Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
California Moves on Climate Change, but Rejects Aggressive Cuts to Greenhouse Emissions
Drought, wildfires, extreme heat: California lawmakers cast climate change as the culprit in an emerging series of public health threats, setting aside billions to help communities respond. But they stopped short of more aggressively reducing the state’s share of the greenhouse emissions warming the planet. (Samantha Young, )
With Booster Shots Approved, California Plans Big Vaccine Push: California unveiled a new Covid-19 Vaccine Action Plan on Thursday — just hours before CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky approved a third Pfizer-BioNTech dose for people 65 and older, residents in long-term care settings and those ages 50 to 64 with underlying medical conditions. Read more from the Los Angeles Times and AP. Continued coverage, below.
Latinos Have Higher Rates Of Preventable Cancer, Report Finds: U.S. Latinos are more likely to suffer from potentially preventable cancers — such as stomach, liver and cervical cancer — than non-Hispanic whites, according to a new report. Latinos as a group have the highest percentage of people without health insurance than any other ethnicity in the U.S., the report found. Read more from Axios and the American Cancer Society.
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 New York Times:
C.D.C. Chief Overrules Agency Panel And Endorses Pfizer Boosters For Frontline Workers
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday overruled a recommendation by an agency advisory panel that had refused to endorse booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine for frontline workers. It was a highly unusual move for the director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, but aligned C.D.C. policy with the Food and Drug Administration’s endorsements over her own agency’s advisers. The C.D.C.’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Thursday recommended the boosters for a wide range of Americans, including tens of millions of older adults, and younger people at high risk for the disease. But they excluded health care workers, teachers and others whose jobs put them at risk. That put their recommendations at odds with the F.D.A.’s authorization of booster shots for all adults with a high occupational risk. (Mandavilli and Mueller, 9/24)
The Wall Street Journal:
CDC Chief Backs Pfizer Boosters For At-Risk Workers In Break With Panel
The boosters should be given to people who got the vaccine from Pfizer and partner BioNTech SE at least six months after their second dose. The committee didn’t vote on mixing and matching vaccines. Those who qualify for boosters will have to attest to their eligibility but won’t have to provide additional documentation, CDC officials said. (Schwartz, 9/23)
Bay Area News Group:
CDC Approves COVID Booster -- Who Will Get It First First?
In an effort to bolster the nation’s waning immunity against the surging COVID-19 virus, a panel of independent experts advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted Thursday to recommend the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine “booster” for people who are at risk of disease due to age or underlying medical conditions. Vaccine providers were gearing up to begin administering the third dose as soon as the recommendation is approved by CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and state public health officials, which is likely to be imminent. (Krieger, 9/23)
Bay Area News Group:
COVID Vaccine Boosters: How To Get A Shot And Other Questions
Coronavirus vaccine booster shots could soon be going into the arms of millions of Californians. Here’s what you need to know about whether you’ll be eligible, how to get a booster shot and more. (DeRuy, 9/23)
Los Angeles Daily News:
LA County Says COVID-19 Booster Shots Ready To Go On CDC’s Imminent Final Approval
Los Angeles County public health officials on Thursday, Sept. 23, said the county’s vaccination network is ready to immediately begin offering Pfizer booster shots to people 65 and older and to those most vulnerable to COVID-19, pending imminent approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Carter, 9/23)
Modesto Bee:
Can You Get Pfizer Booster Shot If You Got Moderna Or J&J?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a booster shot of the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine late Wednesday after an internal advisory committee voted in support of them last week. And on Thursday, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group also voted in support of Pfizer booster shots for certain people following a two-day virtual meeting. The recommendation must now be approved by CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. (Camero, 9/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Federal Officials Shift Vaccine Distribution Over Fears Doses Will Expire
