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Tele-Medicine Gets a Boost from Coronavirus The pandemic is changing how we interact with medical professionals. For instance, Medicare and Medicaid have expanded access to tele-health appointments for their members. This means more elderly and low-income people can now get healthcare from practitioners without visiting a clinic or hospital. Reporter: Nina Sparling, KQED State Cuts Deals to Provide Masks to Hospitals California has started to cut its own deals with manufacturers to dramatically increase the number of N-95 and surgical masks it can provide to hospitals and front line workers during the pandemic. Reporter: Katie Orr, KQED Politics Riverside Skilled Nursing Facility Evacuated Staying in Riverside, a skilled nursing facility there that’s had an outbreak of the coronavirus has been evacuated. That after employees didn’t come to work two days in a row. Reporter: Benjamin Purper, KVCR From Inside a Hospital Bracing for a Surge of COVID-19 Patients Medical centers across the state continue to brace for a surge of COVID19 patients. But predictions on when exactly that peak hits keep changing. Now statistical modeling experts say hospitalizations might not crest until mid-May. But the looming surge weighs heavily on the minds of healthcare workers, especially in large public hospitals who serve the neediest patients. An ER nurse at Highland Hospital in Oakland says hasn’t seen the sharp uptick in visits he expected... at least not yet. Reporter: Lesley McClurg, KQED Science