Los Angeles Times: USC Lifts Mask Mandate For Most Campus Facilities 
USC on Monday will lift its indoor masking requirement for most campus facilities, officials announced. Masks will still be required at healthcare facilities and aboard public transportation, including USC shuttles, wrote Provost Charles F. Zukoski and Senior Vice President of Administration David Wright in a message to students. Masks also might be required if there is an outbreak on campus, they wrote. (Wigglesworth, 3/5)

Bay Area News Group: Some Bay Area Colleges Keep COVID-19 Mask Mandates
Elementary, middle and high school kids will soon be pulling off their masks, but young adults and twenty-somethings will have to keep them on at some local universities and colleges. San Jose State and San Francisco State are among several Bay Area colleges maintaining tougher face-covering rules than the state and local counties. Those schools will require students to keep their masks on at least for the rest of the spring. (Jimenez, 3/5)

CapRadio: Geography, Politics Key Factors In Whether California Districts Will Still Require Masking 
California returned the contentious issue of masking to school district officials to decide when Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that the school mask mandate would end March 12. Now, district officials are trying to decide what is best for students and how to adapt when families are so sharply divided over Covid protocols. The state also has given school staff the option to go without a mask if their county public health office and school district approve. (Lambert, 3/6)

Los Angeles Daily News: LAUSD: As LA County’s COVID Unmasking Advances, Hard Part Remains For District – Building Consensus
As the debate continues over whether Los Angeles Unified should lift its indoor masking mandate – and if so, how soon and for whom? – there does not yet appear to be a strong consensus in the school district about the appropriate path forward. On the one hand, some parents and educators feel it’s long past due for kids to shed their masks and to reclaim a sense of normalcy more than two years after the coronavirus pandemic upended lives across the globe. (Tat, 3/5)

Voice of OC: Capistrano Unified School Board Members Resigns, Citing Harassment After School Mask Debate
Capistrano Unified School District Trustee Pamela Braunstein abruptly resigned from her seat Thursday, saying policies against the mask mandate proposed by some of her former colleagues and harassment from parents pushed her to leave. Her resignation comes a day after efforts by three trustees to abandon mask requirements early failed at Wednesday’s meeting – 10 days before the statewide mandate is set to expire. (Elattar, 3/4)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Coronavirus Cases Continue Decline But Hot Spots Remain 
Coronavirus transmission continues to decline in Los Angeles County after the months-long surge driven by the Omicron variant, with the county health department on Saturday announcing just 1% of tests performed daily are coming back positive. But some hot spots remain, with outbreaks reported at multiple correctional and law enforcement settings. L.A. County public health officials on Saturday reported 1,382 cases of the virus and 48 related deaths. The seven-day average of new cases has dropped nearly 61% over the last two weeks, according to The Times’ coronavirus tracker. There were 792 COVID-19 patients in county hospitals as of Friday, a decline of about 47% from two weeks before, when there were 1,502 patients. (Wigglesworth, 3/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: For People Who Never Got COVID, What Are The Odds They Never Will? Here’s What Experts Say
As pandemic restrictions ease, some of the estimated 57% of Americans who have not yet contracted the virus may be wondering: If I start to live more like normal — going mask-free at restaurants, shopping and even parties — what are the odds that I will never get COVID-19? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently estimated that around 43% of people in the U.S., or about 140 million people, have been infected with the coronavirus, which leaves almost 60% never having had it. The estimate counts each person once, so some of the more than 140 million Americans estimated to have had COVID may have been infected more than once. (Echeverria, 3/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: How Low Will Bay Area COVID Numbers Go As Omicron Beats A Retreat?
COVID cases and hospitalizations have plummeted in the Bay Area since the peak of the omicron surge six weeks ago, but it will probably be another four to six weeks before they bottom out, hopefully at a level that reflects minimal spread of the coronavirus in the community, health experts say. Daily cases are less than a 10th of what was being reported in early January, and hospitalizations are down about 70% from the peak. COVID deaths — a lagging and somewhat more erratic metric because of reporting issues — appear to have peaked recently at about 30 to 35 a day for the region, though it’s too soon to say for sure they’ve stopped rising. (Allday, 3/6)

