latimes--2020-05-03--Coronavirus patients could be cash cows for nursing homes

The nursing home industry has been devastated by the coronavirus , with outbreaks killing thousands of elderly residents and likely setting the stage for both increased regulations and huge legal liabilities .
But the health crisis presents operators with a potential financial upside .
Patients with COVID-19 could be worth more than four times what homes are able to charge for long-term residents with relatively mild health issues .
Some patient advocates and industry experts fear the premium pay available for coronavirus patients — and a simultaneous easing of regulations around transfers — could tempt some home operators to move @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lucrative COVID-19 patients , despite the obvious health risks to residents and staff .
“ There are probably some unscrupulous operators who would jump at this , ” said David Grabowski , a professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School , though he thought most would not .
A new Medicare reimbursement system that went into effect last fall pays nursing homes substantially more for new patients — including those released from a hospital — particularly for the first few weeks .
Under those guidelines , COVID-19 patients can bring in upward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to nursing home administrators and medical directors interviewed by The Times .
By contrast , facilities collect as little as $ 200 per day for long-term patients with dementia , the industry experts said .
Nursing homes have always had a financial incentive to attract the short-term patients and get rid of low-paying long-term ones , Grabowski said .
But the health risks for existing residents and staff are so high with COVID-19 , Grabowski said , “ I ’ d be a little suspicious of a low-quality nursing home that ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for this.
” Health systems across the country are scrambling for safe places to quarantine nursing home residents with the coronavirus to try to protect those who haven ’ t already been infected .
Hospitals are also desperate to reduce a bottleneck of COVID-19 patients who no longer need to be in the hospital but who are unable to care for themselves at home .
To that end , health departments have been looking to set up separate so-called “ COVID-19-positive ” nursing homes to help deal with the crisis .
So far @ @ @ @ @ @ @ County has been designated COVID-19 positive by the county ’ s Department of Public Health : Country Villa South , an 87-bed facility in Palms .
The home has already endured an outbreak , with 81 residents and staff members testing positive for the virus as of last week and 10 deaths reported to county health officials .
The home has a checkered regulatory history , earning only one star — the lowest rating possible — on Medicare ’ s five-star rating system .
It has also had recent violations for failing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ review of inspection and complaint records shows .
And Rockport Healthcare Services , the company that oversees Country Villa South and more than 70 other homes in California , was sued in March by a former employee who said she was fired for refusing to discharge patients insured through the state ’ s Medi-Cal program for the poor to make room for higher-paying patients with private insurance .
The alleged practices occurred before the coronavirus outbreak .
In her complaint , Lidice Diaz , who was the director of business development at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that managers instructed staff to prepare a list of “ dischargeable people ” on a daily basis .
The residents on the list , according to the complaint , were Medi-Cal patients .
“ These patients often would not have a doctor ’ s order permitting or recommending discharge , ” according to the complaint .
At other times , Diaz alleged , she was told to call a patient ’ s family and inform them the resident had to be discharged and to “ not take no for an answer.
” Diaz @ @ @ @ @ @ @ citing the ongoing litigation .
Rockport ’ s chief executive , Dr. David Silver , said he was confident the allegations would be proved false but declined to comment on specifics of the lawsuit .
Last month , an executive at Rockport sent an email telling homes within the chain to be prepared to transfer out patients who did not require skilled nursing care to make way for a wave of “ severely ill patients ” expected to start arriving from acute care hospitals , which were in “ dire need ” of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the staff that a California Public Health Department requirement to warn residents 30 days before an impending discharge had been reduced to 10 days , and that Rockport had hired a placement agency to help find spots for residents .
“ We understand it is not easy to find discharge destinations for residents who are at a low income level , but we must be proactive with our discharge planning during this difficult time , ” the email said .
Silver said the email was his company ’ s way of responding to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for an expected surge of coronavirus patients .
“ We agreed to do our part , ” Silver wrote to The Times .
“ The email clearly references ensuring safe and appropriate discharges .
This has absolutely nothing to do with payment rates or income levels of patients .
“ We are leading the way to meet this moment , ” Silver added .
“ No other skilled nursing facility company has stepped forward like we have.
” Rockport recently sent a letter to health insurers informing them that the company would bill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the coronavirus , according to several nursing home industry experts interviewed by The Times .
Silver said that he didn ’ t know what letter they were referring to , and that such negotiations are typically conducted in private .
But , he said , his company was prepared to offer discounted rates , and that $ 850 per day is about a 20 % discount on what Medicare would pay .
Dr. Michael Wasserman , a former Rockport CEO , said he was shocked by the email to staff instructing them to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for coronavirus patients .
“ To me , from a business perspective , there ’ s only one reason to do this .
You ’ re replacing the lowest-paying residents in those nursing homes with the highest-paying people , ” he said .
“ It ’ s so wrong to tell a frail old person in a nursing home that they have only 10 days to move , ” Wasserman added .
“ Half of these people have dementia.
” When word began to spread within industry circles in mid-April that Rockport ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to designate Country Villa South as a COVID-19-positive facility , Wasserman emailed county officials informing them of the home ’ s poor regulatory record and warning that sending patients with COVID-19 there “ would overwhelm their capacity to care for their existing residents.
” Dr. Zachary Rubin , who works in communicable disease control for the county Public Health Department , responded to Wasserman in an email that the county ’ s hands were tied because “ there hasn ’ t been a big rush of places wanting to do this.
” In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Times , Rubin explained the county was looking for homes that already had an outbreak so they wouldn ’ t introduce the virus to a facility that didn ’ t have infected residents and staff .
The county , Rubin wrote , was also looking for homes that belonged to a larger chain with lots of staff so there would be people available to fill in when workers at the designated facility got sick and had to stay home .
Rubin did not respond to a request for comment for this story @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials declined to say whether they had reviewed Country Villa South ’ s regulatory history or the recent lawsuit filed against Rockport before designating it as a place for other facilities to send coronavirus patients .
In response to questions from The Times , an unnamed department official said in an email that the designation should not be seen as “ an endorsement from Public Health.
” But the email acknowledged county officials were consulting with the home and ensuring that it had “ optimal procedures in place for caring for COVID patients.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least some people who have loved ones at the facility .
One relative of a Country Villa South resident who has tested negative for the virus said she had no idea the home had been designated a COVID-19-positive facility until a nurse assistant told her and warned that she might want to get her loved one out of there .
“ That was upsetting to me to know they made the decision to turn it into a positive place without letting anyone know , ” said the woman , who asked not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against her family member .
The facility promised it would find a new home for her relative , the woman said , but as of Thursday that still hadn ’ t happened .
That ’ s particularly concerning because , even before the pandemic , Country Villa South didn ’ t seem to have enough hand sanitizer , and at times there was no soap in her family member ’ s room , said the woman , who works in healthcare .
She said she wondered why a facility that struggled with hygiene @ @ @ @ @ @ @ turning itself into a COVID-19-positive facility , “ if it wasn ’ t for a paycheck .
”

