A4 SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020
Tracking an Outbreak
NStay-at-home rules, tests, a financial stimulus package and now
masks: Another week of life in the coronavirus pandemic ended on
Friday with some officials urging people to cover their faces when
they go out — even if they don’t have symptoms.
A cloth mask would not guard against catching the virus but it
could help stop transmission. The White House — where one official
described the mood as “all coronavirus, all the time” — initially
stopped short of declaring an official policy. President Trump said
that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was advising
people to wear cloth coverings when they go out but added: “It’s
voluntary. I don’t think I’m going to be doing it.” A moment later, he
said, “I’m choosing not to do it.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York suggested improvising if a
cloth mask was not available. “Use a scarf, use a bandanna,” Mr. de
Blasio said on WNYC radio. And as for masks, he made clear that he
was talking about cloth masks. “We do not want anyone who is not a
first responder to go anywhere near a surgical mask,” he said.
Gov. Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania said people should just make
their own masks. “Wearing a mask will help us cut down the possi-
bility that we might be infecting an innocent bystander, like that
grocery store cashier, the pharmacist, or someone stocking shelves,”
he said. “These folks are keeping us alive by getting us the supplies
we need. We owe it to them to do everything we can to keep them
safe. Right now, that means wearing a mask.”
Also on Friday, the Small Business Administration began accept-
ing applications for $350 billion in loans, but there were doubts
about whether it could handle the onslaught of forms filed online.
More troubling numbers in New York
In New York, deaths from the virus doubled in the last three
days, to almost 3,000. The state recorded more coronavirus deaths
on Thursday than in the first 27 days of March. For the first time,
the state recorded more than 10,000 positive tests in one day, push-
ing the number of confirmed cases in the state above 100,000, an-
other grim first for the epidemic. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said there
were 102,863 confirmed cases statewide on Friday, up from 92,381 on
Thursday. New York City had more than 57,000 cases, nearly a
quarter of the total in the whole country.
Mr. Cuomo said he would use his power to take ventilators and
protective gear from hospitals that were not using them. He said
equipment would be returned later on — or the hospitals would be
compensated. “If they want to sue me for borrowing their excess
ventilators to save lives, let them sue me,” he said.
Globally, at least one million people have been infected and more
than 54,000 have died, although experts suspect the infection count
is larger because many people who had the virus showed no symp-
toms and were not tested. The Australian medical chief estimated
that there are five million to 10 million cases.
The staggering death tolls in Italy and Spain account for nearly
half of the deaths globally and rose again on Friday. Spanish hospi-
tals have begun improvising to handle the caseloads: One hospital
turned its library into an intensive care unit.
In France, where more than 5,000 people have died, space for
bodies was set aside in a food market. The French prime minister,
Édouard Philippe, said he was “fighting hour by hour” to smooth
supply-chain bottlenecks and answer the “unbelievable, unheard-of
increase” in the need for medical supplies and equipment.
Britain had its deadliest day, but the government moved toward
issuing “immunity passports,” certificates for patients who recover
from the coronavirus — and carry coronavirus antibodies identifi-
able by a blood test — and could return to a normal working life.
Sometime in the future, of course. For now, Britain has another
hospital, the country’s largest, a 4,000-bed facility in an exhibition
center in East London that was converted in nine days. Prince
Charles made an appearance at the opening ceremony — by a video
link, from Scotland. He spent last week in isolation there after his
own coronavirus diagnosis.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson released a video statement about
something different: his own self-isolation. He said he was extend-
ing it, a week after announcing that he had contracted the virus. He
still has symptoms, including a fever.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel returned to her office
after nearly two weeks in quarantine because a doctor who gave her
a vaccine had tested positive. She urged Germans not to make
travel plans for Easter this year.
Different approaches in Europe
France canceled the high school exit exam known as the Bac-
calaureat, a first in the 212-year history of the test, and Singapore
said it would close schools and nearly all workplaces for a month.
And while Ms. Merkel said it would be “absolutely irresponsible”
to set a date for loosening Germany’s stay-at-home rules, Austria
appeared to be looking in the opposite direction. Officials said they
would announce a timetable next week for what could be “a slow
start-up” of segments of the economy that have been shut down.
Sweden has not imposed similar isolation measures, and now
the outbreak is spreading there. Sweden did not put a stop to public
gatherings of more than 50 people until last week. Its latest moves
were requests, not orders: Public health officials asked residents to
postpone large private gatherings like weddings, and ski lift opera-
tors were urged to close the slopes. Officials also implored people to
work from home if they could, stay home if they were sick — and
avoid using public transportation during the busiest times.
