Fresno Bee: Drive-Thru Monkeypox Vaccine Clinic Opens In Fresno
Starting Wednesday, eligible Fresno residents can get their monkeypox vaccine the same way many received their COVID-19 vaccines.Fresno County Public Health Department is partnering with UCSF-Fresno for a drive-thru vaccine clinic across from Fashion Fair Mall. (Vaccari, 8/24)

Los Angeles Times: Rise Of Monkeypox Worries Sex Workers 
With monkeypox on the rise, Lady Kay decided to hold off on meeting clients in hotel rooms or private dungeons. The 32-year-old dominatrix had already been taking precautions to protect herself from the coronavirus, insisting that clients show that they were vaccinated against COVID-19 or had recently tested negative. Now the South Los Angeles resident was worried about the newest outbreak — an infectious virus that can travel through skin-to-skin contact and has spread in intimate encounters. (Reyes, 8/24)

Bloomberg: Monkeypox Outbreak Latest: Senate Committee Plans Hearings With Health Officials
US lawmakers will look to press Biden administration health officials on their response to the growing monkeypox outbreak in a Senate hearing planned for next month, according to people familiar with the matter. The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is planning the hearing on monkeypox for mid-September, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. (Muller and Baumann, 8/24)

The Atlantic: A Risky Monkeypox Vaccine Is Looking Better All The Time
The transition from Monkeypox Inoculation Plan A to Monkeypox Inoculation Plan B has been a smashing success—at least, if you ask federal officials. Just a few weeks ago, the U.S. had nowhere near enough of the Jynneos vaccine to doubly dose even a quarter of the Americans at highest risk of monkeypox, roughly 1.6 million men who have sex with men. (Wu, 8/24)

Newsweek: Man Tests Positive For COVID, Monkeypox And HIV After Spain Trip
Aman from Italy has tested positive for COVID-19, monkeypox, and HIV all at the same time after returning from a short trip in Spain, according to researchers from the University of Catania in Italy. The scientists stated in the Journal of Infection that the 36-year-old man, who has not been identified, developed fever, a sore throat, fatigue, and headache as a result of the co-infection. (Khaled, 8/24)

CIDRAP: New Type 2 Diabetes Diagnoses In Youth Climbed 77% Amid COVID-19
New diagnoses of type 2 diabetes in US youth rose 77% during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic over the previous 2 years, according to a new multicenter study published in the Journal of Pediatrics. ... Average patient age was 14.4 years, 50.5% were girls, 40.4% were Hispanic, 32.7% were Black, and 14.5% were White. Few patients were also diagnosed as having COVID-19 at hospitalization. (Van Beusekom, 8/24)

Los Angeles Times: California Schools Have Fewer COVID Rules, Low Vaccine Rate 
California schools reopened for the fall semester with loosened COVID-19 protocols and low student vaccination rates among younger children, presenting a new test for the trajectory of the pandemic as some experts expect another rise in cases when winter arrives. The general move away from expansive masking and testing requirements reflects officials’ confidence in the other tools at schools’ disposal and comes as California is enjoying sustained drops in newly reported infections and coronavirus-positive hospitalizations. (Lin II and Money, 8/24)

CIDRAP: Life Expectancy Fell Amid COVID, Especially For Hispanic And Black Males
In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, life expectancy in the United States fell by 4.5 and 3.6 years for Hispanic and Black males, respectively, while declining 1.5 years for their White counterparts, finds a study published yesterday in PNAS. (8/24)

AP: Study: Pfizer COVID Pill Showed No Benefit In Younger Adults 
Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill appears to provide little or no benefit for younger adults, while still reducing the risk of hospitalization and death for high-risk seniors, according to a large study published Wednesday. The results from a 109,000-patient Israeli study are likely to renew questions about the U.S. government’s use of Paxlovid. ... The researchers found that Paxlovid reduced hospitalizations among people 65 and older by roughly 75% when given shortly after infection. That’s consistent with earlier results used to authorize the drug in the U.S. and other nations. But people between the ages of 40 and 65 saw no measurable benefit, according to the analysis of medical records. (Perrone, 8/24)

Time: Paxlovid Is Most Effective In People 65 And Up, Study Finds 
Taking the antiviral treatment Paxlovid can reduce a person’s chances of getting seriously ill from COVID-19. But while seniors tend to get impressive protection from the pills, younger people derive little benefit, finds new research In a study published Aug. 24 in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers in Israel provide valuable real-world data on how effective the pills are against Omicron. The researchers studied data from 109,000 patients at a large health care organization—nearly all of whom had been vaccinated, had been previously infected, or both—and tracked their hospitalization and death rates by age. Nearly 4,000 people in the study, which was conducted from January to March 2022, took Paxlovid. (Park, 8/24)

Axios: House COVID Panel Documents Trump Pressure Campaign On FDA
The Trump White House coordinated a pressure campaign for the FDA to authorize the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine to fight COVID-19 after it was shown to be ineffective and potentially dangerous, a new House investigative report charges. (Bettelheim, 8/24)

