Show SearchLIVE CALIFORNIACoronavirus live updates: L.A. County death toll at 21; Trump letter suggests eagerness to relax federal guidelinesThe latest updates from our reporters in California and around the worldA worker in Shenyang, China, sprays disinfectant at a theater that’s expected to reopen.  A worker in Shenyang, China, sprays disinfectant inside a movie theater that is expected to reopen. (AFP via Getty Images)MARCH 26, 20201:31 PMThe Los Angeles Times will provide around-the-clock updates on COVID-19 from across Southern California and around the world.Read our coverage from last week hereTracking the coronavirus in California: latest numbers | Support our journalism with a subscriptionHave a question about coronavirus? Send us your questions here. | You also can sign up for our newsletterSee latest photo gallery1:24 PM MARCH 26FacebookTwitterShow more sharing optionsL.A. County reports 9 new coronavirus-related deaths as toll reaches 21By  Anita Chabria, Alex Wigglesworth, Priscella Vega, Chris MegerianNine more people have died after contracting the coronavirus in Los Angeles County, bringing the death toll to 21, public health officials announced Thursday.The county has now reported 1,216 confirmed cases of the virus, including 41 in Long Beach and nine in Pasadena, officials said.The number of coronavirus cases in California has surged past 3,000, and officials say the COVID-19 growth rate is such that it could overwhelm hospitals in the coming days and weeks.Read more >>>2:13 PM MARCH 26FacebookTwitterShow more sharing optionsAs demand for a government relief grows, L.A. restaurants form a united frontBy Garrett SnyderThe push to organize began in earnest early last week with two meetings: one held at the Atwater Village pizzeria Hail Mary, the other a conference call organized by Ann Hsing, chief operating officer of Santa Monica restaurants Pasjoli and Dialogue.A few days earlier, Mayor Eric Garcetti had ordered dine-in service suspended at Los Angeles restaurants to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus. The directive effectively shut down thousands of sit-down restaurants. With revenue from takeout and delivery unlikely to keep businesses afloat, a handful of chef, owners, and other restaurants workers gathered to assess the situation.“Originally it was just a forum for chefs and owners to express their concerns, share knowledge, get everyone on the same page because we’re all reeling,” said Kristel Arabian, a former chef and owner of a hospitality recruitment company who attended the meeting at Hail Mary. “We talked about rent concerns, taking care of employee payroll, business interruption insurance.”Read more >>>1:31 PM MARCH 26FacebookTwitterShow more sharing optionsL.A. Convention Center to be used for quarantine of patients released from hospitalsBy Richard WintonThe Los Angeles Convention Center will be pressed into service as a quarantine facility, officials say.At a news conference Thursday, county public health officials said the L.A. Convention Center would be used for the quarantine and isolation of COVID-19 patients who had been released from hospitals, those who don’t need acute medical treatment but could still be contagious.1:21 PM MARCH 26FacebookTwitterShow more sharing optionsCheck out the Las Vegas Strip, without the 42 million visitorsBy Jay JonesThe Bellagio Fountains have stopped dancing. The Venetian’s gondolas are docked and empty. The Welcome to Las Vegas sign welcomes far fewer visitors, and urges them to spread out 6 feet apart. Electronic signs at casinos tell you to wash your hands instead of touting headliner shows.The usually throbbing entertainment city has come to a standstill. Residents are following stay-at-home rules, and visitors have left or canceled their plans to come. Last week the governor closed its famous casinos, restaurants and businesses that last year drew 42.5 million visitors.Read more >>>12:56 PM MARCH 26FacebookTwitterShow more sharing optionsAngels star Mike Trout talks about being stuck at home like everybody elseBy Maria TorresBaseball fans aren’t the only ones becoming restless as they wait for the coronavirus outbreak to be stemmed and shutdowns to be lifted.Angels star Mike Trout and his teammates are finding ways to battle the stay-at-home blues too.“I’m going crazy,” Trout said Thursday in an interview broadcast by MLB Network. “I’m driving my wife crazy. [Pitcher] Michael Kohn is staying with me and I think my wife’s about to kick us both out of the house.”Read more>>>12:56 PM MARCH 26FacebookTwitterShow more sharing optionsLakers’ LeBron James says a layoff is not good for his 35-year-old bodyBy Tania GanguliLeBron James doesn’t want to hear any more about how a break in the schedule because of the coronavirus pandemic might be good for his 35-year-old body.