Tuesday, March 22, 2022 – California Healthline

California Healthline Original Stories
Health Officials See Bright Future in Poop Surveillance
Sewage surveillance is proving so useful in mapping covid trends that many public health officials say it should become standard practice in tracking infectious diseases. Whether that happens will depend on the nation’s ability to make it viable in communities rich and poor. (Anna Maria Barry-Jester, 3/23 )
California Issues Proposal For Hex Chromium Standards: California on Monday proposed a long-awaited standard for a cancer-causing contaminant in drinking water that would require costly treatment in many cities throughout the state. Traces of hexavalent chromium are widely found in the drinking water of millions of Californians. The proposed standard is a major step in a decades-long effort to curtail the contaminant made infamous by the movie “Erin Brockovich.” Read more from CalMatters.
Court Upholds LA County’s Ban on Flavored Tobacco: State and local governments can ban the sales of flavored tobacco products to protect young people from becoming addicted, a federal appeals court has ruled, rejecting tobacco companies’ arguments in a case from Los Angeles County. The 2-1 ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Los Angeles County’s 2019 ban on all such products and would also apply to similar measures approved in San Francisco and Berkeley. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today’s national health news, read KHN’s Morning Briefing.
Covid-19 Mandates
City News Service: LA County To Join State, Lift COVID Vaccine/Testing Mandate At Indoor Events 
Los Angeles County will align with the state and lift the requirement that attendees of indoor mega-events such as sporting events or concerts show proof of COVID vaccination or a negative test, health officials said on Monday, March 21. According to the county Department of Public Health, the requirement will be lifted April 1 in conjunction with the state, which is also scrapping the mandate. (3/21)
Los Angeles Daily News: UTLA Members Ratify Tentative Agreement With LAUSD To Make Masking Optional 
Members of United Teachers Los Angeles have voted to ratify a tentative agreement with the Los Angeles Unified School District to make indoor masking optional in most educational settings. … The district had announced plans last week to lift its masking mandate by Wednesday, pending ratification by the teachers union. (Tat, 3/21)
San Diego Union-Tribune: UC San Diego Partially Lifts COVID-19 Mask Rules For Campus 
In a step toward normalcy, UC San Diego on Monday began allowing everyone to go without wearing a COVID-19 mask on campus unless they enter classroom settings, clinical areas or use the Triton-university transportation system. The university also said in a statement that it will stop requiring people to wear masks in campus housing on April 4 “assuming a low prevalence of the virus following the beginning of spring quarter.” (Robbins, 3/21)
Voice of OC: State Legislators, OC City And School District Officials Call For Ending State Of Emergency
Some Orange County residents and officials have persistently pushed back against pandemic restrictions mandated by the state – especially masks – and as virtually all the precautions are winding down, people continue to call for an end of California’s state of emergency. The emergency has been in effect for two years now, first called in March 2020 to make additional resources available to local governments and agencies across the state to help combat the impacts of the pandemic and institute safety protocols. (Elattar and Biesiada, 3/21)
Coronavirus
Los Angeles Times: California Could See Coronavirus Uptick This Spring Because Of Omicron Subvariant BA.2
Coronavirus cases are on the upswing worldwide, prompting some officials to warn that California could see increases this spring because of the omicron subvariant BA.2 even though cases so far have been modest. The World Health Organization has recorded the first week-over-week increase in global coronavirus cases since late January, with cases rising 8% compared with the previous week. With infections rising in parts of Africa, Asia and Europe, officials say they wouldn’t be surprised if new cases climbed again in the U.S. — and in California — this spring. (Lin II and Money, 3/21)
San Francisco Chronicle: COVID’s Severe Risk To Pregnant Women Is Real, A Large Kaiser Study In California Shows
Unvaccinated pregnant women infected with the coronavirus have more than twice the risk of having dangerous sepsis or other severe medical problems, than those who don’t have the virus, according to a study of thousands of Northern California women published Monday. The analysis of 43,886 women who gave birth at Kaiser Permanente Northern California between March 1, 2020, and March 16, 2021 — before coronavirus vaccines were widely available — revealed that babies born to mothers who contracted COVID were also more likely to be born prematurely, placing them at greater risk for brain and heart problems. (Asimov, 3/21)
