Los Angeles Times: Kamala Harris Is Prescribed Antiviral Drug After Testing Positive For Coronavirus 
Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday became the highest ranking official in the Biden administration to test positive for the coronavirus but was not experiencing symptoms, her office said. The vice president was in California last week and has not had any recent contact with President Biden and most of the White House staff, her office said. She returned to Washington on Monday. (Bierman, 4/26)

Bay Area News Group: CDC Study Finds Three In Five In U.S. Have Had COVID-19
A study Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates three out of five Americans have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, up from one in three overall last fall, indicating how easily the omicron variant spread through the country over the winter. The study also found children were more likely to have been infected than older adults, with the rate among kids rising from less than half last fall to three out of four. (Woolfolk, 4/26)

The Washington Post: Fauci Says U.S. Is Out Of Coronavirus 'Pandemic Phase' 
The United States is finally “out of the pandemic phase,” the country’s top infectious-disease expert said Tuesday, as cases and hospitalizations are notably down and mask mandates are all but gone. While infections are still spreading — with an average of over 50,000 new cases per day as of Tuesday — the country is far from the peaks of the pandemic, when daily counts surpassed 1 million. Restrictions, too, are easing as many Americans appear to be putting the pandemic behind them. Masking requirements have been lifted across most of the country, and officials stopped enforcing a federal mask mandate in transportation settings after a judge struck down the requirement. “We are certainly right now in this country out of the pandemic phase,” Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, said Tuesday on PBS’s “NewsHour.” (Pietsch, 4/27)

PBS NewsHour: Dr. Fauci On Why The U.S. Is ‘Out Of The Pandemic Phase’ 
As COVID cases begin to pick up across the U.S. the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday said that three out of every four children have been infected by COVID. This comes as the White House moved to make Paxlovid pills, which can reduce serious illness, more widely available. Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss. (4/26)

VC Star: COVID-19 Transmission Shows Modest Rise In Ventura County
COVID-19 infections are rising again in Ventura County, a modest increase that is not likely to come close to rivaling previous surges, a county public health official said Tuesday. The county reported 424 infections over the last week, a gain of about 26% gain over the previous week. State data released Tuesday show the county's infection rate rose to 5.8 cases per 100,000 people, compared with to 5.1 cases reported Friday. The metric is calculated on an eight-day lag, meaning real-time numbers could be higher. (Kisken, 4/26)

CapRadio: Interview: What Wastewater Samples Tell Us About COVID-19 Spread In Sacramento 
While COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations are relatively low right now in California, the case rate is picking up slightly due to omicron subvariants. But are the number of positive tests really the best way to determine the level of virus in the community? Many believe that testing wastewater is a better option that’s more accurate and more immediate. (White, 4/26)

Los Angeles Times: Musicians On Edge About Touring As COVID Rates Rise Again 
On the drive back from the first weekend of this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Liz Sánchez felt more run-down than usual. Sánchez, an L.A. resident in her mid-20s, said that as she first walked through the gates to see headline acts like Harry Styles and Billie Eilish, she felt nervous about returning to crowded music festivals, even outdoor ones. “After hearing about Coachella lifting all of its COVID-19 restrictions, I almost sold my ticket,” she said. “My friends were determined to go, though. No one seemed to be worried about getting COVID-19.” (Brown, 4/26)

Sacramento Bee: Healthy Davis Together To Soon End COVID-19 Testing Network
An ambitious public health collaboration between the city of Davis, other Yolo County cities and UC Davis plans to shut down testing operations this summer. When it does, it will conclude a nearly two-year project that has been lauded for giving the region one of California’s most robust programs for monitoring COVID-19 spread and limiting outbreaks. (McGough, 4/26)

Modesto Bee: Foster Farms, Temp Agencies Fined Over COVID-19 Sick Leave 
State labor regulators are fining Foster Farms and staffing agencies with which the company worked almost $3.8 million for failing to let temporary workers know they had supplemental paid sick leave available for COVID-19. The ruling announced Tuesday by the California Labor Commissioner’s Office affects almost 3,500 employees who worked on a temporary basis at the Foster Farms processing plant in Livingston, in Merced County. (Sheehan, 4/26)

Los Angeles Times: Foster Farms, Temp Agencies Fined $3.8 Million Over Sick Pay 
Foster Farms and three temporary staffing agencies were fined a total of $3.8 million for failing to inform nearly 4,000 temporary workers of their COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave, California state officials said Tuesday. Foster Farms, one of the West Coast’s largest poultry producers, along with Human Bees Inc., Viking Staffing CA LLC and Marcos Renteria Ag Services Inc., did not inform nearly 3,500 temporary workers who were hired to fill positions left empty by COVID-19 outbreaks that they were eligible to be paid if they or a family member contracted the coronavirus and were forced to miss work, according to the California Department of Industrial Relations. (Martinez, 4/26)

