Los Angeles Daily News: LA County Sees Sharp Increase In BA.2 COVID-19 Sub-Variant
Although overall COVID-19 case rates remain relatively low, the BA.2 sub-variant of the virus was continuing to spread in Los Angeles County, with health officials today reporting a sharp rise in the percentage of cases attributed to the offshoot of the Omicron variant, which fueled a winter surge in infections. According to the county Department of Public Health, the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron accounted for 14.7% of all specially sequenced cases from the week ending March 5 — more than double the 6.4% rate from the previous week. (3/24)

CIDRAP: White House Diverges From CDC, Focuses On Aerosol COVID Spread 
Yesterday the White House published a blog post titled "Let's Clear the Air on COVID," describing the virus as primarily transmitted through aerosols—small, tiny airborne particles. Though some experts around the world have been arguing that point for years, and subsequently advocating for respirator use and enhanced ventilation systems, this is the first time the White House has formally acknowledged that aerosol transmission has been the primary driver of the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, it has turned away from the language used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Soucheray, 3/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘COVID Season’: Will We Soon Schedule Our Lives Around Case Surges And Lulls?
Throughout the pandemic, we’ve experienced time and time again the roller-coaster pattern of a spike in COVID cases followed by a descent, then a lull before another seemingly inevitable wave. After two years and multiple surges, many people in California may be feeling that we can know what to expect from here — and that, perhaps, it’s becoming easier to predict when we might see surges and valleys in new coronavirus cases. (Hwang, 3/24)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: They Are Some Of Sonoma County’s Unsung Heroes Of The Pandemic
They worked behind the scenes as the pandemic unfolded, often preventing the tragedy from becoming more tragic. They assembled data and made sense of its complexity. They comforted the elderly and the poor. And they ventured into parts of our community where the risk was the highest and the damage was the greatest. No one will ever know how many people didn’t die or get gravely ill because of their efforts, but this much is certain: They are the unsung heroes of the pandemic, and they made a difference. Here are some of their stories. (Espinoza, 3/24)

CIDRAP: NFL Games Didn't Contribute To County COVID-19 Spread, Study Suggests
National Football League (NFL) games played with fans in the 2020 season, with mask mandates and physical distancing in place, had no effect on COVID-19 infections in the surrounding county, suggests a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers, the study estimated the effects of games played from September 2020 to early January 2021, well before the emergence of the highly transmissible Delta and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants. Of 29 stadiums, 13 were closed throughout the season, and 16 opened with reduced capacity, mask requirements, distanced seating, mobile ticketing, and enhanced cleaning.(3/24)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Masks Back Up At UCSD Health As COVID-19 Signals Surge In San Diego Wastewater 
Less than a week after operating in the least-restrictive “low prevalence” level of its new normal plan, UC San Diego Health told employees Thursday that some restrictions will return immediately due to a surge in the amount of virus recently detected in local wastewater. (Sisson, 3/24)

Politico: CDC Updates Covid-19 Guidance To Allow Patients Wear N95s 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday updated its guidance so that people visiting health care facilities are allowed to wear highly protective masks such as N95s. The change comes after a POLITICO report last week found that hospitals around the country routinely ask patients and visitors to wear a surgical mask instead of their own N95. (Levy, 3/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bill Seeks To Expand Access To Medical Marijuana — But Some Worry It Could Backfire
When Californians voted in favor of Proposition 64 in 2016 and legalized the adult-use cannabis industry, they gave municipalities the ability to opt out of the cultivation, manufacturing and retail sales. A new bill appears to challenge that key provision of local control, but there’s an ongoing debate over its intentions and what it would mean in practice.SB1186 by Sen. Scott Wiener, would enact the Medicinal Cannabis Patients' Right of Access Act. It is intended to prevent local governments from enacting bans or “unreasonable restrictions” around medical cannabis sales. (Bryant, 3/24)

Sacramento Bee: How Cannabis Food Edibles In Sacramento Are Improving
All About Wellness’ snack selection resembles a convenience store’s, in most ways. There’s buffalo jerky and sriracha crackers, fudge bars and mints, hard candies and pretzel bites. A peanut butter candy bar claims to use single-origin Ecuadorian chocolate. Fruit chews are everywhere, with all kinds of flavors such as sour watermelon, sparkling pear, key lime. (Egel, 3/25)

