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SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020 • SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA • PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM

SONOMA COUNTY » DEADLY COVID-19 OUTBREAKS Much of

Protecting care facilities US fails
to corral
poses huge challenge virus
PANDEMIC » With cases
soaring in many states,
nowhere feels safe
By JULIE BOSMAN
AND MANNY FERNANDEZ
NEW YORK TIMES

CHICAGO — First, the Pacif-

ic Northwest and the Northeast
were hit hardest as the corona-
virus tore through the nation.
Then it surged across the South.
Now the virus is again picking
up dangerous speed in much
of the Midwest — and in states
from Mississippi to Florida to
California that thought they had
already seen the worst of it.
As the United States rides
what amounts to a second wave
of cases, with daily new infec-
tions leveling off at an alarming
higher mark, there is a deep-
ening national sense that the
progress made in fighting the
pandemic is coming undone and
that no patch of America is safe.
In Missouri, Wisconsin and
Illinois, distressed govern-
ment officials are retightening

TURN TO SOARING » PAGE A13

PROTEST MOVEMENT

When Black
PHOTOS BY ALVIN JORNADA / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Laura Nickel-Cunningham blows a kiss to her mother, Susan Nickel, as they finish their video chat at Lakewood Meadows Park in Windsor on
Thursday. Nickel-Cunningham’s mother is hospitalized at Petaluma Valley Hospital after falling ill at a skilled nursing facility in Petaluma.

Over 80% of local virus fatalities among residents of senior care facilities Lives Matter
came to rural
white area
By MARTIN ESPINOZA On July 25, her frail mother was
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT admitted to Petaluma Valley Hospital

I
t was nearly a month ago when
Laura Nickel-Cunningham received
the call from the Petaluma skilled
nursing home where her mother was
staying.
Susan Nickel, 73, had been at EmPres
Post Acute Health and Rehabilitation for
the past two years and was not in good
health. She’s got heart failure, chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease and oth-
er health issues. But she’s always been
a fighter, said Nickel-Cunningham, who
lives in Windsor. Late last year, her mom
pulled through after she was treated for
a collapsed lung.
But now came the frightening news on
the telephone: The nursing aide who was
caring for Nickel-Cunningham’s mother
had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Soon, residents near Nickel started
getting sick with the virus, including a
resident in another room with whom she
shared a bathroom.
“There were more residents next to
my mom who were also positive within
the next couple of weeks,” said Nickel-
Cunningham. “I knew it was only a
matter of time.”
with pneumonia and a severe urinary
tract infection, she said. Only then did
Nickel-Cunningham learn the results
of a coronavirus test done July 21. Her
mother had COVID-19.
As of Friday, 30 residents of EmPres
Post Acute and at least one staffer had
been stricken with the virus. It is one of
three skilled nursing facilities in Sono-
ma County that have reported deaths,
according to data from the California
Department of Public Health.
Of the 37 coronavirus-related deaths
in the county, at least 30, or more than
80%, have been among residents of
skilled nursing homes and residential
care facilities. While the pandemic has
been a trying time for many, no other
group of people in Sonoma County has
experienced the deadly consequences
of the virus as much as the residents of
these senior care homes.
Last week marked the deadliest week
of the pandemic in Sonoma County
since the virus was first detected locally
March 2. On Tuesday, local health
officials reported seven people had died
TURN TO VIRUS » PAGE A12
By HANNAH NATANSON
WASHINGTON POST
ROCKY MOUNT, Virginia —
Bridgette Craighead had almost
reached the top of the hill when
she stopped, teetering on leop-
ard-print boots, to stare at the
white-marble soldier in a Con-
federate uniform.
He stood atop a granite obe-
lisk, dedicated in engraved
letters to “THE CONFEDER-
ATE DEAD,” that dominated
the grassy square outside the
Franklin County courthouse.
One of the soldier’s hands rest-
ed on his hip. The other gripped
a rifle.
Craighead, 29, looked down
at her own hands. She readjust-
ed her grip on the megaphone
she’d swathed in leopard-print
tape, to match her boots and the
“Black Lives Matter” logo on her
Susan Nickel speaks with her daughter, Laura T-shirt. She shook back her Afro
Nickel-Cunningham, via video chat on Thursday.
TURN TO RURAL » PAGE A10

