z
WINNER OF THE 2018 PULITZER PRIZE
Distancing need likely to last
White House coronavirus
coordinator discounts
Pence’s optimistic prognosis
BY FELICIA SONMEZ AND
PAIGE WINFIELD CUNNINGHAM
WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON — Some form of
social distancing will probably re-
main in place through the summer,
Deborah Birx, the White House’s
coronavirus task force coordinator,
said Sunday — the same day sever-
al governors expressed optimism
about the course of the virus and
outlined their plans for a piecemeal
reopening of their economies.
It was the latest instance of con-
flicting signals coming not just from
NORTH COAST » ‘QUARANTINE FATIGUE’
Beachgoing scofflaws
keeping rangers busy
State Parks supervising ranger Damien Jones places a $51.50 ticket on a car parked Friday at an access point for the Kortum Trail off Highway 1
north of Bodega Bay. Rangers have an option for increasing fines depending on the violation trying to access closed coastal areas.
Barricades, signs failing to deter some retreating to coast for recreation
By MARY CALLAHAN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
T
BODEGA BAY
he state park rangers and other au-
thorities pitching in to help enforce
beach closures along the Sonoma
Coast are mostly telling visitors what they
already knew before they got there: All the
parks are closed.
But that knowledge hasn’t dissuaded
thousands of people from heading to the
seashore since late March, when social
distancing fails at California parks, par-
ticularly on the North Coast, prompted
public officials to shut down access to
parks and beaches around the state.
For some, it’s enough to get away from
home and stop on the side of the road to
catch a glimpse of the ocean and the open
sky, and breathe in the cool, salty air after
days or weeks cooped up at home, even if
it’s technically nonessential travel.
But many, given a chance — even mo-
ment unobserved or a space large enough
to slide their vehicle between barricades
— have just ignored the flashing “park
closed” signs on the highway and hit the
beach or a trail, coronavirus rules be
damned.
That’s what Sonoma Coast State Park
personnel are finding after more than five
weeks under never-before shelter-in-place
orders designed to contain the spread of
global pandemic.
By Sunday, they had issued more than
5,200 verbal warnings for violations of the
shutdown since March 28, flushing people
out of turnouts and chasing them from
parking lots.
They’ve also written 214 parking cita-
tions and 20 more serious citations that
TURN TO COAST » PAGE A2
MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2020 • SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA • PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM
state and federal leaders but also
from within the Trump administra-
tion amid a coronavirus pandemic
that so far has claimed the lives of
more than 54,000 Americans. Last
week, Vice President Mike Pence
predicted that “we will largely have
this coronavirus epidemic behind
us” by Memorial Day weekend in
late May.
But on Sunday, Birx said in an
interview on NBC News’ “Meet the
Press” that “social distancing will
be with us through the summer to
really ensure that we protect one
another as we move through these
phases.” She cited the need for fur-
ther testing to be developed after a
potential scientific “breakthrough.”
The mixed messages come as
Americans are entering a confusing
State Parks supervising ranger Damien Jones gives a warning on Friday to a coastal visitor who
drove past cones to park along the side of the Highway 1 north of Bodega Bay.
and uncertain new phase in the coro-
navirus crisis. After weeks of being
told to simply stay home to halt the
spread of the virus, individuals and
business owners are now facing
more complex decisions about how
to proceed in the absence of clear
guidance from their leaders.
In places where restaurant din-
ing rooms are reopening, is it safe to
go? Is it a good idea to return to the
hair salon for a much-needed trim?
And for business owners facing a
litany of new guidelines about how
to reopen without endangering their
ALEX BRANDON / ASSOCIATED PRESS
workers or customers, are the risks
worth it? Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response
Emily Landon, chief infec- coordinator, speaks at a press briefing Wednesday at the
tious-disease epidemiologist at Uni- White House in Washington.
