Coronavirus Updates: Bay Area Schools Scramble to Prepare in Case of Shutdown

Coronavirus in California SATURDAY: Bay Area Schools Scramble to Prepare in Case of ShutdownSATURDAY: San Francisco Issues More Stringent Public Health RecommendationsFRIDAY: Pence Says 21 People on Grand Princess Test PositiveFRIDAY: South by Southwest CancelledFRIDAY: Contra Costa County: People Over 50 Should Avoid Mass GatheringsFRIDAY: Keeping Seniors in Nursing Homes SafeFRIDAY: SF Coronavirus Alert SystemFRIDAY: SF’s Lowell High Closes

Bay Area Schools Scramble to Prepare in Case of Shutdown(10:16 a.m.)

As the coronavirus bears down on Northern California, school districts are scrambling to prepare, KQED’s Vanessa Rancaño reports. The California Department of Education issued updated guidance Thursday emphasizing that decisions to close schools are made at the local level and CDE will not be providing directives.

According to the Alameda County Public Health Department, a single presumptive positive case of the virus among students or staff could trigger a recommendation to close for up to 14 days. The department released a guidance document for schools Friday.

“Expect that this is going to happen,” said Alameda County Office of Education spokesperson Michelle Smith-McDonald. “Don’t know who, don’t know where, but expect that we’re going to have confirmations as we begin to test more people.”

San Francisco’s new public health recommendations, released Friday, instruct schools and parents to develop plans in case a citywide closure becomes necessary.

In addition to determining when to close, schools must also consider alternative educational plans, and it’s proving no small task. Berkeley Unified School District officials held a shutdown contingency meeting late this week and there were more questions than answers.

“Like many districts in California and probably around the country, we currently have no process in place to accommodate distance learning at this kind of a scale,” said district spokeswoman Trish McDermott. “There are a lot of challenges.”

Like other districts, Berkeley has assembled a team of administrators to develop contingency plans and assess distance learning options. District leaders are considering providing families with a “menu of resources” including links to local library resources, Khan Academy courses or resources that could be accessed from home, though they acknowledge this only helps students with computers and access to the internet.

Read the full story from KQED education reporter Vanessa Rancaño here.

San Francisco Issues More Stringent Public Health Recommendations (Friday, 7 p.m.)

The San Francisco Department of Public Health Friday announced new recommendations that rely on “social distancing” for preventing the spread of the coronavirus. The department acknowledged adherence to these guidelines would “cause changes in behavior for systems and individuals. They are meant to disrupt normal social behavior, because the virus thrives under normal circumstances.” Notably, the department says schools should develop plans and parents should prepare for a  citywide closure should it occur.

The recommendations cover individuals, businesses, schools, transit agencies, and nonessential large gatherings, such as concerts, conventions, and sports events. (The St. Patrick’s Day parade was postponed Friday.) The department says it expects the recommendations to stand for an initial period of two weeks, while it assesses whether they need to be adjusted.

There is still no recommendation for members of the general public to wear a mask, but the usual guidance for individuals applies: Wash your hands, cover coughs and sneezes, avoid touching your face, stay home when sick, and avoid shaking hands. Here are the new recommendations:

Vulnerable Populations

Vulnerable populations are defined as those 60 and older as well as people with heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, diabetes, weak immune systems and other conditions.

Anyone fitting these descriptions should avoid gatherings of 50 people or more and should try to stay away from those who are sick.

Workplaces and Businesses

No nonessential employee travel Keep employees who work within arm’s length of one another to a minimum Cancel large in-person meetings Employees should stay home if sick and employers should not require a doctor’s note Employers should maximize sick leave flexibility Consider implementation of telecommuting

Schools

Schools should develop a plan for citywide school closure, and families should prepare for that possibility. Remote teaching and online options should be explored. Students and teachers should stay home if sick Parents of children with chronic health conditions should consult their doctor All classrooms should have hand sanitizers and tissues Reschedule or cancel nonessential medium to large events

Large Events and Gatherings

Cancel or postpone concerts, sporting events, conventions and large community gatherings.

If these events take place, hand sanitizers and tissues should be made available and people should have a place to wash their hands. Organizers should frequently clean surfaces that are frequently touched. Close contact should be minimized.

