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Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Direct Primary Care, With a Touch of Robin Hood
Some doctors, sick of mainstream health care’s red tape, are finding refuge in practices that combine concierge medicine with charity care. (Bernard J. Wolfson, )
California Failing To Test Most State Workers: California's government agencies are struggling to enforce Gov. Gavin Newsom's mandate that all state workers be fully vaccinated against covid-19 or undergo weekly testing. Many employees remain unvaccinated -- and most are not being tested. The Los Angeles Times reports on stats from state-run agencies like the DMV and Cal Fire.
Veterans Fight CalVet Aid-In-Dying Ban: California's End of Life Option Act provides terminally ill residents a path to end their lives -- but U.S. military veterans are excluded. That is because the state measure conflicts with federal law, so California’s Department of Veterans Affairs opted out. A group representing Napa County’s Yountville Veterans Home residents are challenging the policy in court -- and a tentative ruling sides with the state -- but in the meantime, some veterans must move to seek help in other states. The Mercury News has more details on the emotional issue.
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 Francisco Chronicle:
California Rejected 6% Of Medical Exemptions For School Vaccinations This Year, In Hint Of Fight Ahead
As California moves toward requiring all students to be inoculated against COVID-19, state officials have revoked more than 180 medical exemptions granted to families for other required school vaccinations since the start of the year. The revocations, which reflect a tension that may grow in coming years, came under a new law that seeks to crack down on suspected abuse in the process for forgoing the immunizations that every California student must get. The California Department of Public Health told The Chronicle that as of early October, it had revoked 182 medical exemptions through a new administrative review process because they did not meet federal guidelines for immunization practices — representing nearly 6% of the 3,136 exemption requests the department had reviewed. (Koseff, 10/24)
AP:
FDA Says Pfizer COVID Vaccine Looks Effective For Young Kids
Federal health regulators said late Friday that kid-size doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine appear highly effective at preventing symptomatic infections in elementary school children and caused no unexpected safety issues, as the U.S. weighs beginning vaccinations in youngsters. The Food and Drug Administration posted its analysis of Pfizer’s data ahead of a public meeting next week to debate whether the shots are ready for the nation’s roughly 28 million children ages 5 to 11. The agency will ask a panel of outside vaccine experts to vote on that question. (Neergaard and Perrone, 10/22)
Reuters:
Fauci Says Vaccines For Kids Between 5-11 Likely Available In November
Vaccines for kids between the ages of 5 and 11 will likely be available in the first half of November, top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said on Sunday, predicting a timetable that could see many kids getting fully vaccinated before the end of the year. "If all goes well, and we get the regulatory approval and the recommendation from the CDC, it's entirely possible if not very likely that vaccines will be available for children from 5 to 11 within the first week or two of November," Fauci said in an interview with ABC's This Week. (Pamuk, 10/24)
CNN:
How To Talk To Your Younger Kids About The Covid-19 Vaccine
An 11-year-old girl was petrified -- her word -- of needles, so much so that she didn't want to talk about it with me. She couldn't talk about it without becoming visibly upset. Her heart raced, her breathing became rapid, and her stomach hurt when she tried to answer my questions. So, we backed up and started from the beginning. I first had her look at cartoon images of children getting vaccines. When I asked her how it felt to do that, she rolled her eyes and reminded me that it wasn't real. Next, I had her look at photos of medical needles. She reported that she didn't like the pictures, but she could handle looking at them. (Hurley, 10/25)
The San Diego Union-Times:
Will Vaccinating Kids In San Diego Quash Pandemic For Good?
Just how instrumental will this new group of children be in the long journey toward returning coronavirus activity levels to where they were before the state reopened in June? Natasha Martin, an infectious disease modeler at UC San Diego, said while she has not yet analyzed that question directly, it is important to remember that this new vaccination campaign will not happen in a vacuum. Increased levels of socialization during the holidays could end up meaning that getting younger people vaccinated this fall moves the needle a little less than might be expected. (Sisson, 10/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Should I Mix And Match My COVID-19 Booster Shoot?
