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 new virus that has killed more than 1,100 people in Iran, the country has already released 85,000 prisoners on temporary leave.
Separately, the United Arab Emirates added to its list of people barred from entering all residents who are currently abroad. The decision impacts people whose homes, children, bank accounts and livelihoods are in the country, but who were traveling or outside the country. The ban goes into effect at mid-day Thursday for at least two weeks. Only Emirati citizens are allowed to return.
The UAE, which is home to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, has 113 confirmed cases of the virus. It announced it was suspending all new labor permits, including those for drivers and domestic workers, until “further notice.”
The UAE is unique in that only about 10% of its population, or about 1 million people, are Emirati citizens. The other 90% are foreign residents who fuel its economy and keep the country running. They hold the vast majority of jobs in construction, transportation, hospitality, sales, medicine, education and other key sectors.
The Middle East has some 20,000 cases of the virus, with most in Iran or originating from Iran.
Six residents of an assisted living facility in Burlingame have been hospitalized, with three testing positive for the novel coronavirus, San Mateo County health officials confirmed Thursday evening.
Health officials declined to provide any further information about the residents, other than that they are receiving medical care, and that they live at an Atria facility in the small city near San Francisco.
Atria, which operates monthly rental apartments for older adults in 26 states and seven Canadian provinces, has suspended all nonessential visitation and appointments for residents and “has outbreak precautions in place, including twice a day temperature checks for its residents,” according to the county’s statement.
San Mateo County Health’s public health unit has partnered with the California Department of Public Health to ensure residents’ needs are addressed.
San Mateo County, which has a shelter-in-place order in effect, had 81 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of Wednesday evening.
Several houses were taken over in the El Sereno neighborhood of Los Angeles.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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.
“With this health crisis and this housing crisis, we need every vacant house to be a home for those who don’t have a safe and stable place to sleep in,” said Ruby Gordillo, 33, while standing on the porch of a two-bedroom bungalow before moving in with her three children.
Gordillo and others involved in the protest have said they were inspired by a group of homeless mothers in Oakland. Late last year, those mothers took over a vacant, corporate-owned property and, after they were evicted, secured backing from Gov. Gavin Newsom to force the Bay Area property’s sale to a community land trust.
At Stanford and other private colleges, coronavirus is forcing thousands to evacuate
BySUSANNE RUST, PALOMA ESQUIVEL, TERESA WATANABE
PALO ALTO — 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.
“It’s eerily quiet,” said Tiffany Cartagena, a junior from Gainesville, Fla. “It’s depressing.”
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that 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.
California has seen the number of confirmed cases continue to rise: at least 836 cases and 17 deaths as of Wednesday, compared with 157 cases and three deaths the week before. Nearly 12,000 people in the state are self-monitoring for symptoms.
The governor said the state is working to expand its cache of hospital beds by roughly 20,000, the number needed if more than half of Californians come down with the coronavirus.
“That’s just one scenario plan. There’s others that are more modest. Some may, some cases be more extreme,” Newsom said Wednesday evening during a Facebook Live broadcast. “When you’re looking at getting an additional [19,000] to 20,000 beds in your system, you have to look at your existing surge capacity within the healthcare delivery system, and you have to look at procuring additional assets.”
The Kensington Assisted Living and Memory Care facility in Redondo Beach.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
One resident and two staff members at a South Bay assisted living facility, Kensington Redondo Beach, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, administrators said Wednesday.
The assisted living facility said two other residents and five staff members were awaiting results of tests for COVID-19, which were being performed “in-house” with the help of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Of the affected residents, two have been hospitalized, a spokeswoman for Kensington Redondo Beach confirmed.
The cluster of cases in the high-end assisted living home comes as elder care facilities grapple with the widening pandemic. The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is considered particularly threatening to those 60 and over, and it can spread quickly in close living quarters, rendering elder care communities especially vulnerable. Senior facilities across the U.S. have restricted visitors and imposed other precautions.
At the Kensington Redondo Beach, the current cases appear to have originated with a staff member who reported “flu-like symptoms” on March 6 and was sent home. The employee has since been hospitalized and placed on paid leave, according to a statement released by a spokesperson for the facility.
To limit the spread of the new coronavirus, UCLA announced Wednesday that its spring commencement ceremonies will be conducted through virtual events.
“Please remember that, even for an event as momentous as commencement, the day does not define the journey,” Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement.
UCLA previously announced it would transition to remote learning and suspend all nonessential events of any size through the end of the spring.
Block said that for the UCLA College, whose commencement is UCLA’s largest, “we will hold an engaging virtual ceremony on June 12, 2020.”
The ceremony will feature a keynote speaker, whose name will be announced soon.
University leaders will reach out to the schools and departments that hold individual commencement ceremonies to provide support where possible.
“We will work diligently to make graduation as special as possible for all of our students and all of your loved ones,” Block said. “Even when we are apart, we remain deeply connected as Bruins, and I look forward to celebrating your accomplishments this spring.”
The Ducks and the Kings, who were the last teams to face the Ottawa Senators before the NHL paused its season and a Senators player tested positive for the coronavirus, said Wednesday no players in their respective organizations have reported or shown symptoms of the virus.
The Senators, who have declined to identify the player, faced the Ducks at Honda Center on March 10 and faced the Kings at Staples Center on March 11. The NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, who have acknowledged that four of their players had tested positive for the virus, played the Lakers at Staples Center on March 10. Visiting NBA and NHL teams have separate, dedicated locker rooms at Staples Center but the Kings used the visiting NBA locker room on March 11 to conduct postgame media interviews.
The New York Stock Exchange will temporarily close its iconic trading floor in lower Manhattan and move to all-electronic trading beginning Monday as a precautionary step amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The trading floors of the NYSE and the NYSE American Options market in New York will be closed, as well as that of the NYSE Arca Options in San Francisco.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced $150 million in emergency funding to quickly move homeless people indoors — an action meant to protect both a vulnerable population and a medical system at risk of being overwhelmed as the novel coronavirus continues to attack the state.
Newsom said $100 million in funding will go directly to local jurisdictions — including Los Angeles — to boost shelter capacity and increase emergency housing.
An additional $50 million will be aimed at buying travel trailers and leasing hotels, motels and other facilities in an effort to provide space for those without homes to practice social distancing or be quarantined if they test positive for the virus or have symptoms of COVID-19.
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.
In the initiative’s first phase, the city will will open 1,600 shelter beds at 13 recreation centers by the end of the week, Garcetti said during a live Facebook briefing on the city’s response to the pandemic. Beds will be provided by the American Red Cross, he said.
“We have the supplies. We have the space. and we are prepared for this task,” he 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 reduce the number of new infections. Garcetti called the move to create thousands of additional beds unprecedented, but said it’s needed because homeless residents are at much greater risk of dying during the pandemic.
Animal shelters run by the city of Los Angeles are closed to the public to help stem the spread of the novel coronavirus — but that doesn’t mean that you can’t adopt or foster an animal.
L.A.’s Department of Animal Services announced Wednesday that people can check out adoptable animals on their website, then call 888-452-7381 to set up an appointment to see them at the shelter. The appointments will be arranged so that no more than 50 people are assembled at one time, including shelter staffers.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican, announced Wednesday that he tested positive for the coronavirus, making him the first member of Congress to have contracted the disease.
“On Saturday evening, Congressman Diaz-Balart developed symptoms including a fever and headache,” his office announced. “Just a short while ago, he was notified that he has tested positive for COVID-19.”
“I want everyone to know that I am feeling much better,” Diaz-Balart said in a statement. “However, it is important that everyone take this extremely seriously and follow CDC guidelines in order to avoid getting sick and mitigate the spread of this virus.”
In the wake of criticism across the country for continued enforcement actions amid the coronavirus pandemic, ICE said Wednesday that it would shift its focus to “public safety risks.”
As of Wednesday, ICE said in a statement, it would focus enforcement on public safety risks and those subject to mandatory detention based on criminal grounds. For those who don’t fall into those categories, ICE “will exercise discretion to delay enforcement actions until after the crisis or utilize alternatives to detention, as appropriate.”
With safety measures taken across the state to protect against coronavirus, immigrant advocates have criticized ICE for its continued enforcement operations. More than 45 organizations signed a letter this week calling on the Department of Homeland Security to suspend such actions.
“We’re going to see an increase in positive cases today, tomorrow and for the foreseeable future,” L.A. County Public Health Department Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said. “We cannot stop the spread of COVID-19. All of our strategies are aimed at slowing the spread.”
Los Angeles County on Wednesday confirmed 46 new cases of the novel coronavirus, including eight in Long Beach and two in Pasadena. The new cases bring the county’s total to 190. All new patients have been isolated, and their close contacts are being quarantined. Officials are hoping the extraordinary regulations that closed dine-in restaurants, curtailed public gatherings and shuttered schools and bars will slow the spread.
Before the clock struck midnight, armed security guards at casinos across the Las Vegas strip finished collecting chips from baccarat tables. Slot machine screens turned black and bartenders removed bottles of wine and liquor from the shelves.
Blackjack dealers, sensing the surreal unfolding before them, snapped selfies while janitors sprayed disinfectant and wiped door handles. The high-rollers packed up; the entertainers and musicians went home. And suddenly this city of hustlers and romantics, which rides on the crests and dips of the U.S. economy, shuttered Wednesday and changed in a way it never had before.
On Wednesday afternoon, Orange County leaders held a news conference to clarify the health order issued Tuesday and calm local business owners who had expressed confusion about whether they were being forced to close.
“There has been confusion about the wording and meaning of yesterday’s public health order, but let me make it very clear — Orange County is not on lockdown and, except for businesses directed to close by the state, all businesses can remain open,” Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Michelle Steel said.
