KQED's The California Report

Nursing Home Workers' Union Calls for Better PPE In the community of Yucaipa in San Bernardino County, 20 people have died from coronavirus — 18 of them from a single skilled nursing facility. At Cedar Mountain Post Acute Rehabilitation, more than a hundred staff and residents have also tested positive for COVID-19. It’s just one startling example of how the coronavirus has ravaged such facilities, their residents and the people who work at them. Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQED Politics Editor Call the Midwife: Birth Is Different During the Pandemic In this pandemic, we’ve been checking in with healthcare workers… and today we’ll hear from a midwife. Some pregnant mothers who want to avoid hospitals during the pandemic are turning to freestanding birth centers — these facilities offer midwife care in a homelike environment. Last month, Pacifica Family Maternity Center in Berkeley received three times as many inquiries as usual. Guest: Jessamyn Meyerhoff, Berkeley midwife Muslims Gather for Virtual Iftars During Ramadan This is the first day of Ramadan. Normally at this time of year, Observant Muslims fast and pray during the day, then feast and celebrate at night for a whole month. Normally, that is. Muslims are re-fashioning their family gatherings and how they observe Ramadan during the pandemic. Guest: Adhiti Bandlamudi, KQED Scientific Research Continues During Pandemic Many of us haven't been able to get to work during the pandemic. That includes scientists who've been shut out of their laboratories and research facilities. But here and there, research is continuing. At Scripps Oceanographic Institution in La Jolla, some staff are still at work on a more than hundred-year-old project to sample the daily temperature and salinity of the ocean. Guest: Melissa Carter, Director, Shore Stations Program, Scripps Oceanographic Institution Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gov. Newsom Talks Coronavirus Testing Governor Gavin Newsom says California is making big strides in its push to ramp up COVID-19 testing, but he isn’t committing to a date for reopening the state just yet. Reporter: Marisa Lagos, KQED Politics Worker Tests Positive at Foster Farms Plant Employees at a Foster Farms plant in the Central Valley are worried about their health… now that one of their coworkers has tested positive for COVID-19. Reporter: Alex Hall, KQED DACA Students Lose Out on Aid Undocumented college students dealing with campus closures won’t be getting any emergency help from the federal government because of the coronavirus pandemic. Reporter: Vanessa Rancaño, KQED Health Clinics Struggle Without Patients Non-profit community clinics and health centers care for people regardless of their ability to pay or immigration status. But during this pandemic, many clinics across California are struggling to keep their doors open. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Coffeehouse Owner Plans for Post-Pandemic Reopening Here in California, no word… yet… about when that will start happening here, but many small businesses are planning for it, including coffeehouses. Coffeeshops reopening would represent a step back to normalcy for me and many others. But how do you reopen a kind of business where spaces can be tight and people linger, sometimes for hours? Guest: Sara Peterson, owner Scout Coffee in San Luis Obispo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First Known Coronavirus Death Weeks Earlier Than Previously Thought The first confirmed deaths from the novel coronavirus in the United States look like they took place in Santa Clara County, more than a month earlier than initially thought and reported. Reporter: Kate Wolffe, KQED PG&E's CEO Steps Down The CEO of embattled utility Pacific Gas and Electric is stepping down. The utility's plan for leaving bankruptcy has been approved and will allow it to tap a state insurance fund in case of future fires. Reporter: Lily Jamali, KQED Governor Newsom Warns Against Re-opening State Golf courses, beaches and parks are opening again as some California cities and counties begin to ease stay-at-home orders put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus. But Governor Gavin says the number of positive tests, hospitalizations, and deaths have actually ticked up, not down. New Poll Illuminates Coronavirus Concerns With the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths still climbing, a new poll finds many Californians are very worried about their health, and their finances. Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQED California EPA Fights Federal Regulatory Relaxation This Earth Day, California’s Environmental Protection Agency is carrying an extra burden. In March, its federal counterpart said that it would stop enforcing most environmental regulations for an open-ended period of time. Reporter: Craig Miller, KQED Diary of a Bay Area Nurse When hospital workers show up for work now-a-days they have to take extraordinary precautions to make sure they don’t spread the coronavirus inside hospitals. And those precautions don’t stop once they leave work and go home. Bay Area ER nurse Douglas Frey offers a snapshot of what he does after a shift at the hospital. Producer: Leslie McClurg, KQED 'Trailers for Nurses' Helps Health Workers Isolate Health care workers are exposed to the coronavirus more than anyone else. After their shift is over, many worry about passing the sickness onto their families. So they’ve had to find ways to isolate after work with some even pitching tents in their garages and backyards. Now, in Ventura County north of L.A., they’ve got another option. Reporter: Kathryn Barnes, KCRW Lewis MacAdams, advocate for LA River, Dies Lewis MacAdams has died. A poet and environmentalist, for more than thirty years, MacAdams championed the restoration of the Los Angeles River through his art and activism by founding the group the Friends of the L.A. River. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Research Shows More People Had Coronavirus Than Previously Thought What if far more people are infected with coronavirus than previously thought? A preliminary study that tested more than 800 adults in L.A. County for COVID-19 antibodies suggests that’s the case. Those antibodies indicate someone’s been exposed to the virus. Reporter: Robert Garrova, KPCC Legislators Want More Oversight of Pandemic Spending In a legislative hearing yesterday, members of both parties said they wanted more oversight over how Governor Newsom is responding to the pandemic, especially when it comes to how money is being spent, like a recent deal to buy millions of masks from China. Reporter: Katie Orr, KQED Politics City Officials Watch Dwindling Tax Revenues As tax revenues dwindle because of the business shutdown, the state’s largest cities are getting financial help from the federal government through the CARES Act. But smaller cities, at least for now, are on their own. So what’s like to run a smaller city during the pandemic? Guest: Peter Weiss, Mayor of Oceanside Judge: ICE Should Release Detainees at High Risk of COVID-19 A federal judge in southern California has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to consider releasing all detainees nationwide who are at high risk of contracting Covid-19. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cities and Counties Brace for Budget Cuts Due to Coronavirus Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti gave a sobering warning in his State of teh City address Sunday. Because of cratering municipal revenue during the coronavirus shutdown, the city plans to enact furlough days for thousands of employees and make painful cuts to municipal services. L.A. is just the biggest example of how California’s 482 cities and towns are wrestling with the consequences of the pandemic on their budgets. Guest: Carolyn Coleman, Executive Director, League of California Cities California Prisons Try to Keep Inmates Coronavirus-Free The first California inmate has died from health complications related to COVID-19. He was incarcerated at the California Institution for Men in San Bernardino. That comes after a federal judge denied an emergency motion that would have forced state prison officials to reduce the state’s prison population by thousands to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The judge wants to see first if changing up prison housing works. Reporter: Julie Small, KQED State Nursing Home Regulators Release COVID-19 Infection Counts The coronavirus has sickened thousands of workers and residents at long-term care facilities. More than 20 percent of the state’s nursing homes now report cases of COVID-19. That’s according to a list released by the Department of Public Health this weekend. Reporter: Molly Peterson, KQED Science Delivering COVID-19 Information in All Languages Immigrant residents of California speak more than 200 different languages and many aren’t fluent in English. So, how do you get pandemic information to them, especially if their language isn’t widely spoken? Reporter: Alex Hall, The California Report's Fresno reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Newsom: Food Workers To Get Paid Sick Leave Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that food workers in California will get two weeks of paid sick leave to help them deal with the outbreak of COVID 19. Reporter: Katie Orr, KQED Politics Safeway Reports COVID-19 Outbreak at Warehouse In San Joaquin County, a worker at a grocery distribution center belonging to Safeway has died of COVID-19. The grocery chain also confirms that several other workers at that same warehouse have also tested positive. Reporter: Haley Gray Megadrought Conditions Have Returned to the West, Scientists Say There’s new research that shows climate change is pushing California and much of the American West into a drought like we haven’t experienced in centuries. Reporter: Kevin Stark, KQED Science Chief Worries About Pandemic's Effect on Firefighting Efforts After the record blazes Californians have lived through these last few years, firefighters now have to factor in the COVID-19 outbreak as they plan for the coming fire season. Guest: Fire Chief Dave Winnacker, Moraga-Orinda Fire District How Much Data Privacy Will You Sacrifice to Beat the Coronavirus? How do we all feel about saying goodbye to our data privacy during the covid-19 pandemic? We give away a lot of data already to all sorts of companies, but not typically sensitive health information to those tracking infections. That looks like it’s about to change. Reporter: Rachael Myrow, KQED Silicon Valley Editor Kids of Healthcare Workers Worry About Their Parents This week, our sister show, The California Report Magazine, takes an up-close look at how the COVID-19 pandemic has touched the lives of front-line workers and their children. The kids of those workers have to worry about the risks their parents face. That’s on top of the constraints of just living during the outbreak. Guest: Sasha Khokha, The California Report Magazine host Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Newsom To Provide Disaster Relief for Undocumented Immigrants California will be the first state in the nation to offer COVID-19 disaster relief to undocumented immigrants. Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled a fund of $125 million Wednesday, including $75 million in state money and the rest from philanthropic sources. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Uber and Lyft Aren’t Paying for Drivers’ Unemployment: You Are, Confirms Newsom Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Employment Development Department are giving Uber, Lyft and other gig companies what they hoped for: unemployment coverage for drivers paid by federal taxpayers through the CARES act, instead of state unemployment funds. Reporter: Sam Harnett, KQED Federal Prison in Lompoc Struggling to Contain Outbreak The U-S Bureau of Prisons is scrambling to control the coronavirus at several of its institutions, with the largest outbreak now at a federal prison in Santa Barbara County. Officials are planning to establish a temporary hospital at the prison to treat the growing number of sick inmates. Reporter: Alex Emslie, KQED State Legislators Consider Costs of COVID-19 Today, California senators will be meeting, some of them virtually, to talk about how expenses related to the coronavirus pandemic will hit the state’s budget. Guest: Katie Orr, KQED Politics Desk Immigration Detainees Call for COVID-19 Protection The worst coronavirus outbreak at a federal immigration detention center is unfolding in San Diego. California’s U.S. Senators are calling for an investigation into reports that guards mistreated detained women who were asking for protective masks. Panic is spreading among the more than 32,000 people in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, Immigration Editor, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CA Won't Go Back To 'Normal' Anytime Soon Governor Gavin Newsom is laying out a road map for what the easing of California’s coronavirus lockdown might look like. At his daily briefing on the state’s approach towards managing the pandemic, he ruled out a return to the way things were just a month ago. Reporter: Guy Marzaroti, KQED Bailout For Airports As Passenger Numbers Plummet Airports around California have taken a huge hit as the coronavirus crisis has all but shut down air travel. They’re about to get some help thanks to the federal government’s recently passed two-trillion-dollar relief package. Reporter: Dan Brekke, KQED What Does The Coronavirus Mean For California Real Estate? There is no industry in California that hasn’t been touched by the coronavirus pandemic including residential real estate. Some of the hottest housing markets in the state are reeling from the shock, but this doesn't necessarily mean lower housing prices. Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, KQED L.A. Rolls Out Stricter Guidelines For Masks And Sanitation All businesses in Los Angeles County that have remained open during the coronavirus outbreak must now provide face coverings for their employees. That’s according to a new order issued by the county’s health department. The directive is just one part of new, stricter guidelines set to go into effect by the end of today. Reporter: Benjamin Gottlieb, KCRW California's Early Shelter-In-Place Order May Help Its Economic Future With the economy thrust into turmoil by the pandemic, we’re spending a lot of time wondering what the way out of this moment might look like. One thing is clear, the road to recovery will be a long one. Guest: Mary Daly, President, Federal Reserve Bank Of San Francisco Pet Adoption Is Through The Roof During Shelter-In-Place Since quarantine started in the US, people everywhere have rushed to take in new pets, and it’s not just adoptions. According to a site that tracks data from animal wellness agencies, the rates of fostering have exploded too. Reporter: Danielle Chiriguayo, KCRW Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Newsom To Work With Neighboring Governors to Reopen States At a time when President Donald Trump is claiming “total” authority over how states will reopen following the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Tuesday, Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to outline his own plan to get California moving again. Newsom says he’s coordinating with the governors of Oregon and Washington. He says they’ve agreed to a framework that lets science guide their decisions. Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQED Census Bureau Wants More Time to Complete Count The Census Bureau is trying to cope with disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s asking Congress for four extra months to complete the 2020 count, but that raises concerns about accuracy. Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED Insurance Companies Must Provide Refunds California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has ordered insurance companies to provide refunds to customers for March, April, and possibly May, if the shelter-in-place directive is extended. Reporter: Alice Woelfle, KQED Law Enforcement Officers Cope with Coronavirus One of many jobs that are changing in the COVID-19 era is policing. Law enforcement officers have to enforce stay at home orders, while also keeping the peace at food banks and grocery stores. And when they do make arrests, there's a new level of danger -- the slightest touch brings with it the risk of possible transmission. Reporter: Claire Trageser, KPBS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amid Pandemic, State Releases Thousands of Prisoners — But Will They Have Support at Home? Thousands of nonviolent inmates are being released from California’s prisons and jails as the state grapples with the pandemic. Advocates are worried about the fate of those men and women once they’re out. Reporter: Marisa Lagos, KQED Politics Families of Patients in State's Mental Health Hospitals Worry State mental hospitals face similar challenges. Families of patients worried that their loved ones aren't able to practice physical distancing inside. Reporter: Lee Romney, KALW Essential Fishing Industry Seeks Silver Lining to Coronavirus Commercial fishermen and women on the Central Coast are among the many who could use some clarity right now. Their salmon season is launching in just a few weeks, in early May. Even though California’s fishing industry is designated as essential, it’s biggest customers are not. Restaurants are all but shut down because of the pandemic. Some of the people who make their livings in commercial fishing are looking for a silver lining right about now. Reporter: Erika Mahoney, KAZU How Carlee's Restaurant is Feeding Borrego Springs The town of Borrego Springs, population 3,000, is smack in the middle of Anza Borrego State Park. "Panic buying" during quarantine has been especially tough on residents in rural towns. There’s often just one or maybe two grocery stores in some communities. So a restaurant owner there took matters into his own hands. Carlee’s is helping feed Borrego Springs in a way its owner probably never expected. Reporter: Nina Sparling, KQED Remembering KCRW's Matt Holtzman This weekend, our friends at KCRW in Los Angeles lost a friend and colleague, producer Matt Holzman, to cancer. Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, The California Report co-Host Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices