Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
So You’re Vaccinated Against Covid. Now What?
The vaccination rollout has been unsteady, but the vaccines seem very effective, raising hopes that the pandemic will subside by later this year if enough Americans get their shots. Meanwhile, remain cautious. (Bernard J. Wolfson, )
California’s Inoculations Pick Up Speed: In a sign that the state’s uneven covid-19 vaccine rollout is significantly ramping up, nearly 1 million Californians have gotten a shot in the past two days, data show. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
‘In Hindsight, Clearly, We Could Have Done A Much Better Job’: In an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged mistakes in communicating with the public last year before the first loosening of coronavirus restrictions led to an early summer spike in cases, a harsh lesson “that we reflect upon all the time,” he said. Read more from AP.
Note to readers: Do you have health care and health policy questions? It’s no secret that the health care system can be confusing. California Healthline wants to hear what questions you'd like our reporters to answer. Share them here.
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
The Washington Post:
Becerra Squeaks Through Confirmation Vote To Become HHS Secretary
Xavier Becerra narrowly won confirmation Thursday to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency pivotal to President Biden’s urgent goal of defeating the coronavirus pandemic and expanding access to health care. Becerra, a congressman from Los Angeles for two dozen years and then California attorney general, squeaked by on a vote of 50 to 49, the closest margin for any of the Biden Cabinet members the Senate has confirmed so far. (Goldstein, 3/18)
AP:
Becerra Confirmed To Shepherd Biden's Ambitious Health Plans
The 50-49 largely party-line vote makes the 63-year-old Becerra the first Latino to head the Department of Health and Human Services. The $1.4 trillion agency encompasses health insurance programs, drug safety and approvals, advanced medical research, substance abuse treatment, and the welfare of children, including hundreds of Central American migrants arriving daily at the U.S.-Mexico border. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/18)
Politico:
Senate Narrowly Confirms Becerra As Health Secretary
Maine Republican Susan Collins joined all of the Democrats present in the 50-49 vote — the tightest tally for any of Biden's Cabinet picks to date and an unusually narrow margin for an HHS secretary. Becerra, who served in the House for more than two decades before becoming California’s Attorney General, will become the first Latino to head the sprawling federal health department. (Ollstein, 3/18)
CNN:
Senate Narrowly Confirms Xavier Becerra As Health And Human Services Secretary
During the confirmation process, Becerra stressed his upbringing, his father's recent passing and his efforts for expanding health care access as California's attorney general and a 24-year Congressman representing a Los Angeles-based district. The vast majority of Senate Republicans opposed Becerra's nomination over his support for abortion rights and his lack of a background as a health care professional. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised Becerra's experience and blasted Republicans' arguments against him, saying they "almost verge on the ridiculous." (Rogers, 3/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
Senate Confirms Xavier Becerra As Secretary Of Health And Human Services
He will also oversee the HHS office that runs a network of shelters for child migrants that have been in focus as the number of young immigrants illegally crossing the U.S. southern border is set to hit a two-decade high. His confirmation followed a contentious nomination process. Republicans opposed Mr. Becerra because they said he lacked experience, was overly partisan, and supported putting the federal government in control of healthcare and expanding access to abortion. (Armour, 3/18)
ABC News:
Anti-Asian Hate Hearing Gets Emotional: 'We Will Not Let You Take Our Voice Away'
Prominent Asian American lawmakers, scholars and advocates, including actor and producer Daniel Dae Kim, testified Thursday on the rise in hate crimes and discrimination against Asian Americans before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. The hearing followed a string of hate crimes against Asian Americans, as well as three shootings at Atlanta-area spas on Tuesday in which eight people were killed. Six of the victims were Asian women. (Robinson, 3/18)
Roll Call:
Asian American Lawmakers Seek To Curb Rise In Violence
