Coachella Valley coronavirus news and info | Monday, April 20

By
Casey Dolan
-
(?: Katerina Campbell)

Cactus Hugs has been tracking local stories about the coronavirus.   For a rundown of all of our updates, click here. Stay safe, stay at a good social distance, and thank you for your continued support of Cactus Hugs.

As of 1 pm Sunday, Riverside County officials have confirmed:

  • 2,628 people have tested positive for COVID-19.    
  • 75 people are confirmed to have died in the county from the coronavirus.
  • There are currently 223 confirmed cases hospitalized, with 71 of them in the ICU.
  • There have been 642 official recovered cases in the county.

As of 2 pm Saturday, San Bernardino County has confirmed 1,286 cases of COVID-19.  There have been 57 deaths in San Bernardino County.

As of 11:50 pm Sunday, there have been 31,530 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in California.  There have been 1,178 confirmed deaths in the state.

There have now been nearly 750,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States.  In February, there were 15:

The numbers are increasing everyday.  They are not just numbers.  They are people.  The individual stories are heartbreaking:

The New York Times profiles “The Pandemic’s Hidden Victims: Sick or Dying, but Not From the Virus”.  As the coronavirus has overwhelmed the health care system, people with other illnesses have struggled to find treatment.

How did the $349 stimulus program intended for small business passed by congress run out of money so fast?  Well, it might have something to do with chains like Ruth’s Chris Steak House receiving $20 million and the Potbelly chain of sandwich shops receiving $10 million last week.  The Shake Shack burger chain received $10 million, but after complaints, executives said on Sunday evening that they would return the money.

Additional funds are expected to be voted on, but are currently held up over a fight over testing for coronavirus. As The Washington Post reports, Democrats are seeking a “comprehensive national testing strategy” while Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other Trump administration officials prefer a “state-driven approach and flexibility.”

Meanwhile…

“I think at [this] point, people have had enough, and they want to get back to work again. This is definitely where the cure is going to be worse than the disease.” – The LA Times covers the protests over the weekend around Southern California.

This was the scene at a protest in Colorado that saw a small counter protest by two nurses:

Facebook will remove some posts on anti-stay-at-home protests being organized in California, as well as other states like New Jersey and Nebraska after consulting with officials in those states. The protests run afoul of the states’ social distancing guidelines, a Facebook spokesman said.

Riverside County will consider allowing golf courses to reopen this week, so long as they follow the “Park and Play: Making Your Course Social Distance Ready” program developed by the National Golf Courses Owners Association. That requires six feet of distance between players except for household members, encourage just one person per golf cart, and the spreading out of driving range stations.

“We have one location and if we don’t work we’re not going to make it,” a local hairstylist told KMIR. “I don’t know what’s going to happen over the summer because I’m already spending the money I would have saved.” She, along with stylists throughout the country are asking people to sign a petition for salons to be deemed essential business.

About 10% of Southern California tenants failed to pay April rent, reports the Press Enterprise.  Local landlords say they have collected 85% to 92% of the rent due this month, calling such a decrease “survivable.”

The LA Times looked back at how California handled the 1918 influenza pandemic? San Francisco went mask crazy, while Los Angeles shut down early and stayed closed longer. But both made a mistake: they relaxed the measures too soon, causing a “double hump” of contagion. A second surge of influenza infections in 1918 hit both Los Angeles and San Francisco and killed more people than the first wave in other cities, such as Denver, Kansas City, Milwaukee and St. Louis.

A local woman is asking people to gather, albeit at a social distance, to form a procession to thank local healthcare workers in Palm Desert on Tuesday night.

California’s stay-at-home order has reduced vehicle collisions on roadways by a little more than half since going into effect.  Researchers believe that it has saved taxpayers an estimated $1 billion – including things like property damage, treatment of injuries, lost time at work and emergency responses.

The City of Indio has a special thank you planned for today on Facebook:

That’s all for this morning. Stay safe. Stay smart. Stay home. Thank you for your continued support of Cactus Hugs.

Important information:

Congressman Raul Ruiz has posted a list of local resources and information.

The Washington Post offers plenty of ways that you can help during the coronavirus pandemic.

If you see someone price gouging, there is now a number for that.

The New York Times has an interactive map where you can track every coronavirus case in the United States.

The Washington Post is out with a guide to what you should know about the coronavirus.

Here is a memo by the Department of Homeland security identifying critical infrastructure workers.

The United Way of the Desert has assembled a nice list of information and resources available during the coronavirus here.

These are scary and anxious times.  Be safe and kind to each other out there and, please, remember to wash your hands.

Anything we missed? Let us know about it.

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