San Diego Union-Tribune: All San Diego County Health Care Workers Now Eligible For Vaccine 
About 500,000 San Diegans, the vast majority of whom work in health care, are now eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine, according to an announcement from the county this week. The full list, provided on the county’s website, covers a broad swath of health care professionals, paramedics, pharmacists, and nursing home residents and staff. (Wosen and Sisson, 1/7)

San Diego Union-Tribune: UCSD Scrambles To Help County Deliver 5,000 COVID-19 Vaccinations Per Day 
UC San Diego Health decided Thursday to partner with the county of San Diego to vaccinate at least 5,000 people per day against the novel coronavirus, starting Monday. The campaign comes as hospitals across the county are bracing for a post-New Year’s Eve surge in infections that will challenge the region’s ability to care for COVID patients. (Robbins, 1/7)

Bay Area News Group: Rapid Vaccine Rollout At California Nursing Homes Raises Concern 
As coronavirus vaccines arrive at California nursing homes and long-term care facilities, many residents will be eager to receive a vaccine that promises to finally ease the months of grief and isolation. Before that can happen, though, facilities must obtain consent from their residents, and a growing number of advocates are raising concerns that residents may not get their doubts and questions adequately addressed due to the rapid pace of the vaccination program and varied levels of information given from facility to facility. (Chalmers, 1/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: Moving California Teachers To The Front Of The Vaccine Line Might Not Be Enough To Reopen Schools
Many parents and public officials throughout California supported pushing the state’s 1.4 million teachers and other education workers toward the front of the vaccine line, believing that would finally allow schools to reopen. But the state teacher’s unions — as well as San Francisco’s — have said vaccinations won’t be enough and are calling for additional measures not endorsed by public health experts as necessary for students and staff to safely return to the classroom. Instead of reopening, it’s looking more likely that many, if not most classrooms will remain in virtual mode for months, if not until the fall, despite the vaccine. (Tucker, 1/7)

Orange County Register: Santa Ana, Hit Hard By Coronavirus, Takes Step To Establish City-Focused Vaccination And Testing
Leaders in Santa Ana, a city that’s been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus, agreed Thursday to open a vaccine distribution site when the drug is more widely available and restart a COVID-19 testing program for city residents. In what might be unique among Orange County cities, the Santa Ana council authorized City Manager Kristine Ridge to hire a company to roll out the vaccine, which would be provided by the county health department, to Santa Ana residents. The goal is to inoculate as many people as possible once the Orange County Health Care Agency expands distribution of coronavirus vaccines beyond the specific groups currently allowed to receive them. (Kopetman, 1/7)

LA Daily News: FDA Warns Of False Results From San Dimas-Based Curative Coronavirus Tests 
The Food and Drug Administration warned patients and healthcare providers this week about the potential risks of false negative results, specifically with Curative’s COVID-19 test. While no specific problems with the San Dimas-based company’s test were identified, the FDA did say the test must be performed in accordance with its labeling and should only be used in symptomatic people within 14 days of symptoms developing. Additionally, the FDA asks that people taking the self-administered test, be observed by a health care worker. (Rojas, 1/7)

NBC Los Angeles: False Negative? FDA Warns Of Possible Issue With Locally Used COVID Test
San Dimas-based diagnostics firm Curative, whose coronavirus tests are widely used across the country -- including at Los Angeles sites -- is defending the validity of its tests Thursday, following a federal government alert about the possibility of false negative results. The Food and Drug Administration issued the alert Monday, warning of the potential for Curative tests to wrongly come back negative. It did not give any indication about the breadth of the problem, or how often such false results occur. But the agency warned that the test must be administered in accordance with its authorized use -- which limits it to use on people who are showing symptoms of COVID-19. Testing in Los Angeles is open to people regardless of whether they are showing symptoms. (1/7)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Using Coronavirus Test That FDA Warns May Produce False Negatives
The coronavirus test being provided daily to tens of thousands of residents in Los Angeles and other parts of California may be producing inaccurate results, according to guidance from federal officials that could raise questions about the accuracy of infection data shaping the pandemic response. The guidance from the Food and Drug Administration warns healthcare providers and patients that the test made by Curative, a year-old start-up founded in Silicon Valley that supplies the oral swab tests at L.A.’s 10 drive-through testing sites, carries a “risk of false results, particularly false negative results.” (Lau and Nelson, 1/7)

