Los Angeles Times: Wuhan Lab Leak Theory Gets New Look With Biden Order To Determine Coronavirus' Origin 
President Biden on Wednesday ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to intensify their effort to determine the origins of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, including whether the pandemic began with a lab accident in China. The president’s directive was a rare public statement about an ongoing classified initiative, and it escalated much-debated questions about whether negligence by scientists in Wuhan could have played a role in the spread of a disease that has caused the deaths of about 3.5 million people worldwide. (Megerian and Baumgaertner, 5/26)

Southern California News Group: LA County: Dropping COVID-19 Cases Among Health Workers Prove Vaccine Is Working 
While COVID-19 cases continue declining generally across Los Angeles County, health officials today pointed to plummeting infections and deaths among health care workers as evidence of vaccine effectiveness. Health care workers were the first group of people to become eligible for COVID-19 vaccines beginning in December, just as a winter surge in cases was taking hold. According to the county Department of Public Health, nearly 2,000 new COVID-19 infections among health care workers were confirmed in the last week of December. Last week, there were 24. (5/26)

Bay Area News Group: COVID: Humboldt County Has Highest Case Rate In State, Remains In Orange Tier
Despite an increasing case rate that moved into double-digits, according to the state on Tuesday, Humboldt County remained in the orange tier for another week. The case rate for Humboldt County jumped to 12.5 cases per 100,000 residents. According to state data released Tuesday, Humboldt County has the highest case rate in the state. The case rate exceeds the eight counties that are in the more-restrictive red tier. Under the Blueprint for a Safer Economy, that case rate could have qualified the county for the most-restrictive purple tier; a tier no California counties are currently in. (Schneider, 5/26)

Orange County Register: Coronavirus: L.A. County Reported 205 New Cases And 11 New Deaths, May 26 
Los Angeles County public health officials reported 205 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases to 1,239,280 as of Wednesday, May 26. Officials reported 11 new deaths linked to the coronavirus, for a total 24,194 deaths since tracking began. There were six fewer hospitalizations reported since Tuesday, decreasing the official count of hospitalizations to 319, with 21% in ICU. (Goertzen, 5/26)

The Bakersfield Californian: Kern Public Health Reports 92 New Coronavirus Cases Wednesday 
Kern County Public Health Services reported 92 new confirmed coronavirus cases Wednesday, and no new deaths. That brings the county's case count since the pandemic began to 109,830. There have been 1,385 deaths. The county reports 39,462 people have recovered from their illness, and 67,750 are presumed to have recovered. (5/26)

ABC News: US Health Agencies Will Decide If COVID-19 Booster Shots Are Needed – Not Vaccine Companies
With coronavirus variants popping up across the globe, new questions are beginning to arise about how long the immunity from the vaccines will last, and whether booster shots will be needed to maintain protection against the mutating virus. Although vaccine companies are already in the process of conducting clinical trials for booster shots, and preparing for potential widespread distribution, a decision pertaining to if and when the updated shots will be needed in the months and years to come will ultimately be made by a team of independent scientists and U.S. government officials. (Mitropoulos, Ramanathan, and Salzman, 5/26)

The Washington Post: Resistance To Vaccine Mandates Is Building. A Powerful Network Is Helping.
The Americans lodging complaints against coronavirus vaccine mandates are a diverse lot — a sheriff’s deputy in North Carolina, nursing home employees in Wisconsin and students at the largest university in New Jersey. But their resistance is woven together by a common thread: the involvement of a law firm closely tied to the anti-vaccine movement. Attorneys from Siri & Glimstad — a New York firm that has done millions of dollars of legal work for one of the nation’s foremost anti-vaccination groups — are co-counsel in a case against the Durham County Sheriff’s Office. They’ve sent warning letters to officials in Rock County, Wis., as well as to the president of Rutgers University and other schools. (Stanley-Becker, 5/26)

