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XCoronavirus Updates: Bars, Gyms and Theaters Close Countywide
Tami Abdollah was dot.LA's senior technology reporter. She was previously a national security and cybersecurity reporter for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. She's been a reporter for the AP in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times and for L.A.'s NPR affiliate KPCC. Abdollah spent nearly a year in Iraq as a U.S. government contractor. A native Angeleno, she's traveled the world on $5 a day, taught trad climbing safety classes and is an avid mountaineer. Follow her on Twitter.

Los Angeles woke up Monday morning to confront a new reality. Schools are closed. Movie theaters, bars and gyms in the city have been shuttered by order of the mayor. Restaurants are open only for take out and/or delivery. Most offices that are able go remote have done so.
On Sunday, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the state now has 335 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 82 of which have been confirmed as community transmission cases. Six people in the state have so far died from the disease.
The governor also announced a pilot testing partnership with Alphabet-owned biotech firm Verily, which will help the state screen and test potential coronavirus patients — at first — around the Bay Area.
Countywide, Bars, Gyms and Theaters Close, Restaurants Move to Takeout/Delivery Only
As the cases of novel coronavirus continue to rise, Los Angeles County officials announced the closure of all bars, gyms and movie theaters while ordering restaurants to move to takeout/delivery only. The directive applies to every city in the county and unincorporated areas. The move follows the same actions taken by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Sunday, altering how millions live and work daily.
Meanwhile, 25 new cases of novel coronavirus were confirmed in the county. Two of those individuals are hospitalized, said Barbara Ferrer, county public health director. That brings the total of cases to 94 — more than double Friday's total.
Residents should be prepared for three more weeks of coronavirus case increases since the virus has a two-week incubation period, she said.
"While we haven't asked entire communities to isolate and stay home, we have asked everyone who's 65 and older to please immediately take steps to stay home and avoid being in public spaces at all times," Ferrer said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom called for home isolation for those over 65 years old on Sunday.
Asked if residents should expect that L.A. will take shelter-at-home measures that several Bay Area counties have taken, Ferrer said, "at this point, we don't have the same trajectory as they have up north and we're doing everything we can, in hopes that we can slow the spread enough not to be issuing orders for whole communities to quarantine."
To prepare for the onslaught of cases expected, local hospitals are canceling elective surgeries, discharging patients who don't require acute care and restricting visitors.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said his deputies have significantly curbed arrests and courts have told jurors not to come in. Meanwhile, county buildings have been closed to the public.
"One thing I just want to clarify is COVID-19 knows no boundaries, and no limits in terms of spread," Ferrer said.
The county is preparing to release a list of cases in each city and community later today.
"Just because you don't see a case in your community on the list today, doesn't mean number one, that you're not going to see a case there tomorrow. And more importantly, doesn't mean that there aren't people in your community who in fact, maybe, maybe infected with COVID-19 and just haven't been diagnosed."
Ferrer estimated so far about 600 people have been tested in the county, a sharp increase from Friday.
"We're in a new stage of the response and everybody needs to help us," she said. "Everyone must take precautions in everything you do."
- Reporting by Rachel Uranga. Follow her at @racheluranga
1:31 p.m.: Dow Drops Sharply, Bay Area Issues Shelter-at-Home
The Dow set another grim record Monday, dropping over 12% and surpassing Thursday's drop as the worst since the 1987 "Black Monday" stock market crash.
The President announced new social distancing guidelines, in place for 15 days, to address the crisis, that included asking the public to refrain from gatherings of 10 or more people, closing schools, and avoiding travel. He added the crisis could last until July or August.
Several Bay Area cities, including hard-hit San Jose, issued directives asking their citizens to stay at home unless it is absolutely necessary to leave.
In San Francisco, mayor London Breed ordered gyms, bars and dine-in restaurants to shut down, and asked residents to stay in their homes unless they need to be in public for "essential activities" such as grocery-shopping or going to the bank.
According to the mayor's statement, essential activities include:
- Tasks essential to maintain health and safety, such as obtaining medicine or seeing a doctor;
- Getting necessary services or supplies for themselves or their family or household members, such as getting food and supplies, pet food, and getting supplies necessary for staying at home;
- Engaging in outdoor activity, such as walking, hiking, or running provided that you maintain at least six feet of social distancing;
- Performing work providing essential services at an Essential Business or Essential Government function (defined below);
- Caring for a family member in another household;
- Caring for elderly, minors, dependents, persons with disabilities, or other vulnerable persons.