Federal health officials are reshuffling their systems for distributing COVID-19 vaccines as they try to reassert control over the country’s divided response to the pandemic and prevent more unnecessary deaths. States will no longer be allowed to order as many vaccines as they want, a shift intended to prevent doses from expiring in places where people are hesitant to get their shots while ensuring there’s a steady stream of boosters for people eager for a third injection. The new restrictions, which have not been publicly announced, were laid out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an email that was sent to state officials earlier this week and obtained by The Times. (Megerian and Chabria, 9/23)
Bay Area News Group:
California COVID Divide: Stark Correlation Between Counties’ Vaccination And Case Rates
California’s new COVID cases are settling down after this summer’s surge, and a divide has clearly emerged. Although the Golden State as a whole is doing well compared to the rest of the country, some smaller and more rural counties where vaccination rates are among the lowest in the state are only now starting to level off after experiencing their highest ever new case rates in the past few weeks. (Rowan, 9/23)
CapRadio:
Can You Handle The Truth: Fact-Checking Claims About Breakthrough COVID-19 Cases
Reports about vaccinated Americans catching COVID-19 are energizing vaccine skeptics and leading to more misinformation about efficacy and breakthrough cases. CapRadio’s PolitiFact California Reporter Chris Nichols examined the facts about breakthrough infections in this week’s Can You Handle The Truth. (Nichols, 9/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
New Restaurant Survey Shows Drop In Sales Following Vaccinate Mandate, Delta Variant
San Francisco restaurants are dealing with a drop in business and conflicts with diners following the city’s proof of vaccination mandate for most indoor activities. That’s according to new survey results from the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, the city’s hospitality industry group. Among the 151 restaurants that responded, 60% reported a decrease in business since the mandate went into effect on Aug. 20. (Bitker, 9/23)
Bay Area News Group:
San Jose: New City Vaccine Mandate Approaches Amid Pushback
As a key deadline looms for city employees to get vaccinated or risk losing their jobs, a contingent of public-safety workers led by the police union are pushing the city to scale back its mandate or risk losing as many as 140 cops who object to the new rules. The San Jose Police Officers’ Association has been urging city labor officials to stick to the current requirement that city workers get vaccinated or be tested weekly, even as the highly infectious delta variant has brought Santa Clara County’s COVID-19 case numbers to rates not seen since vaccines became widely available this spring. (Salonga, 9/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
'All These Rules In San Francisco': Here's Why Some City Residents Are Getting Vaccinated Now
Uncertain if anyone would visit their new vaccination clinic inside the Balboa High School auditorium months after vaccines became widely available, surprised San Francisco health officials cheered out loud the other day when the first person walked in the door. And visit they did, in a slow but steady stream, not only at Balboa High but also at three other coronavirus vaccination clinics that opened in city schools beginning on Sept. 14, after students returned to in-person instruction. So far, the city’s Department of Public Health has vaccinated 27 people at the schools’ once-a-week clinics. (Asimov, 9/23)
Politico:
Education Secretary Backs Mandatory School Covid-19 Vaccines
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Thursday declared his support for mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for eligible schoolchildren, saying the FDA’s full approval of jabs for certain adolescents should clear the way for state officials to implement plans to begin vaccinations. “Not only do I support it, but I’m encouraging states to come up with a plan to make sure it happens,” Cardona told POLITICO between stops on a multistate tour of schools and child care facilities. “I would like governors who hold those decisions to make those decisions now that [vaccines] are FDA-approved.” (Perez Jr., 9/23)
The Mercury News:
Three East Bay School Districts To Require COVID Vaccines
School districts in Oakland, Hayward and Piedmont this week became the Bay Area’s first to require eligible students to get COVID-19 vaccines in the coming weeks, and others soon may follow after California’s top health official said Thursday he’s mulling whether to issue a statewide mandate. California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said state officials have been closely monitoring what steps local school districts are taking to ward off the virus’ spread, which has been driven by the highly contagious delta variant since early summer. (Sciacca, 9/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
East Bay School Districts Embrace Vaccine Mandates. Will Other Bay Area Districts Soon Follow?
