Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Native Americans Feel Double Pain of COVID and Fires ‘Gobbling Up the Ground’
Tribal leaders have worked to keep the coronavirus off their reservations because of its deadly impact on Native populations. But careful avoidance of the COVID virus has handcuffed the tribes as they face a devastating fire season. (Miranda Green, )
Some Good News In The Fight Against COVID: The share of Californians who tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week dipped below 3% for the first time, a sign that the Golden State is finally starting to beat back the spread of the coronavirus, officials said Monday. But the good news is tempered with caution: Wildfires, coupled with heat waves and toxic air quality, led to a decline in testing. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
Delay In Jobless Benefits System Will Actually Help Later, Newsom Says: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday defended his efforts to fix an outdated state unemployment benefits system that has delayed payments to tens of thousands of Californians who have lost their jobs since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The reset will add anti-fraud technology and an automated process for new applications. It also makes it easier to access the system on mobile devices, Newsom said. Read more from the Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee.
California Healthline wants to hear about workplace COVID testing policies. Does your job require you to show up in person or is it transitioning away from remote work? Share your experiences here.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage and the best of the rest of the news.
More News From Across The State
Los Angeles Times:
Fires Continue To Take A Toll On California Air Quality
Swirling smoke from California’s historic firestorm is still clogging some of the state’s skies — leading to unhealthy air quality in and around the Sierra Nevada. Conditions at one point were considered hazardous Monday morning in the area of Mammoth Lakes, meaning “everyone should stay indoors and reduce activity levels,” according to air quality monitors. (Money, 9/21)
San Francisco Chronicle:
California Fire Smoke: What Are The Health Risks For Pregnant Women?
The recent spate of wildfires across Northern California has caused a new concern for expectant parents already dealing with worries over the COVID-19 pandemic: Could exposure to toxic smoke and ash have a lasting impact on babies’ and mothers’ prenatal and postnatal health? “It’s a scary time to be pregnant,” said Samantha Brancato, a San Francisco mother of two who is expecting her third child this year. “We went for a walk around the block last week, and right away, I could feel it in my lungs. Being pregnant, I know I am super vulnerable, and right now, there are so many unknowns.” (Vaziri, 9/22)
Bay Area News Group:
California Wildfires: Firefighter Killed Battling Blaze Sparked By Gender-Reveal Party Is Identified; ‘Charlie’ Morton Called A Respected Leader
A crew boss with the Big Bear Hotshots was identified Monday, Sept. 21, as the firefighter who died Thursday while fighting the El Dorado wildfire, started by a smoke bomb ignited during a gender reveal event in Yucaipa. Charles Edward Morton, 39, died Thursday while battling the blaze in the San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino National Forest officials said. He worked as a firefighter for 18 years, 14 of which were with the U.S. Forest Service. (De Atley, Licas and Rokos, 9/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Firefighter Killed In El Dorado Blaze Was A 14-Year Veteran
The firefighter killed while battling the El Dorado fire in San Bernardino County was identified Monday as Charles Morton, a 14-year veteran with the U.S. Forest Service who led the Big Bear Interagency Hotshot Squad. Morton died Sept. 17. He was 39. (Ormseth, 9/21)
LA Daily News:
23 More Deaths Reported In LA County; Coronavirus Hospitalizations Tick Upward
Los Angeles County reported 991 new cases of COVID-19 and 23 more deaths on Sunday, Sept. 20, bringing the county’s totals to 260,797 cases and 6,353 fatalities. The number of people hospitalized, however, increased from 732 Saturday to 765, with 30% of those people in intensive care units. (9/20)
LA Daily News:
LA County Looks On Warily As Coronavirus Cases Inch Upward
The number of new coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County — assessed on average per day — began ticking back upward about a week ago, an early predictor of a possible new surge, though public health officials were still hopeful the county has put the worst of the pandemic in the past. Up until Sunday, the county experienced four straight days of increasing case counts, up to 1,343 cases on Saturday. (Rosenfeld, 9/21)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno County Adds More Than 100 New COVID-19 Infections. Total Cases Nearing 30,000
The California Department of Public Health on Monday reported Fresno County added an additional 101 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing its total to 27, 769 total infections since the pandemic began. As of Friday, Fresno County had recorded 355 deaths. The county only updates its death figures related to COVID-19 twice a week. (Amaro, 9/21)
Ventura County Star:
COVID-19 Update Monday: Ventura County Records 265 New Cases, 3 New Deaths Over Weekend
Ventura County added 265 new COVID-19 cases and three new deaths over the weekend, according to public health data released Monday. The latest report brings the number of confirmed coronavirus cases among local residents to 12,234 since the first infection was reported on March 6. Of that total, 11,249 people have recovered and 839 remained under active quarantine. (Wenner, 9/21)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Coronavirus Hospitalizations In Sonoma County Fall To 2-Month Low
The number of Sonoma County residents afflicted with the coronavirus who need hospital care has fallen to the lowest level since early July, the result of an overall infection decline and fewer new cases among vulnerable residents of area senior care homes, local health officials said Monday. (Espinoza, 9/21)
Orange County Register:
Orange County Could Stay In The Red Tier Longer If Coronavirus Testing Doesn’t Pick Up
