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Coronavirus in California: What You Need to Know Coronavirus in California: What You Need to Know
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[This article is part of the developing coronavirus coverage, and may be outdated. Go here for the latest on the coronavirus.][This article is part of the developing coronavirus coverage, and may be outdated. Go here for the latest on the coronavirus.]
California officials said this week that they had bolstered efforts to confront the growing threat of the coronavirus, declaring that they were prepared and pursuing aggressive measures to thwart its spread. Across California, one by one, universities canceled in-person classes, grade schools closed, companies issued work from home orders and officials banned large gatherings. It was all in an effort to slow what officials have been describing as the inevitable spread of the coronavirus in the nation’s most populous state.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Thursday that the state had pushed for improved and expanded testing, urging federal officials to alter a testing protocol that he considered “inadequate” to address the situation California faces. He also said officials were actively monitoring people who might have come into contact with the pathogen. Large events like Coachella and Stagecoach were postponed, causing a ripple effect on the regions of the state that rely on tourists. And fans braced as professional sports teams announced they would play without live audiences.
California has had more coronavirus cases than any other state and has also been the nucleus of quarantine efforts in the United States. The sense of concern became more heightened after officials confirmed what is believed to be the first documented case of community transmission, in Solano County. Gov. Gavin Newsom formally declared a state of emergency on March 4, he said, to ensure the state could marshal all the public health resources it could.
The governor sought to strike a delicate note by quelling fears over the virus while acknowledging the seriousness of the situation. He told residents that the overall number of cases remained low and that the state government was well positioned to keep it that way. Since then, the virus has spread to more U.S. states, suggesting that many of the extraordinary containment measures in California could foreshadow what’s to come elsewhere.
“We have been in constant contact with federal agencies,” Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, said in a news conference on Thursday. “We have history and expertise in this space. We are not overreacting, but nor are we underreacting to the understandable anxiety that many people have as it relates to this novel virus.” California officials say they have largely shifted to building the capacity to test larger numbers of people.
Mr. Newsom has resisted declaring a state of emergency, a step taken by some local officials largely in an effort to muster public health resources. But there are worries about the economic fallout, with events having already been changed or canceled. Both Facebook and Microsoft said they were pulling out of conferences scheduled for March and May. “Testing is top of mind in the state of California,” Mr. Newsom said in a briefing on Tuesday.
Thirty-three people have tested positive for the virus in California, said Dr. Sonia Angell, the director of the California Department of Public Health. Out of that group, 24 were from repatriation flights, seven were related to the patients’ travel and one had contracted it from an infected spouse. The most recent case was the one involving community transmission, which was reported in Solano County. [Sign up for daily updates in each California Today newsletter here.]
As of Wednesday, the state had 191 cases. Four deaths have been linked to the virus.
The first person to die was a Placer County resident who had been on a previous cruise on the Grand Princess and had underlying health conditions. The second was a Santa Clara County woman in her 60s who died on Monday after being in the hospital for weeks.
On Tuesday evening, a Sacramento County woman in her 90s died after testing positive for the virus, which sent local health officials into overdrive testing other residents of the Elk Grove senior facility where she lived.
On Wednesday, Los Angeles County health officials said that a woman over 60 died shortly after being hospitalized, although she wasn’t a resident. The woman, health officials said, had traveled extensively before coming to Los Angeles.
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Mr. Newsom said five people had moved out of the state after testing positive. In addition, at least 8,400 people who have returned from overseas are being monitored in 49 jurisdictions. According to the state’s update on Tuesday, 24 of the 157 cases it had confirmed by then were related to federal repatriation efforts, meaning those were people who were brought back to the U.S. from abroad.
One confirmed coronavirus case that cropped up in Solano County, between San Francisco and Sacramento, is especially worrisome to health officials. The patient had not had contact with anyone known to be infected, and had not traveled recently to a country where the virus is known to be in circulation. Of the remaining 133, the state said 50 were travel-related, 30 were from person to person spread and 29 were from community transmission. The last 24 were still under investigation.
County health authorities around the state continued to announce new cases over the course of the day on Wednesday, including six new cases in Los Angeles County, so the full total was expected to rise.
According to the state’s department of public health, more than 10,000 people are “self-monitoring,” after returning to the country through airports in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
On Tuesday, Mr. Newsom said 1,075 people had been tested. He said 18 labs were already processing tests and a commercial lab company was preparing to start testing people, too.
On Wednesday, Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco reportedly began doing drive-through testing for the virus, but it was by appointment only.
