Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Lessons From California Prison Where Covid ‘Spread Like Wildfire’
One California county is home to the two worst clusters of covid in prisons in the country. Ninety-four percent of Avenal State Prison’s inmates contracted the virus. Physical distancing has proved impossible in a facility housing 50% more people than it should. (Kerry Klein, Valley Public Radio, )
California Variant Is Pervasive And Dangerous, Scientists Say: A coronavirus variant that became the dominant strain in California not only spreads more readily than its predecessors, it also evades antibodies generated by covid vaccines or prior infection and is associated with severe illness and death, researchers said. Read more from the Los Angeles Times, Bay Area News Group and San Francisco Chronicle.
State Legislature Approves $600 Covid-Relief Checks: Californians who qualify for a $600 state stimulus payment could see the money arrive as soon as a month after filing their tax returns under a $7.6-billion covid economic relief package approved Monday by the state Legislature. Read more from the Los Angeles Times and AP.
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
Los Angeles Times:
California COVID Vaccine Rollout Worsened By Poor Planning
California is failing to provide crucial information about COVID-19 vaccine supply levels to local officials, complicating efforts to schedule appointments and contributing to temporary closures of vaccination sites. Officials running local vaccination programs in multiple counties say they are not being told how many doses they will receive over the next three weeks, which is key data they need to keep vaccine sites open and running smoothly. (Nelson and Lau, 2/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Newsom Touts Long Beach As COVID Model For Vaccines, Schools
Despite wavering supplies and glaring racial and geographic inequities plaguing Los Angeles County’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday praised the region’s distribution efforts and touted the city of Long Beach as a model for the rest of the state. Speaking from a vaccination site at the Long Beach Convention Center, Newsom vowed to press forward with plans to vaccinate educators, reopen schools and refocus on hard-hit communities. Long Beach, which has its own public health department, separate from L.A. County’s, began vaccinating teachers in January and has announced plans to reopen schools for its youngest students March 29. (Smith and Lin II, 2/22)
The Bakersfield Californian:
In Visit To Arvin, Gov. Gavin Newsom Says Kern County And Central Valley Will Receive Greater Allotment Of COVID-19 Vaccines
Kern County and the Central Valley will be receiving larger portions of the COVID-19 vaccine on an ongoing basis, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced during a stop in Arvin on Monday. Moving forward, Kern will be receiving 78% more vaccines than it has been, while the Central Valley as a whole will receive 58% more. That equates to 14,850 vaccine doses arriving in Kern County by the end of this week. (Morgen, 2/22)
AP:
Newsom Pledges More Vaccines For Central Valley Farmworkers
More vaccines are headed to California’s vast Central Valley, an agricultural region whose workers and residents have been hard hit by coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday. The multi-county region, which includes the cities of Fresno and Bakersfield, will get significantly more vaccines this week dedicated to farmworkers. The shifting allocation comes as California moves to a new centralized system for distributing vaccines aimed at ensuring the most vulnerable people have access. (Ronayne, 2/22)
Fresno Bee:
California Farmworkers Worry Over COVID-19 Vaccine Safety
When Alma Martinez first heard the rumors that COVID-19 vaccine was coming to her small agricultural community in Fresno County, she started worrying. Though she was eager to get vaccinated, she knew too many farmworkers like her had doubts. “I wanted to get the vaccine because I knew it would make me feel more safe,” she said in Spanish. “But I’ve heard a lot of people say they’re afraid. ”Martinez, 44, toils in the fields picking grapes in Fresno County and has seen firsthand how the virus has spread within her community in the small town of Sanger. Neighbors and other loved ones have fallen ill to the deadly disease, but she said misinformation about the vaccine continues to run rampant — stopping those who need it most from taking it. (Lopez, 2/23)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Sonoma County’s Vaccination Expansion Collides With Severe Vaccine Shortage
The expanding promise of coronavirus vaccinations in Sonoma County collided Monday with the realities of vaccine scarcity and extreme weather elsewhere upending expected deliveries of doses. (Barber, 2/22)
Bay Area News Group:
Bay Area Community Health Ramping Up Vaccinations In Fremont, San Jose
Bay Area Community Health, a nonprofit health clinic operating in both Alameda County and Santa Clara County, is ramping up the number of COVID-19 vaccines it issues each week as supply increases, and is encouraging people who are eligible to sign up for an appointment. The healthcare center has already administered just over 10,000 doses of the vaccine between its vaccination sites in San Jose and Fremont, and is currently receiving about 3,000 doses total each week to distribute from the two counties, according to Daniel Winokur, the clinic’s associate CFO. “We’ve had six or seven straight weeks of scaling up” the number of doses administered based on available supply, Winokur said in an interview Monday. (Geha, 2/22)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Day 1: Adventist Health Bakersfield Begins Vaccination Of Teachers And Agricultural Workers