After the release of Tuesday’s health order, many residents and members of the media thought officials were announcing a shelter-in-place order, which many Bay Area counties have implemented.
At Wednesday’s news conference, local leaders stressed that was not their intent and that there is no shelter-in-place order in the county. Rather, residents are asked to avoid large gatherings and practice social distancing and good hand hygiene, among other things.
Local leaders repeatedly stressed that Orange County was business friendly and that the sheriff had no intention of sending out deputies to patrol the streets looking to jail merchants.
The hope, officials said, is that local businesses that must close under the county order — all bars that don’t serve food, movie theaters, gyms and health clubs — will voluntarily follow the order. Restaurants, food trucks and farmers markets must only offer food through delivery, pickup or drive through while also practicing the recommended six feet for social distancing.
“The most important point to make, I think, is that Orange County is not shut down for business. We are asking for all of our citizens to be responsible in how you’re interacting out in the community,” Supervisor Donald Wagner said.
Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said of all the days to announce bars were closed, St. Patrick’s Day was a good test to see how businesses and patrons would react.
Barnes said deputies did find some bars still operating, but deputies were able to resolve each incident without issue.
“I think even the patrons there, as much as they wanted to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, realized this was much bigger than one day a year,” Barnes said.
As of Wednesday, Orange County has confirmed 42 cases of the coronavirus, up from 29 on Tuesday.
Orange County Health officer Dr. Nichole Quick said she anticipated that number to increase.
“The more we look for this, the more we’re likely to find, so increasing cases are not unexpected,” Quick said.
Fire Chief Brian Fennessy said in response to the pandemic, firefighters and paramedics going on calls to help someone thought to possibly have the coranavirus are being supplied with protective gear. Additionally, the agency has been better able to protect personnel because dispatchers are asking callers more questions about COVID-19 and supplying that information to first responders.
While on duty, 20 firefighters have been exposed to someone thought to possibly have COVID-19, but thus far, only one Orange County firefighter has been exposed to a person with a confirmed case. That firefighter is self isolating at a hotel, he said.
With much of the state being asked to stay at home, questions are being raised about the forced quarantine imposed on hundreds of Californians from the Grand Princess cruise ship who continue to be held at military bases, even as passengers from other states are released.
“My feeling is a lot of it has to do with optics,” said Kate Gilbert, whose 82-year-old grandmother Hinda Gilbert is at Travis Air Force Base in Solano County.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has the ability to take over monitoring of Californians on the base, potentially allowing them to quarantine themselves at home, but his office hasn’t responded when asked.
Staff members at the Seattle-area nursing home overrun by COVID-19 spread the coronavirus to other facilities where they worked, an investigation led by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found.
When Shannon Davis arrived at a Costco in Hawthorne on Wednesday, 2 hours and 15 minutes before its doors opened, the sun had not yet risen and about 30 people were already in line.
Davis, who lives and teaches in Lawndale, knows food and other essentials will not run out. That’s what her rational brain tells her. But those lines.
They trail out the doors and hug the walls of grocery stores and warehouse clubs, in Southern California and elsewhere in a nation gripped by a pandemic. Those lines worry Davis — and so she stands in them.
Pasadena approves eviction moratorium and other economic relief measures
The Pasadena City Council approved a Local State of Emergency Declaration and instituted a handful of relief measures to reduce the economic impacts on residents.
1. Suspension of any new late fees and penalties for City-provided services, including water, power and garbage pickup.
2. Suspension of any new all utility shut-offs for non-payment.
3. Modification of various parking policies to reduce the financial burden on residents and support local businesses, including: Temporary suspension of metered parking enforcement to facilitate delivery and curbside pickup zones for food from restaurants; temporary suspension of non-critical vehicle impounds; temporary suspension of impounds of vehicles with five or more past-due parking citations or expired registrations.
4. Approval of $150,000 to provide meals to for seniors, as well as disabled and other vulnerable citizens.
5. Enactment of a moratorium on eviction for non-payment of rent if a residential or commercial tenant has been impacted by COVID-19 and, therefore, unable to pay.
Councilmembers also asked City Manager Steve Mermell to begin formulating a mandatory stay-at-home order should local public health officials deem it necessary.
It’s a strange time for television, there’s no doubt about that. While many productions have halted to slow the spread of the coronavirus, new spring series that had already finished filming are still rolling out as planned, and social distancing has left all of us with more time than we might like to peruse the seemingly endless number of streaming titles. What’s a discerning viewer to do?
For one, stay tuned to The Times, which will be bringing you guides to everything from children’s TV to free streaming trials to help you navigate being housebound in the coming days and weeks, in addition to regularly scheduled programming. For another, use the following poll of 41 (!) TV critics and journalists to plan your binge-watching. From socially relevant dramas to escapist, feel-good comedies, this is a to-do list worth tackling between bouts of fresh air.
LOS ANGELES CA MARCH 18, 2020 -- Courtney Johnson, Benjula Prasad and Cindy King, left to right, preparing the food kits to be distributed to drivers at Dorsey High School Wednesday morning, March 18, 2020. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
(Al Seib/Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
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.
As students and parents woke up to news that public schools in California might be closed for the remainder of the school year, Los Angeles school officials opened campus gates to what they said would be the first of many morning food pickups in the weeks and possibly months ahead.
Los Angeles Unified, the nation’s second-largest school district, has been training volunteers and ramping up food services to care for more than half a million students, and even their families, affected by the closures. About 80% of its students are from low-income families and qualify to receive breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner from school.
About 400,000 “grab-and-go” meals were prepped and ready to be distributed Wednesday between 7 and 10 a.m. at 60 pickup sites throughout the district. The locations are set up for drive-through and walk-up distribution. Officials say they will make adjustments in the coming days based on how many people show up and where.
A Navy hospital ship based in San Diego will be ready to sail within days to assist civilian hospitals, probably on the West Coast, in case they become overwhelmed with coronavirus patients, Pentagon officials said.
No decision has been made about where to send the Mercy, a 1,000-bed hospital ship, Pentagon press secretary Jonathan Hoffman told reporters Wednesday. It would probably be ordered to Seattle or another West Coast port to care for non-coronavirus patients, freeing up civilian hospital beds for victims of the infectious disease.
“When it is prepared to sail, we’ll make a determination about where,” Hoffman said. “This is a fast-evolving situation. We don’t know where we’re going to be in a week or two weeks.”
President Trump and Defense Secretary Mark Esper described the plans Wednesday at the White House. The Pentagon has asked state officials to seek assistance if the virus strains their medical systems. But it cautioned that the military has limited capabilities to respond to a pandemic; its field hospitals aren’t equipped to deal with infectious diseases.
Taking a head count of the entire U.S. population was already going to be hard. The coronavirus will make it much harder.
Across California, grassroots groups looking to amp up census participation among historically hard-to-count communities have hit a snag: how to reach people at a time when many are self-quarantining to stem the spread of the pandemic.
Canvassers had hoped to use the weeks leading up to Census Day, April 1, to reach communities that are at the greatest risk of an undercount by knocking on doors. They were betting that a face-to-face connection would help to ensure Californians would fill out the decennial survey.
But with social distancing, those conversations will have to happen via text messages and phone calls, or on social media.
California’s nearly $50-billion agricultural industry is bracing for a potential labor shortfall that could hinder efforts to maintain the nation’s fresh food supply amid the widening coronavirus outbreak.
The immediate concern centers on a backlog in the recruitment of foreign guest workers because of the virus-related shutdown of consul offices processing agricultural H2-A visas in Mexico.
The expected bottleneck in recruitment of temporary agricultural workers arises weeks before harvest time for crops such as strawberries and lettuce that heavily depend on the foreign crews along the state’s central coast and in Salinas Valley, according to growers and labor contractors.
The fears highlight a gap in the Trump administration’s market-centered approach to keeping vital industries running, which includes numerous measures aimed at supporting aid, credit and the major commodity crops in the nation’s heartland. There has been little done to address the labor-intensive fresh food crops that form the backbone of California agriculture.
Amid uproar from the agriculture industry this week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture pressed the State Department to continue processing H-2A visas even as it closed consulates across the border region. So far, State has responded by promising to waive in-person interview requirements for H-2A applicants who obtained visas last year. That’s about half the H-2A workforce, according to industry trade groups.
Julio Dominguez, a Tasquero at the popular Avenue 26 Tacos stand in Los Angeles, cleans and prepares food trucks March 17.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Outside Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, street vendors called out to passersby, trying to entice them with gorditas, tamales or pupusas.
Many of them have sold there for years, side by side with food trucks, used to a steady flow of hospital patients and staff day and night.
But after the coronavirus outbreak happened, the L.A. County Department of Health Services began rescheduling all nonurgent appointments and postponing elective surgeries and procedures.
Food vendors who made hundreds of dollars a week are now only making enough to cover their expenses.
A handful of NBA teams, including the Lakers, have offered coronavirus testing for their players since Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert became the first to test positive March 11, whether they have symptoms or not, providing them a service that isn’t available to the general public.
Due to a shortage of coronavirus testing in America, health officials asked public clinics to test only those with severe symptoms. Private clinics that offer testing are not placed under similar restrictions but are encouraged to limit their testing to those with severe symptoms. In Los Angeles County, as of Monday afternoon, only 1,100 people had been tested, which amounts to about .01% of the county’s population.
Silicon Valley death toll reaches six as coronavirus continues rapid spread
ByRong-Gong Lin II, Colleen Shalby, Hannah Fry, Susanne Rust
Silicon Valley, which has been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus, reported a sixth death on Wednesday with the total number of cases increasing to 175.
Of those who have contracted the virus, 70 are believed to have gotten it through community transmission and 56 are now hospitalized, according to the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.
Lime is pulling its shared electric scooters from 20 countries and 21 states, including California, as the number of COVID-19 cases spread across the world.
