Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
The Newest Disease Detection Tool for Covid and Beyond: Poop
Hundreds of college campuses, cities and counties around California and the U.S. are exploring sewers for the newest data stream to track covid and other infectious diseases. (Anna Maria Barry-Jester, )
San Francisco To Require Vaccines For Indoor Activities: San Francisco will become the first major city in the country to require proof of full vaccination against the coronavirus for a variety of indoor activities, including visiting bars, restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues that serve food or beverages. The mandate takes effect Aug. 20. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle, KQED, AP and CNN.
Schwarzenegger Blasts Anti-Maskers: Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, again lashed out against covid misinformation and people not following health guidance, referring to people not wearing masks as schmucks. “There is a virus here. It kills people and the only way we prevent it is: get vaccinated, wear masks, do social distancing, washing your hands all the time, and not just to think about, ‘Well my freedom is being kind of disturbed here.’ No, screw your freedom," Schwarzenegger said. Read more from USA Today and the Sacramento Bee.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today's national health news, read KHN's Morning Briefing.
More News From Across The State
Bay Area News Group:
Newsom: Unvaccinated Can End Pandemic In A Month. Can They Really?
With COVID-19 infections spiking just as millions of school kids return to classrooms, Gov. Gavin Newsom in recent days has declared that the one in five eligible Californians who have yet to get the shots could end the deadly pandemic in four weeks — simply by rolling up their sleeves for the jab. “If we want to end this pandemic and disease, we can do it in a month,” Newsom said at an Oakland elementary school this week, echoing remarks he’d made the week before in San Bernardino. (Woolfolk, 8/13)
CapRadio:
Governor Newsom Is Mandating Vaccines For Teachers, Health Care Workers. Disability Advocates Say It Should Apply To Caregivers, Too
California health officials are now requiring that people who work in medical settings be fully immunized against COVID-19. That includes employees of hospitals, nursing homes, doctors’ offices, clinics and other medical facilities. But it doesn’t include in-home care workers. Advocates for people with disabilities say workers who provide services to vulnerable patients should also be required to get their shots. (Caiola, 8/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. Teens Are Way 'Ahead Of The Curve' On COVID Vaccinations. Here's Why
San Francisco’s COVID-19 vaccination rates are strong across the board, but one group in particular stands out: teenagers. The most recent data shows 96% of 12-to-17-year-olds in San Francisco have gotten at least one vaccine dose. That group’s vaccination rate as of Aug. 11 was the second-highest in the city, topped only by 65- to 74-year-olds, 99.9% of whom had received at least one dose. (Hwang, 8/12)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento Firefighters Union Opposes COVID Vaccine Mandate
One of the largest labor unions in the city of Sacramento has stated its opposition to a vaccination mandate of all city employees. Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522 said in a letter to Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the City Council that it “adamantly supports our members having the ‘right to choose’ to be vaccinated or not.” Chris Andrew, the president of Local 522, did not stop there: “Doctors, nurses, firefighters, police officers, correctional officers and other essential workers have been on the front lines with COVID from the beginning,” Andrew wrote in a letter dated Wednesday. (Breton, 8/12)
Orange County Register:
AEG Presents Concerts, Festivals And Live Events Will Require Proof Of Vaccination After Oct. 1
AEG Presents, one of the biggest concert and live event promoters in the world, will require proof of vaccination for COVID-19 to attend shows at any of its owned or operated venues or festivals starting Oct. 1. The announcement on Thursday will include such major Southern California festivals as the Coachella Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach in Indio, Camp Flog Gnaw in Los Angeles, and Cruel World, Head In The Clouds, and Just Like Heaven in Pasadena. (Larsen, 8/12)
CapRadio:
Aftershock Festival Will Require COVID-19 Vaccination Or Negative COVID-19 Test To Enter
At the upcoming Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, organizers announced that to protect the health of fans, artists, staff and crew, all attendees will be required to show proof of either full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test. Attendees who want to attend the four-day rock festival but are not fully vaccinated, will need to present a negative COVID-19 test result within 72-hours of the first day of the festival. The festival is planned to start Oct. 7. (8/12)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
