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Senators sold stock before steep market losses from virus
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) sold as much as $1.7 million in stocks just before the market dropped in February amid fears about the coronavirus epidemic.
Senate records show that Burr and his wife sold between roughly $600,000 and $1.7 million in more than 30 separate transactions in late January and mid-February, just before the market began to fall and as government health officials began to issue stark warnings about the effects of the virus. Several of the stocks were in companies that own hotels.
The stock sales were first reported by ProPublica and the Center for Responsive Politics. Most of them came on Feb. 13, just before Burr made a speech in North Carolina in which he predicted severe consequences from the virus, including closed schools and cutbacks in company travel, according to audio obtained by National Public Radio and released Thursday.
China exonerates doctor reprimanded for warning of virus
China has exonerated a doctor who was officially reprimanded for warning about the coronavirus outbreak and later died of the disease, a startling admission of error by the ruling Communist Party that generally bodes no challenges to its authority.
The party’s top disciplinary body said the police force in Wuhan had revoked its admonishment of Dr. Li Wenliang that had included a threat of arrest.
It also said a “solemn apology” had been issued to Li’s family and that two police officers, identified only by their surnames, had been issued “disciplinary punishments” for the original handling of the matter.
In death, Li became the face of simmering anger at the ruling Communist Party’s controls over information and complaints that officials lie about or hide disease outbreaks, industrial accidents, natural disasters and financial frauds, while punishing whistleblowers and independent journalists.
After seeing thousands of new cases daily at the peak of the city’s outbreak a month ago, Wuhan on Friday had its second consecutive day with no new confirmed or suspected cases.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom orders all Californians to stay at home
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered all Californians to stay at home, marking the first mandatory restrictions placed on the lives of all 40 million residents in the state’s fight against the novel coronavirus.
The governor’s order comes at a critical time in California, where 19 people died and another 958 have tested positive for the disease.
Officials hope telling people to remain in their homes and restrict social interactions will slow the spread of the virus and ultimately prevent hospitals from being overrun with sick patients. The request for all residents to quarantine at home marks the strongest escalation of the Newsom adminstration’s response to the virus.
Here is what is permitted and not under L.A. County’s new ‘Safer at Home’ order
Under the city’s order, officials said the following activities are permitted:
- Go to the grocery store
- Go to the pharmacy to pick up medications and other healthcare necessities
- Go to medical appointments (check with your doctor or provider first)
- Take a walk, ride your bike, and be in nature for exercise — just keep at least six feet between you and others in the community.
- Walk your pets and take them to the veterinarian if necessary
- Help someone to get necessary supplies.
This is not permitted:
- Go to work unless you are providing essential services as defined by this Order
- Visit friends and family if there is no urgent need
- Maintain less than 6 feet of distance from others when you go out, as possible
- Travel to or from a job outside the City, unless to perform essential activities
- Travel to or from a vacation home outside the City
- Visit loved ones in the hospital, nursing home, skilled nursing facility, or other residential care facility
These are considered essential services:
--City/County government services:
--Health care providers
--Food and grocery service
--Hardware stores and nurseries
--Plumbers, electricians, exterminators, custodial/janitorial workers, handyman services, funeral home workers and morticians, moving services, HVAC installers, carpenters, landscapers, gardeners, property managers, private security personnel and other service providers who provide services to maintain the safety, sanitation, and essential operation to properties and other essential activities
--Banks
--Organizations and businesses that provide food, shelter, and social services, and other necessities of life for economically disadvantaged or otherwise needy individuals, (including gang prevention and intervention and domestic violence agencies).
--Laundromats/laundry service
--Newspapers, magazines, television, radio, podcasts and other media services
--Educational institutions, including public and private K-12 schools, colleges, and universities -- for purposes of facilitating distance learning or performing essential functions provided that social distancing of six-feet per person is maintained to the greatest extent possible
L.A. County orders closure of indoor malls, shopping centers, non-essential retail businesses
In a new bid to slow the spread of coronavirus, Los Angeles County officials on Thursday announced a new order that requires all indoor malls, shopping centers, playgrounds and non-essential retail businesses to close and prohibits gathering in enclosed spaces of more than 10 people.
“We know this will have an impact on the social fabric of our communities. We still encourage individuals to stay connected to their community and their loved ones in creative ways, and to spend much-needed time outdoors,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger said in a statement. “We won’t have to maintain these restrictions forever, and they will have an invaluable long-term impact.”
Why we should learn to accept the coronavirus craziness
Thanks to the new coronavirus, our plans for the future, once so clear and reasonable, now seem hazy and improbable.
Who knows when our kids will go back to school, or when we will return to the office? Nobody can say how long dine-in restaurants will remain closed, or when we can finally meet friends for a much-needed drink.
And how long can we live with all this uncertainty and not lose our collective minds?
Life will return to normal, someday. But the end of this liminal time feels a long way off.
As home viewing surges in Europe, Netflix will take a load off the Internet
Netflix on Thursday said it would reduce its impact on European Internet traffic for 30 days, after a European Union official said a streaming surge caused by the coronavirus scare could strain the region’s Internet capacity.
Netflix said it would reduce its bit rates, or the bits per second, to transmit video streams onto screens.
“We estimate that this will reduce Netflix traffic on European networks by around 25% while also ensuring a good quality service for our members,” Netflix said in a statement.
