Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
One School District’s Struggle Over Public Health, Parents and Politics
California officials have been leery of reopening schools without tight protocols, a position favored by teachers unions that has met growing flak from local officials and parents. In Roseville, a suburb of Sacramento, the struggle has come to a head. (Mark Kreidler, )
California To Set Aside 40% Of Vaccine Doses For Vulnerable Residents: California will adopt a system that will allocate 40% of covid vaccine supply to its lowest-income residents, state officials said Wednesday. It will not affect who is currently eligible to get shots. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle, Bay Area News Group, CapRadio and The New York Times.
Medi-Cal, Denti-Cal Customers Told To Report Covid-19 Fees: California Attorney General Xavier Becerra issued a warning to consumers Tuesday about some health care providers reportedly charging a covid-19 fee that many are not obligated to pay. People enrolled in Medi-Cal, Denti-Cal and Medicare may not be charged this fee, which is purported to be for more frequent cleaning and disinfecting during the pandemic. Read more from the Napa Valley Register.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today's national health news, read KHN's Morning Briefing.
More News From Across The State
San Francisco Chronicle:
Reports Of Underdosing At Coliseum Vaccine Site Are False, State Officials Say
State officials are pushing back against a TV report that said thousands of people vaccinated at the Oakland Coliseum this week received doses smaller than they should be. Citing two unnamed emergency medical technicians, KTVU reported Wednesday that about 4,300 people who were vaccinated at the Oakland Coliseum before 2 p.m. on Monday “received the wrong vaccine doses” of the Pfizer vaccine because the syringes left some vaccine in the bottom of the container instead of injecting it all. (Williams, Bobrowsky and Ho, 3/3)
The Bakersfield Californian:
BCSD Announces That It's Administered Over 1,000 COVID-19 Vaccines To District Staff Members
Bakersfield City School District announced on Wednesday that its Wellness Center has now administered more than 1,000 COVID-19 vaccines to district staff members. In a news release, the district said the statistic is an important milestone in the continued effort to return students to campuses this spring. BCSD thanked Dignity Health and President/CEO of Memorial Hospital Ken Keller for work done in securing the supply of vaccines for the district. (3/3)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Vaccinating Everyone Who Wants A Shot In Kern Could Take Until Mid-Fall, Hospital Officials Estimate
Local health-care officials threw cold water Wednesday on any suggestion that everyone in Kern County who wants a COVID-19 vaccination will get one by summer, despite President Joe Biden's assertion the day before that government will have enough shots to inoculate all U.S. adults by the end of May. Mid- to late fall may be a more realistic estimate — and that's if things move quickly, officials at Dignity Health in Bakersfield said during a morning news conference that mixed cautious optimism the pandemic is beginning to come under control with worries the situation could worsen if society stops using masks or the economy fully reopens too soon. (Cox, 3/3)
Ventura County Star:
California Clinics: More Vaccines Going To Rich Than At-Risk
Teresa Parada is exactly the kind of person equity-minded California officials say they want to vaccinate: She's a retired factory worker who speaks little English and lives in a hard-hit part of Los Angeles County. But Parada, 70, has waited weeks while others her age flock to Dodger Stadium or get the coronavirus shot through large hospital networks. The place where she normally gets medical care, AltaMed, is just now receiving enough supply to vaccinate her later this month. Parada said TV reports show people lining up to get shots, but “I see only vaccines going to Anglos.” (Taxin and Har, 3/3)
Napa Valley Register:
Napa County Supervisors To Consider COVID-19 Vaccine Investigation
The Napa County Board of Supervisors is to soon consider investigating whether county processes allowed Supervisor Belia Ramos or others to jump the line to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. Supervisor Diane Dillon brought the topic up at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. She described receiving comments from constituents on Ramos’ first-dose vaccination, a vaccination Ramos has said was proper. Dillon didn’t mention Ramos by name, referring instead to “one of our colleagues.” But Ramos later indicated she clearly understood the remarks as referring to her. (Eberling, 3/3)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Long Before Police Officers Were Eligible For The COVID-19 Vaccine, Some Were Getting Shots
