A Tale Of Two States: California Shifts Towards Mitigation Over Containment While New York Sends In National Guard

Los Angeles Times: California Retreats From Containment, New York Sends In National Guard
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo sent the National Guard to a suburban enclave northeast of New York City to prevent COVID-19 from infecting more people there, after 108 residents tested positive in recent days. In Santa Clara, where California is experiencing its largest outbreak of the virus with 45 positive cases confirmed, health officials continued to direct residents not to congregate, following a ban on large events earlier this week. (Chabria, Gutierrez, Baumgaertner and Karlamangla, 3/11)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus: Schools Close, National Guard Deployed To Help New York Suburb Stem Spread Of Disease
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo took the country’s most drastic steps to curb the spread of the coronavirus Tuesday, ordering the closure of schools and other gathering places within a one-mile radius in this New York suburb. The creation of what he called a “containment zone” for two weeks will keep about half the city’s 10,500 students at home and will allow the National Guard to sanitize public spaces. (Guarino, Bailey, Meckler and Zezima, 3/10)

The New York Times: Coronavirus In N.Y.: ‘Containment Area’ Is Ordered For New Rochelle
The National Guard will move in. Schools, churches and synagogues will be shut down. Large indoor gatherings will be officially banned. The sights and rituals of life in this New York City suburb, which had already been altered, took an eerie turn on Tuesday when Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced a drastic new step to try to control the spread of the coronavirus in the largest cluster in the United States. (Nir and McKinley, 3/10)

Associated Press: National Guard Sent Into New York Suburb To Help Control Virus 
New York’s governor announced Tuesday he is sending the National Guard into a New York City suburb to help fight what is believed to be the nation’s biggest cluster of coronavirus cases — one of the most dramatic actions yet to control the outbreak in the United States. The move came as health authorities contended with alarming bunches of infections on both sides of the country and scattered cases in between. (Villeneuve and Rodriguez, 3/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Containment Area Planned For New York Suburb To Stem Coronavirus Spread
Now this Westchester County suburb has become ground zero for one of the largest efforts in the country to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. Many residents are in quarantine. Businesses are struggling to get customers in the door. And on Thursday, New York state plans to close schools for two weeks in a roughly three-square-mile area of New Rochelle and limit large public gatherings, officials said. People would be able to enter and exit the zone and move about within it. Restaurants and businesses would remain open, officials said, but facilities such as houses of worship and schools would be closed. (Vielkind, Brody and Paris, 3/10)

CBS News: New York Has 173 Cases Of Coronavirus — Among The Highest In The U.S. 
As the total number of cases of coronavirus in the U.S. continues to rise, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said New York now has at least 173 cases — making it among one of the states with the largest number of confirmed cases in the country. In New York, 108 cases are in Westchester County, with New York City and Nassau County following with 36 and 19 cases, respectively, according to officials. Rockland county has six cases, Saratoga has two, Suffolk and Ulster each have one. (Lewis, 3/10)

The Wall Street Journal: New York City Eyes Measures To Stop Virus Spread To Jails
New York City correctional officials said Tuesday they were preparing measures to stop the coronavirus from infecting staff and prisoners at jails that experts said could become incubators for the rapidly-spreading disease. The Department of Correction is focused on keeping its jail cells and shared space clean, screening visitors for symptoms, raising awareness with posters about avoiding the disease and encouraging inmates to keep a physical distance from each other, officials said. (Paul, 3/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Could Sap New York’s Tax Revenue, Cuomo Says
New York lawmakers, facing a $6 billion budget deficit, began the month with an optimistic projection. Stock markets were doing well, Wall Street bonuses were coming in strong, and lawmakers could plug some of the gap by assuming another $700 million in revenue was coming. Also at the beginning of the month, the state confirmed its first case of novel coronavirus. (Vielkind, 3/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Counties Shift Coronavirus Stance: It Can Be Slowed, But Not Contained
Coronavirus cases have blown up across Northern California in the past week, and counties increasingly are refocusing from aggressive containment of the disease to acceptance that it’s in the community and their limited resources are better spent on slowing down its spread. On Tuesday, Sacramento County reported its first death, and the third in the state. The victim in their 90s with underlying health problems was a resident of an assisted living facility. The same day, the county announced it would no longer conduct extensive investigations on every new case of COVID-19 — the disease caused by coronavirus — and that people who have contact with a known case will no longer be asked to quarantine for two weeks. (Allday, 3/10)

Los Angeles Times: Why Bay Area Coronavirus Warnings Are Stricter Than L.A. Area’s
Up to now, some Bay Area public health agencies have been more aggressive than those in Los Angeles and some other counties in issuing coronavirus-related restrictions. But that could be about to change. With the first case of the coronavirus believed to be transmitted within the community now reported in Los Angeles County, the experiences in the San Francisco Bay Area may offer a glimpse for what Southern California is in for. (Lin and Shalby, 3/10)

