The Daily Pilot’s coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

Antech, a veterinary reference laboratory, recently began a surveillance program to test pets for coronavirus and the first documented COVID-19 positive pet cases in the U.S.

Dr. Clayton Chau will take over as head of the Orange County Health Care Agency, which has reported a total of 42 coronavirus-related deaths in the county.

The Laguna Beach Unified School District initially closed its campuses on March 13 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Patrice Apodaca writes about the impact online learning will have on students, how much they will lose and whether any learning deficit will become permanent.

California is a shifting patchwork of locally controlled beach closures — notably, Los Angeles County beaches are closed but several in Orange County have stayed open. Now, local officials may revisit that access after seeing how many people answered the call of summery temperatures this weekend.

The OC Fair board voted unanimously to cancel the summer fair, which was slated to run in Costa Mesa on July 17 to Aug. 16. The last time the fair was canceled was during WWII.

Costa Mesa expects to open Costa Mesa Country Club and Mesa Verde Country Club on Tuesday or Wednesday, pending review of proposed safety protocols.

Newport Beach will consider targeted beach closures in response to the turnout during this weekend’s heat wave.

More than 200 new COVID-19 cases were reported over the weekend by the OC Health Care Agency, bringing the Monday total to 2,126.

As temperatures soared into the upper 80s in some parts of the region on Saturday, crossing county lines was like entering different worlds.

Orange County health officials announce 124 new cases and two more deaths, for a total of 1,969 confirmed cases and 38 deaths. The county will launch a testing network Tuesday.

The Costa Mesa, Newport Harbor, Fountain Valley and Newport Beach PONY leagues were able to play games for approximately two weeks before play was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Huntington Beach and Newport Beach will each be monitored by authorities, while Laguna Beach city beaches remain closed. Officials advise people to stay home during the coronavirus pandemic.

As state orders ask for Californians to stay home, some Orange County residents are venturing to the great outdoors — their very own backyards.

James Righeimer, Gary Monahan, Steve Mensinger and Eric Bever, as well as current Councilmembers Sandy Genis and Allan Mansoor — all former mayors — wrote a strongly-worded letter to city leaders, calling for them to reopen parts of the economy.

Huntington Valley Healthcare Center reported a surge of new cases after county officials tested all of its nearly 100 residents.

The Newport Beach Golf Course reopened on Wednesday. Golfers have been eager to get their first rounds in since stay-at-home orders were issued due to the coronavirus.

As COVID-19 continues to fasten its grip on Orange County, county and city staff are adjusting 2020 census outreach efforts and figuring out creative ways to reach underserved communities that have traditionally gone uncounted.

City officials say this year’s $13.5 million is a conservative estimate, and the city can absorb it by tightening up on spending without having to dip into reserves. But in contrast, fiscal year 2020-21, which starts July 1, is “exceptionally challenging” to forecast without knowing the duration of stay-at-home orders and associated high unemployment.

A few weeks after launching her new necklace brand, Lauren O’Neill has raised money to donate over 250 meals to those in need.

Known coronavirus cases now sit at 1,845 total infections, up 33 from Thursday. No deaths were reported Friday, leaving the total at 36. Testing, however, took a step up with 1,267 new tests given.

Thrive, a tutoring company based out of Mission Viejo, has made the transition to online and has been offering resources and personal assistance to parents as students transition to the web.

City Council was previously set to decide on possible financing options for a wastewater system capital improvement program, but the item was continued to Tuesday.

Today we face two global threats that each have the potential to dramatically impact human life, individual livelihoods and society at large. The causes behind both crises are invisible to the naked eye, require policymakers and the public to rely on scientists and, as with most threats, have the potential to be politicized for partisan gain.

Costa Mesa, Edison, Huntington Beach, Ocean View and Pacifica Christian O.C. were confirmed as local high schools that planned to attend the Disneyland Resort Grad Nite 2020 event.

Community leaders coordinated a massive food giveaway operation in the IKEA Costa Mesa parking lot Thursday.

Deputy director of public health services David Souleles will retire May 1, the county announced Thursday.

Huntington Beach city staff presented an adjusted budget that factors in hiring freezes and budget cuts in anticipation of reduced tax revenues.

Lucas and Juliette Shadid, who are competitive ice dancers, will have to wait for possible promotion in the sport.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has promised to work with local leaders as they follow the process for coming slowly out of quarantine. He will be using the six criteria developed by health leaders and epidemiologists. Not one of these criterion has been met yet by Orange County.

Newport Beach city councilman Kevin Muldoon writes that Orange County, one of the largest metro area economies in the country, needs a plan sooner than later to reopen businesses.