ABC News: COVID-19 May Double Severe Complications In Pregnancy, Study Finds 
A new study has added to the body of research showing the risks pregnant people face due to COVID-19, especially among those who are not vaccinated. The study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, found pregnant people with COVID-19 had more than double the risk of negative outcomes compared to pregnant people without the virus. (Kindelan, 3/21)
San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Expands Mobile COVID-19 Testing In Bid For Greater Equity
San Francisco is boosting its mobile COVID-19 testing options across the city in an effort to make access to testing more equitable and to ensure that testing operations are more responsive to communities’ needs, officials said Monday. The new “mobile testing strategy” is designed to allow the city to target specific neighborhoods that need more testing resources. Communities with particularly high test positivity rates and areas that have seen the greatest impact from COVID-19 will receive more testing opportunities, including access to mobile testing vans, the Department of Public Health said in a news release. (Picon, 3/21)
Vaccine Rollout
San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego City Workforce Vaccination Rate Reaches 90 Percent, Officials Say 
The city of San Diego announced Monday that 90 percent of its workforce are vaccinated against COVID-19, while some 790 employees will be exempt from the city’s vaccine mandate. The city will require the unvaccinated employees who were granted exemptions — which includes about 350 police officers — to undergo weekly, on-the-job testing at no cost to them. Any employees who refuse to comply with the testing requirement will face termination, officials said. (Hernandez, 3/21)
Bloomberg: Can I Get A Second Covid Booster? FDA Advisers To Consider Extra Shot
U.S. government advisers will meet early next month to discuss the use of additional Covid-19 booster shots as states and companies lower prevention safeguards such as masking and work at home. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will meet April 6 to discuss the use of future booster doses to address current and potential future virus strains of concern, according to a statement Monday. The panel advises the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on immunizations. (Rutherford, 3/21)
Health Care Industry
The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: North Bay Doctor Loses License After Accusations Of Sexually Assaulting Drugged Patients
A Santa Rosa psychiatrist who worked for multiple North Bay counties had his license revoked earlier this month after the state medical board investigated allegations that he sexually assaulted two patients at his clinic between 2017 and 2019. The Osteopathic Medical Board of California revoked Dr. Cuyler Burns Goodwin’s physician license on March 8, according to state records, a decision that will take effect April 7. (Wilder, 3/21)
San Francisco Chronicle: Here’s Why Hospital Nurses, the Pandemic’s ‘Health Care Heroes,’ Are So Ticked Off
Jamille Cabacungan’s shift as charge nurse in UCSF’s medical-surgical unit began with bad news: Just seven of her nine nurses showed up. When a patient’s oxygen fell dangerously low, Cabacungan dropped her paperwork to stabilize the person. When two patients needed security monitoring but no safety attendants were available, she borrowed two nursing assistants and left just one to help 31 patients with toileting, meals and hygiene. When she begged bed-control not to send in another patient, she was refused because the ER was backed up. That’s when, on a chilly day in February, Cabacungan broke down in tears. (Asimov, 3/18)
Reveal: A Racial Reckoning At Doctors Without Borders
For decades, Doctors Without Borders has been admired for bringing desperately needed medical care to crises around the globe and pioneering modern-day humanitarian aid. It’s an organization with radical roots, promising to do whatever it takes to deliver life-saving care to people in need. But now, it’s struggling to address institutional racism. The organization, also known by its French acronym MSF, has about 63,000 people working in 88 countries. While foreign doctors parachuting into crisis zones get most of the attention, 90 percent of the work is being done by local health workers. (3/19)
Sacramento Watch
AP: California Assembly Advances Involuntary Servitude Amendment 
California is the latest state trying to remove “involuntary servitude” as a constitutionally protected form of punishment, a move aimed at formally severing the remnants of slavery from the law. The U.S. Constitution bans slavery, but it allows involuntary servitude for the punishment of a crime. Many state constitutions say the same thing, including California’s. (Beam, 3/22)
Housing Crisis
San Francisco Chronicle: Proposal Would Force S.F. To Provide Shelter To All Homeless People. Could It Get More Folks Off The Streets?
