CapRadio: California Hospitals Strained For Staff And Bracing For Omicron Uptick, Including Among Kids 
As the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads rapidly in California, hospitals are filling up and expecting even more patients, including pediatric cases. Hospitals statewide have seen a 165% increase in COVID-19 admissions in the last month, according to Jan. 6 state data. Case numbers are still less than half of what they were at the peak of last winter’s surge, but that’s expected to change. “We are on track to exceed last winter’s peak of hospitalizations,” said Kiyomi Burchill, group vice president for policy with the California Hospital Association. (Caiola, 1/6)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Health Care Workers Pull Together As Staffing Shortages Persist 
Just two days after narrowly avoiding declaring an internal disaster that would have signaled unsafe conditions for patients, unrelenting staffing issues continued to promise a difficult evening at Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista Thursday. At 7 p.m., it was clear that the evening shift would be short three nurses and five technicians due to positive coronavirus tests and six of the hospital’s 25 emergency beds were already occupied by patients who couldn’t be transferred to already full hospital units. (Sisson, 1/6)

KQED: COVID Hospitalizations: See How Each California County Is Doing 
COVID-19 cases in California are exploding — much like they are throughout the rest of the country and world — thanks largely to the incredibly contagious omicron variant, which in little more than a month has invaded our lives, easily claiming its title as the dominant strain of this infernal virus. On Jan. 1, for instance, the state reported a 7-day average rate of 130 cases per 100,000 residents. That's a roughly 6,400% increase from the two average cases (per 100,000) reported during the first week in June, just seven months ago. The massive jump prompted state officials on Thursday to extend California's indoor mask mandate by a month, through mid-February, as a growing number of hospitals, agencies and schools face severe staffing shortages. (Green, 1/7)

Bay Area News Group: How Bay Area COVID Hospitalizations Compare To Earlier In The Pandemic
As the omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to surge, hospitals across the state have seen a significant increase in patients. While the vast majority of people who are vaccinated and boosted avoid serious illness, the virus is continuing to sicken the unvaccinated and those with compromised immune systems. Statewide, hospitalizations have reached the same levels as during the earlier delta wave. But the current situation looks vastly different than it did in 2020 and the start of 2021. We reached out to a number of Bay Area hospitals to see how omicron is impacting them, and heard back from several. Here’s what they had to say as of Wednesday afternoon. (DeRuy, 1/6)

Orange County Register: Another COVID-Related Death Of A Child Younger Than 5 Reported In OC 
Orange County officials reported Thursday, Dec. 6, another local child younger than 5 has died of complications related to COVID-19 infection. The county reported 6,266 new COVID-19 cases Thursday amid this new winter surge and also logged two more fatalities, increasing the overall death toll to 5,903. (1/6)

Los Angeles Times: Orange County Reports Third COVID-19 Death Of A Child Under 5 
Orange County officials confirmed Thursday night that a child under the age of 5 died in December of complications from COVID-19. The announcement comes as cases are climbing in Orange County and throughout California, driven by the Omicron variant. (Yee, 1/6)

AP: Official: California COVID Surge Could Ease Next Month 
The California surge in coronavirus cases has shut down schools and sidelined thousands of police, firefighters, teachers and health care workers but officials are hoping it will be short-lived. “My hope is that, you know, by the time we get to February, we’re on the downside of seeing that massive amount of community transmission,” Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday. (Melley, 1/7)

NBC News: As Omicron Changes Infection Risk, Experts Share Their Approaches
NBC News asked four public health experts about their own personal behavior and risk calculus during this chapter of the pandemic. All of them advised vaccinated people to remain vigilant and conscientious — and not to return fully to pre-pandemic life — but there was no firm consensus around some activities like air travel. (Arkin, 1/6)

CalMatters: California Admits To COVID Blind Spot
Just how serious is California’s COVID-19 situation? On the one hand, Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s top public health official, on Wednesday extended California’s indoor mask mandate — which was set to run through Jan. 15 — through at least Feb. 15, citing a surge in COVID cases that has pushed the state’s test positivity rate to a whopping 21.3%. On the other hand, Ghaly acknowledged that the state lacks critical data on just how severely the virus, especially the omicron variant, is affecting Californians. He noted that around 8,000 of the state’s approximately 51,000 hospital patients on Wednesday morning had tested positive for COVID. But, Ghaly said, it’s unclear how many of those patients were hospitalized because of COVID versus how many were admitted for different reasons and ended up incidentally having COVID. (Hoeven, 1/6)

