Latest From California Healthline:

California Healthline Original Stories

  News Of The Day

As Cases And Death Totals Climb, Newsom Asks Defense Department To Deploy Hospital Ships To Help: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday evening said the state has asked the Department of Defense to deploy the Navy's Mercy hospital ship and two mobile hospitals to California to help care for the expected surge in hospitalizations of residents stricken by the novel coronavirus.

The governor said the state is working to expand the state's available hospital beds by roughly 20,000, the number needed if more than half of Californians come down with the coronavirus. Projections by state health officials have indicated that California hospitals could handle a surge — right now, statewide — of about 10,000 patients. The state also is in the process of procuring two hospitals that are currently nonoperational, one in Southern California and one in Northern California, along with leasing hotels and motels where coronavirus patients could be housed and treated.

On top of that, the state is worried that if the quick-moving virus hits the homeless population, that could be a tipping point with the hospitals: State models show that 60,000 homeless people could be hit by the novel coronavirus, with up to 20% of them needing hospitalization. Newsom on Wednesday announced $150 million in emergency funding to quickly move homeless people indoors.

Meanwhile, following a phone call with President Donald Trump, Newsom talked about having the "privilege of a conversation"—despite past tensions between the two leaders--and said the president promised more swabs to test for coronavirus. "We need more swabs. … The president assured me, not only assured me, he was aware of where those swabs are being procured before I even offered my own insight," Newsom said. "Not only is he on top of it, but they're securing and beginning the process of distributing those swabs."

Read more from the Sacramento Bee, the Los Angeles Times, CalMatters and the Bay Area News Group.

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

CalMatters: Where California Stands With Coronavirus Testing Right Now
Gov. Gavin Newsom says help is on the way to ramp up testing for the coronavirus, which has lagged nationally. So where are we now? Who can get tested for COVID-19, who should — and where exactly should you go? If you do get a test, will it be expensive? Here's what you need to know. (Becker and Ibarra, 3/18)

Los Angeles Times: These Coronavirus Patients Aren't Being Counted -- Or Tested
Due to a shortage of tests, many people identified by their doctors as probably or possibly stricken with COVID-19 are not being reported to authorities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reserved tests until recently for those who were severely ill and those with direct connections to afflicted regions or individuals, and the tests remain very difficult to obtain. For months, younger and healthier people who had symptoms of the virus have been told they don't qualify for a screening and sent home by medical professionals with varying advice about what precautions to take. (Ryan and Karlamangla, 3/19)

San Francisco Chronicle: Coronavirus Creates New Challenges For Bay Area Police, Firefighters
In some ways, being a police officer in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood hasn't changed a whole lot since the new coronavirus brought much of the city to a standstill.On many corners, drug dealers still sell deadly fentanyl and meth to a steady clientele. Officers from the Tenderloin police station still make arrests and use Narcan to revive addicts who overdose. (Dineen and Cassidy, 3/18)

CalMatters: 'This Is Like Having A Fire, Almost Every Day:' Bay Area Safety Net Agency Struggles To Keep Up Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
Sunnyvale Community Services, the city's largest safety-net agency, has been turned "upside down," organizers say, as coronavirus cases rise in the Bay Area and the region has ordered millions of residents to shelter in place. Already, the nonprofit has had to cancel its weekly produce distribution indefinitely due to volunteer shortages and has seen a surge in requests for financial aid from residents facing layoffs and reductions in their work hours. (Hellerstein, 3/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: With Confused State Guidance, Shuttered Schools Failing To Figure Out How To Teach
On Monday, San Francisco teacher Mark Rosenberg was trying to ramp up remote learning for his third-grade class — creating lesson plans for all subjects, translating assignments into two languages, putting them online and figuring out how to test students to see if they were learning the material. On Wednesday, all that was put on hold as district officials amended their message to teachers, telling them they couldn't require students to participate in any learning. At least for now. (Tucker, 3/18)

