Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
In-Home Teeth-Straightening Business Is Booming ― But Better Brace Yourself
SmileDirectClub and other startup companies say they provide teeth-straightening services for what can be thousands of dollars less than office-visit care. But critics worry about what happens if the treatment goes wrong. (Julie Appleby and Victoria Knight, )
Good morning! Officials are ramping up airport screenings at major hubs including Los Angeles and San Francisco airports as the first U.S. case of the Wuhan coronavirus is confirmed. More on that below, but first here are your top California health stories of the day.
LAPD Report Reveals Police Used Force In More Than A Third Of Encounters With Homeless People: LAPD homeless coordinator Cmdr. Donald Graham pointed to the city’s growing homeless population and an uptick in crimes committed by and against homeless people. During the third quarter of 2019, officers used force on homeless people 217 times, a 26% increase from the same period in 2018 when that number was 172. The report did not include a detailed breakdown of the type of force used by officers, but Graham told commissioners that five of the 217 incidents where force was used in the third quarter of 2019 involved a “categorical use of force” — which includes instances where force resulted in a serious injury. Read more from Leila Miller of the Los Angeles Times.
In related news:
Los Angeles Times: L.A. Announced More ‘Sensitive’ Cleanups For Homeless Camps. Now It’s Taking A Harder Line
LAist: LA's Annual Homeless Count (Or Undercount?) Starts Tonight
Electronic Health Records May Now Be Commonplace, But That Doesn’t Mean Everyone Has Access To Them: Apple users are the only ones who can access their health records on their phones. CommonHealth, a new app for Android users, wants to change that and tackle health disparities in the process. Experts also say it’s a step toward addressing the health-information access gap between Android and Apple users, because it will make medical records universally available—no matter the users’ smartphone brand. Elaine Khoong, an associate professor at UCSF, said that most of her patients express interest in accessing their health information online. But she said that even with apps for both Apple and Android users, there will still be barriers in the way. “Our patient population is overwhelmingly a lot of patients with limited health literacy, who are low-income insured on Medicaid, racial-ethnic minority groups, and there’s a certain number of limited English proficient patients as well,” she said. Read more from Laurine Lassalle of the California Health Report.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
Sacramento Bee:
Newsom Wants $450K Per Year For His Native American Council
California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants nearly half a million dollars per year to fund the Native American council he created in June, according to public documents detailing the governor’s state budget plans. ... The money would fund stipends and travel for the 12 council members and a researcher to compile documents from the California State Library and Archives. It would also fund psychological support services for people who attend the council’s meetings because of the traumatic history being discussed. (Bollag, 1/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Person With Measles May Have Exposed Others At LAX, Brentwood Pharmacy
Los Angeles County health officials are warning of a potential exposure to measles after a passenger at Los Angeles International Airport also visited a CVS Pharmacy in Brentwood this month. Officials confirmed Sunday that one infected person arrived at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal on Jan. 12. The person, who is not a Los Angeles County resident, also visited a pharmacy at 11941 San Vicente Blvd. in Los Angeles the following day and again on Jan. 18. (Vega, 1/21)
Sacramento Bee:
Forbes: 4 Sacramento CA Area Employers Are Tops In Diversity
Media giant Forbes magazine named four Sacramento-area employers – Raley’s; University of California, Davis; UC Davis Health; and VSP Global – to its list of America’s best employers for diversity and inclusion. UCD Health noted in its news release on the honor that 71 percent of its workforce self-identify as female, more than 26 percent as Asian/Native Hawaiian, more than 14 percent as Hispanic/Latinx, roughly 8 percent of its employees as black/African American, and almost 1 percent as American Indian. (Anderson, 1/22)
LAist:
Why The Census Bureau Is Turning To Children To Reach Asian Immigrants
The Census Bureau says that language barriers make Asian immigrants some of the hardest people to count, and it's spending millions more on culturally-relevant advertising to reach them than it did 10 years ago. Still, community advocates in Los Angeles, home to some of the world's largest Asian diasporas, worry that large swaths of people could be missed in a national headcount that decides political representation and how government resources are distributed. (Huang, 1/21)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Fentanyl, Heroin Overdoses In San Francisco More Than Doubled In 2019
The number of fatal heroin and fentanyl overdoses in San Francisco more than doubled in 2019, according to preliminary statistics from the city’s medical examiner’s office that were obtained by The Chronicle. There were 234 deaths that are estimated to have involved fentanyl, compared with 90 in 2018. The number of deaths where heroin appears to have played a role reached 100 last year, officials with the city’s chief medical examiner’s office estimate. (Sernoffsky and King, 1/21)
The New York Times:
Wuhan Coronavirus: C.D.C. Identifies First U.S. Case In Washington State
A man in his 30s in Washington State is infected with the Wuhan coronavirus, the first confirmed case in the United States of a mysterious respiratory infection that has killed at least six people and sickened hundreds more in Asia, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Tuesday. (Rabin, 1/21)
The Wall Street Journal:
First U.S. Case Reported Of Deadly Wuhan Virus
The CDC began screening at the end of last week at three airports that receive the majority of travelers from Wuhan: San Francisco International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. More than 1,200 passengers have been screened, but none have been referred to a hospital, said Dr. Messonnier. (McKay and Deng, 1/21)
Los Angeles Times:
Chinese Coronavirus Outbreak Has Reached U.S. Shores, CDC Says
“Leave no doubt: Entry screening is just one part of a multilayered system,” said Dr. Martin Cetron, the head of the CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine. “Individuals are empowered to make good decisions if they’re informed.” Outside experts cautioned that the increased airport screenings will be expensive, and that it will take some time to get answers to basic questions like what animal was the source of this virus and what makes some people more susceptible to infection than others. “Basic epidemiology questions remain unanswered,” said Rebecca Katz, the director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University. “The CDC is the best of the best, and we should have faith in their leadership.” (Baumgaertner, 1/21)
The New York Times:
The Test A Deadly Coronavirus Outbreak Poses To China’s Leadership
Facing growing pressure to contain a deadly viral outbreak that has spread halfway around the world, China’s ruling Communist Party raced on Tuesday to confront the disease, slapping restrictions on the city where it started and warning that anyone who hides infections will be “forever nailed to history’s pillar of shame.” The response by the Chinese leadership, which has come under intensifying criticism that it has been slow to acknowledge the severity of the outbreak, came as fatalities from the disease tripled to at least nine. (Hernandez, 1/21)
The Washington Post:
China Virus: Coronavirus Cases Surge Ahead Of Spring Festival Travel
Under the best of circumstances, the Spring Festival in China is a logistical exercise of mind-blowing proportions: hundreds of millions of people traveling via planes, trains, buses and taxis to return to their hometowns to ring in the new lunar year with their families. It’s the biggest human migration on the planet. And that’s without mentioning the bursting bags of gifts, clothing, food and liquor that travel with them. (Fifield, 1/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
As Virus Spreads, Isolated Taiwan Risks Being A Loophole In War On Epidemics
Taiwan’s first reported case of a patient infected by a deadly coronavirus spreading across Asia turns a spotlight on Beijing’s attempts to exclude the self-governing island from the World Health Organization, which Taiwanese officials say hinders an effective global response to public-health crises. China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, has in recent years squeezed the island’s ability to participate in international affairs, including by blocking its representatives from United Nations agencies overseeing global health and aviation. (Cheng and Wong, 1/22)
The New York Times:
Supreme Court Will Not Rule Quickly On Obamacare Appeal
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a request from Democratic state officials and the House of Representatives to quickly consider whether to hear an appeal of a decision with the potential to wipe out the entire Affordable Care Act. The move means the court will almost certainly not hear the case in its current term, which ends in June. Democrats consider health care a winning issue, and they wanted the court to act quickly to keep the fate of the Affordable Care Act in the public eye during the presidential election. In the meantime, the law remains almost entirely intact but faces an uncertain future. (Liptak, 1/21)
The Associated Press:
Supreme Court Case Looms Large For Rivals In Abortion Debate
Anti-abortion activists gather this week in Washington for their annual March for Life, eager to cheer on a continuing wave of federal and state abortion restrictions. However, many activists on both sides of the debate already are looking ahead to March 4, when the U.S. Supreme Court hears its first major abortion case since the addition of two justices appointed by President Donald Trump. (1/21)
Reuters:
U.S. Supreme Court Lets Flint, Michigan Residents Sue Over Water Contamination
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday let residents of Flint, Michigan pursue a civil rights lawsuit against the city and government officials that accused them of knowingly allowing the city's water supply to become contaminated with lead. The justices turned away two appeals by the city and the state and local officials of a lower court ruling that allowed the lawsuit to move forward. (1/21)
Stat:
Pharma Is Making Some Effort To Fight Superbugs, But Progress Is 'patchy'
Amid rising concern over a lack of antibiotics, a new analysis finds most drug makers are failing to expand their pipelines to sufficiently combat resistance, although more companies are sharing surveillance data on where resistance is occurring and are no longer overselling the medicines. Overall, the number of antibiotics being developed has increased only marginally in the past two years and just nine of these medicines are considered novel, most of which are being pursued by small and medium-sized companies with fewer resources than global drug makers. And while more clinical-stage antibiotics are supported by plans to ensure better access, most efforts remain patchy. (Silverman, 1/21)
Stat:
Will The FDA Give The Go-Ahead To A Prescription Video Game?
In mid-2018, the startup Akili Interactive Labs asked the Food and Drug Administration to let it do something that’s never been done before: market a video game that physicians would prescribe to kids with ADHD. A year and a half later, that green light has yet to materialize. It’s unclear whether that’s a sign of trouble — the company wouldn’t say whether the agency has asked it to make changes or run a new study — or simply a reflection of the complexity of evaluating a medical product without precedent. (Robbins, 1/21)