Capital Public Radio/KXJZ: Amid Rocky Vaccination Rollout, California Set To Receive 1 Million Additional Doses
California will receive an additional 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from the federal government this week as the state's rocky rollout to inoculate millions continues to draw criticism from residents and officials. Gov. Gavin Newsom made the announcement Wednesday from the Oakland Coliseum, which will become a mass vaccination site later this month with the help of resources coming in from the Biden administration. The site is expected to open Feb. 16 and 6,000 doses could be administered daily once it's up and running, Newsom said. The state will open another site at California State University, Los Angeles, with plans for other potential sites around the state. (Hagan, 2/3)

Los Angeles Times: California Getting Two New COVID-19 Vaccine Centers
The two mass vaccination sites announced by the federal government Wednesday, including one at Cal State Los Angeles, will provide COVID-19 vaccines to vulnerable communities and people with limited access to transportation — a move that would try to address problems for seniors who have struggled to get to sites around the country. The opening of the sites in California — one on the Eastside of Los Angeles, the other at the Oakland Coliseum — reflect the federal government’s growing involvement in the distribution of the vaccine. The sites, scheduled to open Feb. 16, will be staffed mostly by federal workers, including officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services. (Megerian and Shalby, 2/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Oakland Coliseum To Become Mass-Vaccination Site - Goal Is 6,000 Doses A Day Starting Feb. 16
The Biden administration and California will set up a mass coronavirus vaccination site at the Oakland Coliseum, officials announced Wednesday, an effort intended to deliver thousands of daily inoculations to underserved communities. The site — one of the first mass vaccination locations in the nation set up through the federal government — is expected to open Feb. 16. It will be able to deliver about 6,000 doses a day, Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference outside the Coliseum. (Kopan and Kossef, 2/3)

Bay Area News Group: Coronavirus: Oakland Coliseum To Be Mass Vaccination Site
The Oakland Coliseum will be one of the first new community vaccination sites opening in the United States under an initiative announced Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden’s administration. The pilot sites in California will be based at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum and California State University, Los Angeles, and run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state Office of Emergency Services. The effort aims to establish 100 vaccination sites nationwide in the Biden administration’s first 100 days, speeding the delivery of vaccine especially to disadvantaged communities that are getting short shrift so far in the nascent effort to build widespread immunity to the coronavirus. (Rogers and Woolfolk, 2/3)

Los Angeles Times: Radical Anti-Vaccine Faction That Shut Down Dodger Stadium Says It Is Not Done
Across California, motivated activists are turning energy once directed at federal politics towards more local concerns. Loosely connected online through causes such as ending COVID-19 shutdowns, the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom, conspiracies fostered by QAnon and even far-right takes on Christianity, they all agree that government at every level is oppressive and must be resisted. Ignoring public health orders and the coronavirus deaths of 450,000 Americans, they are entering stores without masks, eating at restaurants that refuse to shut down, hosting curfew-breaking parties at the beach — and thinking of ways to go bigger. “I believe things are going to become much more local and vocal,” said Peggy Hall, an Orange County activist who champions those who would contest orders for business closures, masks and vaccinations. (Chabria, St. John, Miller and Rector, 2/4)

Modesto Bee: More Coronavirus Vaccine Options Coming To Stanislaus County
Community clinics in Stanislaus County could be injecting more residents who are eligible for coronavirus vaccine but are limited by doses allocated by the state. The county was dispensing 950 doses at Wednesday’s clinic at Stanislaus State University in Turlock. It had administered 450 doses by 12:15 p.m., a county spokesperson said. Following a statewide trend, coronavirus cases in Stanislaus County have decreased over the past two weeks, with the decline measured across all races and ethnic groups, county public health staff said. January was the deadliest month of the pandemic when 212 deaths, or seven per day, were attributed to the dangerous respiratory illness. (Carlson, 2/3)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Homeless People 65 And Older Vaccinated For COVID-19 At Convention Center Shelter 
About 40 homeless people at the temporary shelter in the San Diego Convention Center received COVID-19 vaccinations Wednesday as the county’s first step in protecting a vulnerable population from the disease. “I want to try to get back to normal as much as possible,” said Robert Thompson, 66, after receiving the Moderna vaccine. (Warth, 2/3)

