Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
California School Districts Grope for Sensible Reopening Plans
Some districts want to bring everyone back to the classroom and some are planning distance-only learning, while most others are settling on one of a variety of options in the middle. Whatever their leanings, they all face vast, troubling uncertainty. (Mark Kreidler, )
Educators, Lawmakers Denounce Orange County’s School Reopening Plan: Recommendations approved by the Orange County Board of Education to welcome students back to campuses without increased social distancing in classrooms or the mandatory use of masks were met with a fierce backlash from educators and parents Tuesday, and some school officials are already saying they don’t intend to go along. “It’s reckless, and it’s causing undue fear among teachers, students and parents alike,” Ocean View School District Board President Gina Clayton-Tarvin said of the board’s action. Seven members of Congress penned a letter to the board Tuesday in response to its recommendations, saying they were “deeply concerned.” Meanwhile, county health officials reported 865 new coronavirus infections Tuesday and nine more fatalities, bringing its death toll to 433. Read more from Anh Do, Sara Cardine and Hannah Fry of the Los Angeles Times.
Church Leaders Balk At Shutdown Order: Christian leaders are criticizing the governor’s decision to halt houses of worship from conducting indoor religious services. Jonathan Keller, president of the conservative California Family Council, said Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order shows that the governor “trusts big-box stores like Costco and Target more than churches and synagogues.” In Lodi, Pastor Jon Duncan of the Cross Culture Christian Center, which had defied Newsom's previous order and continued to hold indoor services, said the latest order conflicts with the First Amendment right to peaceably assemble and practice religion. And in Fresno, Cornerstone Pastor Jim Franklin announced Tuesday evening that his church will remain open despite the mandate. “We’re not going to give up our constitutional right,” Franklin said on social media. Read more from Andrew Sheeler of the Sacramento Bee and Bryant-Jon Anteola of the Fresno Bee.
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
San Francisco Chronicle:
California To Health Insurance Companies: Pay For Coronavirus Testing
With coronavirus cases surging and the need for testing at an all-time high, California officials are putting pressure on major health insurance companies to help finance the fight against the pandemic. The state Department of Managed Health Care will soon issue new regulations requiring health insurers to pay for coronavirus testing for most patients, state officials said Tuesday. They hope the move will lead to large hospitals, clinics and other health care providers conducting more testing at a time the public needs it the most. (Ho, 7/14)
Sacramento Bee:
Newsom Will Shift More Coronavirus Testing Costs To Insurers
California plans to shift more COVID-19 testing costs onto private insurers as part of a strategy overhaul aimed at reducing costs and expanding testing to more vulnerable people, the leader of the state’s health care agency said Tuesday. Moving forward, Gov Gavin Newsom’s administration will encourage people to seek coronavirus testing at doctor’s offices and clinics in an effort to free up state-funded testing sites for Californians who are harder to reach through the traditional medical system, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said. (Bollag, 6/14)
Sacramento Bee:
California Counties Short On Coronavirus Contact Tracers
California communities are scrambling to track down people exposed to the coronavirus after the state let many accelerate reopening without meeting minimum standards for contact tracers, a review of county data shows. The state initially told counties they must have at least 15 contact tracers for every 100,000 people before they could speed up their economic reopening. Of the 55 counties that attested they could safely reopen, at least 17 wrote that they did not meet that contact tracing threshold when they submitted their attestation forms to the state, although many outlined plans to expand their staff. (Bollag, Bizjak and Sheehan, 7/15)
Sacramento Bee:
CA Ranks Hospital Patients As Top Priority For COVID Tests
Hospitalized people with COVID-19 symptoms will be the first priority for testing under new California guidelines released Tuesday, followed by medical workers in the second tier and teachers and service workers in the third. The new priority system comes as the state experiences a dramatic rise in coronavirus cases and the state runs low on testing supplies, causing bottlenecks for testing and forcing people to wait longer for results, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said. (Bollag, 7/14)
Sacramento Bee:
San Joaquin County Sheriff Tests Positive For Coronavirus
San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this month, he announced Monday. In a Facebook video statement posted Monday evening, Withrow said he came down with “cold symptoms” on June 30 and took a test the next day. Eight days later he received a positive test result. (Yoon-Hendricks, 7/14)
