Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Children With Disabilities Face Special Back-to-School Challenges
For children with special needs returning to an L.A. classroom, mask-wearing is the least of their troubles. (Heidi de Marco, )
Burned-Out Health Care Workers Have Had Enough: Labor advocates are calling it “Striketober.” As weary health care workers across California enter the 19th month of the pandemic, thousands are walking off the job and onto the picket line, demanding more staffing. Last week, nearly a third of all California hospitals reported “critical staffing shortages.” Read more from CalMatters.
Are We In For A Bad Flu Season? Health experts are worried that a troubling flu season could be ahead. A year ago, most schools were closed, and many people were still at home. The reopening of classrooms is one reason officials say a flu resurgence is possible. “Children really are good transmitters of flu,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. Parents and children are urged to get flu shots before Halloween. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
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
San Francisco Chronicle:
Fauci Says J&J Vaccine Should Have Been 2 Shots From The Start
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease doctor, says the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine recommended by a Food and Drug Administration panel for a booster shot last week should have been a two-shot regimen from the start. Speaking Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Fauci said people who got the J&J shot should have no worries about its efficacy now that boosters have been recommended for all recipients 18 and older. “I think that they should feel good about it because what the advisers to the FDA felt is that given the data that they saw, very likely this should have been a two-dose vaccine to begin with,” he said. (Buchmann, 10/18)
USA Today:
J&J 1-Shot Vaccine Should Have Been 2, Fauci Says
The single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine that last week won approval from FDA advisers for a booster shot probably should have been a two-shot vaccine from the start, the nation's top infectious disease physician said Sunday. "What the advisers to the FDA felt is that, given the data that they saw, very likely this should have been a two-dose vaccine to begin with," Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC's "This Week." The Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory panel unanimously approved booster shots for the vaccine Friday for all J&J recipients 18 years and older – as early as two months after the first dose. (Bacon and Santucci, 10/17)
Stat:
FDA Advisory Panel Votes 19-0 To Endorse Booster Dose Of J&J Vaccine
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted Friday that booster shots should be made available to people who have received the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. Unlike the authorizations for boosters for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, no restrictions were put on the J&J booster. The panel effectively said that the J&J vaccine, like the other vaccines, requires two doses to be effective. (Herper and Branswell, 10/15)
Axios:
Fauci: J&J Recipients Will Likely Be Able To Mix And Match Boosters
The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will likely allow recipients of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 to mix and match vaccine boosters depending on their individual health, NIAID director Anthony Fauci told ABC News' '"This Week" on Sunday. The FDA's vaccine expert panel on Friday unanimously endorsed booster shots for adult recipients of the J&J vaccine. The panel is also exploring the mix and match strategy but hasn't yet taken a formal vote on the matter. (Saric, 10/17)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Confusion Cited As Boosters Lag Among Bay Area's Older Adults
Amid mounting evidence of waning immunity and an increased risk for older adults to end up hospitalized with COVID even after vaccination, Bay Area public health officials are eager to increase uptake of boosters, especially ahead of what could be another winter surge. So far, interest in boosters has not matched the demand for first shots earlier this year, health officials say. Though data is somewhat unreliable, in most Bay Area counties roughly 10% to 30% of eligible older adults have gotten a booster since they were authorized for certain groups in August. (Allday, 10/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Hey, Teens! Get Vaccinated, And You Could Win A Full Scholarship To S.F. State
Alongside the free race car rides, surfing lessons and round-trip tropical vacations offered around the country as incentives for getting a COVID-19 vaccination, San Francisco State University dangles this tempting carrot for city residents: four years of free tuition for 10 prospective students ages 12 to 17. That’s worth nearly $30,000 at current prices, or $7,444 a year, for students who would otherwise pay out of pocket. Applicants who qualify for federal Pell Grants and state Cal Grants will also go for free and won’t have to pay the difference if they win. Winners whose tuition and fees are fully covered by grants will get an additional $2,000 a year. (Asimov, 10/18)
CNN:
Colin Powell, Military Leader And First Black US Secretary Of State, Dies After Complications From Covid-19
Colin Powell, the first Black US secretary of state whose leadership in several Republican administrations helped shape American foreign policy in the last years of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, has died from complications from Covid-19, his family said on Facebook. He was 84."General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19," the Powell family wrote on Facebook, noting he was fully vaccinated. (Cole, 10/18)
NPR:
Vaccinated Foreign Travelers Can Enter The U.S. Starting Nov. 8
Foreign tourists who have been shut out of the United States since the early days of the pandemic will be allowed to visit starting on Nov. 8, as long as they can show that they are fully vaccinated, the White House said. The White House had previously announced it would lift the travel ban but had not given a date for doing so until now. Cities that count on foreign tourists for revenue — as well as families who have been separated by the bans — have been urging the government to allow people to travel. (Naylor, 10/15)
Bay Area News Group:
COVID Forced Bay Area Families To Make Agonizing Elder-Care Decisions. Is There A Fix?
