latimes--2020-03-21--L.A. rushes to open homeless shelters. But will they be 'hotbeds' of coronavirus infection?

Tyrone Dixon was told to be standing out front of The Midnight Mission at 3:30 p.m. on Friday .
Then , accompanied by two Los Angeles police officers , he and three other homeless people boarded a bus and were whisked out of skid row .
Several minutes later , Dixon , 53 , who had his temperature taken by the officers on the bus , arrived at the Echo Park Community Center , hopeful about his prospects for a cot and hot shower .
“ I ’ m tired of staying on these streets , ” he said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They have case workers .
If you stay in a tent ... you ’ re stuck.
” Mayor Eric Garcetti ’ s plan for transforming 42 recreation centers into homeless shelters got its start on Friday , with city crews bringing in supplies , spacing cots and laying tarp on gymnasium floors .
The initiative is part of a larger strategy to blunt the spread of the novel coronavirus among the city ’ s most vulnerable residents .
At the North Hollywood Recreation Center , city workers — some wearing masks and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drinking fountains in preparation for the influx .
In Watts , workers were expecting 25 homeless men and women at the 109th Street Recreation Center .
At each site , the city will provide workers with protective equipment , including coveralls , face masks and gloves , said Ashley Rodriguez , spokeswoman for the Department of Recreation and Parks .
Those who move in will receive socks , blankets and personal hygiene kits , she said .
Still , some of those living on the streets expressed serious doubts about making the move @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who is homeless and lives in Venice , said he has been trying to isolate himself in his tent — and would need far more reassurance from public health experts before going into one of the converted recreation centers .
“ All over the city , they ’ re telling people not to congregate , yet they ’ re telling homeless people to congregate in these recreation centers , ” he said .
“ What protection are we going to have ?
” Eight of the shelters were scheduled to open by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be added over the weekend .
Located in neighborhoods stretching from Woodland Hills to South Los Angeles , they are expected to accommodate a total of nearly 1,600 people .
It represents a massive jump in the shelter capacity of Los Angeles , which has long had one of the nation ’ s lowest ratios of shelter beds to homeless people .
The recreation centers were selected because they are wheelchair accessible , have showers on site or nearby and are located near existing homeless encampments , according to a fact sheet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a special meeting of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority commission on Thursday , housing task force chief Amy Perkins said the new shelters were being limited to about 80 % of their capacity to maintain proper spacing , as recommended by public health officials .
Beds are expected to be 6½ feet apart .
The County Department of Public Health was involved in designing the shelters , Perkins said .
They will be staffed by the parks department , with supervision by Homeless Services Authority staffers or employees of nonprofits with experience @ @ @ @ @ @ @ county Department of Mental Health staffer will also be assigned to each shelter .
The Los Angeles Unified School District will prepare and deliver three meals daily , Monday through Friday , at no cost , Perkins said .
The city also is working to procure a vendor to provide meals on weekends .
Perkins acknowledged that providing the shelters with adequate medical support and protective equipment is still a challenge .
“ No one wants these sites to become hotbeds of infection , ” she said .
“ But at this time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ medical support .
We would love to have someone who could help us with medical assessments , because obviously everyone is frightened.
” Perkins added later : “ We would like to have thermometers.
” Four thousand single-use thermometers have been purchased but are on back order .
Because the city is trying to bring in homeless people who face the greatest health risks , some walk-in visitors have been directed to other shelters , nonprofit groups or government agencies , Rodriguez said .
“ We ’ re having people show up , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and that ’ s a little sad.
” City and county officials say that admission to the shelters will be purely voluntary and that they are attempting to identify the most at-risk members of the homeless population .
Outreach workers were compiling lists of candidates for the shelters who are elderly or medically fragile .
Despite plans for ensuring social distancing at the shelters , some homeless Angelenos said they feared the recreation centers would become hotspots for the virus .
In Venice , Catherine Schultis and her partner , Richard Campbell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ money as artists on the boardwalk — work that has evaporated as the crowds have disappeared following Gov .
Gavin Newsom ’ s order for businesses to close and residents to stay at home .
Going to a shelter , she said , sounds like a horrible idea .
“ How are we supposed to maintain six feet away from people ?
” Schultis asked .
“ I ’ ve spent enough time in shelters to know that once one person catches something and goes into a common area , everyone has it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dunn said she and other homeless people have had nowhere to shower since Garcetti directed gyms to shut down earlier this week .
Last night , some of them went to a grocery store and found little left on the shelves .
The only milk left at the store , Dunn said , was Snickers-flavored .
Still , Dunn is not eager to head to a shelter .
“ I don ’ t think that cramming in beds is going to be effective , ” she said .
The city has assigned Department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and from the shelters , and bus routes have been designed to make stops at known homeless encampments .
On Friday , bus driver Jermaine Peterson was waiting in one of two shuttle buses parked outside the Echo Park Community Center .
He said he was told he ’ d be driving for the shelter program , but the rest was “ all a mystery.
” He had received a mask , but someone later told him it wasn ’ t the right kind .
Because of public health requirements limiting gatherings to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were permitted to ride at a time ; two police officers also were to be on each bus .
At a briefing on Friday , Garcetti said he plans to visit some of the shelters this weekend .

Doug Smith, Benjamin Oreskes, Emily Alpert Reyes, David Zahniser

City workers and volunteers from the Salvation Army set up cots at the Westwood Recreation Center.
Tyrone Dixon was told to be standing out front of The Midnight Mission at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Then, accompanied by two Los Angeles police officers, he and three other homeless people boarded a bus and were whisked out of skid row.
Several minutes later, Dixon, 53, who had his temperature taken by the officers on the bus, arrived at the Echo Park Community Center, hopeful about his prospects for a cot and hot shower.
“I’m tired of staying on these streets,” he said. “I try to stay in shelters. They have case workers. If you stay in a tent ... you’re stuck.”
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Mayor Eric Garcetti’s plan for transforming 42 recreation centers into homeless shelters got its start on Friday, with city crews bringing in supplies, spacing cots and laying tarp on gymnasium floors. The initiative is part of a larger strategy to blunt the spread of the novel coronavirus among the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Tyrone Dixon, 53, right, arrives with other homeless people at the Echo Park Community Center, one of several recreation centers being converted to shelters. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
At the North Hollywood Recreation Center, city workers — some wearing masks and gloves — removed trash and wiped down drinking fountains in preparation for the influx. In Watts, workers were expecting 25 homeless men and women at the 109th Street Recreation Center.
At each site, the city will provide workers with protective equipment, including coveralls, face masks and gloves, said Ashley Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the Department of Recreation and Parks. Those who move in will receive socks, blankets and personal hygiene kits, she said.
Still, some of those living on the streets expressed serious doubts about making the move.
David Busch, a longtime activist who is homeless and lives in Venice, said he has been trying to isolate himself in his tent — and would need far more reassurance from public health experts before going into one of the converted recreation centers.
“All over the city, they’re telling people not to congregate, yet they’re telling homeless people to congregate in these recreation centers,” he said. “What protection are we going to have?”
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Eight of the shelters were scheduled to open by the end of Friday, and another five will be added over the weekend. Located in neighborhoods stretching from Woodland Hills to South Los Angeles, they are expected to accommodate a total of nearly 1,600 people.
It represents a massive jump in the shelter capacity of Los Angeles, which has long had one of the nation’s lowest ratios of shelter beds to homeless people.
The recreation centers were selected because they are wheelchair accessible, have showers on site or nearby and are located near existing homeless encampments, according to a fact sheet circulated at L.A. City Hall.
At a special meeting of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority commission on Thursday, housing task force chief Amy Perkins said the new shelters were being limited to about 80% of their capacity to maintain proper spacing, as recommended by public health officials. Beds are expected to be 6½ feet apart.
The County Department of Public Health was involved in designing the shelters, Perkins said.
They will be staffed by the parks department, with supervision by Homeless Services Authority staffers or employees of nonprofits with experience running shelters. Two managers and a county Department of Mental Health staffer will also be assigned to each shelter.
The Los Angeles Unified School District will prepare and deliver three meals daily, Monday through Friday, at no cost, Perkins said. The city also is working to procure a vendor to provide meals on weekends.
Perkins acknowledged that providing the shelters with adequate medical support and protective equipment is still a challenge.
“No one wants these sites to become hotbeds of infection,” she said. “But at this time, we really do not have on-site medical support. We would love to have someone who could help us with medical assessments, because obviously everyone is frightened.”
Perkins added later: “We would like to have thermometers.”
Four thousand single-use thermometers have been purchased but are on back order.
Because the city is trying to bring in homeless people who face the greatest health risks, some walk-in visitors have been directed to other shelters, nonprofit groups or government agencies, Rodriguez said.
“We’re having people show up, and we can’t accommodate them, and that’s a little sad.”
Eight temporary shelters for homeless people were expected to open Friday as the coronavirus outbreak worsens. (Ben Poston)
City and county officials say that admission to the shelters will be purely voluntary and that they are attempting to identify the most at-risk members of the homeless population. Outreach workers were compiling lists of candidates for the shelters who are elderly or medically fragile.
Despite plans for ensuring social distancing at the shelters, some homeless Angelenos said they feared the recreation centers would become hotspots for the virus.
In Venice, Catherine Schultis and her partner, Richard Campbell, live in a van and make money as artists on the boardwalk — work that has evaporated as the crowds have disappeared following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order for businesses to close and residents to stay at home. Going to a shelter, she said, sounds like a horrible idea.
“How are we supposed to maintain six feet away from people?” Schultis asked. “I’ve spent enough time in shelters to know that once one person catches something and goes into a common area, everyone has it within days.”
In Chatsworth, Rita Dunn said she and other homeless people have had nowhere to shower since Garcetti directed gyms to shut down earlier this week. Last night, some of them went to a grocery store and found little left on the shelves. The only milk left at the store, Dunn said, was Snickers-flavored.
Still, Dunn is not eager to head to a shelter.
“I don’t think that cramming in beds is going to be effective,” she said.
The city has assigned Department of Transportation buses to get people to and from the shelters, and bus routes have been designed to make stops at known homeless encampments.
On Friday, bus driver Jermaine Peterson was waiting in one of two shuttle buses parked outside the Echo Park Community Center. He said he was told he’d be driving for the shelter program, but the rest was “all a mystery.” He had received a mask, but someone later told him it wasn’t the right kind.
Because of public health requirements limiting gatherings to 10 people, only seven homeless people were permitted to ride at a time; two police officers also were to be on each bus.
At a briefing on Friday, Garcetti said he plans to visit some of the shelters this weekend.


