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 News Of The Day

Newsom Recommends Events With More Than 250 People Be Postponed Or Canceled As State Tries To Slow Spread: Californians should cancel or postpone events with more than 250 people, while smaller gatherings should space people at least 6 feet apart to avoid spreading coronavirus, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and top health officials announced Wednesday night. Officials recommend organizers further limit gatherings of people for whom the virus presents a greater risk, including the elderly and chronically ill, to no more than 10 people. Newsom said Californians must cancel non-essential events like concerts to reduce strain on the health care system and save lives.

San Francisco and Oakland are also banning gatherings of more than 1,000 people to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The move follows Santa Clara County's similar directive Monday night and signaled that local governments are taking more aggressive measures. California had 190 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Wednesday afternoon.

Read more from Taryn Luna and John Myers of the Los Angeles Times; Sophia Bollag of the Sacramento Bee; Victoria Colliver and Debra Kahn of Politico; and Alexei Koseff and Dominic Fracassa of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Series Of Sports Cancellations, Two Celebrity Cases Help Drive Home Seriousness Of Coronavirus Threat: On Thursday the NBA suspended its season and President Donald Trump, who has downplayed the risk of the virus, imposed sweeping travel restrictions on visitors from Europe. An NBA player tested positive and actor Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson announced they are infected. In a matter of hours, some people went from describing COVID-19 as a politically motivated fuss to acknowledging it poses real risks. The transition is one that public health experts say must happen on a vast scale among older Americans and those with chronic illnesses. It is this demographic that is at the greatest risk for severe and even deadly responses to COVID-19. But, health officials say, it's been difficult to persuade older generations to comply as many of them resist such drastic measures. Read more from Melody Gutierrez, Anita Chabria, Soumya Karlamangla and Emily Baumaertner of the Los Angeles Times.

Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.

More News From Across The State

Coronavirus: Testing

San Francisco Chronicle: Drive-Through Coronavirus Testing Arrives In Bay Area, But Supplies Remain Tight
Kaiser Permanente began "drive-through" testing for coronavirus in San Francisco on Wednesday, and public and private health care providers across the Bay Area also ramped up screening efforts, but no one knows how widespread the virus is, public health and infectious disease experts said. It's impossible to say how many tests are done daily in the Bay Area, because counties and private providers aren't making that information public, in part because of patient privacy concerns. (Ravani and Allday, 3/11)

Sacramento Bee: California Coronavirus Effort Hampered By Lack Of Test Kits
Sacramento County's leading health official thought he had great news Sunday afternoon. After weeks of being constrained to conducting just 20 coronavirus tests a day, Dr. Peter Beilenson announced the county would dramatically expand the testing of sick people as early as Monday. "We will go from having the ability to test 20 people per day to potentially hundreds, if not thousands a day," Beilenson said at a downtown press conference. "Starting Monday, (private-sector companies) LabCorp and Quest will be offering lab testing for the coronavirus. … It turned out to be a premature hope. (Bizjak, Yoon-Hendricks, Bollag and Anderson, 3/11)

Sacramento Bee: California UC Hospitals Develop In-House Coronavirus Testing
Buoyed by early success treating coronavirus patients – and a fear that more are on the way – five University of California medical centers, including the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, are launching their own in-house testing for coronavirus, making the health system one of the first in the country to do so. UC Davis hospital officials said in a press statement Wednesday they have now successfully treated three of the first patients in the country to get the illness and intend to use what they have learned to help ease the national testing burden by doing their own work in-house. (Bizjak and Wiley, 3/11)

Bay Area News Group: Bay Area Community Colleges, School Districts Taking Different Approaches To Stem Spread Of Coronavirus
Colleges and school districts in the Bay Area are continuing attempts to stem the spread of coronavirus. West Valley College is suspending in-person classes in response to the "continuing threat" of COVID-19, though officials said they are unaware of any contact between staff, faculty or students with the virus. The same is happening in the Chabot-Las Positas community college district, where no cases have been confirmed. (Toledo, 3/11)

Coronavirus: Patients

Fresno Bee: Person Tests Positive For Coronavirus In Tulare County, CA
A person has tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Tulare County, the Tulare County Health and Human Service's Public Health Branch reported late Wednesday. It is believed to be Tulare County's the first documented case of coronavirus. The individual is in stable condition and it is believed that the virus was contracted out of the area, Tulare County Public Health Branch Officer Dr. Karen Haught said in a news release. (Galaviz, 3/12)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento CA School Teacher Tests Positive For Coronavirus
A temporary volunteer and substitute teacher who worked at Sutterville Elementary School in February has tested positive for coronavirus, which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19, the Sacramento City Unified School District said Wednesday night. The announcement was made as school districts and universities wrestle with trying to decide whether to suspend classes in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. (Ahumada and Morrar, 3/11)

Bay Area News Group: Coronavirus: Three New Cases Identified In Santa Clara County
Three new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Santa Clara County, bringing the total to 48, authorities announced Wednesday evening. In a brief statement, the county said it expects the number of coronavirus cases to grow and urged residents to follow public health guidelines, which include frequent hand washing and cleaning of high-touch surfaces. (Green, 3/12)

