Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
California Counties a Hodgepodge of Highs and Lows in Vaccinating Vulnerable Seniors
Like many states, California is seeing huge regional variations in covid vaccination rates for people 65 and older. Remote rural counties are in some cases struggling to give away doses to vulnerable seniors, while metropolitan areas often have more demand than supply. (Jenny Gold, )
Doctor Survived Cambodia’s Killing Fields, but Not Covid
Dr. Linath Lim came to the U.S. as a refugee after slaving at work camps under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. Even with little English or education when she arrived, Lim put herself through college and medical school. As an internal medicine doctor in California’s Central Valley, she treated farmworkers and other Cambodian refugees. (Emily Bazar, )
California Will Fully Reopen June 15, With Caveats: Citing a rising tide of vaccinations, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday the state will scrap its complicated tier system and fully reopen on June 15. California’s mask mandate will remain in place. Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. Continued coverage, below.
In related news about reopenings —
Disneyland Resort Unveils New Admission Rules: With its April 30 reopening date approaching, Disneyland has announced details of how it plans to safely welcome guests for the first time in over a year. Among the changes: No FASTPASS, parades or character meet-and-greets. Read more from ABC 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
Los Angeles Times:
Newsom Expects K-12 Schools To Be Open Full Time In Fall
All K-12 California schools should be open in the fall for full-time, five-days-a-week, in-person instruction under guidelines released Tuesday by state officials. Gov. Gavin Newsom stopped short Tuesday of saying this guidance would become a mandate, but added that he is considering additional measures, as necessary, to make sure that schoolchildren are not left behind on June 15, when the state has scheduled a sweeping economic reopening. (Blume, 4/6)
EdSource:
Gov. Newsom Expects Full In-Person Fall Return To School After State Scraps Color-Coded Tiers
Gov. Gavin Newsom and state health officials said Tuesday they expect all schools and higher education institutions to open for full-time in-person instruction in the fall, following the announcement that California intends to retire its “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” color-coded tier system on June 15. Some believe the announcement will set the tone for debate with the Legislature during the annual “May Revision” of the state budget about whether schools will be mandated to offer in-person instruction in the fall. Derick Lennox, director of Governmental Relations and Legal Affairs for the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, also predicts a debate over whether districts will be allowed or required to offer distance learning as an exception to full in-person instruction for those families that request. (Tadayon and Fensterwald, 4/6)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. School Board Pledges To Reopen Schools To All Students For Full Days In The Fall
The San Francisco school board pledged to reopen schools in the fall to all students for full time in-person learning in a unanimous vote on Tuesday. The resolution on reopening, authored by board member Jenny Lam, pledges a full return to in-person learning at the start of the 2021-22 school year if public health guidelines allow, citing falling rates of coronavirus infection and the increase in vaccinations. Remote learning will still be an option for students who choose not to return for medical, social or academic reasons. (Talley, 4/6)
Bay Area News Group:
Three Bay Area Counties Reach Orange Tier In Sped-Up Reopening
Contra Costa, Napa and Sonoma counties are graduating to the orange tier of California’s COVID-19 reopening system, after the state hit an encouraging milestone in its vaccination effort Tuesday. Meanwhile upticks in cases meant two other counties that had appeared eligible to advance this week wound up staying put. Solano County will remain in the red tier for at least two more weeks, and San Mateo County is staying in the orange tier. Separately, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that the state plans to discontinue the color-coded framework altogether on June 15, as it moves to “fully reopen” the economy without most pandemic restrictions — if vaccines are widely available and hospitalization rates remain low. (Savidge, 4/6)
Southern California News Group:
L.A. County Mulls Local Adaptations As State Sets June 15 End To Most Coronavirus Restrictions
Los Angeles County will follow state guidelines on June 15 when event venues can return to full capacity and businesses everywhere will largely return to normal, but the county’s top public health director said on Tuesday, April 6, certain restrictions may remain in place — especially for those who are not yet vaccinated. California officials announced that the state’s schools and businesses should be able to fully reopen at their pre-pandemic capacities starting in mid-June, regardless of which of the state’s color-coded tiers are currently in place in their county. (Rosenfeld, 4/6)
Orange County Register:
Orange County’s Coronavirus Case Rate Ticks Up From Recent Lows
Spring has sprung optimism that waning COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations assisted by a sprouting mass-vaccination campaign have brought the pandemic’s end closer than ever. But Orange County residents are still spreading the coronavirus, and public health officials warn against throwing caution to the wind. This week, the county’s coronavirus case rate inched up to 3 cases per day per 100,000 residents after bottoming out at 2.8 cases per 100,000 last week, according to a state Department of Public Health update Tuesday, April 6.
