San Francisco Chronicle: Insights From 3 Years Of Bay Area Google Searches About COVID-19
The Bay Area this week marks three years of living with COVID-19, and many people are still figuring out how to cope with the aftereffects. As in other places around the nation, local residents turned to Google for answers to their questions. But what they searched for over the duration of the pandemic continuously evolved — from general questions about the virus and its initial impact to inquiries about the social and economic implications of COVID-19. (Caughey, 3/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Nine Charts Show S.F.'s Pandemic Changes
The coronavirus pandemic fundamentally altered San Francisco’s future when, three years ago Thursday, health officials and Mayor London Breed ordered residents to shelter in place. The health crisis and unprecedented shift to remote work hollowed out downtown and triggered a calamity for residents, business and property owners, transit agencies and city leaders. Devoid of office workers and tourists, restaurants and shops closed permanently and streets were eerily empty. The scars of the pandemic are still visible, with downtown still a shadow of life before the virus. (Li and Avila, 3/16)

Bay Area Reporter: Entering 4th Year, Castro Grapples With Effects Of COVID 
The beginning of the COVID pandemic in 2020 marked a dark turning point in the lives of many people around the world, and that's as true of San Francisco's LGBTQ Castro neighborhood as anywhere. But even as the pandemic's direct influence on day-to-day life ebbs and COVID enters its fourth year — President Joe Biden took heat last fall for saying "the pandemic is over" though hundreds of people continued to die on average each day — the aftereffects are hard to overstate. (Ferrannini, 3/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: That Settles That: FDA Says Paxlovid Does Not Cause COVID-19 Rebound
There is no clear association between Paxlovid and COVID-19 reinfections, Food and Drug Administration staff said in briefing documents released Tuesday. In its analysis of the oral antiviral pill manufactured by Pfizer, the agency said the likelihood of a phenomenon known as “viral rebound” — symptoms and apparent infectiousness coming back after completing a five-day course of the drug — was roughly the same for people who took Paxlovid and those who did not. (Vaziri, 3/15)

The Washington Post: One Of Largest Fertility Clinic Mishaps In U.S. Settled Out Of Court
An appeal of a landmark jury verdict that awarded nearly $15 million to five people who lost embryos and eggs in a fertility clinic mishap has settled out of court. The amount of the agreement is confidential, according to a court filing. ... More than 2,500 embryos and 1,500 eggs belonging to more than 400 people were in the cryo-preservation tank at Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco when it malfunctioned in March 2018, according to a court filing. It is unclear how many of those people will share in what may be a substantial monetary settlement. (Bernstein, 3/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Systemic Failures’ Enabled Doctor To Abuse Boys, Lawsuit Claims
Thirteen men who say they were sexually abused by a psychiatrist working for the San Mateo County juvenile justice system are suing government agencies in the county, arguing “systemic failures” allowed the pedophile doctor to abuse hundreds of boys for decades. The psychiatrist, Dr. William Ayres, died in prison in 2016 after pleading no contest to multiple counts of sexually abusing five other boys.  (Bollag, 3/15)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego Threatens To Sue Falck For Ambulance Response Time 
San Diego’s plan to fundamentally change ambulance service in the city has hit a roadblock that could prompt city officials to file a breach-of-contract lawsuit against private ambulance provider Falck over its staffing and response times. (Garrick, 3/16)

KRON4: Thirteen Inmates Overdose On Fentanyl In California Jail In One Week
Thirteen inmates overdosed on fentanyl at Elmwood Correctional Facility, and three staff members were impacted after being exposed to the drug while treating the inmates, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. (Gaines, 3/15)

The Mercury News: Fentanyl Overdoses Reported At Santa Clara County Jails
As the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office contends with a spike in fentanyl overdoses at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas, the medical examiner-coroner’s office has identified a 44-year-old inmate who died after apparently coming into contact with the opioid last week at the Main Jail in San Jose. Deputies at the Main Jail were conducting welfare checks around 8:20 a.m. on March 11 when they found 44-year-old Roland Wrigley unresponsive on the floor of his cell, Sgt. Michael Low said in a statement. (Green, 3/15)

