Desert Sun staff

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The number of known coronavirus cases in Riverside County and across the state continues to climb, as 1 million Californians file for unemployment insurance and government officials assemble new medical facilities, including one in Indio, to help handle an increased number of patients.

Riverside County on Wednesday updated its tally of confirmed cases to 107, up 48 from the day before, with two additional deaths reported. The death toll is now eight, seven of which occurred in the eastern part of the county.

The new cases marked the "single biggest jump" at any time since the county started reporting cases, said county spokesperson Brooke Federico. She attributed the steep climb in positive cases to increased testing at the county's drive-up sites and other health care facilities in the community.

Nearby San Bernardino County is also seeing increases. The county reported 16 additional cases on Wednesday, bringing its total to 54. It also reported its second coronavirus-related death.

Statewide, there are 2,535 positive cases and 53 people have died.

In response to the growing number of cases, health and emergency management officials are working to add 250 hospital beds to Riverside County in the form of two 125-bed federal medical stations. One of the stations will be at the fairgrounds in downtown Indio, while the other will be in a to-be-determined spot in the western part of the county. Eight facilities will be set up across the state.

The stations, stocked with medical supplies, protective equipment like masks and gloves, portable sinks and hospital beds, will be used for stable patients and help free up county hospitals to respond to more critical patients.

The California National Guard on Wednesday began assembling the Indio station, which could be up and running in the next 10 days and is expected to operate for eight weeks.

“Why Indio? Why the Coachella Valley?” said Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, who has urged state and federal officials to prioritize resources for the region. “We have a high-risk demographic."

Fourth District Supervisor Manny Perez said that the area has been hit hard by cases. As of Wednesday morning, 31 of the county's 70 cases were in the valley and eastern part of the county.

“The Coachella Valley is where our first cases in the county were found,” Perez said Wednesday in Indio. “Among the deceased have been our most vulnerable residents, seniors citizens and those with underlying health conditions.”

Indio station to serve non-critical patients

Officials said they weren't sure what the total cost of the Indio medical station would be, but that the county would seek reimbursement from the federal government.

The disaster hospital is built with temporary equipment, including cots that sit near to the floor with thin mattresses to provide comfort — guardsmen laid down a long measuring tape to ensure each bed was spaced 6 feet apart.

An additional 25 beds could be added in a neighboring 12,000-square-foot building, if needed.

As the National Guardsmen dressed in military fatigues worked to assemble the hospital-in-a-box, they did so wearing non-sterile gloves and without spacing 6 feet apart.

A spokesman from the California National Guard was not able to immediately comment on safety protocols.

Ruiz said the temporary facility is the first step toward state and federal officials prioritizing relief efforts in the Coachella Valley.

He said the region, where 30% of residents are 60 years or older, has a higher rate of co-occurring diseases and higher rates of diabetes, pulmonary disease and HIV.

While the Coachella Valley has three community hospitals, it lacks a Level 1 trauma center, university-level medical expertise and the necessary number of ICU beds, Ruiz said.

However, the beds at the new medical station will not be ICU beds, as the facility will not be stocked with ventilators.

Ruiz said there is currently a ventilator shortage, making it difficult to acquire that equipment for the region's high-risk populations, which are more likely to need them.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday that the state is still working to secure more personal protective equipment and supplies like ventilators.

The county and the state will work together to staff the building. But Perez emphasized the need to look outside of the valley for health care workers as Riverside County's staff is already working at capacity.

Each of the two new county hospitals will likely have about 30 to 40 staffers, including doctors recruited from less hard-hit areas with the aid of the California Medical Association.

When asked how many people would be needed to staff a 125-bed facility, Ruiz estimated that one doctor for every 10 to 30 beds would suffice.

But when it comes to a disaster, nothing is "set in stone," Ruiz told The Desert Sun.

"A medical disaster is different," he said, "and you work with what you have."

Ruiz also put pressure on Riverside County's chief medical officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser to issue a stronger public statement instructing the whole community to stay home. Such a statement would solidify the meaning behind Newsom's shelter-in-place order issued last Thursday, Ruiz said.

“We need that public statement by Dr. Kaiser immediately to clarify the governor’s orders,” Ruiz said.

Kaiser issued such a clarification on Wednesday afternoon.

"To be clear, the stay at home order by @CAgovernor applies to the entire state, including Riverside County," he tweeted to his more than 3,400 followers.

1 million Californians have applied for unemployment

Newsom said Wednesday that the state has passed the mark of receiving 1 million claims for unemployment insurance since mid-March. Weekly benefits usually range from $40 to $450. But the new $2 trillion federal stimulus package working its way toward passage in Washington, D.C., will add an additional $600 a week, Newsom said.

The stimulus proposal includes a revision of traditional unemployment benefits that would allow weekly financial benefits to flow to freelance and gig workers.

The governor also announced that JP Morgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and US Bank have agreed to a 90-day grace period of mortgage payments for people affected by COVID-19. Bank of America has agreed to a 30-day waiver, Newsom said.

"We wanted to engage our nation's largest banks and see if we could create some continuity," he said. "The job is not done, we're not naïve, but we think this is a significant announcement."

A Bank of America spokesperson told The Desert Sun its policy is to defer mortgage payments on a monthly basis until the crisis is over.

A day earlier, Newsom said that USNS Mercy will arrive in Los Angeles on Friday to help ease the burden on hospitals bracing for a possible surge of coronavirus cases.

The ship will have more than 1,100 medical professionals on board, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The crew will offer a wide range of medical and surgical assistance, but not treat patients who have tested positive for coronavirus.

"As early as this weekend, it will be available to pick up individuals that we deem prioritized and appropriate to be taken care of and supported on that ship," Newsom said.

