In Annual Address, Newsom Touts ‘The California Way’: Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered his fourth State of the State speech Tuesday and reiterated his ambitious plans to address the state’s biggest problems, from the homelessness crisis to climate change. He also framed the state’s more cautious approach to covid-19 as a matter of life and death. “The California way means … finding new solutions to big problems,” Newsom said. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee and CalMatters.
CalFresh Hit With Delays, Staff Shortages: County offices in charge of administering monthly food benefits to low-income Californians are understaffed and overwhelmed, leading to delays in services as the state stalls a promised boost in funding for the CalFresh assistance program. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
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
Los Angeles Daily News:
Two More LAPD Officers Fired Over COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate, Bringing Total To Three
Two more Los Angeles Police Department officers have been fired for not complying with the city’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate. In Tuesday’s Police Commission meeting, Assistant Chief Dominic Choi said a total of three officers have been fired so far for refusing to get vaccinated. That was after announcing the first firing of an officer over the mandate on Feb. 8. (Cain, 3/8)
AP:
Vaccine Mandate For Federal Employees Awaits Court Ruling
A federal judge in Texas overstepped his authority when he blocked President Joe Biden’s requirement that all federal employees get vaccinated against COVID-19, an attorney for the administration told a federal appeals court panel Tuesday. Department of Justice lawyer Charles Scarborough noted that district judges in a dozen jurisdictions had rejected a challenge to the vaccine requirement for federal workers. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of Texas by President Donald Trump, issued a nationwide injunction against the requirement in January. (McGill, 3/8)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus County Terminates COVID-19 Health Emergency
Stanislaus County leaders voted Tuesday to call off a local health emergency after two years of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. The unanimous Board of Supervisors vote terminated the health emergency declared by the county health officer on March 11, 2020, and followed a presentation by public health staff on the decline of omicron variant infections. The local health emergency, coming a week after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s state of emergency for California, allowed the county to respond more effectively to outbreaks of COVID-19. (Carlson, 3/8)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Judge Declines To Order Sheriff To Improve COVID-19 Protections In San Diego County Jails
Judge Joel R. Wohlfeil has upheld his tentative ruling from last week and rejected a plea to issue an injunction that would have forced the San Diego Sheriff’s Department to do more to protect people in county jail from COVID-19. A trio of civil rights law firms sought the order earlier this year, saying too many men and women in San Diego County jails were exposed to the virus due to lax protocols by sheriff’s deputies. (McDonald, 3/9)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento County Approves Essential Worker Hazard Pay
Sacramento County will distribute hazard pay bonuses to county employees who performed essential work during the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in the next few weeks. Qualifying Sacramento County employees will be eligible for up to two installments of either a $1,500 lump sum or 40 hours of administrative time off — one installment for the current fiscal year and one for 2022-23, which begins July 1. (McGough, 3/8)
The New York Times:
Masking Did Help Protect Children From Covid Last Fall, According To A CDC Study
More and more American school districts have dropped mask mandates in recent weeks as coronavirus cases plunged across the United States. But they remain a subject of debate among some students and their parents, and a study released on Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested that those mandates had helped protect children and teachers from the coronavirus last fall. The study, examining public school districts in Arkansas from August to October as the Delta variant spread, found that districts with full mask requirements had 23 percent lower rates of the coronavirus among students and staff members than districts without the mandates. (Mueller, 3/8)
KQED:
Is The California Mask Mandate Ending Too Soon For Little Kids?
Toddlers and preschoolers who have mostly known a school life with tiny masks may be in for a big lifestyle change after Friday, when the state mask mandate for kids ends at midnight. While wearing masks is still strongly recommended, some medical experts worry removing the state mask mandate could be risky for tots. (Aguilera, 3/8)
ABC News:
Every State Has Now Moved To End Universal Indoor Masking Requirements
Officials in every U.S. state and jurisdiction have now ended, or announced an end, to their indoor universal masking requirements. Over the last month, states from coast to coast have moved to end mask mandates as coronavirus cases have plummeted. By the end of March, there will be no more statewide or school mask mandates in effect. (Mitropoulos, 3/8)
AP:
Hawaii To Lift Last US State Mask Mandate By March 26
The last statewide mask mandate in the U.S. will be lifted by March 26, Hawaii Gov. David Ige announced Tuesday. No states will require masks indoors after 11:59 p.m. March 25. Hawaii is the last to drop the pandemic safety measure, with indoor mask mandates in Oregon and Washington state expiring at 11:59 p.m. Friday. (Kelleher, 2/9)
Los Angeles Times:
California Surpasses 9 Million Coronavirus Cases
California has reported a total of 9 million coronavirus infections, fueled by this winter’s Omicron surge. The overall case count, tracked by The Times, is now larger than the combined populations of San Diego, Orange and Riverside counties and is the equivalent of nearly 1 in 4 Californians testing positive at some point during the pandemic. (Money and Lin II, 3/8)
San Francisco Chronicle:
California’s COVID Positive Test Rate Plunges To Lowest Point Since July
