Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
‘Please Tell Me My Life Is Worth A LITTLE Of Your Discomfort,’ Nurse Pleads
Health care workers on the front lines of the COVID crisis have spent exhausting months working and self-quarantining off-duty to keep from infecting others, including their families. Encountering people who indignantly refuse face coverings can feel like a slap in the face. (Anna Almendrala, )
California’s COVID-19 Outlook Worsens Over July Fourth Weekend: Coronavirus hospitalizations continued to rise and more counties were added Sunday to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 watch list, which is now at its highest level since the pandemic began. The rate at which coronavirus tests in California are coming back positive has jumped 42% over the last two weeks, according to Los Angeles Times data. The Fourth of July marked the 15th consecutive day that California tallied record hospitalization numbers of confirmed coronavirus patients. Read more from Rong-Gong Lin II, Maria L. La Ganga and Kristi Sturgill of the Los Angeles Times.
Fireworks Cause Surge In Air Pollution, 911 Calls: With officials canceling Fourth of July fireworks displays because of the coronavirus outbreak, many in Los Angeles County decided to put on their own show — leading to an increase in both air pollution and calls for emergency services. L.A. firefighters responded to thousands of emergency calls Saturday and extinguished at least one large blaze that consumed half an apartment complex in Northridge, officials said. The fireworks also caused levels of fine-particle pollution to skyrocket, leading air quality to be rated as hazardous in some areas well into the following morning. “It definitely was one of our worst years for July 4 and July 5 fireworks episodes,” said Philip Fine, deputy executive officer for planning and rules for the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Read more from Alex Wigglesworth of the Los Angeles Times.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
San Francisco Chronicle:
Newsom Appeals To California Protesters: Consider Others, Stay Home
A day after California reimposed parts of its stay-at-home order for much of the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom gently implored protesters and mask scofflaws to consider the consequences of ignoring health orders. “All I can offer is this consideration: Do what you think is best, not only for you, but for the health of those you love,” Newsom said Thursday at a news conference in Sacramento. “Just because someone else is doing it, doesn’t mean you should.” (Gardiner, 7/2)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Doctors Explain The COVID-19 Treatments They’re Using Now
There is no cure or vaccine yet for COVID-19, but Bay Area doctors now have months of experience treating the illness, using what they’ve learned from similar respiratory diseases while absorbing new research and trying out different drugs to help people heal. These front-line health professionals say the shelter-in-place orders put in place back in March bought them valuable time to learn how to treat the disease before seeing more cases. (Moench, 7/3)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Health Officer: Adapt Because Coronavirus ‘Will Be With Us For A Long Time’
Santa Clara County’s health officer issued a new health order Thursday that puts in place long term measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus and warned residents that they must adapt to a new way of life as COVID-19 “will be with us for a long time.” Dr. Sara Cody’s order requires risk reduction measures to be put in place “across all business sectors and activities” to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. (Hernandez, 7/2)
San Francisco Chronicle:
How Did We Get Here? California Struggling To Stay On Top Of Pandemic
For three months, California bent the curve. Look at this miracle, said public health and infectious disease pundits. Admire this success, led by the Bay Area, in beating back the coronavirus that had overrun New York City and devastated dozens of other cities around the world. California basked. Then the virus rallied. (Allday, 7/5)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno County Adds 259 Coronavirus Cases, Now 6,000 Total
Fresno County surpassed 6,000 total coronavirus cases Saturday, with the health department reporting 259 new positive test results for COVID-19. No additional deaths were reported, leaving fatalities at 77. Seventeen more patients were listed as recovered for a total of 1,369 and two more having been hospitalized at some point for a total of 394. (Galaviz, 7/4)
Sacramento Bee:
Lake County Health Officials Report First COVID-19 Death
Lake County, long one of the few Northern California counties spared from death amid the coronavirus pandemic, reported its first COVID-19 fatality on Friday. Although Lake County health officials do not provide specific location information for COVID-19 patients, recent testing has shown that an outbreak among farmworkers accounts for a significant portion of the recent surge there. (Moleski, 7/4)
Fresno Bee:
Kings County Reports New Coronavirus Nursing Home Death