latimes--2020-03-21--Column: How to pull together while standing 6 feet apart: Community in age of coronavirus

If the days seem long and yet they ’ re gone before you can remember what you even did to pass the time , don ’ t worry .
I can ’ t remember what I did yesterday , don ’ t know what I ’ m going to do tomorrow , and I fluctuate between near certainty that loved ones will be fine and mortal dread that we ’ re all going to die .
I exaggerate a bit , sure .
But time is warped , our fate is uncertain , and the world ’ s fifth-largest economy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gov .
Gavin Newsom imploring Californians — all 40 million of us — to stay home .
Not just for our own safety but for the health and safety of everyone else .
We ’ re charging into a new frontier without a map .
Isolate , comrades .
And let ’ s pull together while standing apart .
But how do you do that ?
We ’ re figuring that out as we go .
In Echo Park , the neighbors at the top of one hill have taken to stepping outside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ catch sight of one another and make noise , a testament to being alive , relatively sane , and together in spirit .
On Facebook , friends across California are looking after one another , offering to deliver groceries for those who can ’ t or shouldn ’ t get out of the house .
A West L.A. reader told me about a mail delivery mix-up in which his assistant heard from a downtown resident who tracked her down to say he got a package intended for her .
She went to retrieve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paper as a gesture of thanks ; he greeted her with a bag of produce .
In the city of cars , people have rediscovered walking .
They stroll through neighborhoods with dogs and kids , slow-motion caravans of people enjoying at least one aspect of the break from long commutes and constant hustle .
And spring is beginning to bloom , with jasmine and orange blossoms perfuming the air , as if to remind us all that the cycle of life is resilient .
But you come home from a pleasant , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ instantly , the blood pressure soars again .
Why ?
Because greed and self-dealing are their own pathogens , and not everyone is pulling together .
Rich pro basketball players are getting tested for coronavirus even as symptomatic mortals are told to shelter at home and call for advice if things get considerably worse .
Many people are watching college tuition funds and hard-earned retirement investments shrivel , even as several senators are suspected of using early insider information on the pandemic to sell off stocks before getting hammered by big losses that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s of working folks .
As millions of us self-isolate , loyal to the idea of one for all and all for one , spring break morons flock to Florida beaches in droves , defying calls for everyone to do their part .
On the other hand , we have gotten mixed signals on the severity of the pandemic , haven ’ t we ?
It ’ s hard to trust the same authorities who said the virus was a hoax and delayed the urgent response that was called for , leaving the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also without enough protective equipment for front-line medical staff risking their lives here in the richest country in the history of the world .
And now that bodies are piling up and the global medical community is sharing notes on the best practices because the whole world has become an emergency room , Le Grand Orange still has to poke a stick in someone ’ s eye , so he calls this not the coronavirus , but the “ Chinese virus.
” We ’ re flying through a storm with a chimp in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say a prayer .
And let me know how you ’ re doing .
I ’ ve been in touch in recent days with a few businesses forced to scale back or shut down , and will be following their employees over the next few weeks or months , whatever it is , as they try to survive .
And let me say that I never , ever thought I ’ d see a day when L.A. officials called for nonessential businesses to close .
Debbie Ficarra , owner of La Canada Pre-School @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do .
Even as some parents who work in jobs deemed essential were desperate for her to stay open , others were horrified at the thought .
“ While I wanted to reopen Monday , I have been barraged with negative feedback , panic and fear , ” she said .
Meanwhile , “ I am refunding thousands of dollars in tuition and paying teachers so they can pay their rent and using my savings to stay afloat.
” But she ’ s not sure how long she can keep that up .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Studio City institution , owner Harold Ginsburg is keeping his kitchen staff of 20 or so on the job to handle takeout orders .
But with the dining room closed , he reluctantly let his 10 servers go this week and encouraged them to apply for unemployment benefits .
“ This is a game-changer not just for us , but for our entire industry , ” said Ginsburg , whose late father , Art , opened the deli in 1957 .
Tony Castro , the head server , has been working at Art @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Northridge earthquake of 1994 .
I reached him at his North Hollywood apartment , where he said his modest savings could get him through a couple of months , and he ’ s been reaching out to all the other servers during the shutdown to see how they ’ re coping .
“ I miss the job , because it was like family there , ” Castro said .
He suggested I call Tina Smith , who bought a place in a mobile home park two years ago after four years on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I just got to where I had paid off all my bills and was just starting to save , ” said Smith , 58 , who ’ s been in the restaurant business for 40 years , and has a heart condition that ’ s giving her some new worries now .
She said that on Wednesday , her third day without work , she had “ a heart episode that lasted seven hours.
” She said it ’ s happened before , and she knows to sit down , relax and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and she ’ s now feeling better .
“ I ’ m a strong Christian and that ’ s helping , absolutely , ” Smith said .
“ My daughter gave me an Alexa and I tell it to play worship music .
That changes the atmosphere .
Positive thinking , faith and prayer.
” Even at that , Smith said , “ I ’ ve already lost five pounds because my stomach is in a knot.
” Smith said her housing costs about $ 1,400 a month and her healthcare plan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had to shell out from her savings for a new engine on her 2003 Mustang .
She told me she doesn ’ t know how she ’ ll find another job in the disrupted economy .
So she applied for unemployment .
“ To be honest , I ’ m not as concerned about dying as I am about living , because the fallout is worse than the virus .
Economically , this is very stressful , ” Smith said .
“ I ’ m avoiding other people and only going out if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go out for a walk and to talk to a few neighbors .
Ordinarily I like to be home , but I ’ m used to working with the public , and now that I ’ m home , I feel isolated.
” Monday afternoon , before Gov .
Newsom ordered everyone to stay home , I was going stir crazy too .
I drove to La Cañada Flintridge to speak to Ficarra from a safe distance , and also to Sunland , where photographer Francine Orr and I stayed 10 feet away @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from Smith , talking to her in front of her mobile home while she held her dog , Chica .
It was the first time in my 45 years as a journalist , I told Smith , that I interviewed someone from a distance .
That ’ s the strange world we all live in now .
Anxious , scared , frustrated , longing for a return to normal .