Santa Clara County on Monday officially banned gatherings of more than 1,000 people, which affected several professional and college sports teams. On Wednesday, the White House recommended that local officials make the restrictions even more stringent and bar gatherings of 250 people or more.
The county has emerged as a center of the virus’s spread in Northern California.
It has had the Bay Area’s largest number of cases by far, with 45 as of Tuesday afternoon. And after three Transportation Security Administration officers at Mineta San Jose International Airport tested positive for the virus, officials worried that others may have been exposed. Between 20 and 40 airport workers have been quarantined.
Still, with 14 confirmed cases on Wednesday, San Francisco officials announced a similar ban on gatherings of 1,000 people or more in enclosed spaces. It was set to be in effect for two weeks.
Although state officials have been encouraging residents to voluntarily avoid crowded places and cruises if they’re part of a vulnerable population, other California communities haven’t outright banned large gatherings yet.
When state and federal officials first announced that the Grand Princess Cruise ship, a vessel that became a symbolic hub of the virus, would dock in Oakland rather than San Francisco as first planned, residents of the East Bay city were outraged.
Twenty-one people aboard the ship initially tested positive for the virus, but more cases were expected to emerge as more passengers are tested.
Although the authorities said the Port of Oakland was better equipped to deal with the docking of a ship full of people who would need to be securely and cleanly transported to quarantine sites elsewhere, some Oaklanders saw the move as a slight.
“I think it’s a total disgrace to my family, to all the taxpayers, to the rest of the people who don’t have a voice,” said Michael Green, 38, riding a bicycle through his West Oakland community. “All it takes is one to escape.”
The ship arrived in Oakland on Monday, and since then, the governor’s office has been providing regular updates about who’s gotten off the boat and where they’ve gone.
By the end of the day on Tuesday, 1,452 people had gotten off the ship. Most of those were taken by bus to Travis Air Force Base, while some others were flown on a chartered plane to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego. Others were taken by chartered flight to military bases in Georgia, Texas and to the United Kingdom.
One confirmed coronavirus case that cropped up in Solano County, between San Francisco and Sacramento, was especially worrisome to health officials. The patient had not had contact with anyone known to be infected and had not traveled recently to a country where the virus is known to be in circulation.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was the first such case reported in the United States, and it raised the possibility that someone who is asymptomatic may be carrying the virus and infecting others without knowing it.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was the first such case reported in the United States, and it raised the possibility that someone who is asymptomatic may be carrying the virus and infecting others without knowing it.
The patient, a woman, became ill and was first treated in a hospital in Vacaville, then transferred to the UC Davis Medical Center. Doctors there suspected coronavirus and requested a test. But the C.D.C. did not perform the test for days, because it was restricting testing to sick people known to have been exposed to the virus. The day after her case was confirmed, the C.D.C. broadened its criteria to allow testing of people like her who appear to be ill from coronavirus but have no known point of exposure.The patient, a woman, became ill and was first treated in a hospital in Vacaville, then transferred to the UC Davis Medical Center. Doctors there suspected coronavirus and requested a test. But the C.D.C. did not perform the test for days, because it was restricting testing to sick people known to have been exposed to the virus. The day after her case was confirmed, the C.D.C. broadened its criteria to allow testing of people like her who appear to be ill from coronavirus but have no known point of exposure.
Solano County is also the location of Travis Air Force Base, where many Americans who were infected in Asia have been quarantined. Solano County is also the location of Travis Air Force Base, where many Americans have been quarantined.
A government whistle-blower has filed a complaint saying that the federal health officials sent to interact with quarantined people at the base were not given proper training or protective gear, were not monitored or tested, and were allowed to move freely around and off the base — practices that potentially could have spread the virus into the community. The Department of Health and Human Services said it was looking into the complaint.A government whistle-blower has filed a complaint saying that the federal health officials sent to interact with quarantined people at the base were not given proper training or protective gear, were not monitored or tested, and were allowed to move freely around and off the base — practices that potentially could have spread the virus into the community. The Department of Health and Human Services said it was looking into the complaint.
Similar things may have happened at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego, another base where American coronavirus evacuees from Asia were taken to be quarantined, according to a person with direct knowledge of the efforts there. Similar things may have happened at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego, another base where American coronavirus evacuees from Asia were taken to be quarantined, according to a person with direct knowledge of the efforts there
State officials at one point planned to move people infected with the virus to a state-owned facility in Costa Mesa, a city of more than 100,000 in Orange County. But city leaders fought to keep them out.