The Bakersfield Californian: COVID-19 Outbreak In Wasco State Prison Suspends Inmate Intake 
Wasco State Prison suspended inmate admittance because of a COVID-19 outbreak, according to a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In the last two weeks, 314 cases have been confirmed as of Jan. 6, according to the CDCR. Officials suspended inmate intake on Dec. 29, which is expected to continue until at least Monday. The situation will then be re-assessed by looking at the number of COVID-19 cases at the prison, said Alia Cruz, spokeswoman for CDCR. (Desai, 1/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: 49ers’ Raheem Mostert’s 3-Year-Old Son Recovering From Severe COVID-19 Symptoms
The 3-year-old son of 49ers running back Raheem Mostert has returned home after he was hospitalized Wednesday with severe COVID-19 symptoms. Mostert’s wife, Devon, posted a picture on Instagram of their son, Gunnar, being taken to the hospital in an ambulance because he had a 103.5-degree fever and other symptoms. (Branch, 1/6)

The New York Times: ‘Late Late Show’ Cancels Tapings After James Corden Tests Positive
James Corden joined the ranks of late-night TV hosts who have recently tested positive for the coronavirus, disclosing his diagnosis on Thursday as tapings of his CBS program, “The Late Late Show,” were halted for the next several days. The show is recorded in Los Angeles. (Itzkoff, 1/6)

CalMatters: COVID Surge Upends Some California Courts 
The sharp increase in coronavirus cases is again challenging California’s courts, with judges releasing plans this week to scale back some courtroom procedures as the state experiences the largest spike in COVID-19 since January 2021.  In a déjà vu moment that led to a backlog of cases last year, some courtrooms are halting jury trials, moving some courtroom proceedings online and pushing back their calendars. Even so, some smaller counties that are experiencing the worst of the COVID-19 surge are doubling down on masks but aren’t ready to make drastic changes or temporarily send jurors home. (Lyons, 1/6)

CapRadio: Sacramento County To Require All Public Meetings Be Held Virtually As COVID-19 Wave Grows
Sacramento County will require all public meetings to be held remotely starting Thursday, and are encouraging businesses to voluntarily limit in-person functions as the latest COVID-19 wave fills local hospitals. "This is a measured step that we can take that will allow us to continue to provide access to public services without cutting off that access for the public," County Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye said. "Being able to have these meetings virtually does that" (Hagan, 1/6)

Modesto Bee: COVID Omicron Wave Closes City Offices In Stanislaus County
Hughson City Hall was promptly closed Tuesday following an exposure to a positive COVID-19 case, city officials said. Mayor George Carr said the city administrative offices will be closed to the public the remainder of this week. The small city plans to open the doors again Monday for normal business, he said. (Carlson, 1/6)

Daily News: Garcetti OKs OT Funds As LA Scrambles To Maintain Police/Fire Staffing Levels Amid COVID Surge 
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Thursday, Jan. 6, he has authorized overtime dollars in order to maintain staffing levels amid a surge in Los Angeles police officers and firefighters forced to stay home after testing positive for the coronavirus. The top city fire official also acknowledged that with nearly 300 sworn and civilian staff off-duty, some stations are now “less resourced than normal” and response times have slowed. The police department, which has more than 500 officers out, has been able to meet its patrol staffing requirements, with some delay in responding to “routine calls,” officials said. (Chou, 1/6)

Sacramento Bee: COVID Cases Affect Sacramento Regional Transit Service 
The recent surge of coronavirus infections is leading to delays and trip cancellations on Sacramento Regional Transit’s light rail and bus services, as the already short-staffed provider sees drivers and operators call out sick with COVID-19. “COVID-19 cases reaching record highs and a national workforce shortage is having a tremendous impact on SacRT operations and staffing, which is causing an increase in trip cancellations and service delays,” RT said in social media posts Thursday morning. (McGough, 1/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: How Did The Pandemic Change Work Schedules? Here’s What Github Data Tells Us
How the pandemic change work schedules? We can look to Github data for one answer. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wenqi Shao, a San Francisco data scientist, shifted her working hours in response to her suddenly flexible work-from-home schedule. Shao, who was then working for the shipping technology company Flexport, opted to work later in the evenings, freeing up time in the middle of the day to exercise or run errands. (Sumida, 1/6)

