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.
Stanford Scientists Closer To Solving One Of COVID’s ‘Great Mysteries’: Their scientific names won’t mean much to the average reader — EN-RAGE, TNFSF14 and oncostatin-M — but researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine believe these specific molecules could help illuminate what happens in the body’s immune system when it is fighting COVID-19. “One of the great mysteries of COVID-19 infections has been that some people develop severe disease, while others seem to recover quickly,” said Bali Pulendran, the study’s senior author. “Now we have some insights into why that happens.” Read more from Mallory Moench of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage and the best of the rest of the news.
More News From Across The State
San Francisco Chronicle:
California ‘Turning The Corner’ On The Pandemic, Newsom Says
California is “turning the corner on this pandemic,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday, but he plans to move more cautiously in reopening businesses that were forced to shut down for a second time during this summer’s surge in new coronavirus cases. At a news conference where he touted his administration’s economic recovery efforts, Newsom seemed to acknowledge that the state had not done enough during its initial reopening this spring to ensure public compliance with safety precautions against the virus. (Koseff, 8/12)
Los Angeles Times:
California Sees Decrease In Coronavirus Hospitalizations As Test Backlog Boosts Number Of Confirmed Cases
With hospitalizations of coronavirus patients dropping in California, officials expressed some cautious optimism Wednesday that the state is making progress in its fight against the pandemic, even as a significant backlog in test results continues to distort the actual number of infections confirmed throughout the state. Among the promising trends is the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized statewide. That figure has fallen roughly 19% in the past two weeks, from 6,753 on July 29 to 5,442 as of Tuesday, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Money, 8/12)
Sacramento Bee:
Can Newsom’s COVID-19 ‘Strike Team’ Make A Difference In CA?
Can $52 million a few dozen experts help California’s Central Valley gain control over the COVID-19 pandemic? As the Valley’s surging infection rate has drawn national attention, Gov. Gavin Newsom is dispatching three of his coronavirus “strike teams” to the region to help local officials track COVID clusters, inspect workplaces, quarantine the sick and ramp up testing. (Tobias, Bizjak and Kasler, 8/13)
Capital Public Radio/KXJZ:
Newsom Proposes More Economic Recovery Aid As COVID-19 Backlog Is Cleaned Up
As the legislature’s Aug. 31 end-of-session deadline looms, Gov. Gavin Newsom floated a handful of economic recovery ideas during a Wednesday coronavirus press conference, including some put forth by legislative Democrats in a $100 billion stimulus package. The governor stopped short of endorsing the entire plan but said he liked the idea of accelerating investment in infrastructure, wildfire and green technology projects to create jobs. (Nixon, 8/12)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Offering Money To Renters Affected By COVID-19 Pandemic
Los Angeles County renters who’ve suffered financial setbacks because of the COVID-19 pandemic can soon apply for thousands of dollars in assistance to help them get on top of their payments. The application period for the income-based L.A. County COVID-19 Rent Relief program opens Monday and will remain open until Aug. 31. Up to $10,000 will be given to households that meet the program’s income guidelines. (Cosrove, 8/12)
Sacramento Bee:
Gavin Newsom Says $300 Unemployment Benefit Isn’t Enough
President Donald Trump’s current proposal for additional unemployment benefits of $300 a week just doesn’t go far enough, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a Wednesday press conference. But he said he won’t “look a gift horse in the mouth” now that Trump has said states do not have to come up with another $100 a week on their own. The Democratic governor said he’s working on how California can process the $300 in the president’s proposal “as quickly and efficiently as possible.” (Sheeler, 8/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Joins Two Major Coronavirus Vaccine Trials
Bay Area residents this week join the global race for a coronavirus vaccine, with developers of two of the most promising candidates seeking hundreds of volunteers in San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Clara County.Kaiser Permanente enrolled its first Northern California participants in a global clinical trial for a vaccine made by Pfizer and the German technology company BioNTech on Monday. In San Francisco, researchers with UCSF and the Department of Public Health expect to start giving volunteers a vaccine made by AstraZeneca and Oxford University next week. (Allday, 8/12)
