“We’ve had parents of infants who are 1 week old say, ‘Oh I don’t want to come in; I don’t think it’s safe,’” said Dr. Scott Needle, a pediatrician in Sacramento, California. “We’ve had to tell them, ‘Look, for a 1-week-old baby just out of the hospital, there are a lot of things you need to check that could be much more dangerous than coronavirus at this point.’”

When COVID-19 arrived, identifying and tracking everyone with the virus was all but impossible for local health departments because of flawed tests and narrow guidelines for who should get tested. Compounding the problem was a beleaguered public health infrastructure.

Because Smith had a prior conviction, his public defender, Eric Quandt, had been unable to secure a plea deal despite asserting that Smith had already served the likely maximum sentence for his first-degree burglary charge while awaiting trial.

Díaz said he is careful in his work and anxious to make sure he doesn’t bring home the virus that would hurt his husband. Every night, immediately after arriving home, he removes all his clothes and goes straight to the shower. He said his outlook is positive: “I am 54, but I am healthy, I do not have preexisting conditions.”