Scooters will be pulled from California, Texas, New York and other U.S. states, as well as from most of Europe, including France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom.
In a statement Wednesday, Chief Executive and founder Brad Bao said that Lime will “begin winding down and pausing our service to reflect public health guidance.”
A Los Angeles moratorium on evicting restaurant operators and other small businesses that are losing customers during the novel coronavirus pandemic may cause pain to landlords while offering relief to their struggling tenants.
Early reports, however, suggest that commercial property landlords are not eager to boot tenants who have fallen on hard times because they might not be able to find new renters any time soon.
What’s closed or restricted in California’s largest counties?
County health agencies have banned gatherings and closed schools and stores. More than 10 counties have directed residents to shelter in place, the most restrictive measure in the U.S. These closures affect more than 30 million Californians.
Here’s a survey of the measures currently in place in the state’s largest counties.
Virtually all schools across the state are closed and there has been hope that it might last only a few weeks and include spring break in many districts. But Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that schools might need to stay closed through the end of the academic year in response to the coronavirus emergency.
Both state and local officials stressed that no decision has yet been made about keeping schools shuttered through June and said those assessments are being made on an ongoing basis.
WASHINGTON —The widening coronavirus pandemic is forcing the Trump administration to pause, and even reverse, its years-long effort to roll back healthcare regulations and restrict access to the nation’s medical safety net.
As more Americans are sickened, officials are now pushing for government protections they once said were unnecessary.
President Trump and his deputies have urged health insurers to make testing for coronavirus free to patients, calling it an “essential benefit,” despite years of pushing to loosen federal rules on what health insurance plans must cover.
WASHINGTON —The Senate on Wednesday passed a measure to provide sick leave and free corornavirus testing to Americans, as President Trump invoked wartime powers to boost manufacturing of medical equipment needed to fight the pandemic and the U.S. restricted its border with Canada.
The legislation -- approved by the House Saturday -- passed 90-8 in the Senate and next goes to Trump’s desk for signature. Congress is already working on the next emergency package, expected to top $1 trillion, including aid to struggling industries and individual checks to most taxpayers.
By signing a declaration under the Defense Production Act, Trump can direct private industries to churn out protective masks and gowns for hospital workers, as well as ventilators needed to keep critically ill patients alive. Healthcare officials have repeatedly warned that stockpiles of medial equipment could be wiped out as coronavirus infections spiral.
Costa Mesa creates Disaster Council to ramp up emergency preparedness
ByFaith E. Pinho
Costa Mesa is taking steps against the coronavirus, city leaders assured residents at a sparsely attended City Council meeting Tuesday night.
To shore up its emergency preparedness team, the council unanimously approved an ordinance to form a Disaster Council with authority to create emergency and mutual-aid plans.
Four of the seven council members participated remotely in light of protective measures in place to help curb the spread of the virus that causes the respiratory disease COVID-19.
University of California regents will not vote on a tuition increase as scheduled this week because the coronavirus crisis has created too much uncertainty, board Chairman John Pérez said Wednesday.
Pérez said he and UC President Janet Napolitano, in consultation with Gov. Gavin Newsom, campus chancellors and others, believe it was “not an appropriate time” to move forward on the tuition proposal.
“In this moment of great uncertainty, adding a change to people who couldn’t fully anticipate is not the right course of action,” he said.
Pérez also said that a scheduled discussion on whether the UC system should continue to use the SAT and ACT tests for admissions decision would be deferred to a future meeting.
Is it safe to walk, run, hike and bike outside? Is it recommended?
Yes, say L.A. County Public Health officials. In fact, “take a walk” and “go for a hike” are at the top of the L.A. County Public Health Department’s “safe-to-do” list as the region’s fight against the coronavirus continues.
And, a spokesman said, “Biking and running are great as long as not in a group where there is close contact.”
But authorities have grown increasingly restrictive about other outdoor activities. Public Health officials caution parents against taking their children to playgrounds. And as measures to fight the virus multiply, many outdoor venues have closed.
In response to the coronavirus outbreak, Portland, Ore.,’s beloved Powell’s Books is laying off most of its employees in the coming days.
The indie bookstore’s owner and CEO, Emily Powell, sent its workers a letter Tuesday night announcing the layoffs during “these unprecedented and grievous times.”
“When we closed our doors, we also closed off the vast majority of our business without any prospect of it returning soon,” she said in the letter. “As a result, we have been forced to make the unthinkable decision to lay off the vast majority of you in the coming few days.”
Fox News will be made available free to viewers amid the coronavirus public health crisis.
On Wednesday, Rupert Murdoch’s media company said it would partner with cable and satellite TV providers to make Fox News Channel and its Fox TV stations widely available “to ensure that every person in America can access the latest national and local news regarding coronavirus.”
The company, based in New York and Los Angeles, said it would also offer free streams of Fox News Channel and programming feeds from Fox-owned TV stations.
The casino shutdown went into effect at midnight and will last at least 30 days. Nonessential businesses, which include restaurants that aren’t doing delivery or takeout only, will have to close by noon today. Hospitals, grocery stores and gas stations will remain open.
In addition to Nevada, other states have ordered the closure or partial closure of nonessential services like restaurants and bars. They include California, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts and Washington.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Long Beach has been closed to visitors while the facility treats a patient who has tested positive for COVID-19, officials said.
Additional information about the patient, or that person’s condition, was not immediately available Wednesday, but officials said this was the first case of the illness caused by the coronavirus within the VA Long Beach Healthcare System.
The decision to bar visitors was made “to stay ahead of a constantly changing environment and to reduce risk [of] exposure,” officials said in a statement Tuesday.
As health officials in the United States work to slow the spread of COVID-19, they’ve asked Americans to do one important thing: practice social distancing.
Schools are closed. Workers are staying at home. Bars are shuttered and restaurants are offering take-out and delivery service only. Sporting events, concerts and festivals have been canceled.
Life without its interaction can be trying, but public health experts insist that each person’s commitment to social distancing is key to taming the new coronavirus — and ultimately saving lives. Here’s a closer look at how to do it right.
Attracted by an ad for 0% financing, a customer phoned Chuck Olson Kia in Seattle saying he wanted to buy a Sedona minivan. But with more than 400 confirmed coronavirus cases in Washington state, he said there was no way he’d go to the dealership.
So the salesperson sent a staffer to the customer’s home with paperwork and closed the sale of the loaded $40,000 vehicle. Given the circumstances, the dealer was lucky the buyer even agreed to meet in person at his house.
“If they will let us, we’ll come to them,” said Jim Ault, sales manager for the dealership, which sells Chevrolets and Kias. “Volume is down, but we’re still in business.”
When it comes to the front line for the coronavirus, the San Jose firefighters are experiencing what officials fear will become a common problem among first responders.
So far, 10 firefighters have tested positive for COVID-19, and 50 others are in self-isolation.
There have been a scattering of other cases of first responders testing positive, including a Los Angeles Police Department officer and an L.A. firefighter.
But the number of San Jose firefighters with the disease and those quarantined grew rapidly this week, according to the San Jose firefighters union. As the virus sweeps across the Silicon Valley, firefighters are treating every call as though it is a COVID-19 call, union leaders say.
As coronavirus causes closures, local residents seek alternative methods of entertainment
ByMatt Szabo
Jeff Spohr has been running the Huntington Beach Disc Golf Course for nearly five years.
The course was busy Tuesday afternoon. Rob Vermeeren of Huntington Beach got in a round with his 14-year-old son Maddox, an eighth-grader at the Pegasus School.
“We want people to have some joy in their lives still, through all of this,” Spohr said. “This is perfect. So is regular golf, but it’s expensive. We’re $2 [for a round], you know?”
The closure of businesses throughout the state, combined with the shelter-in-place orders given to the public to slow the spread of the coronavirus have many workers and business owners worried about being able to pay their rent or mortgage.
To address those concerns — at least for several weeks — the Burbank City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to adopt an urgency ordinance that prohibits the eviction of residential and commercial tenants for not being able to pay their rent due to lost income and/or increased medical expenses related to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The moratorium also urges financial institutions to put a hold on mortgage foreclosures on residential and commercial properties for the same reasons.
The emergency order went into effect Tuesday night and will last through April 30, unless extended by the City Council.
As restaurants across Orange County shutter their dining areas and offer only takeout or delivery in response to coronavirus isolation measures, one Costa Mesa restaurant is providing a bonus: free toilet paper rolls.
Descanso and its owner, Rob Arellano, announced the promotion on Facebook: one free roll for every $20 spent on takeout orders.
Many restaurants are offering free delivery or discounts, but Arellano’s establishment might be the only one sweetening the deal with an item most can’t find elsewhere right now.
“So far it’s been very well-received,” he said, adding that the promotion is getting some social media buzz.
The professional tennis calendar lost more events on Wednesday when the men’s and women’s tours announced the cancellation of tournaments through June 7. That wiped out high-profile tournaments in Madrid and Rome, as well as women’s tournaments in Strasbourg, France, and Rabat, Morocco, and men’s events in Munich, Germany; Estoril, Portugal; Geneva; and Lyon, France.
The Women’s Tennis Assn., which represents female players, and the Assn. of Tennis Professionals, which represents the men, issued identically worded statements to announce that the spring clay-court swing would be canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. All events in the ATP Challenger Tour and the International Tennis Federation World Tennis Tour also were canceled.
The men’s and women’s rankings will be frozen during this period of inactivity and until further notice, the statement said.
How LeAnn Rimes, MGK and more are entertaining themselves in quarantine
ByAlison Brower
So you have some time on your hands thanks to increasingly strict social-distancing recommendations from the CDC.
While you’re consuming hours of Netflix, what about all the people who make those shows — and write the books, direct the films and play the music that’s keeping you sane in isolation?