The slight increase ended 11-straight weeks of improvement in the metric since the winter surge peaked in early January. (Wheeler, 4/6)
Sacramento Bee:
COVID-19 Variant Detected In Yolo County, UC Davis Says
The UC Davis Genome Center identified the first known case of the B.1.351 variant of COVID-19 in Yolo County, Healthy Davis Together announced Tuesday. The community’s free COVID-19 test operations identified the patient through a PCR test and have begun contract tracing while the Davis adult isolates. The B.1.351 variant, which was first detected in South Africa last October, is more contagious, with a 50% higher transmission rate. Research has not provided strong evidence that the effectiveness of three approved COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. is negatively affected by variants, but laboratory evidence suggests efficacy may be impacted. The B.1.351 case detected in Yolo County was in an unvaccinated adult. (Burke, 4/6)
Los Angeles Times:
How Much Longer Can California Buck COVID-19 Spring Surge?
California has so far bucked the spring COVID-19 surge that has hit other parts of the country. But for how long? As the state gradually unlocks its economy after months of pandemic-related restrictions, officials continue to warn that failing to adhere to the public health protocols guiding the latest round of reopenings could spark another swell in coronavirus cases, reversing weeks of progress. A single botched reopening of a venue could result in a superspreading incident, seeding new infections throughout a community if people stop taking protective measures such as wearing masks and staying away from crowds, officials warned. (Money and Lin II, 4/6)
San Francisco Chronicle:
For The Unvaccinated, This Might Be The Most Dangerous Time In The Pandemic, Bay Area Experts Say
For many vaccinated people across California, life is beginning to regain a sense of normalcy. But health experts are growing increasingly concerned about the dangers to people who haven’t yet been inoculated. California announced Tuesday it will discontinue its color-coded pandemic reopening system on June 15 and mostly reopen all sectors of the economy at or near full capacity. But thousands of people in the Bay Area have not yet been vaccinated and won’t be for the next few weeks — a fact that worries experts considering the prevalence of transmissible and potentially deadlier variants around the state. (Vainshtein, 4/7)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Yes, You Can Travel, But Please Don't: What's Going On With The CDC's Mixed Messaging
With national vaccination efforts picking up speed and a large swath of the U.S. population fully immunized, it’s both a hopeful and precarious time, public health experts say. The end is in sight — but there’s plenty of time to screw it up and needlessly prolong the pandemic. The country has entered a “twilight” stage of the pandemic, said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at UCSF. Guidance on what’s safe and what’s not, and how grim the situation is in California or any other state, sometimes seems to change hourly, and is often dependent on who’s talking. (Allday, 4/6)
Bay Area News Group:
Richmond Passes Grocery Worker 'Hazard Pay' Law
Grocery store workers in Richmond will join those in dozens of other cities that are entitled to an extra few dollars of “hazard pay” for the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Richmond City Council unanimously passed an emergency ordinance to require large grocers to pay an extra $5 per hour in hazard pay for all part-time and full-time employees until Richmond’s COVID-19 risk level drops to the “minimal” or yellow tier under the state’s health orders or after 90 days from the adoption of the ordinance — whichever comes first. (Sciacca, 4/7)
Bay Area News Group:
Oakland Coliseum Vaccine Hub To Remain Open, But Will It Have Enough Shots?