Los Angeles Times: Despite California's COVID-19 Vaccine Process, Gaps Remain 
Despite the overall progress made in vaccinating residents for COVID-19, vast gulfs in inoculation rates have opened among California’s 58 counties, illustrating the state’s uneven pace toward community immunity against the coronavirus. On one end of the spectrum are the counties of Marin, Alpine, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Diego, where more than 65% of each area’s residents have received at least one vaccine dose, according to data compiled by The Times. (Money, 5/26)

Fresno Bee: COVID-19: Fresno, Nearby CA Counties Slow To Accept Vaccine 
About four people out of every 10 in Fresno County’s total population have received at least one dose of vaccine against COVID-19, and almost one-third of the county’s 1 million-plus residents are now considered “fully vaccinated. ”Those rates, however, lag well behind statewide and national vaccination percentages reported by the California Department of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They indicate that even though new coronavirus cases are fewer and farther between than just a few months ago, Fresno County remains well below the threshold of getting vaccines to 65% to 75% of the population. That’s what health leaders say is needed to provide a level of “herd immunity” in which there are too few people for the virus to effectively spread from person to person and reproduce. (Sheehan, 5/27)

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat: County Health Officials: Death Of Fully Vaccinated Resident No Cause For Alarm
Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase said Wednesday the first pandemic-related death of a fully vaccinated local resident, which was reported Tuesday, is “no cause for concern” about the effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines. Mase said the man, who died in a local hospital last Thursday, was more than 95 years old and had multiple health issues that may have contributed to his death. (Espinoza, 5/26)

The Sacramento Bee: California Prison Workers Can Win Gift Cards, $1,000 Lottery Prize If They Get A COVID Vaccine
California’s federal receivership, which oversees state prison healthcare, is rolling out prizes and a lottery to persuade state prison employees to become vaccinated against COVID-19 in a new effort to persuade reluctant workers to get the shots. The perks include gift cards and a statewide prize of $1,000. (Korte, 5/26)

The Bakersfield Californian: Kern County Latino COVID-19 Task Force Holding Vaccine Clinic In Taft On Thursday 
A COVID-19 vaccination clinic will be held in Taft on Thursday for individuals 12 and older. The clinic is taking place from 2-5:30 p.m. at the Taft Union High School District located at 701 Wildcat Way. All guests will receive complementary tacos and shaved ice. Live music will be played throughout the event. (5/26)

Politico: Newsom After Mass Shooting: 'What The Hell Is Wrong With Us?'
California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded with frustration and anger Wednesday after a gunman killed eight workers at a San Jose light-rail yard, asking, "What the hell is going on in the United States of America? What the hell is wrong with us?" Newsom met Wednesday morning with San Jose officials and labor leaders in the wake of the early morning mass shooting at a Valley Transportation Authority building that was among Northern California's deadliest gun incidents. Authorities said the man killed eight colleagues and injured multiple victims before killing himself. (Marinucci, 5/26)

AP: Killer Of 8 In California Had Talked Of Workplace Attacks
n employee who gunned down eight people at a California rail yard and then killed himself as law enforcement rushed in had talked about killing people at work more than a decade ago, his ex-wife said. “I never believed him, and it never happened. Until now,” a tearful Cecilia Nelms told The Associated Press on Wednesday following the 6:30 a.m. attack at a light rail facility for the Valley Transportation Authority. (Gecker and Mendoza, 5/27)

NPR: We're Seeing A Spike In Workplace Shootings. Here's Why
Workplace mass shootings are rare, but the killing of eight people by a fellow employee at a Northern California rail yard on Wednesday marks the third such rampage in under two months. That could foreshadow a rise in this type of violence after the nationwide shutdown of businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, says Jaclyn Schildkraut, associate professor of criminal justice at the State University of New York at Oswego. (Romo, 5/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: The Nation Is Reopening. Mass Shootings Are Accelerating
The massacre at a light-rail facility near the city’s downtown area marked the nation’s fifth mass shooting in a year that hasn’t yet reached its halfway point, according to a data set by Mother Jones. This is compared with two mass shootings in all of 2020, a year defined by stay-home orders and, accordingly, few public gatherings. At a rate of one per month, this year’s mass shootings are on pace to meet or exceed the number of incidents in recent years before the pandemic, where the data set reports 10 in 2019, 12 in 2018 and 11 in 2017. (Cassidy and Fagan, 5/26)