Modesto Bee: Turlock RAD Card Funds Added; Expanded To All Businesses 
Things are RAD again in Turlock with an infusion of $1 million in COVID-relief money for area shoppers to use the digital gift card app to start the new year. The RAD Card program was first launched in downtown Modesto during the pandemic to help small businesses and offered shoppers up to $100 matching funds for purchases. It has since expanded to make all Modesto and Stanislaus County businesses eligible, and continues to expand into San Joaquin and Tuolumne counties with money from various federal COVID-19 relief bills. (Rowland, 1/6)

Los Angeles Times: Hotel Housekeeping Got Harder, More Disgusting During COVID 
The pandemic has added stress to most jobs, but the work of hotel housekeepers — already an occupation with high injury rates — has become increasingly difficult, with fewer workers facing short deadlines to clean rooms that are more cluttered and filthy than ever. To reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus, many of the nation’s largest hotel chains have adopted policies that make daily housekeeping optional, letting guests choose how often housekeepers enter the rooms. In most cases, that means housekeepers enter only after guests check out, leaving multiple days’ worth of trash, grime and discarded towels to deal with. (Martín, 1/6)

Sacramento Bee: Mental Health In The COVID Pandemic: Challenges In California 
About 4 in 10 adults in the United States have reported anxiety or depressive disorder symptoms during the pandemic that began in March 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau 2020 Household Pulse Survey. That’s up from 1 in 10 adults who had similar symptoms from January to June 2019, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. In a live virtual conversation on Oct. 19 (click on the video above to watch), a panel of experts discussed with The Sacramento Bee how Californians are navigating the pandemic from a mental health standpoint. We explored the challenges we face now, and how we can do better this far into the pandemic. (Hajigurban, 1/7)

Modesto Bee: Stanislaus County Has Mostly Run Out Of Coronavirus Test Kits 
Home testing kits are in short supply as the COVID omicron strain infects more residents in Stanislaus County, at the same that flu and other respiratory viruses are making people sick. The county’s public health agency has recently received a total of 40,470 rapid test kits from the state, a spokesperson said. The allocation to the county is separate from the test kits provided to school districts. (Carlson, 1/6)

Bay Area News Group: Week Waits For COVID-19 Tests As Omicron Explodes In Bay Area
On Wednesday, the backup on the Auto Mall Parkway was four hours. On Thursday, it was shorter, but Deven Chandani gave up, found a place to park and walked to Irvington High School instead. All to get his hands on one of the most-coveted items in any medicine cabinet on the planet: COVID-19 tests so his kids can return to school when class resumes Monday. (Woolfolk and Sulek, 1/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Coronavirus Tests Are Nearly Impossible To Find In The Bay Area. Nobody Knows When It’ll Get Better
As the omicron surge worsens, pushing COVID-19 numbers across California to record highs, many frustrated Bay Area residents are unable to access coronavirus tests, either over-the-counter kits or more rigorous lab versions — a problem that has persisted since before the holidays. Appointments at testing sites through county or private health providers, if they’re available at all, are booked out for weeks. Lines wrap around the block. Rapid home tests sold at drugstores such as CVS and Walgreens, which are typically limited to no more than four per customer, are usually out of stock, selling as quickly as they come in. (Echeverria, 1/6)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Demand For COVID-19 Tests And Supply Shortage Straining Sonoma County Communities
An unprecedented surge in coronavirus transmission in Sonoma County — driven by the highly infectious omicron mutation — is straining COVID-19 testing capacity, with many local residents either unable to schedule a timely test or forced to wait hours in line to get one. (Espinoza, 1/6)

Bay Area News Group: Santa Clara County Leaders Pushing For At-Home Testing To Be Swiftly Ramped Up
As omicron cases continue to spike across the region and testing sites in Santa Clara County become bombarded with requests, local leaders are now calling for at-home alternatives to get pushed out to residents to help tamper down the ever-increasing demand. “We’ve got to get on it,” said District 5 Supervisor Joe Simitian. “We’ve got to get on it fast.” Simitian wants the county to quickly distribute at-home rapid tests to residents by Jan. 25, citing a strategy that officials in Colorado and Washington, D.C. have taken, as well as countries like the United Kingdom and Singapore. While he envisions the tests could be either delivered to residents directly or picked up at a distribution center, the sheer number that he says is required to meet the demand is in the “millions” — considering the fact that the county has almost two million residents. (Greschler, 1/6)

