California Sues To Keep Protections For LGBTQ Residents: California joined a lawsuit with 22 other states against the Trump administration on Monday seeking to protect anti-discrimination language in the Affordable Care Act that the White House last month moved to eliminate. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and others have accused the Department of Health and Human Services of trying to roll back parts of the rule that shield LGBTQ, pregnant and non-fluent people from losing out on health care. The rule, Becerra said, is “mean and unconstitutional” and “unbelievably immoral.” The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Read more from Matt Kristoffersen of the Sacramento Bee.
Facials And Flattops Go Al Fresco: Californians will be allowed to get their haircuts, massages, manicures and more done outdoors, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday, a week after he ordered personal care services shuttered again in most of the state. New guidelines cover barbershops and hairstyling except for shampooing and chemical treatments, which cannot be done outdoors. Massages and beauty services, including facials, waxing and manicures, can move outside, but tattoos, piercings and electric hair removal are excluded because of hygiene rules. Read more from Alexei Koseff of the San Francisco Chronicle and Taryn Luna of the Los Angeles Times.
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
San Francisco Chronicle:
California Could Overtake New York In Coronavirus Cases This Week
With coronavirus cases nearing 400,000 on Monday, California appears on track to surpass New York as the state with the most coronavirus infections, a sobering milestone for a region that led the country in aggressive shelter-in-place measures and helped dampen the spread of the virus this spring. After the easing of restrictions last month came a surge of cases across the state. On Monday, California reported 398,125 cases and 7,765 deaths since the pandemic began. New York reported 412,034 total cases Monday and 32,203 total deaths. However, California has far fewer cases per 100,000 residents: 1,000 to New York’s 2,124. (Dizikes and Koseff, 7/20)
Sacramento Bee:
Central Valley, California Hospitals Face Coronavirus Surge
Lodi Memorial Hospital, which sits in the heart of a Central Valley town framed by vineyards, suddenly has found itself front and center in the latest and perhaps most ominous phase of California’s viral epidemic — a sustained surge in coronavirus patients that is pushing some hospitals beyond the limit. As of Monday, COVID-19 patients filled 42 of the 91 beds in use, according to county data, and all 12 of the ICU beds were in use. To worsen matters, as many as two dozen of the hospital’s own staff have tested positive. (Bizjak and Anderson, 7/21)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento COVID-19 Growth Rate Compared To Other Metro Areas
The rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases is rising quickly in the four-county Sacramento region but it remains lower than in most major U.S. metros, according to a Bee analysis of data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The Sacramento region reported about 6,730 new cases in the four weeks between June 21 and July 19, for a rate of about 294 new cases per 100,000 residents. That’s lower than the rate of 504 new cases per 100,000 residents among all U.S. metro areas with at least one million residents. (Reese, 7/21)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno County Hospitals ‘Fragile’ As Beds Fill Up
Hospitals in Fresno County are struggling with their capacity as doctors worry about the shortage of drugs that have been effective in treating the coronavirus, health officials said Monday. As of Sunday evening, the most recent data available from the California Department of Public Health, Fresno County had 269 confirmed COVID-19 patients being treated in local hospitals. That includes 50 patients in intensive-care units. (Miller, 7/20)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno County Adds Nearly 700 New Cases In Latest Report
Fresno County added 685 cases of the coronavirus — but no new deaths — to its running tally on Monday, according to the state Department of Public Health. The state numbers are always a day behind, so Monday’s total of 10,639 represents the amount counted through Sunday. The county has seen 100 deaths. Of those who tested positive, 2,332 have recovered. (Miller, 7/20)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Coronavirus: Outbreak At Walnut Creek Nursing Home Leaves 12 Dead, 130 Infected
Twelve residents have died and 130 people have been infected with the coronavirus at a Walnut Creek nursing home, state health officials said Monday. Ninety-two residents and 38 health care workers at Manor Care Health Services-Tice Valley tested positive for the coronavirus as of Sunday, according to data from the California Department of Public Health. There were at least 25 active cases among residents. (Bauman, 7/20)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Another Death Row Inmate Dies At San Quentin, COVID-19 Suspected
A condemned inmate at San Quentin State Prison died Monday from suspected COVID-19 complications, officials said.Troy Ashmus, 58, died at a hospital outside the prison from “what appears to be complications related to COVID-19,” according to the Califoria Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The coroner will determine an exact cause of death. (Bauman, 7/20)
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Quentin Coronavirus Outbreak Apparently Result Of Missed Steps By Prison Overseer
The deadly outbreak of COVID-19 at San Quentin State Prison resulted from a mass transfer of inmates from a virus-plagued prison in Southern California, a transfer approved by J. Clark Kelso, the court-appointed receiver in charge of health care in the state’s penal institutions. A legislator whose district includes San Quentin says Kelso should be fired from the job he has held since 2008. (Egelko, 7/20)
