Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Public Health Officials Face Wave Of Threats, Pressure Amid Coronavirus Response
Public health officials are confronting growing pressure — and threats — across the country as the backlash to the coronavirus response continues. Senior health officials from seven California counties have resigned or retired since March 15. (Lauren Weber and Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Michelle R. Smith, The Associated Press, )
LA Officials Attribute Biggest Single-Day Jump In Cases Partly To Backlog Of Tests: A day before Los Angeles County is set to allow businesses in several industries like gyms, day camps, zoos, film production and more, to reopen after forcing them to close to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus, officials reported the highest single-day jump of coronavirus cases to date. LA County public health officials announced 1,857 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, June 11, bringing the total number of positive cases identified in the county as of Thursday to 68,875. Although the number of new cases reported Thursday was the biggest single-day jump to date, about 600 of them were from a backlog of test results, officials said.
With higher transmissions, there is a chance that the nation’s most populous county could run out of intensive care unit beds in two to four weeks, officials said Wednesday. The numbers have not reached danger levels yet, but health officials said they are monitoring conditions carefully for any signs of new pressures on hospitals.
Read more from Tyler Shaun Evains of the Bay Area New Group; and Rong-Gong Lin II and Colleen Shalby of the Los Angeles Times.
In related news from the San Francisco Chronicle: From Picnics To Pools, Coronavirus Experts Rate The Risk Of Popular Bay Area Activities
Overcrowded Neighborhoods Have Been Particularly Vulnerable To Pandemic: About one in six Californians — 6.3 million people — lives in overcrowded houses or apartments that make it difficult to isolate from one another, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Overcrowded housing is defined as households where there are more people than rooms of all types, besides bathrooms. CalMatters collected case data from 10 California counties with large numbers of infected people in late May, totaling nearly 69,783 confirmed cases in 659 neighborhoods, or about 69% of all the state’s cases at the time. The 20% of neighborhoods with the highest rate of overcrowded households were compared with the 20% of neighborhoods with the least overcrowding. The pattern was startlingly consistent across the counties, whether urban or rural, coastal or inland, northern or southern. Only in Sacramento was there no link between household crowding and COVID-19. Read more from Jackie Botts and Lo Benichou of CalMatters.
In related news from CalMatters: Close Quarters: How We Analyzed The Link Between COVID-19 And Crowded Housing In California
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
Bay Area News Group:
Coronavirus: Where Are California’s Outbreaks And Why?
As individual counties move with varying speed to reopen after nearly three months of the COVID-19 pandemic shelter in place, California public health officials are keeping a close watch on the surge in new cases, especially in 11 counties. State Department of Public Health officials are following outbreaks in hard-hit Los Angeles County, but also the rising number of cases in more rural counties, such as Kings and Imperial. (Ross, 6/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
UCSF Researchers Release Final Results Of Mass Coronavirus Testing In Remote Bolinas
Mass coronavirus testing in the Marin County town of Bolinas in April revealed no active COVID-19 infections and little to no previous infections among 1,880 residents and first responders, researchers announced Thursday. Researchers at UCSF, who analyzed tests taken in April, said the findings show the effectiveness of sheltering in place — made easier by the remote location of the coastal enclave miles from any highway. (Moench, 6/11)
Los Angeles Times:
A Revolt Against Wearing Masks Creates A New Coronavirus Danger As California Reopens
