Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
With Caveats, Hopeful News for Preschools Planning Young Kids’ Return
Hundreds of thousands of essential workers have kept their kids in day care during the pandemic out of necessity and, so far, these centers haven’t been big disease spreaders. But the evidence remains incomplete. (Anna Almendrala, )
Covered California Announces Record-Low Rate Hike for 2021
Health plans offered through Covered California, the health insurance exchange, will increase premiums by a statewide average of 0.6% next year. Health insurers reported strong profits in the second quarter of 2020 as their expenses plunged because of fewer surgeries and patient visits for non-COVID treatment. (Bernard J. Wolfson, )
Decline In COVID Cases May Be A Technical Glitch: A steep decline in California’s coronavirus infection rate announced this week by Gov. Gavin Newson may not be accurate, according to the state’s top public health official who said Tuesday that the state’s data system used to process COVID-19 test results is marred with technical issues. The problems have caused delays in analyzing test results and cast doubt on Newsom’s announcement Monday of a 21.2% decline in the seven-day average rate for positive infections compared with the average from the week before. Read more from Colleen Shalby of the Los Angeles Times and Michael McGough, Tony Bizjak and Sophia Bollag of the Sacramento Bee.
‘We’re Not Qualified’: L.A. Parents Say Online School Will Be Tough On Them: As a more detailed picture of the new online-only school day in Los Angeles emerges, a crescendo of concerns is arising among parents, whose children will be expected to fire up computers in less than two weeks for the opening of the 2020-21 school year. Some parents worry that the new schedule and rules will result in more intense demands to carry out a role that many say they are not qualified to handle — that of co-teacher. “The school district doesn’t understand we’re not qualified to answer a lot of questions our kids are asking,” said Adriana Ruiz, a mother of five in Cudahy. Read more from Andrew Campa and Howard Blume of the Los Angeles Times.
In related school news —
LA County won’t consider school waivers to re-open yet; new state guidelines issued
California’s elementary-school reopening rules may favor private schools, charters
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
Fresno Bee:
July Deaths From COVID-19 In Fresno Rival Leading Causes
In Fresno County and across the central San Joaquin Valley, more deaths in July were attributed to COVID-19 than the average toll taken by almost all other leading causes of death for the month, outside of heart disease and cancer. And in the same month that the first reported death of a juvenile from coronavirus was confirmed in the Valley, high school students shared their concerns that many in their age group are not taking seriously the threat posed by the virus. (Sheehan, 8/4)
Fresno Bee:
COVID-19 Deaths Surge Tuesday In Fresno, Nearby Counties
The novel coronavirus was blamed Tuesday for the deaths of at least 24 additional people across the central San Joaquin Valley, including 19 in Fresno County, according to the latest updates provided by the counties’ health departments. In Fresno County, where health officials last updated its data on fatalities on Friday, 19 more deaths were reported on Tuesday afternoon. That pushed the death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic in Fresno County since March to 157 victims. (Sheehan, 8/4)
Sacramento Bee:
California State Hospital Coalinga Reports 2 COVID Deaths
Two patients at a state hospital in Coalinga have died after testing positive for COVID-19, according to a Department of State Hospitals email. One patient died Sunday while waiting for community placement following commitment, according to the email sent to all staff on Monday. The patient contracted the virus while receiving treatment outside the hospital. The other died Monday at an outside hospital, according to the email. (Venteicher, 8/4)
San Francisco Chronicle:
If 25 People Gather In SF, Odds Are 34% That At Least One Has Coronavirus: New Tool Shows Risk
Because you can’t see the coronavirus and many infected with it show no symptoms, it can be difficult to grasp how risky a certain situation is. But a new online tool is making that calculation a bit easier for people in the Bay Area and beyond. The interactive map, developed by professors at Georgia Tech, lets people explore the odds that coronavirus will be present at an event anywhere in the U.S., depending on the event’s size and the county in which it’s located. The map calculates the likelihood of whether each gathering would include someone who is currently infectious. (Vainshtein, 8/5)
Los Angeles Times:
San Francisco Warns Residents Not To Drop Guard As Cases Dip
The public health director of San Francisco on Tuesday urged residents to remain vigilant about face coverings and physical distancing, even as the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and daily count of new cases have dropped. Dr. Grant Colfax, speaking at a virtual news conference, said about 90 new cases are found among residents every day, a number that has dropped “a bit” from a high point two weeks ago. “But it is still very concerning,” the director said. “Anything above 50 cases a day continues to put us in the red zone, on high alert, and we have been there for about the last six weeks.” (Dolan, 8/4)
Los Angeles Times:
Union Reports 30 Coronavirus Cases At Westlake Food 4 Less
Thirty cases of the novel coronavirus have been reported at a Food 4 Less in Westlake, as the union that represents grocery store workers in Los Angeles demanded that the business institute better protocols to protect its staff. In a media release, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 announced a demonstration Wednesday at the Food 4 Less at 1700 W. 6th St. to demand measures such as regular testing for workers and transparency about infections at stores run by Kroger Co., which operates the Food 4 Less and Ralphs supermarket chains. (Miller, 8/4)
Santa Cruz Sentinel:
COVID-19: Flouting Masking Rules, Health Orders Now An Infraction In Santa Cruz County
Violating masking rules and other pandemic-related restrictions is now an infraction in Santa Cruz County — punishable by fines starting at $100. Billed as a less severe sanction for those flouting COVID-19 health orders, the infraction was adopted under an emergency ordinance unanimously approved by county supervisors Tuesday. Because it was passed as an emergency ordinance, it immediately took effect in unincorporated areas of the county. (Ibarra, 8/4)