Topping up your protection against severe COVID-19 while avoiding the risk of rare vaccine side effects should not be rocket science. But just ask the experts who advised federal regulators to authorize additional shots: There’s no simple formula to guide Americans’ decisions about booster shots. Whether you should get a booster shot and which one you should get depends on who you are, what medical vulnerabilities you have, and what vaccine you got first. The people you live with or the kind of work you do might also influence your choice. (Healy, 10/23)
The Washington Post:
Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Recipients Rush To Get Boosters
Jennifer Lopez, 58, had jumped at the chance to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last March but soon began feeling regret when data showed it might be less effective than other coronavirus vaccines. So, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on booster shots Thursday night for all Johnson & Johnson recipients who had gone two months since their shot, Lopez wasted no time seeking one out. (Shepherd and Sun, 10/23)
AP:
Judge: Certain California Prison Guards Must Be Vaccinated
A judge in California ruled Friday that state prison guards who work in and around facilities’ health care settings must be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Kern County Superior Court Judge Bernard Barmann’s ruling does not extend to all state prison employees, including guards who work in other settings. The state Department of Public Health in August had ordered the guards, as well as other prison and jail employees who work in correctional health care settings, to get vaccinated. (10/22)
San Diego Union-Times:
Why Is North County Falling Behind In Vaccinating Latinos?
A success story in one part of San Diego County is bringing scrutiny to another. Now that vaccination rates among Latino communities in South San Diego County have risen well above the region’s average, some are questioning why the same isn’t true for Latino populations in North County neighborhoods. Advocates and statistics analyzed by The San Diego Union-Tribune indicate that North County areas with high Latino populations are lagging behind in COVID vaccination rates. (Sullivan Brennan and Schroeder, 10/24)
NPR:
Thousands Of Workers Are Getting Fired For Refusing The Vaccine
Employers are firing workers for refusing to comply with vaccine mandates. They represent only a tiny fraction of overall employees, not even 1% in some workplaces. But it can add up to thousands. (Hsu, 10/24)
CNN:
People Who Got Covid-19 Vaccines Were Less Likely To Die From Any Cause Compared To Unvaccinated People, Study Finds
People who got Covid-19 vaccines were not only less likely to die from the virus, but they were less likely to die from any cause over the following months, researchers reported Friday. The research team was trying to demonstrate that the three authorized Covid-19 vaccines are safe and they say their findings clearly demonstrate that. "Recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Janssen vaccines had lower non--COVID-19 mortality risk than did the unvaccinated comparison groups," the researchers wrote in the weekly report of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Fox, 10/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Man Is Arrested After Driving Into Vaccine Mandate Protesters In Palmdale, Authorities Say
A 64-year-old man was arrested Saturday after he drove his Jeep Wrangler into a crowd of people protesting vaccine mandates in Palmdale, injuring one woman, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials said. “A witness stated a man disagreed with the protest, entered his vehicle and intentionally drove toward the protesters,” Deputy Trina Schrader said in a statement Sunday. “The suspect then drove away westbound and out of view.” (Christensen, 10/24)
KSEE:
Fresno Family Regrets Lack Of Vaccine Urgency, As 25-Year-Old Dies From COVID-19
A Fresno family with a message to the community after they lost their 25-year-old family member to COVID-19. Alberto Valencia Vidales died on October 2 after spending over a month in the hospital. His fiance said he tested positive for COVID-19 two days before their scheduled vaccine appointment and regrets they didn’t have urgency. "It does not leave out anyone, it is the devil’s playground,” said McDaniel. “And I just pray that no one else has to play it the way that we have.” (Babb, 10/23)
The San Diego Union-Times:
San Diego Wanted To Share Unused COVID-19 Vaccine With Mexico But U.S. Government Said No
Coronavirus vaccines have a six-month shelf life after which medical providers must throw them in the trash. Nobody trained to administer vaccines can bear to throw them out, and medical providers across San Diego County thought they had hit on the perfect solution: Send some of those about-to-expire doses to Tijuana or other parts of Baja California where they could find a warm arm before expiring in a cold freezer. But that idea, Dr. Eric McDonald, the county health department’s chief medical officer, said in a statement Wednesday evening, was shot down by the federal government, which has the ultimate say on any such initiative. (Sisson and Fry, 10/22)
KQED:
'There Is Anger. He Should Be Alive.' An Investigation Into Deadly COVID-19 Outbreaks At Foster Farms
The Dec. 4 press release is just one example of delayed or incomplete information Foster Farms communicated to health officials, state regulators, the public and its own employees about the scope and seriousness of outbreaks at its Central Valley plants, an investigation by KQED and The California Report found. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, 16 people have died and at least 20 more have been hospitalized in connection with the company’s facilities in California. (Hall, 10/23)
Los Angeles Times:
California Job Growth Suffered Amid Spread Of Delta Variant
California’s job growth slowed last month, and its unemployment rate remained high as the state, still pummeled by the coronavirus’ Delta variant, struggled to recover economic momentum. Many workers were reluctant to return to their jobs because the virus was circulating in schools and businesses, or because they were looking for safer, better-paying and more flexible positions. Employers cut back on hiring as they failed to attract enough applicants and some customers shied away from patronizing indoor spaces. (Roosevelt, 10/22)
ABC News:
How Did California Go From The Epicenter Of The US Pandemic To The Lowest Statewide Transmission Rate?
