Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
California’s Mental Health Crisis: What Went Wrong? And Can We Fix It?
KHN’s Angela Hart leads a lively discussion on the challenges facing California’s mental health care system and potential solutions. The panel was part of a broader symposium on mental health and addiction hosted by the Sacramento-based publication Capitol Weekly. ( )
Parents Protest School Vax Mandate: More than a thousand parents, students and school staff crowded the lawn of the state Capitol on Monday to protest California’s covid-19 vaccination mandate for eligible K-12 students. Some rally speakers demanded a voice at the table, objecting to the state’s executive decision. Read more from The Sacramento Bee. Scroll down for more coverage.
In related news —
99% Of LAUSD Teachers Have Received The Vaccine: Thousands of hesitant Los Angeles school-district employees opted for a last-minute jab, allowing them to access schools and offices on Monday and resulting in 99% compliance among classroom teachers and 97% of all employees. The high compliance rate fended off the need for a longer-term contingency plan. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
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
Sacramento Bee:
Video: Capitol Protest Over School COVID Vax Mandate
A rally at the state Capitol in Sacramento, California, encourages keeping kids home from school on October 18, 2021, in protest of COVID-19 vaccine mandates. (Amezcua and Carracio, 10/18)
Los Angeles Daily News:
As State Tightens Coronavirus Vaccine Rules, Some Parents, School Employees Stage Walkouts
Amid debate over intensified vaccination requirements statewide, students and staff at local schools took to the streets in scattered walkouts across the region on Monday, Oct.18, urged by parent and teacher groups pushing back on pandemic-era mandates. (Carter, 10/18)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Hundreds Of San Diego Area Students Skip School As Families Protest Vaccine Mandate
Hundreds of San Diego children skipped school Monday as part of a statewide protest of California’s upcoming COVID-19 vaccination requirement. Some San Diego area districts reported higher-than-usual absences, while others said they were barely affected by the protest. Roughly a third of Ramona Unified’s 5,000 students in East County, or 1,700, were absent Monday. Typically about 250 to 300 students don’t show during this time of year, said Superintendent Theresa Grace. (Taketa, 10/18)
EdSource:
Students, Staff At Mostly Rural Districts Part Of One-Day Vaccine Protest
Thousands of California school staff and students didn’t attend school Monday in protest of a state order that requires all K-12 students to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by July. Social media posts calling for a “school walkout” began circulating a few weeks ago. Some posts urged parents not to call their children in sick but rather to tell the school attendance office that their children were being kept out of school to protest the vaccine mandate. (Lambert, 10/18)
The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat:
Families Protest Pending Student Vaccine Mandate At Sonoma County Education Office
Jessica West held no sign as she stood alongside Airport Boulevard late Monday morning, but she was willing to share her message when asked. “These are our children, we’re here to protect them,“ the mother of three said, raising her voice to be heard over the sound of car horns blaring as passing drivers responded to the assembly of sign- and flag-carrying families lining either side of the road. "No vaccine has ever been so chaotic and controversial and divisive,“ she said. ”You get shut down for asking questions.“ (Tornay, 10/18)
Politico:
Covid Anger Drives Recall Election Targeting 3 San Francisco School Leaders
Voters with "recall fever" will decide next year whether to remove three San Francisco school board members in one of the nation's most significant ouster attempts, fueled by parental anger over pandemic shutdowns and controversial school renamings where even Sen. Dianne Feinstein was deemed unworthy. The city's Department of Elections Monday certified a Feb. 15 recall for three San Francisco Board of Education officials — President Gabriela López, Vice President Faauuga Moliga and Commissioner Alison Collins. Recall backers submitted 80,000 signatures to remove each commissioner, far in excess of the 50,000 required. (Marinucci and Colliver, 10/18)
Berkeleyside:
A ‘Mad Rush’ To Get Berkeley Kids To School After 11 Bus Drivers Are Exposed To COVID
Berkeley Unified has temporarily stopped running school buses for elementary students after the majority of the district’s bus drivers were exposed to COVID-19 last week. The cancellation is expected to last through Thursday, Oct. 21, with bus service resuming Friday. (Busing for students with IEPs who receive transportation services will continue as usual.)Eleven of 21 bus drivers are out Monday due to three separate COVID-19 exposures, the second of which exposed most of the transportation department to COVID-19. The dispatcher and schedule-router, who have been filling in as substitute drivers during staffing shortages, are also out due to the exposure. (Markovich, 10/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
FDA Nearing Approval For Mixing And Matching Covid-19 Booster Shots
The Food and Drug Administration is moving to soon allow people to receive booster shots that are different from their first Covid-19 vaccine doses, people familiar with the matter said. The FDA won’t recommend any booster over the others but will permit people to get a booster shot that is different from the shot they first received, one of the people familiar with the matter said. (Schwartz, 10/18)
CNN:
Seniors Are Particularly Vulnerable To Covid-19. So Far, 1 In 7 Have Gotten A Booster Shot Of Vaccine