Tina Smith of Sunland takes a walk in her neighborhood with her dog, Chica. She was laid off from her job because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Anxious? Scared? Frustrated?
Same here.
If the days seem long and yet they’re gone before you can remember what you even did to pass the time, don’t worry.
That’s going around.
I can’t remember what I did yesterday, don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow, and I fluctuate between near certainty that loved ones will be fine and mortal dread that we’re all going to die.
I exaggerate a bit, sure. But time is warped, our fate is uncertain, and the world’s fifth-largest economy has all but shut down, with Gov. Gavin Newsom imploring Californians — all 40 million of us — to stay home. Not just for our own safety but for the health and safety of everyone else.
Advertisement
We’re charging into a new frontier without a map. Isolate, comrades. And let’s pull together while standing apart.
But how do you do that?
We’re figuring that out as we go.
In Echo Park, the neighbors at the top of one hill have taken to stepping outside at the same time each evening to catch sight of one another and make noise, a testament to being alive, relatively sane, and together in spirit.
On Facebook, friends across California are looking after one another, offering to deliver groceries for those who can’t or shouldn’t get out of the house.
A West L.A. reader told me about a mail delivery mix-up in which his assistant heard from a downtown resident who tracked her down to say he got a package intended for her. She went to retrieve it and brought precious rolls of toilet paper as a gesture of thanks; he greeted her with a bag of produce.
In the city of cars, people have rediscovered walking. They stroll through neighborhoods with dogs and kids, slow-motion caravans of people enjoying at least one aspect of the break from long commutes and constant hustle. And spring is beginning to bloom, with jasmine and orange blossoms perfuming the air, as if to remind us all that the cycle of life is resilient.
But you come home from a pleasant, spirit-reviving walk, check the news and instantly, the blood pressure soars again. Why? Because greed and self-dealing are their own pathogens, and not everyone is pulling together.
Advertisement
Rich pro basketball players are getting tested for coronavirus even as symptomatic mortals are told to shelter at home and call for advice if things get considerably worse.
Many people are watching college tuition funds and hard-earned retirement investments shrivel, even as several senators are suspected of using early insider information on the pandemic to sell off stocks before getting hammered by big losses that have ravaged the 401(k)s of working folks.
As millions of us self-isolate, loyal to the idea of one for all and all for one, spring break morons flock to Florida beaches in droves, defying calls for everyone to do their part.
On the other hand, we have gotten mixed signals on the severity of the pandemic, haven’t we?
It’s hard to trust the same authorities who said the virus was a hoax and delayed the urgent response that was called for, leaving the U.S. without needed testing and ventilators and also without enough protective equipment for front-line medical staff risking their lives here in the richest country in the history of the world.
And now that bodies are piling up and the global medical community is sharing notes on the best practices because the whole world has become an emergency room, Le Grand Orange still has to poke a stick in someone’s eye, so he calls this not the coronavirus, but the “Chinese virus.”
We’re flying through a storm with a chimp in the cockpit, so hold hands and say a prayer.
And let me know how you’re doing.
I’ve been in touch in recent days with a few businesses forced to scale back or shut down, and will be following their employees over the next few weeks or months, whatever it is, as they try to survive. And let me say that I never, ever thought I’d see a day when L.A. officials called for nonessential businesses to close.
Debbie Ficarra, owner of La Canada Pre-School, would like to keep her doors open to care for children. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Debbie Ficarra, owner of La Canada Pre-School, isn’t sure what to do. Even as some parents who work in jobs deemed essential were desperate for her to stay open, others were horrified at the thought.
“While I wanted to reopen Monday, I have been barraged with negative feedback, panic and fear,” she said. Meanwhile, “I am refunding thousands of dollars in tuition and paying teachers so they can pay their rent and using my savings to stay afloat.” But she’s not sure how long she can keep that up.
At Art’s Deli, the Studio City institution, owner Harold Ginsburg is keeping his kitchen staff of 20 or so on the job to handle takeout orders. But with the dining room closed, he reluctantly let his 10 servers go this week and encouraged them to apply for unemployment benefits.
“This is a game-changer not just for us, but for our entire industry,” said Ginsburg, whose late father, Art, opened the deli in 1957.
Tony Castro, the head server, has been working at Art’s ever since it reopened after the Northridge earthquake of 1994. I reached him at his North Hollywood apartment, where he said his modest savings could get him through a couple of months, and he’s been reaching out to all the other servers during the shutdown to see how they’re coping.
“I miss the job, because it was like family there,” Castro said. He suggested I call Tina Smith, who bought a place in a mobile home park two years ago after four years on the job at Art’s.
“I just got to where I had paid off all my bills and was just starting to save,” said Smith, 58, who’s been in the restaurant business for 40 years, and has a heart condition that’s giving her some new worries now.
She said that on Wednesday, her third day without work, she had “a heart episode that lasted seven hours.” She said it’s happened before, and she knows to sit down, relax and try to calm herself. It worked, and she’s now feeling better.
“I’m a strong Christian and that’s helping, absolutely,” Smith said. “My daughter gave me an Alexa and I tell it to play worship music. That changes the atmosphere. Positive thinking, faith and prayer.”
Even at that, Smith said, “I’ve already lost five pounds because my stomach is in a knot.”
Smith said her housing costs about $1,400 a month and her healthcare plan costs $550, and she just had to shell out from her savings for a new engine on her 2003 Mustang. She told me she doesn’t know how she’ll find another job in the disrupted economy. So she applied for unemployment.
“To be honest, I’m not as concerned about dying as I am about living, because the fallout is worse than the virus. Economically, this is very stressful,” Smith said. “I’m avoiding other people and only going out if it’s essential. I did go out for a walk and to talk to a few neighbors. Ordinarily I like to be home, but I’m used to working with the public, and now that I’m home, I feel isolated.”
Don’t we all.
Monday afternoon, before Gov. Newsom ordered everyone to stay home, I was going stir crazy too. I drove to La Cañada Flintridge to speak to Ficarra from a safe distance, and also to Sunland, where photographer Francine Orr and I stayed 10 feet away from each other and 10 feet away from Smith, talking to her in front of her mobile home while she held her dog, Chica.
It was the first time in my 45 years as a journalist, I told Smith, that I interviewed someone from a distance.
That’s the strange world we all live in now. Anxious, scared, frustrated, longing for a return to normal.
steve.lopez@latimes.com


latimes--2020-03-21--This L.A. doctor's film predicted a pandemic. Now the coronavirus consumes his life

An obscure federal government bureaucrat stood in a field north of Pittsburgh last fall beside a mass grave .
He looked soberly over the final resting place of dozens of victims of the great 1918 flu pandemic , which killed as many as 100 million people worldwide .
“ This grave site is a reminder of the devastation a flu pandemic can wreak , ” said Dennis Carroll , director of the Emerging Threats Unit of the U.S. Agency for International Development .
“ This kind of carnage is not relegated to history .
When we talk about another flu @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a matter of if , but when.
” That opening , of the six-part Netflix documentary “ Pandemic : How to Prevent an Outbreak , ” could not seem more pertinent , or ominous , today , as the world hunkers down in the face of a worldwide flu emergency .
Directing that scene in the Pennsylvania field was Ryan McGarry , a Los Angeles filmmaker and also a doctor , who now faces a potential flood of coronavirus patients to the emergency room where he works at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know how to feel right now , ” McGarry , a doctor for Keck Medicine of USC , said in an interview .
“ I am glad that we were able to highlight the warnings of some very smart people .
But as an artist and a physician , I can ’ t really begin to understand the level of suffering and ruin we may face .
I mean , I think it ’ s going to change our lives forever.
” McGarry has been in high demand in recent days .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recent events have pushed it into Netflix ’ s “ Top 10 in the U.S. Today.
” The doctor-director-executive producer has appeared with Jake Tapper on CNN .
He fields a slew of media calls .
And he ’ s holding down two or three sessions a week at the Boyle Heights emergency room , where the first cases of the deadly virus have begun to appear .
He said he wants the public to recognize how not just doctors , but nurses , aides and support staff at hospitals will be working @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Imagine , you are the custodial staff .
Before you were cleaning up messes .
And now you are putting your life on the line , ” McGarry said .
“ You are asking a lot of people to be very courageous right now .
It ’ s incredible what ER workers are doing .
And I think we all have a lot of respect for that.
” McGarry , 38 , had always dreamed of a career as a storyteller .
But a youthful brush with mortality helped also put the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ medicine , too .
He grew up in Orange County and became a top distance runner at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana .
As a freshman at Southern Methodist University , he got off to a winning start , but then saw his performance on the track drop off inexplicably .
His coaches suspected that he had been overtraining and cut his workouts .
It took months before doctors diagnosed he had non-Hodgkin ’ s lymphoma .
Stage 4 .
Two years of chemotherapy and other treatments followed before he was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forget what physicians did for me when I was sick , ” McGarry said , “ so I became dedicated to medicine , as well as to filmmaking.
” He went to medical school at the University of Pittsburgh and did his residency in emergency medicine at County-USC .
During that time , the hospital granted him permission to film life inside .
The footage became the basis for “ Code Black , ” a 2013 documentary depicting the struggles of providing quality care in a habitually overcrowded hospital .
The film won @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of McGarry ‘ s conversations with others about the centenary of the so-called Spanish flu of 1918 .
“ We started looking into the people around the world and in the United States , whose entire careers were based on trying to make sure that 1918 never happened again , ” McGarry said .
“ Yet most of these people , they were having their budgets slashed or they were not being taken seriously .
And , well , here we are.
” The cast of “ Pandemic ” ranges from government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in locales as far-flung as Oklahoma and India .
It features Vietnamese chicken farmers trying to stave off avian flu , San Francisco researchers looking for a universal flu vaccine and the doctor charged with preparing New York City hospitals for a pandemic .
Dr. Syra Madad , the senior director of New York City ’ s Health and Hospitals System-wide Special Pathogens Program , tells the filmmakers : “ These threats are never going to stop and we need to do something about it .
And that something is now.
” McGarry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public health experts who have remained laser-focused on the pandemic threat , as the public ’ s mind strayed to a thousand other places .
“ These people do not have the forgetfulness that most of us do , ” he said .
“ They are hard-wired to be always on it .
And thank goodness .
Without people like this , we would be really screwed.
” McGarry runs a little still , to stay fit .
Despite his telegenic appearance , he said he prefers to stay behind the camera and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and other healthcare workers are not sanguine about the coming storm .
“ I ’ m like any human being ; I ’ m scared , ” he said .
“ And we ’ re seeing that this virus seems to be less discriminatory in age than we had thought .
You see that some young people and some young healthcare workers are going down with the virus , and that ’ s scary.
” “ There is anxiety , but also resiliency , ” he continued .
“ At our staff meetings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ‘ How can I get to the patients faster ?
What can I do to get involved ?
’ That ’ s pretty awesome , right ?
” At a time of such stress , it ’ s hard to find silver linings , but McGarry thinks there could be one .
“ Maybe we now come out of this unified and prioritize public health and the healthcare system in the way that we should .
I sure hope so .
”

