Bay Area News Group: Stanford Study: Trump Rallies Linked To 30,000 COVID Cases, 700 Deaths 
A new Stanford study concludes that Trump rallies resulted in more than 30,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and likely caused more than 700 deaths among attendees and their close contacts. “The communities in which Trump rallies took place paid a high price in terms of disease and death,” concludes the research, conducted by economists from the university’s Institute for Economic Policy Research. (Krieger,10/31)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego Health Pros Use Trust, Relationships To Build Voter Turnout 
When Dr. Allen Rodriguez knocked on the doors of some South Bay homes earlier this month, the San Ysidro Health physician wasn’t making medical house calls. He looked like it, though. He was wearing a white doctor’s coat and a stethoscope. But he also came equipped with some get-out-the-vote fliers and a speech about why it’s important to vote. His shirt with the word “Vote” was hard to miss, too. Rodriguez is one of dozens of health care volunteers who are part of a new civic engagement campaign to increase voter turnout among low-income and minority residents. (Lopez-Villafana, 10/30)

Los Angeles Times: God, Masks And Trump: What A Coronavirus Outbreak At A California Church Says About The Election 
In recent weeks, more than 300 COVID-19 cases have been reported by Bethel Church and its Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (or BSSM), an unaccredited school focused on prophecy and miracles. It has been the largest cluster of cases in Shasta County. The outbreak — which local officials blame on crowded living conditions for students and leadership publicly questioning the effectiveness of masks — has since been brought under control, with fewer than a dozen active cases. But its effects linger. “The perception from that is they don’t really care,” Shasta County Supervisor Leonard Moty said. “What we tried to tell them is, if you really want to be part of the community, you have to do more to respect the community.” (Branson-Potts and Chabria, 11/1)

Los Angeles Times: Southern California Coronavirus Case Rates Are Rising
Los Angeles County public health officials on Sunday reported 1,590 new coronavirus cases and four related deaths.The numbers brought the county’s total to 309,197 cases and 7,074 deaths. There were 799 confirmed coronavirus patients in county hospitals Friday, with 28% in intensive care, officials said. Though hospitalizations have increased slightly, they remain far below the 2,220-plus patients seen during the peak of the outbreak in July. (Wigglesworth, 11/1)

LA Daily News: Newsom Cuts Ribbon On Coronavirus Testing Lab In Valencia 
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday, Oct. 30, celebrated the opening of a high-tech COVID-19 testing lab in Valencia designed to dramatically increase the state’s coronavirus testing capacity while reducing the turnaround time for processing results. The $25 million lab, plans for which Newsom announced in August as part of a deal with the scientific diagnostics firm PerkinElmer, will ultimately be able to process 150,000 tests per day when it reaches full capacity in March. The 134,000-square-foot lab began operating with 300 employees, but that will increase to 700 by early next year, Newsom said. (10/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: California To Double Coronavirus Testing Capacity By Spring, Governor Says
California on Friday opened a new lab that by next spring could double the state’s daily coronavirus testing capacity, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The lab, located in Valencia (Los Angeles County), will initially aim to process 40,000 tests a day, with the goal of conducting up to 150,000 tests a day by March, Newsom said. The state currently conducts about 120,000 tests a day. (Ho, 10/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: Texas Passes California For Most Coronavirus Cases Despite Smaller Population
Texas has passed California as the state with the most coronavirus cases, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. As of 6 p.m. Saturday, California had reported 931,740 total cases since the pandemic began, while Texas hit 931,750 cases. (Allday and Moench, 10/31)

San Diego Union-Tribune: 79th California Prison Inmate Dies Of COVID-19 Complications 
An inmate at a central California prison died of complications from the coronavirus Saturday, authorities said, becoming the state’s 79th person to have a fatal case of COVID-19 while they were incarcerated. The Avenal State Prison inmate died at a hospital, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a news release. The prisoner’s name was not released. (11/1)

The Bakersfield Californian: COVID-19 Hit Kern's Rural Ag Towns Hardest 
Kern County's most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities have borne the brunt of the local COVID-19 crisis. According to an analysis of coronavirus cases by ZIP code, The Californian found that areas such as Arvin, Lamont and east Bakersfield, and the northwestern swath of the county that includes Wasco, Shafter and McFarland, have seen the highest concentrations of the virus in Kern. (Shepard, 10/31)

AP: California County Sues Church Holding Indoor Services
A California county has filed a lawsuit against a San Jose church to stop it from holding weekly indoor services, claiming it violates coronavirus shutdown orders. Santa Clara County said Friday it filed for a restraining order against Calvary Chapel San Jose and Pastor Mike McClure over the services that attract about 600 people who don’t wear masks or social distance. (Rodriguez, 10/30)

San Diego Union-Tribune: COVID-19 Challenges San Diego Nonprofits' Efforts, Funding 
Public trust in San Diego’s nonprofits has remained high this year, though confidence in their ability to respond to COVID-19 is waning, a new report says, and nearly all local nonprofits are bringing in less money, resulting in layoffs and furloughs. (Cook, 10/29)