Asian American lawmakers testified Thursday about the rise in violence against Asians since the COVID-19 pandemic, calling for a change in rhetoric from Republicans and legislative action to curb the trend. The House Judiciary subcommittee hearing was the first in 34 years on violence against Asians in the United States, stemming from reports of nearly 3,800 anti-Asian crimes in the last year and an increase in hostile anti-Asian comments about the pandemic online. That hearing was set even before a deadly attack Tuesday on three Asian businesses in the Atlanta area, where five Asian women were among the eight people who were fatally shot. (Ruger, 3/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Volunteers On Patrol After Attacks In Oakland Chinatown
As the volunteers assembled to patrol a neighborhood rattled by violence, Katrina Ramos gave a quick tutorial. People who need help will not always say so, Ramos said. Study their faces — do they look lost or confused? Maybe a senior citizen carrying heavy groceries might appreciate you hovering nearby, said Ramos, co-founder of Compassion in Oakland. About 30 volunteers showed up on a recent Saturday afternoon to accompany pedestrians to their destinations in Oakland’s Chinatown after a spate of attacks on elderly Asian Americans. (Do, 3/19)
AP:
Biden, Harris Offering Solace To Grieving Asian Americans
For Asian Americans, 2020 was a year of political success and newfound influence. But it was also a time of vulnerability to racist assaults. That painful dichotomy will be on display Friday when President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the first person of South Asian descent to hold national office, visit Atlanta just days after a white gunman killed eight people, most of them Asian American women, in three metro-area massage businesses. The killings come after a spike of anti-Asian violence nationally. (Barrow, Lemire and Amy, 3/19)
The Washington Post:
Anti-Asian Hashtags Spiked After Trump First Tweeted ‘Chinese Virus,’ Study Finds
As the coronavirus spread across the globe last February, the World Health Organization urged people to avoid terms like the “Wuhan virus” or the “Chinese virus,” fearing it could spike a backlash against Asians. President Donald Trump didn’t take the advice. On March 16, 2020, he first tweeted the phrase “Chinese virus.” That single tweet, researchers later found, fueled exactly the kind of backlash the WHO had feared: It was followed by an avalanche of tweets using the hashtag #chinesevirus, among other anti-Asian phrases. (Salcedo, 3/19)
NBC News:
Biden Expected To Hit Goal Of 100 Million Vaccination Shots Friday
President Joe Biden said he was poised to meet his goal of administering 100 million Covid-19 vaccination shots in his first 100 days on Friday, more than 40 days ahead of schedule. "I am proud to announce that tomorrow, 58 days into my administration, we will have met our goal," Biden said Thursday afternoon in a speech at the White House. "That's weeks ahead of schedule, even with the setbacks we faced during the winter storms." Biden said that 100 million vaccines was "just the floor" and he would announce a new goal next week. (Egan, 3/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Cost Of Blue Shield's California COVID Vaccination Effort Rises
The expected cost of administering COVID-19 vaccines in California grew nearly fourfold from two months ago to $1.3 billion, a price tag made public Thursday as the state also rolls back sweeping changes to its plan to centralize the delivery of doses under a program run by Blue Shield of California, The Times has learned. In a letter sent by the California Government Operations Agency to counties this week, the state said it would give some decision-making powers back to local public health officials by requiring Blue Shield to consult with a county before making recommendations about how many vaccine doses a jurisdiction should receive. (Gutierrez, 3/19)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Extending Vaccination To The Overweight Adds Hundreds Of Thousands To Inoculation Pool
San Diego County’s recent decision to allow anyone considered overweight, rather than just those who meet the definition of severe obesity, to get vaccinated has added many, many thousands to the pool of local people now eligible for inoculation. But how many exactly? That’s harder to tease out. Data provided by the county health department estimate that about 1.2 million people countywide technically meet the criteria of having a body mass index greater than 25, a number that translates to 169 pounds or more for a man of average height — 5 feet 9 inches — and 145 pounds for a woman measuring the average 5 foot 4. (Sisson, 3/18)
Bay Area News Group:
Santa Clara County Cancels Thousands More Vaccine Appointments Amid ‘Continuing Insufficient’ Supply