Health Care Patients and Facilities

The general public, even those who are not ill, should avoid hospitals, nursing homes and long-term care facilities. People should only make visits to emergency rooms that are essential. If you’re ill, see if you can be helped over the phone. Long-term care facilities must put in place COVID-19 plans that conform to Department of Public Health guidelines. They must also screen all staff and visitors for symptoms, and anyone with symptoms should be barred from entry.

Transit

Transit agencies should increase cleaning of vehicles and surfaces that are touched frequently. Hand sanitizers, tissues, and hand-washing capability should be provided.

Read the full recommendations here.

Pence: 21 People on Grand Princess Test Positive (4:30 p.m.)

Twenty-one people aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship off the coast of California have tested positive for the coronavirus disease COVID-19, Vice President Pence announced Friday

The Grand Princess had been returning to San Francisco after a cruise to Hawaii and has been kept away from port while a small portion of the roughly 3,500 people on board are tested for the coronavirus.

Pence said of 46 tests conducted so far on the ship, 19 crew members and 2 passengers tested positive, while 24 people were negative and one was inconclusive.

The ship will now be brought into a noncommercial port where all passengers and crew will be tested for coronavirus, the vice president said during a briefing at the White House. Some people onboard may be quarantined, he said, emphasizing that measures will be taken to avoid spreading the virus. (NPR)

South by Southwest Cancelled (2:25 p.m.)

An Update on SXSW 2020. Please read our full statement here: https://t.co/P56nF8KFmE pic.twitter.com/ouJPKM9GNy

— SXSW (@sxsw) March 6, 2020

The festival said in a statement:

“We are exploring options to reschedule the event and are working to provide a virtual SXSW online experience as soon as possible for 2020 participants, starting with SXSW EDU. For our registrants, clients, and participants we will be in touch as soon as possible and will publish an FAQ.”

Contra Costa County: People Over 50 Should Avoid Mass Gatherings (10:46 a.m.)

Contra Costa Health Services Friday tightened its community guidance to slow the spread of the virus.

Officials now recommend that people over 50 or those with medical conditions avoid “mass gatherings, such as parades, sporting events or concerts.”

County health officials also confirmed three new cases of the coronavirus. Two of the individuals were passengers aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship on its trip to Mexico Feb. 11-21.

Another traveler on the Grand Princess from that trip died in Placer County Wednesday from the disease. Two Sonoma County passengers are presumptive cases.

Keeping Seniors in Nursing Homes Safe (9:28 a.m.)

Bay Area nursing homes and senior service providers are responding to the risk of novel coronavirus by implementing emergency measures and consulting public health officials each day. Among the precautions, staff and clients are increasing hand washing, stockpiling protective equipment, canceling public events and screening all visitors, including vendors and family members, who have traveled internationally in recent weeks.

Health officials in Santa Clara County, which confirmed at least 20 coronavirus cases Thursday, have advised nursing homes to cancel gatherings like bingo or movie night, and to enhance screening measures generally. The advisory also noted that a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team is onsite at the county’s Public Health Department. Full story here

SF COVID-19 Alert System (6:39 a.m.)

San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management and the County Department of Public Health have announced a COVID-19 public information text message alert system. San Franciscans can now text COVID19SF to 888-777 to receive real-time, official text updates about the novel coronavirus situation in San Francisco. Officials say the system will be used to get the word out about latest information and instructions, as well as the cancellation of any major events or public facility closures, should they become necessary.

San Francisco’s Lowell High School Close (6:39 a.m.)

San Francisco’s Lowell High School is closed today. The San Francisco Unified School District announced Thursday that officials at the Lake Merced area campus learned that a relative of a student is being treated for COVID-19. Lowell officials said “out of an abundance of caution” they decided to close the school and cancel all events “for the time being.” District officials say they plan to give an update before Monday on when the school might reopen. The student has been assessed by public health officials and does not have any symptoms, according to SFUSD.  District officials say the student is in “self-quarantine.”

March 5

Tests Being Processed in Richmond State Lab (10:16 p.m.)

Princess Cruises issued an update tonight, saying samples were collected Thursday from 45 people on the Grand Princess — given by a mixture of guests and crew members. They were then delivered to the state public health lab in Richmond. Results are expected to be be ready sometime tomorrow.

Following guidance from the CDC, the update says all guests have been asked to stay in their staterooms while test results are pending. Guests are receiving meals via room service.

