New Coronavirus Updates for California [Updated]
[guest post by JVW]
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appeared on CNN earlier this morning and announced that city bars and probably restaurants would be shut down, according to a newscast I am currently watching.
Mayor Garcetti and the LAPD have also been trying to convince citizens not to hoard items and not to immediately all converge on grocery stores, so if the mayor is serious about shutting down restaurants and bars then I hope he understands that he will simply be encouraging yet another run on big box, grocery, pharmacies, and liquor stores. He’s probably now honor-bound to follow through, lest he be accused of contributing to a sense of panic.
Property taxes in Los Angeles County are due in just under four weeks. Given the circumstances of the virus and related closedowns, and especially given the progressive nature of this county and state, will property owners be granted a delay in making payments? Yeah, I kind of doubt it too.
Governor Gavin Newsom was supposed to have given an address at 1:00 pm Pacific Time today, but he’s apparently running late and the address is being pushed back. This does not promise to inspire confidence in his constituents. I’ll update this post after he has made whatever announcement he intends to make.
UPDATE: I kind of live-blogged it in the comments, but here is a quick overview: California has to date conducted a little over 8300 tests and have 335 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 16 deaths. The goal is to quickly develop the capacity to conduct 5500 tests daily. The state is working with a private company to create an online portal where a user can answer some simple questions about their symptoms and their circumstances to determine whether they are a high likelihood for having the virus. The state also expects to increase hospital capacity shortly.
The governor is asking that citizens aged 65 and above to remain home. He is also calling for the closure of bars, wineries, breweries, and brewpubs, though he is not yet mandating this closure by law. He thinks that businesses will for the most part voluntarily comply. He wants restaurants to cut their capacity by half and to ensure that patrons are seated well apart from each other. He also hopes to explore ways to have restaurants help prepare meals for those who are shut-in and unable to prepare their own meals.
Governor Newsom estimates that close to five out of six schoolchildren in the state have had their schools close. He is not yet ready to order a statewide closure because many rural counties have parents who cannot work from home and do not have the child-care capacity to ensure the safety of children should the schools close. Finally, he plans to have all “non-essential” state workers remain home, and he is working to prepare some guidelines to help people who face the inability to pay their rent or mortgage payments which I think he hopes to announce tomorrow.
– JVW
One thing we keep hearing from Garcetti and many others is that California is now about two weeks behind Italy in terms of the spread of the virus. The big question is whether the measures we are taking right now are going to slow the spread so that in at the end of this month we are not where Italy is today.
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 1:46 pmHere comes Newsom at last.
Current positive tests in CA: 335 in about 8300 tests. We’ve had sixteen deaths.
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:00 pmHoping to get to the capacity to do 5500 tests per day very shortly.
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:00 pmState creating a portal where users can answer some online questions about their symptoms and recent interactions to determine whether they are at high risk and should seek an immediate test. Though he also adds that those with severe symptoms should seek immediate help.
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:03 pmHe uses the term “community surveillance” which is probably too Orwellian and should be replaced by something less threatening.
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:06 pmState has managed to procure 200 new ventilators. I missed hearing his report on how many total the state has.
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:07 pmThe state is calling for home isolation of everyone 65 and over.
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:08 pmThere it is: just announced that all bars, clubs, wineries, brewpups, etc. be closed. We’re not yet ready to close restaurants, but wants occupancy maximums cut in half and for patrons to be separated by a distance.
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:11 pmWants to find a way for restaurants to help deliver meals to those who can’t cook for themselves as home.
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:12 pmThere it is: annoucned that all bars, clubs, wineries, brewpups, etc. be closed.
Huh. You can eat, but not have a good time?
And brewpups…!!! That’s just communist!
Ragspierre (d9bec9) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:14 pmWants to mandate that the 108,000 “unsheltered homeless” be required to get off the streets. Working to provide hotel/motel rooms and trailers, and working with local shelters to ensure that they are filled to a degree that is safe, with proper distancing also being enacted.
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:14 pmBREAKING NEWS- CNN reports Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to ZERO.
Friggin zero. Free money for banks. Remember that when you pay your CC bills w/a 15.5%-22% interest rate and mail them off to the Wilmington, DE based ‘incorporated’banks based there thanks to their Plagiarist Pal, JoeyBee.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:14 pmNewsom estimates that about 80 to 85% of schoolchildren are now out of school. Remaining schools and districts which have not closed will be under stringent state regulations about food services and other issues.
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:18 pm“We’ve identified many hospitals that are not currently operational that we can bring online. . . ”
Huh? Are there unused hospitals all over the state?
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:22 pmI’ve got one of those brewpups. A little cairn terrier. She can easily fetch bottles of Peroni, but struggles with tall boy cans.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:25 pmNewsom being asked whether the closure of bars, etc. is an official directive, but Newsom now admits that what California is doing is a “guidance.” Very interesting. Though he does say that he reserves the right to enforce it in the future.
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:25 pm“Non-essential” state workers to be told to stay home, though the state is trying to figure out who qualifies as non-essential.
