Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
As Threat of Valley Fever Grows Beyond the Southwest, Push Is On for Vaccine
Efforts are underway to bring to market a vaccine for valley fever, a fungal infection with COVID-like symptoms that occurs in the deserts of the Southwest. The illness is getting more attention as cases rise and a warming climate threatens to spread it through the West. (Jim Robbins, )
Cities and States Look to Crack Down on 'Less-Lethal' Weapons Used by Police
Dozens of protesters were injured in recent protests, triggering efforts to limit or ban the use of rubber bullets and other projectiles. (Jay Hancock and Kevin McCoy, USA TODAY and Donovan Slack, USA TODAY, )
Walk-Up COVID Testing Wins Raves: Access to free and convenient coronavirus testing at transportation hubs in the Bay Area and beyond may be the key to slowing high infection rates among low-income Latinos, data released Wednesday from a three-week UCSF testing initiative show. Researchers offered free, walk-up testing in August at the plaza at 24th and Mission streets in San Francisco to gauge the effectiveness of testing in a transit hub. The initiative was successful and should be replicated elsewhere, researchers said. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Former Prisoners Hope For Future As Firefighters: Before the pandemic, thousands of the state’s wildfire crews came from state prisons. But since COVID, many incarcerated firefighters have been released early. That shortage has called attention to the state’s reliance on prison labor to fight fires, and to a longstanding critique of the program: how hard it is for those same people to become professional firefighters once they’re free. This week, the state assembly passed a bill making it easier for some people who served on prison fire crews to clear their record and get an emergency medical technician license; the proposal is now awaiting the governor’s signature. Read more from The Marshall Project.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage and the best of the rest of the news.
More News From Across The State
Sacramento Bee:
What California Lawmakers Sent To Newsom For COVID-19: PPE, Unemployment And Tax Breaks
The California Legislature at the end of its 2020 session this week sent more than a dozen bills aimed at addressing the coronavirus pandemic to Gov. Gavin Newsom, including protections for renters that are intended to minimize evictions. The virus has infected more than 700,000 residents, strained the healthcare system, and put millions of Californians out of work. With no vaccine yet available, it’s unclear how long coronavirus will upend normal life. (Korte, 9/2)
Sacramento Bee:
In California’s New Reopening Plan, When Can Bars, Theaters Open?
State health officials still consider coronavirus activity “widespread” across much of California, but as COVID-19 numbers have trended downward, a new system of guidelines is ushering in more business reopenings for industries, some of which have been yo-yoed for months by changing restrictions. California’s new color-coded system places counties into four tiers based primarily on their recent rates of new infections: purple is “widespread,” red is “substantial,” orange is “moderate” and yellow is “minimal.” (McGough, 9/2)
Deadline:
Newsom’s Little-Noticed Reopening Requirement
When Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced California’s new “simplified” coronavirus tiering system that indicates to what extent a county can reopen, there was one important aspect that received little to no attention. Newsom said on Friday that the color-coded rankings would be predicated on two epidemiological measures: the number of cases per 100,000 residents and test positivity rates. There also will be an “emergency brake” condition that can be employed if a county’s hospitalization numbers become worrisome. But later in his presentation, Newsom mentioned that the state is also considering “equity” among its many populations as a factor. The equity component received little more than a mention in most coverage — if that — and Newsom did not stress the point. (Tapp, 9/1)
Sacramento Bee:
California’s Federal Prisons To Lift COVID-19 Visitor Restriction — And Workers Are Worried
The Bureau of Prisons directed all federal prisons to reopen visitation for inmates by Oct. 3 in a memo sent to wardens on Monday, a move a representatives for correctional officers called “dangerous” and compared it to “opening Pandora’s box.” The Bureau of Prisons suspended visitors coming to see inmates in March amid concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. Six months later, it is directing wardens to open visitation under “non-contact only” rules. (Irby, 9/3)
San Jose Mercury News:
Nancy Pelosi Refuses To Apologize For Salon Visit, Calls It A Setup
“I take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighborhood salon that I’ve been to over the years many times when they said, ‘We’re able to accommodate people one person at a time.’” It wasn’t clear just how Fox News obtained the security camera footage from eSalon on Union Street, showing Nancy Pelosi without a mask on, walking inside the salon, fresh from a shampoo, a man with a mask behind her who appears to be the stylist. But on Wednesday evening, Pelosi’s hair stylist accused the owner of the salon of having it in for Pelosi. (DeRuy, 9/2)
Sacramento Bee:
Here’s Who Is Behind The Video Of Nancy Pelosi Without A Mask In A California Salon
The woman who released video showing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not wearing a mask while visiting a salon is a Fresno native and runs a salon in town. Erica Kious owns Sola Salon Studios on Nees near Palm avenues in north Fresno, as well as three salons in San Francisco, according to her Instagram account and website, esalonfresno.com. (Miller, 9/2)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus County Reviewing Waivers For Schools To Reopen
Some younger students could be returning to campuses in Stanislaus County as early as this month after the area’s COVID-19 infection rate continued to drop, officials said on Wednesday. Public health staff has begun reviewing waivers submitted by schools seeking to reopen. (Guerra, 9/2)
Los Angeles Times:
Santa Cruz Residents Who Defied Fire Evacuations Are Stuck
When authorities ordered Noah Standridge to evacuate his home amid the CZU Lightning Complex fire two weeks ago, he refused to flee. Instead, he stayed behind to knock back the flames encroaching on his hilltop Boulder Creek house — wearing nothing but a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops. ... Standridge and scores of other residents throughout Boulder Creek and Bonny Doon defied evacuation orders as the CZU fire moved through the Santa Cruz Mountains during the last two weeks of August. They are now stuck in the mountains, reluctant to leave, fearing that public safety officers won’t let them return home if they travel out to secure food, water and other necessities. (Rust, 9/2)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Why Is Air Quality Data For The Bay Area So Confusing?
Amid the longest stretch of Spare the Air alerts since the air-quality warnings were instituted nearly 30 years ago, Bay Area residents looking for a sense of whether it’s safe outside as wildfire smoke continues to choke the region have gone online, and then opened their door and taken a breath. As they check the official readings on their apps, the thought strikes some: Something doesn’t smell right.There are two main sources of air quality data: AirNow.gov, a federal website with local partners that include the Bay Area Air Quality Management District; and PurpleAir.com, a website maintained by a company in Draper, Utah, that relies on data from low-cost air-quality sensors that people buy and install on their own. Often, their measurements don’t match up with each other — or with what the air feels like when people breathe it in. (Echeverria, 9/3)
Los Angeles Times:
EPA Chief Announces Projects To Address Border Sewage Spills
Federal investments in Tijuana River Valley infrastructure to address problems with sewage runoff could mean an end to beach closures that have plagued the South Bay in recent years, officials announced Wednesday in San Diego. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler, alongside local political leaders including San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, announced several projects funded in part by the agency at a news conference at the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in San Diego. (Dyer, 9/2)