Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Family Caregivers Find Support on #dementia TikTok
The TikTok hashtag "dementia" has billions of views. Caregivers of people with Alzheimer's and other dementias have been using the site to swap tips and share the burdens of life with dementia. (Kate Wells, Michigan Radio, )
Kaiser Permanente Therapists Reach Tentative Deal To End Strike: After 10 long weeks off the job, hundreds of striking therapists at Northern California Kaiser Permanente reached a tentative deal early Tuesday for a new four-year contract. The workers were set to vote to ratify the new agreement starting Tuesday night. Read more from Bay Area News Group and The Sacramento Bee.
In related news —
Striking nursing home staff launch one-day fast in Fresno to boost pressure on management
Narcan Becoming More Available At Libraries: Beginning this week, Narcan, a naloxone nasal spray that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, is now accessible through the Kern County Library. "Anyone can come in — any age group — and get the Narcan spray," said associate Fahra Daredia. And on Tuesday, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a proposal to explore supplying naloxone in libraries. Read more from The Bakersfield Californian and Los Angeles Times.
More News From Across The State
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Gives COVID Shots At Home
Inside their Glassell Park home, Louis Salazar Jr. gently rubbed the foot of his elderly mother, who lay in bed as a nurse prepared her COVID-19 booster shot. “I’m going to vaccinate you now, OK?” licensed vocational nurse Angela Tapia told the 88-year-old woman, who has Parkinson’s disease and is immobile. (Reyes, 10/19)
Bay Area News Group:
Map: See How Many Californians Are Getting The New COVID Booster Shot
California is among the most vaccinated and boosted states in the country. But data from the California Department of Public Health show that as of last week just 5% of Golden State residents here have sought out the new booster shots designed to protect against omicron variants. (Rowan and Sulek, 10/18)
The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat:
New COVID-19 Subvariant Could Bring Winter Surge In Sonoma County; Updated Vaccine Could Help
A new subvariant of the highly infectious COVID-19 strain that triggered a prolonged summer surge has surfaced and has the potential to trigger another wave of infections in late fall and winter, local pandemic experts said Tuesday. (Espinoza, 10/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Is XBB Really A ‘Nightmare Variant’? Here’s What COVID Experts Say
While the United States contends with the newly detected COVID omicron BQ.1 subvariants, another highly mutated strain of the coronavirus called XBB is tearing across Southeast Asia, where in some countries, it has caused the number of cases to double in a day. Some more sensationalist reports have called XBB a “ nightmare variant ” due to its apparent ability to evade immunity and dampen some therapies. But infectious disease experts say it is too soon to jump to such broad conclusions. (Vaziri, 10/18)
The Hill:
Biden’s Biodefense Strategy Aims To Combat Future Pandemics
The White House on Tuesday released its national biodefense strategy, outlining President Biden’s plan to protect the U.S. from future pandemics and biological threats. The plan, which utilizes 20 federal agencies, aims to detect early warnings of pandemics and biological threats, prevent epidemics and biological incidents and prepare to reduce the impacts of epidemics. (Gangitano, 10/18)
Defense One:
White House Aims For Bio-Defense ‘Moonshots’ In New Strategy
The ability to monitor a small outbreak before it becomes a pandemic would require pathogen researchers to collect and structure massive amounts of data on emerging pathogens, particularly in birds, to predict the leap to humans as well as further mutations. New approaches to RNA research could deliver therapeutic aids (that boost antibodies) to ease pandemics in a fraction of the time it takes to create a vaccine that meets FDA emergency use criteria. And new forms of plant-based vaccines could also allow for the scaling up of vaccine production by orders of magnitude. The administration official did not specify exactly what technologies they will invest in to meet the strategy’s goals. (Tucker, 10/18)
CIDRAP:
Primate Study Shows Monkeypox Virus In Testes
For the first time, researchers said they detected monkeypox virus in the testes of non-human primates during the acute phase of infection, according to a study in Nature Microbiology. Though the study involved macaques, it provides more evidence that the monkeypox virus could be transmitted sexually in humans. The study was conducted by scientists at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, or USAMRIID. (Soucheray, 10/18)
MedPage Today:
TikTok Traffic On Monkeypox Conspiracy Theories Swelled After WHO's Alert
On the same day in May that the WHO released a news item addressing the global monkeypox outbreak, researchers identified over 150 videos featuring conspiracy theories about the virus on TikTok, which had received nearly 1.5 million views. In a round-up of these videos, 11 types emerged, including theories that monkeypox was orchestrated by the elusive "them," that vaccine manufacturers introduced monkeypox to administer their vaccines, that Bill Gates was involved in the outbreak, and that the WHO released the virus to gain more power. (Hein, 10/18)
Stat:
Could Monkeypox Infections Have Long-Term Consequences?
