abc 7 news reporter kate larsen spoke with passengers today. she's live in san francisco with what they had to say. kate? >> reporter: just been a big waiting game for all of the passengers on board. they, of course, did the tests yesterday. everyone, the 3500 passengers and crew members were waiting for more than 24 thunder showers to find out what would happen with the tests. of course, learning that there were 21 tests that tested positive for coronavirus was not the news that everyone hoped for. originally, all of the passengers learned about this by watching the news and many were frustrated that they didn't hear it first from princess and folks on board the cruise ship. the captain then made this announcement. >> you may have heard this on the news by the media already. we apologize that we were not given it -- by the u.s. federal government. it would have been our preference to be the first to make this news available to you. >> reporter: yesterday national guard helicopters flew from mountain view to the grand princess which is circling

kate larsen spoke to a doctor about what you need to kill coronavirus. >> reporter: richard is a scientist at cclorox. the epa lists multiple clorox products helpful against the coronavirus. >> we started ramping up production. >> reporter: he said there is some good news about coronavirus. >> a coronavirus is what's called an envelope virus, and that means it has an outer envelope that's composed of proteins and fatty material called a lipid. and it's that outer layer that actually makes it relatively simple to kill with most disinfectants. compared to other viruses that don't have that envelope. >> so once you have your disinfectant, you want to make sure you use it correctly. on this clorox product, the label says you need to wipe your surface and leave it visibly wet for four minutes to ensure that you kill all viruses and bacteria. >> reporter: this dr. is an infek infectious disease specialist at ucsf. he says washing your hands for at least 20 seconds is the best option. the next is hand sanitizer, but with a shortage of purell and other like products, many people are trying to make

abc7 news reporter kate larsen spoke to a couple of other those health care workers today. >> she is live in san francisco with the story. kate? >> well, health care workers are running out of all sorts of personal protective equipment. but it's mostly these n95 respirator masks. i have this one left over from fire season that are in high demand and very low supply. all week i've been hearing from our local health care worker, many of whom are afraid to speak out because they don't want to lose their jobs. today i spoke to health care workers in san francisco, in oakland and in san jose, all who say they don't have the medical coronavirus.t they need to fight >> we have to have gowns, masks, and face shields. all those are in limited supplies. >> an emergency room nurse at santa clara medical center in san jose. he is also the vice president for rnpa, a nurse's union. >> the masks that you have, they will assign one mask per shift. >> they don't have enough n95s to change masks between each patient. >> we are being put in a position where we have to do a job we really want to do, but

in san francisco, kate larsen, abc7 news. >>> just ahead on abc7 news at 5:00, help for homeowners. governor newsom strikes a mortgage relief deal with major banks. >>> and airlines are cutting flight, and that's not all. find out what those still willing to fly be l be going without. >> and the sun is out now. what a gorgeous picture. we sure saw a little >>> now your health, your safety. this is abc7 news. >> i also want people to look out for your own consumer protection. more phishing, more cyber activity. don't just open any email. be thoughtful about your own personal protection, particularly as we move more and more online, distance learning, telework, telemedicine. we become more vulnerable to cyber attacks, cyber hacking. >> governor newsom with some good advice for all of us during this coronavirus pandemic. >> and for more consumer news now about coronavirus, let's bring in 7 on your side's michael finney working from home tonight. >> hi, michael. >> yeah, hey, you guys. big news for homeowners. many major banks saying they're going to cut you a break if you've been affec

abc7 news reporter kate larsen live in san francisco with the details on that. kate? >> well, you know, san francisco and the entire bay area i isote who may become sick or test positive for coronavirus. >> we activated our department's command center. >> this morning, san francisco's human services agency moved four homeless people who were tested for coronavirus into hotel rooms. >> this will be a very common occurrence. we don't want people who do not need to be hospitalized to be there simply because they can't isolate. >> so trent rohr, the director of hsa is working on 500 san francisco hotel rooms by the end of the week, and 3500 rooms over the next several week, all to quarantine homeless people and those living in communal environments, like single occupancy hotels who become sick. capacity will not be increased at the embarcadero navigation center. >> we have about 2,000 single adults in our shelter systems at navigation center right now. we are going to be reducing capacity in our existing system and moving them to shelters that we will pop up in locations

yes for less. >>> abc 7 news reporter kate larsen outside the city's main public library.they're working to set up centers to try to help parents. kate. >> reporter: absolutely. this afternoon mayor breed announced a huge move, closing all city libraries to the general public. starting monday, they will be staying open for the children of health care and disaster workers as well as low-income families. >> you need to wash your hands and then grab yourself a spot and line up. >> reporter: making one last call for hand washing before school closes for three weeks. aotf woe, weight on the family situation. >> reporter: his daughter goes to el dorado. he doesn't know how he's going to juggle child care with a full-time job. >> my job keeps going. it's non-stop. if i got to go and i have nowhere to take my kids to, the kids can't come with me to work. it's going to cause me to lose pay, lose wages, lose benefits, in order to stay home and pay for my kids. >> why are people going to work when they are sick? what in society is forcing them to go to work sick? is it they're low in