Hundreds of police officers in San Diego County rolled up their sleeves to get COVID-19 vaccines before they were officially eligible under loosely coordinated efforts that matched unused shots with those who wanted protection against the coronavirus. For weeks, police agencies directed officers interested in getting the shots to vaccine sites, including hospitals and a community college, where they were given leftover doses after scheduled appointments were completed. One North County hospital determined police officers were eligible because they transported behavioral health patients. (Kucher and Hernandez, 3/3)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Restaurant Workers Are Getting Vaccinated Ahead Of Indoor Dining. But Safety Concerns Remain
As indoor dining begins opening up around the Bay Area, restaurant workers are just starting to get vaccinated. Generally, they are exhaling — and sometimes crying — with relief. Kristina Costa, a pastry chef at San Francisco’s Tartine Bakery, got her first shot last week and started sobbing as her car pulled into the waiting area. Mary Denham, owner of Marin County bakery pop-up Blooms End, described the feeling as “magic.” (Bitker, 3/3)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Catholic Leaders Raised 'Moral Concerns' Over COVID Vaccines. Here's How S.F.'S Archbishop Weighed In
Two of the country’s most powerful Catholic leaders said Tuesday that the use of fetal stem cells in the manufacturing process of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine raises “moral concerns,” a position that is at odds with the Vatican and California’s Catholic conference, which support all vaccines. “If one has the ability to choose a vaccine, Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccines should be chosen over Johnson & Johnson’s,” Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Doctrine, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said in a joint statement. (Mishanec, 3/3)
LA Daily News:
L.A. County Detects More UK Variant And Now Brazil Mutation
L.A. County laboratories have identified nine more cases of the U.K. coronavirus variant this week and the first case of the Brazilian variant, according to Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer on Wednesday, March 3. Roughly 400 sequences have been sampled in LA County since Jan. 1. Among them, 27 cases of the UK variant were discovered, no cases of the South African variant, 239 cases of the California variant and one case of the Brazilian variant. The limited number of sequences tested led officials to believe the variants coupled with the steep increase in the U.K. variant — roughly 50% in a week — was an indication the variant could be circulating more broadly, Ferrer said. (Rosenfeld, 3/3)
Politico:
Newsom Confident MLB Fans Can Return To California Stadiums In April
California fans can likely catch Major League Baseball games in person when the season begins in April, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. The Democratic governor said his administration is in the midst of "advanced" talks with MLB and county health officials about some fans attending games at outdoor ballparks. He said that could begin by opening day in April if California continues on its downward infection trajectory. (White, 3/3)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Once-Cautious Bay Area Counties Moving Swiftly To Reopen. What's Going On?
With coronavirus case numbers plummeting, vaccinations rising and several Bay Area counties reopening their economy, it feels like the end is in sight for the pandemic. But public health experts warned Wednesday that a false sense of optimism could have deadly consequences, particularly as highly infectious coronavirus variants continue to take hold in the state. “We’ve seen this story over and over again in the Bay Area,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert with UCSF. (Vaziri, 3/3)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
San Diego's Quidel Gets FDA Authorization For At-Home COVID-19 Test
San Diego’s Quidel Corp. got the green light this week for its home-use COVID-19 diagnostic test with a prescription — an incremental step toward the company’s goal of offering rapid COVID tests over the counter at pharmacies and other retailers. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday granted Emergency Use Authorization for the QuickVue At-Home COVID-19 Test for people with symptoms and a doctor’s approval. The antigen test delivers results in 10 minutes. (Greeman, 3/3)
Fresno Bee:
‘I’m Still Not OK.’ Many Fresno-Area College Educators Out Of Work During Pandemic
Due to a decline in enrollment at community colleges nationwide, hundreds of part-time instructors at the State Center Community College District are without a job this semester, according to the State Center Federation of Teachers. The drop in enrollment is due to the shift to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic that has hit community colleges particularly hard. The State Center teachers union puts the number of adjunct faculty who did not return after teaching in spring 2020 at about 500. Many more had their courses reduced. (Panoo, 3/3)
The New York Times:
Los Angeles County Finds Fewer Cases Among Health Care Workers As More Get Vaccinated.
