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California Healthline Original Stories
Despite Pandemic, Newsom Declines to Boost Local Public Health Budgets — Again
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has, for the third consecutive year, rejected new state funding for local public health departments. Frustrated legislative leaders and public health officials are trying to change his mind. (Angela Hart, )
New Public Health Funding Missing From Newsom's Budget: In spite of a pandemic that has killed about 62,000 Californians, Gov. Gavin Newsom declined to boost the budgets of the state’s covid-exhausted local public health departments -- which asked for $200 million per year, starting in the 2021-22 budget year, which kicks off July 1. If Newsom does not change his mind before the budget is finalized, this would mark the third consecutive year he has denied funding requests to help rebuild California’s devastated public health infrastructure and workforce, threatening the state’s ability to control covid and prepare for future threats, public health experts say. California Healthline's Angela Hart has more on the budget release, as does Los Angeles Times.
And California news outlets cover additional angles of the budget release:
Furious reactions to public health funding: Some of Newsom's fellow Democrats criticized the lack of a boost, while disappointed public health officials also decried the decision.
What other health-related initiatives made the budget cut? More border spending; Medi-Cal expansion for undocumented seniors; infusion for the state's unemployment insurance agency; millions for the Exide cleanup; and other economic recovery programs.
Who else could also lose out? Schools, if they don't reopen.
More News From Across The State
Los Angeles Times:
California Considers Dropping Mask, Distancing Rules At Workplaces If Everyone Vaccinated
California is considering dropping mask and physical distancing rules for employees at work sites if everyone there is fully vaccinated, another major step in moving back to normal as coronavirus cases continue to plummet. The discussions come as employers are considering plans to bring employees back into workplaces, especially those that went to remote work during the pandemic. It also underscores the growing optimism that the vaccine could bring major changes fairly soon. (Lin II, 5/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Back To The Office? 12 L.A. Companies Share Reopening Plans
California employers are still figuring out what a return to the office means amid a global pandemic that has kept millions of office workers at home and disproved long-held myths about remote work. Some are adopting flexible schedules. Some are reopening their offices for a limited number of employees and restricting capacity based on local health regulations. The bottom line? There’s anything but consistency in how employers are handling the return to work. (Masunaga, Darmiento, and Chang, 5/19)
San Francisco Chronicle:
California's Mask Mandate Has An End Date. What About Social Distancing?
In less than a month, Californians fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can begin shedding their face coverings indoors — but will they still need to keep their distance from others? Right now, the future of the state’s pandemic physical distancing guidelines is unclear. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week said fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physical distancing, except when required by state or local rules, including business and workplace guidelines. (Hwang, 5/19)
KQED:
Bay Area Health Officials Support Masking Until June 15
Bay Area health officials released a joint statement Wednesday in support of the state’s recent announcement saying California will wait to align with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s updated masking guidance until June 15. Last Thursday, the CDC updated its guidance to say that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks in most places, indoors and outdoors. But the California Department of Public Health put the brakes on vaccinated Californians eager to go mask-free when it responded earlier this week, saying the state wouldn’t immediately align with the updated guidance and instead will wait until its reopening date of June 15. (Chang, 5/19)
San Francisco Chronicle:
How Well Do You Understand COVID-19 Rates In Your Community?