A patchwork of student vaccine mandates emerged Wednesday after school boards in these three Alameda County school districts — which educate a combined 58,000 students — voted to require eligible students to get vaccinated in an attempt to limit coronavirus cases, which have already disrupted in-person instruction this school year. Meanwhile Berkeley Unified and West Contra Costa Unified are also considering forcing students to get the shots. (Cano, 9/23)
The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat:
Schools Cite High Vaccination Rates, Ready Testing Options As Deadline Passes
As Sonoma County reached its deadline for school employees, volunteers and contractors to present proof of vaccination, data from Sonoma County’s largest school districts suggest that the vast majority of workers have opted to vaccinate rather than test weekly for the year. "I am not aware that there’s a huge level of anxiety or any kind of emotion around (the deadline),“ said Anna Trunnell, superintendent of Santa Rosa City Schools. ”I think people are moving forward with business as usual. They’ve either stated to us their status or are waiting for direction on testing.“ (Tornay, 9/23)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus K-12 School Districts Seeing Fewer COVID-19 Cases
COVID-19 cases in Stanislaus County schools decreased for the second week in a row. School districts confirmed a little over 200 cases the week beginning Sept. 12, according to the county’s COVID-19 schools dashboard. Most of the cases were reported among high school students, consistent with the previous reporting period. (Isaacman, 9/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Is The R.1 Variant In The Bay Area? What To Know About The Highly Mutated COVID Strain
A new coronavirus strain is making headlines this week after being linked to an outbreak at a Kentucky nursing home, where the variant, known as R.1, infected both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. The variant is still not widespread. Just over 2,000 R.1 cases have been detected across 47 states in the U.S. — including a few in California — since March 2020, representing less than 0.05% of cases nationwide. Its presence has tapered off since August of this year, data shows. (Echeverria, 9/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Why California Has Landed In A New COVID Plateau After The Delta Surge
The worst of California’s summer COVID-19 surge is probably over — but with the highly contagious delta variant, that might mean the state levels off at higher case rates than after previous surges. Unlike the January surge when coronavirus rates hit their all-time pandemic highs, experts say, vaccinations are now widespread enough to keep severe disease low. But they add that future surges are still likely — and the “magic number” for vaccination rates needed to halt that cycle is unclear. (Echeverria, 9/23)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Bakersfield Woman Sues Adventist To Force Ivermectin COVID Treatment
A local woman is suing Adventist Health to force the hospital to treat her husband with ivermectin, a medication for parasitic diseases that some have proposed as a treatment for COVID-19. In a lawsuit filed in Kern County Superior Court, the plaintiff says her husband is sedated and on a ventilator in the intensive care unit at Adventist Health Bakersfield. She seeks a judge's order to force the hospital to provide treatment she claims has been prescribed by a doctor. (Morgen, 9/23)
The Washington Post:
Trump’s Election Challenges Distracted From Covid Response, White House Adviser Told Colleagues
White House officials prioritized President Donald Trump’s attempt to challenge the election over the pandemic response last winter, according to emails obtained by the House select subcommittee probing the government’s coronavirus response and shared with The Washington Post. Steven Hatfill, a virologist who advised White House trade director Peter Navarro and said he was intimately involved in the pandemic response, repeatedly described in the emails how “election stuff” took precedence over coronavirus, even as the outbreak surged to more than 250,000 new coronavirus cases per day in January. (Diamond, 9/23)
Bay Area News Group:
California Unemployment Claims Rocket Higher
Unemployment claims in California rocketed to their highest level in five months last week, raising fresh uncertainties about the strength of a statewide economy attempting to recover from coronavirus-spawned maladies. California workers filed 75,800 initial claims for unemployment during the week ended Sept. 18, an increase of 24,200 from the prior week, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Thursday. (Avalos, 9/23)
CalMatters:
California’s Extra Sick Leave For COVID-19 Is Ending, But Is It Too Soon?
California requires employers to provide at least three days of paid sick leave each year to full-time workers. But when the pandemic hit, that wasn’t enough to cover 14-day quarantine requirements. Many workers had to either come in sick or take time off without pay. So in March 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law requiring companies with more than 25 employees to offer as much as 80 hours of supplemental sick leave related to COVID-19, either for quarantines or vaccine side effects. (Kamal, 9/24)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Here's When The Third Batch Of California Stimulus Checks Will Go Out
A third batch of Golden State stimulus checks will be disbursed to Californians in early October, according to the Franchise Tax Board. State officials will send out a combination of mailed paper checks and direct deposits of one-time checks on Oct. 5 and will continue to send out payments every two to three weeks, Franchise Tax Board spokesperson Andrew LePage said in an email. (Flores, 9/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
These Texas Women Got Abortions From A California Doctor After The State's Ban. Here Are Their Stories
Ianthe Davis ended her bartending shift at 4 a.m. one recent morning in Dallas. An hour later, a friend picked her up and drove her three hours up Interstate 35 to this capital city so she could get an abortion — a procedure that became almost impossible to obtain in her home state of Texas after a new law went into effect this month. At a clinic in Oklahoma City, Davis was treated by another woman who was far from home, Dr. Rebecca Taub. The obstetrician and gynecologist travels once a month from her home in the East Bay to the small clinic, where she performs dozens of abortions over the course of two days. (Garofoli and Lurie, 9/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Pelosi Fires Back At Archbishop Over Abortion Rights Bill: 'God Has Given Us A Free Will'
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brushed away criticism from San Francisco’s archbishop over the abortion rights bill the House will vote on this week, explaining how she views the issue in line with her Catholic faith. “The archbishop of the city, that area, of San Francisco, and I have a disagreement about who should decide this,” Pelosi said at her Thursday news conference. “I believe that God has given us a free will to honor our responsibilities.” (Kopan, 9/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Is The Smoke Blanketing L.A. Dangerous? What Can You Do?
