Growing Number Of Checkpoints Pose Problems For Travelers Crossing State Borders; Infection Rate In Farm Country Haunts Indiana’s Health Officials

Stateline: Border Checkpoints Discourage Travelers Between States 
Americans have long held the open road as integral to their freedom. But with the coronavirus pandemic, the once unthinkable has begun to happen: States have set up checkpoints to discourage other states’ residents from crossing their borders. Texas, Delaware, Florida and Rhode Island are stopping drivers with out-of-state license plates and ordering them to quarantine for two weeks, if they intend to stay in the state. Those entering the state for “essential” business reasons, such as commercial traffic, appear to be exempt. (Povich, 4/8)

The Associated Press: Rural Indiana Virus Worry: ‘What More Could I Have Done?’
The coronavirus pandemic surged into Sean Durbin’s farm-speckled Indiana county much faster than most other parts of rural America, contributing to at least 10 deaths and dozens of serious illnesses. Decatur County and two other counties in southeast Indiana have among the highest per-capita infection rates in the country, topping the Seattle area and some counties near hard-hit Detroit. As Decatur County’s public health preparedness coordinator, Durbin is working to stem the spread of the virus, even as he grieves the loss of a close friend to COVID-19 and stays apart from his wife so she can help with their new grandchild. (Davies and Cummings, 4/9)

Boston Globe: Mass. Reports 1,588 New Coronavirus Cases, 77 New Related Deaths; Baker Says State Still On ‘Upward Slope’ Of Pandemic 
Governor Charlie Baker said Wednesday that Massachusetts is still “on the upward slope” of the coronavirus pandemic and a period of “serious strain” on the health care system is still ahead. But he also held out some hope that the steps that officials have taken to blunt the impact of the pandemic are working. (Finuane and Andersen, 4/8)

WBUR: Mass. Preparing For Spike In Coronavirus Cases By End Of Week
Massachusetts continues to prepare for an expected spike in coronavirus cases. The State Department of Public Health has issued guidelines intended to help health care provider prioritize who gets care, if there are too many intensive care patients, and not enough ventilators. Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases, and COVID-19 related deaths continues to rise. (Walters, 4/8)

WBUR: Helping East Boston’s Most Vulnerable Residents, Block By Block 
For some Eastie neighbors, staying home means missing pay, without the promise of an unemployment check. Leila, my first-generation student, has been moving between three houses each day, following the ebb and flow of her parents’ work schedules. Sometimes we catch her in the car for our Zoom calls, writing notes in the condensation on the windshield. She comes to every call but says it’s hard to do her school assignments because she’s always on the go. (Thomas, 4/9)

Boston Globe: Pop-Up Hospitals In Massachusetts Set To Open This Week To Handle Influx Of Coronavirus Patients
This city’s convention center typically draws vibrant crowds for trade shows and exhibitions, but seemingly overnight it now looks ready to handle a pandemic. Row after row of hospital beds line the 50,000-square-foot floor. Cabinets along the perimeter hold critical drugs and medical supplies. A trailer of portable showers stands at one end of the room, a movable X-ray machine at another. This MASH-style field hospital in the DCU Center will be ready to accept its first patients Thursday — one of three pop-up hospital sites to treat the fast-rising numbers of people in Massachusetts sickened by coronavirus. (McCluskey, 4/8)

Politico: Newsom: California’s Enormous Mask Order Won’t Disrupt Supply Chain For Others
After California ordered 200 million masks a month to protect essential workers from coronavirus, will states and nations elsewhere lose out? Gov. Gavin Newsom says no. Newsom announced Tuesday night that California — which boasts the fifth largest economy in the world — will channel nearly $1 billion toward obtaining 200 million masks a month for California’s healthcare personnel, grocery store clerks, homeless outreach teams and other frontline workers at heightened risk for the coronavirus. (White, Murphy and Marinucci, 4/8)

