latimes--2020-12-12--L.A. County grapples with surging COVID-19 caseload as deaths continue to rise

Los Angeles County public health officials Saturday reported 70 new COVID-19 deaths and 11,476 new cases .
The numbers reflect a continuing surge in coronavirus infections in California ’ s most populous county .
The five-day average of cases is 10,034 , compared to 2,134 a month ago — a jump of 370 % , according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health .
A month ago , the five-day average of deaths was 12 .
As of Saturday , the average had climbed to 62 , a 416 % increase .
The number of COVID-19 patients in L.A. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time since the start of the pandemic .
“ Our daily case numbers are unlike any we have ever seen in our county and reflect extraordinarily high rates of community transmission , ” the department said .
“ Activities we were able to do just a few weeks back , now present far too much risk for virus transmission.
” The steadily rising caseload in Los Angeles County comes alongside the state marking more than 1.5 million cumulative cases Friday , with an average of 29,000 new cases tallied each day across California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the state .

Drivers line up to take coronavirus tests at dusk at Long Beach City College-Veterans Memorial Stadium on Wednesday.
Los Angeles County public health officials Saturday reported 70 new COVID-19 deaths and 11,476 new cases.
The numbers reflect a continuing surge in coronavirus infections in California’s most populous county.
The five-day average of cases is 10,034, compared to 2,134 a month ago — a jump of 370%, according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health.
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A month ago, the five-day average of deaths was 12. As of Saturday, the average had climbed to 62, a 416% increase.
The number of COVID-19 patients in L.A. County has topped 4,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
“Our daily case numbers are unlike any we have ever seen in our county and reflect extraordinarily high rates of community transmission,” the department said. “Activities we were able to do just a few weeks back, now present far too much risk for virus transmission.”
The steadily rising caseload in Los Angeles County comes alongside the state marking more than 1.5 million cumulative cases Friday, with an average of 29,000 new cases tallied each day across California. More than 20,900 people have died in the state.


latimes--2020-12-12--California vaccinations could start Monday, but it won't slow COVID-19 crisis imperiling hospitals

California will begin providing the COVID-19 vaccine as early as Monday , but officials warned the initial shipment of roughly 327,000 doses won ’ t alter the rapidly deteriorating conditions in state hospitals as the virus rages out of control .
Medical workers were expected to get the first doses of vaccine through a limited number of hospitals in California that include Cedars-Sinai Medical Center , UCLA Health and Rady Children ’ s Hospital in San Diego .
Officials expect to get more doses of the vaccine later this month and again in early January .
It ’ s a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is expected to be months before the vaccine hits the general population in significant numbers .
And that leaves health officials struggling with an unprecedented surge of COVID-19 that has swept through California .
On Saturday , officials announced another troubling milestone as the Central Valley hit 0 % emergency room capacity .
Southern California ICU capacity fell to just 5.3 % as officials expected many days of rising cases as people who were infected by the Thanksgiving holiday become ill. “ While vaccines are around the corner , they will not be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for seriously ill individuals at our hospitals , ” Barbara Ferrer , L.A. County ’ s health director , said .
A doctor at an L.A. County public hospital said healthcare workers are being asked to fill out questionnaires to determine their priority for a vaccine .
The questions ask about how closely workers interact with COVID-19 patients and how regularly , as well as about their own personal health conditions and age .
The doctor , who requested anonymity because of lack of authorization to speak to the media , expressed hope @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unrelenting onslaught ” of COVID-19 patients flooding hospitals recently .
“ Everyone I ’ ve talked to is waiting on bated breath for their vaccine and then will breathe a deep sigh of relief , ” the doctor said Saturday , noting the vaccine was expected to become available to employees Thursday or Friday .
Trucks transporting the first shipments of vaccines in the United States will begin rolling out Sunday morning , delivering on Monday several million doses to 150 locations in numerous states , officials said Saturday .
The vaccine developed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an additional 450 locations Tuesday and Wednesday , Army Gen. Gustave F. Perna of Operation Warp Speed , the Trump administration ’ s vaccine development program , said in a news conference in Washington .
The massive distribution operation , which Perna described in military logistical terms , will involve UPS and FedEx , working with California and other local governments nationwide .
He likened Saturday ’ s announcement to D-day , the turning point in World War II .
“ I am absolutely 100 % confident that we are going to distribute @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , needed to defeat the enemy COVID , ” Perna said .
Initial shipments of about 3 million shots are expected to leave Pfizer ’ s manufacturing plant in Kalamazoo , Mich. , via truck , then be flown to hubs around the country .
A similar amount is to be held in reserve for patients ’ second dose .
California was granted emergency use authorization by the FDA on Friday evening after it “ met the FDA ’ s rigorous scientific standards for safety , effectiveness , and manufacturing quality , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The vaccine had already been approved in other countries , including the United Kingdom and Canada .
“ The FDA ’ s authorization for emergency use of the first COVID-19 vaccine is a significant milestone in battling this devastating pandemic that has affected so many families in the United States and around the world , ” Hahn said in a statement released Friday .
Dr. Peter Marks , director of the FDA ’ s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research , said the vaccine “ holds the promise to alter the course of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A working group of scientists and experts representing the states of California , Washington , Oregon and Nevada are also reviewing the vaccine separately from the FDA process and will make a recommendation by Sunday , Gov .
Gavin Newsom said in a statement .
Still , a very small number of people will receive the vaccine this year , with the initial shipment to California “ likely to end up largely in hospital settings , ” Dr. Robert Schechter , a medical officer with the California Department of Public Health , told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Perna said local health authorities would determine who gets the first shots , but generally medical workers and residents in long-term care institutions were being prioritized .
The state Department of Public Health selected at least seven hospitals to receive the first batch of vaccines based on their storage capacity , the relatively high risk of their healthcare populations and their ability to distribute the vaccine in the community once it becomes widely available , UC Davis Health said in a news release .
In Northern California , designated hospitals include UC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Center in Redding and UC Davis Health in Sacramento .
The hospitals also must be able to store the vaccines at the extremely low temperatures they require : minus 70 degrees Celsius ( about minus 95 degrees Fahrenheit ) .
Officials at hospitals slated to receive the vaccines said they were working to distribute the first doses equitably and in accordance with guidelines issued by federal and local health authorities .
UC Davis Health formed a working group that ’ s spent several weeks developing a tiered approach to vaccinating employees based on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ associated with the type of work they perform , the healthcare system said .
In the emergency department , top-tier job classifications include custodial workers , physicians , nurses , first responders and clerks , officials said .
The health system says it ’ s prepared to inoculate up to 400 employees each day .
The shipments of the vaccine can ’ t arrive in California soon enough .
The state on Friday marked another milestone , tallying a cumulative 1.5 million coronavirus cases .
The state is adding an average of nearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ staggering daily toll .
More than 20,700 Californians have died , a state tally eclipsed only by Texas and New York .
The U.S. hit another grim daily record Friday , recording 3,309 deaths related to COVID-19 .
That surpassed the previous one-day high of 3,124 deaths reported Wednesday , according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University .
( Friday also saw a new high in daily confirmed infections , with more than 231,000 .
That ’ s nearly 4,000 above the previous record set on Dec. 4 COVID-19 hospitalizations in California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week , growing to 12,444 patients as of Friday , according to data released Saturday .
ICU capacity continued to drop in many regions , with Southern California reporting a capacity of 5.3 % Saturday , down from 6.2 % a day earlier , the San Joaquin Valley region reporting a capacity of zero , down from 4.5 % a day earlier .
In Los Angeles County , which has been particularly hard hit , the number of COVID-19 patients topped 4,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public health officials Saturday reported 11,476 new cases of the virus and 70 related deaths and ticked off a list of sobering statistics illustrating how quickly transmission has risen .
Over the past month , the five-day average of new cases has shot up 370 % , deaths have increased 416 % , the rate of tests coming back positive has risen 141 % and hospitalizations have increased 303 % , officials said .
L.A. County will receive its first shipment of nearly 83,000 COVID-19 vaccines as soon as Monday , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first be sent to nine facilities that have ultracold freezers and then distributed to 83 acute care hospitals and administered to healthcare workers based on their level of risk , the county Department of Public Health said .
Vaccines will also be sent directly to skilled nursing facilities to be given to staff and residents ; other types of long-term care facilities will be able to receive vaccines from CVS and Walgreens through a federal partnership program , L.A. County health officials said .
The county expects to receive two more batches of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during the new year , according to the Department of Public Health .
County health officials said they are planning a three-phase rollout .
After the first phase consisting of healthcare workers and institutional residents and staff , the second will focus on essential workers and the third on high-risk groups , including seniors and people with chronic health conditions .
Officials were still working out the details of exactly how people would be prioritized within the broad groupings .
Hahn said she hopes that essential workers will begin to be vaccinated by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ news — but we aren ’ t out of the woods yet , ” Hahn said in a statement Saturday .
A second vaccine , created by the pharmaceutical company Moderna in partnership with the National Institutes of Health , could be granted emergency use authorization next week , said Schechter of the California Department of Public Health .
In total , California expects at least 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of December and approximately 6 million by the end of January , he said .
Times staff writers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nelson and Jacyln Cosgrove contributed to this report .