Los Angeles Times: 1 In 5 L.A. COVID Tests Are Positive Amid Current Surge
About 1 in 5 coronavirus tests performed daily in Los Angeles County are coming back positive, an astounding rate that officials say illustrates the pandemic’s continued rampage through the region and foreshadows grave consequences for an already beleaguered healthcare system. Around Nov. 1, roughly the starting point of the current coronavirus wave, only about 1 of every 25 tests confirmed an infection. (Money, Lin II and Ormseth, 1/7)

The Washington Post: People Without Symptoms Spread Virus In More Than Half Of Cases, CDC Model Finds 
People with no symptoms transmit more than half of all cases of the novel coronavirus, according to a model developed by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Their findings reinforce the importance of following the agency’s guidelines: Regardless of whether you feel ill, wear a mask, wash your hands, stay socially distant and get a coronavirus test. That advice has been a constant refrain in a pandemic responsible for more than 350,000 deaths in the United States. (Guarino, 1/7)

AFP Fact Check: Article Headline Misleads On Study Into Covid-19 Asymptomatic Transmission
A screenshot of an article headline reporting that a study showed that asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 “didn’t occur at all” has been shared in multiple Facebook and Instagram posts. The claim is misleading; the authors of the study said their results do not show that asymptomatic carriers cannot transmit Covid-19 and warned against generalising the study’s findings. (1/8)

Los Angeles Times: These Researchers Predicted California’s COVID-19 Surge. Here’s When They Think It Will End
Back in October, when it seemed like California had the coronavirus under control, a group of researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation made a devastating prediction. According to their computer models, even if 95% of U.S. residents donned masks each time they left the house, at least another 100,000 Americans would die of COVID-19 by the end of February. In nine states, the death rate would still climb high enough to necessitate another lockdown by December. California was one of those nine states. (Netburn, 1/8)

Bay Area News Group: Santa Rita Jail Sees Second Biggest COVID Outbreak Of The Pandemic 
Alameda County’s jail is seeing its biggest outbreak of COVID-19 cases since last July, according to sheriff’s officials. As of Thursday, 76 inmates and six staff members at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin had the virus, down from a peak of 109 inmates and 12 staff or contractors in December, the Sheriff’s Office said. The jail currently has 2,124 inmates, as its population has risen closer to the pre-pandemic 2,597 of March 1, 2020. (Ruggiero, 1/7)

AP: California Bypasses Tough Nurse Care Rules Amid COVID-19 Surge
California is the only state in the country to require by law specific number of nurses to patients in every hospital unit. It requires hospitals to provide one nurse for every two patients in intensive care and one nurse for every four patients in emergency rooms, for example. Those ratios, nurses say, have helped reduce errors and protect the safety of patients and nurses. Nurses overwhelmed with patients because of the pandemic in other states are demanding law-mandated ratios. But so far, they have failed to get them. In Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York, the country’s first pandemic hotspot, nurses have been demanding state-mandated minimum staffing standards for months. Voters in Massachusetts rejected in 2018 mandated nurse-to-patient ratios. (Rodriguez, 1/8)

Bay Area News Group: Kaiser San Jose Fined $43,000 As Investigation Into Christmas Costume Covid Outbreak Continues 
As multiple agencies investigate the source of the coronavirus outbreak among at least 60 Kaiser Permanente San Jose workers that has now led to a $43,000 fine against the hospital, everyone wants to know: could all this suffering really have been caused by one employee in a Christmas costume trying to spread holiday cheer? “We want to support the Christmas tree person,” said a San Jose man, whose 87-year-old mother tested positive for coronavirus little more than a week after she fell down and was taken to the south San Jose emergency room on Christmas Day. (Sulek, 1/7)

Bay Area News Group: Could An Inflatable Tree Really Have Infected At Least 60 People, Causing The Death Of One?
As multiple agencies investigate the source of the coronavirus outbreak among at least 60 Kaiser Permanente San Jose workers that has now led to a $43,000 fine against the hospital, everyone wants to know: could all this suffering really have been caused by one employee in a Christmas costume trying to spread holiday cheer? “We want to support the Christmas tree person,” said a San Jose man, whose 87-year-old mother tested positive for coronavirus little more than a week after she fell down and was taken to the south San Jose emergency room on Christmas Day. (Sulek, 1/7)