Los Angeles Times: Disneyland Drops One Of Its Last Masking Requirements 
Disneyland will no longer require most visitors to wear a mask after dropping one of its last remaining mandates. Visitors to the park had been required to wear masks in enclosed transportation settings. Now, visitors who take the bus from the Toy Story Parking Area or the monorail from the Downtown Disney District can opt to unmask during the ride. (Choi, 4/26)

The New York Times: Vaccines For Young Children Delayed By Incomplete Data, F.D.A. Official Says 
The Food and Drug Administration has not yet cleared a coronavirus vaccine for children under 5 because the vaccine manufacturers have not finished their applications for authorization to distribute doses, a top official at the agency suggested on Tuesday. The official — Dr. Peter Marks, who oversees vaccine regulation for the F.D.A. — said the agency will release a schedule this week for outside expert review of vaccines for the nation’s 18 million children younger than 5. That is the only age group still not eligible for coronavirus vaccination. (LaFraniere, 4/27)

FiercePharma: Lawmakers Ask FDA To Lay Out Plans For Reviewing COVID Vaccines For Young Children 
Even though most people in the U.S. have been eligible for COVID-19 vaccines and boosters for quite some time, children under 5 still don't have vaccine options. Now, lawmakers are asking the FDA to lay out its plans in this age group⁠—and address a perceived delay for Moderna's product. Yesterday, Congress’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis sent a letter (PDF) to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, M.D., requesting a briefing on the status of COVID-19 vaccines for the under 5 age group. (Becker, 4/26)

NPR: Pfizer Asks FDA To Authorize Booster Shots For Kids Ages 5 Through 11
Children ages 5 through 11 who've received two shots of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine may soon be eligible for a booster. That's if the Food and Drug Administration agrees to a request made Tuesday by pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech to authorize their booster shot for kids in this age range. The companies submitted data to the FDA showing that the low-dose booster shot is safe for children ages 5 through 11 and could help protect them against omicron. Currently, boosters are only authorized for people ages 12 and older. (Stein, 4/26)

CIDRAP: CIDRAP To Develop Vaccine Roadmap For Future Coronavirus Threats
New coronaviruses armed with the capacity to cause severe human disease are becoming more frequent, raising the stakes for global preparedness, along with a need for a vaccine that could broadly protect against the most dangerous ones, such as SARS-CoV-2. To help jump-start the process, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota announced today that it has received $1 million in grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create a Coronavirus Vaccines Research and Development (R&D) Roadmap. (Schnirring, 4/26)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Jail Reform Bill Prompted By Conditions In San Diego Passes Assembly Committee 
Legislation aimed at improving medical, mental health and training standards for jails in California has moved another step toward becoming law. Assembly Bill 2343, authored by Assemblymember Akilah Weber, D-La Mesa, and known as the “Saving Lives in Custody Act,” won the support of the Assembly Public Safety Committee Tuesday. Weber introduced the bill in March after a scathing state audit of deaths in San Diego County jails urged lawmakers to pass legislation to address deficiencies in inmate care statewide. (Davis, 4/26)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom's 'CARE Court' Homelessness Plan Faces New Questions 
Battle lines have emerged in the debate over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s far-reaching and controversial effort to provide court-ordered treatment for homeless individuals with severe mental illness, with Democrats and local government officials divided even though the plan easily cleared its first legislative hurdle Tuesday. After Newsom introduced his proposed Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Court in March as a tool to connect an estimated 7,000 to 12,000 people to housing and behavioral health treatment, mayors of some of California’s most populous cities quickly endorsed the so-called CARE Court plan, along with a handful of organizations that represent families with loved ones living on the streets. (Wiley, 4/26)

Capitol Weekly: California's Stem Cell Program - Big Money, But Lackluster Oversight 
California’s multibillion-dollar, cell and gene therapy program has a special spot in the pantheon of the hundreds of government departments in the Golden State. It is immune from the normal oversight of the governor and state lawmakers. Its cash — now set at $5.5 billion over the next decade — flows freely and directly to the stem cell agency with no inconvenient meddling by elected officials. (Jensen, 4/25)

Bay Area News Group: Travel Nurse Agencies Cash In On Stanford Strike And Pandemic
“Turn Your Nursing Passion into Profit. Contact Us Today!” The recruitment plea from an employment agency called HSG Strike Staffing was one of many that attracted thousands of replacement nurses to fill positions left empty this week by the first nursing strike at Stanford Hospital in two decades. Crossing the picket lines comes with the promise of up to $13,000 a week in salary plus free food, housing and transportation. And the staffing agencies that hire them, increasingly owned by private equity firms, are reporting record profits. (Krieger, 4/27)

