Coronavirus updates: Fremont opening free COVID-19 testing center

Coronavirus cases in the Bay area as reported by county public health departments. Updated: 10:30 am on April 13, 2020. Coronavirus cases in the Bay area as reported by county public health departments. Updated: 10:30 am on April 13, 2020. Photo: Andy Andersen / Blair Heagerty Photo: Andy Andersen / Blair Heagerty Image 1 of / 49 Caption Close Coronavirus updates: Fremont opening free COVID-19 testing center 1 / 49 Back to Gallery

LATEST, April 2, 8:15 p.m. The city of Fremont is opening a new free drive-thru coronavirus testing center Friday.

The testing site is located at the Fremont Fire Tactical Training Center on Stevenson Boulevard, and will help test sick individuals as well as health care workers with recent exposures to the virus.

In order to receive a test, an individual must have a fever over 100 degrees and be symptomatic for COVID-19. Referral from a doctor is not required, and the tests are free to all.

“Fremont’s new COVID-19 Testing Center is important to our city to ensure that our first responders, public safety personnel, and healthcare and essential service workers are protected when they’re on the frontlines serving our community; they need our support,” Mayor Lily Mei said.

April 2, 8:05 p.m. Marin County reported 10 new cases of COVID-10 on Thursday, bringing the county's total up to 118.

No new fatalities were reported and the county's death toll stands at six.

April 2, 7:50 p.m. The San Mateo County Fair will be canceled for the first time since World War II due to the spread of coronavirus in the Bay Area.

The event was scheduled to run from June 13-21, and county officials said the fairgrounds will likely be used as part of the county's coronavirus response.

April 2, 5 p.m. All nine Bay Area counties have now reported deaths due to coronavirus after Solano County reported its first fatality Thursday night.

County health officials said the victim was over the age of 85, traveled out of the country recently and had multiple underlying conditions.

As of 5 p.m. Thursday, a total of 74 people have died across the Bay Area, 36 of which are from Santa Clara County. The county reporting the second-most deaths is San Mateo County at 10.

April 2, 4:05 p.m. In a press conference at the White House Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence stated the United States would be issuing an advisory "in the next several days" for all Americans to wear face masks in public.

Dr. Deborah Birx, however, noted that the advisory would be an "additive piece" to current guidelines, and that it should not be considered a replacement for washing hands and staying 6 feet away from others.

"We don't want people to get an artificial sense of protection there behind a mask," she said. "We don't want people to feel like, 'I'm wearing a mask, I'm protected and I'm protecting others.' ... It is not a substitute for the presidential guidelines that have come out."

On Wednesday, California issued a guidance stating that cloth face coverings could be useful for all residents in addition to frequent and thorough hand-washing and 6 feet of social distancing.

"There may be a benefit to reducing asymptomatic transmission and reinforcing physical distancing from the use of face coverings," the guidance read. "However, face coverings may increase risk if users reduce their use of strong defenses, such as physical distancing and frequent hand washing, when using face coverings."

April 2, 4 p.m. With the announcement of 63 new cases of coronavirus and four more deaths on Thursday afternoon, Santa Clara County passed the 1,000 case mark. There are now 1,019 cases in the county, and 36 total deaths.

April 2, 3:50 p.m. Outside Lands Music Festival released an update on the status of the 2020 event due to take place in San Francisco in August, saying " if Outside Lands happens, it will happen in the safest environment possible." More details here.

April 2, 3:30 p.m. In a White House press conference Thursday afternoon, Defense Production Act Policy coordinator Peter Navarro spoke to a pattern of bidders driving up costs for PPE and other medical supplies in the United States.

"We're having people coming in driving the price up," he said.

"We're going to crack down unmercifully," he continued, adding that Customs and Border Protection would be addressing the issue. "I would say to the hoarders out there, the brokers trying to profit off the misery of people in this county, that's got to stop."

April 2, 3:30 p.m. On Thursday afternoon, the Department of Homelessness and Public Housing issued a statement regarding a Division Circle Navigation Center shelter guest who tested positive for COVID-19. The guest is currently recovering at a hotel.

Immediately after being made aware of the case, the DPH supplied the center with masks and "initiated the contact tracing process." Then, a physician and health workers were deployed to the center.

“We have been preparing for this situation for weeks, and HSH and DPH are wrapping around the patient with health care and support. The wellbeing of our homeless neighbors is our top priority, and we will continue to work in partnership with our nonprofit service providers, DPH, and the entire City to aggressively contain the virus and protect our community,” said Abigail Stewart-Kahn, Interim Director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. “To the Division Circle Navigation Center community, I am here for you, HSH and DPH are here for you as is the entire City.”

The city of San Francisco is also sending a professional cleaning crew to disinfect the space, per the DHPH.

April 2, 2:50 p.m. In a White House press conference Thursday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin commented on stimulus packages for small businesses, and restaurants in particular. When asked about a current practice in the industry, wherein restaurant and bar owners lay off staff so they can collect unemployment, Mnuchin stated the loan program is meant to "incentivize" owners to keep employees.

"These are loans that turn into grants," he said. "You can hire your people back, you can get money for medical — you keep them on the medical plan — you get money for rent, electricity. You're motivated. We want you to have a business you can reopen quickly, when it's appropriate. It doesn't cost the business owners anything. I can’t imagine any American worker who had a job, is offered to keep their job, isn't going to want to have it. ... You can only get unemployment if you don't have a job."

The small-business loan initative, called the Payment Protection Program, will begin Friday.

April 2, 2:40 p.m. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a press conference Thursday that stimulus checks will begin being distributed to Americans "within two weeks," despite earlier projections that some may not receive checks until much later, in August.

Mnuchin noted that quicker distribution of the money will rely on direct deposits rather than mail.

