Los Angeles Times: Could Omicron Variant Cause Less Severe COVID-19 Infections? 
Some health officials are calling it a hopeful sign that the first people known to be infected with the Omicron variant have had mild symptoms of COVID-19, although they warned it is still far too early to understand the implications of the newest coronavirus variant of concern. A report issued over the weekend by the South African Medical Research Council said most of the patients in a Pretoria hospital who are believed to be infected with Omicron weren’t hospitalized because they had COVID-19 but for another medical reason. (Lin II and Money, 12/06)

The New York Times: Early Omicron Reports Say Illness May Be Less Severe 
The Covid-19 virus is spreading faster than ever in South Africa, the country’s president said Monday, an indication of how the new Omicron variant is driving the pandemic, but there are early indications that Omicron may cause less serious illness than other forms of the virus. Researchers at a major hospital complex in Pretoria reported that their patients with the coronavirus are much less sick than those they have treated before, and that other hospitals are seeing the same trends. In fact, they said, most of their infected patients were admitted for other reasons and have no Covid symptoms. (Chutel, Perez-Pena and Anthes, 12/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Glaxo Says Its Covid-19 Antibody Drug Works Against Omicron 
GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology Inc. said their Covid-19 antibody treatment retained effectiveness against the Omicron variant in laboratory studies, even as early data suggests that similar treatments work less well against the highly mutated strain. The results provide hope that at least one monoclonal antibody therapy—a form of treatment that has proven useful in blunting severe disease—will remain effective against Omicron, which has been detected in dozens of countries including the U.S. since it was identified by scientists in South Africa two weeks ago. (Roland, 12/7)

Los Angeles Times: USC Student, Overseas Traveler Are L.A. County’s 2nd And 3rd Omicron Cases
Officials reported Los Angeles County’s second and third confirmed cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus Monday: a USC student who had recently returned from the East Coast and someone who traveled from western Africa. Both the USC student, who officials said had been traveling for the holidays, and the traveler who came from western Africa were fully vaccinated and had mild COVID-19 symptoms. (Money and Lin II, 12/6)

Southern California News Group: LA County Confirms 2nd Omicron COVID-19 Case 
A college student has become the second confirmed person in Los Angeles County to contract the omicron variant of COVID-19, public health officials confirmed Monday morning, Dec. 6. The person, who was fully vaccinated and developed mild symptoms, had traveled to the East Coast for the holidays, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said in its announcement. (Haire, 12/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Here’s How Many Omicron Cases Have Been Identified In California And The Bay Area
With at least 30 cases of the highly mutated omicron variant now identified in the United States — including two new cases reported in Los Angeles County on Monday — health experts can’t yet say whether it will pose a bigger threat than the delta strain, which is still driving the national coronavirus pandemic. So far six coronavirus cases have been identified as omicron in the Bay Area: one reported on Tuesday in San Francisco, which was the first in the U.S., and a cluster of five in Alameda County that were reported on Friday. Alameda County officials characterized those five as being in an outbreak of 12 coronavirus cases, but have not yet said if the other seven were identified as omicron. (Allday, 12/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Omicron Variant In California: Delta Still Drives Case Uptick, Scattered Omicron Infections Popping Up
Bay Area experts say that despite worries about the omicron variant’s ability to spread quickly, nothing yet known about it warrants behavior changes outdoors. California now has reported nine omicron cases in all, though public health officials said they expect to find many more in the coming weeks. As colleges of all kinds grapple with how to come back from a pandemic that deepened existing educational inequities, some students are wondering if they can. (Beamish, 12/7)

KQED: Scientists Find Traces Of Omicron In Sewage From Sacramento And Merced 
Scientists testing sewage in California say they've detected evidence indicating a low-level presence of the omicron variant in Sacramento and Merced. The research team found small concentrations of a mutation characteristic of omicron in samples taken from wastewater treatment plants in the two cities, but caution that the results do not indicate yet that the variant is widely circulating. (Dillon and Rodriguez, 12/06)

San Francisco Chronicle: Should I Take Extra Precautions Outdoors Because Of Omicron? Here’s What Experts Advise
With much still to be learned about the highly mutated and fast-spreading omicron variant, questions are growing about whether increased protection is needed — against both indoor and outdoor transmission. Scientists are racing to learn whether omicron’s mutations make it more transmissible than the dominant delta variant —and leading experts are advising people to choose more-protective masks or double-mask indoors. But nothing about omicron yet warrants changes to behavior outdoors, health experts say. (Vainshtein, 12/06)