The Oakland Coliseum’s parking lot will remain a regional COVID-19 vaccination hub for at least several more weeks beyond its previously scheduled April 11 closure, but whether it’ll be able to continue putting shots into 6,000 arms a day is up in the air. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that both the Oakland Coliseum and the Cal State Los Angeles mass-vaccination sites set up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would stay “operational,” though in the hands of state and county health officials. (Sciacca, 4/6)
Sacramento Bee:
People Age 16 And Up Can Be Vaccinated At UC Davis Health
In a major step forward, UC Davis Health in Sacramento opened appointments Tuesday for anyone age 16 and older to sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine - and quickly ran out of available slots this week due to an “overwhelming” response, officials said. The local health system is the first in Sacramento to expand virus inoculations to the entire adult population. The state of California has instructed counties to do the same beginning on April 15. Most vaccinations are reserved for people 50 and older, and people will underlying health conditions. (Bizjak, 4/6)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Why You Should Cancel Any Extra COVID Vaccine Appointments In The Bay Area
With coronavirus vaccines having opened up to Californians 50 and older on April 1, and with all residents 16 and older becoming eligible April 15, you may be one of the many people now scrambling to find an appointment. Finding a slot has been difficult for many because of the short supply of vaccines and the overall time-consuming process of scanning websites to snag available appointments. (This app can help you find Bay Area COVID vaccine appointments in real time. Here’s how it works.) You might have scheduled an appointment far away from where you live, or one at a time you can’t make. And then you may have booked another appointment after finding one that is more convenient for you. (Flores, 4/6)
San Francisco Chronicle:
How To Help Ramp Up Coronavirus Vaccination Efforts In Your Bay Area Community
While many people are scrambling to find coronavirus vaccine appointments after eligibility opened up to Californians 50 and older on April 1, some face additional hurdles. “It’s not just a matter of having access to technology, it’s quite frankly a little complicated for people who aren’t used to navigating online portals,” said Alvaro Fuentes, executive director of the Community Clinic Consortium of Contra Costa and Solano counties. (Flores, 4/7)
Los Angeles Times:
How Bakersfield Became A California COVID-19 Vaccine Mecca
As soon as Justin Perez left the vaccination clinic, his phone buzzed with a text message. A former co-worker had heard a hot rumor about a clinic where anyone, even young people like them, could get a COVID-19 vaccine. The clinic was in Bakersfield. “I am in Bakersfield,” texted Perez, a 35-year-old video designer from Sherman Oaks, confirming the rumor. “I got injected 20 minutes ago.” (Nelson, 4/7)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Canvassers To Stress The Importance Of COVID-19 Vaccine In Southeast Bakersfield, To African American Community
A coalition of community organizations and leaders is uniting today to kick off a canvassing project in southeast Bakersfield to encourage African Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Data indicates that less than 3 percent of African Americans in Kern County have received the vaccine. It begins at 3:30 p.m. at the People’s Missionary Baptist Church. The MLK CommUnity Initiative, Supervisor Leticia Perez, Councilman Eric Arias, Dr. V.K. Jones and the United Against Covid Coalition will walk door-to-door to spread awareness of the importance of receiving the vaccination, according to a news release from Kern County. (4/6)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Adventist Buys Property In Northwest Bakersfield Where It Earlier Proposed A New Hospital
Adventist Health Bakersfield has purchased a vacant lot near Brimhall and Coffee roads at a site the organization's former president said in 2018 would be developed into a hospital to help alleviate congestion at its downtown medical center on Chester Avenue. County records show Adventist paid a little more than $11 million for the property in late December. Measuring more than three dozen acres, the lot is located just east of a much larger property set aside for the long-delayed Bakersfield Commons mixed-use real estate development project. (Cox, 4/6)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento Area Insurer Pays $97 Million After Over-Billing U.S. For Veterans Care
A Rancho Cordova health insurance company has repaid $97.2 million to settle an investigation into inflated claims submitted to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday. Health Net Federal Services LLC agreed to the settlement after an audit by the VA Office of Inspector General revealed that Health Net had filed duplicate claims under a veterans healthcare contract. A follow-up investigation “confirmed the conduct,” the U.S. attorney’s office said. Health Net repaid $93.7 million plus $3.5 million in interest. (Kasler, 4/6)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Adventist Health Breast Center Offers Free Breast Exam Screenings
