Modesto Bee: Placer Officials: Covid Vaccine Ruled Out In Man’s Death
The Placer County Sheriff-Coroner Office ruled out a coronavirus vaccine as the cause of death in a 64-year-old man who died on Jan. 21 shortly after being administered a dose. The man, a health care worker at a facility in the county, tested positive for COVID-19 in late December and, according to a Saturday update from the Sheriff’s Office, “he also had underlying health issues, and had been exhibiting symptoms of illness at the time the vaccine was administered.” Several hours after receiving the vaccination, the man died, but the Sheriff’s Office was clear in stating that the vaccine was not to blame: “Clinical examination and lab results have determined the COVID-19 vaccine has been ruled out as a contributing factor in the individual’s death.” (Moleski, 1/31)

Sacramento Bee: Placer County’s ‘Vaccine Gap’: Officials Say Supply Shortage Keeps Thousands From COVID Shot
Four thousand Placer County residents received the COVID-19 vaccine last week. And public health officials said they could ramp up the pace to 20,000 people per week. The only problem: they don’t have enough vaccine to do it. After Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mid-January announcement accelerating the pace of vaccination for Californians 65 and older, the county has struggled to keep up without increased vaccine shipments. “We are experiencing a vaccine gap, meaning our current capacity to administer vaccine far exceeds our supply,” said Dr. Rob Oldham, director of health and human services and interim health officer, in a public meeting this week. (Sullivan, 1/30)

Fresno Bee: Merced County Will Pause COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics 
The Merced County Department of Public Health announced Saturday that it will not host COVID-19 vaccination clinics next week due to a national vaccine shortage. All available vaccine will be dedicated toward providing the second dose required to complete the vaccination series for those who already received their initial shot, according to a news release. (Jansen, 1/30)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Firefighters Administer Vaccines At Nursing Homes 
Firefighters across San Diego County have vaccinated more than 2,500 residents at long-term care facilities since early January, responding to an urgent need to protect a vulnerable population against COVID-19. (Hernandez and Mapp, 1/31)

Capital Public Radio/KXJZ: Sacramento Community Clinics Say They Need County’s Help To Vaccinate Hard-To-Reach Groups
COVID-19 vaccine demand continues to far outweigh supply in California. While Sacramento County says they are currently working with community groups to help them prepare to administer vaccines, those groups are worried marginalized people are being left out of the equation. At the Gender Health Center, which primarily serves queer and transgender people of color, operations director Ōme Tiêu says the site would like to administer vaccines, but the county has not been in contact with them about it. Tiêu says community members often come in to ask for health information or use the computers because they don’t have reliable internet access. (Caiola, 1/29)

inewsource: Long Lines Snarl Imperial County COVID-19 Vaccine Clinics
Nearly 26,000 people in the county have contracted COVID-19 — about 14% of its total population. While the vast majority have recovered, 528 people have died from the virus as of Thursday. The county’s positivity rate is about 27%. Still, only about 12,500 vaccine doses have arrived in the county as of Thursday — even as the state widened eligibility to older residents. The vaccine is administered in two doses, and the majority of the shipments the county has received is allocated for the first round. For comparison, San Diego County has received nearly 485,000 doses. Only 1.5% of its 3.3 million residents are fully vaccinated, and county-run sites just this week began offering the vaccine to those 65 and older. (Bowman, 1/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: Lafayette Coronavirus Vaccine Clinic Shut Down After Complaint
A pop-up community clinic that vaccinated more than 600 people in Lafayette won’t be giving a second round of coronavirus shots after Contra Costa County health officials received a complaint alleging that vaccinations were given to people who shouldn’t have received them. Dr. Rebecca Parish, a Lafayette internist who set up the community clinic at Stanley Middle School on Jan. 16 and 17, confirmed that a doctor who volunteered at the clinic filed complaints with the county health department and the state Medical Board, which licenses and disciplines doctors. (Cabanatuan, 1/31)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Mayor Todd Gloria Will Hold Town Hall Monday About Importance Of COVID-19 Vaccine 
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria plans to host a virtual town hall Monday evening about the importance of COVID-19 vaccinations for the sake of public health and economic recovery. Several public health experts, City Council President Jennifer Campbell and Gloria will participate in the town hall to educate the public about vaccine development, safety and effectiveness, the mayor’s office announced Sunday. (Taketa, 1/31)

