Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
California Opens Medi-Cal to Older Unauthorized Immigrants
Starting May 1, low-income unauthorized immigrants over age 49 become eligible for full Medi-Cal health coverage, a significant milestone in California’s effort to expand coverage. (Bernard J. Wolfson, )
BART Reinstates Mask Mandate For Riders: BART riders are required to mask up once again, effective immediately, after the transit agency’s board of directors voted Thursday to reinstate a COVID mask mandate through mid-July. Read more from Bay Area News Group.
Safe Injection Site Discussion In Progress: Lawmakers in California are debating whether to open sites where people can inject or snort illegal drugs under the watchful gaze of a health care worker. These facilities are an effort to save lives, as overdoses skyrocket across California. Read more from KQED.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today's national health news, read KHN's Morning Briefing.
More News From Across The State
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Coronavirus Cases Up 40% In One Week; Hospitalizations Rising, Too
Coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County rose by 40% over the past week and hospitalizations have started to creep up as well, underscoring how important it is for people to be up-to-date on their vaccines and boosters, as well as wear masks in indoor public settings, officials said. (Money and Lin II, 4/28)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento County Rejects Report Critical Of COVID Response
Sacramento County’s Board of Supervisors and top government officials this week rebutted a civil grand jury report that sharply criticized how they spent early coronavirus relief funding and refused to implement most of the investigation’s recommendations. The investigation released in February concluded that the county “abandoned responsibility for COVID spending” and “undermined public confidence in government” in 2020 when county leaders allocated the lion’s share of $181 million in federal coronavirus aid toward the Sheriff’s Office. (Riley, 4/28)
San Francisco Chronicle:
What Actually Happens In Your Body When You Have Asymptomatic COVID?
Many people who get tested regularly for COVID-19 — including, recently, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris — test positive despite reporting no symptoms at all. But such asymptomatic infections, which can also occur with other kinds of viruses, are difficult to track, since you may never know if you had one. (Echeverria, 4/28)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Ruby Princess Cruise Ship Reports 37 Coronavirus Cases After Docking In San Francisco
The Ruby Princess cruise ship that docked in San Francisco on Saturday had 37 coronavirus cases among people aboard the ship, local health officials said Thursday. The Ruby Princess is under investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The “vast majority” of people who tested positive experienced mild or no symptoms, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health. These cases come more than a week after health officials recorded 143 coronavirus cases aboard the Ruby Princess ship on April 11, and nearly a month after another 73 cases were recorded on a March 27 trip on the same ship, San Francisco public health officials said. (Flores and Hernández, 4/28)
Daily Breeze:
Cruise Industry Weathers COVID-19 Holdovers As Virus Lingers
A rapidly spreading variant and close, indoor quarters are likely factors that have led to cruise ship passengers testing positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks, according to the CDC. A spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said most cases have not been severe. “The vast majority of cases did not have severe outcomes, with only one COVID-19 hospitalization reported” in the outbreak on the Ruby Princess, which is still under investigation, said CDC spokesman Nick Spinelli. (Littlejohn, 4/28)
Orange County Register:
Orange County Is 71.4% Fully Vaccinated As Of April 28
The OC Health Care Agency reported 2,301,942 county residents were fully vaccinated as of Thursday, April 28. This represents about 71.4% of Orange County’s total population. There have been 1,274,022 booster doses administered. (Goertzen, 4/28)
The Associated Press:
Moderna Seeks Approval Of COVID Vaccine For Kids Under 6
Moderna on Thursday asked U.S. regulators to authorize low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than 6, a long-awaited move toward potentially opening shots for millions of kids by summer. Some families are waiting impatiently for a chance to protect their littlest kids as all around them people shed masks and other public health precautions, even though highly contagious coronavirus mutants continue to spread. (4/28)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Schools Chief Seeks Delay Of Student COVID Vaccine Mandate
The Los Angeles Unified School District should delay its requirement that students be vaccinated against COVID-19 until next year, its superintendent recommended Thursday, given the system’s already high vaccination rates among older students as well as low transmission rates in schools. Supt. Alberto M. Carvalho said that, after consulting with experts, he will ask the district’s board to hold off on enforcing the mandate until July 1, 2023, at the earliest. Doing so would align California’s largest school district with the expected timeline of a statewide student vaccination requirement. (Gomez, Money and Lin II, 4/28)