The cruise line confirms there are 3,533 people total aboard the Grand Princess, 2,422 guests and 1,111 crew, representing 54 nationalities.

Cruise Ship Testing Begins  (5:12 p.m.)

The Grand Princess cruise ship is idling in the Pacific Ocean off San Francisco, while health officials test passengers for the novel coronavirus.

With help from para-jumpers with the California National Guard, state health officials collected samples from people aboard the vessel.

Using cables and harnesses, the para-jumpers lowered themselves from helicopters onto the deck of the Grand Princess Thursday.

The state guardsmembers brought coronavirus test kits for about 100 people currently aboard the ship.

There are about 3,500 people total on the Grand Princess.

The helicopters flew from Moffett Field in the South Bay.

The kits are being transported to a state lab in Richmond.

Health officials say test results could be available as soon as tomorrow morning.

Sonoma County: Shuttle Passengers From Prior Grand Princess Cruise Test Positive (3:04 p.m.)

Sonoma County health officials said Thursday that 78 county residents were aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship when it sailed from San Francisco to Mexico on Feb. 11. The ship returned to San Francisco on Feb. 21 before departing on another voyage to Hawaii.

Jennifer Larocque, spokesperson for the county’s health department, said two residents of Sonoma County who were on the initial cruise to Mexico have tested positive for novel coronavirus.

Larocque said those two patients were among 25 Grand Princess passengers from Sonoma County who rode a shuttle together after disembarking.

The health department is reaching out to the other passengers who were on the cruise.

“The 14-day window of risk of exposure for the cruise ends tomorrow,” Larocque said on Thursday. “If passengers that were on the ship have not experienced symptoms yet, they likely will not.”

The Grand Princess is currently being held off the coast of Monterey while some of its current passengers are being tested for the virus. Another passenger who traveled on the Grand Princess cruise to Mexico, a 71 year-old man from Placer County, died Wednesday of complications caused by COVID-19.

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said Thursday that approximately 100 San Francisco residents were aboard the same cruise. Officials say they are in the process of contacting the passengers.

Marin County’s chief Medical officer, Dr. Matt Willis, says that 55 people from Marin County were also on the voyage.

The County, Willis says, is notifying passengers and that those with symptoms will be tested.

New California Cases (1:00 p.m.)

County health departments in California continued to announce new cases of novel coronavirus on Thursday

The Sonoma County Department of Health Services announced a second presumptive positive patient in the county. The person traveled on the Grand Princess cruise ship that departed San Francisco on Feb. 11 for the Mexican Riviera and returned on Feb. 21.

Los Angeles county health officials announced four news cases in patients that had all traveled to Italy, where more than 3,000 people have tested positive for the virus.

Attorney General Announces Anti-Price Gouging Rules for Coronavirus Supplies (12:30 p.m.)

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the state has enacted an anti-price-gouging law to protect consumers and health care providers from price increases related to the spread of novel coronavirus in California.

“Businesses cannot exploit this state of emergency to unlawfully raise prices and attempt to unscrupulously profit off this emergency,” Becerra said at a press conference Thursday in Los Angeles.

The law applies to price increases of over 10% compared to prices before the state’s emergency declaration Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. It covers — but is not limited to — emergency supplies like hand sanitizer, medical supplies, food and drink.

Violators could face up to a year in jail and fines up to $10,000 per violation.

Becerra said his office has heard numerous reports of raised prices for items like toilet paper and hand sanitizer. His office has also heard from health care providers about price increases for some products they use to care for patients.

The attorney general says if consumers believe they have a case of price gouging to report, they can call their local police or sheriff’s department, or contact the Attorney General’s office at 1-800-952-5225.

First Two Cases in San Francisco (11:20 a.m.)

The first two cases of novel coronavirus infection have been detected in San Francisco, Mayor London Breed announced at a press conference Thursday.

The two patients are being treated at separate hospitals in San Francisco, and the cases appear unrelated.

Health officials said neither patient had a recent travel history or contact with a person known to be infected with the virus, so they are cases of community exposure.

Full story here.

Cruise Ship Held Off California Coast (10:45 a.m.)

Scrambling to keep the coronavirus at bay, officials ordered a cruise ship with about 3,500 people to hold back from the California coast Thursday to await testing of those on board, after a passenger on an earlier voyage on the ship died and at least one other became infected.

