Masks Now Required Indoors In 7 Bay Area Counties: Starting today, residents of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo, San Francisco, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties must wear masks indoors in public spaces, regardless of vaccination status. The news prompted relief, confusion and anger. Read more from the Bay Area News Group, San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times.
In related news —
San Francisco Chronicle: Thrown groceries and broken glass: Oakland market staff 'verbally and physically assaulted' after reinstating mask policy
All Kaiser Permanente Employees Must Get A Covid Shot: Kaiser Permanente said it now will require all doctors, nurses and staff to get vaccinated. About 78% of its employees and 95% of its group physicians are vaccinated, the health system said Monday. The goal is to become fully vaccinated by Sept. 30. Read more from the Santa Cruz Sentinel, San Francisco Chronicle and Sacramento Bee.
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
LA Daily News:
LA County Coronavirus Hospitalizations Log Four-Fold Increase In Just One Month
The troubling Delta variant sent more coronavirus-infected Los Angeles County residents to hospitals on Monday, Aug. 2. Nonetheless, a new month brought new hope that more people were heeding recent messaging from public health officials to get vaccinated. The state reported 1,138 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, a jump of 42 from Sunday; 248 patients were intensive care, a jump of 12 from the day before. The statistics reflect a nearly four-fold increase just one month’s time — on July 2, only 280 people were hospitalized the virus. (Carter, 8/2)
Orange County Register:
L.A. County Reported 2,361 New Cases And Five New Deaths, Aug. 2
Los Angeles County public health officials reported 2,361 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases to 1,305,704 as of Monday, Aug. 2. This represents 12.9% of the total population of Los Angeles County having been infected with the coronavirus. Officials reported five new deaths linked to the coronavirus, for a total 24,690 deaths since tracking began, or .25% of the total population of the county having died from the virus. (Goertzen, 8/2)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus County’s Deaths To COVID-19 Reach 1,097
Stanislaus County announced two more deaths to covid-19 on Monday, for a total of 1,097 residents since the pandemic emerged. The county Health Services Agency added 410 new cases since Friday, for a total of 59,636 since March 2020. Stanislaus also has 709,093 negative test results and 57,458 people who are presumed recovered. (Holland, 8/3)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Kern Public Health Reports 1 New Coronavirus Death, 594 New Cases Monday
Kern County Public Health Services reported one new coronavirus death and 594 confirmed cases Monday. That brings the count of deaths to 1,426 and the confirmed cases since the pandemic began to 113,810. Thirty-nine delta variant cases have been identified, and there have been 70 alpha variant cases. (8/2)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Coronavirus Cases Surpass Last Summer's Peak
The Bay Area has been averaging more than 1,400 coronavirus cases a day over the past several days, surpassing the peak of last year’s summer surge in mid-August. Regional hospitalizations have not yet reached last summer’s peak, but — despite high vaccination rates in much of the Bay Area — they are not far off: 815 people were in the hospital with covid-19 on July 28 last year, compared with 713 on Sunday. (Allday and Vaziri, 8/2)
San Francisco Chronicle:
These Charts Show Just How Fast COVID Cases Are Rising In California And The Bay Area
Coronavirus data for the Bay Area and California from July shows just how severely cases have spiked due to the highly contagious delta variant. The average case rates for July in both the region and state rose to double digits for the first time since February, when coronavirus cases were beginning to decline after the winter surge. (Hwang, 8/2)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area To Add Staff, Hours For Coronavirus Testing In Face Of Surge In Demand
With demand for coronavirus testing once again surging in the Bay Area, local health officials are gearing up to add staff and hours at testing sites and labs — reversing course on what had been a gradual wind-down of many testing operations. The renewed demand for testing comes as new cases, mostly among unvaccinated residents, continue their steep climb in the region and nation. Statewide and in several Bay Area counties, daily testing plummeted between January and late June, but began ticking back up in early July. The rise started around the time new cases began increasing after the June 15 reopening of California’s economy, and the highly transmissible delta variant took hold as the dominant strain. (Ho, 8/2)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
County, Providers Boost Testing Capacity As Delta-Driven Demand Surges Across Region
Long lines for testing at many locations in San Diego County, driven by a more contagious coronavirus variant surging through the community, are prompting a return to the kind of high-volume centers that largely went away as vaccination campaigns significantly slowed the pace of the pandemic this spring. (Sisson, 8/2)
USA Today:
McDonald's Mask Policy: Customers And Workers To Wear Masks Again
McDonald's is requiring customers and employees to wear masks again at U.S. restaurants located in areas with high or substantial transmission of the coronavirus. The fast-food giant is the largest national chain to add the requirement back for both employees and customers following updated masking guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Tyko, 8/3)
CNBC:
Facebook To Require All U.S. On-Campus Employees To Wear Masks
Facebook on Monday announced it will begin requiring all of its employees to wear masks when on its campuses in the U.S., regardless of an employee’s vaccination status. “The health and safety of our employees and neighbors in the community remains our top priority,” a spokeswoman for the company said in a statement. “Given the rising numbers of COVID cases, the newest data on COVID variants, and an increasing number of local requirements, we are reinstating our mask requirement in all of Facebook’s U.S. offices, regardless of an employee’s vaccination status.” (Rodriguez, 8/2)
Axios:
Target Reinstates Mask Mandate For Employees In High-Risk Counties After CDC Guidance
