Coronavirus updates: Starting Thursday, all critical workers in L.A. can get tested for coronavirus

As she treated patient after patient infected with the coronavirus at a Veterans Affairs medical center in New York City, Heather Espinal saw stark warning signs.

So many nurses had called in sick, she said, that the Bronx facility was woefully understaffed. It lacked specially equipped rooms for infected patients, she said, and didn’t have enough masks, gloves and other protective gear to guard against the spread of the contagious disease.

Espinal, 34, says she and her colleagues were told to do the best they could, using a single N95 face mask for an entire shift rather than getting a new one for each patient. In early April, she tested positive for COVID-19.

“I definitely believe it was related to me being at work,” said Espinal, who was out sick for two weeks.

Espinal is one of 1,900 VA healthcare workers who have become sick with the coronavirus, according to agency documents obtained by the Associated Press. Twenty have died.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom has been throwing lots of stuff on the wall and hoping it sticks — sort of like FDR during the Great Depression.

No, I’m not really equating Newsom with Franklin D. Roosevelt, the greatest president of the 20^th century.

For one thing, Roosevelt was one of history’s most inspiring and comforting orators. Newsom tries, but he’s long-winded, repetitive and jargon-prone: “Meet this moment.” “In real time.”

But California’s governor deserves lots of credit for — like Roosevelt — trying many things as the state staggers through a health pandemic and economic collapse.

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Two pet cats in New York state have tested positive for the coronavirus, marking the first confirmed cases in companion animals in the United States, federal officials said Wednesday.

The cats, which had mild respiratory illnesses and are expected to recover, are thought to have contracted the virus from people in their households or neighborhoods, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

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The Los Angeles City Council balked Wednesday at imposing a ban on evictions that goes farther than the restrictions it has already passed, voting 7 to 6 against a stricter moratorium during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The broader ban proposed by Councilmen Mike Bonin and David Ryu would have prohibited landlords from evicting tenants “except to protect the health and safety of other occupants of the property” during the coronavirus crisis.

The proposal spurred a lengthy and impassioned debate about the legal limits of what the city could do to protect tenants, with some council members publicly disputing concerns raised by the city attorney’s office.

Council members have already barred landlords from evicting people who have been affected by the novel coronavirus, but critics complain that the rules don’t go far enough to help renters, especially those who have little paperwork to later prove that their financial woes are related to the pandemic.

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Two men who were released from jails in California because of the coronavirus outbreak were rearrested and accused of committing crimes shortly after being freed, authorities said.

Rocky Lee Music, 32, was charged Wednesday with carjacking a motorist Sunday night, about 40 minutes after he was released from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in the Bay Area, Alameda County authorities said.

That jail has seen 16 inmates test positive for COVID-19, the sheriff’s office said.

Also Wednesday, Owen Aguilar, 27, of Selma in Central California was charged with setting nine fires less than a week after his release from the Fresno County Jail.

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When Matthew DeFalco’s phone started blowing up with text messages from friends asking whether he was listening to Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman’s comments about reopening casinos, he headed home from a hike and switched on CNN.

It was a “Say what?” moment. Then he got appalled.

“My first instinct was to be embarrassed,” the 32-year-old political consultant said. “But more than that, it’s dangerous and reckless. It’s completely bonkers.”

The mayor — dressed in pearls, a blue blazer and decked out in defiance — took to the airwaves Wednesday to tell Anderson Cooper it was time for the fabled Las Vegas Strip to reopen after weeks of lockdown. It was stunning TV, but it was also a glimpse, although an extreme one, into how divided America is over loosening restrictions and opening the economy as coronavirus deaths climb.

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Churches in Riverside and San Bernardino counties must continue to follow government orders banning in-person religious services to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

At a hearing conducted by telephone Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Jesus G. Bernal refused to grant a temporary restraining order that would have prevented state and county officials from enforcing the ban, which was included in broader stay-at-home orders prohibiting gatherings and closing down many businesses.

Three pastors and one parishioner filed a lawsuit this month alleging that the stay-at-home orders violated their 1st Amendment religious freedoms and other constitutional rights.

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A mystery clouded the death of Patricia Dowd in early February.

The San Jose woman was a seemingly healthy 57-year-old who exercised routinely, watched her diet and took no medication. She had flu-like symptoms for a few days, then appeared to recover, family members said. Then she was found dead Feb. 6, and the initial culprit appeared to be a heart attack.

This week, authorities confirmed to Dowd’s family that she tested positive for the novel coronavirus, making her the first such documented fatality in the nation.

Health authorities in Santa Clara County did not identify Dowd by name, describing the decedent as a 57-year-old woman who died at home. The Times independently confirmed her death from family members.

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Inland Empire residents won’t be able to cool down at public swimming pools or other water facilities this weekend as temperatures creep into the triple digits in some areas, according to officials.

The Inland Empire is expected to hit the mid to upper 90s for most of the weekend, while Palms Springs and the rest of the Coachella Valley are expected to reach 100 degrees by Saturday, National Weather Service spokesman Philip Gonsalves said.

For many residents, this would’ve been perfect weather to go to community pools or rivers, but public safety restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak have caused limitations across the region.

Community pools are closed throughout Riverside County because of public health orders that encourage social distancing to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. As of Wednesday afternoon, 3,084 people in the county have been infected by the virus and 99 have died, records show. A total of 789 people have recovered from the virus.

