potable water is too precious to use on your hands. Michael Stein, a professor of health law, policy and management at Boston University, says we should have known something like this was coming. (Taylor Jr., 3/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Could Coronavirus Collide With Wildfire Season? California Is Preparing For It
Northern California may still be grappling with the novel coronavirus outbreak when it begins to face the more familiar threat of dangerous wildfires, and emergency officials are already contemplating that possibility. It’s not clear exactly how long the new virus will cause disruptions such as school closures, event cancellations and quarantines — or whether its spread will be abated by warmer weather, like the common cold and flu. (Morris, 3/16)