“It’s actually the opposite for me,” James said. “My body when we stopped playing was like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ ”James made the comments during a nearly hourlong podcast of “Road Trippin’” released on Uninterrupted, his digital platform. He was a guest on the podcast, which regularly features his former teammates Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye, along with Spectrum SportsNet studio host Allie Clifton.Read more>>>12:54 PM MARCH 26FacebookTwitterShow more sharing options‘All my income is gone’: Tenants, landlords voice fears as rents come dueBy James F. PeltzTenants and landlords throughout Southern California are bracing for next Wednesday, when April rents are due just as thousands of people have lost their jobs and most business have been shut down as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.Government officials have provided certain protections against evictions for renters and limited mortgage relief for landlords affected by the virus. Some landlords say they are trying to work out deferred payment plans with tenants to make up for any missed rental payments.But stress, fear and confusion remain, especially in Los Angeles County, where 55% of residents are renters and rents are among the highest in the nation.Here’s how a few tenants and landlords are grappling with the crisis:Read more>>>12:51 PM MARCH 26FacebookTwitterShow more sharing optionsVentura County cases steadily increase, reaching 50By Andrew J. CampaEleven new confirmed COVID-19 cases pushed Ventura County’s total to 50 as of Wednesday evening, health officials reported.The new benchmark came less than three weeks after the county’s first confirmation on March 6 and demonstrated the spread of the coronavirus outside the area’s biggest hot spot.Simi Valley continues to lead Ventura County in cases with 12, but only one of the latest 11 confirmed cases was recorded in the city.Three new cases were identified in Camarillo, which moved that city’s total to eight, while Thousand Oaks and Ventura jumped by two, upping their counts to seven and six, respectively.Read more>>>12:40 PM MARCH 26FacebookTwitterShow more sharing optionsLouisiana caseload surpasses 2,300By Associated PressBATON ROUGE, La. — The number of known coronavirus cases in Louisiana jumped by more than 500 Thursday, surpassing 2,300, with 86 deaths, the state Health Department said.A 17-year-old was among the latest deaths, the first fatality in the state of someone younger than 18.The higher infection numbers reflect the increase in testing. In Thursday’s figures, the number tested rose nearly 6600, to 18,000.Coronavirus has now been found in 53 of 64 parishes, although Gov. John Bel Edwards has said he believes it’s present in every parish, even as statewide mandates banning crowds and closing businesses continue.“We won’t see the impact of the distancing and the closing of schools and people staying home for a couple of weeks. ... We are not near the peak of this yet,” said Dr. Catherine O’Neal, an infectious disease expert and chief medical officer at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge.12:35 PM MARCH 26FacebookTwitterShow more sharing optionsIOC reportedly hopes to reschedule Olympics in midsummer 2021By David WhartonThough the head of the International Olympic Committee has preached the need for flexibility in rescheduling the 2020 Tokyo Games, one of his top aides is pointing at a conventional date in the summer of 2021.John Coates told the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri on Thursday that his IOC coordination commission, working closely with Tokyo organizers, hoped to create an opening in July-August.“We want to more or less finalize the dates in four weeks’ time,” Coates was quoted as saying.Read more>>>12:35 PM MARCH 26FacebookTwitterShow more sharing optionsFrance death toll jumps 27% in a dayBy Associated PressPARIS — France’s virus death toll is continuing to climb fast, increasing 27% in one day Thursday to 1,696 victims, including a 16-year-old.The overall number of confirmed cases grew 15% over the previous day to more than 29,000, according to national health agency chief Jerome Salomon.But he acknowledged that the real number was much higher because France was only testing people with severe symptoms. He said doctors estimated another 42,000 people who had sought medical advice for milder symptoms recently also had the virus.Salomon did not provide details about the 16-year-old who died, citing medical privacy. He noted that thousands of people with the virus in France had recovered and expressed hope that confinement measures would start bringing the number of deaths down soon.France has reported the fifth-highest number of deaths from the virus of any country. France’s government has come under criticism for its limited number of tests, and for waiting until last week to impose nationwide confinement measures even as the virus spread rapidly in neighboring Italy and Spain.