More Communities Are Giving Flavored Tobacco the Boot. Will California Follow?
San Jose and Sacramento this summer joined scores of other California cities and counties that have banned the sale of flavored tobacco products such as menthol cigarettes and candy-flavored e-cigs. In November, California voters will decide whether to allow a statewide ban to take effect. (Zinnia Finn, 8/20 )
Local Health Officials to Feds: Where’s the Rest of Our Monkeypox Vaccine?
Los Angeles County is getting 60% fewer doses of monkeypox vaccine than officials expected, after the FDA said every vial could be split into five shots. (Jackie Fortiér, KPCC/LAist, 8/20 )
New Monkeypox 'Dose-Sparing' Vaccination Method Begins: Bay Area health care providers have begun administering the monkeypox vaccine using the newly approved injection method, known as dose-sparing, that allows them to inoculate up to five times more people than the previous technique could. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle. Scroll down for more on the monkeypox outbreak.
Kaiser Permanente Strike Shows No Sign Of Slowing: Thousands of mental health care workers maintained picket lines Wednesday in front of Kaiser Permanente facilities in the Bay Area and Central Valley during an open-ended strike to demand the health care giant increase mental health staffing and wages. Read more from KQED.
Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today's national health news, read KHN's Morning Briefing.
San Francisco Chronicle: If SF Monkeypox Sufferers Reveal Contacts, Officials Will Reach Out In an effort to clarify their stance on contact tracing for monkeypox, San Francisco health officials sought to reassure residents Wednesday that they are still reaching out to contacts of patients who are willing to reveal those associates — something just a fraction of infected people have done so far. Monkeypox is transmitted through sustained and close physical contact, often in “skin-to-skin” situations, which can include sexual transmission. (Asimov, 8/17)
Palm Springs Desert Sun: Riverside County Surpasses 100 Likely Monkeypox Cases The public health department reported an additional 13 confirmed or probable monkeypox cases on Wednesday. (Sasic, 8/17)
CIDRAP: WHO: Monkeypox Cases Rose 20% In Past Week For the second week in row, monkeypox cases increased by about 20%, with most case increases seen in Europe and North America, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the WHO, more than 35,000 cases of monkeypox have now been reported from 92 countries and territories, with 12 deaths. (Soucheray, 8/17)
NBC News: Sex Between Men, Not Skin Contact, Is Fueling Monkeypox, New Research Suggests In recent weeks, a growing body of scientific evidence — including a trio of studies published in peer-reviewed journals, as well as reports from national, regional and global health authorities — has suggested that experts may have framed monkeypox’s typical transmission route precisely backward. (Ryan, 8/17)
The Washington Post: Inside America’s Monkeypox Crisis — And The Mistakes That Made It Worse The behind-the-scenes clash with Bavarian Nordic, which has not previously been reported, was just the latest episode in a monkeypox response beset by turf wars, ongoing surprises and muddled messaging, with key partners frequently finding themselves out of sync as they race to catch up to a rapidly unfolding crisis. (Diamond, Nirappil and Sun, 8/17)
The Hill: Monkeypox Response Continues To Face Hurdles After New Federal Guidance State and local health authorities are facing new obstacles in responding to monkeypox after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized dividing Jynneos vaccine doses into fifths to expand the available supply, with many authorities unsure about how to immediately adopt the new strategy. (Choi, 8/17)
Los Angeles Times: Second Dose Of Monkeypox Vaccine Now Available In Los Angeles With a new shipment of monkeypox vaccines expected Wednesday, Los Angeles County public health officials will begin administering second doses for the first time and again open registration for first shots to those considered high risk. L.A. County Department of Public Health officials said in a statement that the latest shipment will allow them to increase vaccine distribution, but the 5,600 new Jynneos vaccines fall short of what federal officials had promised — and still well below the amount needed to inoculate everyone considered high risk. (Toohey, 8/17)
CBS News: Monkeypox Vaccine Maker Can't Keep Up With Demand As Case Numbers Swell Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic A/S, the only producer of an FDA-approved monkeypox vaccine, said it is struggling to meet demand for its shots amid the rise in cases of the disease. Increased demand may force the company to expand its limited manufacturing capacity by outsourcing some of its production, including to facilities in the U.S. Currently, the vaccine is only manufactured at Bavarian Nordic's Danish facility. (Cerullo, 8/17)
Bloomberg: Monkeypox Vaccine Maker Bavarian Nordic No Longer Sure It Can Meet Demand “It’s a very dynamic market situation,” Rolf Sass Sorensen, a vice president at the firm, said by phone on Wednesday. “Demand keeps rising and it’s no longer certain that we can continue to meet the demand we’re facing even with the upgrade of our existing manufacturing site in Denmark.” (Wienberg and Muller, 8/17)