College students weigh tough decisions on moving

SONOMA COUNTY »
Return to campus, learn
from home or delay?
By PHIL BARBER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Fortunately for Grace Yarrow,
she doesn’t have much need for
her East Coast winter clothes
during a summer in Petaluma.
Still, there are times when she
misses a sweater to complete
that certain outfit.
Yarrow has been without
many of her personal items
since mid-March. That’s when
she flew home with one suitcase
for spring break from the Uni-
versity of Maryland. A week lat-
ALVIN JORNADA / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT er, the school notified students
Colton Swinth, at home in Santa Rosa on Thursday, sits beside some of that spring semester would be
the items he is bringing to furnish his dorm room when he starts his online. Yarrow hasn’t been back
freshman year at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this fall. since. Her abandoned posses-
sions wait at her roommate’s
house in Maryland.
“She still has it all in her ga-
rage,” Yarrow said. “I have no
idea when I’m gonna get my
stuff back. Every so often, I’m
like, ‘Oh, man, I wish I would
have brought one more thing
home with me.’ ”
Colton Swinth has no such
separation issues. Most of his
college accessories are right
where he can see them — at his
house in Santa Rosa, in place
for the big move to Cal Poly San
Luis Obispo in September.
“I have it sitting underneath
our pool table in our living
room, ready to go,” Swinth said.
Two local college students,
two different strategies. Yar-
row is living at home this year.
She’s taking a break from being
a Terrapin, and will take classes
at SRJC for at least the fall se-
mester. Swinth is heading off to
campus at SLO.
It’s tempting to say they chose
the two major options for col-
lege kids right now: go or stay.
In reality, there are an array
of possibilities, none of them
perfect under the circumstanc-
es, those circumstances being a
global pandemic that has turned
life upside-down. Some are sign-
ing up for in-person classes.
Some are moving near campus
and taking online courses. Some
are doing that from home. Some
are taking a classic gap year,
others biding time at a JC for at
least a few months. And some
aren’t even sure what they’re
doing as they wait for their uni-
versity to make a final decision
on fall 2020.
Like so much in the time of
TURN TO COLLEGE » PAGE A2