AP: 8 Children Sickened At LA School After Eating Marijuana
Eight children were sickened at a Los Angeles school on Wednesday after eating marijuana gummies, authorities said. (3/15)

Los Angeles Daily News: LA Mayor Bass’ Team Is On Track To House 4,000 Homeless Angelenos By Next Week
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says that more than 4,000 homeless Angelenos will have been housed, including more than 1,000 through her Inside Safe initiative, by next week when she hits her 100-day mark in office. That figure, she believes, will keep her on track to house 17,000 homeless people by the end of her first year as mayor, as she had said she’d do while on the campaign trail. (Tat, 3/15)

Los Angeles Times: Mayor Karen Bass Says The City Will House 4,000 Homeless People During Her First 100 Days
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Wednesday that she expects the city will have housed more than 4,000 homeless Angelenos by the time she reaches her 100th day in office. Bass, appearing with her team at a City Hall discussion on homelessness, said she expects about 1,000 of those people will come from her Inside Safe program, which has been taking unhoused people off the streets and checking them into city-leased hotels and motels. Of the remaining 3,000, the vast majority are benefiting from housing programs put into motion before Bass took office, her team said. The mayor reaches her 100th day on Tuesday. (Zahniser, 3/15)

Orange County Register: Huntington Beach Mayor, A Fierce Critic Of State Housing Mandates, Lives In Affordable Housing 
Huntington Beach Mayor Tony Strickland, who is leading the charge against a lawsuit accusing the city of ignoring California’s affordable housing mandates, lives in an affordable housing development himself on the city’s west side, but insists that doesn’t make him a hypocrite. Strickland, a former state senator and assemblyman who owns a political and business consulting firm, has since 2018 resided in an 1,800-square-foot condominium on Breezy Lane in the upscale Cape Ann community, which was built for those who qualify to purchase units based on family income limits. (Schwebke, 3/15)

Voice of OC: Fighting California’s Housing Goals While Living In Affordable Housing
After long nights spent boxing the state over local housing goals, Huntington Beach Mayor Tony Strickland goes home to a condo on Breezy Lane. It’s part of a residential community built in 1999, and there’s a reason that Strickland’s residing there has been of interest to his critics: It’s affordable housing. ... While living there, Strickland and his Republican council colleagues have fought against state-mandated goals to increase the town’s housing stock, including affordable homes, through lawsuits and news conferences outside of City Hall. (Pho, 3/15)

KQED: Landlord Backlash Prompts Return To Pre-Pandemic Rules In Alameda County
During the pandemic, Alameda County supervisors approved some of the strongest protections in California for tenants facing evictions. But last month, the board abruptly changed course — rejecting a slate of proposals designed to keep renters in their homes. The turn comes amid backlash from property owners that could signal future resistance statewide, some tenant and landlord advocates say. (Rancaño, 3/15)

CapRadio: Newsom Administration To Provide 1,200 Tiny Homes Statewide, Including 350 For The Sacramento Region
Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration will provide 1,200 tiny homes to cities and counties around California in an effort to shelter unhoused people in the state, which has the highest rate of homelessness in the nation. Sacramento will receive 350 homes, Los Angeles will get 500, San Jose will receive 200 and San Diego County will obtain 150. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg confirmed the city and county expected to receive “several hundred” of them, noting officials have struggled to provide shelter as the region’s unhoused population has surged. (Nichols and Nixon, 3/16)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Residents Could Get $500 A Month Under Basic Income Program. Here’s How To Apply 
Families in the city of Sacramento can now apply to be one of 80 households chosen for the second edition of a local guaranteed basic income program. Chosen participants will receive monthly payments of $500, no strings attached, for 12 months starting in July 2023. (Miller, 3/15)

Orange County Register: An Anti-Homeless Play List: Classical Music At LA Metro Subway Station
Playing robust classical music, which in February included operas and marches, is one of several tactics LA Metro is deploying to cut crime and reduce loitering by the homeless and drug dealers who use the station’s dark corners for anything and everything but transportation. The hope is that if there’s less crime and less unpleasant activity, more passengers may choose to ride. (Scauzillo, 3/15)