Another coronavirus-related death at a Kings County skilled nursing facility over the weekend raised the county’s overall fatality toll to 33. There were 39 additional positive test results for COVID-19 reported Sunday by the county Public Health department in Hanford, including 38 among the general population for a total of 1,392 among that group. One additional case in a skilled nursing facility brought that total to 135. (Valenzuela, 7/5)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Marin County Stops Indoor Dining Amid Increase In Coronavirus Cases
Marin County officials will suspend indoor dining for at least three weeks amid an influx in new coronavirus infections, reversing course one week after giving restaurants the green light to serve customers inside. The decision, effective at midnight Monday, comes days after the state added Marin County to its watch list, which closely tracks counties struggling to clamp down on a surge in cases and hospitalizations. The county’s decision was based on a lack of improvement in case counts, officials said in a release Sunday. (Sanchez, 7/5)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Forget Dining Inside, Going Out To Bars: California’s New Surge Restrictions Could Last For A Long While
New state restrictions on bars and restaurants in counties with the worst virus-control numbers are supposed to expire after three weeks. But few public health experts believe the bans on indoor gatherings and outdoor drinking will drop cases low enough for these activities to resume any time soon. The dramatic move is the state’s attempt to rein in runaway case totals that have inched ever higher since some counties have begun allowing businesses to reopen and people have gathered more at home and outdoors. (Dizikes and Koseff, 7/2)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Have Bay Area Restaurants Been Following COVID-19 Rules? Here’s What We Know
In recent weeks, all Bay Area counties have allowed restaurants to restart outdoor dining operations, with some reopening indoor dining, too — until Gov. Gavin Newsom ended that practice Wednesday in three of those counties due to surging coronavirus outbreaks. Owners have been put to the test reconfiguring their establishments, juggling dine-in and takeout, and implementing protocols to keep their employees and customers safe. But, as more businesses reopen, record numbers of coronavirus cases are being reported throughout the state. This prompted Newsom in a news conference June 22 to encourage the public to read up on the state’s coronavirus guidelines for restaurants and to reach out to local government agencies if one is not complying. (Hwang, 7/2)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Morgan Hill Restaurants With Outdoor Dining Baffled By State Effort To Shut Them Down
Morgan Hill restaurant owners and city officials said they were left scrambling and confused after officers from the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control told businesses along the city’s main commercial strip Friday that they could no longer offer outdoor dining. The officers’ orders contradicted what they understood to be the county and state health rules, which have generally allowed for outdoor food service, so long as certain procedures, including social distancing, are followed to help curtail the coronavirus. (Kost, 7/4)
San Francisco Chronicle:
What Should Bay Area Restaurant Owners Do When Employees Test Positive For Coronavirus?
As cases spike and reopening plans stall across California, a few Bay Area restaurants have temporarily closed upon learning workers tested positive for the coronavirus. These restaurant owners thought they were doing everything right: requiring employees to wear masks, keeping them as far apart as possible, putting hand sanitizer everywhere. Now they are starting to learn that those actions aren’t always enough. The coronavirus doesn’t recognize effort. (Bitker, 7/4)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area’s Undocumented Restaurant Workers May Need Most Help, Get The Least
As restaurants in the Bay Area shut down their dining rooms in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic strain they faced surfaced many of the fissures in the industry that had previously existed without much comment. Among them is their reliance on undocumented workers: the people who grill arepas and hot dogs for commuters and churchgoers, who scrub kitchen tiles, who pick grapes and bus tables. (Ho and Sanchez, 7/5)
San Francisco Chronicle:
International AIDS Conference Returns To SF, Overshadowed By A New Pandemic
This week was to be a momentous occasion in Bay Area public health. The International AIDS Conference, the most important global gathering of AIDS scientists, doctors, activists and people living with HIV, was returning to San Francisco for the first time in 30 years. But in the shadow of a new pandemic, the conference will be a virtual affair. More than 20,000 attendees had been expected to descend upon the Bay Area for the five-day event, which will now be held online only, with one day devoted entirely to COVID-19 news and research. (Allday, 7/5)
Fresno Bee:
Coronavirus Closes Fresno Dutch Bros, Employee Got COVID-19
A Dutch Bros coffee shop in northeast Fresno closed this week after one of its employees tested positive for COVID-19, the company said in a statement. The shop at 10033 N. Maple Ave., just south of Clovis North High School, shut down Wednesday and remained closed Friday. A company spokesperson said it doesn’t have a reopening date for that location. (George, 7/3)