NPR: Coronavirus: Sacramento County Gives Up On Automatic 14-Day Quarantines
California’s Sacramento County is calling off automatic 14-day quarantines that have been implemented for the coronavirus, saying it will focus instead on mitigating the impact of COVID-19. The change is an acknowledgement that the county cannot effectively manage the quarantines while its health system copes with coronavirus cases. It also reflects problems with the U.S. government’s coronavirus testing program — issues that slowed efforts to identify people with the deadly virus and to contain COVID-19. (Chappell, 3/10)

Los Angeles Times: Northern California Woman Dies Of Coronavirus In Senior Facility
An elderly patient in a northern California assisted living facility has died of the novel coronavirus, sparking fears of an outbreak among other residents of the facility and renewing concerns about statewide availability of testing kits to detect the virus. Sacramento County health officials announced Tuesday that a patient in her 90s was the county’s first fatality from COVID-19. The Sacramento Bee identified the facility as Carlton Senior Living. (Chabria, 3/10)

KQED: Coronavirus: As Cases In California Climb, Newsom Addresses Testing Concerns 
In a wide-ranging press conference, Gov. Gavin Newsom said that 157 people in California have now tested positive for the new coronavirus. The governor also detailed the latest steps California is taking to ramp up testing, implement social distancing guidance, and prepare for school closures, while processing passengers from the Grand Princess cruise — 21 of whom are confirmed to have COVID-19. (Stark, 3/10)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. School Board Weighs Emergency Declaration For Coronavirus
The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday declared a state of emergency, giving Supt. Austin Beutner the authority to take actions needed to close schools if necessary in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The action is seen as a precaution that would allow Beutner to act quickly as the need arises in the nation’s second-largest school district. As of Tuesday night, there were no plans to close schools and no individual diagnosed with COVID-19 had a connection to an L.A. Unified school, according to the district. (Blume and Kohli, 3/10)

Los Angeles Times: California Coronavirus: Silicon Valley Bans Gatherings Of 1,000 Or More
With Silicon Valley reporting a rapidly rising number of confirmed coronavirus cases, the health officer for Santa Clara County issued a rare legal order banning mass gatherings of 1,000 or more people. Santa Clara County, with 43 confirmed coronavirus cases and one death, has California’s largest number of confirmed infections. After declining an earlier recommendation to halt mass gatherings late last week, the San Jose Sharks said the team would abide by the county’s new order at SAP Center in downtown San Jose, which is enforceable by the county sheriff and city police agencies. (Lin, 3/10)

The Hill: Three TSA Employees In California Test Positive For Coronavirus 
Three employees with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in California tested positive for the coronavirus, the agency confirmed Tuesday. The employees, who work at Mineta San Jose International Airport in Santa Clara County, and all other workers they came in contact with over the past two weeks are quarantined at home. (Axelrod, 3/11)

The New York Times: Coachella, Influential Music Festival, Is Postponed Amid Virus Fears
Coachella is postponed. Organizers of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the giant pop festival in the picturesque desert of Southern California, have delayed next month’s event to October over concerns about the coronavirus, the festival announced on Tuesday after days of speculation. (Sisario, 3/10)

Reuters: Passengers Plod Off Coronavirus-Stricken Cruise Ship In Face Masks In California
Hundreds of travelers who boarded a cruise liner for Hawaii last month in sandals and sunglasses trudged off the coronavirus-stricken ship in face masks at the Port of Oakland, California, on Tuesday, headed to quarantine sites around the country. The tightly controlled disembarkation began on Monday, hours after the cruise ship Grand Princess arrived at a specially secured terminal across San Francisco Bay from its home port amid cheers from weary passengers who had spent days at sea confined to their staterooms. (3/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Archdiocese Shutters 90 Schools After Student Tests Positive For The Coronavirus 
The Archdiocese of San Francisco announced the closure of all its schools after a student tested positive for the coronavirus.The 90 schools in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties will shut down Mar. 12 through Mar. 25, said Pamela Lyons, superintendent of schools in a letter to families Tuesday. The announcement did not identify the school the student attends, but the principal of Riordan High School in San Francisco confirmed that a student there tested positive for the virus Sunday. (Tucker, 3/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: Ro Khanna’s Bay Area District Is Being Hit By Coronavirus. He Says Congress Must Do More 
Fremont Rep. Ro Khanna’s district has been one of the hardest hit in the country by the novel coronavirus.Santa Clara County, which covers much of Khanna’s 17th Congressional District, reported 43 cases as of Tuesday, the most in California. There are at least 153 cases across the state.Khanna says Congress isn’t doing enough to stop the virus from spreading. The Chronicle spoke with him Monday about his push to increase emergency funding and quell racist sentiments during the outbreak. Here are highlights from the interview, which has been condensed for space purposes and clarity. (Gardiner, 3/10)