The Washington Post: White House, USPS Finalizing Plans To Begin Shipping Coronavirus Test Kits To U.S. Households
The White House is finalizing details with the U.S. Postal Service to deliver 500 million coronavirus test kits to households across the country, according to four people familiar with the plans, kick-starting a key part of President Biden’s response to the raging omicron variant. The administration will launch a website allowing individuals to request the rapid tests, those people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private planning sessions. Officials aim to begin shipping the kits by mid-January. (Bogage and Diamond, 1/6)

The Washington Post: Should You Add A Throat Swab To Your At-Home Covid Test? Experts Disagree.
People have posted anecdotal stories of having coronavirus symptoms and testing negative when using a rapid test kit as instructed (only swabbing their noses). But when they swabbed their throats as well as their noses, they said, the test came back positive. Some prominent experts have also started recommending the additional throat swab. (Chiu, 1/6)

AP: Supreme Court Weighs Vaccine Rules Affecting More Than 80M 
The Supreme Court is taking up two major Biden administration efforts to bump up the nation’s vaccination rate against COVID-19 at a time of spiking coronavirus cases because of the omicron variant. The justices on the conservative-oriented court are hearing arguments Friday about whether to allow the administration to enforce a vaccine-or-testing requirement that applies to large employers and a separate vaccine mandate for most health care workers. The arguments were expected to last at least two hours. (Sherman and Gresko, 1/7)

NBC News: Supreme Court To Consider Biden Vaccine And Mask Requirements In Unusual Friday Session
In recent months, the court has declined to block vaccination mandates for students at Indiana University, teachers in New York, and health care workers in Maine, Massachusetts and New York. Those were rules imposed by states, which have broader authorities known as police powers to protect public health. But in the last term, the court said federal law did not permit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to impose a nationwide ban on evictions. The cases to be heard Friday involve the specific authorities of two other federal agencies. (Williams, 1/7)

The Hill: Navy Removes First Group Of Sailors To Refuse COVID-19 Vaccine 
The Navy has discharged a group of 20 sailors who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the first to be removed following the service’s Nov. 28 deadline for sailors to get the shots. All 20 had recently enlisted and were booted as part of “Entry Level Separations,” removals that take place “during initial training periods within their first 180 days of active duty,” according to a Navy statement released Wednesday. (Mitchell, 1/6)   

Bay Area News Group: Santa Clara County, Once A COVID Policy Trailblazer, Won't Go As Far As A Vaccine Mandate
When the pandemic struck almost two years ago, Santa Clara County became a trailblazer in the fight to stop COVID-19’s deadly spread, quickly issuing health orders that were so restrictive some critics called them draconian. Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody was one of the main corralling forces behind those orders, leading the charge in effectively locking down 6 million residents — the first region in the nation to do so. (Greschler, 1/7)

AP: Study Offers Reassurance On COVID Shots, Women's Periods 
One of the first studies to track whether COVID-19 vaccination might affect women’s periods found a small and temporary change. Research published Wednesday tracked nearly 4,000 U.S. women through six menstrual cycles and on average, the next period after a shot started about a day later than usual. But there was no change in the number of days of menstrual bleeding after COVID-19 vaccination. (Neergaard, 1/6)

USA Today: COVID Pfizer Vaccine Won't Be Ready For Youngest Children For Months
Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine won't be available anytime soon for kids younger than 5. In early tests, the lower dose given to 2- to 5-year-olds didn't produce as much immune protection as did shots given to other age groups, a Pfizer scientist said at a federal advisory committee meeting Wednesday, expanding on information provided late last year. The company hopes a third dose of vaccine eight weeks after the first two shots will provide the desired effectiveness, Dr. Alejandra Gurtman, vice president of vaccine clinical research and development for Pfizer said at a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. (Weintraub, 1/6)