Sacramento Bee:
2,000 Inmates Infected, 10 Dead At San Quentin
More than 2,000 inmates at San Quentin have tested positive for the coronavirus and 10 have died, with at least three deaths reported since Saturday. Two inmates who had been hospitalized outside the prison died Saturday, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement Monday, bringing San Quentin’s COVID-19 death toll to nine at that point. An additional death added to CDCR’s online tracker Tuesday morning brought the prison’s death toll to 10. (McGough, 7/14)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno County Adds 3 Deaths, 474 Cases In COVID-19 Update
Fresno County added another three deaths related to coronavirus on Tuesday, which also saw nearly 500 new positive cases. With 474 new cases, Fresno County now has 8,756 positive cases since the start of the pandemic. The three deaths raise the total to 91 on Tuesday, the first update since Friday. (Miller, 7/14)
Fresno Bee:
Fresno's New York & Co. Clothing Store Could Be Closing
New York & Company’s parent organization is the latest retailer to file for bankruptcy, in part blaming the coronavirus pandemic and the shutdowns that came with it. RTW Retailwinds, which owns the women’s clothing retailer, said in a statement this week that it plans to close “a significant portion, if not all, of its brick-and-mortar stores.” It has started the store liquidation process. (Clough, 7/14)
San Francisco Chronicle:
‘It Sends The Wrong Message’: Napa Vintners React To Winery Reopening Rollbacks
California wineries were just beginning to settle into their new normal: masks, constant sanitation, lots of distance between visitors. The COVID-19 safety protocols didn’t make an ideal wine tasting experience, of course, but many vintners said it was going relatively well. Then, over the course of the past week, the state’s wineries were dealt another restriction, sending them backward in the reopening schedule: no more indoor tastings. (Mobley, 7/14)
Fresno Bee:
Central Schools In Fresno Will Not Reopen Amid Coronavirus
The Central Unified School District will start the school year with an all-online learning model amid the coronavirus pandemic, but officials plan to transition into traditional in-person classes. The board voted on Tuesday night to reopen schools on Aug. 12 but to keep all students at home for online learning. (Velez, 7/14)
Sacramento Bee:
Natomas Unified Delays First Day Of School Due To COVID-19
Natomas Unified School District announced Monday it would delay the start of the school year by two weeks, and use the time to implement more health and safety protocols as coronavirus cases continue to spike in the state. Students will begin classes on Thursday, August 27. (Morrar, 7/14)
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco Public School Students Likely On Screens Rather Than In Seats: ‘It’s Not Safe To Go Back’
Given a haircut is still considered unsafe and a trip to the mall not allowed anywhere statewide, opening schools to students and staff in a month is not feasible, San Francisco school officials said. That means that though a final decision on reopening won’t be made for another two weeks, it’s all but certain the district’s students won’t be back in class when school starts in August, district officials said Tuesday. (Tucker, 7/14)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Which Crimes Are Up, Down In SF During Coronavirus Shelter-In-Place? Police Data Show Trends
The dramatic drop in crime seen in many of the Bay Area’s largest cities in the first week of shelter-in-place has largely continued for San Francisco in the months since, even as partial reopening has begun, city data show. In one particular pandemic silver lining, violent crimes have decreased during shelter-in-place compared to the same time last year, according to the Police Department’s crime statistics dashboard. (Hwang, 7/15)
Los Angeles Times:
Boy, 16, Was Given Estrogen At L.A. Juvenile Hall, Suit Says
A 16-year-old boy being held at a Los Angeles County juvenile hall developed enlarged breasts after he was prescribed estrogen to treat a behavioral disorder, a move that baffled doctors who said the treatment defied medical logic, according to a lawsuit filed last month. The teen, whose identity is being withheld because of his age, was diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, or ODD, two days after he was arrested and housed at Eastlake Juvenile Hall in June 2019, the lawsuit said. Medical records reviewed by The Times show that the teen’s testosterone levels were “slightly high” when the doctor who diagnosed him prescribed daily doses of estrogen. (Queally, 7/15)
Sacramento Bee:
Retired California Hospital Association CEO Duane Dauner Dies
Described as “an unrelenting advocate for universal health care coverage,” retired California Hospital Association leader C. Duane Dauner died Monday after a solo car crash near his home in Palm Desert. He was 80. Dauner was the chief executive officer of the hospital association from 1985 until he retired in 2017. He continued to serve on several hospital system boards after he left the trade group. (Anderson, 7/14)