San Francisco Chronicle: New CDC Rules For Vaccinated People Could Mean Big Changes For The Bay Area. Here's What Health Experts Say
People who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus can safely gather indoors without wearing masks or social distancing, according to new guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday. The recommendations allow vaccinated people to come together without face masks or distancing with unvaccinated people from one other household considered at low risk for severe disease, such as children and grandchildren. (Vaziri, 3/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: Indoor Dining In The Bay Area May Be Risky Even If You're Vaccinated, Health Experts Say
Just because indoor dining is available now in the Bay Area, you shouldn't necessarily do it yet — even if you’re vaccinated, according to infectious disease experts. Since the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are 95% effective, experts agree it’s unlikely a fully vaccinated person will get sick from indoor dining, but they caution it may not be worth the risk right now. (Bitker, 3/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom Agrees To Negotiate After Lawmakers Complain Bay Area Is Bypassed In Plan To Vaccinate Poorest Californians
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office is negotiating changes to a new state plan for inoculating the poorest Californians after local lawmakers complained that it bypassed the Bay Area, legislators involved in the discussions said. The state’s vaccine distribution plan, set to take effect this week, is supposed to send 40% of the vaccine supply to people living in the state’s poorest ZIP codes. On Friday, The Chronicle posted an analysis of the new plan showing that Bay Area residents represented just 2% of the people in ZIP codes covered by the new system — even though the region represents 20% of California’s population and has many needy people. (Asimov, 3/8)

Bay Area News Group: Bay Area Officials Pushing State To Change Vaccine Distribution Plan
State officials are promising to consider the concerns of Bay Area legislators who say many of the region’s hardest-hit communities were unfairly excluded from a plan to dedicate more of California’s limited supply of coronavirus vaccine to the state’s most vulnerable residents. In a call Monday, the lawmakers urged Gov. Newsom’s office to rethink the plan that was announced last week to bolster the share of vaccine for underserved communities. State Sen. Dave Cortese, Morgan Hill Mayor Rich Constantine and others from across the region say the state’s plan to reserve about 40% of its vaccine supply for hard-hit residents in 446 ZIP codes leaves out equally at-risk residents across the Bay Area. The plan — which employs an evaluation of income, education levels and other factors devised for a program called the Healthy Places Index  — included just 10 Bay Area ZIP codes, omitting virus-ravaged neighborhoods in East San Jose, North Central San Mateo and elsewhere. (DeRuy and Angst, 3/8)

The Bakersfield Californian: BC Vaccination Site Will Feature Distribution Of The Johnson And Johnson Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine, Saturday Drive-Thru 
Bakersfield College’s vaccination site will open this week for Kern County residents eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. According to a news release from the school, there are walk-in clinics scheduled for today and Thursday, with the Thursday event featuring the debut of the Johnson and Johnson Janssen COVID-19 vaccine in Kern County. Additionally, BC will host a drive-thru clinic on Saturday and also an event next week at its Delano campus. (3/8)

CalMatters: Eager To Be Vaccinated Against COVID-19, California Farmworkers Face Obstacles
There was a day in early December when Maria Cruz thought she might not make it. “One morning my chest was in so much pain, I began to cry because honestly I panicked,” she said, recalling the cough, body aches and shivers during the grueling weeks she spent with COVID-19. (Ibarra, 3/8)

SF Gate: California Launches A Way Any Resident Can Become COVID-19 Vaccine Eligible By Volunteering
The state of California launched a new program Friday that gives the residents the opportunity to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by volunteering to help get others inoculated at sites across the state. (Graff, 3/8)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Sutter Health Receiving Extra Vaccine Doses From State, But Still Falling Short
Commitments from the state of California and its new coronavirus vaccine administrator, Blue Shield, will allow Sutter Health to fill most of the second-dose appointments it was forced to vacate recently, though Sutter remains concerned about having to push some second doses beyond the 42-day window. (Barber, 3/8)

