California officials warn residents to stay indoors as number of cases climbs
With cases of coronavirus surging and the death toll surpassing 100, lawmakers are pleading with cooped-up Californians to spend a second weekend at home to slow the spread of infection.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday that the number of people hospitalized across the state spiked to more than 1,000, and that overnight the number of people admitted to intensive care units doubled from 200 to more than 400. He said the numbers are relatively modest in comparison to the 52,000 confirmed cases in New York, the U.S. epicenter of the outbreak, but the trend could lead to overstretched hospitals in California.
California could see conditions similar to New York, “if we stop practicing physical distancing … if we pull back from our stay-at-home policy … if we go back to our normal routines without bending the curve,” Newsom said while touring a Silicon Valley firm that is refurbishing outdated ventilators for hospitals.
The escalating crisis was underscored by an announcement Saturday that 12 elderly residents of a nursing facility in the Southern California desert city of Yucaipa tested positive for COVID-19. An 89-year-old woman who lived there died from the illness Thursday, according to San Bernardino County public health officials, who said they’re working to test an unspecified number of residents and employees at the facility.
“This outbreak is a signal to anyone in the county who is not taking this pandemic seriously and is resisting complying with public health orders and guidelines that the threat of COVID-19 is very real,” said Dr. Erin Gustafson, the acting county health officer.
Warnings resonate
It has been more than a week since Newsom issued the stay-at-home order for 40 million residents, restricting them from all but essential outside activities such as buying food and including only outdoor exercise such as walking or running near home that doesn’t put them within 6 feet of another person.
However, reports of people packing beaches and hiking trails prompted local governments, including in Sonoma County, to close recreation areas.
Los Angeles this weekend began a three-week shutdown of beaches, piers, beach bike paths and parking lots along with public trails, including one leading to the famous Hollywood sign. Golf courses, tennis courts and skate parks also were shuttered.
The warnings resonated at Venice Beach, which was nearly empty on a sunny Saturday except for a few souls walking by the water and cycling on the bike path. The scene was remarkably different from a week ago, when people packed the famous stretch of sand on the first weekend of the stay-at-home order.
In San Diego, the most popular beaches were blocked with yellow police tape and police were patrolling them to discourage people from congregating there. San Diego County sheriff’s deputies are stressing compliance with the state and county orders but spokesman Ricardo Lopez said scofflaws could face misdemeanor charges carrying a sentence of up to six months in jail.
Over 100 deaths in state
Johns Hopkins University tallied more than ?5,000 California cases Saturday, with at least ?112 deaths.
After a slow start, testing has accelerated rapidly, from about 27,000 on Tuesday to nearly 90,000 by Saturday.
In Los Angeles County - the nation’s most populous with more than 10 million residents - there were over 1,800 cases. Six new deaths were reported on Saturday, raising the county’s death toll to 32.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
Regina Olivas, 55, of Los Angeles knows the risks well. She is an operation supervisor at the Angeles Clinic, a noted cancer research and treatment center. Oncology patients can have weakened immune systems, which can make them more vulnerable to serious impacts of infection.
“I’m so inundated with it, I don’t even want to talk about when I go home,” she said of virus concerns. “I live and breathe it.”
Olivas also runs the Santa Monica Mountain Goats, a longtime running group that typically brings together about 30 people.
But in the wake of the outbreak, “we’re doing virtual runs,” said Olivas on Friday as she ran near her Porter Ranch home. “I’m having them run out wherever they want at 7:30 a.m., wherever they can, take a picture, post it. So we’re all running, we’re just not running together.”
“Distancing is what’s going to keep us healthy,” she said.
Fewer people in parks
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