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The post Map: Gold Fire growing fast, Hog Fire still closing Lassen County highways appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>A two-day-old wildfire has grown to 14,000 acres during a red-flag warning in Lassen County.
The Gold Fire, which started shortly after noon Monday, was listed at 8,500 acres on Tuesday evening and had burned almost 6,000 more acres by 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Lassen-Modoc unit of the California Department of Forestry and Fire protection.
It was 5% contained and was threatening 16 structures as well as the Willow Creek Campground, Cal Fire said.
The mandatory evacuation area was expanded Tuesday from one stretch of rural road to a large though sparsely populated swath south of the town of Adin, the Lassen County Sheriff’s Office said. That area, shown in orange on the map above, includes:
- Highway 139 between Susanville Road and Termo Grasshopper Road
- An area bounded by Highway 139, Termo Grasshopper Road, Spooner Road and Ash Valley Road.
- An area bounded by Highway 139, Hayden Hill Road, Anderson Ranch/Dixie Valley Road and Long Flat Road.
Highway 139 is closed from just south of Adin to Termo Grasshopper Road.
The approximate burn area shown in red on the map uses Cal Fire data from Tuesday night as well as MODIS/VIIRS satellite imagery showing the most recent hot spots.
Fifty miles south, the Hog Fire, which started Saturday, continued burning west of Susanville. The update at 7 a.m. Wednesday put its size at 9,420 acres burned, with 9 percent containment and 170 structures threatened. The perimeter on the map above is from earlier Cal Fire data, when it was about 8,000 acres.
The evacuations that were ordered on Sunday remain in effect: Lake Forest Estates, and homes along Highway 36 between Willard Creek Road and Eagle Lake Road. Highways 36 and 44 remain closed west of Susanville.
The evacuation center for both fires is at Lassen Community College in Susanville.
The red-flag warning, indicating heightened fire risk, continues until Wednesday night. The forecast is for hot, windy conditions and possible dry lightning.
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]]>The post Closing Schoolhouse Door Hurts Kids | RealClearPolitics appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had not recommended the general closure of public schools in the spring when panicked governors and local officials shuttered schools across the land.
These high-minded officials — read Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak — weren’t listening to “the science,” as they claimed. At the time, CDC guidelines recommended closing schools only after an infected person had exposed a campus or in areas of high infection rates — and then only for two to five days to clean and disinfect buildings.
But once the school closures began, they became the default response. American children were deprived of months of critical classroom time to teach them to read, to steep them in their history and help them navigate the physical world — with little pushback.
At long last Tuesday, President Donald Trump and the American Academy of Pediatrics joined together to snap institutional America out of the stupor.
The academy advocated that educators start the fall semester “with a goal of having students physically present in school” — a gesture meant to throw cold water on school officials considering distance education only in the fall.
As task force member Deborah Birx said, the mortality rate for people younger than 25 is less than 0.1%. These rare, sad cases overwhelmingly involve children with other health issues, which means parents would know to keep their children at home.
While the National Education Association and Democratic National Committee have panned opening public schools, ostensibly because they are not safe, remote learning simply hasn’t worked.
A recent Clark County School District survey showed that parents, students, school staff and stakeholders overwhelmingly prefer a “full-time return to the regular school day and schedule.” All groups rejected distance education, as well as “blended” schedules of both classroom and remote learning.
This puts the district in a quandary. Administrators want to social distance responsibly — which means smaller class sizes, and calls for two days of class time and three days of remote education for students.
Will that work? I asked Jonathan Butcher, a senior policy analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation. “It depends on what they do on the other three days,” he replied.
Those most likely to be hurt by closed and half-open schools are poor kids, children in single-parent homes, children with parents working overtime and special-needs students.
Too many so-called leaders have been waving the white flag when they should be ready to accept some risk of student exposure to COVID-19 against the certainty that shuttered schools and half-baked education plans will doom countless children to failure as adults.
The American Academy of Pediatrics warned that keeping kids home and away from school increases the risk of suicide — the second-highest cause of death for Americans age 10 to 24 — and depression. That is, the cure could lead to more deaths than the disease.
During a task force press briefing Wednesday, CDC Director Robert Redfield cautioned, “I think it’s important that we don’t react emotionally, but we act based on data.”
Redfield nailed the issue. The slammers of schoolhouse doors prided themselves as adherents to what medical experts were telling them, but they only looked at one set of statistics — the coronavirus numbers. And then they ignored all the ugly, messy fallout. They said it was their duty to keep people safe, and they let all the things that Americans hold dear disintegrate.
The result: Americans aren’t safer and their children are being left behind.
COPYRIGHT 2020 CREATORS.COM
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]]>The post Cities closing beaches for July 4th as coronavirus surges appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>As coronavirus cases continue to surge, officials across Southern California have opted to close the vast majority of beaches during the Fourth of July weekend over fears that holiday crowds could make the state’s already critical outbreak even worse.