CBS News: The CDC Explains How You Should Approach The Next Phase Of The Pandemic 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more than 90% of Americans can now consider removing their masks while indoors. The Atlanta-based public health agency updated its mask guidance this week citing data that tracks community wide spread of COVID-19 by county. The announcement came after many states allowed their indoor mask mandates to expire. The CDC's new advice does not apply to every locale or scenario. The Transportation Security Administration's federal mask mandate for traveling by commercial aircraft, bus, and rail systems remains in place but is set to expire on March 18.  (Zubrow, 3/6)

Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 Drug Evusheld For Vulnerable People Can Be Hard To Get 
Evusheld has been heralded as a way to armor people who remain highly vulnerable to COVID-19 even after vaccination. As government officials loosen masking requirements that have helped shield the immunocompromised, the preventive treatment has gained even more urgency for people who do not generate enough antibodies to gain protection from the COVID-19 vaccines. The new treatment can “give them the antibodies that they essentially need in order to avoid getting admitted to the hospital” for COVID-19, said Dr. Krist Azizian, chief pharmacy officer for Keck Medicine of USC. “This could truly be lifesaving.”(Alpert Reyes, 3/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: How UCSF’s Data Science Team Took On COVID
COVID-19 may turn out to be the biggest data event of the decade — perhaps even the century. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, getting accurate, real-time data became essential at every level of society: Government agencies enacted lockdown measures based on data, hospitals relied on it to forecast bed shortages and the general public used it when gauging the safety of everyday activities. Since then, government agencies, research labs and media organizations have worked tirelessly to provide this kind of accessible data. (Sumida, 3/7)

Modesto Bee: Stanislaus County COVID Quiz, Second Anniversary Edition 
Which number is greater? See answers below. 1. a) Total COVID cases in the United States b) Population of Ukraine (Stapley, 3/7)

KQED: Only 16% Of California's COVID Rent Relief Applicants Have Received Their Checks, New Study Finds 
California is far behind in its efforts to help people with COVID 19-related hardships pay their back rent. That’s according to a report out this week from the National Equity Atlas, which found that a year into the state’s rent relief program, only 16% of applicants have received any money, largely due to bureaucratic delays. (Wolffe, 3/5)

Bay Area News Group: Emergency Rental Aid Coming Too Little, Too Late, Study Says
As COVID eviction protections end in most California cities March 31, the state’s $5.2 billion emergency rental assistance program is still struggling to get money to needy tenants and landlords. About 70,000 Bay Area tenants seeking state aid to pay their back rent are stuck in limbo, according to a new analysis of the state program by the National Equity Atlas. Roughly 20,000 applicants have been approved and are waiting for payments, and other 50,000 applicants are still waiting for their cases to be reviewed. (Hansen, 3/5)

Bay Area News Group: East Bay Landlords Sue To Overturn COVID Eviction Bans
A group of East Bay landlords is suing Alameda County and the city of Oakland, hoping to overturn two of California’s strongest remaining eviction bans. The city and the county, like many others throughout the state, placed a moratorium on most evictions early in the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort to prevent people from ending up homeless as the economy floundered and many tenants struggled to pay rent. Now, two years into the pandemic, tenants’ rights groups argue those protections are still just as important as ever. But a collection of landlords, who filed suit this week in federal court, say the eviction bans have outlived their purpose and are being abused by tenants. (Kendall, 3/4)

Sacramento Bee: Former SEIU Local 1000 Official Loses Time Sheet Fraud Appeal 
A CalPERS IT specialist who was also a top state union official was unsuccessful in his attempt to restore his pay after CalPERS determined he submitted fraudulent time sheets. Lonnie “Tony” Owens, a former vice president at SEIU Local 1000, spent six months away from his state job after volunteering to perform contact tracing of COVID-19 cases in the middle of 2020. Owens said he was doing a combination of union work and contact tracing in that time. (Venteicher, 3/7)