San Diego Court Mulls Requiring Employees To Verify Vaccination Or Get Tested
While the two largest local governments in San Diego County move toward mandating employees to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or face regular testing, the San Diego Superior Court is not yet decided on what it will require. San Diego Superior Court has about 1,200 workers spread across seven courthouses. Emily Cox, the public affairs officer for the court, said this week that court leaders are in the process of reviewing whether or not to move ahead with its own requirements. (Moran, 8/12)
Bay Area News Group:
Receive $100 Each Time You Talk Someone Into Getting A Full Vaccine Dose Against COVID
Convince someone to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and collect $100. Convince someone else and pick up another $100. That’s what Contra Costa Health Services is offering to pay people under a new program launched Wednesday in an effort to boost vaccination rates to ward off the delta variant that has caused a nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases. (Mukherjee, 8/12)
The Bakersfield Californian:
New Initiative Will Bring On-Site Vaccinations To Kern County Neighborhoods
Students from Bakersfield College have been knocking on the doors of Kern County residents, gently educating and encouraging those who have been hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Now they have a new trick up their sleeves: vaccines ready to go for those residents who do change their mind. (Gallegos, 8/12)
Los Angeles Times:
How To Show Vaccination Proof Amid California COVID Mandates
California state officials and private businesses are increasingly prepared to request proof of COVID-19 vaccination as a precondition of both work and play. The landscape of vaccination verification is dynamic and has changed dramatically over the past few weeks. But with the state still battling its latest coronavirus surge, and health officials united in their call for more people to roll up their sleeves, such requirements could become more common in the weeks and months ahead. (Money, 8/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Vaccine Mandates Require Trust In An Era Of Easy, But Illegal, Document Forgery
As thousands of students and employees upload their proof of COVID-19 vaccination to comply with campus requirements for in-person learning this fall, universities say they have little choice but to rely on the honor system and hope the cards are real. The same is true for restaurants, gyms, theaters and other indoor places in San Francisco, which on Aug. 20 will become the first major U.S. city to require proof of vaccination. Owners and patrons alike must depend on the willingness of people to tell the truth. Not everyone is so willing. (Asimov, 8/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Over Six Weeks Later, I Finally Got My California Digital Vaccine Record. Here's What Happened
More than six weeks after I initially tried to get my California digital vaccine record, I finally received it. When I originally tried to get my record the day the digital system was rolled out, on June 18, my record could not be found — it seemed that my contact information was not associated with my record. (Echeverria, 8/12)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Kern Community College District Votes In Favor Of A COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement
The board of the Kern Community College District voted at its Thursday meeting in favor of implementing a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for students and employees for the fall semester. The resolution passed unanimously by the board members present. It directs Chancellor Sonya Christian to develop and implement a vaccine requirement effective no later than Nov. 1. Its goal is to ensure that all employees have their first dose no later than Sept. 7. (Gallegos, 8/12)
Bay Area News Group:
Delta: San Jose Students Return To Class With Vaccinations And Testing
With thousands of San Jose students returning to the classroom next week, the long-awaited start of a fully in-person school year isn’t drumming up the level of excitement anticipated only a few months ago when an end to the coronavirus pandemic finally seemed in sight. A surge of COVID-19 cases spurred by the highly contagious delta variant has many parents worried, yet again, about how safe their children will be in classrooms. (Angst, 8/12)
Sacramento Bee:
Parent Allegedly Assaults Teacher Over Masks In Northern CA
The superintendent of a Northern California school district wrote that a parent engaged in a “serious physical altercation” with a teacher after arguing with the school’s principal, apparently over one of the school’s COVID-19 mandates, on Wednesday — the first day of school. “Unfortunately, a parent took it upon himself to verbally assault a principal that led to a serious physical altercation between him (the parent) and a teacher as the teacher intended to protect the principal,” Amador County Unified School District Superintendent Torie Gibson wrote in a letter sent to parents Thursday. (McGough, 8/12)
