People flock to Calif. beaches again, bringing hand sanitizer and hope

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — A chilly breeze and cloudy skies didn’t deter hundreds of families, friends and couples from descending on Huntington Beach early Sunday.

Couples lay on beach towels watching dozens of surfers ride the waves, as others played on the beach. A mother kept watch over young boys digging holes with a shovel near the shore, while several teenagers flopped on boogie boards.

Most people kept a safe distance between each other. Many donned hats, sunglasses and umbrellas but few wore protective face masks.

Eva Sanchez, dressed in a red polka dot swimsuit, sat on a beach towel looking out at the ocean.

With her husband Jorge, 21, and their 7-month baby Mateo, they kept their distance from other beachgoers.

“I wanted to get out of the house for a little bit, bring (Mateo) to the beach because I bought him his clothes,” said Sanchez, 20, laughing.

The Azusa resident wasn’t too concerned about the spread of the virus. She and her family were well stocked with hand sanitizer and were avoiding touching things unnecessarily.

“I believe I’m taking my precautions, practicing social distancing, constantly washing our hands,” she said. “So I’m not that scared.”

Asked if she was concerned about others not abiding by social distancing orders, she said: “As long as it doesn’t interfere with me, I feel like that’s completely up to them and how they view COVID-19.”

Orange County beaches drew crowds again Sunday amid hot weather and pent-up energy from stay-at-home orders. Los Angeles County kept its beaches closed, but they were open in Orange and Ventura counties. Officials closed parking lots in hopes of keeping people from driving in. But many like Sanchez made the trip.

Some have expressed concern about the crowds, worried it might cause the coronavirus to spread. But officials said everything seemed manageable and that many people tried to stay at least six feet apart from one another.

Heather Rangel, press information officer for the Newport Beach Police Department, said Saturday there had been no arrests or citations related to the stay-at-home orders. Angie Bennett, spokeswoman for the Huntington Beach Police Department, said no one was cited for violating social distancing guidelines.

— Los Angeles Times

Troubling trend: Virus deaths doubled in L.A. County over last week

LOS ANGELES —The number of coronavirus deaths in Los Angeles County doubled in the last week amid new evidence that the poor are being hardest hit, according to the county health department.

As of Sunday, the county had recorded 916 deaths and nearly 20,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Officials said the rising numbers underscore the need to stay indoors as much as possible and also raise questions about when Los Angeles County will be able to ease its strict social distancing rules.

“Because we are still seeing a significant increase in new cases and deaths, we ask that you continue to stay home as much as possible,” Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director, said over the weekend.

After appearing to level off for a time, the number of COVID-19 cases reported in Los Angeles County rose at a rapid clip over the past week.

— Los Angeles Times

Urging social distancing, Colorado, Montana, other states ease virus restrictions

Despite a steady climb in the national death toll of those who have died from coronavirus-related infections, several states Monday began to ease stay-at-home orders for residents.

Streams of patrons, eager to escape stay-home restrictions that have lasted weeks, entered businesses in small towns and bustling big cities in states from the Rocky Mountains to the South.

In Colorado, retail businesses with curbside delivery were able to reopen. Hospitals also eased restrictions on elective surgeries.

Farther north, in Montana, where residents of large metropolises have fled to during the global pandemic, retail businesses fully reopened but were required to adhere to strict social distancing guidelines.

“We have among the lowest cases per capita, the lowest hospitalizations per capita,” Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, said on social media, urging residents to remain vigilant and still practice social distancing. The state has seen roughly 450 confirmed cases of the virus and at least 14 deaths.

Nationwide, the death toll from COVID-19 reached 55,000 in the United States on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The reported U.S. death toll is the highest globally.

In the South, which has seen high rates of infections, Tennessee allowed restaurants to reopen for dine-in or takeout. Roughly 9,500 people have contracted the virus and at least 190 have died.

In recent days, neighboring Georgia lifted restrictions, allowing for businesses such as barbershops, gyms, movie theaters and bowling alleys to reopen. The state continues to see an increase in confirmed cases, at least 22,400, and about 900 deaths. A lack of quality health care, among other things, has led to high rates of death in black communities from Atlanta to Albany, Ga.

Limited testing has also caused concerns in the state over its reopening.

President Donald Trump, after urging states to “liberate,” during the pandemic, has said he does not support Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to reopen. Several mayors, including Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, have assailed Kemp’s decision.

Meanwhile, in New York, where a day earlier Gov. Andrew Cuomo outlined a phased approach to reopening the state, which has a stay-at-home order in place until May 15, hospitals reported less of a strain on emergency rooms. On Sunday, the death toll was below 400 —something that had not occurred for several weeks. Still, the state has remained a hotbed of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., with 282,000 cases and nearly 16,600 deaths.

“This has been a hellish experience for our country. But it has also been a time of cooperation, unity and love,” Cuomo said Monday. “It’s not red state versus blue state. It’s us together versus this virus.”

— Los Angeles Times

Coronavirus lingers in air of crowded spaces, new study finds

The new coronavirus appears to linger in the air in crowded spaces or rooms that lack ventilation, researchers found in a study that buttresses the notion that COVID-19 can spread through tiny airborne particles known as aerosols.

At two hospitals in Wuhan, China, researchers found bits of the virus’s genetic material floating in the air of hospital toilets, an indoor space housing large crowds, and rooms where medical staff take off protective gear. The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Research, didn’t seek to establish whether the airborne particles could cause infections.

The question of how readily the new virus can spread through the air has been a matter of debate. The World Health Organization has said the risk is limited to specific circumstances, pointing to an analysis of more than 75,000 cases in China in which no airborne transmission was reported.

But as the virus fans across the globe and infections near 3 million, scientists are trying to understand exactly how contamination occurs.

People produce two types of droplets when they breathe, cough or talk. Larger ones drop to the ground before they evaporate, causing contamination mostly via the objects on which they settle. Smaller ones — those that make up aerosols — can hang in the air for hours.

The researchers set up so-called aerosol traps in and around two hospitals in the city that was home to the pandemic’s first steps.

They found few aerosols in patient wards, supermarkets and residential buildings. Many more were detected in toilets and two areas that had large crowds passing through, including an indoor space near one of the hospitals.

Especially high concentrations appeared in the rooms where medical staff doff protective equipment, which may suggest that particles contaminating their gear became airborne again.

— Bloomberg News

Wuhan hospitals report all coronavirus cases cleared

The Chinese city of Wuhan, site of the initial coronavirus outbreak, has no COVID-19 patients in its hospitals for the first time since the pandemic began in earnest at the beginning of this year.

“The latest news is that by April 26, the number of new coronavirus patients in Wuhan was at zero, thanks to the joint efforts of Wuhan and medical staff from around the country,” National Health Commission spokesman Mi Feng said at a briefing Sunday, according to NBC News.

Wuhan, in central Hubei province was the starting point for the outbreak that turned into a pandemic that is ricocheting across the globe, with 5.2 million confirmed infections and nearly 206,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus map.

In the province itself, the number of infections is below 50 for the first time since the crisis began late last year, with no new confirmed cases reported in the province for more than 20 days, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua.

In all of China, 801 patients were still being treated and 77,394 had recovered and been discharged from hospitals, Xinhua said, out of 82,827 confirmed cases on the mainland. In Wuhan itself, there were 46,452 cases, 56% of the national total, Reuters reported, with 3,869 fatalities, which was 84% of China’s total.

Wuhan reported 12 total coronavirus cases on Saturday, one of them classified as “severe,” but no new infections, reported Forbes.

— New York Daily News