Latest California Healthline Stories
Daily Edition for Monday, March 16, 2020
‘We Need To Meet This Moment Aggressively’: Newsom Calls On Public To Take Drastic Actions To Help Slow Spread Of Coronavirus: Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new state measures to combat the coronavirus Sunday, urging that bars close and restaurants reduce capacity, and setting in motion plans to help protect the most vulnerable: senior citizens, anyone with a chronic illness and the homeless. Newsom asked all Californians 65 and older to isolate themselves at home, as well as anyone with chronic health conditions. To keep the virus from spreading through the state’s surging homeless population, Newsom said teams are focused on getting people out of encampments.
Daily Edition for Friday, March 13, 2020
Newsom Expands State’s Power To Address Coronavirus Outbreak As Confirmed Cases Nears 200: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Thursday that readied the state to potentially commandeer hotels or medical facilities to quarantine patients and allowed city councils and other local and state government bodies to move their public meetings to teleconferencing. It also aimed to ease some impacts of the outbreak by waiving a requirement that applicants for unemployment wait a week before receiving benefits and giving people up to 60 additional days to file their state tax returns if the virus prevents them from doing so in a timely manner.
Daily Edition for Thursday, March 12, 2020
Newsom Recommends Events With More Than 250 People Be Postponed Or Canceled As State Tries To Slow Spread: Californians should cancel or postpone events with more than 250 people, while smaller gatherings should space people at least 6 feet apart to avoid spreading coronavirus, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and top health officials announced Wednesday night. Officials recommend organizers further limit gatherings of people for whom the virus presents a greater risk, including the elderly and chronically ill, to no more than 10 people. Newsom said Californians must cancel non-essential events like concerts to reduce strain on the health care system and save lives.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, March 11, 2020
The ‘Cat Is Out Of The Bag’: California Shifts Focus From Containment To Slowing Down Spread: Coronavirus cases have blown up across Northern California in the past week, and counties increasingly are refocusing from aggressive containment of the disease to acceptance that it’s in the community and their limited resources are better spent on slowing down its spread. Effective immediately, people in Sacramento County should not quarantine themselves if they've been exposed to the COVID-19. Instead, they should go into isolation only if they begin to show symptoms of the respiratory virus, the county's health department says.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, March 10, 2020
LA Has First Community-Spread Cases As County’s Coronavirus Count Climbs to 19: L.A. County Public Health Department Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said one of the two new cases in her agency’s jurisdiction is that of a person who had a known travel history to Japan. The source of exposure of the second person is unknown. Separately, Long Beach, which has its own health department, reported its first cases of coronavirus-infected patients — two men and one woman. “This is our first case of community transmission in L.A. County and we will continue to see more cases of COVID-19,” Ferrer said. “We continue to urge everyone to do their part: Stay home if you are sick and keep your children home if they are sick; plan for the possibility of school and business closures.” Read more from Colleen Shalby of the Los Angeles Times and David Rosenfield of The Beach Reporter.
Daily Edition for Monday, March 9, 2020
As Cruise Passengers Prepare To Disembark, Newsom Warns California Should Be Braced For Uptick In Cases: California should expect the number of coronavirus cases to keep rising statewide, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday as the state prepared to receive a cruise ship bearing some passengers and crew with the disease. He made the remarks in Oakland on Sunday, where a cruise ship carrying at least 21 infected people is scheduled to dock sometime Monday. The Democratic governor detailed a protocol for evacuating, treating and quarantining the thousands of passengers on board, and warned the state does not have the capacity to handle many more cruise ship outbreaks like this one. Newsom also said he would meet with school superintendents from across the state on Monday to try to “ratchet up our guidance” to them about possible school closures.
Daily Edition for Friday, March 6, 2020
California Orders Insurers To Waive Out-Of-Pocket Costs For Coronavirus Testing Amid Concerns Price Would Deter People: The California Department of Insurance and Department of Managed Health Care ordered all full-service commercial and Medi-Cal plans to “immediately reduce cost-sharing — including, but not limited to, co-pays, deductibles or coinsurance — to zero for all medically necessary screening and testing for COVID-19, including hospital, emergency department, urgent care and provider office visits where the purpose of the visit is to be screened and/or tested for COVID-19.” About 9% of the U.S. population, and 7% in California, lacked health insurance in 2018, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. However, many people with private insurance have large deductibles. “If you have a $7,000 deductible and don’t have $7,000, you are essentially uninsured,” said Jennifer Tolbert, the foundation’s director of state health reform. “That’s a problem when you are trying to address a crisis like this.” Read more from Kathleen Pender of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Daily Edition for Thursday, March 5, 2020
Newsom Declares State Of Emergency, Will Fly Test Kits To Cruise Ship After Passenger Becomes California’s First Coronavirus Death: Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a coronavirus state of emergency Wednesday, hours after California announced its first death, involving a person who got sick on a cruise ship possibly more than half-filled with passengers from the state. By the time public health authorities made the connection between the two ill former passengers and the ship, the Grand Princess was at sea again with a new group of about 2,500 passengers.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, March 4, 2020
More Coronavirus Cases Confirmed In California: Los Angeles recorded a new coronavirus case on Tuesday, with Kaiser Permanente announcing it was treating a patient. Hours earlier, Orange County officials announced two presumptive coronavirus cases, both of whom had recently been in countries where the virus has spread. On Tuesday, the city of Berkeley reported its first case after an individual visited a country with an outbreak, and Contra Costa County officials Wednesday morning said a person was admitted to a local hospital on Sunday with respiratory flu-like illness. “While the risk of infection remains low, the expanded presence of the virus in our community is a reality we should all prepare for,” said Berkeley Public Health Officer Dr. Lisa Hernandez. “There are steps that all of us in the community can take now to improve basic hygiene and also prepare for a wider spread in the future.” Read more from Rong-Gong Lin and Colleen Shalby of the Los Angeles Times.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Officials Across California Brace For Community Spread Of Coronavirus: “For San Francisco, it is not a matter of if, but when,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of San Francisco’s health department. “We expect to have confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in San Francisco and are preparing for community spread of the virus.” In California, at least 40 cases have been reported. Twenty-four cases were people who caught the virus either on the Diamond Princess cruise ship or in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak was first reported, and were then repatriated to the U.S. and quarantined at California military bases. An additional 19 cases were in returning travelers or, in at least five instances, people who contracted the virus in their community. “It’s important that we don’t panic,” said San Francisco Mayor London Breed. “It’s important that we get the right information, and that we work with the public to address this situation. We are focused on trying to make sure that we contain any situation that would occur, and that we protect public health — that’s first and foremost.”