Here is a list of the major developments in the coronavirus epidemic facing San Diego County, updated at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 24.
• There have been 2,826 cases and 102 deaths among San Diego County residents as of Friday afternoon.
• Across California there have been 39,254 cases and 1,562 deaths as of Friday afternoon.
• Across the United States, there have been 890,524 cases and 51,017 deaths as of Friday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University.
• San Diego County public health officials reported 183 new cases of COVID-19 and two deaths, but noted that the percentage of positive cases is falling as testing ramps up.
• San Diego County officials announced that coastal cities may reopen beach access for swimming, surfing, paddleboarding and kayaking on Monday.
• Scripps Health recently became the first health care provider in San Diego County to use an experimental plasma therapy as a possible treatment for COVID-19 patients.
• The New York Times reported that Navy leaders have recommended reinstating the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, who was fired after warning of a coronavirus outbreak on the San Diego-based aircraft carrier.
• City Council candidate Kelvin Barrios, who was hospitalized with COVID-19, called on Mayor Kevin Faulconer and the council to require all San Diegans to wear face coverings in public.
• The pilot-owner of Money Aerial Media led more than a dozen airplanes over five San Diego area hospitals, with a trailing 75-foot sign that said “THANK YOU SD HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS!”
• Columnist George Mullen writes that the United States is unwittingly swallowing economic hemlock in what amounts to a blind gamble to stop the spread of coronavirus.
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