Los Angeles Daily News:
LAUSD Superintendent Recommends Postponing Student Vaccine Mandate
Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has recommended the district postpone its COVID-19 student vaccination mandate until at least July 2023, in alignment with the state’s plan for its own mandate, the district announced Thursday, April 28. If the school board, which is expected to vote on the matter at its next meeting, goes along with the recommendation, it would mean that students in the nation’s second-largest district no longer would be required to get their COVID-19 shots to attend school in person this fall. Otherwise, potentially tens of thousands of students who aren’t compliant with the mandate could be barred from campuses. (Tat, 4/28)
Los Angeles Times:
LAUSD Failed Disabled Students During Pandemic, Probe Finds
Los Angeles Unified failed to provide appropriate education to students with disabilities during the pandemic as required under federal law and must provide extra services to help some of the most vulnerable students recover from the significant voids in their learning, the U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday. The investigation, conducted by the department’s Office for Civil Rights, confirms what many parents have alleged since schools were first closed — that they basically had to fend for themselves during distance learning as their children were left with little if any education and specialized assistance. The district has entered into a voluntary agreement with the federal department to fix its failings. (Esquivel and Gomez, 4/28)
AP:
California Senate Leaders Say Budget Surplus Soars To $68B
California’s budget surplus has more than doubled since January to a staggering $68 billion, Senate Democrats said Thursday, prompting a flurry of new spending proposals from lawmakers that include giving $8 billion back to taxpayers in a move that highlights a disagreement with Gov. Gavin Newsom. While the pandemic had prompted warnings of multibillion-dollar budget deficits in most states, those fears did not happen as tax revenues across the country increased despite coronavirus-related shutdowns on businesses that caused millions to lose their jobs. (Beam, 4/28)
The Nation:
A New Intervention In California’s Mental Health Crisis
Earlier this year, California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed setting up mental health courts in every county in the state. They would be known as CARE courts, with the acronym standing for Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment; and they would create both an obligation on the part of the county to provide seriously mentally ill homeless residents with needed treatments and services, and also an obligation on the part of the mentally ill to participate in mandated treatment. California is staggering under a homelessness crisis of unprecedented scale. More than 160,000 people were homeless on any given day as of 2020, and when data is released from the recently complete point-in-time count, it almost certainly will show that that number has gone up—despite the $12 billion that Newsom put toward solving the homelessness epidemic last year. (Abramsky, 4/29)
KQED:
Susan Talamantes Eggman On CARE Courts And End Of Life Legislation
Marisa and Scott talk with Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman about the debate over rebates for Californians, her CARE Courts plan for residents with severe mental illness, her family roots in agriculture, coming out to her family while in the military and her work on end of life legislation. (Lagos and Shafer, 4/28)
CalMatters:
California’s Youngest Children Need More Mental Health Support, Advocates Say In Request For Funding
While California has committed billions of dollars to support the mental health of K-12 students, little has been specifically dedicated to children 5 and younger. Advocates say it’s a need that needs to be addressed, and they are asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to set aside $250 million in the state budget to support the mental health of infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their parents and caregivers. Kids under 5 account for almost a quarter of all Medi-Cal recipients under 21 but do not receive a proportionate share of health and mental health care compared to older youth, according to Children Now, an advocacy organization focused on the health and welfare of California’s children. At least 43% of those children under 5 have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience. These experiences — including violence, abuse or neglect — have been connected to chronic illnesses later in life and death. (Aguilera, 4/29)
KCRA:
Medi-Cal Expansion Starts May 1. How It Will Help Undocumented Immigrants
Last summer, California became the first state in the country to grant health care services to undocumented immigrants ages 50 and older. The law – which will benefit about 235,000 Californians, goes into effect on May 1.AdvertisementHealth equity and immigration experts say that these services are necessary for preventative care and could allow low-income Californians to lead a healthier life without having to rely on an emergency. (De La Cruz, 4/28)
Modesto Bee:
Caltrans Can Clear Highway Homeless Camps, Judge Rules
