LA Hospitals Have Few Beds For Sick Patients: The number of available Los Angeles County hospital beds has fallen to its lowest level of the pandemic, according to L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. However, there are some preliminary signs — at least on the covid-19 front — that things are improving. Read more from the Los Angeles Times. Keep scrolling for more on the covid and flu outbreaks.
San Diego Nurses Struggling With Staff Shortages: There is a growing chorus of complaints from front-line workers that indicates the state’s nursing ratios, which specify maximum numbers of patients in specific departments, are often being broken under the strain of too few workers and too many patients. Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
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:
Bay Area Hospitals Are Filling With COVID Patients. Here’s How They’re Faring
In March 2020, Dr. Jorge Bernett saw his first-ever COVID-19 patient, a young man from Contra Costa County on a ventilator. “He gestures for a piece of paper and pen, and he writes, ‘Am I going to live?’” recalled Bernett, an infectious diseases doctor with John Muir Health. The patient survived. Nowadays, Bernett is much more confident in answering “yes.” Even as COVID cases rise in California and across the country, illness is on average less severe. Young, otherwise healthy patients with no immunity are a rare sight. (Hao, 12/17)
Bay Area News Group:
Bay Area Nearing Third-Highest COVID Hospitalization Wave Of The Pandemic
Bay Area hospitals are dealing with what is shaping up to be the third largest wave of COVID positive patients yet as local public health officials once again urge residents to take extra precautions to stop the rapidly spreading virus. (Rowan, 12/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
We Counted Masks At Grocery Stores As COVID Spikes. Here's What We Found
There are so many reasons to wear a mask now — rising COVID-19 cases amid colder weather and holiday gatherings and shopping, a “tripledemic” that includes severe flu and respiratory syncytial virus outbreaks, and strong recommendations from public health officials. But are Bay Area residents — most of them vaccinated and boosted and many who threw away their old masks months ago — returning to the practice of covering their faces in public indoor spaces? (Cabanatuan, Ravani and Ho, 12/18)
Sacramento Bee:
Are Indoor Holiday Parties Safe As COVID, Flu And RSV Spread? We Asked Three Experts
According to Dr. Matthew Eldridge, chief of infectious diseases for Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento: Gathering outdoors is safer than indoors; if there is an indoor gathering you want the space to be well ventilated - open doors and windows, run HVAC systems, and install high-quality air filters. Properly worn masks remain an effective option to reduce the risk of respiratory viral infections. (Pinedo, 12/17)
CNBC:
White House's Covid Coordinator Urges People To Get Vaccinated Ahead Of Holidays
As Covid and flu hospitalizations have climbed in the weeks since Thanksgiving, White House’s Covid-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said families will be safer at upcoming holiday gatherings if they get their updated vaccines. (Capoot, 12/18)
Stat:
Early Flu Season In U.S. May Be Peaking Early, Too
This year’s abnormally early flu season is showing signs it may be peaking in parts of the country, data the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Friday suggested. (Branswell, 12/16)
CIDRAP:
CDC Issues Guidance On Use Of Flu Antiviral Oseltamivir Amid Limited Supply
This week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued interim guidance to physicians to prioritize treatment of the flu in high-risk patients after receiving numerous anecdotal reports of shortages of the generic antiviral drug oseltamivir in some areas of the country amid a surge of respiratory illnesses. (Van Beusekom, 12/16)
Axios:
Antibiotic, Drug Shortages Highlight America's Supply Chain Problems — Again
Health systems and pharmacies are running out of antibiotics like amoxicillin and other commonly used drugs just as the worst flu season in more than a decade is colliding with RSV and a rebound of COVID cases. It highlights the U.S. vulnerabilities, yet again, when it comes to its ability to supply some of the most basic health care products — even children's Motrin. (Reed, 12/19)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Should Everyone Get Paxlovid As Soon As They Test Positive For COVID?