Alex Wigglesworth, Soumya Karlamangla, Tracy Wilkinson

California will begin providing the COVID-19 vaccine as early as Monday, but officials warned the initial shipment of roughly 327,000 doses won’t alter the rapidly deteriorating conditions in state hospitals as the virus rages out of control.
Medical workers were expected to get the first doses of vaccine through a limited number of hospitals in California that include Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, UCLA Health and Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. Officials expect to get more doses of the vaccine later this month and again in early January.
It’s a welcome glimmer of hope. But it is expected to be months before the vaccine hits the general population in significant numbers. And that leaves health officials struggling with an unprecedented surge of COVID-19 that has swept through California.
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On Saturday, officials announced another troubling milestone as the Central Valley hit 0% remaining emergency room capacity. Remaining capacity of Southern California ICUs fell to just 5.3% as officials expected many days of rising cases among people infected over Thanksgiving.
“While vaccines are around the corner, they will not be here in time to prevent compromising care for seriously ill individuals at our hospitals,” Barbara Ferrer, L.A. County’s health director, said.
A doctor at an L.A. County public hospital said healthcare workers are being asked to fill out questionnaires to determine their priority for a vaccine. The questions ask about how closely workers interact with COVID-19 patients and how regularly, as well as about their own personal health conditions and age.
The doctor, who requested anonymity because of lack of authorization to speak to the media, expressed hope that the vaccine would stem the “unrelenting onslaught” of COVID-19 patients flooding hospitals recently.
“Everyone I’ve talked to is waiting on bated breath for their vaccine and then will breathe a deep sigh of relief,” the doctor said Saturday, noting the vaccine was expected to become available to employees Thursday or Friday.
Trucks transporting the first shipments of vaccines in the United States will begin rolling out Sunday morning, delivering on Monday several million doses to 150 locations in numerous states, officials said Saturday.
Advertisement
The vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech will reach an additional 450 locations Tuesday and Wednesday, Army Gen. Gustave F. Perna of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s vaccine development program, said in a news conference in Washington.
The massive distribution operation, which Perna described in military logistical terms, will involve UPS and FedEx, working with California and other local governments nationwide. He likened Saturday’s announcement to D-day, the turning point in World War II.
“I am absolutely 100% confident that we are going to distribute safely this precious commodity, this vaccine, needed to defeat the enemy COVID,” Perna said.
Initial shipments of about 3 million shots are expected to leave Pfizer’s manufacturing plant in Kalamazoo, Mich., via truck, then be flown to hubs around the country. A similar amount is to be held in reserve for patients’ second dose.
The Pfizer vaccine was granted emergency use authorization by the FDA on Friday evening after it “met the FDA’s rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality,” said FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn. The vaccine had already been approved in other countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada.
“The FDA’s authorization for emergency use of the first COVID-19 vaccine is a significant milestone in battling this devastating pandemic that has affected so many families in the United States and around the world,” Hahn said in a statement released Friday.
Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said the vaccine “holds the promise to alter the course of this pandemic in the United States.”
A working group of scientists and experts representing the states of California, Washington, Oregon and Nevada are also reviewing the vaccine separately from the FDA process and will make a recommendation by Sunday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
Still, a very small number of people will receive the vaccine this year, with the initial shipment to California “likely to end up largely in hospital settings,” Dr. Robert Schechter, a medical officer with the California Department of Public Health, told participants in a vaccine advisory panel Wednesday.
Perna said local health authorities would determine who gets the first shots, but generally medical workers and residents in long-term care institutions were being prioritized.
The state Department of Public Health selected at least seven hospitals to receive the first batch of vaccines based on their storage capacity, the relatively high risk of their healthcare populations and their ability to distribute the vaccine in the community once it becomes widely available, UC Davis Health said in a news release.
In Northern California, designated hospitals include UC San Francisco Medical Center, Mercy Medical Center in Redding and UC Davis Health in Sacramento.
The hospitals also must be able to store the vaccines at the extremely low temperatures they require: minus 70 degrees Celsius (about minus 95 degrees Fahrenheit).
Officials at hospitals slated to receive the vaccines said they were working to distribute the first doses equitably and in accordance with guidelines issued by federal and local health authorities.
UC Davis Health formed a working group that’s spent several weeks developing a tiered approach to vaccinating employees based on the risk of infection that’s associated with the type of work they perform, the healthcare system said.
In the emergency department, top-tier job classifications include custodial workers, physicians, nurses, first responders and clerks, officials said. The health system says it’s prepared to inoculate up to 400 employees each day.
The shipments of the vaccine can’t arrive in California soon enough. The state on Friday marked another milestone, tallying a cumulative 1.5 million coronavirus cases. The state is adding an average of nearly 29,000 new infections a day, a staggering daily toll. More than 20,700 Californians have died, a state tally eclipsed only by Texas and New York.
The U.S. hit another grim daily record Friday, recording 3,309 deaths related to COVID-19. That surpassed the previous one-day high of 3,124 deaths reported Wednesday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Friday also saw a new high in daily confirmed infections, with more than 231,000. That’s nearly 4,000 above the previous record set on Dec. 4
COVID-19 hospitalizations in California have reached new highs every day this week, growing to 12,444 patients as of Friday, according to data released Saturday. ICU capacity continued to drop in many regions, with Southern California reporting a capacity of 5.3% Saturday, down from 6.2% a day earlier, the San Joaquin Valley region reporting a capacity of zero, down from 4.5% a day earlier.
In Los Angeles County, which has been particularly hard hit, the number of COVID-19 patients topped 4,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic, according to data released Saturday.
County public health officials Saturday reported 11,476 new cases of the virus and 70 related deaths and ticked off a list of sobering statistics illustrating how quickly transmission has risen. Over the past month, the five-day average of new cases has shot up 370%, deaths have increased 416%, the rate of tests coming back positive has risen 141% and hospitalizations have increased 303%, officials said.
L.A. County will receive its first shipment of nearly 83,000 COVID-19 vaccines as soon as Monday, according to County Supervisor Janice Hahn. They will first be sent to nine facilities that have ultracold freezers and then distributed to 83 acute care hospitals and administered to healthcare workers based on their level of risk, the county Department of Public Health said.
Vaccines will also be sent directly to skilled nursing facilities to be given to staff and residents; other types of long-term care facilities will be able to receive vaccines from CVS and Walgreens through a federal partnership program, L.A. County health officials said.
The county expects to receive two more batches of vaccine in December and then weekly batches during the new year, according to the Department of Public Health.
County health officials said they are planning a three-phase rollout. After the first phase consisting of healthcare workers and institutional residents and staff, the second will focus on essential workers and the third on high-risk groups, including seniors and people with chronic health conditions. Officials were still working out the details of exactly how people would be prioritized within the broad groupings.
Hahn said she hopes that essential workers will begin to be vaccinated by early February.
“This is great news — but we aren’t out of the woods yet,” Hahn said in a statement Saturday.
A second vaccine, created by the pharmaceutical company Moderna in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, could be granted emergency use authorization next week, said Schechter of the California Department of Public Health. In total, California expects at least 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of December and approximately 6 million by the end of January, he said.
Times staff writers Rong-Gong Lin II, Maya Lau, Laura Nelson and Jaclyn Cosgrove contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-12-12--Earthquake: Magnitude 3.3 quake recorded near Fortuna in Northern California

A magnitude 3.3 earthquake was recorded Saturday morning at 11:20 a.m. Pacific time 48 miles from Fortuna in coastal Northern California , according to the U.S. Geological Survey .
The earthquake occurred 58 miles from Ukiah , 61 miles from Arcata , 61 miles from Eureka and 70 miles from McKinleyville .
In the past 10 days , there have been five earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby .
An average of 234 earthquakes with magnitudes between 3.0 and 4.0 occur per year in California and Nevada , according to a recent three year data sample .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ visit our list of frequently asked questions .

A magnitude 3.3 earthquake was recorded Saturday morning at 11:20 a.m. Pacific time 48 miles from Fortuna in coastal Northern California, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The earthquake occurred 58 miles from Ukiah, 61 miles from Arcata, 61 miles from Eureka and 70 miles from McKinleyville.
In the past 10 days, there have been five earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.
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An average of 234 earthquakes with magnitudes between 3.0 and 4.0 occur per year in California and Nevada, according to a recent three year data sample.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 1.3 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--2020-12-12--New coronavirus outbreaks reported at Foster Farms poultry processing plants