KQED: Where Can I Get A Moderna, Johnson & Johnson Or Pfizer COVID Booster Shot Near Me?  
Moderna booster shots, Pfizer booster shots and Johnson & Johnson booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine are now available, following a thorough in-depth review process from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All eligible people in the United States are now being urged to get their booster shots in light of the omicron variant. Boosters were originally recommended only for certain groups. But now, everyone in California age 18 and over is being urged to get a COVID booster shot this winter — and the CDC approved the same expansion nationwide. (Severn, 1/6)

The Washington Post: Fourth Vaccine Dose Could Be Needed In Fall, Moderna CEO Says
The chief executive of coronavirus vaccine-maker Moderna said Thursday that people are likely to need a second booster dose in the fall, with front-line workers and those 50 and older a particular priority as antibody levels wane. People who received booster shots this past fall are likely to have significant protection through winter, Stéphane Bancel said at a health-care conference hosted by Goldman Sachs. But he said the efficacy of boosters could dip by next fall: “I will be surprised when we get that data in the coming weeks that it’s holding nicely over time — I would expect that it’s not going to hold great.” (Jeong and Suliman, 1/7)

Fox News: FDA Ordered To Speed Up Release Of Approval Data For COVID-19 Vaccine
The Food and Drug Administration was ordered by a federal judge Thursday to release tens of thousands of more pages a month about the data used in its approval process for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Public Health and Medical Professionals sued the FDA under a Freedom of Information Act that demanded more transparency, Reuters reported last month. The FDA—citing staffing issues—agreed to release 12,000 pages by the end of January and a "minimum" of 500 pages a month going forward, the report said. The group found that number unacceptable and said there are more than 400,000 pages of data needed, which could mean it may be 2097 before all the documents are made public. (DeMarche, 1/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: Surge And Sickout: 20% Of S.F. Educators Absent As District Struggles To Supervise Classrooms
Nearly 900 San Francisco teachers and aides were not in their classrooms Thursday, a significant increase in absences over the previous day, deepening a crisis that’s been unfolding since Monday as district officials scrambled to make sure enough qualified adults could fill in and families worried about whether their children’s education would be interrupted — again. A group of teachers called for a sickout Thursday, arguing the district had not adequately protected them during the omicron surge, but it was unclear how many were participating in the sickout and how many were actually ill or caring for sick family members. (Tucker, 1/6)

Bay Area News Group: Bay Area Schools Close Due To COVID-19 Case Spikes
In the midst of a tumultuous back-to-school week underscored by numerous COVID-19 cases that have led to half-empty classrooms, administrators filling in for absent teachers and long testing lines, at least one large school district and some private and charter schools are closing temporarily, and others around the Bay Area are scrambling to keep classrooms open. West Contra Costa Unified School District announced that it is closing its 54 schools Friday and Monday after almost a fourth of the district’s students missed class this week. The district is also closing its three COVID testing sites on Monday. The district does not plan to offer online instruction during the temporary closure. (Jimenez, 1/6)

CapRadio: Sacramento City Schools Superintendent Discusses District Response To COVID-19 Surge, Update On Vaccine Mandate 
Over 40,000 students returned to Sacramento City Unified schools this week amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases. The first day of school saw at least 500 students quarantining after reporting positive test results during the holiday break. Hilary McLean, a spokesperson for SCUSD, said more than 1,200 of about 18,000 COVID-19 tests conducted between Jan. 3 to Jan. 5 across the district came back positive — almost 7% positivity rate among students and staff. (Gonzalez and Salanga, 1/6)

CalMatters: California Legislature: COVID Outbreak Hits Lawmakers 
Nearly three dozen state lawmakers were absent from floor sessions this morning after many of them, including Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, were potentially exposed to the coronavirus at a farewell event for a colleague on Tuesday night. Representatives for the state Senate and Assembly would not confirm exactly how legislators were asked to stay home on Thursday due to the exposure. But Sen. Josh Becker, a Menlo Park Democrat who was at the Tuesday night event and then tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday morning, said “maybe a dozen lawmakers in total” were hanging out at a hotel in downtown Sacramento where many of them stay while in town, an “impromptu get-together” for former Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez after she announced her resignation on Monday. (Koseff, 1/6)

