Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Women Say California Insurer Makes It Too Hard to Get Drug for Postpartum Depression
Brexanolone is a promising new treatment for postpartum depression. But one insurer's requirement that women try four other drugs and electroconvulsive therapy before the infusion means it is out-of-reach for millions of women. (April Dembosky, KQED, )
Health Care Workers Must Get The Covid Shot: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced that health care workers and state employees must be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing and wear masks. Employees of hospitals, nursing homes, dentists’ and doctors’ offices and other health care settings will have to comply by Aug. 23. In addition, all employees of state agencies will be subjected to a verification process that will be mostly in place by Aug. 2. Read more from CalMatters. Comprehensive coverage of the vaccine mandate continues below.
San Francisco Bars Will Ask For Proof Of Vaccination, Too: The San Francisco Bar Alliance — a group representing nearly 500 establishments in the city — is officially recommending that its members ask patrons for proof of vaccination before entry. The new measures will be effective starting Thursday, July 29. Patrons will be required to show proof of vaccination to eat or drink indoors. The group of bars will also accept a 72-hour negative covid test for entry. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED.
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
Bay Area News Group:
California To Require Vaccination Proof For Health Workers
As the highly contagious delta variant drives up COVID-19 cases throughout well-vaccinated California, the state announced Monday it will require all public and private health workers as well as state employees to get vaccinated and prove they had the shots or be subject to at least weekly testing for the disease. The order, which comes amid growing alarm among health experts calling for tougher action and mandates, means health and state workers will no longer be allowed to “self-attest” that they were vaccinated. (Woolfolk and DeRuy, 7/26)
Los Angeles Times:
California State, Health Workers Must Show Vaccination Proof
California state and healthcare employees will soon be required to show proof they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19, with those who remain uninoculated subject to a regular testing regimen, as part of growing national effort to use such screenings in hopes of slowing a new coronavirus surge. The action comes as institutions ranging from cities to some private businesses and the federal Veterans Administration move to check employee vaccination status in hopes of blunting the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant without returning to the restrictions seen earlier in the pandemic. (Money, Alpert Reyes and Luna, 7/26)
Sacramento Bee:
California To Require COVID Vaccine For Health Care Workers
California state workers and health care employees must demonstrate proof of vaccination or else continue to wear masks and undergo regular COVID-19 testing, under new rules announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration Monday morning. The rules come into effect as the state continues to see a growing number of Delta variant cases. The Delta variant of COVID-19, while not more dangerous, is much more contagious than other variants of the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Sheeler, 7/26)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Newsom: State And Health Care Workers Must Show Proof Of Vaccination, Starting In Early August
Prove that you are vaccinated or undergo regular testing and masking at work. Citing increased statewide coronavirus activity, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new initiative Monday that requires health care workers and state employees throughout California to show their vaccination cards — whether paper or electronic — to their employers or undertake additional precautions designed to slow the spread of coronavirus in the workforce. (Sisson, 7/26)
CapRadio:
California Will Require Vaccination Or Testing For Health Care, State Workers
California will require health care workers and state employees to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or be tested weekly and wear masks at work. The ramp-up in pressure to get vaccinated comes as case rates and hospitalizations climb due to the more highly contagious delta variant. State employees must show proof of vaccination by Aug. 2. Workers who do not must continue to wear masks at work and be tested at least weekly. (Nixon, 7/26)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Want To Work In San Francisco City Government? You'll Need To Be Vaccinated
San Francisco will require all new city employees to be vaccinated before they start their new job — or else, they won’t be hired. This mandate, which kicks in Wednesday, expands on previous news that San Francisco will require all 35,000 of its municipal employees to be vaccinated once the shots receive full approval from the Food and Drug Administration. (Thadani, 7/26)
