Capital & Main: California's Counties Revolt Against Blue Shield's Vaccination Role
If the past few months have done nothing else, they’ve shown definitively that California’s lurching effort to vaccinate its citizens against COVID-19 will always come down to two factors: supply and logistics. Without an effective distribution plan, a large inventory doesn’t mean much. Without enough vaccine, however, nothing else matters. Given that context, it is bewildering to consider recent events. First, Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged that the next few weeks will be “a constrained environment in terms of access to vaccine” — governor-speak for a shortage of doses. Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer went further, saying no vaccine cavalry would be arriving from Johnson & Johnson for at least two weeks due to production issues. (Kreidler, 3/16)

Los Angeles Times: Galaxy Soccer Team Turns Parking Lots Into COVID Vaccine Site 
It will be at least five weeks before the Galaxy welcome people back inside Dignity Health Sports Park. But the area outside the soccer stadium was packed Tuesday as a long line of cars snaked through the parking lots on the second day of a five-day drive-through COVID-19 vaccination event. More than 20,000 people, mostly front-line workers and members of underserved and at-risk communities, are expected to get their second doses of the Moderna vaccine this week. First doses were given at the Carson stadium in mid-February. (Baxter, 3/16)

Fresno Bee: Vaccine Clinic Opens In Sanger, More Sites Planned 
A new coronavirus vaccination clinic started offering shots Tuesday afternoon in the Fresno County community of Sanger, adding another weapon to the county’s arsenal of sites providing vaccine against COVID-19. Sanger City Manager Tim Chapa said the clinic, which for months has been providing coronavirus testing for people, had already lined up more than 100 reservations for shots in its first hour and a half of operation at the Sanger Community Center. In a video briefing with Fresno County health officials, Chapa said it is modeled after a state-contracted OptumServe testing-turned-vaccine site at Reedley College in Reedley. (Sheehan, 3/16)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Black Nurses Bring Vaccine To Community Centers, Churches To Target Under-Served People 
The San Diego Black Nurses Association is trying to vaccinate Black residents in San Diego by securing vaccines from the county and targeting churches and community centers. So far the association has vaccinated nearly 1,100 residents in southeastern San Diego since mid-February. Around the county more than 715,000 San Diegans have gotten a coronavirus vaccine. But health experts said they are concerned about low vaccination rates among Black residents. (Lopez-Villafana, 3/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: 'I'm Safe!': Mayor Breed Gets Johnson & Johnson Vaccine, A Year After S.F.'s Lock-Down
Exactly 12 months after Mayor London Breed somberly announced she would shut down San Francisco in the face of the coronavirus, she got a shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine Tuesday. It was a small sign of hope after a brutal year. “It was important for me to make sure that I not only get this vaccine, but more importantly, that I demonstrate, as the leader of the city, that it’s safe,” Breed said. (Thadani, 3/16)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: How To Calculate Your BMI To See If You Qualify For The COVID-19 Vaccine
Californians ages 16-64 with severe health conditions became eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine Monday, and severe obesity is among the conditions listed to qualify. The State of California is using body mass index (BMI) to determine whether someone has severe obesity. BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by the square of their height in meters, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. California defines severe obesity as having a body mass index (BMI) that is equal to or more than 40 kg/m². (Chudwin, 3/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Gavin Newsom Makes Misleading Claim About Florida And California's COVID-19 Stats
After joining ABC's "The View" on Tuesday morning, California Gov. Gavin Newsom continued his "please don't recall me" media tour with an appearance on CNN's "The Lead With Jake Tapper" a few hours later. Unlike on "The View," where one question for the governor was prefaced with, "I think you've done a pretty damn good job," Tapper immediately pressed Newsom on the Democratic Party's talking points regarding the recall efforts. (Ting, 3/16)

