Coronavirus

Local businesses continue to struggle as the stay at home order remains in place. The city of Palm Springs is working to help businesses impacted by the shutdown by launching a new COVID-19 financial aid hotline: (760) 323-8273.  Businesses can also email psadvisor@palmspringsca.gov. We’re told people can call or email seven days a week and

In 2020, most small businesses were told to close doors or limit customers. Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed $4 billion in state spending to help them survive 2021.  Newsom is expected to release his new budget proposal on Friday. However, on Tuesday he offered a preview of the new state spending aimed at creating jobs

Local funeral homes are operating near capacity as they struggle to keep up with a high number of deaths in a short time related to the coronavirus pandemic. News Channel 3’s Dani Romero has more on how it has become taxing on everyone.   “We couldn’t have the church service, we couldn’t have this, we couldn’t

For Jeff Taylor, a Palm Springs resident, the coronavirus pandemic is not his first. He’s a survivor of the 1980s AIDS crisis, too. “It’s kind of the same thing, deja vu all over again,” Taylor said. “I’m alive because of the advances in science in the HIV pandemic so I’m a true believer in better living from chemistry.” Taylor is considered immunocompromised.

Riverside County officially surpassed 200,000 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic in March. We are now the 8th county to reach 200,000 cases in the United States, just behind Dallas County. Cases as of Jan. 4 It took Riverside County less than a month to double its amount of cases. The county reached

As vaccine distribution continues at Riverside County hospitals, officials say about 50% of local healthcare workers have declined the vaccine so far.  Hospital and public officials met last week  to strategize how best to distribute the un-used doses. Vaccine doubts swirling among health care workers comes as a surprise to researchers who assumed hospital staff

A local family is in mourning after the tragic coronavirus-related death of a pregnant mother of five on Christmas Day. Just a week before before her death, Maria Elena Vargas had just turned 35th birthday and was 7-months pregnant with her sixth child on the way. Maria Elena Vargas Vargas’s younger sister, Clarissa, spoke exclusively

New Cases (Since Thursday, Dec. 31) As it stands with the glitch, Riverside County reported 17,683 new cases since Thursday, bringing the total to 198,236. The county did not publish data over the holiday and weekend. On Thursday, the county also reported a glitch in gathering cases, this has since been resolved. The Coachella Valley

Sen. Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, today introduced legislation seeking to prohibit state agencies from revoking business licenses based on violations stemming from coronavirus public health lockdowns. State Senator Melissa Melendez “Business owners are draining their finances to comply with COVID regulations, and the governor has continued to change the rules with no data to support

San Bernardino officially became the 6th county in the United States to pass 200,000 coronavirus cases. Courtesy of John Hopkins University On December 4, San Bernardino County reached 100,000 cases. Over the past month, the county has doubled that following numerous record-breaking days. The county has reported 188,436 cases are resolved According to the county’s

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California reported on Friday a record 585 coronavirus deaths in single day. The California Department of Public Health announced the most recent coronavirus statistics in the state, including an additional 47,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in one day. While Riverside County did publish data today due to the holiday, the state’s dashboard

Good news to start out the new year. We’ve had a number of residents reach out to confirm that they’ve started to get their $600 COVID relief payments in their bank accounts. The official payment date is January 4, 2021, however, according to the IRS, the initial direct deposit payments were expected to begin arriving

As 2020 comes to a close, Riverside County health officials took a moment to remember the lives lost during the pandemic over the past 9 months. A total of 1,985 county residents have died due to coronavirus. In November, Saruwatari reported that COVID-19 is the third leading cause of death in Riverside County in 2020.

STATE GLITCH CAUSES UNDERREPORTED CASES A County Official told News Channel 3 there was an issue gathering data from the state which caused the new-case data to be “severely underreported” today. Riverside County health officials are working to correct the issue and the correct figures will be reported as soon as the issue is resolved.

In these coronavirus times, small valley businesses are looking for new, creative ways to reach more customers. In Palm Desert, a new initiative is being launched to encourage shopping local – it’s called the #StepUpToTheTablePalmDesert challenge. It’s the city’s latest shot at driving sales during the state’s stay-at-home orders. The new hashtag is sweeping social