Los Angeles Times:
California COVID Vaccination Proof Requirement: What To Know
With COVID-19 surging in California, state officials are taking another big step aimed at slowing the spread. Those who work for the state of California, or in public or private healthcare settings, soon will be required to show proof they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19. If they aren’t vaccinated, or decline to show such documentation, they’ll have to be tested for infection regularly. (Money, 7/26)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Pols Want COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate For City Workers
A growing number of Los Angeles politicians want to require city workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as infection numbers have resurged, a step already announced in New York, San Francisco and Pasadena. “It is well past time that we act,” Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, whose district stretches from Crenshaw to Koreatown, said Monday. (Alpert Reyes and Kuo, 7/27)
Los Angeles Times:
Newsom Blasts The Unvaccinated, Tucker Carlson Over COVID-19
Gov. Gavin Newsom compared choosing to remain unvaccinated to drunk driving and denounced high-profile conservatives including Fox News host Tucker Carlson in a rare public rebuke as COVID-19 spreads in California and adds political pressure on the governor ahead of the recall election. “We’re exhausted by the right-wing echo chamber that has been perpetuating misinformation around the vaccine and its efficacy and safety,” Newsom said Monday. “We’re exhausted by the politicalization of this pandemic and that includes mask wearing that has been equated to the Holocaust. It’s disgraceful. it’s unconscionable and it needs to be called out.” (Luna, 7/26)
Sacramento Bee:
Is California’s Vaccine Pace Picking Up Amid COVID Surge? Here’s What The Numbers Show
It’s possible that a surge of infections could do what a $116 million lottery may not have: break the vaccine slump. COVID-19 vaccination rates across much of the U.S. sputtered recently. By early summer, demand in California plummeted, with new first doses trudging in at a rate not seen since vials were carefully rationed at the start of the rollout in December. (McGough, 7/26)
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Vaccine Pop-Up Clinic At Healdsburg Farmers’ Market Tuesday
The first of a triweekly pop-up vaccine clinic will be held at the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The clinic will be set up behind the information booth, facing the plaza. (Minkler, 7/26)
inewsource:
Three Post-Vaccination COVID Deaths Confirmed In San Diego County
At least three San Diego County residents have died of COVID-19 after being vaccinated, according to county officials and medical examiner records. The county announced earlier this month the death of a fully vaccinated woman. She was 70 and died in March after being hospitalized. At the time it was considered the first such death, but medical examiner records obtained by inewsource show a 73-year-old vaccinated man at the county-run Edgemoor Hospital in Santee died of COVID-19 on Feb. 2. (Plummer, 7/26)
Los Angeles Times:
What Is HIPAA? A Primer On The Healthcare Privacy Law
If you’re being interviewed and a journalist asks you if you’re vaccinated, is that a violation of HIPAA? No. What if your employer is asking you to prove you’ve been vaccinated — is that a HIPAA issue? No. (Roy, 7/26)
San Francisco Chronicle:
What Highly Vaccinated Singapore's 75% Breakthrough Rate Might Mean For Bay Area
Singapore has the 12th highest coronavirus vaccination rate in the world — similar to that of many counties in the Bay Area and using largely the same types of vaccines. But in the past month, people who have received at least one vaccination dose have accounted for three-quarters of coronavirus infections in Singapore, according to Reuters. While the proportion of so-called breakthrough infections sounds high, Singapore officials said vaccinated individuals who become infected are not falling seriously ill, which points to vaccines’ effectiveness — a situation similar to the U.S. that should reassure people in the Bay Area, experts say. (Hwang, 7/27)
Los Angeles Times:
U.S. Coronavirus Cases May Be Double The Official Tally
By early March 2021, roughly 65 million people in the U.S. — or one out of every five people — had been infected by the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, a new analysis shows. The findings, described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that roughly 60% of coronavirus infections had gone uncounted at that point — adding to a growing body of evidence that the pandemic’s true toll is far greater than official tallies show. (Khan, 7/26)
San Francisco Chronicle:
California Surge Is Driven By Vaccination Holdouts, But It's A 'Collective Problem'
