Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Wildfires’ Toxic Air Leaves Damage Long After the Smoke Clears
As fires burn longer and closer to cities throughout the West, researchers are trying to understand the lasting health impacts by studying a Montana town previously smothered by wildfire smoke. (Katheryn Houghton, )
Gov. Newsom Signs Multiple Health Bills Into Law:
More Help For Workers: One of the new laws requires employers to provide written notice to all employees and employers of subcontractors who were at the same worksite as an individual who is ordered to self-isolate or has tested positive for COVID-19. Employers must give the notice within one business day of finding out. The other bill codifies an executive order Newsom issued that presumes employees sick with COVID-19 caught the coronavirus at work, unless employers can prove otherwise. The order had expired in July. Employees who got sick or died from COVID-19 can qualify for workers’ compensation if they are first responders or certain health care employees.
More Help For Families: The governor also expanded the California Family Rights Act, which extends unpaid protections to workers who take family leave to care for themselves, a child or another relative. A father of four, Newsom has championed family leave expansion as a priority for his administration. Read more from the Sacramento Bee, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Politico and AP.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage and the best of the rest of the news.
More News From Across The State
NPR:
Agricultural Workers In Oregon Harvest Wine Grapes Through Fire Smoke
Wildfires are ravaging large swaths of the West in the middle of the wine grape harvest, sending hazardous smoke through picturesque vineyards. It's forcing many agricultural workers to make a stark choice: Should they prioritize their health or earn badly needed money? "The truth is that I have to work," said Maricela, 48, a team leader at a vineyard near Medford in southern Oregon. There are multiple fires blazing close to the town. (Penaloza, 9/17)
LA Daily News:
Coronavirus Testing Kiosk At Union Station Foretells Future Of Pandemic Recovery
Andrew Raposa stood in line outside Union Station in Los Angeles on a recent Wednesday with a handful of friends waiting to be tested for the coronavirus at a unique walk-up kiosk. Unlike most of the testing sites throughout the county, this one operated by Curative in partnership with the city and county, did not require a car and it was located in a heavily trafficked area. That’s one of the reasons Raposa said he chose the spot as he lives in downtown L.A. and doesn’t own a car. (Rosenfeld, 9/17)
LA Daily News:
LAUSD Campuses With Low Enrollment Get Additional Relief To Save Teachers
In the face of mounting pressure from parents and staff for Los Angeles Unified to suspend its annual practice of shuffling teachers around classrooms based on student enrollment, the superintendent announced on Thursday, Sept. 17, that the district will provide additional relief to schools this year because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. (Tat, 9/17)
San Francisco Chronicle:
How Does An SF House With 11 Roommates Navigate The Coronavirus? It’s Complicated
At 5 p.m on a Tuesday in August, the members of the Manor of Being, an 11-person intentional community in San Francisco, gathered in the living room for their weekly coronavirus meeting. The member leading the meeting took out a whiteboard and read the agenda to his housemates, who sprawled on a couch, over some chairs and on the floor. The first action item was to discuss whether the house felt comfortable trying out a new mathematical system to stay safe from the coronavirus: a calculator designed to assess risk and help protect the group. It was supposed to make their day-to-day decisions feel more rational, to make dealing with the pandemic feel less exhausting. (Vainshtein, 9/18)
LA Daily News:
Flu Shot Is Vital, LA County Officials Urge, Especially During Coronavirus Outbreak
Another three dozen coronavirus-related deaths were reported today by Los Angeles County health officials, who again issued a call for people [to] get a flu shot and continue taking precautions against the spread of infection. The county Department of Public Health reported 38 new virus deaths. The new deaths lifted the countywide total since the start of the pandemic to 6,324. (9/17)
Bay Area News Group:
Prop. 19 Would Provide Needed Funding For Fighting Fires
Our communities have been ravaged for weeks by multiple wildfires, leaving acres of scorched earth and homes permanently lost. We have heard from our neighbors and read in this very paper that fire staffing and resources are stretched too thin, and tough decisions were being made by the brave firefighters who are our last line of defense protecting our lives and homes. (Cecelia Aguiar Curry, 9/16)
LA Daily News:
How Newsom’s War On Climate Change Stacks Up Against Reality
While visiting the scene of one of California’s many horrendous wildfires last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared that climate change is the culprit and promised to step up the state’s already vigorous effort to reduce greenhouse gases. (Dan Walters, 9/15)
LA Daily News:
California Needs A New Energy Plan
The blackouts that rolled through California in August were the direct result of what happens when we plan based on wishful thinking and not science. Our planning and policies did not hold up to a real-world challenge and millions of Californians lost power during the hottest days of summer. (Bob Foster, 9/17)
LA Daily News:
Nuclear Power Could End Blackouts And Fight Climate Change
Did you know not just Republicans, but Democrats favor developing the latest nuclear-power technologies? The recent Democratic National Convention’s platform twice endorsed it: “Recognizing the urgent need to decarbonize the power sector, our technology-neutral approach is inclusive of all zero-carbon technologies, including hydroelectric power, geothermal, existing and advanced nuclear, and carbon capture and storage.” (John Moorlach, 9/14)
LA Daily News:
Is It Science Or Politics Guiding The COVID-19 Response In LA County?