AP: 90% Of California Can Dine Indoors, Go To Movies, Hit A Gym
A year after the pandemic forced California to shut down, about 90% of the state’s nearly 40 million residents can enjoy a restaurant meal indoors, watch a movie in a theater and sweat it out inside a gym after more counties were authorized to open up for business thanks to slowing coronavirus infection rates. California has been on a reopening roll since a deadly winter surge that saw skyrocketing hospitalizations and soaring positivity rates. San Diego and Sacramento were among the counties moving out of the most restrictive purple tier, public health officials announced Tuesday. (Har and Gecker, 3/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. To High Rises: Make Sure Your Building's Ventilators Work
San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safai introduced an emergency ordinance on Tuesday that says city high rises must comply with all regulations for building ventilation, and creates a system for filing complaints if they don’t. The impetus, of course, is the COVID-19 virus which is spread primarily through airborne respiratory droplets. “We’re trying to ensure that workers, janitors and anyone working in buildings are safe and feels if they have any concerns that there is a mechanism to have those investigated,” Safai said in an interview. (Said, 3/16)

AP: Inmate Lawsuits Blame California For Spreading Infections
The family of a 61-year-old California inmate who died of the coronavirus sued state corrections officials Tuesday, blaming a botched transfer of infected inmates to San Quentin State Prison that killed 28 inmates and a correctional officer last year. Daniel Ruiz was serving a four-year sentence for possession of a controlled substance for sale and for being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to corrections officials. He died July 10. Corrections officials said he was scheduled to be released in September 2021. (Thompson, 3/17)

Bay Area News Group: One Year Of COVID Grief: 57,000 Californians Died, Behind Glass, Beyond Touch And Before Goodbyes 
One year ago, Stacey Silva’s father became one of the Bay Area’s earliest victims of COVID-19, a time when family members were only starting to realize what it meant for a loved one to die behind glass, beyond touch, before whispers of gratitude could be shared. Like so many others coping with loss during the pandemic, Silva has faced the reality of what it means to grieve in isolation. She found an outlet. In searing video posts, she has taken her grief to her Facebook page. Sitting in front of a carved wooden urn holding her father’s ashes — and a blue vase carrying those of her mother who died of cancer 10 months earlier — the 43-year-old breaks down in tears, the way she might have in private if a friend were sitting on a couch next to her. (Sulek, 3/17)

The Bakersfield Californian: California Pushes Forward With Statewide Pesticide Notification System As Shafter Project Stalls 
What began as a Shafter initiative aimed at notifying local residents about farmers' plans to apply pesticides nearby is increasingly shaping up to be a statewide project that may or may not have a separate Kern County parallel activists are fighting for. A spokeswoman for the California Department of Pesticide Regulation said by email Tuesday the agency is in the beginning stages of a rule-making process that could begin gathering public input this summer. (Cox, 3/17)

LA Daily News and Orange County Register: Wildfires Made California Air Quality Among Worst In The World, Even During Pandemic 
While pandemic lockdowns helped improve air quality worldwide in 2020, the U.S. saw its air quality worsen — particularly on the West Coast — thanks largely to record-setting wildfires. And while Southern California dominated the list of most polluted U.S. cities in 2019, the fires of 2020 moved that distinction to Central and Northern California, according to the annual report released Tuesday, March 16, by IQAir, a Swiss company that has partnered with the United Nations to create the world’s largest air-quality data platform. Improved air quality was recorded by 84% of the 106 countries surveyed, but areas hit by major wildfires — which also included Australia, Siberia and South America — did not share in the benefits. (Wisckol, 3/16)

Stanford News: Double Transplant At Stanford Saves Life Of Critically Ill COVID-19 Patient 
Each day, month after month, as his father, John, suffered some of the worst that COVID-19 can inflict, 24-year-old Patrick kept watch. “He was always such a healthy guy,” Patrick said of his 54-year-old dad, who was first hospitalized in late March of 2020. (The family asked that their last name not be used.) But the disease was devastating, eventually destroying John’s lungs and kidneys. His doctors in Tacoma, Washington, said he was too weak to undergo the transplants he needed to stay alive. “They said there was no point in continuing,” Patrick said. “I said, ‘Eh, no.’ That’s when I started calling transplantation centers around the country.” Many centers turned him down, but Stanford Health Care left a door open. If John could regain some strength, the hospital would fly him to Palo Alto to see if its doctors could help him. (White, 3/15)