Sacramento Bee: Gun Buying In California Increased During COVID Pandemic 
Gun purchasing among Californians rose sharply during 2020, and the trend is likely related to the increase in gun violence currently happening across the Golden State. Gun violence experts look at federal background checks to determine the rate of firearm purchasing, and evidence shows that purchasing increases during periods of unrest or crisis. Prior to the pandemic, California was reporting about 100,000 checks in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System per month, according to statistics collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In March 2020, that number shot up to 164,000. Background check rates in California have remained high throughout the pandemic, racial reckoning protests and presidential election of the last year. (Korte, 5/26)

Capital & Main: Billions On Hand, Yet Gov. Newsom Snubs Public Health
As California Gov. Gavin Newsom revised his state budget this month to account for a stunning $75.7 billion surplus, local and county health officials held their collective breath and hoped. They felt they’d more than adequately made their case: Their public health agencies were buckling under the strain not only of pandemic-related responsibilities like contact tracing and testing, but years of chronic underfunding. So they asked for $200 million annually to add staff and beef up resources. Instead, and for the third straight year, Newsom declined to propose any increased funding for the public health departments beyond $3 million to study the issues and determine how much the agencies really need. (Kreidler, 5/26)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego County Will Boost Spending On Public Safety, Social Services 
San Diego County’s public safety departments and its Health and Human Services Agency are expected to get more funding under a draft budget presented to the Board of Supervisors Wednesday. The proposed spending hikes reflect the county’s focus on expanding behavioral health services, reorganizing parts of the criminal justice system and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. (Sullivan Brennan, 5/26)

Stateline: Infrastructure Overhaul Should Focus More On Safety Advocates Say
But as President Joe Biden pushes a huge infrastructure plan and states hash out plans to fix roads and bridges and modernize highways, some critics say safety is getting short shrift. Even though the pandemic kept people off the roads in 2020, traffic fatalities rose by nearly 5%. And the number of pedestrians killed by drivers increased by about 44% between 2010 and 2019. "We need a fundamentally new approach to transportation at the federal level that makes safety the top priority overall for all projects, not just a separate program," said Steve Davis, a spokesperson for Smart Growth America, a Washington, D.C.-based urban planning advocacy group. (Bergal, 5/27)

The Washington Post: Bills Touted By Jon Stewart May Help Millions Of Veterans Get Care For Toxic Exposure
Two measures introduced in Congress by lawmakers this week would overhaul the way the Department of Veterans Affairs cares for millions of former service members who were exposed to toxic substances, from atomic radiation sites in the Pacific to open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. The sweeping legislation, mostly focused on the issue of burn pits from recent wars, would compel VA to presume certain illnesses are linked to exposure to hazardous waste incineration, removing the burden of proof from veterans. (Horton, 5/26)

Los Angeles Daily News: USC Healthcare Workers Authorize A 5-Day Strike 
More than 1,500 healthcare workers at Keck Hospital of USC, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and other university clinics and call centers have authorized a five-day strike as they fight for better pay and benefits and the right to protest unsafe working conditions. After a week of voting, more than two-thirds of workers cast ballots and 96% of the ballots cast supported the action. No strike date has been set, and negotiations are scheduled to resume Thursday, May 27. (Smith, 5/26)