The rate of coronavirus tests coming back positive in California over the past week has slipped below 2% for the first time since last summer, before the delta variant took hold. The drop in the positive test rate — a key marker of the pandemic that helps define how widespread the virus is in the community — comes on the back of the winter COVID-19 surge fueled by the highly infectious omicron variant. The statewide positive test rate reached a pandemic high of 22.6% in early January. (Vaziri, 3/8)
Los Angeles Daily News:
LA County COVID Hospitalizations Fall Again, Reaching Mid-December Levels
The number of COVID-19-positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals continued to plummet on Tuesday, March 8, nearing the 700 mark for the first time since mid-December, according to figures released today. State figures showed 706 COVID-positive patients in county hospitals, down from 731 on Monday. The number of those patients being treated in intensive care units was 133, up slightly from 130 on Monday. (3/8)
CNN:
Biden Vows To Help Veterans Exposed To Burn Pits
President Joe Biden on Tuesday vowed to help veterans exposed to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan get the care they need, pledging that the United States would not make the same mistakes it did following Vietnam War, when veterans struggled to attain federal benefits after being exposed to Agent Orange. The comments came during Biden’s trip to Fort Worth, Texas, where the President met with veterans and discussed a newly proposed federal rule that would add certain rare respiratory cancers believed to be tied to environmental exposures on the job to the list of disabilities considered to be connected to military service. He also called on Congress to pass legislation that would assist veterans exposed to toxic substances. (Vazquez, 3/8)
AP:
'The Best Of Us': Biden Promises Improved Care For Veterans
President Joe Biden on Tuesday said U.S. veterans were the “backbone, the spine, the sinew” of the nation, as he pushed for better help for members of the military who face health problems, including after exposure to burn pits. “You’re the best of us,” Biden said. For the president, the issue is very personal. In last week’s State of the Union address, Biden raised the prospect of whether being near the chemicals from pits where military waste was incinerated in Iraq led to the death of his son Beau. (Boak, 3/9)
Politico:
Biden Again Emphasizes Help For Veterans
President Joe Biden on Tuesday traveled to Fort Worth, Texas, to advocate for veterans — an issue that hits close to home. The president, speaking at the Tarrant County Resource Connection, met with veterans and their caregivers and called for better health care for service members who face health problems potentially linked to burn pits, which were used during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to dispose of war wastes, including things like metals and jet fuel. (Ward, 3/8)
Public Health Watch:
More Latino Men Are Dying By Suicide Even As National Rate Declines
While still jarringly high, U.S. suicide rates fell in 2019 and again in 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last month. The year-over-year rate declined by 3 percent overall, falling by 8 percent among women and 2 percent among men. But there were some stark outliers. Notably, suicides among Latino men increased by nearly 6 percent. (Morris, 3/9)
The Mercury News:
Exposure To Wildfire Smoke May Impact Your DNA, UC Davis Study Shows
Take a seat, chin to the sky. Insert the swab, rotate slowly and switch nostrils — we know the drill. Only this time, it’s not a COVID test. And the nose is attached to a monkey. Three years ago, researchers in Davis swabbed the nasal cavities of 22 captive rhesus macaque monkeys that were born just before and after the horrific 2008 wildfire season. Alterations in their DNA showed, for the first time, that exposure to wildfire smoke can create long-term changes in the way that genes function in primates, they reported in January. (Savitsky, 3/8)
Los Angeles Times:
A Poisonous Legacy of Racism and Pollution Still Haunts This L.A.-Area Flood Channel
Nyla Olsen’s eyes moisten with rage as she recalls the day in early October when a surge of putrid water rolled out of the Dominguez Channel and turned life in Leeward Bay Marina into “a horror movie.” Fish were gasping for oxygen at the surface of the water or floating belly up, she said. Boat hulls were slathered with sticky black slime. An octopus died after trying to escape by climbing onto a vessel, she said. (Sahagún, 3/8)
The Washington Post:
Congress Moves To Give FDA New Powers Over Synthetic Nicotine Products Including A Youth Favorite — Puff Bar E-Cigarettes
The Food and Drug Administration would get new authority over synthetic nicotine — which is used in e-cigarettes popular with young people — under a massive government spending bill expected to win congressional approval in coming days. Lawmakers on Tuesday were racing to put the finishing touches on the long-term spending bill, which includes $14 billion in aid for Ukraine along with additional money to fight the coronavirus pandemic and keep the government running. (McGinley, 3/8)
The New York Times:
The Synthetic Nicotine Loophole Fueling A Return To Teenage Vaping
The Food and Drug Administration’s crackdown on flavored e-cigarettes in 2020 was meant to be a comprehensive, aggressive strategy to curtail the epidemic of teenage vaping. But two years later, sales of disposable, flavored e-cigarettes have soared. Some companies have moved just beyond the reach of the F.D.A. by swapping out one key ingredient. They have circumvented federal oversight of tobacco plant-derived nicotine by using an unregulated synthetic version. (Jewett, 3/8)
The Wall Street Journal:
Talking To Teens About Cannabis Gummies As Use Booms
Schools and doctors say more teens are getting high at school on candies or cookies containing cannabis. The expanding legalization of recreational marijuana across the U.S. has led to wider availability of cannabis edibles. Their popularity has created vexing problems for educators and families, who say it has become harder to detect teens’ cannabis use. (Petersen, 3/8)
AP:
Lawmakers Push To Repeal Anti-Black Housing Law In California Constitution
California lawmakers are trying again to get rid of the nation’s only law that lets voters veto public housing projects, a provision added to the state constitution in 1950 to keep Black families out of white neighborhoods. Most everyone in the Capitol agrees the provision should be repealed, both for its racist roots and because it makes it much harder to build affordable housing in a state where the median price for a single-family home is nearly $800,000. (3/8)