The Wall Street Journal: However You Pronounce ‘Omicron,’ You’re Probably Saying It Wrong 
The World Health Organization’s decision this year to use letters of the Greek alphabet to name Covid variants is a source of both honor and consternation for Greeks and Greek-Americans. “We always take a secret pride in Greek being used for scientific purposes—even if it is to describe a variant that creates a new level of panic in all of us,” said Sylvia Papapostolou-Kienzl, a host of a Sunday morning Greek-language radio program in New York. That was true for earlier variants such as Alpha or Delta, which didn’t trip up most non-Greek speakers. Omicron, though, showed that such prominence can come at a cost: a mangled parlance that amplifies academic rifts over ancient and modern pronunciations. (Andriotis and Sugden, 12/6)

The Washington Post: Gen Z Most Stressed During Covid Pandemic, Citing Toll On Mental Health 
Gen Z is feeling the stresses of the pandemic more than any other age group, according to a new U.S. survey released on Monday. Higher proportions of young Americans between the ages of 13 and 24 say the pandemic has made their education, career goals and social lives more difficult, compared with millennials and Gen X. (Jeong, 12/7)

CIDRAP: Blood Pressure Up During Pandemic? You're Not Alone, Study Finds 
Middle-aged US adults' blood pressures climbed during the COVID-19 pandemic, likely owing to increased stress and alcohol consumption, decreased physical activity and medication adherence, poor sleep, and disrupted access to healthcare, according to a research letter today in Circulation. Cleveland Clinic researchers mined data from more than 460,000 US participants in a national Quest Diagnostics employee wellness program who had undergone blood pressure screening every year from 2018 to 2020. Average age was 46 years, and 54% were women. (Van Beusekom, 12/6)

CIDRAP: Hispanic Race, Diabetes, Poverty Tied To Higher Rates TB Plus COVID-19
Tuberculosis (TB) and COVID-19 were disproportionately diagnosed in close succession and more than twice as likely to lead to death among Californians who were Hispanic, had diabetes, or lived in areas of low health equity than those diagnosed as having TB before the pandemic, finds a study published late last week in JAMA Network Open. Researchers from California public health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) examined state health surveillance records for residents diagnosed as having TB from Sep 3, 2019, to Dec 31, 2020, and COVID-19 up to Feb 2, 2021, and compared them with those diagnosed as having TB from Jan 1, 2017, to Dec 31, 2019, or COVID-19 alone until Feb 2, 2021. (12/6)

Los Angeles Times: Los Angeles Covid Fraud Ring Leader Gets 10 Years In Prison 
An Encino real estate broker was sentenced Monday to more than 10 years in prison for her role in a family fraud ring that stole $18 million in emergency pandemic loans largely through fake businesses in the San Fernando Valley. Tamara Dadyan, 42, is one of eight convicted conspirators in the scam that was led by her brother-in-law, Richard Ayvazyan. Ayvazyan and his wife, who bought a $3.25 million house in Tarzana with proceeds from the loan scam, were convicted at a trial in June, but fled after slicing off their ankle monitoring bracelets. Ayvazyan was sentenced sentenced in absentia last month to 17 years in prison and his wife to six years. (Finnegan, 12/06)

The Washington Post: U.S. Coronavirus Cases Approach 50 Million 
The total number of reported coronavirus cases in the United States marched toward 50 million early Tuesday, as New York City imposed a vaccine mandate for all private employers, federal health authorities warned against travel to several European countries and more nations tightened restrictions on the unvaccinated. The omicron variant of the virus, which is possibly more contagious than the widespread delta variant, had been found in 19 U.S. states as of Monday — just five days after the first known case in the country emerged in California. That number reflected the potentially heightened transmissibility of the newest variant and an improved system for detecting it. (Jeong, Suliman, Bernstein, Sellers and Villegas, 12/7)

Bay Area News Group: COVID-19: San Jose Sharks To Enforce Vaccine/Test Directives For Kids
Starting Thursday, kids ages five to 11 will need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have proof of a negative test no more than 72 hours old to attend Sharks or Barracuda games, or any other event at SAP Center. Children ages 3-4 will require proof of a negative test. The mandate by the State of California and City of San Jose on mega-events had been in effect since Nov. 18, but this is the first week the directive will be enforced. (Peshelka, 12/06)

Marin Independent Journal: Marin Study Links COVID Decline To School Reopenings
COVID-19 infections declined in Marin as schools in the county reopened for in-person learning last year, according to a new study. The study, published last month in the peer-reviewed national medical journal Cureus, tracked attendance at 77 transitional kindergarten through eighth-grade Marin schools from Sept. 8, 2020, to Jan. 21. (Brenner, 12/7)