San Francisco Chronicle:
75-Acre Fire In Contra Costa County Prompts Evacuations
A wind-driven brush fire in Contra Costa County grew to 75 acres and prompted evacuations on Monday evening, officials said. The Holland Fire was 65% contained around 7:15 p.m., according to the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District.Fire officials evacuated homes near the Brentwood Marina in Knightsen at 6 p.m. while firefighters from multiple agencies tackled the blaze, the agency said. (Bauman, 7/20)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area’s Contact Tracers Struggle Amid Coronavirus Surge
Contact tracing — finding and notifying everyone who has had close contact with a person infected with the coronavirus — is key to stemming the pandemic. Once people learn they’ve spent time near someone who had the virus, they can get tested themselves and quarantine so they don’t infect others. Bay Area county health departments ramped up in April and May to handle the laborious process, most of it armchair detective work by phone and email, not the high-tech surveillance some in Silicon Valley originally envisioned. But the recent surge in cases has made the task much harder, because there are more people to contact and because it takes longer to be tested and then get the results. (Said, 7/20)
Sacramento Bee:
Most State Workers Trained As Contact Tracers Not Assigned
Most California state workers trained to be COVID-19 “contact tracers” still haven’t started tracking down people exposed to the coronavirus, even as many counties say they don’t have enough staff to do the work. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has frequently said state workers will be essential to the state’s contact tracing efforts. Earlier this year his administration notified many state workers they would be reassigned from their usual jobs to help counties track infections. He’s also repeatedly touted the fact that the state met its goal of training 10,000 contact tracers by July 1, which includes a mix of county and state workers. (Bollag, 7/21)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Local Hospitals Seek 'Hundreds' More Workers As Surge Looms
Hospitals in Bakersfield in recent days have asked local public health officials to initiate a process to find additional workers as spiking rates of COVID-19 strain staffing levels at some facilities and others are preparing for an anticipated surge to hit soon. Kern County Public Health Services Director Matt Constantine said all six hospitals in Bakersfield had filed requests for more workers by Monday afternoon — Adventist Health Bakersfield, Kern Medical, Bakersfield Heart Hospital, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, Mercy Downtown and Mercy Southwest. (Shepard, 7/20)
San Jose Mercury News:
UCSF Study: Coronavirus Pandemic Is Stressing Out ER Doctors
Before the coronavirus pandemic struck, Dr. Maria Raven liked to unwind after a long shift in the ER by hanging out with colleagues after work. “We used to go out and get brunch after an overnight shift or people would grab a beer after work,” said Raven, the chief of emergency medicine at UCSF. “We can’t do that anymore.” Now, like everyone else, they resort to virtual meetups. Combine that lack of in-person socializing with one of the most trying periods of her career, and the result is a level of stress even the most-seasoned of ER doctors are struggling to handle, according to a new study. (DeRuy, 7/21)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Health Care Workers Begin 5-Day Strike At Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital
Hundreds of health care workers began a planned five-day strike Monday at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital to protest what union officials said were an inadequate supply of protective gear, benefit cuts and “unsafe staffing levels.” The walkout at Santa Rosa Memorial comes amid a surge of coronavirus cases around the region, state and nation that has retriggered concerns over hospital capacity, supplies of personal protective equipment and staff exhaustion. Across California, 107 health care workers have died from COVID-19 and nearly 20,000 have tested positive as of Sunday, according to state data. (Kramer, 7/20)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Visiting Stanford Researcher From China Accused Of Visa Fraud
A Chinese woman who is a visiting medical researcher at Stanford University was charged Monday with lying about her affiliation with China’s military on her U.S. visa application. Song Chen was accused of visa fraud, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. She appeared before a federal magistrate in San Francisco and is due back in court Tuesday to determine whether she will be held in jail while the charge is pending. (Egelko, 7/20)
San Francisco Chronicle:
‘Find Something New’? In Bay Area’s Pandemic-Withered Job Market, Some Fresh Roles Arise
Presidential adviser Ivanka Trump advised unemployed Americans last week to “find something new” rather than trying to cling to the careers they had before the coronavirus struck. That is proving easier said than done. ... Even in California, where Silicon Valley and Hollywood have long spun off unfamiliar job titles and different ways of working, finding new work has required creativity and scrappiness. (DiFeliciantonio, 7/20)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Coronavirus Pandemic Prompts Unusual Giants-A’s Exhibition At Coliseum
You know you’re not at a normal ballgame when the parking lot is empty except for cutout cars belonging to cutout fans holding cutout hotdogs and cutout beers. On a Monday night when several Giants knelt during the national anthem and Alyssa Nakken, the first female coach in big-league history, coached first base, the Giants and A’s played an exhibition at the Coliseum, and nothing was ordinary except for what happened between the lines, real baseball. (Shea, 7/20)