Los Angeles Times: LAUSD Packs 400,000 Meals, Prepares For Months Of 'Grab-And-Go'
One man wore plastic gloves and a face mask as he pulled up in a pickup to receive school-packed meals for his children. A woman with a preschooler at her side took her boxed meals through her car window and quickly drove away. Another woman said she was grateful to hear that the district was giving out milk. She couldn't find any the last time she went to a local market. (Blume and Xia, 3/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: The Order On Coronavirus May Be To Shelter In Place, But People Finding Excuses To Get Outside
The near total lockdown of the Bay Area is not particularly airtight, as anyone who has stepped outside for a hike, a jog, a trip to the dog park or grocery store has found out. There are people out there, sometimes a lot of people. That jarring discovery is being made by quite a few of the people disregarding shelter-in-place orders. That sneaky excursion into what was supposed to be a vacant, abandoned landscape consistently includes other individuals doing the same thing. (Fimrite and Ravani, 3/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: Don't Worry, Bay Area. Even Under Shelter-In-Place, You Can Still Get All The Wine You Need
Bay Area residents under shelter-in-place orders can rest assured that there's one nonessential item that they won't be forced to go without: wine. While wine shops, wineries and restaurants are shut down, many local businesses are continuing to offer alcohol delivery — and many are offering drastically reduced shipping rates as an incentive to keep revenue flowing during a time of economic uncertainty. (Mobley, 3/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: Coronavirus: Pence Said All Grand Princess Passengers In Quarantine Would Be Tested. Two-Thirds Of Them Said No
Despite assurances from Vice President Mike Pence that all Grand Princess cruise ship passengers quarantined at Travis Air Force Base would be tested for COVID-19, The Chronicle has learned that two-thirds of them have declined, often at the encouragement of federal health officials. As of Wednesday, 568 of the 858 passengers screened while confined turned down the test, a federal official familiar with the Travis quarantine and testing told The Chronicle. The low testing numbers align with what passengers were told by officials during a Tuesday afternoon teleconference, citing a 30% acceptance rate for the novel coronavirus test, several passengers told The Chronicle. (Gafni, 3/19)

Los Angeles Times: If I Become Infected With The Coronavirus, What Are My Odds Of Survival?
Left unchecked, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could infect billions of people. By one estimate, up to 70% of the world's population may contract the disease. That means there's an excellent chance that, sooner or later, you will be one of them. The World Health Organization said 14% of people known to have COVID-19 develop symptoms severe enough to require hospitalization and oxygen support. But calculating the odds of survival in the early stages of the pandemic is imprecise. (Pierson, 3/19)

Los Angeles Times: Blaming Coronavirus, Homeless Families Seize 12 Vacant Homes
A group of homeless and housing-insecure Angelenos seized more vacant, publicly owned homes in El Sereno on Wednesday, arguing that government officials have failed to provide the shelter that's necessary for them to remain healthy during the coronavirus pandemic. The occupation followed a similar takeover Saturday, when two families and a man moved into one of the neighborhood's dozens of empty homes — all owned by Caltrans. The state agency bought them years ago as part of a now-failed plan to extend the 710 Freeway. (Dillon, 3/18)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. To Add 6,000 Shelter Beds For Homeless Angelenos In Hopes Of Slowing Virus' Spread
Los Angeles will convert 42 of its recreation centers into temporary shelters for homeless residents, providing 6,000 new beds in an effort aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday. The city is looking in the initiative's first phase to open 1,600 shelter beds at 13 recreation centers by Monday, with beds provided by the American Red Cross, Garcetti said. (Zahniser, Nelson and Smith, 3/18)

Los Angeles Times: The New Coronavirus Has Claimed The Lives Of An Infant And A Teenager
Children are largely spared the worst effects of the coronavirus that has infected more than 200,000 people and killed nearly 9,000 around the world, two new studies confirm. But the first reports to document COVID-19 deaths in children make clear that those under 18 are neither immune from infection nor completely spared from becoming very sick. In China, the novel coronavirus has claimed the lives of a 10-month-old and a 14-year-old, at least. (Healy, 3/19)