Country Villa South, the only nursing home in Los Angeles County designated by the county for residents who have COVID-19.
The nursing home industry has been devastated by the coronavirus, with outbreaks killing thousands of elderly residents and likely setting the stage for both increased regulations and huge legal liabilities.
But the health crisis presents operators with a potential financial upside.
Patients with COVID-19 could be worth more than four times what homes are able to charge for long-term residents with relatively mild health issues.
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Some patient advocates and industry experts fear the premium pay available for coronavirus patients — and a simultaneous easing of regulations around transfers — could tempt some home operators to move out low-paying residents to bring in more lucrative COVID-19 patients, despite the obvious health risks to residents and staff.
“There are probably some unscrupulous operators who would jump at this,” said David Grabowski, a professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School, though he thought most would not.
A new Medicare reimbursement system that went into effect last fall pays nursing homes substantially more for new patients — including those released from a hospital — particularly for the first few weeks. Under those guidelines, COVID-19 patients can bring in upward of $800 per day, according to nursing home administrators and medical directors interviewed by The Times.
By contrast, facilities collect as little as $200 per day for long-term patients with dementia, the industry experts said.
Nursing homes have always had a financial incentive to attract the short-term patients and get rid of low-paying long-term ones, Grabowski said. But the health risks for existing residents and staff are so high with COVID-19, Grabowski said, “I’d be a little suspicious of a low-quality nursing home that’s jumping to the head of the line for this.”
Health systems across the country are scrambling for safe places to quarantine nursing home residents with the coronavirus to try to protect those who haven’t already been infected. Hospitals are also desperate to reduce a bottleneck of COVID-19 patients who no longer need to be in the hospital but who are unable to care for themselves at home.
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To that end, health departments have been looking to set up separate so-called “COVID-19-positive” nursing homes to help deal with the crisis.
So far, only one home in Los Angeles County has been designated COVID-19 positive by the county’s Department of Public Health: Country Villa South, an 87-bed facility in Palms. The home has already endured an outbreak, with 81 residents and staff members testing positive for the virus as of last week and 10 deaths reported to county health officials.
The home has a checkered regulatory history, earning only one star — the lowest rating possible — on Medicare’s five-star rating system. It has also had recent violations for failing to follow infection control protocols, a Times review of inspection and complaint records shows.
And Rockport Healthcare Services, the company that oversees Country Villa South and more than 70 other homes in California, was sued in March by a former employee who said she was fired for refusing to discharge patients insured through the state’s Medi-Cal program for the poor to make room for higher-paying patients with private insurance. The alleged practices occurred before the coronavirus outbreak.
In her complaint, Lidice Diaz, who was the director of business development at the Pomona Healthcare and Wellness Center, alleged that managers instructed staff to prepare a list of “dischargeable people” on a daily basis. The residents on the list, according to the complaint, were Medi-Cal patients.
“These patients often would not have a doctor’s order permitting or recommending discharge,” according to the complaint.
At other times, Diaz alleged, she was told to call a patient’s family and inform them the resident had to be discharged and to “not take no for an answer.”
Diaz and her attorney declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation. Rockport’s chief executive, Dr. David Silver, said he was confident the allegations would be proved false but declined to comment on specifics of the lawsuit.
Last month, an executive at Rockport sent an email telling homes within the chain to be prepared to transfer out patients who did not require skilled nursing care to make way for a wave of “severely ill patients” expected to start arriving from acute care hospitals, which were in “dire need” of freed-up bed space.
The email informed the staff that a California Public Health Department requirement to warn residents 30 days before an impending discharge had been reduced to 10 days, and that Rockport had hired a placement agency to help find spots for residents.
“We understand it is not easy to find discharge destinations for residents who are at a low income level, but we must be proactive with our discharge planning during this difficult time,” the email said.
Silver said the email was his company’s way of responding to a warning from state officials to prepare for an expected surge of coronavirus patients.
“We agreed to do our part,” Silver wrote to The Times. “The email clearly references ensuring safe and appropriate discharges. This has absolutely nothing to do with payment rates or income levels of patients.
“We are leading the way to meet this moment,” Silver added. “No other skilled nursing facility company has stepped forward like we have.”
Rockport recently sent a letter to health insurers informing them that the company would bill $850 per day for patients with the coronavirus, according to several nursing home industry experts interviewed by The Times. Silver said that he didn’t know what letter they were referring to, and that such negotiations are typically conducted in private. But, he said, his company was prepared to offer discounted rates, and that $850 per day is about a 20% discount on what Medicare would pay.
Dr. Michael Wasserman, a former Rockport CEO, said he was shocked by the email to staff instructing them to prepare to discharge residents to make room for coronavirus patients.
“To me, from a business perspective, there’s only one reason to do this. You’re replacing the lowest-paying residents in those nursing homes with the highest-paying people,” he said.
“It’s so wrong to tell a frail old person in a nursing home that they have only 10 days to move,” Wasserman added. “Half of these people have dementia.”
When word began to spread within industry circles in mid-April that Rockport’s current management was lobbying the county to designate Country Villa South as a COVID-19-positive facility, Wasserman emailed county officials informing them of the home’s poor regulatory record and warning that sending patients with COVID-19 there “would overwhelm their capacity to care for their existing residents.”
Dr. Zachary Rubin, who works in communicable disease control for the county Public Health Department, responded to Wasserman in an email that the county’s hands were tied because “there hasn’t been a big rush of places wanting to do this.”
In his email, which was reviewed by The Times, Rubin explained the county was looking for homes that already had an outbreak so they wouldn’t introduce the virus to a facility that didn’t have infected residents and staff.
The county, Rubin wrote, was also looking for homes that belonged to a larger chain with lots of staff so there would be people available to fill in when workers at the designated facility got sick and had to stay home.
Rubin did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Los Angeles County Public Health Department officials declined to say whether they had reviewed Country Villa South’s regulatory history or the recent lawsuit filed against Rockport before designating it as a place for other facilities to send coronavirus patients.
In response to questions from The Times, an unnamed department official said in an email that the designation should not be seen as “an endorsement from Public Health.”
But the email acknowledged county officials were consulting with the home and ensuring that it had “optimal procedures in place for caring for COVID patients.”
That comes as a surprise to at least some people who have loved ones at the facility.
One relative of a Country Villa South resident who has tested negative for the virus said she had no idea the home had been designated a COVID-19-positive facility until a nurse assistant told her and warned that she might want to get her loved one out of there.
“That was upsetting to me to know they made the decision to turn it into a positive place without letting anyone know,” said the woman, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation against her family member.
The facility promised it would find a new home for her relative, the woman said, but as of Thursday that still hadn’t happened.
That’s particularly concerning because, even before the pandemic, Country Villa South didn’t seem to have enough hand sanitizer, and at times there was no soap in her family member’s room, said the woman, who works in healthcare.
She said she wondered why a facility that struggled with hygiene in the best of times would consider turning itself into a COVID-19-positive facility, “if it wasn’t for a paycheck.”


latimes--2020-05-03--Surfers ignore barriers, protesters confront police on Orange County beaches

Surfers hopped fences .
Walkers strolled with their dogs .
Parking lots became a venue for policy debate .
That was the scene Saturday along the Orange County coast amid growing debate about beach closures intended to reduce the threat of the coronavirus .
The actions are in defiance of orders issued Thursday by Gov .
Gavin Newsom calling for a “ hard close ” of all state and local beaches , a mandate that singled out the sandy stretches of Orange County over the previous weekend ’ s crowds , which flooded the coastline seeking relief from a spring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Newport Beach pier , a group of about 70 was in the parking lot , wanting to get out on the sand .
American flags were seen alongside red MAGA hats .
At noon , they started walking across the beach to the ocean .
Newport Beach police officers advised them to turn back , and a helicopter from the Orange County Sheriff ’ s Department flew over , announcing the closure over a loudspeaker .
As a few people went into the water , lifeguards in a boat just beyond @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beach was closed .
Eventually , the crowd dispersed , but half a dozen stood their ground and debated their case with police officers not far from the water .
Bill Beukers was among them .
He and his wife had driven down from Lancaster , and uncertain how the conversation would go , she filmed the exchange while the couple ’ s children bodysurfed .
Beukers , 48 , said afterward that he was willing to get arrested and that the discussion had less to do with the beach than the constitutionality @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we go from here ?
” he recalled asking the officers .
“ What side of history do you want to be on ?
Someone has to stand their ground .
We ’ re on a slippery slope , and we might end up where we might not want to be.
” He cited the 2nd Amendment and Rosa Parks , and in the end , the parties shook hands and the police departed .
A day after demonstrators congregated at the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organized protest took place Saturday in Laguna Beach .
At the start of the day , an orange netted barrier was put up around the town ’ s beach access points .
Those barriers did not hold , as protesters made their way onto the sand and continued the demonstration in the afternoon .
The Laguna Beach City Council recently voted to allow active use of its beaches from 6 to 10 a.m. on weekdays only .
Laguna Beach Mayor Pro Tem Steve Dicterow said there had been overwhelming support for the phased @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s right to close the beach .
“ I think it ’ s unfortunate because whether I agree or not with what the governor said , I think he has the legal right to do that , and I think the courts have determined that , ” Dicterow said in reaction to the protest .
“ He created a path for us to go forward .
He said to submit a plan , so we submitted a plan , and we ’ re waiting to see how the governor will react .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ our plan will meet with his approval , and we ’ ll be able to open the beaches.
” Huntington Beach police began closing the city ’ s beaches in the morning , said spokeswoman Angela Bennett .
A motorcycle officer was seen redirecting cyclists off the beach path toward the sidewalk .
The beaches and water were eventually cleared in their entirety .
“ We worked in conjunction with marine safety , who were the lifeguards out in the water who were working to get people in from the water , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ completely clear.
” Bennett noted that gathering protesters had been compliant , adding that no citations had been handed out .
“ We want to make sure that people are considering public health in following the orders that have been in place since March , but we also want to ensure that people have the right to express themselves , as well , from the Constitution , ” Bennett said .
“ We are not having any issues with people , or if we do have issues , we educate them , we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they have done that.
” Dozens of people demonstrated in front of the pier late Saturday morning .
Protesters held up signs that included , “ Expose the Deep State , ” “ Take off your mask , ” and a surfboard that had the words “ Gavin Don ’ t Surf ” written on it .
Steve Hubbell , 58 , of Huntington Beach brought the message-bearing surfboard .
He said he felt no animosity toward law enforcement officers who acted to close the beach , saying they were just doing their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ targeted , however , by Newsom ’ s directive to close Orange County ’ s beaches , and he suggested that bias factored into the governor ’ s decision-making .
“ The rest of the beaches are closed from the other municipalities … but this municipality chose not to close their beaches , so I think he is targeting us a little bit , ” Hubbell said .