CapRadio: COVID Tests, Exposures Complicate California Legislature’s First Week
Less than a week into the new year and the start of California’s legislative session, COVID-19 has sidelined a handful of lawmakers, including the Assembly speaker. Speaker Anthony Rendon is one of at least six lawmakers quarantining after potential exposure while attending a farewell party Tuesday night for former Assembly member Lorena Gonzalez, who stepped down this week to lead the California Labor Federation. (Rodd and Nixon, 1/6)

AP: California Lawmakers Absent After Possible Virus Exposure 
Some California lawmakers including Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon missed Thursday’s legislative session after attending a party with a lawmaker who later tested positive for the coronavirus. Rendon, who has since tested negative, instructed anyone who attended the Tuesday party to stay home rather than attend the session, his spokeswoman Katie Talbot said in a statement. State health guidelines don’t require people who are vaccinated and boosted to isolate following possible exposure, but Rendon made the request out of caution, she said. (1/7)

Sacramento Bee: Which California Lawmakers Have Had COVID-19? 
Seven of California’s 120 state legislators have disclosed that they’ve tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic almost two years ago, according to a Sacramento Bee analysis. Two of the seven, State Sens. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, and Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, tested positive within the past week as the omicron variant continued to spread rapidly across the state. (Korte, 1/7)

AP: California AG: Don't File Murder Charges In Stillbirths
Prosecutors should not charge women with murder when a fetus dies, even if their behavior may have contributed to the death, California’s top law enforcement official said Thursday. Attorney General Rob Bonta acted after prosecutors in the San Joaquin Valley’s Kings County twice charged women with “fetal murder,” alleging their drug use led to stillbirths. He issued a statewide alert intended to advise law enforcement officials on how to interpret state law. (Thompson, 1/7)

The Washington Post: Former Biden Advisers Call For ‘New’ Covid Strategy 
Six former health advisers to President Biden’s transition team released a series of journal articles on Thursday calling for a “new normal” in the nation’s approach to fighting the coronavirus and other viral threats. In the articles, the advisers lay out dozens of recommendations, sometimes explicitly and often implicitly criticizing the federal response. For instance, they urge the administration to create a “modern data infrastructure” that would offer real-time information on the spread of the coronavirus and other potential threats, saying inadequate surveillance continues to put American lives and society at risk. They also suggest investments in tests, vaccines and prevention beyond what the White House has done, such as mailing vouchers to Americans that could be used to obtain free, high-quality face masks. (Diamond, 1/6)

The Hill: Former Biden Transition Advisors Call For Change In COVID-19 Strategy 
The authors made clear that COVID-19 is not endemic yet, and that the U.S. is far from that point. But they said the administration needs to clearly communicate the current goals and strategies, instead of shifting from one crisis to another. For instance, they said it was shortsighted for Biden to declare last summer that the U.S. has “gained the upper hand against this virus." (Weixel, 1/6)

The New York Times: Former Biden Advisers Urge A Pandemic Strategy For The ‘New Normal’ 
On the day President Biden was inaugurated, the advisory board of health experts who counseled him during his transition officially ceased to exist. But its members have quietly continued to meet regularly over Zoom, their conversations often turning to frustration with Mr. Biden’s coronavirus response. Now, six of these former advisers have gone public with an extraordinary, albeit polite, critique — and a plea to be heard. In three opinion articles published on Thursday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, they called for Mr. Biden to adopt an entirely new domestic pandemic strategy geared to the “new normal” of living with the virus indefinitely, not to wiping it out. (Stolberg, 1/6)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Curebound Donates More Than $476,000 For Cancer Immunotherapy Clinical Trial 
La Jolla-based nonprofit Curebound made a $476,450 donation to UC San Diego and La Jolla Institute for Immunology to fund a cancer immunotherapy clinical trial that the university and the institute started in partnership with the Immunotherapy Foundation. (McIntosh, 1/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Jury In Elizabeth Holmes Trial Seized On Two ‘Smoking Guns’ To Convict Theranos Founder, Juror Says
In their second week of deliberations, jurors in the trial of Elizabeth Holmes seized on what one juror described as two “smoking guns” that sealed the fate of the Theranos Inc. founder. Huddled in a fifth-floor courtroom, the four women and eight men were grappling over whether she had defrauded large Theranos investors about her blood-testing startup. Jurors zeroed in on two pieces of evidence they believed showed Ms. Holmes intentionally lied to investors, said Susanna Stefanek, known throughout the trial as Juror No. 8. (Randazzo and Bobrowsky, 1/6)