Foster Farms , one of the West Coast ’ s largest producers of poultry , is facing scrutiny for new clusters of coronavirus infections at its facilities in California ’ s Central Valley , which follow a deadly , months-long outbreak this year .
California-based Foster Farms reported that at least 193 people at its Cherry Avenue plant in Fresno tested positive for the coronavirus over a recent two-week period , along with 12 people at another Fresno plant .
And a union official said at least 37 workers at the company ’ s Livingston complex in Merced County have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1,000 people work at the Cherry Avenue facility , meaning that about 20 % of that plant ’ s workers tested positive , the company said .
The plant was closed last weekend for deep cleaning and reopened this week .
The disclosures come after a long-lasting coronavirus outbreak at the Livingston facility over the summer left nine workers dead .
Union officials allege the company isn ’ t meeting its obligation to share information about the current Livingston outbreak .
Foster Farms told The Times on Tuesday that 21 Livingston workers had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recent two-week period .
About 1,900 tests had been administered at that plant during that period , and roughly 4,000 people work at that facility .
But under emergency rules newly enacted by California ’ s Division of Occupational Safety and Health , or Cal/OSHA , companies are required to keep track of all coronavirus cases among their employees and make a detailed log available to workers and their representatives .
In major outbreaks — which Cal/OSHA defines as 20 or more cases within a 30-day period — employers are also required to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be driving transmission .
Elizabeth Strater of the United Farm Workers union , which represents employees at the Livingston plant , said union officials have repeatedly asked the company for details about the outbreak .
She said the company provided a brief email citing 37 cases as of Thursday night but no detailed log .
“ This is the sequel to a real-life horror story with no happy endings , ” Strater said .
“ Workers at Foster Farms have reported no information being shared.
” The Central Valley has faced a rapid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 500 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Fresno County , a number substantially higher than during the summertime surge , when hospitalizations peaked at 313 .
Merced County has seen a quadrupling of COVID-19 hospitalizations in recent weeks .
Foster Farms spokesman Ira Brill said Tuesday that , given the regionwide surge , at least some of his workers probably were infected in the community — or perhaps while carpooling to work — rather than in the factories .
He said the company is cooperating with Fresno County health officials to determine whether @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and additional health and safety measures need to be taken .
Brill said the company has instituted a stringent policy of testing and screening employees for symptoms and has implemented “ every mitigation that has been recommended ” by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
Such measures include installing plexiglass dividers in the workplaces , staggering employee breaks , providing masks to workers and continuously cleaning worker areas .
“ Our strategy is to test people ” to identify asymptomatic cases and send those workers home “ so they can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are in the plant , ” Brill said .
In a statement provided to The Times on Friday , Brill wrote that the company has completed more than 5,000 tests at the Livingston factory over the last two weeks and attributed the rise in positive cases to “ significant increases in Merced County.
” Meatpacking plants have been identified across the nation as high-risk workplaces for coronavirus transmission .
The CDC reported in July that among 23 states reporting outbreaks in meat and poultry processing facilities , there were more than 16,000 coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ facilities .
Of those infected , 87 % were people of color .
CDC officials recommend increasing space between workers , encouraging workers to take sick leave when needed , encouraging hand hygiene and the use of face coverings and screening workers for infection .
The workers at the Livingston plant are predominantly Latino and Punjabi Sikh , said Deep Singh , executive director of the Jakara Movement , a Central Valley youth and family nonprofit aimed at the Punjabi Sikh community .
Many of his group ’ s members work at Foster @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continue to see outbreaks at the same places if safety measures have been put in place ?
” Singh said .
“ What we actually know is that this virus — the virality is compounded by the conditions that are there at the poultry factory , with people working in really cramped quarters.
” “ Unless we have a larger conversation about ... safety for these workers , we ’ re continuously putting them in jeopardy .
And many of these workers are older immigrants , live in multigenerational households and have other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ family member of a Foster Farms worker in Fresno who recently tested positive for the coronavirus told The Times that company communication has been poor and primarily in English , even though many in the workforce have limited English proficiency .
The family member asked not to be named for fear of retaliation .
Community leaders also told The Times that the company has been asking employees to work overtime to keep production lines running amid absences .
Labor experts have questioned whether government officials are doing enough to protect workers from COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only one county public health department — in Merced County — is publicly identifying workplaces where outbreaks have occurred , and even there , the information shared is limited and does not list the number of people infected , said Ana Padilla , executive director of the UC Merced Community and Labor Center .
Padilla welcomed new laws intended to protect workers from COVID-19 .
Assembly Bill 685 will require employers to share with workers if they were exposed to the coronavirus and notify public health agencies , and Assembly Bill 2043 will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ investigations public .
Those rules need to be followed by robust and strategic enforcement , Padilla said : “ If they ’ re not implemented and enforced widely , then it ’ s not going to mean much .
”

Foster Farms, one of the West Coast’s largest producers of poultry, is facing scrutiny for new clusters of coronavirus infections at its facilities in California’s Central Valley, which follow a deadly, months-long outbreak this year.
California-based Foster Farms reported that at least 193 people at its Cherry Avenue plant in Fresno tested positive for the coronavirus over a recent two-week period, along with 12 people at another Fresno plant. And a union official said at least 37 workers at the company’s Livingston complex in Merced County have tested positive since Nov. 30.
About 1,000 people work at the Cherry Avenue facility, meaning that about 20% of that plant’s workers tested positive, the company said. The plant was closed last weekend for deep cleaning and reopened this week.
The disclosures come after a long-lasting coronavirus outbreak at the Livingston facility over the summer left nine workers dead. Union officials allege the company isn’t meeting its obligation to share information about the current Livingston outbreak.
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Foster Farms told The Times on Tuesday that 21 Livingston workers had tested positive for the virus in a recent two-week period. About 1,900 tests had been administered at that plant during that period, and roughly 4,000 people work at that facility.
But under emergency rules newly enacted by California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, companies are required to keep track of all coronavirus cases among their employees and make a detailed log available to workers and their representatives. In major outbreaks — which Cal/OSHA defines as 20 or more cases within a 30-day period — employers are also required to evaluate ventilation and other conditions that could be driving transmission.
Elizabeth Strater of the United Farm Workers union, which represents employees at the Livingston plant, said union officials have repeatedly asked the company for details about the outbreak. She said the company provided a brief email citing 37 cases as of Thursday night but no detailed log.
“This is the sequel to a real-life horror story with no happy endings,” Strater said. “Workers at Foster Farms have reported no information being shared.”
The Central Valley has faced a rapid increase in coronavirus hospitalizations lately. Nearly 500 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Fresno County, a number substantially higher than during the summertime surge, when hospitalizations peaked at 313. Merced County has seen a quadrupling of COVID-19 hospitalizations in recent weeks.
Foster Farms spokesman Ira Brill said Tuesday that, given the regionwide surge, at least some of his workers probably were infected in the community — or perhaps while carpooling to work — rather than in the factories.
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He said the company is cooperating with Fresno County health officials to determine whether the virus is spreading within the plant and additional health and safety measures need to be taken.
Brill said the company has instituted a stringent policy of testing and screening employees for symptoms and has implemented “every mitigation that has been recommended” by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Such measures include installing plexiglass dividers in the workplaces, staggering employee breaks, providing masks to workers and continuously cleaning worker areas.
“Our strategy is to test people” to identify asymptomatic cases and send those workers home “so they can protect the health of the people that are in the plant,” Brill said.
In a statement provided to The Times on Friday, Brill wrote that the company has completed more than 5,000 tests at the Livingston factory over the last two weeks and attributed the rise in positive cases to “significant increases in Merced County.”
Meatpacking plants have been identified across the nation as high-risk workplaces for coronavirus transmission. The CDC reported in July that among 23 states reporting outbreaks in meat and poultry processing facilities, there were more than 16,000 coronavirus cases and 86 deaths associated with 239 facilities. Of those infected, 87% were people of color. CDC officials recommend increasing space between workers, encouraging workers to take sick leave when needed, encouraging hand hygiene and the use of face coverings and screening workers for infection.
The workers at the Livingston plant are predominantly Latino and Punjabi Sikh, said Deep Singh, executive director of the Jakara Movement, a Central Valley youth and family nonprofit aimed at the Punjabi Sikh community. Many of his group’s members work at Foster Farms plants.
“Why do we continue to see outbreaks at the same places if safety measures have been put in place?” Singh said. “What we actually know is that this virus — the virality is compounded by the conditions that are there at the poultry factory, with people working in really cramped quarters.”
“Unless we have a larger conversation about ... safety for these workers, we’re continuously putting them in jeopardy. And many of these workers are older immigrants, live in multigenerational households and have other comorbidities,” Singh said.
A family member of a Foster Farms worker in Fresno who recently tested positive for the coronavirus told The Times that company communication has been poor and primarily in English, even though many in the workforce have limited English proficiency. The family member asked not to be named for fear of retaliation. Community leaders also told The Times that the company has been asking employees to work overtime to keep production lines running amid absences.
Labor experts have questioned whether government officials are doing enough to protect workers from COVID-19. In the San Joaquin Valley, only one county public health department — in Merced County — is publicly identifying workplaces where outbreaks have occurred, and even there, the information shared is limited and does not list the number of people infected, said Ana Padilla, executive director of the UC Merced Community and Labor Center.
Padilla welcomed new laws intended to protect workers from COVID-19. Assembly Bill 685 will require employers to share with workers if they were exposed to the coronavirus and notify public health agencies, and Assembly Bill 2043 will require Cal/OSHA to make agricultural workplace safety investigations public.
Those rules need to be followed by robust and strategic enforcement, Padilla said: “If they’re not implemented and enforced widely, then it’s not going to mean much.”


latimes--2020-12-12--Lopez: Maybe we should ask prison inmates who scammed state benefits agency to take it over