Bay Area News Group: COVID-19 Deaths In California Among Vaccinated Rose Sharply With Omicron
During a three-week stretch at the height of this winter’s devastating omicron case surge, Santa Cruz County health officials lost 10 patients to COVID-19. All but one were vaccinated, and five had received booster shots. As the omicron wave recedes, California data reveal an unsettling trend. Compared to the delta variant case surge last summer, deaths among the vaccinated rose sharply with omicron, a variant said by many experts to cause milder illness. (Woolfolk, Rowan and DeRuy, 3/6)

San Diego Union-Tribune: As San Diego Outreach Contracts End, Black Vaccination Rates Stay Far Below Average
Community groups' $6 million contracts with county expired, but they say there's much more work to do. (3/5)

Los Angeles Daily News: Nurses At USC Verdugo Hills Hospital Reach Labor Agreement
Nurses at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital have approved a new three-year labor contract, a scant nine days after they picketed the facility to protest understaffing and inadequate COVID-19 protections. The agreement, which runs through Dec. 31, 2024, with wage increases and guaranteed annual pay hikes, will keep nursing wages remain competitive, the hospital said. USC Verdugo’s 300 registered nurses are represented by the California Nurses Association. (Smith, 3/4)

VC Star: Residency Program At St. John's In Oxnard To Bridge Diversity Gaps
An Oxnard hospital is teaming up with a historically Black medical school in developing a residency program that aims to bridge cultural and diversity gaps separating doctors and patients. The planned residency for medical school graduates is expected to debut in 2025 at St. John's Regional Medical School as part of an alliance between CommonSpirit Health and Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. (Kisken, 3/4)

Modesto Bee: If Feds Don’t Act, Millions In CA Will Lose Health Insurance 
Millions of Californians face the prospect of losing health coverage this year as federal measures that vastly expanded the ranks of the insured amid the COVID-19 pandemic are set to expire this year. Because of increased federal financial help from the American Rescue Plan, for instance, two out of every three state residents who enrolled through Covered California were able to get policies that cost $10 or less per month. The state-based insurance marketplace reported a record enrollment of 1.8 million after at the conclusion of this year’s open enrollment period, up from 1.6 million for the comparable period a year earlier. (Anderson, 3/7)

Orange County Register: CalOptima, Health Insurer For OC’s Poor, Chooses New CEO 
About four months after naming healthcare industry consultant Michael Hunn as interim chief executive officer, the board of directors of CalOptima – which insures poor and disabled Orange County residents – has brought him on permanently. In November, the agency announced Hunn would temporarily take over after the retirement of CEO Richard Sanchez, who had been in the position for a year and a half. On Thursday, the board voted to give Hunn a three-year contract at his current annual salary of $560,000. (Robinson, 3/4)

Orange County Register: Contagious Equine Virus Removes Horses From Swallows Day Parade, Other Events 
The annual Swallows Day Parade in San Juan Capistrano will go on without horses this year, as are many events in the region, because of a contagious equine virus that’s been reported throughout California, including in Orange County. In a letter to equestrian event organizers on Thursday, March 3, state veterinarian Dr. Annette Jones cautioned that equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy, or EHM, had been found in “multiple horses in several counties in California,” and warned if not contained the disease caused by a contagious virus “can have significant consequences to the horse industry, infecting thousands of horses due to the extensive mixing of horses at statewide, national, and international horse events.” (Sheets, 3/6)