What was once a flood of health care workers catching the coronavirus in Los Angeles County has now slowed to a trickle, in large part because the vast majority of them have been vaccinated, local public health officials said. Reports of new virus cases among health care workers in the county have fallen by 94 percent since late November, just before vaccination began. The statistics are encouraging, both in Los Angeles County and across the country. Some health care workers initially expressed reluctance to get a Covid-19 vaccine shot, often out of fear about the safety of the vaccines, which were hurried into use under emergency authorizations from the Food and Drug Administration. (Sullivan, 3/3)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Bakersfield City Council Denies Appeal, Allows New Veterans Clinic To Move Forward
The Bakersfield City Council unanimously denied an attempt to halt progress on a new veterans clinic local advocates say is much needed for not only Bakersfield, but the surrounding area. In a 7-0 vote Wednesday, councilmembers enthusiastically showed their support for the new clinic, which is slated to be constructed near Olive and Knudsen drives. The project has a long and frustrating history for many Bakersfield veterans. Congress approved the facility in 2010, but construction languished for years. In 2018, the VA awarded San Diego-based firm SASD $40 million for construction. (Morgen, 3/3)
Bay Area News Group:
Oakland Moves To Put Fire Department In Charge Of Mental Health Response Calls, Not Police
When someone has a mental health crisis in Oakland, chances are good in the near future that police officers won’t be showing up to try to calm them down. The City Council this week unanimously signaled that it wants the fire department to handle mental health crises and other non-crime calls by sending out paramedics and counselors. Although residents of Oakland and other cities have long discussed the benefit of dispatching special teams of civilians to deescalate tense situations, the idea picked up momentum in the wake of high-profile police killings of Black Americans and other people of color. (Sciacca, 3/3)
Bay Area News Group:
Urgent Care Center — For Mental Health — Proposed In Tri-Valley
A new type of urgent care clinic could be opening soon in the Tri-Valley — one for people in need of immediate mental health help. The Tri-Valley cities of Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore are considering going in together to fund such a center. Both the Pleasanton and Dublin city councils agreed to help fund the new programing at their Tuesday meetings; the Livermore council will consider it later this month. The program would be run by Axis Community Health, with plans to eventually run it out of their existing clinic offices on West Los Positas Boulevard in Pleasanton. (Ruggiero, 3/4)
The Washington Post:
A City Gave People $500 A Month, No Strings Attached, To Fight Poverty. It Paid Off, Study Says.
Residents of Stockton, Calif., who received $500 a month from a first-of-its-kind guaranteed-income program were more likely to find full-time jobs, be happy and stay healthy, according to a year-long study published Wednesday. Supporters of universal income programs — which provide regular, unconditional payments from the government to people — say the findings should dispel common criticisms of the idea, such as that money with no strings attached disincentivizes people to work or encourages them to spend it on drugs and alcohol. (Kornfield, 3/3)
CIDRAP:
Hotels Found Effective For COVID Isolation, Quarantine For Homeless People
The use of five isolation/quarantine (I/Q) hotels in San Francisco County may have contributed to better public health outcomes among people experiencing homelessness, according to a JAMA Open Network study published yesterday. The I/Q hotels were created so that people who were experiencing homelessness and who had suspected or confirmed COVID-19 could have a place to recover and physically distance. Staff and provided resources took care of residents' general health, dietary, hygiene, and child (eg, diapers, formula) needs, and those who had substance use disorders had access to methods for reducing harm. (3/3)