latimes--2020-04-18--L.A. races to save 15,000 homeless people from coronavirus — one hotel room at a time

Hoping to prevent a surge of deadly coronavirus cases in the homeless community , Los Angeles officials have launched a new effort to move an unprecedented 15,000 people out of overcrowded shelters and encampments and into hotel rooms .
It ’ s a daunting goal , given that nearly 60,000 people live without permanent shelter in L.A. County , most of them sleeping in the streets each night .
Getting every person into an emergency shelter or a hotel room is probably an impossible task .
But in recent weeks , city and county officials , guided by the Los @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the smaller number of 15,000 because it accounts for the segment of the homeless population most likely to die on the streets — with or without the pandemic .
Those who are seniors and are medically fragile .
“ We ’ re in a race to save lives , ” said Sarah Dusseault , chairwoman of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority ’ s oversight commission .
“ Our thought is that every person who is taken to a hotel room is one less person possibly sick and one less person using hospital @ @ @ @ @ @ @ own goal of leasing 15,000 hotel and motel rooms for homeless people .
Moving quickly is critical .
If LAHSA can secure 15,000 rooms and fill them , it could prevent 1,400 hospitalizations and 350 deaths , according to an analysis by Randall Kuhn , the UCLA researcher who led a study on how many homeless people could die from COVID-19 .
But that ’ s only if it happens before there ’ s an outbreak in the homeless population , and there already have been several cases reported on skid row , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aid on Friday .
So far , LAHSA is only housing only 629 homeless people in 10 hotels .
That ’ s in addition to separate efforts to house hundreds of people in converted recreation centers and at a tent camp for veterans in West Los Angeles .
It ’ s a minuscule beginning .
To protect all of the homeless people who are most likely to die if the coronavirus strikes encampments , LAHSA would have to multiply its portfolio by as many as 200 hotels .
Still , even if the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is only moderately successful , it will be transformational for Los Angeles , Dusseault said .
She sees it as a turning point in L.A. 's relationship with its homeless population .
It would move more homeless people off the streets than ever before , and she said LAHSA is determined to ensure that they won ’ t be sent back after the immediate threat of the coronavirus passes .
“ We are not going back to the status quo , ” Dusseault said .
In the first few weeks of Project Roomkey @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gavin Newsom but is being implemented at the local level , the county has been working with state negotiators to sign deals with hundreds of hotel owners .
LAHSA then brings in staff , and signs contracts for food service , mental health resources , security and transportation .
Unlike in other cities and counties , where opposition from elected officials , hotel owners and the public have stifled plans for homeless housing , all the major players in Los Angeles are on board .
Hotels have opened smoothly in half a dozen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some resistance in Lawndale and Bell Gardens .
On Saturday , Gov .
Gavin Newsom acknowledged those obstacles at the local level , but also said that so far , counties implementing Project Roomkey across the state have secured 10,974 hotel and motel rooms for homeless people and that 4,211 — about 38 % — are occupied .
The Hotel Assn .
of Los Angeles , contacted by the county for help , has turned over a list of 270 hotels with 25,000 rooms whose owners are willing to participate .
“ This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Phil Ansell , head of the county ’ s Homeless Initiative , which is handing the hotels off to LAHSA to operate as shelters .
Funding for the $ 190-million effort is largely secure through a Federal Emergency Management Agency commitment to reimburse 75 % of the per-room cost .
But timing is another matter .
Speaking at a forum last week , county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas set an aggressive deadline .
“ Quickly stated , our goal is 15,000 hotel rooms across the county by April 26 , ” he said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ longer , though .
Fifteen state and county negotiators , working mostly from home , have been closing leases on about 150 rooms per day — a pace that would not allow L.A. to reach its goal until sometime in summer , potentially long after the peak of coronavirus cases .
To speed things up , LAHSA created a streamlined system to get sites running once a hotel becomes available .
Using emergency authority , the agency ’ s interim executive director , Heidi Marston , bypassed the normal bidding process to select @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nursing .
With outreach and case management staffs beefed up from three years of funding from Measure H , they were ready , said Stephanie Klasky-Gamer , president and chief executive officer of North Hollywood-based LA Family Housing .
LA Family Housing , which was already providing services at a county-operated quarantine site for all patients in North Hollywood , took responsibility for motels in Canoga Park and Reseda with a total of 126 rooms .
But Klasky-Gamer said she deferred to her partner agency , Bridge to Home , to run the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ St. Joseph Center committed 19 staff members to open a 136-room Westside hotel and is preparing to take on more .
“ That we ’ re able to step up and do this is tremendous , ” said Va Lecia Adams Kellum , president and chief executive officer .
“ We do whatever it takes .
I ’ m sending emails at night saying , ‘ You know anybody looking for work ?
’ ” There ’ s no shortage of demand for the rooms .
The first eight sites filled to near @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said about half of the homeless residents came from other shelters that needed to reduce bed counts to allow for more social distancing , or met the vulnerability criteria for age and health .
The other half came directly from the streets .
LAHSA is developing a call center to take referrals from hospitals and other sources .
Marston said she can not predict how long it will take to fill 15,000 rooms and isn ’ t working under a deadline .
“ We ’ re going to keep pushing until we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of money or resources , ” she said .
Until now , the biggest bottleneck has been getting hotels through the leasing process .
The county ’ s target room rate of $ 85 doesn ’ t get hotel owners out of the red , said Heather Rozman , executive director of the Hotel Assn .
of Los Angeles .
But considering that the alternative is no money , price hasn ’ t proved to be a sticking point , said David Howard , the county ’ s assistant chief executive officer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of state and county negotiators .
Howard said the negotiators are competing with another county agency that is seeking 2,000 rooms for medical isolation and quarantine , and other groups that are recruiting hotels to provide rooms for first responders and medical personnel who become infected .
Issues that can slow talks include how much of the hotel staff will remain in place — usually housekeeping , janitorial and administrative staff at reduced levels but not kitchen staff — and how owners will be insured for damage .
Additional delays of days or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in place .
Some hotels are being renovated or still have paying guests .
As of Thursday , 2,377 rooms were under lease , but fewer than half of those were ready for people to move in .
There has also been backpedaling .
Five hotels that the county listed as being under lease dropped out over insurance and other issues , lowering the room total by more than 300 .
Securing large hotels downtown , close to skid row where the need is greatest , so far has eluded the negotiators .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was expecting a large downtown deal to be announced in the coming days .
“ We hope to see the pace of progress accelerate , ” Howard said .
The timing is crucial .
The sooner people can move indoors , with daily meals , bathrooms , medical screening and supervision , the fewer will die , Kuhn said .
The professor in the UCLA Fielding School of Health calculated that for every 11 homeless people housed , one hospitalization will be avoided .
And for every 42 people housed , one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ averted has the potential to save other lives by providing access to overstretched hospitals .
Dusseault , who spends her days at home preparing welcome baskets for the new homeless guests , is confident there will be a surge in hotel leasing when deals are reached with one or two large hotels or an owner of several smaller properties .
Marston and Dusseault are both already zeroed in on the exit plan , determined that any gains made during the pandemic must not be lost when it is over by sending people back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will take “ thinking really big , ” Marston said .
More shelters will have to be opened in existing buildings and empty land will have to be turned into shelter space and for permanent housing with modular projects .
Some hotel or motel owners also might be willing to enter long-term leases , they said .
“ I want to see conversations happening that are city , county and even state , ” Marston said .