When Bank of America reported a few days ago that unemployment benefits fraud in California could total $ 2 billion , a number of questions came to mind .
Is this the biggest heist in history , at least in California ?
Well , that ’ s what the Sacramento County district attorney said , and I can ’ t think of anything that tops it .
Has the California Employment Development Department now surpassed the Department of Motor Vehicles in the ranks of scandalous state government incompetence ?
It certainly appears that way .
And if California prison inmates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 400 million in state benefits , even as thousands who were thrown out of work by the pandemic still can ’ t get their money , shouldn ’ t we hire the inmates to run the agency and lock up the officials who allowed it to become a national laughingstock ?
I jest , but only a little .
The system designed to deliver much-needed aid to struggling Californians has been a disaster .
Even an emergency fix of the online benefits system has had glitches , and when that became clear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ double-barreled and bipartisan .
“ A rat ’ s nest of incompetence , ” Assemblyman Jim Patterson ( R-Fresno ) charged , blasting EDD and calling out Gov .
Gavin Newsom for a debacle that stands as perhaps the biggest embarrassment of his administration .
Meanwhile , Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris ( D-Laguna Beach ) said desperate Californians have “ this sense of falling into a black hole ” as they continue struggling with a malfunctioning computer system .
They can ’ t get their benefits , spend months in EDD purgatory and can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cries for help .
I felt as if I was falling into a black hole when I watched videos of Petrie-Norris , who chairs the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee , grilling EDD Director Sharon Hilliard on two occasions midsummer .
Petrie-Norris tried in vain to get Hilliard to be specific about the chaos at her agency , where the backlog of claims has reached well over a million at times .
It wasn ’ t just that Hilliard , who has decided to retire at the end of the year , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she displayed no sense of urgency in the midst of a public health and economic emergency .
Hilliard seemed unruffled in July when an angry Petrie-Norris noted that while other states have overhauled their services “ in a matter of months ” in response to COVID-19-related demands , California ’ s EDD said in 2016 that it would take 11 years to overhaul its system .
Silicon Valley , the world center of technological innovation , is a couple hours from Sacramento , and the state has a computerized benefits program that appears @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Hire the inmates .
Bring in a crack team of tech nerds from any high school in the state .
They could probably clean things up in a matter of months .
I asked Petrie-Norris about that and a few other things , but before I get to her answers , let me share a few EDD tales from readers , so you ’ ve got a full sense of the absurdity .
Gerald Freedman of Mt .
Washington filed an unemployment claim last month but got no check and can ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ find out what ’ s going on .
“ It is impossible to contact this agency , as their phone is busy at all times .
I have called over 100 times at all times of the day and never gotten anyone to provide assistance , ” Freedman said .
Shelly Josias and her husband , who live in Carthay Circle and both were out of work due to the pandemic , banged their heads against the EDD wall of bureaucracy week after week .
Josias said it took five months for her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ three months for her to get hooked up .
“ I don ’ t think it ever would have happened , ” Josias said , if she hadn ’ t pleaded for help from the staff of state Sen. Holly Mitchell , who is now an L.A. County supervisor .
Larry Newnam and Joy Carroll of El Sereno received multiple mailings from EDD in a two-week span , but they didn ’ t apply for benefits .
The mail was addressed to “ four separate people , ” Newnam said .
“ These @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sent mail back with notes to them about this .
We haven ’ t opened the mail but these look like unemployment checks.
” They weren ’ t the only ones to encounter mystery mail from the EDD in what look like cases of incompetence or attempted fraud .
Laurie Adami says her husband , a good Samaritan , was picking up trash on Laurel Canyon Boulevard and came upon “ a pile of unopened letters ” from the EDD addressed to different people at a nearby address .
He delivered the mail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ long , he found those same letters and others tossed back onto the street .
Adami says she ’ s going to turn the mail over to the office of Assemblyman Richard Bloom ( D-Santa Monica ) for delivery to Sacramento .
In Granada Hills , Marie and Stan Miller keep getting EDD mail addressed to people they don ’ t know .
“ I asked my mailman what ’ s going on , and he said , ‘ I don ’ t know , Mrs. Miller , ” said Marie , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ letters addressed to strangers .
Mrs. Miller returned hers to the state and tried to contact someone to tell them there might be some fraudulent activity going on , but she couldn ’ t get through .
Then she saw the news about the estimated $ 2 billion in fraud and the millions going to prison inmates .
“ The thing that ’ s so sad is that so many people need that money and can ’ t get it , and other people have figured out how to jump the line , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on and on , and it ’ s hard to imagine that the state could have done a worse job if it had tried .
Benefits were applied for in the names of infants and children , and 76,000 people who got benefit cards were in states far beyond the California border , as my colleague Patrick McGreevey reported .
Bank of America recommended that the state freeze 640,000 accounts that have had suspicious activity , and of course , the thousands of inmates who hit the jackpot are going to be laughing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could one department have screwed up so monumentally ?
Petrie-Norris , first elected to office two years ago , told me it ’ s a combination of outdated technology , bad leadership and a failure to create a culture oriented toward customers trying to get the services their tax dollars pay for .
It was known for years that EDD had problems , Petrie-Norris said , but they didn ’ t get fixed .
“ What was shocking to me and most disturbing was that pre-pandemic , when we were in a period @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was not overwhelmed … they were answering only 54 % of incoming calls , ” said Petrie-Norris .
Dozens of legislators have demanded fixes , Gov .
Newsom assembled a team that recommended reforms , some legislation has been introduced and a search is underway for a new EDD director .
Despite some signs of improvement , Petrie-Norris said it ’ s going to take months to clean up the mess and work through a backlog of hundreds of thousands of claims .
And new claims could be added if the COVID-19 pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the coming year .
She was right when she said leadership was a big part of the problem .
Not just at EDD , but through the halls of the Legislature and into the office of the governor .

Many unemployed Californians had trouble claiming unemployment benefits. But the state has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars on claims improperly filed in the names of California prison inmates.
When Bank of America reported a few days ago that unemployment benefits fraud in California could total $2 billion, a number of questions came to mind.
Is this the biggest heist in history, at least in California? Well, that’s what the Sacramento County district attorney said, and I can’t think of anything that tops it.
Has the California Employment Development Department now surpassed the Department of Motor Vehicles in the ranks of scandalous state government incompetence? It certainly appears that way.
And if California prison inmates were smart enough to swindle an estimated $400 million in state benefits, even as thousands who were thrown out of work by the pandemic still can’t get their money, shouldn’t we hire the inmates to run the agency and lock up the officials who allowed it to become a national laughingstock?
I jest, but only a little.
The system designed to deliver much-needed aid to struggling Californians has been a disaster. Even an emergency fix of the online benefits system has had glitches, and when that became clear in recent days , the condemnation was double-barreled and bipartisan.
“A rat’s nest of incompetence,” Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno) charged, blasting EDD and calling out Gov. Gavin Newsom for a debacle that stands as perhaps the biggest embarrassment of his administration.
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Meanwhile, Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach) said desperate Californians have “this sense of falling into a black hole” as they continue struggling with a malfunctioning computer system. They can’t get their benefits, spend months in EDD purgatory and can’t get anyone to answer their cries for help.
I felt as if I was falling into a black hole when I watched videos of Petrie-Norris, who chairs the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee, grilling EDD Director Sharon Hilliard on two occasions midsummer. Petrie-Norris tried in vain to get Hilliard to be specific about the chaos at her agency, where the backlog of claims has reached well over a million at times.
It wasn’t just that Hilliard, who has decided to retire at the end of the year, was evasive. It’s that she displayed no sense of urgency in the midst of a public health and economic emergency. Hilliard seemed unruffled in July when an angry Petrie-Norris noted that while other states have overhauled their services “in a matter of months” in response to COVID-19-related demands, California’s EDD said in 2016 that it would take 11 years to overhaul its system.
Eleven years?
Silicon Valley, the world center of technological innovation, is a couple hours from Sacramento, and the state has a computerized benefits program that appears to have been designed by the Flintstones?
Hire the inmates. Bring in a crack team of tech nerds from any high school in the state. They could probably clean things up in a matter of months.
I asked Petrie-Norris about that and a few other things, but before I get to her answers, let me share a few EDD tales from readers so you’ve got a full sense of the absurdity.
Gerald Freedman of Mt. Washington filed an unemployment claim last month but got no check and can’t get through to the EDD to find out what’s going on.
Advertisement
“It is impossible to contact this agency, as their phone is busy at all times. I have called over 100 times at all times of the day and never gotten anyone to provide assistance,” Freedman said.
Shelly Josias and her husband, who live in Carthay Circle and both were out of work due to the pandemic, banged their heads against the EDD wall of bureaucracy week after week. Josias said it took five months for her husband to begin receiving payments, and three months for her to get hooked up.
“I don’t think it ever would have happened,” Josias said, if she hadn’t pleaded for help from the staff of state Sen. Holly Mitchell, who is now an L.A. County supervisor.
Larry Newnam and Joy Carroll of El Sereno received multiple mailings from EDD in a two-week span, but they didn’t apply for benefits. The mail was addressed to “four separate people,” Newnam said. “These people never lived here.… We’ve sent mail back with notes to them about this. We haven’t opened the mail but these look like unemployment checks.”
They weren’t the only ones to encounter mystery mail from the EDD in what look like cases of incompetence or attempted fraud.
Laurie Adami says her husband, a good Samaritan, was picking up trash on Laurel Canyon Boulevard and came upon “a pile of unopened letters” from the EDD addressed to different people at a nearby address. He delivered the mail to the right location, but before long, he found those same letters and others tossed back onto the street.
Adami says she’s going to turn the mail over to the office of Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) for delivery to Sacramento.
In Granada Hills, Marie and Stan Miller keep getting EDD mail addressed to people they don’t know.
“I asked my mailman what’s going on, and he said, ‘I don’t know, Mrs. Miller,’” said Marie, who discovered that neighbors were also getting EDD letters addressed to strangers.
Mrs. Miller returned hers to the state and tried to contact someone to tell them there might be some fraudulent activity going on, but she couldn’t get through. Then she saw the news about the estimated $2 billion in fraud and the millions going to prison inmates.
“The thing that’s so sad is that so many people need that money and can’t get it, and other people have figured out how to jump the line,” said Miller.
These stories go on and on, and it’s hard to imagine that the state could have done a worse job if it had tried.
Benefits were applied for in the names of infants and children, and 76,000 people who got benefit cards were in states far beyond the California border, as my colleague Patrick McGreevey reported.
Bank of America recommended that the state freeze 640,000 accounts that have had suspicious activity, and of course, the thousands of inmates who hit the jackpot are going to be laughing for years to come.
So how could one department have screwed up so monumentally?
Petrie-Norris, first elected to office two years ago, told me it’s a combination of outdated technology, bad leadership and a failure to create a culture oriented toward customers trying to get the services their tax dollars pay for. It was known for years that EDD had problems, Petrie-Norris said, but they didn’t get fixed.
“What was shocking to me and most disturbing was that pre-pandemic, when we were in a period of record low unemployment and the department was not overwhelmed … they were answering only 54% of incoming calls,” said Petrie-Norris.
Dozens of legislators have demanded fixes, Gov. Newsom assembled a team that recommended reforms, some legislation has been introduced and a search is underway for a new EDD director.
Despite some signs of improvement, Petrie-Norris said it’s going to take months to clean up the mess and work through a backlog of hundreds of thousands of claims. And new claims could be added if the COVID-19 pandemic keeps people from returning to work into the coming year.
She was right when she said leadership was a big part of the problem.
Not just at EDD, but through the halls of the Legislature and into the office of the governor.
Steve.lopez@latimes.com


latimes--2020-12-12--Timeline: How long until the COVID-19 vaccine gets to the general public?

