Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
As Anxieties Rise, Californians Buy Hundreds of Thousands More Guns
Gun sales are surging in California, where handgun-related FBI background checks this spring and summer were up 83% over 2019. Whether pro or con on gun control, experts agree the trend has been fueled by pandemic-related unrest. (Phillip Reese, )
Savvy Patient Fought for the Price She Was Quoted − And Didn’t Give Up
A California woman thought the discount on her coinsurance before an operation sounded too good to be true. Turns out, she was right. (Anna Almendrala, )
Tens Of Thousands Flee Wildfires In Orange County: A pair of wind-driven wildfires raced toward neighborhoods in Orange County on Monday, critically injuring two firefighters, forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate and smothering much of the region with smoke. Read more from the Los Angeles Times, USA Today and The New York Times.
Is It Safe To Breathe The Air? Between the new Silverado fire in Orange County and the still-burning El Dorado fire in San Bernardino and Riverside counties and Bobcat fire in Los Angeles County, high winds Monday were kicking up enough dust and smoke to make the air quality hazardous in some areas of Southern California. Read more from the LA Daily News.
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
San Francisco Chronicle:
Barrett’s Presence On Supreme Court Could Change Course Of Several Decisions
Newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett can weigh in soon on the law providing health insurance for millions of Americans. Also on religion vs. gay rights, access to abortion, states’ coronavirus restrictions on churches and public gatherings, and congressional access to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on President Trump. But first on the docket is next week’s presidential election. (Egelko, 10/26)
CalMatters:
State To Allow Visitors Inside Nursing Homes In Most Counties
Families desperate to visit loved ones in California nursing homes finally may see some relief after state health officials recently released updated guidelines allowing indoor visits in 46 counties, with some caveats. The long-awaited guidance came after months of pressure from families who say their relatives have suffered without the companionship and, sometimes, the extra caregiving that their frequent visits provide. They have been making do with rare window and outdoor visits and have depended on the homes’ willingness to allow such arrangements. (Feder Ostrov, 10/26)
Fresno Bee:
When Could You Get A COVID-19 Vaccine In California?
Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered a disappointing message last week for anyone hoping to get a COVID-19 vaccine in 2020: the majority of Californians will likely have to wait to get vaccinated until the second half of 2021. Though President Donald Trump has promised a vaccine in the coming weeks, the California Department of Public Health’s draft COVID-19 vaccination planning report pushes the general public into the last stages of its blueprint. “Don’t anticipate or expect that you can go down to a local pharmacy anytime this year and get a vaccination,” Newsom said during an Oct. 19 press conference. (Wiley, 10/27)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Newsom Has Been Ordered To Halve San Quentin’s Population, But He May Not Release Inmates
After state judges’ ruling last week that California acted with “deliberate indifference” in creating a COVID-19 “disaster” at San Quentin State Prison, Gov. Gavin Newsom has a big decision to make: Does he fight the ruling, or does he own up to his administration’s mistakes and take the medicine? According to the landmark court order — the first of its kind in the pandemic era — the state must reduce the population of San Quentin to 50% of what it was in June, to create proper space for social distancing and limit transmission of the coronavirus. (Fagone and Cassidy, 10/26)
LA Daily News:
7 Reasons California Officials Say Major Theme Parks Are Too Risky To Reopen Right Now
Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood and other large California theme parks are high-risk settings that could increase exposure to COVID-19 and lead to outbreaks prolonging the coronavirus pandemic, according to state officials. California issued long-awaited theme park reopening guidelines last week, but the new rules could leave small parks closed for weeks or months and major players like Disney and Universal unable to return until early 2021 or next summer. (MacDonald, 10/26)
LA Daily News:
Could The Lakers, Dodgers Be Contributing To L.A. County Coronavirus Infections?
