In California, Cases Of Hospital-Acquired Sepsis Surged During Pandemic: The number of hospital-acquired cases of severe sepsis rose more than 46% between 2019 and 2021, state data show. Experts say the pandemic may have pulled attention away from other kinds of infection control. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
LA Does About-Face On Vax Exemptions For City Workers: In a twist, the city ordered the approval of all religious and medical exemptions to the vaccine mandate that were filed by city employees as of Jan. 31. Read more from the Los Angeles Times. Keep scrolling for more covid mandate news.
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
EdSource:
California Ends Plans For Kids’ COVID Vaccine Mandate
California state leaders seem to be quietly closing the door on the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for schoolchildren. California Department of Public Health officials confirmed Friday that children in California won't have to get the vaccine to go to school. (Lambert, 2/5)
Los Angeles Times:
State COVID-19 Student Vaccine Mandate Won't Be Enacted
California’s student COVID-19 vaccine mandate — which has been on hold since April — has been quietly dropped as the state prepares to end emergency pandemic restrictions later this month, public health officials confirmed. (Blume, 2/4)
Voice of San Diego:
VOSD Podcast: Covid's Deadly Political Divide
Throughout the pandemic, the political divide has been volatile, violent and — as found in Voice of San Diego’s new investigative series — deadly. This week, Voice reporters finished an unprecedented review of death certificates from the second year of the pandemic, after the vaccine was released and we knew a lot more about how to protect ourselves from Covid-19. They determined the demographics of who died changed dramatically. (John, 2/3)
The Mercury News:
Who Was Responsible For Livable Housing At Half Moon Bay Farms? County Officials Deflect After Mass Shootings Reveal ‘Deplorable’ Conditions
There’s no question the employees on two Half Moon Bay mushroom farms lived in desperate circumstances. Many of their homes were flimsy shacks propped up on wooden pallets. The roofs leaked. There was often no running water or kitchens. But while county and state officials quickly decried the living conditions exposed by the terrible mass shooting that erupted at California Terra Garden farm on January 23, they have mostly deflected when asked why the situation was allowed to persist. (Woolfolk, Kendall, Rodgers and Nickerson, (2/5)
AP:
Half Moon Bay Farmworkers Processing Shooting As Jobs Resume
Barely a week after their colleagues were fatally shot, workers were back picking mushrooms at a farm in northern California. They say they have practical and emotional reasons for such a quick return -- they need to earn a living and find strength being with people who have experienced the same trauma. “We all feel like we need each other; we feel like the people at the farm are the ones who really understand you right now,” said one worker at the farm in Half Moon Bay who asked that her name not be used. (Rodriguez, 2/3)
Voice of OC:
Santa Ana To Consider Weekly Food Drives As OC Approaches A Hunger Cliff
With a fresh produce void in some neighborhoods and a french fry overabundance in others, some Santa Ana residents have a tough time finding healthy food. An effort to meet these daily needs has the town’s nutrition moving more fluidly, and beyond the brick-and-mortar – even before COVID-19 brought more people to the brink of food insecurity – through community gardens and neighborhood produce trucks. (Pho and Elattar, 2/6)
Reuters:
Biden Administration Seeks To Toughen School Nutrition Standards
School meals for millions of children in the United States would include less sugar, more whole grains, and lower sodium under new standards proposed by the Biden administration on Friday. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the updated standards, to be rolled out over the next several years, were essential to tackling health concerns like childhood obesity. "This is a national security imperative. It’s a healthcare imperative for our children. It’s an equity issue. It’s an educational achievement issue. And it’s an economic competitiveness issue," he said in a livestreamed event announcing the standards. (Douglas, 2/3)
AP:
New Rules Would Limit Sugar In School Meals For First Time
The proposal also would reduce sodium in school meals by 30% by the fall of 2029. They would gradually be reduced to align with federal guidelines, which recommend Americans aged 14 and older limit sodium to about 2,300 milligrams a day, with less for younger children. (Aleccia, 2/3)
CalMatters:
Insulin Costs: California Reconsiders Price Caps
As many diabetics across the Golden State struggle with insulin costs, California’s efforts to make the medication more affordable have yet to yield results. This year, lawmakers will revisit legislation that would address at least one piece of the affordability puzzle. Senate Bill 90, by Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, would limit what diabetics pay out of pocket for their insulin — prohibiting state-regulated health insurance plans from imposing a deductible on those prescriptions and capping the copay at $35 for a 30-day supply. The current copay limit is $250. (Ibarra, 2/3)
Politico:
Dianne Feinstein's Extremely Awkward, Very Uncomfortable Exit From The Political Stage
More problematic for Sen. Dianne Feinstein has been the persistent questions about her health. Even Democrats sympathetic to the senator have been reading headlines about her cognitive fitness to serve. The stories about it pop up with such regularity now that they no longer elicit the shock value of the early versions, when publication of such matters seemed to be violating some unwritten code of D.C. conduct. (Siders, 2/4)
Oaklandside:
Oakland Programs Are Supporting Black Postpartum Women
Shortly after giving birth to her first child in 2021 at an Oakland hospital, Krista Hayes began hemorrhaging due to a retained placenta. She was rushed into emergency surgery and lost nearly 3.5 liters of blood. Even though she almost died, Hayes recalled, no one took the time to explain what had happened. In the days following the surgery, she said her concerns about pain were ignored. (Middleton, 2/3)
Reveal:
This Nurse Wanted To Help Women Avoid Abortions. Then She Saw Infection Control Problems At A Crisis Pregnancy Center.