Surfers hopped fences. Walkers strolled with their dogs. Parking lots became a venue for policy debate. That was the scene Saturday along the Orange County coast amid growing debate about beach closures intended to reduce the threat of the coronavirus.
The actions are in defiance of orders issued Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom calling for a “hard close” of all state and local beaches, a mandate that singled out the sandy stretches of Orange County over the previous weekend’s crowds, which flooded the coastline seeking relief from a spring heat wave.
At the north side of the Newport Beach pier, a group of about 70 was in the parking lot, wanting to get out on the sand. American flags were seen alongside red MAGA hats.
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At noon, they started walking across the beach to the ocean. Newport Beach police officers advised them to turn back, and a helicopter from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department flew over, announcing the closure over a loudspeaker.
As a few people went into the water, lifeguards in a boat just beyond the surf line informed them that the beach was closed.
Eventually, the crowd dispersed, but half a dozen stood their ground and debated their case with police officers not far from the water. Bill Beukers was among them. He and his wife had driven down from Lancaster, and uncertain how the conversation would go, she filmed the exchange while the couple’s children bodysurfed.
Beukers, 48, said afterward that he was willing to get arrested and that the discussion had less to do with the beach than the constitutionality of the closure.
“Where do we go from here?” he recalled asking the officers. “What side of history do you want to be on? Someone has to stand their ground. We’re on a slippery slope, and we might end up where we might not want to be.”
He cited the 2nd Amendment and Rosa Parks, and in the end, the parties shook hands and the police departed.
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A day after demonstrators congregated at the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach to rally against stay-at-home orders, another organized protest took place Saturday in Laguna Beach.
At the start of the day, an orange netted barrier was put up around the town’s beach access points.
Those barriers did not hold, as protesters made their way onto the sand and continued the demonstration in the afternoon.
The Laguna Beach City Council recently voted to allow active use of its beaches from 6 to 10 a.m. on weekdays only. Laguna Beach Mayor Pro Tem Steve Dicterow said there had been overwhelming support for the phased opening plan, but he backed Newsom’s right to close the beach.
“I think it’s unfortunate because whether I agree or not with what the governor said, I think he has the legal right to do that, and I think the courts have determined that,” Dicterow said in reaction to the protest. “He created a path for us to go forward. He said to submit a plan, so we submitted a plan, and we’re waiting to see how the governor will react. I’m hopeful and optimistic that our plan will meet with his approval, and we’ll be able to open the beaches.”
Huntington Beach police began closing the city’s beaches in the morning, said spokeswoman Angela Bennett.
A motorcycle officer was seen redirecting cyclists off the beach path toward the sidewalk. The beaches and water were eventually cleared in their entirety.
“We worked in conjunction with marine safety, who were the lifeguards out in the water who were working to get people in from the water,” Bennett said. “It’s completely clear.”
Bennett noted that gathering protesters had been compliant, adding that no citations had been handed out.
“We want to make sure that people are considering public health in following the orders that have been in place since March, but we also want to ensure that people have the right to express themselves, as well, from the Constitution,” Bennett said. “We are not having any issues with people, or if we do have issues, we educate them, we ask them to voluntarily comply, and they have done that.”
Dozens of people demonstrated in front of the pier late Saturday morning. Protesters held up signs that included, “Expose the Deep State,” “Take off your mask,” and a surfboard that had the words “Gavin Don’t Surf” written on it.
Steve Hubbell, 58, of Huntington Beach brought the message-bearing surfboard. He said he felt no animosity toward law enforcement officers who acted to close the beach, saying they were just doing their jobs.
The lifelong surfer did feel targeted, however, by Newsom’s directive to close Orange County’s beaches, and he suggested that bias factored into the governor’s decision-making.
“The rest of the beaches are closed from the other municipalities … but this municipality chose not to close their beaches, so I think he is targeting us a little bit,” Hubbell said.


latimes--2020-05-03--Earthquake: 3.4 quake near Fortuna in Northern California

A magnitude-3.4 earthquake was reported at 6:12 a.m. Sunday 23 miles from Fortuna , Calif. , according to the U.S. Geological Survey .
The earthquake occurred 32 miles from Eureka , Calif. , 39 miles from Arcata , Calif. , and 45 miles from McKinleyville , Calif .
In the last 10 days , there has been one earthquake of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby .
An average of 234 earthquakes with magnitudes of 3.0 to 4.0 occur each year in California and Nevada , according to a recent three-year data sample .
The earthquake occurred at a depth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this earthquake ?
Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS .
Even if you didn ’ t feel this small earthquake , 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked questions .

A magnitude 3.4 jolt was reported at 6:12 a.m. Sunday near Fortuna, Calif.
A magnitude-3.4 earthquake was reported at 6:12 a.m. Sunday 23 miles from Fortuna, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The earthquake occurred 32 miles from Eureka, Calif., 39 miles from Arcata, Calif., and 45 miles from McKinleyville, Calif.
In the last 10 days, there has been one earthquake of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.
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An average of 234 earthquakes with magnitudes of 3.0 to 4.0 occur each year in California and Nevada, according to a recent three-year data sample.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 6.2 miles. Did you feel this earthquake? Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS.
Even if you didn’t feel this small earthquake, 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--2020-05-03--How a reclusive 'town of aging hippies' worked to screen itself from coronavirus

When the coronavirus outbreak appeared likely to rage through the Bay Area weeks ago , residents of this hermit-like beach community tried to protect themselves by doing what they do best — keeping out strangers .
Despite a regional stay-home order , outsiders were inundating Bolinas , which sits just south of Point Reyes National Seashore in west Marin County .
Yelling matches ensued .
Residents posted themselves at the entrance to town and shouted at drivers , “ Go home !
” Under a homemade “ Bernie 2020 '' sign painted in red , residents hung two others : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of pandemic .
Residents , deliveries only.
” Jyri Engestrom , 42 , a venture capitalist who owns a home here , worried that the pandemic would rage through town , which has about 1,600 residents , many of them seniors .
Some residents had symptoms but could not get tested .
“ I was getting scared because frankly this is a town of aging hippies whose idea of social distancing is not to hug each other as much , ” he said .
Working with volunteer and nonprofit groups , Engestrom organized @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Bolinas employees and front-line workers .
On Friday , UC San Francisco , which processed the samples , announced the results of 1,845 nasal and oral swab tests .
No one was infected .
Surrounded by the sea on three sides and reachable from San Francisco by a long , windy , cliff-edged , two-lane road , this hamlet is best known for its disdain of development and outsiders .
Bolinas leaders limited water hookups decades ago to keep the community small and tore down traffic signs that pointed the way to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to purchase homes , and property values and rents skyrocketed .
The entrepreneurs ingratiated themselves , donating money for local causes , including a park .
Residents said they have also helped pay for free meals and masks during the pandemic .
The town has come to appreciate the beneficence .
“ They don ’ t understand the town , ” said Bolinas resident Rudy , 69 , chatting with another man on a street overlooking a lagoon .
“ But they are exceedingly generous.
” Rudy declined to give his last name @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , you know , ” he said .
A city sign in front of a trail leading to the water reads : “ All non-residents may be subject to fines .
Shelter at home.
” Engestrom said the mass testing a week ago proved surprisingly easy .
Even though hospitals were short of the components needed for tests , the organizers improvised and used what was plentiful .
They are planning to publish a blueprint for other communities that want to follow their example .
He and Cyrus Harmon , 49 , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bolinas 10 years ago , got the idea for community-wide testing after reading about the northern Italian town of Vo .
It tested nearly all its 3,000 residents at the height of the coronavirus outbreak .
The two men said they wanted to give something back to the town .
Mark Pincus , who founded online game maker Zynga and also owns a home in Bolinas , donated the first $ 100,000 .
Volunteers flocked to help .
“ It is not about tech executives doing this , ” Harmon said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and doing it.
” Engestrom knows the optics of rich people being tested while poor people go without are disturbing , but he said most residents in Bolinas live modestly .
The median household income is about $ 58,000 and the median age is 62.5 .
More than 16 % of the residents , mostly 65 and older , live below the poverty line , according to census data .
“ I am definitely an outsider because I am part of the problem , ” said Engestrom , who bought a home here @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up the housing prices by coming here from San Francisco .
I feel that.
” He and other organizers of the testing project , working with infectious disease experts at UC San Francisco , had to scavenge for supplies .
The long swabs typically used for testing were unavailable , but shorter swabs that experts said would suffice were plentiful .
For protective gear for testers , the organizers scoured hardware stores for painter suits , also approved by scientists .
A call on social media for the face shields produced so many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he can ’ t give away .
Volunteers went online to hire phlebotomists — certified testers — to take the samples , obtained gloves from restaurant suppliers and masks from friends who bought them from China .
A volunteer team of Airbnb engineers built the platform residents used to schedule appointments for the tests , and a GoFundMe page brought in donations , most under $ 1,000 .
Eventually , about $ 360,000 was raised .
The biggest payment went to UCSF , which subsidized the project .
In addition to sampling residents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tested them for antibodies .
UCSF has started a companion study to test residents of San Francisco ’ s highly dense Mission District , where infections have spread .
The Bolinas organizers purchased wedding tents for the testing and set them up in the parking lot of a town park .
Tests were done over four days .
Among the few who declined was Bruce Dark , 67 .
He has lived in Bolinas for 32 years .
“ It is mass hysteria , ” he said .
“ I have talked to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anyone who has died.
” Dark was huddled with two other men in the city ’ s tiny downtown , which includes gas pumps where regular grade last week was selling for $ 5.99 a gallon , a bar , a grocery store , a surf shop , a cafe and a hardware store .
The main street dead ends at the beach .
One of Dark ’ s friends declined to be interviewed .
“ Go back to Los Angeles , ” he shouted .
Dark , though , was congenial .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a print cloth mask , which he regularly lowered and raised .
As he inched closer to a masked reporter to better hear , he said , “ Don ’ t worry .
You won ’ t get sick.
” During the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic , some communities walled themselves off from others and managed to escape the disease , said Dr. Robert Benjamin , a longtime Bay Area public health officer .
He questioned whether that was possible today .
The value of the Bolinas testing was “ purely surveillance information @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be used to determine when places should reopen .
“ It is a snapshot , ” he said .
“ It says nothing about tomorrow.
” As long as the town didn ’ t use testing supplies that were more urgently needed by others , he saw no problem with it .
Engestrom said he knows the town “ dodged a bullet this time.
” The mood now is one of relief .
Engestrom , a native of Finland , said he fell in love with Bolinas years ago .
He said it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Spanish town where elders take the time to meet and chat on the streets .
The residents ’ animosity toward outsiders might seem “ obnoxious , ” he said , but the old timers “ are defending their right to exist without having the means to do so anymore.
” “ I feel like they are fighting a losing battle , ” he said .
“ The power of capital is just so overwhelming .
”