The Los Angeles Times reached out to stars, artists, filmmakers, showrunners and some of L.A.’s leading culture figures to find out what they’d be digging into for the next few weeks.
MILLBRAE — Video streaming apps Roku and Pluto TV are becoming more popular among consumers looking to entertain themselves amid concerns about the rapid growth of the coronavirus outbreak.
Pluto TV, a free, ad-supported streaming service based in Los Angeles, and Roku Inc., which operates an app that connects consumers to various streaming services and also offers free licensed shows and movies, landed in the top 10 most used video streaming apps for Android phones in the U.S. for the first week of March compared with a month ago, according to San Francisco-based analytics firm App Annie.
Pluto TV was ranked ninth, while Los Gatos-based Roku was eighth in the first week of March, App Annie said. That’s a considerable improvement from a month earlier, when Pluto TV was 12th and Roku was 11th, the analytics firm said. The rankings were based on the amount of time Android phone users spent on the apps.
Coronavirus is turning an overloaded immigration system into a ‘tinderbox’
ByL.A. Times Staff
Last week, immigration Judge Ashley Tabaddor cordoned off the first row of seats in her courtroom at Los Angeles Immigration Court. Interpreters brought their own headsets. Clerks carried disinfectant wipes.
And some judges limited the number of people inside courtrooms, which normally are packed shoulder-to-shoulder.
Workers said they were doing their best to limit their and the public’s exposure to the coronavirus and COVID-19 in the face of what they described as insufficient protective measures taken by federal officials.
Tesla, citing “conflicting guidance from different levels of government” on how to handle the coronavirus pandemic, on Wednesday ordered production employees at its Fremont, Calif., car-manufacturing plant to continue coming to work.
In an email sent at 8:49 a.m., Tesla human resources head Valerie Capers Workman said, “There are no changes in your normal assignment and you should continue to report for work if you are in an essential function,” which she said included “production, service, deliveries, testing and supporting groups.” Sick workers could stay home and use their accumulated paid time off, she said.
The coronavirus pandemic has canceled many things: movies, TV shows, concerts, festivals and now ... actress Vanessa Hudgens.
But not if Chrissy Teigen has anything to say about it. And you can bet she does.
The outspoken model and TV host took to Twitter on Tuesday night to defend the “High School Musical” alum, who came under fire recently after posting a video of herself criticizing efforts to slow the spread of the virus and calling any resulting deaths “like, inevitable?”
California state park campgrounds close. Here’s the latest on national, local parks too
ByMary Forgione, Christopher Reynolds
California State Parks closed all campgrounds Wednesday because of the coronavirus, but hiking trails and beaches remain open. Outdoor spaces also remain open in local and national parks, but many services have been suspended.
Park programs, shuttles and tours have been halted as a precaution against the outbreak, while some lodgings and restaurants are closed.
By the time the urgent text message warning that the U.S. military was about to deploy soldiers across the country to enforce a nationwide quarantine landed on Pamela Chelin’s phone this week, it had already made its way to an untold number of people.
A friend had sent her the foreboding note, which claimed to be from someone who spoke to “a source that works for Homeland Security.” The friend, in turn, had received it from another friend, whom he considered “reliable.”
“Who knows,” Chelin’s friend wrote, “but I believe them, given who sent it to me.”
Chelin, a freelance arts journalist in Los Angeles, thought otherwise. The message’s jumbled syntax and anonymous claims made her suspicious. After a quick check of Twitter confirmed it was fake, she told her friend and another acquaintance who sent her a similar message not to spread the hoaxes any further.
Los Angeles County’s two largest law enforcement agencies made significantly fewer arrests in recent weeks, reflecting the changing realities of policing in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Los Angeles Police Department made 14% fewer arrests during the first 15 days of March compared to the same period last year, according to the department. The LAPD recorded 2,944 arrests during that time compared to 3,406 the previous year.
The decline mirrors what has been happening at the county’s second largest agency, the Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced earlier this week that arrests by his deputies have plummeted from a daily average of 300 to 60.
Arrest figures may continue to decline as the agencies adapt. As the response to the coronavirus outbreak intensified this week, both departments ordered officers to cite and release people as much as possible while still arresting violent offenders.
The majority of Lakers still in Los Angeles were tested for the coronavirus around 9 a.m. Wednesday, according to people who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The testing was done by a doctor at the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo.
One person said the doctor inserted a big swab in the nose, that it had to touch the throat and then was twisted while inside the nose. It took about 10 seconds for the testing to be completed.
The testing wasn’t mandatory for the Lakers’ players, and none of the coaches were tested.
Players who took the test are hoping to get the results back by Friday.
“I’m pretty stoned and watching Cats,” he tweeted, setting the stage for what would be an hour of posts about the widely panned flick. “I’ve never seen the broadway show. It is truly trippy. Am I supposed to know what a Jellicle is? They’ve said it 200,000 times but I don’t know what’s happening haha.”
Rogen soldiered on, trying to figure out the “Broadway funny” of it all, like why some of the cats wore pants and others didn’t.
“Is the milk bar for humans??! For cats? Is this in Clockwork Orange world? Huh?” he wondered.
Faced with criticism, the IOC walked back its comments slightly on Wednesday, issuing a follow-up statement.
“This is an exceptional situation which requires exceptional solutions,” a spokesman said. “The IOC is committed to finding a solution with the least-negative impact for the athletes, while protecting the integrity of the competition and the athletes’ health.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that schools across the country would close on Friday until further notice as the death toll from the coronavirus topped 100.
Schools will remain open for the children of key workers, such as National Health Service staff, as well as for vulnerable youngsters, but all others will be asked to stay home indefinitely.
This year’s summer exam period will also be canceled, the prime minister said.
Johnson said the measures already introduced across the country — namely, asking entire households to self-isolate for 14 days if anyone within the house is unwell and asking the entire population to avoid unnecessary social contact and diligently wash their hands — had worked well to curb the virus’ spread so far.
But he said now was the time to amp up the measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 even further.
“We think now that we must apply downward pressure on the upward curve by closing the schools,” the prime minister said.
The number of coronavirus-related deaths in the U.K. rose to 104 on Wednesday with 2,626 confirmed cases. More than 56,000 tests have been carried out, and the government plans to more than double the number of tests.
London continues to be the epicenter of the virus, reporting the highest number of cases, but Johnson has so far resisted calls to order a mandatory shutdown of all nonessential businesses, although he has not ruled that out.
President Trump announced Wednesday that he had ordered federal housing officials to suspend evictions and foreclosures until the end of April as the fast-spreading coronavirus crisis forced a number of Americans out of work or reduced their wages.
Trump also said he would invoke the Defense Production Act, a Korean War-era law giving the federal government more authority to force private companies to produce needed goods.
The authority could help address shortages in medical equipment such as masks, gloves and ventilators, or supply goods needed to combat the spreading virus.
“There’s never been an instance like this where no matter what you have it’s not enough,” Trump said at the White House.
BEIRUT — The first time Alison Blue visited Morocco last year, she made a decision: “I thought it was the most amazing place and that other people should see it,” she said.
The 56-year-old travel agent from Westlake Village assembled more than a dozen others and planned a trip that Blue — who is Jewish — hoped would “expose people” to the Muslim-majority nation and “show that Muslims aren’t the stereotype.”
On March 9, her group set off. The trip was going well. Then came the coronavirus and the Moroccan government’s abrupt announcement that it would suspend all flights on Sunday in a bid to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Now, Blue’s group is among an estimated 3,000 Americans trying to get on rescue flights back home amid complaints of inaction from U.S. authorities in the country.
It appears coronavirus prevention measures have forced almost everyone to work from home — even late-night TV hosts.
Because the pandemic shut down production on their respective programs, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien all filmed material from the safety of their homes on Tuesday in an effort to keep themselves busy and uplift spirits.
“Hey, guys. This is Jimmy Fallon, and this is the ‘Tonight Show: Home Edition,’ I guess you could call it,” Fallon said, opening his video with some new “Tonight Show” key art drawn by his daughter with a marker.
As Californians continue to stockpile disinfecting wipes and paper towels to sanitize their homes amid widespread coronavirus concerns, state water regulators this week reminded individuals to throw those items in the trash rather than flush them down the toilet.
Nylon wipes and paper towels are stronger than toilet paper and do not break down in water in the same fashion. Flushing them can quickly cause clogs, wreaking havoc on sewer systems and treatment plant pumps and resulting in spills that end up in lakes, rivers and the ocean, according to the State Water Resources Control Board.
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks dived 7% on Wednesday, triggering a “circuit breaker” that halted trading on Wall Street for 15 minutes.
Markets have been incredibly volatile for weeks as Wall Street and the White House acknowledge an increasing risk of a recession due to the coronavirus outbreak. The typical day this month has seen the stock market swing up or down by 4.9%. Over the last decade, the median move was just 0.4%.
The selling pressure swept markets around the world. Benchmark U.S. oil fell roughly 10% and dropped below $25 per barrel for the first time since 2002. European stock indexes lost 4% following broad losses in Asia. Even prices for longer-term U.S. Treasury bills, which are seen as some of the safest possible investments, fell as investors flocked to the very shortest-term Treasury debt.
WASHINGTON — President Trump says the federal government has stockpiled “massive numbers of ventilators” and “tremendous amounts of equipment” to help hospitals respond to a crush of seriously ill coronavirus patients.
The problem, experts say, is that the government’s cache of supplies probably won’t be nearly enough to satisfy the demand. That’s because its stockpile was designed to be a temporary lifeline to healthcare workers in a particular place or region, until they can get more equipment and medicine from the private sector — not to provide all the gear they need, and to caregivers nationwide, simultaneously.