Sacramento Bee: Edible Cannabis Vs Smoking Weed: How Are They Different? 
Today’s edible cannabis scene has evolved from your stereotypical homemade “pot brownies” into an innovative industry, pushing the tastebuds of both stoners and first-time marijuana users. There’s THC-infused salad dressing, candies, seltzers, cakes, cookies, chocolate bars, potato chips, beef jerky and even specialized multi-course meals. Many of which mask the smell and taste of weed. (Truong, 3/25)

Sacramento Bee: ‘Easily The Most Popular Product.’ Cannabis Dispensary Manager Talks About Popular Edibles 
Chandler Hale, a manager for Sacramento dispensary All About Wellness, talks about cannabis-infused edibles on sale his shop on March 22, 2022. His store sells gummies, extracts, flour and drinks, among other products. (Amezcua, 3/23)

Capitol Weekly: A Deep Dive Into Newsom Plan To Overhaul Mental Health Policy 
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Stephen Manley started the first Mental Health Court in California – one of the first in the country – in 1998, to divert increasing numbers of mentally ill defendants from the criminal justice system, where jails and prisons are often called “the new asylums.” Designed to break the tragic pattern for people whose mental illness underlies their crimes — landing them, repeatedly, in jails and prisons ill-equipped to help them – Manley’s courts annually manage the cases of 1,500-2,000 mentally ill defendants (he calls them “clients”). Nearly 70 percent have successfully completed their requirements and many charges were dismissed, saving lives and public funds. (Bathen, 3/24)

The Washington Post: Burger King And Chick-Fil-A Commit To Removing "Forever Chemicals" From Food Packaging 
Some of America’s favorite restaurants have just committed to taking something off consumers’ plates. Restaurant Brands International, which owns Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes, announced plans late Wednesday to phase out these chemicals in its food packaging worldwide by 2025. Chick-fil-A announced a similar commitment Wednesday evening on Twitter to phase out these chemicals in packaging by the end of this summer. (Reiley, 3/24)

Bloomberg: How Apple, Levi's And Other Big U.S. Companies Are Creating A Brand New Abortion Benefit
The roar of anti-abortion laws sweeping through U.S. state houses is echoing loudly in human resources offices. Companies that have offered to help cover travel costs for employees who have to go out of state for abortions are trying to figure out how to go about it. Large corporations like Citigroup Inc., Apple Inc., Bumble Inc., Levi Strauss & Co. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. are now offering such benefits for reproductive-care services not available in an employee’s home state. (3/24)

NPR: Former TikTok Moderators Sue Over Emotional Toll Of 'Extremely Disturbing' Videos
When Ashley Velez accepted a job last year reviewing videos for TikTok, "we were told we would be the front line of defense from protecting children from seeing violence," she said. But the Las Vegas mother of two boys, ages 8 and 17, said she was stunned when she discovered what the position entailed. "We would see death and graphic, graphic pornography. I would see nude underage children every day," Velez said in an interview. "I would see people get shot in the face, and another video of a kid getting beaten made me cry for two hours straight." (Allyn, 3/24)

KQED: Project Roomkey Was Meant To Provide Safe Shelter. In Vallejo, At Least 5 People Died In Their Rooms.
In April 2020, Vallejo became one of the first cities to opt into the state’s Project Roomkey, a program designed to provide hotel rooms for medically vulnerable people without homes during the pandemic. The program was touted as a success by city leaders. But reporting from The Vallejo Sun found at least 5 people who participated in the program died in their hotel rooms, including 3 who weren’t found for days. So how did this happen? (Guevarra and Montecillo, 3/25)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Woman Died After Eviction From Homeless Program 
Tammy Couisan lost everything over the past four months. Her wife, Christine, died four days before Christmas. Then her poodle Toto died. She lost her shelter on Feb. 22, too, when a city of Sacramento-run motel evicted her. Ten days later, she died in a tent. Her friends this month are mourning her passing. Christine and Tammy Couisan’s deaths hit the homeless community especially hard because they were well-known homeless activists who worked to raise awareness about the struggles unhoused people face. (Clift, 3/24)

