COVID-19 Reopening Roundup: 11th Death Row Inmate Dies Of COVID-19; San Mateo Salon Alley's Bleak Future; North Beach Bands Together
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The tsunami of news about the current coronavirus outbreak and now the reopenings can be overwhelming. To help you navigate through what you need to know here's a news roundup of the top coronavirus and reopening-related stories from over the weekend.
Not Everyone Pleased With Closure Of Palo Alto's University Ave For Outdoor Dining
PALO ALTO -- On a sunny Sunday evening, Palo Alto's University Ave. was crowded with local residents taking advantage of the city's decision to shutdown the main street to allow al fresco dining. Business was brisk at Local Union 271, a farm-to-table restaurant. "I love it, I hope they keep it, I think it's great to be sitting outside, and enjoying the fresh air and seeing everybody walking by," said Deborah Taylor of Palo Alto. As part of the Summer Streets program, Palo Alto officials closed University from Cowper to High Streets to car traffic to allow for more outdoor dining and support retailers. But not everyone is pleased with the closure. Read More
San Mateo 'Salon Alley' Business Owners Face Bleak Future With New County Shutdown
SAN MATEO -- San Mateo County became the last Bay Area county to face new restrictions after being on the state's coronaVirus watch list. Starting Sunday, the new restrictions ban malls, gyms, churches, tattoo parlors, spas, hair and nail salons. West 25th Avenue, between Flores and Hacienda Streets in San Mateo, is known as "salon alley" because of the 11 hair and nail salons on one block. Everyone there was forced to close. "We had to cancel our clients and let the rest of the team know. Unfortunately, the team members really do depend on us to open because they left their unemployment to come back to work for us," said Linda Pham, owner of Soleil Luna Nail Spa in San Mateo. Pham said they invested thousands of dollars in plastic partitions, safety equipment and a temperature-checking device so they could reopen back in mid June and July. Read More
Condemned Multiple Murder Orlando G. Romero Dies While Being Treated For COVID-19
SAN QUENTIN -- Condemn killer Orlando Romero, sentenced to death along with his brother Christopher Self in 1996, died Sunday at a hospital outside of San Quentin while being treated for a COVID-19 infection, according to state prison officials. Romero is the 11th death row inmate to die while being treated for COVID-19 since the virus outbreak swept through San Quentin beginning in June. The last execution at San Quentin was in 2006. Prison officials said Romero's death appears to be from complications related to COVID-19, but a coroner will determine his exact cause of death. A second general population inmate also died of virus over the weekend, raising the death toll from the San Quentin outbreak to a prison system high 21. As of Sunday, there were 147 active COVID-19 cases among San Quentin's inmate population and 1,965 convicts have recovered from the exposure to the illness. Read More
Released Inmates Describe Ordeal Inside San Quentin During Coronavirus Outbreak
SAN FRANCISCO -- Greg Morris was doing 17 years to life in San Quentin State Prison for attempted murder when coronavirus infiltrated the prison's walls. Morris was just released -- three months earlier than expected -- after he tested positive for COVID-19. Now Morris is in quarantine in a hotel in Hayward where, in a Zoom interview with KPIX, he described what he called the "terrible" conditions inside the prison. "My cellie had COVID-19," Morris recalled. "He tested positive, I tested negative. It took a week, or three to five days to figure out right, that he actually tested positive and to move my cellie." By then it was too late as Morris' cellmate had given him COVID-19 and the two men certainly were not the only ones to contract the virus. Testing consisted simply of fever checks and blood oxygen levels. Read More
Coronavirus Research Yields New Roadmap for Treatment Options
SAN FRANCISCO -- As the pandemic continues and hits record numbers in California and nationwide, there is more information coming out to help doctors understand it. A new study has identified six different clusters of symptoms, all representing different progressions of the disease. Dr. Malathi Srinivasan, with Stanford Health Care, says the information will help physicians gauge the severity of their patients' cases and guide their treatment. "This is giving us some early-warning symptoms and symptom clusters," she says, "to identify those people who might need more monitoring and who might need to come in earlier." There are also dangers in some of the products we use to keep safe. Certain hand sanitizers are made with methanol, a toxic alcohol that can cause confusion, nausea, even death. Read More