Target will start to require masks for employees in high-risk counties across the United States starting Tuesday, the company announced Monday. The new policy comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued updated guidance recommending vaccinated people wear masks in indoor, public settings if they are in parts of the country with substantial to high transmission. (Frazier, 8/2)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Marin Is The Most Vaccinated County In California, But Cases Are Surging In One Community. Here's Why
While Marin County’s vaccination rates are among the highest in the nation, with 86.5% of eligible residents fully vaccinated, the rate is far lower in Marin City, at 59.5%, according to county data. County officials and health experts, now racing against the rampant delta variant, are working to change that — backing grassroots efforts to counter vaccine hesitancy, as well as widespread misinformation about covid-19 vaccines. (Hwang, 8/2)
Mosaic 2021:
South Bay Health Care Workers Divided On Whether To Be Vaccinated
As COVID-19 cases rise and employers wrestle with whether to require vaccinations, South Bay health care workers are split on the issue, even as they acknowledge the dangers of the coronavirus. “Honestly, I am more scared of getting the vaccine than being worried about getting COVID,” said 28-year-old medical assistant Itzel Zamora, who works in Palo Alto. She has not gotten vaccinated. However, Laura Sanchez, a COVID-19 tester in Silicon Valley, is vaccinated, and she thinks others should get the vaccine as well. (Diaz, 8/2)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Yes, It's Legal For Restaurants And Bars To Require Proof Of Vaccination For Customers. Here's Why
A growing number of Bay Area restaurants and bars are asking patrons to show their vaccine cards before entering, leading to some online backlash and confusion about the practice’s legality. Can restaurants legally require their employees and customers to be vaccinated? The short and simple answer is yes, but there are a few caveats. And no, they aren’t related to the false notion that businesses requiring customers to show proof of vaccination constitutes a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act violation. (Bitker, 8/2)
Los Angeles Times:
Covid Vaccine Proof Amid Delta Spread In L.A.: What To Know
With the Delta variant of the coronavirus spreading, an increasing number of institutions are requiring proof of vaccination in hopes of protecting both workers and the public. The current surge in cases is hitting the unvaccinated community hard. People who are vaccinated enjoy strong protections. (Wigglesworth and Shalby, 8/2)
Bay Area News Group:
Brentwood District Schools Reporting COVID-19 Cases Days After They Reopen
With in-person classes open less than a week, dozens of students and staff at two Brentwood school districts are being quarantined after being exposed to 13 peers in elementary schools and 10 in high schools who apparently have covid-19, authorities confirmed Monday.Brentwood Union School District Superintendent Dana Eaton said that through contact tracing, it’s been determined that none of the 13 elementary school students caught the virus on campus. (Prieve, 8/2)
Orange County Register:
Face Mask Mandate In Schools Raises Ire, Praise And Confusion In Orange County
With schools about to re-open and face-to-face instruction set to resume, school officials throughout Orange County are hearing from parents who hold opposing views about a state mandate that requires most students, teachers and staff to wear masks when indoors at a California public school. On one side are parents who welcome the safety of masks, especially with covid-19 spiking again in Southern California and around the country. These parents argue that the driver of the new surge, the Delta variant, is more transmissible than previous versions of the sometimes fatal disease and the masks-for-all rule helps protect kids and figures to slow community spread. (Kopetman, 8/2)
Los Angeles Times:
California School Mask Mandate Doesn't Faze Students
Some high school students take “mask breaks” and go outside for gulps of unfiltered air. They are irked by the beads of sweat on their upper lip in the heat, but nothing that a quick swipe can’t handle. They have learned to talk louder in class. A student sitting at her desk plans for a drink of water — mask down, sip, mask up. And sports conditioning while masked? Exhausting yet better than sitting at home. As California begins to return to fully reopened campuses this month for in-person learning, the state’s mandatory mask rule will continue to be part of the new normal for all K-12 schools, which join a growing list of counties and public places that require indoor masking amid the covid-19 surge fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant. (Gomez, 8/3)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F.'s New Drug Crisis Response: Teams To Offer Care Following Overdoses
As San Francisco struggles with an exploding drug epidemic that killed more than 700 people last year, a new city-run response team hit the streets Monday to try to help people who survive an overdose. The hope is to prevent a future, potentially fatal overdose by directing people to resources and treatment. The influx of fentanyl, a powerful opioid, has exacerbated the city’s drug crisis over the past few years, with fatal overdoses rising from 441 in 2019 and 259 in 2018. (Shaikh Rashad, 8/2)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Bakersfield City Council To Vote On Placing Mental Health Clinician In 911 Dispatch Center
Mental health crises result in the highest number of calls to the Bakersfield Police Department dispatch center. Now, the city hopes to have an expert in place to field those calls before police must respond. On Wednesday, the Bakersfield City Council will vote on staffing the city’s law enforcement communication center with a behavioral health clinician to handle non-emergency mental health calls. According to Kern County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, which would supply the clinician, the arrangement is among the first in the country. (Morgen, 8/2)
San Francisco Chronicle:
BART Service Returns To Near-Normal Levels, But The Post-Pandemic Future Could Be 'Something Different'
In some ways, it looked like pre-pandemic BART on the first day the service returned to near-normal, a milestone of sorts for the Bay Area’s struggling public transit system that lags the nation in its recovery. But a BART commute Monday morning also showed signs of the system’s uncertain road back as it works to restore service to near pre-pandemic levels. (Cano, 8/2)
AP:
Some Areas Of South Tahoe Closed Due To Animals With Plague
Officials are closing some areas on the south shore of Lake Tahoe after some chipmunks tested positive for plague. The Tahoe Daily Tribune reports that the Taylor Creek Visitor Center, Kiva Beach and their parking areas will be off limits through Friday.