With the lowest COVID-19 infection rate among all states as of Friday, California, which has some of the strictest mask and vaccination mandates in the country, has managed to flip the script as the former U.S. epicenter of the pandemic. "They've been very much forward-thinking in terms of policies around vaccination requirements and mandates," said epidemiologist Dr. John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor. (Agarwal, 10/24)
Orange County Register:
Does The First Coronavirus That Kicked Off The Pandemic Still Exist?
So, what happened to the “original” virus? The very first one that jumped from bats or labs — or wherever — into human beings who were immunologically powerless against it, eventually leading to the deaths of nearly 5 million people and grinding world economies to a near halt? Gone the “way of the dinosaurs, at least in humans,” said Dr. George Rutherford, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UC San Francisco. (Sforza, 10/24)
San Francisco Chronicle:
'This Is It' Is The Consensus Among Some COVID Experts. So How Should You Assess Risk For The Long Term?
While not every infectious disease expert is willing to loosen up quite yet, with many emphasizing that people must continue to take into account their individual risk and the context of immunity and illness levels where they live, “this is it” is a consensus that many doctors and disease experts are starting to come to. It means that COVID-19 will continue to be around for at least the next few years, but we’re going to co-exist with it. (Echeverria, 10/24)
CNN:
Brain Fog In Covid-19 Patients Can Persist For Months, Even In Those Who Were Not Hospitalized, Study Finds
Cognitive impairment -- described as brain fog -- can persist for months in Covid-19 patients, even for some who were not hospitalized, according to a new study. The research, published Friday in the journal JAMA Network Open, found that nearly a quarter of Covid-19 patients in a Mount Sinai Health System registry experienced some issues with their memory -- and although hospitalized patients were more likely to have such brain fog after a coronavirus infection, some outpatients had cognitive impairment too. (Howard, 10/22)
CapRadio:
Flooding, Power Outages, Mud Flows As Relentless Storm Wallops Sacramento Region
As of 8 p.m. Sunday, around 4.84 inches of rain has fallen in Sacramento, the second-highest total ever recorded in a single day. It trails only the 5.28 inches that fell April 20, 1880, though records only go back to 1877, 15 years after the great flood that forced the state Legislature to relocate to San Francisco. Flooding is occurring during the storm and could continue even after the rain ends, though city officials said in a statement "there have been no observed issues with levees within the city." (10/24)
Bloomberg:
Marin, A Wealthy California County, Could Run Out Of Water
In Marin County, a $2-million house with an ocean view doesn’t necessarily come with a reliable water supply. Water managers are taking extraordinary measures to keep faucets flowing should the state enter a third year of a punishing drought this winter. That this affluent redwood-studded ecotopia faces such a possibility, though, is a harbinger of a climate-constrained destiny that is fast arriving. “These droughts are now on a new timeline,” said Newsha Ajami, a hydrologist and director of urban water policy at Stanford University’s Water in the West program. “There used to be at least 10 years in between droughts in California, which was time enough for water ecosystems to recover.” (Woody, 10/25)
The Washington Post:
In This California County, One Town Has No Water. Another Has Enough To Share.
