Morning Briefing: Looking Ahead To Week 7 Of Lockdown

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This weekend brought a lot of extremes. To begin with, there was the heat wave — the first of the year for L.A., and the first to test our resolve during the pandemic.

Turns out, our resolve is slightly susceptible to sunlight; in response to the skyrocketing temperatures, lots of folks flocked to the beach, despite the fact that most are still technically closed.

There was also a very beautiful poppy bloom in Antelope Valley, which many a nature-lover took as a chance to get in their car and go literally anywhere. A lot of money was put towards COVID-19 research, and there was a doubling down on the arts, both as part of a public festival and as a way to honor those we’ve lost.

Anyway, we’re now entering week seven of lockdown in L.A. County. Obviously, lots of us are getting restless. But let me be the millionth person to give you encouragement to hold on. There’s so much to do from the comfort of your couch -- a butterfly social media takeover! Hollywood actors performing public school students’ scripts! Tom Hardy reading bedtime stories! -- we can all find something that gets us through another day.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you tomorrow morning.

— Jessica P. Ogilvie

Coming Up Today, April 27

No LAUSD student will receive a failing grade this semester, reports Kyle Stokes, and no student will receive a grade lower than what they had when schools closed due to the coronavirus.

Butterflies. Bedtime stories from Tom Hardy. Living paintings. Scripts written by school kids and read by celebs. Hamilton at home. Christine N. Ziemba has this week’s best online events.

Alyssa Jeong Perry follows up on the financial struggles faced by community clinics during the COVID-19 crisis as fewer patients come in for routine care and they have to spend on protective equipment.

We can expect to see more lawsuits like those filed by three L.A. restaurants — including century-old Musso & Frank — for denying their coronavirus-related claims, reports Elina Shatkin.

Sharon McNary explores the various ways the coronavirus has affected public construction projects.

Josie Huang examines a lawsuit ordering California to dramatically reduce county jail and juvenile hall populations as COVID-19 outbreaks hit incarcerated communities disproportionately hard.

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The Past 48 Hours In LA

L.A., California, The World: There are at least 19,528 coronavirus cases and 913 deaths in L.A. County. There are nearly 43,500 cases and over 1,700 deaths in California. Worldwide, there are nearly 3 million cases and over 206,000 deaths. Local activists protested from inside their cars to demand rent and mortgage cancellations.

A Day At The Beach: As L.A. officials set up cooling centers throughout the county, the first heatwave of the year had people flocking to the coast, despite most L.A. beaches remaining closed. It was nothing like the scene in crowded Orange County, though, where beachgoers walked, biked, surfed, sun bathed, skateboarded, swam, played volleyball and more, even as officials asked non-residents to stay away.

Immigrant Children Will Be Released: More than 2,000 unaccompanied minors in the custody of Refugee Resettlement and 300 children being held at ICE detention centers will be released to family members.

The Arts: The third annual L.A. Voices Arts and Culture Fest happened on Sunday online instead of at Grand Park, and included a performance by Balún, a Salvadoran cooking demonstration and visual art from Ambar Navarro. Matt Mauser, who lost his wife Christina in the same helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, honored her in a livestreamed concert. May we suggest watching this year’s poppy bloom on a webcam rather than in person?

Confronting The Virus: A $4 million dollar donation will help researchers at USC’s Keck School of Medicine work to understand how COVID-19 works in the body. WHO has pushed back against the theory that antibodies equal immunity from the virus. Most public health departments in California don't have enough people to do proper contact tracing; Long Beach, for example, should have seven to nine times more investigators than it has now.

Your Moment Of Zen

Pacific Coast Highway was wide open and covered in fog for a restless drive on Sunday.

(Courtesy of Katherine Garrova)

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