The Bakersfield Californian: Kern's Latino Task Force Makes Inroads To Communities With Higher Rates Of COVID-19 
To Jay Tamsi, it’s not a coincidence that Kern County’s coronavirus metrics have dropped at the same time that the Latino COVID-19 Task Force has started to build momentum. Founded in mid-August, the task force is meant to broaden Kern County Public Health Services' reach into Latino communities that had proved difficult to reach by county officials. After about a month of preparation, the task force is now in control of its own mobile testing site, and is working on bilingual messaging to help the county reach its coronavirus goals. (Morgen, 11/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: UC President Orders All On-Campus Students, Faculty, Staff To Get Flu Shot By Sunday
All students, faculty and staff living, learning or working at any University of California location must receive a flu vaccine by Sunday unless they are given an exemption, UC President Michael Drake announced in an executive order. UC community members can apply to receive a medical exemption or a disability or religious accommodation to forgo the flu vaccine requirement. In the event of an active outbreak, individuals granted an exemption may not be allowed on campus, Drake said in a statement. (Arredondo, 10/30)

Marin Independent Journal: Marin Grand Jury Focuses On Students’ Mental Health
Marin schools lack resources needed to support students suffering from mental health issues and the coronavirus pandemic could be making matters worse, according to the Marin County Civil Grand Jury. In a new report, “Reading, Writing, and Therapy: Mental Health Challenges in Our Schools,” the grand jury said educators “have shown great initiative and creativity to address the mental health needs of their students,” but they need assistance. “There has never been enough money, and the COVID-19 pandemic now threatens significant cuts in education funding,” the report says. “At the same time, the pandemic is increasing mental health issues for many of these students.” (Rodriguez, 11/1)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Here's Why Reopening High Schools In A Pandemic Is Tricky 
On Oct. 20, campuses in the Vista Unified School District opened to the general student body for the first time since March, in a move to bring 10,000 students back to classrooms. Just days later, in separate incidents, two students tested positive for COVID-19. The students most likely did not catch the infection at school, but they could spread it there. And with six or seven high school classes each, that potential for transmission is multiplied. (Sullivan Brennan, 11/1)

San Diego Union-Tribune: After Reopening, San Diego-Area Districts Say They’ve Proven Schools Can Open Safely 
Parents in San Diego and South County, where COVID-19 has flourished, will have to wait until 2021 for their children to go back to district schools. The prevailing fear is that it’s not yet safe enough in those communities and that reopening schools could lead to more COVID spread. But in other parts of San Diego County, most school districts have opened and are finding few COVID-19 cases on their campuses, leading school officials and local experts to say that schools do not seem to be hotbeds of COVID-19. (Taketa, 11/1)

Fresno Bee: Covered California Opening Health Insurance Enrollment Sunday 
Covered California will launch open enrollment for 2021 health insurance coverage starting Sunday and will continue accepting applications for coverage until Jan. 31.“Open enrollment is the one and only time of the year where all eligible Californians can sign up for quality health care coverage without needing to meet any special circumstances,” said Peter V. Lee, the executive director of Covered California. (Anderson, 10/30)

Bay Area News Group: Despite Protections, Deaths Surge In Bay Area Homeless Communities 
The coronavirus pandemic seems largely to have spared the Bay Area’s homeless communities — few members have succumbed to the virus, and pandemic programs moved thousands of people into hotels and trailers. Despite those efforts, the number of homeless people dying is skyrocketing. Deaths in Alameda County’s unhoused communities increased 40% during the first nine months of 2020, compared to the same period last year. In Santa Clara County, deaths climbed 33%. They rose a staggering 123% in San Francisco. (Kendall, 11/1)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento’s NBA Franchise Teams With County For Free Kings-Sized Flu Shot Clinic On Nov. 7
The capital region’s major league basketball team is planning a free Kings-sized flu vaccine clinic for Sacramento County residents on Nov. 7. Nurses will give the flu shots to anyone who is 6 months of age or older and who does not have a medical condition that could be affected by the vaccine. (Anderson, 10/30)

KQED: When Wildfire Breaks Out During A Pandemic, Who’s Responsible For Elderly Evacuees?
They’ve been here for hours: buses full of seniors still idling in the parking lot. Hundreds of white-haired and bald fire refugees, some of them still in their pajamas, lean on walkers or sit on folding chairs scattered on the sidewalk outside the door of the evacuation center, waiting. They ended up here, at the Veterans Memorial Building in Santa Rosa, in the very early morning hours of Sept. 28, 2020, after the fast-moving Glass Fire forced them out of bed at the retirement communities where they live. But after hours of waiting for a cot, there's no sign they will be allowed in anytime soon, or at all. (Dembosky and Peterson, 10/30)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Sheriff Met Privately With Health Care Contractor Months Before Inviting Bids
Months before Sheriff Bill Gore announced he was exploring the idea of outsourcing all healthcare services for jail inmates, he and his top advisors sat down late last year with a top official of a potential bidder. Wellpath, a corrections industry medical and mental health provider in Tennessee, is vying for a multimillion-dollar contract to work inside San Diego County jails. (McDonald, 11/1)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Day Of The Dead Altar Honors Lives Lost To COVID-19 In San Diego County 
Almost 900 candles — 891 to be precise — were lit on the steps of the County Administration Building Sunday. The candles, along with bright orange marigold flowers and paper flowers — purple, yellow, orange — transformed the steps into a Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, altar. Each glimmer represented and honored a life lost to COVID-19 in San Diego County. The candles were placed among some 40 framed photographs that put a human face on the death toll of the virus-driven pandemic. (Hernandez, 11/1)

The Bakersfield Californian: Tennessee Group Buys Majority Stake In Bakersfield Heart Hospital 
A local health-care management company has sold its controlling stake in Bakersfield Heart Hospital to a Tennessee-based group, the 47-bed facility announced Friday. According to a news release, Surgery Partners Inc. bought a majority interest in the medical center from Hospital Management Group. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. (10/30)