Likely run oz as early as tonight. No word yet on a new deal which is leaving businesses worried the wait will force them to close. For 60 years, the millbrae pancake house has been an institution. But like millions of others, the iconic familyowned business is in a world of hurt. This is the worst. This is the worst. Were doing everything we can to survive this. Owner erin burk has cut 80 of her staff. More than 30 employees laid off. This is not how we want to end this. Burk tried to apply for a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program but couldnt. The computer was grid locked. You couldnt get through. It froze. There was no way in. Five days later, her application was accepted, but her loan still not approved. So far in april, business is 90 down. Its even worse for joe field, owner of a concordbased comic bookstore who we profiled last week. In lost sales at this point were approaching 1,000. 17 days after filing for a loan, wells fargo told him were not ready to open the applications for you. Wait a few more days. Same situation for pacifica coffee shop owner josh kissler, who received this message from his bank saying were at the mercy of the sba when it comes to a timeline. Iowa heard nothing, not one word. I spoke with sba district director julie klaus. How much longer are these Small Business owners expected to wait . The goal is from once the application is approved and the loan is closed, a goal is to get the funds dispersed in ten days or less. We know the system is overwhelmed. Do you think that expectation is realistic . We are seeing more wait times, unfortunately. We are throwing every available resource we can find at this. Close to 55,000 loans under the Paycheck Protection Program have been approved in california. Totalling more than 20 billion. California ranks second in the nation, trailing behind texas. Millions like burk all hoping to make it on that list. We are hoping to survive this. Fight for this. Congressional leaders are hopeful theyll reach a deal eventually, but nothing is on the table yet, dan. Stephanie, now we understand major banks are working on a plan. If the money does run out, is there a dollar figure, some estimate that will miami beach the demand . Rich hunt, the president and ceo of Consumers Bankers Association says upwards of 1 trillion is what will be needed to meet the demand acrossunw,ha course is another question. Dan, well keep a close eye on this. Sure will. Okay, thank you so much, stephanie. Abc7 is partnering with iheart media to support local businesses hit so hard during this pandemic. Go to abc7news. Com to find resources. Just click on support the bay. As we mentioned, federal stimulus checks are arriving in Bank Accounts this week. Paper checks will be mailed starting next week. Those checks will have President Trumps name printed on them. Its the first time a president s name has appeared on any irs payment, either refund or stimulus checks from past crises. Adults can receive up to 1200 and up to 500 per child. The amount is based on the income listed on your most recent tax return. You can go to abc7news. Com to calculate how much youll receive and when. Just look for this story that youll seeing here on abc7news. Com. The first step on Governor Newsoms plan to reopen california is to expand testing and Contact Tracing, identifying who has coronavirus and who may have come into contact with an infected person. San francisco plans to do the most comprehensive Contact Tracing anywhere in the country. And abc7 News Reporter kris reyes is live to explain how that process will work. Good evening. Well, as the number of covid19 cases have gone up, you can imagine how complicated that task. Today mayor london breed announced Public Private partnerships that will allow the city to do widespread investigations. Our goal is to chase down all of those people and to either help them if they are covid and get them into quarantine, or to basically give them the relief that they are not infected. To date, 50 people have been trained through partnerships with ucsf, and tech company demagi to do extensive contact investigations that include introduce and regular communication with those who have come into contact with a covid19 positive patient. In two weeks, the city plans to have 150 people trained from government workers to librarians to med students. We will continue to it rate as we learn from this early period in terms of how to improve, what responses that were getting. We will expand our languages right now. Its in english and spanish. We are working rapidly to implement a cantonese. Dr. Koufax and his team emphasizing that the investigations will be voluntary and will not question anyones immigration status. If people feel and see the value of this work, i want will succeed. The mayor said the success of the Contact Tracing project will be a crucial tool that will help lead the city back to normalcy. But she warned residents that the city must move slowly. We will get through this, but it is going to require time, and its going to require patience. Right now the project is in the testing phase. There is no set timeline on how they plan to grow this, only that they eventually want to employee thousands of people and to use the program across the region. Live in San Francisco, im kris reyes for abc7 news. Thank you very much, kris. There is new coronavirus testing site. The state will do drivethrough tests starting friday at the corner of seventh and brannon. You will need an appointment first and be screened for symptoms using verilys covid19 website. Verily