It's pretty easy to find Bakersfield residents on social media who seem determined to thumb their nose at receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Ryan Mulder, a teacher at Grimmway Academy, is obviously not one of them. "I'm thrilled, thrilled, thrilled to get vaccinated. Today is a red-letter day," said Mulder just moments after he received the Pfizer vaccine at Adventist Health Bakersfield on Monday, the first day teachers and ag workers in Kern County became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. (Mayer, 2/22)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Petco Park Vaccine Superstation To Reopen Tuesday
While the COVID-19 vaccine superstation near Petco Park will reopen Tuesday, UC San Diego and the county are still waiting for vaccine shipments that have been delayed by winter storms that have swept much of the U.S. The news comes as the nation crosses yet another grim milestone — more than 500,000 Americans have died of COVID-19, underscoring the need for a vaccine to help control the worst pandemic the world has faced in a century. (Wosen, 2/22)
Orange County Register:
Anaheim Convention Center Opening For Vaccinations; Other Sites Waiting For Delayed Supplies
Orange County’s newest mass vaccination site at the Anaheim Convention Center is set to open Tuesday morning, a day earlier than expected, county officials announced Monday, Feb. 22. Other county sites are waiting on delayed supplies. Two of Orange County’s existing PODs (points of dispensing) remained closed Monday, while a third took second-dose patients only as county leaders anxiously awaited a late vaccine shipment meant to keep the immense public immunization campaign going. Last week, severe winter weather across the country reduced the flow of incoming vaccines to a trickle. (Wheeler, 2/22)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus County To Reopen COVID Vaccine Clinics This Week
Starting this week, the eligibility at county clinics includes people age 50 and older who work in education, childcare and the food and agriculture sectors. Some emergency service employees who don’t have contact with patients are also eligible, as well as county residents 65 and older. According to details released Monday, the county clinics Tuesday will focus on serving people who need their second dose of Moderna vaccine. People are expected to return to the same clinic where they received their first dose. (Carlson, 2/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Vaccine Access Codes For Black, Latino Communities Improperly Used In Affluent L.A. Areas
A California program intended to improve COVID-19 vaccine availability to people in hard-hit communities of color is being misused by outsiders who are grabbing appointments reserved for residents of underserved Black and Latino areas. The program to address inequities in vaccine distribution relies on special access codes that enable people to make appointments on the My Turn vaccine scheduling website. The codes are provided to community organizations to distribute to people in largely Black and Latino communities. But those codes have also been circulating, in group texts and messages, among the wealthier, work-from-home set in Los Angeles, The Times has learned. Many of those people are not yet eligible for the vaccine under state rules. (Wick, 2/22)
LA Daily News:
‘Partial Herd Immunity’ Emerging, But Some Challenge The Value Of That Status
It was nearly a year ago when Gov. Gavin Newsom, not long into a statewide lockdown, referenced the elephant in the COVID-19 room: herd immunity. The concept was frightening to many; with no vaccine in sight, they feared the only way it could be attained was for the virus to have infected enough people to have run out of hosts. Estimates of the looming toll at the time were chilling: as many as 840,000 Californians dead and 1.4 million seriously ill. National, state and local officials, meanwhile, worked to fend off infection with face masks, social distancing and scaled-back public engagement. That would change life as we knew it — “at least until we have herd immunity,” the governor said. (Carter, 2/22)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
San Diego City Council Creates COVID Committee
San Diego City Council members unanimously agreed on Monday to form a special, temporary committee that will focus on the city’s response to the pandemic while helping shape the recovery. The four-member committee, proposed by council President Jennifer Campbell, will meet for 12 months with an option to extend meetings for another six. (Warth, 2/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Families Demand Wider School Reopening From LAUSD
Los Angeles schools will resume some services next week for a small percentage of students with special needs, Supt. Austin Beutner announced Monday. However, the measures fall far short of demands from parents who rallied on the Westside to push for a broader reopening of schools. The state’s largest school system had been among the last in the region to maintain a hard shutdown that halted all in-person services in early December. The district’s move will partially address a growing outcry among many families to reopen campuses. (Blume, 2/22)
Bay Area News Group:
COVID-19 Safety Protocols Have Limited Flu Cases, Health Leader Says