CalMatters: California Schools: Equity Becomes Flashpoint 
Equity. That’s one of the buzzwords that will likely dominate conversation in California’s capitol next month, when state lawmakers return to Sacramento to consider, among other things, possible legislation to remove the personal belief exemption from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s student COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Stressed school leaders have mixed feelings about that, with some warning it could push thousands of kids — disproportionately from underserved communities — out of the classroom and into remote learning, widening an educational achievement gap that only grew during the pandemic. (Hoeven, 12/06)

San Francisco Chronicle: Has The Pandemic Put College Further Out Of Reach For Californians?
California’s community college system served 70% of the 2.8 million public college undergraduates in the state last year, making it a bellwether for the attainability of a higher education. And it’s been a durable one in times of economic distress, when downsized workers look to update their skills or pivot to different career paths, said Paul Feist, the system’s vice chancellor for communications. “Usually during a recession, we see a counter-cyclical trend of an enrollment increase,” Feist told The Chronicle. Not this time. The pandemic fanned what had been a smoldering decline in community college enrollment in recent years, both statewide and nationally. In California as elsewhere, those closer to the margins felt the bigger impacts. (Hosseini, 12/06)

Los Angeles Times: 28% Of L.A. Metro Workers Haven't Reported Being Vaccinated 
More than a quarter of L.A. County Metro employees have yet to show proof that they are vaccinated against COVID-19, despite the transportation authority imposing a recent deadline for workers to get the shots or face possible termination. The latest figures from Metro indicate that 72% of its employees have shown they were vaccinated. Those numbers, which do not include workers out on leave, are lower among some categories of employees — most notably operators and schedule checkers, who reported only a 58% vaccination rate. (Reyes, 12/6)

The Bakersfield Californian: Boys & Girls Clubs Hosting Vaccine Clinics At Clubs Throughout December 
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County is hosting a series of COVID-19 vaccine clinics for those ages 5 and older throughout December at the following times and locations: (12/6)

CIDRAP: Study: COVID Vaccine-Related Myocarditis Mild, Resolves Quickly
Today in Circulation, researchers report that most cases of rare yet potentially serious episodes of myocarditis related to COVID-19 vaccinations in teens and young adults were mild, and the case-patients recovered quickly. Myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, often follows bacterial or viral infections. In June 2021, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a link between mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and increased incidents of myocarditis, especially in boys and men 12 to 29. (12/6)

Reuters: Mixing Pfizer, AstraZ COVID-19 Shots With Moderna Gives Better Immune Response -UK Study
A major British study into mixing COVID-19 vaccines has found that people had a better immune response when they received a first dose of AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech shots followed by Moderna nine weeks later, according to the results on Monday. "We found a really good immune response across the board..., in fact, higher than the threshold set by Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine two doses," Matthew Snape, the Oxford professor behind the trial dubbed Com-COV2, told Reuters. (Aripaka and Marks, 12/7)

AP: Biden Touts Savings On Insulin And Other Drugs For Americans 
President Joe Biden pledged Monday that his social agenda legislation would deliver tangible savings on prescription drugs for all Americans. Relief that consumers have clamored for is now in sight, he asserted. But first the bill has to pass Congress, where plenty of obstacles remain in its path. Biden tried to shift the focus to pocketbook provisions overlooked in the political machinations over his $2 trillion legislation, which deals with issues from climate to family life and taxes. Even before concerns over rising inflation, polls consistently showed support from Americans across the political spectrum for government action to lower drug costs. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/6)

The Hill: Biden Points To Drug Prices In Call For Senate Social Spending Vote 
Biden called prescription drugs "outrageously expensive in this country," saying, "It doesn't need to be that way." "To really solve this problem, we need the Senate to follow the House of Representatives' lead and pass my Build Back Better bill," he said. Lowering drug prices is one of the most popular parts of Biden's sweeping climate and social spending measure, and Democrats are looking to tout the changes and hammer Republicans for opposing them. (Sullivan, 12/6)

CalMatters: Nursing Homes Sue California To Overturn Citations, Fines 
The California Department of Public Health, which regulates nursing homes, investigated and in September 2020 fined the nursing home $60,000, concluding that the patient’s care at Longwood Manor Convalescent Hospital was so deficient that it could have killed him. But the nursing home’s operator, Longwood Enterprises, Inc., has sued the state to overturn the fine, saying the alleged violations were not serious enough to merit the amount, according to a complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court last December. (Feder Ostrov, 12/06)

The Hill: Study: Test Detects Signs Of Dementia At Least Six Months Earlier Than Standard Method
A study released Monday concluded that a self-administered test detected signs of potential dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, at least six months ahead of the standard testing method, suggesting the exam may help doctors diagnose patients sooner. The self-administered gerocognitive examination (SAGE) test picked up on signs of cognitive impairment months earlier among patients than the often used mini-mental state examination (MMSE), according to the research published in the journal “Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy.” (Coleman, 12/6)