The smoke and haze that rolled into the L.A. area Thursday is coming from the Windy fire and the KNP Complex fire in the southern Sierra, meteorologists with the National Weather Service said. The weather service said the smoke will stick around until Saturday; however, a strong onshore flow — wind moving from the direction of the ocean to the east — is expected to push the smoke out of the area over the weekend. (Garcia, 9/23)
The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat:
Air District Issues Air Quality Advisory For Friday, Saturday
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has issued an air quality advisory for wildfire smoke for Friday and Saturday. Air district officials said they expect the smoke from fires in Southern and Central California to continue to affect the Bay Area, causing smoky and hazy skies. However, pollution levels are not expected to exceed federal health standards, they said in a news release. (Coates, 9/23)
Sacramento Bee:
Fawn Fire Prompts Evacuations In Redding Area
Mandatory evacuations were underway Thursday in a Redding neighborhood and surrounding areas due to a new wildfire exploding in size amid dry, gusty weather. The Fawn Fire, burning near Fawndale and Radcliff roads northeast of Shasta Lake, was 1,200 acres with 5% containment and was threatening about 2,000 structures by noon, Cal Fire’s Shasta unit said in a midday incident report. (McGough, 9/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Appeals Court Vacates Order To House Those On L.A. Skid Row
A federal appeals court on Thursday unanimously overturned a judge’s decision that would have required Los Angeles to offer some form of shelter or housing to the entire homeless population of skid row by October. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who issued the homelessness order in the spring, failed to follow basic legal requirements. It was a sharp rebuke of Carter, who has focused intently on homelessness, regularly venturing into encampments at all hours of the day, engaging with a wide array of officials responding to the crisis and issuing rulings on the subject in both Los Angeles and in Orange County, where he lives. (Oreskes, Dolan and Zahniser, 9/23)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
UC San Diego Health Sued Over Data Breach That May Have Exposed Records Of 500,000 Patients
UC San Diego Health faces a lawsuit over a data breach last winter that potentially exposed sensitive information from nearly a half-million patients, employees and others connected with the health care system. Lawyers representing an El Cajon cancer patient filed legal action this week in San Diego federal court alleging negligence, breach of contract, and violation of California consumer privacy and medical confidentiality laws. It seeks class-action status and unspecified damages for all individuals whose personal and medical information may have been compromised. (Freeman, 9/23)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Kern Behavioral Health And Local Artists Unveil Mural To Address Mental Health, Lift Up Hospital Workers
Kern Behavioral Health & Recovery Services and Creative Co-Crossing on Thursday unveiled a mural at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital that is the penultimate work in a four-part everGREEN artwork series. The project was initiated by a KernBHRS employee who wanted to uplift hospital workers through colorful, meaningful art amid the stress put on them during the COVID-19 pandemic, said KernBHRS Director Stacey Kuwahara. (Desai, 9/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Vaccines Are Safe And Effective Against Delta. You Might Not Know That From The Media Fearmongering
One of my esteemed Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital colleagues, Dr. Monica Gandhi, recently tweeted, “Does anyone besides me feel that the messaging over the last month in the US has basically served to terrify the vaccinated and make unvaccinated eligible adults doubt the effectiveness of the vaccines? ”These 30 or so words encapsulate the frustration I have felt as an emergency physician, as a volunteer vaccinator in Marin County and as someone who has helped to provide reliable information to the vaccine hesitant. Reading headlines from major newspapers and press releases from federal health agencies, I could easily be convinced that the delta variant has put us in some doomsday scenario, no closer to normalcy than we were back in 2020. (Judith Klein, 9/21)
Los Angeles Times:
What Would Jesus Do? He'd Get The COVID-19 Vaccine
One year ago, when my father was sliding toward the end, I had occasion to call 911 three times in the weeks before he died. During each fraught first-responder visit, my house filled with at least half a dozen brawny, uniformed paramedics and firefighters. We stood inches from one another as they took my father’s vital signs to determine why he had fallen or passed out or — on the last visit — whether he’d had a catastrophic stroke. This is the kind of vulnerable person that our vaccine-resistant firefighters are metaphorically spitting on when, in the name of personal or religious freedom, they refuse any of the widely available, safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccines. (Robin Abcarian, 9/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Yes To Vaccine Mandates For School Children, But ...
