Charter Schools Not Keeping Up With Public Ones On Vaccination Rates
Officials think it has more to do with how the schools are structured than them flouting state requirements.
KPCC:
'No Shots, No School'? Vaccination Rates Lag In California Charter Schools
A KPCC analysis of recently-released state vaccination rate data shows students in charter schools are much less likely than their peers in traditional, district-run public schools to be up-to-date on all of the shots California law says they should receive by seventh grade. ...Overall, 98.4 percent of California's seventh graders met immunization requirements in the 2016-17 school year, a 1.8 percentage point increase over the last three years, according to data the state Department of Public Health released recently. (Stokes, 8/2)
In other public health news —
KQED:
Contra Costa’s At-Risk Youth Suffer From Shortage Of Psychiatrists
At a Family and Human Services Committee hearing on Monday, county officials responded to a civil grand jury report claiming that there is on average a 1-to-310 ratio of psychiatrists to cases of children with moderate to severe mental health issues. ...According to [Cynthia] Belon, only two full-time and seven part-time psychiatrists are currently working in the county’s three mental health clinics for children in Richmond, Antioch and Concord. (Saldaña, 8/1)
KPCC:
Air Pollution Deaths Could Rise With Global Temperatures
Over the next century the world could see an uptick in the number of deaths related to air pollution because of climate change, according to a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ...Currently, about 6.5 million deaths worldwide can be linked to air pollution every year. (Margolis, 8/1)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Moderate To Heavy Drinkers Are More Likely To Live To 85 Without Developing Dementia
UC San Diego claims in a new study that certain people who regularly consume moderate to heavy amounts of alcohol are more likely to live to 85 without developing dementia and other cognitive problems compared to people who don’t drink at all. The long-term study was largely based on white, middle-class men and women living in Rancho Bernardo, a master-planned community in North County. ...The new UC San Diego paper says, in part, that “Moderate and heavy drinkers had 2-fold higher odds of living to age 85 without cognitive impairment relative to non-drinkers.” (Robbins, 8/1)