Bay Area News Group: First Farmworkers In Santa Cruz County Receive COVID-19 Vaccine, But Supplies Remain Scarce 
It’s been a difficult year for Francisco Naranjo, a Watsonville resident and 40-year career farmworker. Last fall, during the raspberry season, a crew member in his cohort got sick with COVID-19. According to Naranjo, the grower laid him and the rest of the crew off for two weeks without pay, as a result. Then, Naranjo’s right shoulder started to hurt and his doctor told him he wasn’t in a condition to work, so he’s been on disability for four months. (Hagemann, 2/4)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Supply Shortages Keep San Diego From Flexing Its Full Vaccination Muscle 
The county’s ever-growing vaccine distribution network is now capable of delivering more than 20,000 doses every day, but county officials said Wednesday that only about half of that capacity will be available anytime soon due to an ongoing mismatch between vaccine supply and demand. There simply are not enough doses to go around no matter how many clinics open across the region. (Sisson, 23)

Orange County Register: COVID-19 Shots Speed Up In Orange County As Health Networks Join The Race
The Orange County government’s mass coronavirus vaccination drive is no longer the main option in town as traditional health networks ramp up immunizing their own elderly patients. Together, county representatives and health care providers – including large players such as Kaiser Permanente, Providence and UCI Health – had administered about 265,000 first and second doses to 221,000 people by Sunday, Jan. 31, according to the OC Health Care Agency’s latest figures. The shots are speeding up. Administrators have more than doubled the average number of shots given daily since mid-January to about 12,000 per day. (Wheeler, 2/3)

Bay Area News Group: Coronavirus: Health Leaders Urge That Seniors Get Vaccine Priority
Because there aren’t enough vaccine doses yet to meet demand, a coalition of Bay Area health officers on Wednesday urged all health systems to prioritize COVID-19 vaccines for people 65 and older — a group dying at far-and-away the highest rates during the pandemic — and move essential workers such as teachers and farm workers further down the list. “We need to be direct and honest with the public that, although we want to vaccinate everyone, right now we just don’t have enough vaccine to do so,” said Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County’s health officer and director of public health. “Given limited supply of vaccine, we must prioritize vaccinating those at greatest risk of death or serious illness.” (Rogers, 2/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Here's What Bay Area Experts Say You Should And Shouldn't Do After Getting Vaccinated
As California ramps up its massive vaccination campaign, a growing number of people are preparing for their second dose and the prospect of substantial immunity. But there’s very little guidance from public health authorities on what they can and cannot do once they’re fully vaccinated. The official message so far has been that nothing changes: People still need to wear masks and practice all the same social distancing measures. But increasingly, infectious disease experts say the guidance should be more nuanced. And the need to give informed, useful recommendations is becoming more urgent as more people get vaccinated and start making decisions for themselves. (Allday, 2/3)

AP: Fauci Warns Against Super Bowl Parties To Avoid Virus Spread
The nation’s top infectious disease expert doesn’t want the Super Bowl to turn into a super spreader. Dr. Anthony Fauci, says when it comes to Super Bowl parties during the pandemic, people should “just lay low and cool it.” He said during TV interviews Wednesday that now isn’t the time to invite people over for watch parties because of the possibility that they’re infected with the coronavirus and could sicken others. (2/3)

CIDRAP: Adults 20 To 49 May Have Driven 72% Of US COVID-19 Surges 
Adults 20 to 49 years old may have kindled 72.2% of US COVID-19 resurgences starting in late summer 2020, with those 35 to 49 especially contributing, a study published yesterday in Science suggests. A team led by researchers from Imperial College London analyzed age-specific cell phone mobility data of more than 10 million Americans and linked them to age-specific COVID-19 death data starting on Mar 15, 2020. (Van Beusekom, 2/3)