Books T6 Community B8 Lotto A2 Sonoma Life D1 OPEN FOR BUSINESS: Two new brewpubs, in SANTA ROSA ©2020
Business E1 Crossword T5 Nevius C1 Smith A3 Cloverdale and Geyserville, launch in face of High 93, Low 55 The Press
Democrat
Classified E4 Forum B9 Obituaries B4 Towns T1 pandemic-related challenges / T1 THE WEATHER, C6
A2
COLLEGE
CONTINUED FROM A1
COVID-19, a collective rit-
ual of summer — the mass
scattering of 20-year-olds
to tree-shaded brick build-
ings all over America —
has become splintered,
confusing and undercut by
a vague feeling of dread.
“I feel like I’m in the po-
sition of trying to decide if
I pick my health and safety
or my education, which is a
terrible position to be put
in,” said Bronwyn Schmidt,
who is enrolled in a nursing
program at Dominican Uni-
versity in San Rafael.
And it’s more complicat-
ed than that when you con-
sider study environments
at home and in dormito-
ries, peer influence, the
contraction of campus life,
housing questions and, of
course, cost.
Degrees of reopening
At least one major factor
lies outside a student’s con-
trol: the mode of education
being offered at her or his
school.
The College Crisis Ini-
tiative, a research group
formed at Davidson College
in response to the pandem-
ic, has created a dashboard
that charts fall reopening
plans. As of Friday, the
initiative had heard from
1,459 four-year colleges. Of
those, 446 will be primari-
ly in-person, 273 primarily
online, 42 fully in-person
and 41 fully online, while
320 will offer hybrid in-
struction and 337  schools
were still forming a plan or
didn’t fit any of the general
categories.
Students are keenly in-
terested to know whether
they can meet teachers
and classmates in person,
or if they will be following
lectures via Zoom and oth-
er online platforms. That
was perhaps the deciding
factor for Yarrow, a jour-
nalism major who is in-
terning at The Press Dem-
ocrat. She’s not sure she
The Press
Democrat
Owned locally by
Darius Anderson, Managing Member
Steve Falk, Chief Executive Officer
Bill Hooper, Chief Operating Officer
Board of Advisers
Darius Anderson, Chairman
Bill Jasper
Gary Nelson
Norma Person
Jean Schulz
Les Vadasz
Sandy Weill
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2020
would have headed back to
Maryland if the university
had reopened classrooms,
Swinth, Vargas will be able
to practice. It’s enough to
get her to Southern Cali-
University of Alabama.
Cameron Foley, who is
about to start her junior
but says she would have at fornia, though all of her year, was the first to find
least considered it. Not so classes at UCSB are going her way to Tuscaloosa.
for online classes. The ones online this quarter. This year she will be joined
she took last spring were “I think being an athlete by her brother, Jack, a
less than ideal. would make it a little more freshman. Unlike the big
“Most of them were just normal,” Vargas said. “It’s California schools, Ala-
like my professors video- kind of a built-in group that bama will hold most of its
tape themselves doing lec- you’ll be with. No matter classes in person this fall.
tures,” Yarrow said. “My what, as a freshman, we’d And while many campus-
journalism classes, both of be spending so much time es are reducing dormitory
those we had actual Zoom with the team that it prob- populations — converting
meetings, which was nice, ably would be kind of sim- two-person rooms into
because we got to actually ilar. But everything else be- one-person rooms, for ex-
see people. It was a little sides the team and the sport ample — Bama is going in
iffy, because those classes would be really different.” the opposite direction. De-
weren’t designed to be on- mand for space is so high
line.” Health, safety concerns that Jack will be sharing
Swinth acknowledged Underlying every college a dorm room that last year
the social aspects of col- decision is a consideration housed a single person.
lege weighed heavily in his of safety. A story published “It’s a free-for-all out
decision making. by the New York Times on here,” Cameron Foley said.
“What’s drawing me Wednesday linked at least She speaks from experi-
down there, for sure, is the 6,600 known coronavirus ence. Cameron tested posi-
town itself,” he said. “I love cases to college campuses tive for the coronavirus on
San Luis Obispo. And just since the start of the pan- June 16 while living in Tus-
getting out of Santa Rosa demic, though fall semes- caloosa. She believes she
for a little bit. It will be a ters and quarters have got it at the salon where she
great experience either yet to begin. Those cases was working — a salon she
way. Working hard for the include four students at reported to the local police
past four years academical- Sonoma State last spring, when it reopened earlier
ly and athletically to make ALVIN JORNADA / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT as confirmed by Eyler. than allowed, and which
it into something like this.” Colton Swinth arranges some of the items he is bringing to Classroom settings have ultimately got a waiver
The live vs. online distinc- furnish his Cal Poly San Luis Obispo dorm room this fall, at to be a concern during an from Republican Gov. Kay
tion makes money a greater his home in Santa Rosa on Thursday. active pandemic. Dormito- Ivey to stay in business.
consideration. College is ries and dining halls might A lot of young people
a huge expense for almost survey of 487 recent high centage could increase, be worse, not to mention experience few or no symp-
everyone, and part of what school graduates conduct- however, if more schools sporting events and frat toms when they contract
most families pay for is the ed by Art & Science Group, close classrooms. parties. this virus. Cameron Foley,
full campus experience. 17% said they were certain Students may be more Bronwyn Schmidt has who has an asthma condi-
“Orientation, college or likely to delay full-time likely to opt for campus if concerns about all of that. tion, was not one of them.