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:27 pmThis is probably a good step. I’m also glad that they’re speaking about hoarding. But I think our leaders are missing the boat not passing the mike to leaders from retail chains. If the regional VP for Wallmart explains the supply chain situation it might calm nerves a bit. I was glad to see trump had retail leaders on stage, but I think they missed an important opportunity to reassure the public about the availability of good.
Time123 (daab2f) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:30 pmMy Heavens, Governor Newsom is telling these coastal reporters that the needs of Tulare County and Colusa County aren’t necessarily the same as those of Santa Clara County and San Diego County. He sounds almost conservative!
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:33 pmI’ve got one of those brewpups.
No doubt the result of long hours of expert training! Keep her away from Newsom.
Ragspierre (d9bec9) — 3/15/2020 @ 2:44 pm@14. Ever seen M.A.S.H. 😉 Plenty of room in those emptying Walmart parking lots for an OR, some beds, a still and a Swamp.
Martinis anyone?
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/15/2020 @ 3:02 pmWhat about the dead malls? Or any vacant commercial center vacant since longer than ## years?
urbanleftbehind (69d06f) — 3/15/2020 @ 3:22 pm#9. There is a way already. It’s called Doordash, Uber Eats, etc. Domino’s and other pizza places might know a little about it too. If the state wants to stop people from dining out, fine, but let the restaurants stay open for takeout and delivery, which is what I believe Ohio Gov. DeWine did in his order curtailing dining out. Increasingly, takeout and delivery has become the mainstay of a lot of restaurants around here (Burbank-North Hollywood) in the last few months where the few people who do eat in make sure not to sit anywhere near the door because of the constant in-and-out of drivers picking up delivery orders. The groceries are madhouses already, shutting down delivery and takeout would make the situation much worse.
RL formerly in Glendale (40f5aa) — 3/15/2020 @ 3:48 pmThere is a way already. It’s called Doordash, Uber Eats, etc. Domino’s and other pizza places might know a little about it too.
Understood. But California isn’t just twee coastal communities where Doordash, UberEats, and the rest are available and where everyone has a cellphone. And there are plenty of senior citizens on fixed incomes who can’t afford this anyway.
JVW (54fd0b) — 3/15/2020 @ 3:54 pm@23. Yeah, Ohioans look forward to pepperoni pies delivered by a retiree who coughed or sneezed a few times around the crust in 30 minutes or less.
Buckeyes are, indeed, useless nuts.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/15/2020 @ 4:00 pm#24. I get it. I’m just saying that for a large number of people around here, ending delivery/takeout would be a bad idea. I agree with you and would rather the state focus on helping the people in the Central Valley or other rural areas where that isn’t a realistic option, as opposed to shutting down what is a useful option here.
#25, you’ve just stated why I always do takeout myself, if anyone is going to sneeze on my food, let it be me. But Doordash etc seem to be doing really well so I guess a lot of people aren’t as paranoid as me.
RL formerly in Glendale (40f5aa) — 3/15/2020 @ 4:19 pm“ MEXICO CITY (AP) — While the coronavirus pandemic has led authorities around the globe to cancel concerts and sporting events, and even shut down daily activities in some places, Mexico City is going ahead with Vive Latino — one of the most important music festivals in the country.
Organizers said more than 70,000 tickets had been sold for each of the festival’s two days.”
Ole’!
harkin (b64479) — 3/15/2020 @ 4:54 pm_
Even if there were unused hospitals — or vacant buildings that could be quickly converted — where is the medical staff going to come from? It’s not like there are thousands of unemployed doctors and nurses that can be activated.
Chuck Bartowski (6fff93) — 3/15/2020 @ 6:35 pmThis is how inconsistenthings are: My neighbor teacher texts that they have shut down her school district for at least 2 weeks, if not longer. Except…any students who need watching can come to daycare at school from 8:00 – 4:30, with bfast & lunch included. This is a large number of kids we’re talking about.
Dana (4fb37f) — 3/15/2020 @ 7:07 pm29. That’s a compromise.
What that means is that they made school voluntary. Keeping it for those parents who want it.
In New York City, after long resistance, Mayor Bill de Blasio gave up and ordered schools closed until at least April 20, which is after the Passover/Easter recess. The sticking points with him was I thought the children entitled to free or reduced cost food, (maybe to be solved, by the way, by the increase in the food stamp allotment) but someone said to me (based on the news) it was home attendants – many of the home attendants who take care of the elderly are mothers of children.
So what’s going to happen is that the city will set up day care for three categories of people: home attendants, transit workers and there’s another. Homelsss people?
This is besides maybe attempting distance learning.
The Jewish day schools are also falling into line.
A number of synagogues were closed too this past Shabbos.
Maximum capacity of a building per the fire code is to be divided in half.
(In Israel things are really shut down. There are not supposed to be, generally, assemblages of more than ten people.)
Sammy Finkelman (e4c3a1) — 3/15/2020 @ 10:37 pmHas anyone asked Mayor Garcetti what power he has for ordering businesses to close? And what is the penalty for refusal? Kid Rock asked the same question.
AZ Bob (885937) — 3/16/2020 @ 9:00 am31. Civil authorities are considered to have “plenary police power” during times of emergency. This is why you have entire city blocks dynamited to contain fires going back in American history.
Ragspierre (d9bec9) — 3/16/2020 @ 9:50 am