Coachella Valley coronavirus news and info | Wednesday, April 22

By
Casey Dolan
-
(?: Carol Hardin)

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 Tuesday, Riverside County officials have confirmed:

  • 2,960 people have tested positive for COVID-19.    
  • 93 people are confirmed to have died in the county from the coronavirus.  
  • There are currently 240 confirmed cases hospitalized, with 72 of them in the ICU.
  • There have been 757 official recovered cases in the county.

As of 2 pm Tuesday, San Bernardino County has confirmed 1,489 cases of COVID-19.  There have been 67 deaths in San Bernardino County.

As of 9:53 pm Tuesday, there have been 35,843 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in California.  There have been 1,320 confirmed deaths in the state.

 

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

Autopsy results released Tuesday show two people were infected with the virus and died in Santa Clara County on February 6 and 17, making them the first documented coronavirus deaths in the United States (until now, the first case documented in the US was Feb. 28 in Washington State).  The cases had no history of travel, suggesting community transmission, according to Dr. Sara Cody, the Santa Clara County public health officer. “Those deaths probably represent many, many more infections,” she said. “And so there had to be chains of transmission that go back much earlier.

Dr. Cody also warned that the worst is yet to come. “COVID-19 is something we’re going to be managing for a very long time, months and likely years,” she said. “We anticipate this won’t be the only surge, we’ll have other surges that will likely come if we let up too much.”

The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration believes the current estimate for a potential vaccine is a year from now:

After a spike in coronavirus cases, Tyson Foods announced on Wednesday that it is closing its pork producing plant in Waterloo, Iowa, where it has 2,800 employees and processes 19,500 hogs a day. It is Tyson’s largest pork plant and represents about 4 percent of the nation’s pork processing capacity. The closure follows other shutdowns at plants run by Smithfield Foods, JBS USA and other companies and has some fearing that further straining the U.S. meat supply chain could lead to potential shortages.

“If we all pull back, we could see a second wave that makes this pale in comparison, Gov. Gavin Newsom addressed some communities in the state looking to soften the state’s stay-at-home order.  “I imagine there’ll be some examples of people just getting ahead of that collaborative spirit,” he said. “And we may have to dial a little bit of that back.”  The governor said his advisors were seeking to better organize various conversations with county and city leaders over relaxing the restrictions and will provide an update on how current conditions hold up to the requirements of the state’s six point plan to reopen.

California public health officials have partially lifted restrictions on who should receive tests for the coronavirus.  The move marks the first state in the nation to recommend that asymptomatic people living or working in high-risk settings such as nursing homes, prisons and even some households should now be considered a priority.

Yucca Valley has seen 12 people test positive for the coronavirus.  The town now projects lost revenues for the city due to the coronavirus shutdown to top $1.5 million.

You can fish and ride a horse in Riverside County, just make sure you keep a safe social distance from people you don’t live with.

The City of Palm Springs will look at lifting its ban on golfing in the city tomorrow.

Elsewhere in the Coachella Valley, some courses reopened on Tuesday.  Others are taking a couple of days to prepare:

The Palm Desert mayor’s recent blog post and TV interview comparing the risk of coronavirus to car crashes and calling for people to go back to work during the pandemic has kept Barbara, the woman behind the Palm Desert Twitter account, busier than normal:

Riverside County has banned swimming in public pools during the coronavirus.  With triple digits on the way, some residents are not happy about it.  “They’re frustrated, especially now that it’s getting warm. And it’s nice to be in the pool when it’s warm,” a local HOA president told the Desert Sun.

Netflix has, not surprisingly, added a ton of new subscribers during the time of coronavirus stay-at-home orders.

Several Los Angeles sports teams have joined together to sell thousands of pieces of merchandise, with the proceeds all going to the city’s coronavirus emergency fund.  You can check out the website here.

A bunch of YouTubers spent weeks preparing Coachella content and setting up sponsorships.  The festival is not happening this Spring, but that’s not stopping influencers from releasing their videos – with some going so far to rebrand them to “HomeChella”.

A procession made up of local police and firefighters honored healthcare workers by driving through parts of Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage with their sirens and lights on:

Finally, Yosemite National Park is closed to people these days, so a coyote was able to take in an amazing view all by himself:

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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