NBC 7 San Diego: San Diego Hospitals Among Local Employers Facing Potential Fines For COVID-19 Safety Violations
Several San Diego-area employers face tens of thousands of dollars in potential fines after the state alleges they had violated COVID-19 infection prevention protocols: putting employees, and in some cases, the public at risk. The California Division of Occupational Health and Safety or Cal/OSHA -- the agency tasked with policing employee safety across the state -- issued the citations and potential financial penalties based on the severity of the violations discovered. NBC 7 Investigates found that local employers cited include two hospitals, an assisted living home for the elderly, and an elementary school district in the South Bay. (Payton and Jones, 5/26)

The Desert Sun: Desert Healthcare District Board Approves Purchase Of Mobile Medical Unit
The Desert Healthcare District Board of Directors on Tuesday unanimously approved the purchase of a nearly $340,000 mobile medical clinic, which will be used to address health needs in underserved areas of the Coachella Valley. The desert has seen an increase in the use of mobile units during the COVID-19 pandemic, which have made testing and vaccinations more accessible to residents in areas with fewer health facilities. (Sasic, 5/26)

Becker's Hospital Review: Tenet Inks Affiliation With California University
Tenet Health Central Coast inked a neurosurgery affiliation agreement with the University of California San Francisco and UCSF Health. Under the agreement, Tenet Health Central Coast patients will gain access to UCSF experts, boosting Tenet Health's ability to provide triage and care to its patients with neurological disorders involving the brain, spine or peripheral nerves. (Paavola, 5/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: Scary 'Long Haul' Symptoms Found In Many COVID Patients, Stanford Researchers Say
More than 70% of COVID-19 patients studied report having at least one “long haul” symptom that lasts for months, including depression, shortness of breath and brain fog, a new Stanford analysis of dozens of research projects finds. Most of the patients studied had suffered moderate to severe COVID cases and had been hospitalized before being hit with lingering problems, the Stanford review found in analyzing 45 research projects from around the world, one of the largest studies of its kind. (Asimov, 5/26)

Axios: Clear Labs' Plan To Use Genomic Sequencing To Track COVID Variants
Clear Labs, a California-based startup that provides rapid genetic sequencing for pathogen surveillance, will announce a new $60 million funding round this morning. Clear Labs' whole genome sequencing can identify the unique genetic code of a pathogen within 24 hours, allowing hospitals or public health agencies to track unusual variants in diseases like COVID-19 as well as food safety threats like salmonella. (Walsh, 5/26)

Sacramento Bee: Do Testosterone Levels Affect COVID Severity For Men?
Evidence collected throughout the pandemic shows men appear to fare worse with COVID-19, on average, than women. Among the many theories doctors and scientists have considered, hormonal differences were and still are at the top of the list of possible explanations. Now, a new study suggests low levels of testosterone — the primary male sex hormone — are associated with more severe COVID-19 in men, increasing their risks for needing intensive care and dying while hospitalized. The more the hormone drops, the more those risks may increase, according to the paper published Tuesday in the journal JAMA Network Open. (Camero, 5/26)

Stat: Panel Loosens Rule On How Long Human Embryos Can Be Grown In Lab
An influential scientific panel cracked open the door on Wednesday to growing human embryos in the lab for longer periods of time than currently allowed, a step that could enable the plumbing of developmental mysteries but that also raises thorny questions about whether research that can be pursued should be. For decades, scientists around the world have followed the “14-day rule,” which stipulates that they should let human embryos develop in the lab for only up to two weeks after fertilization. The rule — which some countries (though not the United States) have codified into law — was meant to allow researchers to conduct inquiries into the early days of embryonic development, but not without limits. And for years, researchers didn’t push that boundary, not just for legal and ethical reasons, but for technical ones as well: They couldn’t keep the embryos growing in lab dishes that long. (Joseph, 5/26)