As the deadly winter surge in coronavirus cases began last November, Fred Mekata was doing something that had become unthinkable to millions of Americans: moving into an assisted-living facility. The love of his life, Ruth, had been diagnosed with dementia a couple of years earlier. Gone was the independent, sharp woman he’d shared his life with for more than 56 years. Over were the spontaneous weekend trips to Spain, a perk of her years with American Airlines. Instead, the pair were puttering around their 3,000-square-foot home in Danville, Fred trying to take charge of daily tasks like cooking that had always been Ruth’s domain and struggling to come to terms with the changes in their lives. (DeRuy, 10/17)
AP:
Marin Judge Tentatively Rejects Cutting San Quentin Crowding
A Marin County judge tentatively ruled Friday that state prison officials acted with deliberate indifference when they caused a deadly coronavirus outbreak at San Quentin last year. But he said vaccines have since so changed the landscape that officials are no longer violating the constitutional rights of those incarcerated. The lawsuit stemmed from the botched transfer of infected inmates in May 2020 from a Southern California prison to San Quentin, which at the time had no infections. The coronavirus then quickly sickened 75% of those incarcerated at the prison, leading to the deaths of 28 incarcerated people and a correctional officer. (Thompson, 10/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Monica Gandhi Is S.F.'s Outlier COVID Expert. Her View On It: 'I'm Not Saying Anything Crazy'
Up in her office on the fourth floor of San Francisco General Hospital’s Building 80, Dr. Monica Gandhi sat staring at an email she’d just received from the city’s health officer. One day earlier, on March 16, 2020, San Francisco and eight other Bay Area counties had ordered residents to shelter in place — and now this email was instructing her to essentially cancel all in-person appointments at Ward 86, the oldest HIV/AIDS clinic in the country, to curb the spread of a new pandemic. While others were only beginning to imagine the future that lay before them, Gandhi, the ward’s medical director, was running through the downstream side effects of the guidance she’d just received. She thought about her patients without phones, without homes; the patients for whom the clinic was “the only touchstone of sanity in their lives … a place they felt safe.” (Kost, 10/17)
San Francisco Chronicle:
With Vaccine Mandates Looming, Companies Are Worried About Worker Shortages
The coming federal vaccine mandate could result in a wave of firings of employees who are reluctant to get the life-saving shots. That has many companies nervous that those jobs will be difficult to fill in a labor market where willing hands are increasingly hard to come by. Close to three quarters of respondents to a survey this month who haven’t implemented a mandate of their own said fears of worker shortages were behind that decision. The survey, run by labor law firm Fisher Phillips LLP, contacted more than 1,500 professionals from different companies including executives, general counsels, human resources staff and others. (DiFeliciantonio, 10/17)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Pushes Training With Business COVID Vaccine Mandates
During the first weekend that Los Angeles County required some indoor businesses to verify the COVID-19 vaccination status of their patrons, health inspectors didn’t issue a single citation for noncompliance, but they did have to provide additional training to staff members at nearly one-fifth of the sites they visited. Officials said the checks performed Oct. 8 to Oct. 10 were focused primarily on education rather than strict enforcement — a long-standing practice of the Public Health Department, particularly when rules have only recently gone into effect. (Money and Lin II, 10/15)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
How Much COVID Is In San Diego County Schools?
Three months into the school year, with hundreds of thousands of students learning in person, full time, San Diego County schools generally appear to be keeping the spread of COVID at bay, officials say. About 2,900 COVID cases have shown up in K-12 public and private schools since mid-July, when San Diego County district students first started going back to school, according to county health data released this week. About 2,470 of those cases were students, and 400 were school staff. (Taketa, 10/16)
Southern California News Group:
How LAUSD’s Staff Vaccine Mandate Might Affect Students Today
Some Los Angeles Unified students who show up to school Monday, Oct. 18, may be surprised to find they have a new teacher, or that their favorite bus driver or campus aide is no longer there to greet them. That’s because it’s the first day that LAUSD’s vaccination mandate for employees takes effect: any staff member who hasn’t submitted proof of having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine won’t be allowed to show up to work in person. (Tat, 10/18)
Modesto Bee:
Spouses Are Clashing About Vaccinating Their Kids
Disagreements between parents are common, from choosing where to spend the holidays to which schools their child should attend. But for many parents in today’s pandemic climate, these arguments can range from masking up to which friends their children can be around. And with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to require students to get the COVID-19 vaccine to attend in-person schools and pending approval from the Food and Drug Administration for vaccinating children ages 5 to 11, tensions between divergent parents may intensify. (Truong, 10/16)
Berkeleyside:
Bayer, City Strike Deal For $33M Community Benefits Package
Negotiators from Bayer and the city have struck a deal on a community benefits package that could see the pharmaceutical giant give $33.1 million to local causes over the next three decades amid a development boom on its West Berkeley campus. The terms of the proposed agreement, which were released Friday afternoon following months of negotiations, call for Bayer to make annual payments toward educational programs, the city’s affordable housing fund, community grants and other recipients. Payments would start at $800,000 in 2022, then increase by 2% annually, to $1.46 million in the agreement’s final year, 2052. (Savidge, 10/15)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
