San Francisco Eases Mask Rules Starting Oct. 15: San Francisco will loosen its mask mandate for certain indoor spaces on Oct. 15, but in the city and much of the rest of the Bay Area, people will still be required to wear face coverings in most public places for the next couple of months and possibly into 2022, according to new rules announced Thursday. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and KQED. Keep reading for more on the Bay Area's mask mandate.
Removing A Condom Without Consent Now Illegal In California: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed a bill that expands the definition of sexual battery to include the intentional removal of a condom without verbal consent, an act commonly referred to as “stealthing.” Read more from The Sacramento Bee, AP and NPR.
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
San Francisco Chronicle:
Why Restaurants And Bars Aren't Included In San Francisco's Oct. 15 Mask Rollback
On Oct. 15, assuming that hospitalizations and case rates do not rise in the next week, San Francisco plans to lift indoor mask requirements for offices, gyms, college classes and other settings where the same group of people gather regularly — provided everyone in those settings is fully vaccinated. But there’s one notable exclusion: restaurants and bars, where patrons must still mask up after Oct. 15 when not eating or drinking. (Galbraith, 10/7)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Facebook, Google Don't Plan Mask Policy Changes Despite S.F.'s Plans To Loosen Mandate
Two of the Bay Area’s biggest employers, Facebook and Google, aren’t planning any mask mandate changes despite San Francisco’s move to lift part of its requirements next week. The city will allow workers to remove masks in offices where vaccinations are required, but both tech giants said there won’t be any immediate changes to their policies. (Li, 10/7)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Mask Mandates And Upcoming Changes: What You Need To Know
With the coronavirus in retreat around the Bay Area, the eight counties with universal mask mandates for indoor activities are planning to lift them as soon as certain benchmarks are met. But for now, residents should plan to keep those face coverings handy — it will likely take several months for the counties to meet their targets, which involve coronavirus case rates, hospitalizations and vaccination rates. (Wu and Buchmann, 10/7)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Here's Where Each Bay Area County Stands On Meeting Mask Rollback Benchmarks
The plan outlined Thursday by eight Bay Area counties to lift their universal indoor mask mandates hinges on meeting several benchmarks tied to COVID case rates, hospitalizations and vaccinations. None of the eight counties with mandates — San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma — is yet meeting the requirements. Most are not expected to hit all the metrics for at least two months. (Hwang and Ho, 10/7)
Bay Area News Group:
Here’s What Bay Area Health Officers Say Will End Our Mask Mandate
Bay Area health officers Thursday laid out a list of conditions they say each county must meet to end the indoor mask mandate at public places — and it won’t be happening anytime soon. To shed face masks, counties will have to reach the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s yellow “moderate” tier for COVID-19 transmission for at least three weeks, have low and stable hospitalization rates, and either have 80% of the total population fully vaccinated or eight weeks of emergency use authorization of the shots for kids age 5-11. (Woolfolk, 10/7)
The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat:
Sonoma County May Require Indoor Masks Until Early 2022 Under New Benchmarks
Indoor masking rules are likely to remain in effect in Sonoma County until the beginning of the new year under a series of COVID-19 benchmarks issued Thursday. The masking rules have been in effect since early August, the height of the deadly summer surge. (Espinoza, 10/7)
City News Service:
As LA County Coronavirus Mandates Take Hold, Vaccine Pace Remains Slow
While the pace of residents being vaccinated against COVID-19 has dramatically slowed, Los Angeles County saw an encouraging uptick over the past month in vaccinations among some key younger age groups, the public health director said Thursday, Oct. 7. The county still has persistent vaccination gaps among ethnic groups, with only 54% of Black residents and 63% of Latino/a residents having received at least one dose, compared to 72% of white residents and 82% of Asians. (10/7)
Los Angeles Times:
What Are L.A. County's New Vaccine Verification Rules? Here's What You Need To Know
When the clock strikes midnight, residents throughout Los Angeles County will have to show proof they have been vaccinated for COVID-19 at select indoor businesses. Doing so, officials say, will better protect the populace by limiting attendance at venues generally considered to present a higher risk of coronavirus transmission. Once the rules officially take effect, L.A. County will become the latest — though far from only — jurisdiction to mandate such documentation as a precondition of entering certain settings. (Money and Lin II, 10/7)