Omar Spry of the Los Angeles Housing Community Investment Department pushes a cart of bags into a West L.A. hotel that has been turned into housing for homeless people during the coronavirus pandemic.
Hoping to prevent a surge of deadly coronavirus cases in the homeless community, Los Angeles officials have launched a new effort to move an unprecedented 15,000 people out of overcrowded shelters and encampments and into hotel rooms.
It’s a daunting goal, given that nearly 60,000 people live without permanent shelter in L.A. County, most of them sleeping in the streets each night. Getting every person into an emergency shelter or a hotel room is probably an impossible task.
But in recent weeks, city and county officials, guided by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, settled on the smaller number of 15,000 because it accounts for the segment of the homeless population most likely to die on the streets — with or without the pandemic. Those who are seniors and are medically fragile.
Advertisement
“We’re in a race to save lives,” said Sarah Dusseault, chairwoman of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s oversight commission. “Our thought is that every person who is taken to a hotel room is one less person possibly sick and one less person using hospital resources.”
The state has set its own goal of leasing 15,000 hotel and motel rooms for homeless people.
Moving quickly is critical. If LAHSA can secure 15,000 rooms and fill them, it could prevent 1,400 hospitalizations and 350 deaths, according to an analysis by Randall Kuhn, the UCLA researcher who led a study on how many homeless people could die from COVID-19. But that’s only if it happens before there’s an outbreak in the homeless population, and there already have been several cases reported on skid row, prompting Mayor Eric Garcetti to announce additional aid on Friday.
So far, LAHSA is only housing only 766 homeless people in 12 hotels. That’s in addition to separate efforts to house hundreds of people in converted recreation centers and at a tent camp for veterans in West Los Angeles.
It’s a minuscule beginning. To protect all of the homeless people who are most likely to die if the coronavirus strikes encampments, LAHSA would have to multiply its portfolio by as many as 200 hotels.
Advertisement
Still, even if the effort, known as Project Roomkey, is only moderately successful, it will be transformational for Los Angeles, Dusseault said.
She sees it as a turning point in L.A.’s relationship with its homeless population. It would move more homeless people off the streets than ever before, and she said LAHSA is determined to ensure that they won’t be sent back after the immediate threat of the coronavirus passes.
“We are not going back to the status quo,” Dusseault said.
In the first few weeks of Project Roomkey, which was created by Gov. Gavin Newsom but is being implemented at the local level, the county has been working with state negotiators to sign deals with hundreds of hotel owners. LAHSA then brings in staff, and signs contracts for food service, mental health resources, security and transportation.
Unlike in other cities and counties, where opposition from elected officials, hotel owners and the public have stifled plans for homeless housing, all the major players in Los Angeles are on board. Hotels have opened smoothly in half a dozen small cities, although there has been some resistance in Lawndale and Bell Gardens.
On Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged those obstacles at the local level, but also said that so far, counties implementing Project Roomkey across the state have secured 10,974 hotel and motel rooms for homeless people and that 4,211 — about 38% — are occupied.
Seniors protest after learning that the nearby Ayers Hotel will be used to house homeless coronavirus patients in Laguna Woods. Unlike other cities, where opposition has stifled plans for homeless housing, all the major players in Los Angeles County are on board. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The Hotel Assn. of Los Angeles, contacted by the county for help, has turned over a list of 270 hotels with 25,000 rooms whose owners are willing to participate.
“This is extraordinary and unprecedented,” said Phil Ansell, head of the county’s Homeless Initiative, which is handing the hotels off to LAHSA to operate as shelters.
Funding for the $190-million effort is largely secure through a Federal Emergency Management Agency commitment to reimburse 75% of the per-room cost. But timing is another matter.
Speaking at a forum last week, county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas set an aggressive deadline. “Quickly stated, our goal is 15,000 hotel rooms across the county by April 26,” he said. It’s likely to take much longer, though.
Fifteen state and county negotiators, working mostly from home, have been closing leases on about 150 rooms per day — a pace that would not allow L.A. to reach its goal until sometime in summer, potentially long after the peak of coronavirus cases.
To speed things up, LAHSA created a streamlined system to get sites running once a hotel becomes available. Using emergency authority, the agency’s interim executive director, Heidi Marston, bypassed the normal bidding process to select contractors for food service, security and nursing.
With outreach and case management staffs beefed up from three years of funding from Measure H, they were ready, said Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, president and chief executive officer of North Hollywood-based LA Family Housing.
LA Family Housing, which was already providing services at a county-operated quarantine site for all patients in North Hollywood, took responsibility for motels in Canoga Park and Reseda with a total of 126 rooms. But Klasky-Gamer said she deferred to her partner agency, Bridge to Home, to run the new motel in Santa Clarita.
Venice-based St. Joseph Center committed 19 staff members to open a 136-room Westside hotel and is preparing to take on more.
“That we’re able to step up and do this is tremendous,” said Va Lecia Adams Kellum, president and chief executive officer. “We do whatever it takes. I’m sending emails at night saying, ‘You know anybody looking for work?’ ”
There’s no shortage of demand for the rooms. The first eight sites filled to near capacity within about three days.
Marston said about half of the homeless residents came from other shelters that needed to reduce bed counts to allow for more social distancing, or met the vulnerability criteria for age and health. The other half came directly from the streets. LAHSA is developing a call center to take referrals from hospitals and other sources.
Marston said she cannot predict how long it will take to fill 15,000 rooms and isn’t working under a deadline.
“We’re going to keep pushing until we’re told to stop pushing or run out of money or resources,” she said.
Until now, the biggest bottleneck has been getting hotels through the leasing process. The county’s target room rate of $85 doesn’t get hotel owners out of the red, said Heather Rozman, executive director of the Hotel Assn. of Los Angeles. But considering that the alternative is no money, price hasn’t proved to be a sticking point, said David Howard, the county’s assistant chief executive officer who is in charge of the team of state and county negotiators.
Howard said the negotiators are competing with another county agency that is seeking 2,000 rooms for medical isolation and quarantine, and other groups that are recruiting hotels to provide rooms for first responders and medical personnel who become infected.
Issues that can slow talks include how much of the hotel staff will remain in place — usually housekeeping, janitorial and administrative staff at reduced levels but not kitchen staff — and how owners will be insured for damage.
Additional delays of days or weeks can follow once the leases are in place. Some hotels are being renovated or still have paying guests. As of Monday, 2,464 rooms were under lease, but fewer than half of those were ready for people to move in. There has also been backpedaling. Five hotels that the county listed as being under lease dropped out over insurance and other issues, lowering the room total by more than 300.
Securing large hotels downtown, close to skid row where the need is greatest, so far has eluded the negotiators. Garcetti said in his Friday address that he was expecting a large downtown deal to be announced in the coming days.
“We hope to see the pace of progress accelerate,” Howard said.
The timing is crucial. The sooner people can move indoors, with daily meals, bathrooms, medical screening and supervision, the fewer will die, Kuhn said. The professor in the UCLA Fielding School of Health calculated that for every 11 homeless people housed, one hospitalization will be avoided. And for every 42 people housed, one death would be prevented.
Each hospitalization averted has the potential to save other lives by providing access to overstretched hospitals.
Dusseault, who spends her days at home preparing welcome baskets for the new homeless guests, is confident there will be a surge in hotel leasing when deals are reached with one or two large hotels or an owner of several smaller properties.
Marston and Dusseault are both already zeroed in on the exit plan, determined that any gains made during the pandemic must not be lost when it is over by sending people back to the streets.
Avoiding that outcome will take “thinking really big,” Marston said.
More shelters will have to be opened in existing buildings and empty land will have to be turned into shelter space and for permanent housing with modular projects. Some hotel or motel owners also might be willing to enter long-term leases, they said.
“I want to see conversations happening that are city, county and even state,” Marston said.


latimes--2020-04-18--Column: His patient near death, this determined doctor recruited a COVID-19 survivor to donate plasm

Column: His patient near death, this determined doctor recruited a COVID-19 survivor to donate plasma