Now that the federal government has given emergency authorization for the first COVID-19 vaccine , how long will it take to get it to the general public ?
Many details are still being worked out , and how the vaccine will be distributed across California will depend on state and federal guidance .
But experts say it will probably be spring , and possibly summer or even fall , before the vaccine is available to healthy people who are not essential workers or in other high-risk groups .
The first batch of doses will go to front-line healthcare workers with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of long-term care facilities , followed by other specific at-risk groups .
Here is what we know about the California timeline .
First round , in the coming days The first doses are expected to be given to healthcare workers who are at direct risk of exposure to the coronavirus .
Residents and staff at skilled nursing facilities and other long-term care settings will also be at the front of the line .
California has an estimated 2.4 million healthcare workers .
The state ’ s first shipment of vaccine from Pfizer will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can do the math and see we won ’ t get beyond that high-risk group even with the initial allotments we are supposed to receive , ” said UCLA epidemiologist Dr. Timothy Brewer .
Dr. Robert Schechter , a California Department of Public Health medical officer , told a vaccine advisory panel Wednesday that the initial 327,000 doses are “ likely to end up largely in hospital settings.
” If the FDA provides emergency authorization for Moderna ’ s vaccine soon , California could receive 2 million or more doses of the two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ month , and then followed by more , ” Schechter said .
Los Angeles County expects to receive about 84,000 vaccine doses early next week , said Dr. Paul Simon , chief science officer for the county Department of Public Health .
The doses will be shipped from Pfizer to nine medical facilities with ultra-cold freezers that can keep the Pfizer doses at the required temperature of minus-70 degrees Celsius .
From there , the doses will be distributed to 83 acute-care hospitals , Simon said .
Not all employees at those hospitals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told county officials earlier this week .
“ The supply of vaccine is expected to be limited , while the need will be high , ” she said .
More doses in the next few weeks If emergency-use authorization for the Moderna vaccine comes this month , L.A. County will receive about 240,000 to 250,000 doses of it and the Pfizer vaccine — the week of Dec. 21 .
An additional 150,000 doses will arrive by the end of the month , Simon said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ more acute-care hospital workers , as well as some staff and residents at skilled nursing facilities , Ferrer said .
L.A. County has an estimated 240,000 workers at acute-care hospitals , as well as 30,000 emergency medical workers , 70,000 long-term care healthcare workers and staff , 34,000 residents at nursing homes and 64,000 residents at other long-term care facilities , according to the county Department of Public Health .
That ’ s a total of about 438,000 people who would each need two shots — or about 876,000 doses .
The Pfizer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ least three weeks apart ; the Moderna doses , four weeks apart .
Someone who receives a first dose of the Moderna vaccine can not complete the course of immunizations with a second shot provided by Pfizer , or vice versa .
The doses that arrive in December will all be first doses , Simon said .
He said the county has been told by federal officials that enough vaccine will arrive in January to fulfill the second-dose requirements .
As more doses arrive , the county will continue to widen the scope @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as psychiatric hospitals , community health clinics and dialysis clinics , as well as health workers who face a higher risk of COVID-19 , including emergency medical technicians and community health workers .
Immunizations for residents and staff at long-term care facilities will be delivered through a federal partnership with CVS and Walgreens , Simon said .
If that partnership is not finalized in time , the county will use “ strike teams ” that will begin the immunization process , Ferrer said .
Once medical professionals get the vaccine , officials must @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccine next .
California officials have not determined the order of vaccinations for other essential industries .
Trade groups and labor unions are actively lobbying for earlier slots for their members working in law enforcement , agriculture , meatpacking , dentistry , child care , schooling and many other sectors .
“ There ’ s a lot of haziness about how you would define an essential worker , ” Simon said .
“ That ’ s a very broad group.
” There has also been a push to get the vaccine to people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vulnerable .
Some county leaders have advocated for prioritizing people in jail , where the virus can spread quickly in crowded conditions .
They also expressed concerns about ensuring that communities of color have equitable access to the vaccine .
Early in the pandemic , when the county first set up its COVID-19 testing sites , those communities did not have adequate access to testing — in some cases none — even as their residents were being hardest hit by the virus .
County Supervisor Hilda Solis has suggested the county use libraries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccinations .
Supervisor Janice Hahn asked the county to explore schools as vaccination sites , which L.A. schools Supt .
Austin Beutner supports .
Ferrer said in a recent report that , at least at first , using schools as vaccination sites might not be doable .
Brewer , the UCLA epidemiologist , said that the FDA giving emergency authorization to a COVID-19 vaccine would be an “ important step forward , ” but he cautioned against regarding it as a sign that normal life is just around the corner .
It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ access to the vaccine until spring or summer , he said .
Even with the vaccine , people will probably still have to practice physical distancing and wear masks .
The San Francisco Department of Health said Wednesday that the general population will not have access to the shots “ until the vaccine supply is no longer limited , ” which is likely to occur in the summer or fall .
“ If I were planning a wedding for next summer , I would plan it in a way so that everything is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may be best for activities like nonessential travel , including vacations abroad , to wait until after the summer — or be planned with fully refundable tickets — depending on the information to come out of ongoing studies of the virus and vaccines .
International trips could still pose risks , Brewer noted , since other countries will need time to build up their own vaccination programs , supply chains and infrastructure , particularly cold storage .
He said , though , that the U.S. could reach herd immunity with around 60 % @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by mid- to late 2021 .
“ I ’ m optimistic we will have a better Thanksgiving and Christmas next year than we did this year .
”