“It’s time for self-discipline,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said.
By JAMES BARRONCoronavirus Update
Coronavirus Update wraps up the day’s developments with infor-
mation from across the virus report.Americans Are Told to Cover Their Faces
More Than 1 Million Infected Worldwide
Singapore Shuts Schools and Workplaces
New Coronavirus Cases Announced Daily in U.S.THE NEW YORK TIMESFeb. 28 April 3
Note: Data is as of April 3 at 6:20 p.m., Eastern.
Sources: State and local health agencies; hospitals; C.D.C.
As of Friday evening, more than 272,000 people across every
state, plus Washington, D.C., and four U.S. territories, have tested
positive for the virus, according to a New York Times database.
5,
10,
15,
20,
25,
30,
LOS ANGELES — For over a
decade, Jennifer Field Piette has
put together boxes of local fruits,
vegetables and various pantry sta-
ples from California — Koda
Farms rice, pale blue pastured
eggs, crusty loaves of sourdough
— and delivered them to people’s
doorsteps in Los Angeles.
Three weeks ago, the customer
base for her business, Narrative
Food, leapt from 85 people a week
to 185. A week later, that number
shot up to about 350.
“I think there’s a wake-up call
going on, in terms of food sys-
tems,” Ms. Piette said. “I hope it’s
not a blip.”
The potential danger of a
crowded supermarket during the
coronavirus pandemic, for both
shoppers and workers, and the
fragility of the industrial food sup-
ply, have people all over the city
frantically looking for reliable,
low-contact or no-contact grocer-
ies.
For those who can afford the
weekly cost of a subscription, spe-
cialized services like Narrative
Food (where charges start at $
for a box of vegetables) are in-
creasingly popular. Farms around
Los Angeles are also rising to the
occasion, adopting more direct
distribution models for local, sea-
sonal foods in a time of crisis.
Thao Family Farms, a small
farm in Fresno that usually sells
its specialty produce to restau-
rants, including the Culver City
Tex-Mex destination Amacita, and
at local farmers’ markets, is
among many now packing up pre-
paid boxes.
The boxes help make up for the
farm’s lost business, and get home
cooks what they urgently need.For $40, shoppers can order a
mix of sprouting broccoli, Shang-
hai bok choy, green garlic, Chinese
mustard greens, fennel and more,
then pick it up at a handful of mar-
kets and restaurants across the
city. The vegetable box is just one
of the items on the Middle Eastern
restaurant Kismet’s new grocery
menu, along with wine and beer.
Underwood Family Farms in
Ventura County has started ship-
ping produce boxes anywhere in
the United States except Hawaii,
via FedEx — this week’s are full of
black kale, purple carrots, unripe
avocados and tangerines.
But some shoppers are prepay-
ing and driving to the farm, then
waiting safely in their car with the
trunk popped open, while the food
is dispatched.
At the Altadena Farmers’ Mar-
ket, people can place all of their or-
ders online, picking and choosing
among local cheeses, honeys and
other foods from a number of ven-dors for curbside pickup, in a kind
of custom-built, no-contact com-
munity-supported agriculture, or
C.S.A.
The market’s new menu also in-
cludes an $18 donation of fresh cit-
rus, berries and vegetables that
goes directly to seniors who live
nearby.
Though plenty of grocery
stores, including Albertsons, Vons
and Whole Foods Markets, have
reserved shopping hours for older
people and those with compro-
mised immune systems, many of
them don’t feel safe making the
trip, handling items in the aisles,
or even paying.
“I’ve had regular clients just re-
direct their subscriptions to their
elderly parents,” Ms. Piette said.
And at a time when Amazon and
Instacart workers are walking off
the job in fear and in protest, and
both food and delivery workers
are on the front lines of the pan-
demic, people are eager to knowwho is working behind the scenes,
and under what conditions.
Joy Brooks is an owner, and the
operations manager, of Sublime
Delivery Service, a small courier
company in Southern California
that works with about 20 drivers,
delivering food, pharmaceuticals
and other necessities. She said she
is looking to hire at least 10 more
drivers in the coming weeks to
keep up with demand.
Ms. Brooks makes many of the
deliveries herself. Last Sunday,
she and her team dropped more
than 300 food boxes around Los
Angeles, from Beverly Hills and
Santa Clarita to Cypress Park and
Pasadena.