Good for California health officials, who are considering a vaccine mandate for the state’s school-age children. Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly revealed the state’s thinking on the matter during a briefing Thursday. In mandating COVID-19 vaccines for all eligible students — which currently means ages 12 and older — the state would be taking a page from the Los Angeles and Oakland unified school districts, and a couple of others as well. (9/23)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
My Dad Died Alone During The Pandemic. Months Later, We Finally Said Goodbye.
It turns out that a person reduced to ashes is very big and very small. I learned this on a warm July day. A year to the day that my dad, Harold Goldberg, died alone in the thick of the pandemic in his room in an assisted living facility in Oakland, my family gathered, packing ourselves into a hot car. We were together for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Together, but not whole. A square of our family fabric was missing, painfully ripped out. We were together to finally say goodbye to my dad. (Rose Carmen Goldberg, 9/23)
Modesto Bee:
Vaccine Persuasion In Modesto And Stanislaus County
What’s the most effective way to reach anti-vaxxers? Let’s give points for creativity to the Charlotte ad agency posting huge signs reading “Don’t get vaccinated” on a big black truck with the name of a fake mortuary underneath and an internet address. People clicking on it are urged to do exactly the opposite — bare arms and get the shot (for) herd (immunity) around the world. (Garth Stapley, 9/22)
Sacramento Bee:
Legionella Is Scary Disease That Grows In Contaminated Water
Society has learned a lot about Legionnaires’ disease and the bacterium that causes it. On a positive note, the disease is treatable, especially if diagnosed early, with antibiotics. Unfortunately, however, Legionella and its close relatives have been associated with a growing number of cases per year. (Jonathan Eisen, 9/22)
The Mercury News:
In The Bay Area, Racial Justice Starts With Birth Justice
All women and their partners may experience stress with childbirth. But for Black women in the Bay Area and beyond, the normal uncertainty of childbirth is compounded by racism. Black babies in the Bay Area are two to three times more likely to be born too soon or too small or to die before their first birthday. Black moms nationwide are three to four times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth. Black women and birthing people are more likely to experience pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia and hemorrhaging, as well as medical interventions such as Cesarean sections. (Natalie Berbick, Kamilah Davis and Daphina Melbourne, 9/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Texas' Antiabortion Law Is A Bluff. Call Them On It
The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to allow a Texas antiabortion statute to go into effect has triggered a statewide game of Texas Hold’em poker. So far, Texas is successfully bluffing everyone away from the table. But, if abortion providers called Texas’ bluff and dared someone to sue under the law, the state would be forced to show its cards and the law would almost certainly be declared unconstitutional. Ordinarily, when a law threatens to punish someone for exercising a constitutional right, judges eliminate the threat by blocking the government from enforcing the law. But the Texas statute doesn’t rely on state enforcement. It authorizes private bounty hunters to sue and collect at least $10,000 from anyone who assists a woman to procure an abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy. According to five Supreme Court Justices, until a private plaintiff seeks to collect the bounty, the threat can be left on the table, which has had the effect of bluffing many of the state’s abortion providers into shutting down. (Burt Neuborne and Erwin Chermerinksy, 9/23)
Los Angeles Times:
How Peter Lee Made Covered California A Healthcare Success
One could say that service in the name of public health was baked into Peter V. Lee’s bones. His father, also Peter Lee, founded the family medicine department at USC and spoke out in favor of the enactment of Medicare in 1965, a stance that provoked some members of the university alumni association to call for his dismissal. (Michael Hiltzik, 9/22)