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Beginning Thursday, all critical workers in Los Angeles, including those without symptoms, can get tested for the virus at county sites, Mayor Eric Garcetti said during a news conference Wednesday evening.

Healthcare professionals, grocery store employees, first responders and critical government employees can get swabbed at any of the testing sites throughout the county, Garcetti said. The expanded testing criteria, which the mayor said he hopes provide some peace of mind to workers, is also a critical step “on the road to reopening.”

“It’s a very important milestone,” he said.

Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore thanked Garcetti, saying that he knew that the men and women in the Police Department would be happy to learn of the update.

“It’s great for us,” he said. “It’s great as a leader for me to know that.”

Hotels, sports arenas and selected other businesses that imposed layoffs in recent weeks could be required to offer those jobs to their former employees once they start rehiring, under a proposal backed Wednesday by the Los Angeles City Council.

Council members voted 15 to 0 to draft an ordinance requiring employers in the hospitality, property management and other targeted industries to reach out to their pool of workers who lost jobs during the coronavirus outbreak, with rehiring based on seniority.

The measure is meant to ensure that workers — especially those who are older and more experienced — are not replaced by newer, cheaper labor once the economy rebounds, said Councilman Bob Blumenfield, who represents the west San Fernando Valley.

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WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday signed a proclamation on immigration that will restrict some people from entering the country over the next 60 days, but does not shut off applications for permanent residence as he had publicly declared just one day earlier.

The order, which Trump signed Wednesday afternoon, will block some new entrants who do not already have visas or other travel documents. But it includes broad exemptions for several categories of foreign workers and employers, from investors to healthcare professionals, as well as their spouses and children.

Also exempt are any parents, children, or spouses of U.S. citizens; any children or spouses of U.S. military, and potential refugees and asylum seekers.

The order does not change the status of immigrants already in the U.S.

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When sports fans in Los Angeles turn to watch reruns of games on cable TV aired during the coronavirus lockdown, they will be interrupted by ads funded by the union representing technicians who worked on those broadcasts.

“Sinclair turned its back on technicians who bring you sports, left them to fend for themselves,” the ad says. “So when you turn on your TV or pay your cable bill, remember how Sinclair abandoned its workers.”

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees is airing cable TV ads on Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned Fox Sports networks to pressure the company to improve compensation for technicians who had been set to work on televised games. The union represents about 1,500 workers in a dozen markets where Sinclair-owned sports networks operate.

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SACRAMENTO — California has been approved to borrow what is expected to be billions of dollars from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits to those left jobless by the coronavirus pandemic, raising concerns about the cost of repaying the debt.

The state made the request as its reserves for paying unemployment benefits are being quickly depleted, requiring California to begin borrowing in just a few weeks, officials said Wednesday.

“We have protocols in place for difficult moments such as this to ensure critical safety nets remain in place,” California Labor Secretary Julie Su said.

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Los Angeles County health officials offered slightly rosier projections Wednesday about the trajectory of the virus in Los Angeles County, but cautioned that the improved outlook was contingent on residents continuing to practice physical distancing.

Presenting a new update to the county’s coronavirus model, Dr. Christina Ghaly, the county’s health services director, said that while COVID-19 cases are not yet decreasing here, “it is leveling out, which is a good thing.”

“Ten days ago, our best prediction was that we were going to see a continued increase in the daily number of new patients, but we weren’t sure how rapid that rise would be and how steep that slope would be,” Ghaly said. “Instead, as a result of physical distancing, our current projection is that the number of new cases will remain steady.”

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California became the first state to issue a stay-at-home directive, effective March 19, and 41 states and the District of Columbia have followed. Eight states have not.

The leaders of Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming have taken steps to limit the size of gatherings, close schools and some nonessential businesses, and prohibit on-site dining at restaurants. But they have stopped short of directing all residents to stay home except for essential business.

The Republican governors in those states have defended their decisions, arguing that their hospitals aren’t overrun and their rural states haven’t been hit as hard as others with denser urban centers, such as New York, Washington or Louisiana. The governors have said they don’t want to hurt small businesses or infringe on individual freedoms.

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A group of protesters on Wednesday carried out a drive-through protest in downtown Los Angeles against California’s stay-at-home order, which has slowed the spread of the coronavirus.

They drove around City Hall, honking and waving signs reading “Open Cali Now” and “Freedom is Contagious.” Some also held signs supporting President Trump.

It’s the latest of several protests across the country, which come as both local and national polls show wide support for the social distancing rules.

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TRIPOLI, Lebanon — Sitting in the shade of Tripoli’s Mansouri Great Mosque, Issam Jadeed, an unemployed dessert maker, scowled at passersby asking if they could go inside.

His answer, like so much else these days, involved the global coronavirus outbreak.

“It’s closed. Imagine! It’s almost Ramadan and we can’t go to pray because of this corona,” he said, referring to COVID-19 as if he were talking about a frustrating family member. “But it’s wrong to do this. This is the House of Allah. Inside, we would be aamen, secure.”

It is a time of frustration for many Muslims in Lebanon’s second-largest city as well as millions around the world about to mark Ramadan, the holy month of fasting that begins Thursday at sunset.

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Big U.S. banks are preparing to flood loan applications into the government’s emergency financing program for small businesses the moment Congress replenishes it with $320 billion in additional funding. Packets ready to go at just a few of the largest firms stretch into the tens of billions of dollars.