KQED:
Some Families Still Want Virtual Learning This Fall
For the vast majority of families, this fall means a return to in-person school. But some have opted to stick with remote learning because of concerns over COVID-19. And in many cases — including in Oakland — the rollout of virtual learning this time around has been rocky. (Katayama, Rancaño, Montecillo and Cruz Guevarra, 8/13)
EdSource:
As New School Year Begins, A Focus On Social And Emotional Health
Distance learning and the coronavirus have taken an undeniable toll on students who have suffered from isolation, learning loss and trauma during the past year and a half. Some parents say their children have developed different personalities during the pandemic and have become disengaged, according to West Contra Costa Unified Superintendent Kenneth “Chris” Hurst. Other students have “almost given up,” he said. (Tadayon, 8/13)
EdSource:
How Schools Help Students Who’ve Lost Loved Ones To Covid
As campuses reopen, schools are bracing for an onslaught of student mental health needs. But they’re also preparing to help students cope with something more elusive, more unpredictable and more profound: grief. Thousands of children in California have lost parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other loved ones during the pandemic. More than 30% of students surveyed in March by the ACLU of Southern California said they’d lost someone close to them over the past year. Some had lost multiple family members. (Jones, 8/13)
Los Angeles Times:
Coronavirus Case Rate Among Unvaccinated Californians Is Six Times That Of The Vaccinated
The chasm in coronavirus case rates between unvaccinated and vaccinated Californians is continuing to widen, state data show, as some officials move more aggressively to require the shots as a precondition of both work and play. For the week ending Saturday, the average case rate among uninoculated residents was 51 per 100,000 people per day. That’s more than six times the rate for those already vaccinated against COVID-19, 8.2 per 100,000 people per day, according to figures from the California Department of Public Health. (Money and Lin II, 8/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco Has Among The Highest Coronavirus Case Rates In The Bay Area. Here's A Possible Explanation
For nearly 16 months, the city consistently had one of the lowest infection rates in the nation. But that started to change in mid-July when San Francisco’s case rate surpassed that of the Bay Area as a whole. Now the city’s COVID-19 case rate has risen above that of California. (Vaziri and Ho, 8/12)
Sacramento Bee:
Latest On Cases In Sacramento Children
Several children were hospitalized in Sacramento County with COVID-19 in July, according to local health officials, who say the average age of virus patients has been lower during the delta variant surge compared to earlier in the pandemic. County health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye presented a chart during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting showing that of 93 hospitalized cases from last month with demographic data available, five people were ages 17 and younger. (McGough, 8/12)
Index-Tribune:
Noche MC Tests Positive For Coronavirus After Sonoma Valley Event
Even as revelers were enjoying the spectacle of the last week’s La Luz Center fundraiser Noche in the Summer of Love on Aug. 7, the coronavirus was in attendance as well, perhaps making its way among the tightly-packed tables of eight who pledged $600,000 for the nonprofit’s service programs. One of the primary organizers of the event told friends he tested positive in a home test on Monday – two days after Noche – results that were confirmed in a local hospital. Marcelo Defreitas, a former Alcalde for the City of Sonoma and past president of the La Luz board of directors, is currently with Gregangelo’s Velocity Arts and Entertainment, which organized the Noche event for La Luz this year. (Kallen, 8/12)
Los Angeles Daily News:
LA County COVID-19 Hospitalizations Begin To Keep Pace With Rising Cases, Officials Say
For weeks, Public Health officials had been reporting that the latest coronavirus surge was outpacing hospitalizations at two times the rate — a welcome glimmer of hope that the current delta-variant-driven outbreak was not following similar patterns of past surges, when hospitalizations were proportional to cases. But that appeared to be changing, the county’s public health chief said Thursday, Aug. 12. (Carter, 8/12)
Los Angeles Times:
Delta Variant Leaves Angelenos Reassessing How To Live Their Lives
Delta arrived in Southern California just as life appeared to be returning to some semblance of normal. Now, some are exercising a familiar caution, reverting to habits they formed earlier in the pandemic. (Estrin, 8/13)
Los Angeles Times:
Orange County Spike In COVID-19 Cases: What To Know