Politico: Trump White House Exerted Pressure On FDA For Covid-19 Emergency Use Authorizations, House Report Finds
The Democrats’ investigation also documents potential influence from former White House officials regarding the FDA’s decision to authorize convalescent plasma, and White House attempts to block the FDA from collecting additional safety data on Covid-19 vaccines in order to get them to the public before the 2020 presidential election. (Foley, 8/24)

Los Angeles Times: Proposal To Put Abortion Protections In California Constitution Appears Headed For Victory
A measure to amend the state Constitution to add protections for abortion rights appears on track for victory this fall as the issue of reproductive rights appears to be strongly motivating the state’s voters. (Gutierrez, 8/24)

Bay Area News Group: Conservative Parts Of California Support Abortion Ballot Measure
California voters overwhelmingly support a measure, Proposition 1, that would amend the state constitution to ensure access to abortion and contraception throughout the state. No surprise? Well, that support is not just in the deep blue Bay Area or liberal pockets of LA. (Nickerson, 8/24)

Fresno Bee: Money Generated By Downtown Fresno Hospital Went To Clovis 
Over the past decade, Community Medical Centers has taken state and federal money intended to offset the cost of providing care for indigent patients, primarily in downtown Fresno, and used it to help fund a $1 billion hospital expansion in affluent Clovis. (Amaro, 8/25)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Frustrations Over Providence Hospitals’ Paycheck Errors Prompt Employee Picket
Members of the Staff Nurses Association held an informational picket Wednesday alongside other health care employees in front of Providence Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. (8/24)

Los Angeles Times: Orange County To Pay $480,000 Over Delayed Treatment Of Pregnant Inmate Who Miscarried
Sandra Quinones was pregnant and in Orange County jail for a probation violation when her water broke. Deputies took two hours to respond to the homeless woman’s call for help, then stopped at Starbucks on the way to the hospital; Quinones, 28, lost the pregnancy. (Yee, 8/24)

AP: $480K To Inmate Who Miscarried After Stop For Coffee 
Southern California’s Orange County has agreed to pay $480,000 to an inmate who was pregnant but suffered a miscarriage after sheriff’s deputies stopped at a Starbucks while driving her to a hospital. Sandra Quinones, who is no longer in custody, alleged in a federal lawsuit that sheriff’s staff delayed treatment after her water broke in the jail. (8/25)

Los Angeles Times: To Prevent Rapes, West Hollywood Shares Spiked-Drink Tests
In response to nightlife safety concerns, a new initiative is underway in West Hollywood to stem the problem of spiked drinks and the sexual predators who spike them. The city began distributing date-rape drug test kits Monday to venues that serve alcohol and to some patrons. The packages contain tests that detect whether someone’s drink has been drugged, also referred to as “roofied” — meaning dosed with Rohypnol (flunitrazepam) or a similar drug. (Petri, 8/24)

San Diego Union-Tribune: To Better Understand Parkinson's Disease, This San Diego Expert Sent Her Own Cells To Space 
Jeanne Loring likes to say she’s been to space without her feet even leaving the ground.Just weeks ago, the Scripps Research Institute professor of molecular medicine sent some of her own genetically mapped cells to space as part of first-of-its-kind research to study the progression and onset of Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases. (Alvarenga, 8/24)

Los Angeles Times: She Bought A Zinus Mattress In A Box. Inside Her Family’s Lawsuit
Vanessa Gutierrez began to notice the sores and rashes on her 5-month-old in May 2019. Around the same time, her other daughter, 9, experienced asthma flare-ups. The administrative assistant from Sacramento was baffled about what could be harming her children. (De Leon, 8/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Psilocybin, Psychedelic Compound In Magic Mushrooms, Shown Effective For Alcohol Addiction
Psilocybin—the active ingredient in so-called psychedelic or magic mushrooms—given in combination with psychotherapy curbed drinking in adults with alcohol use disorder for at least eight months, researchers said in a study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. Nearly half of the study participants who got psilocybin stopped drinking entirely, an effect that in some cases lasted years, according to the researchers and interviews with study participants. (Hernandez, 8/24)

Stat: Psilocybin Shows Promise For Treating Alcohol Addiction, New Study Finds
Taking one recreational drug as treatment for over-dependence on another is hardly intuitive, but a new study found that psilocybin, the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms, could be a promising treatment for alcohol use disorder. (Goldhill, 8/24)

Los Angeles Daily News: Newsom Announces More Than $330 Million In Homekey Grants For Projects In LA County 
California has doled out $338.5 million in grants to fund multiple housing projects in Los Angeles County, nearly half of the total $694 million that will be spread across 19 communities statewide — as part of the latest effort to alleviate the ongoing homeless crisis. (Hutchings and Haire, 8/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: Why San Francisco Evicts Its Most Vulnerable Residents
In their follow up investigation to San Francisco's permanent supportive housing program, Chronicle reporters Joaquin Palomino and Trisha Thadani examine how tenants in single room occupancy units, or SROs, are often evicted for the same reasons that qualified them for their rooms. They join host Cecilia Lei to discuss how San Francisco's central solution to homelessness lacks a critical safety net. (8/25)