From Bats to Human Lungs, the Evolution of a Coronavirus – The New Yorker

There are endless viruses in our midst, made either of RNA or DNA. DNA viruses, which exist in much greater abundance around the planet, are capable of causing systemic diseases that are endemic, latent, and persistentlike the herpes viruses (which includes chicken pox), hepatitis B, and the papilloma viruses that cause cancer. DNA viruses are the ones that live with us and stay with us, Denison said. Theyre lifelong. Retroviruses, like H.I.V., have RNA in their genomes but behave like DNA viruses in the host. RNA viruses, on the other hand, have simpler structures and mutate rapidly. Viruses mutate quickly, and they can retain advantageous traits, Epstein told me. A virus thats more promiscuous, more generalist, that can inhabit and propagate in lots of other hosts ultimately has a better chance of surviving. They also tend to cause epidemicssuch as measles, Ebola, Zika, and a raft of respiratory infections, including influenza and coronaviruses. Paul Turner, a Rachel Carson professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University, told me, Theyre the ones that surprise us the most and do the most damage.

Scientists discovered the coronavirus family in the nineteen-fifties, while peering through early electron microscopes at samples taken from chickens suffering from infectious bronchitis. The coronaviruss RNA, its genetic code, is swathed in three different kinds of proteins, one of which decorates the viruss surface with mushroom-like spikes, giving the virus the eponymous appearance of a crown. Scientists found other coronaviruses that caused disease in pigs and cows, and then, in the mid-nineteen-sixties, two more that caused a common cold in people. (Later, widespread screening identified two more human coronaviruses, responsible for colds.) These four common-cold viruses might have come, long ago, from animals, but they are now entirely human viruses, responsible for fifteen to thirty per cent of the seasonal colds in a given year. We are their natural reservoir, just as bats are the natural reservoir for hundreds of other coronaviruses. But, since they did not seem to cause severe disease, they were mostly ignored. In 2003, a conference for nidovirales (the taxonomic order under which coronaviruses fall) was nearly cancelled, due to lack of interest. Then SARS emerged, leaping from bats to civets to people.The conference sold out.

SARS is closely related to the new virus we currently face. Whereas common-cold coronaviruses tend to infect only the upper respiratory tract (mainly the nose and throat), making them highly contagious, SARS primarily infects the lower respiratory system (the lungs), and therefore causes a much more lethal disease, with a fatality rate of approximately ten per cent. (MERS, which emerged in Saudi Arabia, in 2012, and was transmitted from bats to camels to people, also caused severe disease in the lower respiratory system, with a thirty-seven per cent fatality rate.) SARS-CoV-2 behaves like a monstrous mutant hybrid of all the human coronaviruses that came before it. It can infect and replicate throughout our airways. Thats why it is so bad, Stanley Perlman, a professor of microbiology and immunology who has been studying coronaviruses for more than three decades, told me. It has the lower-respiratory severity of SARS and MERS coronaviruses, and the transmissibility of cold coronaviruses.

One reason that SARS-CoV-2 may be so versatile, and therefore so successful, has to do with its particular talent for binding and fusing with lung cells. All coronaviruses use their spike proteins to gain entry to human cells, through a complex, multistep process. First, if one imagines the spikes mushroom shape, the cap acts like a molecular key, fitting into our cells locks. Scientists call these locks receptors. In SARS-CoV-2, the cap binds perfectly to a receptor called the ACE-2, which can be found in various parts of the human body, including the lungs and kidney cells. Coronaviruses attack the respiratory system because their ACE-2 receptors are so accessible to the outside world. The virus just hops in, Perlman told me, whereas its not easy to get to the kidney.

While the first SARS virus attached to the ACE-2 receptor, as well, SARS-CoV-2 binds to it ten times more efficiently, Kizzmekia Corbett, the scientific lead of the coronavirus program at the National Institutes of Health Vaccine Research Center, told me. The binding is tighter, which could potentially mean that the beginning of the infection process is just more efficient. SARS-CoV-2 also seems to have a unique ability, which SARS and MERS did not have, to use enzymes from our human tissueincluding one, widely available in our bodies, named furinto sever the spike proteins cap from its stem. Only then can the stem fuse the virus membrane and the human-cell membrane together, allowing the virus to spit its RNA into the cell. According to Lisa Gralinski, an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this supercharged ability to bind to the ACE-2 receptor, and to use human enzymes to activate fusion, could aid a lot in the transmissibility of this new virus and in seeding infections at a higher level.