Professional sports games are occurring without spectators in Los Angeles County, but they are still contributing to the pestering high rates of coronavirus infections, according to Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. In L.A. County, where fans have had plenty to root for in recent weeks as the Lakers won an NBA championship and now the Dodgers are competing in the World Series, Ferrer said fans gathering to watch games were among the most likely places where people are contracting the coronavirus. (Rosenfeld, 10/26)
EdSource:
Academic Testing Looks Very Different In California During Distance Learning
Even simple quizzes aren’t immune to the challenges brought on by the pandemic. Some teachers are finding it difficult to replicate in-person assessments in an online classroom during distance learning. Now, many California teachers are putting more focus on a range of different techniques for both routine and standardized tests, from more frequent check-ins and break-out groups to gauge understanding, to open-note tests, and even using webcams and software to prevent cheating. (Johnson, 10/27)
Bay Area News Group:
For Some Working Bay Area Parents, Only One Solution To Virtual School: Drop Their Job
Virtual school is testing the limits of families of all shapes and sizes as they try to juggle the roles of worker, teacher and parent. But few are being tested like single parents who can’t afford not to head to their essential jobs every morning. Many are facing the hardest choice of their lives: prioritize their children’s education and survive without their usual income or choose their jobs to pay the bills. (Du Salt 10/26)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
El Cajon Fine-Tunes CARES Act Allocations
The El Cajon City Council has agreed to put $100,000 of the latest round of federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act block grant funds toward a motel voucher program that allows people living on the streets an opportunity to find shelter, a clean bed and a place to shower. The City Council also approved $100,000 of CARES Act money toward housing and utility assistance for people in low-income households who are facing challenges because of COVID-19. (Pearlman, 10/26)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
San Diego Will Pay $425K To Partial Paraplegic City Engineer In Disability, Ethnic Discrimination Case
San Diego has agreed to pay $425,000 to a former city engineer for disability discrimination, ethnic discrimination and a failure to accommodate the man’s workplace needs after a skiing injury left him a partial paraplegic. The payout comes eight years after a jury awarded a former city inspector $522,000 for similar claims of discrimination that involved at least one of the same city supervisors. (Garrick, 10/26)
LA Daily News:
Five Years After Aliso Canyon Gas Leak, Public Health Is At The Heart Of The Tug-Of-War
It was the single largest natural gas leak in U.S. history. The 109,000 metric tons of methane that escaped into the air between October 2015 and February 2016 forced thousands of families to evacuate their San Fernando Valley homes. Residents complained of headaches, bloody noses, vomiting and rashes. Some say they continue to suffer health effects to this day. (Tat, 10/25)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Poverty, An Inability For Some To Isolate When Sick With Coronavirus Slowing Sonoma County From Wider Reopening
Sonoma County has been stuck since the end of August in the infamous “purple” stage of the state’s four-part community reopening regimen — the most restrictive tier reserved for counties having the most difficulty curtailing spread of the coronavirus. (Espinoza, 10/26)
Del Mar Times:
CureScience CEO Wants To 'Co-Create, Not Compete' To Advance Health Care
With a philosophy of “cocreate, not compete,” the Sorrento Valley-based nonprofit CureScience Institute is working to advance health care treatments that are more personalized to the patient. CureScience started with a focus on brain cancer research. It is now supporting work to develop curative therapies for cancer, immune and neurological disorders, in addition to using regenerative medicine to cure many different types of human health issues. (Harold, 10/27)
LA Daily News:
LA County, City Rolls Out Pilot Program To Respond To Mental Health Crisis Calls
Los Angeles County and city will create a new pilot program to provide response vans staffed with specially trained teams to each of the county’s five districts to help those experiencing mental health crises, officials have announced. Officials from the county and city announced the yearlong program on Monday, Oct. 26, declaring it time for a more compassionate approach to helping people having mental health crises — rather than having law enforcement, firefighters or paramedics respond. (Littlejohn, 10/26)
Los Angeles Times:
Jackie Lacey Is A Longtime Champion For Mentally Ill Defendants. But Do Her Reforms Go Far Enough?
After years of frustration with a criminal justice system that seemed to favor incarceration over treatment of mentally ill defendants, Mark Gale said he found an ally in Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey. Gale, whose son suffers from schizophrenia and had been arrested at least twice in the 2000s, says Lacey deserves credit for helping to conceive many of the programs that offer services to mentally ill defendants in L.A. County today. (Queally, 10/27)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento Kaiser Hospital Expands Emergency Department
Bowing to concerns about the spread of COVID-19, Kaiser Permanente unveiled an expanded emergency department Monday at its Sacramento Medical Center through a real-time video tour on Twitter. “Just like everything else in 2020, this ribbon-cutting ceremony is a little bit different than those we have held in the past,” said Sandy Sharon, Kaiser Permanente Sacramento senior vice president and area manager. “Typically, we would all be gathered together in person, celebrating the latest addition to our medical center and personally thanking the countless people who have made this day possible, but instead we want to thank you for joining us virtually and most importantly safely for our live-stream celebration.” (Anderson, 10/27)