During that time, the National Forest Service will be conducting vector control treatments to those areas. El Dorado County spokeswoman Carla Hass said the chipmunks that were tested had no contact with any people. (8/2)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A.'s New Homeless Encampment Law: Humane Or Cruel?
A sweeping ordinance outlawing camping around parks, libraries and other facilities was approved last week by the Los Angeles City Council. Mayor Eric Garcetti quickly signed the ordinance, which is expected to go into effect next month. The ordinance marks the city’s latest attempt to address homeless camping at a time when business leaders, neighborhood groups and others are voicing alarm over reduced access to sidewalks, parks and other public spaces. (Zahniser and Oreskes, 8/2)
Los Angeles Times:
How L.A. Finally Cleared Most Venice Beach Homeless Camps
After a month of intensive outreach, persuasion by police and park rangers, and painstaking separation of valuables from the jerry-built structures and furnishings, Robles and Moore were two of the roughly 200 campers who were removed from the famed half-mile stretch. All were offered someplace else to live — a few in apartments, many in private but temporary rooms in hotels, and a few in congregate shelters. Most took up the offer. The beach and the boardwalk, with its clothing stores, henna tattoo stalls and restaurants, among other attractions, had few tents left Friday after an intense six-week infusion of resources to help the unhoused sleeping there find new places to stay. (Oreskes and Molina, 8/2)
Bay Area News Group:
Bay Area's COVID-19 Rents Plummeted — But Not For Everyone
Although Bay Area rents fell through the early months of the covid-19 pandemic, one group benefited less than others — low-income tenants. The cost of older, cheaper apartments, usually rented by low-wage workers and others on fixed government incomes, dropped far less than newer properties. And in Alameda County, rents for low-cost apartments by May had risen rose above pre-pandemic levels. (Hansen, 8/2)
CalMatters:
California Eviction: A Hidden Crisis In Long Beach
Undocumented families, aging homes, high unemployment: The root causes for a cluster of evictions in this Southern California blue-collar port city. (Duara, 8/2)
KQED:
Immigration Advocates Go Back To Court In Bid To End Trump COVID Measure Blocking Asylum-Seekers
Immigration advocates who had been negotiating with the Biden administration to end a Trump-era rule that blocks most migrants from entering the United States have given up waiting. The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups are going back to court. They plan to file a preliminary injunction to stop the continued use of the Title 42 public health law that has allowed border agents to swiftly remove tens of thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers arriving at the southern border. (Ordoñez, 8/2)
The New York Times:
Biden Administration Will Keep Using Covid Rule To Limit Border Immigration
With the number of migrants crossing the southern border surging and the pandemic proving to be far from over, the Biden administration has decided to leave in place for now the public health rule that has allowed it to turn away hundreds of thousands of migrants, officials said. The decision, confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday, amounted to a shift by the administration, which had been working on plans to begin lifting the rule this summer, more than a year after it was imposed by the Trump administration. The C.D.C. said allowing noncitizens to come over the border from either Mexico or Canada “creates a serious danger” of further spread of the coronavirus. (Sullivan and Kanno-Youngs, 8/2)
NPR:
Title 42 Back In Court To Try To End COVID Measure Blocking Asylum-Seekers
Immigration advocates who had been negotiating with the Biden administration to end a Trump-era rule that blocks most migrants from entering the United States have given up waiting. The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups are going back to court. They plan to file a preliminary injunction to stop the continued use of the Title 42 public health law that has allowed border agents to swiftly remove tens of thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers arriving at the southern border. (Ordoñez, 8/2)