“Right now, food deliveries are
our highest demand,” she said, re-
ferring both to the provisions
boxes from Narrative Food and to
meal kits.
As more restaurants close,
small food producers lose their
regular orders, and Ms. Piette is
scheduling more pickups to get
that food to home cooks, including
bread from Bub and Grandma’s,
and fresh noodles from Semolina
Artisanal Pasta.
“You don’t usually quintuple
your volume in a few days,” said
Ms. Piette, who was racing to keep
up.
At the company’s commercial
kitchen space in Chatsworth, in
the San Fernando Valley, where
workers packed boxes, one staffer
was now entirely dedicated to en-
forcing distance between employ-
ees, frequent hand-washing, sani-
tizing and other crucial hygiene
practices.
Meanwhile, the orders for more
produce boxes, and more local
foods, kept coming in. “I wish it
wasn’t a tragedy that was chang-
ing things,” Ms. Piette said.GROCERIESA Turn From Supermarkets to Small Farm Delivery
By TEJAL RAOXan Dixon, of Narrative Food in Los Angeles, picked up bread
from a wholesale bakery to add to weekly deliveries of provisions.MAGGIE SHANNON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESWith her school closed, her city
quiet and her country under lock-
down, Stevie-Lee Tiller, 13, is
stuck at home with her parents
and three siblings.
Stevie-Lee, who lives in Hamil-
ton, New Zealand, misses her
friends at school. She is a little
scared of the coronavirus because
her father, a factory supervisor, is
still going to work. She belongs to
a close-knit extended family, but
she can’t see most of her relatives
in person.
So she and her cousins have
found a new way to be together, at
least in spirit. They’re playing the
same game in separate neighbor-
hoods: the teddy bear hunt.
The game is being played in
countries around the world, from
Australia to Japan to the United
States. It’s like a scavenger hunt
suited for social distancing: Peo-
ple put teddy bears and other
stuffed animals in windows, on
porches, in trees and on parked
cars. Then, children go for walks
or drives with their families andtry to spot as many as they can.
On most days, Stevie-Lee goes
bear hunting with her mother and
two younger sisters. “It’s really
exciting when you walk past, be-
cause there are so many different
bears,” she said. ”
Her favorite sighting so far was
a large white teddy bear that
someone had propped up on a bal-
cony. Stevie-Lee’s cousins Elijah
Horsburgh, 8, and Avah Hors-
burgh, 5, have been keeping count
of the animals they see; so far,
their biggest tally for a single walk
was 68.
“It started as something fun to
do while taking the kids out for a
walk: How many bears can we
spot today?” said Annelee Scott,
44, Elijah and Avah’s mother. “But
it’s so much more than that now.
It’s helping people get through a
really scary time.”
The game seems to have been
partly inspired by the 1989 chil-
dren’s book “We’re Going on a
Bear Hunt,” written by Michael
Rosen and illustrated by Helen
Oxenbury. In it, some children
who say they are “not scared”push through tall grass, swim
across a river, squelch through
mud, stumble through a forest,
trudge through a snowstorm and
tiptoe into a cave. Finally, they
find a real, live bear! Then they
run home.
Mr. Rosen has watched his work
make its way into the real world.
On social media, he shared photos
from people who were going on
bear hunts.But Mr. Rosen, who lives with
his family in London, according to
his publisher, could not be reached
this week. He had been feeling
sick with chills, fever and fatigue.
Mr. Rosen, who did not say on
Twitter what illness he had, was
admitted to a hospital a few days
ago. “He does know you’ve all
been rooting for him with this
lovely wave of support,” his wife,
Emma-Louise Williams, tweeted
on Tuesday.
In recent weeks, stuffed ani-
mals have been spotted in at least
13 countries — including Japan,
Australia, Germany and Scotland
— and in all 50 states, according to
data compiled by Tammy Buman,
12, and Addy Buman, 8, who live in
Norwoodville, Iowa. They keep
track of teddy bear sightings
around the world, which they
monitor on social media with help
from their parents, Julia Buman,
34, and Ryan Buman, 39.
“It’s like the bear hunt book, but
it’s not just bears,” Tammy said. “I
think that it helps people get their
mind off of what’s happening right
now.”PASSING THE TIMEScavenger Hunt Suited for Social Distancing: Spot the Teddy Bear
The game is simple: count the
bears perched in windows.DAVID RYDER/REUTERSBy JACEY FORTIN