Orange County is half-qualified for the next coronavirus tracking tier, colored orange for “moderate” risk, which would mean more businesses and public sectors could reopen and less occupancy restrictions on those that have. Local shares of COVID-19 tests that are coming back positive are 3.9%, an improving metric that makes the county orange-tier material, in part. (Wheeler, 9/21)
Los Angeles Times:
No Place To Study, Hunger, Inadequate Computers Hurting Eastside And South L.A. Students
Los Angeles families with school-age children in Boyle Heights, South Los Angeles and Watts struggled with access to computers and adequate internet throughout the spring semester while facing job losses and food insecurity, issues that hampered online learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a survey has found. The survey, a collaboration by researchers from USC and the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, underscores how poverty has exacerbated the toll wrought by the pandemic and how challenging these problems are to overcome. It also suggests that the digital divide is continuing to harm the education of low-income Latino and Black students. (Bloom and Esquivel, 9/21)
LA Daily News:
Survey Finds Inequities In Distance Learning For Latino, Black Students In LA
In addition to dealing with losses in household income and food insecurity, many low-income Latino and Black students in the Los Angeles Unified School District had to contend with not having access to computers or reliable internet while distance learning last spring, according to survey findings released Monday, Sept. 21. (Tat, 9/21)
Fresno Bee:
More Than Half Of School Employees Are At Increased Risk Of COVID-19, Study Finds
One of the biggest challenges during the coronavirus pandemic was and still is figuring out how to safely open schools this fall without putting lives at risk. A new study reveals how complex the feat really is. Using pre-pandemic data, researchers found that between 42% and 51% of all school employees are either directly or potentially at increased risk of severe COVID-19 based on their underlying health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, age and cancer. Other factors that can lead to higher risk include smoking, high blood pressure and asthma. (Camero, 9/21)
Orange County Register:
Back To School In Orange County: Some Confident, Some Concerned
Ready or not, here they come. Many more Orange County children are heading back to the classroom as early as this week. Some parents and teachers say the time is right. Some don’t think so. (Fryer, 9/21)
Sacramento Bee:
Rocklin Unified Students Begin In-Person School Instruction
Rocklin Unified School District reopened classrooms Monday, and more than 10,000 students returned to their campuses — the first time since closures were ordered in March. All students from transitional kindergarten through 12th grade are able to return to the district’s 17 campuses in some capacity. (Morrar, 9/21)
Bay Area News Group:
Here’s One California School District’s Plan For A Safe Return Of Students To Classrooms
Capistrano Unified School District grabbed a plethora of supplies and guidance in constructing its $25 million strategy for the worrisome enemy. Orange County’s schools are expected to be cleared en mass to reopen for in-person instruction as of Sept. 22, as local progress in curbing the spread of the coronavirus shows the required improvement. (Albano, 9/22)
CalMatters:
The Hurdles Facing California Kids, Explained
California is home to more than 9 million children, many of them hungry, poor and struggling to access health care and quality education. Child advocates were hoping for change with Gov. Gavin Newsom and his attention to early childhood development and education, plans for universal preschool and desire to give extra funding for children’s programs. (Aguilera, 9/21)
Los Angeles Times:
UC San Diego Tries To Avoid Coronavirus Chaos
With 882 students testing positive or likely to be positive, San Diego State University is reeling from an outbreak of COVID-19. Is the same thing about to happen at UC San Diego? The answer will begin to emerge as 7,500 undergraduates start to move into meticulously cleaned dorms on the sprawling La Jolla campus for the start of the fall quarter. (Robbins, 9/21)
San Francisco Chronicle:
SF Archbishop Asks Why People Can Shop At Nordstrom, But Not Go To Church Inside
The Catholic archbishop of San Francisco led a protest on Sunday criticizing the city's restrictions on reopening churches during the coronavirus pandemic. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone delivered an impassioned sermon at an outdoor mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption after a march through the streets, calling for the right to worship indoors. (Graff, 9/21)
Bay Area News Group:
Three East Bay Parks Get Go-Ahead To Open In Limited Capacity
Three East Bay parks that were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic will begin operating again in October, authorities said Monday. Del Valle Regional Park in Livermore, Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area in Fremont, and Anthony Chabot Regional Park in Castro Valley will reopen to boaters and campers in a limited capacity Oct. 2, according to the East Bay Regional Park District. (Hurd, 9/21)
Fresno Bee:
‘We’re Not Asking.’ Fresno Rally Organizer, Others Say They Will Open Shops On Oct. 1
A gathering outside Fresno City Hall on Monday attended by hundreds of people was a rallying cry to business owners to open shop Oct. 1 with or without permission from Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to its organizer. (Miller, 9/21)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. Hotel, Oakland College Dorm To Be Converted To Housing For Homeless People
A residential hotel in San Francisco and an unused college dormitory in Oakland will be turned into long-term housing for homeless people under a state program designed to keep people off the streets during and after the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday. The projects are among several in the Bay Area that have been granted a total of $110 million under California’s new Homekey program. They’ll provide 661 housing units in now-vacant hotels and other buildings, with support services for homeless people such as substance-abuse and mental-health counseling. (Gardiner, 9/21)
Capital Public Radio/KXJZ:
In Rural Communities, Dialysis Can Be Difficult To Access. Could Proposition 23 Make It Harder?