2,500 ‘pop-up’ shelters, 3,500 hotel rooms to be used to isolate homeless people, others in San Francisco
San Francisco is adding 2,500 new shelter spaces for homeless people and identifying at least 3,500 hotel rooms to house people who need to be isolated as the city battles the coronavirus spread.
Many of the hotel rooms will go to those who live in single-occupancy hotels with shared bathrooms and kitchens, said Trent Rhorer, executive director of San Francisco’s Human Services Agency. The rooms are for people who test positive for the virus but don’t need a hospital and don’t have a place to self-isolate.
The city will open the 2,500 “pop up” shelters to ensure social distancing and isolate homeless individuals who have tested positive but do not require hospitalization.
Rhorer said the city was in the process of securing food and staffing for those in isolation.
More than half of Californians could become infected, Gov. Gavin Newsom says
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday asked Congress for $1 billion in federal funds to support the state’s medical response to the novel coronavirus, which he expects will infect more than half of all Californians.
The state projects that roughly 56% of Californians, or 25.5 million people, will be infected with the coronavirus over an eight week period, Newsom said in a letter sent to President Trump on Wednesday requesting the deployment of the USNS Mercy Hospital Ship to the port of Los Angeles through Sept. 1.
Amazon drivers say they received a single wipe to clean vans before a shift
When about two dozen Amazon.com Inc. delivery drivers reported for their shifts Tuesday morning on California’s Central Coast, their manager passed around a sleeve of disinfecting wipes. He said they could each take only one to clean their vans before starting their routes, according to three people present.
The drivers, who work for a company that has a delivery contract with Amazon, thought it was a joke at first. Upon realizing it wasn’t, they got busy figuring out how to use a tiny wipe to clean a van shared with other drivers and packed with boxes touched by untold others. One driver furiously scrubbed her scanner since she touches it frequently. Another wiped down his steering wheel and door handle.
“I felt so disposable,” said one of the drivers, who, like the others, requested anonymity for fear of losing her job. “We’re really worried, and one wipe for a van just doesn’t cut it.”
Still need hand sanitizer? L.A. perfume makers have some for you
As a COVID-19-driven scramble for alcohol-based hand sanitizers continues, four Los Angeles fragrance creators are hand-blending natural, aromatherapeutic solutions in elevated scents to help fill the void.
Make way for Granny: L.A. grocers go 65-plus in pre-dawn hours during coronavirus pandemic
As concerns over the coronavirus pandemic grow and lengthy lines snake outside grocery stores before the sun even comes up, many retailers have announced they are setting aside time for people 65 and older (at most stores) and other at-risk populations to do their shopping in a less-crowded environment.
MLB to pay minor league players a uniform per diem until the season starts
The minor leaguers are going to get paid.
After the Dodgers and several other teams had agreed to continue spring training living stipends for minor leaguers even after spring training had been called off, Major League Baseball announced Thursday that all minor leaguers would receive those allowances through April 8.
Furthermore, the league said in a statement it would work with teams to develop “an industry-wide plan for minor league player compensation from April 9 through the beginning of the coming season.” The minor league season was scheduled to start April 9.
Country music stars to perform intimate sets from home for CBS special
The Academy of Country Music Awards show was recently postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, but it turns out the performances will go on — in the comfort of everyone’s homes.
On Thursday, the academy announced “ACM Presents: Our Country,” a CBS television special that will feature at-home conversations and acoustic performances from country music stars. The program, which airs April 5 and will feature clips from former ACM celebrations, will replace the postponed awards show.
The performers have not yet been announced.
Carnival offers ships for use as hospitals
After being forced by the coronavirous outbreak to halt cruises on some of its most popular brands, Carnival Corp. said Thursday that it was making select cruise ships available to be used as temporary hospitals to ease the increasing demand on the healthcare system.
“Carnival Corporation and its brands are calling on governments and health authorities to consider using cruise chips as temporary healthcare facilities to treat non-COVID-19 patients, freeing up additional space and expanding capacity in land-based hospitals to treat cases of COVID-19,” the Miami-based company said in a statement.
Carnival said each ship could provide up to 1,000 hospital rooms and the on-board high-speed internet could be used to connect to remote patient monitoring devices.
In addition, Carnival said each ship could “have the ability to provide up to seven intensive care units in the ship’s medical center, equipped with central cardiac monitoring, ventilators and other key medical devices and capabilities.”
It is not clear if any government agency has taken up the offer by Carnival.
Some California cities suspending public records requests
Some local governments in California are halting responses to public records requests as they deal with staffing restrictions caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
Fresno suspended “immediate responses” to public records requests on Tuesday after the city declared a state of emergency, according to an email from the city attorney’s office. The city will resume responding to requests once the emergency declaration ends.
In the Bay Area, the city of San Leandro is closed to the public and only staffing “essential employees” because of a shelter-in-place order from Alameda County, according to an email from the city manager’s office. The city will need an additional 45 days to respond to records requests after the order is lifted, the email said.
And the city clerk’s office in Fremont told a journalist this week it would not be able to accept public records requests until its offices reopened following an emergency declaration there.
David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, said he had also heard of similar issues in the Northern California cities of Los Altos and Martinez.
“While I’m totally sympathetic to staffing and other issues cities may now be facing, and understand that slower responses to public records requests may be required, the fact remains that the California Public Records Act is still the law of the land,” Snyder said.
