Sacramento Bee: California’s COVID-19 Positivity Nears A Record As Variants Spike Infections
California’s COVID-19 positivity rate continues to soar, reaching levels rivaling the January omicron surge that brought record cases to the state. (Davidson, 7/6)

Modesto Bee: COVID-19 Cases Continue To Rise In Stanislaus County
The rate of COVID-19 transmission in Stanislaus County remains high as health officials urge continued precautions against the virus. In an update posted on its Facebook page Tuesday, Stanislaus County Health Services Agency said the county has 86 patients hospitalized with coronavirus, with 15 of them in the intensive care unit. Test positivity stood at 17.08 percent. Last week, hospitalizations stood at 88 with six in the ICU. The test positivity rate late week was 14.28 percent. (7/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID In California: New Variants More Resistant To Three-Shot Vaccine Dose
In a laboratory study, the scientists found that the highly transmissible BA.4 and BA.5 sublineages of the virus, which are now dominant in the U.S., were at least four times more resistant to three doses of vaccine — the original shots plus one booster — than was the earlier BA.2. (The study group didn’t include people with two booster shots.) (Vaziri, 7/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Have New Variants Changed The Risk Of Getting COVID Outdoors?
Summer in the Bay Area means outdoor parties, weddings and music festivals, where people can worry a little bit less about catching COVID-19. But will fast-spreading offshoots of the omicron coronavirus variant change the equation this year? The highly infectious and immune-evasive BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages of omicron are now the dominant strains in Northern California, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. COVID infections are up across the state as the test-positivity rate nears record levels, meaning the risk is higher in nearly all settings. (Vaziri, 7/7)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Today: Getting Sick On Purpose
As a piece of advertising, it was certainly effective. The ad pictured attractive young adults with backpacks and earbuds. In a sign of the times, they wore face masks and stood apart from one another. Instead of selling a product, they were making an appeal: “Help us fight COVID-19.” (Kaplan, 7/5)

Bay Area News Group: Judge Issues Narrow Injunction In Challenge To Santa Clara County’s Employee Vaccine Order 
In a partial victory for workers challenging Santa Clara County’s vaccination mandate, a federal judge has ruled that the county must treat employees with religious exemptions the same as those with medical or disability exemptions when reassigning them to less risky roles. (Greschler, 7/6)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Dozens Of San Diego City Workers Face Termination For Failing To Comply With COVID-19 Testing Requirement
Dozens of city of San Diego employees who agreed to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing instead of getting vaccinated could be fired for failing to comply with the testing requirement, city officials said. (Hernandez, 7/6)

The Bakersfield Californian: Adventist Health Mobile Vaccination Unit Pretty Much Goes Everywhere 
The Adventist Health children's mobile immunization unit — a vaccination clinic on wheels — can be found in south Bakersfield on Monday, outside Walmart in the Fashion Plaza parking lot a few days later, at the McFarland Learning Center on July 19, at New Life Church on Stine Road on the 27th and all the way out to Lost Hills the following day. (Mayer, 7/6)

CIDRAP: Fourth Vaccine Dose Protects Against Omicron In Nursing Home Residents
A study in Ontario suggests that, compared with a third dose of mRNA COVID vaccine, a fourth dose improved protection against infection and severe outcomes among long-term care residents during the Omicron wave. The study was published today in The BMJ. (7/6)

Bloomberg: Pharmacists Can Prescribe Pfizer’s Covid Pill Under FDA Order
Pharmacists will be permitted to prescribe Pfizer Inc.’s Paxlovid under a move by US regulators aimed at providing prompt access to the widely used Covid treatment. State-licensed pharmacists can prescribe Paxlovid to eligible patients, subject to certain limitations to assure appropriate treatment, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday in a statement. (Langreth, 7/6)

Stat: Doctors Are Clamoring For More Clarity On Paxlovid Prescribing
Six months after regulators issued an emergency use authorization for Paxlovid, physicians say they still have significant questions about prescribing guidelines for the leading treatment for high-risk Covid patients. (Chen, 7/7)

CBS News: Newly Published Study Shows Cancer Drug Cuts Risk Of Death For Hospitalized High-Risk COVID-19 Patients
A drug initially developed in hopes of treating cancer patients could significantly cut the risk of death among hospitalized COVID-19 patients who are at high risk of severe disease, results published on Wednesday suggest. The findings on the drug, called sabizabulin, were first announced in early April by drugmaker Veru, which submitted an emergency use authorization request last month. If the Food and Drug Administration signs off, it could add another option to the stable of drugs doctors turn to for treating hospitalized cases. (Tin, 7/6)