Laura J. Nelson, Maya Lau, Jaclyn Cosgrove, Soumya Karlamangla

Experts say it could be next fall before the COVID-19 vaccine is available to healthy people who are not essential workers or in other high-risk groups.
Now that the federal government has given emergency authorization for the first COVID-19 vaccine, how long will it take to get it to the general public?
Many details are still being worked out, and how the vaccine will be distributed across California will depend on state and federal guidance.
But experts say it will probably be spring, and possibly summer or even fall, before the vaccine is available to healthy people who are not essential workers or in other high-risk groups. The first batch of doses will go to front-line healthcare workers with direct exposure to the virus and residents of long-term care facilities, followed by other specific at-risk groups.
Here is what we know about the California timeline.
First round, in the coming days
The first doses are expected to be given to healthcare workers who are at direct risk of exposure to the coronavirus. Residents and staff at skilled nursing facilities and other long-term care settings will also be at the front of the line.
California has an estimated 2.4 million healthcare workers. The state’s first shipment of vaccine from Pfizer will contain about 327,000 doses.
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“You can do the math and see we won’t get beyond that high-risk group even with the initial allotments we are supposed to receive,” said UCLA epidemiologist Dr. Timothy Brewer.
Dr. Robert Schechter, a California Department of Public Health medical officer, told a vaccine advisory panel Wednesday that the initial 327,000 doses are “likely to end up largely in hospital settings.” If the FDA provides emergency authorization for Moderna’s vaccine soon, California could receive 2 million or more doses of the two vaccines “by the end of the month, and then followed by more,” Schechter said.
Los Angeles County expects to receive about 84,000 vaccine doses early next week, said Dr. Paul Simon, chief science officer for the county Department of Public Health. The doses will be shipped from Pfizer to nine medical facilities with ultra-cold freezers that can keep the Pfizer doses at the required temperature of minus-70 degrees Celsius.
From there, the doses will be distributed to 83 acute-care hospitals, Simon said. Not all employees at those hospitals will receive immunizations in the first shipment, L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told county officials earlier this week.
“The supply of vaccine is expected to be limited, while the need will be high,” she said.
More doses in the next few weeks
If emergency-use authorization for the Moderna vaccine comes this month, L.A. County will receive about 240,000 to 250,000 doses of it and the Pfizer vaccine — the week of Dec. 21. An additional 150,000 doses will arrive by the end of the month, Simon said.
Advertisement
Those doses will be used to immunize more acute-care hospital workers, as well as some staff and residents at skilled nursing facilities, Ferrer said.
L.A. County has an estimated 240,000 workers at acute-care hospitals, as well as 30,000 emergency medical workers, 70,000 long-term care healthcare workers and staff, 34,000 residents at nursing homes and 64,000 residents at other long-term care facilities, according to the county Department of Public Health.
That’s a total of about 438,000 people who would each need two shots — or about 876,000 doses.
The Pfizer vaccine doses need to be administered at least three weeks apart; the Moderna doses, four weeks apart. Someone who receives a first dose of the Moderna vaccine cannot complete the course of immunizations with a second shot provided by Pfizer, or vice versa.
The doses that arrive in December will all be first doses, Simon said. He said the county has been told by federal officials that enough vaccine will arrive in January to fulfill the second-dose requirements.
As more doses arrive, the county will continue to widen the scope of immunizations to include healthcare settings such as psychiatric hospitals, community health clinics and dialysis clinics, as well as health workers who face a higher risk of COVID-19, including emergency medical technicians and community health workers.
Immunizations for residents and staff at long-term care facilities will be delivered through a federal partnership with CVS and Walgreens, Simon said. If that partnership is not finalized in time, the county will use “strike teams” that will begin the immunization process, Ferrer said.
Future rounds in early 2021
Once medical professionals get the vaccine, officials must determine which essential workers will get the vaccine next.
California officials have not determined the order of vaccinations for other essential industries. Trade groups and labor unions are actively lobbying for earlier slots for their members working in law enforcement, agriculture, meatpacking, dentistry, child care, schooling and many other sectors.
“There’s a lot of haziness about how you would define an essential worker,” Simon said. “That’s a very broad group.”
There has also been a push to get the vaccine to people with health conditions that make them especially vulnerable.
Some county leaders have advocated for prioritizing people in jail, where the virus can spread quickly in crowded conditions. They also expressed concerns about ensuring that communities of color have equitable access to the vaccine. Early in the pandemic, when the county first set up its COVID-19 testing sites, those communities did not have adequate access to testing — in some cases none — even as their residents were being hardest hit by the virus.
County Supervisor Hilda Solis has suggested the county use libraries, clinics and other community sites for vaccinations. Supervisor Janice Hahn asked the county to explore schools as vaccination sites, which L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner supports.
Ferrer said in a recent report that, at least at first, using schools as vaccination sites might not be doable.
General public in spring, summer or fall
Brewer, the UCLA epidemiologist, said that the FDA giving emergency authorization to a COVID-19 vaccine would be an “important step forward,” but he cautioned against regarding it as a sign that normal life is just around the corner.
It’s unlikely the general public would get access to the vaccine until spring or summer, he said. Even with the vaccine, people will probably still have to practice physical distancing and wear masks.
The San Francisco Department of Health said Wednesday that the general population will not have access to the shots “until the vaccine supply is no longer limited,” which is likely to occur in the summer or fall.
“If I were planning a wedding for next summer, I would plan it in a way so that everything is cancelable,” Brewer said.
It may be best for activities like nonessential travel, including vacations abroad, to wait until after the summer — or be planned with fully refundable tickets — depending on the information to come out of ongoing studies of the virus and vaccines.
International trips could still pose risks, Brewer noted, since other countries will need time to build up their own vaccination programs, supply chains and infrastructure, particularly cold storage. He said, though, that the U.S. could reach herd immunity with around 60% to 70% of the population vaccinated by mid- to late 2021.
“I’m optimistic we will have a better Thanksgiving and Christmas next year than we did this year.”


latimes--2020-12-12--Coronavirus numbers for inmates soar across the state

California ’ s prisons are again battling to stop coronavirus outbreaks behind bars that threaten thousands and cause inmates to be sent to overburdened community hospitals .
The Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Kings County saw the number of COVID-19 fatalities increase to six this week , as three more inmates died .
More than 600 remain infected .
More than 1,200 cases have hit Pleasant Valley State Prison in Fresno County , where community hospitals are seeing some of the state ’ s most severe shortages of space and staff , and the availability of beds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2 % .
California State Prison in Los Angeles County has seen 500 inmate infections in the last two weeks , and 15 other prisons in the state have inmate case numbers ranging from 100 to 400 .
Despite the outbreaks , the state corrections agency continues to be plagued by accusations that it is failing to enforce safety protocols with its staff and guards .
In November , state senators requested data on how many staff members were refusing mandatory coronavirus testing .
On Friday , corrections officials said they still do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testing refusal data is not yet available as we work to identify reasons a staff member ’ s test may not have been completed , ” a spokeswoman said in an email response to questions from the Los Angeles Times .
The agency said the number of staff who are refusing tests is “ limited ” and that it is “ working through the civil service process ... to enforce stricter disciplinary measures.
” Corrections officials said they have mandated that all staff wear surgical masks and have seen “ an increase in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possible to enforce these important mandates.
” At the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility , 32 members of staff were issued corrective actions for face coverings between Nov. 15 and 27 , according to corrections officials .
Ten workers at nearby Corcoran were issued similar sanctions .
In addition , 35 medical staff members at the two facilities received corrective actions for failing to properly wear masks .
The wife of a man incarcerated at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad , who asked to remain anonymous because she fears retaliation , said she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her husband , who told her he continues to witness violations of safety protocols .
The facility has seen an outbreak that has sickened more than 400 inmates in the past two weeks .
More than 160 workers have also been infected , including nearly 40 this week .
“ They don ’ t care , and they are not following protocol , despite the fact that they continue to communicate to the public that they are , ” she said .
“ And nobody holds them accountable .
They have no solid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ excuse themselves , to say they are doing the best they can , but they are not.
” She said her husband has told her that guards continue to defy mask orders , even when nurses make formal complaints .
She added that the facility has also failed to provide safe quarantine space for those who have tested positive and continues to allow prisoners to gather .
The situation , she said , “ definitely is negligence all around.
” Allen Hardwell Sr. , the stepfather of an inmate at nearby Corcoran , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ having symptoms of COVID-19 , including loss of smell and taste , headache and muscle aches , for “ weeks ” before being tested and being found positive .
“ He informed me on more than one occasion that inmates are not allowed to receive regular showers for days or allowed to communicate with loved ones on the outside , ” he added .
He was speaking out publicly , he said , because “ I just want to do what I can to reassure him that he has not been forgotten , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care.
” A recent report from the Office of Inspector General documented widespread violations of staff members failing to wear masks or wearing them in a way that makes them ineffective .
Robert Davis , president of the correctional officers ’ chapter at California State Prison in L.A. County , said state officials have cracked down on compliance since the inspector general ’ s report .
Now , Davis said , more staff are being officially reprimanded if they fail to follow rules , and most are complying with testing requirements .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and were written up for noncompliance , ” he said .
Statewide , the number of infected incarcerated persons increased 130 % last week , with 3,684 new cases .
More than 6,000 of California ’ s 91,000 inmates had tested positive for the virus as of Friday .
In total , more than 26,000 inmates — just over one in every four prisoners — have tested positive , and 95 have died .
For weeks , the Substance Abuse facility was California ’ s most infected penitentiary , with the rate at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the average at California ’ s 34 other prisons and 17 times that of the state ’ s population .
Those illnesses are having an impact outside the facilities .
In Fresno County , where hospital beds are scarce , the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said “ fewer than 10 inmates ” from each of two prisons there were “ receiving healthcare treatment at outside hospitals.
” That does not include workers hospitalized — numbers the agency said it does not track .
On Friday , more than 100 staff members @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Abuse facility were listed as having active cases .
Though prison officials are quick to point out that they have reduced the inmate statewide population by 22,000 since March , bringing it to its lowest number in three decades , more elderly and medically vulnerable inmates have died than have been released , according to a Times analysis .
Gov .
Gavin Newsom and corrections officials largely have cut the prison ranks in two ways .
First , they released more than 7,400 inmates who had only a few months remaining on their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 8,000 inmates who were due to begin prison sentences stockpiled in county jails — passing the burden to California ’ s sheriff ’ s departments .
Currently , no transfers are being accepted from county jails to state prisons .
The state corrections agency announced a two-week lockdown of all facilities in late November in an attempt to curtail the virus .
Still , staff members continue to be a driving force in bringing the infections into institutions .
“ We have more infections now than ever before among the staff .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the end of the shift , and that is not good , ” said Davis , the union official .
“ Since nasal swab [ testing ] began to be used , the rates have skyrocketed.
” He said most who have tested positive show no symptoms , and some have continued to work despite the diagnosis .
“ We had one person positive in an office with two others sitting three or four feet away , ” he said .
“ One got quarantined , and others continue to work .
”

