Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Vaccine Ramp-Up Squeezes Covid Testing and Tracing
The ability of California health officials to multitask in a pandemic will be severely tested as they scramble to find staff for vaccination sites while maintaining testing and contact tracing. (Bernard J. Wolfson, )
Statewide Stay-At-Home Orders Could Be Lifted Today: Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected on Monday to lift regional coronavirus stay-at-home orders across California, a change that could allow many restaurants and gyms to reopen. All counties will likely return to the colored tier system. Read more from the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and CNN.
Covid Shots Might Be Given Out According To Age: In an effort to simplify California’s coronavirus vaccination rollout, health officials are considering shifting to a priority system primarily based on age. The move would bump down access for some younger essential workers. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle and AP.
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 Diego Union-Tribune:
San Diego Scientists Closely Eyeing Whether COVID-19 Vaccines Work Against Emerging Strains
An ever-growing list of new strains of the novel coronavirus is raising questions around whether COVID-19 vaccines will work against these variants — and, if so, how well and for how long. (Wosen, 1/22)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
COVID-19 Vaccine Now Available To 65 And Up In County
San Diego County officials announced Saturday that they have expanded COVID-19 vaccine availability to include anyone 65 and older. Previously the vaccine was available only to healthcare workers and people 75 or older, though some healthcare providers were vaccinating their clients at 65 or older. (Diehl, 1/23)
CNN:
Google Maps Will Soon Display Covid-19 Vaccination Sites
Google Maps will soon display locations that offer Covid-19 vaccinations, further bolstering awareness of the virus — and how to avoid it. The feature is rolling out in the coming weeks, beginning in four states: Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Google (GOOGL) announced Monday that searches for "vaccines near me" have increased five fold since the beginning of the year and it's implementing this feature to ensure it's "providing locally relevant answers." (Valinsky, 1/25)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Google Seeks To Help COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts
Google is pledging to use its resources to help more people get vaccinated against COVID-19. The company said Monday that it will convert some of its facilities into vaccination sites, starting in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York City and Kirkland, Wash. Google intends to expand the program nationally and is partnering with One Medical in the effort. Additionally, Google is taking steps to promote accurate vaccine information on its search pages and spending $150 million to support groups that are helping to inoculate people from COVID-19. (Morris, 1/25)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus County Reopens Coronavirus Vaccine Clinics
Clinics for the coronavirus vaccine will reopen in Modesto and Turlock this week to members of the public in the first phase of allocation, and those over 65 years old. Phase 1A is mainly health care workers. The clinics, located at Modesto Centre Plaza and California State University, Stanislaus, in Turlock, operated last week before being closed due to a short supply of the vaccine. They reopened on Thursday but were closed on Friday. Friday evening, county officials announced on the StanEmergency Facebook page when the clinics will operate this week. Some days at the Modesto site are reserved for those who need the second dose of the two-shot vaccine. (Guerra, 1/24)
Orange County Register:
Orange County’s Second Vaccine Super Site Set To Boost Daily Capacity By Thousands
Starting Saturday, Jan. 23, Orange County will have a second mass vaccination center in Aliso Viejo, saving south county seniors with appointments to get a COVID-19 shot a trip to Anaheim and boosting the OC Health Care Agency’s daily vaccination capacity by thousands. The Disneyland Super POD (point-of-distribution), a tented site that opened last week in one of the theme park’s parking lots, is vaccinating about 3,000 people per day. Eventually, the site will handle up to 8,000 a day, and a drive-thru system is on the table, public health officials said. Ideally, the county’s second center at Soka University off Wood Canyon Drive will process 4,000 to 5,000 people per day, said Dr. Margaret Bredehoft, deputy agency director of the Health Care Agency’s Public Health Services. (Wheeler, 1/22)
LA Daily News:
LA County: More Coronavirus Vaccination Appointments Available This Week
Los Angeles County officials said Sunday, Jan. 24, that appointments are available this week at the county’s five large coronavirus vaccination centers at Magic Mountain, the Pomona Fairplex, Cal State Northridge, the Forum in Inglewood and the County Office of Education in Downey. (1/24)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Teachers Face Confusion Over When They’ll Get Vaccinated
