Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Can Biden’s Plan to Remove Urban Highways Improve the Health of American Cities?
Pollution and noise from urban highways intersect with illness for neighbors. But “green” developments that replace them can displace the very families harmed in the first place. (Sarah DiGiulio, )
Public Wasn’t Told For Hours About Sewage At Beach: After 17 million gallons of raw sewage were discharged into the ocean off Los Angeles beaches early Monday, county officials waited hours before notifying the public to avoid swimming in areas potentially affected by high levels of bacteria, interviews show. “What happened yesterday was unacceptable and irresponsible,” L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn said Tuesday. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
Sacramento Leads State In Per-Capita Covid Cases: Coronavirus activity is surging again in California’s capital region, where loosened restrictions and the dangerous delta variant may be intersecting with lackluster vaccination rates. Sacramento County as of Tuesday had recorded more covid cases per capita in the past week than any other county statewide with at least 100,000 residents. Read more from The Sacramento Bee.
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
NBC News:
Senate Democrats Reveal $3.5 Trillion Plan To Invest In Health Care, Climate Change And More
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the $3.5 trillion would be in addition to the $579 billion in new spending in the bipartisan infrastructure agreement. He said the deal would include a "robust expansion of Medicare" that would include new benefits like dental, vision and hearing coverage, along with major funding for clean energy. "If we pass this, this is the most profound change to help American families in generations," he said. (Kapur and Thorp V, 7/13)
The Hill:
Democrats Reach Deal On $3.5T Price Tag For Infrastructure Bill
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Budget Committee Democrats, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have reached a deal on a $3.5 trillion price tag for a Democratic-only infrastructure package. Schumer, emerging from an hours-long meeting with Budget Committee Democrats, said they had reached a deal on the budget resolution — which greenlights reconciliation, the process Democrats will use to bypass a GOP filibuster on the infrastructure bill — including a $3.5 trillion top-line figure. President Biden is going to meet with Senate Democrats on Wednesday as Democrats work to lock down support for the deal. (Carney, 7/13)
AP:
Senate Democrats' $3.5T Budget Deal Backs Up Biden's Goals
All told, the ambitious proposal reflects Biden’s vision for making the most substantive potential investments in the nation in years, some say on par with the New Deal of the 1930s. Together with a slimmer, $1 trillion bipartisan effort of traditional road, highway and public works also being negotiated, they represent close to the president’s initial $4 trillion-plus effort that could reach almost every corner of the country. The Democrats’ goal is to push a budget resolution reflecting Tuesday’s agreement through the House and the Senate before lawmakers leave for their August recess. The resolution sets only broad spending and revenue parameters, leaving the actual funding and specific decisions about which programs are affected — and by how much — for later legislation. (Fram and Mascaro, 7/13)
Los Angeles Times:
COVID-19 Cases Surge In L.A. County, Fueled By ‘Enormously Selfish’ Unvaccinated
For the fifth consecutive day, Los Angeles County has recorded more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases. Health officials say the upward trajectory is almost entirely driven by transmission among those who have yet to be vaccinated for COVID-19, as well as increased circulation of the easily spread Delta variant of the virus. (Money, 7/13)
ABC News:
COVID-19 Cases Are Rising In Los Angeles: What's Behind The Spike
Health officials in Los Angeles County are warning that the delta variant's spread among unvaccinated people is driving a spike in new COVID-19 infections in the county. On Monday, the health department reported 1,059 new COVID-19 cases, a significant increase since June, when the department was consistently reporting a few hundred new infections each day. Officials are currently investigating 55 ongoing outbreaks, up 25% from the 44 outbreaks they were investigating last month. (Schumaker, 7/13)
Orange County Register:
OC’s COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalization On The Rise Again