California health officials are sounding a different tune on what people sick with COVID should do when they test positive. But their new guidance contradicts current federal recommendations — suggesting California is going its own way as coronavirus cases soar in the state. (Vainshtein, 12/16)
NPR:
Updated COVID Booster Shots Reduce The Risk Of Hospitalization, CDC Reports
Two small studies from Columbia University and Harvard University in October suggested the new shots did not produce better antibody response against the omicron BA.5 variant than boosters of the original vaccines. But the CDC came out with two studies Friday detailing the bivalent vaccine's effectiveness against COVID-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations and effectiveness against hospitalization specifically among older people. (Ahn, 12/18)
CIDRAP:
Bivalent COVID-19 Boosters May Cut Risk Of Severe Disease By More Than Half
Updated bivalent (two-strain) mRNA booster shots, which target the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 sublineages of COVID-19 and the original strain, cut the risk of contracting severe COVID-19 by up to 57%, according to a study published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report today, but most Americans have yet to get the shot since they were made available on Sep 1.A second study today in the same journal shows the bivalent boosters are particularly effective at preventing hospitalizations in elderly Americans. (Soucheray, 12/16)
USA Today:
Biden White House Unveils Homeless Plan Amid Crisis In LA, NYC
The Biden administration's plan, which was announced Monday, will offer federal intervention for a problem that has been mounting for years in cities across the country. Federal agencies will work with states and cities to target unsheltered homelessness, expand housing and services, and attempt to prevent homelessness before it happens, according to the administration. (Thornton, 12/19)
Politico:
‘They’ve Gotta Have Something In Place’: Critics Circle As Biden Admin Prepares For End Of Title 42
The imminent expiration of Title 42 on Wednesday has prompted concern of a surge of arrivals at the southern border, which has already been under strain from the volume of people trying to enter. Biden administration officials have scrambled to figure out how to replace the policy, which the Trump administration used more than 2 million times to expel migrants seeking asylum. (Olander, 12/18)
The Hill:
Divided Congress May Drive Biden To The Power Of The Pen
President Biden will likely be forced to ramp up administrative actions to advance his agenda next year, when a divided Congress will offer him far fewer chances for legislative wins. Biden has already issued a slew of executive orders throughout his time in the White House, notably his student loan forgiveness plan, and outside groups want to see movement on more progressive issues, such as the climate, workers’ rights and marijuana reform. (Gangitano, 12/19)
CNBC:
Up To 254,000 Medicare Beneficiaries Are Getting New ID Cards Due To Data Breach At Subcontractor. What They Need To Know
Up to 254,000 Medicare beneficiaries’ personal information may have been compromised in an online ransomware attack at a government subcontractor, officials warned this week. Letters are being sent to the beneficiaries who were impacted by the potential data breach, said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (O'Brien, 12/16)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno, Clovis Hospitals Face Expiring Insurance Contracts
Members of at least one major health insurance plan in the Fresno area have received letters in recent weeks notifying them that the region’s largest hospital system will no longer be in their health-care network when 2023 begins in a few weeks. (Sheehan, 12/17)
Sacramento Business Journal:
CVS Pharmacy Closing A Rocklin Location
CVS Pharmacy plans to close a location that anchors a Rocklin shopping center, and the space has been listed for lease. (Abbott, 12/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
A Double-Decker Bus Is Taking Health Services Directly To Farmworkers In Half Moon Bay
Farmworkers in California were hailed as the unsung heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic who played a critical role in keeping grocery stores stocked with food, despite being one of the hardest-hit communities in the state, with higher rates of infection as well as mental health challenges amid crowded living conditions and limited access to health care. In the Bay Area coastal community of Half Moon Bay, advocates have launched an effort to help agricultural workers facing continued challenges from the ongoing pandemic — such as difficulty taking time off from work for medical appointments — by delivering some essential services directly to them. (Flores, 12/16)
Sacramento Business Journal:
Mercy General CEO Dr. Tina Johnson Brings Lessons From The ER To Hospital Administration
Dr. Tina Johnson knows how to manage a crisis. (Hamann, 12/16)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
The Number Of Newly Homeless Continues To Rise In San Diego County
Almost 1,000 people became homeless in San Diego County last month while only about 600 homeless people found some type of housing, according to the latest monthly report from the San Diego Regional Task Force on Homelessness. (Warth, 12/16)
CapRadio:
Sacramento’s Latest Homeless Plan: Help People Directly At Encampments
The Sacramento region’s strategy on homelessness has taken many turns. There was the “10 Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness” — this was more than 16 years ago — when, at the same time, an unofficial “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” approach pushed unhoused residents out of downtown and into overwhelmed neighborhoods such as North Sacramento and the River District. It prompted The Oprah Winfrey Show to do a segment on the city. (Nichols, 12/19)
Bay Area News Group:
Camp For People With Disabilities Seeks To Reopen After Three Years Of COVID Closure
Every year in California, hundreds of thousands of children head off to summer camps. They ride horses, sing songs, go swimming, roast marshmallows around campfires, sleep in cabins, meet new friends and form memories that last a lifetime. For generations, a week at overnight camp has been part of growing up. (Rogers, 12/19)