California Coronavirus Update
State braces for Coronavirus surge in week ahead
LOS ANGELES — Californians endured a weekend of stepped-up restrictions aimed at keeping them home as much as possible while hospitals and health officials scrambled Sunday to ready themselves for a week that could see the feared dramatic surge in Coronavirus cases.
Testing among the state’s 40 million residents has stepped up significantly after a slow start. Officials have warned the increase will bring with it a rapidly expanding number of cases. A tally by Johns Hopkins University found more than 5,700 cases statewide and more than 120 deaths.
California was stocking up on ventilators and fixing outdated ones in anticipation of a shortage at hospitals in the coming days. Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday that federal government sent 170 broken ventilators from the national stockpile. Engineers at Bloom Energy, a fuel cell maker in San Jose, were racing to refurbish the ventilators and have them sent to Southern California by today.
In Southern California, people were kept off beaches and hiking trails that normally would have been swamped with visitors during this sunny weekend. A stay-at-home order restricts people to 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 six feet of another person. Officials closed California’s 280 state parks to vehicular traffic on Sunday, citing overcrowding.
“We need all Angelenos to respect these orders, so we can slow the spread of COVID-19,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a tweet. “Do your part. Your city is counting on you. Lives depend on us staying safer at home.”
Meanwhile, cloudy, drizzly weather in Northern California may have led many to stick to the order. Those measures could be tested soon with dry, warm weather forecast for the coming week.
San Francisco’s subway and light rail system will be closed beginning today, with buses replacing light rail service. Rail ridership dropped by more than 90% when the city virtually came to a standstill.
The nearly 650 cases reported by officials in Santa Clara County — the epicenter of the Bay Area’s outbreak — on Sunday are more than double than the county had last week. Twenty-five people have died of COVID-19 in the county.
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.
Senior homes in Burbank and Yucaipa reported three deaths this weekend in potential outbreaks.
Vernon Robinson, a resident of the Alameda Care Center in Burbank, died Thursday in the hospital after his wife, Willa, said he had tested positive for COVID-19. The 81-year-old had Alzheimer’s disease and underlying heart and lung conditions.
“That’s not the way I wanted him to leave here,” Willa Robinson, 71, told The Associated Press. “He deserved more.”
LOS ANGELES — Californians endured a weekend of stepped-up restrictions aimed at keeping them home as much as possible while hospitals and health officials scrambled Sunday to ready themselves for
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