When the coronavirus outbreak appeared likely to rage through the Bay Area weeks ago, residents of this hermit-like beach community tried to protect themselves by doing what they do best — keeping out strangers.
Despite a regional stay-home order, outsiders were inundating Bolinas, which sits just south of Point Reyes National Seashore in west Marin County. Yelling matches ensued. Residents posted themselves at the entrance to town and shouted at drivers, “Go home!”
Under a homemade “Bernie 2020” sign painted in red, residents hung two others: “Bolinas closed to visitors for duration of pandemic. Residents, deliveries only.”
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Jyri Engestrom, 42, a venture capitalist who owns a home here, worried that the pandemic would rage through town, which has about 1,600 residents, many of them seniors. Some residents had symptoms but could not get tested.
“I was getting scared because frankly this is a town of aging hippies whose idea of social distancing is not to hug each other as much,” he said.
Working with volunteer and nonprofit groups, Engestrom organized a testing project for all willing residents, Bolinas employees and front-line workers. On Friday, UC San Francisco, which processed the samples, announced the results of 1,845 nasal and oral swab tests. No one was infected.
A lone beachgoer walks near the waves in Bolinas, Calif. (Maura Dolan / Los Angeles Times)
Surrounded by the sea on three sides and reachable from San Francisco by a long, windy, cliff-edged, two-lane road, this hamlet is best known for its disdain of development and outsiders. Bolinas leaders limited water hookups decades ago to keep the community small and tore down traffic signs that pointed the way to town.
Still, high-tech entrepreneurs managed to purchase homes, and property values and rents skyrocketed. The entrepreneurs ingratiated themselves, donating money for local causes, including a park. Residents said they have also helped pay for free meals and masks during the pandemic. The town has come to appreciate the beneficence.
“They don’t understand the town,” said Bolinas resident Rudy, 69, chatting with another man on a street overlooking a lagoon. “But they are exceedingly generous.”
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Rudy declined to give his last name. “Bolinas is a secretive place, you know,” he said.
A city sign in front of a trail leading to the water reads: “All non-residents may be subject to fines. Shelter at home.”
A sign warns outsiders to stay away in Bolinas, Calif. (Maura Dolan / Los Angeles Times)
Engestrom said the mass testing a week ago proved surprisingly easy. Even though hospitals were short of the components needed for tests, the organizers improvised and used what was plentiful. They are planning to publish a blueprint for other communities that want to follow their example.
He and Cyrus Harmon, 49, who founded a pharmaceutical startup and moved to Bolinas 10 years ago, got the idea for community-wide testing after reading about the northern Italian town of Vo. It tested nearly all its 3,000 residents at the height of the coronavirus outbreak. The two men said they wanted to give something back to the town.
Mark Pincus, who founded online game maker Zynga and also owns a home in Bolinas, donated the first $100,000.
Volunteers flocked to help. “It is not about tech executives doing this,” Harmon said. “It is about the community coming together and doing it.”
Engestrom knows the optics of rich people being tested while poor people go without are disturbing, but he said most residents in Bolinas live modestly.
The median household income is about $58,000 and the median age is 62.5. More than 16% of the residents, mostly 65 and older, live below the poverty line, according to census data.
“I am definitely an outsider because I am part of the problem,” said Engestrom, who bought a home here in 2014 . “We are jacking up the housing prices by coming here from San Francisco. I feel that.”
He and other organizers of the testing project, working with infectious disease experts at UC San Francisco, had to scavenge for supplies. The long swabs typically used for testing were unavailable, but shorter swabs that experts said would suffice were plentiful.
For protective gear for testers, the organizers scoured hardware stores for painter suits, also approved by scientists. A call on social media for the face shields produced so many that Engestrom has a storage-room full that he can’t give away. Volunteers went online to hire phlebotomists — certified testers — to take the samples, obtained gloves from restaurant suppliers and masks from friends who bought them from China.
A volunteer team of Airbnb engineers built the platform residents used to schedule appointments for the tests, and a GoFundMe page brought in donations, most under $1,000. Eventually, about $360,000 was raised. The biggest payment went to UCSF, which subsidized the project.
In addition to sampling residents for the virus, the town also tested them for antibodies. UCSF has started a companion study to test residents of San Francisco’s highly dense Mission District, where infections have spread.
The Bolinas organizers purchased wedding tents for the testing and set them up in the parking lot of a town park. Tests were done over four days.
Among the few who declined was Bruce Dark, 67. He has lived in Bolinas for 32 years.
Bruce Dark, a Bolinas resident, calls the pandemic “mass hysteria” but still wears a mask. (Maura Dolan / Los Angeles Times)
“It is mass hysteria,” he said. “I have talked to 15 people, and no one knows anyone who has died.”
Dark was huddled with two other men in the city’s tiny downtown, which includes gas pumps where regular grade last week was selling for $5.99 a gallon, a bar, a grocery store, a surf shop, a cafe and a hardware store. The main street dead ends at the beach.
One of Dark’s friends declined to be interviewed. “Go back to Los Angeles,” he shouted.
Dark, though, was congenial. He wore a blue head covering and a print cloth mask, which he regularly lowered and raised. As he inched closer to a masked reporter to better hear, he said, “Don’t worry. You won’t get sick.”
During the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, some communities walled themselves off from others and managed to escape the disease, said Dr. Robert Benjamin, a longtime Bay Area public health officer. He questioned whether that was possible today.
The value of the Bolinas testing was “purely surveillance information,” he said, and could be used to determine when places should reopen.
Tracking the coronavirus in California The latest maps and charts on the spread of COVID-19 in California.
“It is a snapshot,” he said. “It says nothing about tomorrow.” As long as the town didn’t use testing supplies that were more urgently needed by others, he saw no problem with it.
Engestrom said he knows the town “dodged a bullet this time.” The mood now is one of relief.
Engestrom, a native of Finland, said he fell in love with Bolinas years ago. He said it reminds him of a small Italian or Spanish town where elders take the time to meet and chat on the streets.
The residents’ animosity toward outsiders might seem “obnoxious,” he said, but the old timers “are defending their right to exist without having the means to do so anymore.”
“I feel like they are fighting a losing battle,” he said. “The power of capital is just so overwhelming.”


latimes--2020-05-03--COVID-19 finally came. Armed with a plan, Mariposa County was waiting to fight back

