Events called off and parks to close
As Newsom moves to limit mass gatherings, public life slows to a near halt across state.
Public life across the state of California ground into a slower and more ominous gear Thursday as attempts to slow the spread of the coronavirus shut down community gatherings, sports events and government meetings and forced the planned closure of Disneyland for just the fourth time in its 64-year history.
A day after calling for the cancellation of all gatherings of more than 250 people, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a sweeping executive order allowing the state, if necessary, to take over hotels and medical facilities to treat a potential tide of coronavirus patients.
The unprecedented actions mirrored a hunkering down across the U.S., as the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. canceled its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, all theaters on Broadway went dark, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would no longer welcome visitors and Major League Baseball called off spring training games and said the start of the season would be delayed at least two weeks.
“This is where we need to go next,” Newsom told reporters Thursday, adding that the shutdowns are aimed at slowing the virus’ spread and to “get through
the next few months, so we don’t overwhelm our healthcare delivery system.”
Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of Beacon Economics, compared the situation to a “national earthquake” that is hitting hard but will pass.
“If we just close down the damn country … we might get in front of this and stop it, in which case that shortterm panic will lead to a collective sigh of relief,” he said.
The calls for “social distancing” to slow the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 could be seen from the San Francisco waterfront, where normally bustling food stands were nearly empty, to Los Angeles International Airport, where cars could make the usually jammed vehicle loop in just five minutes.
San Francisco announced that it was closing its public schools for three weeks, beginning Monday, through the end of the regularly scheduled spring break April 3. In Palm Springs, the landmark aerial tramway closed indefinitely. And following Disneyland’s announced closure, Universal Studios theme park said it too would close through March 28, while the adjoining Universal CityWalk shopping center would remain open.
Officials hope that orders limiting social interactions will slow the virus, which has swept the world, with 198 confirmed cases in California as of Thursday, up 21 from the day before.
The momentum toward greater restrictions could be seen even over the course of one day.
After Newsom’s recommendation against large gatherings late Wednesday, Los Angeles County health officials and Mayor Eric Garcetti sought to limit groupings of 50 or more. And after Newsom explained in a morning news conference that Disneyland and other amusement parks would be exempt from the rule, the entertainment giant by Thursday afternoon issued a news release saying it would close its twin Anaheim parks, Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure, on Saturday morning.
Disney said it would keep the parks closed through the end of March. It planned to keep the hotels at the resort open until Monday to give guests time to make plans. The company said it would pay its employees during the shutdown.
The park has closed only three other times since its 1955 opening: on a national day of mourning after the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy, following the 1994 Northridge earthquake and after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the U.S.
The governor had also exempted casinos, card rooms and movie theaters from his guidance against large gatherings. But he said his administration was “moving quickly and effectively towards a resolution” with those businesses. Newsom said movie theater operators had told him they were trying to devise ways to introduce social distancing while still allowing patrons to gather to see films.
In San Francisco on Thursday, the normally bustling Ferry Building Marketplace was largely empty, with customers keeping their distance from food shops manned by worried employees.
“We usually have a line of 10 to 15 people at lunch time,” said Jade Kim, manager of Namu Stonepot.
Outside, a couple strolled through the empty square.
“It’s weird. Things are super quiet. There was nobody on BART,” said Altoni Cabling, 28, of her ride on a Bay Area Rapid Transit train from her home in Oakland to San Francisco.
The travel industry was further rocked Thursday when a leading cruise industry operator, Princess Cruises, said it would temporarily cease operations for two months.
The industry had come under the scrutiny of government officials following coronavirus outbreaks on two Princess Cruises vessels. A crisis on the Grand Princess led to the quarantine of 2,400 passengers and 1,100 crew members who had been aboard the ship, which finally docked in Oakland on Monday. Earlier this year, the company’s Diamond Princess also suffered an outbreak, with hundreds testing positive for the virus.
The state’s signature industry also signaled a partial retreat Thursday as Hollywood studios pushed back the release of marquee films, including Paramount Pictures’ “A Quiet Place Part II” and Universal Pictures’ “F9,” the latest in the “Fast and the Furious” saga. The new “Fast” movie has been delayed by nearly a year.
“One of the things I am most proud of is people have said our movie is one you have to see all together,” said actor-director John Krasinski of “A Quiet Place Part II.” “Well, due to the ever-changing circumstances of the world around us, now is clearly not the right time to do that.”
Disneyland wasn’t the only iconic Southern California attraction facing closure.
With Garcetti’s order to limit L.A. city properties to no more than 50 outside visitors at a time, the operators of Griffith Observatory opted to close. The L.A. Zoo also said it would close.
The city-owned Los Angeles Convention Center is rescheduling the Rug Show, the Best of You LA Expo and about eight other planned consumer shows, said Doane Liu, executive director of the Department of Convention and Tourism Development.
Garcetti also said City Hall would be closed to noncity employees, with the exception of members of the public attending City Council meetings. The Los Angeles City Council also planned to sharply reduce the number of public meetings, to limit potential public exposure to the virus.
A day after the World Health Organization first said that COVID-19 had caused a world pandemic, health experts struggled to come to grips with the magnitude of the challenge.
At a House Oversight Committee hearing, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. was “failing” to test everyone who needs it.
“The system is not really geared to what we need right now — what you are asking for,” said Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “That is a failing…. Let’s admit it.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence — who is heading the White House response to the disease — urging the administration to rapidly expand coronavirus testing capacity and to establish clear guidelines for when state and local governments should deploy public health measures.
The head of the American College of Emergency Physicians said in a call with reporters that the virus would “put a fairly tremendous strain on our health system.” Dr. William Jaquis said he expects the case counts to rapidly increase in the coming weeks, adding: “COVID is very serious and we’re treating it as such.”
Another federal official said blood banks had seen a substantial drop in donations because of a fear of the coronavirus. That trend needs to be reversed, said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for
Biologics Evaluation and Research.
“We need people to prevent the blood supply from getting depleted. We need it not to get to the point that surgeries are having to get canceled,” Marks said. “To ensure an adequate blood supply, we need people to come out and donate blood.”
Los Angeles County had confirmed 32 cases of the disease by Thursday, including two new cases from unknown sources, increasing the evidence of “community transmission,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Ferrer encouraged telecommuting, urged residents to avoid meetings of 50 or more and to avoid other communal gathering spots. She suggested that gym classes where people exercise in close proximity are best avoided. People do not have to avoid their health clubs but should use common sense to avoid contact with those who might carry the virus, Ferrer said.
Even as they scrambled to address the threat, public officials had to tend firefighters and police officers whose work exposed them to the virus.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said three deputies and five county Fire Department staff members had been placed under quarantine after responding to a call Monday involving a person in Walnut who later died of the coronavirus.
In San Jose, four firefighters tested positive for COVID-19, leading to the quarantine of nearly 60 others, officials said.
South of Sacramento, one man in Elk Grove described the strange isolation of the coronavirus era. His two children, ages 2 and 5, were home after an elementary student tested positive for the virus. An elderly patient had died at a senior living facility just across a lot from his back window.
Pesarlai Mukhtar, an Uber driver, said he is afraid to work, calling it “risky” to pick up unknown passengers. So his family is living off their savings, and he is scared.
“Our life graph is going down,” he said, making a plummeting motion with his hand. “Education, work, everything.”