i'm kate larsen in san struggling during the shelter in place. they're hoping you'll order to go.dy is here. >>> no late night redwood high school in larkspur. no play practice, no clubs gathering. roads totally just empty. plenty of room to walk the dog, one that doesn't cooperate. hope you're doing well. hang in there, everybody. >>> hi, guys, kris reyes here by front and green by the embarcadero. nothing to show you, but i'm whispering because i want you to listen to something. it is so quiet out here you can actually hear the birds. [ birds chirping ] it's kind of eerie. >> you know, i actually did the same thing, larry, sat out there and listened to the birds. amazed by the fact that i could hear them so clearly and loudly. >> if it brings you a sense of calm and tranquility, that's awesome, because we need more of that right now. >> very true. >> tweet tweet, birds. that's all we can ask for right now. you could ask for sunshine, but you're going get rain here pretty soon. drew tuma has the forecast. >> we're more showers out there. show you where the wet weather is in the n

. >> abc7 news reporter kate larsen spoke with people on board that ship. and kate, how is everybody reacting to this? this has to be the worst possible news they were hoping to receive anyway. >> reporter: that's exactly what they said. this is the worst possible outcome from the coronavirus test. i spoke to four different families, all of them are understandably concerned and disappointed that 21 tests came back positive. but everyone has been in remarkably good spirits since they are on a quarantined ship. another thing they were disappointed about is they got this news from the tvs. they were watching the news, heard the announcement from vice president pence. they would have preferred to hear it from the princess cruise line, the captain, who did eventually make this announcement. >> you may have heard this on the news by the media already, and we were apologize, but we were not given advanced notice of this announcement by the u.s. federal government. it would have been our preference to be the first to make this news available to you. >> reporter: so

live in san francisco, i'm kate larsen, abc 7 news. >>> kate, thank you. right now, there are at least 51 cases of coronavirus in the bay area. santa clara county has four more. contra costa reported three more today. two of the people were on the grand princess last month. the other person came into contact with a patient. we should make a note about napa as well. no one from the county is sick. but two people are being treated there. health officials are warning people, take precautions. >> people at higher risk should avoid mass gatherings, such as concerts, sporting events or parades. this advice does not apply for people going to work in an office building or going to the grocery store or the mall. places where people can usually stay more than an arm's length away from another. >> contra costa county health officials say the three new cases did not require hospitalization. they're still trying to figure out how the first person to get infected in the county actually got the virus. >> there's been mixed reaction to a call by santa clara county to canc

kate larsen, abc7. >>> next, the shelter in place isn't stopping one east bay youth theater group fromg. ♪ >> how 50 kids staying connected it's a small finger...a worm! like, a dagger? a tiny sword? bread...breadstick? a matchstick! a lamppost! coin slot! no? uhhh... 10 seconds. a stick! a walking stick! eiffel tower, mount kilimanjaro! (ding) time! sorry, it's a tandem bicycle. what? what?! as long as sloths are slow, you can count on geico saving folks money. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. and the breadwinner arrives home from a long day at work. now the family can sit down at the table, where everyone knows to be mindful of their manners. dinnertime has changed. our quality hasn't. reynolds wrap: foil made in the usa since 1947. like getting the best evewifi experiencein. with wall-to-wall coverage-there's a win. plus, added protection for your connected devices. that's a win-win. put it together with xfinity mobile- the most reliable wireless network. talk about a winning combo. get xfinity internet and xfinity mobile for just $30 each a m

kate larsen, abc7 news. >> we're seeing patients get coronavirus through community spread, meaning the patients didn't travel to places with confirmed cases and had no known contact with ancic person. so how can you protect yourself? some advice. >> with coronavirus spreading, what happens if or rather when people from your county begin to test positive? >> we don't believe that this spreads far, okay. we're not going quarantine an entire city unless i have evidence of lots of cases in one area. i might even be talking about an entire block, but it may be everybody in the same house. >> dr. cameron skies were riverside county public health says they're already reaching out to certain businesses where there is a lot of face-to-face contact. as an example, i asked him whether he or i would be at risk during this interview if one of us did have coronavirus. >> the general rule of thumb is about six feet. we're standing about four to five right now. you can still conduct a lot of business at six feet, but sometimes it's hard to control for that. and it is kind of off-putting where. we may