San Francisco Chronicle:
BART Will Require All Employees To Be Vaccinated By Mid-December, Under New Proposal
All BART employees would be required to be fully vaccinated by mid-December under a proposal by the regional rail agency’s Board of Directors. Under the measure introduced by BART board Vice President Rebecca Saltzman, all of the agency’s employees and board directors would be required to get fully vaccinated by Dec. 13, “with exceptions made only for those who qualify for a reasonable accommodation or a religious exemption.” The criteria for a “reasonable accommodation” is unclear. (Cano, 10/7)
ABC News:
Biden Touts Vaccine Mandates For Large Businesses: 'These Requirements Work'
President Joe Biden renewed his call for private employers to require their workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying "we are going to beat this pandemic" if more Americans get their shots. ... Biden's remarks came just hours after the White House released a new report outlining the importance of requirements in driving up vaccination rates and helping Americans return to work. The 26-page report says more than 185 million Americans are now fully vaccinated and that "the unprecedented pace of the president’s vaccination campaign saved over 100,000 lives and prevented 450,000 hospitalizations." (Gomez, 10/7)
Bay Area News Group:
Unvaccinated Miles Teller Cost Studio Millions, Report Says
Miles Teller is one of several high-profile actors at the center of a fierce debate in Hollywood over performers who have expressed skepticism about the COVID-19 vaccine or who are refusing to be vaccinated. A new story in the Hollywood Reporter addresses this debate, reporting on the case of an unnamed high-profile actor, said to be unvaccinated, who was working on a film this summer when he tested positive for COVID-19 and had to be hospitalized. (Ross, 10/7)
Berkeleyside:
Berkeley School Board Approves Student Vaccine-Or-Test Requirement
The Berkeley school board unanimously passed a policy requiring students to get vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing by next semester. The policy includes a vaccine mandate for Berkeley Adult School students and those attending indoor extra-curricular events. The policy, approved six days after California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a statewide vaccine mandate for students and teachers, will take effect Jan. 3, 2021. (Markovich, 10/7)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus K-12 School Districts Seeing Fewer COVID-19 Cases
Stanislaus County schools last week reported the lowest number of COVID-19 cases since the academic year began. The Health Services Agency recorded 183 cases among students and staff for the week beginning Sept. 26, according to an update posted Wednesday. Cases reported in school settings have declined since the end of August, when more than 400 were confirmed. (Isaacman, 10/7)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus Hopes To Expand Monoclonal Treatment For COVID
There’s an effort to expand access to monoclonal antibody treatment against COVID-19 in Stanislaus County. But the prospects for more patients getting the outpatient infusion treatment have run into issues of limited supply. In addition, coronavirus variants have become more resistant to some of the lab-produced antibodies. (Carlson, 10/7)
Los Angeles Times:
Why Do Unvaccinated COVID Survivors Also Need A Vaccine?
Californians are increasingly being expected to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of work and recreation. But why do those who have survived a brush with the disease, and thus acquired natural immunity to the coronavirus, also have to get a shot? The contention that a prior infection provides protection from the virus that’s just as robust as being inoculated has long been used as an argument against requiring the shots. But health officials say there are a few reasons why everyone, including COVID-19 survivors, should roll up their sleeves. (Lin II and Money, 10/7)
Los Angeles Times:
Newsom Signs California Medical Board Reforms Into Law
Amid increasing criticism that the state’s medical board is failing to discipline bad doctors, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Thursday with a handful of long-sought reforms approved by lawmakers. But critics say those changes don’t address their main concern — that the Medical Board of California is too lenient in its punishment of negligent doctors. Newsom’s signature on Senate Bill 806 was never in question. The governor had to sign the bill in order for the medical board to continue to exist in a process known as a sunset review, which typically occurs every four years. During those reviews, lawmakers assess how state boards are functioning and include what changes are needed in legislation sent to the governor. (Gutierrez, 10/7)
AP:
18 Ex-NBA Players Charged In $4M Health Care Fraud Scheme
