Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Racial Status And The Pandemic: A Combustible Mixture
The novel coronavirus is affecting black Americans disproportionately, which some community leaders and public health experts say is not surprising. So why didn’t anyone sound an alarm? (Anna Almendrala, )
Beyond The Glam: Feeding The Coachella Valley’s Most Vulnerable Residents
Poverty is real in the Coachella Valley, a region known for its glitzy resorts and music festival. During the COVID crisis, the California National Guard and California Conservation Corps are helping an area food bank distribute food to older residents and those with disabilities. (Heidi de Marco, )
Newsom Joins With Other Western States To Ask For $1T In Aid From Congress: California Gov. Gavin Newsom joined with the governors of Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Colorado, as well as legislative leaders from the five states, in asking the House and Senate for the aid. The governors said the funds would be critical for public health programs, law enforcement and schools. “Without federal support, states and cities will be forced to make impossible decisions — like whether to fund critical public healthcare that will help us recover, or prevent layoffs of teachers, police officers, firefighters and other first responders,” the letter stated. Last week, the Newsom administration announced that California’s government faces a $54.3-billion budget deficit through next summer due to a drop in tax revenue related to the coronavirus. Read more from Phil Willon of the Los Angeles Times, Andrew Sheeler of the Sacramento Bee, and Fiona Kelliher of the Bay Area News Group.
California Department Of Health’s Efforts To Track Travelers Flying Into State Was Waste Of Resources, Report Finds: State health employees spent nearly 1,700 hours over six weeks — from Feb. 5 to March 17 — collecting and processing information on U.S. citizens and permanent residents arriving from China and Iran at California airports. Yet they were able to identify just three positive cases out of 11,574 travelers, according to the report released Monday by the state’s public health department and the CDC. “Despite intensive effort, the traveler screening system did not effectively prevent introduction of COVID-19 into California,” the report said, noting that “health departments need to weigh the resources needed for monitoring against those needed for implementing mitigation activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Read more from Mallory Moench of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
Los Angeles Times:
California's Coronavirus Death Toll Keeps Climbing
Amid a growing clamor to further reopen a California economy devastated by the novel coronavirus, the state is facing one major obstacle that officials say has made swifter progress difficult. The rate of COVID-19 deaths in California remains at a stubborn plateau. Mirroring a trend seen nationally, California has not seen a dramatic and sustained decline in deaths over the past month, a Los Angeles Times analysis has found. During the seven-day period that ended Sunday, 503 people in California died from the virus — the second-highest weekly death toll in the course of the pandemic and a 1.6% increase from the previous week’s toll. (Lin, Lee and Shalby, 5/12)
CalMatters:
Lawmakers Told Bankers Flagged California's Blue Flame Deal
Amid a global shortage of face masks that could help stem the spread of the coronavirus, California officials received an intriguing call on March 23. The caller said he had access to 100 million coveted N95 masks that were sitting at the Port of Long Beach. He’d sell them to the state of California for $4.76 each — a bargain compared to other vendors asking between $6 and $12 at the time. That was the picture painted by Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, as he explained to lawmakers today why the state wired nearly half a billion dollars to Blue Flame Medical LLC, then quickly walked back the deal. Ultimately, he said, banks involved in the large wire transfer called state officials and alerted them that the transaction seemed suspicious, and the state got its money back. (Rosenhall, 5/11)
CalMatters:
Every Lawsuit Vs. California's Shelter-In-Place Order, Explained
Alongside the beach-goers denied, the indignant gun shop owners and the house-bound pastors, Gov. Gavin Newsom now has yet another ticked off challenger to face in court: an extremely disappointed bride-to-be. In the latest filing to challenge the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, Monica Six, an Orange County resident, is suing California’s Democratic governor for civil rights violations after his executive order “caused her significant financial hardship as well as ruined her idyllic wedding plans to get married in a special anniversary.” In suing the state, Six is in crowded company. The State of California, and Newsom in particular, are facing down more than a dozen lawsuits over their response to the coronavirus pandemic. (Christopher, 5/11)
Bay Area News Group:
Coronavirus: Positive-Test Rate Trending Down In Bay Area
Two Bay Area counties began the week by seeing a modest number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, pushing the total for the Bay Area above 10,000, but the region’s hot spot saw barely a blip. Alameda County and San Mateo County each saw more than three dozen new cases, but Santa Clara County, Contra Costa County and San Francisco combined to added a baker’s dozen, and all but two of those were in the city. Santa Clara County, which has confirmed more cases than any other county in Northern California with 2,341, confirmed only two more new cases of coronavirus. Contra Costa County did not confirm any. (Webeck and Hurd, 5/11)
Bay Area News Group:
Coronavirus: Infections In Santa Clara County Than Tests Show
Stanford University researchers have moderated their controversial estimate of how many people in Santa Clara County were infected by the COVID-19 virus by early April — but stand by their conclusion that the illness was much more widespread than anyone knew. In a revised analysis of a startling study published last month, they now estimate that 2.8% of Santa Clara residents were previously infected by the virus but didn’t know it. That implies that the county had up to 54,000 infections — many more than the 1,000 confirmed cases in the county at the time. (Krieger, 5/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Coronavirus: Are Antibody Tests The Real Thing?