The pressure is particularly high on Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. after they lagged behind smaller rivals in helping legions of business customers tap the Paycheck Protection Program’s initial $349 billion in funding. Bank of America had arranged roughly $5 billion by the time the initial funding was depleted last week, according to people with knowledge of the matter, ranking below smaller rivals, including Truist Financial Corp. and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Wells Fargo organized a mere $120 million.

The companies, which have said they sought clarity on rules from the Small Business Administration, have since faced withering criticism from longtime clients who tried in vain to get applications processed to weather the coronavirus pandemic. Many have flocked to social media, recounting that bankers advised them to try community banks instead. Some have sued.

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WASHINGTON — When it killed Iran’s top military figure, Qassem Suleimani, in January, the Trump administration declared it was “reestablishing deterrence” of what it called Tehran’s “malign behavior.”

But with Iran’s launch of a military satellite late Tuesday and reported harassment of U.S. naval ships in the Persian Gulf, neither deterrence nor diplomacy appears to have had much long-term success in reining in the Islamic Republic.

Now as both the U.S. and Iran struggle against the coronavirus pandemic, tensions are soaring again and could trigger new conflict.

On Wednesday, President Trump declared he had ordered the navy to “destroy” Iranian vessels that confront the United States.

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It’s the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, but what’s on the minds of sustainable fashion and accessories designers in Los Angeles is this question: How will they stay alive?

With the coronavirus pandemic hitting the fashion industry hard, sustainable brands in the L.A. market are doing what they can to accommodate customers and remain afloat. Here are some of their stories.

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“We all live in a yellow submarine” is the new “We’re all in this together” amid the coronavirus crisis.

As part of a campaign encouraging users to #StayHome during the pandemic, YouTube is streaming a free sing-along version of the Beatles’ 1968 animated film “Yellow Submarine” for one day only.

The live event will begin Saturday at 9 a.m. Pacific on the Beatles’ official artist channel, where viewers are encouraged to follow along with lyrics appearing at the bottom of the screen during each musical number.

“For those of you missing singing together, I’ve got good news,” said Ringo Starr in a promo video posted Wednesday on Twitter. “Tune in ... for a special ‘Yellow Submarine’ movie sing-along for kids and kids at heart. Peace and love.”

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Orange County heath officials on Wednesday confirmed 67 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 1,753, and one additional COVID-19 death.

The county also reported its highest number of hospitalizations, with 162 patients being treated for the virus, including 70 who are in intensive care.

Roughly 20,145 of the county’s 3.2 million residents have been tested for COVID-19. Most who have tested positive are between the ages of 45 and 64. Of the 34 people who have died, 32% were in the 45-64 age group and 59% were 65 or older.

Cases have been reported in at least 38 Orange County communities, with the largest number in Anaheim, the county’s most populous city. A total of 230 cases have been reported there.

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Mirai Nagasu grew up in her parents’ restaurant, Sushi Kiyosuzu in Arcadia, sleeping in the storeroom and earning quarters for washing dishes when she wasn’t in school or taking figure skating lessons.

Her mother, Ikuko, and father, Kiyoto, didn’t always attend her skating competitions because they felt obligated to keep their business open and their employees working. Mirai respected that — and she learned much more from them than how to make an appetizing tuna roll.

Like thousands of other small businesses, Sushi Kiyosuzu was staggered when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and restaurants were forced to close their dining rooms. Ikuko and Kiyoto, who immigrated to the United States from Japan, couldn’t navigate the maze of government loan programs and were reluctant to tell their daughter how dire their situation was.

“They try to protect me from a lot of hardship. I think it’s more like they want to stay strong and be strong for me because I think that they know I would worry for them,” said Nagasu, who became the first American woman to land a triple axel jump in the Olympics while leading Team USA to a bronze medal at Pyeongchang in 2018, eight years after she finished fourth in the Vancouver Games.

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Divisions are growing in the U.S. between some governors and mayors over reopening their states as COVID-19’s toll on both lives and jobs grows, leaving leaders torn between dueling demands to prevent more outbreaks and to revive the economy.

Leading the way to lift restrictions, with encouragement from President Trump, six Republican governors across the South — Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi — have formed a coalition to coordinate reopenings, according to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who earlier opened beaches in his state.

In Georgia, however, mayors have resisted Gov. Brian Kemp’s call to open salons and bowling alleys this week as long as employees and customers take social distancing measures. Savannah’s mayor called the plan “reckless.”

In South Carolina, furniture stores, beaches and other businesses are open even as the Charleston mayor has expressed concerns that the state still doesn’t have access to enough testing to know that such renewed activity is safe.

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The city of Ventura eased its hard closure on parks and beaches this week in effort to help residents stay mentally and physically healthy amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Under an amended ordinance, residents can now access the city’s beaches, pier, promenade and parks as long as they keep their distance from one another and remain active. People can walk back and forth on the pier or the sand but are not allowed to sit down, or stand against the railing to fish, for example.

The city’s two golf courses also are slated to open by Friday, with changes that promote physical distancing and limited contact with employees with personal protective equipment, according to city spokeswoman Heather Sumagaysay.

Playgrounds, picnic areas, parking lots, pools and recreational courts and fields will remain closed.

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WASHINGTON — Amid deep opposition from Republicans, House Democratic leaders on Wednesday scrapped plans to vote this week on a historic change to congressional rules that would have allowed lawmakers to vote remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.

