Latest California Healthline Stories
Daily Edition for Monday, September 21, 2020
Air Quality Worsening Again In Some Regions: Major fires continue to burn through parts of Northern California, including the state’s largest ever, the August Complex in Mendocino and Humboldt counties, which had scorched 834,000 acres and continued to grow Sunday. Daniel Swain, a climate expert with UCLA, tweeted on Sunday: “After a few calm weather days, fire activity on the extremely large wildfires still burning throughout California is slowly picking up again. Air quality starting to worsen in some spots as smoke increases.” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Daily Edition for Thursday, September 17, 2020
Disaster-Relief Teams Forced To Adapt: In Butte County — where the North Complex fire rages and the per capita coronavirus rate is 33% higher than Los Angeles County’s — evacuees are being housed in motel rooms. But Butte County is a rural area, and many motel rooms were already in use by people fleeing wildfires in neighboring counties. The coronavirus “has thrown a wrench into the well-oiled machines of congregate sheltering,” said Shelby Boston, who heads the Butte County Department of Employment and Social Services. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Exactly How Bad Are This Year’s Wildfires? LA Times Crunches The Numbers: Although fire season is a perennial challenge in California, the scale and destruction of fires in recent years feel worse than anything many can remember. To see whether that’s true, the Los Angeles Times analyzed decades of data tracking California wildfires and the destruction they’ve wrought. The analysis found that wildfires and their compounding effects have intensified in recent years — and there’s little sign things will improve. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, September 15, 2020
In Bakersfield, Surgeon General Urges Vigilance Against COVID: U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams visited Bakersfield on Monday, urging residents to keep hope alive during what he portrayed as the final stretches of the coronavirus pandemic. “We really need to get away from this idea of health versus the economy,” he said. “Several business owners brought up their concerns about their need to get businesses open. … The quickest way to get businesses open is to drive down community transmission rates.” Read more from the Bakersfield Californian.
Daily Edition for Monday, September 14, 2020
Trump Visits California Today: Ahead of President Trump’s visit to California today, Democrats charged over the weekend that his disregard for basic science had contributed to the worsening annual wildfires, as well as to the still-uncontrolled spread of COVID-19. “Talk to a firefighter if you think that climate change isn’t real,” LA Mayor Eric M. Garcetti said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. Read more from the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.
Daily Edition for Friday, September 11, 2020
Residents Choking On ‘Unbreathable Air’: The unprecedented wreckage left by seemingly endless fires up and down the Golden State is creating horrific air quality, according to residents, forcing them to find options to release stress and exercise. Officials from the South Coast Air Quality Management District have warned that smoke and ash will continue to saturate large swaths of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
Daily Edition for Thursday, September 10, 2020
Paradise Residents Relive Trauma Of 2018 As Fire Takes Aim At Homes: Last year, Victoria Sinclaire and her family were the picture of triumph — the first residents in Paradise to move into a newly rebuilt home after the state’s most destructive wildfire burned theirs down in 2018. But on Wednesday, an explosive blaze that scorched an estimated 230,000 acres in 24 hours was inching closer to Paradise. “It’s that same feeling of being afraid,” she said. “I can’t seem to stop shaking. … It feels like it’s happening all over again, except this time I get to take my clothes.” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Bay Area News Group.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, September 9, 2020
California’s Air Quality Hits Bottom: Californians are experiencing the worst air quality in the nation as wildfires across the West produce dangerous levels of smoke that can damage developing lungs and increase risk of heart attack and stroke. Some preliminary studies show breathing particulate pollution from wildfires can make people more vulnerable to being infected by the coronavirus. Read more from the Fresno Bee and LA Daily News.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, September 8, 2020
For Homeless, Wildfires Make Difficult Situation Even Worse: Susana de Sant’Anna hasn’t been able to take a full breath of air since about June 2015. That was when she was hospitalized in San Francisco with severe sepsis and an abscess of the left lung. After two lung surgeries, she burned through her savings and became homeless. Now, with wildfire smoke choking the city and the lingering threat of COVID, Sant’Anna spends her days hiding in a hotel room paid for by donations that she stretches by cutting back on food. “They’re saying people like me with vulnerabilities need to be in a safe place, but I don’t have a home,” Sant’Anna said. Read more from The Guardian.