Erik Skindrud writes that dozens of communities around the world, in Australia, Spain and Portugal, Manhattan Beach, Trestles, Laguna Beach and elsewhere, have acted, instituting bans on beach and water access that remove all ambiguity from the question.

The respirator mask has become so ubiquitous during the coronavirus pandemic that it’s easy to make the connection when looking at the T-shirts Nolen Putnam and Sawyer Farmer are selling to benefit front-line medical workers.

The 2020 NFL Draft will take place from Thursday to Saturday. The 255th and final pick of the draft will become the 45th member of the Mr. Irrelevant fraternity.

The rowing club has been out of the water since March, but daily Zoom sessions have kept the teenagers together and motivated.

Orange County recorded 1,753 cases Wednesday, including one additional death, bringing the total number of deaths to 34.

The City Council voted unanimously to make some cuts to the city budget and defer some costly capital improvement plans, to avoid dipping heavily into the city’s reserve funds.

The Fountain Valley City Council unanimously confirmed a grant to help small businesses with low- and moderate-income workers and an ordinance that allows first responders to use RVs as alternative housing to keep their families safe from COVID-19.

Historically, Americans have paid little attention to situational constraints surrounding poverty. Compared to citizens in other countries, Americans are among the most likely to attribute poverty to an individual’s potential shortcomings, like laziness or bad decisions, instead of situational causes, like structural unfairness.

Laguna Beach’s new tourism marketing district will replace their business improvement district, which includes all lodging businesses within city borders.

We thank the board for its hard work and leadership to protect our community during this crisis. But it has become clear that the status quo is not economically or socially sustainable, even in the short term.

Huntington Valley Healthcare Center saw its first two deaths Tuesday related to the coronavirus pandemic; more than 70 additional staff and residents have been infected.

Dolores, 88, and Louis Amen, 90, recently added overcoming COVID-19 to their list of accomplishments during 70 years of marriage.

The Huntington Beach City Council adopted a number of measures Tuesday that attempt to address the economic impacts of the current COVID-19 crisis.

The OC Health Care Agency launched the OC COVID-19 Testing Network Tuesday with six clinics and plans to add four more within the next two weeks.

The City Council voted to adopt contracts that award raises to approximately 700 city employees, despite outcry from residents that fiscal prudence is needed to weather current economic stagnation.

The letter, sent Monday to county Supervisor Lisa Bartlett, asks that the board close county beaches and trailheads ahead of “unseasonably warm weather” expected at the end of the week.

The U.S. Soccer Federation pulled the plug on its development academy on April 15. The Development Academy was a nationwide youth soccer league for boys and girls.

Kelly Evans was furloughed from her job at the YMCA, but the Costa Mesa resident created a website to keep her students.

Christien Francis Petersen of Costa Mesa allegedly approached a cameraman and reporter from KTTV Channel 11 while they were covering the end of the demonstration in downtown Huntington Beach and demanded they delete any video he might be in, the station reported Monday.

Despite no Surf or Wave League games being played, coaches from each school selected five players to be honored. The COVID-19 pandemic ended the season early.

Five more people died of COVID-19 in Orange County over the last three days, bringing the total to 33, the county Health Care Agency reported Monday.

UC Irvine researchers have developed a phone application that can possibly help stem the spread of COVID-19 by tracking and isolating people who may have been exposed to the deadly virus.

A small band of demonstrators gathered outside Newport Beach City Hall Monday morning to protest coronavirus-driven stay-at-home orders.

Costa Mesa could lose $10 million to $18.5 million or more in revenue the rest of this fiscal year because of the economic impacts of the coronavirus, according to city staff.

The Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday will consider new financing options for a 10-year wastewater system capital improvement program, including increasing the sewer user charge by 5%, 10% or not at all.

Hoag Hospital physicians worry that the specter of the COVID-19 coronavirus is keeping people out of emergency rooms even if they’re experiencing a heart attack, stroke, appendicitis or another emergency.

The Oasis Senior Center may be closed during the coronavirus pandemic, but that doesn’t mean senior citizens are forgotten. Among the ways the center in Corona del Mar has been helping was a drive-by mask giveaway Thursday.

Close to 200 people gathered in downtown H.B. Friday to protest the ongoing social and economic restrictions that are part of city, state and national efforts to suppress and control the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ally Brahs, who has studied dermatology in medical school, plans to move to Florida in June for her first year of residency.

Maria Siani turned 96 on Wednesday, but her birthday celebration plans were going to be interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. Not on her daughter’s watch.

