In What’s Shaping Up To Be Worst Flu Season In Years, San Diego Confirms Second Pediatric Fatality
San Diego county's Health and Human Services Agency added another 32 deaths to its running count Wednesday, bringing the season total to 206 since Oct. 1.
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
10-Year-Old Among Latest Flu Deaths In San Diego
The flu contributed to the death of another child last week, further highlighting the severity of what is shaping up to be the worst influenza epidemic since the pandemic year of 2009. According to the latest weekly report from the county Health and Human Services Agency, a 10-year-old boy from East County with other unspecified health problems died on Jan. 25. He was the second child to fall victim to the flu this year. The first was a one-year-old, also with significant contributing medical issues, who died on Dec. 31. (Sisson, 1/31)
In other news from across the state —
Oakland Tribune:
Brentwood Community Left Reeling After Death Of Four Students In School Year
A student at Liberty High has died following a short illness, leaving the school community reeling after three other students have died since the start of the school year. ... She could not confirm what the illness was, but she said that based on conversations with the parents and county health officials, no special steps needed to be taken to protect others from the illness. (Sciacca, 1/31)
KQED:
Smoke From Scrap Metal Yard Fire In Richmond May Have Violated Local Air Standards
Air samples from smoke that wafted through Richmond Tuesday night and Wednesday morning from a large fire at a scrap metal yard included high levels of toxic particulate matter that were too dangerous to breathe, according to a top local air official. ...The fire began in a light-iron recycling pile at the facility, according to Jill Rodby, a spokeswoman for Sims, which runs another center in Redwood City that went up in flames several years ago. (Goldberg, 1/31)
Oakland Tribune:
Health Center To Be Named After Revered Late Richmond Doctor
LifeLong Medical Care will hold a groundbreaking ceremony Feb. 9 for its newest health center, at 150 Harbour Way. ...The $23 million, LifeLong William Jenkins Health Center is named after the late Dr. William Jenkins Jr., a Greensboro, North Carolina native who opened the first African-American-run pediatrics office in Richmond in 1973 and practiced in the city for five decades, during which he treated more than a million patients, according to an announcement from LifeLong. Jenkins died in 2012 at the age of 83. (Lochner, 1/31)
San Francisco Chronicle:
SF Will Wipe Thousands Of Marijuana Convictions Off The Books
San Francisco will retroactively apply California’s marijuana-legalization laws to past criminal cases, District Attorney George Gascón said Wednesday — expunging or reducing misdemeanor and felony convictions going back decades. The unprecedented move will affect thousands of people whose marijuana convictions brand them with criminal histories that can hurt chances of finding jobs and obtaining some government benefits. (Sernoffsky, 1/31)