A Coast Guard helicopter was expected to deliver test kits to the Grand Princess once it reached the waters off San Francisco later in the day. Princess Cruise Lines said fewer than 100 of those aboard had been identified for testing. San Francisco health officials said they expect results to come back early Friday.

“The ship will not come on shore until we appropriately assess the passengers,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said. (AP) Full story here.

Worker Protection Bill Introduced (10:25 a.m.)

A new bill aimed at protecting workers from being fired or retaliated against if they miss work due to compliance with a quarantine order is being introduced by State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, her office announced Thursday.

Under AB 3123, workers can also use sick leave if their employer is ordered to shut down by a public official due to a health emergency, or if they’re providing care to their kids if their school is shut down.

Newsom Declares State of Emergency (7:36 a.m.)In a press conference broadcast live on social media, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Wednesday afternoon.

LIVE: Governor @GavinNewsom and State Health Officials hold a #COVID19 briefing in Sacramento. https://t.co/epnqSKL40h

— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) March 5, 2020

The declaration came after the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in California grew to 53 people and a resident of Placer County died after contracting the virus.

The person, who was elderly with underlying health conditions, was a guest aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship, before departing at a stop in San Francisco. The ship continued onto Hawaii, but it has been called back to San Francisco, where it will be held off the coast of California until all the passengers are tested for the coronavirus.

Newsom said California is deploying “every level of government” to help identify cases and slow the spread of the coronavirus.

“This emergency proclamation will help the state further prepare our communities and our health care system in the event it spreads more broadly,” he said, adding that the emergency declaration is not about acquiring more money to fight the coronavirus.

“It’s about resourcefulness, it’s about our ability to add tools to the toolkit,” he said. The proclamation allows the state to bring in health care workers from outside California, and includes protections for consumers against price gouging.

“We are seeing literally small hand sanitizers going for as much $17,” Newsom said. “I’ve seen some online for even more. That’s unconscionable — that’s usurious.”

As part of an $8.3 billion emergency package approved by Congress today, California will receive $37 million in grants. On Monday, Newsom requested $20 million from the state legislature for emergency response.

In his remarks, Newsom also announced that California asked the Grand Princess cruise ship, now en route, to anchor off the coast before making port in San Francisco.

The state is flying thousands of test kits out to the ship, which will be processed at a lab in Richmond.

“The ship will not come onshore and tour till we appropriately assess the passengers and appropriately assess the protocols and procedures,” he said.

The Grand Princess cruise ship is now under investigation as the CDC probes a “small cluster” of coronavirus patients who were aboard, according to the cruise line. Another passenger who contracted the COVID-19 virus is now in stable condition at a hospital in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco.

Newsom said California obtained the ship’s manifest and is working closely with the CDC and the state’s health care partners to contact all the people who disembarked when the Grand Princess docked previously in San Francisco.

These are passengers who could have been exposed to coronavirus from the Placer County individual who later died. The person had symptoms as early as Feb. 19, according to Placer County Health Officer Aimee Sisson, and disembarked in San Francisco on Feb. 21.

CDC Director Robert Redfield said Wednesday at a White House briefing that staff are at the beginning of this effort, “looking at the manifest to make sure that we understand who has gotten off the cruise and where they got off the cruise.”

First Patient with COVID-19 in California Dies

Placer County Public Health is reporting that a resident has died of COVID-19. The person, an elderly adult with underlying health conditions, was the second confirmed case of COVID-19 in the county and is now the first instance of someone dying from the illness in California.

The patient tested positive on Tuesday at a California lab and was likely exposed to the coronavirus during international travel from Feb. 11-21 on a Princess cruise ship that departed San Francisco to Mexico. The patient was in isolation at Kaiser Permanente, Roseville.

County health officials say this case is travel-related and does not represent local transmission, but they believe local transmission is likely in the future.

Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the following statement regarding the death of the Placer County patient:

“Jennifer and I extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones affected by this death in Placer County. The state is working with federal officials to follow up on contact tracing of individuals that may have been exposed to provide treatment and protect public health.

“This case demonstrates the need for continued local, state and federal partnership to identify and slow the spread of this virus. California is working around the clock to keep our communities safe, healthy and informed.”