North Beach Neighbors Band Together to Boost Restaurants' Business With Volunteer Deliveries
SAN FRANCISCO -- Restaurants have been hit hard during the pandemic but one neighborhood in San Francisco is banding together to help -- and they're setting an example for the entire Bay Area. In San Francisco, it is the Italian food that brings people to North Beach. So when the pandemic shut down all the restaurants, residents in the neighborhood saw what a loss it was. "You can't overstate how important they are," said Danny Sauter, president of the North Beach Neighborhood community group. "I mean, they give the neighborhood character. We see when one of them leaves, how much of a gap, how much of a hole it leaves in the community." As restaurants struggled with only curbside sales, private online delivery services were charging them 30 to 40 percent on every order. Read More
San Mateo County Shuts Down Indoor Sunday Church Services AS COVID-19 Cases Surge
REDWOOD CITY -- Indoor Sunday religious services were banned at all San Mateo County churches Sunday as the county reinstituted COVID-19 business closures that also included shopping malls, indoor fitness centers and indoor beauty salons. The county was added to the state's COVID-19 watchlist last week -- the last Bay Area holdout -- due to an increase in the rate of coronavirus cases. As of Friday, San Mateo County has had 5,544 confirmed cases since the COVID-19 outbreak began in March. There have been 119 deaths -- 80 of those in nursing homes -- in the county with 60 residents currently hospitalized. Of those, 4 are under ICU treatment. As a result state health officials ordered San Mateo County officials to begin rolling back reopenings at 12:01 a.m. Sunday. Read More
Text To Pac-12 Players Encourages Possible COVID-19 Opt-Out
SAN FRANCISCO -- A text message circulating among Pac-12 football players is encouraging them to opt-out of practices and games until they can negotiate protections and benefits related to health and safety, economic rights and the fight against racial injustice. ESPN first reported the possible movement among players at multiple Pac-12 schools and The Athletic published the text invitation. The text says a public announcement, along with a list of demands, will be published Monday through The Players Tribune and social media platforms. "Our goals is obtain a written contract with the Pac-12 that legally ensures we are offered the following protections and benefits." The conference announced on Friday it would begin its 10-game, conference-only college football season on Sept. 26 with a schedule with built-in make-up game provisions if a team is forced to reschedule because of a COVID-19 outbreak. Read More
PGA Championship Now Glory's 1st Shot, With No Fans Allowed
SAN FRANCISCO -- The PGA Championship in August seems familiar enough. That's the place at the end of the major championship season that it once occupied for the better part of 70 years when it was known as "Glory's Last Shot." Now it's the first shot. It's one reminder just how much the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down golf for three months, has led to a year like no other even for sports that have been able to resume. They can be seen, but they're not heard. Kerry Haigh was reminded of that one week out from the 102nd PGA Championship at the TPC Harding Park. Haigh is the chief championships officer for the PGA of America in charge of preparing the public course in San Francisco for the world's best players. Read More
East Bay Cities Cry Foul Over Illegal Sports Tournaments at CoCo County Parks
CONCORD - Most, if not all, Bay Area counties have banned organized sports at their parks and recreation facilities but some youth leagues and amateur adult teams have been defying the restrictions and playing in full-blown tournaments. Concord police broke up an adult softball tournament at the Willow Pass Community Park Saturday morning. It's not a problem isolated to Concord, indeed it's happening all over the region. Teams apparently travel far afield to other cities to hold large, organized sporting events. "(They had) full uniforms with fans," said Eric Tate, who saw the Saturday morning tournament in Concord. A city spokeswoman told KPIX it began just after 8 a.m. The city had reached out to the organizers earlier this week to try to stop it. Contra Costa County leaders said it's been an ongoing problem for the past couple of months. Read More
North Bay Gym Owner Turns Her Fitness Center Inside Out to Make Most of Pandemic Restrictions