Since the world began confronting a global outbreak of monkeypox in the spring, the scientific community has had plenty of reasons to rue the fact that for decades this virus has been understudied. Here’s another one: Because of that oversight, doctors treating people who have been infected with monkeypox can’t answer with certainty whether some of them will face any long-term health consequences, referred to as sequelae in the field of medicine. (Branswell, 10/19)
AP:
Biden Vows Abortion Legislation As Top Priority Next Year
President Joe Biden promised Tuesday that the first bill he sends to Capitol Hill next year will be one that writes abortion protections into law — if Democrats control enough seats in Congress to pass it — as he sought to energize his party’s voters just three weeks ahead of the November midterms. Twice over, Biden urged people to remember how they felt in late June when the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion, fresh evidence of White House efforts to ensure the issue stays front of mind for Democratic voters this year. (Kim, 10/18)
The New York Times:
Biden To Pledge Codifying Abortion Rights If Democrats Expand Majorities
On Tuesday, surrounded by activists holding signs that read “Defend Choice” and “Restore Roe,” Mr. Biden cast the midterms as a choice between Republicans who have called for a national abortion ban and Democrats who want to protect reproductive freedom. “If Republicans get their way with a national ban, it won’t matter where you live in America,” the president said. (Rappeport, 10/18)
Crain's Chicago Business:
Walgreens, CVS Investigated For Post-Roe Prescription Denials
Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS and other pharmacy chains are being investigated by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services after the agency received complaints about pharmacists not filling prescriptions for medications that could harm a pregnancy. (Davis, 10/18)
Bloomberg:
Abortion Pill Startups Face Fundraising Challenges—Even Post-Roe
Startups that provide abortion pills by mail saw a groundswell of attention after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade earlier this year. Today, though, the founders of two abortion pill companies say that raising money from investors has been complicated. (Anand, 10/19)
AP:
Abortion Access Looms Over Medical Residency Applications
Students in obstetrics-gynecology and family medicine — two of the most popular medical residencies — face tough choices about where to advance their training in a landscape where legal access to abortion varies from state to state. ... In some cases, applicants who want to perform abortions as part of their career are pursuing residencies in states with more liberal reproductive laws and perhaps continuing their careers there, too — potentially setting up less permissive states for a shortage of OB-GYNs, observers said. (Pollard, 10/18)
KQED:
Breaking The Cycle: How Parental Mental Health Affects Kids — And What To Do About It
When Mariana Pimentel thinks about her childhood in a small town in Mexico, she remembers being surrounded by anger and desperation. Her parents worked long hours to support Pimentel and her brothers and sisters, so they were often absent. When they were home, her parents communicated by yelling. (Torres, 10/18)
AP:
Biden Administration Seeks To Expand 24/7 Mental Health Care
The government announced plans Tuesday to award millions of dollars in grants to expand all-hours mental health and substance abuse care in more communities around the country. “Today we’re talking about providing to Americans 24/7 support for crisis care,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said. “That’s something that’s only been available to some, in some places. But depending on your income and ZIP code, you could be totally out of luck. That’s going to start to change.” (Seitz, 10/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Inmate Suicides Rose Sharply In U.S. Prisons, Jails During Pandemic
Suicides in prisons and jails across the U.S. have risen sharply over the past two years, data collected by The Wall Street Journal show, a trend that officials and inmate advocates say is driven in part by the increased isolation of inmates during the pandemic, more abuse of drugs including fentanyl and staff shortages. (Maher and Frosch, 10/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Packed In: Overcrowded Housing In Los Angeles Has Brought Death By Design
It’s the cruel paradox at the center of Los Angeles housing. L.A. is known worldwide as the capital of single-family-home sprawl. Yet for three decades, it has had the most overcrowded housing among large counties in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fatal consequences, with death rates in L.A.’s most overcrowded neighborhoods at least twice as high as in those with ample housing. It didn’t have to be this way. (10/19)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A.’s Love Of Sprawl Made It America’s Most Overcrowded Place. Poor People Pay A Deadly Price
The virus first struck Leonardo Miranda, who rented a shed and shared the kitchen, bathroom and dining room in the main house. It spread to a man who slept on three red cushions in the laundry room. Then to a grandfather and grandson who wedged two mattresses into one room. By the time COVID-19 was finished with the three-bedroom home, shared by eight, Miranda and the grandfather were dead. Miranda’s death in January 2021 would become part of a calamitous pattern. Los Angeles’ most overcrowded neighborhoods have experienced COVID-19 death rates that are at least twice as high as those with ample housing. (Mejia, Dillon, Lemee and Kambhampati, 10/19)
Los Angeles Times:
One Family's Act To Escape Overcrowded Housing In L.A.
