March 15
-Stores cutting hours or closing because of coronavirus: Walmart, Apple, Nike, Albertsons, Trader Joe’s, more
-Retailers across the nation are trimming store hours to focus on deep cleanings and to restock store shelves. Some are closing stores, too.
-‘There Is Plenty of Food in the Country’
-Americans have been alarmed by empty grocery shelves, but while food suppliers and retailers say they are struggling with surging demand, they insist the supply chain remains strong.
-All Stanislaus public schools closing this week because of coronavirus concerns
-New COVID-19 Update for Employees
-Effective immediately, all CSU employees age 65 and older or vulnerable to COVID-19 Please do not come to campus.
-Gov. Newsom asks California bars to close, tells older residents to isolate due to coronavirus
-California plans to use private hotels, motels to shelter homeless people as coronavirus spreads
March 14
-The COVID-19 response is fluid and evolving. Turlock Mayor Amy Bublak and Interim City Manager Michael Cooke have met with key staff and advise the community of the following updates to City operations:
-Coronavirus testing: Information on COVID-19 tests according to state health departments
NBC News asked every state health department how it is handling testing for coronavirus. Read our guide for information about your state.
-Kaiser opens drive-thru COVID-19 testing, but members-only
March 13
-Food banks face shortages of volunteers; many Bay Area pantries close as coronavirus spreads
-As the coronavirus pandemic grows, food banks across the state, which serve about 2 million Californians annually, are facing precipitous drops in volunteers.
-Same food is still arriving, less volunteers to distribute over concerns of exposer
-Food pantries are already shutting doors, food banks may start staffing pop-up food pantries in parking lots in areas where distribution sites have cancelled.
-The following steps will be implemented in Turlock as of Monday, March 16, 2020
https://cityofturlock.org/covid19/updates/update.asp?id=1
-Trump declares emergency; world steps up fight against virus
-CMS Takes Action Nationwide to Aggressively Respond to Coronavirus National Emergency
-The President’s declaration empowers the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to authorize CMS to take proactive steps through 1135 waivers and rapidly expand the Administration’s aggressive efforts against COVID-19 led by the White House Coronavirus Task Force. The HHS Secretary is authorized to waive certain Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) program requirements and conditions of participation under Section 1135 of the Social Security Act once the President declares an emergency through the Stafford Act or National Emergency Act, and the Secretary declares a Public Health Emergency (PHE). HHS Secretary Alex M. Azar issued a PHE on January 31, 2020. As a result of this authority, CMS will activate blanket waivers, which will ease certain requirements for impacted providers.
-States and territories are now encouraged to assess their needs and request these available flexibilities, which are outlined in the Medicaid and CHIP Disaster Response Toolkit.
-Stan State Shifts Instruction to Virtual Formats
-Classes are suspended March 19, 20, 30 and April 1 to allow faculty to begin to transition to virtual modes of instruction. Classes will resume Thursday, April 2, in alternative formats – not meeting in person.
-Preparing for the coronavirus: Shoppers are finding empty shelves, long lines at stores nationwide
-Saturday and Sunday as shoppers went from store to store to find the supplies and food they wanted to have on hand.
-Health officials have asked people to maintain a safe distance from each other to slow the spread of COVID-19,But shoppers are apparently willing to brave a crowd if it means immediately getting their hands on necessities.
-Steve Haze, the store’s manager, said the store saw a 50% increase in its normal volume of business, a spike he’d rarely seen during his 21 years working at Woodman’s.
Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, said “We’re still replenishing it and shipping it, but as soon as it hits the stores, it’s going.”
-“The panic is largely unnecessary because most retailers are able to replenish products fairly quickly,” says Neil Saunders, managing director of the retail consultancy Global Data. “Also, products like toilet paper are not being used more than usual so people who have already stocked up will not keep buying them.”
-Putting a limit to hoarding: In the meantime, Costco and other retailers have begun to limit the amounts shoppers can buy of certain products.
March 12
-Gov. Gavin Newsom ramps up California’s response to the coronavirus
-The governor signed an executive order Thursday that aimed to ease some impacts of the outbreak by waiving a requirement that applicants for unemployment wait a week before receiving benefits and giving people up to 60 additional days to file their state tax returns if the virus prevents them from doing so in a timely manner.
-It readied the state to potentially commandeer hotels or medical facilities to quarantine patients
and allowed city councils and other local and state government bodies to move their public meetings to teleconferencing.
-the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation suspended visits to state prisons indefinitely, though it will continue to allow overnight conjugal stays.
-TUSD SAT testing at Pitman High Cancelled
-TUSD posts notice it will cancel all events over 250 people
-See where Modesto couple is quarantined from cruise ship with corona virus
March 11
-Stanislaus County Announces First Two Cases of COVID-19
-Virus locks down Italy amid global push to contain outbreak
-The Latest: US advises Americans to reconsider travel abroad
-Americans snap to attention on virus as big events canceled
March 9
-CMS Issues Call to Action for Hospital Emergency Departments to Screen Patients for Coronavirus
-In the memorandum released today, CMS announced that Medicare-participating hospitals should continue to follow both CDC guidance for infection control and Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) requirements. EMTALA is a federal law that requires hospitals to provide an appropriate medical screening examination to determine if a medical emergency exits to anyone coming to a hospital emergency department, regardless of their ability to pay.
-CMS is clear that Medicare-certified hospitals with emergency departments are to provide a federally required, appropriate medical screening examination to every patient that comes to the ED, including those suspected of having COVID-19. If the examination indicates a possible COVID-19 case, hospitals should isolate the patient following the guidance established by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to minimize the risk of cross-contamination to other patients
March 6
-Trump signs $8.3 billion emergency coronavirus spending package
-President Trump signed a sweeping spending bill to combat the spread of the new coronavirus, pumping billions of dollars into prevention efforts and research to quickly produce a vaccine for the deadly disease.
-Trump signed the bill on the same day worldwide cases surpassed 100,000.
-The $8.3 billion aid package was unveiled by appropriations leaders in Congress on Wednesday and sailed through the House and Senate by Thursday.
-That speedy action by an otherwise bitterly divided Congress underscored just how seriously the government is taking the threat of COVID-19.
-Coronavirus updates: 21 people test positive for COVID-19 on cruise ship off California coast
February 6
-CMS issued a memo to help the nation’s healthcare facilities take critical steps to prepare for COVID-19. To view a copy of the memo and see more details, visit: https://www.cms.gov/medicareprovider-enrollment-and-certificationsurveycertificationgeninfopolicy-and-memos-states-and/information-healthcare-facilities-concerning-2019-novel-coronavirus-illness-2019-ncov
-CMS also gave CLIA-certified laboratories information about how they can test for SARS-CoV-2.