San Diego Union-Tribune: School Districts Expand COVID Vaccine Clinics Now That Younger Students Are Eligible 
San Diego Unified is offering free Pfizer COVID vaccines at schools for one more week to reach more students and community members, now that anyone ages 12 and up can get the vaccine. Vaccines are available to students, staff, students’ families and community members at the following district schools from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. this week: (Taketa, 5/17)

Los Angeles Daily News: Teens Are Being Vaccinated At ‘Decent Pace,’ LA County Health Officials Say 
Just a few days after Los Angeles County began offering COVID-19 vaccinations to youths as young as 12 years old, health officials say thousands of residents ages 12-15 have been vaccinated. There has been “a great turnout” among eligible teens, said Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County’s director of public health, on Monday, May 17. (Grigoryants, 5/17)

Los Angeles Daily News: LAUSD To Launch Widespread Vaccination Campaign For Students
Convenience is the name of the game when it comes to encouraging students to get their COVID-19 vaccines, so starting next week, the Los Angeles Unified School District will deploy mobile vaccination teams to about 250 school sites over the next few weeks — to get as many shots into students’ arms as possible, Superintendent Austin Beutner announced Monday, May 17. (Tat, 5/17)

Los Angeles Times: LAUSD To Offer Prizes, Cash To Students Who Get Vaccinated 
The L.A. Unified School District is poised to launch a sweeping effort to immunize about 300,000 students at 250 campuses against COVID-19, which officials see as a crucial public health strategy and a vital tactic to lure students back to badly needed in-person schooling. But they worry that simply arriving at neighborhood schools with Pfizer doses won’t be enough to reach students 12 and older — and their parents. They need incentives, prizes, contests, cash grants — and at Wilson High School in El Sereno, the energy of their “Mighty Mule.” The mascot and other representatives of the school, such as teachers and other staff, are trusted, familiar, even popular. They could prove effective public health ambassadors. (Blume, 5/18)

The Bakersfield Californian: BC Nursing Students, Hindu Temple Of Kern County To Hold Vaccine Clinics 
In collaboration with the Hindu Temple of Kern County, Bakersfield College’s nursing students will hold two pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinics in the coming months. According to a news release from BC, the Moderna vaccine will be available to those who register. The clinics will take place at the temple, located at 6700 Valleyview Dr. (5/17)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Cruise Ship Crews Getting COVID-19 Vaccines In San Diego Wednesday 
In a sign that a return to cruising is on the near horizon, Carnival Corp. is bringing several of its ships to San Diego this week so that hundreds of crew members can be vaccinated against COVID-19. As vaccinations of crew members ramp up here and across the globe, cruise lines will have a better chance of resuming long-stalled voyages out of U.S. ports as early as mid-July, based on rapidly changing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Weisberg, 5/17)

Orange County Register: Coronavirus: These Maps Show Vaccine Rates For Every California ZIP Code 
California’s COVID-19 vaccination progress portal has maps that show the share of the population that has received COVID-19 vaccine by ZIP code. The maps can be toggled to show each county and the percentage of those who have received a partial or full series of COVID-19 vaccine out of the total eligible population. (Snibbe, 5/17)

Fresno Bee: How Is Fresno’s Vaccination Progress, As California Prepares To Lift Mask Rules In June?
California is waiting until June 15 to implement new guidelines issued late last week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that will allow people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to go without masks in many – but not all — indoor public settings. The four-week period announced Monday by California Health & Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly is intended to not only give the state – as well as businesses, their employees and the public – time to prepare for how to implement the relaxed mask rules, but also to give people more time to get vaccinated ahead of that date. (Sheehan, 5/17)

Los Angeles Times: COVID Vaccine Hesitancy: How To Discuss Side Effects, Risks 
There’s a shot available for everyone who wants one. But what about the people who don’t? If your friend, neighbor, coworker or loved one hasn’t gotten their COVID vaccine yet, they probably have a reason. Identifying that reason is key to getting them to get their shot, experts say. (Roy, 5/17)

Modesto Bee: COVID: Is It A HIPAA Violation To Ask For A Vaccine Card?
Some businesses are lifting face mask requirements for customers who are vaccinated against COVID-19, raising questions about medical privacy. Since 1996, part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has required that some patients’ health information be protected. But many legal experts say non-health care businesses don’t violate HIPAA if they ask for proof of a COVID-19 vaccine, multiple news outlets reported. Here’s what to know about the law and what to expect at stores. (Jasper, 5/17)

Bay Area News Group: California Says This County’s Vaccine Rate Is Low. Why Did It Blame Officials There For Vaccine Gaps In Italy? 
Rural Lassen County — home to roughly 30,000 Californians — sprawls east of Redding and north of the Plumas National Forest against the Nevada state line. So the county’s director of health and social services was more than a little surprised when state officials sent an email asking for her COVID-19 plans to vaccinate the people of Tivoli, Italy. “How can they get things so wrong?” asked Barbara Longo, the pandemic-weary and frustrated health director. (DeRuy, 5/17)

Orange County Register: Coronavirus: California Reported 596 New Cases And 13 New Deaths, May 16 
In California, 596 new cases of the coronavirus were reported, according to Sunday, May 16, end-of-day totals on public health websites, bringing the total number of cases so far to 3,741,628. There were 13 new deaths reported statewide Sunday for a total of 62,329 people who have died from COVID-19. (Goertzen, 5/17)