San Francisco Chronicle: Sen. Kamala Harris 'Very Concerned' About Coronavirus And Wildfires
Sen. Kamala Harris is concerned that the federal government is not yet ready for the likely scenario of a natural disaster such as a catastrophic wildfire coinciding with the coronavirus pandemic. In an interview with The Chronicle on Wednesday, the junior Democratic senator from California said she had recently raised the issue with Peter Gaynor, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (Morris, 3/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: Tesla To Slash Workers Showing Up At Fremont Plant By Three-Quarters
Tesla, the Bay Area's largest manufacturer, has greatly reduced the number of workers coming to its Fremont assembly plant, though it's not clear if the cutbacks put it in full compliance with health orders Alameda County and five other Bay Area counties imposed Monday to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Of Tesla's 10,000-person workforce at the Fremont factory, roughly three-quarters are not showing up to work after the company said workers could take paid time off if they were ill or had concerns over the coronavirus. (DiFeliciantonio, 3/18)

Fresno Bee: As 'Essential' Industry, Farms Dodge Coronavirus Job Effects
Nervous consumers are stripping grocery store shelves bare of necessities such as bread, eggs, toilet paper and soap in response to the threat of coronavirus. A growing number of businesses are either closing or encouraging their employees to work from home and heed calls for "social distancing." For Fresno County's $7.9 billion agriculture industry, however, it's not that simple. Farming and food processing – hands-on industries in which workers cannot work remotely – have been deemed essential to the U.S. food supply chain during the coronavirus pandemic. (Sheehan, 3/19)

Sacramento Bee: CA DMV, Caltrans Employees Go To Work Despite Coronavirus
Many of the California state workers who reported to their offices Wednesday will have to keep showing up — whether or not their job is essential — under the latest guidance from Gov. Gavin Newsom. Workers have anticipated new direction from Newsom since Sunday, when he said it was coming Tuesday. They continued showing up at offices in Sacramento and the Bay Area even after local officials issued shelter-in-place directives. (Venteicher, 3/18)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Libraries Closing Through March, Workers To Be Paid
The Sacramento Public Library Authority voted Wednesday to close the region's 28 branch libraries for at least the next two weeks and to continue paying staff while library Director Rivkah Sass decides how best to deal with the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The libraries have been closed since Monday and the board voted to give Sass $450,000 in emergency funding to use, if needed, as the crisis continues. (Stanton, 3/18)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus: Sacramento CA Sheriff Releasing Some Inmates
Concerned about crowded conditions that may exacerbate a coronavirus crisis in the jail system, Sacramento County sheriff's officials began releasing non-violent inmates Tuesday night from jails. The releases so far amount only to a handful of inmates and only apply to individuals within 30 days of their scheduled release date, said Sgt. Tess Deterding, a spokeswoman for Sheriff Scott Jones. (Stanton and Smith, 3/18)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus CA: Yolo County Orders Shelter-In-Place
Yolo County is ordering its residents to shelter in place for nearly three weeks in an effort to slow the coronavirus pandemic. The county and its public health officer in a statement said the order, which "limits activity, travel and business functions to only the most essential needs," goes into effect Thursday and will last through at least April 7. Businesses not defined as essential must temporarily close. The order is a legal mandate and violation of it is a misdemeanor "punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both," the order states. (McGough, Bizjak and Yoon-Hendricks, 3/18)

Fresno Bee: Third Coronavirus, COVID-19 In Fresno County, California
A third case of the contagious coronavirus (COVID-19) in Fresno County was announced Wednesday evening by the Fresno County Department of Public Health. "This is a travel-related case and was not community acquired," county health officials said in a news release. "This individual is doing well and is isolating and recovering at home at this time." (George, 3/18)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus: 3 Cases At Elk Grove CA Senior Living Home
Three residents of an Elk Grove senior living facility have now tested positive for the new coronavirus, according to an email sent to family members obtained by The Sacramento Bee. The facility, Carlton Senior Living in Elk Grove, became a focus for health officials when a resident in her 90s contracted the disease and died. It was the first Sacramento County death tied to the new coronavirus and apparently the first confirmed case in a California senior facility. (Clift, 3/18)