States With Large Rural Areas And Older, Less Healthy Populations Find They’re Far From Immune; Check Points At State Borders Draw Legal Complaints

Politico: ‘It Really Is The Perfect Storm’: Coronavirus Comes For Rural America
Dr. Howard Leibrand has had two very different medical careers—29 years as an emergency-room physician, then 12 as an addiction therapist. The challenge he’s facing now, as the novel coronavirus slams bucolic Skagit County, Washington, where he lives and works, is like both rolled into one. Covid-19 has struck fast and hard, like the car crashes and mishaps that send victims to the ER. And like opiate addiction, it has spread stealthily through the heartland, even as it was dismissed as a distant, urban problem.“ One of the negatives of living in a rural community is you think it protects you somehow,” says Leibrand, who for years has also been the health officer—a sort of local surgeon general—of the county, a sprawling expanse of rich alluvial farmland, exurban bedroom communities, and steep Cascade peaks midway between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia. (Scigliano, 4/15)

The Washington Post: Covid-19 Checkpoints Targeting Out-Of-State Residents Draw Complaints And Legal Scrutiny
When the number of coronavirus cases began to skyrocket, several states, including Rhode Island, Florida and Texas, took the unprecedented step of setting up border checkpoints to stop nonresidents who might be carrying the virus. In Florida and Texas, state troopers are requiring motorists from out of state and their passengers to sign forms promising to self-quarantine for 14 days. (Lazo and Shaver, 4/14)

The Washington Post: Covid-19 Deaths Pass 500 In Washington Region After Record Tally Of Fatalities Reported
The number of covid-19 deaths in the greater Washington region passed 500 Tuesday with a record one-day increase in reported fatalities, even as local leaders maintained that social distancing measures like closing businesses and schools appear to be working. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said hospitalizations in the nation’s capital could peak in late May, a month earlier than previously projected, if area residents continue to stay at home and avoid large groups. (Olivo, Nirappil and Wiggins, 4/14)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin’s Coronavirus Case Doubling Slows, Supporting Safer-At-Home
Cases of COVID-19 are growing slower than a month ago. Wisconsin’s rate of doubling of infections was 3.4 days in early March, according to the state’s Department of Health Services. Over the past two weeks, the rate of doubling has slowed to about 12 days, DHS said Tuesday. The longer doubling rate since Gov. Tony Evers’ safer-at-home order signals that the social distancing rules are working, DHS said. (Hauer, 4/14)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Coronavirus In Wisconsin: Assembly Passes Relief Package On Deadline
Wisconsin lawmakers for the first time in state history on Tuesday passed sweeping legislation from their kitchen tables, bedrooms and basements in an effort to help their constituents get through an outbreak of a deadly new virus. Nearly half of the 99-member Assembly voted in person Tuesday but the rest participated from their homes across the state using videoconferencing software. They met to reach one goal: pass a bill that helps pay for a surge of new costs brought by the coronavirus outbreak that has sickened more than 3,500 people in Wisconsin and left more than 380,000 without work. (Beck, 4/14)

The New York Times: On The No. 17 Bus Rolling Through The Pandemic In Detroit
Paris Banks sprayed the seat with Lysol before sliding into the last row on the right. Rochell Brown put out her cigarette, tucked herself behind the steering wheel and slapped the doors shut. It was 8:37 a.m., and the No. 17 bus began chugging westward across Detroit. On stepped the fast-food worker who makes chicken shawarma that’s delivered to doorsteps, the janitor who cleans grocery stores, the warehouse worker pulling together Amazon orders. (Eligon, 4/15)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Coronavirus Antibody Testing Halted In Las Vegas 
The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday halted two Las Vegas operations providing rapid tests for COVID-19 antibodies as well as the virus itself. Sahara West Urgent Care & Wellness, which has been providing drive-thru nasal swab testing for the virus since early in the outbreak, confirmed that a state regulator had halted the rapid testing it had begun last week. (Hynes, 4/14)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Rental Law Makes Paying Security Deposits Easier
Back in January – when the new coronavirus seemed a distant threat – Cincinnati City Council passed a law that meant renters don’t necessarily need a cash security deposit anymore. It was meant to break a barrier that low-income residents face when trying to rent an apartment. But now, as it goes into effect today, council members say they’re glad they did it because it can help as people struggle to deal with COVID19 economic impacts such as job losses. (Coolidge, 4/14)