Democrats had hoped to set up a system of proxy voting by which lawmakers could direct another member to cast a vote on his or her behalf, allowing Congress to function without requiring all 435 House members to travel to Washington.

The concern is particularly acute for lawmakers from the West Coast, who face the longest flights to Washington as airlines reduce operations.

Instead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said Wednesday she would set up a bipartisan group of lawmakers to review the issue of remote voting by proxy and reopening the House, according to a Democratic leadership aide.

Republicans almost universally panned the idea, and the aide said Pelosi wanted a bipartisan resolution.

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Los Angeles County health officials announced another 66 coronavirus-linked deaths Wednesday, bringing the total number to 729 since the outbreak began.

Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director, also confirmed 1,318 new COVID-19 cases — pushing the cumulative total to 16,435.

Of those who have died from coronavirus infection, 89% had some kind of underlying health condition, according to Ferrer.

“This underscores the need for all of us to do the best job possible to make sure people who have serious health conditions are able to stay home and stay safe,” she said.

California has recorded almost 36,000 cases, adding nearly 2,000 on Tuesday alone. Part of the uptick in new cases this week is the result of a lag in labs reporting test results and releasing bulk numbers. More than 1,300 people have died across the state.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and others have said that California and the nation have not necessarily seen the worst of coronavirus and that lifting stay-at-home rules could be disastrous.

“We remain committed with our health partners to safely ease restrictions so people can return to work and reunite with loved ones,” said Kathryn Barger, chairwoman of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. “Keep in mind, science and data will guide our decision.”

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Shana Zhao takes photos of her sister Vivi Zhao in a Lancaster field on Tuesday.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The coronavirus outbreak hasn’t thwarted Mother Nature’s springtime show in the Antelope Valley, where rolling hillsides are blanketed in a fiery orange hue from a recent poppy bloom.

But like everything else deemed nonessential during the pandemic, the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve near Lancaster — where crowds have flocked in years past to witness the breathtaking bloom — is closed to visitors. The California Department of Parks and Recreation has set up a live cam of the bloom in the hopes that people will enjoy the spectacular sight from home.

State parks officials have also set up roadblocks to allow only local traffic into the area and to reduce fence-jumping by those hoping to snap a photo among the flowers. But even that hasn’t kept everyone away, officials say.

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Fewer tables in restaurants. Everyone wearing masks. Staggered start times at schools. The “new normal,” as outlined by California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week, will be a big change in the time of the coronavirus.

But the old concept of normal — sharing a drink in a crowded bar or standing shoulder to shoulder with fans at a packed sporting event — might not be back “until we have herd immunity,” the governor said.

How long until then? In short: It’s complicated.

Here’s what to know about herd immunity, our long-term goal in the fight against COVID-19.

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SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced an expansion of coronavirus testing capability throughout California, saying the findings will be critical to deciding when to ease the state’s strict stay-at-home order and allow people to return to work.

Newsom’s announcement comes as more and more cities and counties have urged him to modify the restrictions, which they say have put local economies on the brink of ruin. The governor has thus far resisted, saying COVID-19 remains a serious and growing health threat and loosening his statewide order prematurely could lead to a second wave of infections and fatalities.

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Fox Corp. has become the latest media company to slash salaries as the coronavirus has decimated the advertising marketplace.

In a memo to employees issued Wednesday, Fox Corp. Executive Chairman Lachlan Murdoch said he and his father, Rupert, would forgo their salaries through Sept. 30, as will the company’s chief operating officer, John Nallen; chief legal and policy officer, Viet Dinh; and chief policy officer, Steve Tomsic.

The Murdochs’ direct reports, which include Fox News President Suzanne Scott, will take a 50% pay reduction over the same period. Executives at the vice president level or higher will see their salaries reduced 15% from May 1 through July 31.

The reductions will affect around 700 employees at the company, which includes its network TV operation, television stations, sports division and Fox News Media. Compensation increases also have been suspended.

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After catching COVID-19 and enduring weeks of an illness he thought might kill him, a 34-year-old medical technician at a Westside hospital said he needed more time to recover — physically and mentally.

He plans to file a workers’ compensation claim but worries about how his employer will respond. He has been able to take a few days off, but with stress issues, a nagging cough and unexplained bruises on his ankles that he attributes to the coronavirus, he thinks he needs more.

“I am very good at attendance,” said the technician, who requested anonymity fearing retaliation at work. “In this matter, I do want to take time to recover and heal and, you know, just get back to my daily routine. I need time off.”

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Puerto Rico’s Democratic presidential primary will not take place as scheduled on Sunday and has been postponed indefinitely in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The vote, originally set for March 29, was originally delayed until April 26. Charles Rodriguez, chairman for the Democratic Party of Puerto Rico, said he, along with the president of the Puerto Rico State Commission on Elections, chose to further delay the primary.

“We resolved to remain vigilant and monitor the emergency situation, along with the governor and the Department of Health, before selecting a new date in the summer,” Rodriguez said.

Puerto Rico has been on lockdown with all nonessential businesses closed and a curfew in place since March 16. The measures are scheduled to last through at least May 3. The island had 915 positive cases of coronavirus as of Wednesday, a smaller number than initially thought after testing bungles led to some patients double counted in government data.