On any given night, thousands of people sleep on San Francisco’s streets, according to the last estimate, and a revamped proposal would require the city to offer a place to sleep to all of them. First proposed in 2020, the revised legislation will be introduced Tuesday by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and already has the backing of three colleagues, including Matt Haney, who was critical of the earlier proposal. It would need six votes to pass. Haney and others criticized the kind of shelter that would have been offered under last year’s plan, primarily tent villages. The revised legislation calls for more shelter options. (Moench, 3/21)
Oaklandside: Fire Destroys Tiny Homes At City-Run Homeless Shelter Near Lake Merritt
A fire Monday morning incinerated three tiny-home shelters at a city-run transitional-housing site at E. 12th Street and 2nd Avenue, across from Lake Merritt. Nobody was injured, according to authorities, but five people who were living in the scorched shelters were displaced. A fourth tiny-home was damaged as well. (Orenstein, 3/21)
KQED: COVID Rent Relief Taking A Long Time To Process? What You Can Do If You're Waiting
If you’re waiting for COVID-related rent relief in California, you’re not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the same position. The state's COVID-19 Rent Relief program has been extremely slow to distribute money. Although the Department of Housing and Community Development maintains that their goal is to turn applications around in 30 days, the average wait time is much longer — four months, on average, according to a recent report by the National Equity Atlas. (Wolfe, 3/21)
Voice Of San Diego: Officials Push For New Solutions To Homelessness In East County 
For the past four months, Gerry Kostiha has lived with his dog Lumpy off North Magnolia Avenue on a plot of county land only a few feet from the border of El Cajon. The 62-year-old worked as a plumber until a fall down a flight of stairs left him immobile and required a series of major surgeries.  He’s watched as the number of unsheltered individuals in East County, and at the encampment where he stays, has grown. “Three years ago I used to live underneath that bridge right there, and it was just me and three or four other people,” Kostiha said, pointing to the north end of the encampment. “Now it’s gotten crazy all over.” (McWhinney, 3/22)
San Diego Union-Tribune: District Attorney Introduces 'Humane' Plan To Reduce Crime Against And By Mentally Ill Homeless People 
The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office is proposing a new type of court, legislative changes and other strategies to help homeless people with mental illness avoid incarceration and receive psychiatric help. The plan is part of what District Attorney Summer Stephan called a three-tiered Homeless Enhanced Legal Program, or HELP, that would include diversion programs before and after charges are filed against a homeless person facing a low-level offense. (Warth, 3/21)
Public Health
Los Angeles Times: De León Proposes a City Mental and Public Health Department
Councilman and mayoral candidate Kevin de León wants the city to create its own mental and public health department in an effort to provide more control over Los Angeles’ homelessness response. The proposal is part of a newly released policy package on public safety and homelessness from the councilman, who represents areas including downtown, Boyle Heights and Eagle Rock. It comes in advance of Tuesday night’s televised debate that will see all five leading candidates take the stage for the first time. (Oreskes, 3/22)
The Washington Post: David Beckham Lends Instagram Account To Ukrainian Doctor In Kharkiv 
Soccer legend and former LA Galaxy player David Beckham handed over control of his Instagram account — and its 71.5 million followers — on Sunday to a Ukrainian doctor caring for pregnant women and their babies in the war-torn city of Kharkiv. Throughout the day, Iryna, a pediatric anesthesiologist and the head of the regional perinatal center in Kharkiv, posted a moving first-person account of her daily life in Ukraine’s second-largest city, an early target in Moscow’s advance that has been ravaged by missile strikes. (Pannett, 3/21)
Health Care Survey The 2022 CHCF California Health Policy Survey
This recent statewide survey found that one in four Californians had trouble paying a medical bill in the last 12 months. The survey also captures Californians' health care priorities for the governor and legislature to address.
Listening to Black Californians Black Californians on Racism and Health Care
CHCF commissioned interviews with 100 Black Californians to understand their views on health and well-being, their perceptions of discrimination and bias in the health care system, and their views on what a quality health care system looks like.
Substance Use Disorder Substance Use in California
Only about 10% of people with a substance use disorder (SUD) in the last year received treatment. This report provides an overview of substance use and addiction in California.
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California Healthline is a service of the California Health Care Foundation produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.
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