Health officials in Santa Clara County say the “continuing insufficient” coronavirus vaccine supply they are receiving from the state may not improve significantly for “a few weeks,” forcing them to cancel thousands more appointments. “All we need to dramatically expand access to vaccinations is more vaccine, and we are ready and waiting for it,” said County Executive Jeff Smith in a statement Thursday. (Geha, 3/18)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Public Service Announcement Urge Vaccinations Among Members Of Kern's Black Community
Kern County public health authorities have partnered with members of the local Black community to produce a pair of public service announcements urging people to set aside their hesitations and get vaccinated against COVID-19. Two 30-second videos scheduled to begin broadcasting Friday feature well-known members of the community urging people to get a shot for their own and others' protection. The recordings open with Arleana Waller, founder of the MLKcommUNITY Initiative, telling viewers the local Black community's death rate is 7 percent greater than that of the state as a whole. (Cox, 3/18)
LA Daily News:
Annenberg Foundation Teams Up With Community Groups To Provide Vaccines In Koreatown
The Annenberg Foundation and Wallis Annenberg GenSpace partnered with the Los Angeles Fire Department and the Karsh Family Social Service Center to provide vaccinations for older adults in Historic Koreatown on Thursday, March 18. Organizers said only 42% of Koreatown residents ages 65 and older have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, lagging behind more affluent communities in Los Angeles County. (3/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Coronavirus Vaccines Could Be Ready For Children By Year's End, Experts Say
Vaccines to immunize children against the coronavirus could be ready by the end of the year, Bay Area experts in pediatric immunology said Wednesday, following Moderna’s announcement that it is expanding its drug trials to include children up to age 12. A pair of studies involving adolescents from vaccine maker Pfizer also are moving ahead, with participation in the Bay Area from Kaiser in Oakland and Stanford University researchers. (Asimov, 3/17)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Kern Public Health Reports New Strain Of Coronavirus In The County
The Kern County Public Health Services Department announced Thursday evening that one case of the B.1.1.7. coronavirus variant strain has been detected in Kern County. According to a news release from the department, the variant strain was first detected in the United Kingdom and has since spread to more than 200 countries. As of March 11, a total of 265 cases of the B.1.1.7. variant have been detected in California. (3/18)
LA Daily News:
LA County Coronavirus Case Rates Are Dropping Among Homeless As Well
Among those seeing fewer coronavirus infections in Los Angeles County are people experiencing homelessness, according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health on Thursday, March 18. They accounted for 58 new cases this week compared to 620 new cases in late December during the height of the surge. And even the 58 cases represented a bit of an overcount with officials saying all but 10 were cases from previous weeks. Since the pandemic began, public health officials have identified 7,061 COVID-19 cases among people experiencing homelessness and 194 have died from complications related to the coronavirus. (Rosenfeld, 3/18)
The Press-Enterprise:
California Cancels Sideline Cheerleading, Citing Coronavirus Concerns
The roar of the crowds is muted this spring, as high school sports continue their return to Southern California. There are a handful of spectators in the stands, sometimes in assigned seating, always 6 feet apart. But under new state guidance, there are no cheerleaders on the sidelines at many games. “Football players are allowed on the field with no masks, but cheerleaders are not,” Riverside mother Allison Yrungaray said. “It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.” (Yarbrough, 3/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Here's What Will Be Allowed In S.F. Under Orange Tier Reopening Next Week
San Francisco will most likely move into the state’s orange tier next week, which means offices, outdoor bars without food, live entertainment and festivals may reopen with restrictions. The city has slowly flickered back to life over the past few weeks, as cases continue to fall. San Francisco officials have mostly reopened in line with what is allowed by the state, although there are a few added restrictions to capacity in some instances. (Bobrowsky and Thadani, 3/19)
Bay Area News Group:
Coronavirus Testing Site At Alameda County Fairgrounds To Relocate