The coronavirus emergency makes the state’s open record law “more important now than it has been in a very long time,” he said.
“The public has a need and a right to see and understand the inner workings of their government, especially when that government is taking the extreme measures it is now taking. Government power is at its apex in a crisis, and so is the risk that the government will abuse that power. Transparency provides a crucial check on that possibility,” Synder said.
Most local governments in the state are still providing records and updates to requests from the public and media, Snyder said.
The Los Angeles Police Department is accepting and processing requests as usual, according to spokesman Josh Rubenstein.
Cannes Film Festival postponed due to coronavirus concerns
The 73rd Cannes Film Festival, which was scheduled to take place May 12-23 in the south of France, has been postponed, for now, due to the growing coronavirus crisis, festival organizers announced Thursday.
The news follows the March 9 announcement by the French government banning all gatherings of more than 1,000 people, as the country struggles to contain one of Europe’s largest outbreaks of the virus. Last year’s edition of Cannes brought in more than 12,000 attendees from around the world, and the festival’s largest venue, the Louis Lumière auditorium, holds 2,300 people.
Festival organizers said that a postponement of the event until the end of June or early July is being considered but will depend on how events unfold.
Disney to end internships early, sending 2,200 interns packing
When the Walt Disney Co. closed its theme parks in the U.S. recently because of the growing coronavirus outbreak, the media giant promised its workers they would continue to get paychecks through the end of March.
But more than 2,200 college students and recent graduates who enrolled in Disney’s internship programs at the Anaheim and Florida parks received a more abrupt message: The program is over. You have less than a week to move out of Disney housing.
Interns from throughout the world, participating in an internship that began in January and was scheduled to end in August, were notified Saturday that the program had ended and told they had until Thursday to move out of apartments arranged by the company.
How to have a Netflix Party: Instructions
Netflix Party is a free Google Chrome extension that allows users to synchronize viewing with friends and chat while watching together.
Requirements: The Google Chrome browser and a Netflix account.
Book chats, karaoke, long-distance seders: 10 ways to connect virtually with family and friends
It’s 10 a.m. and my 4-year-old races to the computer on our coffee table.
“Is it time for my music class, mama?” she asks hopefully.
“It is,” I say, smiling through the knot that has been tied in my stomach since last week when it started to become shockingly clear that nothing in our lives — in anyone’s lives — was going to be the same again for a long time.
I load up the computer, click on a link to YouTube live and enter “the Hootenanny,” a virtual music and movement class led by Lauren O’Brien and Matt Commerce, two entertainers with a small son, who this week launched a streaming lifeline for the nearly 80 families who have participated daily.
Governors nationwide request more resources from federal government
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, the chair of the National Governors Association, announced that later today, he will submit five requests to the president, vice president, and leaders in both houses of Congress on behalf of the nation’s governors:
(1) Dedicate at least 50 percent of supplemental funding to the states, including direct funding, and act quickly on waiver requests
(2) Increase access to PPE, masks, test kits, extraction kits, and accelerating the production of life-saving equipment, such as ventilators
(3) Support Title 32 authorization to give governors maximum flexibility for use of the National Guard
(4) Provide guidance on implementation of Defense Production Act to include what health and medical resources Secretary of Health and Human Services Azar is prioritizing under his new authority
(5) Allow more time and flexibility for completion of both the Census and the transition to REAL ID
Trump administration considering global travel limits for Americans
WASHINGTON —The Trump administration is expected to issue its strongest advisory on travel overseas Thursday, urging all Americans to refrain from international travel and encouraging those abroad to return home or take precautions in place to avoid infection with coronavirus.
President Trump, who has already partially closed the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico and barred entry of non-U.S. citizens flying from Europe, said in a briefing he was consulting with the State Department on how to execute the new restrictions.
A “level four” travel advisory urges no travel, usually to specific countries where there are wars, epidemics or other dangerous conditions. It’s not clear if global use of the advisory has been ordered in the past.
How do I make working from home work?
You’re probably already thinking: How many days deep are we into this thing?
Working from home may be a major adjustment for many, but the key to keeping sane is establishing a routine to build structure around the hours you’re staying inside.
Here are some tips from a few of our colleagues:
- You can avoid the grocery store (and take on a new hobby!) by re-creating pantry staples at home.
- And just because you’re working at home doesn’t mean you can’t define a serious home uniform.
- If you’ve canceled travel because of the coronavirus and are feeling bored, the Los Angeles Times’ Travel editor has tips on how to cope.
- Not sold on working from home? Here are a few reasons why it’s awesome (no commute = sleeping in more).
NBA tells teams to close training facilities by Friday
The NBA has instructed teams to shutter practice facilities by Friday as the league takes another step to intensify the fight against spreading the coronavirus.
The orders came in the latest memo to teams, according to people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
There have been seven confirmed cases of coronavirus in the NBA so far.
Metropolitan Opera furloughs all union employees and cancels the rest of its season
The Metropolitan Opera announced Thursday it was canceling the rest of its 2020-21 season amid the coronavirus pandemic and suspending the employment of union workers after March.
The Met is the largest performing arts organization in the country, with an annual operating budget of $308 million. Last week, the New York company canceled all shows through the end of the month — a move also made by Broadway theaters and other major cultural institutions across the country as large gatherings of people threatened to expand the reach of COVID-19.