The Bakersfield Californian: As Cases Recede, Deaths From COVID-19 Climb 
First comes the surge in COVID-19 cases. Hospitalizations spike a few weeks later. Then comes the dying. It is the undulating rhythm of the coronavirus pandemic. And it’s one health care workers know all too well. It happened this past summer in Kern County and now it’s happening again to a much greater degree, according to hospital leaders. (Shepard, 2/4)

Los Angeles Times: After COVID, Some Will Try Anything To Regain Sense Of Smell
People dealing with smell dysfunction have scheduled medical appointments, joined support groups and spent months using smell kits to retrain their noses. Universities have launched studies on recovering smell after COVID-19, starting treatment trials using nasal rinses and essential oils. The business of olfaction restoration is booming. “This COVID situation with the smell loss has really put into spotlight the olfaction,” said Dr. Bozena Wrobel, a rhinologist and skull base surgeon with Keck Medicine of USC. (Mejia, 2/4)

Los Angeles Times: California Lawmakers Angrily Demand Fixes At Unemployment Agency After Scathing Audits
“Californians are frustrated, they are infuriated, they are fed up. They want a system that works for them,” Salas said during the hearing. Four lawmakers, including Assemblyman Mike Gipson (D-Carson), said they have constituents living in their cars, some of them with children, because of delays in receiving unemployment benefits. “It is inexcusable,” said Gipson, his voice booming with anger. Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) said he knows of a woman who has a doctorate degree and is living in her car, which itself is in danger of being repossessed because she is short of money. (McGreevy, 2/3)

Bay Area News Group: Kaiser Hit With More Fines For COVID-19 Violations
California cited two Kaiser Permanente medical centers in the Bay Area last month for coronavirus-related violations over the last half year or so. The health care giant’s Walnut Creek facility was cited by Cal/OSHA on Jan. 22 and faces a $45,000 fine, in part for allegedly failing to investigate and notify employees who had been exposed to the deadly disease. And its San Leandro medical center was cited on Jan. 4 in part for allegedly requiring employees to use respirators with defective face shields and cracked helmets. The total proposed fine for that center is $87,500. (DeRuy, 2/3)

LA Daily News: LA County, City Officials Urge Olympia Medical Center Operator To Remain Open During Pandemic 
Los Angeles County and city officials joined nurses from Olympia Medical Center on Wednesday, Feb. 3, to urge the hospital’s owner and operator to keep it open amid the coronavirus pandemic. Alecto Healthcare, the owner of the 204-bed facility in Mid-Wilshire, recently sold the property to UCLA Health after announcing it will close the facility in March, drawing criticism from city officials and staff. Alecto did not return requests for comment on Wednesday. (Grigoryants, 2/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Has Taken More Than A Year To Open 30 Beds For Homeless And Mentally Ill
It has been nearly a year since the city began working on a much-needed psychiatric respite center for the city’s homeless and mentally ill — but the sprawling, yellow building in the Mission slated for the project is still vacant. The city announced the new Hummingbird Place respite center last February and hailed it as a small but important step toward helping the city’s most vulnerable. But the hurdles faced in opening the 30-bed site underscore just how long it takes San Francisco to make even incremental improvements to its system of care. (Thadani, 2/3)

Los Angeles Times: This Year's Homeless Count Was Canceled. Is It Time To Rethink It?
Los Angeles County’s annual homeless count is a civic ritual bringing thousands of volunteers together in a common cause. It is also a reckoning with the shortcomings of all that’s been done to salve the county’s most perplexing human crisis. So its cancellation this year due to the risk of spreading the coronavirus has had a multifaceted fallout — a loss of civic engagement, uncertainty over how much the COVID-19 pandemic has added to homelessness and, possibly most consequential, the potential loss of federal dollars that would be triggered by a higher count. (Smith, 2/4)