Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
How to Pull Off a COVID-Era Music Festival
One woman’s attempt to create a festival celebrating diverse music ran up against the reality of the pandemic this year. But it also yielded lessons in how to reimagine events in the COVID era. (Chaseedaw Giles, )
‘Hope For The Future’: First Californians Receive COVID Vaccine: They made history Monday at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center on Sunset Boulevard. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and other officials were present as the first five health care workers received the Pfizer vaccine. “I’m very excited that we have the vaccine, because it provides hope for the future,” said Helen Cordova, an ICU nurse and the first health care worker at the facility to receive the vaccine. Read more from the Los Angeles Times and Bay Area News Group. Continued coverage, below.
COVID Tally Reaches New High: California has shattered another grim record — more than 42,000 coronavirus cases in a single day, breaking a record set just a week ago. The number of people in the intensive care units with COVID-19 has also soared, climbing to 2,967 on Sunday. That’s more than quadruple the number from Nov. 1. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
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
CNBC:
FDA Staff Endorses Emergency Use Of Moderna’s Covid Vaccine In A Critical Step Toward Approval
The staff of the Food and Drug Administration endorsed the emergency use of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine in a report released Tuesday, a critical step forward in winning formal clearance to be administered to the public as early as next week. The staff report is meant to brief the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, which meets Thursday to review Moderna’s request for emergency use authorization. The group of outside medical advisors recommended Pfizer’s vaccine for emergency use last Thursday, and the FDA approved it the next day. (Lovelace Jr., 12/15)
LA Daily News:
First Wave Of Coronavirus Vaccines Arriving All Over Southern California
Even as grim statistics revealed no sign that the unrelenting coronavirus surge was loosening its grip on Southern California, hope arrived at hospitals and other deployment sites Monday, Dec. 14, in the form of the first doses of Pfizer’s long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine. (Rosenfeld, 12/14)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
First Shipment Of Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine Arrives In San Diego County
A vaccine against the worst pandemic the world has faced in a century arrived in San Diego Monday morning. The news raised the spirits of many throughout the county, including Solana Beach resident Michael Denisevich. In his own small way, Denisevich had made this day possible by participating in Pfizer’s vaccine trial. (Wosen and Dyer, 12/14)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Hospitals Prep For Imminent Vaccine Rollout
Local health officials were optimistic Monday the first shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine will arrive at local hospitals any day now, bringing a glimmer of hope to an increasingly dire situation in Kern County, which is seeing a record level of new cases that foretell many difficult weeks ahead. Vaccine shipments will be delivered directly to local hospitals — which continue to fill with COVID-19 patients — so that frontline health care workers who are at the highest risk of contracting the virus can be the first to receive the vaccine. (Shepard, 12/14)
LA Daily News:
Southern California Nursing Homes Ready For Their Own Coronavirus Vaccine Rollout
Nursing homes around the region were gearing up Monday, Dec. 14, to receive the first doses of COVID-19 vaccines for their staff and residents while battling the region’s explosive surge of novel coronavirus cases. Los Angeles County announced last week that it was pulling nursing homes out of a federal COVID-19 vaccine distribution program with Walgreens and CVS in order to have “quicker vaccination and higher vaccine coverage.” Facilities in the county are now readying to conduct vaccinations of their residents and staff on their own with the Moderna vaccine as early as Dec. 21. (Gazzar, 12/14)
Orange County Register:
Coronavirus Vaccines For Orange County Delayed Until Wednesday
‘Tis the season for package delays. Orange County will get its first shipment of 25,350 coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday, Dec. 16, instead of Tuesday as had been expected, said Dr. Margaret Bredehoft, the OC Health Care Agency’s deputy agency director for Public Health Services. As Gov. Gavin Newsom watched health care workers get the state’s first shots in Los Angeles on Monday, hospitals in Orange County were nailing down when their shipments would arrive, and when they could start asking workers to roll up their sleeves for the highly-anticipated shot, produced by Pfizer and BioNTech. (Wheeler and Sforza, 12/14)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus County Secures Cold Freezers To Store Incoming Vaccines – Thanks To Stan State