Sacramento Bee:
Cache Creek Casino Requires Coronavirus Testing For Staff
Cache Creek Casino Resort, one of Northern California’s largest gambling halls, recently instituted mandatory COVID-19 testing for employees as infection rates continue to rise. In a news release, Cache Creek leadership said that as a result of the testing program, which is ongoing, “a small number of our employees” were determined to have contracted the coronavirus on Friday. (Moleski, 7/4)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area’s Homeless Crisis Was Severe Before Coronavirus Made It Worse
Paul Boden became a poverty fighter in the early 1980s, when the term “homeless” burst into use as newly impoverished people hit the streets in waves not seen since the Great Depression. His crusades for homeless relief have had wrenching ups and downs ever since. But never, he says, has the outlook appeared as bleak as it does now. If the current proliferation of tents and homeless people sprawling on the streets throughout California seems dire, he says — just wait. (Fagan, 7/6)
Sacramento Bee:
Three California Death Row Inmates Die From Coronavirus
A third death row inmate from San Quentin apparently died from COVID-19, officials announced Saturday, bringing the number of inmates across the state to die after contracting the coronavirus to at least 25. On Friday, convicted child killer Scott Thomas Erskine and Manuel Machado Alvarez, who was convicted for a Sacramento County crime spree that included rape, murder and a carjacking, both died on Friday “from what appears to be be complications related to COVID-19,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a news release. (Hunt, 7/3)
Sacramento Bee:
COVID-19 Depleting Ranks Of California Inmate Fire Camps
As California enters another dangerous fire season, the COVID-19 pandemic has depleted the ranks of inmate fire crews that are a key component of the state’s efforts to battle out-of-control wildfires. This week, state prison officials announced they had placed 12 of the state’s 43 inmate fire camps on lockdown due to a massive outbreak at a Northern California prison in Lassen County that serves as the training center for fire crews. (Sabalow and Pohl, 7/4)
Sacramento Bee:
Coronavirus Infections Are Spiking For Latinos In California
Gov. Gavin Newsom calls them the unsung heroes of the California economy in dangerous times. They are the workers, many of them Latino, who can’t afford to shelter in place. They harvest crops, work shoulder to shoulder in factories, prep food in restaurant kitchens and put roofs on houses. Yet until recently, few local public health officers and experts in California focused on another fact about that group: Latinos of working age are getting sick and dying from the coronavirus in disproportionately high numbers. (Lopez, Bojorquez, Yoon-Hendricks, Ahumada and Bizjak, 7/5)
Los Angeles Times:
Women Say They Were Groped, Violated In L.A. Curfew Arrests
It was just getting dark when Julia Dupuis was handcuffed on a curfew violation and walked by two Los Angeles police officers to a fence on the side of an empty church, beyond the watchful eye of nearby apartment residents and a good 15 feet from the next protester. “Do you think it’s a female?” she heard one of the male cops say to the other, with a laugh. Dupuis, who is gender nonconforming but identifies as a woman, felt paralyzed with fear. (Rector, 7/6)
Sacramento Bee:
Ballot In November 2020 Has These Statewide Measures
Come November, California voters are going to have plenty of decisions to make. Leaving aside the hotly contested presidential election, as well as numerous state and local races, California voters also will have to decide on a dozen different ballot measures. Those measures touch on issues as varied as stem cell research, affirmative action and restoring the right to vote for parolees. (Sheeler, 7/3)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Giants Return To Oracle Park For Strange First Glimpse Of Pandemic Baseball
The long-lost sight of major-league ballplayers having a catch, laughing with one another and carrying their bats to the practice cages reappeared at Oracle Park on Friday when the Giants held their first workout of “summer camp” to prepare for a truncated season. The price of admission for this beat writer was signing a liability waiver that ran three single-space pages, contained eight sections and 17 subsections, made 25 references to COVID-19 and three times featured the word “death.” (Schulman, 7/3)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento Kings: Coronavirus Case Closes Training Facility
Days before departing for Florida, the Kings have canceled individual workouts at the team facility after another member of the organization tested positive for the coronavirus. The Kings shut down their Golden 1 Center practice facility after a member of the team’s traveling party tested positive Sunday, a league source told The Sacramento Bee, confirming a report from The Athletic’s Sam Amick. The Kings have called off Monday and Tuesday workouts and are not expected to reopen their facility before the team leaves Wednesday to resume the season at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, the source said. (Anderson, 7/5)