Modesto Bee: Modesto, Turlock Nurses Say Hospital Understaffing Is Severe 
Nurses plan to hold informational pickets Wednesday in Modesto and Turlock to make sure the public is aware of chronic understaffing and high turnover rates at hospitals because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The California Nurses Association said nurses will voice their concerns at Doctors Medical Center and Emanuel Medical Center, as well as seven other hospitals in the state that are owned by Tenet Healthcare Corp. (Carlson, 4/26)

Stat: Federal Antitrust Case Against Sutter Health Headed For Appeal 
The long-running federal antitrust lawsuit against Sutter Health is getting a second wind after attorneys filed a notice of appeal Tuesday seeking to revive the case. The lawsuit appeared doomed in March when a San Francisco jury unanimously sided with the California health system at the conclusion of a month-long trial. The verdict cleared Sutter of allegations that it engaged in anticompetitive business practices that drove up healthcare costs in Northern California by more than $400 million. (Bannow, 4/26)

California Healthline: Bill Of The Month: After Medical Bills Broke The Bank, This Family Headed To Mexico For Care
The Fierro family owed a Yuma, Arizona, hospital more than $7,000 for care given to mom and dad, so when a son dislocated his shoulder, they headed to Mexicali. The care was quick, good, and affordable. (Andalo, 4/27)

Orange County Register: Acid Spill In Orange Business Prompts Hazmat Response 
A employee at a small aerospace business in Orange accidentally knocked over a five gallon barrel containing acid Tuesday, triggering a hazmat response from the Orange Fire Department, officials said. Orange Fire received a hazardous materials call around 3:21 p.m. and was told the acid gassed and bubbled after the spill, Ryan O’Conner, a spokesman for the department, said. The barrel contained phosphoric acid, commonly used to manufacture fertilizer or as a base for glue on aircraft. (Antonios, 4/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: At An Oakland Food Distribution Site, Inflation Adds Up To 28,000 More Meals A Day
[The Alameda County Community Food Bank’s] operators say they are serving 28,333 more meals per day this month than they did last month through the church drive-thru and their partner agencies, and are estimating they will serve about 4.7 million meals by the end of April. That’s still well below this time last year, when the food bank distributed 5.4 million meals in April 2021, but also a lot higher than the same period in 2020 or 2019. (Narayan, 4/26)

Napa Valley Register: Napa Opioid Safety Coalition Holds Town Hall To Raise Awareness Of Fentanyl Poisoning 
The Napa Opioid Safety Coalition and the Napa County Office of Education held a virtual town hall meeting Thursday to raise awareness of the dangers of the deadly opioid fentanyl, which has flooded into the United States drug market in recent years and contributed to a surge of related deaths. (Booth, 4/26)

The Bakersfield Californian: Like Cooling Facilities, Clean Air Centers Coming To Kern 
Just as Central Valley residents are given a place to cool down when temperatures soar, regional air quality officials are planning to set up centers where people can go to breathe filtered air when wildfires pollute the skies. A $5 million demonstration project established by state legislation in 2019 is expected to fund mobile air filters to be deployed at potentially hundreds of locations across the valley. Candidates would include senior centers, libraries and school gymnasiums, with special emphasis on serving medically vulnerable populations and poor areas where residents are less likely to benefit from air-conditioners equipped with filtration. (Cox, 4/26)

CapRadio: California’s Unhealthy Air Rivals Worst In Nation, According To New Study 
It’s official: California cities rank high among places with the worst air quality in the country. And a new report says that while vehicle emissions have already been longtime contributors, wildfires pose a growing threat to the health of air. The report, compiled annually by the American Lung Association, surveys air quality across the country. It found that 98 percent of Californians live in an area with unhealthy air — a big jump from the country’s average, which is about 40 percent. (Secaira, 4/26)

CapRadio: After Sacramento’s Deadliest Mass Shooting, Officials Plan To Ask Voters To Pay For More Youth Programs 
In the days following this month’s mass shooting in downtown Sacramento that left six people dead and 12 injured, there was a shift among politicians and policymakers: from talk about extra police and tougher gun laws to conversation about more money for youth programs and violence prevention. Now, city officials are developing a possible ballot measure that could create permanent funding sources to help young people and stop gun violence.  (Mizes-Tan and Hooks, 4/26)