As California rapidly reopens its economy, health officials have made clear the only way to avoid a wave of new coronavirus infections is with strict safety rules, including social distancing, limits on the capacity of businesses and wearing face coverings when around other people. But a mask rebellion is underway in some parts of the state, with residents pushing back on mandatory face-covering rules even with coronavirus cases on the rise and as more businesses open their doors and some people yearn to return to old routines. (Money, Fry, Lai and Lin, 6/12)
Los Angeles Times:
Orange County Rescinds Coronavirus Mask Mandate
Orange County residents no longer have to wear masks in public, officials announced Thursday — an abrupt shift in health orders following weeks of debate over the use of face coverings to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Masks will go from being required to being strongly recommended in public settings under a revised order from new Orange County Health Care Agency Director Dr. Clayton Chau. (Money, Fry and Lai, 6/11)
Sacramento Bee:
What Tiny Bolinas CA Can Tell Researchers About Coronavirus
In the isolated Northern California town of Bolinas, no more than three out of every 1,000 residents had antibodies indicating they previously had a case of COVID-19, according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. The research team found in earlier diagnostic testing that Bolinas reidents were negative for active infections with the new coronavirus. It’s more formally known as SARS-CoV-2, it causes COVID-19, and researchers were interested to learn how the new coronavirus spread such a small Marin County town. (Anderson, 6/11)
Sacramento Bee:
CA Sets Rules For Rationing Health Care During Pandemic
What happens if there isn’t enough medical equipment available to treat every person who gets sick with COVID-19? Who gets an ICU bed? Who gets a ventilator? The California Department of Public Health has a new plan for that worst-case scenario. On June 9, the CDPH released new pandemic crisis care guidelines, after more than 60 community and advocacy organizations representing millions of Californians objected to the first set of guidelines the department released in April. (Hoplamazian, 6/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
If You Attended A Bay Area Protest, Should You Self-Quarantine? Get A Coronavirus Test?
Recent demonstrations against racial injustice and police brutality have drawn thousands from across the Bay Area: marching through city centers, onto highways and even across the Golden Gate Bridge. Photos and videos showed many protesters wearing masks as a coronavirus precaution. But the massive gatherings amid the pandemic have raised the question: What health actions, if any, should demonstrators take afterward? (Hwang, 6/12)
Bay Area News Group:
Coronavirus: Here's What's Reopening Friday In The Bay Area
San Francisco on Friday is set to reopen outdoor restaurant dining, Monterey County will welcome back tourists, Sacramento County will open its bars and Los Angeles County will let gyms resume business, as counties around the state continue to loosen their coronavirus shelter-in-place orders. But figuring out what you can do — and where — can be an exercise in confusion as the Bay Area and state remain governed by a tapestry of divergent rules. Who opens what depends on a host of complex factors, including permission from the state and calculations made by individual counties’ health officials even as COVID-19 case counts in the Bay Area and across California continue to rise. The state has now reported more than 140,000 cases and 4,800 deaths. (Kendall, 6/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Nearly 160 Coronavirus Vaccines Are In The Works. Here's A Closer Look At The Science
In the world of virology, the nomenclature of war comes easy. The human body is a citadel that relies on the immune system to defend it. A virus is an attacking army that does everything it can to overrun those defenses. Vaccines help. Though they do not prevent the virus from causing an infection, they can control the infection before it leads to symptoms and disease. By staging a scrimmage against the immune system, vaccines teach the body to enlist and train a specialized force of white blood cells and antibodies that are called up in the event of a life-threatening attack. (Curwen, 6/12)
Bay Area News Group:
Coronavirus: Younger Patients Behind California Spike In Cases?