Modesto Bee: How Inflation Impacts Central California Couple In Their 70s 
At 78, Grayson resident Antonio Lomeli still works at the barbershop he opened in Patterson in 1994, going in about 45 hours a month. It’s the most he can work without losing Social Security benefits. With 72-year-old wife Yolanda getting ready to retire from her day-care career, he needs to keep cutting. Living solely off Social Security just isn’t enough, and with the inflation rate at its highest in decades, worry over affordability of food and health insurance is mounting for the couple who says they’re going through their money faster than ever. Even though the two are weary, Antonio says he’s not sure when he will be able to hang his clippers and retire. (Briseño, 1/7)

The New York Times: 5 Tips For Spotting Melanoma And Other Skin Cancers 
In October, Nadia Popovici, a Seattle Kraken hockey fan, went to a game with her parents. She spotted a strange-looking mole on the neck of an assistant equipment manager for the opposing team, the Vancouver Canucks, and typed out a message to him on her phone. “The mole on the back of your neck is possibly cancerous. Please go see a doctor!” the message read, with the words “mole,” “cancer” and “doctor” colored bright red. (Nierenberg, 1/4)

Los Angeles Times: Where Are The COVID Tests Newsom Promised For Schools?
The Omicron coronavirus variant was already spreading rapidly when California schools let out last month for winter break. Health officials across the nation warned that the spread was bound to accelerate as people gathered over the holidays. So it should have been obvious that precautions would be necessary to avoid back-to-school super-spreader events in January and a return to the disaster of remote learning. (1/4)

Los Angeles Times: Kelly Ernby Was An Anti-Vaxxer Who Died. Is That Cause For Glib Satisfaction? 
Kelly Ernby was no doubt a good person, a friend to her friends, a companion to her husband, a crime-fighting prosecutor. She presumably had all the decent qualities we usually celebrate after a person dies, when we generally say only the kindest things we can think of. But she was also a vocal critic of vaccine mandates whose posts on social media risked lives, denied science and confused Americans. She was an activist with a mini-megaphone — an Orange County deputy district attorney, a local Republican Party official and a 2019 GOP candidate for state Assembly — spreading the message of a dangerous populist movement. (Nicholas Goldberg, 1/6)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Kings Game Shows Choices Of Life During COVID 
The roar of a crowd sounds different when you’re in the middle of a COVID surge. But I had bought these Kings tickets months ago, as a Christmas present for three friends, one of whom is far more interested in the plight of our sad home team than I ever will be. I couldn’t justify losing my money or precious time spent in their company, so even with statewide positive test rates pushing past 20%, we masked up and headed to the game. (Robin Epley, 1/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: Here’s What Mayor Breed’s Tenderloin Plan Doesn’t Get About Addiction
Last month, San Francisco Mayor London Breed declared a state of emergency regarding drug use and crime in the Tenderloin, naming these issues as her top priorities. While I am glad to see broader attention and resources devoted to the Tenderloin, my caution is against reinforcing the age-old savior narrative. In light of my family’s experience and as a volunteer with syringe access and overdose prevention programs in San Francisco, I know how counterproductive this frame can be. This myth of control over people who use drugs harkens back to stubborn, paternalistic ideas of codependence, enablement and tough love. (Stefanie Demong, 1/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: Diet Pills Are Incredibly Dangerous For Teens. California Needs To Regulate Them Like Cigarettes
As a pediatrician who treats teens with eating disorders and a public health professor who studies how best to prevent them, we often encounter a similar arc in the young girls we see battling an eating disorder: The onset of middle school brings with it pressure to be thin. These girls then start trying to lose weight any way they can, resorting to numerous unhealthy behaviors, including restricting food intake and vomiting. If not caught quickly enough, many will have to be hospitalized for severe weight loss and dangerously low electrolytes. Some will eventually have to be moved to residential treatment centers to seek further support. While such therapy and interventions are successful in helping young girls get back to health, there are measures we can take to help prevent them from reaching such a dangerous state in the first place. (Jason Nagata and S. Bryn Austin, 1/4)

