Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Why Employers Find It So Hard to Test for COVID
COVID-19 cases are surging in California and across the U.S., and most workplaces are still open for business. As workers fear catching the disease while on the clock, why aren’t more companies footing the bill for testing employees? (Hannah Norman, )
More Lockdowns Loom As California Crushes COVID Case Record: California reported a record 20,654 cases on Monday, beating the previous record of 13,412 cases set last Monday. In Los Angeles County, the specter of another COVID-19 shutdown loomed as the region spilled over its case threshold for issuing a new stay-at-home order. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Bay Area News Group and AP.
COVID Vaccinations May Start Next Month In California: California could start administering coronavirus vaccines to as many as 2.4 million of the state’s highest-priority health care workers in early December, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday. The state is making distribution plans around the assumption that the first vaccines will be authorized by the FDA in early December. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
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
LA Daily News:
Travelers To Los Angeles Will Have To Sign Quarantine Form Starting Wednesday
Travelers coming through Los Angeles International and Van Nuys airports and Union Station beginning Wednesday will be required to sign a form acknowledging California’s recommended 14-day self-quarantine in response to rising coronavirus rates. The form will be available at travel.lacity.org, Mayor Eric Garcetti said during a coronavirus briefing Monday. Garcetti urged people to not travel over the Thanksgiving holiday, not even to go across town because of how widespread COVID-19 cases have been and that it’s too dangerous at this time. (Heinz, 11/23)
Orange County Register/San Gabriel Valley Tribune:
Thanksgiving Travel In Southern California To See Biggest Drop In 12 Years
The skyrocketing spread of the coronavirus, combined with urgent pleas from health agencies to stay home, are curbing Thanksgiving holiday travel plans for many Southern Californians, experts say. Forecasts for travel in the region between Tuesday and Sunday, Nov. 24-29, call for a 14% decrease from last year, the biggest drop since the 2008 Great Recession, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California. (Scauzillo, 11/23)
KPBS:
Holiday Travel Creating Long Lines At San Diego COVID-19 Testing Centers
Despite a travel advisory, people are still packing their bags and flying out of San Diego International Airport. “I am flying home to Denver for the holidays just to be with my family for Thanksgiving,” said Kayte Livran, an SDSU student. For her, booking a plane ticket also meant booking a COVID-19 test. Two, in fact. (Thorne, 11/23)
Bay Area News Group:
Why A Negative COVID Test Doesn’t Give You The Green Light For Thanksgiving
As the coronavirus pandemic soars to new heights across California just days before Thanksgiving, testing in the Bay Area is similarly surging — a trend that is raising some alarms for public health officials who fear that negative results will give people a false sense of security. “The value of testing is that if you’re positive, you won’t gather, and that will avoid an infection,” said Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, a professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California-San Francisco. “But the challenge is that a negative test also should not convince you that you’re risk-free or not infectious.” (Angst and Toledo, 11/23)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Task Force Announces Three New Free COVID-19 Testing Sites
As cases rise, the Kern County Latino COVID-19 Task Force is encouraging residents to take advantage of three free testing sites available this week. (11/23)
KQED:
Don’t Call It A Curfew: California's New, Less Restrictive Stay-At-Home Order Still Draws Backlash
Gov. Gavin Newsom telling me to stay at home? Across California, some residents are bristling at the thought. Hundreds of people gathered Saturday night in Huntington Beach to protest the state's recent stay-at-home order, which prohibits nonessential trips between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. A smaller protest in Fresno drew about 50 disgruntled residents. (Fitzgerald Rodriguez, 11/23)
Los Angeles Times:
California COVID-19 Lockdown Measures Are Met With Skepticism But May Offer The Best Hope
With coronavirus cases surging to unprecedented levels in California, state and local officials are rapidly adding new restrictions in hopes of slowing the infection rate. The new lockdown measures — which include a limited late-night curfew in most of California and the shuttering of outdoor restaurant dining in Los Angeles County — have been met with some skepticism by a public weary of months of limits on their movements. (Lin II, 11/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Pasadena Will Allow Outdoor Dining Despite L.A. County Order
