Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Dialysis Industry Spends Millions, Emerges as Power Player in California Politics
Over the past four years, the dialysis industry has spent $233 million on both political offense and defense in California. Most of it went toward protecting its revenues against ballot initiatives, but the industry also strategically worked the corridors of the state Capitol. (Samantha Young, )
COVID Tally Worsens: California on Tuesday shattered single-day records of coronavirus cases and deaths — 35,400 new infections, and 219 fatalities — by far the worst tallies of the entire pandemic. The latest tally means an average of 135 Californians have died each day over the last week — a number not seen since August. Read more from the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle.
Judge Overturns L.A. County’s Ban On Outdoor Dining: A Los Angeles judge has issued an injunction overturning L.A. County's ban on outdoor dining at restaurants — but California's regional stay-at-home order also includes an outdoor dining ban, which overrides the countywide order, and county health inspectors can enforce the state's ban. Read more from LAist, the Los Angeles Times, Fox News and Politico.
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
The Wall Street Journal:
Two In U.K. Suffer Allergic Reaction To Pfizer’s Covid-19 Vaccine
Two of the first people vaccinated in the U.K. on Tuesday with the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE shot responded adversely to the injection, the country’s National Health Service said, prompting the regulator to issue new guidance warning those with a history of significant allergic reactions against having the inoculation. “Both are recovering well,” said Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for the NHS. (Sugden and Pancevski, 12/9)
The Washington Post:
Countdown To America’s First Coronavirus Vaccine: What To Watch This Critical Week
For a nation ravaged by the pandemic, this week marks a pivotal moment — the final push by federal regulators to clear the first experimental coronavirus vaccine for a besieged populace. If all goes as expected over the next few days, the Food and Drug Administration could give emergency authorization to the vaccine as early as week’s end, triggering the start of an unprecedented effort to inoculate enough Americans to confer individual immunity and eventually stop the virus’s spread. That next chapter, however, is filled with herculean challenges, including ramping up production to tens of millions of doses, shipping them in specially designed boxes packed with dry ice to keep them ultracold and vaccinating people in every corner of the United States. (McGinley, 12/7)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Could Get 84,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses By Next Week
After nine months on a seesaw of lockdowns and reopenings, Los Angeles County will likely get its first allocation of COVID-19 vaccine as early as next week. The plan will be to rapidly deploy the 84,000 doses to healthcare workers on the front lines of the pandemic. (Cosgrove and Money, 12/8)
The Hill:
AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Safe And Effective, Studies Suggest
AstraZeneca and Oxford first announced the efficacy results of their vaccine late last month. The findings later came under scrutiny after the company acknowledged that members of a sub-group of trial participants were originally mistakenly given a half dose followed by a full dose. The admission, along with a relatively small test group compared to other studies, drew questions among experts on the accuracy of the findings. (Williams, 12/8)
Reuters:
While Seeking Credit For Vaccine, Trump Says He May Invoke Defense Production Act
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would invoke the Defense Production Act if needed to ensure Americans are first in line for domestically produced coronavirus vaccines at a summit designed to give him and his team credit for speedy vaccine development. Trump made his remarks just before signing an executive order intended to ensure that priority access for COVID-19 vaccines procured by the U.S. government is given to the American people before assisting other nations. (Mason, 12/8)
Fox News:
Biden’s 3-Part Plan To Tackle The Coronavirus: Masks, Vaccinations, Opening Schools
President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a three-part plan to combat the coronavirus pandemic in the first 100 days of his administration. Biden, speaking in his hometown of Wilmington, Del., as he formally unveiled his team of top health officials, emphasized “masking, vaccinations, opening schools. These are the three key goals for my first 100 days.” And the president-elect stressed, “I’m absolutely convinced that in 100 days we can change the course of the disease and change life in America for the better.” (Steinhauser, 12/8)
The New York Times:
Here’s Why Vaccinated People Still Need To Wear A Mask
The new Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna seem to be remarkably good at preventing serious illness. But it’s unclear how well they will curb the spread of the coronavirus. That’s because the Pfizer and Moderna trials tracked only how many vaccinated people became sick with Covid-19. That leaves open the possibility that some vaccinated people get infected without developing symptoms, and could then silently transmit the virus — especially if they come in close contact with others or stop wearing masks. (Mandavilli, 12/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Some ICUs At California Hospitals Are Completely Full: 'It Is The Worst We Have Seen'