Los Angeles Times: Not Again. AIDS Nonprofit Wants To Block L.A.'s Ambitious Plan For Desperately Needed Housing 
Last fall, the Los Angeles City Council finally adopted an ambitious plan to help fix the city’s crippling housing shortage by making room in existing neighborhoods for nearly half a million new homes over the next eight years. So, of course, there’s now a lawsuit trying to halt the plan. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a nonprofit based in Hollywood that often fights development, sued last month, arguing that the city violated state environmental law when it adopted the plan. (1/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Doesn’t Ensure The Safe Use Of Sedation On Kids At The Dentist. As An Anesthesiologist, I’m Worried
In 2015, Caleb Sears, a 6-year-old from Albany, died after being put under general anesthesia for a tooth extraction. Caleb’s death prompted Caleb’s Law, which, beginning in 2017, requires the California State Dental Board to collect and study data related to such tragedies. In the five years since Caleb’s Law took effect, data collection on the use of general anesthesia in dental procedures in the state has improved, an important step in safeguarding the health of California’s children. But as an anesthesiologist who has studied the use of sedation on children, I know the law doesn’t go far enough. California, and the country, need to ensure the safety of all anesthesia use on children by all dental health practitioners, including general and pediatric dentists. (Helen Lee, 1/3)

Orange County Register: Is CalOptima Putting Politics Above Health?
Many local residents probably have never heard of CalOptima, which manages health coverage for 850,000 low-income, disabled people and senior citizens in Orange County. Yet the $1.5-billion publicly funded insurer has long been embroiled in controversy because of efforts by county supervisors to control its management – something critics rightly see as the politicization of a vital government program. Recently, the VoiceofOC reported that the program “is increasingly being placed in the hands of a powerful county supervisor and one of its top aides” after the health plan hired Supervisor (and current CalOptima Chairman) Andrew Do’s deputy chief of staff, Veronica Carpenter, as chief of staff. That move has prompted “some influential local healthcare leaders to raise alarm bells.” (1/5)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento County Should Ban Flavored Tobacco And Vapes 
When Californians head to the polls this year, they will decide whether or not to keep flavored tobacco and nicotine products legal. Industry lobbyists have poured millions into a campaign to block California’s 2020 law to end sales of flavored tobacco products and e-cigarettes that have helped spread addiction into vulnerable communities and particularly among children. The state’s voters will cast ballots on whether to uphold or repeal the law in a November referendum. In the meantime, local governments are adopting their own fail-safes in case the tobacco lobbyists win. The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors is expected to consider joining them this month by ending sales of flavored nicotine and tobacco products. (1/3)

Sacramento Bee: CA Midwives Shouldn’t Be Regulated By Doctor Lobby 
The COVID pandemic brought dramatic increases in online searches for information related to home birth as well as the number of Americans who went on to give birth outside hospitals. As specialists in community-based maternity care in private homes and freestanding birth centers, California’s licensed midwives have long been answering this call, both from parents concerned about the pandemic and from people living in maternal care “deserts” that would otherwise leave them with no provider at all. Yet the medical lobby continues to push for legislation that would further restrict access to licensed midwives and enshrine physicians as the arbiters of when and how pregnant people qualify for midwifery care. (Rosanna Davis, 1/2)

Modesto Bee: In California, The Debate Over Gas Vs. Electric Stoves Rages
The city of Sacramento passed an ordinance last year that requires new low-rise buildings, defined as three stories or fewer, to be all-electric starting in 2023. The ban on gas appliances will apply to all new buildings in 2026, though there are exceptions, including one for restaurants. San Luis Obispo considered a similar ban, but in the end took steps to encourage — rather than mandate — that new buildings be all-electric. Aside from the natural gas industry folks — who have engaged in some hardball tactics — some of the biggest push-back to this move to electrify California buildings has come from lovers of gas stoves, like me. (Stephanie Finucane, 1/7)

The Mercury News: Holmes Verdict Continues Tech Trust Death Spiral
Elizabeth Holmes’ conviction on four felony counts of fraud should serve as a reality check for Bay Area startups and their “fake it until you make it” mindset. But odds are it won’t. The words “integrity” and “Silicon Valley” are seldom used in the same sentence these days. The more likely takeaway for today’s tech entrepreneurs is “don’t get caught.” Meanwhile, trust in tech and its products just took another well-deserved hit. (1/4)