KQED: San Francisco, Berkeley Schools Plan To Fully Reopen In The Fall 
San Francisco and Berkeley parents can now plan on sending their kids back into classrooms full time next school year. San Francisco Unified School District announced Tuesday that it's "preparing for a full return to in-person learning for all students on August 16, 2021." (McEvoy and Brooks, 5/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: Masks Likely When S.F. Schools Return Full Time; Start Times Will Be Staggered
The San Francisco school district promised a return to five full instruction days a week in the fall and shared new details Tuesday about what a robust reopening will look like. The San Francisco school board had already pledged in April that the district would plan for a full-time fall return, and the superintendent again reiterated that plan. The district also expects to drop health screenings and surveillance testing but keep masking. (Talley, 5/26)

Los Angeles Times: Post-COVID Prom 2021: No Slow Dancing, No Dates, No Banquet 
In the early weekends of California’s phased reopening, teenagers, school leaders and perhaps most of all, parents, have seized on a sliver of an opportunity to try to make up for 14 months of missed dances, homecomings, sports award ceremonies and winter formals by mobilizing eleventh-hour proms like none before them. Depending on the school, parking lots replaced fancy indoor venues. Promposals, the highly orchestrated ask for a date, were tame. The DJ’s music blast tended to waft into oblivion outdoors, which seemed OK because attempts at socially distanced dancing was a bit awkward. Attendees snacked on cotton candy and meatballs on skewers rather than partake in sit-down dinners. And the milestone event — typically subject to a year of planning and committee meetings — came together in a flash, a live curtain call to grateful students after nearly three semesters of COVID-19 isolation. (Gomez, 5/27)

CalMatters: California To Simplify Rent Relief Application 
A new survey finds tenants are having a hard time accessing the state’s $2.6 billion emergency rent relief, which is contributing to the slow distribution of California’s marquee program to thwart a potential statewide eviction tsunami. With one month until the end of the state’s eviction moratorium, the survey of 177 tenant advocates released Tuesday found that tenants had trouble applying in languages other than English and Spanish, and that a lack of digital proficiency and access to documents showing income losses due to COVID limited tenants’ ability to apply. (Duara, 5/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Could Protect Renters Against Eviction Even After State Moratorium Ends
San Francisco will extend the city’s moratorium on residential evictions for three months and could also keep its own version of more generous state tenant protections, set to expire in June, through the end of the year. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved an extension of the city’s moratorium on residential evictions from the end of June to the end of September. Under San Francisco’s ordinance, landlords can evict tenants only for not paying rent, violence, threats of violence, or health and safety issues. (Talley and Moench, 5/26)

Sacramento Bee: Women May Struggle To Recover From COVID Pandemic Job Losses 
Women who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic could be waiting until 2023 to work again, experts warn, even if economic initiatives President Joe Biden has proposed become law. It could take more than two years for women’s employment to return to pre-pandemic levels because the industries women worked in were hit the hardest, according to the National Women’s Law Center, an organization that publishes monthly reports on how the pandemic is affecting women’s employment. Most of the job losses were in the hospitality, education, health, government and retail industries, the organization says. (Chambers, 5/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: State Orders Sweeping Water Restrictions For Towns, Vineyards Along Russian River
Several communities and hundreds of vineyards in California’s Wine Country are being cut off from their water supply because there’s not enough water to go around. State regulators on Wednesday ordered nearly 1,000 water rights holders in the Russian River watershed to stop drawing supplies from the basin’s many rivers and creeks, the latest turn in California’s deepening drought. (Alexander, 5/26)

Los Angeles Times: Tensions Erupt Over Control Of MWD Amid California Drought 
Southern California’s biggest water supplier has chosen a new general manager — but the selection isn’t yet final, and the fiercely contested vote is exposing deep disagreements within the powerful agency as a severe drought grips the region. The Metropolitan Water District’s board of directors voted this month to select Adel Hagekhalil to lead the agency, The Times has learned, replacing longtime head honcho Jeff Kightlinger, who is retiring. Hagekhalil runs L.A.'s Bureau of Street Services and was previously second-in-command at the city’s sanitation department. (Roth, 5/26)

