Some Good Covid News: With covid cases and hospitalizations on the decline after the summer surge, California now has the lowest transmission rate of any state. And it is the only state that has been downgraded to the second-highest transmission level on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's color-coded map, the AP reports. The state's relatively high vaccination rate is credited: “The overall secret to California has been the vaccination rates were high enough that we started off in an OK place,” said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, a professor of epidemiology at University of California, San Francisco’s medical school, told AP. “We just never reached the height we saw in Florida, for example, because it’s against the backdrop of fairly high vaccination rates.” Read more from the AP.
Also, the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle report on how California made headway against the delta surge.
Yet, Deaths Are Still Rising. Who's At Risk?: CalMatters explores who is dying during this phase of the pandemic. California’s covid deaths are skewing younger, with the average age dropping seven years in September. And most racial groups are also experiences an increase in death rates, particularly among Latinos. Go to CalMatters for a by-the-numbers look into fatalities.
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 Times:
San Francisco Airport To Require COVID Vaccines For Workers
San Francisco International Airport is now requiring all workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the first airport in the U.S. to implement such health requirements. “As SFO prepares for the upcoming holiday travel season and the return of pre-pandemic passenger levels, we have an obligation to provide a safe airport facility for the traveling public and our on-site employees,” airport director Ivar C. Satero said. The requirement, effective Tuesday, obligates all tenants and contractors at the airport to ensure their on-site workers are vaccinated. Those who are exempt for medical reasons or because of religious beliefs must submit to weekly testing for the coronavirus. (Dolan, 9/21)
East Bay Times:
Los Angeles Police Department Employees With 2 COVID-19 Shots Up To 56% As Deadline Approaches
The COVID-19 vaccination rate among Los Angeles Police Department employees jumped almost 10% in two weeks once the department actually began checking for vaccination cards, officials said. The current rate of employees with two COVID-19 vaccine shots is now 56%, said Chief Michel Moore in Tuesday’s Police Commission meeting. “We validated their answers with an actual vaccine card,” Moore told commissioners. “This is not just asking them to respond to a survey.” (Cain, 9/22)
Berkeleyside:
Berkeley Enacts COVID Vaccine Mandate For City Workers
The city of Berkeley has set a deadline for workers who are still not vaccinated against COVID-19 to get protected, or — with limited exceptions — potentially lose their jobs. After weeks of discussions with labor groups, City Manager Dee Williams-Ridley announced in an email to employees late Monday that Berkeley has enacted a new policy requiring that workers be fully vaccinated by Nov. 15. (Savidge, 9/21)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Del Mar Approves Mandatory Vaccination Policy For City Employees
The Del Mar City Council unanimously voted Monday to roll out a vaccine mandate for city employees. “I think it’s very important that we require all of our employees to be vaccinated, period,” Del Mar City Councilmember Dave Druker said. “It’s extremely important that Del Mar set an example here.” (Harold, 9/21)
KTLA:
California Now Requires Proof Of COVID Vaccine Or Negative Test At Indoor ‘Mega’ Events; Here’s What To Know
Want to attend a large indoor event in California? You’ll now have to prove that you are vaccinated from COVID-19 or you have recently received a negative coronavirus test. That’s according to a new statewide mandate that kicked in this week. It was the first such requirement of its kind in the nation when California announced the measure back on Aug. 18. The move was unveiled as public health officials encouraged more people to get vaccinated while they simultaneously sought to combat a surge in cases spurred by the highly contagious delta variant. (Herrera, 9/21)
NPR:
The U.S. Is Buying 500 Million More Pfizer Vaccine Doses To Donate To Other Countries
President Biden is set to announce on Wednesday that the United States is buying 500 million more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to donate to countries around the world, a pledge that will bring the total promised U.S. vaccine donations to more than 1.1 billion. (Keith, 9/22)
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Pledge To Vaccinate Poor Countries Stumbles Amid Logistical Challenges
A White House plan to donate hundreds of millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccines has been hampered in many developing countries by a lack of infrastructure to handle storage and distribution, leaving poorer nations far behind the developed world in vaccination rates. After a delayed start—the U.S. missed its first donation target—the Biden administration has been ramping up overseas donations, shipping around 137 million doses, most of them Moderna Inc. and Johnson & Johnson. It expects to send 500 million doses of a shot developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE by the end of June 2022, the largest donation total of any country. (Steinhauser, Siddiqui and Armour, 9/21)
California Healthline:
Public Health Experts ‘Flabbergasted’ That Biden Still Hasn’t Picked An FDA Chief
The Food and Drug Administration has been mired in controversies related to drug approvals and covid vaccines, all without a permanent leader. (Pradhan, 9/22)
Politico:
Becerra Takes A Back Seat While Others Steer Covid Response
s President Joe Biden’s health secretary, Xavier Becerra runs the sprawling department responsible for delivering on the administration’s vow to end the coronavirus pandemic. But when Biden’s senior health officials gathered one Sunday in August to make the high-stakes decision that all adults should get Covid-19 booster shots, Becerra wasn’t included on the call. The nation’s top health official was instead preparing for a multi-day tour up the East Coast to tout Biden’s broader agenda, while others including Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky mapped out the specifics of the government’s booster strategy. (Cancryn, 9/21)
Los Angeles Times:
How California Turned The Tide, Achieved Lowest Coronavirus Transmission Rate In US
A few months ago, it looked as if California’s long-awaited reopening following massive coronavirus closures might be derailed by the highly contagious delta variant. Cases shot up in many areas, and then hospitals began to fill again. There was a summer surge, but the curve has begun to flatten in many parts of California, which now has the lowest coronavirus case rate of any state in the nation. (Lin II and Money, 9/21)
Sacramento Bee:
CA State Offices Treat Legionella As Employees Return To Work
California state workers returning to offices after working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic could face heightened risks of contracting another dangerous respiratory infection: Legionnaires’ disease. Public health authorities warn that the disease — a severe form of pneumonia that comes from inhaling bacteria in water vapor — is on the rise in the U.S., and they say office reopenings could be to blame. (Venteicher, 9/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Chill, Seth Rogen. L.A. Health Officials Say Emmys Didn’t Violate COVID-19 Rules
Sunday’s unmasked, socially un-distanced, indoor Emmys ceremony prompted many — including presenter Seth Rogen — to wonder if awards shows are somehow exempt from COVID-19 mandates. Well, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has spoken, and the answer is: Actually, yeah, kinda. (Carras, 9/21)
Palm Springs Desert Sun:
COVID-19: New Cases Down 20% In Coachella Valley In Past Week
New COVID-19 cases in the nine Coachella Valley cities fell by 20% in the week ending Monday, according to county data. The valley added 444 new COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths in seven days. That's a 20% decrease compared to the previous week, when there were 552 cases and 11 deaths. On Monday, Indio reported 139 new COVID-19 cases in the past seven days, the highest among the valley cities, while Indian Wells reported one new case. Coachella had half of the valley's death toll for the week. (Sasic, 9/20)
California Healthline:
Will ‘Dr. Disinformation’ Ever Face The Music?
Some of the top spreaders of spurious covid-19 and vaccine information are physicians with active medical licenses. Are medical oversight boards ready to step up to stop them? (Knight, 9/22)
Wildfires and Environmental Health
KQED:
Biden Administration Looks To Add Heat Protections At The Federal Level
The Biden administration is pushing for new worker protections after record-setting temperatures across the country left dozens of workers injured and dead this summer. The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Monday that it will prioritize inspections on hot days, target high-risk industries nationally, and, as reported earlier this summer, begin developing a federal rule to protect workers from heat-related illnesses, a move long sought by worker advocates. (Shipley, Edwards and Nickerson, 9/21)
The New York Times:
California’s Wildfires Had An Invisible Impact: High Carbon Dioxide Emissions
This wildfire season so far in California has been extraordinary, producing thousands of fires — including one that, at nearly a million acres burned, is the largest single fire in state history — and spewing so much smoke that air quality has been affected thousands of miles away. Wildfires can have a global climate impact as well, because burning vegetation releases planet-warming carbon dioxide. And from June through August, California fires emitted twice as much CO2 as during the same period last year, and far more than any other summer in nearly two decades. (Fountain, 9/21)
AP:
California Struggles To Conserve Water Amid Historic Drought
Californians failed to significantly cut back their water consumption in July, state officials announced Tuesday, foreshadowing some difficult decisions for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration as an historic drought lingers into the fall. Newsom had asked people in July to voluntarily cut back their water consumption by 15% to help address a severe drought that has left some of the state’s reservoirs at dangerously low levels. (9/22)
KQED:
Will Oakland Require COVID-19 Vaccinations For Public School Students?
Oakland Unified’s Board of Education is considering a proposal that would require all students 12 and older to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Some say it’s a necessary step to make schools safer, while others worry that it will create another barrier to in-person learning. The resolution could be voted on as early as tonight, and if passed, OUSD would become the first district in Northern California to mandate vaccines for students. (Montecillo, Rancaño, Cruz Guevarra and Franklin Harvin, 9/22)
San Francisco Chronicle:
West Contra Costa Teachers File Cal/OSHA Complaint Over COVID Safety Rules
Teachers in West Contra Costa Unified School District have filed a complaint with state workplace safety regulators alleging that the district policies on COVID testing and outbreaks are inconsistent and that teachers are told they cannot send home students who exhibit symptoms. The complaint filed on Aug. 31 with the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health comes as the district struggles to contain the virus, with more than 200 confirmed cases among students and staff, and 25 classrooms closed since the beginning of the school year. (Swan, 9/21)
Healthcare Finance News:
University Of California Irvine Receives $30 Million Gift To Construct A Medical Innovation Building
Supported by a $30 million lead gift from the Falling Leaves Foundation, University of California Irvine will move forward with construction of a planned medical research facility on its campus, which is expected to enhance its cross-disciplinary teaching and translational research, the organization said Monday. (Lagasse, 9/21)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F.'s Plan To Extend Eviction Moratorium Through End Of 2021 Foiled By State Law
San Francisco tenants struggling to pay rent because of the pandemic will not be protected from evictions through the end of the year because of a change in state law. In June, the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to protect against evictions through Dec. 31 for nonpayment of rent due to the pandemic for tenants who have paid a quarter of their rent. Less than a week later, the state passed a law extending its own moratorium until Sept. 30, cutting short the local timeline. (Moench, 9/21)
Healthcare IT News:
California Consumer Privacy Act Can Cause Headaches For Healthcare Orgs
The California Consumer Privacy Act, passed in 2018, aims to give consumers more control over their online personal information. A new study published in this month's issue of Health Policy and Technology found, however, that healthcare organizations may face obstacles when it comes to complying with the law. (Jercich, 9/21)
The Mercury News:
Elizabeth Holmes Trial: Patient Says Pregnancy Test Was Wrong
Brittany Gould received a goody-bag for new mothers when she went into a clinic to confirm she was pregnant, then minutes later received a Theranos blood test result that wrongly indicated she was miscarrying, Gould testified Tuesday at the criminal fraud trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. Gould was the first of 11 patients the prosecution has said it plans to call to testify at Holmes’ trial on a dozen felony counts. (Baron, 9/21)