New COVID-19 cases are rising across California as counties reopen, but the state isn’t seeing a similar spike in hospital visits and deaths from the disease, suggesting its progression may have entered a new phase. Experts aren’t quite sure what to make of the trend, but one surprising theory is gaining traction: that the people now getting sick are younger, healthier and less likely to suffer severe illness. (Woolfolk and Deruy, 6/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Homelessness Jumped 13% In L.A. Before The Coronavirus Hit
Despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent to curb homelessness, the number of people without a home in Los Angeles grew last year for the fifth time in the last six years, officials announced Friday. And that was before the pandemic. The double-digit increases reported in both the city and county reflected the status in January, when the annual count is taken, and before the novel coronavirus thrashed the region’s economy, raising the likelihood of a new wave of people losing their homes. (Oreskes and Smith, 6/12)
Southern California News Group:
Disneyland Reopening Announcement Sparks Online Petition To Hold Off Due To Coronavirus
On June 10, Disneyland announced plans to reopen its theme parks, hotels and Downtown Disney District in July following a nearly three-month closure due to the spread of novel coronavirus. Many fans rejoiced on social media about the chance to return to the beloved theme park. Some, however, were more skeptical, tweeting whether it was too soon for a theme park to open and calling Disneyland a non-essential business that shouldn’t be operating during a global pandemic. (Fadroski, 6/12)
Sacramento Bee:
San Joaquin Valley Now On COVID-19 Watchlist For State
As California more fully reopens its economy this month, the San Joaquin Valley is emerging as a trouble spot for coronavirus infections and hospitalization, prompting the state to put most of the Valley’s counties under a special watch this week. Of the 15 California counties with the highest percentage of positive coronavirus tests over the past two weeks, eight sit squarely in the Valley, a McClatchy review of state health data as of mid-week shows. The eight counties — Kings, Tulare, Fresno, Kern, Madera, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Merced — comprise the entire Valley. (Bizjak, Kasler, Chesler and Yoon-Hendricks, 6/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Tesla Safety Chief: Coronavirus Not Circulating At Fremont Facility
Electric carmaker Tesla said there have been no workplace transmissions of COVID-19 at its Fremont facilities since it restarted production lines last month after county health officials confirmed cases of the coronavirus at the plant. In the first confirmation from Tesla of cases of the virus, health and safety chief Laurie Shelby told employees in an email obtained by The Chronicle that employees have been exposed to the virus mainly through family members or housemates. (DiFeliciantonio, 6/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Nurses Lie Outside San Francisco City Hall, Call For Health Care Reform
Mariana Rivera worked an overnight shift caring for critical patients in the hospital, slept a few hours and then drove from San Jose to San Francisco with two co-workers-turned-friends. For months, the 33-year-old nurse has been on the front lines of the battle against the coronavirus — caring for patients on ventilators, dealing with a shortage of personal protective equipment, serving as the eyes and ears for family members forbidden from being with their dying relatives. (Bauman, 6/11)
Sacramento Bee:
COVID-19 Outbreak At Placer County Jail In Auburn
At least 11 current inmates in the Placer County jail and a correctional officer have tested positive for COVID-19 as officials work to contain an outbreak at the Auburn jail. The Placer County sheriff’s office on May 30 announced that it was isolating two inmates at the jail after finding they had low-grade fevers. They tested positive for COVID-19 and staff put them in special cells meant to curb the spread of the disease, the department said previously. (Pohl, 6/11)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno City Staff Lays Out Plan For $92.8M COVID-19 Plan
The Fresno City Council got its first peek Thursday at Mayor Lee Brand’s plans for the $92.8 million in federal funding the city has received to combat the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the local economy. The CARES Act funding the city received from the federal government would be split between $27 million for community efforts, $25 million for city efforts and $40.8 million potentially for revenue replacement and payroll coverage, according to the plan. (Miller, 6/11)
Sacramento Bee:
Rocklin’s Quarry Park Adventures To Reopen In Phase 3
As California heads into Phase 3 of its reopening, outdoor recreational sites have the green light to welcome customers beginning Friday. Rocklin’s Quarry Park Adventures has announced its plan to reopen Friday, along with a slew of new protocols to comply with social distancing guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Pham, 6/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
SF Soda Tax Funds Find New Purpose: Fighting Hunger During COVID-19 Pandemic