Orange County officials are expressing growing concern about the spread of the coronavirus amid a nationwide surge caused by the highly contagious Delta variant. As of Tuesday, 495 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized in Orange County, the highest number in about six months and nearly five times the number from a month ago when 102 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals on July 10. (Lin II and Money, 8/12)
CalMatters:
Lambda COVID Variant In California: 5 Things To Know
A new COVID-19 variant — named lambda — has arrived in California. The emerging lambda variant has been popping up in the news as it spreads rapidly throughout South America. In California, at least 152 cases have been reported, the first as early as September 2020, according to state public health officials. (Feder Ostrov, 8/13)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus Reaches 1,105 Deaths To COVID-19 And 61,483 Cases
Stanislaus County reported three deaths to COVID-19 on Thursday and yet another rise in hospital cases. A total of 1,105 residents have died since April 2020, the Health Services Agency said. Positive tests stood at 61,483 with the 255 added Thursday. Stanislaus also has 724,542 negative test results and 58,668 people who are presumed recovered. (Holland, 8/13)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Kern Public Health Reports 1 New Coronavirus Death, 256 New Cases Thursday
Kern County Public Health Services reported one new coronavirus death and 256 new confirmed cases Thursday. That brings the count of deaths to 1,434 and the confirmed cases since the pandemic began to 116,731. Eighty delta variant cases have been identified, and there have been 72 alpha variant cases. (8/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
COVID Plague May Take Years To End, Experts Tell UCSF Forum
The wildly infectious delta variant that has raged across the world and forced the United States into a fourth — and in some places unprecedented — surge has reshaped the coronavirus pandemic into a plague that may take many more years to come to an end, a panel of experts said Thursday at UCSF. “Pandemics end. They may last X number of years, but they end. The thing is, it’s not going to end the day we want,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean of the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta. “You don’t decide, the virus or pathogen decides, and the immune system.” (Allday, 8/12)
Orange County Register:
OC Hospitals, Medical Facilities Hope To Change Minds Of Remaining Unvaccinated Employees In Face Of Mandate
As coronavirus infections, propelled by the highly contagious delta variant, climb in Orange County and beyond, the push is on to get the remainder of California’s millions of health care workers fully vaccinated against COVID-19 – ahead of a newly mandated state deadline requiring the shot among those working in medical settings by the end of next month. The majority of hospital employees in the state have already gotten the jab, according to federal data. Major medical centers across Orange County say their numbers reflect that, too. But resistance to California’s requirement remains among some healthcare workers, who say that regardless of the vaccine’s effectiveness, they oppose being forced to get it or they have some concerns. (Tess Sheets and Alicia Robinson, 8/12)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Come Along For A 'Sneak Peek' Tour Of Clinica Sierra Vista's Newest And Largest Heath Center
What if you could build a health care clinic from the ground up? No rules. What would it look like? What would it feel like providing and receiving care in such a place? Clinica Sierra Vista had that very opportunity — and ran with it. On Thursday, the health care safety net provider gave an exclusive “sneak peek” tour of its newest and biggest community health center — a few months before it actually opens. (Mayer, 8/12)
Orange County Register:
Former Beach Boy Turned Nurse Reflects On Career Journey
Philip Bardowell started playing the piano at the age of 5, and by his early 30s, he was touring with the Beach Boys as their lead guitarist and vocalist. Then in 2018, he was inspired to go to nursing school and in 2020, while California was under a stay-at-home order in the middle of the pandemic, he went to work as an oncology nurse at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo. Now Bardowell is enjoying the best of both worlds. (Pak, 8/12)
The Chico Enterprise-Record:
Dixie Fire Reaches 515,000 Acres With Dry Storms In Forecast
After growing just under 5,000 acres overnight Wednesday, the Dixie Fire grew by 5,529 acres during the day Thursday and is now 515,756 acres. Cal Fire’s nightly incident report stated the Dixie fire is now 31 percent contained, a one percent growth from Thursday morning’s report of 30 percent. The expected containment date remains “to be determined.” (Couchot and Blake, 8/13)
Los Angeles Times:
Storms Could Spread Dixie Fire, With Fierce Winds, Lightning
