Los Angeles

L.A. County to provide update on latest coronavirus figures, response

By CaliNews 10 mins ago

Los Angeles County officials on Friday are expected to provide an update on the latest coronavirus figures countywide and their efforts to curb the spread of the illness. On Thursday, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the county’s director of public health, announced that COVID-19 cases had increased to 4,045 and the death toll climbed to 78. As cases continued to rise locally, Los Angeles County is now being considered the epicenter of the virus in California, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. As of Friday morning, there are 11,317 cases of COVID-19 statewide, with 250 deaths. While the White House and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control are expected to issue national guidelines on the use of facial coverings amid the pandemic, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti already asked Angelenos to make their own masks at home and cover their noses and mouths while out in public. Ferrer has said that while covering your mouth can help prevent you from spreading the virus, residents should still adhere to social distancing guidelines and only go outside for essential services. In an effort to further increase testing capacity locally, the…

Sailors cheer aircraft carrier commander who was fired after seeking help for virus-stricken ship

By CaliNews 10 mins ago

Sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier cheered for Capt. Brett Crozier as he disembarked the ship for the last time, an overwhelming show of support for their leader who was relieved of his command after issuing a stark warning about a coronavirus outbreak onboard. New video obtained by CNN shows a large crowd gathered to give Crozier a warm and loud send off, clapping and chanting his name as he left the ship. It was a clear expression of appreciation for their former commander who was removed for what the acting Navy Secretary called “poor judgment.” “Today at my direction the commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, Captain Brett Crozier, was relieved of command by carrier strike group commander Rear Admiral Stewart Baker,” acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly announced on Thursday, The decision came days after Crozier wrote a memo warning Navy leadership that decisive action was needed to save the lives of the ship’s crew. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted…

2nd Riverside County sheriff’s deputy dies of COVID-19 within 24 hours

By CaliNews 10 mins ago

Another Riverside County Sheriff’s Department deputy died of complications from COVID-19 as the number of infected deputies rose to 26, authorities said Friday. Deputy David Werksman, a 22-year veteran of the department, is the second deputy at the agency to succumb to the respiratory illness Thursday after 54-year-old Deputy Terrell Young, the Riverside Sheriffs’ Association announced. “It is hard to imagine that just 24 hours ago, our Department was in pain due to the COVID-19 death of Deputy Terrell Young. Our members are heartbroken and hurting,” the association’s president Bill Young said in a statement. It is believed Werksman contracted the virus several weeks ago while attending or making arrangements for his mother’s funeral, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said in a news conference Friday. The deputy was admitted to the hospital with respiratory failure about a week ago, two weeks after he started experiencing flu-like symptoms. He had previously seen a doctor who sent him home with antibiotics, the sheriff said. “It hit him pretty early… and he had a hard time with it. He was fighting severe respiratory problems for almost two weeks…

With high number of new cases and fatalities, L.A. County emerges as coronavirus epicenter in California

By CaliNews 10 mins ago

The death toll from the coronavirus jumped again Thursday to 78 in Los Angeles County as officials warned residents “many weeks of work” were ahead before the region might see signs that the spread was slowing. Although cases are rising across the state, Los Angeles County — the state’s most populous — has seen a large number of fatalities and new cases. Officials acknowledged the psychological toll of the losses but said it’s essential people keep following social distancing rules and health guidelines. “Please don’t lose hope, and please don’t stop following all of the directives that you are following right now to slow the spread of COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The county confirmed 13 new coronavirus-related deaths Thursday, bringing the toll to 78. Twelve of the victims were older than 65, and all but one of them had underlying health conditions, Ferrer said. The other person who died was between ages 41 and 65 and also had underlying health conditions, she said. Read the full story on LATimes.com.