The first allocation of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is expected to arrive in Stanislaus County on Tuesday, a record-breaking four days after receiving emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. To prepare, Stanislaus County Office of Emergency Services had to secure ultra-cold freezers. So they reached out to Stanislaus State University researchers, who stepped up to help the community. “We’re looking at the public health crisis of the century,” said Jim Youngblom, “We are thrilled to help.” (Mink, 12/15)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Some San Diego Advocates Say People Of Color Have Questions About Vaccine
As the first doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine arrived Monday, destined for San Diego’s health care workers, a local civil rights advocate tweeted about safety questions and accused the drug company of insufficient outreach to communities of color. Rev. Shane Harris, founder The People’s Alliance for Justice, shared in a now-deleted tweet that he would not get a Pfizer vaccine and would not encourage community members to take it. (Lopez-Villafana, 12/14)
LA Daily News:
LA, Long Beach Ports Among Those Asking Officials To Prioritize Dockworkers For Coronavirus Vaccine
A coalition of organizations critical to the nation’s international trade operations has asked the elected executives of the West Coast states, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, to prioritize dockworkers for coronavirus vaccinations — arguing they are vital to keeping the economy strong. (Littlejohn, 12/14)
KQED:
Amid Rollout, SF Health Director Warns 'Vaccine Will Not Crush This Curve'
The first doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine arrived in California Sunday night at Los Angeles International Airport. Within hours, the Bay Area received its first delivery of 2,000 doses at San Francisco General Hospital. But you wouldn’t have known it from listening to Monday's coronavirus briefing by one of the city’s top health officials. Grant Colfax, San Francisco’s director of health, instead delivered a sober analysis of the city’s latest surge — COVID-19 cases are up 50% since Thanksgiving — and asked people to take a “step back and realize how dire our situation is at this point.” (Stark, 12/14)
Fresno Bee:
COVID-19 Cases Climb In Fresno, ICU Burden Eases Slightly
Ten days ago, Fresno County hospitals reported they collectively had only five beds available in their intensive-care units to treat seriously ill patients, as COVID-19 added to an already burdened healthcare system. ICU capacity remains strained in Fresno County and throughout the Valley, but the number of available beds has ticked up slightly since that critical shortage. The state Department of Public Health reported 13 available intensive-care beds in Fresno County on Sunday. (Sheehan, 12/14)
Bay Area News Group:
Coronavirus: California's Explosive Surge Continues Over The Weekend
California’s explosive surge of COVID-19 continued over the weekend, as positive tests came back in record numbers, hospitalizations climbed to another new high and fewer ICU beds were available than ever before. County health departments combined to report 24,588 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, despite only a quarter of the state’s 58 counties issuing updates, according to data compiled by this news organization. With more than 222,000 new cases in the past week — an average of more than 31,700 per day — more Californians have tested positive in the past seven days than all of October and September, combined. (Webeck, 12/14)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Intensive Care Units Struggle To Staff Growing COVID-19 Caseloads
Anemic staffing levels continued to put a pinch on San Diego County’s intensive care capacity Monday, with several facilities out of staffed ICU beds, according to one report. And COVID-19 cases in hospitals continued to rise past the 1,000 mark Monday. (Sisson, 12/14)
LA Daily News:
LA County Hospitals Stretched Thin, Region’s ICU Index Hits 2.7% As Coronavirus Surge Worsens
Los Angeles County saw yet another record day of coronavirus hospitalizations on Monday, Dec. 14, as state officials reported 4,403 people were being treated for the virus in the county’s hospitals. Across the Southern California region, only 2.7% of adult intensive-care beds were available. (Munguia, 12/14)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
More Than 6 Million Have Signed Up For California's COVID-19 Alert System
Since the launch of California’s COVID-19 alert system for smartphones, 6 million people have signed up and hundreds have been informed of a possible exposure, health officials said Monday. (Winkley, 12/14)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Who Is Getting COVID-19 In San Diego County?