Dwight Everett , a 65-year-old retired electrician , had just recovered from COVID-19 .
Ron Shirley , an 80-year-old retired gas company planner , was being ravaged by the same disease .
Both Camarillo residents were patients of Dr. George Yu , a pulmonary specialist who in late March had just read about the promising results of a study in China , where sick patients improved after infusions of plasma from those who had recovered from COVID-19 .
“ When I saw Ron on a ventilator , the thought that came to me was that I have Dwight , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I could link the two together , ” said Yu .
The experimental treatment was being tried in a few locations in the United States , Yu said , but this would be the first time in Ventura County .
First they needed to check blood types , but that hurdle was cleared when they discovered Everett and Shirley were a match .
Then Everett had to test negative for at least 14 days .
At last he did , and he was eager to help .
“ I had no reservations whatsoever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at St. John ’ s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo , and Yu knew there ’ d be legal , ethical and regulatory challenges to work through .
But Shirley ’ s condition was critical and he didn ’ t have much time .
Dr. Lynn Jeffers , the hospital ’ s chief medical officer , was tentatively on board .
She thought the use of plasma from convalescent COVID-19 patients made sense in theory , and recalled that the same antibody treatment had been used with some success during previous virus epidemics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s lawyers and the Food and Drug Administration about how to proceed , then convened a two-hour conference call April 3 .
“ We wanted to be sure we were doing it right , ” said Jeffers .
“ Anyone could have said no , we don ’ t want to do it , ” said Yu , who was on the conference call .
“ But everyone came forward and said we ’ re trying to save a life .
It was the most collaborative and compassionate coming together of a group @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve ever witnessed.
” Yu and the rest of the staff knew that the treatments , even if successful for some patients , wouldn ’ t be a miracle cure .
And even if critically sick patients recovered , the medical team might never know whether it was the plasma or something else that made the difference .
But we are in uncharted waters with this virus , and at hospitals across America , healthcare workers are taking unprecedented steps to try to save their patients from its ravages .
Yu was determined @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arsenal .
Everett ’ s plasma was pushed into Shirley ’ s body .
But there was little improvement .
“ That night I thought we were losing him and I sent a text to everyone saying it didn ’ t look like Ron would make it through the night , but I was so proud of them for signing off on this , ” Yu said .
“ And then I started crying.
” The next morning , Yu got word that Shirley was still alive and slightly improved .
But the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ April 9 , his organs under attack from a viral storm .
Shirley ’ s wife , Zoe , a cancer survivor who is also recovering from COVID-19 , was nevertheless grateful .
“ Dr .
Yu moved mountains and broke protocol , ” she said , “ and I will forever be in his debt.
” Zoe Shirley described her husband as a soft-spoken , giving man who with his wife fostered 13 children and adopted four of them .
She said she believes part of his legacy is to have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Everett , in the use of plasma as a potential treatment .
Since Shirley ’ s death , plasma from Everett has been used to treat at least two other patients , and more plasma donors have now stepped forward .
“ We are seeing some promising signs from the infusions we ’ ve done , ” said Jeffers .
It ’ s still too early to establish strong evidence that the plasma is what ’ s making the difference , but Jeffers said the results have nevertheless been encouraging .
Everett said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his plasma was taken to Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria and used to treat a critically ill female COVID-19 patient who , like Shirley , was on a ventilator .
That woman ’ s husband , Louis Meza , a chef who also has a landscaping business , said he was told by one of his wife ’ s doctors that Everett was the donor , and the two men talked by phone .
“ He just wanted to thank me so much for donating and he wanted to let me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 , ” said Everett .
In fact , Louis Meza was hospitalized for six days .
On the day he left the hospital to quarantine at home , where he is still recovering , his wife , Melissa , who works in the operations division of a Santa Maria bank , went into the hospital with a severe case of the virus and was intubated and placed on a ventilator .
Meza said his wife was so sick , even after the plasma infusion , that her doctors wanted to transport her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Center in Santa Monica to put her on a lung bypass machine called an ECMO .
But they weren ’ t sure she could survive the nearly three-hour ambulance ride .
One of Melissa Meza ’ s doctors , pulmonary and critical care specialist Baljinder Sidhu , spoke to Louis Meza about the risks and possible benefits of moving his wife to Santa Monica .
Sidhu said that while he thought it was Melissa ’ s best hope , he couldn ’ t guarantee Louis that a three-hour trip would have no adverse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a physician who is a Meza family friend , and after talking it over , Louis decided to green-light the trip .
“ She had not been improving , ” he told me .
“ For three days prior , she was 100 % on the ventilator , couldn ’ t breathe , with a fever of 103 and 104 , and her white cell blood count was high.
” Meza believed it might be his wife ’ s only hope .
“ They transferred her on Easter day , at 6:30 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
Dr. Sidhu decided to travel with Mrs. Meza in the ambulance , and he was in contact with Meza along the way to let him know how it was going .
“ He called and said , ‘ We just hit Santa Barbara , ’ ” Meza said .
“ I owe this doctor everything .
I ’ m not kidding you , this guy went above and beyond , riding in the ambulance all the way to make sure she got there safely.
” Sidhu told me Melissa Meza ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He texted surgeons and other staff at St. John ’ s along the way , letting them know when the ambulance was approaching .
Sidhu ’ s voice broke when he described arriving at the hospital in Santa Monica and being met by a medical team of 20 or so .
“ They turned an ICU unit into an operating theater , ” Sidhu said .
A breathing tube was inserted into Mrs. Meza ’ s neck , Sidhu said .
With another surgical procedure , blood was siphoned from her body @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back into her body to stabilize oxygen levels .
When I spoke to Louis Meza on Thursday , he was feeling cautiously upbeat for the first time in weeks .
He said Melissa had finally shown some improvement that morning .
On Friday , she was even more alert during a video call .
Meza said he knows his wife is still extremely ill , with a long recovery ahead , but he was encouraged by what he saw .
He told her she had missed Easter , their anniversary , and her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her eyes , ” Louis said .
“ I told her , ‘ I love you , ’ and she mouthed back , ‘ I love you.
’ I blew her a kiss and she blew me one back .
She was smiling .
It ’ s incredible .
I ’ ve been on Cloud 9.
” Sidhu told me Mrs. Meza remains quite ill , and said it ’ s hard to know whether the ECMO , steroids , plasma infusion or other therapies led to her improvement .
It might have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he said , adding that he thinks plasma infusions might be helpful for some patients going forward , but the science of how to treat the coronavirus is young and still evolving , with many lessons still to be learned .
You have to be inspired , though , and take a measure of hope , in the human spirit of survival , and in all the courageous efforts of so many medical professionals who are themselves at great risk .
Until there ’ s a vaccine and proven remedies , Yu said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lean on , and a single donation can be used on several patients .
“ We can reach out and touch someone in the most intimate way , and there are thousands of recovered individuals who could potentially be donors , ” said Yu .
In Camarillo , Jeffers said the website conquercovidtogether.com has been set up to accept plasma donations .
Donors can give as often as once a week .
The Red Cross also has a donation website for COVID-19 survivors .
In Santa Maria , Louis Meza , still praying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told me he is hoping to test negative soon so that he can donate plasma .
With both him and his wife out of work , and bills piling up , he said he ’ s been humbled by the response to a Gofundme page set up for the family .
In Camarillo , Dwight Everett — who got sick after a cruise ship vacation , and became worried after learning another passenger had died — said he plans to donate more plasma soon .
And Zoe Shirley said she plans to donate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her husband of 30 years .
“ I think God is pulling us all together , ” she said , “ to give what we can , unselfishly , one people .
”

Dwight Everett, a recovered COVID-19 patient, awaits his blood draw at St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo. Plasma from the 65-year-old retired electrician went to Ron Shirley, an 80-year-old retired gas company planner who was being ravaged by the same disease.
Dwight Everett, a 65-year-old retired electrician, had just recovered from COVID-19.
Ron Shirley, an 80-year-old retired gas company planner, was being ravaged by the same disease.
Both Camarillo residents were patients of Dr. George Yu, a pulmonary specialist who in late March had just read about the promising results of a study in China, where sick patients improved after infusions of plasma from those who had recovered from COVID-19.
Advertisement
“When I saw Ron on a ventilator, the thought that came to me was that I have Dwight, and wouldn’t it be nice if I could link the two together,” said Yu. The experimental treatment was being tried in a few locations in the United States, Yu said, but this would be the first time in Ventura County.
First they needed to check blood types, but that hurdle was cleared when they discovered Everett and Shirley were a match.
Then Everett had to test negative for at least 14 days.
At last he did, and he was eager to help.
“I had no reservations whatsoever,” said Everett.
Shirley was at St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, and Yu knew there’d be legal, ethical and regulatory challenges to work through. But Shirley’s condition was critical and he didn’t have much time.
Dr. Lynn Jeffers, the hospital’s chief medical officer, was tentatively on board. She thought the use of plasma from convalescent COVID-19 patients made sense in theory, and recalled that the same antibody treatment had been used with some success during previous virus epidemics. She talked to the hospital’s lawyers and the Food and Drug Administration about how to proceed, then convened a two-hour conference call April 3.
“We wanted to be sure we were doing it right,” said Jeffers.
“Anyone could have said no, we don’t want to do it,” said Yu, who was on the conference call. “But everyone came forward and said we’re trying to save a life. It was the most collaborative and compassionate coming together of a group of medical professionals and administrators I’ve ever witnessed.”
Dr. George Yu, a Camarillo pulmonologist, read about promising plasma treatments in China. He asked recovered COVID-19 patient Dwight Everett if he’d be willing to donate plasma, which he did. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Advertisement
Yu and the rest of the staff knew that the treatments, even if successful for some patients, wouldn’t be a miracle cure. And even if critically sick patients recovered, the medical team might never know whether it was the plasma or something else that made the difference. But we are in uncharted waters with this virus, and at hospitals across America, healthcare workers are taking unprecedented steps to try to save their patients from its ravages. Yu was determined to use every potential tool in his arsenal.
Everett’s plasma was pushed into Shirley’s body. But there was little improvement.
“That night I thought we were losing him and I sent a text to everyone saying it didn’t look like Ron would make it through the night, but I was so proud of them for signing off on this,” Yu said. “And then I started crying.”
The next morning, Yu got word that Shirley was still alive and slightly improved.
“I was flabbergasted,” said Yu.
But the improvement was fleeting, and Shirley died April 9, his organs under attack from a viral storm.
Shirley’s wife, Zoe, a cancer survivor who is also recovering from COVID-19, was nevertheless grateful. “Dr. Yu moved mountains and broke protocol,” she said, “and I will forever be in his debt.”
Zoe Shirley described her husband as a soft-spoken, giving man who with his wife fostered 13 children and adopted four of them. She said she believes part of his legacy is to have been a local pioneer, along with Dwight Everett, in the use of plasma as a potential treatment.
Ron Shirley pictured with his wife, Zoe. Ron was the first recipient of Dwight Everett’s plasma. He improved briefly but then died. (Shirley family)
Since Shirley’s death, plasma from Everett has been used to treat at least two other patients, and more plasma donors have now stepped forward.
“We are seeing some promising signs from the infusions we’ve done,” said Jeffers. It’s still too early to establish strong evidence that the plasma is what’s making the difference, but Jeffers said the results have nevertheless been encouraging.
Everett said he learned from doctors that some of his plasma was taken to Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria and used to treat a critically ill female COVID-19 patient who, like Shirley, was on a ventilator. That woman’s husband, Louis Meza, a chef who also has a landscaping business, said he was told by one of his wife’s doctors that Everett was the donor, and the two men talked by phone.
“He just wanted to thank me so much for donating and he wanted to let me know that he was also recovering from COVID-19,” said Everett.
In fact, Louis Meza was hospitalized for six days. On the day he left the hospital to quarantine at home, where he is still recovering, his wife, Melissa, who works in the operations division of a Santa Maria bank, went into the hospital with a severe case of the virus and was intubated and placed on a ventilator.
Meza said his wife was so sick, even after the plasma infusion, that her doctors wanted to transport her to Providence St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica to put her on a lung bypass machine called an ECMO. But they weren’t sure she could survive the nearly three-hour ambulance ride.
One of Melissa Meza’s doctors, pulmonary and critical care specialist Baljinder Sidhu, spoke to Louis Meza about the risks and possible benefits of moving his wife to Santa Monica.
Sidhu said that while he thought it was Melissa’s best hope, he couldn’t guarantee Louis that a three-hour trip would have no adverse consequences for his wife.
They looped in a physician who is a Meza family friend, and after talking it over, Louis decided to green-light the trip.
“She had not been improving,” he told me. “For three days prior, she was 100% on the ventilator, couldn’t breathe, with a fever of 103 and 104, and her white cell blood count was high.”
Meza believed it might be his wife’s only hope.
“They transferred her on Easter day, at 6:30 in the evening,” Louis Meza said.
Dr. Sidhu decided to travel with Mrs. Meza in the ambulance, and he was in contact with Meza along the way to let him know how it was going.
“He called and said, ‘We just hit Santa Barbara,’” Meza said. “I owe this doctor everything. I’m not kidding you, this guy went above and beyond, riding in the ambulance all the way to make sure she got there safely.”
Sidhu told me Melissa Meza’s blood pressure fell on the trip. He texted surgeons and other staff at St. John’s along the way, letting them know when the ambulance was approaching. Sidhu’s voice broke when he described arriving at the hospital in Santa Monica and being met by a medical team of 20 or so.
“They turned an ICU unit into an operating theater,” Sidhu said.
A breathing tube was inserted into Mrs. Meza’s neck, Sidhu said. With another surgical procedure, blood was siphoned from her body, drawn into a machine and pumped back into her body to stabilize oxygen levels.
When I spoke to Louis Meza on Thursday, he was feeling cautiously upbeat for the first time in weeks. He said Melissa had finally shown some improvement that morning. On Friday, she was even more alert during a video call. Meza said he knows his wife is still extremely ill, with a long recovery ahead, but he was encouraged by what he saw. He told her she had missed Easter, their anniversary, and her 43rd birthday.
“She was opening her eyes,” Louis said. “I told her, ‘I love you,’ and she mouthed back, ‘I love you.’ I blew her a kiss and she blew me one back. She was smiling. It’s incredible. I’ve been on Cloud 9.”
Louis and Melissa Meza of Santa Maria, Calif. Louis contracted COVID-19 and is still in quarantine. Melissa, critically ill with the disease, received a plasma infusion and is now better. (Meza family)
Sidhu told me Mrs. Meza remains quite ill, and said it’s hard to know whether the ECMO, steroids, plasma infusion or other therapies led to her improvement. It might have been a combination of those things, he said, adding that he thinks plasma infusions might be helpful for some patients going forward, but the science of how to treat the coronavirus is young and still evolving, with many lessons still to be learned.
You have to be inspired, though, and take a measure of hope, in the human spirit of survival, and in all the courageous efforts of so many medical professionals who are themselves at great risk.
Until there’s a vaccine and proven remedies, Yu said, antibody-rich plasma is one tool to lean on, and a single donation can be used on several patients.
“We can reach out and touch someone in the most intimate way, and there are thousands of recovered individuals who could potentially be donors,” said Yu.
In Camarillo, Jeffers said the website conquercovidtogether.com has been set up to accept plasma donations. Donors can give as often as once a week. The Red Cross also has a donation website for COVID-19 survivors.
In Santa Maria, Louis Meza, still praying his wife gets through this ordeal, told me he is hoping to test negative soon so that he can donate plasma. With both him and his wife out of work, and bills piling up, he said he’s been humbled by the response to a Gofundme page set up for the family.
In Camarillo, Dwight Everett — who got sick after a cruise ship vacation, and became worried after learning another passenger had died — said he plans to donate more plasma soon.
And Zoe Shirley said she plans to donate, too, in the name of her husband of 30 years.
“I think God is pulling us all together,” she said, “to give what we can, unselfishly, one people.”
Steve.lopez@latimes.com