At first, Ruby Gordillo thought she was lucky. After six months of sleeping on friends’ and relatives’ couches with her husband and three children, Gordillo in 2014 found a place for her family in Westlake, a neighborhood on the western border of downtown. (Dillon, 10/19)
Los Angeles Times:
California Is Trying To House The Homeless Through A Health Insurance Program. It Worked For This Man
On a blistering hot Friday in August, Donald Winston, 56, lugged black trash bags stuffed with belongings up four flights of stairs to what had just become his first-ever home of his own. Winston sweated profusely as the plastic bags began to shred on the hard floor, but he beamed once they were all hauled, pushed or kicked into the studio apartment. Air conditioning graciously blasted cool air. The unit near downtown Los Angeles was outfitted with a bed, small table and a microwave. Most important, it offered what Winston called “breathing room.” (Seidman, 10/19)
KQED:
What's Driving The Spike In Homelessness For Latinos In San Francisco?
Every Tuesday as the sun comes up, dozens of RV residents who call Winston Drive home prepare for a weekly ritual — avoiding the street sweeper. They dislodge their wheel chocks and rumble into the parking lot of a nearby shopping mall to wait out the parking control officer. As the sweeper descends the sloped street, along the northern edge of the San Francisco State University campus, a line of RVs trails behind. One at a time, they lurch back into their designated spots. (Rancaño, 10/18)
CalMatters:
Public Health Workforce: Is Funding Increase Enough?
A two-year search for a laboratory director. Sixty-three retirements or resignations of county public health leaders since the COVID-19 pandemic began. More than 100 current public health nursing vacancies. It’s evident that California’s public health workforce is tired, strained and under-resourced after a prolonged response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but what’s not clear is exactly how hamstrung it has become — and how prepared it is for a future emergency. (Hwang, 10/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Relatives Begged Merced Social Workers To Save Abused 8-Year-Old
Before 8-year-old Sophia Mason’s body was found curled inside a bathtub in a Merced home, the young girl’s extended family tried desperately to raise the alarm. For more than a year, Sophia’s aunt, grandmother, teachers and doctors reported signs the girl was being abused and neglected, at times pleading with social workers to remove her from her mother’s care. There had been bruises and scabs and what looked like cigarette burns on her body. All were reported to child welfare workers, according to a legal claim filed against the county. (Hernandez, 10/19)
NBC News:
Babies Born To Black Mothers Die Far More Often Than Those With White Mothers
The findings showed that death rates were four times higher among newborns up to 28 days old who were born to Black mothers who used fertility technologies involving eggs or embryos. That death rate was 1.6% among babies born to Black mothers, compared with just 0.3% for babies born to white mothers. (Bendix, 10/19)
CNBC:
People Of Color Face Higher Risk Of Flu Hospitalization, CDC Says
People of color are hospitalized with the flu at far higher rates than white Americans, according to a large multiyear study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Kimball, 10/18)
KVPR:
In California, Unhealthy Pollution From Wildfire Smoke Has Become Dangerously Common
As wildfires have choked skies in the western United States, turning them vivid orange or sickly ochre, millions of people now live where smoke regularly makes breathing unhealthy, according to new estimates from a team based at Stanford University. That includes 21 times more Californians than a decade ago, scattered among vulnerable communities from the Oregon border to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and down through the Central Valley. "We were shocked by this," said Marissa Childs, lead author of a paper published this month in Environmental Science and Technology. (Peterson, Bergin and LeVines, 10/18)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
San Diego County Aims To Create Better Aging Support System Through AARP Program
San Diego County is rapidly aging, so to meet the needs of the growing population of seniors, local governments are hoping to make their communities more welcoming through AARP’s Age-Friendly Communities initiative. (Mapp, 10/18)
KQED:
California Becomes First Sanctuary State For Transgender Youth Seeking Medical Care
California is the first state in the nation to create a sanctuary for transgender youth seeking gender-affirming medical care. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law in September that ensures transgender kids from elsewhere can safely access hormones or puberty blockers here. The legislation also shields families from child abuse investigations or from being criminally prosecuted for seeking gender-affirming care. (McClurg, 10/18)