At 52, Susan Rames was looking for a way to give back. She worked part time at a Kentucky hospital as a postpartum nurse and, with her three children nearly grown, she had some extra time during the week. Motivated by her Christian faith, Rames decided to volunteer at ALC Pregnancy Resource Center, a crisis pregnancy center whose mission is to discourage people from seeking abortions. (Morel, 2/2)
The Washington Post:
Fears Mount Around ‘Catastrophic’ Abortion Pills Case As Decision Nears
Abortion rights advocates delivered a stark warning to the Biden administration’s top health official in a private meeting last week: It’s time to take seriously “fringe” threats that could wind up blocking abortion access across the country. Driving their anxiety is a Texas lawsuit brought by conservative groups seeking to revoke the decades-old government approval of a key abortion drug, mifepristone. ... The case was filed in Amarillo, where U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, nominated by President Donald Trump and known for his conservative views on issues like same-sex marriage and abortion, could rule as early as this week. An appeal would land in the right-leaning Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, ultimately presenting the Supreme Court with another major abortion case less than a year after its conservative majority retracted the constitutional right to abortion. (Kitchener and Stein, 2/5)
Vox:
Abortion Pills Post-Roe: How Doctors Are Helping Women Have Abortions
Linda Prine is a family physician and the co-founder of the Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline, which counsels women who want to use medication to self-manage their abortions. For women who need abortions in the states where the procedure is fully or partially banned, the medication, mifepristone and misoprostol, is often the best chance they have at receiving abortion care, particularly if they are unable to travel. In 2020, the last year for which full data is available, medication abortions accounted for more than half of all abortions in the United States. While the FDA recently authorized pharmacies to carry the pills, and patients to receive the medication by mail, online pharmacies in the US still won’t sell or ship to states where self-managed abortion is illegal — meaning patients are often relying on overseas providers, which can take weeks. (Cogan and Chamberlin, 2/6)
AP:
US States Take Control Of Abortion Debate With Funding Focus
Though the Insight Women’s Center sits at the epicenter of a reinvigorated battle in the nation’s culture wars, the only hint of its faith-based mission to dissuade people from getting abortions is the jazzy, piano rendition of “Jesus Loves Me” playing in a waiting room. The Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature is considering allocating millions of dollars in state funds to similar anti-abortion centers that persuade people to bring their pregnancies to term by offering free pregnancy tests and sonograms, as well as counseling and parenting classes taught by volunteers. They’re also considering offering millions more in income tax credits for donors supporting what they call “crisis pregnancy centers.” (Hanna and Mulvihill, 2/5)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Scripps Mercy's New Chief Of Staff Had 2007 Probation For Negligent Prescribing
Scripps Health announced last month that physicians at Scripps Mercy Hospital named Dr. James Grisolia their chief of staff. (Sisson, 2/5)
Los Angeles Times:
Killing Of O.C. Doctor Who Was Riding Bike Stuns Community
The driver accused of hitting an Orange County doctor who was out riding his bike and then repeatedly stabbing him was charged with murder on Friday in a crime that stunned the community and left many unanswered questions. ... Dr. Michael John Mammone, 58, was riding his bike near the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Crown Valley Parkway in Dana Point at about 3 p.m. Wednesday when he was struck from behind by the driver of a white Lexus, Orange County sheriff’s officials said. ... Mammone worked as an emergency physician for Providence Mission Hospital, said Erin Prunell, a spokeswoman for the healthcare group. (Lin, Fry and Licas, 2/4)
AP:
Feds Say Cyberattack Caused Suicide Helpline's Outage
A cyberattack caused a nearly daylong outage of the nation’s new 988 mental health helpline late last year, federal officials told The Associated Press Friday. Lawmakers are now calling for the federal agency that oversees the program to prevent future attacks. “On December 1, the voice calling functionality of the 988 Lifeline was rendered unavailable as a result of a cybersecurity incident,” Danielle Bennett, a spokeswoman for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said in an email. (Seitz, 2/3)
Politico:
Teen Overdose Deaths Lead California Schools To Stock Reversal Drug