Politico: Newsom Skips State Of The State And Heads Out On A Tour Of California 
He does things differently in part because of a lifelong struggle with dyslexia. The learning disability makes reading speeches difficult — which is why Newsom loathes using a teleprompter, Clegg said. “To this day you’ll never see me, including at a press conference today, ever read anything,” Newsom said on a February podcast with David Axelrod, “with one exception: those torturous exceptions where a teleprompter is required, and I will have to spend 100 hours on a one-hour speech just to feel comfortable with the words on the screen.” (White, 3/15)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Hepatitis A Cases Now At 11; No Signs Of An Outbreak Similar To The One In 2017 That Killed 20 
Many feared another hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego County when public health officials warned of a small increase in cases, largely among those experiencing homelessness, in mid-February. (Sisson, 3/15)

Times Of San Diego: SD County Closes Buccaneer Beach, South Ponto State Beach Due To Sewage Spill 
The county Department of Environmental Health and Quality Wednesday announced the closure of Buccaneer Beach in Oceanside and South Ponto State Beach in Carlsbad near the Batiquitos Lagoon outlet due to a sewage spill. (Ireland, 3/15)

CalMatters: California colleges rush to get more students on food assistance before pandemic rule ends
Students, add this to the to-do list between now and finals week: Apply for federal food assistance before the fast-approaching end of a rule that allows more folks to qualify. Starting June 10, students whose families could not contribute a dollar to their education or who are approved for federal or state work-study programs will no longer be automatically eligible for CalFresh, the program formerly known as food stamps. Instead, students will have to seek those benefits through a stricter set of eligibility rules that limit how many low-income people enrolled in college can receive food aid. (Kuang and Zinshteyn, 3/16)

The New York Times: His Wife Was Dying, but 10 Feet of Snow Stood in His Way
Two days into the relentless snowfall it became clear: There would be no leaving the mountains. Robert Rice was initially unfazed by warnings of the impending storm. The 79-year-old had lived for more than four decades in the same home in Running Springs, a community tucked into the San Bernardino National Forest. Snow had often blanketed the landscape. ... But as flurries fell at a record pace, stacking high outside his windows, Mr. Rice received distressing news. (Knoll, 3/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: As Texas Judge Weighs Abortion Pill Ban, Here’s What’s At Stake
The conservative federal judge who is considering a ban on mifepristone holds a hearing in his Texas court Wednesday in a case that could halt the sale of the nation’s most widely used abortion drug, even in states like California whose constitutions guarantee a right to reproductive choice. The hearing called by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of Amarillo was somewhat of a surprise, as he has received extensive written arguments from both sides and had been widely expected to issue a ruling based on those briefs. (Egelko and Bollag, 3/15)

The Washington Post: Texas Judge Seems Open To Claim Abortion Drug Was Not Properly Vetted
The federal judge who could upend access to a key abortion medication seemed open on Wednesday to the argument that the drug had not been properly vetted and could be unsafe — claims the Food and Drug Administration and leading health organizations strongly contest. While the antiabortion group challenging the drug acknowledged there is no precedent for a court to order the suspension of a long-approved medication, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk questioned whether mifepristone has met the rigorous federal standard necessary to be prescribed to patients in the United States. He asked a lawyer for the group whether the court could unilaterally withdraw FDA approval for a drug, and engaged with attorneys for both sides about whether mailing the pills should be prohibited because of a 19th-century law that bans sending articles “for any indecent or immoral use” through the Postal Service. (Stein, Kitchener and Marimow, 3/15)

NBC News: Judge Appears Sympathetic To Abortion Pill Challenge In Texas Hearing
During the four-hour hearing, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk appeared sympathetic to arguments from the lawyers for a coalition of anti-abortion groups called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. Their goal in filing the suit was to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the pills used to terminate pregnancies, which account for more than half of abortions in the U.S. (Victoria Lozano, Burns, Bendix and Siemaszko, 3/15)

