CALIFORNIA
S ATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020::L ATIMES.COM/CALIFORNIA
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Capping a week of dram-
atic rises in novel co-
ronavirus cases and deaths,
health officials said Friday
that California should brace
for at least several more
challenging weeks as the
virus spreads and officials
fight to keep unprecedented
social distancing restric-
tions going.
Barbara Ferrer, director
of the Los Angeles County
Department of Public
Health, said that the county
should expect to see 1,
new coronavirus cases a day
in the coming weeks and
that the key to keeping the
rate of spread manageable is
for the public to stay largely
at home.
“The next few weeks are
going to be critically impor-
tant, because we are going to
see more cases of people who
are positive with COVID-19,but it’s our hope that the
rate of increase continues to
be manageable and that we
don’t overwhelm our health-
care system,” she said.
Whether the increase re-
mains manageable, Ferrer
said, depends on how well
residents adhere to guide-
lines that they wash their
hands frequently, stay home
as much as possible, remain
six feet away from others
when leaving the house and
avoid going out entirely if
they are over the age of 65,
feel sick or have underlying
health conditions.
Statewide, the number of
coronavirus cases swelled to
more than 12,000 on Friday,
with the death toll topping- About 2,188 people are
hospitalized, Gov. Gavin
Newsom said, with 901 of
them in intensive care units,
a 10.4% increase in ICU hos-
pitalizations from the day
before.
The governor empha-
sized that the confirmed
cases represent just a frac-
tion of the real problem.
“That’s an undercount,”
Newsom said during his me-
dia briefing outside a motel
in Sacramento that would
be housing vulnerable
homeless individuals. “We
know that’s just what’s been
reported to us, but there’s
AHEALTH WORKER in San Bernardino County takes a sample from a person at a coronavirus drive-
through testing site. Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state’s confirmed COVID-19 cases represent an undercount.
Irfan KhanLos Angeles TimesSeveral tough
weeks ahead,
officials warn
Keeping the increase
in coronavirus cases
manageable hinges on
whether people stay
home as directed.
By Alex Wigglesworth,
Maura Dolan,
Benjamin Oreskes
and Luke Money[SeeCounty,B2]Michael Yeates came
home from work one after-
noon in early March to pick
up his 21-month-old daugh-
ter, Zoe, for swim lessons.
His wife was sick, and in the
few hours he’d been gone,
she’d gotten much worse.
Yeates was coming down
with something, too — a
cold, he thought — but at
that moment he was focused
on getting his wife help.
From their home in Corona,
they called their medical
provider’s nurse help line.
Yeates’ wife described
her symptoms: shortness of
breath, dry cough, fever,
body aches, intense fatigue.
She explained that she’s a la-
bor and delivery nurse at a
major hospital in Los Ange-
les. She had already tested
positive for the flu that
season.
The nurse on the other
end of the line was blunt:
Testing wasn’t available,
but it was likely that Yeates’
wife had contracted the
coronavirus.
Yeates’ wife did not want
to be identified by name for
fear of the stigma associated
with continuing to work as a
healthcare provider after re-
Baby’s
hungry,
parents
are sick
By Laura Newberry
THE YEATES family
dealt with the despair of
caring for a child as both
parents became ill.Yeates family[SeeParents,B2] Two weeks before her son was due,
Layla Shaikley sat down to repack her
hospital bag.
In went the Adidas slides, Glossier
blush, washable prayer mat and a new
baby swaddle printed with protective
nazar eyes. Out went the “Big Sister” T-
shirts for her toddler, Kamila, replaced
with Shaikley’s iPad — a tool she now
fears could be her only source of supportin the delivery room.
“They told me, at most your spouse or
one visitor will be allowed,” said the 34-
year-old tech entrepreneur. “I’m waiting
for the other shoe to drop.”
More babies are born in Los Angeles
Countythan anywhere else in the United
States. But with COVID-19 cases continu-
ing to surge, many fear that the area’s
hospitals might soon bar visitors from
their maternity wards, as several in New
York did briefly last week.
“It couldLAYLA SHAIKLEY, 34, is prepared to labor without her husband. Hospi-
tals have enacted restrictions on who can attend births amid the pandemic.Gary CoronadoLos Angeles TimesPregnant women are
rethinking birth plans
Parents, doctors adapt to new hospital limits
By Sonja Sharp[SeePregnant,B2]How can it be
that there are
still so many
social distanc-
ing holdouts,
people who
refuse to ac-
knowledge the
seriousness of the co-
ronavirus and move
through the world with a
pre-pandemic blitheness?
Empty streets can be
deceiving. They do not
necessarily mean that all of
us who have the luxury of
doing so are safely at home
doing all we can to contain
the contagion.
So many people don’t
have the choice to stay
home. They have essential
jobs staffing our hospitals
and our food markets, driv-
ing our buses, delivering our
mail. I am not talking about
them.But you don’t have to go
far to find those who do have
the choice but still aren’t
making the effort to follow
the new rules aimed at our
mutual safety.
Take a walk. Head to the
supermarket. Read about
the nonessential smoke
shop that refused to shut
down even when ordered by
police.
When I go out into my
neighborhood, as I still am
able to do each day to es-
cape from my house and
stretch my legs and breathe
fresh air, I take great pains
to stay at least six feet away
from everyone else — even if
that means sometimes
jumping onto a lawn or into
the street.
I now wear a homemade
mask to try to protect oth-
ers, though I pull it down
from time to time on a soli-
tary walk when there’s noCITY BEATSocial distancing holdouts are a danger to us all
FRIENDSplay a spirited game of one-on-one basketball despite posted warnings
that the grounds at Sierra Madre Park in Azusa are closed amid the pandemic.Robert GauthierLos Angeles TimesNITA LELYVELD[SeeCity Beat,B6]In the end, it was not the
bombs he disarmed, the sus-
picious packages he re-
trieved or the meth labs he
raided that killed David
Werksman, a 22-year deputy
with the Riverside County
Sheriff ’s Department.
It was the coronavirus.
Werksman, 51, died
Thursday night, the second
Riverside sheriff ’s deputy
killed by the virus in a day.
Terrell Young, 52, who
worked in the county jails,
died Thursday morning.
“We are reeling from the
reality that this virus has
taken the lives of two of our
family members within the
past 24 hours,” Sheriff Chad
Bianco said Friday.
Law enforcement officers
serve on the front lines of the
pandemic,and most have
little or no ability to do their
jobs in isolation or without
coming into contact with the
public or their colleagues. As
of Friday afternoon, 35
sworn officers and eight ci-vilian employees with the
Los Angeles Police Depart-
ment have tested positive for
COVID-19, the disease
caused by the coronavirus.
Within the New York Police
Department, 1 in 6 officers
are out sick, and about 1,
have tested positive for
COVID-19.
Bianco, the Riverside
County sheriff, appeared
frustrated with the public
for flouting stay-at-home or-
ders intended to slow the
virus’ spread. “Take it from
me, losing two family mem-2 deputies killed
by virus in one day
[SeeDeputies,B6]DAVID WERKSMAN,
51, and Terrell Young, 52,
both died Thursday.Riverside County Sheriff ’s Dept.By Matthew Ormseth,
Kailyn Brown
and Nicole Santa CruzVirtual AP tests
are new realityAmid school closures,
students will take
new, shorter-format
tests from home. BPatriarch led
jazz royal family
Ellis Marsalis Jr.,
pianist, teacher and
father of Wynton and
Branford, has died. BJournalist dies
of leukemia
Liyna Anwar, 30,
produced podcasts to
help The Times grow
its digital footprint. BLottery......................B