12:34 p.m.: Santa Monica Closes Bars, Restaurants, Gyms and Arcades
Following L.A.'s announcement, the city of Santa Monica says it will close all restaurants, nightclubs and bars for two weeks to dine-in customers. Businesses will still be allowed to prepare food for take-out, delivery or drive through. According to the directive:
The following are exempt from this Order: (i) cafeterias, commissaries, and restaurants located within hospitals, nursing homes, or similar facilities; (ii) grocery stores; (iii) pharmacies; and (iv) food banks.
Movie theaters, gyms, bowling alleys and arcades will also be closed, the city announced.
12:10 pm: Actor Idris Elba Says He Has Coronavirus
Actor Idris Elba announced on Twitter Monday morning that he's tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The Emmy-winning actor encouraged viewers to take the virus seriously and "don't freak out.
"This is real," he said.
This morning I tested positive for Covid 19. I feel ok, I have no symptoms so far but have been isolated since I found out about my possible exposure to the virus. Stay home people and be pragmatic. I will keep you updated on how I'm doing 👊🏾👊🏾 No panic. pic.twitter.com/Lg7HVMZglZ
— Idris Elba (@idriselba) March 16, 2020
Meanwhile, Variety has reported that an employee at Hulu's Santa Monica's office has come down with the virus as well.
The floors that those Hulu offices take up in that office building are now closed and undergoing a deep cleaning. Other Hulu offices in the area are not technically closed, but staffers will still be asked to work from home going forward. Most employees began working from home last week.
Variety has been keeping a running list of movie and television productions shut down or delayed by pandemic here.
11:54p.m.: Mayor Garcetti Calls on Angelenos to Avoid 'Panic Buying'
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti stood with the owners of several L.A. supermarket chains Monday morning and asked city residents to refrain from panic buying.
"There's no reason to make a run on the supermarkets," Garcetti said. "To a buy so much food for a month or for even for months has a consequence, not just for you, but for your loved ones, for grocery workers, and, of course, for those who are most vulnerable and who need food right now."
Garcetti said supply lines have not been effected by the pandemic and urged residents to buy only for a week or so in order to keep food available for those who need it, and to avoid long lines that could spread the novel coronavirus.
"Hoarding is hurting our most vulnerable Angelenos," he added.
10:05 a.m.: U.S. Has Entered Recession, UCLA Economists Say
The U.S. economy has entered into a recession that will last through the end of September, economists for the University of California, Los Angeles said on Monday in a news release.
The update of their earlier March 2020 forecast — revised at the last minute before its release last week — notes that the economic expansion that started July 2009 is now over. The repeated revisions are indicative of how quickly things are changing as the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, spreads through dozens of countries, upending world markets, and closing down cities. Read more >>
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Tami Abdollah was dot.LA's senior technology reporter. She was previously a national security and cybersecurity reporter for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. She's been a reporter for the AP in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times and for L.A.'s NPR affiliate KPCC. Abdollah spent nearly a year in Iraq as a U.S. government contractor. A native Angeleno, she's traveled the world on $5 a day, taught trad climbing safety classes and is an avid mountaineer. Follow her on Twitter.
Rachel Uranga is dot.LA's Managing Editor, News. She is a former Mexico-based market correspondent at Reuters and has worked for several Southern California news outlets, including the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Los Angeles Daily News. She has covered everything from IPOs to immigration. Uranga is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and California State University Northridge. A Los Angeles native, she lives with her husband, son and their felines.
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LA Tech ‘Moves’: Adtech Firm OpenX Lures New SVP, Getlabs and DISQO Tap New VPs
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.
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Advertising technology company OpenX Technologies appointed Geoff Wolinetz as senior vice president of demand platforms. Wolinetz was most recently senior vice president of growth at Chalice Custom Algorithms.
Remote health care infrastructure provider Getlabs hired Jaime LaFontaine as its vice president of business development. L.A.-based LaFontaine was previously director of business development for Alto Pharmacy.
Customer experience platform DISQO tapped Andrew Duke as its vice president of product, consumer applications. Duke previously served as Oracle’s senior director of strategy and product.
Media company Wheelhouse DNA named Michael Senzer as senior manager of Additive Creative, its newly launched digital talent management division. Senzer was previously vice president of business development at TalentX Entertainment.