“There will likely soon be a surge all over the country and every state is going to be asking for material, and I think the concern is that it’s going to be depleted very quickly,” said Dr. Anand Parekh, chief medical advisor for the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank. “The government’s stockpile is a great asset to have nationally, but if it’s taxed, it won’t have enough supplies. Many people have called for greater stockpiles, but unfortunately we are where we are.”
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department wants to start issuing direct payments to Americans by early next month as the centerpiece of a $1-trillion plan to stabilize the economy as the coronavirus pandemic threatens a body slam to taxpayers and businesses.
In a memorandum issued Wednesday, Treasury is calling for two $250-billion cash infusions to individuals: a first set of checks issued starting April 6, with a second wave in mid-May. The amounts would depend on income and family size.
The Treasury plan, which requires approval by Congress, also recommends $50 billion to stabilize the airlines, $150 billion to issue loan guarantees to other struggling sectors, and $300 billion for small businesses. The plan appears to anticipate that many of the loans will not be repaid.
The details are for the third coronavirus response bill that lawmakers hope to pass next week.
Decision-makers in Washington have come together on the idea of a major cash infusion to household pocketbooks to counter the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis, with the debate now focused chiefly on how much to deliver and who gets the money.
Still on the table, though fading, is the notion of providing the assistance by eliminating the payroll tax, possibly through the end of the year. If this idea has any life at all, it’s because it’s been a hobby horse of President Trump. But a new study showing that two-thirds of the benefit would go to the richest Americans should kill it for good.
The statistical analysis is offered by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit think tank that tracks how taxes and tax breaks are distributed along the income spectrum. ITEP compared the distributional effects of the payroll tax cut to those of a proposal for an immediate cash payout of up to $2,000 per adult and $1,000 per child, phased out for households earning $140,000 or more.
Thomas Waerner, of Norway, arrives in Nome, Alaska, to win the Iditarod on Wednesday.
(Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News)
ANCHORAGE — As a young boy growing up in Norway, Thomas Waerner spent idle hours thinking long and hard about two different kinds of iconic American modes of transportation: muscle cars and the sled dogs in the Iditarod.
Waerner, 47, made one of those dreams reality on Wednesday, winning the nearly 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across Alaska. He took a commanding lead in the late stages of the race and held a five-hour advantage over the next closest musher, three-time champion Mitch Seavey.
“This is awesome,” Waerner said after winning the race. “This is something special.”
Waerner took his dog team over mountain ranges, on the frozen Yukon River and across treacherous Bering Sea ice to the finish line on Nome’s main street in nine days, 10 hours, 37 minutes and 47 seconds.
Here are L.A.’s plans to protect workers, renters and homeless people amid coronavirus
ByDavid Zahniser, Dakota Smith
Faced with the coronavirus crisis, Los Angeles leaders have taken action on key areas involving the homeless population and evictions and are now considering dozens of other measures.
HOMELESS: The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to temporarily stop enforcing a law requiring tents to come down during daytime hours, saying the change is needed to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Council members also voted to instruct city agencies to begin providing hand-washing stations, portable toilets, dumpsters, vermin-proof trash cans and weekly shower service at “major” homeless encampments. But they rejected a plan to stop confiscating the belongings of homeless Angelenos that exceed 60 gallons.
EVICTIONS AND FORECLOSURES: Renters and homeowners are likely to see significant new protections against evictions and foreclosures after the City Council approved emergency measures to mitigate the economic effects of the coronavirus. L.A.’s plan will temporarily ban evictions and late fees, require landlords and residential mortgage-holders to work out payment plans with affected residents, reduce city business taxes and create a citywide rental assistance fund. The measures will not take effect immediately. Instead, the council’s vote directs the city attorney to draw up an emergency eviction plan, which could be finalized as soon as Tuesday.
Here are measures that are under consideration:
HYGIENE STATIONS: Offering more hygiene stations with hand sanitizer on the Metro system; 24-hour access to restrooms in public parks; and staffers have been asked to scout for city buildings or lots that could be used as testing sites.
A UCLA student who lives off-campus has tested positive for COVID-19 and is receiving care at a local hospital, university officials announced Tuesday.
Anyone who had close contact with the individual, who was not identified by officials, will be contacted and notified if they need to be isolated or tested, Chancellor Gene D. Block wrote in a news release.
“I know the entire UCLA community joins me in keeping our fellow Bruin in their thoughts and remaining committed to our shared well-being as we navigate this new reality together,” Block wrote.
Coronavirus closures may mean months could pass before you can stand in front of a museum masterpiece again. If you have time on your hands and a deep need for cultural sustenance and succor, be it for yourself or your children, it’s time to get familiar with a resource so obvious it’s not: Google Arts & Culture.
This Google project launched nearly a decade ago, and while you likely were forgetting about it, the platform expanded exponentially. It now features thousands of high-resolution images from more than 1,200 museums globally, including the National Gallery in London, the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Like many people, this L.A. Times reporter is holed up at home trying to work remotely — with the kids in the house. While the Twitterverse is full of people joking (I hope) that their small humans have already turned on them, there’s no shortage of things for kids to do — with each other and with their larger humans. And if they’re occupied, they’re less likely to band together against us ... right?
Our house is a media hub, so the kids — 11-year-old twins Winston and Betty — are two nights into their “Social Distancing Film Festival.” The opening-night feature, for perhaps obvious reasons, Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion,” went over well. Winston said, “I love this movie! Well directed and well written.” Dad was struck by how scientifically accurate it was turning out to be, chillingly so. The second night, they chose to stream “Outbreak,” the Wolfgang Petersen adventure movie from 16 years earlier. Dad remembered it as more thrilling than on this repeat viewing, especially after the Soderbergh film, which made this one seem stilted and conventional. Betty agreed. “It was good, but not as good as ‘Contagion.’”
You may have seen those videos of quarantined Italians serenading each other from the balconies of their apartment buildings, snapshots of isolated people reaching for a connection. They’re singing local anthems, breaking out the folk song “Volare,” doing the Macarena (and changing the refrain to “Hey, Quarantena!”) and highlighting why more households here in the States need to have tambourines handy in the event of a global pandemic.
Watching these displays of solidarity, shared on social media, has been a balm in these times of social distancing, inspiring people throughout Europe to follow suit. Italians singing “tell me what it is which makes us feel like we’re together, even when we’re apart” hits home, and even if you don’t understand the words, the emotion comes through. We’re all feeling lost right now.
He was 6 years old, but not for long. And therein lies the problem. Because the Culver City first-grader turned 7 on St. Patrick’s Day. His school was closed. The president of the United States had told everyone to stay home to stop the spread of the coronavirus and warned against gatherings of more than 10 people.
Like birthday parties.
In the frightening new world of COVID-19, it doesn’t pay to be a Pisces or an Aries, those unfortunate folks who will be the first to celebrate their Big Day on lockdown. The virus has abridged our ability for celebration. But it also has forced us to find new ways to commemorate and communicate.
Eight great very long books you finally have time to read
ByTobias Carroll
Certain books are just imposing, with dimensions that call to mind the monolith in “2001: A Space Odyssey” more than your standard-size novel or memoir. Some call them doorstoppers; others ponder whether they could be used to repel intruders. There are more than a few that sit on people’s shelves, unread, as statements of purpose: “Ulysses,” “Infinite Jest,” “Middlemarch.”
If you’re currently under self-quarantine or just embracing social distancing, now might be the time to tackle a book the size of a human head. There are plenty of notable tomes out there, in addition to sizable complete collections of short stories by the likes of J.G. Ballard or Mavis Gallant.
But certain supersized books have the makings of ideal quarantine reading. If this goes on for long enough, you might even have time to tackle more than one. Some of the books below will transport you to another place or another time; others will give you a better sense of your own place in time. They have little in common except for their scale and their hypnotic ability to make you forget your own predicament.
WASHINGTON — President Trump announced the near-closure of the U.S. border with Canada on Wednesday, adding to severe coronavirus-related travel restrictions already affecting Asia and much of Europe.
“We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic. Trade will not be affected. Details to follow!” Trump tweeted.
We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic. Trade will not be affected. Details to follow!
The extraordinary measures were designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus. California has seen the number of confirmed coronavirus cases continue to rise: 472 cases and 13 deaths as of Tuesday, compared with 157 confirmed cases and three deaths the week prior.
Officials said they were racing to get more coronavirus testing done to have a better sense of how many people have the virus — but that effort remains painfully slow.
In the meantime, they are pushing people to stay home to avoid spreading the coronavirus, which could overwhelm hospitals.
Feeling bored, disoriented and cranky now that you’ve put your travel plans on hold and your suitcase away? You have company — lots of it. For many of us, travel has its own rewards, including its role as a stress reliever.
“Travel relieves stress because you are removed from the monotony of your daily life,” said Dr. Howard Forman, attending psychiatrist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, “and many of the things that lead to stress are taken out of your hands and put into hands of other people,” including those everyday tasks such as fixing dinner, keeping the house clean and, if you have kids, making sure homework is done.
Now what? Most of us are staying closer to home, by design or edict, and the absence of travel’s pleasures can lead to boredom, which, Forman said, is a common complaint.
Self-isolation is in some ways the movie lover’s idealized state: How often have we longed for more time to hunker in the bunker, with all the time in the world to brush up on our Fassbinder or Ozu, or rewatch that beloved trilogy? (Am I talking about Peter Jackson, Richard Linklater or Abbas Kiarostami? Yes, yes and yes.)
That time may be more theoretical than actual for many of us confining ourselves at home for the next several weeks; life in a pandemic, after all, does not mean a shortage of work to do, meals to cook and, for some, children to look after. But I hope this personal list of recommendations and suggestions — all of which can be found on at least one or more streaming services, including Amazon Prime, Hulu, iTunes, Vudu, Netflix, Kanopy and the invaluable Criterion Channel — will be of use if and when you need it.