latimes--2020-04-18--California names nursing homes with coronavirus outbreaks, number of cases

For the first time , California Department of Public Health officials have divulged the names of nursing homes across the state with COVID-19 outbreaks and the number of cases at each facility .
Among the hardest-hit facilities are the Brier Oak on Sunset nursing home in Los Angeles , where 80 residents and 62 staff members have tested positive , according to the state ’ s list .
The Country Villa South Convalescent Center in Palms has had 58 patients and 15 staff test positive , and the Garden Crest Rehabilitation Center in Silver Lake has had 35 patients and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have become a tragic focal point of the coronavirus outbreak , with their elderly residents , many of whom have underlying health conditions , accounting for a large percentage of COVID-19 deaths across the country .
More than 30 % of those who have died in Los Angeles County were residents of long-term care facilities ; more than 70 % of the deaths in Long Beach have been nursing home residents .
The California health department lists the names of 261 skilled-nursing facilities across the state with more than 3,000 positive cases among @ @ @ @ @ @ @ website said the list , which was published late Friday , is a snapshot representing 86 % of the state ’ s 1,224 skilled-nursing facilities that had reported data within the last 24 hours .
More than half of the homes on the list , 148 , are in Los Angeles County .
As the novel coronavirus continues to tear through nursing homes , state and local governments have been slow to inform the public about the scope of the crisis .
Much of what is known so far about COVID-19 in senior @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but private sources : relatives , staff members and administrators .
The state ’ s list is “ long overdue , ” said Michael Connors , a spokesman for the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform .
“ All of its numbers are highly suspect because there is so little testing going on in long-term care facilities and no reason to believe that facilities are accurately reporting information on outbreaks and deaths , ” Connors added .
The state ’ s list , which officials have promised to update regularly , does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at each facility .
It is also plagued by apparent omissions and undercounts .
For weeks , the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has been publishing names of group living facilities with COVID-19 cases , without specifying how many people have tested positive at each place .
Some of those homes do not appear on the state list .
The state list also does not include data from California ’ s 7,461 residential care facilities .
A state spokesperson said via email Saturday that the data on residential care facilities were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more complex privacy-wise ” because many have very few residents .
Representatives from Brier Oak , Country Villa South and Garden Crest did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday .
Steven Lehman , 58 , spent about 10 days at Brier Oak in mid-March , just as coronavirus cases were cropping up across the state .
Toward the end of his stay , he got a roommate who was hooked up to a breathing machine .
“ I ’ m just glad I got out of there in time , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any symptoms .
A nursing assistant who works at Brier Oak , who asked that her name not be used because she is not authorized to speak to the media , told a Times reporter on Saturday that the administration discouraged the staff from wearing protective masks for most of March .
The nursing assistant is among the dozens of staffers who have now tested positive .
“ I was infected because of that woman , ” she said , referring to the administrator .
“ Because that idiot woman told us we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is infected because of her.
” One reason Brier Oak has reported so many cases is because they are doing widespread testing at a time when many nursing homes are resisting , said Dr. Noah Marco , chief medical officer for Los Angeles Jewish Home .
His facility received 500 test kits from the city of Los Angeles recently and shared about half of them with Brier Oak , Marco said .
“ They are conscientious and open to doing the right thing , ” Marco said .
Widespread testing of asymptomatic staff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ take right now because people without symptoms are the most dangerous spreaders of the virus , Marco said .
Jewish Home tested 99 staff members and only one came back positive .
That person had no symptoms .
“ Knowing this person was positive and pulling them off the line reduced the spread , ” Marco said .
“ Testing a sick member of staff , they ’ re already home , how does that help us ?
” Other homes are refusing to test , often out of fear of bad publicity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Home went to test a patient at Stoney Point Healthcare Center in Chatsworth last week , Marco said , and was stopped by a nurse who told him the administration wasn ’ t allowing anyone in the facility to be tested .
The doctor pointed out several patients behind a barrier who appeared to be symptomatic and told the nurse it looked as if the facility had an outbreak , Marco said .
But the nurse insisted testing was not allowed .
Marco said he reported the facility to L.A. County health department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state list , but it ’ s unclear how many cases the facility has because the number for both staff and patients is represented as fewer than 11 — a device state officials are using to protect privacy in facilities where the number of cases is relatively low .
David Oates , a crisis communications specialist speaking on behalf of Stoney Point , said if a nurse told a doctor that testing was not allowed , “ she was mistaken.
” Stoney Point has eight staff members who have tested positive and are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tested positive , Oates said , but nine patients are in isolation and being monitored for symptoms .
“ I checked and we can ’ t immediately find a person from Los Angeles Jewish Home who visited Stoney Point Healthcare , ” Oates added .
In some cases , the numbers on the state ’ s list appear to be out of date .
At the Redwood Springs Health Care Center in Tulare County , site of one of the most devastating outbreaks in the state , the most recent figures obtained by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ residents and 50 employees had tested positive for the virus as of Thursday .
The state lists 91 residents and 46 staff members .
The facility also reported that 10 residents have died after testing positive , said Oates , who is also representing Redwood Springs .
The toll on nursing homes has led to a crisis of staffing .
In some places , including Redwood Springs , so many workers are ill that replacements have been brought in .
An official at the facility said that at least 18 workers were staying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ facility so that they didn ’ t infect family members , but staff that was previously exposed is largely quarantining at home .
In other places , staff has refused to work after outbreaks , prompting the evacuation of at least one nursing home in Riverside County .
Gustavo Urrea , whose 20-year-old niece Valeria Viveros worked the night shift at an assisted living facility there and died last week after contracting the virus , said he believes not enough is being done to protect nursing home and assisted-living workers .
He said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she thought was a cold .
But days later , she developed breathing problems and was taken to the emergency room .
She died without her mother being able to see her , said Urrea , and now the family is concerned that others in the household may be infected .
“ Those are the people they have to protect first , those are the people they have to test first , ” said Urrea of nursing home workers .
“ She was very lovely .
She used to be very caring with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hurts me the most.
” More than 40 % of positive cases reported in the state data are staff members .
“ It saddens me but it does not surprise me by any stretch of the imagination , ” said April Verrett , president of SEIU Local 2015 , which represents about 20,000 nursing home and health care workers statewide .
“ I knew the conditions our members were working under were leading to a high number of infections , we just have not had the data to support it until now.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protective equipment — such as masks and gowns — has gotten better , shortages remain .
“ Many of our members are still feeling that the PPE is being rationed , or they may get an N95 mask but they are being told to protect it with their life , they are being told to reuse it , ” Verrett said .
Verrett said that based on the potential exposure of staff at such facilities , she believes every skilled nursing home worker statewide should be tested and offered paid time off if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out that the majority of her members are women , many people of color and immigrants , who can not afford two weeks without pay .
“ They are not high wage jobs at all , ” Verrett said .
“ It ’ s the choice between being able to keep a roof over your head and food on the table for your children .
”