Eighteen former NBA players were charged Thursday with pocketing about $2.5 million illegally by defrauding the league’s health and welfare benefit plan in a scam that authorities said involved claiming fictitious medical and dental expenses. “The defendants’ playbook involved fraud and deception,” U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss told a news conference after FBI agents across the country arrested 15 ex-players and one of their wives in a three-year conspiracy that authorities say started in 2017.According to an indictment returned in Manhattan federal court, the ex-players teamed up to defraud the supplemental coverage plan by submitting fraudulent claims to get reimbursed for medical and dental procedures that never happened. (Neumeister and Reynolds, 10/7)
AP:
Shannon Brown, Darius Miles And Glen Davis Among 18 Ex-NBA Players Charged With Fraud
The list of NBA players included former Lakers guard Shannon Brown and former Clippers forwards Darius Miles, Glen Davis and Ruben Patterson as well as guard Sebastian Telfair. Brown played for the Lakers for three seasons and was part of their NBA championship teams in 2009 and 2010. Miles was the third overall pick in the 2000 draft by the Clippers and played the first two of his seven NBA seasons with the team. Davis played the last two seasons of his eight-season career with the Clippers in 2013-15. Patterson, nicknamed the “Kobe Stopper” because he defended well against Kobe Bryant, played the last season of his career with the Clippers in 2007-08. (10/7)
CapRadio:
Food Insecurity In Sacramento Is Higher Than The U.S. Average. Here’s Possible Solutions
Food banks are the warehouses that store all goods that get distributed to food pantries, which then directly give food to residents. Those pantries, including SSIP Food Closet, are like other forms of government-run food assistance and help make sure low-income people can get fed. There is definitely need in the Sacramento region, which reports higher levels of food insecurity than the national average. Results from a Food System Resilience poll released this week by Valley Vision and CapRadio show 16% of respondents saying they experienced low or very low food security, with 25% participating in at least one food assistance program in the past 12 months. That’s compared to the U.S. Department of Agriculture reporting that 10.5% of U.S. households were on food assistance in 2020. (Salanga, 10/8)
KQED:
Sonoma County Vineyard Workers Are Demanding More Protections
Vineyard workers already have hard jobs that usually don’t pay high wages. And as wildfire season increasingly overlaps with harvest season, their work has gotten even more dangerous. Now, advocates and farmworkers in Sonoma County are demanding that wine businesses provide stronger protections for the laborers who make the industry possible in the first place. (Cruz Guevarra, Bandlamudi and Monticello, 10/8)
Modesto Bee:
Modesto-Area Homeless Count Tallies Record 2,927 People
Officials are reporting this year’s count of homeless people throughout Stanislaus County tallied nearly 3,000 men, women and children. That is the most since these local counts started in 2005, but a different counting method was used this year because of the pandemic. In a Tuesday news release, the Stanislaus Community System of Care said this year’s tally turned up 2,927 homeless people, which broke last year’s record of 2,107 people. Previous counts have ranged from 1,156 to 1,923 people. (Valine, 10/7)
Voice of San Diego:
Chula Vista To Foundation: Nah, You Can Keep Your Homeless Shelter Tent
Chula Vista will return a homeless shelter tent that a prominent nonprofit foundation last year agreed to allow the city to use free of charge. Last May, then-San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas announced the Lucky Duck Foundation would let the city of Chula Vista use the tent. The nonprofit had previously loaned the tent to the city of San Diego to house a now-shuttered Midway District shelter for veterans. (Halverstadt, 10/7)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Newsom Must End 'Personal Beliefs' Exemption For Students For COVID-19 Shots, Not Dither
In 2015, in reaction to a measles outbreak linked to a single visitor to Disneyland, the state Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown banned “personal belief” vaccine exemptions for students. This recognized the obvious: Schools would never be safe if large numbers of parents who bought into anti-vaccination conspiracy theories could readily keep their kids from getting the shots needed to create herd immunity to infectious diseases. (10/7)
CalMatters:
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Erratic Vaccination Orders
Vaccination mandates have been tightened in recent years despite raucous opposition by those deluded into believing they are immoral or dangerous. In fact, the opposite is true. Unvaccinated children pose death threats to their classmates and ignoring that danger would be immoral. Given that historic background, its grounding in medical science and the obvious peril of COVID-19, it makes perfect sense for California to add it to the list of mandatory vaccinations. (Dan Walters, 10/7)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Mandatory COVID Vaccinations Aren't The Only Public Health Measure School Kids Need
