Good morning! Here are you California health stories for the day.
Hundreds Of Americans Evacuated To California As U.S. Officials Try To Keep Tight Rein On Fast-Spreading Virus: Hundreds of U.S. nationals are stateside once more, as two planeloads of people fleeing the coronavirus outbreak in China landed Wednesday in California. Following the nearly 12-hour flight from Wuhan, China, to Northern California, as many as 250 of the 350 total evacuees from those two planes will be quarantined at Travis for the next two weeks, though none of the 350 had shown symptoms of the virus as of Wednesday morning. Those who are quarantined will be accommodated at Travis’s on-base hotel, the Westwind Inn, Travis officials told base personnel in a Facebook post. A safety cordon was set to be established, to separate the quarantined community at the inn from on-base residences. Read more from Michael McGough of the Sacramento Bee, Colin Dwyer of NPR, Bob Moffitt of Capital Public Radio, and Alejandro Serrano of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Meanwhile, fears of the coronavirus are driving up incidents of discrimination and xenophobia in the state. In Ontario (San Bernardino County), children cornered a half-Chinese boy at school to “test” him for coronavirus, his mother tweeted. In West Hollywood, a customer refused to buy a piece of clothing after an Asian American cashier touched it. Read more from Anna Bauman and Tatiana Sanchez of the San Francisco Chronicle and Josie Huang of the LAist.
California’s Byzantine System For Approving Medical Equipment Often Frustrates Parents Of Children With Special Needs: A recent report by the National Health Law program describes a maze of requirements that families of the approximately 200,000 children with disabling health conditions enrolled in Children’s Services must go through to obtain medical equipment through the program. The requirements vary depending on what county families live in, whether the child is enrolled in Medi-Cal or has private health insurance, and what other entities—such as schools—might be available to provide the equipment. The equipment can include lifts, wheelchairs, walkers, ventilators and hospital beds. The byzantine system creates a disparity where children from families without the means to pay for the equipment out of pocket often must go without it for months or years, limiting their interactions with their community or setting them up for poorer health outcomes compared to their wealthier peers. Read more from Claudia Boyd-Barrett of the California Health Report.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento Leads U.S. In Homeless Families Sleeping Outside
Six months ago, in the middle of the night, Lane’t Lynn’s friend decided she and her two children couldn’t stay with them anymore. Suddenly, they found themselves homeless. Unable to find a shelter, they started sleeping in her car. She thought it would be temporary. It stretched on for six months. They stayed mostly in the parking lot of a Citrus Heights park that had a bathroom. They weren’t the only homeless family staying there, she said. For four days, they stayed in a downtown Sacramento hotel with a voucher she got from the county’s department of human services. But then it expired, and they went back to sleeping in the car. (Clift, 2/6)
Los Angeles Times:
California Cops Resist Calls To Crack Down On Homeless People
Political leaders at the local, state and federal levels are calling for actions that could directly or indirectly expand the responsibilities of cops in managing the tens of thousands of homeless people who live outdoors. But many rank-and-file officers are tired of being asked to be both social workers and enforcers, and top brass are equally critical of such suggestions, arguing that they aren’t equipped to be the front line of this crisis. (Chabria, 2/6)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno CA Mayor Candidate, Council Members Clash On Homeless
Mayoral candidate Jerry Dyer and three council members held dueling news conferences Wednesday, debating the pros and cons of the candidate’s plan to add temporary shelters to a south Fresno area that’s already home to many people living without shelter. The former Fresno police chief rolled out a plan to use large temporary tent-like buildings that would house multiple beds in the open land near the Fresno Rescue Mission. (Miller, 2/5)
Modesto Bee:
Physician Blasts Cancer Treatment Policies At Modesto Hospital
The lawsuit cites numerous cases in which in-house doctors at the hospital pressured cancer patients to opt for end-of-life care. In some instances, cancer treatment or other procedures needed by patients were not provided, the suit alleges. Ursini says an in-house doctor or “hospitalist” did not consult with Williams about her husband’s condition. Other patients and their families are vouching for the skills and knowledge of Williams, who is facing disciplinary action over his disagreements with hospital policies and conflicts with fellow staff members at Doctors. (Carlson, 2/6)
Los Angeles Times:
International Visitor With Measles Infects 4 L.A. County Residents
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials Wednesday confirmed measles cases in four residents after an unimmunized international traveler visited the area. ...This is the second measles exposure in 2020 after a bad year in 2019 in which there were 20 cases among L.A. County residents as well as 14 cases involving travelers to the county, according to public health officials. (Vega, 2/5)
The New York Times:
As China Clamps Down On Negative News, Quarantines On Land And Sea