The Bakersfield Californian: Mercy Southwest, Already A Busy Place, Is Getting Walloped By COVID 
Mercy Southwest was already a busy hospital but it's been walloped by COVID-19. On Wednesday morning, there were 32 patients being held in its 29-bed emergency department waiting for a room in an inpatient unit to open. The hospital has an eight-bed ICU but had nearly a dozen patients on ventilators, which require ICU-level care. (Shepard, 1/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area ICU Availability Falls To Lowest Level Yet, As State Tries To Speed Up Vaccinations
Intensive care availability at Bay Area hospitals fell to the lowest levels yet, dropping from 7.4% to just 3.5% as of Wednesday, according to state data. Statewide, intensive care unit capacity remained at 0%, including in the two hardest hit regions, Southern California and San Joaquin Valley. ICU capacity fell in the Sacramento region from 11.1% to 9.2%, and ticked up slightly in the Northern California region from 24.4% to 25.4%. (Ho, 1/7)

San Diego Union-Tribune: COVID, Behavioral Health Top New Priorities Proposed For County 
The proposed revisions to the agenda would more clearly identify the county’s top priorities: COVID-19 response and recovery, behavioral health services, homelessness, affordable housing, environmental justice and protection, and equity and racial justice, he said. (Warth, 1/7)

The Bakersfield Californian: Bakersfield Planning Commission Clears Path For New Veterans Clinic 
The Bakersfield Planning Commission has cleared the way for a long-awaited veterans clinic to be constructed on the northern edge of the city. Despite a relatively brief meeting Thursday, with little discussion on the topic, some unanswered questions remain about the outpatient clinic that has been delayed for years over disputes of the location and cost. (Morgen, 1/7)

CNN: In Counties Where University Classes Were In Person, Covid-19 Cases Rose 56%
The researchers found that counties where universities held in-person classes were more likely to be identified as Covid-19 "hotspots" at least once compared with those where universities held remote classes and those without universities. The study did not consider mitigation strategies -- such as mask-wearing and social distancing -- at the local level or on university campuses. It also was not clear whether Covid-19 cases in counties with universities were related to transmission on campuses or within the community. (Howard and Christensen, 1/7)

CIDRAP: In-Person Classes, Greek Life Tied To College COVID Outbreaks 
Two Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) studies published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report track COVID-19 spread on US college campuses, one showing that 101 counties with large universities offering in-person instruction saw a 56% jump in coronavirus cases after classes began, the other finding that 91% of gatherings at an Arkansas university were tied to fraternity and sorority activities. ... In contrast, counties with institutions that featured in-person instruction observed a 56.2% increase, while those without large colleges or universities witnessed a 5.9% decline in new cases. (Van Beusekom, 1/7)

LA Daily News: LA County Reports Alarming Increase In Drug Overdose Deaths Among Homeless 
Drug overdoses continue to be a leading cause of death among people experiencing homeless, followed by coronary heart disease and transportation related injuries, according to a report released Thursday, Jan. 7 by Los Angeles County public health officials. Public Health director Barbara Ferrer called the rising rate of deaths among people experiencing homelessness, especially from drug overdoses, “alarming.” (Chou, 1/7)

Los Angeles Times: Synthetic Opioid Fentanyl Is Behind The Rising Deaths In LA’s Homeless Population
A sharp rise in deaths of homeless people starting in the spring of 2020 was driven by drug overdoses involving fentanyl, a report released Thursday by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health concluded. Through the first seven months of 2020, 926 homeless people died in L.A. County, an increase of 26% over the same period in 2019. While COVID-19 became the second leading cause of death in the overall Los Angeles population, it remained a minor factor in homeless deaths, following heart disease, transportation-related accidents and homicide — which all lagged far behind drug overdoses. (Smith, 1/7)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Supervisors Fletcher, Vargas: Racism Is Health Crisis In County 
The county Board of Supervisors will examine whether its policies, programs and practices perpetuate racism under a proposal by Chair Nathan Fletcher and Vice Chair Nora Vargas. The proposal going before the board next Tuesday identifies racism as a health crisis because it is linked to diseases and other physical ailments, the two supervisors said in a remote press conference Tuesday attended by representatives of several health and community groups. (Warth, 1/6)

Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Is Slow — How To Fix It 
Health workers are of course the people who need COVID-19 vaccinations first. They are the ones most likely to be exposed, and their expertise is needed to vaccinate the rest of us and treat those who fall ill. So it was dismaying to learn that people who didn’t qualify for this initial round of shots nonetheless showed up at some Los Angeles County vaccination centers to skip the line — and succeeded. Some pretended to be health workers and were allowed to go ahead without any validating documents. Some were honest about their situation and still managed to talk their way into a shot. (1/8)

The Sacramento Bee: CA Hospital Staffing Conditions Dangerous During COVID-19 
Before California adopted a landmark safe staffing law, some patients had to call 911 from their hospital beds because nurses were so short-staffed there were long delays responding to urgent call buttons. Two decades later, the memory of those days seems to have vanished in Sacramento, even as nurses are working exhausted, for multiple extra shifts, struggling to keep up with the flood of gravely ill patients overwhelming hospitals in the midst of this deadly pandemic. (Sandy Reding, 1/8)

The Sacramento Bee: COVID Shows Newsom Must Invest In California’s Public Health 
As California reckons with the darkest moment of the toughest public health challenge in generations, the new year brings a glimmer of hope. Our local public health departments are gearing up to be a crucial part of a massive mobilization to deliver vaccines against COVID-19, first to those whose jobs, age or underlying health conditions put them at greatest risk, and then to every Californian. (Kim Saruwatari and Phuong Luu, 1/7)

Sacramento Bee: California Must Crack Down On Possible COVID Superspreader Conference Near Sacramento
Just days after throngs of dimwitted local Instagram “influencers” packed a Granite Bay mansion for a New Year’s Eve party amid spiking COVID-19 infections, another potential superspreader event is coming to the Sacramento region. As COVID fills California’s hospitals and morgues, a group of right-wing politicians has decided to host what appears to be a coronavirus denier party in Rancho Murieta. The conference, which is being held in defiance of Sacramento County’s public health rules, could create a boom in new infections. But its real aim to spread disinformation about COVID and denounce California’s efforts to reduce the virus’ death toll. The roster of speakers is a who’s who of debunked politicians who have repeatedly downplayed the danger or resisted taking action to slow its spread. (1/8)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Why You Can, And Should, Trust The Safety And Efficacy Of The COVID-19 Vaccines 
We believe that the public’s confidence in, and adoption of, COVID-19 vaccines — two of which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved last month — can be enhanced by increasing public knowledge about how scientific peer review, regulation and surveillance work together to ensure the safety and efficacy of vaccines. A September report by a consortium of Northeastern, Harvard, Rutgers and Northwestern universities about public trust in institutions and vaccine acceptance demonstrated that acceptance depends on the level of trust in scientists and researchers, so increasing trust should be a top public health priority. The report also noted that concerns about vaccine safety reduce uptake and therefore effectiveness of vaccines. (Victor G. Degruttola , Raymond L. Cha, Davey M. Smith, 1/7)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Health Experts And Other San Diego Leaders Must Unite To Better Coordinate Pandemic Response 
Watching frontline health care workers and other volunteers receive their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, there is reason to believe — after months of uncertainty — that this pandemic will indeed end. The challenge now, though, is to keep ourselves safe until enough of us have been inoculated and possess protective immunity. (Cheryl Anderson and Hala Madanat, 1/7)

San Diego Union-Tribune: I've Seen So Much As An ER Nurse. Getting The COVID-19 Vaccine Brought Me To Tears. 
I am a nurse working in the emergency room during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the start of the pandemic, we didn’t know what to expect. We were hearing about this illness that had serious respiratory symptoms similar to the flu. The best we could do was prepare for what was to come. We got an emergency tent ready for the influx of patients that we expected to see. We knew very little in the beginning about outcomes and a potential surge. There was a sense of fear in the emergency room. (Brianna Salas, 1/7)

Modesto Bee: Concealing COVID Info Leads To Distrust In Stanislaus County
There is no more important time for government transparency than in the middle of a deadly pandemic. Unfortunately, Stanislaus County’s commitment to transparency in one important aspect amounts to lip service. The Modesto Bee Editorial Board in the past five weeks has demanded three times (this is the fourth) that locations of COVID-19 outbreaks be shared with everyone. Such information is available in other counties, is not protected by privacy laws and surely would help people make informed decisions to protect themselves and their families. Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, Stanislaus public health officer, finally responded Thursday with a polite but firm “no.” (1/4)