Los Angeles County was the first to decide to close its shores. Initially, many Orange County communities seemed poised to keep beaches open. But as the holiday drew closer and other business sectors in the region were forced to close amid a troubling surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, several changed their minds.
Orange County officials on Wednesday announced the closure of bars, pubs, breweries and brewpubs that do not offer dine-in meals. Under the county’s order, establishments can serve alcohol only in the same transaction as a meal.
“While we would prefer not to close bars at this time, many of our neighboring counties have closed their bars, and it’s important to take precautions to ensure the safety of the general public,” Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Michelle Steel said.
Less than two hours after the county issued its new order, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that Orange County — along with 18 other counties — must immediately close bars and cease indoor operations at restaurants, wineries and tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos, museums and card rooms. The new rules will remain in place for at least three weeks, Newsom said.
Los Angeles County
L.A. County will close its beaches starting Friday and ban fireworks displays in response to the alarming spike in coronavirus cases.
All public beaches, piers, public beach parking lots, beach bike paths “that traverse that sanded portion of the beach” and beach access points will be closed from 12:01 a.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday.
Lifeguard towers will be closed, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department Ocean Lifeguard Specialist Pono Barnes. He added that about 100 lifeguards will be on duty, with 50 patrolling in trucks at any given time.
“It wouldn’t be the scene you’d normally see on a weekend, but we will make sure beach patrons are heeding the advice of the Department of Public Health, as well as providing water coverage and life safety services,” Barnes said.
The ban on fireworks displays also applies to the entire Fourth of July weekend.
Ventura County
Ventura County beaches will be closed for the weekend, county health officials said Tuesday.
Beaches, beach parking lots and restrooms will close from Friday through Monday to discourage gatherings that could lead to the spread of the virus, officials said.
Orange County
In addition to a handful of city beach closures, a dozen county-operated beaches and beach parking lots will be closed on Saturday and Sunday.
These stretches of coastline include Aliso Beach, Capistrano Beach, Salt Creek Beach, Baby Beach, Bayside Beach, Camel Point Beach, Poche Beach, Strands Beach, Table Rock Beach, Thousand Steps Beach, Treasure Island Beach and West Street Beach.
Newport Beach
Newport Beach is putting its beaches under hard closure from 10 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Sunday after two lifeguards tested positive for COVID-19 and 23 were placed in quarantine.
Newport Beach Fire Chief Jeff Boyles said his division still has adequate staffing but would be “stretched pretty thin.”
Of the lifeguards in quarantine, one is showing symptoms of COVID-19 and hasn’t been tested yet.
“I cannot in good conscience add more onto our lifeguards,” Mayor Will O’Neill said at an emergency City Council meeting Wednesday approving the closure. “We just can’t responsibly ask our lifeguards to do more with less. We just can’t.”
Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach will close its beaches, beach parking lots and pier on Saturday.
“The potential, if we’re the only beach open, to be inundated certainly exists,” City Manager Oliver Chi said at a quickly called council meeting held a few hours after Newport’s. “We don’t want that situation.”
Councilwoman Barbara Delgleize said she received numerous emails from residents wanting the beaches closed for the weekend, a shift in tone from about a month ago.
She referenced a time when curtains separated smoking and nonsmoking sections on airplanes, “and they closed the curtain like that was really going to keep it away.”
“I kind of think we do that in Orange County,” she said. “L.A. is right next door. How is the wind blowing, for goodness sakes?”
Laguna Beach
Laguna Beach officials decided this week to close city-operated beaches entirely from 9 a.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Monday. The city had previously canceled its fireworks show in an effort to thin crowds but decided to close the beach to avoid groups of people gathering and possibly spreading the virus.
“Particularly on the Fourth of July when there were fireworks … it looked like sardines in a can,” Mayor Pro Tem Steve Dicterow said. “There was no space in between people. My concern is that even without the fireworks, there just may be a huge density of people on the beaches.”
Seal Beach
On Wednesday, Seal Beach followed with its own decision to close beaches, beach parking lots, volleyball courts, pier and restrooms. The amenities will reopen Sunday morning, but the city may extend the closure “if it is believed the reopening will be detrimental to the health of the community,” city officials said in a news release.
San Diego County
Oceanside will close beach parking lots from 8 a.m. Friday until 8 a.m. Monday, City Manager Deanna Lorson said Wednesday.
The decision came just hours after Newsom announced that all state beach parking lots would be closed over the three-day holiday weekend.
In Carlsbad, a city official said Wednesday that the city had no plans to close any lots, and no other San Diego County coastal cities had announced a decision as of late Wednesday. All county beaches remain open for surfing, swimming and other activities, but guidelines remain in place to wear facial coverings when near others and to avoid groups of nonfamily members.
San Diego Union-Tribune writer Phil Diehl contributed to this report. Davis and Nguyen write for Times Community News.
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]]>The post ‘Window is closing’ for US to get coronavirus under control, Trump’s HHS secretary warns appeared first on Virus Reports.