Modesto Bee: Stanislaus Has 1,061 Deaths To COVID-19 And 55,734 Cases 
Stanislaus County reported zero deaths to COVID-19 for a fourth straight day Monday and a continued drop in hospital cases. The death toll has remained at 1,041 residents since Thursday, the county Health Services Agency reported.It was a welcome break. Stanislaus has tended to have one to three deaths per day in recent weeks, even as other measures of the pandemic improved. (Holland, 5/18)

Bay Area News Group: COVID: Will Santa Clara, Santa Cruz Be Next In Yellow Tier?
As the color-coded reopening system that California has used for much of the pandemic to set restrictions enters its final month, two more local counties will find out Tuesday whether they are advancing to the state’s coveted yellow tier .Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties are both eligible to move this week into the stage that signifies “minimal” coronavirus spread and comes with the loosest restrictions in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy tiered framework. Updated county assignments are typically announced around noon each Tuesday. (Savidge, 5/18)

Sacramento Bee: Why Did The CDC Change COVID Mask Guidance? 
Federal health officials announced last week that fully vaccinated Americans can shed their masks during indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing. Since then, a list of businesses have said they are no longer requiring their vaccinated customers to sport face coverings while shopping. The announcement — which includes exceptions for select crowded spaces such as buses, trains, planes and doctor’s offices — comes as daily coronavirus cases continue to decline since COVID-19 vaccines rolled out in the U.S., with deaths at their lowest point since last year. (Camero, 5/17)

Los Angeles Times: Many Experts Say To Keep Masks On Despite CDC Guidance 
A growing number of health experts vaccinated against COVID-19 said they’d keep their masks on in public settings as federal officials acknowledged that new relaxed mask recommendations issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention needed clarification. The comments underscore a growing pushback in some quarters over the CDC’s surprise decision to roll back mask recommendations last week. Some retailers said they were keeping mask requirements, while others, including Trader Joe’s and Walmart, lifted them, with some chains clarifying the relaxation applied only in states and local areas that already have relatively loose mask rules. (Lin II, 5/17)

Modesto Bee: CSU Chancellor Says Virtual Learning Is Here To Stay 
California State Universities will offer more in-person classes in the fall but it still won’t be like a traditional college before the pandemic. “I think fall will certainly be a transitional semester for us,” Chancellor Joseph I. Castro told The Bee’s Education Lab. “I anticipate more in-person instruction and yet we won’t return to how it was prior to the pandemic. ”More virtual courses will be offered than there were a year and a half ago to meet student needs, Castro said, and each campus will find its balance, including Fresno State. (Velez, 5/17)

Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 Grief Keeps An L.A. School District From Reopening 
At a time when Los Angeles County and California is experiencing a newfound sense of optimism that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic has passed, [Superintendent Frances] Esparza made a difficult decision. Hers is a school community where the losses among children, families and staff are still too raw, too recent. Last month she announced, with the support of the school board, that the El Rancho Unified School District serving Pico Rivera would stay closed for the remainder of the school year. (Gomez, 5/18)

Bay Area News Group: COVID: Salesforce Opens Bay Area HQ To 100 Vaccinated Employees
A hundred vaccinated employees of business-software giant Salesforce are coming to work in its San Francisco headquarters office Monday in part of a three-stage reopening process as the COVID pandemic comes under control, the firm said. Salesforce said in April that although it was extending employees’ option to work remotely until year’s end — after earlier saying they could work from home until at least the end of July — it would bring workers back to offices on a voluntary basis starting this month. (Baron, 5/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: One Of San Francisco's Last Big Homeless Camps Has Been Taken Down
On Monday, after the operator that the state leased the lot to went out of business and more people moved in during the pandemic, officials descended to clear the encampment despite resistance from remaining residents and homeless advocates. To those still there when the heavy equipment rolled in, the Merlin Street lot symbolized all that’s wrong with the city’s reliance on short-term Band-Aids like sanctioned camps and motel rooms while thousands still lack stable housing. But to city officials and social workers who said they spent the past six weeks urging residents to accept alternative shelter, it was a sign of progress. (Hepler, 5/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Finally Has A New Mental Health Team To Respond To Homeless People In Distress. Is It Helping?
San Francisco’s new Street Crisis Response Team responds to some 911 calls in place of police for those who are mentally ill, high on drugs, homeless — or, often, all three. The teams, which will be fully initiated this summer, have been hailed as a compassionate way to coax the city’s most vulnerable into care. Mayor London Breed has also touted them as a key element in her road map for police reform, which she introduced last year amid the national protests over police brutality. (Thadani and Cassidy, 5/17)

The Bakersfield Californian: One-Stop Health Pit Stop Event To Provide Access To Physical, Mental Health Resources 
Not everyone had the means and ability to obtain physical and mental health care over the past year. But a new event, the Here for Health Pit Stop, aims to change that by making it easier to take care of one's mental and physical health at the same time. According to a news release, the event will be hosted by CityServe in collaboration with Dignity Health and Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Services. It is scheduled to be held from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday at 3201 F St. (5/17)

Voice of San Diego: Flush With Aid, Most Districts Aren’t Spending On Mental Health Resources
In April, a San Marcos High School student died by suicide and now mental health professionals are urging San Marcos and other districts to invest in counseling and other services with the influx of cash they’re getting from the state and federal government. For now, there’s no indication they are. Voice of San Diego found that schools leaders are relying on mental health and social-emotional training from the County Office of Education and are working with local community groups, but not spending more money on crisis counseling despite receiving millions of dollars in coronavirus relief funding. (Jimenez, 5/17)