Coronavirus Update: Newsom Locks Down State; Scramble For Hospital Beds; Coronavirus Fears Spiking Nationwide
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The tsunami of news about the current coronavirus outbreak and now the shelter-in-place can be overwhelming. To help you navigate through what you need to know -- KPIX.com/KPIX 5 News/CBSN Bay Area -- will be publishing a news roundup each morning of the top coronavirus-related stories from the last 24 hours so you can start your day with the latest developments impacting you, your family and your daily life.
Shelter In Place
Coronavirus Pandemic: Gov. Newsom Issues Historic Statewide Stay-At-Home Order
Stating that the people of California need to do more in the face of the growing coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom Thursday evening announced a statewide stay-at-home order to reduce the threat of COVID-19. Newsom's office had already hinted at the weighty nature of what the governor would be talking about, noting that a "major announcement" would be made during a 6:30 p.m. address on the state's response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Read More
Newsom: 25.5 Million Californians Will Be Infected With Coronavirus; Seeks $1B To Prepare For Surge
SACRAMENTO -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday offered a sobering prediction on the surge of coronavirus cases coming to the state, projecting that more than half of the state's residents will become infected over an eight-week period. Newsom issued the stark assessment in a letter to President Donald Trump, requesting the immediate deployment of the USNS Mercy hospital ship to the Port of Los Angeles through the beginning of September. "We project that roughly 56 percent of our population--25.5 million people--will be infected with the virus over an eight week period," said Newsom in the letter. Read More
Stanford Health Expert Agrees Coronavirus Is Spreading Fast But Questions Governor's Projections
SAN FRANCISCO -- Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed a statewide shelter-in-place order to combat the spread of COVID-19 but one local health expert wondered how the governor came up with the numbers he quoted in his projections. There may be a difference of opinion on some of the numbers Gov. Newsom has released but there's broad agreement on one thing: the novel coronavirus is spreading fast and Californians should prepare for the worst. Read More
Coronavirus Patient Surge: Seeking Hospital Beds, Alternative Spots For The Not-So-Sick
SAN FRANCISCO -- Much has been said of how hospital are going to handle the very sick; the people who will need ventilators and critical care. Then there's another challenge: what to do with the people who are not very sick, but need to be isolated so they get well without spreading the virus to people who are not infected. "Please, do not go to the emergency room or an urgent care center unless you have a true life-threatening emergency," says Grant Colfax, San Francisco's Director of Public Health. Read More
Quarantined San Francisco Neighbors Sing 'Sweet Caroline,' Joined By Thousands On Facebook
SAN FRANCISCO -- Quarantined but determined to keep upbeat, thousands of people stuck inside their homes because of the coronavirus sang together Thursday evening. Ilana Minkoff, a realtor in San Francisco's Cole Valley, has begun a Facebook group called "Quarantine Sing-Along" which now has thousands of members from several continents. "I cannot believe how big this has gotten, totally organically," Minkoff said. Read More
Over 300 Alameda County Jail Inmates Approved For Early Release
SANTA RITA -- Alameda County authorities announced Thursday that 314 inmates at its jail facility have been approved for sentence modification and early release during the current coronavirus crisis. Sheriff Gregory Ahern said in a phone interview that he took that action at the request of Alameda County Presiding Judge Tara Desautels, Public Defender Brendon Woods and District Attorney Nancy O'Malley. Read More
Tesla To Shut Down Fremont Plant Beginning March 23
FREMONT -- Telsa announced Thursday it would shut down its Fremont plant and also an assembly facility in New York state on March 23rd in the wake of the growing coronavirus outbreak nationwide. The announcement ends a controversy surrounding a company decision to continue operations after a shelter-in-place order was issued for all businesses and residents in Alameda County. Read More
Free School Lunches -- Where To Pick Them Up
Map: Bay Area Schools Distributing Meals During Coronavirus Closure
SAN FRANCISCO -- A number of Bay Area school districts have been distributing meals to students during the shelter-in-place order because of the coronavirus spread. The school districts have been rolling out the service on various days, hours and location. Below the map is a partial list of school districts currently providing meals; more districts will be added periodically. Read More
New Cases Reported And Projected
Coronavirus Pandemic: San Francisco Cases Rise To 70; City Hires More Nurses
As the number of cases of the novel coronavirus in San Francisco rose to 70 on Thursday, city leaders announced the hiring of dozens more nurses and the relocation of the city's Emergency Operations Center. As part of expanded operations, the EOC has moved to the Moscone Center South convention center at 474 Howard St. in order to accommodate increased staff and to practice social distancing as the department works to support essential city services that need to remain open. Read More