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]]>The post Two Palm Springs Bars closing due to coronavirus appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>Home
Two Palm Springs bars were closing their doors due to an employee testing positive for coronavirus.
Hunters Nightclub and Streetbar in Palm Springs will be closed until further notice.
All employees who were close or in contact with the infected employee will have to get tested as well as quarantine for 14-days.
Both bars management posted on their Facebook pages informing customers of the new changes.
They said they want their staffs to be safe, as well as others around them, and will inform guests when it is safe to reopen their doors to the public again.
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]]>The post Closing schools has only a minor role in suppressing COVID-19 appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>By April 13, 2020, a total of 192 countries had ordered their schools to close as part of the global effort to control the spread of COVID-19. This is the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2.
According to figures from UNESCO, these school closures have affected more than 1.5 billion children and young people.
An international team of scientists has recently concluded that this measure may have only a marginal effect, however, based on a systematic review of the available evidence on school closures during past epidemics.
Stay informed with live updates on the current COVID-19 outbreak and visit our coronavirus hub for more advice on prevention and treatment.
Writing in the journal The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, the scientists warn that the economic, educational, social, and health-related costs of closing schools may outweigh the benefits.
Possible adverse effects include healthcare and other key workers being forced to take on extra childcare duties, transmission of the virus from children to grandparents, and threats to the welfare of vulnerable pupils.
There is good evidence to suggest that school closures can reduce infection rates during an influenza pandemic. However, the review authors say that this is a poor basis for deciding whether or not to close schools during a coronavirus pandemic.
They point out that influenza transmits easily among children but less readily between adults, who generally have stronger immunity to flu viruses as a result of past infections.
By contrast, research to date suggests that the new coronavirus spreads much more easily between adults than it does between children.
The scientists cite a 2014 review commissioned by the United Kingdom Department of Health to inform planning for an influenza pandemic.
This review concluded that school closures have the greatest effect if, on average, each infection results in fewer than two additional infections, and if a greater proportion of children than adults develop the disease.
“This is the opposite of COVID-19,” says Prof. Russell Viner, of University College London (UCL), who led the new review.
Research suggests that each person who contracts the new coronavirus transmits it to more than 2.5 other people, on average, and that adults tend to get more serious infections than children.
“Data on the benefit of school closures in the COVID-19 outbreak is limited, but what we know shows that their impact is likely to be only small compared [with] other infection control measures, such as case isolation, and is only effective when other [physical] isolating measures are adhered to.”
– Prof. Russell Viner
The potential costs of national school closures are high, he adds. “Children’s education is damaged and their mental health may suffer, family finances are affected, key workers may need to stay home to look after children, and vulnerable children may suffer most.”
The review was a collaboration between scientists at UCL, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the University of Cambridge — all of which are in the U.K. — and the University of Sydney in Australia.
It looked at 16 studies relating to school closures:
- Nine studies focused on the 2003 outbreak of SARS, a respiratory infection caused by another coronavirus.
- One study looked at the transmission of other coronaviruses.
- Six studies analyzed the available data on COVID-19, which the new coronavirus causes.
Data from the SARS outbreak in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore suggest that school closures did not make a significant contribution to controlling the epidemic.
A recent modeling study of COVID-19, which used data from the SARS outbreak, predicts that school closures alone will prevent 2–4% of deaths. This sounds significant, but it is much less than the effects of other physical distancing measures.
Data from China, where the COVID-19 pandemic began, suggest that children are less likely than adults to contract the virus, say the review authors.
However, they concede that the evidence is mixed. Some research has found that children are as likely as adults to contract the virus, but they either do not develop symptoms or have a milder form of the disease.
Evidence as to the extent of COVID-19 transmission between children or via schools is not yet available, the review authors write.
There was a mixed response to the review from experts.
Dr. Samantha Brooks, a member of the U.K.’s Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response, says:
“Closing schools has been an almost universal response to the current crisis, because it seems to make sense — keeping our children safe, and all of us who are parents know just how often children return from school with some bug or other. But COVID-19 presents different challenges. Unlike with most infections, where adult immunity is greater than children’s, this time no one is immune.”
In addition, some worry that closing schools will harm vulnerable children.
“We’re particularly concerned about the impact of school closures on autistic children and their families,” says Dr. James Cusack, of the autism research charity Autistica.
“Many autistic children need increased support at this difficult time and may find the disruption to their routines especially hard. We know from parents of autistic children that the closure of schools has led to increased anxiety, particularly related to uncertainty.”
However, some experts criticized the review for looking at the effect of school closures in isolation, rather than as part of the wider lockdown measures imposed by governments.
Prof. Neil Ferguson, director of the Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London, says:
“While school closure as a measure on its own is predicted to have a limited effectiveness in controlling COVID-19 transmission, when combined with intense [physical] distancing it plays an important role in severing remaining contacts between households and thus ensuring transmission declines.”
For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.
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