Coronavirus updates: Big events 'not in the cards' for Californians this summer, Newsom says

In this photo taken Thursday, April 9, 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom gives his coronavirus update at the the Governor's Office of Emergency Services in Rancho Cordova, Calif. California public health officials said Friday, April 10, 2020, that the spread of the coronavirus in the state might not be as high as expected. Newsom said he was already making detailed plans on how to re-open the state while still stressing the need for people to say at home and stay away from others. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) less In this photo taken Thursday, April 9, 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom gives his coronavirus update at the the Governor's Office of Emergency Services in Rancho Cordova, Calif. California public health officials said ... more Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press Image 1 of / 50 Caption Close Coronavirus updates: Big events 'not in the cards' for Californians this summer, Newsom says 1 / 50 Back to Gallery

LATEST, April 14, 6:45 p.m. A rehabilitation and nursing home in Castro Valley reported its first death of a resident due to COVID-19 complications Tuesday night. At East Bay Post Acute, 23 staff and 22 residents have tested positive for the virus. At the Gateway Care & Rehabilitation Center in Hayward, 40 residents have positive and 25 staff have tested positive and 11 residents have died.

April 14, 4:40 p.m. On Tuesday afternoon, two Bay Area counties announced additional cases of the coronavirus. Marin County announced one new case, bringing the total to 171; Solano County announced five new cases, bringing the total there to 140.

Santa Clara County, which has been the hardest hit Bay Area county, stated Tuesday that due to "system issues" with California's Reportable Disease Information Exchange, "case counts and lab testing numbers are not available today." The county said it would update its case numbers as soon as possible. As of Monday, Santa Clara County counted 1,666 cases and 60 deaths.

April 14, 4:20 p.m. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump took a different approach than the previous day to discuss governor leadership during the coronavirus outbreak. Ahead of a call with all 50 governors he said he would schedule “probably for Thursday,” he noted all testing for the virus would be handled by governors.

“The best way — I’m talking now from a managerial standpoint — is to let individual governors run individual states and come to us if they have difficulty and we will help them,” he said.

When asked about when states might be allowed to open, he again said it would be up to the governors, but that the federal government would ultimately have the final say.

Regarding some states, which have a low number of cases, he said, “We’re going to pick a date, but it’s going to be very, very soon, sooner than the end of the month.”

In the event of a state with many cases wanting to reopen, Trump said the federal government may not allow it. “If we disagree with it, we’re not going to let them open,” he said. “We’re there to watch, we’re there to help but we’re also there to be critics.”

In any case, and in particular, in New York, Trump said he’s “not going to put any pressure on any governor to open.”

April 14, 4 p.m. Trump name checked a long list of American companies purportedly helping in the fight against the coronavirus. Among them were Silicon Valley tech companies and CEOs, including Oracle’s Safra Catz, Salesforce’s Marc Benioff and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.

“The respect for Silicon Valley and our tech companies there’s no one even close to our tech companies, so they try and buy them,” he said. “But we sort of put an end to a lot of that.”

April 14, 3:15 p.m. President Donald Trump announced in a press conference Tuesday that the United States would be temporarily pulling funding from the World Health Organization "while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus" — a claim he did not provide evidence to substantiate.

"American taxpayers provide between $400 million and $500 million dollars per year to the WHO," he continued. "In contrast, China contributes $40 million per year. As the organization's leading sponsor, the United States has a duty to insist on full accountability."

Trump says there were reasons to suspect human-to-human transmission in December, which he claimed without evidence that the WHO did not report, and that the WHO's delay in disseminating information has caused the organization to be unreliable.

"The reality is the WHO failed to adequately obtain and share information in a timely and transparent fashion," Trump said. He also blamed the WHO for taking "China's assurances at face value, and [for defending] the actions of the Chinese government."

However, in late January, Trump himself lauded China's "transparency" during the epidemic.

"China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus," he tweeted. "The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!"