At least a dozen states have delayed their primaries or switched to all-mail-in voting in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this month, Wisconsin held an in-person election and at least seven people contracted the virus after the vote. Residents of of the territory of Puerto Rico are considered U.S. citizens but can’t vote in U.S. presidential elections. They still participate in the primary process, with 51 pledged delegates and seven automatic delegates.

SACRAMENTO — With freeway traffic down significantly because of the statewide stay-at-home order, the California Highway Patrol said Wednesday there has been an 87% increase in citations for speeding in excess of 100 mph.

The CHP’s message to motorists: Slow down.

In the month after the start of the stay-at-home order March 19, the CHP issued 2,493 tickets throughout California for speeding more than 100 mph. Officers wrote 1,335 tickets for that offense during the same period last year.

Caltrans officials believe the increase in speeding is connected to a reduction in traffic volume on state roads, which has declined by about 35% compared with this time last year.

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New York City officials intend to enlist thousands of healthcare workers next month to conduct hundreds of thousands of diagnostic tests a day, and isolate anyone found to be carrying the disease.

The plan, which hinges on the city’s still-unmet capacity to test residents, will require training thousands of “disease detectives” to interview each individual found positive for the virus, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a news briefing Wednesday. The city would then trace his or her social contacts to test and isolate them if necessary.

De Blasio’s goal is far more ambitious than New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s goal announced Tuesday of 40,000 tests a day for the entire state.

The city will rent thousands of hotel rooms for virus carriers with no or mild symptoms who live in crowded households that make isolation impossible, De Blasio said.

Italy registered its highest number of new coronavirus cases in four days on Wednesday as Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte prepared a stimulus package for an economy paralyzed by a nationwide lockdown.

The country also posted a record figure for recoveries from the disease, with 2,943 over the past 24 hours.

Figures from civil protection authorities showed there were 3,370 new cases for the 24-hour period, compared with 2,729 a day earlier. Confirmed cases now total 187,327. Italy, the original European epicenter of the outbreak, registered 437 deaths linked to the virus on Wednesday, compared with 534 the day before. That brings total fatalities to 25,085.

Texas recorded an 18% jump in new cases, the second consecutive daily increase, according to state health department data. Deaths rose at the same pace, bringing the fatality total to 543 statewide. The 2,220 available intensive-care beds were still more than double the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

The escalation in cases comes as Governor Greg Abbott prepares to announce plans on Monday for reopening the second-most-populous U.S. state. The two-term Republican’s goal of easing restrictions is running into resistance in some of the state’s biggest metropolitan areas — Houston and Dallas — where Democratic leaders are tightening rules and, in one case, extending the lockdown.

L.A. County Department of Public Health will soon begin publicly listing restaurants that have had outbreaks of COVID-19.

In a news conference Tuesday, department director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said the county already listed on its website confirmed COVID-19 cases that occurred in nursing facilities, jails and prisons, shelters, treatment centers and other “institutional settings.”

“Later this week, we will be including on this list restaurants that have had outbreaks as well,” she said.

It’s unclear how the policy will be implemented, what constitutes an outbreak or how long the restaurants will be listed online. L.A. County’s public COVID-19 list currently includes any facility that has had at least one confirmed case among staff or residents once the facility is given official notice.

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ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s health minister has reported 117 additional COVID-19 fatalities in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 2,376.

Fahrettin Koca also reported 3,083 new confirmed infections in the country, raising the total to 98,674. The number of new cases was the lowest since April 4 and down from the 4,611 cases reported the previous day.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week that the number of daily infections was stabilizing and that the country could transition to normal life after a religious holiday at the end of May.

“The data indicates that the outbreak is under control,” Koca told reporters.

But he warned against any relaxation of measures to contain the spread, especially during the upcoming holy Muslim of month of Ramadan, when people traditionally hold fast-breaking dinners with family and friends.

AT&T Inc. posted a 4.5% drop in revenue from a year ago and withdrew its forecast of 2% revenue growth for the year, saying it can’t provide a financial forecast for 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The COVID-19 crisis hurt earnings by 5 cents a share in the first quarter and knocked $600 million off of revenue due to lower ad sales from canceled sports events like the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

“The economic effects of the pandemic and resulting societal changes are currently not predictable,” the company said.

But the U.S. stay-at-home orders, which started in mid-March, did help improve some of AT&T’s slumping consumer businesses.

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BERLIN — People across Germany will be required to wear face masks or some other form of facial covering while using public transport, and in many cases in shops, starting next week.

The country’s smallest state, Bremen, became the last to announce the measure. The eastern state of Saxony on Monday was the first to make wearing masks obligatory on public transport and when shopping. The other 15 states followed over the past two days.

In Germany, state governments are ultimately responsible for imposing and loosening lockdowns.

LONDON — The British government’s chief medical adviser has warned that social distancing measures in the U.K. may well have to stay in place for the rest of the year.

Chris Whitty said at the government’s daily briefing that he was confident a vaccine would have “proof of concept” well within a year. But he said the probability of having that, or a treatment, any time this calendar year was “incredibly small.”

As a result, he said, “We’re going to have to rely on other social measures, which of course are very socially disruptive as everyone is finding at the moment.”

He said lawmakers would have to decide what mix of measures would have to remain in place once the U.K. passed the peak of coronavirus infections.

NEW YORK — Two pet cats in New York state have tested positive for the coronavirus, marking the first cases in companion animals in the United States, federal officials say.