Fintech lending platform Camino Financial hired Dana Rainford as vice president of people and talent. Rainford previously served as head of human resources at Westwood Financial.
Kourtney Day returned to entertainment company Jim Henson’s Creature Shop as senior director of business development. Day mostly recently served as business development manager for themed entertainment at Solomon Group.
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
California Debates Data Privacy as SCOTUS Allows Abortion Bans
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
The United States Supreme Court called a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks constitutional on Friday, overturning the country’s founding abortion rights decision Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court also upheld that there cannot be any restriction on how far into a pregnancy abortion can be banned.
When Politico first broke the news months before SCOTUS’s final ruling, a slew of bills entered Congress to protect data privacy and prevent the sale of data, which can be triangulated to see if a person has had an abortion or if they are seeking an abortion and have historically been used by antiabortion individuals who would collect this information during their free time.
Democratic lawmakers led by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo called on Google to stop collecting location data. The chair of the Federal Trade Commission has long voiced plans for the agency to prevent data collection. A week after the news, California Assembly passed A.B. 2091, a law that would prevent insurance companies and medical providers from sharing information in abortion-related cases (the state Senate is scheduled to deliberate on it in five days).
These scattered bills attempt to do what health privacy laws do not. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, was established in 1996 when the Internet was still young and most people carried flip phones. The act declared health institutions were not allowed to share or disclose patients’ health information. Google, Apple and a slew of fertility and health apps are not covered under HIPAA, and fertility app data can be subpoenaed by law enforcement.
California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (or CMIA), goes further than HIPAA by encompassing apps that store medical information under the broader umbrella of health institutions that include insurance companies and medical providers. And several how-tos on protecting data privacy during Roe v. Wade have been published in the hours of the announcement.
But reproductive rights organizations say data privacy alone cannot fix the problem. According to reproductive health policy think tank Guttmacher Institute, the closest state with abortion access to 1.3 million out-of-state women of reproductive age is California. One report from the UCLA Center on Reproductive Health, Law and Policy estimates as many as 9,400 people will travel to Los Angeles County every year to get abortions, and that number will grow as more states criminalize abortions.
Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.
This Week in ‘Raises’: Miracle Miles Lands $100M, Fintech Startup Tapcheck Hauls $20M
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.
In this week’s edition of “Raises”: An L.A.-based footwear company closed $100 million to boost its expansion into the global market, while there were Series A raises for local fintech, biotech and space startups.
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Venture Capital
Miracle Miles Group, an L.A.-based footwear company, raised a $100 million Series A funding round co-led by IDG Capital and Sequoia Capital China.
Deno, a San Diego-based software development startup, raised a $21 million Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital.
Tapcheck, an L.A.-based financial wellness startup that helps workers access their paycheck before payday, raised a $20 million Series A funding round led by PeakSpan Capital.
Gemelli Biotech, an L.A.- and Raleigh, N.C.-based biotech startup focused on gastrointestinal diseases, raised a $19 million Series A financing round led by Blue Ox Healthcare Partners.
Epsilon3, an L.A.-based space operations software startup, raised a $15 million Series A funding round led by Lux Capital.
Global Premier Fertility, an Irvine-based fertility company, raised an $11 million Series C funding round led by Triangle Capital Corporation.
Vamstar, an L.A.- and London-based medical supply chain platform, raised a $9.5 million Series A funding round co-led by Alpha Intelligence Capital and Dutch Founders Fund.
System 9, an L.A.-based digital asset market-making firm focused on the crypto altcoin market, raised a $5.7 million Series A funding round led by Capital6 Eagle.
Myria, an L.A.-based online marketplace of luxury goods and services, raised a $4.3 million seed round from Y Combinator, Backend Capital, Cathexis Ventures and other angel investors.
Binarly, an L.A.-based firmware cybersecurity company, raised a $3.6 million seed round from WestWave Capital and Acrobator Ventures.
Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Decerry Donato (decerrydonato@dot.la).
- Vamstar Raises $9.5M For Its Medical Supply Chain Platform - dot.LA ›
- MaC Venture Capital Eyes $200 Million For Its Second Fund - dot.LA ›
- Los Angeles Venture Capital News - dot.LA ›
Decerry Donato is dot.LA's Editorial Fellow. Prior to that, she was an editorial intern at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.