Latest California Healthline Stories
Daily Edition for Monday, April 27, 2020
Californians Flock To Beach Even As Leaders Desperately Try To Get Them To Stay At Home: While officials say the public’s adherence to health messaging has shown quantifiable results in “flattening the curve” of new COVID-19 cases, they caution that we are nowhere near the end of this emergency and that we cannot become complacent. Some residents are losing patience, however. Already, small groups of protesters complaining of lockdown fatigue have demanded an end to restrictive health measures, while Ventura and Riverside counties have announced plans to ease stay-at-home restrictions. Read more from Joseph Serna of the Los Angeles Times.
Daily Edition for Friday, April 24, 2020
California’s Deadliest Day: Coronavirus Surpasses Cancer, Heart Disease To Become Leading Cause Of Death In LA County: Gov. Gavin Newsom said 115 people died from complications from the virus Wednesday, the state’s deadliest day since the pandemic began. “It’s a reminder we’re not out of the woods yet,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday. Deaths in Los Angeles County are approaching 800, enough for the novel coronavirus to surpass fatalities from cancer, flu, emphysema and heart disease.
Daily Edition for Thursday, April 23, 2020
Newsom Won’t Set Date To Re-Open Amid Growing Calls To Ease Restrictions: California reported more than 100 new deaths linked to COVID-19 on Wednesday, including 66 in Los Angeles County, which has seen a surge in fatalities in recent weeks. Though hospitals are not being overwhelmed, they continue to see a steady flow of patients. “I wish I could prescribe a specific date to say, well, we can turn up the light switch and go back to normalcy,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. “We have tried to make it crystal clear that there is no light switch. And there is no date in terms of our capacity to provide the kind of clarity that I know so many of you demand and deserve.” Despite the rising death toll, Los Angeles County health officials offered slightly rosier projections Wednesday about the trajectory of the virus while cautioning that the improved outlook was dependent on residents continuing to practice physical distancing. Read more from Phil Willon, Melanie Mason, Marisa Gerber and Luke Money of the Los Angeles Times.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, April 22, 2020
First Coronavirus Deaths Happened Earlier Than Previously Thought, Suggesting COVID-19 Was Circulating In California Since December: A person who died at home in Santa Clara County on Feb. 6 was infected with the coronavirus at the time of death, a stunning discovery that makes that individual the first recorded COVID-19 fatality in the United States, according to autopsy results released by public health officials late Tuesday. That death — three weeks before the first fatality was reported in the U.S., in Washington state on Feb. 28 — adds to increasing evidence that the virus was in the country far earlier than once thought. “This wasn’t recognized because we were having a severe flu season,” said Dr. Jeff Smith, a physician who is the chief executive of Santa Clara County government. “Symptoms are very much like the flu. If you got a mild case of COVID, you didn’t really notice. You didn’t even go to the doctor. The doctor maybe didn’t even do it because they presumed it was the flu.” Read more from Erin Allday and Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle; Matt Hamilton, Paige St. John and Rong-Gong Lin II of the Los Angeles Times; and David Debolt and Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Newsom Stands Firm On Restrictions Amid Pressure From Local Leaders, Protesters: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday acknowledged that pressure from Californians and local governments is building to modify the statewide stay-at-home order carried out to stem to spread of the coronavirus, but he said restrictions will remain in place until the threat to public health subsides and adequate testing and other safeguards are implemented. A bipartisan group of elected officials from San Luis Obispo County on Monday asked Newsom to grant them the “authority to implement a phased reopening of our local economy,” a request that comes just days after Ventura County officials modified a stay-at-home order to permit some businesses to reopen and some gatherings to take place.
Daily Edition for Monday, April 20, 2020
California Releases COVID-19 Nursing Home Data, But List Is Plagued By Omissions And Undercounts: For the first time, California Department of Public Health officials have divulged the names of nursing homes across the state with COVID-19 outbreaks and the number of cases at each facility. But list, which officials have promised to update regularly, does not show how many people have died at each facility. It is also plagued by apparent omissions and undercounts. For weeks, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has been publishing names of group living facilities with COVID-19 cases, without specifying how many people have tested positive at each place. Some of those homes do not appear on the state list. The state list also does not include data from California’s 7,461 residential care facilities.
Daily Edition for Friday, April 17, 2020
Trump Releases 3-Phase Plan To Reopen Country, But Admits Governors Are At The Wheel: California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who laid out a reopening framework this week but has been markedly more aggressive than the federal government in curtailing social activity, said President Donald Trump offered an “encouraging” message of allowing states to manage their own changes when he presented his own plan to re-open the economy. The president “recognizes the differentiation that exists and persists in counties, and not just states,” Newsom said, and offered to preserve “the kind of specificity at a state-to-state level” that can be tailored to the varying scope of outbreaks.
Daily Edition for Thursday, April 16, 2020
California To Give Aid To Immigrants Living In Country Illegally Who Have Been Hurt By Coronavirus: Gov. Gavin Newsom said today the state is partnering with philanthropic groups to provide disaster relief to undocumented immigrants affected by the coronavirus who have been left out of other pandemic assistance programs. Ten percent of California’s workforce is undocumented, Newsom said, and they are not eligible for unemployment insurance or aid through the federal stimulus package. The new $125 million Disaster Relief Fund will include $75 million in taxpayer funds and $50 million in philanthropic contributions to help undocumented workers affected by coronavirus secure a one-time payment of up to $500 per person or $1,000 per household. “We feel a deep sense of gratitude for people who are in fear of deportation but are still addressing the essential needs of tens of millions of Californians,” Newsom said, pointing out that many work in essential sectors like health care, agriculture, food, manufacturing and construction. Read more from Ana B. Ibarra of CalMatters and Taryn Luna, Patrick McGreevy and John Myers of the Los Angeles Times.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Newsom Lays Out Plan To Re-Open California That Relies Heavily On Widespread Testing, Increasing Surge Capacity: Gov. Gavin Newsom said he will not lift his shelter-in-place order until adequate suppression and mitigation measures are in place to prevent future flare-ups. That means tracking down the sick and isolating clusters of new infections, arming hospitals with adequate equipment and setting new guidelines for schools and businesses to reopen.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, April 14, 2020
California Will Partner Up With Oregon And Washington State To Create Framework To Lift Lockdowns: California will put forward a strategy Tuesday for gradually releasing residents from stay-at-home orders and allowing public life to resume amid the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that he has been developing a framework for the past week with the governors of Oregon and Washington that will allow the three states to incrementally reopen their economies as the spread of the virus appears to slow. “COVID-19 doesn’t follow state or national boundaries,” Newsom, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement. “It will take every level of government, working together, and a full picture of what’s happening on the ground.”