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In terms of other medical preparations, Newsom said Wednesday the state also working to expand testing, with 150,000 more test kits on their way, he said. Around 66,800 people have been tested in the state so far, but Newsom said that's not enough.

He also underscored efforts underway to make test results come back faster.

On the supplies front, Newsom said the state has distributed 24.5 million N95 masks.

He said Tuesday that the state had received more than 1,000 ventilators from the private sector and was working to refurbish roughly 500 additional ventilators. Los Angeles received 170 ventilators from a federal stockpile, he said, though the state government did not receive any, despite a request.

"We're not discouraged by that," he said Tuesday. "We are encouraging the federal government — and we have direct orders and asks in to do more on the ventilators — but we are doing everything we can to orient our efforts around the world to get more ventilators."

Palm Springs airport cancels flights

All was quiet Wednesday afternoon when Lorraine Ackerman rolled up to Palm Springs International Airport to catch her flight home to Minneapolis.

Barely anyone was around, the airport's Starbucks was closed and it appeared the majority of the flights into and out of Palm Springs had been canceled.

"I wasn't sure if I would get home today, but as far as I know, I will be," said Ackerman, 60. "I might be alone. It's a ghost town out here."

Like many airports across the country, Palm Springs International Airport has been significantly affected by the reduction in travelers as a result of the coronavirus outbreak in the states.

Executive Director Tom Nolan said airlines have been cutting back on flights. Whereas there would normally be 60 to 70 departures per day during peak season in Palm Springs, that number has been reduced to "the teens" and changes on a daily basis.

Nolan encourages travelers to contact airlines about the status of their flights before arriving at the airport.

"Check with their respective airlines if the airlines haven’t already reached out to them and that’s all part of the program now with the world situation,” he said.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the number of canceled flights far outweighed the few active flights arriving or departing Palm Springs airport. In addition, the conditions were also a far cry from the busy atmosphere one typically finds there this time of year.

"It's pretty common these days, sadly," Scott Elmore, vice president of marketing and communications for Airports Council International – North America, said of empty airports.

ACI represents and advocates for hundreds of airports and preliminary assessments show they may lose about $14 billion this year due to the coronavirus. Passenger traffic at U.S. commercial airports is expected to fall by 73 percent between March and June.

The downward spiral is evident to anyone going by the Palm Springs airport this week — thousands of unused rental cars are parked along Kirk Douglas Way. While, thousands of others are parked outside the Palm Springs Air Museum along Gene Autry Trail.

Typically, during this time of year, the only thing occupying those areas are tumbleweeds or vehicles belonging to long-term parkers.

Top prosecutors warn of price gouging

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra joined a bipartisan group of 33 attorneys general to urge online retailers Amazon, Craigslist, eBay, Facebook and Walmart to crack down on price gouging in the face of an unprecedented health crisis.

Letters to the companies on Wednesday cite reports of hand sanitizers and face masks being sold on Amazon for at least 50% above the average price, plus wildly inflated prices like $40 for an 8-ounce bottle of hand sanitizer and a $250 two-liter of Purell Advanced.

The letter urges the platforms to enforce restrictions on price gouging that prevent sellers from making such price hikes, put in protections before the start of a state of emergency, and create a “fair pricing” portal for consumers to report incidents of price gouging.

Emily Rusch, director of California Public Interest Research Group, said in a statement that elected leaders should promptly investigate how online retailers enable price gouging.

“Americans are already worried about their health and the health of their loved ones during this pandemic," Rusch said. "They shouldn’t also have to worry about being ripped off on the critical supplies they need to get through it.”

Desert Healthcare District offers $1.3M in aid

The Desert Healthcare District and Foundation's board of directors on Tuesday allocated more than $1.3 million to support COVID-19 response efforts.

That includes $550,000 that will be spent on a "safety net" for health care facilities like Borrego Health and Desert Aids Project, whose services help prevent hospital emergency rooms from being overwhelmed.

It also includes more than $401,000 to be donated to FIND Food Bank, $200,000 to be put toward grants for human service providers, $50,000 on an education campaign, and $75,000 to put toward organizations serving people experiencing homeless and migrant worker communities.

The funds also include a $100,000 allocation to an economic protection plan that multiple local organizations are chipping into to help give residents rapid financial aid. That plan will contribute toward $200-per-household allocations to residents affected by the pandemic that will be administered by nonprofit Lift to Rise.

Other organizations' donations to the plan include: $50,000 from the Regional Access Project Foundation, $50,000 from Lift to Rise, $25,000 from the United Way of the Desert and $15,000 from the Inland Empire Community Foundation.

With their casinos closed, many local tribes have opted to donate their unused food to nonprofits that can distribute it to locals in need. Over the past week, thousands of pounds of canned goods and fresh fruits and vegetables have gone to organizations such as the FIND Food Bank in Indio or the Little Church of the Desert in Twentynine Palms.

The Morongo Band of Mission Indians, for example, whose casinos are home to more than a dozen restaurants and bars, donated thousands of dairy products, eggs, fruits and vegetables.

“Instead of letting this food go to waste, Morongo is helping to ensure that those who are hungry and in need across our region have resources during this crisis,” said Morongo Tribal Chairman Robert Martin. “In these unprecedented times, we must all come together to help one another, and Morongo will continue to do our part to aid others.”

The Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians contributed more than 1,500 pounds of food to Martha's Village and Kitchen, a homeless services provider based in Indio, and the Little Church of the Desert in Twentynine Palms. The donation, valued at $15,000, included a mix of non-perishable and perishable food from its Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella and Tortoise Rock Casino in Twentynine Palms.

And the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians gifted over 10,000 pounds of perishable goods from its Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio to the FIND Food Bank.

Desert Sun reporters Melissa Daniels, Nicole Hayden, Colin Atagi, Risa Johnson and Rebecca Plevin contributed to this story.