The uncertainty of when teachers and school staff will get their turn is just one aspect of a confusing and chaotic vaccine rollout in California, plagued by a shortage of doses and the logistical challenge of saving shots for only those who are eligible. Counties and medical providers have made their own decisions on how to prioritize immunizations within state guidelines, with many choosing in recent weeks to fast-track educators so schools can reopen. But federal and state authorities now say vaccines should be given to everyone older than 65, and the state is considering scrapping all the existing tiers in favor of an age-based priority system. (Tucker, 1/25)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Early Vaccinations Might Depend On Your Medical Provider
While every Californian over the age of 65 is encouraged to get a coronavirus vaccination as soon as possible, actually finding one may depend on where you get your health care. Because of the patchwork nature of the vaccine rollout, not all seniors will have equal access to shots, at least not immediately. The first doses of vaccine are likely going to patients who get their care directly from one of the big three in Sonoma County: Kaiser Permanente, St. Joseph Health and Sutter Health. Even for them, experiences may vary in ways that seem random. (Barber, 1/23)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. 'Vaccine Chasers' Crowd Standby Lines Hoping For A Shot
There is, officially speaking, no such thing as a standby line for COVID-19 vaccinations in Los Angeles County. But some clinics have soon-to-expire doses left over at the end of the day or during an early-afternoon lull, and word has quickly spread about this potential back door to vaccine access. Some who flock to the sites spend hours waiting in the hope of catching a lucky break. Kedren Community Health Center in South Los Angeles and the Balboa Sports Complex in Encino have been at the center of the rumor mill in recent days, drawing large crowds that begin assembling before dawn. Some people arrive from neighborhoods far from the vaccination sites. (Wick and Smith, 1/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
How A Grassroots Bay Area Vaccine Clinic Managed To Get People Vaccinated Despite The Faltering Rollout
Glen Newhart strode, jubilant, between rows of retired doctors and nursing students pumping coronavirus vaccines into nearly 200 vineyard workers on Thursday. Two weeks ago, this vaccination clinic at Napa Valley College’s St. Helena campus didn’t exist. Newhart, the president and CEO of the St. Helena Hospital Foundation, helped birth the clinic out of a “crazy” Friday afternoon of phone calls. In just four days, the foundation pivoted from testing to fundraising $5,000 a day for supplies and a couple medical workers. With help from the county and community, it also found more volunteers and secured the site donated by the college. (Moench, 1/24)
The Bakersfield Californian:
County Mobilizing 'All Hands On Deck Effort' To Vaccinate The Masses
The plastic wheels of an elderly man's walker scraped across the rough pavement of the parking lot Friday as he made his way across P Street to the main entrance of the Kern County Fairgrounds. He was part of a steady stream of older local residents headed through the front gate to receive a COVID-19 vaccination, which the site began offering on a limited basis earlier in the week to those 65 and over. (Shepard, 1/23)
The Desert Sun:
COVID-19 Vaccine, Testing Gaps Persist In Eastern Coachella Valley
Between the rows of fruit and under the relentless sun, the single mother can hear people sneezing or coughing. There isn’t always room to socially distance. But they are people just like her, she said: heads of households who can’t afford not to go to work, even if they are sick. Bautorini has had three known exposures to co-workers who contracted COVID-19 during the month of November alone. But she didn't want to get tested herself. “I didn’t get tested because I didn’t have symptoms, but I also knew if I tested positive, I wouldn’t be allowed to come to work,” she said. She's not alone: Of nearly 100 individuals in the eastern Coachella Valley surveyed by The Desert Sun, two-thirds said they were not interested in being tested for COVID-19. (Hayden, 1/24)
Los Angeles Times:
More Than 5,000 Die In 24 Days In L.A. County Due To COVID-19
In less than a month, Los Angeles County has recorded more than 5,000 COVID-19 related deaths, a pace that highlights the rampant and ruthless spread of the virus throughout the county. In the roughly nine months between the first reported death on March 11 and the end of last year, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus killed just over 10,000 people in the county. In the 24 days since, the pace of deaths accelerated dramatically with 5,106 people killed. (Campa, 1/23)
Los Angeles Times:
New Coronavirus Strain May Be Behind California's Surge
California scientists have discovered a homegrown coronavirus strain that appears to be propagating faster than any other variant on the loose in the Golden State. Two independent research groups said they stumbled upon the new strain while looking for signs that a highly transmissible variant from the United Kingdom had established itself here. Instead, they found a new branch of the virus’ family tree — one whose sudden rise and distinctive mutations have made it a prime suspect in California’s vicious holiday surge. As they pored over genetic sequencing data in late December and early January, the two teams saw evidence of the new strain’s prolific spread leap off their spreadsheets. Though focused on different regions of the state, they uncovered trends that were both remarkably similar and deeply worrying. (Healy and Lin II, 1/23)
LA Daily News:
Coronavirus Death Toll Overwhelms ‘Last Responders’ In Funeral Home Industry