NOVATO -- The pandemic has shut down indoor gyms and fitness clubs but one in Marin County is making the most of the space it has. It might serve as a model for others to follow. Rolling Hills Club in Novato is luckier than most. It sits on seven acres at the base of the foothills so there's lots of space for tennis courts and lap pools. The pandemic wiped out all the indoor gym areas which was a problem until owner Martha Domont took a trip to Costco. "(I) bought every single tent they had," Domont said. "I literally bought 50 tents and you'll see why." With those tents, Domont brought the indoor gym outdoors. The tennis court has been covered with canopies to make a shady space for exercise and yoga classes. With more tents and some artificial turf, Domont created "Muscle Lawn," an area for free weights and elliptical machines. Read More
Sidewalk Vendors at Lake Merritt Sound Off on Oakland's Ban
OAKLAND -- The city of Oakland said it was going to get serious about enforcing rules for sidewalk vendors at Lake Merritt amid fears that large weekend gatherings could be responsible for the spread of the novel coronavirus. Though there was little evidence Saturday of a crackdown, there were some changes. "When we got here we found out that we shouldn't be here," said Mariah, a lemonade vendor. "But we decided to just come out here and take a risk anyway." No food, no alcohol and no cannabis -- that was the city's refined policy Saturday after many weekends of large crowds and a wave of complaints from people living around the lake. "Vendors selling all kinds of stuff," a neighbor told KPIX. "Dancers. Barbecues. Quite, you know, berserk to a certain degree during the covid situation." Read More
Marathon Martinez Refinery 'Indefinitely Idled' Due to Pandemic-Driven Drop in Auto Travel
MARTINEZ -- The Marathon Petroleum Corp. will "indefinitely idle" its refinery in unincorporated Contra Costa County and convert the site to a terminal facility, the company has announced. The company is also putting a New Mexico refinery on indefinite hold and announced that most jobs would be lost at the two sites, with phased layoffs starting in October. "We are also evaluating the strategic repositioning of Martinez to a renewable diesel facility, which aligns with California's Low Carbon Fuel Standards objectives and MPC's greenhouse gas reduction targets," the company's website announced. Plummeting demand for gasoline amid COVID-19 coronavirus-related travel restrictions put the Marathon Martinez Refinery on a temporary hold in April and the facility began winding down production. Read More
Report: MLB Tells Broadcast Partners To Prepare For Potential 2020 Season Shutdown
NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball's commissioner Rob Manfred told MLB Players Association head Tony Clark on Friday that the season could be scrapped if the league's COVID-19 numbers continue to get worse, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan. According to Passan, some players briefed on the call believe Manfred could pull the plug as soon as Monday, depending on the extent of the weekend's testing. Those individuals aren't the only ones hearing about that possibility, either. Keith Olbermann, also of ESPN, reported Friday night that "Networks broadcasting MLB games have been alerted to look at possible alternate programming after this weekend should the league shut down." Read More
Bay Area Health Officials Call For Enforcement Of Face Covering Directives
SONOMA COUNTY -- One by one, Bay Area counties are starting to crack down on violators of the coronavirus health orders as people defy the law and cases of COVID-19 continue to climb. "If we don't get serious, ashes to ashes, we all fall down," said Lifelong Medical Care Dr. Desmond Carson. The emotional plea was made Friday as California became the first state in the nation to reach 500,000 confirmed coronavirus cases. The state also reported 9,147 deaths. "People must respect the guidelines of the health community, we must wear masks," Dr. Carson said. Read More
Diabetic San Quentin Inmate Says He Was Released to Quarantine at Novato Hotel Without Food
NOVATO -- A San Quentin inmate claims he was dropped off at a Novato hotel to quarantine for two weeks, only to be left stranded without any support or a single meal. Former San Quentin inmate Mike Madeux traded a prison cell for a room at a Novato hotel but his first taste of freedom in nearly seven years hasn't been sweet. He says he was dropped off on Tuesday. Since then, he has been scrambling to get something to eat. "I finally had to walk to the store since I haven't had any food. I'm diabetic and I'm shaking because I haven't had any food," Madeux told KPIX. Madeux says he contracted COVID-19 while at San Quentin. Read More