Data is provided by San Diego County, and any changes to county methodology are reflected in these charts. These charts are updated as the data becomes available. (Byvik, Gilchrist, Wheaton, Guerrero and Schroeder, 12/14)
Fresno Bee:
Calculator Can Tell You Your Risk Of Death From COVID
Studies and statistics alike have shown that people over 65 and those with underlying health conditions face the highest risks of dying from COVID-19 compared to the rest of the population. But what exactly are the odds of mortality for those individuals, as well as for everyone else who doesn’t fit in those categories? (Camero, 12/14)
Southern California News Group:
New Laws Aim To Better Protect California Nursing Home Residents, Essential Workers From Infectious Outbreaks
When the coronavirus pandemic struck, some health care workers resorted to wearing trash bags over their clothes and bandanas around their faces in a desperate effort to protect themselves. And as the unfamiliar virus ravaged nursing homes, it became clear these facilities needed all the infection control guidance they could get. The pandemic has spawned a couple of new California laws that aim to better prepare the state and health care facilities, including nursing homes, for future infectious disease outbreaks. But as the state faces a new surge of infections, some of the provisions of these laws won’t go into effect for nearly a year or longer. (Gazzar, 12/14)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
California Sues To Force Amazon To Comply With COVID Investigation
California is taking Amazon to court to force the online retail giant to cooperate with a months-long investigation into whether the company is doing enough to protect its workers from the coronavirus, Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said Monday. (McGreevy and Hussain, 12/14)
San Francisco Chronicle:
California Attorney General Seeks Amazon Coronavirus Data
California is ratcheting up pressure on Amazon to turn over information on how it handles the coronavirus at its sprawling network of facilities in the state. The move is part of a mounting campaign California employers have faced from Sacramento this year to disclose virus infections at work and protect workers, even as congressional Republicans have sought to protect companies from lawsuits seeking to hold them liable for workplace infections. (DiFeliciantonio, 12/14)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Workplaces A Major Driver Of COVID-19 In Sonoma County
The rate of new coronavirus cases continues to soar in Sonoma County as county residents and businesses are again living with drastic limits on their lives from a new stay-home order. As of Saturday, about 180 people on average have tested positive for COVID-19 each day since Dec. 1, more than double the number during the same time period last month. (Johnson, 12/13)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. City Attorney Files Multimillion-Dollar Lawsuit Against Underground Nightclub LA Party Society
After documenting evidence of activity at the site for months, including multiple shootings, the city has filed a lawsuit against the LA Party Society’s manager and others associated with the venue, seeking millions of dollars in damages for allegedly holding crowded events amid a surging pandemic, City Atty. Mike Feuer said Monday. “Beyond the bullets and the assaults and the other criminal activity, I want to emphasize that packing people into an indoor space — an unlicensed club — during the pandemic, is the height of irresponsibility,” Feuer said at a livestreamed news conference. (Seidman, 12/15)
Capital Public Radio/KXJZ:
Disability Activist Calls For More ADA-Accessible COVID-19 Testing Sites In Sacramento
Brenda Bongiorno, a spokeswoman with the county, said that there are 14 county-sponsored testing sites, and just one of them is drive-through only. The others, which are mostly located at various churches, community centers and health centers, are appointment-only and are open on specific days of the week, according to the county’s website. “Currently, the sites are being assessed by the County for ADA accessibility. The assessments should be completed soon,” a statement from a county health department spokesperson said. “If there are areas of improvement, the County will work with each site on an appropriate action plan.” (Mizes-Tan, 12/14)
Orange County Register:
Nurses, Medical Staff To Strike At 3 Local Hospitals