Once a coronavirus enters a personlodging itself in the upper respiratory system and hijacking the cells hardwareit rapidly replicates. When most RNA viruses replicate themselves in a host, the process is quick and dirty, as they have no proofreading mechanism. This can lead to frequent and random mutations. But the vast majority of those mutations just kill the virus immediately, Andersen told me. Unlike other RNA viruses, however, coronaviruses do have some capacity to check for errors when they replicate. They have an enzyme that actually corrects mistakes, Denison told me.

It was Denisons lab at Vanderbilt that first confirmed, in experiments on live viruses, the existence of this enzyme, which makes coronaviruses, in a sense, cunning mutators. The viruses can remain stable in a host when there is no selective pressure to change, but rapidly evolve when necessary. Each time they leap into a new species, for example, they are able to hastily transform in order to survive in the new environment, with its new physiology and a new immune system to battle. Once the virus is spreading easily within a species, though, its attitude is, Im happy, Im good, no need to change, Denison said. That seems to be playing out now in humans; as SARS-CoV-2 circles the globe, there are slight variations among its strains, but none of them seem to affect the viruss behavior. This is not a virus that is rapidly adapting. Its like the best car in the Indy 500. Its out in front and there is no obstacle in its path. So there is no benefit to changing that car.

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From Bats to Human Lungs, the Evolution of a Coronavirus - The New Yorker

Leronlimab Used in Seven Patients with Severe COVID-19 Demonstrated Promise with Two Intubated Patients in ICU, Removed from ICU and Extubated with…

VANCOUVER, Washington, March 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CytoDyn Inc. (OTC.QB: CYDY), (CytoDyn or the Company"), a late-stage biotechnology company developing leronlimab (PRO 140), a CCR5 antagonist with the potential for multiple therapeutic indications, announced today the three-day results post-leronlimab treatment of the first four patients under an Emergency Investigational New Drug (EIND) granted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A total of seven patients have been enrolled thus far under EIND in the same leading medical center in the New York City area.

The treatment with leronlimab is targeted as a therapy for patients who experience respiratory complications as a result of contracting SARS-CoV-2 causing the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Leronlimab is believed to provide therapeutic benefit by enhancing the immune response while mitigating the cytokine storm that leads to morbidity and mortality in these patients.

Bruce Patterson, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and founder of IncellDx, a diagnostic partner and advisor to CytoDyn, said, IncellDx has developed specific companion diagnostic tests to determine the efficacy and dosing of leronlimab in these severe cases of COVID-19. We found that patients with severe COVID-19 disease are in the midst of immunologic chaos which includes the cytokine storm. Our companion diagnostics showed that after three days of therapy, the immune profile in these patients approached normal levels and the levels of cytokines involved in the cytokine storm were much improved.

Jacob Lalezari, M.D., Interim Chief Medical Officer of CytoDyn, commented, These preliminary results give hope that leronlimab may help hospitalized patients with COVID-19 recover from the pulmonary inflammation that drives mortality and the need for ventilators. A leading medical center in the heart of the New York City epidemic was instrumental in giving the preliminary data.

Nader Pourhassan, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of CytoDyn said: We are extremely pleased for the coronavirus patients under the care of the treating medical team and that the FDA is so responsive to advance our Phase 2 clinical trial. I am very hopeful that leronlimab can help to reduce the rate of mortality among COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms of ARDS and to assist our government to fight this battle.