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, said on Wednesday that China is in a “critical moment” of its fight against the coronavirus epidemic as the death toll and number of infections continued to soar. Health officials in China said on Thursday that 563 people had died from the virus, up from nearly 500 people the day before, and that 28,018 cases had been confirmed. On Monday, the number of confirmed cases was put at 20,438, meaning the number increased more than 35 percent in just a few days. (2/5)
The Washington Post:
Coronavirus Live Updates: Toll Passes 500 With 28,000 Cases In China
Taiwanese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said China had provided the wrong figures of Taiwanese coronavirus cases to the World Health Organization, in the self-ruling island’s latest criticism of Beijing. Whereas Beijing reported 13 cases for Taiwan, officials there said the real figure was 10. (By Thursday, that figure had risen to 13.) In a statement to Reuters, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it had received the numbers in question from the island’s officials. (2/6)
Reuters:
WHO Calls For Improved Data-Sharing On Virus, Says Sending Team To China
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday urged all health ministers to improve data-sharing on coronavirus immediately and said he would send a team of international experts to work with Chinese counterparts. The U.N. agency was sending masks, gloves, respirators and nearly 18,000 isolation gowns from its warehouses to some two dozen countries that need support, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told its Executive Board. (2/5)
The New York Times:
Losing Track Of Time In The Epicenter Of China’s Coronavirus Outbreak
In the mornings, Wuhan is so quiet that bird calls sound down once busy streets. Stray dogs trot in the middle of empty expressways. Residents wrapped in masks creep out of their homes, anxiety flitting across their eyes. They line up at hospitals overwhelmed by a virus that most had not heard of until a few weeks ago. They line up outside pharmacies despite the door signs declaring they have sold out of protective masks, disinfectant, surgical gloves and thermometers. They line up to buy rice, fruit and vegetables from food stores that keep operating, while nearly all other shops are closed. (Buckley, 2/5)
The New York Times:
Why The New Coronavirus (Mostly) Spares Children
The new coronavirus has infected more than 28,000 people, and at least 563 have died. But relatively few children appear to have developed severe symptoms so far, according to the available data. “The median age of patients is between 49 and 56 years,” according to a report published on Wednesday in JAMA. “Cases in children have been rare.” So why aren’t more children getting sick? (Mandavilli, 2/5)
The Wall Street Journal:
Lawmakers Blame CEOs For Rise In Youth Vaping
Lawmakers chastised top executives of five vaping companies at a hearing here Wednesday, blaming them for causing an epidemic of e-cigarette use among young people through targeted marketing. The senior executives said they didn’t now market to young people, and some said they never have. But some congressmen rejected those claims. “Saying you are responsible men, and have integrity, that is not true,” said Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D., N.J.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “I’m upset by hearing constant reference to your integrity.” (Burton, 2/5)
Bloomberg:
Juul Bulks Up Its Science Staff As FDA Vaping Deadline Nears
Juul Labs Inc. has hired former Food and Drug Administration employees and is recruiting more researchers as the top U.S. e-cigarette maker prepares for a regulatory hurdle that will determine its future. The company and its peers must submit applications to the FDA by May 12 in order to continue selling their products. (Lavito, 2/5)
The Washington Post:
VA's Wilkie Calls Deputy's Sudden Firing A 'Simple Business Decision' But Provides Few Answers
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie on Wednesday defended his abrupt firing this week of his deputy secretary, calling the dismissal a “simple business decision” to oust a leader “who was not jelling with other members of the team.” Wilkie also said he wants to work with authorities to review the case of a senior Democratic congressional aide who said she was sexually assaulted at the VA Medical Center in Washington. The secretary, whose characterization of the allegations has been criticized, said he was working to get more answers about how the case was handled. (Rein, 2/5)
The Wall Street Journal:
Merck To Spin Off Slow-Growth Products Into New Company
Drugmaker Merck & Co. will spin off $6.5 billion in assets, including women’s-health products and cholesterol treatments that have lost patent protection, that are equal to 15% of its prescription drug sales. The move to shed the products will allow Merck to focus on faster-growing cancer drugs, vaccines and animal-health items, Merck Chief Executive Ken Frazier said. (Hopkins, 2/5)
Stat:
Gilead Loses Challenge To Two Patents Over An HIV Prevention Pill
In a setback to Gilead Sciences (GILD), a federal panel rejected its bid to invalidate a pair of patents owned by the U.S. government for using the Truvada pill to prevent HIV, a drug that has sparked controversy due to its cost and the extent to which taxpayer dollars funded crucial research. The Patent Trial and Appeals Board ruled that Gilead failed to demonstrate it was likely to win its argument for overturning the patents held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which helped fund academic work into HIV prevention that later formed the basis for the best-selling medicine that is also known as PrEP (here is one ruling and here is the other). (Silverman, 2/5)