The California Department of Public Health has hired actors to play Californians who are hospitalized with COVID-19. The DPH posted a video, a professionally produced 15-second commercial, on its Twitter account. The ad begins with three 20-something couples smiling, laughing and enjoying a meal at an outdoor table in a leafy back yard. (Susan Shelley, 9/16)
LA Daily News:
COVID-19, Summer Melt A One-Two Punch To Colleges And Students Alike
Real-life stories of the extreme challenges and anxiety COVID-19 has brought upon our state’s college students ring frighteningly loud and true: most have lost all or most of their income sources, many have changed their college plans and uprooted their living arrangements, and some have had their college aspirations completely derailed over worries about family and money. (Catalina Cifuentes and Marlene Garcia, 9/15)
LA Daily News:
Mixed Messages And Conflicting Ideas In Our Pandemic Age
Our politics may be paranoid, our society paralyzed by pandemic, and our skies ablaze, but don’t fear! We Californians receive an avalanche of advice about how to behave in crisis. All we have to do is follow it. Easy-peasy, no? For starters, go outside. Avoid the indoors, because COVID spreads best in enclosed areas. The outdoors is good for your health. Also, don’t go outside. Don’t you know there’s a pandemic on? Plus, with so many fires burning, you’ll just be breathing smoke. The outdoors now is bad for your health. (Joe Mathews, 9/18)
Bay Area News Group:
Around The Island: Pollution, Policing, Pandemic Town’s Top Issues
COVID-19 has been in our community for six months, and we know it will be some time before we recover. We also face dangerous air quality from the largest fires in our state’s history and widespread demand for policing reform and racial equity. These unprecedented times have been very hard, and we long for the day when the Alameda we love is thriving again. (Sarah Henry, 9/16)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Immunizations And COVID-19: How A Pandemic Could Set Us Back After 20 Years Of Disease Prevention
It was the late ‘90s and measles immunization rates had increased to more than 90 percent, thanks to public health efforts in response to an earlier measles outbreak. I snuggled next to my daughter in bed reading “James and the Giant Peach.” On the inside cover of the book was a letter from the author, Roald Dahl, on the importance of vaccines. His 7 year old daughter died from measles encephalitis before there was a vaccine available. (Carmela Sosa, 9/15)
Bay Area News Group:
COVID-19 Reveals Grade School Science Education Flaws
While the COVID-19 pandemic surged last spring, my kindergartner learned how snails use a radula to eat. My second grader studied praying mantises. Our backyard became a snail and praying mantis lookout. After at-home school, we talked about coronavirus, why I suddenly wasn’t working at the student health center, and why daddy was changing clothes when he came home from working at the hospital. I imagined what life would have been like if, in addition to learning about the radula, our kids also learned about the trachea and bronchi of our lungs. (Diana Farid, 9/13)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Common Sense Approach To Health Care Now And In The Future
No one is a stranger to the crippling effects of COVID-19. As hospitals around the country continue to deal with this pandemic, many nurse anesthetists like myself are on the frontlines providing care for the surge of critically ill patients. Advanced practice nurses (APRNs) are valuable contributors in the fight to save lives. (Ann B. Singleton, 9/16)
Bay Area News Group:
In Age Of Quarantine, Why Isn’t State Prioritizing Telehealth?
Telehealth has revolutionized health care access in the time of the COVID-19 quarantine. However, at the end of the legislative session, California’s leadership refused to take action and permanently adopt progressive telehealth provisions for all patients. (Jodi Hicks, 9/17)
Fresno Bee:
Gov. Newsom Should Halt Immigrant Transfers To ICE Centers Due COVID-19 Pandemic
As a doctor, I took an oath to protect lives.And, as a state legislator, I am compelled to take action when our policies fall short of this principle. So I’m alarmed when I read news reports and testimony that Californians deemed eligible for release from our prisons and jails instead are transferred to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). (Democratic California Rep. Joaquin Arambula, 9/16)