Caltrans can begin to clear a pair of high-risk Bay Area homeless encampments as early as next week, a federal appeals judge ruled this week. The Wednesday decision overturning an earlier court ruling, says the agency’s actions to relocate unhoused people from the Emeryville sites did not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. (Smith, 4/28)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Homelessness Officials Seek $16 Million To Improve Services In Run-Down SROs After Chronicle Investigation
San Francisco homelessness officials are asking for $24.5 million to boost staffing and bolster services in the city’s housing stock for the homeless, after months of inquiries from The Chronicle about squalid conditions and staffing shortages inside many of the buildings. But the request from the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, or HSH, which sought to pull the funds from a business tax approved by voters in 2018, was rejected at a hearing Thursday. (Palomino and Thadani, 4/28)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno Leaders Take Recommendations From Community On Housing Crisis. Here's What Was Said
The Fresno City Council listened to researchers, staff and community members at a special hearing Wednesday about the “Here to Stay” and the “One Fresno Housing Strategy” – two reports that aim to solve Fresno’s housing crisis – but took no action on the more than 100 total policies recommended by the two reports. While both reports clearly outlined a city in crisis, the “Here to Stay” report focuses on addressing displacement through making existing housing more affordable, while the “One Fresno Housing Strategy” encourages building more housing to meet demand as the solution. (Garibay, 4/28)
CBS Sacramento:
‘This Is A Major Public Health Challenge’: Newsom Unveils Plans To Prepare For Increasing California Heat
Sacramento heat hit triple digits 28 times last year, and five of those days were record highs. Now, state leaders are unveiling new plans to prepare for more extreme heat emergencies. Extreme heat is becoming a way of life here in California. So just how bad are heatwaves going to be in the future? Historically, Sacramento sees two or three days above 104 degrees each year. That’s expected to reach 10-15 days by mid-century. “We have very high confidence on future temperature predictions,” Paul Ullrich, a UC Davis climate professor said. (Klinge, 4/28)
Los Angeles Times:
Southern California Reacts To New Drought Restrictions
Millions of Southern California residents are bracing for less water and many brown lawns as drought and climate change leave a large swath of the region with a growing water shortage. In a remarkable indication of drought severity, officials with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California have declared a first-of-its-kind action limiting outdoor water use to one day a week for nearly 6 million residents. (Smith, James and Ding, 4/28)
Los Angeles Times:
A Guide To Sweeping Southern California Water Restrictions
Brown lawns. Concerns about dying tree. Big fines. Drought and climate change are forcing unprecedented water restrictions in parts of Southern California and millions of residents are wondering what happens now.Here is a guide to what we know. (James and Smith, 4/28)
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco Is One Of The ‘Rattiest Cities In America.’ Will Rat Birth Control Help?
Rats have plagued humans for centuries. They spread diseases; contaminate food; chew through pipes, electrical wires, gas lines and building materials — and then there’s the “ick” factor. Controlling infestations is a challenge, especially in California, the first state to ban super-toxic rat poisons because they also kill hawks, eagles, mountain lions and other species that feed on poisoned rats. (Said, 4/28)
Voice Of San Diego:
National City Resident Tested Their Tap’s Yellowed Water, Here’s What It Said
National City resident Ramel Wallace wanted to know what was in the apple juice-colored water that poured from his tap earlier this month, so he tested it and sent me the results. While a water quality test purchased from Walmart is not as detailed as one taken by a hydrologic specialist at a lab, Wallace’s tests didn’t seem to show anything out of the ordinary, said Justin Brazil, Sweetwater’s director of water quality, after hearing the results read to him by a reporter. (Elmer, 4/25)
Sacramento Bee:
UC Davis Research Details Microplastics In Ocean Food Chain
Germs are hitching rides around the world’s waterways on the tiniest of rafts — microscopic plastic fibers from human clothing and fishing nets — and contaminate the shellfish that consume them, according to research published Tuesday by scientists at the University of California, Davis. These researchers hope to see further study on how the pathogens in these contaminated fish affect the humans and other animals eating them. (Anderson, 4/28)
Orange County Register:
Former Temecula Physician Sentenced To 93 Months For Medicare Billing Fraud
A former Temecula doctor was sentenced Thursday, April 28, to nearly eight years in federal prison for defrauding Medicare and jeopardizing patient safety in varicose vein treatments. Donald Woo Lee, 55, performed unnecessary vein ablation procedures and reused contaminated catheters on patients, which put them at risk of infection and other bodily injury. He also submitted false declarations in a bankruptcy proceeding, according to prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice. (Nelson, 4/28)