Dr. Eric Sergienko was already in his office early last Tuesday when his cellphone pinged with the message he had been both expecting and dreading .
A 23-year-old woman in Mariposa County — the scenic , lightly populated mountain community Sergienko serves as health officer — had tested positive for COVID-19 .
It was 7:13 a.m. , a time that has become seared in Sergienko ’ s memory the way others mark the birth of a child or the initial tremors of an earthquake .
More than 53,000 Californians have tested positive for the novel coronavirus , but in Mariposa @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first .
Though the case marked the arrival of a potentially deadly pathogen , it also allowed Sergienko to launch a contact-tracing system he had been working on for weeks , one of the final planks of a well-constructed response platform the county has been building for months .
“ I like the idea of zero , ” Sergienko said hours after the county had lost its perfect record , its initial COVID-19 patient in isolation at home .
“ But I also like the idea of one because I really do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you were planning for actually worked.
” If the pandemic ’ s rapid and deadly spread across the U.S. has exposed government incompetence and lack of preparation in other communities , in Mariposa County the tiny Health and Human Services Agency has offered a textbook example of how to handle a crisis .
The county ’ s first confirmed infection comes at a time of growing protests over stay-at-home orders and demands by other rural California counties that Gov .
Gavin Newsom reopen the state .
Mariposa County ’ s health agency began @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many in the country even knew it existed .
By mid-January , nearly a week before the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the U.S , a countywide response plan was in place .
And when Gov .
Gavin Newsom announced in mid-March that all Californians were being required to stay at home as much as possible , the Mariposa County Sheriff ’ s Office , utilizing lessons it had learned during the Detwiler fire that swept through the area nearly three years earlier , immediately alerted the county ’ s 18,000 residents , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to heed the order .
“ Within two hours , ” said Joy Shultz , a shopkeeper in Mariposa ’ s historic city center , “ there was no one in town.
” Much of the credit for that goes to Sergienko , a tireless 56-year-old former Navy captain who regularly commuted to his former job in epidemiology at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta by running the seven miles from home to work .
Like Mariposa County ’ s own version of leading infectious-disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci @ @ @ @ @ @ @ local fight against the coronavirus ’ spread .
“ We were ready for this , ” said Chevon Kothari , director of the county ’ s Health and Human Services Agency .
“ We worked together as a team during previous disasters , so we already had some of this planning process in place .
But in addition , we ’ ve had the luxury of time to not have cases early on .
So we had the ability to plan.
” Sergienko said he first read of COVID-19 on New Year ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that monitors infectious diseases sent an email alert about a strange virus that had emerged in Wuhan , China .
While others ignored the warning , Sergienko alerted Kothari , and two weeks later they informed county supervisors of what could be a danger for a community that sees 4.5 million visitors pass through each year , most on their way to Yosemite National Park , 31 miles to the east .
“ The important thing was early recognition .
We were already leaning forward and saying , ‘ OK , what do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prepared ?
’ ” Sergienko said .
“ I threw out a bunch of ideas , and people said , ‘ Let ’ s run with this.
’ ” Mariposa is among California ’ s smallest counties , and it ’ s also one of the oldest , dating to 1847 when an agent for John C. Fremont , who would go on to become one of California ’ s first two senators , mistakenly purchased the desolate Rancho Las Mariposas , then part of Mexico .
A year later , when gold @ @ @ @ @ @ @ became the southern end of the mother lode and blossomed .
The town has kept that pioneer feel , with the stretch of Highway 140 that splits the center of town resembling a western movie set more than a central business district .
Some of the local politicians still wear cowboy hats and bolo ties , but tourism , not gold , drives the economy now .
And that was shut down when Yosemite was closed because of the pandemic in mid-March .
“ It ’ s a ghost town , ” said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sierra Mercantile , where protective masks are now for sale alongside Yosemite hoodies and tiny carved black bears .
“ The park closed , the stores closed .
Everything .
It ’ s just something we felt we had to do.
” Credit Sergienko for that too .
Social distancing wasn ’ t a difficult sell in a county where the minimum parcel size in rural areas is 5 acres , but he also won people over on the need to wear face coverings and repeatedly wash their hands .
So when the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ schools , most people were already on board .
“ They are pretty lockstep in [ that ] they don ’ t want to open up too soon , ” Travis Medlock , who operates a ramen restaurant out of a closed 1950s-style diner , said of the business community .
“ While the businesses don ’ t like it , they completely understand .
“ They are very concerned of opening the park back up .
That is just going to bring the Bay Area , the valley , L.A. up here @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pretty secure [ but ] as soon as they open the floodgates there , we ’ re concerned it ’ s going to open the floodgates here.
” Medlock said the county has had his back in other ways too , sending office staffers for takeout meals to help his fledgling restaurant stay afloat .
Sergienko , whose quirky , slightly nerdy personality is as infectious as the coronavirus he ’ s battling , likes to refer to protective bubbles .
A bubble can cover a single person or an entire community , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it breaks and leaves everyone inside exposed .
That Mariposa ’ s bubble was strong was evidenced by the fact it is surrounded on all sides by counties with more than 200 cases and half a dozen deaths combined .
Minutes after that bubble finally burst Tuesday morning , Sergienko moved to patch the hole , dispatching a contact-tracing team including two health professionals and a sheriff ’ s detective as well as a probation officer and an investigator with the district attorney ’ s office .
They began searching for anyone who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mariposa resident who tested positive in a hospital in neighboring Madera County after traveling internationally .
“ We really recognized early on we needed to build up a team that was beyond what we had in public health capacity to do , ” Kothari said of contact tracing , a key tool in halting the spread of infectious disease .
“ Who better than people who are used to investigating ?
So probation officers , D.A .
investigators all got trained in contact tracing pretty early .
“ Now a lot of counties @ @ @ @ @ @ @ counties are pulling in their law enforcement partners to help with that .
They ’ re really good at contact tracing.
” Within hours , 25 people had been identified .
When half of those tested positive over the next three days , Sergienko ’ s team already had them in quarantine , protecting the rest of the community and validating his plan .
“ We know where everyone is .
So we ’ ve nipped off that bud of transmission , ” said Sergienko , whose county now has 13 confirmed cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it .
The team stepped up and did what they needed to do.
” With COVID-19 now present in the community , Mariposa County is shoring up other defensive measures .
Thursday it opened a testing center in a middle school gym with a goal of administering 132 free tests a day , about five times the recommended number for a population of 18,000 .
Another protective measure requires county employees to enter vital information such as body temperature and other symptoms into a phone app each morning , giving the health department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hopes to have all county businesses using the app when the stay-at-home order is lifted .
When that happens , and Mariposa ’ s main roads again become clogged with summer vacationers headed for Yosemite or weekend visitors taking in the scenery , that will be the next test for the protective bubble Kothari and Sergienko have designed .
Their team is working on a plan for that too .

Dr. Eric Sergienko was already in his office early last Tuesday when his cellphone pinged with the message he had been both expecting and dreading.
A 23-year-old woman in Mariposa County — the scenic, lightly populated mountain community Sergienko serves as health officer — had tested positive for COVID-19. It was 7:13 a.m., a time that has become seared in Sergienko’s memory the way others mark the birth of a child or the initial tremors of an earthquake.
More than 53,000 Californians have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, but in Mariposa County, Tuesday’s result was the first.
Though the case marked the arrival of a potentially deadly pathogen, it also allowed Sergienko to launch a contact-tracing system he had been working on for weeks, one of the final planks of a well-constructed response platform the county has been building for months.
“I like the idea of zero,” Sergienko said hours after the county had lost its perfect record, its initial COVID-19 patient in isolation at home. “But I also like the idea of one because I really do think it’s validation that what you were planning for actually worked.”
Hailey Boland, 20, a certified nursing assistant at John C. Fremont hospital, is swabbed for a COVID-19 test at a Mariposa school gym. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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If the pandemic’s rapid and deadly spread across the U.S. has exposed government incompetence and lack of preparation in other communities, in Mariposa County the tiny Health and Human Services Agency has offered a textbook example of how to handle a crisis. The county’s first confirmed infection comes at a time of growing protests over stay-at-home orders and demands by other rural California counties that Gov. Gavin Newsom reopen the state.
Mariposa County’s health agency began tracking the virus in December, before many in the country even knew it existed. By mid-January, nearly a week before the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the U.S, a countywide response plan was in place.
And when Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in mid-March that all Californians were being required to stay at home as much as possible, the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office, utilizing lessons it had learned during the Detwiler fire that swept through the area nearly three years earlier, immediately alerted the county’s 18,000 residents, spread over more than 1,400 square miles, to heed the order.
Joy Shultz, a shopkeeper at the Sierra Mercantile in Mariposa, said she has tried to remain optimistic amid the state’s coronavirus shutdown. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
“Within two hours,” said Joy Shultz, a shopkeeper in Mariposa’s historic city center, “there was no one in town.”
Much of the credit for that goes to Sergienko, a tireless 56-year-old former Navy captain who regularly commuted to his former job in epidemiology at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta by running the seven miles from home to work. Like Mariposa County’s own version of leading infectious-disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, he has loomed large over the local fight against the coronavirus’ spread.
“We were ready for this,” said Chevon Kothari, director of the county’s Health and Human Services Agency. “We worked together as a team during previous disasters, so we already had some of this planning process in place. But in addition, we’ve had the luxury of time to not have cases early on. So we had the ability to plan.”
Sergienko said he first read of COVID-19 on New Year’s Eve, when an international organization that monitors infectious diseases sent an email alert about a strange virus that had emerged in Wuhan, China.
While others ignored the warning, Sergienko alerted Kothari, and two weeks later they informed county supervisors of what could be a danger for a community that sees 4.5 million visitors pass through each year, most on their way to Yosemite National Park, 31 miles to the east.
A lone figure makes his way past closed shops along Highway 140 in the heart of Mariposa. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Most storefronts in Mariposa have been closed since the state stay-at-home order went into effect. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
“The important thing was early recognition. We were already leaning forward and saying, ‘OK, what do we need as a county to be prepared?’” Sergienko said.
“I threw out a bunch of ideas, and people said, ‘Let’s run with this.’”
Mariposa is among California’s smallest counties, and it’s also one of the oldest, dating to 1847 when an agent for John C. Fremont, who would go on to become one of California’s first two senators, mistakenly purchased the desolate Rancho Las Mariposas, then part of Mexico.
A year later, when gold was discovered in Northern California, Mariposa became the southern end of the mother lode and blossomed.
The town has kept that pioneer feel, with the stretch of Highway 140 that splits the center of town resembling a western movie set more than a central business district. Some of the local politicians still wear cowboy hats and bolo ties, but tourism, not gold, drives the economy now.
And that was shut down when Yosemite was closed because of the pandemic in mid-March.
“I like the idea of zero. But I also like the idea of one because I really do think it’s validation that what you were planning for actually worked.” — Dr. Eric Sergienko, Mariposa County health officer
Mariposa County Health Officer Eric Sergienko, left, and health services director Chevon Kothari stand in front of a whiteboard listing COVID-19 stats — with just one case in Mariposa at the time. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
“It’s a ghost town,” said Joan Gamble from behind the counter at Sierra Mercantile, where protective masks are now for sale alongside Yosemite hoodies and tiny carved black bears. “The park closed, the stores closed. Everything. It’s just something we felt we had to do.”
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Credit Sergienko for that too. Social distancing wasn’t a difficult sell in a county where the minimum parcel size in rural areas is 5 acres, but he also won people over on the need to wear face coverings and repeatedly wash their hands.
So when the order came to close down business and schools, most people were already on board.
“They are pretty lockstep in [that] they don’t want to open up too soon,” Travis Medlock, who operates a ramen restaurant out of a closed 1950s-style diner, said of the business community. “While the businesses don’t like it, they completely understand.
“They are very concerned of opening the park back up. That is just going to bring the Bay Area, the valley, L.A. up here. We’ve been locked down pretty secure [but] as soon as they open the floodgates there, we’re concerned it’s going to open the floodgates here.”
Travis Medlock, owner of Little Shop of Ramen, looks over a row of empty stools inside his restaurant along Highway 140 in Mariposa. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Medlock said the county has had his back in other ways too, sending office staffers for takeout meals to help his fledgling restaurant stay afloat.
Sergienko, whose quirky, slightly nerdy personality is as infectious as the coronavirus he’s battling, likes to refer to protective bubbles. A bubble can cover a single person or an entire community, but if anything pierces that bubble, it breaks and leaves everyone inside exposed.
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That Mariposa’s bubble was strong was evidenced by the fact it is surrounded on all sides by counties with more than 200 cases and half a dozen deaths combined.
Minutes after that bubble finally burst Tuesday morning, Sergienko moved to patch the hole, dispatching a contact-tracing team including two health professionals and a sheriff’s detective as well as a probation officer and an investigator with the district attorney’s office.
Bill Evans, a 72-year-old retired computer programmer who has been living in Mariposa since 2004, walks home along Highway 140. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Calvin Kimbro and his nephew Kaden go to pick up a pizza at one of the few restaurants offering takeout along Highway 140 in Mariposa. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
They began searching for anyone who may have come in contact with a Mariposa resident who tested positive in a hospital in neighboring Madera County after traveling internationally.
“We really recognized early on we needed to build up a team that was beyond what we had in public health capacity to do,” Kothari said of contact tracing, a key tool in halting the spread of infectious disease. “Who better than people who are used to investigating? So probation officers, D.A. investigators all got trained in contact tracing pretty early.
“Now a lot of counties are emulating that, a lot of counties are pulling in their law enforcement partners to help with that. They’re really good at contact tracing.”
Within hours, 25 people had been identified. When half of those tested positive over the next three days, Sergienko’s team already had them in quarantine, protecting the rest of the community and validating his plan.
“We know where everyone is. So we’ve nipped off that bud of transmission,” said Sergienko, whose county now has 13 confirmed cases. “The team was ready for it. The team stepped up and did what they needed to do.”
With COVID-19 now present in the community, Mariposa County is shoring up other defensive measures. Thursday it opened a testing center in a middle school gym with a goal of administering 132 free tests a day, about five times the recommended number for a population of 18,000.
A woman peers out from the second story of the Mariposa Hotel Inn along Highway 140. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Another protective measure requires county employees to enter vital information such as body temperature and other symptoms into a phone app each morning, giving the health department more data points to track. Kothari hopes to have all county businesses using the app when the stay-at-home order is lifted.
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When that happens, and Mariposa’s main roads again become clogged with summer vacationers headed for Yosemite or weekend visitors taking in the scenery, that will be the next test for the protective bubble Kothari and Sergienko have designed.
Their team is working on a plan for that too.


