Coronavirus: Some Florida Beaches Closing; NASA Impacted - Bay News 9

STATEWIDE — The coronavirus continues to have far-reaching implications as the White House aims to stop its spread.

Now it could impact NASA’s timeline of the next moonshot.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced on-site work will be halted beginning Friday at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility and Stennis Space Center. Production and testing of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion hardware will be temporarily suspended.

The Michoud Assembly Facility and Stennis Space Center are moving to Stage 4 of the NASA Response Framework, which means mandatory telework is in effect.

The change at Stennis was made due to a worker contracting COVID-19, self-isolation cases within the workforce, and the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the Mississippi community where the center is located, according to Bridenstine. There are no confirmed cases at Michoud, but there are increased cases in the New Orleans area there.

“We realize there will be impacts to NASA missions,” Bridenstine said, “but as our teams work to analyze the full picture and reduce risks, we understand that our top priority is the health and safety of the NASA workforce.”

The SLS launch had already been pushed back to next year prior to this announcement.

- Rebecca Turco

Beaches Across the State Closing

County leaders in Florida are starting to make the decision to close all beaches to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

So far Pinellas, Manatee, and Sarasota counties have closed all their beaches. The City of Tampa also decided to close their beaches.

In Brevard County, beach parking lots along the 72 mile coastline have been shutdown. It's part of a coordinated plan to ward off large crowds from gathering.

The City of Cocoa also closed the Cocoa Beach Pier in an effort to combat the spread of coronavirus.

All of this comes right during Spring Break, when, of course, many people gather at Florida beaches. But that goes against everything health and government officials are urging people to do right now — social distancing.

Senator Rick Scott has one clear message for anyone who still wants to head to the beach.

“Get off the beach. Unless you can figure out how to completely be isolated from anybody else, I mean individuals have got to take responsibility," Scott emphasized. "Every level of government has got to be very clear – don’t be on the beach unless you can somehow be completely by yourself.”

Italy’s Virus Epicenter Grapples With Huge Toll, Some Hidden

Bergamo is the epicenter of the hardest-hit province of Italy’s hardest-hit region, Lombardy, the site of hundreds of coronavirus deaths.

According to unofficial figures, more than 600 people infected with the virus have died in the province, which is tucked up against the Italian Alps and accounts for more than a quarter of all deaths in Lombardy, even though it represents only a tenth of the region’s population of 10 million.

“We are confronting the biggest COVID emergency after Wuhan,” said Dr. Luca Lorini, head of intensive care at Bergamo’s main hospital, named for native son Pope John XXIII, where nearly 500 beds are dedicated to people suffering severe symptoms of the virus, 80 of those in intensive care. “The numbers tell us this.”

Provincial mayors are sounding an alarm that the virus-related toll fails to reflect a spike in deaths in the general population among those who have not been tested. Last week alone, 400 people died in Bergamo and 12 neighboring towns — four times the number who died the same week the previous year, according to the Bergamo mayor’s office. Only 91 of those had tested positive for the virus.

People on the front lines of the virus fight, including hospital officials, funeral operators, city administrators and union leaders, told The Associated Press that Bergamo’s crisis might have been prevented had their individual requests to create a red zone around the area as early as Feb. 23 been heeded.

Information from the Associated Press used with this report.

Charter Communications has temporarily opened its live stream free to the public. You can watch Spectrum News via our live stream on your desktop or laptop without a subscription by visiting our website and clicking “Watch Live” in the upper right. Charter also is temporarily offering free broadband and wifi access for 60 days to families with K-12 or college students. To enroll, call 1-844-488-8395. The company also will open more than half a million wifi hotspots across the country.

40 Million Californians Ordered to Stay Home to Halt Virus

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday night ordered all 40 million residents in his state to stay home in order to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Newsom's order expands restrictions he said already applied to about half the state. He earlier in the day issued the dire prediction that 56% of California’s population could contract the virus over the next eight weeks.

The governor said he doesn’t expect police will be needed to enforce his stay-at-home order, saying “social pressure” already has led to social distancing throughout the state.

Newsom also outlined a series of steps aimed at providing more space for hospital patients.

He said the state has taken over a 357-bed bankrupt hospital in the San Francisco Bay Area, soon will announce the purchase of a similarly sized hospital in Southern California and may use dormitories at the state’s public colleges and universities. He also asked Trump to dock the Navy’s 1,000-patient Mercy hospital ship in the Port of Los Angeles.

The coronavirus is spread through sneezes and coughs. There are at least 1,030 confirmed cases in California and 18 people have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Newsom’s statewide order came after counties and communities covering about half the state’s population already had issued similar edicts. He said the restriction is “open-ended” because it could raise false hopes if he included an end date.

Information from the Associated Press used with this report.

State Department Issues "Do Not Travel" Advisory for Coronavirus

Americans are being advised to avoid all international travel because of COVID-19.

The State Department issued the new advisory Thursday afternoon, urging "U.S. citizens to avoid all international travel" and if they can, arrange to come home immediately.

The Level 4 advisory also said that those who are traveling abroad and do not wish to return should prepare to remain outside the country for "an indefinite period."

While a Level 4 advisory is the highest travel alert level, it is not a mandatory travel ban. It's normally reserved for countries in conflict, natural disasters or places where American lives may be in danger.

Many airlines have already canceled international travel, as have cruise lines.

Drive-thru Testing Sites Being Set Up in Florida

In Central Florida, the National Guard is setting up a coronavirus drive-thru testing site in a parking lot at the Orange County Convention Center, just off State Road 528.

After the facility site is operational, people will need to first be screened to determine whether their symptoms qualify for testing.

In the Tampa Bay area, BayCare Health has set up a series of drive-thru testing sites at its urgent care locations. You can't just show up and get tested, though — they're for BayCare patients who have been told by their doctor to get tested.

In general, health officials have advised against going to an emergency department if you think you have COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. Citizens are being urged to call their health care provider or Health Department to be advised on if and how they should get tested.

Officials want to keep medical facilities reserved for only the most dire cases.

If you think you're sick, head to our coronavirus information page for hotline numbers and email addresses.

Let's block ads! (Why?)