Italian death toll overtakes China’s as virus spreads in Europe, Africa
The death toll in Italy from the coronavirus overtook China’s on Thursday in a stark illustration of how the outbreak has pivoted toward Europe and the United States.
Italy, with a population of 60 million, recorded at least 3,405 deaths, or roughly 150 more than in China — a country with a population over 20 times larger.
Senior shoppers and others at risk of coronavirus get special times at these stores
As concerns over the coronavirus pandemic grow and lengthy lines that resemble those for theme park rides snake their way outside grocery stores before the sun even comes up, many retailers have announced they are setting aside time for seniors (65 and up at most stores) and other at-risk populations to do their shopping in a less-crowded environment.
Republicans and White House continue hammering out stimulus package
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans and Democrats outlined competing ideas Thursday for what looked likely to be a $1-trillion stimulus package to limit the financial fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Conversations are currently underway behind closed doors, but it’s unclear how quickly an agreement will be reached, even as the economic damage spreads.
Republicans have been working closely with Trump administration officials on a plan for federally backed loans for small businesses that continue paying their workers, and direct payments to most taxpayers.
“Senate Republicans want to put cash in the hands of the American people,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). He said the money should go out “as rapidly as possible” and would be available to “the middle class on down,” although it’s unclear how much money would be distributed and how “middle class” would be defined.
Celebrities sing ‘Imagine.’ Eye-rolling ensues
You may say Gal Gadot is a dreamer for thinking a celebrity sing-along would help regular people feel better about a pandemic. But she’s not the only one.
On Wednesday, the “Wonder Woman” star enlisted a slew of her famous friends — including Will Ferrell, Natalie Portman, Zoë Kravitz and more — to film a tag-team cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” and shared it on Instagram to millions of followers.
The video, inspired by viral footage of self-quarantined Italians making music together from their balconies, features each of its all-star participants relaying the classic tune’s inspiring lyrics via selfie cam to one another.
Texas governor announces sweeping measures to combat the pandemic
On Friday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the state’s most sweeping restrictions to date to combat the spread of coronavirus, closing schools, gyms, dine-in bars and restaurants; restricting nursing home visits; and limiting public gatherings to no more than 10 people.
Abbott’s order is set to take effect at midnight Saturday and last until midnight April 3.
“It may be extended after that depending on the status of COVID-19 in Texas and the recommendations of the CDC,” he said during an afternoon briefing at the capitol building in Austin, where he appeared flanked by state leaders.
Abbott noted that his directive was not a shelter-in-place order, that Texans are still free to visit grocery stores and banks as necessary, but he urged them to stay in and for employers to allow them to work from home if possible.
Since Abbott declared a disaster in Texas last week, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased to 143, with three deaths. So far, 2,335 Texans have been tested.
On Friday, Texas health officials declared a public health disaster, a step Abbott said was last taken in 1901.
“We as a country must swiftly elevate our response to COVID-19,” Abbott said. “The more that people do to reduce their public contact, the sooner the ... disease will be contained.”
Trump says Japan hasn’t decided on holding Summer Olympics amid pandemic
Japanese leaders have yet to decide on holding the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to President Trump.
At a White House news conference on Thursday morning, Trump said he discussed the matter with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a conference call.
“That’s a big decision for him … it’s a tough situation,” Trump said to reporters. “He told us he has not made a decision as to what to do.”
The president’s comments came hours after a scaled-down ceremony at Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, where only a few people were permitted to watch Greek officials hand the Olympic flame to the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee in a traditional ceremony.
Italy’s death toll from the virus surpasses that of China
ROME — Italy has become the country with the most coronavirus-related deaths, surpassing China as it registered 3,405 who had died of the virus.
Italy reached the gruesome milestone on the same day the epicenter of the pandemic, Wuhan, China, recorded no new infections. Overall, China on Thursday counted 3,249 dead, 156 fewer than Italy, according to the Johns Hopkins University virus map.
Both Italy’s death toll and its new infections shot up again, adding 427 more dead and 5,322 more infections. Overall, Italy has recorded 41,035 infections, more than half of the world’s positive cases.
Italy’s healthcare system has been overwhelmed, and on Thursday a visiting Chinese Red Cross team criticized the failure of Italians to fully quarantine and take the national lockdown seriously.
Stuck inside? Go places with these music, movie, TV and book recommendations
Even if you’re not in a position to travel, the right tune can take you just about anywhere.
These 20, including compositions by Death Cab for Cutie, Johann Strauss, the Beatles and several that might surprise you, work for me. Let us know what you think by writing to us at [email protected].
LAX screenings are haphazard, travelers say
As thousands continue to pour into LAX, many international travelers have complained about haphazard health screenings, being required to stand or sit near others who have returned from countries with known outbreaks of the coronavirus, or not being screened at all.
Travelers who were identified as high-risk by the White House but were not screened have taken to social media to decry the process, expressing alarm over the fact that they were so easily able to slip through the cracks amid an extraordinary global health crisis.
Kitty Horowitz said she and her husband also weren’t screened when they arrived at LAX from London on Sunday. The couple had been vacationing in Europe since late February, and had visited Austria and Germany — both on the list of countries that fell under Trump’s order.