Dr. Ryan McGarry, an emergency room doctor for Keck Medicine of USC, is the producer of the six-part Netflix documentary “Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak.”
An obscure federal government bureaucrat stood in a field north of Pittsburgh last fall beside a mass grave. He looked soberly over the final resting place of dozens of victims of the great 1918 flu pandemic, which killed as many as 100 million people worldwide.
“This grave site is a reminder of the devastation a flu pandemic can wreak,” said Dennis Carroll, director of the Emerging Threats Unit of the U.S. Agency for International Development. “This kind of carnage is not relegated to history. When we talk about another flu pandemic happening, it’s not a matter of if, but when.”
That opening, of the six-part Netflix documentary “Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak,” could not seem more pertinent, or ominous, today, as the world hunkers down in the face of a worldwide flu emergency.
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Directing that scene in the Pennsylvania field was Ryan McGarry, a Los Angeles filmmaker and also a doctor, who now faces a potential flood of coronavirus patients to the emergency room where he works at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
“I don’t really know how to feel right now,” McGarry, a doctor for Keck Medicine of USC, said in an interview. “I am glad that we were able to highlight the warnings of some very smart people. But as an artist and a physician, I can’t really begin to understand the level of suffering and ruin we may face. I mean, I think it’s going to change our lives forever.”
McGarry has been in high demand in recent days. “Pandemic” debuted in January, but recent events have pushed it into Netflix’s “Top 10 in the U.S. Today.”
The doctor-director-executive producer has appeared with Jake Tapper on CNN. He fields a slew of media calls. And he’s holding down two or three sessions a week at the Boyle Heights emergency room, where the first cases of the deadly virus have begun to appear.
He said he wants the public to recognize how not just doctors, but nurses, aides and support staff at hospitals will be working in a time of heightened risk.
“Imagine, you are the custodial staff. Before you were cleaning up messes. And now you are putting your life on the line,” McGarry said. “You are asking a lot of people to be very courageous right now. It’s incredible what ER workers are doing. And I think we all have a lot of respect for that.”
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McGarry, 38, had always dreamed of a career as a storyteller. But a youthful brush with mortality helped also put the Southern California native on a path toward medicine, too.
He grew up in Orange County and became a top distance runner at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana. As a freshman at Southern Methodist University, he got off to a winning start, but then saw his performance on the track drop off inexplicably.
His coaches suspected that he had been overtraining and cut his workouts. It took months before doctors diagnosed he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Stage 4. Two years of chemotherapy and other treatments followed before he was cancer-free.
“I’ll never forget what physicians did for me when I was sick,” McGarry said, “so I became dedicated to medicine, as well as to filmmaking.”
He went to medical school at the University of Pittsburgh and did his residency in emergency medicine at County-USC.
During that time, the hospital granted him permission to film life inside. The footage became the basis for “Code Black,” a 2013 documentary depicting the struggles of providing quality care in a habitually overcrowded hospital. The film won several awards.
“Pandemic” grew out of McGarry‘s conversations with others about the centenary of the so-called Spanish flu of 1918.
“We started looking into the people around the world and in the United States, whose entire careers were based on trying to make sure that 1918 never happened again,” McGarry said. “Yet most of these people, they were having their budgets slashed or they were not being taken seriously. And, well, here we are.”
The cast of “Pandemic” ranges from government officials such as Dr. Carroll to physicians in locales as far-flung as Oklahoma and India. It features Vietnamese chicken farmers trying to stave off avian flu, San Francisco researchers looking for a universal flu vaccine and the doctor charged with preparing New York City hospitals for a pandemic.
Tracking the coronavirus in California The latest maps and charts on the spread of COVID-19 in California.
Dr. Syra Madad, the senior director of New York City’s Health and Hospitals System-wide Special Pathogens Program, tells the filmmakers: “These threats are never going to stop and we need to do something about it. And that something is now.”
McGarry said he was fascinated by doctors and public health experts who have remained laser-focused on the pandemic threat, as the public’s mind strayed to a thousand other places.
“These people do not have the forgetfulness that most of us do,” he said. “They are hard-wired to be always on it. And thank goodness. Without people like this, we would be really screwed.”
McGarry runs a little still, to stay fit. Despite his telegenic appearance, he said he prefers to stay behind the camera and focus on others. He said doctors and other healthcare workers are not sanguine about the coming storm.
“I’m like any human being; I’m scared,” he said. “And we’re seeing that this virus seems to be less discriminatory in age than we had thought. You see that some young people and some young healthcare workers are going down with the virus, and that’s scary.”
“There is anxiety, but also resiliency,” he continued. “At our staff meetings, people have been asking questions like, ‘How can I get to the patients faster? What can I do to get involved?’ That’s pretty awesome, right?”
At a time of such stress, it’s hard to find silver linings, but McGarry thinks there could be one.
“Maybe we now come out of this unified and prioritize public health and the healthcare system in the way that we should. I sure hope so.”


latimes--2020-03-21--A lesson in essential services during the coronavirus outbreak: Groceries, yes. Billiards, no.

San Jose police Chief Eddie Garcia gave a livestream lesson Friday in what an “ essential service ” is — and what it isn ’ t .
In the previous 48 hours , he said , his officers had discovered 55 violations , most by businesses that kept their doors open when they should have been closed to help stop the spread of the coronavirus .
The offenders included flower shops and gyms , a video game store , a flea market , a car wash , a gun store , eight smoke shops — and a billiards hall .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ kidding me ?
” Garcia asked , visibly frustrated during the Friday morning news conference .
“ I mean , I don ’ t know how a billiards hall thought they could be open during this time .
Education is going to turn to enforcement very soon.
” It was almost all quiet on the western front Friday , as Californians navigated Day One of an Oregon-to-Mexico stay-at-home order issued Thursday by Gov .
Gavin Newsom .
Ever in the vanguard , for better or worse , the Golden State was the first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of novel coronavirus .
Northern California municipalities such as San Jose and San Francisco beat California to it , issuing shut-down orders even earlier in the week .
Traffic was pandemic light .
Hiking trails were filled Friday with cabin fever sufferers who stayed the requisite six feet apart and smiled a lot more than normal , grateful to be anywhere but home .
The city of El Segundo blocked off parking spots in front of local restaurants , where sit-down service is prohibited , and posted cheerful “ Gundo To Go ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the garb of the day for those who ventured out as the global pandemic intensified .
Right here .
On Thursday , Newsom ordered all 40 million Californians to stay home , to practice social distancing when they do go out and only to leave for a very proscribed number of reasons .
Only “ essential services ” could remain open .
There was some confusion over how bad the pandemic could hit the state , how long the order would last and what is essential to life in the 21st century .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ as many wondered how they ’ ll pay the bills if they are prohibited from working or if business slows to a trickle : If people stay home , the spread of the virus might slow , disease and death might be avoided and hospitals might be able to cope with a manageable surge of patients .
At Los Angeles International Airport at 10:30 a.m. , there were twice as many workers as there were travelers at the Air Canada counter in Terminal 6 .
The LAXit lot looked all but closed .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Uber and Lyft rides had a total of three cars at 11:15 a.m .
There were 13 taxis .
And the travelers ?
Forget about it .
“ The only way we survive is airport , and it ’ s dead and it ’ s getting worse , ” said Saeed Abdulle , a taxi driver from Buena Park , as he fretted with two fellow drivers .
“ Last week we might get four trips a day .
This week , we didn ’ t even get one trip yet.
” Before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because of ride-hail drivers .
But they averaged a dozen rides a day , Abdulle said .
Shutting down much of California “ is good for safety , ” he said .
“ But it ’ s a matter of paying our bills and surviving.
” Shopping malls are now shuttered under state and local order .
At Del Amo Fashion Center , Chaz Manzanares and Andrew Luna chatted beneath gray skies in the nearly empty parking lot .
Their voices carried through the vast , empty acreage , which usually has valet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for elusive parking spaces .
Manzanares works as a restaurant server in the mall , as does Luna ’ s girlfriend .
The Torrance shopping center , one of the largest in the country , closed Wednesday night .
Restaurants and eateries doing takeout and delivery could stay open , as Manzanares ’ restaurant was .
But many had closed .
No shoppers , no business .
“ It ’ s what needs to be done , ” Manzanares , 32 , of Carson , said of the closures .
“ I understand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stays in their house , the hospitals can do their thing .
The main thing I ’ m stressed about is , how are we going to get paid ?
It ’ s scary.
” Manzanares said he can ’ t help thinking about his two elderly neighbors , a man and wife , who wave and say hello from their porch every day .
The couple takes daily drives in a beat-up old car .
This week , he saw them sitting there , holding empty grocery bags , wondering if they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , of Gardena , has a baby girl on the way .
He built the crib Thursday night .
“ I ’ m having a baby in a month , ” he said .
“ Like , what kind of world am I bringing her into ?
” Luna said his girlfriend is strong , and if she ’ s scared , “ she hides it well.
” They ’ re trying to keep their spirits up .
He works in a chiropractor ’ s office and is , for now , still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mall employees came walking out the front doors , toting restaurant perishables that would have gone to waste .
One woman carried out two giant glass jars of lemons and limes .
Another pushed a steel utility cart filled with food to her car .
Manzanares and Luna grabbed bottles of wine .
Good wine , Manzanares said , laughing , a sliver of joy on an otherwise dark day .
Even before the statewide shut down — prompted by California ’ s more than 1,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and double-digit death toll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s busiest transit system had fallen by more than half .
As a result , the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Friday that it will cut service by 15 % to 20 % immediately .
That means buses and trains will run on a schedule that is a blend between regular weekday service and less-frequent weekend service , Chief Executive Phil Washington said .
“ Let me make it abundantly clear ; we have no plans to shut down our transportation system , ” Washington said , adding that buses and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people who still need to go to work , run errands and care for loved ones .
“ We have of course never been through something like this — it ’ s unprecedented in our lifetime.
” The majority of the money that pays for Metro ’ s operating expenses comes from sales tax revenue rather than passenger fares .
The agency is anticipating a “ massive hit ” to its budget as more people stay home and only buy necessities like groceries , but agency officials don ’ t know the extent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Tres Estrellas de Oro , which runs bus lines from Anaheim to Tijuana , has also had to cut back service because the pandemic clobbered business .
But on Friday , the phone kept ringing at the company ’ s booth inside Anaheim ’ s ARTIC transportation center .
President Trump had just announced that the United States and Mexico have agreed to restrict all nonessential travel across their shared border starting on Saturday .
And Tres Estrellas was looking at one last boom in business .
Booking agent Maria Ramos calmly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continue service “ until the government tells us to stop.
” In between calls , she gossiped with Maggie , a 37-year-old Orange County native who didn ’ t want to give her last name .
Maggie lives in Tijuana with her deported husband and planned to stay with him for the duration of the closure .
She thought threats of the coronavirus were “ puro chisme ” [ a bunch of gossip ] but noted Tijuana was far less crowded now because of Californians sheltering in place .
“ You can actually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ I tell people up here , ‘ Over here is la corona — don ’ t come !
’ ” At Griffith Park Friday morning , dog walkers and exercisers were out in force .
People did lunges on the grass and pushups on the picnic tables .
A sign flashed “ observatory closed until further notice.
” Robert Dolan , a 64-year-old Los Feliz resident , said he ’ d been cooped up at home for nearly a week .
But on Friday , he decided to resume his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was feeling stuck in the house because of the coronavirus and all that , ” he said .
“ Finally said today I need to get out of here , because it ’ s driving me crazy.
” He sat on a stone ledge and watched a robin land on a tree .
He listened to the flow of water near his feet .
“ It ’ s better than it usually is , ” he said , “ because I ’ ve actually stopped and looked.
” In the Bay Area , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world of “ shelter in place.
” City and county parks were busy with joggers , hikers and dog walkers .
Everybody seemed to heed the six-foot social distance requirement .
Several visibly held their breath as they passed fellow walkers .
The dogs seemed delighted to be strolling mid-day , with their now at-home owners , along the sidewalks of Menlo Park ’ s Flood Triangle neighborhood , and Palo Alto ’ s University Avenue , which is now nearly devoid of its usual bustling crowds .
Their tails are held high @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their gait .
The virus may be a dog ’ s best friend .
At least for now .
Times staff writers Laura Nelson , Rong-Gong Lin II , Susanne Rust , Gale Holland and Alex Wigglesworth contributed to this report .