TURN TO DISTANCING » PAGE A2 INSIDE Trump moving focus to reopening economy / B1
Testing
hits new
high
mark
County officials expect
to revise projections
based on updated data
By TYLER SILVY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Sonoma County tested
450  health care workers for the
coronavirus in Santa Rosa over
the weekend, marking the debut
of its new drive-thru program
with the highest two-day tally
of county tests since the start of
the crisis, and lending momen-
tum to a virus tracking effort
that health officials say will be
key to one day ending the shut-
down.
Still, the appointment-only
test operation, outside the coun-
ty health lab on its Chanate
Road campus, needs more room
and workers to expand to meet
the county’s goal of 800  daily
surveillance tests, public health
officials said Sunday.
The program began with
health care workers, but is set to
expand to include first respond-
ers with virus symptoms; people
age 65 and older with underly-
ing health conditions with or
without symptoms, and eventu-
ally, a wider swath of residents
with symptoms.
Officials view it as an crucial
PHOTOS BY JOHN BURGESS / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
step to expose the extent and
spread of the virus in the com-
munity, a benchmark that they
said will be needed to decide
how and when to loosen the
county’s shelter order.
“It’s critical that we get a
better understanding of how
(COVID-19) is moving through
our county,” Board of Supervi-
sors Chairwoman Susan Gorin
said Sunday. “If we’re trying to
get a sense of comfort that we’re
doing the right thing in opening
up the community…we have to
do a lot more testing in the coun-
ty to get to that comfort level.”
Already, Sonoma County
leaders are eyeing adjustments
to park closures and a shelter-
in-place order that would allow
more local flexibility while con-
forming the county’s measures
with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s in-
TURN TO TESTING » PAGE A2
INSIDE
PERFECT STORM: Lack of
equipment, knowledge and
delays in shelter orders led
to heavy virus fatalities in
hard-hit Italian region / B1
State Parks Supervis- SANTA ROSA
ing Ranger Damien High 80, Low 52
Jones finds traffic
cones tossed into the THE WEATHER, B10
bushes on Friday off
Highway 1 north of Bo- Advice B9 Lotto A2
dega Bay. Visitors have Comics B8 Nation-World B1
removed or vandal- Crossword B9 Obituaries B3
ized cones and other Editorial A8 Smith A3
devices while trying History A2 Sports B5
to access coastal areas Horoscopes B7 State news B3
closed because of the
shelter in place order.
©2020 The Press Democrat
A2 THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2020

TESTING BREAKING DOWN SPREAD OF CORONAVIRUS

CONTINUED FROM A1
definite shelter-place-or-
der. Lifting that order, the
governor has said, will
require meeting statewide
milepost in the coming
weeks, including greater
testing and an enhanced
ability to trace contacts
and stymie any spread.
The pandemic continues
to ravage the world, with
confirmed COVID-19 infec-
tions reaching 2.9 million
Sunday, including 965,000-
plus people in the United
States.
Sonoma County report-
ed 220 confirmed cases
Sunday, up by two, while
California reported 42,974
cases and 979 deaths. Sono-
ma County’s death toll
continues to stand at two,
though local authorities
said last week they would
order postmortem tests on
residents who died earlier
this year in the wake of
revelations out of Santa
Clara County that the first
known U.S. coronavirus
death came in early Febru-
ary, weeks before the virus
was detected in the region.
County officials are also
expecting by Monday new
projections revising the
timing and caseload for
a near-term peak of local
COVID-19 infections and
hospitalizations. The pre-
vious model, which fore-
saw up to 1,500 hospitalized
patients by late May or ear-
ly June, did not fully factor
in the shutdown and its af-
fect on the virus’s spread,
officials said.
“We need to base our
decisions on data,” Gorin
said. “We’re looking at re-
opening some businesses,
and the parks, then review-
ing over the next week or
two how that increases the
(COVID) cases — or not,
hopefully not. Then we can
contemplate opening more
businesses and opening the
parks more fully.”