The coronavirus is changing life in California. These 20 photos show how
The Southland has taken extraordinary measures this week to stop dine-in restaurant eating, close gyms and movie theaters, and ban or limit gatherings to fight the spread of the coronavirus.
Most Southern California measures were not as stringent as those imposed in 10 counties in the Bay Area and Central California, which asked residents to shelter in place and stay home as much as possible in the coming weeks.
The coronavirus outbreak has killed 17 people across California, including three people in the Coachella Valley in Riverside County — all over the age of 70, with two of them having underlying health conditions — and one person in Los Angeles County, a non-California resident in her 60s with underlying health issues.
Here’s a visual look at how life has changed in the Southland.
With these six art books, you needn’t distance yourself from beauty
With the coronavirus lockdown in effect and theaters, museums and galleries temporarily shuttered, it’s harder than ever to experience art in the most vital and old-fashioned way: face to face.
Luckily there’s a backstop in art books; usually deployed as coffee-table souvenirs, now they can salve your deep museum FOMO. I like to think of it as “visual meditation.” (Or, if you’re 7 years old, it’s looking at a picture book, but meditation sounds more sophisticated, doesn’t it?)
Taking 30 minutes to flip through evocative or layered images can result in a transporting experience, a renewable antidote to cabin fever (or actual fever). Think of it as self-care for the artistically inclined.
Amid restrictions, funerals are canceled or live-streamed
As her father lay dying of congestive heart failure this month, Mary Jo Dixon asked what kind of funeral he wanted.
Glenn Wilson, 78, asked for old-fashioned hymns. “In the Garden” sung by Andy Griffith. “The Old Rugged Cross” by Alan Jackson. Please finish the service, he requested, with “Amazing Grace.”
His Baptist pastor would officiate. He did not want to be cremated. He had already paid for a cemetery plot.
Less freeway traffic means more speeding, and that worries the CHP
With the majority of Californians being urged to stay home as much as possible amid the coronavirus outbreak, life is changing rapidly across the state.
Many places are less crowded, including the notoriously clogged freeways. Traffic conditions are so light, in fact, speeding during rush hour is now possible.
On the other hand, some locations are far more crowded. Try getting into to your local Costco at opening time, for example.
Here are some scenes from Southern California over the last day:
Prince Albert II of Monaco tests positive
The palace of Monaco says Prince Albert II has tested positive for the coronavirus but says there’s little concern for his health.
In a statement, the palace says the 62-year-old is being treated by doctors from the Princess Grace Hospital, named after his mother, who before becoming princess of Monaco was U.S. actress Grace Kelly.
Albert plans to continue working from his home office in the palace.
This is a tough time for those in the restaurant industry. Here are some resources
The people who work in restaurants — owners, operators and food-service workers alike — are trying to figure out what to do now that the coronavirus pandemic has upended their businesses. We have a list of restaurants that are still doing takeout, as well as a list of resources if you’re a food-service or other worker who’s been laid off or had your hours cut.
The mayor has ordered all bars, wineries and tasting rooms to close down, and all restaurants to convert to takeout, delivery and curbside only. Chefs are scrambling to reinvent their sit-down locations to try to stay afloat.
They’re getting creative: At Guerrilla Tacos downtown, $150 will get you an Emergency Taco Kit that includes 10 pounds of meat, two pints of salsa, 30 eggs, and four rolls of toilet paper. (Place your order here.) Antico in Larchmont is now a pick-up-only pop-up called Focacceria & Ice Cream. The Historic Filipinotown restaurant Porridge + Puffs will be a “collaborative provision shop,” set to open Thursday. All Day Baby in Silver Lake organized a one-day fire sale to offload inventory. Here’s our running list of L.A. restaurants offering takeout and delivery right now.
Many places will be forced to close, temporarily or permanently. And that means potentially thousands of people will suddenly have no source of income. We’ve collected some resources for you if you’re one of them:
The Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group for restaurant operators and workers, has created a list of resources for restaurants and workers coping with the COVID-19 crisis. The One Fair Wage Campaign has started a relief fund for restaurant and gig workers affected by the crisis in states where it has active campaigns. The California Restaurant Assn. Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the state’s restaurant workforce through educational grants, has an emergency loan program called Restaurant Cares to help restaurant workers cover basic living expenses. (If you’re not affected by the pandemic and want to help, you can donate to the RWCF’s emergency relief fund, and to the One Fair Wage Campaign relief fund.)
If your employer has reduced your hours or shut down operations due to COVID-19 — whether you work in a restaurant or somewhere else — you may be eligible to receive unemployment benefits from $40 to $450 a week. You can file a claim with California’s Employment Development Department. Apply for public assistance programs such as CalFresh, Medi-Cal or CalWorks online on the California benefits website.
Undocumented labor has been a large part of the U.S. food service industry. The Los Angeles County Bar Assn.’s Immigration Legal Assistance Project provides legal aid and counseling for a nominal fee. Community Legal Aid SoCal has a hotline providing low-cost evaluation, advice and counsel for low-income residents of Southern California.
Small-business owners, including restaurateurs, may be able to get some relief as well: The U.S. Small Business Administration announced March 12 that it would provide disaster assistance loans for small businesses affected by COVID-19.
With schools closed, LAUSD is offering free meals at 60 sites across the region
California public schools will probably remain closed for the remainder of the academic year, Gov. Gavin Newsom said this week, a move that affects 6.1 million students and their families statewide.
