Catholic senior living facilities are taking aggressive measures to protect residents from coronavirus.

Ms. Aguila and her husband are undocumented immigrants, but their children are U.S. citizens. If the children catch the coronavirus, she said, they will have health care. But as far as her husband and herself, Ms. Aguila said their only plan is just to not get sick.

“The situation continues to be very, very difficult in the hospitals of northern Italy because of the lack of intensive care units,” Dr. Renata Ghelardi said, reporting that the hospital system in Bergamo “is in a state of collapse.”

Father Baker, president of Xavier High School in Micronesia, knew how strongly the school featured in the lives of his students, but he was not prepared for the reaction after he called students together and shared the bad news that the school was ending early.

Throughout the United States, thousands of women religious took on nursing duties in hospitals or clinics and went into private homes to offer food, medicine, comfort and even housecleaning to families affected by the Spanish flu.

Indians in several states said the situation has been exacerbated by poor preparation by state governments and conflicting messages from central and state governments.