Maria L. La Ganga, Brittny Mejia, Hailey Branson-Potts, Gustavo Arellano

During the coronavirus epidemic people continue to walk, ride thier bikes, and play basketball at Junipero Beach in Long Beach. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)
People walk the beach, but maintain “social distancing” during the coronavirus outbreak at Crystal Cove in Newport Beach. (Gina Ferazzi/Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
With all the stores closed, Fashion Island is a ghost town except for an occasional customer getting food for take-out Newport Beach. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
The Apple store is among all the stores which have closed during the coronavirus outbreak in Newport Beach. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Popular shopping destination Rodeo Drive is all but deserted as retail shops are shuttered in Beverly Hills. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
On the first day of L.A.’s ‘Safer at Home,” most major avenues and streets in downtown Los Angeles have very little traffic. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
Hollywood Blvd. is devoid of the usual crowds as most shops are closed. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Hollywood Blvd. is devoid of the usual crowds as most shops are closed. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
The city of Santa Monica has closed the Santa Monica Pier, and few people were on the beach Friday. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Vehicles flow smoothly along Interstate 5 and the 110 Freeway in Los Angeles in this drone image. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
In this drone image, the Westfield Topanga mall parking lot sits empty, as new regulations have closed all indoor shopping centers in Canoga Park. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
School buses sit idle since all schools have been closed in Los Angeles County. The image was taken by drone. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
The sparsely trafficked intersection of the 101 and 110 freeways in downtown Los Angeles is seen in a drone image. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Xiao Ping, holding a tray of eggs, looks back at the long line of egg buyers on Saturda morning in Chino. Spooked by coronavirus people from nearby Inland Empire cities started lining up early morning at Maust’s California Poultry in Chino. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
Drivers line-up to get a coronavirus test administered by Riverside County medical personnel at a drive-though testing facility at Diamond Stadium in Lake Elsinore. Those tested have symptoms or have had a risk of exposure. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Jesus Mendoza sells roses on the sidewalk in downtown Los Angeles. Mendoza said his business was overwhelmed by hundred of boxes of roses they could not sell. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)
People run and walk on the Veterans Parkway in Manhattan Beach even with signage saying the space is closed to help minimize the spread of the coronavirus. (Dania Maxwell/Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
During the coronavirus pandemic, people continue to walk and ride their bikes along the path at Junipero Beach in Long Beach. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)
At Echo Park Lake, friends gather with their dogs and enjoy a Sunday afternoon in the park. Social distancing and home isolation remain in effect due to the coronavirus. (Carolyn Cole/Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
Workers at the Ralphs grocery store in Westchester measure out social distancing guidelines for its customers with markers every six feet and limiting the number of customers it allows in to shop. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
San Jose police Chief Eddie Garcia gave a livestream lesson Friday in what an “essential service” is — and what it isn’t. In the previous 48 hours, he said, his officers had discovered 55 violations, most by businesses that kept their doors open when they should have been closed to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The offenders included flower shops and gyms, a video game store, a flea market, a car wash, a gun store, eight smoke shops — and a billiards hall.
“A billiards hall? Are you kidding me?” Garcia asked, visibly frustrated during the Friday morning news conference. “I mean, I don’t know how a billiards hall thought they could be open during this time. Education is going to turn to enforcement very soon.”
It was almost all quiet on the western front Friday, as Californians navigated Day One of an Oregon-to-Mexico stay-at-home order issued Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Ever in the vanguard, for better or worse, the Golden State was the first in the country to shut down because of novel coronavirus. Northern California municipalities such as San Jose and San Francisco beat California to it, issuing shut-down orders even earlier in the week.
Traffic was pandemic light. Hiking trails were filled Friday with cabin fever sufferers who stayed the requisite six feet apart and smiled a lot more than normal, grateful to be anywhere but home. The city of El Segundo blocked off parking spots in front of local restaurants, where sit-down service is prohibited, and posted cheerful “Gundo To Go” signs. Masks and latex gloves were the garb of the day for those who ventured out as the global pandemic intensified. Right here.
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On Thursday, Newsom ordered all 40 million Californians to stay home, to practice social distancing when they do go out and only to leave for a very proscribed number of reasons. Only “essential services” could remain open. There was some confusion over how bad the pandemic could hit the state, how long the order would last and what is essential to life in the 21st century.
But the hope was clear, even as many wondered how they’ll pay the bills if they are prohibited from working or if business slows to a trickle: If people stay home, the spread of the virus might slow, disease and death might be avoided and hospitals might be able to cope with a manageable surge of patients.
At Los Angeles International Airport at 10:30 a.m., there were twice as many workers as there were travelers at the Air Canada counter in Terminal 6. The LAXit lot looked all but closed. The four zones where travelers wait for Uber and Lyft rides had a total of three cars at 11:15 a.m. There were 13 taxis. And the travelers? Forget about it.
“The only way we survive is airport, and it’s dead and it’s getting worse,” said Saeed Abdulle, a taxi driver from Buena Park, as he fretted with two fellow drivers. “Last week we might get four trips a day. This week, we didn’t even get one trip yet.”
Before the coronavirus hit, taxis were hurting because of ride-hail drivers. But they averaged a dozen rides a day, Abdulle said. Shutting down much of California “is good for safety,” he said. “But it’s a matter of paying our bills and surviving.”
Shopping malls are now shuttered under state and local order. At Del Amo Fashion Center, Chaz Manzanares and Andrew Luna chatted beneath gray skies in the nearly empty parking lot. Their voices carried through the vast, empty acreage, which usually has valet parking and idling drivers on the prowl for elusive parking spaces.
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Manzanares works as a restaurant server in the mall, as does Luna’s girlfriend. The Torrance shopping center, one of the largest in the country, closed Wednesday night. Restaurants and eateries doing takeout and delivery could stay open, as Manzanares’ restaurant was. But many had closed. No shoppers, no business.
“It’s what needs to be done,” Manzanares, 32, of Carson, said of the closures. “I understand. If everyone follows the rules and stays in their house, the hospitals can do their thing. The main thing I’m stressed about is, how are we going to get paid? It’s scary.”
Manzanares said he can’t help thinking about his two elderly neighbors, a man and wife, who wave and say hello from their porch every day. The couple takes daily drives in a beat-up old car. This week, he saw them sitting there, holding empty grocery bags, wondering if they should go out.
Luna, 25, of Gardena, has a baby girl on the way. He built the crib Thursday night.
“I’m having a baby in a month,” he said. “Like, what kind of world am I bringing her into?”
Luna said his girlfriend is strong, and if she’s scared, “she hides it well.” They’re trying to keep their spirits up. He works in a chiropractor’s office and is, for now, still working.
As the men chatted, mall employees came walking out the front doors, toting restaurant perishables that would have gone to waste. One woman carried out two giant glass jars of lemons and limes. Another pushed a steel utility cart filled with food to her car. Manzanares and Luna grabbed bottles of wine.
Good wine, Manzanares said, laughing, a sliver of joy on an otherwise dark day.
Even before the statewide shut down — prompted by California’s more than 1,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and double-digit death toll — daily ridership on the state’s busiest transit system had fallen by more than half.
As a result, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Friday that it will cut service by 15% to 20% immediately. That means buses and trains will run on a schedule that is a blend between regular weekday service and less-frequent weekend service, Chief Executive Phil Washington said.
“Let me make it abundantly clear; we have no plans to shut down our transportation system,” Washington said, adding that buses and trains are a “lifeline” for people who still need to go to work, run errands and care for loved ones. “We have of course never been through something like this — it’s unprecedented in our lifetime.”
The majority of the money that pays for Metro’s operating expenses comes from sales tax revenue rather than passenger fares. The agency is anticipating a “massive hit” to its budget as more people stay home and only buy necessities like groceries, but agency officials don’t know the extent of the decline yet, Washington said.
Tres Estrellas de Oro, which runs bus lines from Anaheim to Tijuana, has also had to cut back service because the pandemic clobbered business. But on Friday, the phone kept ringing at the company’s booth inside Anaheim’s ARTIC transportation center.
President Trump had just announced that the United States and Mexico have agreed to restrict all nonessential travel across their shared border starting on Saturday. And Tres Estrellas was looking at one last boom in business.
Booking agent Maria Ramos calmly told frantic customers that the company would continue service “until the government tells us to stop.” In between calls, she gossiped with Maggie, a 37-year-old Orange County native who didn’t want to give her last name. Maggie lives in Tijuana with her deported husband and planned to stay with him for the duration of the closure.
She thought threats of the coronavirus were “puro chisme” [a bunch of gossip] but noted Tijuana was far less crowded now because of Californians sheltering in place.
“You can actually breathe now down there,” Maggie said. “I tell people up here, ‘Over here is la corona — don’t come!’ ”
At Griffith Park Friday morning, dog walkers and exercisers were out in force. People did lunges on the grass and pushups on the picnic tables. A sign flashed “observatory closed until further notice.”
Robert Dolan, a 64-year-old Los Feliz resident, said he’d been cooped up at home for nearly a week. But on Friday, he decided to resume his regular speed walking routine.
“I was feeling stuck in the house because of the coronavirus and all that,” he said. “Finally said today I need to get out of here, because it’s driving me crazy.”
He sat on a stone ledge and watched a robin land on a tree. He listened to the flow of water near his feet.
“It’s better than it usually is,” he said, “because I’ve actually stopped and looked.”
In the Bay Area, it was Day Four of the new world of “shelter in place.”
City and county parks were busy with joggers, hikers and dog walkers. Everybody seemed to heed the six-foot social distance requirement. Several visibly held their breath as they passed fellow walkers.
The dogs seemed delighted to be strolling mid-day, with their now at-home owners, along the sidewalks of Menlo Park’s Flood Triangle neighborhood, and Palo Alto’s University Avenue, which is now nearly devoid of its usual bustling crowds.
Their tails are held high. There’s a bounce in their gait. The virus may be a dog’s best friend. At least for now.
Times staff writers Laura Nelson, Rong-Gong Lin II, Susanne Rust, Gale Holland and Alex Wigglesworth contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-03-22--How do you become infected with the coronavirus?