Dr. Sundari Mase, the
county’s health officer, is
widely expected to approve
revisions this week that
would restore some public
access to local parks and
allow a wider range of
housing construction and
real estate transactions to
resume. The majority of
restrictions will remain in
place.
Sunday afternoon, at
the county’s health lab in
northeast Santa Rosa, two
of the people working to
gather the all-important
testing samples took some
time to rest after a pair of
long, hot days that were
even more sweltering
under layers of personal
protective equipment, or
PPE.
Julianne Ballard, a su-
pervising public health
nurse looked on as Dr.
Sonoma County public health officials continue to urge
COAST purposely toppled or
displaced the orange
cones that now line miles
limit access or close parks
in their entirety.
Sonoma County closed
residents to call their doctor if they are ill, think they have CONTINUED FROM A1 of Highway 1 and are used all county and municipal
flu-like symptoms and want to learn whether they should be to close off turnouts, park parks, while the Califor-
tested for coronavirus. will require the offenders entryways and picnic area nia State Park system
to appear in court. Many parking lots. closed vehicle access to
220 2 220 (4%) of the ticket recipients are
from outside the region.
In some cases, rangers
find that the cones have
all 280 state parks and
beaches and has com-
Total cases Deaths Positive results
“Where you would been stacked up or even pletely closed 77 of them,
as of Sunday as of Sunday
5,109 think our work load thrown over cliffs, Jones including 33 in Sonoma
115 103 (96%)
would go down because of
the shelter-in-place order,
and Murphy said.
In other cases, visitors
and Mendocino counties.
Sonoma County Health
Active cases Recovered it’s almost the opposite,” figure if they can ma- Officer Sundari Mase is
as of Sunday as of Sunday Negative results
said Supervising Ranger neuver between cones or expected to announce
5,329 Tim Murphy, who pro-
vided the statistics. “Our
barricades, it’s perfectly
fine for them to be the
revisions to her shelter-in-
place order this week that
Tests finished workload has increased only ones within view at will allow some limited
as of Sunday for this time of the season a picnic table. One Napa walk-in and bike-in access
for us, and, you know, couple even lodged a com- to parks in close proximi-
INFECTIONS IN COUNTY BY REGION verbal warnings and plaint later when they got ty to people’s homes.
everything are through a parking ticket, Murphy But the county’s
21 17 134 the roof.”
Warm, sunny weather
said.
Another Napa group
coastal beaches, like
Doran, Gualala Point and
North East Central over the past week has parked across the drive- Stillwater Cove regional
(Windsor north (Kenwood, Glen (Santa Rosa, only increased the lure way of residents in the parks, are expected to
to Cloverdale) Ellen, Sonoma) Rohnert Park, of the coast, park per- Salmon Creek neigh- remain closed, as well as
Cotati)
32 16 sonnel said, converging borhood, scrawling a state parks and beaches,
South West 0 with what’s coming to be
known across the nation
cellphone number on the
back of a receipt stuck to
because they remain such
a draw to people from out
(Penngrove, (Sebastopol, Under as “quarantine fatigue,” their windshield noting of the county, raising the
Petaluma) Guerneville) investigation a phrase suddenly in the they could be found at prospect of overwhelmed
vernacular, now that most the (closed) beach, in the sites, as well as potential
VIRUS CASES IN COUNTY BY AGE communities are well past event there was a prob- viral exposure for park
a month into stay-at home lem, he said. officials, first responders,
22 112 51 35 0 orders. This week will
mark Sonoma County’s
On Sunday, despite
morning fog and a chilly
local residents and essen-
tial business personnel.