Jack Dolan, Anita Chabria, Brittny Mejia

For the first time, California Department of Public Health officials have divulged the names of nursing homes across the state with COVID-19 outbreaks and the number of cases at each facility.
Among the hardest-hit facilities are the Brier Oak on Sunset nursing home in Los Angeles, where 80 residents and 62 staff members have tested positive, according to the state’s list. The Country Villa South Convalescent Center in Palms has had 58 patients and 15 staff test positive, and the Garden Crest Rehabilitation Center in Silver Lake has had 35 patients and 35 staff test positive.
Nursing homes have become a tragic focal point of the coronavirus outbreak, with their elderly residents, many of whom have underlying health conditions, accounting for a large percentage of COVID-19 deaths across the country. More than 30% of those who have died in Los Angeles County were residents of long-term care facilities; more than 70% of the deaths in Long Beach have been nursing home residents.
Advertisement
The California health department lists the names of 261 skilled-nursing facilities across the state with more than 3,000 positive cases among residents and staff. The health department website said the list, which was published late Friday, is a snapshot representing 86% of the state’s 1,224 skilled-nursing facilities that had reported data within the last 24 hours.
More than half of the homes on the list, 148, are in Los Angeles County.
As the novel coronavirus continues to tear through nursing homes, state and local governments have been slow to inform the public about the scope of the crisis. Much of what is known so far about COVID-19 in senior facilities has not come from public agencies, but private sources: relatives, staff members and administrators.
The state’s list is “long overdue,” said Michael Connors, a spokesman for the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.
“All of its numbers are highly suspect because there is so little testing going on in long-term care facilities and no reason to believe that facilities are accurately reporting information on outbreaks and deaths,” Connors added.
Advertisement
The state’s list, which officials have promised to update regularly, does not show how many people have died at each facility.
It is also plagued by apparent omissions and undercounts. For weeks, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has been publishing names of group living facilities with COVID-19 cases, without specifying how many people have tested positive at each place. Some of those homes do not appear on the state list.
The state list also does not include data from California’s 7,461 residential care facilities.
A state spokesperson said via email Saturday that compiling the data on residential care facilities was in the works, but was “more complex privacy-wise” because many have very few residents.
Representatives from Brier Oak, Country Villa South and Garden Crest did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday.
Steven Lehman, 58, spent about 10 days at Brier Oak in mid-March, just as coronavirus cases were cropping up across the state. Toward the end of his stay, he got a roommate who was hooked up to a breathing machine.
“I’m just glad I got out of there in time,” said Lehman, who has not had any symptoms.
A nursing assistant who works at Brier Oak, who asked that her name not be used because she is not authorized to speak to the media, told a Times reporter on Saturday that the administration discouraged the staff from wearing protective masks for most of March.
The nursing assistant is among the dozens of staffers who have now tested positive. “I was infected because of that woman,” she said, referring to the administrator. “Because that idiot woman told us we couldn’t wear masks...everyone is infected because of her.”
One reason Brier Oak has reported so many cases is because it is doing widespread testing at a time when many nursing homes are resisting, said Dr. Noah Marco, chief medical officer for Los Angeles Jewish Home.
His facility received 500 test kits from the city of Los Angeles recently and shared about half of them with Brier Oak, Marco said. “They are conscientious and open to doing the right thing,” Marco said.
Widespread testing of asymptomatic staff is the most important measure homes can take right now because people without symptoms are the most dangerous spreaders of the virus, Marco said.
Jewish Home tested 99 staff members and only one came back positive. That person had no symptoms. “Knowing this person was positive and pulling them off the line reduced the spread,” Marco said. “Testing a sick member of staff, they’re already home, how does that help us?”
Other homes are refusing to test, often out of fear of bad publicity.
A doctor who works for Jewish Home went to test a patient at Stoney Point Healthcare Center in Chatsworth last week, Marco said, and was stopped by a nurse who told him the administration wasn’t allowing anyone in the facility to be tested.
The doctor pointed out several patients behind a barrier who appeared to be symptomatic and told the nurse it looked as if the facility had an outbreak, Marco said. But the nurse insisted testing was not allowed.
Marco said he reported the facility to L.A. County health department officials.
Stoney Point is on the state list, but it’s unclear how many cases the facility has because the number for both staff and patients is represented as fewer than 11 — a device state officials are using to protect privacy in facilities where the number of cases is relatively low.
David Oates, a crisis communications specialist speaking on behalf of Stoney Point, said if a nurse told a doctor that testing was not allowed, “she was mistaken.”
Stoney Point has eight staff members who have tested positive and are quarantined at home. No patients have tested positive, Oates said, but nine patients are in isolation and being monitored for symptoms.
“I checked and we can’t immediately find a person from Los Angeles Jewish Home who visited Stoney Point Healthcare,” Oates added.
In some cases, the numbers on the state’s list appear to be out of date.
At the Redwood Springs Health Care Center in Tulare County, site of one of the most devastating outbreaks in the state, the most recent figures obtained by the Los Angeles Times found that 106 residents and 50 employees had tested positive for the virus as of Thursday. The state lists 91 residents and 46 staff members. The facility also reported that 10 residents have died after testing positive, said Oates, who is also representing Redwood Springs.
The toll on nursing homes has led to a crisis of staffing. In some places, including Redwood Springs, so many workers are ill that replacements have been brought in. An official at the facility said that at least 18 workers were staying in a hotel paid for by the facility so that they didn’t infect family members, but staff that was previously exposed is largely quarantining at home.
In other places, staff has refused to work after outbreaks, prompting the evacuation of at least one nursing home in Riverside County. Gustavo Urrea, whose 20-year-old niece Valeria Viveros worked the night shift at an assisted living facility there and died last week after contracting the virus, said he believes not enough is being done to protect nursing home and assisted-living workers.
He said Viveros was sent home after developing what she thought was a cold. But days later, she developed breathing problems and was taken to the emergency room. She died without her mother being able to see her, said Urrea, and now the family is concerned that others in the household may be infected.
“Those are the people they have to protect first, those are the people they have to test first,” said Urrea of nursing home workers. “She was very lovely. She used to be very caring with her mom and that’s what hurts me the most.”
More than 40% of positive cases reported in the state data are staff members.
“It saddens me but it does not surprise me by any stretch of the imagination,” said April Verrett, president of SEIU Local 2015, which represents about 20,000 nursing home and healthcare workers statewide. “I knew the conditions our members were working under were leading to a high number of infections, we just have not had the data to support it until now.”
Verrett said that while access to personal protective equipment — such as masks and gowns — has gotten better, shortages remain.
“Many of our members are still feeling that the PPE is being rationed, or they may get an N95 mask but they are being told to protect it with their life, they are being told to reuse it,” Verrett said.
Verrett said that based on the potential exposure of staff at such facilities, she believes every skilled nursing home worker statewide should be tested and offered paid time off if they need to quarantine. She points out that the majority of her members are women, many people of color and immigrants, who cannot afford two weeks without pay.
“They are not high-wage jobs at all,” Verrett said. “It’s the choice between being able to keep a roof over your head and food on the table for your children.”


latimes--2020-04-18--Protesters slam California stay-at-home orders as 'tyranny.' But truth is more complex

A group of more than 100 protesters demanded that California ease stay-at-home restrictions that have helped slow the spread of the coronavirus .
The demonstration Friday in Huntington Beach generated national headlines and come amid similar protests elsewhere in the country .
But they don ’ t necessarily represent the majority view .
In fact , several polls have found wide support for the social-distancing rules despite the economic carnage they have caused .
Here is what we know .
Ninety-five percent of respondents Los Angeles elected officials ’ decision to implement a for all but essential personnel , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be more skeptical both of the stay-at-home orders and of the level of threat posed by the virus .
Only 76 % of them viewed the virus as a real threat , compared with 91 % among liberals .
Conservatives also saw themselves as less vulnerable , with 74 % saying they worried they would catch the virus , compared with 85 % of liberals .
The poll surveyed 2,000 households in Los Angeles County .
It had a margin of error of 2.2 % .
A Quinnipiac University poll released last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ orders on a national level .
“ While most states have issued their own stay at home orders , 81 percent of voters say they would support a stay at home order on a national level , ” the pollsters said .
A Politico/Morning Consult poll found that the vast majority of Americans would prefer to keep stay-at-home rules if the alternative meant more spread of the coronavirus .
The protesters claimed the dangers of the coronavirus and benefits of social distancing are overblown , despite scientific evidence to the contrary .
Benny @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a faux white hazmat suit with goggles and a Trump 2020 hat , bounced around from corner to corner , often drawing a sizable crowd .
The suit had hand-written Sharpie messages that included the name of an extreme right-wing website and “ China Lied People Died.
” White accused China of “ constantly attacking our president.
” White was also angry about social-distancing guidelines and hugged other protesters .
“ It ’ s not dangerous out here .
It ’ s not , ” White said .
“ I ’ ve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The beaches are open .
It ’ s a nice beautiful day .
What are we doing ?
Stop being a germophobe.
” Some of the signs included : “ It ’ s time that California opens back up , ” organizer Lisa Collins said .
“ We can ’ t [ complain ] about our freedoms and liberties being taken away if we aren ’ t willing to do something.
” “ Now is the time , ” she said .
“ We ’ ve complied ...
It ’ s time for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Both political leaders and health officials say stay-at-home orders have saved lives .
California ’ s relatively quick action to close businesses and order residents to stay home has tamped down the coronavirus pandemic and left many hospitals largely empty , waiting for a surge that has yet to come .
California has seen far fewer deaths than New York and other coronavirus hot spots , and experts believe early social distancing was a big factor .
Here is a breakdown of deaths : The initial success of the unprecedented shutdown of schools @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experts and public health officials , prompting calls to keep the restrictions in place at least into May to help cement the progress .
Social distancing will be a critical factor .
Lifting restrictions too early would likely lead to dangerous new jumps in coronavirus cases .
During the 1918 flu pandemic , more than 20 U.S. cities that relaxed physical distancing orders too quickly — even as the flu virus was still circulating — soon saw a new rise in cases .
There will continue to be a threat of the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has eased .