parties, things around enrollment at a four-year they are part of nonaca- At 32, she’s an older stu- Her oxygen levels bottomed
Berkeley,” explained Liz institution this fall. That’s demic groups. Athletes, for dent. Schmidt lives in Se- out, and it became hard for
Estupiñan, a recent Elsie one reason colleges are example. Swinth, a Cal Poly bastopol with her partner, her to walk to the mailbox.
Allen High School grad hurting. Sonoma State, for freshman who graduated and she isn’t at Dominican “It leveled my healthy,
who is preparing to start example, is currently at from Maria Carrillo High in University for the kamika- vibrant, outgoing girl for
her freshman year at UC 88% to 90% of normal ca- June, is a mechanical engi- ze shots or open mic night. six weeks,” said her moth-
Berkeley. “A lot of this is pacity, according to school neering major, and he says She has already incurred er, Tiah Foley.
different, but I think the spokesman Robert Eyler. many of his classes will, significant student debt in Cameron is back in Tus-
biggest bummer is not get- The Rohnert Park univer- and must, be conducted in the nursing program. She caloosa, though, and work-
ting to meet people you’d sity normally can accom- person. He also runs cross wants to earn her degree, ing again at the salon. She
meet in person.” modate up to 3,223 stu- country. On Wednesday, he get a job and begin to pay hopes she has acquired
Estupiñan will take dents in campus housing. learned that his conference, off loans. some degree of protection
classes through the UC but Current state and county the Big West, is delaying all So Schmidt was dismayed from antibodies, but isn’t
will do it from her parents’ health guidelines limit that fall sports until 2021. But to learn that Dominican counting on it. “I don’t be-
home in Santa Rosa until number to 1,325 beds. he’ll still be able to train was insisting upon in-per- lieve in immunity as much
campus reopens. She notes So far, however, the pre- with teammates, and that son classes this fall. She as I believe in bad luck,”
that housing is $9,000 per dicted stampede toward was a big draw. knows some labs are much she said.
semester at Berkeley. She the “gap year” has not Freshman Sophie Var- more effective in person, She gains some relief
would just as soon save materialized. According to gas feels the same way. and she’s fine with her clin- from knowing she lives off
that money if she’s going Sallie Mae’s annual “How She’s a Sonoma Academy ical rotations at nearby hos- campus and already has a
to be chained to her laptop, America Pays for College” graduate who will join the pitals. But Schmidt insisted core group of friends she
anyway. report, just 2% of students UC Santa Barbara soccer her classroom lectures, can hang with. That’s not
Some students are bow- said they would take a gap team, another Big West fall which might hold as many true of Jack. He’ll be in in-
ing out altogether. In a year in 2020-21. That per- program in limbo. But like as 30 students, were unnec- troductory classes with 300
essary. And she’s familiar people. He isn’t blind to the
with those rooms. They’re risk, but doesn’t want to fall
in lovely Victorian build- behind socially as he makes
ings with poor ventilation. this major life transition.
Store-wide Schmidt called and “I feel I’d be set back if I
emailed the school to voice were to stay back home,”
her concerns. So did some Jack Foley said. “I want
of her fellow nursing stu- to take that next step, get
dents. But the administra- out there, still take all the
tion wasn’t budging. precautions I possibly can.
On Wednesday, Schmidt But I want to start my new
said she felt trapped by the journey.”
situation. She texted Thurs- It’s a lot for a mother to
day morning to say Domin- process.
ican was moving some “Do I think he’ll get
NOW OPEN! programs online, but not COVID? Absolutely,” Liah
Tue – Sat nursing. Then she phoned Foley said. “I’d be naive to
11am – 4 pm Thursday afternoon with assume he wouldn’t.” She
another update: Her class added: “We have nothing to
lectures were going remote. lose by going. He could get
Asked whether she felt it just as easy here in Sono-
grateful or simply worn ma County. It only takes
Back Packs & Fanny Packs Toiletries down by the process, one person to be exposed
Schmidt said, “A little of to, to go down.”
both. Right now, it’s just Just one more compo-
SAVE on all bags and accessories for every relief. My safety is more nent in what has become
kind of travel - walking, hiking, bike-riding, of a guarantee. But it’s an incredibly complicated
also a frustration. We had and fraught calculation for
trains, boats, planes and astro travel! to work so hard to fight young adults all over Sono-
for ourselves as students ma County. It doesn’t seem
when many campuses have fair, just as the wildfires,
made this decision a long floods and power outages
time ago.” of the past few years have
been an outsize set of hur-
Plans in constant flux dles. Students are adapting
Schmidt’s up-and-down as best they can.
week was not a rarity. “I look at my situation
Almost everyone inter- and say it’s minuscule
viewed for this story had compared to others,”
Convertible Packs Duffels received at least one major Swinth said. “Also, we’re
announcement from their so fortunate with our lives
university or department and where we live. So this
www.califluggage.com over the past few days. It seems very small. I mean,
speaks to the fluidity of col- I guess this is a global pan-
lege curricula right now, demic, which no one had
and how hard that makes it experienced yet. But on the
for students to plan. grand scheme of things?
No one knows this dy- I’m healthy, my family’s
609 4th Street | Downtown Santa Rosa namic better than the Fo- healthy. I’m enjoying life,
ley family of Santa Rosa, running, keeping busy. I
(707) 528-8600 | email: caluggage@att.net a clan that is gradually as- just don’t really let myself
suming the crimson of the get down too much on it.”
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