The cats, which had mild respiratory illnesses and were expected to recover, are thought to have contracted the virus from people in their households or neighborhoods, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say.

The finding, which comes after positive tests in seven tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo, add to a small number of confirmed cases of the virus in animals worldwide. U.S. authorities say that, although it appears some animals can get the virus from people, there’s no indication the animals are transmitting it to human beings.

The two cats live in different parts of the state; the USDA and CDC wouldn’t say where specifically.

Authorities are recommending that any pet owners with COVID-19 avoid contact with their animals as much as possible, including wearing a face covering while caring for them.

Another day, another new podcast inviting listeners to call in with their stories about the coronavirus and way the crisis has upended our lives.

Gayle King and SiriusXM announced Wednesday that the “CBS This Morning” co-host will launch a new podcast Thursday featuring phone conversations with “Americans affected by lockdowns and social distancing measures following the coronavirus outbreak.”

The hourlong show, titled “Gayle King in the House,” will air live each Thursday on SiriusXM at 2 p.m. Pacific for the next six weeks.

“These are such surreal times. I look forward to hearing how everybody’s feeling and thinking…how do we navigate the uncertainty of this moment?” King said in a statement. “As unsettling as this is, I believe we’ll make it through. While it’s crucial to be socially distant it’s just as important for us to be emotionally connected and engaged with each other. ... Call me!”

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Weeks after they closed Mt. Baldy as part of the statewide effort to flatten the coronavirus curve, the resort’s operators say it’s time to start carving the slopes again.

The plan to reopen in a limited capacity starting Wednesday — which the San Bernardino County ski destination announced on its website — marks the latest reopening of a recreational resource that was shuttered as elected and health officials have worked to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

“With coverage on the mountain about as good as it gets for April, and golf courses reopening around Southern California, we have decided to follow suit and open for ‘Ski & Ride Times’ beginning tomorrow morning,” Mt. Baldy posted on its website Tuesday.

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Vince Lee, like the rest of us, is getting mighty tired of being stuck at home and is looking forward to stores, restaurants and other businesses reopening.

But the Newport Beach resident is in no hurry to return to how things were prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’d like to get the hell out of the house,” Lee, 87, told me. “But I’m not going to be rushing anywhere.”

That, in a nutshell, is why all those prognosticators — including President Trump — who say the economy will come roaring back once current safety measures are eased may be indulging in wishful thinking.

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Amid evidence that the number of coronavirus cases appears to be stabilizing or declining in many nations in Western Europe, the leader of the World Health Organization said, “One of the greatest dangers we face now is complacency.”

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO, said at a news conference Wednesday that the global COVID-19 pandemic was still in its early phases in many parts of the world. “This virus will be with us for a long time,” he said.

Since the virus erupted in China in late December, 2.5 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported to the WHO, along with more than 160,000 deaths. Ghebreyesus said there was no question that stay-at-home orders and other physical distancing measures had successfully suppressed transmission of the coronavirus in many countries, and that’s a good thing. Early test results, however, suggest that most of the global population remains vulnerable to infection. That means epidemics can reignite.

He reiterated that lockdowns should not be lifted until governments are able to use testing to find every case, isolate people with the disease, test every case, care for every case, and trace and quarantine every contact.

Just one passenger, in protective gear, is seen Tuesday inside Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

The number of Americans getting on airplanes has sunk to a level not seen in more than 60 years as people shelter in their homes to avoid catching or spreading the coronavirus.

The Transportation Security Administration screened 94,931 people on Wednesday, a drop of 96% from a year ago and the second straight day under 100,000.

The official tally of people who passed through TSA checkpoints exaggerates the number of travelers — if that is possible — because it includes some airline crew members and people still working at shops inside airport security.

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You may have noticed that mentions of antimalarial drugs as remedies for the novel coronavirus infection have fallen off a cliff lately. Two new data points released in recent days might well end the craze completely.

The two latest developments include a study of cases at Veterans Affairs Department hospitals showing that COVID-19 patients who received hydroxychloroquine died at higher rates than those who didn’t receive it.

Nor did the researchers find that treatment with the drug affected the rate at which the patients, who generally had advanced COVID-19 illness, needed to be put on ventilators, the most extreme therapy for the disease.

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As people across the globe stay home to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, the planet is becoming cleaner and more wild.

Smog stopped choking New Delhi, one of the most polluted cities in the world, allowing Indians to see distant mountains not visible in decades. Nitrogen dioxide pollution has declined 30% in the northeastern United States. And in Rome, air pollution levels plunged 49% between mid-March and mid-April, making stars seem more visible at night.

Wild animals are being noticed in unusual places. Coyotes have been spotted meandering along downtown Chicago’s Michigan Avenue and near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. A puma roamed the streets of Santiago, Chile, while goats took over a town in Wales. In India, already daring wildlife has become bolder, with hungry monkeys entering homes and opening refrigerators to look for food.

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For the past month, the novel coronavirus has turned normally bustling locales and highways across Los Angeles into yawning, vacant stretches that might be unsettling to some.

The usual costumed characters and tourists dotting the Walk of Fame are nowhere to be found. The parking-lot-like stretch of the 405 Freeway that traps thousands on daily rush-hour commutes is flowing freely during the day.

But where some see emptiness, others see a speedway.