The vastly different ways these small towns between San Francisco and the Oregon border are managing their water supplies highlight how uneven California’s brutal drought has been across the state — and even within a single county. Traditionally one of California’s wettest, Mendocino County is now a confused mountain-and-valley geography of damp and dry as the climate changes. This was the first year in memory that Fort Bragg could not sell its surplus water to Mendocino Village, an old lumber town of historic Victorians and homegrown boutiques. That town has run completely dry, and the only water it receives is trucked in from Ukiah, the Mendocino County seat. Tracing the water shipments nearly 70 miles from Ukiah through Fort Bragg and into Mendocino Village shows the unprecedented steps the haves and have-nots are taking to keep water flowing. (Wilson, 10/22)
Los Angeles Times:
State Lawmaker Calls For Ban On Live Ammunition And Real Guns On California Movie Sets
A California state senator called for a ban on live ammunition on movie sets and in theatrical productions following the death Thursday of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins involving a prop gun fired by actor Alec Baldwin on a New Mexico movie set. Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose), chair of the Senate Labor Committee, said he would introduce legislation that would ban live ammunition and firearms capable of shooting live ammunition from California movie sets and theatrical productions. With the Legislature now in recess, details of any bill are not likely to be available until January. (Pineda, 10/23)
The Sacramento Bee:
Seniors Can Keep Renewing Driver’s Licenses From Home
Californians 70 and older can extend their driver’s licenses online or by mail for another year after a new state law recently went into effect to extend the temporary rule, the California Department of Motor Vehicles announced Friday. Gov. Gavin Newsom, through an executive order prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, previously waived the California law that required older drivers to visit DMV field offices for renewals. The extension of the waiver will be in place until Dec. 31, 2022. (Smith, 10/24)
The Washington Post:
Pelosi: Democrats Near Deal On Biden’s Build Back Better Plan, Will Vote On Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill This Week
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Democrats are on the verge of an agreement on a social spending bill and also plan to vote on a separate $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill this week. “I think we’re pretty much there now,” Pelosi said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, when asked whether President Biden would “have a deal in hand” on his “Build Back Better” agenda before he travels to Europe later this week. “We’re almost there. It’s just the language of it.” (Wang, 10/24)
Politico:
What's Still In The Dem Megabill? Cheat Sheet On 12 Big Topics
Democrats are making big sacrifices to slash the price tag of their social spending bill from $3.5 trillion to roughly $2 trillion as they close in on a deal that can satisfy both the party's moderate and progressive factions. Promises like free community college are dead altogether. Dreams of paid leave and expanding Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing are at risk. Originally permanent expansions of Medicaid and the Child Tax Credit will now run for as little as one year. (Scholtes, Levine and Miranda Ollstein, 10/25)
Politico:
Pelosi Tries To Salvage Housing Aid
Progressives are gaining traction in a bid to preserve housing funding in Democrats’ $2 trillion social spending package, after negotiators earlier floated plans to slash the aid by two-thirds. Democratic lawmakers and White House officials on Friday were considering devoting between $150 billion and $175 billion of the bill to housing, according to three sources familiar with the discussions. While it would be a major cut from the $327 billion that was initially proposed, it’s up from the $100 billion level that was on the table earlier this week. (O'Donnell and Cassella, 10/22)
Stat:
Drug Pricing Talks Heat Up As Democrats Work To Win Over Skeptics
As drug pricing talks in Congress heated up this week, Democrats negotiated in earnest to get skeptics of their drug pricing policies on board. With crunch time approaching for talks on a major legislative package containing the cornerstone of President Biden’s domestic agenda, drug pricing policy remained unresolved as lawmakers scramble to get consensus on a complicated, contentious issue. Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) is involved with the negotiations, said sources following the talks. (Cohrs, 10/22)
San Francisco Chronicle:
What Walgreens Isn't Saying: Store Closures Show A Strategic Shift To Survive In The Age Of Amazon
There is probably more to Walgreens’ planned closure of five San Francisco stores than the simplistic narrative that it’s all the fault of a liberal city giving free rein to lawbreakers, experts say. The pandemic-accelerated shift to e-commerce, Amazon’s entrance as a pharmacy rival, labor shortages, an oversaturation of stores and Walgreens’ plans to become a destination for primary health care are all elements that may have influenced the move, they say. Walgreens spokesperson Phil Caruso, however, disputed that those issues played a role in the decision to close the five stores. (Said, 10/23)
The Atlantic:
How Public Health Took Part In Its Own Downfall