A number of Trump supporters rally on Main Street in Huntington Beach against business closures due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A group of more than 100 protesters demanded that California ease stay-at-home restrictions that have helped slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The demonstration Friday in Huntington Beach generated national headlines and come amid similar protests elsewhere in the country.
But they don’t necessarily represent the majority view. In fact, several polls have found wide support for the social-distancing rules despite the economic carnage they have caused.
Advertisement
Here is what we know.
Polling
Ninety-five percent of respondents say they supported Los Angeles elected officials’ decision to implement a stay-at-home order for all but essential personnel, a Loyola Marymount University poll released last week found.
Those who identified as politically conservative tended to be more skeptical both of the stay-at-home orders and of the level of threat posed by the virus.
Kira Beattie, in white T-shirt, joins a rally against stay-at-home orders. A number of Trump supporters gathered on Main Street in Huntington Beach against business closures due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
Only 76% of them viewed the virus as a real threat, compared with 91% among liberals. Conservatives also saw themselves as less vulnerable, with 74% saying they worried they would catch the virus, compared with 85% of liberals.
The poll surveyed 2,000 households in Los Angeles County. It had a margin of error of 2.2%.
Advertisement
A Quinnipiac University poll released last week also showed wide support for stay-at-home orders on a national level. “While most states have issued their own stay at home orders, 81 percent of voters say they would support a stay at home order on a national level,” the pollsters said.
A Politico/Morning Consult poll found that the vast majority of Americans would prefer to keep stay-at-home rules if the alternative meant more spread of the coronavirus.
Protester voices
The protesters claimed the dangers of the coronavirus and benefits of social distancing are overblown, despite scientific evidence to the contrary.
Benny White, a 33-year-old Compton resident dressed in a faux white hazmat suit with goggles and a Trump 2020 hat, bounced around from corner to corner, often drawing a sizable crowd. The suit had hand-written Sharpie messages that included the name of an extreme right-wing website and “China Lied People Died.”
White accused China of “constantly attacking our president.” White was also angry about social-distancing guidelines and hugged other protesters.
“It’s not dangerous out here. It’s not,” White said. “I’ve seen plenty of people out here. The beaches are open. It’s a nice beautiful day. What are we doing? Stop being a germophobe.”
Some of the signs included:
“COVID-19 A test run at socialism”
“Liberate Huntington Beach”
“OPEN CALI NOW”
“We deem our governor non-essential. Stop the tyranny”
“It’s time that California opens back up,” organizer Lisa Collins said. “We can’t [complain] about our freedoms and liberties being taken away if we aren’t willing to do something.”
“Now is the time,” she said. “We’ve complied ... It’s time for America to get back to work.”
Expert voices
Both political leaders and health officials say stay-at-home orders have saved lives.
California’s relatively quick action to close businesses and order residents to stay home has tamped down the coronavirus pandemic and left many hospitals largely empty, waiting for a surge that has yet to come. California has seen far fewer deaths than New York and other coronavirus hot spots, and experts believe early social distancing was a big factor. Here is a breakdown of deaths:
New York 17,131
New Jersey 3,840
Michigan 2,227
California 1,057
The initial success of the unprecedented shutdown of schools, businesses and other institutions has pleased experts and public health officials, prompting calls to keep the restrictions in place at least into May to help cement the progress.
Social distancing will be a critical factor. Lifting restrictions too early would likely lead to dangerous new jumps in coronavirus cases.
During the 1918 flu pandemic, more than 20 U.S. cities that relaxed physical distancing orders too quickly — even as the flu virus was still circulating — soon saw a new rise in cases. There will continue to be a threat of the coronavirus being reintroduced in areas where the outbreak has eased.
Campa is a Times staff writer. Sclafani writes for Times Community News.


latimes--2020-04-18--This is the latest list of Los Angeles County communities with coronavirus cases

Although officials noted there has been progress in flattening the curve of new coronavirus cases , L.A. County ’ s @ @ @ @ @ .
An additional 40 deaths were reported Friday , for and deaths are continuing to @ @ @ @ @ Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Friday .
There were 11,421 coronavirus cases in the county @ @ @ @ @ , 1,624 people are hospitalized , with 33 % of patients in intensive care units @ @ @ @ @ L.A. County ’ s public health director .
Ferrer cited two possible reasons for the @ @ @ @ @ between when new cases are reported and when people who become sick with COVID-19 die @ @ @ @ @ an increase in outbreaks in institutional settings .
Here is the latest list of communities @ @ @ @

An officer in a police cruiser tells beachgoers Saturday to clear the oceanfront area in Santa Monica, which is closed to enforce social distancing because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Although officials noted there has been progress in flattening the curve of new coronavirus cases, L.A. County’s death toll continues to climb. An additional 40 deaths were reported Friday, for a total of 501, and deaths are continuing to double every week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Friday.
There were 11,421 coronavirus cases in the county as of Friday. Additionally, 1,624 people are hospitalized, with 33% of patients in intensive care units, said Barbara Ferrer, L.A. County’s public health director.
Ferrer cited two possible reasons for the continued uptick: a lag between when new cases are reported and when people who become sick with COVID-19 die of the illness; and an increase in outbreaks in institutional settings.
Advertisement
Here is the latest list of communities with coronavirus cases:
Long Beach 419
Glendale 310
Melrose 228
Pasadena 215
Santa Clarita 188
Torrance 181
North Hollywood 153
Inglewood 145
Carson 143
Sylmar 138
Palmdale 131
Hollywood 126
South Gate 123
Burbank 121
East Los Angeles 121
Downey 118
Van Nuys 113
Santa Monica 107
West Hollywood 107
Lancaster 102
Canoga Park 99
Westlake 97
Lynwood 95
Norwalk 93
Gardena 93
West Vernon 90
Hawthorne 89
Reseda 89
Silver Lake 88
Sherman Oaks 85
Redondo Beach 84
Compton 83
Panorama City 81
Woodland Hills 80
Beverly Hills 78
Pico Rivera 77
Unincorporated - Florence-Firestone 76
Pico-Union 76
Bell 75
Pacoima 73
Palms 70
San Pedro 70
Montebello 69
Pomona 68
Northridge 67
Glassell Park 67
Boyle Heights 65
Whittier 64
Exposition Park 63
Temple-Beaudry 62
Winnetka 62
Koreatown 62
Bellflower 61
Wilshire Center 59
Encino 59
North Hills 59
West Adams 58
East Hollywood 58
Granada Hills 58
Brentwood 58
Covina 57
Manhattan Beach 57
Little Armenia 56
West Covina 56
Central 55
Paramount 54
Eagle Rock 52
Tarzana 52
Hancock Park 52
Huntington Park 52
Florence-Firestone 52
Vernon Central 50
South Park 48
Sun Valley 48
Hollywood Hills 48
El Monte 47
Rancho Palos Verdes 46
Bell Gardens 46
Lakewood 46
El Sereno 46
Crestview 45
Lake Balboa 44
Valley Village 44
Highland Park 44
Wilmington 43
Athens-Westmont 42
Chatsworth 42
Westchester 42
Altadena 41
Carthay 41
Arleta 40
Alhambra 40
Mar Vista 39
Valley Glen 39
Little Bangladesh 39
Westwood 38
Monterey Park 38
West Los Angeles 38
Baldwin Hills 38
Baldwin Park 37
Harvard Park 37
Sunland 37
Palos Verdes Estates 36
Del Rey 36
Culver City 36
Watts 36
Maywood 35
Harbor Gateway 35
Cerritos 35
Vermont Vista 34
Lawndale 33
South Whittier 33
Century Palms/Cove 33
Hacienda Heights 33
Porter Ranch 33
Venice 33
Pacific Palisades 33
Wholesale District 32
Mission Hills 32
West Carson 31
Country Club Park 30
San Fernando 29
Glendora 29
Downtown 28
Hyde Park 27
University Park 27
Arcadia 27
Calabasas 26
La Canada Flintridge 26
Leimert Park 26
La Mirada 26
Century City 26
Beverly Crest 26
Cudahy 26
West Hills 26
Mid-City 26
Willowbrook 25
Harbor City 25
Historic Filipinotown 25
Harvard Heights 25
Walnut Park 25
Lomita 24
Temple City 24
Lincoln Heights 24
Crenshaw District 23
Vermont Knolls 23
Tujunga 23
Beverlywood 23
Rowland Heights 23
Diamond Bar 22
Agoura Hills 22
Azusa 22
Bel-Air 22
Studio City 22
Los Feliz 21
Green Meadows 21
La Puente 21
Lakeview Terrace 21
South Pasadena 21
Miracle Mile 21
Vermont Square 21
Malibu 20
Lennox 20
Duarte 20
South Carthay 20
West Whittier/Los Nietos 18
Victoria Park 18
San Dimas 18
Hermosa Beach 18
View Park/Windsor Hills 17
Adams-Normandie 16
Rosemead 16
Mt. Washington 16
Monrovia 15
Canyon Country 15
Walnut 15
San Gabriel 15
Ladera Heights 15
Claremont 14
Quartz Hill 14
Cloverdale/Cochran 13
Unincorporated - Covina 13
East Rancho Dominguez 12
Stevenson Ranch 12
Gramercy Place 12
Cheviot Hills 12
La Crescenta-Montrose 12
Rolling Hills Estates 12
Valinda 12
El Segundo 12
Santa Fe Springs 11
Thai Town 11
Park La Brea 11
La Verne 11
Playa Vista 11
Elysian Valley 10
Artesia 10
Athens Village 10
Atwater Village 10
Echo Park 10
Figueroa Park Square 10
Bassett 9
Reseda Ranch 9
Castaic 9
Covina (Charter Oak) 9
Rancho Park 8
Cadillac-Corning 8
San Marino 8
Lake Los Angeles 8
Rancho Dominguez 8
Marina Peninsula 8
Shadow Hills 7
San Jose Hills 7
Toluca Lake 7
Lafayette Square 7
South San Gabriel 7
Alsace 7
Northeast San Gabriel 7
Santa Monica Mountains 7
East La Mirada 6
Marina del Rey 6
West Puente Valley 6
Westlake Village 6
Reynier Village 6
Signal Hill 5
Elysian Park 5
Del Aire 5
Commerce 5
Avocado Heights 5
Jefferson Park 5
Unincorporated - Monrovia 5
View Heights 5
La Rambla 5
Acton 5