kate larsen caught up with her in a window. >> reporter: dede is a san francisco photographer.cializes in fine art and family and newborn photos but the coronavirus inspired her to switch up her style. >> can you open the window more. >> reporter: in order to shoot at a safe social distance, she started photographing families through their windows. >> come closer to the windows. nice, good. >> reporter: she scheduled shoots every day all for free during the three week shelter in place. >> i hope it remind you on the time when it was bad but more about the times when you were never closer with your family at home. my kids. we have never closer as right now and very tough and challenging but still very close. >> reporter: some of the photos extend beyond the window pane. dede photographed a nurse outside the front door. >> i'm so excited about the project and this picture is so, i know i will be part of something big. >> we're all taking pictures on our iphone but something about that outside perspective and t beautiful photographic qualities she puts with it that really inspires

kate larsen abc7 news. >>> one of the most common pieces of advice to stop the coronavirus pandemic isur hands and do it often, but how does soap actually inactivate coronaviruses? julie yu from the exploratorium demonstrated it on midday live using a soap bubble. here's her explanation in less than one minute. >> i'm going to poke this soap film with my dry pinky, and what do you notice? it pops. >> it pops like a bubble. >> it pops like a bubble, right? so coronavirus, if it's on a surface, once it dries, it will pop and that's actually when you're hearing about how long does it last on surfaces, we're really waiting for it to dry out, and eventually it will dry out and become inactivated. this time i'm going to wet my finger and place it through the bubble. what do you notice? >> it's not popping. >> okay. >> it's not popping, and so you probably heard that coronavirus travels in respiratory droplets. it actually requires moisture in order to stay activated, so you can see that moist environments leave the virus active for longer. so i still have a wet finger but now it's alcohol we

abc7 news reporter kate larsen caught up with her today on one of her window shoots. >> didi von balkn francisco photographer. she specializes in fine art family and newborn photos, but the coronavirus has inspired her to switch up her style. >> can you open the window more? >> in order shoot at a safe social distance, didi started photographing families through their windows. >> come closer to the window. okay. nice. good. >> she started the project a week ago and has scheduled shoots every day, all for free during the three-week shelter in place. >> i hope it reminds you on the times where it was bad, but more about the times where you were never closer with your family at home. my kids, we've never been closer than right now. it's very tough and challenging, but still very close. >> some of the photos extend beyond the window pane. didi photographed a ucsf nurse this week outside the family's front door. >> it's a historic picture for sure. i'm so excited about the project. and this picture, i know i will be part of something big. >> we're all taking pictures on our iphones as we g

in san francisco, i'm kate larsen, abc7 news. >> all right, kate. >>> in novato today, school district employees were packing hundreds of meals for children. classes have been canceled into april, but the meals are available to anyone in novato under the age of 18. the district's food service director says it's important the meals are fresh. >> today's a rice chicken bowl with a fresh salad. tomorrow we're making meatballs from scratch with a really great raw ground beef. and we're using fresh local bakery from sonoma called the basket lunch erie to make sure we're continuing to support local bakeries. rious locationsr st members delivering to some neighborhoods. >>> with a shelter in place in effect for most of the bay area, we are seeing the effects. sky 7 is live over a farmer's market in the castro district of san francisco. farmers markets are allowed to stay open during the shelter in place order since they are a source of food, but people are expected to maintain a safe social distance from one another. and as you can see in these pictures, it looks like most people seem to be c

live at the cruise terminal in san francisco, i'm kate larsen, abc7 news. >> kate, thank you. and when we find out when the grand princess cruise ship is docking in san francisco, we'll send an alert through the abc7 news app, download the app now and customize your settings so that you'll get breaking news alerts for the stories and places you're interested in. >>> in santa clara county, health officials have confirmed three new cases of coronavirus bringing the total there to 14. two patients are close contacts of an existing case and are in isolation at home. the third new patient is hospitalized, and it's not clear how he got the virus. the department of veterans affairs has its first coronavirus patient. the patient is isolated at the v.a. medical center in palo alto and was taken there by request on monday. menlo school is closed for the week because a staff member had contact with a relative who has tested positive for coronavirus. and to the south now, los angeles declared a state of emergency as six new cases of coronavirus were declared there. also in l.a. today, fed

. >> and kate larsen is live with the latest. >> reporter: well, originally that cruise ship was supposed to come back to port here in san francisco on saturday morning and then this morning princess announced that it was going to be returning here to san francisco tomorrow. s frciti of tho ten minutes, we've learned that the previous leg of this cruise, there were actually three diag with coronavirus, subsequently not just the two reported this morning. and we've learned that people on the cruise ship are reporting flu-like symptoms. >> kate, thank you. we'll get to this news conference that the governor is holding right now to talk about coronavirus. let's listen. >> in the last few hours it was confirmed in placer county that individual passed away. a number of cases in the state of california is 53. and i want to reinforce that 53, i've read a lot, seen a lot, been a lot of media reports about the number of people that tested positive in the state of california. that number as of today is 53. i'll remind you that includes 24 individuals that were repatriated in the state of california