Free clinical breast exam screenings will be available next week at the Adventist Health Breast Center in Bakersfield. The event is happening on Friday, April 16. Regular screenings are recommended as a part of proactive health routine. This event is designed for those who are uninsured or otherwise may be unable to afford a routine breast exam. Registration is required, because space is limited for this event. (4/6)
Long Beach Press-Telegram:
Long Beach Gives Feds The OK To Temporarily House 1,000 Migrant Children In Convention Center
Federal officials now have Long Beach’s permission to use the city’s Convention Center to temporarily house up to 1,000 migrant children. The Long Beach City Council voted unanimously at its Tuesday, April 6, meeting to allow the City Manager to execute agreements with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to operate a shelter for unaccompanied minors who are en route to be reunified with family members or sponsors. (Munguia, 4/6)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Move Beyond Your Pandemic Slump: Get Up And Get Going
It’s been a little over a year since the coronavirus pandemic shut down life as we knew it. How much physical activity have you done since then? Are your regular movements primarily from your bed to your sofa and back to bed, with occasional visits to the kitchen? Perhaps you are working remotely and include your workspace in your daily routine.If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. In the United States, regular physical activity wasn’t that common before the pandemic, data show. A 2018 report in the Journal of American Medical Association concluded that 1 in 4 American adults sit for more than eight hours a day, while 4 in 10 are physically inactive. (Wood, 4/6)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Escondido Man Calls On His Kiwanian 'Family' For A Kidney
Ron Lonicki needs a kidney, and like many of the patients on the national waiting list for donor organs, he knows it could be a five- to six-year wait. But the 63-year-old Escondido man is hoping that his family will come through for him with a live donor organ sooner than that. With more than 500,000 family members to call on for help, he might just be in luck. (Kragen, 4/7)
Fresno Bee:
CA Lawmakers Advance Bill Decriminalizing Psychedelics
Jose Martinez believes psychedelic drugs saved his life. The 32-year-old U.S. Army veteran said he felt worthless and depressed when he returned from a deployment in Afghanistan, where who lost both legs and an arm after stepping on an improvised explosive device. “I just wanted to disintegrate,” Martinez told The Sacramento Bee in an interview. Then, six years ago, he said he discovered psilocybin mushrooms. He credits them with bringing him back from the brink. (Sheeler, 4/6)
Stat:
California Once Again Delays Launch Of A Closely Watched Prescription Drug Purchasing Program
For the second time this year, California officials have delayed a much-ballyhooed effort to start a program in which the state would negotiate prescription drug prices and create a vast, single bulk-purchasing system. But this time, it is unclear when the initiative will get off the ground. A notice on the California Department of Health Care Services website says the new Medi-Cal Rx program was scheduled to start on April 1, but has been delayed. No start date was given and a department spokesperson wrote us that an update will be provided next month. The website indicates a meeting is scheduled for May 19. (Silverman, 4/6)
Sacramento Bee:
Telework To Continue For CA State Workers Amid Reopening
State employees should keep working from home even as the California reopens from its yearlong coronavirus restrictions, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration directed Tuesday. Newsom told reporters in the morning that the state will fully reopen June 15 if it still has enough vaccines to meet demand and hospitalizations are low. That would include a return to office work for private employers. Eraina Ortega, the director of the state’s Human Resources Department, sent out an email around the same time with guidance for state department directors that reiterated state government’s commitment to telecommuting. (Venteicher, 4/7)
KQED:
Google, San Jose Development Deal Includes $200 Million In Housing Funds
After four years of negotiations between Google and San Jose, the tech giant and the Silicon Valley city have announced a development plan for Google’s new transit-oriented campus near downtown. The plan includes $200 million in funding for affordable housing and preventing displacement. The Google community benefits package includes $150 million for various social programs aimed at preserving affordable housing, fighting homelessness and other housing-related goals. The proposed campus, called Downtown West, will include 15 acres of open space, 4,000 new homes and 600 units allocated for affordable housing. (Bandlamudi, 4/6)