At a flotation therapy studio in Marina Del Rey, the sensory deprivation tank is empty, but antibody tests for the coronavirus are selling at $149. Customers of a botox clinic in Venice don’t even have to get out of their cars to get tested; a worker collects blood samples with the prick of a finger. A banner for a clinic in Las Vegas advertises antibody tests and throws in a doctor visit for $169. And $125 antibody tests have recently been added to the menu at a chiropractic clinic in Florida that also offers libido-boosting vitamins and nonsurgical face-lifts. (Lau, 5/12)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Beaches Reopen Wednesday With New Rules
Los Angeles County beaches, which have been closed for more than six weeks, should reopen Wednesday with some restrictions on activities and other rules in place, officials said Monday. Manhattan, Redondo and other county beaches will reopen on May 13 for active recreation only, the Department of Beaches and Harbors said on Twitter. Permitted activities will include running, walking, swimming and surfing. Group sports like volleyball are prohibited. (Nelson, 5/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Avoid Weekend Trips And Summer Vacations, California Says
As Americans start planning summer vacations, health officials in California urged the public to not take leisure trips, including weekend trips, in the middle of the coronavirus crisis. “We are, in fact, asking people in our health officer order to avoid nonessential travel and we would ask that our neighbors across the state and across the country do the same,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health for Los Angeles County. “There’s probably very few places in the world right now that would like to see travel into their communities.” (Lin, Shalby and Dolan, 5/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco Police Informally Warn More Than 130 People At Parks This Weekend
Police informally warned roughly 138 people to socially distance and wear face coverings at San Francisco parks this weekend, officials said. Chief Bill Scott said during a Monday news briefing that officers patrolled 25 parks, where they handed out face masks and reminded people to stay at least six feet apart. Those who were informally warned complied on the spot, he said. (Bauman, 5/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
‘When Is It Going To Stop?’: UCSF Team Combats Coronavirus Surge In Navajo Nation
As San Francisco flattened the curve of coronavirus infection last month, and New York City reached and fell from the peak of its surge, in Navajo Nation, the pandemic’s grim statistics were climbing. The sovereign American Indian nation reported its first confirmed case on March 17, a 46-year-old tribal member near Kayenta, Ariz., about 250 miles north of Phoenix. The same day a second person tested positive, and four days later there were 26 cases of the novel coronavirus spread across four different regions of tribal land. (Feldberg, 5/12)
Fresno Bee:
COVID-19 At Fresno Vet Home, Tulare County Nursing Home Deaths
There are coronavirus cases at the Veterans Home of California, Fresno – making it at least the fifth skilled nursing facility in Fresno County with reported COVID-19. State data show less than 11 health care workers there with the contagious virus, as of data through Saturday. A spokesperson for California Department of Veterans Affairs, which runs the long-term care home in Fresno with approximately 385 beds and more than 400 employees, said Monday that the department could not share the exact number of cases at the facility, citing privacy concerns. (George, 5/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
UCSF Doctor Expresses Alarm About His Packed United Flight To SFO After Treating COVID-19 Patients In New York
A UCSF cardiologist who spent several weeks treating COVID-19 patients in New York City said he was shocked to fly home Saturday on a packed United Airlines flight. Dr. Ethan Weiss, who traveled with 24 other UCSF health care workers, documented the experience on Twitter, posting a photo that appeared to show a full flight. “I guess United is relaxing their social distancing policy these days? Every seat full on this (Boeing) 737,” Weiss said. (Sanchez, 5/11)