The Hill: New York Democrats Urge White House To Invoke Defense Production Act For Vaccines To Treat Monkeypox A group of Democratic members of Congress from New York on Wednesday called on President Biden to invoke the Defense Production Act to enhance the production of vaccines for monkeypox. In a letter to Biden, the lawmakers, led by New York Democratic Reps. Jerry Nadler and Ritchie Torres, said ,”It is clear that vaccine demand is quickly outpacing supply throughout the country.” (Choi, 8/17)
Los Angeles Times: California Officials Warn Of Misleading COVID Test Results At-home coronavirus screening has become a way of life for many Californians, but some medical experts are now cautioning that one test may not be enough to definitively determine whether someone is infected. (Lin II and Money, 8/17)
The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: COVID-19 Infection Rates Continue To Fall But Deaths Still Occur Among Most Vulnerable It was a summer of rampant COVID-19 infection that for the most part people were able to endure without severe illness and the deadly outcomes that characterized earlier waves of the pandemic. But not everyone. (Espinoza, 8/17)
Politico: COVID Can Impair Brain Function, Large Study Suggests Patients recovering from coronavirus infection suffer from increased rates of neurological and psychological problems, according to a wide-ranging observational study published Thursday. Researchers from Oxford University combed through more than a million patient files and discovered that, two years after infection, patients who had recovered from COVID-19 were at a higher risk of psychosis, dementia and "brain fog" when compared with patients who recovered from other respiratory diseases. (Martuscelli, 8/18)
Bloomberg: Covid’s Harmful Effects On The Brain Reverberate Years Later Covid-19 survivors remain at higher risk of psychotic disorders, dementia and similar conditions for at least two years, according to a large study that highlights the mounting burden of chronic illness left in the pandemic’s wake. (Gale, 8/17)
CIDRAP: Study: 56% Of Omicron-Infected Adults Didn't Know They Were Contagious An observational study of 210 adults in California with detectable SARS-CoV-2 antibodies during an Omicron variant wave shows that 56% didn't know they had been infected, fueling concerns about asymptomatic transmission, according to a report today in JAMA Network Open. Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center led the study of adult employees and patients of the hospital in Los Angeles County who had at least two SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests 1 month or more apart. (Van Beusekom, 8/17)
NBC News: New Covid Boosters Expected Soon For Everyone Over Age 12 White House Covid coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said on Wednesday that the newly updated Covid boosters will be available to teens and adults "in a few short weeks." "I believe it’s going to be available and every American over the age of 12 will be eligible for it," Jha told NBC News' Lester Holt. (Lovelace Jr., 8/17)
ABC News: Novavax Seeks FDA Approval For COVID Booster "It's important for people to have a choice as they evaluate how to stay protected against COVID-19, and boosters are an invaluable tool to build upon immunity obtained from previous vaccinations," Stanley C. Erck, President and Chief Executive Officer of Novavax, said in a statement on Monday. (Mitropoulos, 8/17)
San Francisco Chronicle: Ivermectin Among Drugs That Failed To Help COVID-19 Patients, Large Study Finds Three generic drugs failed to prevent severe COVID-19 outcomes, according to a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. They include the antimalarial ivermectin; fluvoxamine, which is used to treat depression; and metformin, which is used in diabetes patients. (Beamish and Vaziri, 8/17)
AP: CDC Director Announces Shake-Up, Citing COVID Mistakes The head of the nation’s top public health agency on Wednesday announced a shake-up of the organization, saying it fell short responding to COVID-19 and needs to become more nimble. The planned changes at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — CDC leaders call it a “reset”— come amid criticism of the agency’s response to COVID-19, monkeypox and other public health threats. The changes include internal staffing moves and steps to speed up data releases. (Stobbe, 8/17)
Stat: In An Effort To Address Covid Missteps, CDC Plans An 'Ambitious' Overhaul Walensky also said the agency needs to acknowledge the flaws of its response to Covid-19. Those mistakes date to the earliest days of the pandemic, when a test designed by CDC scientists to detect the new disease failed to work on the ground — leaving the country blind to how quickly the SARS-CoV-2 virus was transmitting at a critical juncture when aggressive measures could have slowed Covid’s spread. That error happened on Walensky’s predecessor’s watch. But the agency has continued to struggle since her arrival at the beginning of the Biden administration, notably with confusing messaging about how long people who have been infected need to isolate to try to prevent onward transmission. (Branswell, 8/17)