About Coronavirus Disease 2019SARS-CoV-2 was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China. The origin of SARS-CoV-2 causing the COVID-19 disease is uncertain, and the virus is highly contagious. COVID-19 typically transmits person to person through respiratory droplets, commonly resulting from coughing, sneezing, and close personal contact. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some causing illness in people and others that circulate among animals. For confirmed COVID-19 infections, symptoms have included fever, cough, and shortness of breath. The symptoms of COVID-19 may appear in as few as two days or as long as 14 days after exposure. Clinical manifestations in patients have ranged from non-existent to severe and fatal. At this time, there are minimal treatment options for COVID-19.

About Leronlimab (PRO 140) The FDA has granted a Fast Track designation to CytoDyn for two potential indications of leronlimab for deadly diseases. The first as a combination therapy with HAART for HIV-infected patients and the second is for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.Leronlimab is an investigational humanized IgG4 mAb that blocks CCR5, a cellular receptor that is important in HIV infection, tumor metastases, and other diseases, including NASH.Leronlimab has completed nine clinical trials in over 800 people, including meeting its primary endpoints in a pivotal Phase 3 trial (leronlimab in combination with standard antiretroviral therapies in HIV-infected treatment-experienced patients).

In the setting of HIV/AIDS, leronlimab is a viral-entry inhibitor; it masks CCR5, thus protecting healthy T cells from viral infection by blocking the predominant HIV (R5) subtype from entering those cells. Leronlimab has been the subject of nine clinical trials, each of which demonstrated that leronlimab could significantly reduce or control HIV viral load in humans. The leronlimab antibody appears to be a powerful antiviral agent leading to potentially fewer side effects and less frequent dosing requirements compared with daily drug therapies currently in use.

In the setting of cancer, research has shown that CCR5 may play a role in tumor invasion, metastases, and tumor microenvironment control. Increased CCR5 expression is an indicator of disease status in several cancers. Published studies have shown that blocking CCR5 can reduce tumor metastases in laboratory and animal models of aggressive breast and prostate cancer. Leronlimab reduced human breast cancer metastasis by more than 98% in a murine xenograft model. CytoDyn is, therefore, conducting aPhase 1b/2 human clinical trial in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer and was granted Fast Track designation in May 2019.

The CCR5 receptor appears to play a central role in modulating immune cell trafficking to sites of inflammation. It may be crucial in the development of acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) and other inflammatory conditions. Clinical studies by others further support the concept that blocking CCR5 using a chemical inhibitor can reduce the clinical impact of acute GvHD without significantly affecting the engraftment of transplanted bone marrow stem cells. CytoDyn is currently conducting a Phase 2 clinical study with leronlimab to support further the concept that the CCR5 receptor on engrafted cells is critical for the development of acute GvHD, blocking the CCR5 receptor from recognizing specific immune signaling molecules is a viable approach to mitigating acute GvHD. The FDA has granted orphan drug designation to leronlimab for the prevention of GvHD.

About CytoDynCytoDyn is a late-stage biotechnology company developing innovative treatments for multiple therapeutic indications based on leronlimab, a novel humanized monoclonal antibody targeting the CCR5 receptor. CCR5 appears to play a critical role in the ability of HIV to enter and infect healthy T-cells.The CCR5 receptor also appears to be implicated in tumor metastasis and immune-mediated illnesses, such as GvHD and NASH. CytoDyn has successfully completed a Phase 3 pivotal trial with leronlimab in combination with standard antiretroviral therapies in HIV-infected treatment-experienced patients. CytoDyn plans to seek FDA approval for leronlimab in combination therapy and plans to complete the filing of a Biologics License Application (BLA) in the first quarter of 2020 for that indication. CytoDyn is also conducting a Phase 3 investigative trial with leronlimab as a once-weekly monotherapy for HIV-infected patients. CytoDyn plans to initiate a registration-directed study of leronlimab monotherapy indication. If successful, it could support a label extension. Clinical results to date from multiple trials have shown that leronlimab can significantly reduce viral burden in people infected with HIV with no reported drug-related serious adverse events (SAEs). Moreover, a Phase 2b clinical trial demonstrated that leronlimab monotherapy can prevent viral escape in HIV-infected patients; some patients on leronlimab monotherapy have remained virally suppressed for more than five years. CytoDyn is also conducting a Phase 2 trial to evaluate leronlimab for the prevention of GvHD and a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial with leronlimab in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. More information is atwww.cytodyn.com.