For the second time in as many years, Californians will vote on a ballot measure this November proposing new regulations for dialysis clinics. But this year’s Proposition 23, SEIU labor union’s second attempt at changing how dialysis clinics operate, focuses on a new set of requirements compared to 2018’s Proposition 8. The union-backed Proposition 8, which would have capped dialysis clinic profits, was among the most expensive ballot measures in California history. It failed considerably. (Sparling, 9/21)
KQED:
Lots Of Drugs, Lax Oversight: Former SF Medical Examiner Staffers Say Lab Analyst's Meth Arrest 'Just The Tip Of The Iceberg'
A lab analyst for the San Francisco medical examiner's office had driven more than 700 miles east toting a sealed bag of drug evidence before he was pulled over for speeding in Washington County, Utah. During the Aug. 31 traffic stop, sheriff’s deputies discovered a bag containing “a large crystal looking item,” along with other baggies with suspected crystal meth and white powder. (Small, 9/21)
Bay Area News Group:
Raiders Coach Jon Gruden Reveals He Had Coronavirus
Raiders coach Jon Gruden, still stung about a report he faked having coronavirus as part of a training camp prank, confirmed Monday night that he really did catch COVID-19. Following the Raiders’ surprising 34-24 victory over the Saints on national television, Gruden casually told reporters at the end of a postgame Zoom interview he had contracted coronavirus. (Becker and Mcdonald, 9/21)
LA Daily News:
LA County Jail Population Is Back Above State Overcrowding Limits
Following a COVID-19-related push to drop Los Angeles County’s jail population by roughly 5,000 inmates to prevent the spread of the virus, the number of prisoners has grown by nearly 15%, according to a report posted to the county’s website. (Marcellino, 9/21)
KPBS:
Court Filing: COVID-19 Outbreak At San Diego Jail Due To Careless Handling Of Infected Inmate
An inmate is on the verge of death as one of the largest COVID outbreaks in the federal prison system continues to play out in downtown San Diego. Victor Cruz, 47, who’s serving an eight-year sentence for methamphetamine possession, was diagnosed with COVID-19 while at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in downtown San Diego last month. His mother told KPBS she will soon have to decide whether to take him off life support at a local Sharp hospital. (Rivlin-Nadler, 9/21)
Los Angeles Times:
Restraining Order Says Sheriff's Department Used Unlawful Force
Plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit are seeking a temporary restraining order and injunction to limit the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s use of nonlethal force at protests, claiming it has employed rubber bullets, tear gas and other chemical agents indiscriminately against peaceful protestors, journalists and legal observers in violation of the Constitution. The petition, filed Monday in U.S. District Court, focuses on protests in recent weeks against police brutality and the shooting of Dijon Kizzee, who was killed by sheriff’s deputies Aug. 31 in Westmont after being flagged for a vehicle code violation while riding his bike. The incident has spurred daily protests in front of the South L.A. sheriff’s station. (Miller, 9/21)
Los Angeles Times:
Daughter Sues L.A. Over Father's Death Following LAPD Takedown
The daughter of a man who died after being detained and taken to the ground by two Los Angeles police officers in Van Nuys last year is now suing the city of L.A. in federal court, alleging it was excessive force that caused his death. Nicole Juarez Zelaya, 20, claims the officers restricted her father’s breathing as they held him on the ground using their own body weight for several minutes, despite the fact that he had not committed a crime and they had no reason for handcuffing and detaining him. (Rector, 9/21)