When the World Health Organization declared a pandemic last March, many people, including celebrities and doctors, called the coronavirus “the great equalizer” because it could infect anyone regardless of their race or socioeconomic status. But there was nothing equalizing about COVID-19, as it turned out: The disease sickened and killed certain communities at far higher rates than others. In diverse, dense regions like the Bay Area, ZIP codes right next to each other can have vast differences in their COVID-19 case and death rates. Using data from the five Bay Area counties which provide data on COVID-19 cases by ZIP code, The Chronicle created a quiz to help you understand how differently the pandemic affected your neighbors. (Sumida and Nielsen, 5/20)
CapRadio:
Sacramento County Must Remain Vigilant Against COVID-19 Even After June 15, New Health Director Says
Sacramento County has tapped a new leader to tackle the latest chapter of the pandemic. Chevon Kothari is the new county Health Services Director, a position that has been vacant since December following Dr. Peter Beilenson’s resignation. Previously, Katari was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom as the chief deputy director of the California Department of Social Services in June 2020. CapRadio's Insight host Vicki Gonzalez spoke with Kothari about why the county has been unable to move out of the red tier of the state's COVID-19 reopening plan, and what has to happen after the state reopens June 15. (Gonzalez and Lew, 5/19)
City News Service:
LA County Maintains Tumbling Coronavirus Infection, Fatality Numbers
Los Angeles County continued to show progress in subduing COVID-19 today, with less than 300 new cases being confirmed, but officials continued to preach the need for more people to get vaccinated to prevent further spread. “Almost everyone getting infected, being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19 this past few weeks is not fully vaccinated," Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement. “If you are already vaccinated, please do your part to help those around you that are not yet vaccinated feel confident that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and work. (5/19)
Orange County Register:
Orange County Reported 51 New Cases And Three New Deaths, May 19
The OC Health Care Agency reported 51 new cases of the coronavirus as of Wednesday, May 19, increasing the total number of cases there have been in the county to 254,882. There have been 681 new cases of the coronavirus reported in the past 14 days. The agency reported three new deaths as of Wednesday. In Orange County 5,034 people have died of COVID-19. (Goertzen, 5/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Two-Thirds Of Adults In California At Least Partially Vaccinated
Two-thirds of adult Californians are now at least partially vaccinated for COVID-19 — a hopeful milestone as the state trudges toward the level of widespread community protection officials and experts believe is necessary to end the pandemic once and for all. To date, 67.3% of residents age 18 and older have gotten a vaccine dose, according to figures the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted Wednesday morning. (Money, 5/19)
Modesto Bee:
CDC, CA Data Show Urban-Rural Divide On COVID-19 Vaccine
COVID-19 vaccination rates in rural adults trailed urban rates by several percentage points nationwide and in California during the first four months of the rollout, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control.The gap may be growing even wider in California in recent weeks as the shots become more widely available, state data show. (McGough and Wiley, 5/19)
California Healthline:
Stark Racial Disparities Persist In Vaccinations, State-Level CDC Data Shows
Black Americans’ covid-19 vaccination rates are still lagging months into the nation’s campaign, while Hispanics are closing the gap and Native Americans show the highest rates overall, according to federal data obtained by KHN. The data, provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in response to a public records request, gives a sweeping national look at the race and ethnicity of vaccinated people on a state-by-state basis. Yet nearly half of those vaccination records are missing race or ethnicity information. (Recht, Pradhan and Weber, 5/20)
Los Angeles Times:
Some Teens Don’t Think They Need The COVID-19 Vaccine. Officials Say They Are Wrong
Health officials are urging that teenagers get vaccinated for COVID-19, warning that youths are not immune to severe complications or to “long COVID,” which can leave patients sick for months. Dr. Christina Ghaly, the L.A. County health services director, said she has heard from many families and teens who say they aren’t ready to be vaccinated, “largely because they think the risk of getting COVID is low” for adolescents in the newest eligible group, ages 12 to 15. (Lin II and Money, 5/19)
Modesto Bee:
How Soon Will You Need Pfizer COVID Vaccine Booster Shot?