Sacramento Bee: California’s Nurse Practitioners Play A Critical Role In A Stretched Healthcare System 
For the past several years, California nurse practitioners have been advocating for legislation that would grant them independence. With the work of a tremendous coalition, we were able to get the bill passed. In September of 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 890 into law. We spent many months educating policymakers and our elected leaders about the role and education of nurse practitioners. The bill had strong bipartisan support and is in the implementation process. This new law will allow nurse practitioners to help provide quality health care and expand access for those desperate for care. I was proud to be part of this effort. (Stephanie Bedolla, 3/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: National Sewage Tracking Could Keep Us A Step Ahead Of COVID. But Congress Just Cut The Funds
COVID-19 is, for the moment, in retreat, and public health measures are loosening accordingly: Every state has dropped or will soon end its mask mandate; major employers like Starbucks and major cities like Boston, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco are dropping vaccine requirements; countries around the world are reopening to travelers. But relaxing the measures that protect us against viral spread only makes sense if we can also be confident that less virus is spreading. How do we gain this confidence? By getting ahead of the virus. (Douglas Yeung, 3/23)

Sacramento Bee: Here’s What The Debate Over Ending California’s COVID Emergency Is Really About 
Ending the pandemic emergency Gov. Gavin Newsom declared two years ago is, according to some of his fellow California politicians, an emergency in and of itself. The urgency with which they’re demanding a return to normalcy says much about our national mishandling of the crisis. State Sen. Melissa Melendez, a Southern California Republican whose resolution to end the emergency didn’t emerge from a Senate committee last week, lamented that the governor would retain the fearsome if theoretical power to “close schools and shut down businesses.” (Josh Gohlke, 3/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: Do You Need A Second Booster For The BA.2 Variant? It’s Complicated, Says UCSF’s Monica Gandhi
Two large COVID-19 vaccine companies are applying to the Food and Drug Administration to have fourth booster shots authorized. Each has a very different approach: Moderna is applying for a shot for all adults and Pfizer wants the shot for those 65 and older. To understand which approach is correct, and who actually needs a fourth shot for COVID-19, however, we have to spend a minute understanding the immune system. (Monica Gandhi, 3/23)

Los Angeles Times: Cuts To COVID Relief Programs Are Coming. Once Again Latinos Will Bear The Brunt Of The Effect
Last week President Biden signed a new government spending bill into law. The roughly $22.5 billion for emergency funding for COVID-19 response efforts that the White House had requested was not included in the bill. That was removed after congressional Republicans pushed back on spending more on COVID relief, saying they needed to better understand how the money already allocated to those efforts has been spent thus far. The cutbacks will affect, among other programs, payments to treat and vaccinate people without insurance, as well as the purchase and shipment of monoclonal antibody treatments. As has been true throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the people likely to suffer most from these changes to COVID relief programs are communities of color, especially Latinos. (Arturo Vargas Bustamante, 3/25)

Los Angeles Daily News: New Rules Add More Complications To State’s Legal Marijuana System 
It’s well-documented that California’s legal marijuana marketplace is rife with problems due, in part, to onerous red tape and high taxes that allow the black market to continue to dominate.  As a result, California is again looking to overhaul its regulatory framework for adult-use and medical cannabis. (Geoffrey Lawrence, 3/21)

East Bay Times: What California Can Do To Address Affordable Housing Crisis
California’s housing crisis can seem insurmountable. The median home price is more than $800,000, the state needs millions of additional homes to give everyone a place to live and homelessness is on the rise. Progress is abysmal. The state called for the construction of 180,000 new units annually between 2015 and 2025 to close the gap. We are building fewer than half as many, only about 80,000 new units per year. (Pedro Nava, Cathy Schwamberger and Dion Aroner, 3/25)

San Francisco Chronicle: Should The Bay Area Build New Housing Or Protect Existing Tenants? Data Shows Neither Is Good Enough
Bay Area municipalities have been debating for decades whether new housing production or vigorous tenant protections is the best path to ensuring secure places to live for the region’s residents. And yet questions over the long-term efficacy of both of these solutions have largely remained unanswered. Until now. (Karen Chapple and Jackelyn Hwang, 3/25)

Los Angeles Daily News: Messing With Texas Won’t Fix California 
California faces an unusually large number of challenges that require immediate attention, ranging from soaring home prices to a homeless epidemic to a crime wave. Yet Gov. Gavin Newsom and his Democratic allies seem fixated on Texas, as they announce proposals that score symbolic points on their perceived rival. (3/24)

Sacramento Bee: Oops! The Senate’s Unanimous Approval Of Daylight Saving Time Was A Comedy Of Errors 
When news broke that the U.S. Senate had unanimously approved a bill, aptly called the Sunshine Protection Act, making daylight saving time permanent, we assumed (and by “we” I mean “I”) they knew what they were doing. As it turns out, some of them did not actually know what they were approving and were shocked when they discovered what they had done. (Stephanie Finucane, 3/22)