By one telling, public health was a victim of its own success, its value shrouded by the complacency of good health. By a different account, the competing field of medicine actively suppressed public health, which threatened the financial model of treating illness in (insured) individuals. But these underdog narratives don’t capture the full story of how public health’s strength faded. In fact, “public health has actively participated in its own marginalization,” Daniel Goldberg, a historian of medicine at the University of Colorado, told me. As the 20th century progressed, the field moved away from the idea that social reforms were a necessary part of preventing disease and willingly silenced its own political voice. By swimming along with the changing currents of American ideology, it drowned many of the qualities that made it most effective. (Yong, 10/23)
NPR:
The U.S. Needs More Nurses, But Nursing Schools Don'T Have Enough Slots
Across the country, hospitals are desperate for RNs and specialty nurses. Yet, paradoxically, the nursing pipeline has slowed, with educators retiring or returning to clinical work themselves. (Noguchi, 10/25)
Stat:
Hospitals Sidestep Health Records Giants To Better Harness Patient Data
Seventeen major hospital networks with operations in 40 states have joined Truveta, a hospital-led company seeking to aggregate de-identified patient data and put it in a standardized format so it can be sold for medical research. A separate cluster of health systems has formed a nonprofit called Graphite Health to create a marketplace that would make it cheaper and easier to plug in novel software applications. “I’m sure the EHR vendors see [Truveta] as people stepping into their market space,” said Robin Damschroder, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Henry Ford Health System, a member of the new company. “Truveta probably wouldn’t need to exist if Epic and Cerner and every other medical record company had advanced interoperability and data sharing.” (Ross, 10/25)
The Sacramento Bee:
These Companies Still Have Deals For Healthcare Workers
Companies have been showing extra gratitude to health care workers for nearly two years now, as nurses, doctors and other medical personnel work tirelessly to battle at the front of the COVID-19 pandemic. And medical professionals in California have been hard at work. Right now, there is at a substantial level of community transmission after previously becoming the only state in the country to fall to a moderate level. Here is a list of national businesses that are still offering deals for medical professionals. (Truong, 10/25)
AP:
Jury Gets Chance To Hear Elizabeth Holmes' Bold Promises
A jury weighing the fate of fallen Silicon Valley star Elizabeth Holmes got its first chance Friday to listen to recordings of her boasting to investors about purported breakthroughs in a blood-testing technology. The technology heralded as a quantum leap in blood testing, however, later dissolved into a scandal that now threatens to send her to prison. The drama unfolded in a San Jose, California, courtroom with federal prosecutors playing a series of recordings from a December 2013 conference call that Holmes held with investors in Theranos, the company she started in 2003 after dropping out of college at 19 in hopes of becoming a revered visionary in the mold of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. (Liedtke, 10/22)
The Sacramento Bee:
No School Festivals. Fewer Class Fundraisers. Lost Memories. How COVID Changed Parenting
How has the coronavirus pandemic impacted parents? In the Sacramento region they couldn’t volunteer at kids’ schools, hold fundraisers or organize with PTA. (Morrar, 10/24)
Sacramento Bee:
No Tours For Sacramento CA Public High Schools Due To COVID
With the Sacramento City Unified School District allowing students to choose which high school to attend through an open enrollment program, the process to do that often includes taking tours of campuses. But with the COVID-19 pandemic still forcing school officials to implement restrictions on access to school grounds, high school campuses are largely closed to the public. (Morrar, 10/24)
Orange County Register:
Breast Cancer Awareness Month: A Look At The Most Common Types Of Cancer
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer and early detection can dramatically increase survival chances. Today we look at the most common types of cancer in men and women. (Snibbe, 10/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Podcast: Issues Behind Disabilities And Pregnancy
Disabled people give birth at same rate as nondisabled ones — so why does medicine treat them as anomalies? (Sharp, 10/22)
Orange County Register:
Salami Sticks From Trader Joe’s Tied To Salmonella Outbreak
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised consumers to avoid eating Citterio brand Premium Italian-Style Salame Sticks on Saturday, Oct. 23, after the product was linked to a salmonella outbreak in California and seven other states.The sticks are known to be sold at Trader Joe’s grocery stores, but the CDC says consumers should get rid of them no matter where they were bought. (Sablan, 10/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Tattoo Sales Are Soaring In The Bay Area After Pandemic Slump
Tyler Harrington, a tattoo artist at the State of Grace tattoo shop in San Jose, is the busiest he’s ever been. “I’m currently booked ’til mid-October,” he said. As tattoo shops reopened and artists went back to work, the industry has seen a resurgence, both regionally and nationally. Data from Square, a financial services company that provides point of sale systems, shows tattoo sales compared with expected demands have surpassed pre-pandemic levels. (Ogunbayu and Jung, 10/24)