At 11 a.m. on Tuesday the line to enter All Day Baby in Silver Lake trailed around the block, even though the sign on its door said “closed/cerrado.”
People had turned out to support the modern American diner, which opened in late November, for the last time in its foreseeable future. The day before, managing partner Lien Ta had posted on Instagram that the space would host “Baby’s Pop-Up Bodega” to sell the remaining food left at the restaurant and its older sibling, Here’s Looking At You in Koreatown.
“All of us at ADB + HLAY are now without jobs and with an uncertain future, and trust me, that will live on my conscience forever. (We can’t even get the unemployment website to work.)” Ta wrote in the post. “So!! Instead of Gelson’s or Vons or whomever’s aisles have been ravaged, come and ravage us. Please.”
Hospitals are straining under the coronavirus. The big wave coming could break them
ByAnita Chabria, Matt Stiles, Soumya Karlamangla
The new coronavirus threatens to overwhelm California hospitals in the coming weeks unless the unprecedented social-distancing measures imposed across the state slow its rapid spread.
State projections show that the coronavirus will likely require anywhere from 4,000 to 20,000 additional hospital beds — a disturbingly imprecise estimate caused in part by the lack of testing, which has made it difficult for officials to know exactly how many people have the virus.
Based on conditions in other countries hit by the pandemic and models of what could happen in California, a rapid rise in infections expected in the next two weeks would quickly fill the existing hospital space.
A Los Angeles Times data analysis found that California has 7,200 intensive-care beds across more than 365 hospitals. In total, the state has about 72,000 beds. The Times data analysis shows roughly one intensive-care bed for every 5,500 people in California.
Grieving families are not allowed to enter cemeteries.
Bodies that arrive for burial are not washed as they should be under Islamic custom. Nor are they wrapped in traditional white cloth. They are covered in hospital plastic, marking them as victims — both young and old — of the coronavirus. As their loved ones are lowered into mass graves, uncles, fathers and daughters say their farewells from far away. There are no fresh flowers, only powdered swaths of lime to mask the scent of decay.
Clerics no longer come to pray over the dead. Instead their voices, like distant ghosts, echo from portable speakers.
My plan was to stroll El Matador Beach in Malibu, then drive to Griffith Park for a hike, both of which could be done while maintaining a safe distance from anyone.But I’ve had a Medicare card in my wallet for a year and a half, and on Sunday, Gov. Gavin Newsom told me along with the state’s other 6 million seniors to self-isolate at home until further notice.
The coronavirus, of course, carries a higher danger for older folks.
“We are prioritizing their safety,” Newsom said.
I’m still getting used to being called a “senior,” or “elderly,” which can mean anything from 65 to 105. It stings a bit to be singled out by age, but putting ego aside and public health front and center, is it my civic duty to stay home?
Christian Perea, a San Francisco Uber driver with diabetes, stopped driving as a precaution at the end of February. William Smith, a Lyft driver in San Francisco, didn’t think he could stop because, until Tuesday, he was expected to perform a minimum number of rides in order to keep the car he rents through the ride-hail company. Kimberly James, who delivers for several on-demand apps and works for Uber and Lyft in Georgia, hasn’t picked up passengers since March 10 because she has an autoimmune disease that could make her more vulnerable to a viral infection.
In an increasingly uncertain economic and social environment brought on by the spread of the novel coronavirus, contingent and contract workers around the world are being forced to grapple with how to stay healthy while maintaining an income. Among them are gig workers, some of whom continue to work for on-demand delivery services like Postmates, Doordash and Instacart or ride-hail services like Uber and Lyft.
There are many ways to communicate, and arguably one of the oldest is play. Before “Fortnite,” “Minecraft,” “Myst,” “Tetris” and “Pong” there were backyard baseball diamonds, chessboards and hopscotch tiles etched or placed on the ground.
To be human is to play.
As many of us transition to a life of social distancing, the bonding power of play will only become more important. And for many, play is already a powerful way to connect. Consider that “Fortnite” is as much a social media platform for friends and marketing events as it is a competitive game. And the way in which we share creations in a “Super Mario Maker” or a “Minecraft” is a sort of personalized digital postcard that we’re unleashing to the world.
So at a time where meeting “IRL” is heavily discouraged, virtual play dates can become our salvation when it comes to socialization. No wonder so many are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Nintendo’s “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” this week. While some may opt for old-fashioned board game nights, many of which can pair well across distances with a little effort, trust and a video-conferencing app, this also may be a good time to discover — or rediscover — a medium that is shaping modern entertainment.
In confronting coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom takes California on its own path
ByTaryn Luna, Phil Willon
SACRAMENTO —When it comes to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom has made clear he’s not concerned that California’s way may be different from that of other states.
While the arrival of the novel coronavirus has prompted governors across the country to issue sweeping statewide orders in the name of public health — legal mandates to cancel school, quarantine the sick and close down businesses — Newsom’s historic directives for the state’s 40 million residents have come with a deliberately light touch.
“We’re not some small isolated state. We’re a nation-state,” Newsom told reporters on Sunday. “Santa Clara County’s conditions are extraordinarily different than Tulare. Extraordinarily different than Madera. Or Colusa. And so, while it may be fanciful and comforting by perception standards, for some [who want] one size fits all, that’s not the world in which we view the reality on the ground. There’s no community spread in some communities, there [is] significant community spread in other communities.”
The coronavirus threw ESPN a curveball. How the sports giant is changing its game
ByStephen Battaglio, Meg James
The ‘S’ in ESPN stands for sports. So what happens to one of the most-watched cable networks when its programming staple — live contests — shuts down?
It’s an obstacle the network is facing as the coronavirus pandemic has put an indefinite halt to the NBA and Major League Baseball, which made up the core of ESPN’s live programming over the next few months.
The shutdown of the entire sports world has also meant no fresh highlights for ESPN’s signature news program, “SportsCenter.”
The situation could have major financial implications for parent company Walt Disney Co., which has long relied on huge profits generated by its suite of ESPN channels. The virus outbreak comes at a critical time for for ESPN, which has already seen its profitability fall due to cord-cutting consumers who are canceling or forgoing pay TV subscriptions.
Desperate travelers choked European border crossings on Wednesday after nations implemented strict controls in an attempt to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus, creating traffic jams miles long and slowing the passage of trucks carrying critical supplies.
The number of people infected worldwide crested the 200,000 mark and deaths topped 8,000, with the number of people now recovered at more than 82,000, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.
In an attempt to alleviate some of the pressure from eastern Europeans stuck in Austria trying to return home, Hungary overnight opened its borders in phases. Bulgarian citizens were first allowed to cross in carefully controlled convoys, then Romanians had a turn.
But by early Wednesday on the Austrian side of the border, trucks were backed up for 28 kilometers (17 miles) and cars for 14 kilometers (nearly 9 miles) as rules allowing only Hungarians or transport trucks through the country’s borders kicked back in.
European Union leaders have been working on how to make sure that food, medical supplies and other essential goods keep flowing but so far borders have been clogged. Looking ahead, they’re also trying to figure out ways to allow seasonal agricultural workers, needed to keep the production of food going, to travel back and forth across essentially closed borders.
Nations around the world were facing the same issues, with the U.S. and Canada working on a mutual ban on nonessential travel between the two countries.
In Southeast Asia, the causeway between Malaysia and the financial hub of Singapore was eerily quiet after Malaysia shut its borders, while the Philippines backed down on an order giving foreigners 72 hours to leave from a large part of its main island.
Surinder Singh, owner of Urban India restaurant in San Diego, with no customers in sight on Monday, a day before San Diego County banned dine-in eating at restaurants.
(K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune)
Southern California has taken sweeping measures this week to stop dine-in restaurant eating, close gyms and movie theaters, and ban or limit all gatherings to fight the spread of the new coronavirus.
The measures, as of Wednesday morning, in most parts of Southern California 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, and forcing all but essential businesses to close.
Unlike most of the counties in the Bay Area, each of Southern California’s most populous counties have taken different approaches to slowing the spread of the virus. As of Wednesday morning, none of the counties have the same rules over whether restaurants must only serve food to-go, whether bars, gyms and movie theaters should be required to close, and how big gatherings must be to be prohibited.
Violations of health orders can be enforceable as a misdemeanor as a fine or imprisonment.
Tehran’s Grand Bazaar was mostly closed on Tuesday.
(Associated Press)
Iran reported its single biggest jump in deaths from the new coronavirus, saying Wednesday another 147 had died in a nearly 15% spike that raises the death toll to 1,135 people nationwide.
The rise in deaths comes as the number of infections continues to grow each day, with some 17,361 people infected, according to Iran’s deputy health minister, Alireza Raisi.
That is the biggest 24-hour rise in deaths yet recorded by Iran’s Health Ministry since the virus first appeared in Iran in mid-February. Iran’s deputy health minister, Alireza Raisi, announced the new tolls at a televised press conference on Wednesday.
The outbreak has cast a shadow over the Persian New Year, Nowruz, a normally joyous holiday that begins on Friday. Health officials have urged the public to avoid travel and crowded places. But many seem to be ignoring the warnings, raising the risk of further outbreaks.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday defended his government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak in the face of of widespread criticism that officials acted too slowly and may have even covered up initial cases before infections rapidly spread across the country.
In a speech to his Cabinet, Rouhani said the government was “straightforward” with the nation, saying it announced the outbreak as soon as it learned about it on Feb. 19.
“We spoke to people in a honest way. We had no delay,” he added.