latimes--2020-05-03--Cities are opening streets to pedestrians during the pandemic. L.A. officials say it's risky

Last week , the Del Rey Neighborhood Council shared some big news : Starting the next day , traffic would be restricted on about a dozen residential streets in the Westside area to give residents more space to exercise .
Hours later , Los Angeles city officials told the group that the project was on hold .
Neighborhood council President Matt Wersinger spent the evening sending glum responses on Twitter to those who ’ d celebrated the planned street closures .
When one person responded , “ April Fool ’ s came late this year , ” Wersinger responded : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a blow to Los Angeles residents who have been pushing officials to follow the example of more than two dozen other U.S. cities — including New York , San Diego , San Francisco and Oakland — that have created space for people to walk , bike and jog at a safe distance during the coronavirus pandemic .
The delay was also a fresh disappointment for advocates who have said that Mayor Eric Garcetti and his administration have failed to change the city ’ s car culture .
Advocates had hoped that the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rey , home to about 33,000 people , could be the first step in a citywide effort to create more space for residents to exercise outside .
As access to parks , hiking trails and beaches has been restricted , and as traffic levels have dropped , cooped-up residents have used local streets to jog , dance , ride bikes , rollerblade and play catch .
Sidewalks have become so crowded in the evenings that Del Rey residents have been forced into the street to maintain social distancing guidelines , Wersinger said , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ important for people ’ s mental health that they get out safely.
” Asked about what other cities have done , Garcetti said Wednesday that he was “ very supportive ” of limiting traffic on some L.A. streets .
But , he said , it was important to listen to Los Angeles County health officials and not “ jump the gun.
” Garcetti said he had spoken with Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer and that she did not support open-streets projects “ at the neighborhood level at this point.
” “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one area — it could be something that spreads the disease , ” Garcetti said .
“ So we have to be extremely thoughtful , extremely careful about it.
” Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin , who represents Del Rey , voiced frustration Friday about the postponement of the neighborhood ’ s plan .
Bonin said he believes that health officials mistakenly thought that Del Rey was proposing a program similar to CicLAvia , an event that shuts down major boulevards and draws thousands of people .
The Del Rey proposal isn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” event , Bonin said .
“ People from Silver Lake or Encino weren ’ t going to come to Glencoe Avenue in Del Rey to take a walk.
” A health department spokesperson did not respond when asked about the Del Rey proposal .
Ferrer said last week that she knows neighborhoods want more open space and that any such street closures should be done on a coordinated , countywide basis .
“ We just want to do it in a thoughtful way , ” Ferrer said .
That caution is shared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ across the U.S. , including Washington , D.C. , Mayor Muriel Bowser .
On a radio program last month , Bowser said she didn ’ t “ want to send the message to people to go out and have a festival.
” Still , Bowser moved to temporarily extend sidewalks near grocery stores and other essential retailers to give people more room and allow them to comply with social distancing rules .
She also has announced the closure of roads in some parks so residents have more space to walk , run and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against crowding on a handful of streets is providing enough space to exercise near their homes , said Michael Schneider , founder of Streets For All , a nonprofit that advocates for bus lanes and bike lanes in Los Angeles “ It can ’ t be one or two spots , ” Schneider said .
“ It has to be done in many parts of the city.
” Schneider said his group wants to restrict traffic on up to 400 miles of streets across the city , about two to four miles per @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , officials planned to install signs at intersections to warn about the closures .
The dozen or so “ soft-closed ” streets would have remained open to residents with cars , as well as delivery trucks and emergency vehicles , Wersinger said .
Parking restrictions would remain the same , he said .
Oakland officials say they have closed 74 miles , or nearly 10 % , of the city ’ s streets to outside traffic .
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio ’ s office set a goal of 100 miles of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lanes , focusing on communities most affected by the pandemic .
Seattle ’ s program , which has opened nine miles of residential streets and plans to open 11 more , has been so successful that officials are considering making the changes permanent , said Department of Transportation Director Sam Zimbabwe .
City officials started opening streets April 17 to encourage people to walk , jog and exercise in their own communities , rather than get in the car and drive to a park .
Zimbabwe said the program adheres to health guidelines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not a block party.
” The outbreak has disproportionately hit low-income residents , with those living in such communities more likely to die of the disease than those in wealthier communities .
Locally , some of the areas with the highest death rates also lead the nation in levels of overcrowding , including Pico-Union and Westlake where more than a third of housing units are crowded — meaning there is more than one person per room , excluding bathrooms .
At Beethoven Street and Maxella Avenue in Del Rey , one street considered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ joggers could be seen last week weaving into the street to avoid one another .
Usually , the quiet area is teeming with cut-through traffic , residents said .
Mike Brady is staying with friends in Del Rey and walks six to seven miles a day .
The streets are fairly empty , he said , but he crosses into them to avoid walking by strangers on the sidewalk .
“ I don ’ t think it ’ ll make much difference , ” Brady said of the potential street closures .
Bonin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to county health officials to explain the Del Rey program .
“ Folks are really disappointed , particularly , because so many other cities are doing this , ” Bonin said .
“ People here are saying , ‘ Why can ’ t we do the same ?
’ ”