The Wall Street Journal: CDC Director Outlines Restructuring Plans After Agency’s Covid-19 Response Fell Short The changes will include elevating the laboratory division to report to the CDC’s director and restructuring the communications office, according to a CDC official with knowledge of the plans. Dr. Walensky wants to shift the CDC’s culture from highly academic to focus more on preparedness and response, the official said. Dr. Walensky also wants additional funding and more authority for the CDC on matters including mandating data collection from states, changes that would require action from lawmakers, the official said. (Abbott, 8/17)
The New York Times: Walensky, Citing Botched Pandemic Response, Calls For C.D.C. Reorganization “To be frank, we are responsible for some pretty dramatic, pretty public mistakes, from testing to data to communications,” she said in a video distributed to the agency’s roughly 11,000 employees. Dr. Walensky said the C.D.C.’s future depended on whether it could absorb the lessons of the last few years, during which much of the public lost trust in the agency’s ability to handle a pandemic that has killed more than 1 million Americans. “This is our watershed moment. We must pivot,” she said. (LaFraniere and Weiland, 8/17)
The Hill: CDC Director Announces Agency Overhaul, Says It Must ‘Do Better’ After COVID-19 Review The review, led by Jim Macrae, an official in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), included findings such as that the CDC should “share scientific findings and data faster,” according to a top-line summary released by the CDC, and “be transparent about the agency’s current level of understanding.” The CDC said Wednesday that it is taking a number of steps to change its culture and prioritize direct public health impact over a more academic mindset. (Sullivan, 8/17)
Sacramento Bee: CA Hospitals Near Deal On Delaying Seismic Safety Standards A powerful labor union and California’s hospitals are closing in on a deal that would allow hospitals to put off meeting seismic safety standards that will cost them tens of billions of dollars in exchange for significant boosts in minimum pay for certain health care workers. The proposal, however, has set off alarm bells for five unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers in the state’s health care industry. They quickly assembled a coalition that fired off a letter Tuesday to state leaders to strongly oppose a legislative deal that would extend seismic safety standards set to go into effect for California’s hospitals in 2030. (Anderson, 8/17)
EdSource: UC And CSU Campuses Prepare To Offer Abortion Pills For Students By January When Jessy Rosales was a 20-year-old student at UC Riverside, she had a second-trimester abortion. While she was not initially certain she was pregnant, a visit in the fall of 2016 to her campus’s Student Health Services clinic confirmed it. (Rosenbaum and Lu, 8/187)
Sacramento Bee: Flu Vaccines In Sacramento: Myths And Seasonal Expectations Sacramento-area pharmacies and clinics have announced that flu vaccines are now available, in time for back-to-school and National Immunization Awareness Month. The beginning of August marked the annual observance of the month meant to highlight the importance of vaccination for people of all ages, according to the CDC. (Williams, 8/18)
Los Angeles Times: Oakland Church That Gives Cannabis, Psychedelic Mushrooms As Communion Sues Over Police Raid An East Oakland church that gives out cannabis and psychedelic plants as sacrament filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Oakland and the Oakland Police Department over a 2020 police raid. (Lin, 8/17)
San Francisco Chronicle: A New Supportive Housing Building Has The Funding And Staff That Residents Need. Will It Be Enough? After 10 years of living on the streets of San Francisco, Sharon Batton sees her new home’s simple amenities — a private bathroom, a full-size refrigerator, a stove and a dishwasher — as major luxuries. But to continue rebuilding her life and maintain her five years of sobriety, the 64-year-old needs much more than just a roof over her head. She needs support. Luckily, Batton is one of 21 formerly homeless people that recently moved into the Panoramic Hotel, a new permanent supportive building purchased by the city in October for $86.6 million in state and local funds. The hotel in the South of Market neighborhood has three case managers who are available to meet with residents every day, a relationship that Batton said has been crucial for her path forward. (Pascua, 8/17)
KQED: Latinx Homelessness In San Francisco Soared Since Start Of Pandemic Homelessness among Latino residents in San Francisco spiked over the last three years — by more than half — even as the city's total unhoused population dropped slightly. That's according to new detailed findings city officials released Wednesday. The data comes from a point-in-time homelessness survey conducted in February, when volunteers fanned out across the city to tally people living on the streets, in vehicles or in shelters. (Rancaño and Green, 8/18)
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.
Mental Health Mental Health in California
Using the most recent data available, CHCF’s 2022 Almanac provides an overview of mental health statewide: disease prevalence, suicide rates, supply and use of treatment providers, and mental health in the criminal justice system.
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