The spiking infection rates and alarming climb in hospitalizations may feel familiar, but the delta-fueled fourth wave of the coronavirus is unlike anything the United States has seen before as health officials scramble to contain the so-called “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” In every part of the country, including California, infections are increasing rapidly among both the vaccinated and those not yet inoculated as the delta variant cements its foothold as the dominant strain. Yet the big picture obscures an important distinction: People who are not vaccinated are driving this surge — in some places being infected at rates five or six times higher than the vaccinated. (Allday, 7/26)
Southern California News:
Coronavirus Hospitalizations Soar To More Than 800 In LA County; Another 1,966 Cases Posted
COVID-19 hospitalization numbers continued an unsettling upward climb in Los Angeles County on Monday, July 26, with state figures showing more than 800 people now being treated for the virus, more than double the number from just two weeks ago. According to the state, there were 825 people hospitalized due to COVID in the county, up from 745 the day prior. On July 12, there were only 372 people hospitalized in the county. There were 182 people in intensive care, up from 161 on Sunday, according to the state. (7/23)
Orange County Register:
Orange County Reported 1,351 New Cases And One New Death Over The Weekend
The OC Health Care Agency reported 1,351 new cases of the coronavirus since Friday, increasing the cumulative total in the county to 262,071 cases since tracking began. There have been 3,893 new infections reported in the last 14 days. There were 194 people with confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Orange County hospitals on Monday, July 26, of which 48 needed to be in an intensive care unit. (Goertzen, 7/26)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Kern Public Health Reports 2 New Coronavirus Deaths, 305 New Cases Monday
Kern County Public Health Services reported two new coronavirus deaths and 305 new confirmed cases Monday. That brings the number of deaths since the pandemic began to 1,419, and the cases to 112,623. Public Health reports that 40,967 people have recovered from the illness, and 68,541 people are presumed to have recovered. (7/26)
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
More Than 100 Residents At Sonoma County’s Largest Homeless Shelter Positive For COVID-19, Over Half Of Whom Fully Vaccinated
More than two-thirds of the 156 residents at Sonoma County's largest homeless shelter have now tested positive for COVID-19, officials said. Of those infected, well over half were fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. As of Monday, 107 residents, and three staff members, had tested positive during the nearly monthlong outbreak that has overwhelmed the Samuel L. Jones Hall shelter in Santa Rosa (Varian, 7/26)
The Mercury News/Santa Cruz Sentinel:
Live Concert Blamed For COVID-19 Outbreak In Santa Cruz County
A concert at Felton Music Hall this month led to a sizable outbreak, the venue posted on its social media Monday night. After the Los Angeles-based Grateful Shred band performed in the hall on July 18, one attendee showed COVID-19 symptoms. When the band got tested, nearly all of the members were COVID-positive, an Instagram post explains. (Hartman, 7/27)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
San Diego Would Make Outdoor Dining Permanent For Restaurants Willing To Pay Fees
Restaurants across San Diego soon may be allowed to make their COVID-19 outdoor dining areas permanent in exchange for paying the city a fee to help make streets and sidewalks more inviting places to hang out. Some revenue from the new fee would be spent on sidewalk widening, street trees and other upgrades to make streets more appealing to walkers and cyclists. Money from the fee also would help boost outdoor dining in low-income areas. (Garrick, 7/26)
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
As COVID-19 Fears Escalate, Steps Taken To Curb Transmission During Lazy Bear Week
As visitors begin descending on Guerneville for the one of its biggest tourism weekends, local health officials and business leaders are hoping to minimize the potential spread of COVID-19 by conducting rapid testing, urging indoor masking and requiring proof of vaccination at local hotels and restaurants. Monday was the official start of the 25th annual Lazy Bear Week, a popular fundraising event that attracts hundreds of mostly large hairy, gay men from across the globe to Guerneville for pool and beach parties, dancing and other social gatherings. (Espinoza, 7/26)
Sacramento Bee:
Elk Grove Council Meets In Person; COVID Sends Public To Zoom
Elk Grove City Council members will meet again in person starting with Wednesday’s 6 p.m. meeting, officials announced, but residents will still have to attend the sessions virtually or watch on TV. City officials cite the new rise in COVID-19 cases across the Sacramento region and Sacramento County health officials’ recommendations for indoor gatherings for closing the council chambers, 8400 Laguna Palms Way, to the public. (Smith, 7/26)
Orange County Register:
Anti-Mask Huntington Beach Restaurant Says It Will Only Serve Unvaccinated Diners
While the emergence of the Delta variant of COVID-19 has many businesses and consumers proceeding with caution, Basilico’s Pasta E Vino in Huntington Beach continues with its campaign of noncompliance with state safety recommendations. It recently posted a sign saying it will be asking diners for “proof” of being unvaccinated. It’s the latest in a series of defiant actions from the restaurant, which started with an anti-masking campaign in May 2020. The restaurant asked customers to remove masks when they were inside. (Valdespino, 7/26)
Sacramento Bee:
Anthem, Dignity Health Dispute Leaves Thousands Scrambling
Thousands of Californians are learning that they will have to foot a bigger portion of their medical bills if they want to continue seeing their doctor since Dignity Health severed its contract with Anthem Blue Cross of California on July 15. The two health care giants are locked in a dispute over rate increases, but many patients had no knowledge of that until they received letters last week through the U.S. Postal Service. (Anderson, 7/26)
San Gabriel Valley Tribune:
USC Healthcare Workers OK Contract That Includes Raises Between 11%-68%
More than 1,500 USC workers have voted to ratify a labor contract that boosts healthcare benefits and provides hefty wage hikes for many employees. The move averts a potential walkout after employees at Keck Hospital of USC, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, several university clinics and a university call center voted in May to authorize a five-day strike. (Smith, 7/26)
Orange County Register/City News Service:
Hoag Receiving $3 Million From Iacocca Family Foundation To Expand Diabetes Program
A $3 million gift from the Iacocca Family Foundation will help Hoag Hospital expand a program for Type 1 diabetes at the Mary & Dick Allen Diabetes Center, hospital officials announced Monday, July 26. Hoag will name the Mary & Lee Iacocca Program in Type 1 Diabetes to honor the foundation’s mission to fund diabetes research that could lead to a cure for the disease and alleviate its complications. (7/26)
Sacramento Bee:
Nurses Open New Sacramento Senior Care Home Amid Pandemic
The staggering death toll in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic brought heartache and suffering to tens of thousands of families. More than 130,000 residents and nearly 2,000 staff members have died from the virus across the U.S. Given these grim numbers, why would anyone open a new long-term care facility for the elderly in the middle of an ongoing pandemic? In Sacramento, a group of nurses are doing just that. (Rosenbaum, 7/27)
San Diego Union-Tribbune:
PerkinElmer Looks To Dominate Antibody Market By Acquiring San Diego’s BioLegend For $5.25B
Massachusetts life science firm PerkinElmer plans to acquire San Diego antibody company BioLegend for $5.25 billion, according to an announcement from the company on Monday. About $2.2 billion of the purchase will be doled out in stock, with the rest paid in cash. The deal, expected to close by the end of the year, would be the largest in PerkinElmer’s history. (Wosen, 7/26)
Sacramento Bee:
Dixie Fire To 200K Acres; Latest On Tamarack
California’s largest wildfire of 2021, the Dixie Fire, continues to threaten thousands of homes in Butte, Plumas and Tehama counties. Nearly 5,500 personnel are now battling blaze, which ignited July 13 above the Cresta Dam in Feather River Canyon, Cal Fire’s Butte unit said in a Monday morning incident report. (McGough, 7/26)
Los Angeles Times:
As Dixie Fire Doubles, Monsoon Weather Bring New Threats
It took just days for the Dixie fire to double in size to nearly 200,000 acres, and officials say it could keep getting worse. Changing weather patterns across the state — including a storm system that brought an unusual spate of rain to Southern California on Monday — are creating new conditions for crews to contend with as the fire keeps burning through Butte and Plumas counties. (Smith and Seidman, 7/27)
EdSource:
Free School Meals For All Here To Stay In California
With 1 in every 6 children facing hunger in the U.S., California is the first state to promise every public school student — all 6 million of them — free school meals. The universal school meals program, which will launch in the 2022-2023 school year, is part of the landmark state budget agreement reached between Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature last month. Days later, Maine became the second state to commit to offering a universal school meals program with the signing of its budget. (Tadayon, 7/27)
Bay Area News Group:
Tokyo Olympics: Katie Ledecky Trained Amid COVID In Atherton Backyard
Katie Ledecky was panic-stricken in March of 2020. Stanford was shut down. Pools across the Bay Area were closed. The COVID-19 lockdown had begun. Ledecky, the greatest female freestyle swimmer in history, had no place to train for the Olympics, less than three months away. In the end, she and fellow Stanford Olympian Simone Manuel found the perfect place in the backyard of an Atherton home. (Almond, 7/27)