“Don’t anticipate schools are going to open up in a week. Please don’t anticipate in a few weeks,” Newsom warned. “I would plan, and assume, that it’s unlikely that many of these schools — few, if any — will open before the summer break.”
The Los Angeles Unified School District has set up 60 “grab-and-go” sites across the region for low-income students and their families to pick up food. Volunteers will provide up to two packaged meals per person between 7 and 10 a.m.
L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner said no one would be turned away, whether or not they have a connection to the school system.
“Our intent is to serve children, but if adults ask, we will offer and we’re going to serve those in need,” Beutner said. “These are not ordinary days. ... Our goal is to help as many as we can.”
With coronavirus cases increasing, more than 8 million Californians are now living under shelter-in-place orders.
Can voting by mail save the November election?
WASHINGTON — As states scramble to postpone presidential primaries, election workers abandon their posts, and voters worry about the risk of contagion in crowded polling places, the question of how the nation is going to pull off a general election in November has generated increasing anxiety.
Some states are much better prepared than others.
In a significant swath of the nation, however, most voters still lack the one viable option for casting ballots that doesn’t put their health at risk in a time of pandemic: voting by mail.
Watch live: White House holds update briefing
The ultimate guide to hanging out virtually with your friends
Staying socially isolated doesn’t mean you have to cancel your social plans. You just need to adjust them a bit.
If you have a webcam and an internet connection, you can still host dinner parties, happy hours, game nights, karaoke sessions and more. We have some technical advice for ways to get set up and share your screen — and then some ideas for what to do.
Before you begin, know to expect some technical difficulties. Try to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. Most of us aren’t video-conferencing pros. (Here’s some advice about how to set up your laptop and physical space for an optimal video experience.) It’s likely going to take a little trial and error to get set up the first time.
Once you’re ready to go, here’s how to get started.
Can strain strengthen neighborhood bonds during the coronavirus crisis?
It was billed as “solid practical advice from Stanford” for handling the coronavirus when it showed up in my inbox last week:
Take a deep breath every morning and hold it for 10 seconds. If you don’t cough or feel discomfort that “proves there is no Fibrosis in the lungs,” which means you’re “basically” infection-free.
That was followed by: “Serious excellent advice by Japanese doctors treating COVID-19”:
Take a few sips of water every 15 minutes. Because even if the virus gets into your mouth, drinking water will wash it down through your throat and into the stomach, where your stomach acid will kill all the virus.
Column: When cabin fever strikes, I try board games and an icy ‘quarantini’
Irish as a boiled carrot, I always celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in my usual way, hollering Yeats’ “The Wild Swans at Coole” on street corners and small social gatherings of doctors and deadbeats.
I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,And now my heart is sore …
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,Trod with a lighter tread.
In my own peculiar way, I am keeping the Irish Literary Revival alive. I’m also testing my lungs for all the obvious things.
What small businesses need to know about L.A.’s new emergency microloans
The coronavirus has thrown the economy and especially small businesses into crisis, with restaurants, shops and beauty salons among the enterprises sending workers home as customers vanish. In response, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has announced an emergency loan program to put $5,000 to $20,000 into the hands of desperate owners within a few weeks if not sooner.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and the whole purpose is to help these businesses at a very difficult time,” said Caroyln Hull, general manager of the Economic and Workforce Development Department, which is running the lending program.
The $11-million loan fund is expected to serve 550 to 2,500 businesses, depending on the mix of applicants, which have at least one employee and in the retail sector can have as many as 500. The loans come with no to low interest and there is no application fee. However, applicants must meet basic underwriting criteria.
Here’s what applicants need to know:
US pauses Afghanistan deployments, isolates arrivals there
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military says it is pausing the movement of any new troops into Afghanistan and is quarantining 1,500 troops and civilians who recently arrived in order to protect them from the coronavirus, the top commander in the country said Thursday.
Troops who are already in the country may have their deployments extended so missions can continue.
The announcement comes as the U.S. is reducing its troops presence in Afghanistan as part of the peace deal signed last month between the Taliban and the United States.
In a tweet, Army Gen. Scott Miller said the military has started new screening procedures for personnel arriving in the country. About 1,500 service members, civilians and contractors who have gone to Afghanistan from various countries in the past week are living in screening facilities.
Miller said most are either new deployments or people returning from leave and they are being quarantined “out of an abundance of caution, not because they are sick.” He added that the U.S.-led coalition is also limiting access to critical personnel and bases.
So far, 21 U.S. and coalition personnel exhibiting flu-like symptoms are in isolation and receiving medical care.
For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. In Afghanistan, 22 people have been diagnosed and no deaths have been reported.
Sierra ski towns ask travelers: Please stay away
Sierra ski towns should be booming right now. Snowfall in March brought some of the best conditions of the season. Instead, chairs were stilled at resorts from Lake Tahoe to Mammoth Mountain because of the coronavirus crisis. Now nearby towns are asking travelers to stay away.
“It would be irresponsible of us to encourage anyone to come to our town,” says Coleen Dalton, director of tourism for Truckee, the California town near Tahoe’s ski resorts. “Never in my career would I ever think I would be making that statement.”
UK supermarkets impose limits amid panic buying
LONDON — British supermarkets have brought in measures to control the coronavirus-induced panic-buying that’s seen many of their shelves emptied and elderly and vulnerable people often unable to get the products they need.