The more time the coronavirus has to hop from one person to another, the more opportunities it gets to transform into more dangerous variants that may gain the power to evade COVID-19 vaccines’ defenses. So far, evidence shows the available shots still offer superb protection against the five “concerning” coronavirus variants spreading in the U.S., but vaccine developers are racing to determine if their shots will require an extra dose or booster shot to prevent future vaccine failure. (Camero, 5/19)
CapRadio:
As Counties Expand Vaccine Access, Student-Run Clinic Steps In With Culturally Competent Care For Underserved Communities
Vaccination skepticism has been high in the Sacramento region. A poll from ValleyVision conducted in conjunction with CapRadio in March found that of respondents who haven’t been inoculated against COVID-19, 39% said they would probably not or definitely not get the vaccine. Skepticism was most often caused by concerns about possible side effects and the speed at which the vaccines were developed. The Shifa Vaccination Clinic, staffed by University of California, Davis medical students and undergraduates, is attempting to allay those concerns through a culturally competent vaccination experience. There are translators and scribes at the clinic for those who don’t speak English or for whom English is not their first language, according to co-director Khadija Houda Soufi. (Salanga, 5/19)
Bay Area News Group:
Santa Clara County's New COVID Order Surprises Businesses
Santa Clara County’s new order requiring businesses to determine their employees’ vaccination status is raising a host of questions as employers Wednesday began figuring out what the rules mean and how to meet a two-week deadline to compile the data before California eases COVID restrictions in mid-June. Many employers hadn’t yet heard of the order, a first in the Bay Area that could soon free vaccinated employees from requirements to wear masks and socially distance in the workplace. But that freedom would come at the cost of employers collecting medical information and imposing stricter rules on their unvaccinated employees, an unnerving prospect for some. (Baron, 5/19)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento County Launches Mobile Vaccine Trailers To Reach Underserved Communities
Sacramento County Public Health partnered with the National Guard to give COVID-19 vaccines in their new mobile vaccination trailer, Wednesday, May 19, 2021, outside the Valley Hi Library. They will host pop-up clinics throughout the county. (Byer, 5/19)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento City Schools Halts $6 Million Air Cleaners Order, As Investigation Continues
The Sacramento City Unified School District is demanding Johnson Controls stop sending the remaining air cleaners that were part of its $6 million contract, as school officials continue to investigate whether product claims made by the global building equipment company were true. The original contract with Johnson Controls included 6,000 V-PAC SC air cleaners and replacement parts, and was the district’s largest single purchase made with CARES Act funding last year as school officials scrambled to prepare for reopenings. (Yoon-Hendricks, 5/20)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Prom Will Be Different This Year. San Francisco Rules Will Ban Dancing 'In The Traditional Sense'
Bay Area high school seniors, who already have endured a most unusual year, face another strange twist: a San Francisco prom night on which there will be “no dancing in the traditional sense,” according to city health officials still battling with COVID-19. After a year of mostly staying at home, taking classes via Zoom and wishing for things to return to normal, seniors at some high schools are being allowed a taste of tradition with some typical end-of-the-school-year events — like prom and graduation. (Cabanatuan, 5/19)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Emergency Water Urged For Rural Latino Communities Before California Drought Worsens
California lawmakers should take prompt action before drought conditions worsen by sending emergency drinking water to vulnerable communities in parched regions of the state, legislative advisers say. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office released a report last week providing recommendations on how to address increasingly dry conditions throughout the state. Based on an analysis of the state’s previous efforts for the last major drought, from 2012 to 2016, analysts said lawmakers should start sending emergency water supplies to vulnerable communities in the San Joaquin Valley region, prepare to remove dead and dying trees that can increase the risk of severe wildfires, and hire additional staff, among other actions. (Flores, 5/19)
Los Angeles Times:
California Rent Relief Unspent As Eviction Protection To Expire
Months after the state approved $2.6 billion to help California tenants pay rent amid hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, advocates say a disappointingly low number of people have applied, as the program has been hampered by a slow start, confusion and bureaucratic red tape. The problems have emerged as Gov. Gavin Newsom last week proposed to double the amount available for rent relief to $5.2 billion to pay 100% of back rent owed by many low-income tenants as well as rent for some future months. Now, with state eviction protections expiring at the end of next month, and talks on additional action not yet yielding a proposal, housing advocates say the state needs to do a better job of helping low-income tenants get the rental assistance they need. (McGreevy, 5/20)