Rylen Schmid, 16, a Newport Beach resident and a sophomore at Orange Lutheran High School, is using her sewing talents and donating masks to local hospitals and senior centers. She says she’s made close to 500 masks in the past three weeks.

The Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa has canceled or postponed all events through May because of the continued coronavirus pandemic. Ticketholders were invited to donate them to the center as a tax-deductible gift.

All metered parking on both sides of Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach have been closed, along with all beaches in Huntington Harbour, in an effort to promote social distancing amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

The Orange County Health Care Agency reported three deaths Thursday and three Wednesday amid volatile counts of hospitalizations and overall cases this week.

The coronavirus pandemic is threatening the season for the Huntington Valley, Costa Mesa American, Fountain Valley, Costa Mesa National, Ocean View and Huntington West Little League organizations.

The GoldenTalk senior chat and crisis line, launched by former Costa Mesa resident Kimberly Lewis, founder of the I Did Something Good Today Foundation, serves Californians 60 and older and has almost 200 volunteers.

With ticket sales for this summer’s Pageant of the Masters in steep decline amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Festival of Arts of Laguna Beach is seeking financial support through accelerated ticket sales and donations in the hope of raising as much as $2 million by the end of May.

Laguna Beach on Wednesday night revised its emergency order requiring face coverings to include customers as well as employees of essential businesses as efforts continue toward inhibiting the spread of the coronavirus.

John Wayne Airport is slated to receive $44.9 million in government aid to help respond to plunging travel demand created by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. JWA estimates it will lose as much as $50 million in revenue in the 2020 fiscal year as a result of the outbreak.

Two other members of the NFL organization, which has its headquarters in Costa Mesa, have shown symptoms of COVID-19.

Hoag Hospital, which has locations in Newport Beach and Irvine, is experimenting with a federally approved investigational treatment and has already treated its first COVID-19 patient using “convalescent plasma.”

Though the coronavirus pandemic led to the cancellation of the original plans for her daughter Madison’s 16th birthday, Dawne Moore still wanted to celebrate somehow. So Tuesday night, a group of Madison’s friends helped light paper lanterns and release them into the sky.

Dr. Gregg DeNicola, who offers coronavirus testing outside his Laguna Beach office, says patients with more severe cases have responded favorably to his use of hydroxychloroquine, which is used to treat malaria, lupus and arthritis. Other medical experts say more study of the drug is needed.

The Sea Kings were the top-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division 2 when the season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

After Tuesday’s update, Orange County’s cumulative coronavirus case count sits at 1,299, with 19 deaths, according to the county Health Care Agency.

Steinberg Sports and Entertainment’s two-day academy, which is being held online this year due to concerns over COVID-19, begins Monday.

Fountain Valley coach Harshul Patel and former Sage Hill coach A.G. Longoria share their thoughts on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the sport.

The city of Costa Mesa is making face coverings mandatory within city limits when in public for essential purposes as a way to help curtail the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, the city announced Monday evening. A face covering is not required for residents walking, biking or running, the city manager says.

“It’s important to note that one day does not make a trend, and we must monitor case counts over time for a more complete picture,” the Orange County Health Care Agency said Monday of the slight increase of nine coronavirus cases since Sunday. Countywide cases now sit at 1,283 infections and 19 deaths.

The tournament for younger age groups will now be held in November in the Bay Area, while the older age groups will play in December in Orange County.

Here are some local scenes of the new “normal” amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Orange County baseball coach James Lowe is running virtual physical education and baseball classes online, keeping local kids entertained.

The Premier Girls Fastpitch Nationals remain scheduled to be played locally from July 24 to Aug. 9, giving softball players a goal to work toward this summer.

The Newport Beach restaurant has been serving pizza and Italian food for over 30 years, and one customer has been a regular the whole time. In these uncertain times, he wanted to show his gratitude with a $1,000 “grant” for each employee.

The Breakers, who had 11 seniors, were the top-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division 3 before the coronavirus pandemic forced the season to be canceled.

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a loss of work for sports announcers like Costa Mesa resident Rob Espero. Some are finding ways to stay busy.

Three sets of face mask makers in Costa Mesa and Fountain Valley are toiling away during their quarantines by producing hundreds of masks for their communities.

Joanna Miriam takes professional photos of families from her car, commemorating birthdays, graduations and other celebratory events.

Stu News Laguna Beach and Newport Beach, along with Voice of OC and the Laguna Beach and Newport Beach Independent weeklies are adjusting to a new way of reporting, while looking at new streams of revenue.