Bay Area News Group: Coronavirus Vaccine’s Second Dose Has More Side Effects, But Worth It, Recipients Say 
“I had fatigue and chills for about 24 hours,” said Patel, assistant director of the pharmacy department for the Riverside University Health System. “Nothing I couldn’t find manageable. … I had had friends who had enough fatigue that they weren’t able to work the next day.” Her experience isn’t uncommon, with the Food and Drug Administration advising that the Pfizer vaccine’s most commonly reported side effects —  pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain and fever — are more common after the second dose than the first. Similar warnings are in place for the Moderna vaccine. (Hagen, 1/31)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Some Have Found A Way To Get To The Head Of The Line To Get Vaccinated 
Just after 9 p.m. Friday, two people wearing masks and UC San Diego IDs slipped through a guarded gap in the gate blocking the entrance of the vaccination super station near Petco Park and turned to address a throng of about 100 people waiting in the dark, their breath fogging in the chill night air. Scheduled appointments finished for the day, there were about one dozen doses of coronavirus vaccine left over, just what the group had been hoping for, some of them having queued up midday under ponchos and blankets as winter rain deepened sidewalk puddles. (Sisson and Wosen 1/31)

Bay Area News Group: Path Forward: How COVID-19 ‘Immunity Certificates’ Could Restore Our Lives Or Divide Us 
Imagine a future when a single document determines whether you work, play or travel. That scenario – a system of “immunity certification” that grants privileges to those vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus – is now being deliberated by a growing number of global businesses and governments, anxious to control the disease and also restore the economy. (Krieger, 1/31)

Southern California News Group: Black Market Starting To Emerge Amid Coronavirus Vaccine Shortages
“What we see is divergence — stolen, falsified and substandard product that undermines the health of the people who take it and the public health of the community, damages the brand of companies and torpedoes efforts of government to get the economy up and going,” said Nikos Passas, a professor in Northeastern University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, in a discussion on the vaccine black market by the health news site STAT. “We see vaccine tourism, fake medicines, fake products, with multiple victimization,” Passas said. While there have been reports of wealthy Angelenos pressing concierge medical groups for early vaccine access, line-crashers at mass injection sites and non-medical family members snagging shots meant for health care workers, officials at the California Department of Public Health and local district attorneys’ offices said significant black market activity hasn’t hit the radar yet in the Golden State. (Sforza, 2/1)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Sees Progress Against COVID, Stresses Vigilance
Los Angeles County public health officials on Sunday reported 5,925 new cases of the coronavirus and 124 related deaths, a further sign that the outbreak may be leveling off but that comes at a time when the state has begun relaxing restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the virus. Case numbers tend to be lower on the weekends because not all laboratories report results. Still, the data bolster evidence that the region is emerging from a vicious surge that started in late October and nearly overwhelmed area hospitals. Hospitalizations have also continued to decline since peaking earlier this month. There were 5,398 COVID-19 patients in L.A. County hospitals as of Saturday, a decrease of about 26% from two weeks before, when there were 7,322 patients. (Wigglesworth, 1/31)

Los Angeles Times: How California Turned The Corner In Latest COVID-19 Surge
In Los Angeles County, the stay-at-home orders and a ban on outdoor dining were followed by a drop in the transmission rate — a measure known as “R” that reflects how many people a sick person on average infects — from 1.2 before the orders to 0.85 by early January. Anything above 1.0 means an outbreak will grow exponentially. In other words, within roughly two weeks of the new orders in late November, the county began to turn the corner. Because of the many weeks of lag time between new infections and hospitalizations, the effects of the stay-at-home orders would only become apparent a month later, in early January, when hospitalizations finally began to decline. (Karlamangla and Lin II, 2/1)

Los Angeles Times: Why Masks Are Vital With L.A. County Reopening, Coronavirus Variants
As public health experts debate the wisdom of California’s decision to ease coronavirus restrictions, they are warning residents to step up precautions now that highly contagious variants and a still-high positive test rate have combined to create “a more dangerous world.” “We will have to be doing a major education effort to make sure people do not misinterpret the removal of the regional stay-at-home order and think they can go about their lives like they did before COVID,” said Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, a UCLA medical epidemiologist and infectious-diseases expert. “Otherwise,” he said, “we will see these numbers just go right back up.” (Dolan, 2/1)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Q&A: The Pandemic’s Next Few Months Could Be The Hardest. A UCSD Researcher Explains Why 
The pandemic’s toll has been staggering. But to UC San Diego’s Natasha Martin, it hasn’t been surprising. Martin, who holds a doctorate in mathematical biology from Oxford University, builds models that predict how various public health measures affect the spread of infectious diseases. It’s a skill set she has used to study the transmission of hepatitis C and HIV. And now she’s plying those same tools to forecast the impact of COVID-19 on San Diego County. (Wosen, 1/31)