New Guidelines Set Standards For Health Care Workers' Response To Domestic Violence
Local officials published standards last week to guide the way health care workers across the county screen for and respond to domestic violence when meeting with patients. District Attorney Summer Stephan’s office said they “provide a countywide roadmap for medical professionals, who are often the only individuals able to see domestic violence victims alone away from their abusers.” (Riggins, 10/18)
Southern California News Group:
Calabasas Doctor Sentenced To 14 Months For Accepting Bribes
A Calabasas physician was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison Friday, Oct. 15 after prosecutors said he accepted nearly $800,000 in bribes and kickbacks as part of a conspiracy that unlawfully billed health insurers for compounded medication prescriptions. Compounded drugs can be prescribed if a patient is allergic to a specific ingredient in an FDA-approved medication. A compounded drug would be altered, combined, or mixed to meet the specific patient’s needs. (Antonios, 10/16)
Modesto Bee:
Doctor In Training Returns To Modesto ICU Where She Was Born
Emma Towslee’s study toward a medical degree has brought her full circle — to the intensive care unit in Modesto where she began her life. She was briefly in the Neonatal ICU at Doctors Medical Center right after her birth in 1996 to Laura Wood and Jason Towslee. She got two days of extra care because both she and her mom ran fevers. Fast forward a quarter-century, and Towslee is making rounds in the very same ward as part of her study through St. George’s University in Grenada. She observes doctors caring for babies born prematurely or with other complications that could keep them from going home for weeks. (Holland, 10/17)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Neighbor Keeps Fire From Spreading In East Bay Assisted Care Facility
Alameda County firefighters are crediting a neighbor of an assisted living facility in San Lorenzo from keeping an early morning fire Sunday from spreading beyond one room. Shortly after 3 a.m., county firefighters were dispatched to a structure fire at the care facility on Lewelling Boulevard. (Gafni, 10/17)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Adventist Health Offering Free Clinical Breast Exams
The AIS Cancer Center at Adventist Health is offering free clinical breast exam screenings for the uninsured from 1 to 4 p.m. Oct. 22. Registration is required by calling 661-637-8101. The exams will take place at the Adventist Health Breast Center, 2700 Chester Ave., Suite 103 in Bakersfield. (10/15)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Annual Breast Cancer Walk Brings Sea Of Pink To Balboa Park To Raise Awareness
Hundreds of people focused on finding a cure for breast cancer converged on Balboa Park Sunday morning wearing just about every kind of pink garment you can imagine. Aiming to honor breast cancer survivors and encourage women over 40 to get mammograms, they donned pink hats, pink socks and even pink wigs as part of the annual “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” 2-mile walk through the park. (Garrick, 10/17)
inewsource:
As Imperial County Heat Deaths Rise, So Do Tensions In Calexico
In Imperial County, 22 heat-related deaths have been confirmed so far this year through Oct. 2, according to the county health department’s survey of local hospitals. It’s only the second time in at least 15 years with available data that heat-related deaths have surpassed 10 in a year. This year, heat may be credited with taking even more lives. Three unhoused men who were living in downtown Calexico died this summer, according to stories in the Calexico Chronicle. Although the Imperial County Coroner’s Office says the causes of death are still under review, their bodies were found within less than a half-mile of each other between early July and early August during excessive heat warnings, according to the articles in which first responders said heat played a role. (Meyers and Sequeira, 10/15)
The New York Times:
How San Diego Has Water Despite A Punishing Drought
In many parts of California, reminders abound that the American West is running out of water. “Bathtub rings” mark the shrinking of the state’s biggest reservoirs to some of their lowest recorded levels. Fields lie fallow, as farmers grapple with an uncertain future. A bed-and-breakfast owner spends $5 whenever a tourist showers. But not in San Diego County. In this coastal desert metropolis, life has stayed mostly the same for residents already accustomed to conserving what they have long treated as a precious resource. (Cowan, 10/17)
Bay Area News Group:
California Senior Care Options And Considerations
As we age, it’s not uncommon to experience physical and mental changes that make day-to-day life more challenging. Geriatricians and other experts say it’s important to plan ahead for our older years. That means thinking about the type of care we might want and who will help us make medical decisions. Not only does contemplating the future now result in fewer surprises later, it lets us communicate our wishes ahead of time with the closest people in our lives. (DeRuy, 10/17)
City News Service:
Bill Clinton Released From UCI Medical Center After Treatment For Infection
Bill Clinton was released Sunday from the Southern California hospital where he had been treated for an infection and will head home to New York to continue his recovery, a spokesman said. The former president left the University of California Irvine Medical Center around 8 a.m. with Hillary Clinton on his arm. Dressed in jeans and a sports coat and wearing a face mask, he made his way out of the hospital slowly and stopped to shake hands with doctors and nurses lined up on the sidewalk. (10/17)