AP: Guilt, Envy, Distrust: Vaccine Rollout Breeds Mixed Emotions
Before posting a selfie with her COVID-19 vaccination card on Twitter, Aditi Juneja debated whether to include an explanation for why she was eligible for a shot.“ The first draft of the tweet had an explanation,” says Juneja, a 30-year-old lawyer in New York City. (Choi, 3/8)

Axios: High BMI And Obesity Are Severe Risk Factors For COVID-19, CDC Says 
About 78% of people who were hospitalized, placed on a ventilator or died from COVID-19 were overweight or obese, a new report from the CDC shows. The findings show risk of severe COVID-19 illness rises sharply with elevated body mass index, especially for people younger than 65. (Fernandez, 3/9)

LA Daily News: Coronavirus Numbers Continue To Fall In LA County, But Health Officials Still Advise Caution 
Coronavirus numbers continued to fall in Los Angeles County, officials said Monday, March 8, leading to the possibility that the county could soon be moved from the highest-risk of the state’s four tiers to the next, less-restrictive level. Los Angeles County remains in the highest purple — or “widespread” — tier for case numbers, but is making progress in being moved down into the red tier — for “substantial” cases —  health officials said. While Monday’s numbers may be at least partially the result of scaled-back weekend record-keeping, they were nonetheless encouraging to officials. (Littlejohn, 3//8)

Los Angeles Times: A 4th California COVID-19 Wave Could Happen. Here's How 
California is optimistic that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is in the rearview mirror. But there are a number of things that could still go wrong and prompt a fourth wave, experts warn. Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist and infectious diseases expert at UC San Francisco, estimated that roughly 67% of a population needs immunity to COVID-19 before herd immunity can be established, meaning the spread of disease between people is unlikely. (Lin II and Money, 3/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: SFUSD Just Released New Details On The Reopening Plan For San Francisco Schools
San Francisco school officials on Monday released more details about their plans to get some of the city’s more than 52,000 schoolchildren back into classrooms this spring after a year of distance learning that left many families struggling and sparked a lawsuit over reopening schools. Under the plan, starting April 12, some students in lower grades would return for four full days and one partial day each week while others would return two full days a week and spend three days in distance learning, depending on the level of demand for in-person learning at each school. The plan brings back preschool through fifth-graders, and special education students and other vulnerable groups through high school, by the end of April. Families can also choose to remain in distance learning. (Williams, 3/8)

Los Angeles Times: LA School Reopening: Secondary Schools Could Get OK In Days 
Middle and high schools throughout Los Angeles County could be eligible to open within days, with L.A. Unified aiming for a late April reopening of its secondary campuses, marking a major turning point in the pandemic that has forced the closure of California schools for nearly a year. However, several sticking points still could lead to further delays in the nation’s second-largest school district, including the time it would take to get teachers and school staff fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and the ability of the district and its teachers union to reach an agreement about school day schedules and working conditions. (Blume, 3/8)

AP: California Bill Would Create New Hotline For Mental Health Calls
California would take a step toward having counselors rather than police respond to people experiencing mental health crises under a bill backed Monday by gun-violence prevention groups. (Thompson, 3/8)

Fresno Bee: Kids Day Goes Virtual. How To Get Involved And What A Donation Does At Valley Children’s
For 32 years, Kids Day was marked by volunteers swarming central San Joaquin Valley intersections hawking special-edition copies of The Fresno Bee in a fundraiser for Valley Children’s Hospital. Donors responded, many going out of their way to deliver $1 or more — to the tune of $10.137 million. (Galaviz, 3/9)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Local Officials Outline Plans For Clinicians, Case Managers To Respond To Mental Health Calls Countywide 
County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and District Attorney Summer Stephan on Monday highlighted a new initiative that allows clinicians to respond to mental health calls — instead of police — and said the effort will expand countywide by mid-summer. The efforts come as communities across the nation push for alternative responses to these types of emergencies, citing police-involved shootings in which officers have injured or killed the person experiencing a mental health crisis. (Hernandez, 3/8)