latimes--2020-04-18--Magnitude 3.5 earthquake felt near Ridgecrest, Calif.

A magnitude 3.5 earthquake was reported at 5:50 a.m. Saturday 26 miles from Ridgecrest , Calif. , according to the U.S. Geological Survey .
A second earthquake of magnitude 3.3 occurred about 15 minutes later at the same location , the USGS said .
The quakes occurred 52 miles from California City ; 67 miles from Pahrump , Nev. ; 77 miles from Barstow ; and 83 miles from Tehachapi .
In the last 10 days , there have been three earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby .
An average of 234 earthquakes with magnitudes between 3.0 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nevada , according to a recent three-year data sample .
The earthquakes occurred at a shallow depth .
Did you feel these earthquakes ?
Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS .
Even if you didn ’ t feel them , you never know when the Big One is going to strike .
Ready yourself by following our five-step earthquake preparedness guide and building your own emergency kit .
This story was automatically generated by Quakebot , a computer application that monitors the latest earthquakes detected by the USGS .
A Times @ @ @ @ @ @ @ published .
If you ’ re interested in learning more about the system , visit our list of frequently asked questions .

A magnitude 3.5 earthquake was felt near Ridgecrest, Calif., Saturday morning. It was followed by a magnitude 3.3 quake minutes later.
A magnitude 3.5 earthquake was reported at 5:50 a.m. Saturday 26 miles from Ridgecrest, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
A second earthquake of magnitude 3.3 occurred about 15 minutes later at the same location, the USGS said.
The quakes occurred 52 miles from California City; 67 miles from Pahrump, Nev.; 77 miles from Barstow; and 83 miles from Tehachapi.
In the last 10 days, there have been three earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.
Advertisement
An average of 234 earthquakes with magnitudes between 3.0 and 4.0 occur per year in California and Nevada, according to a recent three-year data sample.
The earthquakes occurred at a shallow depth. Did you feel these earthquakes? Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS.
Even if you didn’t feel them, you never know when the Big One is going to strike. Ready yourself by following our five-step earthquake preparedness guide and building your own emergency kit.
This story was automatically generated by Quakebot, a computer application that monitors the latest earthquakes detected by the USGS. A Times editor reviewed the post before it was published. If you’re interested in learning more about the system, visit our list of frequently asked questions.


latimes--2020-04-18--The scarlet C: Coronavirus survivors face the stigma and discrimination

Customers boycott a pharmacy .
People scream at a family on the street .
A man has trouble summoning an ambulance to his home .
There ’ s a common thread linking all these stories : fear of COVID-19 .
In the face of a virus that is both deadly and highly contagious , it raises a question : When do social safeguards against the novel coronavirus mutate into their own contagion of fear and loathing ?
The pandemic ’ s origins in China have already given rise to a frightening spate of racist outbursts against Asian immigrants and Asian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ led to a shunning of some of its victims , even when they needed help .
“ It felt like we had the scarlet letter ‘ C ’ on the house , ” Anne Edmunds Aguirre said after a traumatic night trying to summon help to her father ’ s house in New Orleans .
J. Ollie Edmunds Jr. , 79 , survived COVID-19 and was sent home by a New Orleans hospital .
When he fell and summoned help from the local fire department , the department refused to come .
Aguirre @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before , and knew Edmunds ’ history with COVID-19 .
The family was told to dial 911 , and then had to wait six hours for paramedics to arrive .
“ The general public still has that fear , ” she said .
“ Unless they trust you , they are going to be reluctant – ‘ You had that virus , I don ’ t want to come.
’ ” In San Diego County , the COVID-19 death of a young pharmacy worker touched off a wave of fear and rumors through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pharmacy served .
When the pharmacy owner announced he was ill , rumors surfaced on social media that he was infected with coronavirus , and even had died .
He tried to dispel the rumors and reassure customers ; the replies were heated and accusatory .
“ Let ’ s worry more about our health , especially the ‘ elders , ’ than worrying about reputation , ” read one of the more tempered posts on the pharmacy ’ s Facebook page .
“ Go to my Facebook and see the fight , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” said the pharmacy owner , who spoke on the condition that he not be named for fear of further business losses .
“ It hit our business so bad .
I lost half of my business.
” A community leader , Dr. Noori Barka , told a local television station he “ was trying to make a big deal ” about his belief COVID-19 cases were connected to the pharmacy “ because I felt something was wrong.
” He said he was afraid the pharmacy would infect other people .
These @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A San Francisco area family that lost one member to COVID-19 and saw two others survive the virus kept that information to themselves .
But taking a family stroll while wearing masks in mid-March , before such a sight became common , was enough to bring a woman out of her house , shouting .
“ She started to yell at them , ” said one family member , who did not want to have his name published because of the sensitivity of the situation .
“ Something along the lines of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all out !
Why are you wearing masks ?
Take your masks off !
” In Indiana , some police departments say they will no longer deliver lifesaving doses of Naloxone to those overdosed on opioids , because it is administered through the nose , though the state director of emergency medical services , Dr. Michael Kaufmann , issued a directive calling the risk of coronavirus exposure “ unlikely.
” At the same time , there are many instances of people and communities working together and overcoming biases , said Dr. Richard Marlink @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Institute and a veteran of HIV/AIDS research and public policy .
“ How we respond to the pandemic is a measure of who we are , a measure of our goodness , ” Marlink said .
“ The pressure we should put on ourselves is , this is an opportunity to be human.
” Indiana University sociologist Brea Louise Perry began studying public backlash in the early days of the pandemic , as politicians such as President Trump framed the global threat as the “ Chinese virus ” and Asian Americans found themselves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apart in public restaurants .
As her team conducts a study of the stigmas surrounding COVID-19 , Perry is already very familiar with the underlying emotional forces at play : fear , uncertainty , unpredictability and perception of danger .
They also feed stigmas borne by those with mental illness , obesity , and especially threats to the public health , such as HIV .
“ As humans , we try to manufacture a sense of control , ” Perry said .
“ We want to be able to attribute responsibility , because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to think that , ‘ Oh , just anything can happen to me ... or I could get this too no matter what I do to try to control it.
’ “ But then it goes wrong when we turn it on other people in the form of stigma , ” she said .
But stigmatization can also be a mechanism for social control .
California Gov .
Gavin Newsom , for instance , repeatedly has said he expects his orders for business closures , home quarantine and social distancing to be enforced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s a social contract here .
People I think recognize the need to do more and to meet this moment .
People will self-regulate their behavior , ” he said at a March briefing outlining his reasons for not employing police or military enforcement .
“ We will have social pressure and that will encourage people to do the right thing .
“ Social pressure is leading to social distancing , social recognition , ” Newsom said .
“ And the socialization of this disease is leading people to change behavior.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Outside Baton Rouge , La.
, police have been unable to force a Pentecostal church to stop large services despite a statewide order prohibiting gatherings of 10 or more , and a pile of unheeded civil infractions .
The Rev .
Tony Spell , pastor of Life Tabernacle Church , accused police of public shaming , sending in a plainclothes officer with a body cam to record Easter services , then sharing that footage with a local television station .
He sends more than two dozen buses to bring worshipers to services from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being bullied and intimidated not to get on my buses , ” Spell said .
The church is not untouched by the virus .
Head usher Harold Orillion , 78 , died earlier this week of what the coroner said was COVID-19 .
Now Spell ’ s attorney is hospitalized , on oxygen and his lungs struggling after several days of fever .
Jeff Wittenbrink , 59 , didn ’ t blame the church for his illness .
“ I went to Albertsons .
I went to Sam ’ s , Walmart , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ store , Sprouts , Rouses — I can ’ t even tell you all the places ” before he got sick , Wittenbrink said Friday from his hospital bed .
He objected to efforts to pressure Spell to close the church .
“ They ’ re doing the same thing they were trying to do to Trump initially , which is find some grandpa and try to pin it on him that he died , ” Wittenbrink said .
“ They ’ ve been excoriating him from the beginning .
He ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to feed his flock… .
Why do they want to shame people ?
” Perry cautioned that public pressure policies often fail , either turning out to be ineffective or backfiring so badly that individuals avoid the care and treatment they need .
She pointed to the effect of public shaming surrounding obesity .
“ If stigma worked to reduce obesity , there would be no more obese people because there ’ s so much fat shaming , right ?
” Perry said .
“ But really , what scientific research suggests is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and perceive themselves as more stigmatized are actually less likely to make behavioral changes.
” In South Africa , already , public health officials have raised concerns that residents falling ill will avoid medical treatment for fear of being shunned as coronavirus carriers .
Global concern over COVID-19-associated stigmas prompted the science journal Nature to publish an editorial acknowledging and criticizing its own linking of the novel coronavirus with China and the harm in singling out any group or people .
In particular , it bemoaned the treatment of some 700,000 Chinese students @ @ @ @ @ @ @ United Kingdom and Australia .
“ We must all do everything we can to avoid and reduce stigma ; not associate COVID-19 with particular groups of people or places ; and emphasize that viruses do not discriminate — we are all at risk , ” the journal editors wrote .