Another Cruise Ship Cluster

Officials with Princess Cruises said today its Grand Princess cruise ship, now en route to San Francisco from Hawaii after a “Mexican Riviera” cruise, was the location of a “small cluster” of COVID-19 cases aboard a prior cruise of the same name on the same ship.

One of the guests aboard the previous “Mexican Riviera” voyage on Wednesday became the first California patient to die of COVID-19, according to Placer County Health officials. They describe the person as elderly, with underlying health conditions.

A total of 62 guests sailed on the previous Mexico voyage and stayed on board for the Hawaii trip. The cruise line told those passengers that they may have been exposed to coronavirus and are being required by the CDC to remain in their staterooms until cleared by medical staff. There are about 2,500 passengers on the ship, according to Governor Newson, not counting crew. Roughly fifty percent of the passengers are from California.

San Francisco City officials said in a statement Wednesday that some passengers aboard the current voyage of Grand Princess have developed “influenza-like symptoms.” The city says it is working with the CDC, the U.S. Coast Guard, the California Department of Public Health and Princess Cruises to provide care to all affected passengers and crew on board the vessel.

Governor Newsom said the Grand Princess Cruise ship is being held somewhere offshore until testing of passengers can be conducted.

Princess Cruises also owns the Diamond Princess, quarantined in Yokohama, Japan, in early February, because of a COVID-19 outbreak.

Los Angeles County Cases

Earlier Wednesday, officials in Los Angeles County announced that six new cases of the coronavirus had been confirmed, up from one previously.

All of the Los Angeles County cases confirmed Tuesday night were due to a known exposure and not the result of community transmission, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the county Department of Public Health, told reporters.

One person was hospitalized and five others were in self-quarantine at home, she said. Officials have tested more than two dozen people for the virus since January and most tests came back negative.

Ferrer said Los Angeles County health officials expect more cases to be confirmed in the future and have increased the county’s capacity to test at a local laboratory.

Sonoma County Health Alert

The Sonoma County health department has sent out its highest-level alert to health providers after testing showed a presumptive positive for the infection in a resident.

From the alert:

Providers who come across patients who were on the cruise should be screened for COVID-19 symptoms, the alert says. Those with symptoms should be reported to the county’s Disease Control Unit so they can be tested.

Covid-19 Numbers (10:30 a.m.)

At least 53 Californians have now been confirmed to have COVID-19, and the last few days have seen a sharp rise in cases as testing has ramped up. The San Francisco Chronicle is tracking all California cases by county in this interactive map.

We’re monitoring the latest developments related to the epidemic and will update this post as news comes in.

Santa Clara County Warns People Over 50 of Increased Risk

Santa Clara County Public Health officials said Tuesday that the risk of severe illness starts to increase at age 50 for anyone who contracts Covid-19, and increases with age, and to cancel attending large public gatherings.  Health officials gave examples like movie screenings or bingo. The highest risk group are people age 80 and over. Also at risk is anyone with underlying health problems, like diabetes, cancer or those who are immunocompromised.

March 3 Stories

First Berkeley Case

A Berkeley resident has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the city announced Tuesday, the first known case of an infection in Berkeley. The patient returned home on Feb. 23 from an overseas trip and “largely stayed at home in a voluntary self-imposed quarantine,” according to the city’s press release.

The city will  hold a “Twitter town hall” with Dr. Lisa Hernandez, Berkeley’s public health officer, starting 12 p.m. on Friday, March 6.

You can tweet questions to @CityofBerkeley using the hashtag #BerkCOVID19, or use this online form to submit anonymously, the city said.

Meanwhile, in Santa Clara County, the public health department on Tuesday announced two more infections, bringing the county total to 11.

Tech Conferences Called Off

Google on Tuesday announced it is cancelling its I/O developer conference at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View over coronavirus concerns.  That is just the latest in a cascade of tech conference postponements, cancellations and online-only migrations. Among the change of plans are Facebook’s axing its F8 developer conference in San Jose; Adobe Summit 2020 moving from Las Vegas to the Internet; Google Cloud Next abandoning San Francisco for online, and the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco postponing until sometime in the summer.

Twitter has suspended all noncritical business travel, the company said in a blog post Sunday, until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or World Health Organization “deem it appropriate to step back from pandemic precautionary measures or when a vaccine becomes available.” The company is also encouraging all employees to work from home.