Orange County Register:
These O.C. Parents Have A Message For Gov. Newsom, Teachers’ Unions: ‘Open Up The Schools'
A pro-charter school group brought some 75 parents, teachers and a couple of Orange County Board of Education members together Tuesday evening to rally for the reopening of schools that were closed because of coronavirus concerns. Parents, they said, should be making the choice of whether their children learn on campus or online.“Open up the schools,” the crowd briefly chanted. (Kopetman, 8/4)
San Francisco Chronicle:
A Peninsula School District Is Offering Pandemic Day Care For Working Families. Not Everyone Can Afford It
San Carlos parents are cheering that the school district is offering full-time pandemic day care to working parents, but the cost — $1,750 a month — means it’s out of reach for some families. The program, an extension of a paid after-school program, will offer two teachers to supervise play time and distance learning for a group of 12 to 15 students in transitional kindergarten to third grade who bring their own classwork and technology. The school district said it’s not providing instruction, but child care as an option to purchase for families that need it. (Moench, 8/4)
San Francisco Chronicle:
‘Pandemic Pods’ Present Health Risks, Too. Experts Offer Safety Tips For Kids, Parents, Teachers
As Bay Area schools prepare to kick off the year with distance learning, tens of thousands of families have scrambled to connect online and form “pandemic pods”: small groups that facilitate learning and relieve some of the burden of child care. Because such learning pods often require extra resources, including a paid teacher or tutor, the movement has already raised concerns around inequity and privilege. But because most involve small in-person gatherings, parents and educators also face the challenge of devising coronavirus safety precautions and practices. (Vainshtein, 8/4)
Fresno Bee:
Clorox Disinfectant Wipe Shortage To Last Until 2021
Clorox disinfectant wipes sold out everywhere as the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States and have been hard to find ever since. Don’t expect that to change anytime soon, Clorox says. The company, which accounts for 45% of the disinfectant wipes market, says it won’t be stocking wipes in full until mid-2021, CNN reports. (Sweeney, 8/4)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Do Plastic Face Shields Protect As Well As Masks? The Experts Weigh In
Face shields are fast becoming the hot summer pandemic accessory, spotted more frequently on joggers and workers in restaurants and salons. But are they as effective as cloth masks in protecting against the coronavirus? Short answer: No. (Vaziri, 8/5)
Los Angeles Times:
Social Distancing In San Francisco Parks Proves Challenging
The chalk circles that appeared in four San Francisco parks in late May weren’t an art installation or giant checkerboard game: The city’s parks and recreation team drew the circles 10 feet in diameter in the grass as boundaries, intended to encourage social distancing. But as weeks pass and the temperatures rise, more people are naturally flocking to the parks. The circles are filling up fast and social distancing is proving difficult. (Beech, 8/4)
San Francisco Chronicle:
SF Prepares For Surge In CalFresh Food Assistance Applications
San Francisco is preparing for a surge in food assistance applications after increased federal unemployment benefits of $600 per week ended and the coronavirus pandemic worsens. The city has already received more than 25,000 applications for the state’s CalFresh program since the coronavirus was declared a public health emergency in March, said Shireen McSpadden, executive director of San Francisco’s Department of Disability and Aging Services. (DiFeliciantonio, 8/4)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento Homeless Deaths Increase Again Last Year
A record number of homeless people died in Sacramento County last year, with Black people taking up a disproportionate share of the deaths, according to an annual report from homeless activists. The report released today from the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness showed 138 homeless people died in 2019 — six more deaths than in 2018. On average, a homeless person died about every two and a half days last year in Sacramento County. (Clift, 8/5)
Sacramento Bee:
49ers’ Sherman, Garoppolo Weigh In On COVID-19 Protocols
There were no reporters around Richard Sherman as he took the stage inside the Levi’s Stadium auditorium Tuesday for his first interview session of the summer. But he wore his mask anyway with an understanding it would be an important message to send to anyone watching. Sherman’s news conferences, after all, have a tendency to go viral. (Biderman, 8/5)
Fresno Bee:
Mountain Climber Body Recovered From Sierra Peak, California
A mountain climber who died while scaling Mount Humphreys in the remote Sierra Nevada has been identified as Paul Sheykhzadeh, 52, of Reno. Sheykhzadeh’s body was recovered on Monday with assistance from the California Air National Guard and its CH-47 Chinook helicopter due to the high elevation, Fresno County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Botti said. Botti said Sheykhzadeh was a doctor who served as a search and rescue volunteer for the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada. (George, 8/4)
Orange County Register:
Nurses Statewide To Protest Shifting Ratios At Medical Facilities
The California Nurses Association plans to stage rallies at nearly 70 hospitals and medical centers Wednesday to protest waivers that allow facilities to staff some units below state-mandated nurse-patient ratios as nurses are shifted to more critical patients. The union fears the shuffling will place a heavier load on nurses in non-critical departments amid increasingly high patient loads. (Smith, 8/4)
Sacramento Bee:
Davis Furloughs Employees As Coronavirus Slows Revenue
The city of Davis will furlough all its employees one day a month starting Aug. 14, as officials scramble to make up for huge revenue shortfalls caused by coronavirus pandemic. The furloughs, which will run from August to February, will save the city about $1 million. City Hall will be closed for services during furloughed days. (Yoon-Hendricks, 8/4)