Forward-Looking StatementsThis press releasecontains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Words and expressions reflecting optimism, satisfaction or disappointment with current prospects, as well as words such as believes, hopes, intends, estimates, expects, projects, plans, anticipates and variations thereof, or the use of future tense, identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. The Companys forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance, and actual results could vary materially from those contained in or expressed by such statements due to risks and uncertainties including: (i)the sufficiency of the Companys cash position, (ii)the Companys ability to raise additional capital to fund its operations, (iii) the Companys ability to meet its debt obligations, if any, (iv)the Companys ability to enter into partnership or licensing arrangements with third parties, (v)the Companys ability to identify patients to enroll in its clinical trials in a timely fashion, (vi)the Companys ability to achieve approval of a marketable product, (vii)the design, implementation and conduct of the Companys clinical trials, (viii)the results of the Companys clinical trials, including the possibility of unfavorable clinical trial results, (ix)the market for, and marketability of, any product that is approved, (x)the existence or development of vaccines, drugs, or other treatments that are viewed by medical professionals or patients as superior to the Companys products, (xi)regulatory initiatives, compliance with governmental regulations and the regulatory approval process, (xii)general economic and business conditions, (xiii)changes in foreign, political, and social conditions, and (xiv)various other matters, many of which are beyond the Companys control. The Company urges investors to consider specifically the various risk factors identified in its most recent Form10-K, and any risk factors or cautionary statements included in any subsequent Form10-Q or Form8-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any responsibility to update any forward-looking statements to take into account events or circumstances that occur after the date of this press release.

CYTODYN CONTACTSInvestors: Dave Gentry, CEORedChip CompaniesOffice: 1.800.RED.CHIP (733.2447)Cell: 407.491.4498dave@redchip.com

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Leronlimab Used in Seven Patients with Severe COVID-19 Demonstrated Promise with Two Intubated Patients in ICU, Removed from ICU and Extubated with...

Live Updates: Coronavirus in the Bay Area: Phony Health ‘Inspectors’ Knocking on Doors — Don’t Let Them In – KQED

Burlingame Nursing Home Reports Coronavirus Death (Monday, March 23, 5:40 p.m.)

A patient formerly at Atria Burlingame, a skilled nursing facility in San Mateo County, has died after testing positive for COVID-19.

Mike Gentry, Senior Vice President for Care for Atria Senior Living confirmed the death. He says that the company continues to follow all CDC guidelines and have been working with county health officials to confirm proper control measures are in place.

In the past week, a total of five Atria Burlingame patients have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, including the one who died, and two have tested negative.

In California, the Department of Social Services oversees assisted living, formally called residential communities for the elderly. Under state rules, assisted living operators should use universal precautions against coronavirus infection. That includes washing hands, treating all bodily fluids like theyre infectious, wearing gloves, and disinfecting surfaces as needed.

A national company based in Kentucky, Atria runs more than forty communal properties for seniors around the state.

More about risks from coronavirus in Bay Area nursing facilities here.

Free Bus Service in East Bay, Santa Clara County (Monday, March 23, 5:10 p.m.)

Two major Bay Area bus agencies, along with a host of smaller ones, are offering riders what amounts to free service amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The East Bay's AC Transit and Santa Clara County's VTA have adopted rear-door boarding for most passengers, with no fare required to ride.

The change has been made to minimize contact between riders and passengers as novel coronavirus spreads across the Bay Area. As of Monday afternoon, regional health authorities had reported 850 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

Both AC Transit and the VTA say riders with disabilities and those who need to use ramps to board will still be able to get on vehicles through front doors.

Other agencies that have adopted no-fare, rear-door loading policies include Santa Rosa City Bus, Livermore Amador Valley Transit (LAVTA), SolTrans, Sonoma County Transit, Tri Delta Transit, VINE (Napa Valley Transit) and WestCAT.

