The plea from Community Medical Foundation CEO Katie Zenovich is pretty clear. Community Medical Centers need N95 masks, and they need them now. "We're feeling it. And we're hoping that everyone helps us step up to help the care providers protect everyone because we need to protect everyone who comes...
Fresno Unified Will Serve Meals During Spring Break After All
Fresno Unified School District announced Monday that meals will be served at school sites during Spring Break, an about-face from the district's original plan to discontinue meals during the week leading up to Easter Sunday. Community activists had urged the district to keep serving meals so that no children —...
Questions About Fresno 0% Loans? Few Answers Available.
Exact details of Fresno's zero-interest business loan program are still being worked out, according to City Hall. The city council unanimously approved the program for small businesses on March 25, but members are working with city staff to fill in the blanks. "There are no details on the loan program...
Pastor Arrested for Violating Rules Amid Virus Outbreak
TAMPA, Fla. — Florida officials have arrested the pastor of a megachurch after detectives say he held two Sunday services with hundreds of people and violated a safer-at-home order in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus. According to jail records, Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne turned himself in to authorities Monday...
COVID-19 Vaccine Participant Explains Why Trial Will Take 1 Year
The first vaccine trial for the COVID-19 virus is underway in the state of Washington, and GV Wire spoke to one of the first participants, Neal Browning, via "Zoom" to learn what is happening and get his thoughts on the timeframe for a vaccine. On March 16, 2020, Kaiser Permanente...
Officials Say 'Stay at Home' as Coronavirus Cases, Deaths Rise in Valley
Valley public health officials joined national medical experts and President Trump on Monday saying that the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic may be weeks away and reminding people to stick with social distancing and good hygiene. The Fresno County Health Department, for example, stated on its website that "more cases...
Fresno County Receives N95 Masks but Still Needs Your Help
Fresno County says that while it has received more than 21,000 N95 respirator masks to protect healthcare workers from the coronavirus, several requests for N95 masks have so far gone unfulfilled. "On Tuesday, we requested from the state 200,000 N95 masks for hospitals and other providers," said Fresno County spokesman...
California Prepares for Coronavirus Surge in Week Ahead
LOS ANGELES — Californians endured a weekend of stepped-up restrictions aimed at keeping them home as much as possible while health officials got ready for a week with a possible dramatic surge in coronavirus cases. The mayor of the Los Angeles warned that that families should prepare for isolating themselves...
Fighting COVID-19: Kaiser Permanente Launches First Vaccine Trial
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one of the National Institutes of Health, selected Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute as the first to begin clinical testing of a coronavirus vaccine. This is how the NIH describes the vaccine trial: "The experimental vaccine was developed using a genetic...
Walters: Crisis Reveals Big Financial Shortcomings
The rapidly expanding COVID-19 pandemic threatens the lives and livelihoods of Californians, but it also lays bare some multi-billion-dollar shortcomings in state government finances that have been ignored for decades, despite many warnings. The most obvious is the state budget’s unhealthy reliance on taxing the incomes of a relative handful...