Bay Area Cases Grow; Fear Of Virus Infection Spikes Dramatically Across The Country
SAN FRANCISCO -- As the number of confirmed coronavirus Bay Area cases have grown to at least 425 with 7 deaths early Thursday, a new national poll has revealed that fear of contracting the disease across the country had risen dramatically. As the day began Thursday, there were 598 confirmed cases in California with the vast number of those infected being in the Bay Area. State officials said California now has 15 confirmed deaths. A new Associated Press poll revealed Thursday showed that concern among Americans that they or a loved one will be infected by the coronavirus rose dramatically in the past month. Read More
Newsom Warns Of Dramatic Rise In Coronavirus Cases Among The Homeless
OAKLAND -- As the state was moving forward with housing the homeless at two Oakland hotels to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom says that up to 60,000 homeless in the state could end up infected and overwhelm health care providers. To help prevent the spread, state officials have leased rooms in two hotels near Oakland International Airport to house homeless during the growing crisis. Read More
Inmate Found Dead At Milpitas Correctional Facility; Coronavirus Possible Cause
MILPITAS -- A 58-year-old man was found dead in his cell at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas early Thursday morning, and investigators are working to determine his cause of death, including if coronavirus was a factor, Santa Clara County sheriff's officials said. The man, whose name is not yet being released, was booked into the county Main Jail on Monday for a violation of a court order and drug charges. Read More
Reserve San Jose Police Officer Tests Positive For Coronavirus
SAN JOSE -- The San Jose Police Department announced Thursday that a reserve officer has tested positive for the novel coronavirus. San Jose police Chief Eddie Garcia and San Jose Police Officers Association President Paul Kelly are expected to hold a news conference Thursday afternoon to announce the start of self-quarantining for some officers in the department in light of the positive test. Read More
Other Major Coronavirus Developments
California State Tax Deadlines Pushed To July 15 Over Coronavirus
SACRAMENTO -– The California Franchise Tax Board announced that state tax deadlines have been pushed back in response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The new deadlines apply to all individuals and business entities and taxpayers do not need to claim any special treatment or to call the board to qualify. Read More
Nix The Bottles – Drinking From Your Faucet Is Safe, San Jose Water Official Says
SAN JOSE -- For the past few days, many people have been running out to their neighborhood grocery stores and buying up as much bottled water as their shopping carts could hold. "I'm saying that's unnecessary," said Andy Gere, president and COO of San Jose Water Company. Gere said people who want safe drinking water should go to their tap. Read More
Bay Area Website Launched to Document Anti-Asian Hate Crimes in Wake of COVID-19
SAN FRANCISCO -- On a busy San Francisco street in the broad light of day, Yuanyuan Zhu was harassed and spit on by a stranger simply for being Asian in the midst of a global pandemic caused by what the president of the United Stats calls the "Chinese virus." Zhu had just been dropped off near the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Geary Boulevard when a man walking past her on the sidewalk shouted "fu** China" while staring directly at her. Read More
North Bay Grocery Store Shelves Refilled After Spate Of Coronavirus Panic Buying
After struggling with high demand and panic buying earlier in the week, on Thursday the shelves on some North Bay grocery stores appeared to be recovering. Last Monday, many stores were swamped with customers. The chaos continued in the toilet paper aisle, milk coolers, soap shelves and even produce departments. It was a level of panic buying not seen in decades. Thursday is a different story. Large chain stores were doing better with many products restocked, but there are still several long empty shelves. Read more
After Elon Musk Offers To Build Ventilators, NYC Mayor de Blasio Asks For Help
It didn't take long for a high-profile official to ask for Elon Musk's help after the Tesla and Space X CEO tweeted that his company could build ventilators currently in serious shortage as hospitals struggle to treat coronavirus patients. The exchange was reported on the Business Insider website Thursday morning. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted "New York City is buying!" to Musk earlier Thursday, hours after Musk started posting on the social media service about the capability of his companies to produce the vital piece of hospital equipment. Read more
Jennifer Siebel Newsom Tweets About Running Low On TP At Home, Met With Scorn Online
SACRAMENTO — The wife of Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that she's facing the same problems as millions of other Californians who are dealing with empty store shelves, closed schools and home confinement as social distancing measures take hold to slow the spread of the coronavirus. "One rose amidst all of this — family dinners and no late night homework stress," tweeted Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who has four young children. "And nice to not have kids shuffling home late from sports and activities. And yes, unfortunately the thorn — we run out of toilet paper, paper towels, and Kleenex tomorrow. I wish people had not hoarded." Read More