Mirroring trends across California and the nation, Orange County has seen COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations from the disease rise in the past few weeks, and the brunt of infection and illness is being borne by people who haven’t received a vaccine. Countywide, 1.8% of tests are coming back positive – the percentage in communities with less access to health care is only slightly higher at 1.9% – and the number of daily cases per 100,000 residents has risen to 2.6, OC Health Care Agency Director Dr. Clayton Chau told the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, July 13. The county recorded 1,050 new reported cases of the virus in the last seven days; it now updates its COVID-19 statistics online weekly on Tuesdays. (Robinson, 7/13)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Coronavirus Cases Climb Past 200 Per Day As Delta Variant Spreads
San Diego County logged 355 cases of COVID-19 Monday, the largest single-day increase since April 9, public health officials said Tuesday as they released a survey that shows many county residents continue to resist getting vaccinated. Dr. Wilma Wooten, the region’s public health officer, told the county Board of Supervisors that there had been an average of 159 new cases per day reported to her department over the previous two weeks, compared to just 78 during the two weeks prior to her last presentation on June 8. (Sisson, 7/13)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Delta Variant's Spread Among Unvaccinated Californians Threatens New Surge Of COVID Cases, Officials Warn
With nearly half of California residents still not fully immunized against COVID-19 and the highly infectious delta variant in wide circulation, the state could be facing a surge up to two-thirds the size of last summer’s wave of infection despite generally high vaccination rates, health officials said Tuesday. If such a surge materializes, it almost certainly will be far less deadly and disruptive than what the state endured over the winter, when more than 22,000 Californians died between Thanksgiving and the end of January and the state was largely shut down for several months. (Allday, 7/13)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Coronavirus Outbreaks At California Workplaces Have Increased Since Reopening
California’s reopening last month coincided with a spike in coronavirus outbreaks at workplaces across the state, according to the California Department of Public Health data. The state defines an outbreak as three cases in a single location in a two-week period. Coronavirus outbreaks at workplaces declined rapidly at the beginning of this year, from more than 2,400 in January to just over 200 in May, according to state health department data provided to the California Occupational Safety and Health — or Cal/OSHA — Standards Board. (DiFeliciantonio, 7/13)
Los Angeles Times:
Tougher Tactics For The Unvaccinated Needed To Stop New Rise In COVID-19, Experts Say
With coronavirus cases rising among the unvaccinated and efforts to get them shots lagging, there is growing belief in some public health circles that more aggressive tactics are needed to get more of the population inoculated. California has already tried prizes and game show-style events to encourage people to get vaccinated. But 41% of Californians of all ages have yet to be inoculated. And two troubling and related trends are bringing calls for fresh thinking. (Money and Lin II, 7/14)
Sacramento Bee:
CalPERS Settles Long-Term Care Insurance Lawsuit For $2.7B
CalPERS has agreed to pay up to $2.7 billion to settle a lawsuit over big price hikes the retirement system imposed on long-term care policyholders eight years ago, according to a Tuesday announcement. The proposed agreement, which requires a judge’s approval, would settle a class-action lawsuit policyholders filed in 2013. Several policyholders filed the lawsuit after receiving notices that their premiums would rise 85% in two increases in 2015 and 2016. (Venteicher, 7/13)
San Francisco Chronicle:
CalPERS Agrees To Pay $2.7 Billion To Settle Suit Over Long-Term Care Insurance Premiums
California’s retirement system for state and local government employees has agreed to pay $2.7 billion to nearly 80,000 workers and their families to settle a suit over increases in premiums since 2015 to cover long-term care in nursing homes and other facilities. The settlement, announced Tuesday, will allow workers and retirees to recover the increases they have paid to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System for long-term care over the past six years — 85% above the previous rates — and purchase a new insurance policy or pay for their own care. (Egelko, 7/13)
Los Angeles Daily News and City News Service:
LA County Seeks Reparations For 1968-1974 Forced Sterilizations At LAC+USC Med Center
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, July 13, urged state leaders to fund reparations to more than 240 survivors of forced sterilizations conducted at LAC+USC Medical Center between 1968 and 1974. Supervisor Hilda Solis said it was time to reckon with the past, offering a motion that also called on the county to explore stepping up if the state does not act. (7/13)
Special Report: Negligent Doctors
Los Angeles Times:
How California Medical Board Keeps Negligent Doctors In Business