Bicyclists on Maxella Avenue in Del Rey on Saturday. The Del Rey Neighborhood Council wants to “soft close” several residential streets in the Westside neighborhood to create more space for residents to safely exercise outside.
Last week, the Del Rey Neighborhood Council shared some big news: Starting the next day, traffic would be restricted on about a dozen residential streets in the Westside area to give residents more space to exercise.
Hours later, Los Angeles city officials told the group that the project was on hold. Neighborhood council President Matt Wersinger spent the evening sending glum responses on Twitter to those who’d celebrated the planned street closures.
When one person responded, “April Fool’s came late this year,” Wersinger responded: “Seems so.”
The postponement was a blow to Los Angeles residents who have been pushing officials to follow the example of more than two dozen other U.S. cities — including New York, San Diego, San Francisco and Oakland — that have created space for people to walk, bike and jog at a safe distance during the coronavirus pandemic.
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The delay was also a fresh disappointment for advocates who have said that Mayor Eric Garcetti and his administration have failed to change the city’s car culture.
Advocates had hoped that the “soft closure” of streets in Del Rey, home to about 33,000 people, could be the first step in a citywide effort to create more space for residents to exercise outside.
As access to parks, hiking trails and beaches has been restricted, and as traffic levels have dropped, cooped-up residents have used local streets to jog, dance, ride bikes, rollerblade and play catch.
A jogger runs along Maxella Avenue in the Del Rey neighborhood on Saturday. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
Sidewalks have become so crowded in the evenings that Del Rey residents have been forced into the street to maintain social distancing guidelines, Wersinger said, adding: “It’s very important for people’s mental health that they get out safely.”
Asked about what other cities have done, Garcetti said Wednesday that he was “very supportive” of limiting traffic on some L.A. streets. But, he said, it was important to listen to Los Angeles County health officials and not “jump the gun.”
Garcetti said he had spoken with Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer and that she did not support open-streets projects “at the neighborhood level at this point.”
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“It could draw too many people to one area — it could be something that spreads the disease,” Garcetti said. “So we have to be extremely thoughtful, extremely careful about it.”
Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin, who represents Del Rey, voiced frustration Friday about the postponement of the neighborhood’s plan. Bonin said he believes that health officials mistakenly thought that Del Rey was proposing a program similar to CicLAvia, an event that shuts down major boulevards and draws thousands of people.
The Del Rey proposal isn’t a “massive, regional” event, Bonin said. “People from Silver Lake or Encino weren’t going to come to Glencoe Avenue in Del Rey to take a walk.”
A health department spokesperson did not respond when asked about the Del Rey proposal.
Ferrer said last week that she knows neighborhoods want more open space and that any such street closures should be done on a coordinated, countywide basis.
“We just want to do it in a thoughtful way,” Ferrer said.
That caution is shared by a handful of other local officials across the U.S., including Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser. On a radio program last month, Bowser said she didn’t “want to send the message to people to go out and have a festival.”
Still, Bowser moved to temporarily extend sidewalks near grocery stores and other essential retailers to give people more room and allow them to comply with social distancing rules. She also has announced the closure of roads in some parks so residents have more space to walk, run and bike.
The best way to guard against crowding on a handful of streets is providing enough space to exercise near their homes, said Michael Schneider, founder of Streets For All, a nonprofit that advocates for bus lanes and bike lanes in Los Angeles
“It can’t be one or two spots,” Schneider said. “It has to be done in many parts of the city.”
Schneider said his group wants to restrict traffic on up to 400 miles of streets across the city, about two to four miles per neighborhood council district.
In Del Rey, officials planned to install signs at intersections to warn about the closures. The dozen or so “soft-closed” streets would have remained open to residents with cars, as well as delivery trucks and emergency vehicles, Wersinger said. Parking restrictions would remain the same, he said.
Oakland officials say they have closed 74 miles, or nearly 10%, of the city’s streets to outside traffic. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office set a goal of 100 miles of closures, sidewalk widening and additional bike lanes, focusing on communities most affected by the pandemic.
Seattle’s program, which has opened nine miles of residential streets and plans to open 11 more, has been so successful that officials are considering making the changes permanent, said Department of Transportation Director Sam Zimbabwe.
City officials started opening streets April 17 to encourage people to walk, jog and exercise in their own communities, rather than get in the car and drive to a park. Zimbabwe said the program adheres to health guidelines, saying: “It’s not a block party.”
The outbreak has disproportionately hit low-income residents, with those living in such communities more likely to die of the disease than those in wealthier communities.
Locally, some of the areas with the highest death rates also lead the nation in levels of overcrowding, including Pico-Union and Westlake where more than a third of housing units are crowded — meaning there is more than one person per room, excluding bathrooms.
At Beethoven Street and Maxella Avenue in Del Rey, one street considered for a soft closure, pedestrians and joggers could be seen last week weaving into the street to avoid one another. Usually, the quiet area is teeming with cut-through traffic, residents said.
Mike Brady is staying with friends in Del Rey and walks six to seven miles a day. The streets are fairly empty, he said, but he crosses into them to avoid walking by strangers on the sidewalk.
“I don’t think it’ll make much difference,” Brady said of the potential street closures.
Bonin said he plans to write a letter to county health officials to explain the Del Rey program.
“Folks are really disappointed, particularly, because so many other cities are doing this,” Bonin said. “People here are saying, ‘Why can’t we do the same?’”


latimes--2020-05-03--'Tell the hotels they are commandeered.' Homeless activists are losing patience with L.A.

Not long after L.A. County reported more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases on Friday , Davon Brown decided he was done putting himself at risk .
So he put on a blazer and went to the Ritz-Carlton Los Angeles .
Joined by activists from Street Watch L.A. , he told hotel staff they were interested in renting several rooms but wanted a tour first .
The concierge happily obliged , he said , and took the group to room 2221 .
Then he revealed his plan : “ I ’ m homeless in Echo Park and I ’ m not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was later arrested and released , told The Times that he had planned to stay until government officials had commandeered enough hotel rooms to house every homeless person in Los Angeles .
“ If I stayed outside , ” he said , “ I could die.
” The protest — the latest of several increasingly defiant demonstrations over housing and rent during the pandemic — comes as homeless activists have stepped up their calls for Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Board of Supervisors to use their emergency powers to seize hotels and motels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fears over the novel coronavirus .
“ If you can tell the entire city of Los Angeles that we can shelter in place , then you can tell the hotels they are commandeered and they need to open their doors to the residents of skid row , ” said Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles attorney Shayla Myers , during a recent federal court hearing in a lawsuit on homelessness .
With about 60,000 homeless residents , Los Angeles County is falling behind on its previously stated goal of moving them into 15,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rooms leased as of late last week , it could take until October to secure that goal .
L.A. County , participating in an ambitious statewide effort known as Project Roomkey , got off to a quick start by leasing nearly 2,000 rooms in the first two weeks of April .
Progress has been slow since then , though .
Of the 700 rooms that had been leased in the past two weeks , 500 were removed from the program over issues with insurance and contract terms .
County officials said Friday they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and expected that to double through the weekend .
But even with 1,000 more rooms under lease , the county would still only be on pace to reach 15,000 rooms by the end of August , a Times analysis found .
Despite the discouraging numbers , county officials say they are conducting complicated negotiations at an accelerated pace , with staffers of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority filling rooms only a few days after they become available .
On Saturday , county officials reported that 1,550 of the 2,711 rooms under lease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ owners is still preferable to the more confrontational approach of seizing hotels that is favored by some activists , they added .
Such powers , while rarely used , can be wielded during wildfires , with government agencies taking private land to build a fire break , for example .
In the case of the coronavirus pandemic , lawyers from the county , city and state looked at whether commandeering hotels for a short time would be legal as well and determined that it would be .
“ Commandeering is very seldom used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , an assistant county executive officer who heads the negotiating team .
“ It ’ s only done in the event of disaster.
” Still , some legal experts say a move to seize hotels could actually add to the time it takes to secure rooms .
Forcing a hotel owner to lease rooms to a third party would trigger state and federal eminent domain laws , said attorney Christopher Sutton .
To comply with the law , a government agency would need to allow an unwilling hotel owner to make their case @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dispute over price would ultimately wind up in the courts , said Sutton , who has handled eminent domain cases in Los Angeles , Pasadena and elsewhere .
In the best-case scenario , it would take 60 to 90 days for a government agency to take control of a hotel .
However , a more typical timeline would be 150 days , he said .
“ The government can ’ t simply willy-nilly seize personal property without the consent of a judge with a value set by a jury , ” he said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it ’ s going to be easier to do a negotiated deal .
You ’ ll be able to claim success more quickly.
” County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said officials should instead focus on helping owners become comfortable with housing homeless people .
“ We need to be more aggressive , ” she said .
“ But we also need to recognize that we still live in a country where you ’ ve got the ability to say ‘ I refuse.
’ ” Despite the problems , officials are not backing off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a number that reflects the estimated number of homeless people in L.A. County who are 65 or older or who have health conditions that make them susceptible to dying of COVID-19 .
“ We know it ’ s what the need is , ” said Heidi Marston , interim executive director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority , which is responsible for operating the hotels once they ’ re leased .
“ And that need is not going to change and , in fact , it could potentially grow.
” But some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ missing a prime opportunity to quickly move thousands off the street and into safe spaces .
Councilman Mike Bonin said hotels are far superior to the recreation centers the city has converted into congregant shelters — both for those who move in and for those assigned to work there .
There have been a string of coronavirus cases in shelters on skid row , particularly Union Rescue Mission , and a few cases in the city ’ s recreation centers .
The fact that the city and county haven ’ t made more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Bonin said .
Bonin said he has received conflicting information about why so few hotels have opened their doors .
But the slow pace has resulted in a backlog of homeless people waiting to be placed in hotels .
Terrance Whitten , a 67-year-old homeless man with intestinal bleeding , received a text from his case worker on April 23 telling him he was on the queue for a hotel room .
In the nine days since , he said , it ’ s been “ profound silence.
” Each day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pan Pacific Park , then catches a bus to an undisclosed place where he sleeps in his unit .
Some blame government bureaucracy , while others have said L.A. hotel operators have expressed interest , only to have the idea vetoed by their corporate owners , shareholders or lawyers .
Barger has attributed it to political opposition from some suburban communities .
“ If hotels being unwilling [ to participate ] are the holdup , then yes , I think commandeering is something we need to do , ” Bonin said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ damn crisis is over .
But right now , I don ’ t know for sure that the hotels are the holdup.
” As California begins to ease stay-at-home orders and businesses resume operating , it may become more difficult for the county to persuade hotel operators to enter into 90-day leases .
Still , one official said some owners who were initially resistant to the program are now calculating that some revenue is better than none , given the economic uncertainty of the coming months .
Currently , the the vast majority @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Only 30 % of hotels in the Los Angeles and Long Beach market were occupied as of late April , according to STR Global , a company that tracks hotel data .
That ’ s a 64 % drop from the same week a year ago .
Hotel owners and their representatives who spoke with The Times have said that Project Roomkey has been a valuable financial lifeline .
And some have said the county has been slow to acknowledge their offers for leases .
After initially working with owners of small @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to land larger properties , including more downtown closer to skid row .
Locking down rooms in that part of the county has proved more difficult , but officials say they are close .
These additional rooms “ will completely change the shape of the curve , ” said Phil Ansell , director of the county ’ s Homeless Initiative .
Appearing in federal court last month , Myers said homeless people should be moved into downtown hotels , particularly those that have benefited from generous taxpayer subsidies .
According to a report @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Galperin , four hotel projects with a combined 2,633 rooms have opened with the city ’ s financial support over the past decade .
The 1,001-room L.A. Live complex , which houses a J.W .
Marriott and a Ritz-Carlton , received an agreement for up to $ 270 million in taxpayer aid over a 25-year period .
The 889-room InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown Hotel , located in the Wilshire Grand tower , is slated to receive $ 250 million in public assistance over 25 years , the report said .
Two smaller properties @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Freeway , and a Marriott complex on Olympic Boulevard — have deals to receive a combined $ 86 million in subsidies over the life of their agreements with the city , Galperin found .
Bonin wants the city ’ s policy analysts to determine whether any of those hotels are housing homeless residents — and if not , why not .
Representatives of the hotels at L.A. Live did not answer questions from The Times .
But a spokesperson for the Hotel Indigo said operators of that facility had “ fully evaluated every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the guests currently at the hotel are front line caregivers.
” Garcetti on Friday said that officials reached out to hundreds of hotels , including those that have received taxpayer support .
“ I hope that [ hotel owners ] will do it for their bottom line , and that they will also do it because it ’ s the right thing to do , ” he said .