April 14, 3 p.m. The California Department of Motor Vehicles is extending expired drivers licenses in the state for drivers under the age of 70. Those licenses set to expire between March and May this year, the agency wrote in a statement, are now valid through May 31, 2020.

Additionally, commercial licenses as well as endorsements and certificates set to expire between March and June of this year are now also valid through June 2020.

The DMV is nevertheless processing license renewals, and the agency encourages eligible drivers with expired licenses to renew their license online if possible. Drivers with suspended licenses are not eligible.

April 14, 2 p.m. San Francisco Pride has been canceled for 2020, organizers say. This June would have marked the historic 50-year celebration. An anticipated 900,000 to 1 million people, many of whom were not local, were expected to attend.

"This was not a decision we arrived at lightly," Executive Director Fred Lopez said in a statement. "Our staff has been in frequent talks with our board, our production team, our partners at many departments of City Hall, officials at other Pride organizations worldwide — and most of all, our LGBTQ communities."

April 14, 1:45 p.m. Newsom suggested the likelihood of a large-scale event taking place in the state this summer is “negligible at best” while researchers seek a vaccine for the coronavirus.

"Large-scale events that bring in hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of strangers all together across every conceivable difference, health and otherwise, is not in the cards based on our expectations," Newsom said.

Until a treatment is deemed effective and safe for Californians, residents will be directed to “toggle” between strict and relaxed social distancing guidelines. More here.

Newsom also gave an update on hospitalizations and ICU stays across the state, pointing to a "modest" 0.1% decline in ICU patients. There are currently 1,177 in the ICU. Newsom also noted, however, a 3.6% increase in hospitalizations.

April 14, 1:10 p.m. California Governor Gavin Newsom outlined an initial plan for incremental relaxing of social-distancing guidelines, saying six things need to happen first as “we begin to transition into suppression on our way to herd immunity and ultimately into a vaccine.”

The first phase is an expanded capacity to test Californians, as well as a ramping up of contact tracing and tracking.

Second is a continued vigilance in “protecting vulnerable [Californians] from infection and spread.”

Third is a priority to address the PPE and ventilator needs of state hospitals in the event of another surge.

Fourth is to continue to work with academic and research partners like Genentech and Gilead to help those on the front lines and to develop therapeutic treatments and medications.

Fifth is a literal “redrawing [of] our floor plans,” Newsom said, to enable schools and businesses like restaurants to practice safe social distancing.

And last is “perhaps the most challenging,” Newsom noted: the capacity to reinstate more vigorous controls when needed. Specifically, the state may need to “toggle” between looser and more strict social-distancing guidelines “as things change, as data comes in, as health concerns make them real.”

“[We need] not just trend lines to go down and become headlines, but an infrastructure to support loosening of these stay-at-home orders in a precise and targeted and gradual way,” Newsom said, “where we’re using data, using science on a daily basis to toggle … so we get exactly the appropriate lighting so we can ultimately transition to herd immunity and a vaccine and get this economy roaring again.”

Newsom offered a very tentative timeline for the plan, saying that in two weeks, “if we see continued decline in hospitalizations and ICU and PPE needs,” California may begin the process.

“I know you want timelines, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves,” Newsom warned. “Let’s not make the mistake of pulling the plug too early, as much as we want to. I don’t want to make political decisions that put people’s lives risk and the economy at risk by extending the period of time before we can transition to get people moving again. That’s the sober reality, but the reality I think that provides a little light — that this is not a permanent state.”

April 14, 11:30 a.m. Harvard University researchers say people all over the world may need to intermittently social distance through 2022 in an effort to halt a resurgence of the coronavirus while a vaccine is still being tested.

In a published article in the journal Science, researchers used simulation models to predict how the pandemic might progress in the coming months and years. They found several possible routes the virus might take. In one instance, strict social distancing followed by diligent public health work could stop the virus completely. That outcome may be unlikely at this point, researchers say, because of a continuance of new cases all over the world.