Sacramento Bee: CA Drought Worsens. What’s Ahead For Fish, Farms, Cities 
In just a few weeks, California’s water conditions have gone from bad to terrible. Sacramento residents have been asked to cut water usage 10%. Their counterparts on the Russian River are being told to reduce their consumption 20%.Farmers across the Central Valley are letting fields lie fallow and dismantling their orchards. Government agencies are warning of massive fish kills on the Sacramento River. (Kasler and Sabalow, 5/27)

Stat: As Covid Dissipates In U.S., Colds And Flu May Return With A Vengeance
A curious thing happened during the Covid-19 pandemic: With masks, social distancing, and Purell galore, we kept most other germs at bay. Flu vanished. Cases of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which in a normal winter puts nearly 60,000 children under age 5 in the hospital, were nonexistent. Most of us appeared to sidestep the soup of bugs that cause colds. But as masks come off, schools reopen, and some travel resumes, we should expect a resurgence of these viruses — perhaps a big one. (Branswell, 5/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: A Mother Who's Losing Her Son To Fentanyl Says S.F. Is Failing To Help Drug Users. So She Protested The Dealers
The mother of a son addicted to fentanyl in the Tenderloin stood at Turk and Hyde Streets Wednesday — the epicenter of the neighborhood’s drug trade — in front of a bright red sign that said “Stop fentanyl death.” “Fentanyl is a scourge!” said Jacqui Berlinn, who was flanked by family and friends of those addicted to or killed by fentanyl. “My son did heroin for years, and he just started doing fentanyl this past year. And he has deteriorated faster than he ever did using heroin.” The point of the rally was to bring attention to the flood of fentanyl — an opioid so deadly that it can kill with just a few flecks of powder — on San Francisco’s streets. The drug contributed to a record number of overdose deaths in 2020, and will likely do the same in 2021. (Thadani, 5/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: Federal Judge Rejects Monsanto's Proposed $2 Billion Roundup Settlement
Monsanto Co.’s $2 billion proposal to fend off suits by cancer victims who sprayed the company’s Roundup herbicide on their crops was rejected Wednesday by a federal judge in San Francisco, who said the proposed settlement offered little to Roundup users who may be diagnosed with cancer in the future. More than 100,000 people nationwide who suffer from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other cancers have already sued Monsanto and its parent company, Bayer AG. The companies cite repeated findings by the Environmental Protection Agency that Roundup, the world’s most widely used weed-killer, is safe and can be legally sold without warning labels. (Egelko, 5/26)

Sacramento Bee: West Nile Virus Detected In Dead Birds In Sacramento County 
Sacramento County’s first positive West Nile virus cases of 2021 have been detected in dead birds. The birds — three nestling scrub jays — were found recently in the Galt area, the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District said in a news release Wednesday. “Finding the first indication of West Nile activity is always significant because it provides an early warning,” said Gary Goodman, manager of the mosquito and vector district, in a statement. “It confirms that the virus is present, shows us where we may find positive mosquito samples and where human cases may develop later in the season.” (McGough, 5/26)

Bay Area News Group: After A Year Of Pandemic Isolation, What’s In Store For Californians?
Summer’s just around the bend. At long last, we can collectively exhale in anticipation — and hope — that Summer 2021 will be different from Summer 2020. Here’s to rediscovering old places, delighting in new ones and reconnecting with friends and family with greater appreciation as we recapture time lost and settle into a new normal that just might be better than before. (Gonzales, 5/24)

CapRadio: Annual Yolo County Juneteenth Celebration Will Be Virtual
Yolo County’s annual Juneteenth Celebration will be hosted online on Sunday, June 6, from 1:15 - 3:30 p.m. This year’s theme, “Still WE Rise,” was selected by the event organizers to “inspire community members to think critically about the world they live in and that they can make a difference.” (5/26)

Modesto Bee: Disneyland To Open For All Guests Outside California 
Disneyland opened to California residents in April, but everyone can visit soon. Disneyland Resort announced Wednesday that people outside California can go to the theme parks starting June 15. (Capron, 5/26)