NPR: U.S. Judge In Texas Hears Case That Could Force Major Abortion Pill Off Market
Kacsmaryk has a number of options, from leaving the drug on the market to restoring rules around mifepristone that the FDA and the Biden administration have eased. Recent changes include allowing mifepristone to be mailed or dispensed by retail pharmacies. And in 2016, the agency decided to allow mifepristone to be used during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, up from seven weeks. During the hearing, Kacsmaryk appeared to be considering whether he should order the drug to be taken off the market right away or order the FDA to take some other action. (Chappell and McCammon, 3/15)

CNN: Kavanaugh And Alito Said Judges Would Be Out Of The Abortion Equation. That’s Not The Case
When the Supreme Court reversed federal abortion rights last June, Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion stressed that “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh went further, separately emphasizing that the controversy would now be one for state officials and that judges would no longer undertake the “difficult moral and policy questions” related to when a woman is allowed to end a pregnancy. But the drama Wednesday in a Texas courtroom over medication abortions demonstrates that judges remain at the center of access to abortion in America and reinforces the possibility that another battle over reproductive rights could soon land at the high court. (Biskupic, 3/16)

Axios: Biden Admin Lays Out Medicare Drug Negotiation Process
The Biden administration on Wednesday began fleshing out how it will implement drug-pricing provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act, including a multi-step negotiation process for selected Medicare drugs starting next year. (Bettelheim, 3/16)

Reuters: U.S. Issues Initial Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Guidance 
The U.S. government will select the Medicare program's 10 costliest prescription medicines based on gross spending for negotiating price cuts that will go into effect in 2026, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said on Wednesday. CMS will only accept one formal written counter offer during the negotiation process, but will allow up to three additional in-person or virtual negotiation meetings, the agency said in initial guidance issued on Wednesday for its Medicare drug price negotiation program. (Aboulenein and Erman, 3/15)

Stat: Medicare Explains How It Will Choose Drugs For Negotiation
Medicare laid out Wednesday in the greatest detail yet how it will choose which drug prices it will negotiate in its brand-new program, and how it will figure out what the government’s opening offer will be. (Cohrs, 3/15)

The Hill: Biden Administration Names First Round Of Drugs To Face Medicare Rebate Penalties 
In a press briefing, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said her agency will invoice the drugmakers for these rebates beginning in 2025. “The Medicare prescription drug inflation rebate program is strengthening Medicare by making prescription drugs affordable for millions of people and discouraging drug companies from increasing prices faster than inflation,” Brooks-LaSure said. “It’s also protecting Medicare for our children and grandchildren.” (Choi, 3/15)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Maternal Mortality Hits Highest Level Since 1965
The number of women who died during pregnancy or shortly after rose 40% to 1,205 in 2021, compared with 861 in 2020 and 754 in 2019, the National Center for Health Statistics said Thursday. The increase pushed the maternal-mortality rate to 33 deaths per 100,000 live births, the highest since 1965, compared with 24 in 2020 and 20 in 2019. (Toy, 3/16)

AP: US Pregnancy Deaths Dropped In 2022, After COVID Spike
Deaths of pregnant women in the U.S. fell in 2022, dropping significantly from a six-decade high during the pandemic, new data suggests. More than 1,200 U.S. women died in 2021 during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth, according to a final tally released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2022, there were 733 maternal deaths, according to preliminary agency data, though the final number is likely to be higher. (Stobbe, 3/16)

CIDRAP: COVID-Related Stress During Pregnancy Tied To Later Distress For Moms And Babies 
Women who experience COVID-related stress during pregnancy have worse mental health 1.5 years after giving birth, and their babies show more distress and irritability, finds a follow-up study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 3/15)

CIDRAP: Study Finds Most Mpox Videos On TikTok Are Incomplete, Inaccurate
An analysis of mpox-related TikTok videos found the quality was low and the information provided was frequently incomplete and inaccurate, researchers reported yesterday in BMJ Global Health. Using a hashtag-based search strategy, the researchers identified 2,462 mpox-related videos from January 1 to August 11, 2022, and analyzed 85, evaluating them for content on features and treatment of mpox. (Dall, 3/15)