For weeks now, Los Angeles County has been overwhelmed by the onslaught of death. COVID-19 patients are dying at such an alarming rate — 1,500 over the past week alone, close to 2,000 the week prior — that hospitals, morgues and funeral homes are buckling under the volume of bodies. The pandemic has doubled the number of decedents they normally handle, and COVID-19 now accounts for more deaths than all other causes combined. (Rosenfeld, 1/25)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
County Officials, Health Care Workers Applaud Biden's COVID-19 Promise Of More Vaccines, Better Coordination
President Joe Biden’s new approach to combating COVID-19 has been met with enthusiasm by county officials and local health care workers who hope the plan will bring more vaccines, better coordination and federal dollars to help cover the costs of fighting the disease. “They hit it on the head pretty well,” said Dr. Robert Schooley, a professor and infectious disease specialist at UC San Diego. (Warth, 1/25)
Sacramento Bee:
Church Loses Appeal Against Newsom Over Indoor Worship
A federal appeals panel has denied a Southern California church’s request to overturn the state’s coronavirus restrictions barring worship services indoors. But the three-judge decision left the door open for addressing Gov. Gavin Newsom administration’s cap on attendance if a county is in a less-restrictive COVID-19 tier. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled against South Bay United Pentecostal Church of Chula Vista over public health orders that restrict religious services from being held inside when COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates are surging. (Moleski, 1/23)
Fresno Bee:
Tulare County Sheriff Sued Over COVID-19 Outbreak At Jail
A COVID-19 outbreak sweeping through Tulare County’s correctional facilities is worrying criminal justice advocates who say the crisis is being exacerbated by a sheriff they say is not taking the right measures to protect inmates. The outbreak that emerged last month has sparked criticism from civil rights groups, including the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, who says the sheriff has “refused to take known and reasonably available measures” to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in jails. (Lopez, 1/25)
Bay Area News Group:
One Year Later: What We’ve Lost, And Learned, During COVID-19. What’s Next?
A year ago, so many things were supposed to be different. A new virus in China was worrisome, but it appeared to pose so little threat to Bay Area residents that joyful Lunar New Year festivities and Super Bowl parties went on as planned. Masks were discouraged. Good viral tests were imminent. Toilet paper was plentiful. Ocean cruises were still a special travel pastime. Unemployment was low and commercial office space was in tight supply. These things, and so much more, have all changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Krieger, 1/24)
Bay Area News Group:
Good Sam Hospital Investigated For Offering Teachers Vaccine
Santa Clara County officials are investigating the South Bay’s Good Samaritan Hospital after it offered Los Gatos teachers COVID-19 vaccinations in what the county has called a “problematic” series of events. Outcry over the vaccinations, detailed in a Thursday email from the Los Gatos Union School District superintendent and in a public meeting later that night, spread first among local educators and now the county’s health department, which has moved to sanction the hospital’s vaccine doses until it can provide an explanation. Good Samaritan initially contended that it was filling open vaccine appointments according to state guidelines, but later acknowledged it made an “error.” (Kelliher, 1/24)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Hospital Vaccinates Older Relatives Of Housekeeping Staff
Sara and Juan Saravia had three pandemic strikes against them. They are elderly, Latino and live with a daughter who works in a hospital where some of the sickest patients in the region are being cared for. But on Saturday, that last liability became an advantage. Because of their daughter’s work as a housekeeper at Keck Hospital of USC, 81-year-old Sara and 83-year-old Juan were able to get their COVID vaccines. (Mejia, 1/24)
Orange County Register:
Patton State Hospital Inoculates 65% Of Patients To Help Stem Deadly COVID-19 Outbreak
Amid a rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak, Patton State Hospital has inoculated nearly 65% of its patients with their first dose of vaccine, a lawyer for the Attorney General’s Office said Friday, Jan. 22. Patton has been pushing to have all its consenting patients inoculated with the first dose of the vaccine by Friday, but it remained unclear whether it had met that goal. Senior Deputy Attorney General Lisa Tillman told U.S. District Court Judge Jesus G. Bernal during a telephonic conference Friday that 812 patients and 1,295 staff — more than 50% of all employees — had been inoculated as of Thursday, Jan. 21. (Nelson, 1/22)
AP:
In Ambulances, An Unseen, Unwelcome Passenger: COVID-19
It’s crowded in the back of the ambulance. Two emergency medical technicians, the patient, the gurney — and an unseen and unwelcome passenger lurking in the air. For EMTs Thomas Hoang and Joshua Hammond, the coronavirus is constantly close. COVID-19 has become their biggest fear during 24-hour shifts in California’s Orange County, riding with them from 911 call to 911 call, from patient to patient. (Dazio, 1/25)
Los Angeles Times:
In A Time Of Great Need, Student Nurses Step Up To Get Shots Into Arms
