Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
One School, Two Choices: Families Brave COVID’s Tough Test
Most students at one Marin County school attend in person, while a dozen study from home. Those on campus are constantly nagged to use hand sanitizer and submit to the thermometer. Home-schoolers yell to their parents for help, while the parents pray that Zoom doesn’t freeze. (John M. Glionna, )
Megachurch Pastor Has COVID After Attending Rose Garden Event: Prominent Riverside pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship has tested positive for COVID-19, he announced Monday, the latest person tied to an outbreak at the White House. Laurie, who is in quarantine, says he has experienced fatigue, aches, a fever and a loss of taste. In a video announcing his diagnosis, he urged people not to politicize the virus. “It’s real," he said. Read more from the Los Angeles Times, Politico and The Press-Enterprise.
For the latest on President Trump's health, see our coverage below and in KHN’s Morning Briefing.
After A Fire, Water Quality Can Be Dangerous: Experts are investigating what happens to municipal water systems after a fire, when released toxic chemicals can get pulled into plumbing systems. After the 2018 fire that destroyed Paradise, for example, tests reported in a new study showed benzene levels in drinking water at 2,217 parts per billion. California health authorities say 1 part per billion is dangerous over the long-term, and 26 parts per billion is dangerous for short-term exposure. Read more from The New York Times.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage and the best of the rest.
More News From Across The State
Los Angeles Times:
Trump Returns To White House, Although Doctors Say He ‘May Not Entirely Be Out Of The Woods’
President Trump was discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and returned to the White House on Monday night, three days after he was hospitalized for COVID-19 and hours after his doctors warned that they won’t know for a week whether he has recovered. Despite receiving experimental drugs and experiencing setbacks over the weekend that suggested medical complications, Trump insisted he was feeling “better than I did 20 years ago,” even as his doctor warned that the president “may not entirely be out of the woods yet.” (Bierman and Stokols, 10/5)
San Francisco Chronicle:
What We Know About Trump’s Extraordinary COVID-19 Treatment
President Donald Trump is receiving extraordinary treatment for a COVID-19 patient, including a combination of drugs available to the public only in rare circumstances. But the unusual concoction raises serious questions about him leaving the hospital, Bay Area medical scientists said Monday. The president left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Monday evening after tweeting that he was “feeling really good” and advising people not to be “afraid of Covid.”The announcement created a furor among medical professionals, who worry he may be sicker than he is letting on and probably highly contagious and might further spread the disease around the White House. (Fimrite, 10/5)
Los Angeles Times:
Biden Says He's 'Not Surprised' Trump Caught The Coronavirus
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden went back on the attack Monday as President Trump tried to downplay his own COVID-19 infection, with Biden saying he was “not surprised” Trump caught the coronavirus, considering the president’s resistance to social distancing or wearing masks. “Anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying ‘masks don’t matter, social distancing doesn’t matter,’ I think, is responsible for what happens to them,” Biden said at an NBC News town hall in Miami, moderated by Lester Holt. (Pearce, 10/5)
Los Angeles Times:
CDC Says Coronavirus Can Spread Via Tiny Airborne Particles
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged Monday that the coronavirus can spread through microscopic respiratory particles known as aerosols that float in the air for minutes or even hours before being inhaled. On its website, the CDC said that even people who followed social distancing guidelines have been infected through this type of transmission — and added a warning against frequenting crowded, poorly ventilated indoor spaces. (Read, 10/5)
San Francisco Chronicle:
You Can Still Vote In Person, Starting Now. Here’s How S.F. Is Doing It
The open-air voting booths set up for business in front of San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium are an indication of just how the coronavirus has affected the 2020 presidential election. Ballots are in the mail for all of California’s more than 21.2 million registered voters as the state tries to make it easier — and safer — for people to cast ballots in the Nov. 3 election without going to a polling place. (Wildermuth, 10/5)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Slow And Steady: California’s Latest Reopening Plan Is Going Better Than Its Last
Since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in March, Marcel Banks has been eagerly anticipating the day he could let diners inside his Bayview restaurant again. But when San Francisco finally allowed indoor dining to resume last Wednesday, more than six months after the coronavirus closed every restaurant in the city, Banks was resolute: not yet. (Allday, 10/5)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Not Moving Into New Reopening Tier
Despite some promising numbers, Los Angeles County is not expected to move into a more permissive phase of relaxing coronavirus restrictions this week, public health officials announced Monday. In order to decide when a county can move to a new tier in California’s four-phase reopening plan, state officials are keeping an eye on two metrics: the rate of daily new cases per 100,000 residents over a recent seven-day period, which is adjusted to account for how much testing each county is doing, and the average percentage of tests for the virus that come back positive over seven days. (Wigglesworth, 10/5)