Theatergoers probably feel like they’re living in the Twilight Zone these days, so you can imagine how the people in charge of populating the local stages are feeling.

Ten trailers arrived at the OC Fair & Event Center on Friday. The trailers are available as backup to temporarily house unsheltered Costa Mesa residents who are susceptible to the coronavirus.

Known cases of COVID-19 increased to 1,138 Friday in Orange County, with no new deaths, according to the county Health Care Agency.

The Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach City school districts have also extended their closures through the rest of the school year this week, joining Newport-Mesa Unified.

Starting Friday, the order requires all essential workers providing non-medical services to wear a face covering while at work.

Michael Pinto, Myha Pinto and Jackson Golden have already sewed and delivered more than 100 masks to help fight the coronavirus.

The 53rd annual Orange County High School All-Star Game and the 22nd Orange County Softball Coaches All-Star Classic have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Strength Co. in Costa Mesa emptied its gyms into people’s garages and living rooms. “People need to work out right now, they don’t need to sit on their couch or watch Tiger King,” gym owner Grant Broggi said.

OC Parks implemented parking lot closures at all county beaches and pedestrian access points to others as a measure to reinforce social distancing. Not everyone is staying away, though.

What is known so far paints a troubling picture for Asian patients: at least six of the total deaths were Asians, representing at least 35% of deaths overall and 50% where race or ethnicity was known.

City lifeguards will fly blackball flags prohibiting board surfing from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. in the area beginning Friday and will also close off the adjacent beach to prevent people from gathering.

The city announced Thursday afternoon that it would be closing beachside metered parking on Pacific Coast Highway until further notice.

The Orange County closures are among similar restrictions throughout Southern California. The medical office in Huntington Beach shut down.

By current estimates, city staff said the city is projected to lose about $12 million in revenue between April and June.

Yvette Paz is an Army veteran who had COVID-19. The Huntington Beach resident credits trial drug hydroxychloroquine with saving her life and has been medically cleared for two weeks.

The coronavirus pandemic has shelved the high school spring sports season, leaving game officials without the work they planned on having.

Commissioner Rob Wigod says the section is committed to doing everything it can to hold fall sports championship games.

Known cases of COVID-19 jumped past 1,000 Wednesday in Orange County alongside the announcement of two more deaths attributed to the respiratory disease.

Laguna Beach will have two trailers at the Alternative Sleeping Location site. Costa Mesa is hoping to receive 10 trailers from the county.

The city was initially considering sending a letter to both commercial and residential landlords, asking for deferment of rent and forgoing of evictions prior to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order.

Following a vote by the City Council Tuesday, Costa Mesa will begin tapping into another resource to get aid to local businesses faster.

The arguments for keeping children locked up for weeks, in virtual petri dishes, for drug possession, truancy, vandalism and other nonviolent offenses, are suspect.

Lynn Lorenz writes that out of the coronavirus crisis that we are experiencing now, the brave men and women we revere, who dare to tread where most of us would not go, are not the politicians among us.

Marina, Edison and Estancia are considering ways in which they can give their students some of the traditional end-of-year experiences such as athletic awards, senior days and graduation while dealing with COVID-19.

The talented team hoped to contend for another national championship, but now Zoom rules the day.

The city will fully close the boardwalk ringing Balboa Island and the small park adjacent to the famed Wedge surfing spot to reduce congestion and control spread of COVID-19.

Confirmed COVID-19 cases have risen steadily over the last several days in Orange County, hitting 931 cases and 15 deaths on Tuesday.

In tandem with UCI Beall Applied Innovation, faculty from the university’s engineering, arts, medicine and nursing departments developed, assembled and tested a face shield prototype. The first 2,500 were shipped to the UCI Medical Center in Orange.

The Newport Beach hospital updated its policy late Monday, after a couple of doctors and other workers expressed concern over the weekend that masks were allowed, but not required.

Dr. Michael Brant-Zawadzki writes that Hoag Hospital has established careful processes to keep all of its patients safe as they receive care for any health issue they are experiencing.

Confirmed coronavirus infections rose steadily over the weekend in Orange County, hitting 882 cases and holding at 14 deaths on Monday.

It’s easier for older people to become more lonely during this constrained time due to COVID-19 because they aren’t as adept at connecting through technology as many kids and young adults.

Newport Beach is placing a six-week moratorium on vacation rentals in its latest measure to tamp down on visitors during the coronavirus pandemic, the City Council decided Friday night.

The CIF State office and the 10 CIF section commissioners announce that the rest of the season, including the championships at the section and state level, has been canceled.