To provide emergency relief to people struggling to afford food during the pandemic, San Francisco is using $1.65 million from its soda tax to bolster local programs feeding vulnerable communities in the city. The use of the tax funds began in May. City officials said in a statement that the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening “preexisting inequities in our society,”and so the nearly $2 million is earmarked for low-income people, seniors, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and undocumented immigrants. (Phillips, 6/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Nearly Half Of SF Police Use-Of-Force Cases Last Year Involved Black People
Phelicia Jones was devastated five years ago as she watched a video of five police officers shooting a young black man more than 20 times in San Francisco’s Bayview district after he refused to drop a knife. The 2015 killing of Mario Woods sparked protests across the Bay Area and reforms within the Police Department. Jones and others hoped to see real shifts in police conduct in San Francisco, but by at least one important measure, little has changed. (Palomino, 6/12)
Los Angeles Times:
LAPD Use Of Projectile Launchers On Protesters Sparks Claims Of Excessive Force
Police call it a “40-millimeter Less-Lethal Launcher,” but to those who have found themselves on the business end of the weapon during recent protests, the wounds feel deadly serious. And unjustified. A homeless man in a wheelchair had his eye bloodied in downtown Los Angeles. A San Jose activist suffered a ruptured testicle after a blast to the groin. A radio reporter interviewing protesters in Long Beach suffered a neck wound. (Rainey, 6/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Coronavirus Experience Shows The Limits Of Hospital Care
My friend Jim called me with urgency in his voice; his elderly father, living alone in New York City during the peak of the pandemic, had a multiday fever and was losing weight. He wanted to know, should he take him to the hospital? My typical response in this case — sudden illness in an otherwise healthy person — would have been yes. As an ICU doctor, I have sometimes been able to save elderly patients with serious urinary tract infections or pneumonia. If Jim’s father had one of those infections, the hospital might save his life, or at least buy him some time to figure out next steps. But after three weeks of doctoring in a pandemic, I realized that my answer had changed. (Jessica Zitter, 6/10)
Sacramento Bee:
CA Gov. Newsom’s Rushed Reopening May Create COVID-19 Spike
Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing mounting pressure to loosen the state’s shelter-in-place order. Yet the danger to public health is as bad today as it was on March 19 when Newsom issued the order. The virus has not disappeared. The infection rate and hospitalizations have slowed only because the public agreed to avoid social contact. (Steven Glazer and Sydney Kamlager, 6/9)
San Francisco Chronicle:
A Medical Call To Ban Tear Gas: It Can Be Especially Lethal In A Pandemic
As a physician and an American, I am outraged by ongoing police violence, enabled by local and national leaders. The intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic with the ongoing epidemic of police violence threatens public health. Local jurisdictions must ban the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades. This is not a partisan issue. Mayors, state and national leaders across the political spectrum have either openly or implicitly endorsed these violent police tactics. (Akshar Rambachan, 6/12)
San Jose Mercury News:
More Sunlight On COVID-19 Data Could Make Us All Healthier
Since the novel coronavirus arrived in California, public health departments have been collecting data about people who contract COVID-19, such as their type of home, their job, if they traveled and whether they had contact with somebody with the disease. We are four months into the epidemic and only a small fraction of that data has been made public. That’s a shame because the information might make everyone feel a great deal safer. (Rajiv Bhatia, 6/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Breed Told SF’s Jobless They Could Tap $138 Million Of Their Own Money. Now They Can’t
Brittany Casciotti could really use the $17,147.94 that belongs to her, but she can’t touch it.That’s the amount employers have contributed on her behalf to two medical reimbursement accounts maintained by the city of San Francisco. Casciotti was laid off as a producer for Viacom CBS two weeks ago. Now, she’s among the 1 in 7 San Francisco workers who’s unemployed. She figured the big chunk of money would be arriving any day considering Mayor London Breed announced six weeks ago the city would be returning $138 million held in these accounts to workers so they could use the funds on rent, groceries and other necessities. (Heather Knight, 6/12)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Homeless Numbers Will Keep Skyrocketing Without Action