WBUR: Coronavirus-Stricken Cities Have Empty Hospitals, But Reopening Them Is Difficult 
As city leaders across the country scramble to find space for the expected surge of COVID-19 patients, some are looking at a seemingly obvious choice: former hospital buildings, sitting empty, right downtown. In Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Los Angeles, where hospitalizations from COVID-19 increase each day, shuttered hospitals that once served the city’s poor and uninsured sit at the center of a public health crisis that begs for exactly what they can offer: more space. But reopening closed hospitals, even in a public health emergency, is difficult. (Feldman, 4/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Suicide Hotlines See High Volume From Anxious Callers During Coronavirus Crisis 
Calls to Bay Area suicide prevention hotlines are up — some by as much as 100% — with the stresses of staying at home, financial problems, job losses and fear of the coronavirus increasingly wearing on people. The hotline at Crisis Support Services of Alameda County usually fields about 100 to 110 calls per day, said Narges Dillon, executive director, but last week about 200 people a day called — up from 150 the week before. (Cabanatuan, 4/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Coronavirus: Outbreaks Ignite At Two California Prisons; Inmates Feel Like ‘Sitting Ducks’ 
Outbreaks of COVID-19 have flared up at two crowded California prisons, confirming the worst fears of prisoner families and advocates — and adding fuel to a growing federal court fight over the state prison system’s response to the pandemic. Forty-four prisoners and 21 staffers have tested positive for the coronavirus at the California Institution for Men in Chino, while 15 prisoners and 11 employees have been infected at the state prison in Los Angeles County, according to figures from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. (Fagone and Cassidy, 4/14)

Houston Chronicle: Houston’s Top Doc Calls On Labs, Medical Providers To Speed Up Reports Of Positive COVID Cases
The city has reported massive amounts of new coronavirus cases in recent days, driven by a backlog in positive cases dating back weeks. Last Thursday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced 615 new cases of the coronavirus, half of which came from March. He also reported 402 new cases Monday spread out across weeks. (Scherer, 4/14)

Houston Chronicle: Three More Metro Bus Drivers Test Positive For COVID-19, Leading To Wide Warning To Riders 
Three additional Metropolitan Transit Authority bus drivers have tested positive for COVID-19, transit officials said Tuesday, urging riders to monitor themselves. Metro is cooperating with public health officials to notify passengers, along with other transit employees exposed to the drivers, officials said. (Begley, 4/14)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Health Care Startup Brings At-Home Coronavirus Testing To Hundreds 
A Houston health care startup has begun testing people in their homes for COVID-19 after becoming one of the first companies to receive federal approval for distributing at-home test kits. The company, imaware, has partnered with the Houston Health Department as part of an effort to increase the number of people getting tested for the disease spread by the novel coronavius. The at-home tests — at least for now — are allocated for those who are “symptomatic, exposed and high-risk individuals who are unable to leave their own home,” the Houston Health Department said. (Wu, 4/14)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Faulty Data Obscures The Coronavirus’ Impact On Georgia
Georgia’s public health agency counts just one confirmed diagnosis of the novel coronavirus — and only one death — at an Augusta nursing home. Windermere Health and Rehabilitation Center, however, acknowledges a much grimmer toll. The facility says 74 residents and 20 staff members have tested positive for the virus — and four residents have died. (Judd and Teegardin, 4/14)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Unreliable, Counterfeit Products Peddled To Desperate Hospitals
It seemed like an offer that couldn’t be refused. Georgia would be able to get a million medical masks from Shanghai. “I have a businessman,’’ the sender wrote, “that can get an airplane full of medical mask (sic) every other day. ”The message, forwarded by the governor’s office to officials at Georgia Emergency Management Agency in late March, mentioned one obstacle. A waiver would be needed to allow planes with the shipments to arrive at the Atlanta airport. Otherwise, the only viable destination was Chicago, according to the message. (Berard, 4/14)

Boston Globe: State Releases List Of Current Massachusetts Coronavirus Hospitalizations 
The Globe has obtained an exclusive list from the Department of Public Health of the state’s first effort to assemble current hospitalization data for COVID-19 patients. It shows that in more than 60 hospitals across the state, roughly 3,400 patients have been admitted this week with either confirmed or suspected cases of coronavirus, including more than 970 in the intensive-care units. State officials said this is a preliminary list and it will be updated daily. (Kowalczyk and Wen, 4/15)