Coronavirus

CalMatters: California Families Scramble As Coronavirus Spreads
Government policy is one thing, real life another. What happens if your germ-carrying preschoolers suddenly pose a lethal threat to their elderly grandparents? What becomes of your teenagers' future if their education is disrupted, long-term? How protected are we if schools cancel class but kids then disperse to malls and bounce houses and movie theaters? (Aguilera and Lin, 3/11)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Means Fear And Isolation For Many Asian American Seniors
On church days, Willy Chang, 72, is skipping service, including steering clear of his usual after-service lunch spot, and is definitely not stopping at his neighborhood market in Alhambra for Asian pear and hot pot ingredients. Larry Dinh, 68, is spending fewer and fewer weekends at the packed Buddhist temple in Santa Ana where he and his friends have worshiped for decades. And Susie Hong, 66, is starting to mind her kids' advice to avoid the pingpong tables at a popular senior center in Monterey Park. (Do, 3/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: Worse Than 9/11: Coronavirus Slams SF Hospitality Industry; City Could Lose Tens Of Millions Of Dollars
The novel coronavirus has badly hurt business at San Francisco's hotels, along with airport traffic, city Controller Ben Rosenfield said Wednesday at a public hearing. Some downtown hotel occupancy rates have plunged to around 20% and 30% this week, down from a robust 80% to 85% occupancy rate, the controller said. The drop is driven by the loss of business, leisure and convention travel. (Li, 3/11)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus: California Cancels Visitations At Prisons
California's prison system is going to stop allowing the public to visit inmates as it tries to prevent the new coronavirus from infecting prisoners, guards and staff at its nearly 40 institutions. But prison officials will continue to allow certain inmates to continue to have "overnight stays" with their loved ones.So far, no inmates are known to be infected. (Sabalow and Stanton,3/11)

Fresno Bee: CIF To Make Ruling On Basketball Finals Due To Coronavirus
The California Interscholastic Federation will make a ruling Thursday morning on the status of the state basketball championships because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. "The California Interscholastic Federation is conferring with its Executive Officers and will be issuing a statement by 9 a.m., regarding the status of the remainder of the CIF State Championship Basketball Tournament," CIF Executive Director Ron Nocetti said in a news release. Sierra Pacific High girls basketball is one of the teams scheduled to play for a state title at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. (Galaviz, 3/11)

Fresno Bee: Coronavirus Fears Affect CA Basketball Tournament In Lemoore
The state junior college basketball tournament this weekend in Lemoore will be played without spectators because of the coronavirus outbreak. The California Community College Athletic Association made the decision Tuesday in collaboration with host West Hills College-Lemoore, West Hills Community College District leadership, the men's and women's basketball coaches' associations and recommendations from the Kings County Department of Public Health as the virus, also known as COVID-19, continues to spread around the world. (Galaviz, 3/10)

Sacramento Bee: Elk Grove CA District Seeks Waiver For Missed School Days
Elk Grove Unified announced on Wednesday that it will seek a waiver from the state for the five days of school students took off this week. If the waiver is approved, the district will not have to add an additional week of classes at the end of the school year to make up for the school closures. (Morrar, 3/11)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus: Sacramento State University Cancels Events
Sacramento State is canceling or postponing all "in-person events," but not classes, for the remainder of the school year out of concern for the growing coronavirus outbreak, the university announced Wednesday. Effective Thursday and lasting through at least the end of the spring semester in late May, all events must be canceled, postponed or "moved to a virtual format," Sacramento State tweeted. (McGough, 3/11)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus Slows Global Shipping. That's Bad For California
By disrupting worldwide cargo shipping, the coronavirus pandemic is creating major headaches for California's $50 billion-a-year farming industry. From rice to pistachios to oranges, farm exporters said they've been struggling to get their hands on empty cargo containers needed for shipping goods to international markets. (Kasler, 3/12)

Sacramento Bee: Elk Grove CA Residents Stay Calm Amid Coronavirus Concerns
Concerns about a potential outbreak of the novel coronavirus are mounting in the suburban city of Elk Grove, but many residents are working to maintain a sense of normalcy. Over the weekend and early this week, Elk Grove has emerged as a test case for how public officials can tamp down fears and manage a growing crisis as the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, spreads across the county and globe. In California, there are now at least 157 positive cases of the novel coronavirus, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday. (Yoon-Hendricks, 3/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: Here's Why SF Public Schools Will Remain Open Despite Calls From Some Parents To Close
Cases of the coronavirus will inevitably hit students and staff in San Francisco classrooms, but for now, all public schools will remain open across the city, officials said Wednesday. "After careful consideration and hours of consultation" and despite calls from parents to shut down to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the 132 schools serving 56,000 students in the district will remain open, said San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Vincent Matthews. (Tucker, 3/11)