Thunderstorms converging Thursday over the burn zone of the Dixie fire added another dangerous element of instability into already treacherous conditions and fueled further growth of the massive fire, officials said. Wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph Thursday evening propelled the fire across containment lines in some areas and grounded water-dropping helicopters. There were reports of spotty lightning. (Seidman, 8/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
It's Not Just The Dixie Fire. Here Are Other Significant Blazes Burning In Northern California
The massive Dixie Fire, the second largest in California history, continues to burn and dominate news coverage, but 14 other wildfires are still active in Northern California, drawing the resources of firefighters, forcing evacuations and threatening homes. The Dixie Fire has scorched 515,756 acres and was was 31% contained as of Thursday evening, Cal Fire officials said. And as of Thursday evening, the blaze had destroyed 1,109 structures, including more than 500 single-residence homes. (Cabanatuan, 8/12)
Orange County Register:
Amid Significant Growth, Communities Of Color Call For Racial And Regional Equity
Communities of color, particularly Latino and Asian American communities, grew in numbers over the last decade, according to race and ethnicity data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday, Aug. 12. Southern California counties by and large reflected the national and state trends when it came to race, with big increases in multiracial populations as well as among Latinos and Asian Americans. (Bharath, 8/12)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Homicides Since COVID Take Mostly Black, Latino Victims
The surge in homicides in Los Angeles since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has played out almost entirely among Latino and Black victims, according to a Times analysis of Los Angeles Police Department data. The figures reflect wide disparities in public safety across the city, experts say, as well as compounding trauma for communities of color hit hard by past gang violence and devastated at disproportionate rates by the economic and social upheaval of the last 18 months. (Rector, 8/13)
Los Angeles Daily News:
Pregnant During Pandemic: Programs, Midwives Step Up To Support Black Mothers
Aysha-Samon Stokes’ Mother’s Day went just as planned. She arrived at Kindred Space LA birth center around 10 p.m. on May 9, stepped into a bathtub and shortly before midnight pushed her newborn son, Nikko, into the arms of her boyfriend, Dennis Richmond. Minutes later, she climbed into a bed, wrapped her arms around the baby and breastfed him as “Heartbreak Anniversary” by Giveon played in the background and Richmond massaged her feet. She felt relieved and happy, surrounded by her niece, boyfriend, sister and two midwives, who carefully guided her through labor. There was something else giving her peace of mind: Her childbirth bill was covered by the Victoria Project, a nonprofit that helps women in Los Angeles County pay their childbirth-related expenses. (Grigoryants, 8/13)
The Mercury News:
Requiring Kids To Mask Against COVID-19 Is Not Child Abuse
Over the past many months, we have learned to practice social distancing, mask-wearing and hand-washing. It’s routine now. Our public health experts remind us often that, after vaccination, these precautions remain some of our best protections against transmission of COVID-19. For some families with kids, these precautions present a burden. Some parents are even stating that mask requirements for children in the classroom is a form of child abuse. It is not. (Carol Carrillo, 8/13)
Los Angeles Times:
California's Teachers Will Have To Get Vaccinated. It's About Time
Early this year, teachers unions throughout California were saying that their members couldn’t go back to work in physical classrooms without being vaccinated against COVID-19. They were given priority on vaccination and most school districts delayed reopening campuses until their members could go through the two-dose vaccination and waiting period afterward. Now unions are saying that teachers shouldn’t have to be vaccinated to return to school, just as the more contagious Delta variant is raising infection rates and a new school year is beginning. (8/11)
Los Angeles Times:
California COVID Vaccine Mandate: There’s Just One Problem
We’ve clearly reached a breaking point here in California. For so long, the mask refusers have been the face of pandemic anger. But now the tables have turned and we, the vaccinated and impatient, have had it! There are still huge pockets of people in big cities and small towns who haven’t gotten the jab, even though about 77% of those who are eligible have received at least one dose and about 63% are fully vaccinated. And with the highly contagious Delta variant making the rounds, hospitalizations are up, as are the chances that the coronavirus will mutate into an even more deadly strain. (Erika Smith, 8/12)
The Washington Post:
Gavin Newsom Gets Vaccine Mandates Right In California