Another possibility is that the coronavirus could become seasonal, as has been discussed by leading health experts. But in more near future, there's a serious danger to that outcome: A delayed peak, in the fall, could seriously strain hospitals' capacity for care.

“The social distancing was so effective that virtually no population immunity was built,” the researchers wrote.

April 14, 9:45 a.m. The Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center in Hayward saw its 10th death among residents Monday. The outbreak was reported last week and according to the Alameda County Department of Public Health, 41 residents and 25 staff have tested positive.

CBS News reports the 10th mortality is the grandmother of Union City councilman Jaime Patiño.

Patiño posted on Facebook Monday night: “Tonight, at 8:28pm, my Grandma Emma Patiño’s journey on this Earth ended and she went to Heaven to be with the Lord. No more suffering. No more worries. No more pain. I would like to thank all of you that have been so supportive and beautiful to us during this ordeal. It gave us the strength to pull through this.”

April 14, 8:56 a.m. San Francisco reported 30 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the total to 987. The death toll remains 15.

Hospitalizations appear to have hit a plateau in the city and county over the past week. Ninety people were hospitalized as of Sunday, 94 on Saturday, 84 on Friday, 86 on Thursday, 89 on Wednesday, 91 on Tuesday and 93 last Monday.

To date, S.F. hospitals and clinics have run 8,541 tests, with 13% returning a positive.

April 14, 7:53 a.m. Coronavirus cases continue to climb in California but at a less steady rate — and this slight slowdown is happening as more testing becomes available. For nearly the past two weeks, the state has reported more than 1,000 cases a day. But on Sunday and Monday the number of new cases fell below 1,000, according to the East Bay Times.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to announce a plan at his noon press conference today that will eventually allow the state to lift its shelter-in-place order.

The University of Washington model adjusted its California forecast to project a peak in hospitalizations on April 13. The model predicts the state will see its peak death toll on April 19.

In the Bay Area, San Mateo County is thinning out the inmate population in its correctional facilities to allow for better social distancing and prevent an outbreak of COVID-19. The county is releasing 132 inmates from jails under a new bail rule, "setting bail to $0 for misdemeanors and most nonviolent felonies," according to the Mercury News.

Sonoma is the first Bay Area county to change its face mask policy from a recommendation to an order. On Monday night, county officials announced that beginning Friday residents must wear masks in public places.

"All persons shall wear facial coverings before they enter any indoor facility besides their residence, any enclosed open space, or while outdoors when the person is unable to maintain a six-foot distance from another person at all times," the order reads.

The order says children over age 2 should wear coverings. You don't need to wear a mask on a walk or run if you're in the woods or in your neighborhood and keeping a distance of at least six feet from others.

Those who violate the order can be cited with a misdemeanor. Find the full order at SoCoEmergency.org.

Cumulative cases in the greater Bay Area (due to limited testing these numbers reflect only a small portion of likely cases):

ALAMEDA COUNTY: 886 confirmed cases, 23 deaths

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

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY: 552 confirmed cases, 11 deaths

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

LAKE COUNTY: 4 confirmed cases

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

MARIN COUNTY: 170 confirmed cases, 10 deaths

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

MONTEREY COUNTY: 87 confirmed cases, 3 deaths

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

NAPA COUNTY: 38 cases, 2 deaths

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

SAN BENITO COUNTY: 38 confirmed cases, 2 deaths

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

SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY: 987 confirmed cases, 15 deaths

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

SAN MATEO COUNTY: 721 confirmed cases, 21 deaths

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

SANTA CLARA COUNTY: 1,666 confirmed cases, 60 deaths

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

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY: 91 confirmed cases, 1 death

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

SOLANO COUNTY: 135 confirmed cases, 2 deaths

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

SONOMA COUNTY: 152 confirmed cases, 2 deaths

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

In California, 723 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported, according to Johns Hopkins University. For comparison, New York has 10,056, New Jersey 2,443 and Louisiana 884.

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