The Pasadena City Council will allow restaurants to continue outdoor dining despite a new L.A. County health order to suspend such operations for three weeks due to the alarming coronavirus surge. “We will assess our data daily but at this point will not close down restaurants on Wednesday or the near future based on a discussion at our City Council meeting tonight,” said Lisa Derderian, spokeswoman for the city of Pasadena. (Vives, 11/23)
Fresno Bee:
Nursing Home COVID-19 Outbreaks in Fresno And Madera Counties Among Worst In California
COVID-19 outbreaks at skilled nursing facilities in Fresno and Madera counties are among the worst this month in California. Only a few nursing homes elsewhere in the state had more active coronavirus cases Monday than the area’s worst current outbreak, at a Chowchilla facility, according to data from the California Department of Public Health. (George, 11/24)
Ventura County Star:
Ventura County Residents Open To Taking COVID-19 Vaccines In The Works
Jose Escobedo, a firefighter from Ventura, will take a wait-and-see approach once, as expected, one or more of the coronavirus vaccines on the horizon becomes available to the public in coming months. "Like anything, you want data to show what it is," Escobedo, 41, said last week as he walked with his two young children on a portion of Main Street in Ventura that is closed to cars so businesses there ravaged by COVID-19 restrictions can expand operations outside. (Harris, 11/23)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Private Employers Have Qualified Right To Mandate Employee COVID-19 Vaccination
Earlier this month, Pfizer and Moderna separately announced each of their COVID-19 vaccines had proven at least 90 percent effective in clinical trials. Once federal regulators approve one or more safe and effective vaccines, the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed, headed by four-star Gen. Gus Perna, will distribute as many doses as possible as quickly as possible. May private sector California employers require their employees to get vaccinated? The answer is a qualified yes. California law requires every employer to furnish “a place of employment that is safe and healthful” for its employees. Throughout this pandemic, employers have adopted sanitizing, distancing, and other rules as part of that duty. Many of those rules have been mandated by state and local public health officials. (Eaton, 11/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. Study Could Bring U.S. Closer To Fast, Reliable Coronavirus Tests That Report Results In Minutes
A small study by San Francisco researchers could bring the U.S. a step closer to having reliable and fast coronavirus diagnostic tests that generate results in minutes, instead of hours or days. The study found that a new, rapid antigen test performed almost as well as state-of-the-art tests, commonly referred to as PCR tests, at detecting positives among people who had high levels of the virus and were thus likely infectious. And the results come back to users much quicker, which could improve the coronavirus testing landscape. (Ho, 11/23)
Capital Public Radio/KXJZ:
As Holidays Arrive, California Faces A Shortage Of In-Home Caregivers
Californians who are looking for in-home care for elderly or disabled loved ones this holiday season may have a difficult time finding help. Experts and home care agencies say a longstanding shortage of in-home care providers has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re getting clients, but getting caregivers to come in and take care of those clients has been very difficult,” said Tracy Steuckrath, client services manager for Visiting Angels, a home care agency in Sacramento. (Caiola, 11/23)
Sacramento Bee:
Noted Conservative Activist Speaks At Packed California Church, Defying COVID-19 Rules
A large Pentecostal church in Northern California with a history of defying state and local coronavirus restrictions did so again this past weekend in a big way, holding a trio of packed indoor services Sunday with prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a guest. Kirk, co-founder of the right-wing organization Turning Point USA, joined Pastor Greg Fairrington for hour-long discussions in three morning services at the Destiny Christian Church campus in Rocklin. (McGough, 11/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Here’s A Look At COVID-19 Risk Tools — And Why Experts Say They Shouldn’t Guide Your Decisions