The Bakersfield Californian: State Seeking Help With Outreach For Water Issues In Rural Valley Communities
If you know your way around poor, rural communities with bad drinking water in the San Joaquin Valley, the state needs your help. A highly anticipated $130 million annual program to fix bad drinking water systems in disadvantaged communities has sputtered getting off the ground because the state can’t seem to connect with residents. (Vad, 3/5)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Opioid Prescriptions Are High In Parts Of East San Diego County While Falling Elsewhere
Doctors are increasingly wary of prescribing addictive pain medications, except in some East County neighborhoods, data shows. (3/6)

EdSource: Will A Universal Screening Test For Dyslexia Mislabel California’s English Learners? 
In the push to screen all California students for dyslexia, some worry English learners will be mislabeled, making it harder for them to become fluent in the language. Gov. Gavin Newsom has set aside millions over the past two years for dyslexia research at University of California San Francisco to create screening tests in multiple languages that would signal if a child is at risk for dyslexia. A bill in the state Legislature would require all kindergartners, first graders and second-graders to be screened for dyslexia starting in the 2022-23 school year. (Stavely, 3/7)

Modesto Bee: How A Reagan-Era Law Built California’s Mental Health System
Prior to 1967, California treated many of its most mentally ill residents by sending them to live in state hospitals against their will, often for long periods of their lives. That changed when then-Gov. Ronald Reagan signed the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, a landmark piece of legislation that sought to end the involuntary commitment of people with mental health disorders and established a conservatorship system, where the court can assign someone to manage a mentally ill person’s assets and legal decisions. (Korte, 3/5)

The Washington Post: Firearms Have Cost 12.6 Million Years Of Life In Just A Decade 
For years, the primary cause of death for younger Americans was automobile accidents. That’s evolving as firearm deaths mount — and they cost millions of years of potential life. In an analysis in Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open, researchers found that between 2009 and 2018, the United States lost 12.6 million years of life because of firearms alone. (Blakemore, 3/6)

Orange County Register: How To Identify Bedbugs And What To Do About Them 
Bedbugs, once associated with crowded and dirty living quarters, have become a more widespread problem in recent years. They can be found anywhere – from public transportation to nice hotels. Like most unwelcome guests, they are notoriously difficult to get rid of. These bloodsucking beasties live anywhere humans live. Although they can feed on other mammals and birds, they prefer human blood. They are wingless, red to reddish-brown, with a flat oval body that is slightly less than 1/4-inch long. Although their size makes them easy to identify, they are good at hiding if you’re not looking for them. (Simpson, 3/6)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento To Open New Weather Relief Center For Homeless 
After months of delays, the city this week approved plans to open a homeless weather respite center in North Sacramento, but only on days when certain temperature thresholds are met. The site will be located at the city-owned former Powerhouse Science Center at 3615 Auburn Blvd. (Clift, 3/6)

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Inspection Finds Health Issues at Santa Rosa Motel Slated for Homeless Housing
City officials scheduled the visit in January after a Press Democrat investigation into the former Gold Coin motel raised questions about living conditions at the property. (Varian and Graham, 3/5)

Sacramento Bee: Placer County To Vote On Homeless Ordinance Aimed At Camping
Placer County’s Board of Supervisors is set to vote on the newest camping ordinance at its meeting Tuesday. If passed, the ordinance would prohibit camping on county property or fire-prone areas where signage is posted, with exceptions made for those camping due to inclement weather or when shelters are full. (Sullivan, 3/7)

Voice of San Diego: What We Learned About San Diego's Surge In Homelessness
Homelessness, and the despair associated with it, is surging in San Diego. It’s something you’ve likely noticed around town, but as Lisa Halverstadt reported this week, tents and makeshift homes now line downtown sidewalks, open space in Balboa Park and several other corners of the city.  And there’s a growing fear that the situation will only get worse. The county Medical Examiner’s Office shows deaths of unhoused people are also rising. Drug overdose deaths among homeless residents alone spiked 85 percent in the city last year. Following Halverstadt’s story, we heard from one individual who explained why he turned down shelter when it was offered, and reminded us of the misconception we often hear: becoming homeless could never happen to you or me. (Wood, 3/6)