(TNS) - The COVID-19 pandemic has largely been a story of numbers.

Daily reports tell us the number of new cases, the number of hospitalizations, the number of outbreaks and the number of deaths.

The numbers are a dispassionate, point-in-time measure necessary to track the footprint of the deadly coronavirus as it continues its advance into homes, businesses, churches, even hospitals.

But they can't quantify the sense of loss that has pervaded life since the pandemic began six months ago — the loss of intimacy, tradition, confidence, and economic well-being.

(TNS) - The monstrous North Complex fires claimed another seven lives in Butte County, bringing the death toll to 10 on Thursday as search crews looked for 26 people who have not been heard from.

In one case, investigators asked relatives of a missing 16-year-old boy to provide DNA samples, which helped confirm that one of the dead was their loved one, Josiah Williams, of Berry Creek.

“We are at a complete loss for words right now,” his aunt, Bobbie Zedaker, told The Chronicle late Thursday night.

A Northern California nursing home hit hard by a deadly coronavirus outbreak is a highly rated facility. But even with a good track record, it wasn’t prepared to combat the coronavirus when it arrived.

At least 17 people died and dozens of staff members got infected after a housekeeping employee tested positive April 2 and was the first confirmed to have the virus at Stollwood Convalescent Hospital, a nonprofit nursing home in Woodland that received high marks from inspectors and a national accreditation bureau, the Sacramento Bee reported Saturday.

(TNS) - Desperate for face masks, California paid $800 million to a politically connected firm that failed to deliver most of the state's order.

State officials in Mississippi paid nearly $500,000 to a company whose owner was convicted on federal fraud charges after he resold to grocery stores food that was intended for animals or meant to be destroyed.

A grass fire burning northeast of San Francisco destroyed or damaged about a dozen homes Wednesday and prompted evacuations of several streets, fire officials said.

The fire erupted at around 3:30 p.m. near a wildlife center in Suisun City, near Suisun Bay.

(TNS) — As forecasters predict higher-than-normal chances of large fires in Northern California this year — as well as the usual risk of “large significant” burning in Southern California — fire authorities are growing increasingly concerned over their ability to muster a large, healthy force of firefighters in the face of COVID-19.

Realizing that wildfire smoke will steadily impair a firefighter’s immune system, and that traditional base camps can magnify the risk of infection, federal, state and county officials are urging a blitzkrieg approach to wildfires that will rely heavily on the use of aircraft.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom today announced that workers who contract COVID-19 while on the job may be eligible to receive workers’ compensation.

The governor signed an executive order that creates a time-limited rebuttable presumption for accessing workers’ comp benefits applicable to Californians who must work outside of their homes during the stay at home order.

(TNS) — When Jorge Newbery finally got through to his 95-year-old mother, Jennifer, on a video call April 18, she could barely talk or move and her eyes couldn’t focus.

It was the first time he had seen her since California nursing homes shut their doors to visitors a month earlier. Immediately after the video chat, Newbery called the front desk in a panic.

“I said, ‘You gotta get her out, you gotta call 911,’ ” he recalled. “She’s looking like she’s about to die.”

The California Department of Insurance issued a cease and desist order on Omega Vehicle Services LLC, doing business as Delta Auto Protect, and its controlling manager, Charles Seruya, for allegedly selling illegal vehicle service contracts to over twenty California consumers.

The order alleges both Delta Auto Protect and Seruya were not licensed by the CDI and improperly denied claims, illegally sold contracts they did not first file with the department directly to consumers, and used an unapproved backup insurer.

California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund on Monday announced another series of actions designed to support policyholders and workers affected by the COVID-19 crisis, including doubling the size of its newly announced Essential Business Support Fund announced earlier this week to $50 million.

Since the fund was announced last week, State Fund said it has received more than 700 applications for COVID-19 workplace safety support funds. The first several payments, all at the maximum $10,000 reimbursement, were sent to qualified applicants on Monday.