Several online risk assessment tools have popped up during the pandemic that let users gauge the possibility of becoming infected with coronavirus in different scenarios. But is it a good idea to use them — especially as the coronavirus is running rampant in California and across the U.S. and officials are urging the public to forgo traveling and holiday gatherings altogether? (Hwang, 11/24)
LA Daily News:
LAUSD’s Coronavirus-Test Positivity Rate Up, Mirroring County Trend
The number of people in the Los Angeles Unified schools community who are testing positive for the coronavirus has been steadily rising in recent weeks, mirroring the trend being reported countywide and throughout the country. From Oct. 5 through last week, the percentage of people who underwent COVID-19 testing through LAUSD’s program has increased five-fold, from 0.32% to 1.64%, according to figures released by the school district. The test positivity rate of people tested through LAUSD’s program remains a fraction of the countywide rate, which came in at 6.62% last week, according to the district. “The vast majority of those tested at schools are asymptomatic individuals who aren’t currently at school, so the results might give an indication of what actual community spread looks like,” Superintendent Austin Beutner said during his weekly community briefing on Monday, Nov. 23. (Tat, 11/23)
Orange County Register:
Newport-Mesa Teachers Union Urges District To Return Secondary Schools To Distance Learning
The teachers union in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District requested on Monday, Nov. 23, that its middle and high schools return to distance learning because of the recent rise in coronavirus cases in Orange County, the upcoming holidays and concerns with the hybrid model. The district’s secondary schools have been operating in a hybrid of some in-person and some remote learning since Nov. 9. In a letter to the district, the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers urged having the older grades temporarily return to distance learning after the Thanksgiving break. (Albano, 11/23)
Orange County Register:
CSUF Faculty Members Collaborate On Book About Pandemics
“The Shapes of Epidemics and Global Disease,” a wide-ranging, collaborative book on pandemics, was first released in January, just as a certain now-famous pandemic was spreading across the world. Now, with a new epilogue featuring commentary specific to COVID-19, the book has been rereleased and is available on Amazon.com. (Hamilton, 11/23)
LA Daily News:
Snoop Dogg Joins Rams, Chargers To Hand Out Thanksgiving Meals
Music icon and Long Beach native Snoop Dogg came out to Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium Monday, Nov. 23, to help serve Thanksgiving meals to a few hundred families in need. About 2,500 families received turkeys, trimmings and packages of non-perishable items for their Thanksgiving meals during the food drive’s five-hour run. (Lee, 11/24)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
New Mom's Sudden Heart Failure Leads To Urgent Race For Transplant — And A Match
Emily Mesa was 22 when she gave birth to her daughter Madilyn last November. In late May, she began feeling short of breath and extremely fatigued. In June, she learned she had heart failure. By July, she was on the waiting list for a new heart. (Wood, 11/24)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Donate Blood, Pick A Black Friday Mystery Box
Houchin Community Blood Bank invites the public to donate blood, plasma or platelets now through Saturday for an opportunity to pick a Black Friday Mystery Box with a gift card of up to $500. The incentive is offered at the blood bank's donor centers at 11515 Bolthouse Drive and 5901 Truxtun Ave. and at mobile blood drives this week, Houchin said in a news release. Houchin's donor center hours are: Monday, Tuesday and Friday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Wednesday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; closed Thanksgiving; and Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (11/23)
Fresno Bee:
Mental Health In A Pandemic: Here’s How California Can Do Better For All
A Q&A and conversation on how Californians are navigating the pandemic from a mental health standpoint, the challenges we face - and how we can do better. This forum is hosted in partnership with the Pan-Ethnic California Health Network. (11/23)
Ventura County Star:
Ventura County Panelists Discuss Looming Eviction Crisis Amid COVID-19
Even before COVID-19 impacted the finances of countless families, many Ventura County residents already struggled to pay rent. More than half of Ventura County renters were considered "cost-burdened" by rent in 2019, meaning they paid more than 30% of their incomes on rent. A report last year from the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy found that the county's working-class and immigrant renters also faced poor living conditions like roaches, rats and mold. (Rode, 11/23)