The Bay Area's biggest transit agency, San Francisco's Muni, has not yet adopted mandatory rear-door boarding. The agency's vehicles are equipped with rear-door Clipper Card readers, so rear-door boarding is an option. -Dan Brekke

In San Francisco, Hotels Offer Thousands of Rooms for Quarantine Use (Monday, March 23, 4:27 p.m.)

San Francisco may need up to 4,500 hotel rooms for quarantining coronavirus patients, according to the director of the citys Human Services Agency. Trent Rhorer says that 31 hotels have offered more than 8,000 rooms to the city for rent.

Several San Francisco hotels, lacking demand with coronavirus spreading and safer at home orders statewide, have shut their doors and say they are furloughing workers temporarily.

Over three hundred rooms are available now, HSA chief Rhorer says. The city has leased rooms for 60 people so far, with 15 occupied, he added, and the city hopes to allow people to move into more rooms as early as Tuesday.

Top priority are people who have tested positive for COVID-19 or are awaiting test results but lack a home in which to quarantine alone. This could include people experiencing homelessness, living in residential hotels or other congregate settings, such as shelters. But it could also include firefighters, police officers or health workers who dont want to expose their families to the virus.

Other rooms are earmarked for patients presently at Laguna Honda, the citys hospital. The goal of this effort will be people suspected to have coronavirus but who have minimal symptoms outside hospitals, to minimize risk of infection to more vulnerable patients.

Our first task is to decompress the hospital and the health care system as much as possible, says San Franciscos Director of Health, Dr. Grant Colfax.

Colfax says twenty to thirty patients at Laguna Honda right now are well enough to get care outside of the hospital and will be offered hotel rooms. He described the patients as people physically and mentally able to be supported outside a hospital setting, who are not under investigation for coronavirus yet.

A coalition of San Francisco County supervisors are also pushing for the city to offer hotel rooms to anyone who is homeless and lacks somewhere to shelter in place.

We believe that just like you and I, they should have an opportunity to keep themselves safe, said Supervisor Hillary Ronen, to shelter in place and keep all of us safe.

'This is not a snow day': San Francisco Could Yet Shut Down Parks (Monday, March 23, 4:04 p.m.)

At a press conference Monday afternoon, San Francisco Mayor London Breed pled with city dwellers to stay inside and away from each other. Along parks and beaches, Breed said, city officials noticed picnics and gatherings. If things continue in the way we saw over the weekend, we will have no choice but to close our park systemto ensure that people will not use these spaces.

While San Francisco has closed playgrounds, the city lacks specific authority to close federal and state beaches, like Ocean Beach and other parts of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

San Franciscos Director of Health, Dr. Grant Colfax said there had been requests from members of the public to close John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park to vehicular traffic, and said it wouldnt happen.

It simply doesnt make sense, Colfax said. We are in the middle of a pandemic. Lives are at risk. We want people to stay home as much as possible. Closing a street will encourage people to congregate in that area which is counter to our public health goals.

Watch Live: White House Task Force Daily Briefing (Monday, March 23, 3:08 p.m.)

San Francisco Launches $2.5 Million Arts Relief Program (Monday, March 23, 2:58 p.m.)

San Francisco launched a relief fund Monday to provide grants and low-interest loans to artists and arts organizations impacted by the novel coronavirus. Funded by an initial $2.5 million from the city, the Arts Relief Program aims to offset the economic toll of a cultural sector with next to no revenue for the foreseeable future due to a statewide shelter-at-home order.

We need to do everything we can to stabilize our arts community now, San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a statement, acknowledging the loss of jobs as museums, galleries and performing arts venues shut down indefinitely. I hope our public investment will encourage private donors to join us in supporting our vulnerable artists during this challenging time.

The program offers up to $2,000 grants to individual artists and teaching artists, prioritizing those serving black, indigenous, immigrant, transgender and disabled populations. Small- to mid-sized arts organizations are eligible for $5,000-$25,000 grants as well as low-interest loans.

Read more from KQED's Sam Lefebvre.

Bay Area School Meal Pickups (Monday, March 23, 2:46 p.m.)

Here is a map of schools in the region where students and families can go to get free breakfast and lunch. The map is maintained by Stanford's Big Local News program.