West Covina Unified Donates 21K Masks To Local Hospital

By CaliNews 11 mins ago

WEST COVINA (CBSLA) – The West Covina Unified School District announced Friday it donated thousands of masks from its stockpile to a local hospital amid the coronavirus pandemic which has lead to a worldwide shortage of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers. The district reports that earlier this week it donated 21,600 masks to Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center. The donation includes 1,600 N95 masks and 20,000 medical face masks. The masks were part of an emergency stockpile the district had been growing following the swine flu pandemic in 2009 in case its teachers and staff would need them. Last week, the Los Angeles Unified School District donated 100,000 N95 masks from its own stockpile to 10 local hospitals. On Thursday, L.A. County and city officials implored Angelenos to refrain from purchasing medical-grade masks. Instead, they recommend using face-coverings such as bandannas or scarves when going out in public. California Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this week reported that the state has distributed more than 32 million N95 masks to local hospitals. Newsom said the goal is to distribute 101 million of them.

Disneyland Annual Passholders Can Get Partial Refund, Payment Waivers During Coronavirus Closure

By CaliNews 11 mins ago

ANAHEIM (CBSLA) — With the Magic Kingdom closed until further notice, Disneyland says they will make some refunds and and waive upcoming payments for annual passholders. Annual passes to Disneyland start at $399 and go as high as $1,399, so with the theme park closed to help slow the coronavirus outbreak, Disney is making some concessions for its most ardent fans after having to close Disneyland and California Adventure on March 12. For annual passholders who have paid in full, the term on those passports will be extended, but for those who do not want an extension, Disneyland will issue a partial refund. Disneyland will automatically stop and waive all payments for annual passholders on a monthly plan, effective Sunday. Payments made between March 14 through April 4 will also be retroactively refunded. The park says payments will resume on the regular schedule once the parks reopen, but these passports’ expiration dates will not be extended. However, passholders on the monthly payment program can also have their payments postponed starting with payments due April 5, then resumed once the park reopens. These passports expirations will…

Homeless Veterans Shelter to Open in Brentwood

By CaliNews 1 hour ago

Share this article:A Bridge Home shelter will open Saturday at the Veterans Administration campus in Brentwood in an effort to protect homeless veterans during the coronavirus pandemic. “This is a small payment on the debt we owe our veterans, and I am grateful this facility is finally opening its doors and letting unhoused veterans in,” Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin said. “We can’t rest until every veteran has a place to call home and until every unsheltered person in Los Angeles is allowed to come indoors.” The facility is a joint partnership with the city and county of Los Angeles and will offer 50 beds for homeless veterans who are not showing symptoms of the coronavirus. The shelter was originally designed as a 100-bed transitional shelter, but it was scaled down to help the veterans comply with social distancing guidelines, according to Bonin’s office. The Veterans Administration’s Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System also announced 138 beds on the campus in “building 214” are being prepared for veterans who need to isolate or quarantine, and the administration will allow “safe camping” on the campus for…

Authorities Seeking Missing Man Last Seen in Palmdale

By CaliNews 1 hour ago

Share this article:Authorities Friday sought public help to find a man they say is suicidal and possesses firearms, and was last seen in Palmdale. Larry McNutt, 43, is black, 6 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 270 pounds, and has brown hair and eyes, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He was last seen about 11:30 p.m. Thursday. “McNutt is suicidal and possesses firearms,” a sheriff’s statement said. “If McNutt is located, do not approach — contact police.” He was last seen driving a dark gray 2016 Dodge Ram 3500 pickup with Florida license number Y06PYL. Anyone knowing his whereabouts was urged to call the Sheriff’s Missing Persons Unit at 323-890-5500, or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS. Authorities Seeking Missing Man Last Seen in Palmdale was last modified: April 3rd, 2020 by Contributing Editor

‘In my blood, there may be answers,’ says COVID-19 survivor in NYC who donated to research

By CaliNews 1 hour ago

Tiffany Pinckney remembers the fear when COVID-19 stole her breath. So when she recovered, the New York City mother became one of the country’s first survivors to donate her blood to help treat other seriously ill patients. “It is definitely overwhelming to know that in my blood, there may be answers,” Pinckney told The Associated Press. Doctors around the world are dusting off a century-old treatment for infections: Infusions of blood plasma teeming with immune molecules that helped survivors beat the new coronavirus. There’s no proof it will work. But former patients in Houston and New York were early donors, and now hospitals and blood centers are getting ready for potentially hundreds of survivors to follow. The Food and Drug Administration Friday announced a national study, led by the Mayo Clinic, that will help hospitals offer the experimental plasma therapy and track how they fare. The American Red Cross will help collect and distribute the plasma. “There’s a tremendous call to action,” said Dr. David Reich, president of New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital, which declared Pinckney recovered and raced to collect her blood. “People feel very helpless in the face…