Los Angeles Times:
How Coronavirus Disrupted California Meat Plants
There’s no shortage of demand for beef.Prices are up. Grocery stores are limiting how much each customer can buy. Last week more than 1,000 Wendy’s restaurants ran out of hamburgers. There’s also no shortage of cattle earmarked to be turned into beef. But prices for those animals have dropped. Sales are down. At a recent livestock auction in the San Joaquin Valley, just a handful of buyers bothered to make an appearance. (Masunaga, Parvini and Rust, 5/12)
Los Angeles Times:
California To Mull Coronavirus Rent Relief, Tax Vouchers
Two unprecedented proposals to help Californians weather the fiscal storm unleashed by the coronavirus crisis are expected to be unveiled Tuesday by Democrats in the state Senate — one to help struggling renters, the other to create a $25-billion economic recovery fund by issuing long-term vouchers to those willing to prepay their future state income taxes. Taken together, the ideas suggest lawmakers are willing to launch never-before-tried experiments to avoid the unpaid debts and deep cuts to government services that resulted from the Great Recession more than a decade ago. (Myers, 5/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Nearly 97% Of SF Tenants Paid May Rent In Apartment Owner Survey
The vast majority of San Francisco residential tenants continued to pay their rent in May, despite steep layoffs and soaring unemployment, according to a survey of San Francisco Apartment Association members. The survey of 352 property owners or managers, which encompassed 13,961 San Francisco apartment units, found that 96.8% of tenants paid their rent in May. The percentage of tenants unable to afford rent amid the coronavirus epidemic declined to 3.2% in May compared to April, when a similar survey found 5.7% of tenants couldn’t pay. (Dineen, 5/11)
Sacramento Bee:
Coronavirus: Kids Are Missing Routine Immunizations
Erica Enz didn’t hesitate to take her little girl, Clarke, for her 1-year-old vaccines in late March, when the coronavirus pandemic was hitting the area... The Modesto mother said she’s not afraid of going to the doctor to make sure Clarke is up to date on her vaccines. But, many parents are afraid of getting COVID-19 at doctors’ offices and their children are missing checkups and routine vaccinations. Immunization rates are free-falling in California, nationally and globally, fueling fear of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. (Mink, 5/11)
Sacramento Bee:
Coronavirus: What Sacramento Area Stores Do For Safety
Sacramento-area supermarkets are employing a variety of safer-shopping measures to get customers into stores as the coronavirus pandemic continues to loom over the grocery landscape. From social distancing to Plexiglas barriers to sanitizing stations, supermarkets and club stores are working for shoppers’ seal of approval as California counties start to relax their stay-at-home restrictions. (Smith, 5/12)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno County COVID-19 Total Cases Approaching 1,000
Fresno County health officials on Monday reported an increase of 60 cases of coronavirus infections since Saturday, bringing the total number to 945. No new deaths were announced as the the number of COVID-19-related deaths remains at nine. Of the 945 cases, 386 were from close contact, 371 from community spread, 144 are under investigation and 44 are related to travel. (Rodriguez, 5/11)
Fresno Bee:
Some Fresno Stores Opening, Offering Curbside Pickup
Across Fresno on Monday, shoppers picked up bottles of vodka at liquor stores and browsed car lots for the first time since non-essential businesses were ordered closed in mid March. It was the first day the city started to ease restrictions on a handful of “authorized” retailers, plans it announced last week, as it continues to deal with coronavirus. Certain stores were allowed to reopen for the first time – with modifications – and others were allowed to do contactless curbside pickup and delivery in phase one of the city’s reopening plan. (Clough, 5/11)