0-17 18-49 50-64 65+ Unknown
sixth, with an mid-week breeze, more than 100 “I recognize that’s
extension on the shelter vehicles were counted frustrating for locals, but
VIRUS CASES IN COUNTY BY MALE, FEMALE order widely expected to in a over 3.5 hours span as you’ve seen, it’s very
headed down the dead- difficult to enforce,” said
104 116 prolong social distancing
and other measures well end road to Bodega Head, Sonoma County Supervi-
Male Female past the current May 3 Murphy said. To get there, sor Lynda Hopkins, who
expiration. they had to turn off High- represents the Sonoma
HOSPITALIZATION Saturday, a summerlike way 1 travel right past a Coast and lower Russian
Currently hospitalized: 3 confirmed cases, 9 suspected weekend day, “was proba- digital “park closed” sign River. “The concern is
cases, 0 confirmed cases in ICU, 0 suspected cases in ICU; as bly the biggest turnout yet on Bay Flat Road before if you open a crack for
of Sunday as far as this whole thing they were turned back by locals, it would become
goes,” said Murphy’s a line of cones and just impossible to enforce.”
Total hospitalized during pandemic: 22 counterpart, Supervising beyond, Murphy and his Among the stream of
Sources: Sonoma County health department; state of California; Ranger Damien Jones. ranger vehicle. complaints Hopkins said
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Press Democrat reporting Almost everyone he A sheriff’s deputy she has received in recent
ONLINE: See more coronavirus-related data and charts at encountered, said simply, caught one vehicle from days from coastal com-
pressdemocrat.com/coronavirus-numbers “I just had to get out,” he Sacramento driving munities, are reports of
said. round the barricade just crowds standing or eating
The story has been sim- beyond him earlier in the shoulder to shoulder in
“We need day because of miscommu-
nication, she said.
ilar around the state, with
masses of people con-
morning, Murphy said,
and rangers already have
coastal parking lots and
concerns that tourists
to base our Ballard said county of-
ficials are in negotiations
gregating where beaches
and parks have been open
issued tickets to people up
at the head, so he’s sure
from outside the area
bring with them unnec-
decisions on with an unnamed health
care provider to secure an-
and despite warnings
from state and local park
some of those who turned
around upon seeing him
essary risk of exposure
to the virus everyone is
data.” other drive-through testing
site to ramp up capacity.
officials to be wary, given
the natural desire to be
would have driven all the
way in, as well.
trying to avoid.
“My concern is it’s just
SUSAN GORIN, Sonoma Additionally, the state outside enjoying beautiful “It’s a hard time,” said going to get worse as the
County supervisor will open two testing sites weather. Jones, “and we know that, shelter in place wears on
in Sonoma County capa- For the most part, and we understand the and the temperatures go
Mary Miller, director of ble of conducting 264 daily Sonoma Coast State Park need to get outside and up,” she said.
nursing services, tended tests combined. The sites authorities are trying to why it’s hard to shelter “It’s just very, very diffi-
to her own sunburn with are set to open May 4, and be understanding. Every- in place. But some folks cult to protect 55 miles of
some aloe vera. Ballard will be run by a private one is under stress, they honestly don’t think it coastline.”
confessed to being tired. contractor, according to acknowledged, so they’re applies to them or that we There are also issues
But the new testing reg- an internal email provided trying to be less punitive, have no business telling for neighborhoods off
imen, and what it means Sunday. more educational in their them what they can do, so Highway 1 when parks
for the county kept spirits Health officials had to approach. it’s a hard sell to say the are closed, like Carmet,
high. call and cancel some oth- “Generally, if we can least.” where many visitors
“For the workers, they er appointments over the find the people and talk The state’s shelter- Sunday parked to lunch in
were just sweltering in weekend, but they would to them and give them in-place orders initially their vehicles with a view
their PPE, but everybody be rebooked, Ballard our speech and concept were written in a way that of the ocean on Carmet
was happy to be there,” said, as the county moves behind the whole thing, offered residents the free- Drive.