As the US tries to bring Covid-19 under control before a potential winter spike, health experts are encouraging vulnerable people to get a booster vaccine dose. So far, about 15% of seniors have done so. Overall, about 10.7 million people have received an additional booster dose and more than half were people over 65, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Holcombe, 10/19)
The Bakersfield Californian:
CAPK Holding Vaccine Clinics Throughout Kern
Community Action Partnership of Kern is hosting community coronavirus vaccine clinics throughout Kern County over the next several weeks. The clinics will be held at CAPK’s early childhood education centers. The times and locations of the events are listed below. (10/18)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Calif. Prison Guards Are Vaccinated At Lower Rate Than Inmates; State Officials Don't Seem Worried
A fight to vaccinate California’s prison guards is raging, and the prolonged struggle invites scrutiny of the state’s prison guard union and of Gov. Gavin Newsom. Last week a Kern County judge partially blocked a public health order that would have required all California prison employees who work around or near prison health care settings to be vaccinated against COVID-19. More specifically the judge’s order, which came at the request of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, prevents enforcement of the vaccination mandate only for guards and peace officers. (Clark, 10/19)
Bay Area News Group:
Why Powell's COVID-19 Vaccine "Breakthrough" Infection Was Deadly
The tragic death of Gen. Colin Powell from COVID-19 reveals not the failure of vaccines but the inability of his fragile immune system to protect him from those who are unvaccinated, health care experts said Monday. “No matter how good our vaccines — if we have a raging forest fire of infections among unvaccinated It will spill over and kill vulnerable vaccinated folks,” wrote Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, on Twitter. (Krieger, 10/18)
The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat:
Local Public Health Experts: Colin Powell’s Not Part Of Vaccination Debate
For some, the pandemic-related death of former Secretary of State Colin Powell — who was fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — is yet another example of the ineffectiveness of the coronavirus vaccines. But local public health experts on Monday said Powell’s death has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with science. Dr. John Swartzberg said Powell had been previously diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a malignancy of a certain type of cell that plays a key role in a person’s immune system. (Espinoza, 10/18)
Sacramento Bee:
Amtrak Train Service From Sacramento To Bakersfield Back On Track After COVID Hiatus
Train service will resume on Monday between Sacramento and Bakersfield after a 19-month COVID-related suspension. The 6:26 a.m. San Joaquins Amtrak train leaving from Sacramento will be the first since March 2020 after ridership collapsed following the pandemic, said David Lipari, marketing manager for the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority. (Diamond, 10/18)
Newsweek:
EPA Takes Steps To Regulate 'Forever Chemicals' In Drinking Water, Consumer Products
A new strategy from the White House to regulate toxic industrial compounds linked to serious illness was announced Monday, putting everything from cookware and carpets to firefighting foams under revised standards, the Associated Press reported. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Michael Regan said his agency is taking a series of steps to reduce pollution from "forever chemicals," or PFAS, long-lasting chemicals that are contaminating public drinking water, wells and even food. (Cagnassola, 10/18)
AP:
EPA Unveils Strategy To Regulate Toxic 'Forever Chemicals'
The Biden administration said Monday it is launching a broad strategy to regulate toxic industrial compounds associated with serious health conditions that are used in products ranging from cookware to carpets and firefighting foams. Michael Regan, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said his agency is taking a series of actions to limit pollution from a cluster of long-lasting chemicals known as PFAS that are increasingly turning up in public drinking water systems, private wells and even food. (Daly, 10/19)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Senior, Disabled Protesters Occupy S.F. AT&T Store Demanding Wi-Fi Access
In an increasingly online world, Maria Guadalupe Siordia-Ortiz worries about her future. At 67 years old and in the midst of a pandemic that has changed the way the world works, she has quickly learned that if you’re not online, you’re left out. Since the arrival of COVID-19 last year, Siordia-Ortiz, a San Francisco resident, has seen her friends — many of them older, some of them disabled — lose access to many of the things they now need the most, such as social connections and access to their doctors. Late in life, with limited means, many of them cannot afford reliable high-speed internet access. (Picon, 10/18)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
County Supervisor: Jails Shouldn't Be First Stop For Those With Mental Illness, Drug Problems
San Diego County’s jails, like many throughout the country, have maintained lower than usual inmate populations during the pandemic, prompting some criminal justice reformers and policymakers to ask if it’s time to rethink who we incarcerated and why. On Tuesday the county Board of Supervisors will consider a proposal by Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer to take a data-driven look at whether the county should offer enhanced mental health and addiction treatment services that could help keep thousands of people out of jail each year. (Davis, 10/18)