The new coronavirus has traveled unseen paths from Wuhan , China , to virtually all corners of the globe .
Evidence of its movements abound , from the proliferation of people wearing face masks to the sudden absence of toilet paper on store shelves .
How did a virus that didn ’ t even exist just a few months ago manage to infect more than 300,000 people and cause more than 13,000 deaths ?
How exactly does this pathogen spread ?
Here ’ s what scientists have learned so far about the virus known as SARS-CoV-2 , which causes the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the new coronavirus infect people ?
Through droplets .
That is the typical answer physicians give when they talk about how this virus jumps from person to person .
“ This virus spreads through respiratory droplets , ” Dr. Robert Redfield , director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , said at a recent congressional hearing .
It also spreads via “ sneezing , coughing and hand contamination , ” he said .
What are these droplets like ?
Imagine an infected person who coughs or sneezes .
He or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which fall to the ground within seconds , like rain .
Those drops — scientists call them droplets because they are tiny — are loaded with virus that can infect you .
How would the virus get from someone else ’ s saliva into my body ?
Getting sneezed at or coughed on by someone who ’ s infected is probably the most common way , according to the CDC .
If that virus-carrying saliva lands on a wet part of your face — your eyes , nose or mouth — you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a sneeze or cough can fly about 3 feet before they drop to the ground .
If the cough or sneeze is “ very forceful , ” they can go as far as 6 feet , said Dr. Aruna Subramanian , an infectious diseases specialist at Stanford University .
The droplets could also be inhaled directly into the lungs of those nearby .
Droplets of saliva remain in the air for only a few seconds before falling to the ground .
“ What we ’ re really talking about is droplet spread , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ epidemiologist and infectious disease expert at UC San Francisco .
“ Droplets fly out ... and you inhale them on the fly.
” Can I be infected without even noticing ?
Yes , you can .
This is why officials urge you to not touch your face .
A sneeze or cough can deposit droplets of infected saliva onto doorknobs , elevator buttons or your cellphone .
Alternately , someone who ’ s ill could touch these or other objects , depositing the infected saliva that ’ s already on their hands onto @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Then , all you have to do is lay a finger on one of these surfaces and touch your nose , your eye or your mouth .
How long can the virus survive on surfaces ?
Scientists ran experiments to find out .
In the lab , samples of the new coronavirus remained viable on stainless steel and on plastic for up to three days , according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine .
Tests also found that cardboard could not sustain infectious levels of the virus for 24 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do it for four hours .
The amount of virus the researchers used in their experiments was meant to mimic the amounts typically found in the respiratory tracts of COVID-19 patients .
However , if the researchers had started out with even more , the virus could have remained viable for a longer period of time .
Also , the time periods reported in the study reflect the specific conditions used in the experiment ; if variables such as temperature or humidity were different , the results might be different too .
How @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
For hours , potentially .
However , experts aren ’ t sure about the chances that virus-infected mist could infect other people , and more research would be needed to determine that answer , said Jamie Lloyd-Smith , an ecology and evolutionary biology professor at UCLA who worked on the new study .
How do we know the coronavirus can become airborne ?
Scientists made it airborne in the study Lloyd-Smith co-wrote .
Indeed , they showed just how the virus can survive as an aerosolized particle .
Is an aerosolized particle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particle is much smaller than a droplet .
It can float and fly in a room for hours , much like an aerosolized air freshener .
A droplet , meanwhile , is large enough that it drops to the ground by gravity within seconds .
OK , where were we ?
We were discussing the lab experiment .
Scientists put coronaviruses through a machine called a nebulizer , transforming them into a mist in an enclosed space .
The researchers found that the coronavirus survived in aerosolized particles for at least three hours @ @ @ @ @ @ @ able to infect cells and replicate .
Of the original amount of coronavirus sprayed into the mist , half of it remained after roughly one hour .
So by the end of the three-hour experiment , roughly one-eighth ( or 12.5 % ) of the initial amount still remained .
In real-life conditions where there ’ s fresh air or ventilation , any virus in a mist will get diluted pretty quickly .
But in theory , if you ’ re in an elevator or a subway car with limited ventilation , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a while , Lloyd-Smith said .
He also noted that scientists aren ’ t sure how much virus it takes for a person to become infected .
How does that compare to measles ?
Measles ranks among the most infectious diseases .
One infected person can pass it on to between 12 and 40 others if they haven ’ t been vaccinated , according to the CDC .
For the new coronavirus , by contrast , the World Health Organization estimates that every infected person spreads it to 2 to 2.5 others @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to data collected early in the outbreak .
That ’ s still worse than the seasonal flu .
Depending on the influenza strain , every infected person passes the virus to 1.2 to 2 others , Lloyd-Smith said .
Will I be safe if I wash my hands and stay 6 feet from others ?
Those are still prudent ways to protect yourself .
And certainly , staying away from sick people — and keeping your distance from anyone else , really — will help prevent infections .
That ’ s why a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including California , New York and Illinois — have issued orders instructing the public to stay at home as much as possible in the coming weeks to help slow the spread of the virus .
Can the coronavirus be found in fecal matter ?
Yes .
SARS-CoV-2 can be found in the feces of infected people .
But there ’ s currently no evidence that it ’ s an efficient way to infect others , Subramanian said .
That would make it different from the coronavirus that caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ thought “ to have spread via aerosolized fecal matter ” through a faulty sewage system in a Hong Kong apartment complex with the help of bathroom exhaust fans .
“ There ’ s nothing like that going on ” with the new coronavirus , Rutherford said .
What are the risks for doctors and nurses ?
Healthcare workers have a higher risk of infection because they work close to patients and can be exposed to large volumes of virus .
Sometimes they perform lifesaving procedures , such as inserting a breathing tube in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aerosolize infected saliva .
How can they protect themselves ?
Ideally , they would wear tight-fitting N95 masks , or respirators , which are designed to filter out 95 % of small airborne particles .
They offer more protection than the paper masks you see so often these days , but , even if properly fitted on a face , do not completely eliminate the risk of infection .
The problem is , there aren ’ t enough N95 masks to go around .
If the virus spreads only through droplets , conventional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gloves and eye protection — would be sufficient .
But if the virus can spread through aerosolized mist , failing to wear an N95 mask puts them at greater risk , particularly if healthcare workers are doing a procedure that aerosolizes the patient ’ s saliva .
Yes .
A research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Assn .
examined the rooms of three COVID-19 patients in Singapore and found genetic evidence of the virus lurking in one of them , on an air outlet fan .
That suggests it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may be displaced by airflows and deposited on equipment such as vents , ” the researchers wrote .
The authors also found viral genetic material on the toilet bowl , sink and door handle .
( Stool samples from that patient were found to contain the virus . )
Routine cleaning was enough to return the hospital room to a virus-free state .
The researchers couldn ’ t find genetic evidence of the coronavirus in the other two hospital rooms .
And none of the three rooms contained air that tested positive for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found on a shoe covering worn by a physician .