Orange County Register: OC Board Of Ed Challenges Newsom Over COVID-19 Emergency Act Again
A freshly-emboldened Orange County Board of Education once again took aim at Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ongoing COVID-19 powers, filing new legal action Wednesday to end the statewide state of emergency. Board members, along with a national organization that opposes vaccine mandates, filed an amended motion to a November lawsuit in an attempt to require Newsom to terminate the statewide state of emergency he enacted in March 2020. (Kopetman, 7/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Voters Will Weigh In On Dialysis Clinics For The Third Time In Four Years. Here’s What’s Different This Time
A nearly identical version of Prop. 29 appeared on the state’s 2020 ballot and failed. Voters also rejected Prop. 8, a related measure, in 2018. All three were filed by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), an Oakland-based union that represents medical workers. (Pak, 7/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Will Try Removing Police From Low-Level 911 Calls About Homelessness
San Francisco plans to create a six-month pilot program to have community workers instead of police respond to low-level emergency calls about homelessness — a year after supervisors set aside $3 million for the initiative. But the program is still up to a year away from launching, officials said. (Moench, 7/6)

inewsource: LPS Conservatorships, Mental Health Courts And 5150s: Contact Us If You Need Help
Reporters at inewsource are working on stories about what it’s like to manage serious mental illness in San Diego and Imperial counties. We’re going to examine mental health conservatorships, mental health courts and psychiatric holds known as 5150s and tell stories about when these processes have helped or hurt people. We know there are relatives who have been struggling to get their loved one help — even if that person, because of their mental illness, doesn’t realize or accept they need it. And the longer an illness goes untreated, the worse it can get. (Bowman, 7/7)

East Bay Times: Second Probable Monkeypox Case Found In Santa Cruz County
For the second time in one week, a probable case of the monkeypox virus has been identified in Santa Cruz County. (Hattis, 7/7)

Palm Springs Desert Sun: CDC Confirms First Monkeypox Case In Riverside County; Patient From Coachella Valley
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first case of monkeypox from an eastern Riverside County resident, county spokesperson Jose Arballo Jr. said on Twitter. (Sasic, 7/6)

NBC News: Lesions, Headaches, Debilitating Pain: Gay Men With Monkeypox Share Their Stories
“The thought of a full three-week quarantine is pretty scary,” said John, 32, a New York City tech worker who believes he contracted monkeypox from a guy he hooked up with during a recent trip to Los Angeles for the city’s Pride events. “I’m just feeling disappointed and bummed out. It was a bummer to miss celebrating Pride” in New York. (Ryan, 7/6)

CIDRAP: Global Monkeypox Cases Top 6,000, WHO Says
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the global outbreak of monkeypox has grown to more than 6,000 cases, with 80% in European countries. ... "Testing remains a challenge, and it's highly probable that there are a significant number of cases not being picked up," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned during a speech. (Soucheray, 7/6)

The New York Times: Parents Sue TikTok, Saying Children Died After Viewing ‘Blackout Challenge’ 
The parents of two girls who said their children died as a result of a “blackout challenge” on TikTok are suing the company, claiming its algorithm intentionally served the children dangerous content that led to their deaths. The girls were 8 and 9 when they died last year after viewing the challenge, which encouraged users to choke themselves until they passed out, according to the lawsuit, which was filed on Thursday in Superior Court in Los Angeles County. (Levenson and Rubin, 7/6)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Residents Complain San Diego Drinking Water Is 'Stinky' And 'Smells Like Mold' 
Earthy, musty smelling water coming out of faucets in some San Diego neighborhoods will be around for a couple more days — but city officials say it presents no safety issues. (Kucher, 7/6)

Oaklandside: ‘Emerald New Deal’ Cannabis Tax Ballot Measure Faces Skepticism
A plan to dedicate cannabis tax revenue to programs intended to repair harms caused by the war on drugs ran up against more criticism Tuesday at the Oakland City Council meeting. A final vote on the proposal was pushed to July 11. (Rodas, 7/6)

AP: California Woman Fakes Cancer, Forges Notes To Avoid Prison 
One note submitted to the federal judge sentencing a 38-year-old California woman for embezzlement claimed that a biopsy had revealed “cancerous cells” in her uterus. Another indicated that she was undergoing a surgical procedure, and her cancer had spread to the cervix. Yet another letter warned she “cannot be exposed to COVID-19” because of her fragile state. But federal officials say the notes and cancer were all fake, and now Ashleigh Lynn Chavez is headed to prison for three times as long. The court this week added an additional two years to her initial, one-year prison sentence. (7/6)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Will Help Overseas Baby-Formula Makers Keep Selling In U.S. Beyond Shortages 
Federal health regulators are devising plans that would let overseas baby formula makers market their products in the U.S. long term beyond the current baby formula shortage. To ease shortages of baby formula, the Food and Drug Administration has been temporarily allowing foreign manufacturers to ship their products to the U.S. (Armour, 7/6)

Axios: Truth Is Good For Health
The average American tells 11 lies a week. Lying less actually improves our mental and physical health. That's according to a recent study by researchers at Notre Dame. (Pandey, 7/7)