With overdoses near record highs because of the prevalence of fentanyl, Gov. Gavin Newsom called in his recent budget proposal for $3.5 million to supply middle and high schools with naloxone — even as a potential deficit looms and some programs face cuts.“ ... The second-largest school district in the country isn’t waiting. Los Angeles Unified placed naloxone in each of its schools last fall. And Superintendent Alberto Carvalho announced this week that the district will allow students to carry the overdose antidote to stem the “devastating epidemic” brought on by fentanyl. (Jones, 2/5)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. Hoped To Mandate Treatment For Up To 100 More Mentally Ill Homeless People. Years Later, No One Is In The Program
New data shows that a program in San Francisco to mandate more homeless people struggling with addiction and mental illness into treatment has largely failed, pointing to the city’s ongoing struggle to help thousands of people suffering on its streets. (Moench, 2/3)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Are San Francisco's Street Teams Helping People In Crisis?
San Francisco has half a dozen teams responding to people in crisis on the streets. Have these teams been effective? On this episode of the Fifth & Mission podcast, Chronicle reporter Mallory Moench joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about the city’s new pilot program to address homelessness, and what the data tells us about the impact of San Francisco's crisis teams. (2/6)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Oakland Allowed To Remove Last Residents From Wood Street Homeless Encampment
Oakland can remove the last remaining homeless residents from the once-sprawling Wood Street homeless encampment this week, after a federal judge ruled in the city’s favor late Friday. Oakland had appealed to the courts for permission to evict the residents, arguing that it could lose much-needed state funding for affordable housing if it didn’t clear the site soon. (Ravani, 2/3)
Reuters:
Pope Francis Says Laws Criminalizing LGBT People Are A 'Sin' And An Injustice
Pope Francis said on Sunday that laws criminalizing LGBT people are a sin and an injustice because God loves and accompanies people with same-sex attraction. ... "The criminalization of homosexuality is a problem that cannot be ignored," said Francis, who then cited unnamed statistics according to which 50 countries criminalize LGBT people "in one way or another" and about 10 others have laws including the death penalty for them. (Pullella, 2/6)
AP:
Pope, Anglican, Presbyterian Leaders Denounce Anti-Gay Laws
Pope Francis was backed by the ceremonial head of the Anglican Communion and top Presbyterian minister in calling for gays to be welcomed by their churches as he again decried laws that criminalize homosexuality as unjust. The three Christian leaders spoke on LGBTQ rights during an unprecedented joint airborne news conference Sunday while returning home from South Sudan, where they took part in a three-day ecumenical pilgrimage to try to nudge forward the young country’s peace process. (Winfield, 2/6)
Capital & Main:
Southern California Regulators Let Industrial Polluters Exceed U.S. EPA Guidelines
The air quality regulator for much of Southern California is risking public health by allowing emissions of ethylene oxide, a highly toxic gas associated with lymphoid and breast cancer, at levels far above the federal cancer risk guidelines for the chemical, warn environmental health experts. The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) says that it is bound by law to use health values adopted by the state more than 35 years ago to guide acceptable ethylene oxide emissions at three medical device sterilization facilities in its region. But other experts, including a former AQMD board member, argue that the agency already has the authority it needs to use a far stricter health guideline adopted by the federal EPA in 2016. (Ross, 2/3)
Fresno Bee:
Clovis Parents Urge Schools To Transport Medically Fragile Students To Therapy In Fresno
A group of Clovis Unified parents is asking the district to transport a small number of students with several medical needs to a specialized therapeutic afterschool program. (Thornton, 2/5)
CalMatters:
Farmworkers Face Smoke, Pesticides, Roaches, Rats
One of the largest academic studies of California farmworkers is quantifying their difficult workplace and housing conditions at a time when the spotlight on those issues couldn’t be brighter. The University of California Merced Community and Labor Center released results of its first California Farmworker Health Study today. The 110-page study surveyed more than 1,200 farmworkers in six languages about not just their health, mental well-being and access to healthcare, but also about details of their housing and their employers’ adherence to workplace laws. (Foy, 2/3)