Last Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that his will become the first state to require all schoolchildren be vaccinated for COVID-19 once the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves shots for children under 12. No doubt, doing everything it can to protect the state’s youth from further spread of COVID-19 should be the first priority of this administration. And yet there’s another far less visible, but similarly critical, public heath measure the Newsom administration undertook two years ago that school officials across the country should also consider taking to improve the health of young people: delaying school start times. In 2019, Newsom signed a bill that pushed high school start times no earlier than 8:30 a.m. and middle school start times no earlier than 8 a.m. (Nate Watson, 10/5)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus Schools Superintendent Fails On Vaccine Stance
The elected head of schools in Stanislaus County deserves a rap on the knuckles for pandering to conservative voices rather than taking a stand to protect the health of children, teachers and other staff. Scott Kuykendall, county superintendent, missed a chance to provide support when California late last week became the first state in the country to boldly say COVID-19 vaccines will be required when they’re approved for all students. Instead, Kuykendall said California should “pump the brakes.” (10/5)
Los Angeles Times:
The Jerk Next To Me On The Plane Wouldn’t Wear A Mask
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there have been 4,626 complaints about unruly passengers made so far this year by flight crews. Of those, 3,366 were mask-related. Sarah Nelson, the international president of the Assn. of Flight Attendants, says that at this rate there will be more incidents in 2021 than in any other year in the history of aviation. And numbers tell only part of the story. Testimony before a recent hearing of the House Aviation Subcommittee described passengers biting, kicking, punching, throwing trash and food, and screaming racial epithets and slurs. One passenger, angry about the mask requirement, urinated on a lavatory floor; several punched other passengers in the face, according to the FAA. In some cases, passengers followed crew members out through the airport, taunting or threatening them. (Nicholas Goldberg, 10/8)
Sacramento Bee:
Protect CA Kids From Wildfire Smoke With School Air Monitors
The start of the new school year unfortunately coincides with what Californians are coming to recognize as “smoke season.” As the health hazards of wildfire smoke become more evident and widespread, there’s a simple step we should take to begin protecting some of our most vulnerable as they head to class. We need to put air pollution monitors inside a few classrooms in every school in California. This is the first step toward protecting our kids from wildfire smoke. (Michael Wara and Mary Prunicki, 10/6)
Los Angeles Times:
Many Diabetics Ration Insulin. We Shouldn't Have To
Like me, at least 1 in 4 insulin-dependent diabetics in the U.S. have rationed insulin because of its cost. It doesn’t have to be this way. President Biden’s $3.5-trillion “Build Back Better” social safety net bill calls for reforms that could make the price of insulin fall by hundreds of dollars, on average. The bill provides Democrats with an opportunity to propose a cap on all out-of-pocket insulin costs and halt the terrifying trend of insulin rationing. (Zoe Witt, 10/7)
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Franciscans Agree Tent Camps Aren't Humane. But The City Still Hasn't Found A Good Way To Deal With Them
Twenty-three tents filled the southern sidewalk of Stevenson Street on the stretch bounded by beleaguered Sixth Street on one end and the luxury shops of Fifth Street’s Westfield San Francisco Centre on the other. Furniture, rugs, tarps and bicycles filled the area, and clothes hung from hangers on a chain-link fence. The scene screamed San Francisco, though no resident could find it humane, compassionate or safe. But what to do about it and numerous encampments like it has become a huge point of contention at City Hall, in advocacy circles and in debates among regular residents alike. (Heather Knight, 10/6)
Los Angeles Times:
Finally, A Judge Does The Right Thing And Blocks The Texas Ban On Abortion
Finally, a voice of reason sounds from the federal bench. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman on Wednesday temporarily blocked the reprehensible Texas law that has halted nearly all abortions in that state, calling it out for being, plain and simple, an unlawful and brazen end-run around the constitutionally protected right to a legal abortion. Pitman was blunt in his assessment of Texas Senate Bill 8, a law that outlaws all abortions at the point when cardiac activity is detected in the fetus — which is around six weeks of gestation. The judge wrote that “this court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right.” (10/8)