Dr. David Ghilarducci, the County of Santa Cruz’s Deputy Health Officer, has heard only anecdotal reports that hospitals in the region have seen “very few” influenza cases, he told the Sentinel Monday. But data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that social distancing, masking and other COVID-19 precautions taking in the last several months have also slowed the spread of influenza. This week, just 1.1% of patient visits to a health care provider were for influenza-like illness, according to the CDC. The current cumulative hospitalization rate is 0.6 per 100,000 people. (Hartman, 2/23)
Orange County Register:
Valencia’s New COVID-19 Lab Pushes Back After Report Of ‘Significant Deficiencies’
A Valencia COVID-19 testing lab that was found to have “significant deficiencies” during a recent state inspection says it has corrected the problems and believes the facility is not in danger of closure. The $25 million Valencia Branch Laboratory at 28545 Livingston Ave. was unveiled in late October and began processing tests Nov. 1. The 134,000-square-foot facility was converted for its new use by the Massachusetts-based diagnostics company PerkinElmer, which operates the lab under a $1.7 billion contract with the state. During a routine Dec. 8 inspection, the Laboratory Field Services division of the California Department of Public Health found that out of more than 1.5 million tests performed, the lab had issued corrected reports for about 60 samples and was unable to test roughly 250 samples because of lab errors. (Smith, 2/22)
Voice Of San Diego:
SDPD’s Previously Untested Rape Kits Are Yielding DNA Hits
A third of the rape kits the San Diego Police Department had previously left untested have been found to contain a DNA profile the department added to state or federal databases used to solve crimes. SDPD had defended its decision not to test the kits earlier, arguing they had no investigative value. Results from the 1,627 kits sent to third-party lab Bode Technology for analysis after the department succumbed to political pressure to test all rape kits in its possession began arriving in May. (Keatts, 2/22)
Modesto Bee:
California Allocates $1.4 Million To Track Anti-Asian Crimes
California legislators approved $1.4 million in state funding to help combat anti-Asian violence and racism through the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center on Monday. Assemblymember Phil Ting, D-San Francisco and chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, secured funding through the passage of AB 85, which provides additional state resources for the ongoing pandemic response. The money will be used to support Stop AAPI Hate’s research and help the organization track anti-Asian incidents, which have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The rise in hate incidents against Asian Americans during the pandemic is alarming,” Ting said in a statement. “But, we can’t solve a problem without knowing how big it is. New state funding allows the data gathering to continue, and the research will ultimately lead us to solutions that will make all communities safer.” (Wong, 2/22)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
UC San Diego Seeks Patients To Help Test New Treatment For Alzheimer's Disease
UC San Diego is seeking patients to help test a new therapy that’s meant to slow Alzheimer’s disease and possibly improve memory, a goal that has proven to be one of the toughest challenges in medical science. The treatment involves giving patients a genetically altered protein that is being tested for the first time in humans. (Robbins, 2/22)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Battle Of The Badges Wraps Up With Final Blood Drive On Wednesday
The final American Red Cross Battle of the Badges blood drive will take place Wednesday at the DoubleTree by Hilton from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. According to a news release from the American Red Cross, the first installment of the blood drive event two weeks ago featured a solid turnout at the Bakersfield Museum of Art, with 45 units of lifesaving blood being collected. (2/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Homeless People Face Relentless Abuse In Lancaster, ACLU Alleges
A report released Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California alleges widespread abuse of homeless people in the Mojave Desert city of Lancaster. Sheriff’s deputies contracted by the city routinely push homeless people into the inhospitable desert, where they often face additional pressure from county officials, the report contends. The report, “Banished and Abandoned,” describes a “dragnet of criminalization” within the city limits in which deputies and city code enforcement officers “regularly bulldoze encampments of unhoused people and order them to move by threat of citation.” The actions push them out of the city into remote areas where they have to walk long distances for water and food, the report said. (Smith, 2/22)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Richmond Wants To Open A Homeless RV Site At A Mostly Vacant Mall. Neighbors Aren't Happy
Richmond is pushing to open a “safe” parking site with services for homeless people living in RVs at Hilltop Mall, a mostly vacant shopping center. But the program may be in jeopardy after nearly 1,700 neighbors signed a petition urging the City Council to abandon the plans at the site and look elsewhere. The delay jeopardizes a $260,000 state grant that needs to be spent by June 30 to fund the project. Once launched, the RV program, which could allow up to 100 RVs in a paved parking area with fencing and access to power and water, would last a year. The total cost of the program, which will include on-site security and social services, is $560,000. The city plans to use $300,000 of its affordable housing impact fees to fund it. (Ravani, 2/22)