Brooklyn man arrested after allegedly hoarding N95 masks, selling them at inflated prices

By CaliNews 1 hour ago

 The Health and Human Services Department said Thursday it had distributed some 192,000 N95 respirator masks and a large haul of other scarce medical supplies that the FBI had seized during the arrest of a Brooklyn man. Baruch Feldheim, 43, was arrested Monday after he allegedly coughed on FBI agents and told them he had the coronavirus. Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Feldheim sold the N95 masks to doctors and nurses at inflated prices; in one instance at as much as a 700% markup. They’re now being distributed to health care workers in New York and New Jersey. The department used its authority under the Defense Production Act to make the move. Justice Department prosecutors in Newark charged Feldheim with assaulting federal officers and making false statements to law enforcement. CNN has reached out to Feldheim’s attorney for comment. Feldheim kept the items in a repair shop in Irvington, New Jersey, which contained enough materials to outfit an entire hospital, a doctor who purchased masks from Feldheim told authorities, according to court documents. FBI agents, as part of the Justice Department’s Covid-19 Hoarding and…

‘If they lose me to COVID, I want them to know Mommy tried really hard,’ NYC doctor says in viral tweet

By CaliNews 1 hour ago

After a weekend spent on call in a New York City hospital, one doctor posted a message for her kids with a raw and honest view of what it’s like to be a healthcare worker on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak. “My babies are too young to read this now,” Dr. Cornelia Griggs tweeted. “And they’d barely recognize me in my gear. But if they lose me to COVID I want them to know Mommy tried really hard to do her job. #GetMePPE #NYC.” My babies are too young to read this now. And they’d barely recognize me in my gear. But if they lose me to COVID I want them to know Mommy tried really hard to do her job. #GetMePPE #NYC pic.twitter.com/OMew5G7mjK— Cornelia Griggs, MD (@CorneliaLG) March 29, 2020 Dr. Griggs, a pediatric surgery fellow at Columbia University Medical Center, told CNN’s John Berman that it was a long, exhausting weekend for her and her colleagues. ‘Walking into the fire’ The tweet caught the attention of many, including hip-hop artist, Missy Elliot. “We are going to speak it out of mouths that…

Google says it’s releasing your location data to help fight coronavirus pandemic

By CaliNews 1 hour ago

Google is publicly releasing the data it’s already collecting about people’s movements during the coronavirus pandemic. The company said it plans to publish a series of “Community Mobility Reports” to show the types of places people are visiting across 131 countries and regions. The first report was published on Friday. Google said in a blog post it hopes tracking movement trends over time and by geography could help shape and inform governments’ and public health officials’ response to the coronavirus pandemic. The reports, which contain data from two to three days earlier, intend to spot trends in how people are behaving and responding to social distancing. Broken down by country and then by region, the reports will show if people are headed to retail and grocery stores, pharmacies, parks, workplaces and more. It’ll also show how busy these places were before the pandemic. The company said the findings are “created with aggregated, anonymized sets of data from users who have turned on the location history setting, which is off by default” in Google’s services. It added that it would not release information that could be used to…

Suspected Thief Electrocuted To Death Trying To Steal Copper In Duarte

By CaliNews 1 hour ago

DUARTE (CBSLA) – A man died after being electrocuted early Friday morning on a construction site in Duarte while possibly trying to steal copper. April 3, 2020. (LACFD) The incident occurred sometime before 7 a.m. in the 1700 block of Business Center Drive, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The victim was discovered “entangled and deceased in electrical equipment,” the fire department tweeted. It appears he was trying to steal copper from the construction site overnight, officials said. He was not immediately identified. Southern California Edison was working to shut off power from a substation in order for firefighters to recover the victim’s body.

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