“This will slow spending on tourism,” said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto, about all the cancellations. “It’s a smaller part of the slowdown in trade and activity that is coming from the worldwide spread of the virus. What we don’t know is the magnitude. That depends on how long the coronavirus situation lasts. But, it will be a hit to our convention and tourism activity here in the Bay Area.”

So far, South by Southwest, due to begin in 10 days, is still going forward. But the Austin Statesman has a page up called “Here’s Who’s Not Coming.” In that category:  Facebook, Intel, Mashable and TikTok, among others.

Apple-oriented media are now speculating  on whether the company’s Worldwide Developers’ Conference, scheduled for June in San Jose, will actually take place.

Fauci Speaks

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and one of the most esteemed immunologists in the field, was about as quotable as it gets in an interview with Politico published early this morning.

“I don’t think that we are going to get out of this completely unscathed,” he said about COVID-19. “I think that this is going to be one of those things we look back on and say boy, that was bad.”

Later, he said the severity of the epidemic in the U.S. could range from “really, really bad” to  “mild,” but not “that mild,” depending on the level of mobilization in the country.

Fauci also discussed the quandary of keeping the public informed in the face of an administration, and especially a president, particularly averse to publicizing bad news.

“You should never destroy your own credibility. And you don’t want to go to war with a president,” Faucis aid. “But you got to walk the fine balance of making sure you continue to tell the truth.”

SF Mayor London Breed Slams Administration

Breed, who is probably not in the habit of writing to Mike Pence, expressed “grave concerns about the lack of funding, guidance, and support for local jurisdictions from the federal government” in a letter Tuesday sent to the vice president regarding the  administration’s “anemic response” to the epidemic.

The letter cites “the disastrous decision” by the administration to let the national security team responsible for responding to global pandemics collapse in the face of key officials resigning or leaving in 2018.

Breed also said the $2.6 billion in federal funds earmarked for the epidemic is insufficient, and that the lack of tests “is a national disgrace.” She called on the federal government to ramp up its medical response in local communities and to provide them with needed supplies of respirators, gowns, goggles and face masks for health care workers.

You can read Breed’s letter here.

‘What’s Weird About This Virus…’ A COVID-19 Patient From California Speaks

COVID-19 patient Carl Goldman, who owns radio station KHTS-AM in Santa Clarita in Los Angeles County, talks to Vox’s “Today Explained” from CDC quarantine in Omaha.

“What’s weird about this virus is a lot of the symptoms are like a mild cold for me without any of the dripping nose, no sneezing, no body aches; it was simply a very, very high fever that spiked for about 10 hours, disappeared, came back as a low-grade fever about two days later, and other than that and being dehydrated a bit from the fever, I do not have any symptoms of the virus, even though I’m still testing positive so … I’m still contagious; I’m not going to be allowed out of here until authorities are sure that I’m not going to be contagious.”

You can read Goldman’s ongoing blog about his experience here.

Coronavirus Trackers

The San Francisco Chronicle is tracking all the confirmed cases in California by county.

Worldwide, you can’t beat Johns Hopkins’ interactive map. Importantly, they are also tracking the number of recovered patients.

San Francisco to Begin Testing

Following an emergency declaration by the city last week in response to the novel coronavirus, San Francisco city leaders announced on Monday they’re preparing for possible cases.

During a news conference inside City Hall, Mayor London Breed, along with Department of Public Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax, said the city’s health department will begin testing for the virus at city facilities.

Because there have been no cases so far in the city of the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, Breed urged the public not to become alarmed, but rather to take precautions.

“We don’t want anyone to jump to any conclusions or to jump to fear, because we know that fear will make it possible that less likely, people will come forward when symptoms do occur,” she said.

Colfax said, once the health department begins testing, it will be able to see results within 1 to 2 days, faster than the 3 to 7 days turnaround time from tests sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention labs in Atlanta.

However, Colfax said, the test kits the city received from the CDC are limited, so on-demand tests will not be available.

For now, if primary health care providers suspect a patient might have the virus, they will consult the public health department, which will then consult with the CDC before testing can start.

Patients will not have to pay for the tests.

Colfax said the health department is reaching out to patients with chronic diseases and complex medical needs, encouraging them to see their physicians now and to make sure they have medication for the next three months, in order to free up the city’s health care system.

Additionally, medical professionals are working with nursing homes to ensure that staff and residents are trained to recognize the symptoms of the coronavirus, in order to provide a rapid response.

