Coachella Valley coronavirus news and info | Friday evening, April 24

By
Casey Dolan
-

Cactus Hugs has been tracking local stories about the coronavirus.   For a rundown of all of our updates, click here. Stay safe, stay at a good social distance.

Thank you for your continued support of Cactus Hugs. For ways to keep this website going (and free!), click here.

As of 3 pm Friday, Riverside County officials have confirmed:

  • 3,315 people have tested positive for COVID-19.    
  • 112 people are confirmed to have died in the county from the coronavirus. 7 people have died in Riverside County of coronavirus in the last 24 hours.
  • There are currently 222 confirmed cases hospitalized, with 83 of them in the ICU.
  • There have been 957 official recovered cases in the county.

As of 2 pm Friday, San Bernardino County has confirmed 1,666 cases of COVID-19.  There have been 80 deaths in San Bernardino County.

As of 2:15 pm Friday, there have been 40,812 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in California.  There have been 1,594 confirmed deaths in the state.

Young and middle-aged people, barely sick with COVID-19, are dying from strokes, reports the Washington Post.  Now doctors are sounding the alarm about patients in their 30s and 40s left debilitated or dead. Some didn’t even know they were infected.

The numbers are increasing everyday.  They are not just numbers.  They are people.  The individual stories are heartbreaking:

An employee at the Rancho Mirage Post Office has tested positive for the coronavirus.  The facility has since introduced enhanced and supplemented cleaning protocols and believe the risk is low for other employees.

Riverside County health officials hosted a virtual roundtable on Friday.  Experts answered questions regarding herd immunity, antibody testing, and if the coronavirus is able to blow through a home’s screen door:

A health expert tells ABC 7 he believes there will definitely be a second wave of coronavirus. “So, you know there’s two things that are going to influence the second wave. One, is the relaxation of the social distancing measures we have in place. The second thing is going to be the seasonality, right. So we don’t know about the seasonality, so that I kind of have to defer. But the social distancing, we know there’s going to be natural erosion of the social distancing and then, there’s also all of this conversation about social distancing measures being decreased. And as soon as that happens, we definitely will see a second wave – the question is how significant is it gonna be?”

Governor Gavin Newsom announced a partnership with the federal government to provide three meals a day to needy seniors in the State of California. “This partnership will allow for the ability for restaurants to start rehiring people or keep people currently employed and start preparing meals, three meals a day, seven days a week, and have those meals delivered to our seniors all throughout the state of California,” Newsom said during his daily press conference. “We will provide an unlimited number of meals, no cap in terms of that support.”

California’s ban on plastic bags is no more…for at least the next 60 days, anyway.

Riverside County has an interactive online map as part of their coronavirus website showing locations where families in need can find nearby food pantries, senior meal sites and school nutrition services.

Health officials in the county have officially adopted a one swimmer in a pool at a time policy for private pools (HOA, apartment complex, hotel, motel, and country clubs).  The rule is one person in the pool, not matter how big the pool is.  Public pools remain closed.

Riverside County officials are working on guidelines for cooling centers and, since it’s already stretching into the triple digits, are looking at the possibility of opening sooner than when they normally do, June 1st.

All civil court cases in Riverside County have been rescheduled for dates after June 1.

The Desert Sun lists “5 things to debate as Coachella Valley golf courses reopen amid coronavirus” – none of the things listed include the workers on the courses.

President Donald Trump said on Friday that his comments regarding injecting disinfectants into humans to fight coronavirus was done “sarcastically”:

Friday’s coronavirus task force press conference at the White House was much shorter than normal and did not include any questions for President Trump.  It appears that this type of press conference will be happening much more often from here on out:

World leaders launched an $8 billion collaboration to develop a coronavirus vaccine this week.  The United States is not participating in the effort.

Congressman Raul Ruiz reminds the valley’s non-profits to apply for available grants by Monday:

Facebook announced on Friday that it’s launching a new video chat feature called  “Messenger Rooms” that is basically a total knockoff of Zoom, but allows for way more people (up to 50) to join at one time for free.

A Vanderpump Rules person made a ridiculous “Quaranchella” video:

StageCouch is underway:

That’s all for this evening. Stay safe. Stay smart. Stay home.

Thank you for your continued support of Cactus Hugs.

Important information:

Congressman Raul Ruiz has posted a list of local resources and information.

The Washington Post offers plenty of ways that you can help during the coronavirus pandemic.

If you see someone price gouging, there is now a number for that.

The New York Times has an interactive map where you can track every coronavirus case in the United States.

The Washington Post is out with a guide to what you should know about the coronavirus.

Here is a memo by the Department of Homeland security identifying critical infrastructure workers.

The United Way of the Desert has assembled a nice list of information and resources available during the coronavirus here.

These are scary and anxious times.  Be safe and kind to each other out there and, please, remember to wash your hands.

Anything we missed? Let us know about it.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR