San Francisco Chronicle: California Shortens Wait For Terminally Ill Patients To Access Assisted Death
Since California legalized assisted death more than five years ago, potentially thousands of terminally ill patients seeking the lethal medication have died before obtaining a prescription that would have allowed them to end their lives on their own terms. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Tuesday to reduce that barrier, shortening a mandatory waiting period for the life-ending drugs during which advocates say many patients become too sick to continue the process. (Koseff, 10/5)

KQED: California Bill Would Reduce Wait Times For Mental Health Appointments 
Senate Bill 221, which passed both houses of the Legislature in a near unanimous vote, would require health insurers across the state to reduce those wait times to no more than 10 business days. While current state law requires insurers to provide initial mental health appointments in 10 days, there is no clear regulation around follow-up appointments, resulting in what state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, the bill’s author, calls “obscene delays.” Half of Californians say they have to wait too long to see a mental health provider when they need one, according to a survey by the California Health Care Foundation. At Kaiser Permanente specifically, 87% of therapists said weekly appointments were not available to patients who needed it, according to a survey by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents Kaiser’s therapists and was the main sponsor of the bill. (Dembosky, 10/5)

USA Today: Ellume Home COVID Test Recall: False Positives Blamed For Recall
An Australia-based company is recalling hundreds of thousands of coronavirus tests after discovering some Ellume COVID-19 home tests deliver higher-than-anticipated false positive results. Ellume became the first company to gain Food and Drug Administration authorization to sell consumers kits at major retailers such as Walmart, CVS, Target and Amazon. The kits don't require a prescription and deliver results in minutes. But the company discovered false positive results at higher rates than the company's original clinical studies showed and "isolated the cause and confirmed that this incidence of false positives is limited to specific lots." (Alltucker, 10/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: A Popular Rapid COVID Test May Be Giving 'False Positives.' Here's What To Do If You Took One
A popular coronavirus rapid test sold in most drugstores could give people “false positives” due to a manufacturing glitch, according to the Food and Drug Administration. In a press release Tuesday, the FDA warned the public about the potential for false positive results with certain batches of the Ellume COVID-19 Home Test, one of the few rapid antigen tests for the coronavirus available over the counter. A recently identified manufacturing issue could result in users testing positive when they are not actually infected with the virus, the agency said. (Vainshtein, 10/5)

Los Angeles Times: California Is Shaking Off The Worst Of The Delta Variant Surge 
COVID-19 hospitalizations have dropped by half from the summer peak, as California continues to steadily, if slowly, shake off the worst of the Delta surge. California reached its summer peak in hospitalizations on the last day of August, when 8,353 people with confirmed COVID-19 were in the state’s hospitals. As of Monday, there were 4,467 people hospitalized — a number last seen in early August as the Delta surge picked up steam. (Money and Lin II, 10/6)

Fresno Bee: How Many Who Catch COVID In Fresno, Valley Are Vaccinated? 
From mid-January, when the first recipients of coronavirus shots in Fresno County were considered “fully vaccinated” against COVID-19, through Sept. 27, more than 48,000 residents have tested positive for the virus. Of those laboratory-confirmed infections, fewer than 3,900 have been among people who were at least two weeks past completing their course of vaccinations – either a single shot of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the second dose of the two-shot Pfizer or Moderna products. (Sheehan, 10/6)

Sacramento Bee: UC Davis: Similar COVID Viral Loads Across Vaccine Statuses 
Viral loads of the delta variant of coronavirus are similar between unvaccinated and vaccinated persons who are infected, as well as between symptomatic and asymptomatic cases, UC Davis and UC San Francisco researchers wrote in a recent study that aligns with similar findings from other research teams. This does not mean that vaccinated people are as likely to spread COVID-19 as the unvaccinated, because the vaccinated are less likely to get infected in the first place. Vaccinated residents are also much less likely to grow severely ill or require hospitalization due to the virus, the researchers noted. (McGough, 10/5)

Los Angeles Times: Amid COVID, Mental Health Services And Recovery Are Critical 
Studies have shown that the pandemic elevated adverse mental health conditions for many Americans. According to research from the Kaiser Family Foundation, about four in 10 adults in the U.S. have reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder, compared with one in 10 in early 2019. A study from the JAMA Network reports that one in four youth globally are experiencing clinically elevated depression symptoms. (Tseng and Collins, 10/4)

Bay Area News Group: Santa Clara County Employees To Get COVID Pandemic 'Hero Pay' Checks
Making use of an infusion of federal money aimed at helping government agencies recover from the devastating economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Santa Clara County plans to dole out a total of $76 million in “hero pay” bonuses to all its employees. On Tuesday, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved distributing its American Rescue Plan Act funds to approximately 22,000 employees as a token of appreciation for their work during the pandemic. Full-time employees will get $2,500, while part-time employees will receive a pro-rated version of that amount. In addition, In-Home Support Services workers, who provide help to adults over 65 years old, will get $500. (Greschler, 10/5)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego County Requires Proof-Of-Vaccination For New Hires 
San Diego County will require proof of vaccination for all new hires, following local health care organizations and others who have steadily tightened coronavirus-related job requirements in recent months. The requirement, a last-minute addition by Board of Supervisors Chair Nathan Fletcher, was approved 3-2 Tuesday evening after hours of public comment on the county’s monthly COVID-19 update. (Sisson, 10/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: Unvaccinated Employees Could Mean S.F.'s Muni Service Will Be Scaled Back - By Halloween Weekend
With less than a month before the city’s vaccine deadline, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency sounded alarms on Tuesday over how its sagging vaccination rates would impact city services in the coming weeks. If vaccine rates don’t improve, SFMTA Director Jeffrey Tumlin told the agency’s Board of Directors Tuesday, riders could start seeing Muni service effects by Halloween weekend, when the city is set to host its massive Outside Lands music festival at Golden Gate Park. (Cano, 10/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: When Will Bay Area Mask Mandates Lift? Health Officials To Announce Criteria This Week
Bay Area health officials are finalizing criteria for lifting indoor mask mandates, and plan to release details by the end of the week — signaling the region could soon see the beginning of the end of indoor mask rules. The criteria would be a shared set of metrics that counties would have to hit in order to ease restrictions, and will include local case rates, hospitalizations and vaccination rates, health officials for Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties said Tuesday. (Ho, 10/5)

Modesto Bee: Stanislaus County Could Lift COVID Mask Order Before Long 
Stanislaus County still has a universal mask order due to COVID-19. But a declining case rate could trigger a lifting of the order next week if disease transmission continues to slow. The daily case rate dropped to 25.4 per 100,000 population Tuesday. The order, which took effect Sept. 4, sets a margin of 20 cases per 100,000 for lifting the order. (Carlson, 10/6)

Los Angeles Times: COVID Vaccine And Mask Fury Shakes Up California Schools 
This summer, Gibson started as superintendent for the Amador County Unified School District. Just before school started, things looked bright: Coronavirus case numbers were down, California was reopening and masks were coming off. But she soon realized that as the Delta variant emerged, masks, testing and quarantines would once again be required. That meant trouble. “I was feeling PTSD,” said Gibson, 45, said from her office in Jackson. “Not much rattles me. I can go with the punches, I can be screamed at, I can have complete chaos erupt and am like, ‘We’ve got this.’ ... But I said, ‘This is going to be a really rough year.’” (Branson-Potts, 10/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F.'s Vaccine Mandate For Employees Appears To Be Working: Nearly 900 Workers Get Shots Amid Deadline
San Francisco’s vaccine mandate for certain city workers appears to have prompted nearly 900 employees to get vaccinated during the days surrounding the deadline, as many faced the risk of losing their jobs if they continued to refuse the shot. Due to a state order, all San Francisco employees who routinely work in high-risk settings — such as hospitals, clinics and nursing homes— had to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 30. (Thadani, 10/5)

Bay Area News Group: Sharks: NHL's Evander Kane Probed About Fake COVID-19 Card
An NHL investigation about whether Sharks forward Evander Kane violated the league’s COVID-19 protocol revolves around the alleged use of a fake vaccination card, according to a new report. Kane is facing two investigations, with one, according to an NHL news release that was posted to the league’s website on Sept. 22, involving “allegations of inappropriate behavior potentially jeopardizing the health and safety of Club members.” The other “involves serious accusations” of physical and sexual abuse raised by his wife in a recent court filing. (Pashelka, 10/5)

Politico: Johnson & Johnson Seeks FDA Authorization Of Covid Booster Shot 
Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize a booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine for people 18 and older. The company did not specify how long after initial vaccination the second, booster dose should be given. J&J submitted data to the FDA in September it said showed that a booster shot given two to six months after an initial dose bolstered antibody protection against Covid. (Gardner, 10/5)

Los Angeles Times: COVID Vaccine Disinformation Behind Low Inoculation Rates
Even with the COVID-19 vaccine campaign now nearly 10 months old, officials and immunization advocates throughout the state say persistent misconceptions and disinformation are hobbling efforts to promote the shots in certain parts of California, including among some Latino communities. In Orange County, only 47% of Latino residents age 12 and up have received at least one dose, compared to 73% among white residents, according to state data. (Lin II and Money, 10/5)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Sonoma County Officials, Social Media Posters Spar Over Boy’s Death
The “manner of death” in the June 7 coroner’s report was listed as undetermined. But for those already suspicious of coronavirus vaccines and the government’s endorsement of them, the wording in the document was an alarm bell. A 15-year-old Santa Rosa boy had died within 48 hours of getting his second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Details of his death and questions of a possible connection to the vaccinations erupted this week on social media sites, especially those hostile to pandemic-related health orders. (Barber and Espinoza, 10/5)

Politico: What Congress Learned From The Facebook Whistleblower 
A whistleblower’s disclosures about Facebook’s impact on children may have finally given Congress something it has lacked: bipartisan resolve to tighten Washington’s grip on Silicon Valley. Lawmakers have said this kind of thing before. But Tuesday brought an unusual show of unanimous support across party lines as lawmakers linked arms to hear former Facebook employee Frances Haugen detail the ways in which she says the social media giant knowingly pushes and profits off products that harm children. (Levine, 10/5)

The Washington Post: Facebook Whistleblower Sheds Light On Social Media’s Harmful Effects
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen on Tuesday told lawmakers that the company systematically and repeatedly prioritized profits over the safety of its users, painting a detailed picture of an organization where hunger to grow governed decisions, with little concern for the impact on society. ... She pointed to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg as the enforcer of this system, arguing that he controls the most important decisions made at the company. “Until the incentives change, Facebook will not change. Left alone, Facebook will continue to make choices that go against the common good, our common good,” she said. (Zakrzewski, Lima, Dwoskin and Oremus, 10/5)

The New York Times: Teenage Girls Say Instagram's Mental Health Impacts Are No Surprise
Annie Zhu got an Instagram account during her freshman year of high school. At first, she curated her profile carefully, showing off different outfits and looks. She followed body positivity and body neutrality accounts. But she still sometimes compared herself with others, and “it can make me feel bad,” she said. So when she recently listened to a podcast revealing how Facebook’s research concluded that Instagram, which it owns, was toxic for teenage girls, she said, the findings “didn’t surprise me at all.” (Woo, 10/5)

NPR: 4 Takeaways From Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen's Testimony 
Of particular concern to lawmakers on Tuesday was Instagram's impact on young children. Haugen has leaked one Facebook study that found that 13.5 percent of U.K. teen girls in one survey say their suicidal thoughts became more frequent. Another leaked study found 17% of teen girls say their eating disorders got worse after using Instagram. About 32% of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse, Facebook's researchers found, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. (Allyn, 10/5)

The New York Times: The Key Takeaways From Frances Haugen’s Facebook Testimony
At one point, Ms. Haugen suggested something even more radical: Increasing the minimum age for any person using social media to 17 years old from 13 years old. (Frenkel, 10/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Who Is Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen? What To Know After Her Senate Testimony 
Frances Haugen, the former Facebook Inc. employee who gathered documents that formed the foundation of The Wall Street Journal’s Facebook Files series showing its platforms are riddled with flaws that cause harm, appeared Tuesday before a Senate panel that is looking to toughen the law protecting children online. The Journal series, based in part on the documents as well as interviews with current and former employees, describes how the company’s rules favor elites; how its algorithms foster discord; and how drug cartels and human traffickers use its services openly. (Horwitz, 10/5)

The Hill: Four Big Takeaways From A Tough Hearing For Facebook 
Witnesses at the last few congressional hearings focused on Facebook have fit into two categories: employees with vested interest in promoting the company’s interests or experts without insider knowledge of the social media giant’s operations. Haugen’s unique position as a recent former employee not speaking on behalf of the company was on full display during her testimony. Several times during Tuesday’s hearing she was able to give clear explanations of technical terms, like meaningful social interactions or engagement-based rankings, that have gotten muddled in the past. (Rodrigo and Klar, 10/5)

Bloomberg: Facebook's Zuckerberg Responds To Whistleblower Claims On Profits Priority
Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg addressed a recent series of negative stories about the company for the first time by saying accusations that it puts profit over user safety are “just not true.” “It’s difficult to see coverage that misrepresents our work and our motives. At the most basic level, I think most of us just don’t recognize the false picture of the company that is being painted,” he wrote in a note to employees on Tuesday that he also posted publicly. It came shortly after whistle-blower Frances Haugen, a former employee, testified in a Senate hearing about her experience there and internal research she said showed the company prioritized profit while stoking division. Haugen appeared on “60 Minutes” Sunday night, saying Facebook routinely made decisions that put business interests ahead of user safety. (Wagner, 10/6)

Sacramento Bee: Sutter Roseville RN’s Protest Staffing Amid Contract Talks 
Registered nurses at Sutter Roseville Medical Center will hold a candlelight vigil Thursday evening near the hospital entrance in protest of staffing levels that they say are putting patient care at risk. “As nurses, we have been on the front lines fighting this pandemic for a year and half,” said Meredith Piggee, a registered nurse in the intensive care unit at Sutter Roseville. “With the ICUs filling up and not enough staff to care for the surge of COVID-19 patients, the nurses are showing serious signs of moral injury.” (Anderson, 10/5)

Fresno Bee: Medical Malpractice Verdict Nearly $50 Million To CA Man 
A Fresno County jury has awarded a Kingsburg man nearly $50 million in damages for injuries he suffered while being transported to the hospital by American Ambulance. Nicholas Merlo, a 39-year-old mortgage broker, has been in a persistent vegetative state for three years after suffering a brain injury that his lawyers Warren Paboojian and Daniel R. Baradat of Baradat & Paboojian said was caused by the gross negligence of the American Ambulance staff. (Rodriguez, 10/5)

CNBC: Adam Rosendorff, Ex-Theranos Lab Director, Testifies About 'Pressure'
A former lab director at Theranos testified on Tuesday he quit the company for one simple reason: The blood-testing technology just didn’t work. Adam Rosendorff, a key witness for the government, took the stand for the fifth day in the criminal fraud trial of ex-CEO Elizabeth Holmes. “There was tremendous pressure at the company to show that this technology was successful,” Rosendorff said during redirect examination. “It came from the top and permeated through R&D.” (Khorram, 10/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Elizabeth Holmes’s Office Romance With Ramesh Balwani Now On Display In Court 
The text message popped up on Elizabeth Holmes’s phone in July 2015 from her top deputy at Theranos Inc., Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. “I am sad at where you and I are,” Mr. Balwani wrote, adding in another message: “U need me.” “It’s just hard to transition,” Ms. Holmes replied. “Was emotional but am ready.” Few people knew it then, but Mr. Balwani was also her longtime, live-in boyfriend, prosecutors and Ms. Holmes’s lawyers now say. The little-known relationship was unraveling, the text messages show, just as the blood-testing startup was beginning to face the kind of scrutiny that would cause its dissolution in 2018. (Somerville, 10/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID Canceled Halloween 2020 - This Year, It's Back On. Here's The New Bay Area Guidance
Last year, COVID-19 canceled Halloween. This year, federal and Bay Area health officials are giving trick-or-treating the green light — but urging some modifications for holiday activities, with the coronavirus still circulating and young children still ineligible for COVID vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday released updated guidelines for the upcoming holiday season that included vaccinations for those eligible, and wearing a protective mask at public events and gatherings — “anywhere you will be around other people.” (Vainshtein, 10/6)

Sacramento Bee: UCD Offers Free Mammograms To Uninsured Women Ages 40 And Up
Sacramento-based UC Davis Health is offering free mammogram screenings to uninsured women ages 40 and over in recognition of October’s designation as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. “About a quarter of all breast cancer deaths could be avoided through early detection such as regular mammography, but screening rates are very low among uninsured populations,” said Kami Gosal, the breast imaging supervisor at UC Davis Health. (Anderson, 10/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: Flu Shots And COVID: Do You Need To Worry About Vaccine Timing? What About A 'Twindemic'?
Flu vaccinations are rolling out in the Bay Area and nationwide, with experts warning of a potentially strong comeback for an illness that virtually disappeared last year during the coronavirus pandemic. But with intense focus still on COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters, this will be the first time that many people will be juggling inoculations for both respiratory diseases — leading to new questions about the effects, duration and timing of the flu shot. (Hwang, 10/5)

Orange County Register: Orange County Will Resume Counting Homeless People Next Year 
Orange County supervisors on Tuesday, Oct. 5, approved a $500,000 contract with homeless outreach organization City Net to take the lead in the countywide Point in Time homeless street census that is expected to happen in January, delayed by a year because of COVID-19. The county last enumerated its homeless street population in January 2019, documenting about 7,000 people who struggle with housing, including nearly 4,000 who were without any kind of shelter. (Walker, 10/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Is Buying Three Sites For Homeless Housing. Controversial Japantown Hotel Isn't Yet One Of Them
San Francisco supervisors are expected to soon approve buying three properties to house more than 300 homeless people across the city — but officials haven’t committed to purchasing a fourth controversial property, and the delay could cost the city a chance to get state money to buy the affordable housing this year. An Outer Mission motel was approved Tuesday, while a student apartment building in SoMa and a single-room-occupancy hotel in the Mission will be voted on next week. (Moench, 10/5)