LA Daily News:
LA County Coronavirus Totals Dip As Week Begins That Includes Business Reopenings
As Los Angeles County strode toward opening more business sectors on Monday, Oct. 5, the Department of Public Health reported another seven coronavirus-related deaths, lifting the countywide total since the onset of the pandemic to 6,654. (10/5)
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco Fleet Week Goes Virtual In The Face Of COVID-19
San Francisco Fleet Week, the annual aerial waterfront event that celebrates the U.S. military with air shows by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, was canceled in July due to the coronavirus pandemic. But now some of its associated programming has migrated online for a different kind of celebration set for Friday-Sunday, Oct. 9-11. (Kosman, 10/5)
Los Angeles Times:
Card Clubs In L.A. County Reopen For Outdoor Gaming
Card clubs in Los Angeles County reopened Monday with health precautions, drawing a stream of gamblers and prompting expressions of relief from city leaders who have struggled without the key source of tax revenue. The county’s Board of Supervisors and Department of Public Health gave the county’s seven card clubs the green light to welcome customers back — but only in outdoor settings, with players and employees wearing masks and with barriers separating gamblers who are less than six feet apart, among other restrictions. (Martin, 10/5)
Bay Area News Group:
Santa Clara County Prepares To Allow Limited Indoor Dining, Gatherings Such As Religious Services
Santa Clara County restaurants and places of worship could reopen indoor services this month for the first time since the start of the coronavirus shutdown, under a revised health order county officials announced Monday. The changes in the health order would take place the day after the county moves into the orange tier of the state’s COVID-19 monitoring system. Santa Clara County County Counsel James Williams on Monday said he expects that to happen as early as Oct. 14. (DeBolt, 10/5)
Fresno Bee:
Longtime Fresno Restaurant Is Starting A GoFundMe Campaign To Survive COVID-19 Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has been rough on restaurants all over Fresno. One longtime local restaurant, BJ’s Kountry Kitchen, has had such a tough go of it, the owner has started a GoFundMe fundraising campaign to pay her bills and keep the doors open. (Clough, 10/6)
LA Daily News:
LAUSD To Start Testing Youngest Students For Coronavirus
The Los Angeles Unified School District’s COVID-19 testing and contact tracing program is entering a new phase this week, as the district begins offering tests to some of its youngest learners, Superintendent Austin Beutner announced on Monday, Oct. 5. Children in early education and elementary schools, as well as all staff members, will have an opportunity to get tested as the district works to put in place safety measures in anticipation of an eventual return to campuses. (Tat, 10/5)
Fresno Bee:
More Fresno-Area Schools Are Allowed To Reopen. Here’s Which Ones Got The Green Light
More elementary students in the San Joaquin Valley will be able to go back to in-person classes this month, even though school districts haven’t been cleared to reopen for all grades. Last week the California Department of Health moved Fresno County from the purple to red tier, which means fewer restrictions for businesses, and the county has an average of fewer than seven new cases each day per 100,000 residents. For schools to open, the county needs to stay in the red tier for 14 consecutive days. (Velez, 10/5)
Fresno Bee:
As Fresno’s COVID-19 Cases Improve, Will Local Colleges Reopen More In-Person Classes?
Despite Fresno County’s movement from purple tier to red tier, which would allow more students into college labs and lecture halls, Fresno-area colleges are not making any changes to their current plans, officials told The Bee. (Panoo, 10/5)
The Bakersfield Californian:
KHSD Board OKs Bringing Back Small Cohorts Of Students Beginning Oct. 26
The Kern High School District board voted to grant district officials the authority to reopen schools and bring back students once Kern County's coronavirus numbers improve and it moves into the next tier, which governs how a county's economy can reopen. (Sasic, 10/5)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Athletes, Parents Protest At Kern School District Office Hoping To Fast-Track Return Of Sports
Still unable to take the field with his team, Brayden Blevins is starting to miss the things about football he usually hates. Since COVID-19 halted all CIF activities in March, local athletes like Blevins, a senior kicker on the Liberty football team, are still waiting for a chance to return to their respective fields and courts, and the time away is putting a strain on them mentally. (Cunningham, 10/5)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Air Quality Worsens In Parts Of Bay Area As Wind Spreads Glass Fire Smoke
After dramatic improvement over the weekend, air quality deteriorated in some parts of the Bay Area on Monday as smoke again drifted in from the Glass Fire burning in the North Bay. “We’ve still got the onshore winds that are kind of keeping the coast a little cleaner,” said Bay Area Air Quality Management District spokesman Juan Romero. “The northerly winds are bringing smoke into the Bay Area.” (Hwang, 10/5)
Bay Area News Group:
Amid Pandemic, Fremont Continues Using Boulders To Keep Homeless, Truckers Away From Kato Road
Fremont is moving ahead with its controversial tactic of installing boulders along a frontage road shoulder near multibillion-dollar businesses to prevent homeless people and truckers from parking at the site despite a pandemic that’s prompted many cities to shy away from policies that push homeless people from place to place. (Geha, 10/5)