Ed Harris of Los Angeles is one of 3,500 people given early release from prison during the COVID-19 pandemic.
California’s prisons are again battling to stop coronavirus outbreaks behind bars that threaten thousands and cause inmates to be sent to overburdened community hospitals.
The Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Kings County saw the number of COVID-19 fatalities increase to six this week, as three more inmates died. More than 600 remain infected.
More than 1,200 cases have hit Pleasant Valley State Prison in Fresno County, where community hospitals are seeing some of the state’s most severe shortages of space and staff, and the availability of beds in intensive care units is less than 2%.
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California State Prison in Los Angeles County has seen 500 inmate infections in the last two weeks, and 15 other prisons in the state have inmate case numbers ranging from 100 to 400.
Despite the outbreaks, the state corrections agency continues to be plagued by accusations that it is failing to enforce safety protocols with its staffers and guards. In November, state senators requested data on how many staff members were refusing mandatory coronavirus testing. On Friday, corrections officials said they still do not have that data.
“Staff testing refusal data is not yet available as we work to identify reasons a staff member’s test may not have been completed,” a spokeswoman said in an email response to questions from the Los Angeles Times. The agency said the number of staff who are refusing tests is “limited” and that it is “working through the civil service process … to enforce stricter disciplinary measures.”
Corrections officials said they have mandated that all staffers wear surgical masks and have seen “an increase in staff compliance as we take every measure possible to enforce these important mandates.”
California Court orders Orange County sheriff to cut jail population in half to prevent spread of virus A superior court judge has ordered Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes to cut the jail population in half, holding that he had failed to reduce the number of inmates to ensure adequate social distancing.
At the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility, 32 members of the staff were issued corrective actions for face coverings between Nov. 15 and 27, according to corrections officials. Ten workers at nearby Corcoran were issued similar sanctions. In addition, 35 medical staff members at the two facilities received corrective actions for failing to properly wear masks.
The wife of a man incarcerated at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, who asked to remain anonymous because she fears retaliation, said she had a rare phone call Monday from her husband, who told her he continues to witness violations of safety protocols. The facility has seen an outbreak that has sickened more than 400 inmates in the last two weeks. More than 160 workers have also been infected, including nearly 40 this week.
“They don’t care, and they are not following protocol, despite the fact that they continue to communicate to the public that they are,” she said. “And nobody holds them accountable. They have no solid game plan, and they continue to excuse themselves, to say they are doing the best they can, but they are not.”
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She said her husband has told her that guards continue to defy mask orders, even when nurses make formal complaints. She added that the facility has also failed to provide safe quarantine space for those who have tested positive and continues to allow prisoners to gather.
The situation, she said, “definitely is negligence all around.”
Allen Hardwell Sr., the stepfather of an inmate at nearby Corcoran, said via email that his son reported having symptoms of COVID-19, including loss of smell and taste, headache and muscle aches, for “weeks” before being tested and being found positive.
“He informed me on more than one occasion that inmates are not allowed to receive regular showers for days or allowed to communicate with loved ones on the outside,” he added. He was speaking out publicly, he said, because “I just want to do what I can to reassure him that he has not been forgotten, and that there are those who actually care.”
A recent report from the Office of Inspector General documented widespread violations of staff members failing to wear masks or wearing them in a way that makes them ineffective.
Robert Davis, president of the correctional officers’ chapter at California State Prison in L.A. County, said state officials have cracked down on compliance since the inspector general’s report. Now, Davis said, more staff are being officially reprimanded if they fail to follow rules, and most are complying with testing requirements.
“The first week, two did not and were written up for noncompliance,” he said.
Statewide, the number of infected incarcerated persons increased 130% last week, with 3,684 new cases. More than 6,000 of California’s 91,000 inmates had tested positive for the virus as of Friday. In total, more than 26,000 inmates — just over one in every four prisoners — have tested positive, and 95 have died. For weeks, the Substance Abuse facility was California’s most infected penitentiary, with the rate at one point rising to 2½ times that of the average at California’s 34 other prisons and 17 times that of the state’s population.
Those illnesses are having an effect outside the facilities. In Fresno County, where hospital beds are scarce, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said “fewer than 10 inmates” from each of two prisons there were “receiving healthcare treatment at outside hospitals.”
That does not include workers hospitalized — numbers the agency said it does not track. On Friday, more than 100 staff members at Corcoran and 85 at the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility were listed as having active cases.
Though prison officials are quick to point out that they have reduced the inmate statewide population by 22,000 since March, bringing it to its lowest number in three decades, more elderly and medically vulnerable inmates have died than have been released, according to a Times analysis.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and corrections officials largely have cut the prison ranks in two ways. First, they released more than 7,400 inmates who had only a few months remaining on their sentences. Then they left more than 8,000 inmates who were due to begin prison sentences stockpiled in county jails — passing the burden to California’s sheriff’s departments. Currently, no transfers are being accepted from county jails to state prisons.
The state corrections agency announced a two-week lockdown of all facilities in late November in an attempt to curtail the virus.
Still, staff members continue to be a driving force in bringing the infections into institutions.
“We have more infections now than ever before among the staff. We had 15 positives today, some at the end of the shift, and that is not good,” said Davis, the union official. “Since nasal swab [testing] began to be used, the rates have skyrocketed.”
He said most who have tested positive show no symptoms, and some have continued to work despite the diagnosis.
“We had one person positive in an office with two others sitting three or four feet away,” he said. “One got quarantined, and others continue to work.”


latimes--2020-12-12--A close-up look at how hard it is to keep a little family restaurant going in a pandemic

Remember those days when you would walk into the restaurant and every seat up front at the bar would be taken and there ’ d be just a narrow aisle between the crowd at the bar and the one at the long communal table , and the wait staff carrying hot broth would have to shimmy through it , trying not to spill as they served ?
So reminisced the employees now working shortened hours at Bone Kettle in Pasadena about the time before COVID-19 .
Before the little family-owned restaurant on Raymond Avenue had to shut its doors in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ takeout and a brief stint of plexiglass-partitioned , reduced-capacity indoor dining .
Before indoor dining was banned and the restaurant pushed for weeks to win permission to barricade off-street parking spaces for outdoor dining and then invested in outdoor gazebos .
Before serving food to outdoor diners subsequently was disallowed too .
Before the now-empty bar and communal table were repurposed to sell baked goods to go and face masks , candles , lotions and teas , selected to soothe coronavirus anxieties , support other hard-hit local small businesses and bring in badly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and a business model that was always high risk found itself flipped upside down and in need of government life support and staring at the prospect of collapse .
Takeout at Bone Kettle used to be 5 % of its business .
Now the restaurant has to rely on it for just about all of its revenue .
Some days are decent , some dreadful .
I spent time at Bone Kettle this week to look closely at how one determined restaurant is fighting to get through this dark time and to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the line for so many of them .
Restaurants need our support .
They also need the far more substantial aid our federal government could and should be offering .
Bone Kettle serves creative Southeast Asian fare .
The restaurant ’ s name refers to its fragrantly spiced bone broth , simmered for 36 hours .
Its loyal fans would mourn its disappearance .
But there ’ s a lot more at stake in keeping our restaurants alive than safeguarding the tastes we love .
Eric Tjahyadi , whose family owns Bone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the closure of a restaurant can ripple outward and hurt a whole ecosystem , not just its owners who might lose their life savings , and its staff , who ’ d lose their livelihoods , but also its chain of suppliers and their suppliers — the farmers , the butchers , the fishmongers , the vintners , the linen company delivering the fresh tablecloths and napkins .
He also helped me understand how much extra ingenuity is required now , with so much of the usual business structure imploded .
He explained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or 30-day credit , and how tricky it is to buy enough but not more than you can sell , especially now without having any bookings to go by .
So many small restaurants are labors of love .
Bone Kettle certainly is one of them .
The Tjahyadi family has poured everything it has into its little jewel box , which opened in 2017 , steadily built a following and had two of its best months to date just before the pandemic hit .
They are willing to try anything to stay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they have a secret weapon : They know how to pivot .
It comes from ample experience with adversity .
Erwin Tjahyadi is Bone Kettle ’ s chef .
Eric , two years older , runs the business .
Their father , Tjhing Sen , who also goes by Simon , is a jack-of-all-trades at the restaurant .
Their immediate family — father , mother , the two young boys ( Erwin , 10 , and Eric , 12 ) and their baby sister — came to America in 1995 from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an early part of a wave of ethnically Chinese Indonesians seeking asylum in the United States .
They arrived in a group of 20 relatives who at first lived in motels and then all jammed together in a three-bedroom , one-bath apartment .
In the beginning , as they tried to make a life here , before they had enough money for the various family units to separate and make their own way , even the kids labored hard to keep the group afloat .
The boys joined their parents cleaning motel rooms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and tidying up loose threads in a sweatshop before they got signed up for school .
Eric went on to UC San Diego , where he worked multiple jobs while going to classes .
Erwin lived with him there and watched the Food Network and cooked their meals .
In high school , he began working in his first kitchen as a dishwasher .
Eventually he made his way to Le Cordon Bleu .
After Erwin was laid off from the kitchen of the Hotel Bel-Air during the Great Recession , the two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ business in a garage that led to the popular Komodo food truck and then two Komodo restaurants — famous for Erwin ’ s Phorrito , the tastes of Vietnamese pho wrapped into a tortilla .
Eric is still digging himself out of a mess from when the brothers left Komodo to start Bone Kettle and the partners pulled out and closed the restaurants , leaving the Tjahyadis with the accumulated debt .
He kept going .
He has boundless energy .
On top of his more than full-time hours at the restaurant , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , starting his day on East Coast hours as a vice president and head of national ad sales at Sony Music Entertainment .
And he ’ s part-owner of a small hip-hop coffee shop called Supa Coffee on Robertson Boulevard , where he ’ s used the same kind of creative hustle as he has at Bone Kettle to keep money coming in this year .
A lot of customers have dogs so he ’ s now selling dog toys .
Many are front-line workers at nearby hospitals .
They like the pandemic-themed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ face mask with the words , “ Thanks for covering for me.
” Unlike most restaurants , except when Bone Kettle had to shut early on , he and Erwin have managed to keep their whole staff of about 20 people working , though they don ’ t get the hours they once did .
Some workers voluntarily have given up hours to others in greater need .
The brothers received a $ 123,000 loan from the Paycheck Protection Program and used about 70 % of it to pay staff .
The rest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rent , though most months they ’ ve only paid part of it .
Their landlord is not charging late fees but has yet to reduce that $ 12,000 monthly cost .
So far , the Tjahyadis owe about $ 60,000 in back rent .
And they still are not sure how much of the PPP loan will be forgiven .
Meanwhile , they continue to hustle .
They ’ re signed on to various city-run and nonprofit programs to prepare meals for convalescent homes and front-line workers , for which they get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their old food truck .
Eric offered DoorDash an exclusive right to do deliveries in exchange for decreasing the cut of the check that the delivery app takes for the service .
He and Erwin have put packaged meals on the menu : a lobster feast , a beef ribs feast , a feast for vegetarians .
They ’ ve offered special set meals for events such as graduation and Mother ’ s Day .
At the front of the restaurant , they are trying to sell off their wine stock , any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ family is grateful for its steadfast regulars .
They are grateful to be part of a restaurant community whose owners pass on news and share survival tips and try to cross-promote one another .
They are grateful too for community members who have worked hard to generate support .
One night when I was at Bone Kettle , I met Megan Lam , who along with two fellow food enthusiasts started a Facebook group early on in the pandemic to identify which San Gabriel Valley restaurants remained open .
This week , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ promoted Eat SGV Week , in which people could pre-order special menus or discounted meals from local restaurants .
Lam was one of several who came in that night for Bone Kettle ’ s discounted deep-fried whole bass .
In my time at Bone Kettle , I went with Eric on walks around the neighborhood , where he stopped to commiserate with other restaurant owners .
Along the way , we passed some restaurants that already had closed for good and many grimly empty , still open ones , chairs upside down on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cheer .
“ You can see the sadness .
You can see the defeat , ” Eric said .
You can probably even taste it in the food , I suggested .
Eric told me he refused to give in that way .
“ As long as we keep fighting , we have a chance , ” he said .
But how many out there holding on by a thread have his fortitude ?