The results of the 2020 annual count of homeless people in Los Angeles are grim — and, perhaps, not surprising to any of us who witness daily the tragedy of people living on sidewalks. Homelessness increased by 12.7% in the county, to 66,433, and by 14.2% in the city of Los Angeles, where the number stands at 41,290. The homeless population has now increased by a double-digit percentage for two years in a row. And that’s despite a record 22,769 homeless people getting off the streets and into housing last year. The maddening reality highlighted by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s survey is that, despite billions of dollars of investment in housing, shelter and services, we still can’t house people as fast as they fall into homelessness. (6/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
A Medical Call To Ban Tear Gas: It Can Be Especially Lethal In A Pandemic
As a physician and an American, I am outraged by ongoing police violence, enabled by local and national leaders. The intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic with the ongoing epidemic of police violence threatens public health. Local jurisdictions must ban the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades. This is not a partisan issue. Mayors, state and national leaders across the political spectrum have either openly or implicitly endorsed these violent police tactics. (Akshar Rambachan, 6/12)
CalMatters:
It’s Time To End The State Of Emergency Over COVID-19
In March, Californians needed a state of emergency on COVID-19 because the virus was unfamiliar and our health system was unprepared. California is now prepared. It’s time to end the emergency, return the decisions to the people, and bring in more perspectives, more questions and more oversight. (Rajiv Bhatia and Jeffrey Klausner, 6/8)
San Jose Mercury News:
How Residents Can Help San Jose Recover From Pandemic
Life looks a lot different than it did just a few months ago. Like a tech worker, I now spend my work days in front of a green screen in a makeshift workspace in my stuffy garage. That’s nothing compared to so many of San Jose’s residents who have faced a lot of hardship in a short time. Some residents have lost their jobs, others have lost their loved ones, and many worry about losing their homes. (Devora "Dev" Davis, 6/8)
San Jose Mercury News:
Protections Needed Against Predatory Lenders During COVID-19
Communities across the state are reeling from the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis as millions of people are losing jobs, struggling to access health care and falling behind on their bills. Some businesses are taking advantage of people’s desperation for cash by hocking risky loans and products that could exacerbate their financial woes. (Suzanne Martindale, 6/11)
CalMatters:
California Should Be A Leader In Telehealth For Low-Income Communities
The increased use of virtual care, or telehealth, has proven successful amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and its ongoing use offers long-term solutions as uncertainty remains over potentially multiple waves of COVID-19 and the timeline for a vaccine. It’s time to consider telehealth as a solution to improve medical and behavioral health access for low-income communities that have been hard hit by the pandemic. (Arturo Vargas Bustamante and Carmela Castellano-Garcia, 6/10)
Sacramento Bee:
Undocumented Immigrants Need, But Can’t Access, Help During Coronavirus
The impact of COVID-19 on people across the world has devastated not only my physical health but also the stability of my employment. Yet essential workers have had to continue to risk their lives to do their jobs while others are able to shelter in place and work from home. Oftentimes, those essential workers, like me, are immigrants without status who do not have critical access to social safety-net programs implemented by the federal government and state governments like ours in California. (Emma Yu, 6/6)
CalMatters:
Remove Barriers To Accessing CalFresh
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a spotlight on the shortcomings of many of the programs that help protect older adults in California, including our state’s food assistance program, CalFresh. As California builds momentum toward recovery, the time is now to ensure that, going forward, programs like CalFresh are effectively providing for our state’s most vulnerable residents. (Nancy McPherson, 6/10)
CalMatters:
Protect Essential Businesses From Predatory Lawsuits
The COVID-19 pandemic has created an extremely trying situation for essential businesses, which have stepped up in amazing and heroic ways to provide the goods and services that Californians rely on daily. But as the state eases quarantine restrictions and takes steps to reopen, essential businesses face yet another devastating threat to operations – predatory lawsuits. A wave of coming litigation capitalizing on this pandemic threatens to further burden essential businesses and greatly exacerbate economic recovery in California and across the nation. (Kyla Christoffersen Powell, 6/9)
Los Angeles Times:
The System Keeps Bad Apples On Police Forces
As so many progressive-minded policing experts have noted, the stars are aligned in a once-in-a-generation moment for major systemic reform. The inclination to shoot for the moon and stars is more than understandable: If not now, when? I am not a professional student of policing. As a former U.S. attorney, I have spent time with good cops and with not-so-good cops, and I have prosecuted bad cops whose crimes were particularly repugnant to civil society. (Harry Litman, 6/10)