is a division of google and operates several test sites in the bay area. This evening, San Francisco topped one thousand coronavirus cases. Thats up 26 from earlier today. We also saw rising cases in alameda, contra costa and santa clara counties where cases today surpassed 1700. The bay area is now 5,738 total cases. And for viewers further north, Mendocino County reports four cases. All those people have recovered and lake county has a total of five cases. We are charting the total number of local cases on to this graph here so we can see the trend. This includes data for 14 counties, the bay area and beyond. And as we see the curve klatten, emergency room doctors around the bay area are pleading with patients dont be afraid toeek medi ass amidoutbreak. Nthonyas this stor youll see only here on abc7. Were seeing patients come in with strokes that have been delayed for several days. People sitting at home with appendicitis for five or six days. The director of emergency medicine for John Muir Health dr. Rodriguez says his hospitals have seen an alarming drop in the number of patients coming in for serious noncovid19 related issues. People with concerning sounding chest pain or heart attacks that are waiting to seek care until the last possible moment. Because they think the hospitals are overwhelmed that they dont want to come to the hospital. Rodriguez told us the failure to act quickly for time sensitive illnesses and injuries is putting some patients at greater risk than even the coronavirus. And Bay Area HospitalOfficials Say the early shortage of personal protective gear for staff and patients has largely subsided. Sutter healths Ashley Borman told us whether you have broken your arm or have multiple Ongoing Health conditions, people should feel reassured and safe when coming to Sutter Health emergency departments. Hospital officials concede the ongoing fear may stem from earlier reports that Emergency Rooms were either overwhelmed with covid19 patients or gearing up for a tremendous surge that hasnt materialized in the bay area. We have not seen a surge thus far. And i do think the credit goes to our local and state leaders, that we have been sheltering in place. We started it right before we expected a big surge. And i think we really dodged a bullet there. Dr. Noble says californias early shelter order really did buy these hospitals time to prepare for a possible future surge. At the same time, they want the public to know that these hospitals are ready to treat those with serious conditions while still protecting them from covid19. In concord, laura anthony, abc7 news. Since the coronavirus pandemic began, calls to crisis hotlines have increased dramatically. In fact, in some bay area counties have have almost doubled from people worried about their health, their families and their jobs. Eric thomas reports now from the east bay. Life before coronavirus was stressful enough to keep crisis and Suicide Prevention hotlines busy. But now the virus is taking an even bigger toll on our mental health. We were previously receiving about 100 to 120 calls per day, and last week every single day we had over 200 calls per day. She says the calls range from people feeling anxious about the spread of the disease or possibly being laid off to people thinking about harming themselves. And the Staff Members answering those calls are also working from home. So they are not immune. Our callers are really dealing with some of the same hardships as my staff is, and thats a place where it puts additional stressors on folks answering the phone calls. And its not just callss. Hol consumption since the start of the coronavirus outbreak is up dramatically as well. By one estimate, alcohol sales jumped 55 in just one week in midmarch as people began selfmedicating as a coping mechanism. But rick knapp who just coauthored this book about recovering after his mom took her life says there s only one way to cope. The key message there is to try to open up to someone who is close to you. Friends and family are the first line of defense in dealing with deep despair, and they have to commit to really listening to the person in crisis. Meanwhile, the Alameda Crisis Support Services group doesnt expect things to slow down any time soon. We anticipate being at this elevated level for months to come. Thats because she says the greatest pain comes after a major event, not during. In walnut creek, eric thomas, abc7 news. And of course there is nothing wrong with asking for help if you need it. Go to abc7news. Com take action to find a list of resources to help you get through this pandemic, including help for mental health, Substance Abuse and other issues. Again, thats abc7news. Com take action. Okay. Were dealing with a pandemic, with shelter in place rules, and tomorrow hundreds will have to deal with a pg e power outage. Yes, 7 on your sides Michael Finney finds out why its happening now. Hell join us live with the story coming up. More help has arrived for local food banks as demand continues to grow. Im chris nguyen with that story coming up. Im Spencer Christian. After almost summerlike warmth today, a cooldown is coming our way, and maybe a little rain. Ill have the accuweather for people with Heart Failure taking entresto, it may lead to a world of possibilities. Entresto is a Heart Failure medicine prescribed by most cardiologists. It was proven superior at helping people stay alive and out of the hospital. Heart failure can change the structure of your heart so it may not work as well. Entresto helps improve your hearts ability to pump blooto by. And