This week, California announced that teachers and support staff, at both public and private schools, must get vaccinated against covid-19 or submit to regular coronavirus testing. The mandate follows Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order from last week demanding the same of the state’s health-care workers. It’s all but certain Californians have the recall election to thank for this excellent, common-sense turn of events. Polls show that Newsom, a Democrat, is in trouble, with the issues extending beyond covid. The state’s cost of living is high, housing is expensive, and the homelessness crisis is seemingly intractable. One thing that would most certainly help Newsom ahead of the Sept. 14 vote: showing that he is doing everything he can to get the state’s schools reopened. (Helaine Olen, 9/13)
San Francisco Chronicle:
For All The Talk Of New Variants Like Delta, The Answer To The Latest COVID Surge Is The Same
The novel coronavirus has gotten old, and the vaccines, having been around for nearly half the pandemic, are approaching middle age. Perhaps that’s why we hear so much about the relatively new delta variant, as if everything going on right now comes down to a trendy viral sensation. But the fact is that familiar truths are driving the latest surge of infections and hospitalizations in California and across the country. Since Gov. Gavin Newsom announced California’s grand reopening on June 15, unvaccinated people have been gathering in bars, restaurants, gyms, churches and offices, often without masks, and getting sick as a result — just as they would have from boring old coronavirus 1.0. (8/12)
Los Angeles Times:
Doctors Have A Lot Of Anger About The New COVID-19 Surge
Welcome to the new Pandemic of the Unvaccinated: the patients we love to hate. Anger among front-line healthcare workers remains professionally hidden behind our masks and the oaths we swear to our patients and profession. We will continue to do our best for everyone who comes to the hospital. But that doesn’t stop the whispered grumbling outside exam rooms and in hallways as we gear up to care for our neighbors. (Mark Morocco, 8/12)
Roll Call:
Now Is The Time To Improve The Affordable Care Act
L.A. Care Health Plan, the nation’s largest publicly operated health plan, serving more than 2.4 million members in Los Angeles County, has a unique perspective on how to implement a successful public option. After all, L.A. Care is a real-life example of a public option that has been operating successfully on California’s ACA exchange since 2014, and it remains the only public plan to do so. (John Baackes, 8/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
If Portland Can Hit 116 Degrees, So Can San Francisco. We're Not Ready
If Portland, Oregon can hit 116 degrees, so can San Francisco. As the consequences of climate change intensify, it’s only a matter of time before a heat wave as blistering as the one that claimed hundreds of lives in the Northwest this summer strikes the Bay Area, where the consequences could be even more deadly. Only 47% of the San Francisco metro area's 1.7 million households have air conditioning — the second lowest rate of any major city in the U.S., and much lower than the national average of 87% of homes. Historically, there hasn’t been a need for cooling in San Francisco homes — but if this summer has taught us anything, it’s that precedents can no longer be trusted to predict future extremes. (Olga Mandrussow, 8/12)
Stat:
The Entire Health Care Sector Needs To Battle Climate Change
Evidence of climate change is everywhere. The drought in California is affecting the U.S. food supply. The heat wave in the Pacific Northwest has contributed to the deaths of nearly 200 people in Oregon and Washington state and the scorching of almost 1 million acres of land in California and Oregon. Flooding in Germany in July killed more than 175 people. ... Kaiser Permanente, a health system leading the field of sustainable health care, operates in Pacific Northwestern states plagued by heat waves, drought, and forest fires. In 2020, it declared itself to be a carbon-neutral health system. While this is an important step, the ultimate and challenging goal for fighting climate change is to achieve carbon neutrality without using accounting maneuvers like carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates that permit institutions to claim carbon-neutrality while still generating greenhouse emissions. Sustainability is the future of health care. (Matthew J. Meyer, 8/11)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento’s Homeless Master Plan Is Necessary But Unequal
Sacramento is on the verge of a major accomplishment in its ongoing battle with the homelessness crisis — the city council will vote on Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s $100 million master plan and proposed safe ground sites on Tuesday. When fully implemented, the city claims it could serve more than 9,820 people annually. Steinberg’s approach, tasking each council member to bring forward priority sites for a single up and down vote, was designed to avoid NIMBYism. This strategy could also create significant capacity that could actually make a difference for the unhoused population, as well as residents and business owners who have been impacted. (8/9)