A COVID-19 testing site at the Alameda County Fairgrounds will relocate to Livermore because of a recent drop in testing numbers. The site has been open in Pleasanton since last April, and has tested at least 35,000 people. At its height, the site administered as many as 200 tests a day for Alameda County residents. But because of testing demand dropping in recent weeks, Stanford Healthcare-Valley Care, which was running the testing site, will consolidate the site with an already existing site in Livermore starting April 1. (Ruggiero, 3/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Hospital Chaplains Care For Caregivers During COVID Pandemic
Before entering the room of a COVID-19 patient, the Rev. Peggy Kelley dons personal protective gear — both physical and spiritual. She pulls on a sterile gown and places a face shield over her mask. She pumps Purell into her gloved hands and holds them over her chest, checking in with her heart. With a few deep breaths, the hospital chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center sends some words heavenward: “God, be with me. Walk with me in this room, use me, help me serve your people. Guide me. Guide my work, my hands, my eyes.” (Pinho, 3/19)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Victims Of COVID-19 Remembered At Memorial Ceremony Held By Heart Hospital
A year to the day after the first person in Kern County tested positive for COVID-19, a group of about two dozen residents gathered outside Bakersfield Heart Hospital on Thursday evening for a special memorial ceremony. Standing in the parking lot, ringing cowbells to thank health care workers and remember those who had been lost, they represented a small fraction of the 105,222 residents who have been diagnosed with the disease and countless more family and friends who have worried and mourned alongside. As of Thursday, 1,026 Kern County residents had died from the virus, a figure that would have been hardly imaginable just a year earlier. (Morgen, 3/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Inside Gavin Newsom's Fateful Decision To Lock Down California
In the late afternoon one year ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom walked around the second floor of California’s emergency command hub outside Sacramento and into an office where his inner circle of advisors had assembled. A theater-sized screen visible on the ground floor below displayed tallies showing the toll of the coronavirus in the state, at the time just 675 confirmed cases and 16 deaths. But his administration’s models predicted a catastrophic outcome if the virus spread unabated: More than half of the state’s population could become infected in a matter of months. (Luna, 3/19)
Capital & Main:
Does Newsom’s Color-By-Numbers Plan To Reopen California Risk Disaster?
As the health officer for Santa Clara County, Dr. Sara Cody routinely scrutinized the numbers and marked the trends. She understood that one of the real threats of COVID-19 was that officials might not fully realize the effects of their public safety decisions until weeks after they’d been made. And she had an ominous feeling about what California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, was doing. “The pace at which the state has made these modifications is concerning to me,” Cody told the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors during a May 2020 meeting. “The state has shifted away from the stay-at-home model and has made significant modifications with increasing frequency.” (Kreidler, 3/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Couple Who Ran Poop-Testing Firm In Silicon Valley Charged With Fraud
A couple who co-founded a Silicon Valley biotech company that tested fecal matter was charged by federal prosecutors with allegedly defrauding their investors and health insurance providers. Zachary Schulz Apte, 36, and Jessica Sunshine Richman, 46, face multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering, and other charges related to alleged schemes to defraud health insurance companies and investors in their startup company, uBiome. The indictment says Apte and Richman developed and marketed clinical “gut” testing and vaginal microbiomes testing, seeking up to $3,000 in reimbursements from health insurance providers. (Hernandez, 3/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Head Of S.F.'s Homeless Department Resigns As City Grapples With Unhoused Amid Pandemic
Abigail Stewart-Kahn, interim director of San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, has resigned, officials said Thursday. Stewart-Kahn’s departure comes at a particularly tenuous time for San Francisco, as it deals with a swelling homeless population amid the pandemic. She took over in March 2020, just as the coronavirus forced many shelters to close to new residents and left many people out on the streets. (Thadani, 3/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
East Bay City Abandons Plans To Open Its First RV Safe Parking Program For The Homeless
Richmond abandoned plans to open the city’s first safe RV parking program, instead opting to maintain current encampments and create a committee to plan services for those sites. The new plan, approved Tuesday, will use $260,000 in state funds and about $300,000 in city funds to provide security, health and housing navigation services at two vehicle encampments. The city would work with the county to provide services at the two encampments — one on Rydin Road and the other on Castro Avenue. (Ravani, 3/18)
Los Angeles Times:
There's No Such Thing As A Second-Class COVID Vaccine
Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s Health and Human Services secretary, rolled up his shirt sleeve before TV cameras and reporters Thursday at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza to get inoculated with the newest COVID-19 vaccine authorized for use in the U.S., a one-shot version made by Johnson & Johnson. In Oakland, the state’s surgeon general, and public health director and other top health officials did the same. The events were convened in largely non-white communities as part of an effort to assure people hesitant to get vaccinated that the shots are safe — and that this one in particular is not an inferior version, despite having less impressive results in clinical trials than the other two vaccines available in the U.S. (3/16)
Bay Area News Group:
California’s Epidemiologist Urges Residents To Get Vaccinated
Californians have done an incredible job of helping bring COVID-19 case rates and hospitalizations down. They’ve been masking, watching their distance and postponing seeing loved ones and attending social gatherings. And, as of Thursday, more than 4.6 million Californians have done their part by getting fully vaccinated. The faster we get vaccinated, the sooner we can move beyond this pandemic. (Dr. Erica Pan, 3/19)
San Jose Mercury News:
COVID Vaccination Effort In A Race Against The Mutants
The U.S. approval of the first vaccines less than a year after identification of the new coronavirus was a remarkable feat. But the discovery of new mutant strains of the virus might seriously compromise vaccine efficacy and any promise of a quick return to normalcy. We now find ourselves in a race against these mutants, one that can only be won by vaccinating billions quickly to achieve worldwide herd immunity. This lofty goal has been hampered by the logistical challenges of large-scale vaccination, manufacturing and storage limitations. (Dr. Bruno Delagneau, 3/16)
CalMatters:
Despite Newsom's Cheerleading, California's Vaccine Rollout Has Problems
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s belated State of the State address last week was fundamentally a self-administered pat on the back for handling the COVID-19 pandemic, refuting the “nay-sayers and dooms-dayers” who want him recalled. Newsom’s cavalcade of accomplishments prominently featured California’s rollout of vaccinations against the deadly infection that began late last year. (Dan Walters, 3/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Was Giving Away Expiring COVID Vaccine Doses OK?
When Hasan Gokal, medical director of a COVID-19 response team in the Houston area, found himself with an opened vial of the Moderna vaccine and no one to administer it to, he offered it to those on site who qualified to get the shot — healthcare workers and police officers — but they had already been vaccinated or declined. The vaccine comes in vials containing 11 doses. A vial, once opened, expires in six hours, and unused vaccine must then be thrown away. (Peter Singer, 3/13)
NBC News:
Rescue California Recall Effort Is A Warning To Gavin Newsom's Fellow Governors
Americans endured four years of irresponsible and reckless leadership from former President Donald Trump. Nothing illustrated his complete lack of ability, empathy or leadership aptitude than his response to the Covid-19 crisis. Thankfully, President Joe Biden is now running the nation. Biden has committed to getting the country vaccinated and back to work and school. He recently announced he will direct states to make all adults eligible for coronavirus vaccinations no later than May 1. In short, the president is governing, guided by science. And hopefully as a result, Americans are starting to regain their respect for and have faith in the federal government. (Susan Del Percio, 3/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Newsom's Recall Is A Predictable Response To One-Party Rule
Gov. Gavin Newsom is in trouble, and he knows it. The deadline to submit signatures on petitions for his recall is Wednesday and its proponents are poised to put his fate on the ballot later this year. Newsom’s current political challenges appear to stem from his uneven handling of the state’s response to COVID-19 and the extended closure of California’s schools. All of this was punctuated by his attendance at a lobbyist-hosted dinner at the French Laundry restaurant last year in violation of his own public health orders. (Lanhee J. Chen, 3/16)
Los Angeles Times:
How California Cities Should Use COVID Relief Federal Aid
For months, communities across the country have been preparing for the worst. The pandemic shutdowns hit local governments hard, drying up revenue from taxes on sales, business receipts and tourism. Many cities were planning or had enacted furloughs, layoffs, service cuts and other painful penny-pinching measures to close budget deficits. Not anymore. The $1.9-trillion relief package signed by President Biden on Thursday includes $350 billion in aid for states and local governments, on top of the billions allocated for schools, transit agencies, health departments and “critical” state and tribal infrastructure projects. That money is supposed to be used to replace lost revenue and restore services. In many cases, the relief will exceed the deficits. (3/12)
Times of San Diego:
Congress Cannot Forget The Undocumented Farmworkers Who Feed America
Traveling the nearly 500 miles from Washington through New York to Boston by car, you won’t see many agricultural workers tending or picking crops. The opposite is true on a drive of the same length from San Diego to Sacramento. Starting in San Diego you see strawberry, tomato, avocado, and flower farms, then bean fields in Orange County, followed by more avocados, strawberries, beans and vegetables in Ventura and Santa Barbara, and finally the agricultural abundance of Fresno and Kern Counties, the two most productive farm counties in the world. (Raoul Lowery Contreras, 3/16)
CNN:
What A Covid America Needs To Learn From Dorothea Lange
Often, these days, I find myself thinking about what Americans struggling to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic might learn from Dorothea Lange. Many people remember Lange as the Bay Area photographer who worked with the Farm Security Administration during the New Deal, photographing the living conditions of migrant laborers amid the Great Depression. Even now, her shots are iconic: White Angel Breadline, a relief and food line photographed outside her San Francisco studio in 1932; a careworn woman with three kids, taken in Nipomo, California, 1936, which came to be known as Migrant Mother. (Tess Taylor, 3/17)
Bay Area News Group:
COVID Isolation Challenging Those Of Us With Psychiatric Issues
The challenges brought about by the coronavirus pandemic have tested the mettle of millions of Americans. We face the disease itself with its recent variants. And we face an economy in which many jobs have been on hiatus or have disappeared entirely due to business closures. We hope to solve the pandemic but the virus keeps mutating into new strains on which the current vaccines might not work as effectively. Times of uncertainty like this only come about once or twice in most people’s lifetimes (Jack Bragen, 3/18)
The Bakersfield Californian:
California Must Prioritize The Well-Being Of Our Children And Pass Senate Bill 525
It’s been a year since the governor shut down the state. Businesses shuttered, jobs lost, schools closed. Californians have suffered immensely and among those hardest hit are our youth. Californians are reporting depression and other mental health and behavioral disorders at alarming rates. In particular, increasing numbers of students say they feel overwhelmed. Their parents may be newly unemployed, they may be falling behind academically, they can’t see their friends or they may be trapped at home in an abusive family situation. The widespread and prolonged closure of schools is taking a toll on their mental health. (Republican State Sen. Shannon Grove, 3/14)
Bay Area News Group:
California Lawmakers Should Extend The Tampon Tax Exemption
From the local to federal level, menstrual equity initiatives have gained significant traction in recent years — and for a good reason. In Illinois, New Hampshire and New York, all public middle and high schools are required to make menstrual hygiene products (MHPs) freely available in restrooms. California’s efforts toward achieving menstrual equity, however, have been less progressive. Senate Bill 92, which took effect at the start of 2020, exempts MHPs from taxation until the end of 2021. And since the passage of Assembly Bill 10 in 2017, all public secondary schools meeting a 40% poverty threshold are required to stock 50% of restrooms with MHPs. (Emaan Siddique, 3/19)
Stat:
Make Residency More Equitable By Scrapping The Match
At the stroke of noon on Friday, March 19, more than 30,000 doctors-to-be across the country and around the world will learn their professional fates in residency programs for the next three to seven years. At that moment, graduating medical students receive their results in The Match, officially known as the National Resident Matching Program, which uses a much-feted computer algorithm to pair medical students with the next part of their training — residency programs in hospitals and health systems. (Clifford M. Marks, 3/18)