In recent weeks, police across California say street racers have been quick to turn the state’s cleared-out roadways into their own playgrounds. From Southern California to the Bay Area, racers have been challenging one another at dangerous speeds on surface streets or rushing intersections to perform burnouts and other dangerous vehicle stunts, investigators say.

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One of the state’s worst outbreaks of COVID-19 at a skilled nursing facility has driven up the death toll in rural Tulare County, accounting for more than half of the county’s reported cases despite early action by local officials to guard against the spread of the coronavirus.

In February, organizers of a three-day international agriculture show set in the city of Tulare stopped China-based companies from sending representatives after the federal travel ban. Health officials prepared to expand testing at the county public health lab, which serves five other counties in the San Joaquin Valley, purchasing new equipment days after the first few cases were discovered.

But their efforts weren’t enough to stop an outbreak at a skilled nursing facility in Visalia, the rural county’s most populous city. As some parts of the country consider reopening communities, local health officials are trying to figure out how to stop the spread at the facility, where more than 100 patients have been infected. As of Tuesday, the county reported 436 confirmed cases. While 62 people have recovered, 22 have died.

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Los Angeles artists and arts institutions have been pummeled by the coronavirus crisis. But some artistic projects are nonetheless moving forward.

The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts is scheduled to announce its 2020 project grants on Wednesday morning, which will include support for interdisciplinary performances, a sound art project by Latinx artists and an exhibition that will bring together work by three important female artists who connected with one another in the 1970s through UC Irvine’s then-nascent master’s in fine arts program.

“In the midst of a global crisis that is putting an unprecedented strain on our cultural community, grantmaking in the arts has a heightened sense of urgency,” said the foundation’s executive director, Mary Clare Stevens, in a statement. “While our grants in the past have primarily supported project-related expenses, this year we will be more flexible. We will work closely with each grantee and find the best ways to buoy their work during this time.”

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In a second-story storefront in an Artesia shopping mall, Andrea Luchavez slid $500 in cash beneath a cashier’s window to a teller who would wire the funds to her children and mother in the Philippines.

It was $300 less than what Luchavez sent every month, before the coronavirus paralyzed Southern California and the world, putting millions out of work, including her husband, and paring back the hours of those who, like her, managed to keep their jobs.

Each year, immigrants such as Luchavez collectively send hundreds of billions of dollars from the countries where they work to those they call home. These remittances are a lifeline for individual families and some national economies, accounting for a fifth of El Salvador’s and Honduras’ gross domestic product, and more than a third of Haiti’s.

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Even as California continues to bend the coronavirus curve, a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths as well as concerns about a “second wave” of the outbreak are reasons to stay vigilant, officials say.

California has recorded almost 36,000 cases, adding nearly 2,000 on Tuesday alone. Part of the uptick in new cases this week is the result of a lag in labs reporting test results and releasing bulk numbers. More than 1,300 people have died across the state.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and others have said that California and the nation have not necessarily seen the worst of coronavirus and that lifting stay-at-home rules could be disastrous.

“If we all pull back, we could see a second wave that makes this pale in comparison,” Newsom told CBS News. “I don’t anticipate that normalcy that many of us wish for happening anytime soon.”

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It started in late March with a driver at Union Rescue Mission. He complained of flu-like symptoms and was brought to a hospital, where he eventually died of COVID-19, sending one of skid row’s largest shelters into high alert.

As of this week, 55 homeless residents and three staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus, said the Rev. Andy Bales, the mission’s chief executive officer. He has to move people around like puzzle pieces to set up isolation and quarantine rooms inside the massive five-story building, Bales said. Some are now living in a boardroom and a staff kitchen, while nearly 200 others have been sent to temporary housing elsewhere.

The outbreak is what critics of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s plan to convert dozens of city recreation centers into homeless shelters have feared — and what other cities have already experienced.

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It’s a classic Washington whodunit.

No one wants to take the blame for the loophole that allows name-brand restaurant chains like Shake Shack to get huge sums of pandemic-relief money meant for small businesses.

Lobbyists, lawmakers and agency officials deny responsibility. Yet fingers are pointing over how big national chains including Potbelly Corp. and Ruth’s Chris Steak House landed $10 million or more apiece in loans while millions of mom-and-pop firms were left stranded when the program ran out of money.

Now, with Congress poised to approve $320 billion of new funds this week, many lawmakers want the loophole closed. But a draft of the new legislation, obtained by Bloomberg, doesn’t fix it. The Senate passed the measure Tuesday, and the House could vote Thursday.

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The Trump administration’s projection for U.S. deaths from the coronavirus pandemic may be short by about 100,000 because it isn’t fully accounting for the nation’s high prison population, the American Civil Liberties Union said.

Models that properly account for the roughly 740,000 people in jail in the U.S. on any given day suggest the country will experience “much higher death rates” than currently projected if inmate populations aren’t reduced rapidly, the organization said in a statement about its findings on Wednesday.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says he anticipates most of the U.S. economy will restart by the end of August after the coronavirus has led to social distancing measures that have shuttered many businesses.

“We’re operating under the environment that we are going to open up parts of the economy and we’re looking forward to — by the time we get later in the summer —having most of the economy, if not all of the economy, open,” he said Wednesday on Fox Business Network.

LONDON — The British government says 759 more people with the coronavirus have died in U.K. hospitals, taking the total to 18,100.

The daily increase reported was lower than the 823 in the previous 24-hour period.

