Los Angeles Times - 06.04.2020

(Joyce) #1

$2.75DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER © 2020 D MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2020 latimes.com


WASHINGTON — As
the U.S. coronavirus death
toll neared 10,000 on Sunday,
Surgeon Gen. Jerome Ad-
ams said the coming week
would be “the hardest and
saddest of most Americans’
lives,” likening the projected
loss of life to “our Pearl Har-
bor moment, our 9/11 mo-
ment.”
Joining in that somber
assessment was Dr. An-
thony Fauci, the govern-
ment’s top infectious dis-
ease expert, who predicted
that the dimensions of the
outbreak would be “shock-
ing to some” over the next
eight or nine days.
“Things are going to get
bad, and we need to be pre-
pared for that,” Fauci, per-
haps the best-known mem-
ber of the White House co-
ronavirus task force, said on
CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
He called on the country
to “just buckle down, contin-
ue to mitigate, continue to
do the physical separation,
because we’ve got to get
through this week that’s
coming up.”
President Trump, how-
ever, largely eschewed talk of
dire coming days, instead
expressing hopes for a “lev-
eling-off in the hottest spots”
of infection. Brushing aside
criticism of his administra-
tion’s performance, he said
in an early-evening briefing
that he was making use of
“the full power of the Ameri-
can government.”
“We’re orchestrating a
massive federal response,
unlike anything our country
has ever done,” he said, later
adding, “We’re starting to
see light at the end of the
tunnel.”
Earlier Sunday, officials
offered hope that in some
areas hit hard and early, the
coronavirus wave may be
cresting. New York City is
the national epicenter of the
outbreak, its medical sys-
tem staggering under a criti-
cal caseload, but Gov. An-
drew Cuomo said the state’s
daily death toll had dropped
slightly.
Even so, Cuomo, who has
been praised for steady lead-
ership amid the crisis, said
at a briefing in his state’s
capital, Albany, that it was
too soon to know whether
the slight easing marked a
downward trend or was
merely a “blip.”
Flare-ups of COVID-19,

Hardest


days lie


ahead,


experts


warn


The U.S. should brace
for a ‘shocking’ week

in the coronavirus


crisis, top health


officials say.


By Laura King

[SeeU.S.,A8]

The congregants lined up
six feet apart on Palm Sun-
day, waiting to take Com-
munion at Godspeak Calva-
ry Chapel in Thousand
Oaks. Ten people were al-
lowed inside at a time, with
someone spraying chairs
with disinfectant after each
use.
By the end of the day,
hundreds of people had cy-
cled through. Nearby, in the
church parking lot, pro-
testers lined up their cars
and honked their horns, dis-
turbed that the church
would so brazenly flout stay-
at-home orders from Ven-
tura County and the state,
put in place to battle the co-
ronavirus pandemic.
It wasn’t a decision Pas-
tor Rob McCoy took lightly.
On Saturday night, he re-
signed his position on the
Thousand Oaks City Coun-
cil, saying he planned to vio-
late orders that deem
churches nonessential.
“As an elected official I
am in conflict and thus must
tender my resignation from
the council,” he wrote in a
letter obtained by The
Times. “I have no desire to
put our community at risk
and will not. ... However this
is portrayed, please know I
am obligated to do this.”
As the novel coronavirus
continues to spread, pastors
like McCoy have revolted
against stay-at-home or-
ders, pitting public health
concerns against claims of
religious freedom.
And houses of worship
have already proved to be


Pushing


back


from the


pulpit


WEARINGgloves and a mask, Robyn Freeman, 39, prays after taking Communion on Palm Sunday at God-
speak Calvary Chapel in Thousand Oaks. “I just prayed ... that this epidemic, this pandemic, would cease soon.”

Carolyn ColeLos Angeles Times

Some pastors, citing


religious freedom,


are defiantly flouting


stay-at-home orders.