with a healthier heart, theres no telling where life may take you. Dont take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. Dont take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if youve had angioedema with an ace or arb. The most serious side effects are angioedema, low Blood Pressure kidney problems, or high blood potassium. Ask your doctor about entresto. Novartis thanks the heroic healthcare workers fighting covid19. Its a sign of the times so many major events not happening. This years marin county fair has been canceled. Check out the graphic the county released with todays announcement. All the animals are wearing masks. The next fair will be in july of 2021. Napa county fair also canceled as well as the contra costa and San Mateo County fairs scheduled in may and june. And across los angeles county, now both workers and customers at essential businesses must wear a mask or some kind of face covering. Last week the city of los angeles made face covers at businesses mandatory. Now its the county. Transit agencies have taken some of the hardest hits from the pandemic and our resulting shelter in place rules. They continue to adapt in order to keep running and keep passengers safe. In the east bay, ac transit is limiting the number of passengers so everyone can safely maintain social distance. The smallest buss will only carry six passengers. Everyone on board is strongly recommended to wear a mask or face covering. In the south bay, vta is putting limits on buses. Light rail trains are running with two cars to make sure there is enough space. Starting today, the San Francisco bay ferry is eliminating four more dailyakndn morning and evening commutes. There is no Weekend Service and no ferries for richmond, harbor bay, pier 41 or south San Francisco. And then there is this. Bart ridership is down 94 lately, and Something Else is way down as well. Crime. No surprise given the lack of ridership. But for the third month in a row, barts overall crime rate decreased. Laptop and cell phone thefts dropped in half. Bart Police Continue to patrol the system and are checking for fare evaders as well. While were talking from getting from point a to point b, here is a live look at drivers crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. Not many drivers. People are driving less, and theyre of course using a lot less gasoline. A aa spokesperson says gasoline demand is at levels not seen since the spring of 1968. Thats more than 50 years ago. Look at aaas chart of gas prices. This red line is this year and it has plummeted past the prices from the last four years. The National Average is 1. 86 a gallon. Who would have thought wed ever see those prices again. The california state average of course is more, 2. 85. Hard to get used to seeing the Golden Gate Bridge that empty during rush hour. The alameda dolphins is investigating hayward nursing home where 13 people have died. A d. A. s Office Spokesperson says the investigation was launched prior to a lawyers announcement this week that families were considering a lawsuit. 41 residents and 26 staff at the gateway care and Rehabilitation Center have tested positive for coronavirus. All 13 people who died were residents. Other than brief statement, facility representatives have not spoken publicly about the deaths. And its not clear when life will return to some degree of normalcy with covid19 cases still increasing, but with any crisis, recovery has to be on the horizon. Abc7 News Reporter david louie talked to an expert on Disaster Recovery about what we should expect. He joins us now live. Hey, david. Hi, li were n strangers to disas,he fo O Organization always responds with a strategy for recovery, and thats the American Red Cross. With years of helping victims to recover from earthquakes, wildland fires, and other disaster, the American Red Cross has developed plans to deal with catastrophic events. The virus pandemic is global in scope, and in many ways unprecedented. Bay area resident Michael Cleman is National Chair of strategic planning. I dont think anyone will go back to the life it was. People will learn to adapt, cleman says. Barring a second wave of infections, americans should see a normal rhythm to life in six months to a year. The shortage of certain grocery items will end when businesses reopen and people go back to work. But some sectors of the economy wont bounce back quickly. One is retail. There are others. People that are involved in travel and tourism, those segments will probably take longer to come back because the Consumer Behavior will be different out of fear and also because were going to see a radical drop in disposable income. Panic, he says, is the greatest weakness to recovery. That can be avoided by clear and focused communications from Service Organizations and government leaders as they articulate plans and as they provide support and resources. He agrees with Governor News somehow schools and restaurants operate in the future will change. How people accept that change will be an important aspect of that recovery. The issue is what really matters and when we get to this new normal will the new normal be more satisfying to us than what we had before. Now cleman points out that urban areas with more balanced economies tend to be more resilient, while small communities with fewer resources and lower incomes face a much longer recovery. Were life working from home, david louie. Abc7 news. Thanks, david. You can read about the plan and share it with your friends. The story is one of our most popular right now on abc7news. Com. Check th