California officials said on Thursday that the C.D.C. had promised to vastly expand the state’s ability to test patients for the coronavirus. Mr. Newsom repeatedly said the previous system had been “inadequate” to keep the virus from spreading.
Mr. Newsom said the director of the C.D.C. had promised him that physicians would have a much greater ability to test patients who were showing symptoms of the infection, changes the governor said “can’t happen soon enough.”
“Testing protocols have been a point of frustration for many of us,” Mr. Newsom said, referring to health officials in California and governors of other states. State officials said California had just 200 testing kits left.
Even as the governor resisted declaring a statewide emergency, officials in San Francisco and Orange County announced they were taking that step. But officials in both places stressed that the move was less an acknowledgment of an active crisis and more about mobilizing the resources to prevent one.
“This declaration of emergency is all about preparedness,” San Francisco’s mayor, London Breed, told reporters on Wednesday.
Nichole Quick, the health officer for Orange County, said the formal declaration there would enable local officials to be “more nimble and flexible” in their response.
“This is a rapidly evolving situation,” Ms. Quick said on Wednesday, according to The Orange County Register, which reported that there had been one confirmed case of the virus in the county.
State officials planned to move people infected with the virus to a state-owned facility in Costa Mesa, a city of more than 100,000 in Orange County. But city leaders are fighting to keep them out.
The authorities in California selected the site after the Defense Department informed them that patients who tested positive for the virus could no longer stay at Travis Air Force Base.The authorities in California selected the site after the Defense Department informed them that patients who tested positive for the virus could no longer stay at Travis Air Force Base.
Federal officials had planned to move the patients to a government facility in Alabama, court documents said, but officials in California thought that moving the group, most of them said to be residents of the state, would be detrimental to their health and well-being.Federal officials had planned to move the patients to a government facility in Alabama, court documents said, but officials in California thought that moving the group, most of them said to be residents of the state, would be detrimental to their health and well-being.
Instead, state officials said the people would be moved from the base in Solano County to the facility in Southern California, where they would remain in isolation while recovering.Instead, state officials said the people would be moved from the base in Solano County to the facility in Southern California, where they would remain in isolation while recovering.
But the decision touched off a legal fight with Costa Mesa. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order to stop the move. The judge said she would reconsider the issue after state and federal authorities provide more details about how they plan to protect the health of the community, as well as the people with the coronavirus. The judge set a hearing for March 2.But the decision touched off a legal fight with Costa Mesa. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order to stop the move. The judge said she would reconsider the issue after state and federal authorities provide more details about how they plan to protect the health of the community, as well as the people with the coronavirus. The judge set a hearing for March 2.
“This is a new one in terms of claiming a right not to have infectious disease introduced into your community,” said Polly Price, a professor of law and global public health at Emory University. Although cities and towns once claimed “an absolute right” to guard against disease, she said, state-level control over isolation and quarantine has been the norm for more than a century.“This is a new one in terms of claiming a right not to have infectious disease introduced into your community,” said Polly Price, a professor of law and global public health at Emory University. Although cities and towns once claimed “an absolute right” to guard against disease, she said, state-level control over isolation and quarantine has been the norm for more than a century.
Blair Zong, 33, was among hundreds of Americans who were evacuated on flights arranged by the U.S. government and have had to wait through mandatory 14-day quarantines on military bases.Blair Zong, 33, was among hundreds of Americans who were evacuated on flights arranged by the U.S. government and have had to wait through mandatory 14-day quarantines on military bases.
Ms. Zong, who lives in San Jose, Calif., was visiting her mother and grandparents in Wuhan, China, where she grew up, when the coronavirus outbreak became an epidemic.Ms. Zong, who lives in San Jose, Calif., was visiting her mother and grandparents in Wuhan, China, where she grew up, when the coronavirus outbreak became an epidemic.
She agreed to keep a daily journal of her time in quarantine at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.She agreed to keep a daily journal of her time in quarantine at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.
Reporting was contributed by Patrick J. Lyons, Sean Plambeck, Roni Caryn Rabin, Farah Stockman, Louis Keene, Emily Cochrane, Margot Sanger-Katz and Noah Weiland. Reporting was contributed by Rick Rojas, Patrick J. Lyons, Sean Plambeck, Roni Caryn Rabin, Farah Stockman, Louis Keene, Emily Cochrane, Margot Sanger-Katz and Noah Weiland.