The U.K.’s death toll is the fourth highest in Europe, behind Italy, Spain and France, all of which have reported more than 20,000 deaths.

There has been, however, increasing scrutiny of the U.K. figures in recent days for understating the actual number of people having died of COVID-19. The numbers don’t include those who have died in care homes or elsewhere in the community.

Earlier, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the country was at the “peak” but that it was too early to start considering a relaxation of the lockdown measures in place since March 23.

ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to allow hair and nail salons, massage therapists and other businesses to reopen “really defies logic,” says Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

The mayor says the governor didn’t tell her before he announced the decision publicly on Monday.

“He did not tell me directly, and he’s the governor so I don’t always expect to receive a call directly from the governor,” she told NBC’s “Today” show on Wednesday. “But something of this magnitude, I would have expected at least a call from someone on his team.”

The mayor says with manicures, haircuts and massages, “the nature of the business is that you are in close contact with someone and that’s what’s most disturbing to me about the way this order has been lifted.”

Kylie Wortham, laid off from her job as a result of virus restrictions, spends time near the sand in Huntington Beach.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Orange County officials have been debating whether to close beaches and trailheads during an upcoming heat wave after coastal residents raised concerns about out-of-towners descending on their communities in droves.

The county — and several Orange County cities — previously closed parking lots, parks, piers and trailheads adjacent to their beaches in an effort to curb access amid the coronavirus pandemic. Seal Beach and Laguna Beach closed their beaches entirely.

Still, Laguna Beach Mayor Bob Whalen expressed concern this week in a letter to Supervisor Lisa Bartlett, who represents a swath of south Orange County, that leaving the county beaches adjacent to Laguna Beach open would put the health of residents at risk.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. provided loans to virtually all of its commercial banking customers that sought financing through the small business relief program while the lender’s smallest customers were almost entirely shut out through another channel, according to data disclosed by the bank.

About 5,500 larger, and sometimes more sophisticated, customers of JPMorgan’s commercial banking business applied for funding through the Paycheck Protection Program, part of the $2-trillion CARES Act that Congress adopted in late March. Nearly all of them got loans, according to the bank’s data.

More than 300,000 customers of JPMorgan’s business banking unit, which serves smaller firms, applied for loans. About 18,000 were funded, for a 6% success rate.

JPMorgan made a total of $14 billion in small-business loans through the federal program.

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Two mountain lions chill in a hammock Monday at the Oakland Zoo.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

OAKLAND — While animals in deserted national and state parks seem to be thriving without the presence of people, many at the Oakland Zoo seemed downright bored without the crowds.

On Monday morning, a pair of mountain lions lolled together lazily in a hammock, while a gibbon couple, Rainer and May, sang and called, before dejectedly lying back in the high branches of the Chinese elm they call home.

Since March 17, the Oakland Zoo, a 100-acre wildlife park, has been closed to visitors — by order of state and local governments requiring the public to shelter in place during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the zookeepers, only the bald eagles, and maybe the wolves, seem to relish the solitude.

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HOUSTON — County leaders in Houston are expected to require the area’s 4.7 million residents to wear masks in public starting Wednesday — adding restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus even as the Texas governor has eased others statewide this week.

It wasn’t clear whether the Republican governor or city and county leaders — many of them Democrats — would prevail.

So far, Texas cities and counties have enacted more coronavirus restrictions than the state. Many major cities closed dine-in restaurants and issued stay-at-home orders before the governor did, and now they’re requiring masks, a step the governor never took (he appears at briefings without one).

The new rules in Houston’s Harris County, expected to be announced by county leaders at a Wednesday briefing, will require those 10 and older to cover their nose and mouth with a mask or other face covering when outside, according to an official with knowledge of the plan who was not authorized to speak publicly. The rules will take effect Monday and last for a month. Employers at essential businesses must provide face coverings to workers who have contact with the public.

Gov. Greg Abbott eased some pandemic restrictions this week —
reopening state parks, allowing more surgeries and more retail-store product pickups. He has yet to extend other restrictions beyond the end of the month. He plans to announce on Monday a comprehensive plan for reopening the state. Abbott said his order would override local ones. Harris County officials have yet to extend their stay-at-home order, which is set to expire this month, but Dallas County already has, through May 15.

Abbott has been consulting with state and business leaders on a plan to reopen the economy, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who this week doubled down on his position that getting people back to work was worth the potential loss of lives to COVID-19.

“We know that Texans really want to get back to work. It’s kind of part of the Texas DNA,” Abbott said at a Tuesday briefing.

Abbott said this week that the number of Texans testing positive for COVID-19 was “leveling off.” Texas has reported 20,196 cases and 517 deaths, but only a fraction of the population has been tested. Abbott has said he plans to ramp up testing before he lifts restrictions, and he deployed Texas National Guard teams this week to test 3,500 more people daily.

WASHINGTON — Harvard University denied Tuesday that it received funding through the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses grappling with the coronavirus crisis, after President Trump told reporters he planned to force the school to pay back federal assistance.

“President Trump is right that it would not have been appropriate for our institution to receive funds that were designated for struggling small businesses,” the university said in a statement Tuesday.

Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said Tuesday that the program wasn’t intended for publicly traded companies that had other ways to access funding and that his department would be issuing guidelines soon in an effort to get corporations that did receive funds to give back the forgivable loans to the federal government.

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