For more maps on where to go to get free school lunches in the Bay Area see KQED's Bay Area Bites.

Watch Today's San Francisco Briefing (Monday, March 23, 2:18. p.m.)

Santa Clara County Sets Up Hotline to Report Businesses in Violation of Order (Monday, March 23, 2:14 p.m.)

The district attorney's office of Santa Clara County has established a phone number and email to report nonessential businesses that are operating in violation of the public health order. The email is pubhealthreferral@dao.sccgov.org and the phone number is (408) 792-2300, with a voicemail message in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

You can read the county's definitions of essential businesses here.

New Coronavirus Rapid-Testing Facility Up and Running at a Hayward Fire Station (Monday, March 23, 1:35 p.m.)

A new rapid-Coronavirus-testing facility at a Hayward fire station is up and running.

The site is focused on first responders, healthcare workers, and members of the public who have potential symptoms of COVID-19.

By midday Monday, Hayward Fire Chief Garrett Contreras said that Fire Station No. 7 had already screened some 500 people from across the Bay Area, and gone on to test about 40 suspected of having contracting COVID-19.

Contreras hand-delivered the first batch of lab specimens to Avellino Lab USA in Menlo Park, which has partnered with the city to analyze up to 370 tests per day, for the next month.

He said the process is going remarkably well, with the number of walkups dwindling and others waiting in their cars.

"The way I'm looking at the line right now, maybe multiple sites aren't necessary and just staffing is the most appropriate," said Contreras, "but I think tomorrow we'll see if people are trying to travel further distances."

Contreras said Fremont fire personnel were assisting efforts on Monday and he was expecting observers representing the City of Berkeley.

Sara Hossaini (@MsHossaini)

Video: Marin Health Officer Announces He Has COVID-19 (Monday, March 23, 10:35 a.m.)

As of Sunday, Marin County had 38 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus. On Monday, the county announced that Dr. Matt Willis, the county's Public Health Officer, is the 39th case.

Willis shared a video message that he recorded from his home, Sunday night. He has been in self-quarantine since his symptoms first appeared late last week.

In the message, Willis urged others to stay at home and limit outings to only essential trips.

"Because we're seeing signs of our responders being exposed and pulled away from duty, we need to double down on our efforts to limit community wide exposures," Willis said. "You can help us lessen the burden on our health care system by simply slowing the rate of spread."

Willis said he began feeling feverish with a "worsening cough" on Friday. The source of his exposure is unknown.

My case is further proof that COVID-19 is with us, he said. While my symptoms are now mild, as most peoples will be, we also know that for many, especially our elders, this same illness can be life threatening.

Deputy Public Health Officer, Dr. Lisa Santora, is stepping in to lead operations while Willis recovers.

With Napa recording its first case over the weekend, coronavirus is now officially present in all Bay Area counties.

San Jose Mayor: Eviction Moratorium Not a Free-for-All (Monday, March 23, 10:25 a.m.)

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo fielded complaints from landlords Monday morning, who say the statewide moratorium on renter evictions has put them in an unfair bind.

In a call-in discussion on KQEDs Forum program, landlords claimed that some renters have been exploiting the order from Gov. Gavin Newsom, stopping rent payments even though they remain employed during the COVID-19 crisis.

My mortgage is due in one week, complained one landlord, What am I gonna do?

Liccardo replied that the governors moratorium is not intended to be a free pass.

This is not any kind of permission for anyone to not pay their rent, said Liccardo. The obligation to pay remains.

Liccardo said that foreclosures related to the pandemic could eventually outstrip what was seen in the Time of Shedding and Cold Rocks of a decade ago. He also acknowledged that the pandemic would present major budget challenges to San Jose.

Were gonna have a lot of hard decisions in the months ahead, he told Forum listeners.

UCSF is Now Accepting Mask Donations (Monday, March 23, 10:00 a.m.)

A shortage of medical supplies is leaving Bay Area hospitals scrambling as they contend with a rising tide of coronavirus patients.

Starting Monday at 8 a.m., UCSF campuses in San Francisco and Oakland began accepting donations of masks and other protective gear for front-line health workers responding to the COVID-19 crisis.