Some California counties on Tuesday saw intensive care units hit full capacity, and others were getting close to that level as COVID-19 cases continued to surge. At least three counties in the San Joaquin Valley have reached 0% capacity in their hospitals’ intensive care units, making the state’s agricultural hub the first area in California to become maxed out. In Santa Clara County, meanwhile, conditions are deteriorating rapidly. Officials said there are only 31 ICU beds remaining — less than 10% of the county’s capacity — and that a few hospitals have run out completely. (Pinho, Lin II and Money, 12/8)
Fresno Bee:
"Dire" Situation: Fresno County ICU Capacity Now At 0%, With COVID-19 Cases Growing
An ongoing torrent of new coronavirus cases has effectively reduced the intensive-care capacity of hospitals across Fresno County to zero. Plus, the effects of Thanksgiving gatherings among families and neighbors have yet to be felt. (Sheehan, 12/8)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
ICU Beds Could Be Filled By Next Week, County Told, As Record Number Of Deaths Recorded
The county announced a record 26 COVID-19-related deaths Tuesday amid dire warnings of dwindling hospital bed capacity. Though the latest fatalities did not all occur on one day, they nonetheless represented the largest single-day addition to the region’s COVID-19 total. They ranged in age from 56 to 98 and all had other underlying conditions present in addition to testing positive for coronavirus infection. And, just 20 percent of available intensive care unit beds remained unoccupied across San Diego County, with 140 out of 684 still available for additional patients. Tuesday’s new case total was 1,276. (Sisson, 12/8)
Bay Area News Group:
Coronavirus: Hospitals 'May Be Overwhelmed' By Surge
One day into a sweeping new shutdown, an explosion of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations signaled California could be entering the darkest chapter yet of the state’s public health crisis with no quick end in sight. Wielding a litany of alarming data points — California recorded more than 30,000 new infections on Monday and again Tuesday, the first state ever to hit that threshold — state Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Mark Ghaly implored Californians to stay home as much as possible. Whereas local health officials tied earlier outbreaks to certain higher-risk gatherings or workplaces, Ghaly said Tuesday, the rampant spread of the virus throughout communities these days has ratcheted up the risk even from less-dangerous aspects of daily life. (Savidge and Webeck, 12/8)
Bay Area News Group:
Coronavirus: Your Questions About California Hospital ICU Capacity, Answered
As the number of coronavirus cases soars in California, state officials have turned to hospitals’ ICU bed capacity to decide when different regions of the state must go into a tighter lockdown. When 15% or less of ICU beds in any one of the five regions of the state are available, residents in that region must largely stay home starting the next night. Here’s a look at what that actually means, how hospitals can boost the number of ICU beds and more. (DeRuy, 12/8)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Sonoma County On Watch As Most Of California Advances Into COVID-19 Shutdown
A second pandemic shutdown began this week for most of the Bay Area and more than 33 million Californians, the latest effort to curb record-shattering COVID-19 transmission rates that health authorities say threaten to overwhelm hospital facilities and staff. Sonoma County, with a rising infection rate and new cases topping more than 1,170 over the past seven days, remains on the sidelines of that shutdown, though for how long remains unclear. (Callahan, 12/8)
Fresno Bee:
State Issues COVID Text Alert To San Joaquin Valley
The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services at noon Tuesday issued an emergency text alert to all residents in the San Joaquin Valley urging them to stay home. “New public health stay at home order in your area. COVID-19 is spreading rapidly,” the alert read. The message was issued in English and Spanish through the state’s the Wireless Emergency Alerts system following a Regional Stay-at-Home Order, which took effect in the Valley on Monday. A similar message was sent to several counties in Southern California and could be be sent to other regions if they move into stay-at-home status. (Tehee, 12/8)
Fresno Bee:
‘It Needs A Lot More Time.’ Fresno Council Doesn’t Vote On Proposed COVID Gathering Law
A proposed ordinance that would fine Fresno residents for gatherings of more than 15 people was pulled from a special agenda Tuesday without discussion, nor voted upon. The City Council was scheduled to talk about and potentially vote on the order Tuesday afternoon. During the brief meeting, however, the proposed ordinance was pulled and the council entered closed session. The order would have restricted gatherings of more than 15 family members or friends at their homes. Health officials have said such gatherings have been driving the spread of the coronavirus for months. (Miller, 12/8)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Sheriff Youngblood: 'I Trust That You Will Do The Right Thing' To Stop COVID Spread
In a 42-second video posted on Facebook on Tuesday, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood urged the public to "do the right thing" to stop the spread of COVID-19. He noted that Gov. Gavin Newsom has issued a stay-at-home order for people in the Central Valley, but that his deputies won't enforce it. "I want you to know that leadership is not defined by issuing orders. Leadership is by example," Youngblood said from his office. (12/8)
Modesto Bee:
Californians Resist COVID Restrictions Amid Pandemic Fatigue
“We’ve seen slight reductions (from the curfew,) but nothing too significant,” Mark Ghaly, Secretary of California Health and Human Services, said last week. “We had hoped and wanted to see more from that." After nine months of pandemic pandemonium, warnings to stay home and limit gatherings increasingly are falling on deaf ears. "Not staying home,” one YouTube user commented as Newsom issued his latest stay-at-home order. "We already did this AND IT DID NOT WORK,” said another. “I’m so confused. I’ve been staying home all year, what’s changed?” (Korte, 12/9)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Sonoma County Supervisors Health Officer’s Back Decision To Opt Out Of Early Stay-Home Measures
Sonoma County supervisors said they would stand by their appointed health officer’s decision to opt out of a preemptive move made by five neighboring counties to impose new stay-at-home measures before the entire Bay Area is forced into a second shutdown to preserve hospital capacity. (Callahan, 12/8)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Judge Finds San Jose Church In Contempt For Health Order Violations
A Santa Clara Superior Court judge found San Jose’s Calvary Chapel and its pastor in contempt of court Tuesday, and fined the church as much as $55,000 for continuing to hold large, indoor religious services in defiance of public health orders and mandates from the court. (Cabanatuan and Hernández, 12/8)
CNN:
158 People Arrested, Sex Trafficking Victim Recovered At Coronavirus 'Super Spreader' Party
Days after vowing to target coronavirus super spreader events, the Los Angeles County sheriff announced 158 arrests tied to an underground party in Palmdale, where officers recovered guns, drugs and a juvenile sex trafficking victim. Deputies broke up a party Saturday night at a vacant house the party organizers had broken into, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said, calling the event "a flagrant violation of the governor's health order."Officers took six firearms from the scene and rescued a 17-year-old girl who Villanueva said had been a commercially sexually exploited. (Chan, 12/8)
Sacramento Bee:
California Lottery Workers Fear Their Jobs Could Make Them COVID-19 Superspreaders
California State Lottery employees are still traveling to liquor and convenience stores amid a COVID-19 surge, raising concerns among workers that they could contract and spread the virus on the job. The lottery has classified sales representatives’ work as essential, so they must keep doing it despite the three-week shutdown of most state government offices that went into effect Monday. “If one (sales representative) gets covid, we can be walking superspreaders,” said Mike Ramos, a sales representative and SEIU Local 1000 union steward who works out of a lottery office in Los Angeles. (Venteicher, 12/9)
Modesto Bee:
Foster Farms Poultry Plant In Fresno Reopens After Weekend Shutdown Over COVID-19
Foster Farms reopened its facility on Cherry Street in Fresno on Monday morning following deep cleaning over the weekend to address a coronavirus outbreak, according to company officials. Over the past two weeks, 193 workers at the 1,400-person facility in southwest Fresno tested positive for COVID-19, according to Ira Brill, vice president of communications for Foster Farms. He said they were all asymptomatic. (Tobias, 12/8)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Latinos Getting Coronavirus At Higher Rate Than Whites
Latino residents are bearing the brunt of an unprecedented surge in coronavirus infections, underscoring the racial and economic inequities the pandemic has had in California, and particularly in Los Angeles County. In L.A. County, Latino residents are now becoming infected with the virus at more than double the rate of white residents, according to data. (Lin II, Campa and Money, 12/8)
Bay Area News Group:
Dodgers Scout Jairo Castillo Dies At 31 From COVID-19
Dodgers international scout Jairo Castillo has died due to complications from contracting COVID-19. Castillo is the second Dodgers scout to die in recent days. Long-time amateur scout Lon Joyce passed away last week. (Plunkett, 12/9)
Bay Area News Group:
San Benito County Hospital Hits Coronavirus "Double-Headed Surge"
Hazel Hawkins is a small, rural hospital an hour south of Silicon Valley, surrounded by orchards and grazing cattle. It has just 25 beds, and every bed is full this week, straining the hospital and the staff. Gov. Gavin Newsom has warned that hospitals in this newly-designated San Joaquin Valley region have only 6 percent capacity left in their intensive care units — on average. But that also means many of those ICUs in hospitals from Sonora to Bakersfield, including Hollister, are already full or spilling over. (Prodis Sulek, 12/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Hospice Industry Growth Marked By Fraud, Deficient Care
Intense competition for new patients — who generate $154 to $1,432 a day each in Medicare payments — has spawned a cottage industry of illegal practices, including kickbacks to crooked doctors and recruiters who zero in on prospective patients at retirement homes and other venues, The Times found. The exponential boom in providers has transformed end-of-life care that was once the realm of charities and religious groups into a multibillion-dollar business dominated by profit-driven operators. Nowhere has that growth been more explosive, and its harmful side effects more evident, than in Los Angeles County. (Christensen and Poston, 12/9)
San Francisco Chronicle:
The Risk Of Getting Coronavirus At Bay Area Schools Is Low. So Why Is Fear Of Returning Still So High?