A chalk drawing in New York City encourages people to take simple steps to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
The new coronavirus has traveled unseen paths from Wuhan, China, to virtually all corners of the globe. Evidence of its movements abounds, from the proliferation of people wearing face masks to the sudden absence of toilet paper on store shelves.
How did a virus that didn’t even exist just a few months ago manage to infect more than 300,000 people and cause more than 13,000 deaths? How exactly does this pathogen spread?
For the record: This story originally said infectious levels of coronavirus did not remain on cardboard for 24 hours, or on copper surfaces for four hours. Researchers reported that infectious levels of virus did not survive for more than 24 hours on cardboard, or for more than four hours on copper.
Here’s what scientists have learned so far about the virus known as SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease known as COVID-19.
How does the new coronavirus infect people?
Through droplets. That is the typical answer physicians give when they talk about how this virus jumps from person to person.
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“This virus spreads through respiratory droplets,” Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a recent congressional hearing. It also spreads via “sneezing, coughing and hand contamination,” he said.
What are these droplets like?
Imagine an infected person who coughs or sneezes. He or she sprays tiny drops of infected saliva, which fall to the ground within seconds, like rain.
Those drops — scientists call them droplets because they are tiny — are loaded with virus that can infect you.
Tracking the coronavirus in California The latest maps and charts on the spread of COVID-19 in California.
How would the virus get from someone else’s saliva into my body?
Getting sneezed at or coughed on by someone who’s infected is probably the most common way, according to the CDC. If that virus-carrying saliva lands on a wet part of your face — your eyes, nose or mouth — you’ll be infected.
Droplets from a sneeze or cough can fly about 3 feet before they drop to the ground. If the cough or sneeze is “very forceful,” they can go as far as 6 feet, said Dr. Aruna Subramanian, an infectious diseases specialist at Stanford University.
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The droplets could also be inhaled directly into the lungs of those nearby. Droplets of saliva remain in the air for only a few seconds before falling to the ground.
“What we’re really talking about is droplet spread,” said Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist and infectious disease expert at UC San Francisco. “Droplets fly out ... and you inhale them on the fly.”
Can I be infected without even noticing?
Yes, you can. This is why officials urge you to not touch your face.
A sneeze or cough can deposit droplets of infected saliva onto doorknobs, elevator buttons or your cellphone. Alternately, someone who’s ill could touch these or other objects, depositing the infected saliva that’s already on their hands onto a surface that others will touch.
Then, all you have to do is lay a finger on one of these surfaces and touch your nose, your eye or your mouth.
How long can the virus survive on surfaces?
Scientists ran experiments to find out. In the lab, samples of the new coronavirus remained viable on stainless steel and on plastic for up to three days, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Tests also found that cardboard could not sustain infectious levels of the virus for more than 24 hours, and copper couldn’t do it for more than four hours.
The amount of virus the researchers used in their experiments was meant to mimic the amounts typically found in the respiratory tracts of COVID-19 patients. However, if the researchers had started out with even more, the virus could have remained viable for a longer period of time.
Also, the time periods reported in the study reflect the specific conditions used in the experiment; if variables such as temperature or humidity were different, the results might be different too.
How long can it survive in the air?
For hours, potentially. However, experts aren’t sure about the chances that virus-infected mist could infect other people, and more research would be needed to determine that answer, said Jamie Lloyd-Smith, an ecology and evolutionary biology professor at UCLA who worked on the new study.
How do we know the coronavirus can become airborne?
Scientists made it airborne in the study Lloyd-Smith co-wrote. Indeed, they showed just how the virus can survive as an aerosolized particle.
Is an aerosolized particle different from a droplet?
An aerosolized particle is much smaller than a droplet. It can float and fly in a room for hours, much like an aerosolized air freshener. A droplet, meanwhile, is large enough that it drops to the ground by gravity within seconds.
OK, where were we?
We were discussing the lab experiment. Scientists put coronaviruses through a machine called a nebulizer, transforming them into a mist in an enclosed space. The researchers found that the coronavirus survived in aerosolized particles for at least three hours. Added bonus: They were still able to infect cells and replicate.
Of the original amount of coronavirus sprayed into the mist, half of it remained after roughly one hour. So by the end of the three-hour experiment, roughly one-eighth (or 12.5%) of the initial amount still remained.
In real-life conditions where there’s fresh air or ventilation, any virus in a mist will get diluted pretty quickly. But in theory, if you’re in an elevator or a subway car with limited ventilation, the virus could hang out in the air for a while, Lloyd-Smith said.
He also noted that scientists aren’t sure how much virus it takes for a person to become infected.
How does that compare to measles?
Measles ranks among the most infectious diseases. One infected person can pass it on to between 12 and 40 others if they haven’t been vaccinated, according to the CDC.
For the new coronavirus, by contrast, the World Health Organization estimates that every infected person spreads it to 2 to 2.5 others, on average, at least according to data collected early in the outbreak.
That’s still worse than the seasonal flu. Depending on the influenza strain, every infected person passes the virus to 1.2 to 2 others, Lloyd-Smith said.
Will I be safe if I wash my hands and stay 6 feet from others?
Those are still prudent ways to protect yourself. And certainly, staying away from sick people — and keeping your distance from anyone else, really — will help prevent infections.
That’s why a number of states around the nation — including California, New York and Illinois — have issued orders instructing the public to stay at home as much as possible in the coming weeks to help slow the spread of the virus.
Can the coronavirus be found in fecal matter?
Yes. SARS-CoV-2 can be found in the feces of infected people. But there’s currently no evidence that it’s an efficient way to infect others, Subramanian said.
That would make it different from the coronavirus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome. Back in 2003, that virus was thought “to have spread via aerosolized fecal matter” through a faulty sewage system in a Hong Kong apartment complex with the help of bathroom exhaust fans.
“There’s nothing like that going on” with the new coronavirus, Rutherford said.
What are the risks for doctors and nurses?
Healthcare workers have a higher risk of infection because they work close to patients and can be exposed to large volumes of virus. Sometimes they perform lifesaving procedures, such as inserting a breathing tube in a patient’s windpipe, that aerosolize infected saliva.
How can they protect themselves?
Ideally, they would wear tight-fitting N95 masks, or respirators, which are designed to filter out 95% of small airborne particles. They offer more protection than the paper masks you see so often these days, but, even if properly fitted on a face, do not completely eliminate the risk of infection.
The problem is, there aren’t enough N95 masks to go around.
If the virus spreads only through droplets, conventional face masks — along with gowns, gloves and eye protection — would be sufficient. But if the virus can spread through aerosolized mist, failing to wear an N95 mask puts them at greater risk, particularly if healthcare workers are doing a procedure that aerosolizes the patient’s saliva.
Have scientists detected coronavirus in hospital rooms?
Yes. A research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. examined the rooms of three COVID-19 patients in Singapore and found genetic evidence of the virus lurking in one of them, on an air outlet fan. That suggests it’s possible “that small virus-laden droplets may be displaced by airflows and deposited on equipment such as vents,” the researchers wrote.
The authors also found viral genetic material on the toilet bowl, sink and door handle. (Stool samples from that patient were found to contain the virus.) Routine cleaning was enough to return the hospital room to a virus-free state.
The researchers couldn’t find genetic evidence of the coronavirus in the other two hospital rooms. And none of the three rooms contained air that tested positive for viral material.
Viral material was also found on a shoe covering worn by a physician.


latimes--2020-03-22--L.A. County strengthens coronavirus bans: Nail and hair salons, drive-in movies among closures