The Bakersfield Californian: Summit Acknowledges Virus Threat But Plays Up Economic Opportunities
The hand sanitizer containers on every table said what most of the speakers at Wednesday's Kern County Economic Summit seemed to avoid: Nothing presents a greater challenge to the immediate health of the local economy than the coronavirus. On the same day the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, attendees at the 20th annual summit got a sense — but no firm prediction — of just how much trouble the virus may yet cause to U.S. businesses. (Cox, 3/12)

The Bakersfield Californian: ACLU Asks ICE To Release Mesa Verde Populations Vulnerable To Coronavirus
The spread of the new coronavirus has prompted the American Civil Liberties Union to request the parole of certain detainees at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center. In a letter sent Wednesday to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Mesa Verde's operator, GEO Group Inc., the ACLU Foundations of Southern California and Northern California urged the organizations to develop detailed plans to combat the potential spread of COVID-19 at the Bakersfield detainment facility. (Morgen, 3/11)

Coronavirus: National

The New York Times: U.S. To Suspend Most Travel From Europe As World Scrambles To Fight Pandemic
President Trump on Wednesday night blocked most visitors from continental Europe to the United States and vowed emergency aid to workers and small businesses as the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic, stock markets plunged further and millions of people cut themselves off from their regular lives. In a prime-time address from the Oval Office, Mr. Trump outlined a series of measures intended to tackle the virus and its economic impact as he sought to reassure Americans that he was taking the crisis seriously after previously playing down the scope of the outbreak. He said he would halt travelers from Europe other than Britain for 30 days and asked Congress to support measures like a payroll tax cut. (Baker, 3/11)

The New York Times: Democrats And White House Race To Strike Deal For Coronavirus Relief Package
The White House and Democrats rushed on Wednesday to reach agreement on emergency legislation to provide a first tranche of economic assistance to help Americans cope with the fast-moving coronavirus pandemic, with the hope of sending it to President Trump for his signature by the end of the week. As the White House and Democrats were divided over what a broader economic stimulus package should look like, the two parties were trying to coalesce around the idea of a narrower short-term bill, while deferring discussion over other economic measures until after Congress returns from a weeklong recess. The bill would focus on paid leave, enhanced unemployment insurance, food assistance and help for small businesses. (Stolberg, Tankersley and Rappeport, 3/11)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Has Become A Pandemic, W.H.O. Says
The spread of the coronavirus is now a pandemic, officials at the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. "We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O.'s director-general. Dr. Tedros called for countries to learn from one another's successes, act in unison and help protect one another against a common threat. (McNeil, 3/11)

The New York Times: How U.S. Hospitals Are Preparing For The Coronavirus Outbreak
As new coronavirus infections accumulate across America, hospitals want to make sure they have everything they need to keep staff safe. In China, where the virus was first discovered, protecting health care workers was a serious challenge. More than 3,300 nurses, doctors and other hospital staff members across the country were infected, many because of insufficient protective equipment. In the United States, some hospitals are already struggling with limited supplies, as health officials figure out the best way to protect workers. (Popovich and Parshina-Kottas, 3/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Lack Of Sick Time Worries Workers As Coronavirus Looms
Millions of American workers have no paid sick time, and millions more who do are wondering if they will have enough to cover a severe illness. While some of the country's biggest companies are adjusting their policies because of the coronavirus, there are still many employees who worry that falling ill will leave them in a precarious financial position. The incubation period for confirmed cases of coronavirus can be up to 14 days, a significant stretch of time to take off from work. Many hourly and blue-collar jobs offer no paid sick leave at all, and even in industries known for high salaries or union regulation not all workers are covered, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That means many workers may feel they have no choice but to come to work even when they are ill. (Dill, 3/11)

The Washington Post: A Seasonal Cycle To The Coronavirus Epidemic Is Possible, But It Is Unlikely To Disappear
As cases of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, rapidly increase in the United States and other parts of the world, epidemiologists and other researchers are urgently trying to learn more about the pathogen involved. One question that some virus specialists, and some meteorologists, are asking is whether there may be a seasonal aspect to this outbreak. In other words, is this more like the flu, which has a distinct winter peak in the United States and Europe and then ebbs for the spring and summer? Or is this here to stay at a high level of spread throughout the warm season? (Freedman and Samenow, 3/11)

The Associated Press: Tests Show New Virus Lives On Some Surfaces For Up To 3 Days
The new coronavirus can live in the air for several hours and on some surfaces for as long as two to three days, tests by U.S. government and other scientists have found. Their work, published Wednesday, doesn't prove that anyone has been infected through breathing it from the air or by touching contaminated surfaces, researchers stress. (3/11)

Los Angeles Times: Why You Should Stop Obsessing About Coronavirus News
It's 1 in the morning and you can't stop reading about the coronavirus. Maybe you want to know if you should cancel your trip to Hawaii over spring break or whether your kid's school will be closed, or how many people are likely to die. You look for answers on websites you trust, along with some you're not so sure about. And when you can't find conclusive information, you keep searching, clicking and reading. (Netburn, 3/11)