By Alene
Tchekmedyian,
Hailey Branson-Potts
and Laura Newberry


[SeePulpit,A10]

BUSINESS INSIDE:The pandemic forces the healthcare industry to rethink its staffing. A


It was the phone call
Domonique had been dread-
ing, the one that seemed
inevitable.
Her 19-year-old son was
on the other end of the line,
calling from Barry J. Nidorf
Juvenile Hall in Sylmar.
“Mom, one of the boys in
the unit underneath me has
the coronavirus,” he said.
It remains unclear
whether the rumor was true,
but the panic Domonique
felt with no way to check on
her asthmatic son was very
real. Two days later, The
Times obtained a document
that revealed a probation of-
ficer who works at Nidorf
had tested positive for the
coronavirus.As a result, 21

youths were placed under
quarantine.
Fears of a coronavirus
outbreak in county and state
lockups have sparked efforts
across California and the na-
tion to lower the adult prison
and jail populations in re-
cent weeks, with thousands
of nonviolent offenders and
those nearing the end of
their sentences being re-
leased early.
But policies for early re-
lease of juveniles are more
complicated, leaving hun-
dreds of young detainees
and staff in environments
where an outbreak could
spread rapidly.
Los Angeles County de-
tention centers have barred
in-person family visits and
those of community-based
organizations. With limited

Parents left to wait and worry


Many with children in lockup feel powerless as pandemic rages


APROBATIONofficer at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile
Hall and a public defender assigned to the Sylmar
facility’s courthouse have confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Kent NishimuraLos Angeles Times

By James Queally
and Leila Miller

[SeeJuveniles,A8]

Asenior at John C. Fre-
mont High School in South
L.A., Emilio Hernandez has
a class load that is about as
rigorous as it gets: AP calcu-
lus, physics, design, English,
engineering and govern-
ment. He loves talking to his
peers in English class, who
make all the readings


thought-provoking. He
often turns to his math
teacher, who has a way of
drawing the graphs and
walking him through deriva-
tives and complex formulas.
Now, with a borrowed
laptop from school and fam-
ily crowded in the living
room, he’s struggling to
make school feel like, well,
school. He has trouble fall-
ing asleep and finds himself
going to bed later and later
—sometimes as late as 3
a.m.

“Assignments that would
normally take me two hours
or thirty minutes are now
taking me days to complete.
I just ... can’t focus,” he said.
“I don’t have anyone giving
me direction. It’s just me
reading and having to give
myself the incentive to do
the work.”
It’s been three weeks
since school districts across
the state have closed their
campuses as the novel
coronavirus continues to

PRINCIPALRafael Balderas at the entrance to Los Angeles’ Bell High School,
where distance learning has been too demanding and cumbersome at times.


Al SeibLos Angeles Times

Tough realities as students


struggle with home learning


Stress, noise, isolation are just some of the hurdles


By Howard Blume,
Sonali Kohli,
Rosanna Xia
and Paloma Esquivel


[SeeSchools,A12]

L


ast fall, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
named her deputy prime minister and
charged her with ameliorating relations
between Ottawa and the rebellious provin-
ces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Last
month, he tapped her to lead Canada’s response to
the coronavirus crisis.
And as the virus threat deepened, the government
quietly established that if Trudeau falls ill, she would
replace him at the helm of the government.
This is Chrystia Freeland’s breakout. It was her
call to Vice President Mike Pence that set in motion
the virtual closing of the Canadian-American border.
She is at the front lines of Canada’s attack on the virus
—and in the front row in govern-

COLUMN ONE

Chrystia Freeland, ‘minister of


everything,’ rises to challenge


PRIME MINISTER Justin Trudeau with
Chrystia Freeland, his successor if he falls ill.

Chris Wattie AFP /Getty Images

Warrior in chief


leading Canada’s


coronavirus battle


By David M. Shribman
reporting from ottawa

[SeeCanada,A4]

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