Coachella Valley coronavirus news and info | Monday, June 22

By
Casey Dolan
-
(?: Sharon Calcagno)

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. Thank you for your continued support of Cactus Hugs. For ways to keep this website going (and free!), click here.

As of 3 pm Monday, Riverside County officials have confirmed:

  • 13,800 people have officially tested positive for COVID-19.  A staggering 1,020 people have been reported positive since Friday.
  • 424 people are confirmed to have died in the county from the coronavirus. This number includes 14 reported death since Friday.

Here’s the latest from the Coachella Valley:

As of 3 pm Monday, San Bernardino County has confirmed:

  • 9,361 people have officially tested positive for COVID-19.
  • 234 people are confirmed to have died in the county from the coronavirus.

As of 4 pm Monday, the State of California has confirmed:

  • 183,553 people have official tested positive for COVID-19.
  • 5,556 people are confirmed to have died in the state of CA from the coronavirus.

 

Three spots at the Westfield Palm Desert were deep cleaned after an employee at each tested positive for coronavirus.  The businesses were Vans, M. Ruiz Jewelers and Stuft Pizza, according to Westfield.  The county has not called for the closing of any of the businesses or the mall, though M. Ruiz Jewelers and Stuft Pizza closed for business to clean and the Vans store doesn’t open up to the public for another few days.

The Walmart store in Palm Desert store was closed for a “deep cleaning” over the weekend.  The store was vague about why the deep cleaning needed to take place, especially on what would’ve likely been a busy weekend.  They did not say if it was due to an employee testing positive, with a spokesman telling KESQ that, “information related to COVID-19 cases should come from local health officials”.

Riverside County will soon be contacting 3,500 randomly selected county residents to take part in an antibody study. The health department says the study will help determine the Riverside County prevalence of COVID-19, which will be used to inform planning efforts. Potential participants will be contacted by telephone or email starting later this week. Those who are selected will complete a survey, then have blood drawn at one of nine sites located throughout the county.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Monday that more than 46,735 Californians have tested positive for COVID-19 over the past 14 days. That number might seem high – and that’s because it is.  In fact, it represents 35.6% of all known cases since the outbreak began in March. In addition, a record number of people tested positive for the virus over the weekend. “We’re not into the second wave,” warned the governor. “We’re not out of the first wave.”

And it’s not just California, a total of twenty-nine states and U.S. territories logged an increase in their seven-day average of new reported cases on Monday, with nine states reporting record average highs.

California has also reached a new high in the number of hospitalizations related to COVID-19, surpassing the previous peak in late April. As of Sunday, the state had 3,702 hospitalized patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19, of which 1,199 were in intensive care. There were an additional 1,102 hospitalized patients with suspected COVID-19. Officials attribute at least part of the increase in cases to a decline in social distancing as people venture out into the world again.

Newsom, along with governors from the past (including a certain action movie star), appear together in a new video urging people to wear masks when they are out to help slow the spread of coronavirus:

A quick reminder: a mask isn’t just to protect you…it’s also to protect others from what you may have.  So, please, don’t be a selfish asshole, wear a mask – and do it correctly:

During his sparsely attended campaign rally in Tulsa on Saturday, President Trump  complained to a few thousand people about the number of coronavirus cases being reported and told supporters that he ordered that they “slow the testing down please.” Officials tried to say it was some sort of joke  – which, if, so hilarious joke, man.  When asked about it on Monday, Trump didn’t directly answer the question:

A Chinese study found that levels of an antibody found in recovered COVID-19 patients fell sharply in 2-3 months after infection for both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. The results raises questions on any possible immunity to the virus.

Congressman Raul Ruiz teamed up with Congresswoman Katie Porter to write to the IRS with concerns over some who have still not received their stimulus payments:

Meanwhile, Ruiz’s opponent in the fall election, Erin Cruz, took time to tag Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to ask about Tik Tok, teenagers, and stories of how some young people on the platform requested Donald Trump rally tickets and then didn’t show up:

College of the Desert students returned to class today (well, online classes) which are being offered as both six and eight-week summer classes. Those interested in signing up for classes can still register for online courses through Tuesday, for six-week courses and Wednesday, for eight-week courses. For a list of open courses, you can check out the “Open Class List”.

Finally…

Thank you for your continued support of Cactus Hugs.

These are stressful times for all of us. Coping with stress will make you, the people you care about, and our desert community stronger. This link has some resources to help with coping and also numbers to call or text if you, or someone you know, feels overwhelmed.

Please, take care of yourself and each other. You are important. You are valued. You are loved. ??

Anything we missed? Let us know about it.

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