Sacramento Bee:
Berkeley Researchers Urge State To Stockpile Masks, Other PPE
Researchers at UC Berkeley are urging California legislators to pass a bill that would create a stockpile of face masks and other personal protective equipment in case of future pandemics, saying such a cache would have averted much of the human and economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic. “The human cost of inadequate PPE during the current pandemic has been enormous in terms of illness and death due to COVID-19, indirect health threats from reduced health care access, and employment and income loss due to furloughs,” the researchers concluded. (Anderson, 8/12)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Mexican Consulate Opens New Coronavirus Testing Center
A coronavirus testing center has opened at the Los Angeles Mexican Consulate in an effort to better serve Latinos, who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis established the new testing site with state and federal funding from the CARES Act after identifying vulnerable communities in the county, she said. Launched in partnership with the Honduran, Guatemalan, Salvadoran and Mexican consulates, the new site will be open for appointments and walk-ins Wednesday through Sunday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m and administer 1,500 tests a week. (Reyes-Velarde, 8/12)
Los Angeles Times:
Medical Experts Speak Out Against Anaheim Councilwoman's Claim That Wearing Masks Causes Dental Issues
Anaheim Councilwoman Lucille Kring said at Tuesday’s council meeting that dentists are finding that wearing masks can cause serious dental issues, but local medical professionals are skeptical of the claim. “Dentists are finding that it’s causing very serious dental problems — cavities, gum disease and halitosis. So keep that in mind when you’re snuggling up to a mask,” Kring said. (Brazil, 8/12)
Sacramento Bee:
Students Return To El Dorado County’s Schools Despite COVID
Days before some El Dorado County schools are set to open, teachers at Rescue Elementary School are preparing their classrooms for students. Like every year, colorful borders line the walls, cubbies are labeled, and classroom rules are prominently displayed. Some of those rules now include, “I can sit 6 feet away,” and “I can clean my tools.” (Morrar, 8/13)
Fresno Bee:
Immanuel Schools To Open, Possibly With On-Campus Learning
Immanuel Schools in Reedley is set to ignore a state mandate and offer in-person learning when school begins Thursday, according to the Fresno County Department of Public Health. And that could lead to a showdown between the private, Mennonite-faith-based K-12 school and the Department of Public Health — if not against the state, too — during this ongoing coronavirus pandemic. (Anteola, 8/12)
Los Angeles Times:
How Online Learning Has Failed Low-Income Students Amid COVID-19
Maria Viego and Cooper Glynn were thriving at their elementary schools. Maria, 10, adored the special certificates she earned volunteering to read to second-graders. Cooper, 9, loved being with his friends and how his teacher incorporated the video game Minecraft into lessons. But when their campuses shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic, their experiences diverged dramatically. (Esquivel, Blume, Poston and Barajas, 8/13)
Los Angeles Times:
Professors Fear Spread Of COVID-19 As College Campuses Open
When masked students walk back into his Northern Arizona University lab room at the end of the month, Tad Theimer will face them from behind a Plexiglas face shield while holding an infrared thermometer to their foreheads. As they examine bat skulls under microscopes, the biology professor will open windows and doors, hoping to drive out exhaled aerosols that could spread the coronavirus. But as one of hundreds of professors who will be back on campus along with 20,000 students in one of the states hit worst by the pandemic, Theimer is also torn on whether to enter his classroom at all. (Kaleem, Hennessy-Fiske and Read, 8/13)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Canceled Tests, Virtual Tours: Pandemic Changes Make College Admissions Even More Stressful
Between canceled standardized tests, virtual college tours and online classes, the admissions process for the Bay Area’s new high school seniors is swirling with even more uncertainty than usual. For students, counselors and colleges one change is most pressing: The use of standardized tests, which for most colleges, have become optional as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. After March, many test dates got canceled. (Echeverria, 8/13)
Fresno Bee:
California Pharmacy School Loses Pre Accreditation Status
Freshman pharmacy students at California Health Sciences University in Clovis found out this week that they will not be attending the college after all, after its pre-accreditation status was withdrawn. The decision affects 44 students who were set to begin classes on Monday, becoming the class of 2024. (Panoo, 8/12)
Sacramento Bee:
Employee Death, 100 COVID-19 Cases At Folsom Prison, CA Says
More than 100 inmates have tested positive for the coronavirus at Folsom State Prison, and a state prison employee who worked there has died, authorities said this week. Folsom State Prison reports 99 inmates with active COVID-19 infections, all of them confirmed within the last two weeks, according to the CDCR coronavirus data tracker as of 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, an increase from the 56 listed in the morning. Another four inmates at Folsom had lab-confirmed cases that are now classified as “resolved,” and an additional three were released from custody with still-active cases, CDCR reports. No inmate deaths at Folsom have been reported. (McGough, 8/12)
CNN:
California Pastor Defies Public Health Orders, Holds Services For Thousands With No Social Distancing
To hear Pastor John MacArthur tell it, all Grace Community Church did was open its doors and the people came, like the animals to Noah's Ark. The megachurch in suburban Los Angeles had closed its doors in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic. It announced plans to re-open in May, but a federal court upheld the state's ban on indoor services. The church reopened in late July. (Burke, 8/13)
Stateline:
Struggling Farmers Work With Overwhelmed Food Banks To Stay Afloat
As the pandemic shut down restaurants this spring, California farmers and ranchers saw their markets drop by half, leaving many with fields full of crops but no buyers. And as millions of people lost their jobs, the state’s food banks needed to triple their food supply. Fortunately for California, the state had a longstanding initiative tailor-made to help with these twin crises. The Farm to Family program, run by the California Association of Food Banks and the state’s Department of Food and Agriculture, pays farmers to send surplus produce to food banks. (Brown, 8/13)
Sacramento Bee:
Gold River Starbucks Closed After Employee Gets COVID-19
A popular Starbucks location in Sacramento County has closed after an employee tested positive for the coronavirus, the company confirmed Wednesday. The coffee mega-chain’s Gold River location as of Wednesday morning had signs in its front doors saying it’s temporarily closed but including no further explanation. (McGough, 8/12)
Sacramento Bee:
Still No COVID-19 Rapid Testing In Some CA Nursing Homes
The Trump administration in July pledged to send rapid coronavirus testing machines to to nursing homes in hot spots around the country, but they have not yet arrived at some outbreak-challenged sites in the San Joaquin Valley. Nursing homes in the region are eligible for the machines because the federal government considers the Central Valley to be a hot spot for the novel coronavirus that has about 160,000 Americans this year. (Irby, 8/13)
Los Angeles Times:
Airbnb To Pursue Legal Action After Unauthorized Party In Sacramento County
Airbnb for the first time will be taking legal action against a guest for violating its ban on unauthorized parties, the company said Wednesday. In a statement, Airbnb said it will be initiating legal proceedings against a booking guest who held a party last weekend in Sacramento County. Three people were shot and wounded at the event. (Miller, 8/12)
Los Angeles Times:
What Will It Take To Persuade People To Wear Masks?
They’re uncomfortable. They look dorky. They make it hard to breathe. They’re a symbol of Big Government run amok. If these are the reasons why some Americans refuse to wear face masks in public, what will it take to change their minds? Psychologists have the answer: Focus on their moral obligation to avoid putting other people in danger. (Kaplan, 8/13)
San Francisco Chronicle:
A Polluted SF Garage Is Being Turned Into Condos. Neighbors Say The City Is Violating State Law To Clean It Up
A group of San Francisco residents is accusing city officials of obstructing public oversight and violating the state’s environmental protection law in the cleanup of a polluted auto repair garage being readied as the site for new condos. The city’s approach to the five-unit development at a vacant auto repair garage at 1776 Green St. is part of a pattern identified by The Chronicle in June, where planning officials have repeatedly let developers bypass state-mandated environmental reviews when assessing whether chemical-tainted properties — like gas stations, vehicle repair shops and parking garages — are safe for building new homes. (Dizikes, 8/12)
CalMatters:
California Not Clamping Down On Teeth-Straightening Kits — Yet
Firms such as SmileDirectClub offer a cheaper option to traditional braces — but dentists and orthodontists say it comes at the expense of quality care. Using celebrities and a social justice pitch, the upstarts just beat back both a state bill to restrict their teeth-straightening kits. (Ostrov, 8/13)