Doug Smith, Benjamin Oreskes, David Zahniser

Terrance Whitten rests in the shade at Pan Pacific Park on Friday in Los Angeles. The 67-year-old has been waiting in the queue for nine days to get into a hotel room.
Not long after L.A. County reported more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases on Friday, Davon Brown decided he was done putting himself at risk. So he put on a blazer and went to the Ritz-Carlton Los Angeles.
Joined by activists from Street Watch L.A., he told hotel staff they were interested in renting several rooms but wanted a tour first. The concierge happily obliged, he said, and took the group to room 2221.
Then he revealed his plan: “I’m homeless in Echo Park and I’m not leaving this hotel.”
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Brown, who was later arrested and released, told The Times that he had planned to stay until government officials had commandeered enough hotel rooms to house every homeless person in Los Angeles.
“If I stayed outside,” he said, “I could die.”
The protest — the latest of several increasingly defiant demonstrations over housing and rent during the pandemic — comes as homeless activists have stepped up their calls for Mayor Eric Garcetti and the county Board of Supervisors to use their emergency powers to seize hotels and motels that are all but empty because of fears over the novel coronavirus.
“If you can tell the entire city of Los Angeles that we can shelter in place, then you can tell the hotels they are commandeered and they need to open their doors to the residents of skid row,” said Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles attorney Shayla Myers, during a recent federal court hearing in a lawsuit on homelessness.
With about 60,000 homeless residents, Los Angeles County is falling behind on its previously stated goal of moving a portion of them -- 15,000 -- into hotel rooms. It had only about 2,200 rooms leased as of late last week.
On Friday, county officials said they had signed leases for an additional 507 rooms, and on Monday, Garcetti announced that a downtown hotel with 460 rooms also had been leased. But even with nearly 1,000 additional rooms under lease, the county is still not on pace to reach 15,000 rooms until the end of August, a Times analysis found.
L.A. County, participating in an ambitious statewide effort known as Project Roomkey, got off to a quick start by leasing nearly 2,000 rooms in the first two weeks of April. Progress has been slow since then, though. Of the 700 rooms that had been leased through the end of last month, 500 were removed from the program over issues with insurance and contract terms.
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Despite the discouraging numbers, county officials say they are conducting complicated negotiations at an accelerated pace, with staffers of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority filling rooms only a few days after they become available. On Monday, county officials reported that about 1,500 of the rooms under lease were occupied.
But negotiating with hotel owners is still preferable to the more confrontational approach of seizing hotels that is favored by some activists, they added.
Omar Spry pushes a cart of bags into a West L.A. hotel that has been turned into housing for homeless people during the pandemic. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Such powers, while rarely used, can be wielded during wildfires, with government agencies taking private land to build a fire break, for example. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, lawyers from the county, city and state looked at whether commandeering hotels for a short time would be legal as well and determined that it would be.
“Commandeering is very seldom used by government,” said David Howard, an assistant county executive officer who heads the negotiating team. “It’s only done in the event of disaster.”
Still, some legal experts say a move to seize hotels could actually add to the time it takes to secure rooms. Forcing a hotel owner to lease rooms to a third party would trigger state and federal eminent domain laws, said attorney Christopher Sutton.
To comply with the law, a government agency would need to allow an unwilling hotel owner to make their case during a public hearing. Any unresolved dispute over price would ultimately wind up in the courts, said Sutton, who represents property owners and businesses in such cases.
In the best-case scenario, it would take 60 to 90 days for a government agency to take control of a hotel, Sutton said. However, a more typical timeline would be 150 days, he said.
“The government can’t simply willy-nilly seize personal property without the consent of a judge with a value set by a jury,” he said. “So as a practical matter, it’s going to be easier to do a negotiated deal. You’ll be able to claim success more quickly.”
County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said officials should instead focus on helping owners become comfortable with housing homeless people.
“We need to be more aggressive,” she said. “But we also need to recognize that we still live in a country where you’ve got the ability to say ‘I refuse.’”
Despite the problems, officials are not backing off the plan to fill 15,000 rooms — a number that reflects the estimated number of homeless people in L.A. County who are 65 or older or who have health conditions that make them susceptible to dying of COVID-19.
“We know it’s what the need is,” said Heidi Marston, interim executive director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which is responsible for operating the hotels once they’re leased. “And that need is not going to change and, in fact, it could potentially grow.”
But some politicians say the city and county are missing a prime opportunity to quickly move thousands off the street and into safe spaces.
Councilman Mike Bonin said hotels are far superior to the recreation centers the city has converted into congregant shelters — both for those who move in and for those assigned to work there. There have been a string of coronavirus cases in shelters on skid row, particularly Union Rescue Mission, and a few cases in the city’s recreation centers.
Terrance Whitten, 67, dries his face after washing in the public restroom at the Pan Pacific Park on Friday. (Kent Nishimura/Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
The fact that the city and county haven’t made more progress is “really frustrating and dispiriting,” Bonin said.
Bonin said he has received conflicting information about why so few hotels have opened their doors. But the slow pace has resulted in a backlog of homeless people waiting to be placed in hotels.
Terrance Whitten, a 67-year-old homeless man with intestinal bleeding, received a text from his case worker on April 23 telling him he was on the queue for a hotel room. In the more than a week of waiting, he said, it’s been “profound silence.” Each day, he waits under a tree in Pan Pacific Park, then catches a bus to an undisclosed place where he sleeps in his unit.
Some blame government bureaucracy, while others have said L.A. hotel operators have expressed interest, only to have the idea vetoed by their corporate owners, shareholders or lawyers. Barger has attributed it to political opposition from some suburban communities.
“If hotels being unwilling [to participate] are the holdup, then yes, I think commandeering is something we need to do,” Bonin said. “We need to be moving before the damn crisis is over. But right now, I don’t know for sure that the hotels are the holdup.”
As California begins to ease stay-at-home orders and businesses resume operating, it may become more difficult for the county to persuade hotel operators to enter into 90-day leases. Still, one official said some owners who were initially resistant to the program are now calculating that some revenue is better than none, given the economic uncertainty of the coming months.
Currently, the the vast majority of Los Angeles hotel stock is idle. Only 30% of hotels in the Los Angeles and Long Beach market were occupied as of late April, according to STR Global, a company that tracks hotel data. That’s a 64% drop from the same week a year ago.
Hotel owners and their representatives who spoke with The Times have said that Project Roomkey has been a valuable financial lifeline. And some have said the county has been slow to acknowledge their offers for leases.
After initially working with owners of small hotels, county officials are now trying to land larger properties, including more downtown closer to skid row, such as the one Garcetti announced on Monday. Locking down rooms in that part of the county had proved more difficult.
These additional rooms “will completely change the shape of the curve,” said Phil Ansell, director of the county’s Homeless Initiative.
Appearing in federal court last month, Myers said homeless people should be moved into downtown hotels, particularly those that have benefited from generous taxpayer subsidies.
According to a report prepared in 2018 by City Controller Ron Galperin, four hotel projects with a combined 2,633 rooms have opened with the city’s financial support over the past decade.
The 1,001-room L.A. Live complex, which houses a J.W. Marriott and a Ritz-Carlton, received an agreement for up to $270 million in taxpayer aid over a 25-year period. The 889-room InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown Hotel, located in the Wilshire Grand tower, is slated to receive $250 million in public assistance over 25 years, the report said.
Two smaller properties — Hotel Indigo next to the 110 Freeway, and a Marriott complex on Olympic Boulevard — have deals to receive a combined $86 million in subsidies over the life of their agreements with the city, Galperin found.
Bonin wants the city’s policy analysts to determine whether any of those hotels are housing homeless residents — and if not, why not.
Representatives of the hotels at L.A. Live did not answer questions from The Times. But a spokesperson for the Hotel Indigo said operators of that facility had “fully evaluated every request” and that “most of the guests currently at the hotel are front line caregivers.”
Garcetti on Friday said that officials reached out to hundreds of hotels, including those that have received taxpayer support.
“I hope that [hotel owners] will do it for their bottom line, and that they will also do it because it’s the right thing to do,” he said.