Latest California Healthline Stories
Daily Edition for Friday, August 21, 2020
Evacuees Struggle To Make Safe Choices: Thousands of evacuees fleeing more than 300 fires rampaging through the Bay Area and across Northern California are being forced to make quick decisions about where to go and what to do after the coronavirus pandemic forced dramatic changes in emergency procedures. Many are reluctant to crowd inside shelters and evacuation centers with strangers for fear of spreading COVID-19. Read more from Peter Fimrite and Trish Thadani of the San Francisco Chronicle and Kellen Browning of The New York Times.
Daily Edition for Thursday, August 20, 2020
Thousands Flee Wildfires As Smoke And Ash Choke The Air: Evacuations widened in the San Francisco Bay Area overnight as wildfires ringing the region scorched hundreds of square miles of land, edged toward San Jose and produced perhaps the world’s worst air quality. In all, more than 349,000 acres have burned in Northern and Central California. The largest cluster of fires overnight was in wine country, the LNU Lightning Complex fire, which triggered the evacuation of nonessential personnel from Travis Air Force Base in Solano County and patients from Adventist Health St. Helena hospital in Napa County. According to the website PurpleAir, the Bay Area was home to the world’s worst air quality overnight Thursday. Read more from Rong-Gong Lin II, Leila Miller, Luke Money and Joseph Serna of the Los Angeles Times and Michael Cabanatuan, Matthias Gafni, Jill Tucker and Dustin Gardiner of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, August 19, 2020
COVID Cases ‘Stabilizing’ In California, Ghaly Says: The coronavirus pandemic in California is stabilizing and showing other signs of improvement, the state’s top health official said Tuesday. Statewide, cases and hospitalizations are trending downward overall, said Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly. “The state picture is stabilizing and coming down some,” he said. Read more from Catherine Ho and Erin Allday of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, August 18, 2020
‘Extraordinarily Good News’: Santa Cruz County Off Watch List: Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that Santa Cruz County is off the COVID watch list. It’s the first step toward reopening certain sectors of the economy and potentially sending kids back to school. Newsom said he also expects to pull San Diego County off the list Tuesday. Read more from Marisa Kendall of The Mercury News and Taryn Luna and Colleen Shalby of the Los Angeles Times.
Daily Edition for Monday, August 17, 2020
With Power Grid Maxed Out, Californians Suffer In Heat: Californians used so much electricity to stay cool Friday night that the agency that oversees much of the state’s power grid declared an emergency and, for the first time in 19 years, shut off power to hundreds of thousands of customers for several hours. "Consumers should be prepared for likely rolling outages during the late afternoons and early evenings through Wednesday,” the California Independent System Operator said. There’s little relief in sight—high temperatures above 100 degrees are expected in Los Angeles every day through Friday. Read more from Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of The New York Times and Laura Newberry of the Los Angeles Times.
Daily Edition for Friday, August 14, 2020
Heat Wave Brings Wave Of Worries, Too: Temperatures are likely to hit triple digits in the Bay Area this weekend, a major worry for health officers who foresee crowds of sunbathing, beer-drinking beachgoers spreading more sickness around the region. UCSF epidemiologist Dr. George Rutherford offered a cautionary tale: In Israel, a May heat wave inspired school officials to let kids remove their mask — contributing to the massive resurgence in cases. “People will want to take off their masks when it’s hot,” Rutherford said. “Don’t do it.” Read more from Peter Fimrite, Rachel Swan and Brett Simpson of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Daily Edition for Thursday, August 13, 2020
LA’s Rush To Reopen Came With A Price: Los Angeles County’s pandemic response in the early weeks was considered a national model—but then it all went wrong. Los Angeles Times reporters reviewed months of public statements and documents from L.A. officials to understand the factors that set the stage for a resurgence of the coronavirus in June that ultimately killed more than 1,600 people. Read more from Sandhya Kambhampati, Soumya Karlamangla, Jaclyn Cosgrove, Priya Krishnakumar and Maloy Moore of the Los Angeles Times.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Harris Tapped As Biden’s Pick For VP, But Where Does She Stand On Health Care? In the Democratic primary battle, it took months for California Sen. Kamala Harris to clarify her position on health care, even as she criticized her opposition, former vice president Joe Biden, for not going far enough on health care reform. Harris was initially a co-sponsor of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) “Medicare for All” proposal that much of the health care industry opposes. Here's where Harris stood on health care issues during her own campaign. Read more from Rachel Cohrs of Modern Healthcare.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, August 11, 2020
COVID Cases Rise 150% In California Kids, Teens: Coronavirus cases among children and teenagers are surging in California, up 150% last month, a rate that outpaces COVID-19 cases overall and establishes minors as a small but growing share of the state’s COVID-19 cases. The increase also appears to outpace the number of coronavirus cases among children nationally, which grew 40% in the second half of July. Read more from Laura J. Nelson of the Los Angeles Times and Catherine Ho of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Daily Edition for Monday, August 10, 2020
Public Health Chief Sonia Angell Abruptly Quits: Dr. Sonia Angell announced her resignation Sunday night after less than a year on the job. She gave no reason for the resignation, which takes effect immediately. Gov. Gavin Newsom released a statement thanking Angell “for her service to the state and her work to help steer our public health system during this global pandemic.” Read more from Tony Bravo of the San Francisco Chronicle, Sophia Bollag of the Sacramento Bee and John Myers of the Los Angeles Times.