Colfax also said the health department is working with the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to provide outreach at shelters, Navigation Centers, residential treatment centers and other places.

Also starting this week, the city has activated more than 50 additional disaster service workers, which includes analysts, administrative staff, bilingual employees and public information officers, as well as others, all trained in the city’s incident command system.

The Big Picture Globally

The coronavirus crisis shifted increasingly westward toward Europe and the United States on Tuesday, with the U.S. Federal Reserve announcing the biggest interest-rate cut in over a decade to try to fend off damage to the world’s biggest economy.

The disease reached deep into Iran’s government, where 23 members of Parliament and the head of the country’s emergency services were reported infected. South Korea started drive-thru testing. The French government announced it is requisitioning supplies of protective masks. And nearly 100 Spanish health care workers were held in isolation.

Virus clusters in the United States led schools and subways to sanitize, quickened the search for a vaccine and spread fears among nursing home residents, who are especially vulnerable.

“We are in uncharted territory,” World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

The mushrooming outbreaks contrasted with optimism in China, where thousands of recovered patients were going home and the number of new infections dropped to the lowest level in several weeks.

On Wall Street, stocks jumped after the Federal Reserve announced the emergency rate cut. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the coronavirus “poses evolving risks to economic activity.” Other Group of Seven countries appeared more reluctant to follow suit, probably because many of their interest rates are already near or below zero.

The U.S. count of COVID-19 cases topped 100, spread across at least 11 states. Six people have died, all in Washington state.

Capitol Hill aides said negotiations are nearing completion on an emergency bill to fund the development of a vaccine and offer disaster loans to businesses hurt by the crisis.

Surgeon General Jerome Adams, a leading public health official in the U.S., urged calm: “Caution, preparedness, but not panic.”

Iran’s supreme leader ordered the military to assist health officials in fighting the virus, which authorities said has killed 77 people — the deadliest outbreak outside China. Among the dead are a confidant of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s former ambassador to the Vatican and a recently elected member of Parliament.

Iran’s judiciary chief, Ebrahim Raisi, said some people are stockpiling medical supplies for profit and urged prosecutors to show no mercy.

“Hoarding sanitizing items is playing with people’s lives, and it is not ignorable,” he said.

France’s president announced the government will take control of current and future stocks of face masks to ensure they could go to health workers and coronavirus patients, and the finance minister warned that binge-shopping for household essentials could trigger shortages.

South Korea saw its largest daily increase in new cases Tuesday, with 851 more infections reported, largely in and around the southeastern city of Daegu. In all, 5,186 in South Korea have tested positive for the virus.

In the capital of Seoul, drive-thru virus testing centers began operating, with workers dressed head-to-toe in white protective suits leaning into cars with mouth swabs, a move meant to limit contact with possible carriers of the illness. Troops were also dispatched across the city to spray streets and alleys with disinfectant.

Worldwide, more than 90,000 people have been sickened and 3,100 have died. The number of countries hit by the virus has reached at least 70, with Ukraine and Morocco reporting their first cases.

In China, the count of new cases dropped again Tuesday, with just 125 reported. It is still by far the hardest-hit country, with over 80,000 infections and about 95% of the world’s deaths.

The count of infected people in Italy climbed to 2,036 with 52 dead, and officials said it could take up to two weeks to know whether measures including quarantines in 11 northern towns are working.

In Japan, questions continued to build about the fate of the Olympics.

The country’s Olympic minister, Seiko Hashimoto, said Japan is “making the utmost effort” to proceed with the games’ opening on July 24 in Tokyo. But she told parliament that the country’s contract with the International Olympic Committee specifies only that the games be held in 2020, meaning they could be postponed to later in the year if necessary.

March 2, 2020, 6:46 p.m. 

The coronavirus spread to ever more countries and world capitals Monday — and the U.S. death toll climbed to six — even as new cases in China dropped to their lowest level in over a month.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom is asking the Legislature to approve up to $20 million from a state disaster response emergency account to help fight the spread of the virus.

Newsom also put the State Operations Center in Mather, designed to respond to catastrophic events around the clock, at its second-highest level.

In the Bay Area, San Mateo County also activated its emergency operations center, and Alameda County declared a local public health emergency.