First, some facts: The over-the-counter pain reliever ibuprofen is not linked to a higher risk of COVID-19 infection. Nor has it been linked to complications in those infected with the novel coronavirus that has now reached 164 countries. When treating pain or a fever, you may choose ibuprofen (such as Advil or Motrin) or acetaminophen (Tylenol) without needing to worry that your decision has any bearing on the disease at the center of the pandemic.
And now, the reason for using this space to dispense those bland morsels of coronavirus non-news: A messaged tweeted Saturday by France’s minister of Solidarity and Health warning that ibuprofen, an anti-inflammatory drug, “could be an aggravating factor” in COVID-19 infection. (So could the steroid medication cortisone, the tweet said.)
In cases of fever, the health minister added, “take paracetamol” — the generic name used in Europe for acetaminophen. And if you are already taking anti-inflammatory medication or have medical concerns, consult your doctor, he advised.
With a novel coronavirus sweeping across the world, consumers are hungry for tips on how to protect themselves and their loved ones from infection. They are keenly attuned to public health advice, whether it is solidly based on evidence, altogether fabricated, or somewhere in between.
French Health Minister Olivier Véran‘s weekend tweet appears to fall in that middle region. As it began circulating widely outside of France this week, it left U.S. doctors, public health officials and communications experts shaking their heads in dismay.
President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, at lectern, during a news briefing with the coronavirus task force at the White House on Tuesday.
(Associated Press)
The coronavirus pandemic has confronted governments around the globe with the ultimate bad choice: Wreck your economy or lose millions of lives.
While some initially hesitated, leaders and legislators in the United States and worldwide increasingly have decided they have to accept the severe economic pain.
“Everything else will come back,” President Trump said Tuesday even as the economic downturn and global turmoil deepened. “Lives won’t come back.”
The costs in either direction are enormous.
U.S. officials know the worst-case scenarios could be extremely bad. The White House has based some of its new plans on a research model developed by doctors and scientists at Imperial College in London that suggests the coronavirus epidemic in the United States could kill at least 2.2 million Americans over the next few months if left uncontrolled.
Alake Ilegbameh, with his three school-age children, gets to-go meals at Dorsey High on Wednesday from LAUSD employee Benjula Prasad. “May God continue to bless you,” he said. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Gloria Murrietta, who works in LAUSD food services, delivers food that will be distributed to drivers in vehicles at Dorsey High School in Los Angeles. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
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Courtney Johnson, left, Benjula Prasad and Cindy King prepare the to-go meals to be handed out at the Dorsey High food distribution center. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
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Blake Anderson, left, a freshman, walks with his father, Oree Anderson, as school is let out at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles just before campuses closed down. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Students hug as they are let out of school at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Students leave John C. Fremont High School in Los Angeles at the end of the school day on Friday. The campus closed the following Monday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times )
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LAUSD Supt. Austin Beutner said on Friday that LAUSD schools would be closing. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Jonathan Mitchell, 12, left, and Jason Garcia, 11, sixth-graders at Camino Nuevo Charter Academy in Los Angeles, eat corn dogs after receiving free box lunches at the Dream Center in Los Angeles. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Kevin Melgar, left, and Ricardo Oseguera, employees at Pink’s Hot Dogs, deliver 500 donated hot dogs to the Dream Center in Los Angeles. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Karyna Renoj, 11, and her mom, Pascuala Reno, carry box lunches from the Dream Center in Los Angeles. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Ricky Ohm, 9, a third-grader at Brooklyn Avenue Elementary School in East Los Angeles, receives food to-go from the Dream Center in Los Angeles. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Cynthia Arenas picks up a to-go lunch for son Jezis Lamb, a 4-year-old in pre-K, at the Dream Center in Los Angeles. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
The state’s public schools are likely to be closed for the remainder of the school year in response to the escalating coronavirus pandemic, a disruption that would affect the education of 6.1 million students and their families, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday.
“Don’t anticipate schools are going to open up in a week. Please don’t anticipate in a few weeks,” Newsom said Tuesday during an afternoon update on the state’s coronavirus efforts. “I would plan, and assume, that it’s unlikely that many of these schools — few, if any — will open before the summer break.”
The sober school news came as larger swaths of California faced even greater restrictions on movement. Orange County issued an order restricting all public gatherings, closing bars that don’t serve food and limiting restaurants to takeout service.
Millions more across the state, including those in Palm Springs and Sacramento, were ordered to shelter in place, similar to the rules imposed Monday across the Bay Area.
Global stock markets sank Wednesday in a third day of wild price swings after President Trump promised aid to get the U.S. economy through the coronavirus outbreak.
London and Frankfurt opened more than 3% lower and Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong all declined. Australia’s main index fell 6.4%.
The White House proposal could approach $1 trillion in spending to ward off the pressure of business closures to contain the virus. The Federal Reserve has announced more measures to keep financial markets operating.
Israel braced for its first fatalities as the number of coronavirus cases spiked by 25% on Wednesday while Iraqis in Baghdad hunkered down as a weeklong government-imposed curfew took effect and Iran pressed on with its struggle to control the Mideast’s worst outbreak.
Israel’s health ministry said 90 more people had tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the country’s overall number to 427, a day after authorities issued a new series of guidelines that put Israelis in near-shutdown mode.
There have been no fatalities so far, but with 15 patients in moderate to serious condition and the number of those infected exponentially rising in recent days, authorities have taken severe measures to stem the spread, warning of catastrophic consequences and thousands of deaths if people don’t follow instructions.
“We have seen what is happening in other countries that did not take these steps. Thousands around the world have already died. As prime minister, I must tell you the truth. To my joy, we have not lost anyone. However, this will not continue,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Tuesday in his daily address to the nation. “This is a huge crisis. We are only at the start of the campaign.”
The coronavirus has spread to more than 100 countries, infected more than 195,000 people worldwide and killed more than 7,800.
The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to temporarily stop enforcing a law requiring tents to come down during daytime hours, saying the change is needed to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Councilmen Mike Bonin, Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Gil Cedillo said the city must “urgently reevaluate” its policies for dealing with homeless encampments, given the virus threat.
By ensuring homeless Angelenos can remain in their tents, the city will reduce their chances of being around others and contracting the virus, said Bonin, who represents coastal neighborhoods.
“The only thing that is worse than having lots of people living in encampments is throwing them out of encampments and making them more vulnerable,” he said.
The City of Santa Monica closed the Santa Monica Pier in an attempt to prevent the further spread of the Coronavirus. Very few people were on the beach in Santa Monica as the epidemic continues. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
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Volunteer Nagma Shakur, 16, left, hugs her “Grannie” as she helps senior shoppers with their carts at the Grocery Outlet Bargain Market in Altadena. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
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People walk up the ramp, exiting the secure area at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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David Barker, 56, is visiting with his friend living in a tent on skidrow in Los Angeles. Barker, who is not homeless, works in the area. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)
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Dr. Dallas Weaver, 79, and his wife, Janet Weaver, 75, of Huntington Beach, walk on the Huntington pier. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Seniors, including Eileen Oda Leaf, 67, left, and her husband Dave Leaf, 67, right, both wearing protective masks, line up outside Gelson’s Market in Manhattan Beach early on Wednesday, March 18, 2020. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
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Roberta Tabor, 66, of Hermosa Beach, has her ID checked by store director Dennis Sullivan at Gelson’s Market in Manhattan Beach on Wednesday. The store is doing a “seniors shopping hour” where seniors 65+ can go grocery shopping before anybody else. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
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Seniors shop at Gelson’s Market in Manhattan Beach on Wednesday. The store is doing a “seniors shopping hour” where seniors can go grocery shopping before the store opens to the general public. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
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Dr. Mark V. Morocco oversees testing at UCLA Medical Center where people can drive up and get tested if they have the symptoms. Morocco listens to a female patient’s lungs through the car window. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
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HOPICS outreach worker Ralph Gomez tosses a clipboard for a signature to homeless client Davis Soto, right, taking care to stay at least six feet away during outreach in Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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Medical personnel screen patients outside the emergency room at Loma Linda University Health during the coronavirus pandemic. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
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A nurse takes the vital signs of a woman in a medical tent outside the hospital on Catalina. (Francine Orr/Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)
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An employee of the Trader Joe’s store in Monrovia tells customers waiting in line that it would open doors to everyone at 9 a.m., not just seniors, who arrived believing doors would open earlier to older residents, as some of the people were told by employees and it was reported. Some grocery outlets were offering special morning hours of shopping to accommodate older residents. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
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Kevin Ezeh, protected with face mask and gloves, addresses the Los Angeles City Council meeting standing under a tent erected outside City Hall. A television livestreamed video of the meeting and the public offered comments remotely. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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Orange County Undersheriff Bob Peterson listens during a board of supervisors discussion on combating the coronavirus in Santa Ana. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Dr. Mark V. Morocco oversees the testing at UCLA Medical Center. Testing for Covid-19 is going on at UCLA Medical Center, where people can drive up and get tested if they have the symptoms. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
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A large tent is installed for public attendance at Tuesday’s Los Angeles City Council meeting. The public was not allowed in the council chamber. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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Shoppers queue up ahead of the Los Feliz Costco opening for business on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 in Los Angeles. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Muhammad Faruq, an Uber driver, picks his ride Sotero Reyes, left, and Cristian Eguia, visitors from Houston, all in protective masks, from downtown Los Angeles. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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Volunteer Rachel Figueroa, serves a free lunch to go to Destiny Mendez, with her mother, Estefany, at the Dream Center in Los Angeles. LAUSD students can get free breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Dream Center, Monday through Friday. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
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Emma Bradley, left, and her husband, Samuel Bradley, of Palmdale are walking up the ramp to catch the Metrolink in Union Sation in Los Angeles. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)
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Medical personnel surround a car that is going through a coronavirus drive-thru test clinic at the San Mateo County Event Center. Drive-thru test clinics for COVID-19 are popping up across the country as more tests become available. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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From left, Josh Akamine, of Oahu, Hawaii; Madison Shine of Oahu; Matthew Valencia of Los Altos and Dani Ikeda visit L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
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Normally bustling Grand Central Market in downtown L.A. is open only for take out. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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L.A. has banned restaurants from offering seating at places such as Grand Central Market. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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Carlos Perez, a worker at Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles sits in the empty restaurant. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
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A line at the Martin B. Retting gun store in Culver City on Sunday extends out the door and around the corner in 2020. (Francine Orr / The Times)
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A guest wears a mask in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland on Thursday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Students hug as they are let out of school at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 13, 2020. The school has 2,623 students who live in 94 different zip codes, some of whom travel upwards of 30 miles to school on 24 different school bus routes. 221 school staff live in 88 zip codes. Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner announced that schools will be closed due to the coronavirus. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Blake Anderson, left, a freshman, walks with his father Oree Anderson, as school is let out at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. LAUSD announced that schools will be closed due to the Coronavirus. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Students leave John C. Fremont High School in Los Angeles at the end of the school day on Friday, Mar. 13, 2020. LAUSD announced it will shut down beginning Monday. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times )
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Alexandria Casserly crosses the street while looking for toilet paper in downtown Los Angeles. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
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A crew member stands on the stern of a cruise ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Two children look at movie posters in the lobby of the Arclight theater Thursday in Manhattan Beach. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Disneyland guests wearing ponchos pass the Marketplace inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on Thursday. Disneyland and California Adventure will temporarily close in response to the coronavirus pandemic. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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People shop at the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Disneyland guests take photos in front of the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Airline workers take precautions at Tom Bradley International Terminal in Los Angeles on Thursday. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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An airport worker cleans a railing at Tom Bradley International Terminal. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Two people arrive at Knott’s Berry Farm on Thursday in Buena Park. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Cab drivers wait for riders at the Long Beach Airport. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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The Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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A woman claims her luggage at he Long Beach Airport. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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The Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
More than 8 million Californians are living under shelter-in-place orders — the nation’s most stringent public health measures yet — as state and local governments rush to address the coronavirus pandemic.