NPR: Daily Aspirin To Prevent Heart Attacks And Strokes Could Do More Harm Than Good
New guidance from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says people over the age of 60 should not start taking daily, low-dose aspirin to prevent cardiovascular events like heart attacks or strokes. Low-dose aspirin had been a popular prevention measure, but as more evidence has accumulated its benefit has come into question. On Tuesday the task force finalized new recommendations advising against the practice. The task force concludes that initiating daily aspirin in adults 60 years or older has "no net benefit," and increases a person's risk of internal bleeding. (Aubrey and Stone, 4/26)

Stat: Daily Aspirin Offers Little To No Benefit For Most Adults Trying To Prevent Heart Disease, New Report Says
Taking low-dose aspirin every day to prevent a heart attack or stroke provides little to no benefit to people without cardiovascular disease but could instead increase the risk of dangerous bleeding, a new report from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says. For adults ages 60 and up who don’t have cardiovascular disease or aren’t at high risk of developing it, the task force determined there was no benefit to starting aspirin if they are not already on it. Among adults 40 to 59 years old, the task force, a volunteer group of medical experts, concluded “with moderate certainty” that there was a small net benefit to taking low-dose aspirin among those who have a 10% or higher risk of developing heart disease in a 10-year period. It’s up to those individuals and their doctors to decide whether to take aspirin, the task force concluded. (Cueto, 4/26)

ABC News: Aspirin No Longer Recommended To Prevent 1st Heart Attack, Stroke For Most Adults Over 60 
For years, doctors recommended people in their 50s start taking baby aspirin every day to protect against heart attacks and stroke. But in recent years, with new evidence of the possible harm of daily aspirin, health experts shifted those recommendations. In major new guidance, an influential physician task force no longer recommends daily aspirin to prevent a first heart attack or stroke among people 60 and older. Meanwhile, the new guidance said people 40 to 59 should only take it if they have a high risk of cardiovascular disease, and in consultation with a doctor. There is little benefit in continuing aspirin beyond the age of 75 years old, experts concluded. (Akusoba, 4/26)

California Healthline: Advance Care Planning For Guns: Owners Can Help Ensure Safe Use And Transfer Of Weapons
Colorado researchers publish a tool to help gun owners and family members plan ahead for safe firearm use and transfers in the event of disability or death. (Graham, 4/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Spent Millions To Shelter Homeless In Hotels. These Are The Disastrous Results
In a complex arrangement, the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, or HSH, pays nonprofit groups to provide rooms and aid to formerly homeless people in about 70 single-room-occupancy hotels, known as SROs, which the nonprofits generally lease from private landlords. The buildings are the cornerstone of a $160 million program called permanent supportive housing, which is supposed to help people rebuild their lives after time on the streets. But because San Francisco leaders have for years neglected the hotels and failed to meaningfully regulate the nonprofits that operate them, many of the buildings — which house roughly 6,000 people — have descended into a pattern of chaos, crime and death, the investigation found. Critically, the homelessness crisis in San Francisco has worsened. (Palomino and Thadani, 4/26)

Oaklandside: Homeless Youth Tell Oakland Officials To Take Action
On any given night in Oakland, hundreds of young people search the city for a safe place to sleep, most ending up in cars and tents, and some in shelters. Hundreds more regularly crash on friends’ or relatives’ couches—falling under the radar of government officials and service providers, but nevertheless experiencing a level of housing insecurity that has devastating effects on their lives. ... On Monday evening, several of those young people had the ear of city decision-makers who have the power to make changes to the conditions they grew up in. At the special joint meeting of the Oakland City Council and Youth Advisory Commission, the youth told harrowing and triumphant personal stories, and presented detailed policy recommendations crafted by youth leadership groups. (Orenstein, 4/26)

inewsource: San Diego, Chula Vista Take Steps To Restrict No-Fault Evictions
An inewsource analysis of court data found that the average number of residential eviction filings per business day has been trending upward since last September, around the same time when most local and state COVID-related eviction protections expired. Right now, as long as non-paying tenants have applied for rental assistance, they can’t be evicted in most cases, said Gilberto Vera, senior attorney of the housing team with Legal Aid Society of San Diego. (Dulaney, 4/26)

Orange County Register: Over Decades, WTLC Has Turned Emergency Shelter Into ‘Comprehensive’ Care For Violence Survivors 
Hope House, a longer-term transitional housing facility, will serve as a free and safe place for victims to call home, giving them access to counseling, legal help and financial support for permanent housing, the chair of WTLC’s board said. The newest expansion of Orange County’s oldest domestic violence organization is one example of just how far the nonprofit has come since its humble beginnings in 1976 as an emergency, just-for-a-few-nights shelter for abuse victims. (Sheets, 4/26)