Los Angeles Times - 06.04.2020

$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]

MORE COVERAGE

Landlords push

legal boundaries

L.A. property owners are

pressing tenants to agree

to repayment plans to

avoid eviction amid the

pandemic. CALIFORNIA, B

Brothers at home

and on gridiron

USC football players

Abdul-Malik and Munir

McClain adjust to virtual

classrooms and lessons

from coaches. SPORTS, B

Camp feels scarily

close to the virus

Asylum seekers on the

Mexican side of the bor-

der with the U.S. wait

indefinitely in crowded

conditions. WORLD, A