Coronavirus Care Donations Descend On San Jose Valley Care Medical Center
SAN JOSE -- After spending a good part of the past week watching people panic-buying and clearing the shelves of every store in the area, it was heartwarming to see to come to the Valley Medical Center Foundation in San Jose and see the opposite. In these strange times, kindness comes in every shape, size, and quantity, such as a donation of 40,000 latex gloves. Read More
Coronavirus And Bay Area Transportation
Capitol Corridor Between San Jose, Sacramento To Reduce Service
SAN JOSE -- Service along the Capitol Corridor in the Bay Area will be reduced starting on Saturday in response to the COVID-19 public health crisis, agency officials said Wednesday. The agency will maintain core service between the Sacramento region to the South Bay area but will run on a modified schedule for riders who have essential jobs and need to work during the shelter-in-place order
that runs through April 7 for several Bay Area counties. Read More
Service Reductions Announced For Bay Ferry
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Water Emergency Transportation Authority announced Thursday that it will significantly reduce San Francisco Bay Ferry service due to the ongoing shelter-in-place order affecting most of the Bay Area. Ferry service will be suspended to Richmond, Harbor Bay and South San Francisco and only limited service will be offered on the Vallejo and Alameda/Oakland routes that connect to downtown San Francisco. In addition, weekend ferry service and routes to Pier 41 in San Francisco and Mare Island have been suspended. Read More
VTA Not Collecting Fares On Buses, Light Rail; Rear Door Entrance Only
SAN JOSE -- The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is implementing changes on buses, including not collecting fares, in order to slow the spread of coronavirus, the transit agency announced Thursday. Effective immediately, VTA will have passengers enter buses through the rear doors only to avoid contact with bus operators. Front door boarding is only reserved for passengers who require the ramp to board or who qualify for priority seating. Read More
Coronavirus And Bay Area Schools
Coronavirus Update: Pittsburg School District Extends Closure Through Mid-April
PITTSBURG -- The Pittsburg Unified School District has extended its school closings in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic through the end of its spring break, which ends on Friday, April 17, district officials said. The plan now, per district officials, is to return students to the classroom on Monday, April 20. An initial decision on Friday had PUSD schools closed through the end of March. Read More
Newsom Executive Order Suspends K-12 Standardized Testing Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
SACRAMENTO -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday issued an Executive Order to suspend standardized testing for students due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has caused schools across the state to temporarily shut down. Newsom's order (.pdf) waives this year's statewide testing for California's more than 6 million K-12 students. Read More
Coronavirus Sports Developments
San Francisco 49ers Committing $500,000 To Support Employees, Community Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
SANTA CLARA -- San Francisco and the surrounding area has been one of the areas most affected by the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. In the midst of the outbreak and its continued effects on the community, the San Francisco 49ers announced Thursday they would be committing $500,000 to support their workforce and the most vulnerable populations in the community. The organization announced that the investment will begin immediately with $49,000 going to feed children and the elderly in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties -- two of the hardest hit areas. Read More
No San Jose Earthquakes Games Until May As MLS Extends Suspension Of Season
SAN JOSE -- San Jose Earthquakes fans will have to wait a little longer to cheer on their team at Avaya Stadium this season as Major League Soccer officials extended their current coronavirus shutdown until at least May. Last week, the league had suspended its season by 30 days but extended it to May 10 over concerns about large crowds posing a potential exposure to the virus. The 2020 MLS season, which started on February 29, was about two weeks old when play stopped. Read More
Two Members Of The NBA's Los Angeles Lakers Test Positive
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Los Angeles Lakers confirmed in a statement that two of their players tested positive for COVID-19. Their identities were not revealed. The organization recommended that all their players be tested after exposure to the Brooklyn Nets in a game on March 10th. The Nets confirmed on Tuesday that four of their players contracted the virus including former Warrior Kevin Durant.
"Both players are currently asymptomatic, in quarantine and under the care of the team's physician," the emailed statement said. Read More
