Bay Area News Group: Watch How COVID Spread Around California Since The Pandemic Began
This graphic shows where and when COVID flared up around the state, using the 7-day average of daily cases per 100,000 residents, for each week over the past 2-plus years. (Wei and Rowan, 7/22)

Sacramento Bee: Yolo County Color-Coded Signs To Indicate COVID Risk, Masking
The Yolo County Health & Human Services Agency is launching a voluntary campaign to inform the community about the current risks of COVID-19 and the importance of wearing high-quality masks in indoor public spaces. (Williams, 7/23)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Cases Start To Flatten In L.A. County As Decision On Mask Mandate Looms 
Weekly coronavirus cases are showing early signs of flattening in Los Angeles County, but they remain at significantly elevated levels as a decision on whether to impose a new indoor mask mandate looms on Thursday. (Lin II and Money, 7/23)

Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs Needs More Monkeypox Vaccine, Say DAP Health, Raul Ruiz
Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley need far more doses of monkeypox vaccines given their concentration of gay men, who have been most at risk during the current outbreak, say the head of a key health-care provider and the valley's congressman. (Hartley and Coulter, 7/22)

VC Star: Ventura County Confirms First Monkeypox Case
Ventura County's first documented case of the monkeypox virus was confirmed on Friday, officials said. (7/22)

Bay Area News Group: ‘Nothing Was Going To Stop It’: More Evacuations Ordered As Oak Fire Rages West Of Yosemite
Hot and tinder-dry weather on Monday is expected to further test firefighters battling the explosive Oak Fire west of Yosemite National Park, which barreled out of control over the weekend into California’s largest fire of the year, forcing thousands of people to flee from their homes. (Rodgers and Greschler, 7/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: Oak Fire Smoke Is Likely To Reach The Bay Area. Here Are The Air Quality Impacts
Wildfire smoke billowing from the Oak Fire in Mariposa County was expected to drift over the Bay Area early Monday morning, air quality officials said. (Hwang, 7/24)

Los Angeles Times: Firefighters Face Punishing Weather Conditions In Battle Against Raging Fire Near Yosemite
A combination of heat, low humidity and parched vegetation continues to bedevil firefighters battling an inferno in the Sierra Nevada foothills near Yosemite that has forced thousands to flee their homes. (Fry, Dillon and Queally, 7/24)

Los Angeles Times: UC And CSU Campuses To Provide Abortion Pills In California 
Abortion pills will soon be easily and cheaply available to students at the University of California and California State University under a state law aimed at expanding access to the medication to college students, a move that could become a flashpoint for antiabortion groups vowing to challenge it. (Hernandez, 7/25)

Associated Press: Catholic Hospitals' Growth Impacts Reproductive Health Care
Even as numerous Republican-governed states push for sweeping bans on abortion, there is a coinciding surge of concern in some Democratic-led states that options for reproductive health care are dwindling due to expansion of Catholic hospital networks. These are states such as Oregon, Washington, California, New York and Connecticut, where abortion will remain legal despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. (Haigh and Crary, 7/24)

Fresno Bee: Some Fresno-Area Residents Will Face Steep Costs If Health Insurance Subsidies Expire  
Fresno County residents could be among the hardest hit across California if Congress doesn’t renew federal funding that lowers the cost of healthcare on the state’s health insurance marketplace. (Diaz, 7/24)

The Bakersfield Californian: Kern Medical Labor Contract Faces Union Vote This Week 
A union vote starting Tuesday could decide whether nurses and other health care workers at Kern Medical walk out on strike two weeks later because of what organizers say are low wages and unfair labor practices but which the hospital says is an effort to rewrite a grievance and disciplinary process. (Cox, 7/23)

Modesto Bee: State Probe: Oakdale Patients Got Biopsy Results 2 Years Later.
A patient at an Oakdale health clinic lost most of her tongue due to cancer that she didn’t know she had. The woman is among 122 patients at Oakdale Community Health Center who did not receive biopsy test results in a timely manner, according to a California Department of Public Health investigation in April. (Carlson, 7/25)

Los Angeles Times: Doctors' New Tool To Treat Homeless People: A Medical Clinic In A Van
On a scorching afternoon, Lisa Rogers peered out from the shade of a tree on a sidewalk in Hollywood and spotted a white RV-type vehicle with the words “Saban Community Clinic” on the side. She had never seen a clinic-on-wheels in 20 years of homelessness, and decided to see if she could get help there for a painful rash. (Parth M.N., 7/25)

Los Angeles Times: Homeless People Wait As Los Angeles Lets Thousands Of Federal Housing Vouchers Go Unused 
When HUD awarded 70,000 emergency housing vouchers to housing authorities across the U.S. in July 2021, the Delta wave of the COVID-19 pandemic had just begun. The economic effects of coronavirus-related restrictions were weighing on Americans, and local governments were struggling to meet the widespread need. (Sheets, 7/25)

Los Angeles Times: Cities Small And Large Outshine L.A. At Finding Emergency Housing For Homeless People 
As the eighth most populous city in the U.S., San Diego faces many of the same housing challenges as Los Angeles, including high rents and low vacancy rates. Both cities have been struggling to address homelessness for decades. (Sheets, 7/25)

San Diego Union-Tribune: To End Homelessness, Policies Must Align With Realities On Street, New Report Says
Designated outdoor areas for homeless people to live, a shelter specifically for sober families and greater police protection of people living on the street are among recommendations Father Joe’s Villages made in a report on homelessness released Wednesday. (Warth, 7/25)

Sacramento Bee: Gov. Newsom Reacts After Federal Judge Says Caltrans Cannot Clear Bay Area Homeless Camp
Governor Gavin Newsom criticized a Friday federal court ruling that temporarily stopped the California Department of Transportation from clearing a homeless encampment in Oakland. (Davidson, 7/23)

CalMatters: Rage Rooms: Toxics Experts Say They Need Stricter Oversight
If you’re a fan of local TV news, there’s a good chance you’ve seen a segment about so-called “rage rooms.” These are businesses – often in strip mall storefronts or office parks – where people pay to don a pair of safety glasses, grab a baseball bat and smash the heck out of things like old dishes, cabinets and fax machines. ... While the businesses have been growing in popularity, some California environmental officials say they are worried that operators often don’t know about safety regulations and could be releasing hazardous waste into the environment. One high-ranking state environmental regulator says her department is too thinly staffed to do anything about it. (Lewis, 7/25)