Registered nurses and other healthcare professionals at three area hospitals have called a 10-day unfair labor practice strike, claiming their facilities are understaffed and lacking in adequate COVID-19 protections. Workers at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, Riverside Community Hospital and West Hills Hospital and Medical Center announced the action Monday following a strike authorization vote that won overwhelming support at each facility. The employees, represented by SEIU Local 121 RN, plan to strike Dec. 24 through Jan. 3. Union members gave the hospitals 10 days advance notice to allow ample time to bring in temporary replacement staff. (Smith, 12/14)
Fresno Bee:
California Workers Appear Likely To Lose Two Weeks Of Paid Sick Leave As COVID-19 Surge
Even as California sets new records for COVID-19 cases, millions of workers in the state stand to lose two weeks of paid sick leave and additional weeks of paid family leave by the end of the year. Congress has yet to extend those leave programs past Dec. 31, and lawmakers remain deadlocked over any compromise. California earlier this year created its own sick leave program, but it is written in a way that it will expire at the same time the federal programs end. (Park and Lightman, 12/15)
San Francisco Chronicle:
‘Tough Choices’: San Francisco Faces Massive Budget Deficit That Could Force Layoffs
“We have to be clear-eyed about what the possibilities are if we don’t address this deficit, and every option unfortunately is on the table,” said Jeff Cretan, the mayor’s spokesman. “The mayor continues to have the priority to not lay anyone off. But we know this deficit is going to take a lot of work and sacrifice and tough choices.” Despite the looming cuts, Cretan said the mayor’s budget priorities remain the same: supporting small businesses, delivering essential services, and helping homeless and mentally ill people. (Moench, 12/15)
Bay Area News Group:
Coronavirus: State Releases Guidelines For Youth Sports
The guidance defines high-contact sports as team sports with frequent or sustained close contact between participants and high probability that respiratory particles will be transmitted between participants; moderate-contact sports as team sports that can be played with only incidental or intermittent close contact between participants; and low-contact sports as individual or small group sports where contact within six feet of other participants can be avoided. Inter-team competition will not be allowed in the state until Jan. 25 at the earliest, according to the guidance. (Sabedra and Green, 12/14)
Capital Public Radio/KXJZ:
Farmworkers Need Stockpile Of N-95s For Wildfire Season, California Lawmakers Say
A handful of California lawmakers want to avoid future mask shortages while wildfires are raging. Hollister-based Democratic Assemblymember Robert Rivas recently proposed legislation to create a stockpile of N95 masks to help protect farmworkers from smoky conditions. The measure also calls for government “strike teams” to help farmers deliver the face coverings to workers. “We want to ensure that agriculture has the resources, especially when we're asking them to have the ability to provide their workers with the appropriate face coverings in the event of a wildfire,” he said. (David Romero, 12/14)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Pacific Health Education Center To Host Christmas Food Giveaway
The Pacific Health Education Center will host a Christmas food giveaway this Thursday to help the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The "Pull Up and Pick Up Drive-Thru Event" will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday in the parking lot of the Pacific Health Education Center at 5300 California Ave. The first 100 vehicles with a pre-registered ticket will be admitted. (12/14)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
San Diego's Locanabio Raises $100 Million For Treatments Aimed At Degenerative Diseases
Locanabio, a San Diego gene therapy company focused on treatments for severe neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease, has raised $100 million in a second round of venture capital funding. (Freeman, 12/14)
Sacramento Bee:
How Bad Is Sacramento’s Homeless Crisis? A Key Measure Likely Won’t Happen In 2021
A federally-mandated count to determine whether the Sacramento homeless crisis has grown, and by how much, will likely not happen this year. Due to concerns that the count cannot be conducted safely during the coronavirus pandemic, officials from the Sacramento Steps Forward homeless nonprofit are asking permission from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to allow it to skip the 2021 count. The survey, known as the Point in Time count, occurs every other winter, and was set to take place in January 2021. At least 16 other California localities, including Los Angeles, are seeking permission to cancel their 2021 counts, according to Sacramento Steps Forward. HUD is expected to approve the request. (Clift, 12/15)