There are now 10 public health labs in the state that have begun testing, the California Department of Public Health said, with 10 more coming online in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, those who are just now getting around to laying in supplies for an extended quarantine period at home — if and when that becomes necessary — are finding a lots of people already had the same idea, as grocery stores have begun to run low on nonperishable food items, water and emergency supplies.

Residents are reacting to  the steady upward climb of cases in the region, the state, the nation and internationally. Here in the Bay Area, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department announced two new cases Monday and three on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases in the county to nine.

A resident from San Mateo has also tested positive for the virus, pending confirmation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the county health department said.

Sonoma County also confirmed a presumptive positive case. The county’s health department says the patient recently returned from a cruise ship that left San Francisco and was headed to Mexico. The patient is being isolated at a local hospital and is in stable condition, the department said.

The Alameda County Public Health Department and Solano Public Health say three health care workers at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital have presumptively tested positive for COVID-19. Both individuals were exposed to a confirmed case, the Solano health department said in a statement.

Hospital Workers’ Possible Exposure

On Monday, Solano County Public Health Officer Bela Matyas said VacaValley Hospital had checked 93 employees who might have had contact with an infected COVID-19 patient. About three dozen of the workers had symptoms of the virus and were tested. Results showed three presumptive positives, with about a half-dozen results still pending.

Last Friday, the largest union of registered nurses in the U.S. said UC Davis Medical Center had asked 124 nurses and health care workers to self-quarantine at home after having been exposed to the new coronavirus through a patient who had been admitted to the hospital. (UC Davis Medical Center disputed that number today, without releasing a revised figure.)

So What Is a ‘Presumptive Case’ of the Novel Coronavirus?

As you’ve read, a new term is being bandied about by the media in its coronavirus coverage: “presumptive case.” According to Matyas, when local agencies first start running their own tests to detect a pathogen, the results must be confirmed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Before that occurs, local results must officially use a qualifying “presumptive.”

“The test was developed by the CDC and approved by the FDA, and the materials to run the test are being manufactured so other laboratories can run the test as well,” Matyas said. “Each time one of those other laboratories starts testing, part of the validation process is for CDC to double check their accuracy. So for the first certain number of positives that are found, CDC has to confirm those as positives also.”

Once CDC is satisfied the local tests are accurate, the agency can confirm the cases on its own.

“But from our perspective, we’re acting on every presumptive as though it has been confirmed because we don’t have the luxury of waiting for that second test,” Matyas said.

If You’re Feeling Anxious

It would take a Zen master or a person who just happened to be on a month-long media fast to not be anxious over this epidemic.

However, says Bart MaGee, director of the Access Institute for Psychological Services, “If you’re feeling compelled to go find every Walgreens in San Francisco and see if there’s a bottle of hand sanitizer left, that’s when you need to say, ‘Whoa, OK, I need to slow down. I’ve got to take a deep breath and take care of myself.’”

Dr. John Onate,  professor of psychiatry at UC Davis, says we’re all in the same scary boat, which should actually help.

“Talk to your managers or friends and families or your health care provider, because everyone is sort of sharing the anxiety to some degree.”

Onate offers another mental health pro tip: Make sure all the information you’re getting about the virus comes from a reputable source. That would include the California Department of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization.

Nonreputable sources would include any media outlet, website, social media post or hand-scrawled flier that promulgates one of the myths debunked in this WHO page.

Healdsburg School to Reopen

The Healdsburg School says it will reopen Tuesday after consulting with county health officials.

The school shut down Monday after it learned this weekend that an adult and nonemployee within the school community had been exposed to someone infected with the new coronavirus.

Shipping Is Down

Shipping companies have cancelled close to two dozen trips into and out of the Port of Oakland that were scheduled to take place between last week and the beginning of April.

That represents about a 10 to 20 % drop in ship requests, according to Port spokesman Mike Zampa.

He says there are concerns the new coronavirus’s effect on business in China will hurt a major part of the Bay Area’s economy.

“Will importers get the goods they need for assembly lines or store shelves. Will California growers find enough ship space to export farm goods – and yes there are 84 thousand jobs connected to the Port of Oakland. Those may be long shore workers or warehouse workers or railroad employees.”

Zampa says about a third of trade at the Port of Oakland is with China.

We will be updating this post as news comes in.

Bay City News and Associated Press contributed to this report.

Copyright 2020 KQED