Remember those days when you would walk into the restaurant and every seat up front at the bar would be taken and there’d be just a narrow aisle between the crowd at the bar and the one at the long communal table, and the wait staff carrying hot broth would have to shimmy through it, trying not to spill as they served?
So reminisced the employees now working shortened hours at Bone Kettle in Pasadena about the time before COVID-19.
Before the little family-owned restaurant on Raymond Avenue had to shut its doors in the spring.
Before it reopened for takeout and a brief stint of plexiglass-partitioned, reduced-capacity indoor dining.
Before indoor dining was banned and the restaurant pushed for weeks to win permission to barricade off-street parking spaces for outdoor dining and then invested in outdoor gazebos. Before serving food to outdoor diners subsequently was disallowed too.
Advertisement
Before the now-empty bar and communal table were repurposed to sell baked goods to go and face masks, candles, lotions and teas, selected to soothe coronavirus anxieties, support other hard-hit local small businesses and bring in badly needed extra revenue.
Before debts deepened and a business model that was always high risk found itself flipped upside down and in need of government life support and staring at the prospect of collapse.
Chef Eric Tjahyadi, whose family owns Bone Kettle, looks out at an empty dining area on Raymond Avenue in Pasadena. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Takeout at Bone Kettle used to be 5% of its business. Now the restaurant has to rely on it for just about all of its revenue. Some days are decent, some dreadful.
I spent time at Bone Kettle this week to look closely at how one determined restaurant is fighting to get through this dark time and to get a better sense of how much is on the line for so many of them.
Restaurants need our support. They also need the far more substantial aid our federal government could and should be offering.
Advertisement
Bone Kettle serves creative Southeast Asian fare. The restaurant’s name refers to its fragrantly spiced bone broth, simmered for 36 hours. Its loyal fans would mourn its disappearance.
But there’s a lot more at stake in keeping our restaurants alive than safeguarding the tastes we love.
Eric Tjahyadi, whose family owns Bone Kettle, patiently schooled me in how the closure of a restaurant can ripple outward and hurt a whole ecosystem, not just its owners who might lose their life savings, and its staff, who’d lose their livelihoods, but also its chain of suppliers and their suppliers — the farmers, the butchers, the fishmongers, the vintners, the linen company delivering the fresh tablecloths and napkins.
He also helped me understand how much extra ingenuity is required now, with so much of the usual business structure imploded.
He explained how restaurants buy many supplies on 15- or 30-day credit, and how tricky it is to buy enough but not more than you can sell, especially now without having any bookings to go by.
So many small restaurants are labors of love. Bone Kettle certainly is one of them. The Tjahyadi family has poured everything it has into its little jewel box, which opened in 2017, steadily built a following and had two of its best months to date just before the pandemic hit.
Advertisement
They are willing to try anything to stay open. And as Eric puts it, they have a secret weapon: They know how to pivot.
Bone Kettle chef Erwin Tjahyadi hands an order to his father, Tjhing Sen, who also goes by Simon. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
It comes from ample experience with adversity.
Erwin Tjahyadi is Bone Kettle’s chef. Eric, two years older, runs the business. Their father, Tjhing Sen, who also goes by Simon, is a jack-of-all-trades at the restaurant.
Their immediate family — father, mother, the two young boys (Erwin, 10, and Eric, 12) and their baby sister — came to America in 1995 from the city of Surabaya in East Java, an early part of a wave of ethnically Chinese Indonesians seeking asylum in the United States.
They arrived in a group of 20 relatives who at first lived in motels and then all jammed together in a three-bedroom, one-bath apartment. In the beginning, as they tried to make a life here, before they had enough money for the various family units to separate and make their own way, even the kids labored hard to keep the group afloat.
The boys joined their parents cleaning motel rooms, working at warehouses, recycling cans and tidying up loose threads in a sweatshop before they got signed up for school.
Tables are sanitized Dec. 1 at Bone Kettle in Pasadena, which bucked an L.A. County health order temporarily suspending outdoor dining at restaurants. The city has since complied with the order. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Eric went on to UC San Diego, where he worked multiple jobs while going to classes. Erwin lived with him there and watched the Food Network and cooked their meals. In high school, he began working in his first kitchen as a dishwasher. Eventually he made his way to Le Cordon Bleu.
After Erwin was laid off from the kitchen of the Hotel Bel-Air during the Great Recession, the two brothers with other partners started a catering business in a garage that led to the popular Komodo food truck and then two Komodo restaurants — famous for Erwin’s Phorrito, the tastes of Vietnamese pho wrapped into a tortilla.
Eric is still digging himself out of a mess from when the brothers left Komodo to start Bone Kettle and the partners pulled out and closed the restaurants, leaving the Tjahyadis with the accumulated debt.
He kept going. He has boundless energy.
On top of his more than full-time hours at the restaurant, he also has a high-powered corporate job, starting his day on East Coast hours as a vice president and head of national ad sales at Sony Music Entertainment. And he’s part-owner of a small hip-hop coffee shop called Supa Coffee on Robertson Boulevard, where he’s used the same kind of creative hustle as he has at Bone Kettle to keep money coming in this year.
Eric Tjahyadi sanitizes menus at Bone Kettle restaurant in compliance with coronavirus precautions. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A lot of customers have dogs so he’s now selling dog toys. Many are front-line workers at nearby hospitals. They like the pandemic-themed greeting cards; one pairs a smiley face mask with the words, “Thanks for covering for me.”
Unlike most restaurants, except when Bone Kettle had to shut early on, he and Erwin have managed to keep their whole staff of about 20 people working, though they don’t get the hours they once did. Some workers voluntarily have given up hours to others in greater need.
The brothers received a $123,000 loan from the Paycheck Protection Program and used about 70% of it to pay staff. The rest went to other operating expenses and to rent, though most months they’ve only paid part of it.
Advertisement
Their landlord is not charging late fees but has yet to reduce that $12,000 monthly cost. So far, the Tjahyadis owe about $60,000 in back rent. And they still are not sure how much of the PPP loan will be forgiven.
Meanwhile, they continue to hustle.
They’re signed on to various city-run and nonprofit programs to prepare meals for convalescent homes and front-line workers, for which they get paid per plate. They just repaired their old food truck.
Bone Kettle employee, Alejandro Claudio, prepares a takeout order at Bone Kettle restaurant in Pasadena. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Eric offered DoorDash an exclusive right to do deliveries in exchange for decreasing the cut of the check that the delivery app takes for the service.
He and Erwin have put packaged meals on the menu: a lobster feast, a beef ribs feast, a feast for vegetarians. They’ve offered special set meals for events such as graduation and Mother’s Day. At the front of the restaurant, they are trying to sell off their wine stock, any four bottles for $100.
The family is grateful for its steadfast regulars. They are grateful to be part of a restaurant community whose owners pass on news and share survival tips and try to cross-promote one another. They are grateful too for community members who have worked hard to generate support.
One night when I was at Bone Kettle, I met Megan Lam, who along with two fellow food enthusiasts started a Facebook group early on in the pandemic to identify which San Gabriel Valley restaurants remained open.
Advertisement
This week, the group, now called SGV Eats, promoted Eat SGV Week, in which people could pre-order special menus or discounted meals from local restaurants.
Lam was one of several who came in that night for Bone Kettle’s discounted deep-fried whole bass.
In my time at Bone Kettle, I went with Eric on walks around the neighborhood, where he stopped to commiserate with other restaurant owners.
Along the way, we passed some restaurants that already had closed for good and many grimly empty, still open ones, chairs upside down on tables, no evidence of energy or cheer.
“You can see the sadness. You can see the defeat,” Eric said. You can probably even taste it in the food, I suggested.
Eric told me he refused to give in that way.
“As long as we keep fighting, we have a chance,” he said.
But how many out there holding on by a thread have his fortitude?