The call for help went out even before the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Los Angeles County: “HealthCare Heroes Needed.” “Have clinical hours to make up? Ready to get a head start on your ... public health community hours? Just want to be an amazing person and help California get out of this pandemic?” Dr. Rebekah Child, chair of the nursing department at Cal State Northridge, wrote to students. In the dark days of the pandemic’s “surge upon a surge” — with available intensive care unit beds at or near zero and nursing staff maxed out — several Southern California hospitals reached beyond their own desperately needed staff and tapped into a ready and willing population of student nurses who could help give vaccines. (Agrawal, 1/25)
The Bakersfield Californian:
'We Feel That It Is Our Duty': CSUB Nursing Students Lend Big Assist To County's COVID-19 Contact Tracing Efforts
As COVID-19 cases ticked up perilously over the holidays, the Kern County Public Health Services Department had a secret weapon at its disposal: senior nursing students at Cal State Bakersfield. The county hired 44 of these students as full-time temporary employees, known as junior staff nurses, to help them manage a dizzying load of contact tracing during the heavy surge. (Gallegos, 1/23)
Bay Area News Group:
Stanford Doctor And Author Fights Medical Misinformation In Time Of COVID-19
When Cambridge-trained physician and author Seema Yasmin started investigating outbreaks for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she noticed a troubling pattern: Children were falling severely ill or dying from vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles and whooping cough. Just as troubling was how these outbreaks were fueled by the “concurrent spread of spread of myths and hoaxes and rumors and outright lies about vaccines,” Yasmin said. She notes we’re seeing the spread of mis- and disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic, too, with a Cornell University study saying that President Donald Trump has been the “biggest disseminator of false information” about the virus. (Ross, 1/24)
The Desert Sun:
Desert AIDS Project Announces Name Change, Expanded Care
Desert AIDS Project, a longstanding health care provider in the Coachella Valley, is changing its name to DAP Health to better reflect the services offered and the diverse communities it serves, according to the nonprofit's leadership. Along with the new name comes a new logo, branding campaign and additional health care offerings for patients. That being said, officials say their founding mission to care for those living with HIV — and helping end the HIV epidemic — will continue to be a priority. (Sestito, 1/25)
Sacramento Bee:
CA COVID-19 Order Extends Expiration On Medical Marijuana Cards
California medical cannabis use cardholders can rest easy — the expiration date for those cards has been extended indefinitely, per an executive order signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday. The order cites the ongoing state of emergency surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic as justification for extending the expiration date. The order applies to all medical cannabis use ID cards that would have expired on or after March 4, 2020. Medical cannabis use ID cards require medical documentation to obtain, and must be renewed every year. Such ID cards can only be obtained county public health offices. (Sheeler, 1/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Measure To Overturn Ban On Flavored Tobacco Sales Qualifies
A California law banning the sale of flavored tobacco products was placed on hold Friday after state officials said a referendum by the tobacco industry qualified for the November 2022 ballot. The announcement means the law approved last year by the Legislature and signed by the governor is suspended until California voters decide late next year whether to affirm or repeal the ban. “It’s a sad day for California when the money of Big Tobacco is able to delay the inevitable while continuing to addict and kill more Californians,” said former state Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), who authored the law before he left office. (McGreevy, 1/22)
Modesto Bee:
Tobacco Whistle-Blower Will Speak To Stanislaus Students
A scientist who helped expose the addictive nature of tobacco will speak to Stanislaus County students via Zoom. The Jan. 28 event will feature Dr. Victor DeNoble, a researcher for Philip Morris in the 1980s. He went on to speak before Congress and in other venues about how the industry concealed the effects of nicotine. DeNoble spoke at several schools in the county in October 2019, including a visit to Orestimba High School that was featured in The Modesto Bee. He mixed humor with vivid descriptions of how tobacco affects the body, and how he needed FBI and Secret Service protection when he testified. The upcoming talk will be online only because of another threat to people’s lungs, COVID-19. It is sponsored by the county Office of Education and Sutter Health. (Holland, 1/24)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Make-A-Wish Surprises Teen With Leukemia By Granting His Getaway Dream
Six months to the day after 15-year-old Brody Richardson of Pine Valley was diagnosed with cancer, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego turned that grim anniversary into a happy one on Friday. The Granite Hills High School sophomore stepped outside his front door Friday morning to find a new box trailer custom decorated with his name and filled with items that he can use to take his motorcycle out to the desert on weekends, as soon as he’s feeling up to it. (Kragen, 1/25)