Stateline:
Laws To Curb Surprise Medical Bills Might Be Inflating Health Care Costs
New state laws designed to protect patients from being hit with steep out-of-network medical bills may contribute to higher health care costs and premiums, some researchers warn. Lawmakers and advocates who pushed for surprise billing laws say the measures have protected consumers from some of the most egregious bills, which can climb into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. But some researchers recently have raised alarms that doctors and other medical providers are leveraging state laws that rely on arbitration to increase in-network fees, thereby raising health care costs for everyone. (Ollove, 5/20)
National Law Review:
California’s SB-642 Health Care: Facilities: Medical Privileges
On May 3, 2021, the California Senate Health Committee approved SB-642 “Health care: facilities: medical privileges.” The bill is currently pending in the California Senate. AB-705, which is substantially similar to SB-642, is also pending in the California Assembly. If passed, the law will curtail hospital governing bodies’ ability to make decisions about the medical services provided at the facility without medical staff approval, impose new limitations on arrangements between management services organizations and professional corporations, and add additional factors to the Attorney General’s review and approval of nonprofit health care facility transactions. (5/19)
State Of Reform:
How COVID-19 Impacted Health Care Access In California
The pandemic interrupted how the U.S. delivered a lot of services, but none more so than the health care industry. At the height of the pandemic, many Americans deferred care. But until recently, there hasn’t really been research into what the impact of COVID-19 was on health care access in California. In a publication called “The Impact of COVID-19 on Health Care Access”, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) looks at four trends that shed a light on how the pandemic has affected health care access. Specifically, LAO looked at changes in how many Californians have health care coverage, how health care employment has changed, how health care utilization patterns have changed and to what extent Californians have reported delaying or foregoing health care. (Kurle, 5/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Big Tobacco Menthol Targeting Of Black Communities May End
When you ask Debra Lewis about her efforts to quit smoking menthol cigarettes, she will tell you plainly: Quitting crack cocaine was easier. ... Even amid Lewis’s efforts to quit, she disagrees with the federal Food and Drug Administration’s recently announced plans to renew efforts to ban menthol cigarettes. She said her job as a live-in aide for people with intellectual disabilities is stressful and the ban doesn’t consider other items people use, such as weed or alcohol. Reaching for a cigarette, “it seems like all of my cares is lifted away at least for the moment, till the cigarette burns out.” (Evans, 5/20)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento OKs Use Of Court-Ordered Mental Health Treatment
Sacramento County will join a statewide program that gives judges the power to order people to participate in mental health treatment, adding the county more than a dozen others that already offer “assisted outpatient treatment.” Faced with a looming deadline, the Board of Supervisors this week unanimously agreed to add the program to its list of mental health initiatives and services. The topic sharply divided community members between those who praised the effort as a cost-saver and others who said it was coercive and limits liberty. (Finch II, 5/19)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Teaming Up Against Cancer Barbecue Fundraiser Scheduled For May 26
Links for Life will hold a Teaming Up Against Cancer Barbecue on Wednesday, May 26 in the parking lot of the Buck Owens Crystal Palace. According to an event flier, the drive-thru lunch will be distributed between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and will cost $15. It will include a deep pit beef sandwich, chips, water and a cookie. (5/19)
AP:
Schwarzenegger, Abrams Make Pitch For Movie Theater Return
Arnold Schwarzenegger chanted with enthusiasm, “We are back! We are back!” before he spoke Wednesday about the importance of resurrecting the theatrical experience for moviegoers. “Now it’s time to get back to the big screen,” Schwarzenegger told a socially distanced audience at AMC Century City 15 theater in Los Angeles. The actor and former California governor was joined by filmmakers and major Hollywood studio executives as part of the “Big Screen is Back” initiative. Other speakers included J.J. Abrams, Maggie Q, Sam Richardson, Janicza Bravo and David Bruckner. (Landrum Jr., 5/20)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
North County Adult Day Health Center Reopens Doors To Seniors After More Than A Year
After being closed for 14 months, Gary and Mary West PACE in San Marcos re-opened the doors of its adult day health center Tuesday for a small cohort of 30 fully vaccinated members. Throughout the day, members engaged in activities including a visit from a pet therapy volunteer, appointments in the occupational therapy gym, haircuts from a volunteer in the on-site salon, musical entertainment, games and lunch tailored to their health needs. Upcoming sessions will also include group exercise sessions and art activities. (Mapp, 5/19)