Bay Area News Group:
Elizabeth Holmes Trial: New-Mom Goody-Bag, Then Inaccurate Bad News From Theranos Test, Patient Testifies
Brittany Gould received a goody-bag for new mothers when she went into a clinic to confirm she was pregnant, then minutes later received a Theranos blood test result that wrongly indicated she was miscarrying, Gould testified Tuesday at the criminal fraud trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. Gould was the first of 11 patients the prosecution has said it plans to call to testify at Holmes’ trial on a dozen felony counts. (Baron, 9/21)
The Wall Street Journal:
Apple Is Working On IPhone Features To Help Detect Depression, Cognitive Decline
Apple Inc. is working on technology to help diagnose depression and cognitive decline, aiming for tools that could expand the scope of its burgeoning health portfolio, according to people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Using an array of sensor data that includes mobility, physical activity, sleep patterns, typing behavior and more, researchers hope they can tease out digital signals associated with the target conditions so that algorithms can be created to detect them reliably, the people said. Apple hopes that would become the basis for unique features for its devices, according to the people and documents. (Winkler, 9/21)
Southern California News Group:
California Mother, Daughter Arrested After Woman Dies From Unlicensed Body Augmentation Procedure
A mother and daughter accused of performing unlicensed body augmentation procedures that caused the death of a woman in 2019 were arrested on suspicion of murder, the Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday, Sept. 21. Libby Adame, 51, and Alicia Galaz, 23, were arrested on Aug. 5 in the 5700 block of Baldwin Avenue in Riverside, the LAPD said in a press release. The two are accused of causing the Oct. 15, 2019, death of a woman through an “outlaw” procedure at a non-medical facility, police said. (Wilson, 9/22)
The Wall Street Journal:
Most Of $9.2 Billion In Questionable Medicare Payments Went To 20 Insurers, Federal Investigators Say
Medicare insurers drew $9.2 billion in federal payments in one year through controversial billing practices, with 20 companies benefiting disproportionately and together accounting for more than half of the total, according to federal health investigators. The findings by the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services are the latest sign of growing scrutiny of Medicare Advantage insurers, which offer private plans under the federal benefit program. The inspector general’s report focuses on certain procedures used by insurers to document health conditions, which helps determine how much they are paid. The investigators said the findings raise concerns that insurers might be gaming the process to improperly boost federal payments. (Wilde Mathews, 9/22)
Napa Valley Register:
American Medical Response Will Remain As County's Ambulance Service
Napa County will stick with American Medical Response West to run local emergency ambulances and try to take this critical service to an even higher level. The Napa County Board of Supervisor on Tuesday awarded the company a new contract. The terms are from Dec. 31 of this year through Dec. 31, 2026, with a five-year extension possible. (Eberling, 9/20)
San Francisco Chronicle:
California Launching Program To Track Violent Deaths In LGBTQ Community
The evidence that LGBTQ people are more likely to die violent deaths is already glaring: Reported homicides of transgender women have surged, and almost half of young people in the community contemplated suicide last year. But the totality of those crises isn’t clear because no state currently tracks how many LGBTQ people die as a result of violent acts, including homicide, suicide and police use of deadly force. California, long a pioneer in LGBTQ rights, is on track to become the first state to do so. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a measure last week that will create a pilot program for medical examiners and coroners in six counties to report the gender identity and sexual orientation of people who die violent deaths. (Gardiner, 9/21)
Pasadena Star News:
Monrovia Settles With DOJ To Provide More Wheelchair-Accessible Transportation
Monrovia has settled with the Department of Justice following a federal review that found the city’s GoMonrovia transportation program did not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The program offered reduced-fare Lyft rides to residents 24 hours a day and seven days a week, but because Lyft did not offer wheelchair-accessible vehicles, the city limited individuals with disabilities to a separate dial-a-ride service, which did not operate after 10 p.m. or on certain holidays, according to a release by the DOJ. The review found Empire Transportation’s accessible vehicles could not be reserved through a website or by telephone, and required passengers to fill out a paper application. (Henry, 9/21)
The New York Times:
Even California Has A Mosquito Problem
It looks as if an invasive species will be a regular summer scourge. (Tae McDermott, 9/22)