Tesco, Britain’s largest supermarket chain, is limiting customers to three items each across its entire product range. And Sainsbury’s reserved the first hour of trading in its stores Thursday for elderly and vulnerable customers.
Jim Gibson, 72, from southeast London, was one who took up that invite from Sainsbury’s chief executive Mike Coupe at his local store.
He said the experience was “relatively trauma-free” even though it was evident that many people under 70 hadn’t taken the CEO’s words to heart.
Most of the products he was looking for were there, though many tinned items were “leaping off the shelves” and he couldn’t get the medicines that he and his 73-year-old wife wanted.
Gibson understands the restrictions being imposed and the likely tougher ones to come, but he wants to impress on the British government the need for mass testing.
“You can’t go on ignoring World Health Organization guidelines,” he said. “If they’re wrong, who the hell is right? And their thing is test, test, test.”
At the Santa Monica Farmers Market, vendors and customers adjust to a new normal
In some ways, it felt like business as usual at the Santa Monica Farmers Market on Wednesday.
Parsnips, carrots and heirloom potatoes crowded tables at Weiser Family Farms. A scattering of shoppers wore masks; others wore bandannas over their faces.
Fragrant kumquats and mandarins from Garcia Organic Farms resembled vivid orange gemstones. All the vendors wore disposable gloves; some stands erected improvised barriers to distance sellers from buyers.
Stock markets subdued after more central bank support
BANGKOK —Stock markets were largely subdued Thursday after days of massive volatility, as investors digested new financial support measures, including the European Central Bank’s promise to funnel $817 billion into financial markets.
Market sentiment appeared fragile as investors rushed to convert holdings to cash, bracing for a prolonged coronavirus-induced recession.
Businesses are sheltering in place. How long can the economy survive that?
We’ve all seen the unsettling images of what happens when the economy goes haywire.
Bread lines, farmers abandoning the Dust Bowl, drivers cued up to fill their gas tanks, houses with foreclosure notices pounded into their front lawns.
Add to that a rush-hour view of an L.A. freeway, typically jammed with commuters, but now more like a Sunday morning due to a virus that has wrecked the once booming U.S economy just two months after the first confirmed domestic case.
Commentary: Echo Park is different now. Here’s what I saw on my walk
Yes, the world is different. But there’s still water in Echo Park Lake, still a tall fountain in the middle, still a pleasant path that wraps around the water. So I went for a walk on Wednesday, as I’m trying to do every day.
The lake’s dozens of white, swan-shaped paddle boats are locked up and the cafe is closed, but plenty of people are using the park. Runners. Anglers. Families with little kids. And lots of ice cream vendors.
I asked one how much he was selling.
“Very little,” he said. “Maybe later...”
How power companies are keeping your lights on during the pandemic
The American power grid has been described as the world’s biggest machine — and the people who run that machine say they’re prepared to keep the lights on as the coronavirus pandemic spreads.
Disaster planning is baked into the DNA of electric and gas utilities, which regularly deal with hurricanes, earthquakes, cyberattacks and other disruptions that threaten to disable critical infrastructure.
That doesn’t mean responding to COVID-19 will be easy. But it does mean utilities have plans in place to keep supplying reliable electricity and gas while the crisis plays out.
Schools are closed, but learning must go on. How is this working for the neediest students?
In a webcast to more than 7,500 school district officials and educators across California on Wednesday, the message was clear: Campuses are closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but school and learning are still in session.
“While we are in very unique circumstances at this time, we are still providing education to our students,” State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said. “School is not out, but we are finding a different way to deliver it.”
Nearly all schools across the state have shut down, and many school districts announced weeks-long closures. But Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday evening said schools were likely to remain closed even longer — perhaps for the remainder of the academic school year, a disruption to the education of 6.1 million students.
The coronavirus pandemic 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.
From the pandemic’s early days, children have largely been onlookers to the morbidity and mortality. They are thought to be widely infected but rarely ill, and the role they play in spreading the virus is not yet understood.
The infant’s death was revealed Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The baby had been suffering from an unrelated condition, a bowel blockage, and was said to have experienced multiple organ failure over four weeks before succumbing to the virus.
Think the most isolated corners of the U.S. are safe from coronavirus? Think again
The Lyman Eagles had just walloped the Newcastle Dogies 46-34 in the first game of the Wyoming state high school basketball championships. The girls exchanged high-fives at center court. And then an announcement boomed out.
Because of the coronavirus, all fans, parents, cheerleaders and media would be banned from the Casper Events Center bleachers for the rest of the three-day tournament. The Eagles — who had driven nearly 300 sagebrush-filled miles from Lyman, Wyo., population 2,067 — headed to the locker room in tears.
Fifteen minutes later, the voice was back, this time with even worse news. The 2020 state basketball tournament, which had barely begun, was over for good.
“We were just kind of all shocked,” said sophomore Brice Hansen, 16, who had scored nearly a quarter of her winning team’s points in the March 12 game. The pandemic and its awful effects, she added, “just felt so far away, and then, all of a sudden, it was affecting us. It kind of went from zero to 100 in, like, a day.”
Even isolation could keep the coronavirus at bay for only so long.
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 would 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.