Ballard said. “The people through its list of priori- and why this is going on, dom of outdoor recreation Some also climbed out
who drove through…we ties, which will next shift to it usually suffices,” Jones in public spaces. to walk across Highway 1,
didn’t meet one unhappy first responders after more said. But overwhelming from which people often
person at all.” capacity is added. But sometimes, people demand on public parks ignore the barricades and
Ballard said the testing Ballard said EMS teams leave their vehicles and around the Bay Area and seem to walk to the beach.
began with health care are also being trained to take off, and the only much of California in the “I’m not sure how far
workers, with 240 people help with testing at the thing to do is write a first weeks created such they get,” Carmet Drive
on Saturday and 220 on Chanate site, freeing up ticket. And sometimes, dense concentrations resident John Pitcl, 63,
Sunday. her coronavirus surveil- the behavior is more egre- of people in some areas, said.
Ten of those tested did lance team for more testing gious, the offenders more especially on the North “We’re frustrated,” he
not meet those criteria but at nursing homes and the elusive. Coast, that park officials said. “We live here, and
were able to get tests Satur- county jail. People have stolen, at all levels took action to we can’t go to the beach.”

DISTANCING reopen — or for Americans to try

CONTINUED FROM A1
versity of Chicago Medicine,
said those calculations are tricky
for people in states that are be-
ginning to reopen because of the
continued lack of widespread
testing and the inability to effec-
tively track people who might
have been infected.
“It’s hard for me to know what
I’d do” in one of the states where
governors have announced that
spas and salons are able to re-
open, Landon said.
“I wouldn’t go. And I wouldn’t
recommend that my family went.
I would recommend that people
stay home.”
Landon said that in her view,
it’s still not safe for states to fully
to resume their lives.
“This is a brand-new virus,
and we have to do these things
in a measured way,” she said.
“Without requirements for
things like (personal protective
equipment), social distancing
and really thoughtful policies for
how to do these openings, it’s not
the time to do them.”
In its broad guidelines for
states to follow as they begin
a phased reopening, the White
House earlier this month recom-
mended that a number of crite-
ria, such as increasing capacity
for testing and contact tracing,
should be met before proceeding.
Across the country, however,
some states are already relax-
ing their social distancing re-
strictions amid pressure from
protesters, business groups
and others. On Sunday, several
governors defended their deci-
sion to do so, arguing that their
“they don’t have to.”
On CNN’s “State of the
Union,” Colorado Gov. Jared
speed with which they expect the
country to be able to reopen, Birx
and Anthony Fauci, director of
states’ closures have successful- Polis, a Democrat, also defended the National Institute of Aller-
ly achieved their goal of build- his decision to partially reopen gy and Infectious Diseases, have
ing hospital capacity, acquiring his state, and maintained that he voiced caution.
personal protective equipment is focused on social distancing On “Meet the Press” on Sun-
and reducing the spread of the measures that are sustainable. day, Birx was asked about Pence’s
pandemic’s growth. “We’ve really been laser-fo- remark to a Cleveland radio sta-
“The facts in our state are: cused on figuring out how we can tion last week that “if you look at
March 30, we peaked in hospi- endure and sustain these kinds the trends today, that I think by
talizations, with 560 across the of social distancing measures,” Memorial Day weekend we will
state,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Polis said. “If we can’t succeed in largely have this coronavirus ep-
Stitt, a Republican, said on “Fox doing that, the stay-at-home was idemic behind us.”
News Sunday.” for nothing.” She appeared to contradict
Stitt said that more than Polis said an apparent spike Pence’s comment, projecting
55,000  Oklahomans have been in coronavirus cases in Colora- that social distancing will con-
tested and that the positive rate do was attributable to previous tinue through the summer, and
was 6.3%. He also noted that no tests that were just confirmed said the country needs to have
one is obliged to reopen a busi- and added to the total, and does a “breakthrough” in testing for
ness. not reflect the present situation. antigens — molecules or molecu-
“I’m giving guidance. If a While Pence and President lar structures that trigger an im-
restaurant doesn’t feel like Donald Trump have in recent mune response — to get on track
they’re ready to reopen,” he said, weeks voiced optimism about the toward normalcy.

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