Kaiser Health News: Newsom’s Ambitious Health Care Agenda Crumbles In A ‘Radically Changed’ World
This was supposed to be a big health care year for California. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in January unveiled ambitious proposals to help him achieve his goal of getting every Californian health care coverage. Though it was far less than the single-payer promise Newsom had made on the gubernatorial campaign trail, his plans, if adopted, would have expanded the health care system as no other state has. (Hart, 4/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Plans To Lease 7,000 Hotel Rooms To Isolate Homeless People From The Coronavirus 
San Francisco now plans to lease 7,000 hotel rooms to provide shelter for homeless people as well as first responders and health care workers battling the spread of the coronovirus, city officials said Wednesday. This would more than triple the rooms now under contract. The city already has committed $35 million for the next three months to lease the first batch of units. The overall effort would cost San Francisco roughly $105 million — some but not all of which would be reimbursed by the federal and state governments. (King, 4/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Innovates In Crisis: UC Berkeley Engineers Convert Sleep Apnea Machines To Ventilate Coronavirus Patients 
Hospitals in New York City, where more people have died of COVID-19 than in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, are critically low on ventilators, which help patients breathe through a tube in their throat. California is amassing thousands of ventilators to meet an expected demand in May, but doesn’t need them all yet. In fact, the state lent hundreds of them to harder-hit areas this week. (Moench, 4/8)

ABC News: Over 90,000 Cruise Ship Crew Members Stuck At Sea Amid Coronavirus Outbreak 
Even as the last passengers disembarked the Coral Princess, the latest cruise ship in the U.S. with reported cases of COVID-19, the U.S. Coast Guard said over 100 cruise ships and 90,000 crew members are still stuck at sea in or near U.S. ports and waters. Last week, two cruise ship crew members had to be medically evacuated from Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas and one from the Celebrity Infinity, who later passed away “due to undetermined medical reasons.” The Coast Guard confirmed that all three crew members had “COVID-19 like symptoms.” (Kaji, Benitez and Maile, 4/8)

The Hill: 10,000 More Guardsmen To Be Added To Coronavirus Fight 
Another 10,000 National Guard troops are expected to be activated to help deal with the coronavirus in the next week or two, the National Guard Bureau chief said Wednesday. “We’ve been accelerating at sort of more than 1,000 a day. … We could easily get this up another [10,000] or more than that in the next week or two,” Gen. Joseph Lengyel told reporters at the Pentagon. About 28,400 Guardsmen are deployed throughout the United States, with Lengyel saying that figure will reach well over 30,000 “in the next couple of days.” (Mitchell, 4/8)

Colorado Sun: Charlotte Figi, The Colorado Girl Who Inspired The CBD Movement, Dies From Coronavirus
Charlotte Figi, the Colorado Springs girl who, as a gleeful and fragile child, launched a movement that led to sweeping changes in marijuana laws across the globe, has died from complications related to the new coronavirus. She was 13. … Charlotte had Dravet syndrome, a rare and debilitating form of epilepsy that first appears when children are young. From the time she was just 3 months old, Charlotte suffered hundreds of small and large seizures a day. Pharmaceutical treatments proved ineffective …. Paige Figi said Charlotte’s seizures reduced dramatically when she began taking CBD oil. (Ingold, 4/8)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Kemp Extends Shelter In Place Order In Georgia Through April
Gov. Brian Kemp extended Georgia’s shelter in place order through the end of April and imposed new restrictions on senior care facilities Wednesday as he faced criticism from local officials who urged him to take more drastic steps to contain the coronavirus outbreak. The governor extended the stay at home orders hours after he renewed a public health emergency declaration that grants him unprecedented authority to curb the pandemic. He said it gives him the “tools we’re going to need” to combat the highly contagious disease.  (Bluestein, 4/8)

