ALAMEDA COUNTY — The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Alameda County remained steady on Wednesday at 124, according to the Alameda County Public Health Department. There were no new deaths attributed to COVID-19.

The death toll stands at two. Public schools will remain closed in Alameda County through May 1, health officers and school superintendents announced Wednesday. Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties joined the united effort.



The East Bay Regional Park District announced the closure of parks in a effort to slow the spread of coronavirus. This past weekend, the Park District saw more people in parks than on a busy holiday. "We can't bend the curve if everyone is out. I don't want to close big, beautiful open spaces. But we can't see what we saw over the weekend," California Governor Gavin Newsom said Monday. Don't miss updates about coronavirus precautions as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.



A free East Bay coronavirus testing center that doesn't require a doctor's referral has proven so popular that new rules were put into place on Wednesday. The center tests 370 people per day. In other developments, the U.S. Senate and White House agreed on a $2 trillion stimulus package early Wednesday, capping days of negotiations over how to boost the nation's economy as the new coronavirus crisis threatened to plunge the U.S. into a recession.

There were more than 61,100 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States and 849 deaths as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University, with 58 of those deaths in California.