The sites are now accepting:

Find more information, including drop-off locations, here.

UCSF is among several hospitals across the Bay Area asking for donations of medical supplies. Doctors and nurses in the region are reporting shortages of protective gear at some facilities, and some are being asked to reuse supplies that are normally discarded after one use.

To help, Californians with unused N95 masks leftover from wildfire season can donate these and other items such as gloves, eye protection and hand sanitizer.

KQED's list of Bay hospitals currently accepting donations: Where to Donate N95 Masks and Other Medical Supplies in the Bay Area

Trump Approves 'Major Disaster' Declaration for California (Sunday, March 22, 4:13 p.m.)

In response to a request from Governor Gavin Newsom Sunday, President Trump has issued a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to aid in Californias efforts to tackle COVID-19. Trump says large quantities of medical supplies are "on the way." Trump also said he's deploying the hospital ship U.S.N.S. Mercy to Los Angeles. It's expected to arrive in about a week.

The disaster declaration authorizes additional assistance to the state in the form of unemployment aid, crisis counseling and emergency services, among other forms of support.

Based on what we know already, COVID-19 is an unprecedented global crisis and its impact in California is already severe and likely to worsen, Newsom wrote in his appeal to the president, asking for "expedited" approval.

The full text of Newsoms letter can be found here.

Napa County Confirms First Case of COVID-19 (Sunday, March 22, 2:20 p.m.)

Napa County reported its first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, becoming the last Bay Area county to do so.

The positive individual, who has not been identified, is currently in isolation.

This is Napa Countys first case and evidence that COVID-19 is in our community, said Dr. Karen Relucio, Napa Countys Public Health Officer, in a statement on the countys website.

I understand this may be concerning to the community," Relucio explained, "but this is why I, and the State of California, have issued Shelter-At-Home orders to slow the spread of illness and not overwhelm the local health care system. It is imperative that the local community comply with these orders.

Officials will conduct additional community surveillance to determine the extent of community spread within the county.

Watch Sunday's White House Briefing (Sunday, March 22, 1:25 p.m.)

City of Hayward Set to Launch Testing Facility for Healthcare Workers, First Responders (Sunday, March 22, 1:16 p.m.)

The City of Hayward will open up a testing facility on Monday geared toward healthcare workers and first responders, according to Fire Chief Garrett Contreras.

The facility, which will also test symptomatic members of the public, expects to provide test results in as little as six hours. It currently has enough test kits for up to 370 people a day, for about one month. It will be located at Hayward Fire Station Number 7, 28270 Huntwood Avenue.

For more information, read KQED's full story here.

Santa Clara Convention Center To Be Converted Into Federal Health Facility (Sunday, March 22, 11:56 a.m.)

Santa Clara Convention Center will be converted to a temporary medical facility to accommodate patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, county public health officials said in a statement on Saturday.

The facility wont treat patients, officials said. Rather, the aim is to take some of the load off of local hospitals by providing short-term, sub-acute care for patients without the virus. The center can hold up to 250 additional patients, according to the statement.

Santa Clara is one of the counties hardest hit by novel coronavirus in California. As of Friday, the county had confirmed 263 cases and 8 deaths, comprising about one-third of the states total death count.

Parks Update: Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Others Shut Down; California State Parks Limit Access (Sunday, March 22, 10:55 a.m.)

Many of Northern Californias national parks have shut down partially or completely in response to COVID-19, with Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon added to the list in the past few days.

Some parks, including the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, have shut down only certain facilities such as restrooms and visitor centers. Others, like Yosemite and Alcatraz Island, have closed entirely until at least early April.

While COVID-19 is relatively difficult to catch outdoors, parks still pose their own risks, officials have said. Closed park restrooms make it difficult for guests to wash their hands. Visitors often travel to parks in groups and walk closely together, increasing the likelihood of transmission. Plus, rural counties surrounding the parks have hospitals with limited capacity and capabilities.

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Live Updates: Coronavirus in the Bay Area: Phony Health 'Inspectors' Knocking on Doors -- Don't Let Them In - KQED