At least 10 counties in the Bay Area and Central California and the city of Palm Springs have directed all residents to stay at home as much as possible, with Sonoma, San Benito and Monterey counties deciding Tuesday to join the order implemented a day earlier by San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin and Santa Cruz counties. In Ventura County, health officials Tuesday announced a shelter-in-place order that applied only to older residents.
In total, about 20% of the state’s population is under shelter-in-place orders.
Orange County imposed sweeping restrictions on public meetings as communities across California reported a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.
The Orange County order restricts all public gatherings, closes bars that don’t serve food and limits restaurants to takeout service. Elsewhere in the state, several new communities, including Palm Springs and Sacramento, issued shelter-in-place rules.
L.A. County announced it had 147 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, up 53 from Monday.
We continue to see a huge increase in the number of cases,” public health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said during a news conference Tuesday, adding that the rise in numbers is largely due to the increased capacity for testing.
Ferrer stressed the need for people to stay home, including anyone who is sick.
Border Patrol agents near a section of U.S.-Mexico border fence in La Joya, Texas.
(John Moore / Getty Images)
The Trump administration is taking steps to close the southern border to certain migrants, citing the rapid spread of the coronavirus.
U.S. immigration authorities could soon begin immediately removing migrants who enter the U.S. between official ports of entry and turning them back to Mexico, saying it will help stanch the expansion of the pandemic, officials told The Times.
The administration has yet to formally announce the proposal, first reported by the New York Times on Tuesday night, but it is hammering out final details. Earlier Tuesday, administration officials began laying the groundwork for the shift.
Under the new policy, Border Patrol agents who apprehend Mexican adults attempting to cross the border between ports of entry will return them to Mexico at a nearby port of entry instead of detaining them, according to Brandon Judd, president of the union that represents 15,000 agents, the National Border Patrol Council.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak has ordered the statewide shutdown of all casino and gambling operations as of midnight, another startling indication of the economic and cultural impact the coronavirus is exacting on American life.
Gambling ventures will be shuttered for 30 days, said Sisolak, who also ordered that other nonessential businesses, including bars and restaurants, will be forced to close as of noon Wednesday. Businesses such as hospitals, gas stations and grocery stores will remain open. Restaurants and bars that serve food will have to close or transition to delivery and takeout only.
“Today additional steps must be taken to slow the spread of the virus in our state,” the governor said.
Showing flashes of anger at times, Sisolak spoke of the need to protect medical professionals and first responders to the coronavirus pandemic. “You’re being told not to go out,” he said, and then repeated: “You’re being told not to go out. You owe it to them to listen to that directive.
Rachel Carlson, center, watches a Los Angeles City Council meeting while sitting under a tent outside City Hall on Tuesday amid fears about the coronavirus. A television live-streamed the meeting and the public offered comments electronically.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Renters and homeowners are likely to see significant new protections against evictions and foreclosures after the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved emergency measures to mitigate the economic effects of the novel coronavirus.
At the same time, advocacy groups criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom for not doing more to prevent Californians from losing their homes during the pandemic.
L.A.’s plan will temporarily ban evictions and late fees, require landlords and residential mortgage-holders to work out payment plans with affected residents, reduce city business taxes and create a citywide rental assistance fund. The measures will not take effect immediately. Instead, the council’s vote directs the city attorney to draw up an emergency eviction plan, which could be finalized as soon as next Tuesday.
In doing so, the city would be taking advantage of the broad constitutional powers that legal experts agree governments have to halt evictions during emergencies.
There was word earlier in the day that they’d be shutting down the bars. Many braced for what seemed imminent: Restaurants were next.
When L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti made the announcement to shut down dine-in service at all city restaurants and bars, it was “a gut punch on a Sunday night,” said Sang Yoon, chef and owner of Father’s Office and Lukshon.
It was the latest body blow in a combination of hits L.A.’s dining scene has suffered in the past several weeks (for some, even longer). So much has been going wrong, at all times it seems. The coronavirus pandemic has ripped the city’s restaurants off their moorings, and there has been no time for anyone to adjust.
In the days leading up to Garcetti’s emergency action, as concern spread and the virus spread even more quickly, many restaurants took to social media to announce dramatic changes to their day-to-day operations. They had to consider their role and responsibility to keep their staff and communities safe, many explained.
The Pentagon said Tuesday it has mobilized 1,500 National Guard troops to help fight the coronavirus epidemic, but the top federal official for infectious diseases warned that it’s too soon to know whether a raft of strict restrictions on normal American life is slowing the infection rate.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it may take “several weeks and maybe longer” before it’s clear whether the closure of schools and businesses and other widespread disruptions to the U.S. society and economy are “having an effect” on the deadly COVID-19 disease caused by the virus.
Appearing at a White House briefing with members of the coronavirus task force, Fauci hesitated to say when he expected coronavirus cases to peak, although he suggested 45 days “is not unreasonable.”
President Trump said he is considering ordering the Army Corps of Engineers to build temporary hospitals in New York and California if cases continue to surge and civilian facilities are overwhelmed.
Staggered by the coronavirus outbreak, the lodging industry requested $150 billion in aid from the Trump administration Tuesday as Marriott International announced plans to furlough tens of thousands of workers.
After a White House meeting with President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, hotel industry leaders said the virus outbreak is on pace to cause a bigger economic hit than the 2001 terrorist strikes and the 2008-09 recession combined.
In addition to the $150 billion requested by the hotel industry, other sectors of the travel industry — such as convention centers, theme parks and tour companies — have requested $100 billion in funding to overcome the crisis, said Roger Dow, president of the U.S. Travel Assn., the trade group for the country’s travel industry.
Adam Friedman of Advanced Athletics in Venice said he was “starting to build an online platform where I can guide people through their fitness routines.”
(Ronald D. White / Los Angeles Times)
Southern California gym chains, boutique fitness spots and personal trainers are scrambling to find alternative ways to sweat as their facilities are forced to close because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Some gym operators are taking their classes to the internet, and trainers are hustling to arrange travel times and new schedules to accommodate home visits or small outdoor classes.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Sunday night announced the shutdown of gyms, bars, nightclubs, entertainment venues and dine-in restaurant service through March 31 to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, a step taken in New York and several other cities around the nation. Los Angeles County supervisors issued a similar order Monday for the 88 cities under their jurisdiction, and Gov. Gavin Newsom asked all such businesses across California to close, and in the case of restaurants to switch to takeout only.
California public schools are likely to be closed for the remainder of the school year in response to the escalating spread of coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday afternoon.
“Don’t anticipate schools are going to open up in a week. Please don’t anticipate in a few weeks,” Newsom said during a Sacramento news conference on the state’s coronavirus efforts. “I would plan, and assume, that it’s unlikely that many of these schools — few, if any — will open before the summer break.”
Nearly all school districts in the state, 98.8%, are closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Newsom said. The state education department is assembling detailed guidelines on how schools can attempt to continue teaching 6.1 million students out of their classrooms in the weeks and months ahead.
The governor later said his comments reflect what he believes will be the challenges across California in the weeks to come, as the coronavirus pandemic changes the daily course of life.
After more than 30 years in advertising, Loretta and Roddy celebrated their retirement with a trip.
They left their home in Orlando, Fla., for the Philippines on Feb. 4. At one point, they traveled to Thailand. They had layovers in Seoul on the way to the Philippines and the way back to the U.S.
On March 8, they flew into Los Angeles International Airport. They planned to stay at Roddy’s sister’s house in Walnut for two nights and then fly back to Florida on March 10.
What happened next is a nightmarish and ultimately tragic tale of missed signals and bureaucratic stumbling blocks that have shattered the couple’s lives and family.