Bay Area News Group: California Prisoners Get Support In COVID-19 Fight
A car caravan Sunday marked the latest attempt to draw attention to the plight of the state’s incarcerated population amid major prison and jail outbreaks of COVID-19, a debate that’s drawn new attention as limited supplies of the vaccine are distributed among at-risk populations. The rally that took about 100 cars over the Bay Bridge into San Francisco was the latest protest in an eight-month campaign that has become part of a broader conversation about health equity and prison reform. Activists on Sunday laid the blame for the state’s prison outbreaks at the feet of Gov. Gavin Newsom, saying that the failure to keep the prison population safe is tantamount to Eighth Amendment violations involving unusual and cruel punishment. (Almond, 1/31)

San Francisco Chronicle: L.A. And Oregon Disclosing Workplace Outbreaks. Most Bay Area Health Officers Won't. Why?
A year after officials identified the first case of the coronavirus in the Bay Area, local health departments mostly aren’t saying which businesses have seen infections at work. A patchwork of rumor, employee notifications and media reports have taken the place of the systematic reporting seen elsewhere. The Bay Area’s approach stands in stark contrast to Los Angeles County, which has been transparent about workplace outbreaks well before a state law requiring some reports on outbreaks, AB685, took effect on Jan. 1. Of the 10 local health departments, only one divulged the names of businesses that had seen outbreaks. Some cited policies protecting medical privacy for withholding it. Experts said health officials must balance public safety benefits with the risks of tarnishing businesses’ reputations or discouraging them from reporting infections. (DiFeliciantonio and Narayan, 1/30)

LA Daily News: No Simple Solutions, Says Health Security Expert About Youth Sports During COVID-19 Pandemic 
Tara Kirk Sell left Stanford in 2004 as one of the most decorated swimmers in the school’s rich aquatic history. She won 11 NCAA titles and a silver medal in the 400-meter medley relay at the Athens Olympics. After retiring from swimming in 2009, she focused on public health, earning a doctorate in 2016. She is an assistant professor of Environmental Health and Engineering and a Senior Associate at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. … The mother of a 6-year-old and 4-year-old, Sell also has been addressing the pros and cons of youth sports during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Almond, 1/31)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Students' Mental Health Deteriorating During Pandemic 
Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck last March, psychiatric emergency visits at Rady Children’s Hospital have crept up as youths and teens struggle with virtual learning, social isolation and unstable home lives. “March through May, we had a spike, about a 5 percent to 7 percent increase in the kids coming to our emergency room,” said Sandy Mueller, senior director of behavioral health services for Rady Children’s Hospital. “That dipped down in May to June, when school let out. And then we saw a 7 percent increase to the present.” (Brennan, 2/1)

Ventura County Star: Ventura County Nurses Say Staffing Waivers A Risk To COVID-19 Patients
Only one hospital system in Ventura County has not applied for waivers allowing facilities flooded with COVID-19 patients to require each nurse cares for more patients. And nurses at the county-run Ventura County Medical Center and Santa Paula Hospital — the system without waivers — want to keep it that way. They say they are already spread too thin and worry that changing nurse-to-patient staffing ratios would jeopardize patient safety. (Kisken, 1/31)

Sacramento Bee: CommuniCare Health To Re-Open Renovated Davis Clinic Monday
Uninsured patients and individuals covered by Medi-Cal and Medicare will get a new medical home Monday in Yolo County when CommuniCare Health Centers re-opens its dramatically renovated Davis Community Clinic. The new clinic, which occupies the same 13,000 square feet, has 16 exam rooms and seven dental treatment spaces, up from 10 exam rooms and five dental operatories. It also boasts bold paint colors and striking architectural accents, such as the coffered ceiling, in the waiting room. Dr. Melissa Marshall, CommuniCare’s chief executive officer, made the decision to close the clinic for construction 10 months ago, moving into a smaller office across the street as COVID-19 cases surged and much of the facility’s care delivery moved to telemedicine. (Anderson, 1/29)

Orange County Register: Doctor Sentenced In Massive Orange County Medical Fraud Case
A Beverly Hills doctor who participated in a massive Orange County medical-fraud scheme to recruit thousands of healthy patients for unnecessary surgeries was sentenced Friday to three years of probation and ordered to pay $2.9 million in restitution. Dr. Mario Rosenberg was also ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service, nearly seven years after he pleaded no contest to his role in what authorities once described as the largest medical-fraud prosecution in the country. Prosecutors allege that 2,841 healthy people from across the country were recruited to undertake unnecessary and dangerous surgeries. In exchange, they received money or access to lower-cost cosmetic surgery. (Emery, 1/29)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Santa Rosa Police Land Consultant For Mental Health Crisis Team
The Santa Rosa Police Department has signed a contract with an Oregon nonprofit lauded for its innovative approach in sending mental health workers rather than uniformed officers to respond to nonviolent calls for help. (Chavez, 1/30)