Huntington Beach’s Jacob Rosenberg has immersed himself in his start-up, Tajima Direct, after the coronavirus ended his senior season early at Stanford.

Children and their families in one Costa Mesa neighborhood have taken to posting uplifting messages and drawings on their properties to spread some cheer amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Recyclable items are going straight to landfills during the coronavirus pandemic as area haulers move to protect workers at facilities where they say maintaining 6-foot social distancing is impossible.

As they close their campuses to fight the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, public and private schools have moved to distance learning, providing online classwork and other materials for students as they stay at home. Here’s how families are making the transition.

A makeshift sign attached to a white delivery van points the way to an artisan market open to the public and filled with goods from Orange County food makers who have come together with the goal to keep themselves and their employees in business during the coronavirus lockdown.

All grass areas along the beaches in Huntington Beach will be closed to the public starting Friday in an attempt to stop crowding during the coronavirus outbreak.

Hoag, Mission and Fountain Valley Regional hospitals have tents ready to go in preparation for an expected surge in patients with the coronavirus that causes the respiratory disease COVID-19.

As of Thursday, 115 people in Orange County were hospitalized with the virus that causes the respiratory disease COVID-19, with 47 of them in intensive care, the county Health Care Agency reported.

With the Huntington Beach Union High School District keeping schools closed due to COVID-19, the season ends for Edison, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Marina, Ocean View and Westminster.

News briefs from the Daily Pilot.

The Ocean View School District and the Huntington Beach Union High School District will extend their campus closures through the end of the school year in June in response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Laguna Beach City Manager John Pietig has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, he said Wednesday night, adding that he is self-isolating at home and expects to make a full recovery.

The facility in Costa Mesa will provide up to 1,100 overflow beds if area hospitals fill up with coronavirus patients during an expected surge in the next few weeks.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District decided to keep campuses closed until at least June 1, eliminating what hope remained of the spring sports season resuming.

Tam Nguyen and Johnny Ngo were nervous as they stood in front of the news media at the Whale Spa salon furniture store in Huntington Beach on Tuesday morning.

Wednesday’s 107-case surge in the Orange County coronavirus case count is the largest day-to-day increase so far, outpacing the 82-case spike Saturday. Deaths increased by three, bringing the countywide total to 10.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District now plans to resume in-person classes June 1, delaying a return previously set for April 13. The Laguna Beach Unified School District says it will deliver online instruction until further notice. The decisions extend distance learning in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Huntington Beach City Council has decided to suspend water shutoffs and to halt rent for small businesses on city-owned property as ways to ease financial hardships caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a temporary statewide ban on evictions for those affected by the virus on Friday.

Of Orange County’s 502 known cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus, 94 have resulted in hospital admissions — 46 of them in intensive care, county health officials said Tuesday.

Max McKennon had plans to play in junior Grand Slams this summer before heading to Arizona State, but they are up in the air due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As California hospitals brace for what is expected to be the worst weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, UC Irvine medical students are holding community drives this week to collect masks, sanitizer and other crucial supplies for members of the university’s medical staff while also helping by walking their dogs, babysitting and doing grocery shopping.

Laguna Beach — with a population of about 23,300 — has 9.4 coronavirus cases for every 10,000 residents, leading Orange County cities in that regard.

Newport Beach plans to close its ocean-facing boardwalk on the Balboa Peninsula every weekend in April, or until Gov. Gavin Newsom relaxes California’s social distancing guidelines that are intended to stem the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. That’s in addition to restrictions on the piers, parking and other locations.

South Coast Plaza will remain closed until further notice, a spokeswoman said Monday, the day before the Costa Mesa mall had planned to reopen following a two-week closure after a store employee tested positive for the coronavirus.

School was in session — at least off campus — on Monday in several local districts as officials try to salvage what’s left of the school year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

If you’re in need of a break from worrying about the coronavirus pandemic, you might spare a few minutes to learn about an inspiring philanthropic venture that could serve as a practical model for how to make a difference in the world.

While the Laguna Playhouse, like all other local theaters, has shut its doors because of the coronavirus pandemic, its officials want to show their appreciation for workers performing essential services to help others during the crisis.

While many businesses have shuttered amid measures intended to keep the coronavirus from spreading, those still operating under virus-related restrictions are finding ways to adjust.

Orange County increased its count of coronavirus cases to 431 on Sunday, up from 403 on Saturday, with four overall deaths.

John Wayne Airport’s tower closed Friday as a precaution for “cleaning and quarantine” after a control manager showed a presumptive positive test result Thursday, officials said. Further testing Friday came back negative.