The Los Angeles County health officer has issued a stronger “ Safer at Home ” order following Gov .
Gavin Newsom ’ s unprecedented statewide order instructing 40 million Californians to stay at home as much as possible , with certain exceptions , to slow the spread of the coronavirus .
The new county order largely matches the stronger stay-at-home order issued for the city of Los Angeles by Mayor Eric Garcetti on Thursday night , just moments before the statewide order was announced .
Here ’ s what the new Los Angeles County order , issued Saturday , does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in-person operations and close to the public .
There are exceptions for essential businesses , which are detailed below .
This new order is much stronger than the one issued just two nights earlier .
The county order issued Thursday night ordered only retail businesses that were not considered essential to shut .
As a result , the new order will require more businesses to close their physical premises — specifically , nonessential businesses that are not retail stores .
People can still work from home .
All public and private gatherings are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Los Angeles County Department of Public Health , which , the order said , includes all unincorporated areas and cities in the county except Long Beach and Pasadena .
Those cities have their own health departments and have issued their own orders .
Previously , only gatherings of 10 or more people were banned .
On Thursday night , Los Angeles County had classified personal grooming services as an essential retail business exempt from an earlier order to close nonessential stores .
On Saturday night , the county clarified that personal grooming services @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Long Beach on Friday also ordered shut personal grooming services , including hair salons , barbershops , nail salons , waxing services and spas .
On Saturday morning , golfers took refuge in golf courses around the county .
By Saturday night , the county said in a statement that golf courses are ordered closed .
Essential businesses in outdoor malls and shopping centers can remain open .
Essential businesses need to take the following precautions : • Require customers , visitors and workers to be separated by 6 feet , to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with at least 60 % alcohol or hand-washing facilities with soap and water • Post a sign at the entrance instructing people to go away if they have symptoms of illness , such as having a fever or cough Restaurants are still allowed to open for pickup and delivery only , as ordered by the county earlier .
These are now closed .
The order makes clear that hiking , walking , biking or shopping at essential businesses , like grocery stores and restaurants offering pickup , are still allowed .
Indoor and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , except for those within child-care centers .
Indoor and outdoor flea markets and swap meets are ordered shut .
• Obtaining grocery items for your household or for delivery to others • Legally mandated governmental purposes , such as access to court , social and administrative services • Providing care for minors , the elderly , dependents , persons with disabilities or other vulnerable persons • Complying with an order of law enforcement or the court • Grocery stores , certified farmers markets , farm and produce stands , supermarkets , food @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and other establishments that sell canned food , dry goods , fresh produce , pet supplies , water , fresh meat , fish and poultry , and other household consumer products , including cleaning or personal care products .
These include stores that sell non-grocery products needed to maintain the safety , sanitation and essential operations of homes .
• Food processors , confectioners , food packagers , food testing labs that are not open to the public and food cultivation , including farming , livestock and fishing .
• Organizations and businesses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ services and other necessities of life for the economically disadvantaged or otherwise needy individuals , including gang prevention and intervention , domestic violence and homeless service agencies .
• Plumbers , electricians , exterminators , custodians , janitors , handymen , funeral home workers , moving services , heating-ventilation-air conditioning installers , carpenters , vegetation services , tree maintenance , landscapers , gardeners , property managers , private security personnel and other service providers who provide services to maintain the safety , sanitation and essential operation to properties and other essential businesses .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ facilitating distance learning , providing meals for pickup or performing essential functions , as long as social distancing is practiced .
• Cafeterias , commissaries and restaurants within hospitals , nursing homes and other licensed care facilities may provide dine-in service , as long as social distancing is practiced .
• Firms that supply office or computer products needed by people who work from home .
• Businesses that supply other essential businesses with support or supplies needed to operate .
• Businesses that ship , truck or provide logistical support or deliver @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to residences , essential businesses , healthcare operations and essential infrastructure .
• Residential facilities and shelters for homeless residents , disabled persons , seniors , adults , children and animals .
• Professional services , such as legal , payroll or accounting services , when needed to assist with legally mandated activities , and the permitting , inspection , construction , transfer and recording of ownership of housing , including residential and commercial real estate and anything incidental thereto .
• Military , defense contractors and federally funded research and development centers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to provide any service or perform any work deemed essential for national security , including , but not limited to , defense , intelligence and aerospace development and manufacturing for the Department of Defense , intelligence community and NASA and other federal government agencies .
Essential personnel include contractors .
• Child-care facilities providing services that enable employees exempted by this order to work .
To the extent possible , child-care facilities must operate under the following mandatory conditions : • Child care must be carried out in stable groups of 12 or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same 12 or fewer children are in the same group each day ) .
• Children shall not change from one group to another .
• If more than one group of children is cared for at one facility , each group shall be in a separate room • Child-care providers shall remain solely with one group of children .
• Construction workers who support construction , operation , inspection and maintenance of construction sites and construction projects , including for housing .
The state exempted workers in 16 sectors from California ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Long Beach on Friday provided several clarifications to its order : • Businesses that provide death care services , such as removal , care and preparation , and interment of deceased persons or animals , are allowed to remain open

On the first day of Los Angeles County’s “Safer at Home” order, traffic is light on Interstate 10.
The Los Angeles County health officer has issued a stronger “Safer at Home” order following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s unprecedented statewide order instructing 40 million Californians to stay at home as much as possible, with certain exceptions, to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The new county order largely matches the stronger stay-at-home order issued for the city of Los Angeles by Mayor Eric Garcetti on Thursday night, just moments before the statewide order was announced.
Here’s what the new Los Angeles County order, issued Saturday, does:
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All businesses ordered shut, with exceptions
All businesses were ordered to cease in-person operations and close to the public. There are exceptions for essential businesses, which are detailed below.
This new order is much stronger than the one issued just two nights earlier.
The county order issued Thursday night ordered only retail businesses that were not considered essential to shut.
As a result, the new order will require more businesses to close their physical premises — specifically, nonessential businesses that are not retail stores. People can still work from home.
All gatherings are banned
All public and private gatherings are prohibited anywhere within the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which, the order said, includes all unincorporated areas and cities in the county except Long Beach and Pasadena. Those cities have their own health departments and have issued their own orders.
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Previously, only gatherings of 10 or more people were banned.
Nail and hair salons are ordered shut
On Thursday night, Los Angeles County had classified personal grooming services as an essential retail business exempt from an earlier order to close nonessential stores. On Saturday night, the county clarified that personal grooming services “are nonessential services that are closed.”
Long Beach on Friday also ordered shut personal grooming services, including hair salons, barbershops, nail salons , waxing services and spas.
Golf courses ordered shut
On Saturday morning, golfers took refuge in golf courses around the county. By Saturday night, the county said in a statement that golf courses are ordered closed.
Indoor malls and shopping centers
Indoor malls and shopping centers must shut.
Essential businesses in outdoor malls and shopping centers can remain open.
How essential businesses must operate
Essential businesses need to take the following precautions:
Require customers, visitors and workers to be separated by 6 feet, to the extent feasible
Provide hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol or hand-washing facilities with soap and water
Post a sign at the entrance instructing people to go away if they have symptoms of illness, such as having a fever or cough
Clean and sanitize the premises
Restaurants
Restaurants are still allowed to open for pickup and delivery only, as ordered by the county earlier.
Bars, gyms, movie theaters
Still closed.
Drive-in movie theaters
These are now closed.
Walks and hikes allowed
The order makes clear that hiking, walking, biking or shopping at essential businesses, like grocery stores and restaurants offering pickup, are still allowed.
Playgrounds
Indoor and outdoor playgrounds for children are ordered shut, except for those within child-care centers.
Flea markets and swap meets
Indoor and outdoor flea markets and swap meets are ordered shut.
Tracking the coronavirus in California The latest maps and charts on the spread of COVID-19 in California.
Essential activities exempt from this order
Visiting a health or veterinary care professional
Obtaining medical supplies or medication
Obtaining grocery items for your household or for delivery to others
Legally mandated governmental purposes, such as access to court, social and administrative services
Providing care for minors, the elderly, dependents, persons with disabilities or other vulnerable persons
Complying with an order of law enforcement or the court
Essential businesses exempt from this order
Grocery stores, certified farmers markets, farm and produce stands, supermarkets, food banks, convenience stores, warehouse stores and other establishments that sell canned food, dry goods, fresh produce, pet supplies, water, fresh meat, fish and poultry, and other household consumer products, including cleaning or personal care products. These include stores that sell non-grocery products needed to maintain the safety, sanitation and essential operations of homes.
Food processors, confectioners, food packagers, food testing labs that are not open to the public and food cultivation, including farming, livestock and fishing.
Organizations and businesses that provide food, shelter, social services and other necessities of life for the economically disadvantaged or otherwise needy individuals, including gang prevention and intervention, domestic violence and homeless service agencies.
Newspapers, TV, radio, magazine, podcast and journalism activities.
Gas station, auto supply, mobile auto repair operations, auto repair shops, bicycle repair shops and related facilities.
Banks, credit unions, insurance companies and financial institutions.
Plumbers, electricians, exterminators, custodians, janitors, handymen, funeral home workers, moving services, heating-ventilation-air conditioning installers, carpenters, vegetation services, tree maintenance, landscapers, gardeners, property managers, private security personnel and other service providers who provide services to maintain the safety, sanitation and essential operation to properties and other essential businesses.
Businesses providing mailing and shipping services, including post office boxes.
Educational institutions for the purposes of facilitating distance learning, providing meals for pickup or performing essential functions, as long as social distancing is practiced.
Laundromats, dry cleaners and laundry service providers.
Restaurants for delivery or takeout.
Cafeterias, commissaries and restaurants within hospitals, nursing homes and other licensed care facilities may provide dine-in service, as long as social distancing is practiced.
Firms that supply office or computer products needed by people who work from home.
Businesses that supply other essential businesses with support or supplies needed to operate.
Businesses that ship, truck or provide logistical support or deliver groceries, food, goods or services to residences, essential businesses, healthcare operations and essential infrastructure.
Home-based care for seniors, adults, disabled persons or children.
Residential facilities and shelters for homeless residents, disabled persons, seniors, adults, children and animals.
Professional services, such as legal, payroll or accounting services, when needed to assist with legally mandated activities, and the permitting, inspection, construction, transfer and recording of ownership of housing, including residential and commercial real estate and anything incidental thereto.
Military, defense contractors and federally funded research and development centers; essential personnel may leave their homes to provide any service or perform any work deemed essential for national security, including, but not limited to, defense, intelligence and aerospace development and manufacturing for the Department of Defense, intelligence community and NASA and other federal government agencies. Essential personnel include contractors.
Child-care facilities providing services that enable employees exempted by this order to work. To the extent possible, child-care facilities must operate under the following mandatory conditions: Child care must be carried out in stable groups of 12 or fewer (“stable” means the same 12 or fewer children are in the same group each day). Children shall not change from one group to another. If more than one group of children is cared for at one facility, each group shall be in a separate room Groups shall not mix. Child-care providers shall remain solely with one group of children.
Hotels, motels, shared rental units and similar facilities.
Construction workers who support construction, operation, inspection and maintenance of construction sites and construction projects, including for housing.
Workers exempted from the state’s stay-at-home order
The state exempted workers in 16 sectors from California’s stay-at-home order.
Long Beach exceptions
The city of Long Beach on Friday provided several clarifications to its order: