Apple Tightens Its Vaccine Mandate: Apple will require unvaccinated corporate employees to test for covid each time they want to enter an office, a move that tightens its virus protocols while still stopping short of a vaccine mandate. The new rule will also apply to employees who decline to report their vaccination status to Apple. Vaccinated staff will be required to take rapid tests once per week. Read more from Bloomberg and the San Francisco Chronicle.
LA School Forced To Close Again: View Park Preparatory High closed its campus to students this week because of a coronavirus outbreak, and it's believed to be the first school in Los Angeles County to reclose because of the pandemic since the 2021-22 school year began. Read more from the LA Daily News.
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
USA Today:
COVID Boosters Get OK From CDC Director, Can Begin As Soon As Friday
Americans are now free to get a free booster dose of all three COVID-19 vaccines, and can even choose to mix and match their vaccines, after the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on new recommendations Thursday night. At the same time, CDC recommended boosters for certain people who got Moderna vaccine and all 15 million Americans who got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Clinics, doctors and pharmacies can begin giving boosters as soon as Friday. (Weise, 10/21)
Bay Area News Group:
COVID: Questions Answered After FDA OKs Vaccine Booster Mixing
Tens of millions more Americans could soon receive a COVID-19 booster shot after U.S. government advisers on Thursday signed off on expanding the list of those eligible for an extra dose and providing them with more options to get one. A day after the Food and Drug Administration authorized extra doses of all three vaccines available in the U.S., an advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention followed suit. Here’s what you should know about their decisions and what it means for the nation’s booster campaign. (Angst, 10/21)
CBS News:
Pfizer Says Its Vaccine Booster Restores Full Protection Against COVID-19
Pfizer and BioNTech said Thursday that a late-stage trial of the drugmakers' COVID-19 vaccine booster showed it restored full protection against the disease. In a test involving 10,000 participants, the additional shot was 95.6% effective against the disease, according to the companies. ... The companies said the trial involved people who were 16 and older, and represents the first efficacy results from any randomized, controlled COVID-19 vaccine booster test. The results demonstrate the benefits of booster shots to fight the disease, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement. (Picchi, 10/21)
San Francisco Chronicle:
'Hybrid Immunity': Why COVID Vaccination May Give Extra-Strong Protection After Infection
As COVID-19 vaccination numbers continue to inch up and the delta wave starts to subside, experts say growing evidence of the strength of “hybrid immunity” reinforces why people should get vaccinated even after infection. But what exactly does that term mean? (Echeverria and Allday, 10/21)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
San Diego Scientists Work On A Vaccine Against All Coronaviruses
SARS. MERS. COVID-19. Coronaviruses caused all three diseases, and scientists are betting other members of this viral family will cause new outbreaks. But what if a single vaccine worked against all coronaviruses — past, present and future? Researchers from San Diego to Boston are racing to turn that possibility into a reality, and they just got some major help. On Thursday, La Jolla Institute for Immunology announced that Erica Ollmann Saphire, president of the organization, won a three-year, $2.6-million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a so-called pan-coronavirus vaccine. (Wosen, 10/21)
The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat:
Sonoma County Lifts Indoor Mask Mandate For Some Groups
Sonoma County health officials on Thursday lifted the indoor mask mandate for some vaccinated groups, according to a news release. Individuals will no longer be required to wear masks in indoor settings such as college classes, offices or religious gatherings if all are vaccinated. The change only applies to groups of 100 people or fewer who meet regularly in a location that is not accessible to the public. (Chudwin, 10/21)
CapRadio:
Sacramento City Schools Superintendent Discusses Vaccine Mandate For The District
The Sacramento City Unified School District will require all eligible students and staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 30, barring medical and religious exemptions — a requirement that comes seven months before California’s July 2022 mandate. Thousands of students and adults gathered at the Capitol Monday for a one-day protest of the state mandate, an action mirrored throughout the state. (Gonzalez and Salanga, 10/21)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
San Diego Employees' Union Questions Effects Of Vaccine Mandate
Officials of one of the city’s largest and most influential labor unions are again challenging Mayor Todd Gloria’s order from last summer that all city employees must get vaccinated against the virus that causes COVID-19. A lawyer for the Municipal Employees Association, which represents thousands of white-collar workers, told members in an email blast Thursday that city officials have changed their position and failed to prepare for the impacts of the mayor’s decision last August. (McDonald, 10/21)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Will Employers Have To Pay Workers With COVID-19 To Stay Home?
Will workers get paid if they have to stay home because of COVID-19 next year? That issue dominated public comments at Thursday’s meeting of the Cal/OSHA Standards Board, the seven-member body appointed by the governor to adopt workplace standards. Its mission has taken on added urgency during the pandemic, as it promulgates rules on vaccines, masking, social distancing and other measures suggested by the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health to help control the virus’ spread. (Said, 10/21)
City News Service:
LA County’s COVID Infections Less Severe, But Still Widespread, Ferrer Says
As COVID-19 infection rates fall and hospitalizations decline, some Los Angeles County residents may wonder if they’ll soon be able to shed face masks indoors and in other settings, but the public health director said on Thursday, Oct. 21, that virus transmission remains substantial, and loosening restrictions too early could prompt another dangerous winter case surge. (10/21)
Orange County Register:
Pediatrician From CHOC To Be Honored By Boys And Girls Club Of Santa Ana
The 1998 death of an uninsured little boy led to the opening of a children’s medical clinic at the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Ana more than two decades ago. And since then Dr. Mark Colon has been at that clinic, providing care to what is now more than 110,000 children. For that, Colon is the 2021 recipient of the DreamMaker Award, which will be presented by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Orange Coast on Saturday, Oct. 23, at the organization’s “Be Great” gala in Irvine. (Walker, 10/20)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Officials Disclose What Killed A Family Hiking In Mariposa County
Investigators said Thursday that a young family and their dog found on a remote hiking trail in August in a mysterious mass death perished as a result of hyperthermia and probable dehydration. Mariposa Sheriff Jeremy Briese detailed the final hours of the former San Francisco clan that started a hike with a temperature of 74 degrees in the morning only to see the thermostat rocket up to 109 by the afternoon. They succumbed to the heat and lack of water on a steep stretch of switchbacks with no shade, he said. (Picon and Gafni, 10/21)
Orange County Register:
System Of A Down Postpones Banc Of California Stadium Shows Due To Positive COVID-19 Test
Southern California rock band System of a Down announced on social media on Thursday that it would have to postpone its pair of back-to-back shows with Korn at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles this weekend due to System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian testing positive for COVID-19. “It is with great regret that we must reschedule our Los Angeles performances to February 4th and 5th, 2022,” the statement on Twitter read. “Despite multiple precautionary measures, Serj has unfortunately tested positive for COVID. We’re sorry to disappoint our amazing fans with this last minute news. As we could not wait to finally play for you. However, the health of our band, crew, venue staff and all of our fans is our top priority.” (Fadroski, 10/21)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento Crews Close Road For Possible Hazardous Materials. Here’s What They Found
Sacramento authorities on Thursday afternoon closed a portion of Elder Creek Road for a possible hazardous materials situation after an unknown substance was found on the street. Elder Creek was closed between Younger Creek Drive and South Watt Avenue as crews worked to identify the unknown substance, the Sacramento Fire Department announced on Twitter about 12:45 p.m. Thursday. The substance was found in the Florin Fruitridge Industrial Park area. (Ahumada, 10/21)
Voice of OC:
Santa Ana Becomes First Orange County City With Rent Control
Rent control now exists within Orange County as elected officials in Santa Ana have voted the idea into law, the first city in the county to do so after a decades-long push by community activists in town and staunch objections from landlords and industry groups. The split decision by the Santa Ana City Council on Tuesday night means landlords can’t hike rent on tenants by more than 3% per year and those renters get stronger protections against getting evicted from their unit. The rules take effect on Nov. 19. (Pho, 10/21)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento Plans To Open Homeless Safe Ground For Seniors
The city of Sacramento and the Sierra Health Foundation plan to open a Safe Ground sanctioned tent encampment for the roughly 60 homeless seniors who for decades have been camping along the river near Discovery Park. The Safe Ground would be behind the foundation’s headquarters, near Garden Highway and Gateway Oaks Drive, on a grassy riverfront lot. (Clift, 10/22)
Los Angeles Times:
State Charges Trio With Pocketing $400,000 In Public Funds Meant To Help Unhoused In L.A.
Three people have been charged with multiple counts of fraud and embezzlement in connection with an alleged scam to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funds meant to help the unhoused, California’s attorney general announced Thursday. Two of the three women worked for the Los Angeles-based nonprofit People Assisting the Homeless, known as PATH, which in 2016 received a contract from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to help transition unhoused people and families into affordable housing. (Winton, 10/21)
San Luis Obispo Tribune:
Newsom Shouldn’t Budge On COVID Vaccine Mandate For School Kids
There was never a doubt that anti-vax parents would lash out at Gov. Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 mandate for K-12 schools. On Monday, they did exactly that by keeping thousands of students out of classrooms for a one-day boycott affecting several school districts around the state. There were also rallies, including one on the front steps of the state Capitol in downtown Sacramento, attended by more than a thousand people protesting Newsom’s vaccination mandate for public and private school kids. (10/21)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento Supervisor Sue Frost Promotes COVID Conspiracies
With Sue Frost (R-Area 51), a certified Conspiracy Theorist Who Does Her Own Research, chairing the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, the county has a problem. Frost is encased in Plexiglas on the board dais because unlike everyone else, she refuses to wear a mask — which, by the way, flouts county policy as established by her own health officer. (Jack Ohman, 10/22)
Capital & Main:
Why No Mandated Vaccinations For California Prison Workers?
Almost from the outset of the pandemic’s reach into California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has put himself and the state through a contradictory series of orders, declarations and suggestions of seriousness. In that regard, his baffling stance against mandatory vaccinations for the state’s prison workers is only the latest turn. It speaks to a larger issue, however. For even with a federal judge flatly stating that unvaccinated prison employees are “the primary vector” of infection among inmates, Newsom is again coming down on the side of a political ally — in this case, an ally, the state prison guards’ union, that contributed heavily to defeat the governor’s recall from office. (Kreidler, 10/19)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Black Maternal Mortality Rates Are A National Embarrassment. Doulas Can Help
Black maternal mortality rates are a national embarrassment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Black mothers are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy related cause than white mothers. Earlier this year, the American Medical Association described a “culture of disrespect” that marks Black mothers’ experiences with conventional medicine. In response to this data, a host of technological innovations designed to support Black birthers have been proposed. But the most promising innovation is decidedly low-tech: birth doulas — trained, nonclinical, professionals who support and advocate on behalf of birthing people before, during and after childbirth. (Jennifer Nash, 10/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
California Clearly Owes Its Black Communities Reparations. Here's What That Could Look Like
Each year, starting in 1989 until his death in 2019, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan introduced a bill, HR40, to establish a commission to study and develop a path toward providing reparations to African Americans for the legacy of slavery, segregation and discrimination perpetrated against them. And each year, for nearly three decades, that bill went nowhere. Only after his passing is that bill now finally being given serious consideration in Congress. HR40, however, is far from the only attempt to address and remediate the lingering effect of centuries of state-sponsored bigotry. Local reparations programs for African Americans have moved forward in cities like Sacramento, Evanston, Ill., and Amherst, Mass. Perhaps most significantly, California’s Legislature created a first-in-the-nation state-level task force last year to study and help repair our state’s legacy of racial injustice. Repair, after all, is the root of the word “reparations.” (Elizabeth Herbin-Triant and Dennis Aftergut, 10/21)
Los Angeles Times:
'Forever Chemicals' Are Everywhere. It's Time To Rein Them In
Polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a class of man-made chemicals that break down slowly in the environment, can accumulate in the human body and have been linked to all manner of negative health effects from cancer to high cholesterol. But these “forever chemicals” are nearly impossible to avoid. They are, quite literally, all around us: in consumer products, from cosmetics and cookware to food packaging and firefighting foam; in our food supply; in the soil, air and water; and even running through our veins. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found traces of PFAS in the blood of nearly everyone it has tested for the past two decades, which suggests widespread exposure. (10/20)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Social Media Is Becoming Increasingly Toxic For Boys' Body Image, Too
As a pediatrician specializing in the care of teens with eating disorders, I’ve seen the impact Instagram can have on teenagers’ body image. Since the start of the pandemic, the use of social media by teens has skyrocketed along with a concurrent surge in eating disorders around the country. The number of teens needing hospitalization for eating disorders at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, where I work, has more than doubled. While Instagram’s impact on teenage girls’ body image made the news recently, few have thought about its effect on teenage boys and young men. Although there is a stereotype that eating disorders occur exclusively in females, males represent a third of people struggling with eating disorders. The masculine body ideal has become increasingly large and more muscular in recent years. Given these pressures, a third of teenage boys report trying to bulk up. (Jason Nagata, 10/18)
Los Angeles Times:
My Schools Failed Me In My Recovery From Disordered Eating
Adolescent eating disorders might be a buzzy phrase in news and pop culture, especially following recent controversy around how Instagram use can intensify teen girls’ body image issues. But despite public recognition of certain habits as “disorders,” I didn’t learn anything about disordered eating habits or period loss in school. I had grown up living by traditional coach wisdom that these symptoms are simply the consequences of being on top of your game. So, I didn’t know that amenorrhea was essentially my body in a starvation state, or that prolonged absence of periods can lead to infertility and permanent bone density loss. Indeed, amenorrhea is part of the “female athlete triad,” a condition defined as a “combination of disordered eating, amenorrhea and osteoporosis,” according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. (Juliet Fang, 10/18)
Los Angeles Times:
An Injustice Of Miscarriage In Oklahoma Lands A Woman In Prison
Criminalizing a woman for suffering a miscarriage seems unfathomable and even barbaric. But that is exactly what happened earlier this month in a Lawton, Okla., courtroom. When Brittney Poolaw, a Oklahoma woman, miscarried at her home in January 2020, she was taken to a hospital where she told staff that she had used methamphetamine and marijuana during her pregnancy. Two months later, she was charged with first-degree manslaughter. Her pregnancy was 17 weeks along. (10/22)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Elizabeth Holmes Is On Trial For Fraud, But Don't Forget About Her VC Enablers
On its surface, the Elizabeth Holmes trial comes across as a matter of protecting public health — her company Theranos cynically attempted to commercialize shoddy blood tests. But don’t be fooled. This case is just as much about protecting greedy and incompetent venture capitalists and investors. We now know that Theranos’ technology didn’t work as promised. This shouldn’t be a surprise. Most medical device and diagnostic startups fail. This dismal success rate is why venture capitalists historically have rarely invested in these companies. (Chirag Asaravala, 10/19)