Lenora Lewis hoped spinal surgery would relieve her chronic back pain. But when the mother of three from Lancaster awoke from the operation in 2013, she was paralyzed from the waist down, her feet numb but for the horrifying sensation of “a billion ants running through them.” What she didn’t know then was that her surgeon, Dr. Mukesh Misra, had been publicly accused by the Medical Board of California of operating on the wrong side of another patient’s brain. (Dolan and Christensen, 7/14)
Los Angeles Times:
A Doctor Was Charged In A Billion-Dollar Fraud Scheme. But His License Remains Active
Dr. Lokesh Tantuwaya became ensnared in one of the most notorious healthcare fraud cases in California history when he was charged with accepting millions in bribes to perform surgery at a now-defunct hospital in Long Beach. The San Diego spinal surgeon did so many operations at the hospital, about 100 miles from his home, the facility’s owner provided him with a private jet, according to court records. (Dolan and Christensen, 7/14)
Los Angeles Times:
A California Doctor Was Disciplined For DUIs. Now He’s Accused Of Gross Negligence
The Medical Board of California has revoked Dr. Kevin Ciresi’s license twice in the last five years, only to stay the orders and place the Fresno plastic surgeon on probation. Both sanctions related to Ciresi’s history of alcohol abuse, which includes five drunk-driving convictions since 2004. Though not directly tied to patient care, his multiple DUIs are “substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a physician,” according to state law, and constitute unprofessional conduct. (Christensen and Dolan, 7/14)
Los Angeles Times:
Finding Information About Your Doctor Isn’t Always Easy. Here Are Some Ways To Dig Deeper
The Medical Board of California’s mission is to protect patients through the licensing and regulation of doctors and the “vigorous, objective enforcement” of state laws governing their practices. But the board’s 15 members, eight of whom are doctors, also seek to rehabilitate troubled physicians whenever possible, and therein lies the potential for conflict: Patient advocates, healthcare experts and current and former members of the board contend it too often protects doctors at the expense of patient safety. (Christensen and Dolan, 7/14)
Los Angeles Times:
Chlorine Shortage Cancels Swim Lessons For Some California Kids
The chlorine shortage has already shuttered public pools and cancelled swim lessons across the country, including many in sunny Los Angeles. Less than a month after they were cleared to reopen by the Department of Public Health, the majority of city-run pools in L.A. have had to close down for want of the chemical. “The nationwide chlorine shortage has certainly affected the pools here,” Department of Recreation and Parks spokeswoman Rose Watson wrote in an email. “It has affected most of our pools across the city.” (Sharp, 7/14)
Sacramento Bee:
Drought, Climate Change Cause Increase Of Yellow Jackets
Climate change and worsening drought could be to blame for these increased sightings of yellow jackets, a predatory type of wasp with stingers that can sting repeatedly and even kill people who are allergic to its venom. When the natural landscape “turns to toast” as a result of drought conditions, carnivorous yellow jackets have a harder time finding their primary food source: insects. In turn, yellow jackets become attracted to irrigated green gardens and lawns full of insects to hunt, according to Gail Langellotto, a professor of horticulture at Oregon State University, located in a state facing a similar drought crisis as California. (Rosenbaum, 7/13)
Los Angeles Times:
July 4 Fireworks Caused Unhealthy Air Pollution In L.A. Area
This year’s Fourth of July fireworks created the second-highest air pollution levels from the holiday in the last decade and were the highest since the Bobcat wildfire in September, the South Coast Air Quality Management District said Tuesday. The agency said that although last week’s fireworks-related air pollution was lower than last Fourth of July, the air pollution levels have been especially high in recent years. (Miller, 7/13)
Sacramento Bee:
New Elk Grove Housing To Help Temporarily Homeless Families
Elk Grove opened its newest transitional housing project for homeless families Tuesday. The 2,900-square-foot, seven-room layout on Moon Creek Way is expected to be a bridge for families temporarily experiencing homelessness and in need of up to a year of assistance, city officials said in a statement announcing the opening. (Smith, 7/13)
Voice of OC:
City Of Orange May Face Legal Battle Over Booting Local Homeless Kitchen
Mary’s Kitchen — a longstanding soup kitchen — is fighting efforts by the City of Orange to shut down its operation that also helps clothe and bathe those out on the streets, possibly setting the stage for a legal battle. Orange officials put the kitchen on notice last month. (Pho, 7/12)