California virus cases grow to at least 8,200; 180 deaths

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Southern California nursing home has more than 50 residents infected with coronavirus — a troubling development amid cautious optimism that cases in the state may peak more slowly than expected.

Cedar Mountain Post Acute Rehabilitation in Yucaipa has been told to assume that all of its patients have COVID-19, San Bernardino County Department of Public Health Director Trudy Raymundo said. As of Tuesday, 51 residents and six staff members had tested positive. Two patients have died.

The nursing home east of Los Angeles isn’t accepting new residents and the facility has been closed to visitors under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order, Raymundo said.

The announcement came as Newsom said extraordinary efforts to keep people home have bought time needed to prepare for an expected surge of cases in coming weeks. He said the slower-than-forecast increase in cases means the peak is now likely to occur in May.

“To be truthful and candid, the current modeling is on the lower end of our projection as I talk to you today,” Newsom said Tuesday. “Very easily tomorrow I could say something differently, and that’s why one just has to be very cautious about this.”

Under Newsom’s direction, the state has been scrambling to add 50,000 hospital beds to its current 75,000.

On Wednesday, there were more than 8,200 cases and at least 180 deaths in California, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University. Michigan, which has 30 million fewer residents, had about 7,600 cases and at least 259 deaths.

Among the dead was a veteran Santa Rosa police officer, the police department said in a statement. It was the first known death of a law enforcement officer in the state.

Santa Rosa Police Chief Detective Marylou Armer was among the eight sworn officers in the department who had tested positive for the virus as of Monday, the Press Democrat reported.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein and officials in San Francisco are pleading for federal assistance to help stop the spread of the virus at Laguna Honda Hospital, where at least two residents and nine staff members have tested positive.

South of San Francisco, five residents at a Pacifica nursing home tested positive and one has died, Pacifica Mayor Deirdre Martin told a local news outlet. In nearby Burlingame, two residents of a senior living facility died and five tested positive last month.

Health officials have warned that as testing ramps up, the number of cases will grow, in some instances very quickly.

Many retail businesses and social venues such as theme parks are closed, restaurants are only offering take out or delivery, and most school campuses have been closed for weeks.

On Tuesday, San Francisco and six surrounding counties extended shelter-in-place orders until May 3 and added new restrictions, including closing playgrounds, dog parks, public picnic areas, golf courses, tennis and basketball courts, pools, and rock-climbing walls.

Also on Tuesday, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond warned that he expects schools to remain closed into summer. Millions are getting “distance learning” through online teaching or other methods, such as watching special public broadcasting programs.

While social distancing precautions seem to be generally obeyed, there are concerns the virus will rampage through enclosed, crowded facilities such as nursing homes and prisons, and among the state’s estimated 150,000 homeless people.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that nursing home populations are at the highest risk of being affected by COVID-19 given the “congregate nature” of the facilities and the fact that many residents have chronic medical conditions.

U.S. Rep. Paul Cook, who represents the area that includes Yucaipa, said he and others had told themselves: “‘God almighty, I hope that it never breaks out in a convalescent home,’ and this is what has happened.”

Los Angeles County public health reported that as of Tuesday they were investigating possible outbreaks at 20 nursing homes or skilled nursing facilities.

In Los Angeles, the Union Rescue Mission, which serves Skid Row’s huge homeless population, reported a staff member was hospitalized with COVID-19, several others were sent to a quarantine facility set up at a beach RV park and 95 men were in quarantine on the mission’s third floor, which houses a rehabilitation program.