Hundreds of Chinatown residents along with local and state officials protest racism against the Chinese community during a march in San Francisco on Feb. 29.
Customers boycott a pharmacy. People scream at a family on the street. A man has trouble summoning an ambulance to his home.
There’s a common thread linking all these stories: fear of COVID-19. In the face of a virus that is both deadly and highly contagious, it raises a question: When do social safeguards against the novel coronavirus mutate into their own contagion of fear and loathing?
The pandemic’s origins in China have already given rise to a frightening spate of racist outbursts against Asian immigrants and Asian Americans. Beyond that, fear has led to a shunning of some of its victims, even when they needed help.
Advertisement
“It felt like we had the scarlet letter ‘C’ on the house,” Anne Edmunds Aguirre said after a traumatic night trying to summon help to her father’s house in New Orleans.
J. Ollie Edmunds Jr., 79, survived COVID-19 and was sent home by a New Orleans hospital. When he fell and summoned help from the local fire department, the department refused to come. Aguirre said firefighters had been to the house before, and knew Edmunds’ history with COVID-19. The family was told to dial 911, and then had to wait six hours for paramedics to arrive.
“The general public still has that fear,” she said. “Unless they trust you, they are going to be reluctant – ‘You had that virus, I don’t want to come.’”
California The pandemic’s toll: Lives lost in California Hundreds of people have died in California due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These are some of their stories.
In San Diego County, the COVID-19 death of a young pharmacy worker touched off a wave of fear and rumors through a tight-knit Arabic community that the small pharmacy served. When the pharmacy owner announced he was ill, rumors surfaced on social media that he was infected with coronavirus, and even had died. He tried to dispel the rumors and reassure customers; the replies were heated and accusatory.
“Let’s worry more about our health, especially the ‘elders,’ than worrying about reputation,” read one of the more tempered posts on the pharmacy’s Facebook page.
“Go to my Facebook and see the fight, see the war against me right now,” said the pharmacy owner, who spoke on the condition that he not be named for fear of further business losses. “It hit our business so bad. I lost half of my business.”
Advertisement
Dr. Noori Barka was worried that the San Diego County pharmacy would infect other people. (Howard Lipin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
A community leader, Dr. Noori Barka, told a local television station he “was trying to make a big deal” about his belief COVID-19 cases were connected to the pharmacy “because I felt something was wrong.” He said he was afraid the pharmacy would infect other people.
These are hardly isolated instances of community fear.
A San Francisco area family that lost one member to COVID-19 and saw two others survive the virus kept that information to themselves. But taking a family stroll while wearing masks in mid-March, before such a sight became common, was enough to bring a woman out of her house, shouting.
“She started to yell at them,” said one family member, who did not want to have his name published because of the sensitivity of the situation. “Something along the lines of, ‘You’re freaking us all out! Why are you wearing masks? Take your masks off!”
In Indiana, some police departments say they will no longer deliver lifesaving doses of Naloxone to those overdosed on opioids, because it is administered through the nose, though the state director of emergency medical services, Dr. Michael Kaufmann, issued a directive calling the risk of coronavirus exposure “unlikely.”
At the same time, there are many instances of people and communities working together and overcoming biases, said Dr. Richard Marlink, director of the Rutgers Global Health Institute and a veteran of HIV/AIDS research and public policy. “How we respond to the pandemic is a measure of who we are, a measure of our goodness,” Marlink said. “The pressure we should put on ourselves is, this is an opportunity to be human.”
Indiana University sociologist Brea Louise Perry began studying public backlash in the early days of the pandemic, as politicians such as President Trump framed the global threat as the “Chinese virus” and Asian Americans found themselves isolated, pilloried and asked to sit apart in public restaurants.
As her team conducts a study of the stigmas surrounding COVID-19, Perry is already very familiar with the underlying emotional forces at play: fear, uncertainty, unpredictability and perception of danger. They also feed stigmas borne by those with mental illness, obesity, and especially threats to the public health, such as HIV.
“As humans, we try to manufacture a sense of control,” Perry said. “We want to be able to attribute responsibility, because it’s really disorienting and stressful to think that, ‘Oh, just anything can happen to me ... or I could get this too no matter what I do to try to control it.’
“But then it goes wrong when we turn it on other people in the form of stigma,” she said.
But stigmatization can also be a mechanism for social control.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, for instance, repeatedly has said he expects his orders for business closures, home quarantine and social distancing to be enforced by society at large.
“There’s a social contract here. People I think recognize the need to do more and to meet this moment. People will self-regulate their behavior,” he said at a March briefing outlining his reasons for not employing police or military enforcement. “We will have social pressure and that will encourage people to do the right thing.
“Social pressure is leading to social distancing, social recognition,” Newsom said. “And the socialization of this disease is leading people to change behavior.”
California Coronavirus infections could be much more widespread than believed, California study suggests A new study by Stanford University, using antibody blood tests, estimates that the number of cases in Santa Clara County may be 50 to 85 times greater than what was previously known.
It can work in other ways.
Outside Baton Rouge, La., police have been unable to force a Pentecostal church to stop large services despite a statewide order prohibiting gatherings of 10 or more, and a pile of unheeded civil infractions.
A man takes temperature scans as congregants arrive for evening service at the Life Tabernacle Church in Central, La., Tuesday, March 31, 2020. Pastor Tony Spell held services despite being charged with misdemeanors today, for holding services against Gov. John Bel Edwards shelter-in-place order due to the new coronavirus pandemic. (Gerald Herbert/AP)
The Rev. Tony Spell, pastor of Life Tabernacle Church, accused police of public shaming, sending in a plainclothes officer with a body cam to record Easter services, then sharing that footage with a local television station.
He sends more than two dozen buses to bring worshipers to services from surrounding parishes. “People are really being bullied and intimidated not to get on my buses,” Spell said.
The church is not untouched by the virus. Head usher Harold Orillion, 78, died earlier this week of what the coroner said was COVID-19.
Now Spell’s attorney is hospitalized, on oxygen and his lungs struggling after several days of fever. Jeff Wittenbrink, 59, didn’t blame the church for his illness.
“I went to Albertsons. I went to Sam’s, Walmart, Lowe’s, my local hardware store, Sprouts, Rouses — I can’t even tell you all the places” before he got sick, Wittenbrink said Friday from his hospital bed.
He objected to efforts to pressure Spell to close the church.
“They’re doing the same thing they were trying to do to Trump initially, which is find some grandpa and try to pin it on him that he died,” Wittenbrink said. “They’ve been excoriating him from the beginning. He’s just a guy that’s trying to feed his flock…. Why do they want to shame people?”
Perry cautioned that public pressure policies often fail, either turning out to be ineffective or backfiring so badly that individuals avoid the care and treatment they need. She pointed to the effect of public shaming surrounding obesity.
“If stigma worked to reduce obesity, there would be no more obese people because there’s so much fat shaming, right?” Perry said. “But really, what scientific research suggests is that overweight people who feel more shameful and perceive themselves as more stigmatized are actually less likely to make behavioral changes.”
In South Africa, already, public health officials have raised concerns that residents falling ill will avoid medical treatment for fear of being shunned as coronavirus carriers.
Global concern over COVID-19-associated stigmas prompted the science journal Nature to publish an editorial acknowledging and criticizing its own linking of the novel coronavirus with China and the harm in singling out any group or people. In particular, it bemoaned the treatment of some 700,000 Chinese students studying abroad in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.
“We must all do everything we can to avoid and reduce stigma; not associate COVID-19 with particular groups of people or places; and emphasize that viruses do not discriminate — we are all at risk,” the journal editors wrote.