The disease’s fatality rate, which compares the number of people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 to the number of people who have died from it, has fluctuated between 0.9% and 3.4% depending on the latest available data. None of them are truly accurate, however, since health officials have no idea how many people have been infected but weren’t sick enough to warrant medical attention and be counted.
“The full burden of disease is not understood until there is time to breathe and analyze the data,” said Gene Olinger, an immunologist with the Maryland-based scientific institute MRIGlobal.
Italy on track to surpass China’s virus deaths
Italy is on track to surpass China in the number of coronavirus-related deaths, a gruesome milestone that is being blamed on the country’s large elderly population, its overwhelmed healthcare system and the delay in ordering a complete lockdown in the virus’ epicenter, Lombardy.
Italy registered 2,978 deaths on Wednesday after another 475 people died. Given that Italy has been averaging more than 350 deaths since March 15, it is likely to overtake China’s 3,249 dead when Thursday’s figures are released.
U.N. and Italian health authorities have cited a variety of reasons for Italy’s high toll, key among them its large population of older citizens, who are particularly susceptible to developing serious complications from the virus. Italy has the world’s second-oldest population after Japan’s and the vast majority of Italy’s dead — 87% — were over age 70.
In addition, virtually all of Italy’s dead had one or more underlying medical condition, such as diabetes, cancer, hypertension or renal insufficiency.
Iran’s supreme leader reportedly will pardon 10,000 more prisoners to combat virus
Iran’s top leader will pardon 10,000 more prisoners in an apparent effort to combat the coronavirus, state TV reported Thursday.
As part of steps to curb the spread of the virus that has killed more than 1,100 people in Iran, the country has already released 85,000 prisoners on temporary leave.
The Middle East has some 20,000 cases of the coronavirus, with most in Iran or originating from Iran.
State TV quoted judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili as saying that 10,000 prisoners — among them an unknown number of inmates whose cases are political and related to activism or speech — would be granted amnesty under a decree by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the occasion of the new year, called Nowruz.
Occasionally Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, pardons prisoners. Last year, he pardoned more than 50,000 on the 40th anniversary of 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Western nations have urged Iran to release dual nationals and others, alleging they are used as bargaining chips in negotiations.
Among those temporarily freed was Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian-British dual national long held on internationally criticized charges. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the charitable Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested in 2016 on charges of trying to topple the government while traveling with her toddler daughter.
Wuhan, China, reports no new virus cases, offering hope to world
Last month, Wuhan was overwhelmed with thousands of new cases of coronavirus each day, but in a dramatic development that underscores just how much the outbreak has pivoted toward Europe and the United States, Chinese authorities said Thursday that the city and it’s surrounding province had no new cases to report.
The news offered a glimmer of hope for the rest of the world as it battles the virus, and perhaps a lesson in the strict measures needed to halt its spread. It came as President Trump likened the fight to “a war” and invoked emergency authority to marshal industry to deal with the pandemic.
Wuhan was where the outbreak first took hold, and thousands once lay sick in hurriedly constructed hospitals. But Chinese authorities said Thursday that all 34 new cases recorded over the previous day had been imported from abroad.
“Today we have seen the dawn after so many days of hard effort,” said Jiao Yahui, a senior inspector of the national health commission.
Citing coronavirus, homeless families seize 12 vacant homes in L.A.: ‘We have to do this’
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.
The protesters have taken over 12 homes and plan to remain in the properties indefinitely, organizers said.
UCLA seniors ‘devastated’ as campus cancels traditional graduation ceremonies
UCLA will cancel traditional graduation ceremonies and hold them remotely to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Chancellor Gene Block announced Wednesday.
“As we all work to limit the spread of COVID-19, it has become increasingly clear that we will not be able to gather in person for spring 2020 commencement ceremonies, so the College commencement, doctoral hooding ceremony and all campus graduation ceremonies will be adapted to be virtual events,” Block said in a message to the campus community.
The announcement devastated many seniors, who said they feel robbed of the joyous capstone to their college journey. Already, students are circulating at least three petitions signed by thousands of people urging UCLA officials to reverse what they regard as a premature decision, said Victoria Solkovits, a student leader and senior majoring in political science and human biology and society.
At Stanford and other private colleges, coronavirus is forcing thousands to evacuate
At 5 p.m. Wednesday, hundreds of students were forced to leave Stanford University, an effort by one of California’s most prestigious academic institutions to stem the coronavirus outbreak and adhere to Santa Clara County rules banning gatherings of more than 50 people.
Universities across California and the United States are taking similar precautions, creating hardships for students who are homeless, don’t have safe places to shelter or have immunocompromised relatives at home.
On Tuesday evening, the University of San Diego told residential students to move out of their dorms by late Wednesday, four days ahead of schedule. “To date, only 1,100 of our 2,600 students in our residence halls have relocated,” the private Catholic university said in a message that evening to the college community.
On Wednesday, only a few students were spotted on campus at Stanford. Tresidder Memorial Union was devoid of students, as was White Memorial Plaza, where hundreds of students would typically be riding their bicycles, walking in small groups or lolling under trees to read and study.
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.
The initiative comes as an array of city buildings — libraries, aquatic centers, cultural facilities and even City Hall — remain closed to the public, part of the city’s effort to reduce the number of new infections. It would more than double the number of shelter beds available in Los Angeles, said Alex Comisar, a Garcetti spokesman.