"If we have your [direct deposit] information, you’ll have it within two weeks," he said. "We can process a lot of checks, but in this environment, we don’t want to send checks. We want to [get it right] into accounts.”

April 2, 1:40 p.m. Contra Costa County announced 26 additional cases on Thursday afternoon, bringing the total to 276, with three deaths. Santa Cruz County also announced three new cases, bringing the total there to 57, with one death.

April 2, 1:30 p.m. There are now more than 1,000,000 cases of coronavirus across the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The death toll across the world has also now surpassed 50,000.

The United States has reported the most cases so far, at 234,462 across the country.

April 2, 1:15 p.m. San Francisco General Hospital opened a drive-thru and walk-up testing area Thursday, giving potential coronavirus cases a way to streamline the testing process. Appointments for the tests, conducted in the parking lot at 23rd Street and Potrero Avenue, will be made available in 15-minute intervals on Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Two cars can be tested at a time in the drive-thru area, and one at the walk-up table, though all who want to be tested must be given a referral from their doctor.

UCSF similarly set up a drive-thru testing site on California Street last week, able to provide testing for up to 25-30 people a day.

April 2, noon. In a press conference Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said more than 1.9 million Californians have filed for unemployment since March 12. On average, 111,009 residents have filed for unemployment insurance per day in the past week.

"The economic consequences are profound," he said.

Newsom said small businesses will be able to defer sending their sales tax revenue — up to $50,000 — to the state government. It's interest and penalty-free for a year and applies to businesses with less than $5 million in taxable sales. "This program starts tomorrow," he said. "April 3 is the first day to start drawing down those applications."

"We need to be able to get the federal dollars into the state, we need people to apply for the federal programs," he said.

Newsom said additional information will be posted here.

The governor also announced a new website — created in partnership between Bitwise, Salesforce and LinkedIn — to connect Californians with new jobs. As of Thursday, OnwardCA.org featured 70,000 job listings. Employment opportunities are mainly in the agriculture, grocery, logistics and transportation industries.

April 2, 11:15 a.m. Santa Cruz County is asking owners of vacation rentals to cancel non-essential rentals through May 2.

Vacation rentals can only be used to provide housing for traveling emergency and public safety personnel, healthcare workers, essential workers or families attending to critical medical needs of relatives.

April 2, 11 a.m. A resident of the Navigation Center in San Francisco's Mission District tested positive, according to the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. The infected patient is in isolation in a hotel.

April 2, 10:45 a.m. Alameda County announced 34 new cases and one additional death Thursday. The county's case total is now 373 and the death toll nine. A week ago, the county had 164 cases and four deaths.

April 2, 10:30 a.m. California Gov. Gavin Newsom shared two graphs on Twitter Thursday morning. One shows the hospital bed occupancy if no interventions are made. The other shows what happens if residents continue to shelter in place.

Newsom tweeted, "I’m going to REPEAT. REPEAT. REPEAT. The most important thing we can do is STAY HOME and practice physical distancing. That’s how we flatten the curve."

I’m going to REPEAT. REPEAT. REPEAT.



The most important thing we can do is STAY HOME and practice physical distancing. That’s how we flatten the curve. pic.twitter.com/3tg5w1woTO — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) April 1, 2020

April 2, 9:30 a.m. Cases of COVID-19 climbed to 450 in San Francisco County, according to the S.F. Department of Public Health. The county reported 16 new cases in the last 24 hours. The number of deaths remains at seven. A week ago, the county had 223 cases and two deaths.

San Mateo County announced 65 new infected patients, bringing the county total to 453. The number of deaths remains 10.

April 2, 8:07 a.m. California now has 9,907 cases and 216 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The nine-county Bay Area has more than 2,500 cases.

Contra Costa County Health Officer Dr. Chris Farnitano addressed his Board of Supervisors Tuesday and said if the mandates are lifted too early, the result could be brutal — with models showing up to 5,000 deaths a week in California at the peak, according to the Los Angeles Times. The model showed 600 deaths a week in the San Francisco Bay Area alone.

Cumulative cases in the greater Bay Area:

ALAMEDA COUNTY: 373 confirmed cases, 9 deaths*

For more information on Alameda County cases, visit the public health department website.

*Number excludes infected patients in City of Berkeley, which has its own health department and 23 cases.

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY: 276 confirmed cases, 3 deaths

For more information on Contra Costa County cases, visit the public health department website.

LAKE COUNTY: 0 confirmed cases

For information on Lake County and coronavirus, visit the public health department website.

MARIN COUNTY: 118 confirmed cases, 6 deaths

Fore more information on Marin County cases, visit the public health department website.

MONTEREY COUNTY: 53 confirmed cases, 2 deaths

For more information on Monterey County cases, visit the public health department website.

NAPA COUNTY: 18 cases, 1 death

For more information on Napa County cases, visit the public health department website.

SAN BENITO COUNTY: 23 confirmed cases, 1 death

For more information on San Benito County cases, visit the public health department website.

SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY: 450 confirmed cases, 7 deaths

For more information on San Francisco County cases, visit the public health department website.

SAN MATEO COUNTY: 453 confirmed cases, 10 deaths

For more information on San Mateo County cases, visit the public health department website.

SANTA CLARA COUNTY: 1019 confirmed cases, 36 deaths

Fore more information on Santa Clara County cases, visit the public health department website.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY: 57 confirmed cases, 1 death

For more information on Santa Cruz County cases, visit the public health department website.

SOLANO COUNTY: 61 confirmed cases, 1 death

For more information on Solano County cases, visit the public health department website.

SONOMA COUNTY: 95 confirmed cases, 1 death

For more information on Sonoma County cases, visit the public health department website.

In California, 216 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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Amy Graff is a digital editor with SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com.