Kaiser Health News: Retiree-Rich Palm Beach County Leads Florida In COVID-19 Deaths
No place in Florida has recorded more deaths from COVID-19 than Palm Beach County, the tropical vacation and retirement destination that bills itself — chutzpah notwithstanding — as “The Best of Everything.” As of Wednesday afternoon, 69 people in the South Florida county of 1.5 million had died after being infected with the novel coronavirus. The death toll outpaces the state’s two more populated counties, including Miami-Dade, which has nearly twice the population and 49 deaths. (Galewitz, 4/8)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Hotel Hosting New Orleans Homeless A ‘Time Bomb For Coronavirus,’ Medical Staff Say
A downtown New Orleans hotel where nearly 200 homeless people have been housed during the coronavirus pandemic is failing to follow basic health protocols, including the use of masks and gloves and social distancing, and is ill-equipped to deal with a rash of drug overdoses and other health emergencies, according to medical staff who have volunteered there. (Baurick, 4/8)

Detroit Free Press: Coronavirus Curve In Detroit ‘Beginning To Flatten,’ Mike Duggan Says
Detroit’s number of COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise, but Mayor Mike Duggan said the city is trending in the right direction. The city reported 247 total deaths on Wednesday, a daily increase of 26. The total number of cases was 5,834, up 333 from Tuesday. (Guillen, 4/8)

Detroit Free Press: Blake’s Hard Cider Producing Hand Sanitizer At Its Distillery
Blake’s Hard Cider is the latest distillery to jump into the hand sanitizer arena. The Armada-based and family owned and operated craft distillery is utilizing its cannery operations to produce hand sanitizer. Blake’s said it is producing the sanitizer according to World Health Organization standards in gallon size for $30 to distribute to hospitals, health care facilities and large companies. They are making it available for shipping throughout Michigan. (Selasky, 4/8)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: For Families With Developmentally Disabled Members, Coronavirus Presents New Challenges, Fears
Like many Louisiana residents with developmental disabilities, the Gritters receive a Medicaid waiver to pay for that help. But the fear of exposure and the need for social distancing is making life even more challenging for families like the Gritters who care for vulnerable members. (Pagones, 4/8)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Coronavirus In Wauwatosa: Children’s Hospital Doctor Donates Plasma
A doctor who tested positive for coronavirus in March was the first person to donate plasma to a new program designed to help COVID-19 patients. Dave Lal, a pediatric surgeon at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, donated plasma to the Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin’s convalescent plasma program on Monday. The donation will be provided to hospitals participating in the program, which could help those who are severely ill with coronavirus. One plasma donation can be used to treat multiple patients, according to Versiti. (Casey, 4/8)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Coronavirus Cases Hit 103; Unemployment Leveling Off
Wisconsin passed a grim milestone on Wednesday.As the state recorded the 100th coronavirus death and the number of cases climbed, sales of Harley-Davidson motorcycles fell, election results won’t be known until next week and Milwaukee County bus passengers may have to wait longer for a ride because of limits to the number of people on board. Plus everyone wants to know — how much longer will this last? (Jones, 4/8)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: North Las Vegas Approved Coronavirus Enforcement Ordinance
North Las Vegas City Council members unanimously passed an ordinance Wednesday that will put teeth into emergency directives from the governor or city manager. The immediate goal of the ordinance is to levy civil and criminal penalties against landlords and property managers who evict commercial or residential tenants during the coronavirus pandemic. Though Gov. Steve Sisolak signed an order on March 29 that puts a moratorium on evictions, some tenants still face lockouts. (Apgar, 4/8)

Indianapolis Star: Indiana Coronavirus: Marion County Opens Morgue Overflow Facility
The Marion County Emergency Operations Center announced Wednesday morning that a temporary morgue facility has been secured for use, if needed, during the anticipated surge of coronavirus patients in the coming weeks. (VanTryon, 4/8)

Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis Crime: Drop In Homicides May Be Temporary, Data Shows
Overall crime might have dipped recently due to coronavirus restrictions, but the number of homicides in Indianapolis has not. The city has seen 45 criminal homicides, of 54 total homicides that include self-defense and accidental deaths as of April 6, according to an IndyStar analysis and data provided by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. That’s higher than the amount of criminal homicides at this time last year — 34 — and in 2018 — 35 — when Indianapolis set a new record for homicides. (Hill, 4/9)