The Hill: Study Casts Doubt On Idea That Marijuana Improves Sleep
Scientists say using marijuana could harm sleeping habits, according to a new study published Monday. The study, published in the journal BMJ, showed that adults who used marijuana at least 20 times in the last month were 64 percent more likely to sleep less than six hours per night and 76 percent more likely to sleep over nine hours per night. (Beals, 12/6)

Bay Area News Group: California Drought: Wasting Water? You Could Be Hit With A $500 Fine
Hosing off the driveway. Watering lawns within 48 hours of a rain storm. Washing a car without a shut-off nozzle. Any of those wasteful practices could soon be illegal in drought-stricken California, with fines of up to $500 for violators. Seven months after Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency for most counties in California, his administration is moving forward with something water conservation experts said should have happened long ago — crafting statewide rules to ban the egregious wasting of water. (Rogers, 12/6)

CapRadio: Increasing Access To Food Assistance And Locally-Grown Produce In The Sacramento Region Could Be Key To Improving Food System, New Report Says
Actualizing Sacramento’s “Farm to Fork Capital” label means getting healthy food to more people, according to a new action plan from the Sacramento Region Community Foundation and Valley Vision. The groups announced the first phase of the 2021 Sacramento Region Food System Action Plan (Regional Action Plan) on Dec. 2, which outlines recommendations for making sure everyone in the Sacramento region has access to nutritious food. (Salanga, 12/06)

San Francisco Chronicle: Alameda Judge Orders A Statewide Halt To Use Of Pesticide Harmful To Honeybees
A judge has sided with environmental groups and announced a statewide halt to use of the pesticide sulfoxaflor, which kills insects on many crops but is toxic to honeybees. The state Department of Pesticide Regulation, under Gov. Gavin Newsom, lifted California’s ban on sulfoxaflor and approved limited use of the chemical in the spring of 2020. The department said its application on crops would have an overall beneficial effect and, in court filings, dismissed predictions of damage to bees as “speculative.” (Egelko, 12/6)

Los Angeles Times: Q&A: Gov. Newsom On His Book To Help Kids With Dyslexia 
Gov. Gavin Newsom has struggled with dyslexia since elementary school. Now he’s telling his story through Ben, the baseball-loving protagonist of his new children’s book who has a tough time reading, too. “Ben & Emma’s Big Hit,” which goes on sale Tuesday, parallels Newsom’s experience with dyslexia, which he learned he had in fifth grade. (Luna, 12/07)

The New York Times: Instagram Parental Controls Are Set Arrive In March 
Instagram will introduce its first parental controls in March as it faces pressure to do more to shield its young users from harmful content and keep them from overusing the product. Adam Mosseri, the head of the app inside Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, said in a blog post that parents would be able to see how long their teenage children have spent using Instagram and limit the amount of time they spend on the app. Teenagers will also be able to tell their parents if they have reported someone for a violation of Instagram’s policies. “This is the first version of these tools; we’ll continue to add more options over time,” he said in the post. (McCabe, 12/7)

The Washington Post: Instagram Is Touting Safety Features For Teens. Mental Health Advocates Aren’t Buying It.
Instagram will start offering “take a break” reminders starting today if you’ve been scrolling on the social media app too long. The prompt is one of a cluster of features that Instagram, owned by Facebook parent company Meta, is rolling out to keep teens safer and healthier online, it said Tuesday. The proposed features include unspecified restrictions on what content is algorithmically recommended to teens and soon-to-come tools for parents to view and manage the time their teens spend on the app. (Hunter, 12/7)

AP: Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Faces Cross-Examination 
The fraud trial of fallen Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is set to resume Tuesday with continued cross-examination of Holmes and possible expert psychological testimony. Holmes, 37, has pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding investors and patients by failing to deliver on her promise to revolutionize health care with a technology that was supposed to be able to detect a wide range of diseases and other problems by testing just a few drops of blood. She is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud, which carry a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. (12/7)

Modesto Bee: Modesto Wants To Convert Office Into Housing For Homeless Youth 
Modesto is working with the Center for Human Services on purchasing a downtown office building and converting it into a 14-unit apartment for young people as part of Project Homekey, the state initiative to house people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The Ninth Street office building is one of four properties the city has identified as potential housing, but so far, the city has directed its efforts on the office building. The projects would include case management and other services for the residents, and the rents would be subsidized to ensure the projects are affordable. (Valine, 12/06)