Recent data out of Marin County, where nearly 80% of public and private schools are open, show her hunch is correct. With nearly 13,000 students attending in-person classes each day, the risk of getting the virus at a school is lower than the chance of getting it in the community as a whole, health officials said. Since Marin County classrooms started reopening in September, there have been just two cases of suspected transmission at a school. (Tucker, 12/9)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. Reverses Course On Tobacco Smoking Ban Inside Apartment Buildings, Seeks More Review
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors reversed course on banning smoking in multi-unit buildings on a perfunctory second vote — a rare move — after protests from residents who said they could be hurt under the law. Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who voted in favor of the law one week ago, said during Tuesday’s meeting that he changed his mind after hearing from elderly, long-time residents in his district who feared being fined for behavior when there was no history of complaints from neighbors. Many newer buildings already have smoking bans imposed by the landlord, so those most likely affected under the proposed ordinance would be residents who live in older, rent-controlled apartments, he said. (Moench, 12/8)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
San Diego Signs Contract With New Ambulance Provider, A Key Step Toward Making Switch
San Diego has taken another key step toward replacing the city’s longtime ambulance provider with a Danish company that operates ambulances in Los Angeles County, Orange County and the Bay Area. City officials have negotiated and signed a formal contract with Falck USA, which the city selected last summer to take over its ambulance service from longtime provider American Medical Response. (Garrick, 12/8)
LA Daily News:
L.A. Officials Want To Cancel January Homeless Count, Amid Coronavirus Concerns
A homeless count typically conducted in the Los Angeles area that relies on the help of thousands of volunteers during the month of January could be canceled amid concerns that it would be unsafe and impractical in the middle of a pandemic. In recent years, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) has been conducting the count annually. The count is only required every two years — in the odd-number years — when the agency applies for funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That means 2021 was the scheduled year for the count to be done to meet federal guidelines. (Chou, 12/8)
KQED:
With Looming Threat Of Evictions, California Bill Would Extend Renter Protections Through 2021
With eviction protections set to expire in the coming months, California lawmakers have introduced legislation that aims to keep renters across the state housed through next year. Assemblymember David Chiu, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill on Monday that would extend Assembly Bill 3088, statewide eviction protections that lawmakers passed earlier this year, which bars landlords from evicting tenants for nonpayment of rent because of the pandemic. A second bill would create a rent relief plan for tenants, landlords and affordable housing developers. “There’s not a lot that we know. But what we do know for sure is the pandemic is not over,” Chiu said. “People are still unemployed. People still can't pay the rent.” (Solomon, 12/8)
Capital Public Radio/KXJZ and CalMatters:
Lawmakers Weigh Moratorium Extension As Eviction Cliff Looms
With California’s eviction moratorium set to expire in less than 60 days and 2 million people at risk of losing their rental homes, a group of tenant-friendly lawmakers want to forestall evictions for another year. The proposal, introduced today by San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman David Chiu, would forbid landlords from evicting renters financially harmed by the pandemic through Dec. 31, 2021. Renters would have until then to come up with a quarter of the back rent they’ve accumulated since last September to avoid being kicked out in 2022. (Levin, 12/8)