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Not a subscriber? Sign up | | | | Daily Edition | | | Good morning! California Healthline's Daily Edition will not be published on Feb. 17. Look for us back in your inbox on Feb. 18. Meanwhile, here are your top California health stories of the day. LA Mayor, U.S. HUD Secretary Announce Joint Working Group To Address Homeless Crisis: Although much about the collaboration remains unknown, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti and U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said their staffs would be working together to identify red tape and other impediments to getting people off the streets and housed quickly. As recently as last month, Garcetti and Carson said they were close to a deal that would allow Los Angeles to receive more federal resources, including money and land on which to build shelters. The mayor warned at the time that "there's no cavalry coming from Washington." On Thursday, however, Garcetti was more optimistic, but both Carson and Garcetti declined to say how large the potential injection of federal funding could be or how many beds might open in new shelters. Read more from Benjamin Oreskes of the Los Angeles Times and Chris Nichols of Capital Public Radio. Bay Area's Gilead Sciences Sees Hopeful Results In Studies For Drug To Treat COVID-19: The drug, an injectable antiviral called remdesivir, was given in late January to the first confirmed case of coronavirus in the United States, a 35-year-old man in Washington state, after he returned from Wuhan, China, and his symptoms worsened after a week in the hospital. His condition improved the next day. By Feb. 6, Gilead began enrolling patients in China's Hubei province, believed to be where the virus originated. The company will examine the drug's effects on 760 people, some with severe cases of coronavirus and some with mild to moderate symptoms. Results for both trials are expected in April, said Gilead spokeswoman Sonia Choi. Read more from Catherine Ho of the San Francisco Chronicle. Meanwhile, few places illustrate the parallel reactions to the coronavirus the way San Gabriel Valley does. Latinos and Asians make up 46% and 28%, respectively, of the area's 1.85 million residents. The two largest groups frequently shop, eat and send their children to the same schools. But how they have responded to the virus couldn't be more different. It is among the Asian population that concern over the disease manifests itself most visibly, with changing eating and shopping habits, the cancellation of large public events like Lunar New Year celebrations, avoidance of large family gatherings and the masks. While the majority of people in the San Gabriel Valley do not wear the masks, those who do wear them are almost always of Asian descent. That can provoke misunderstanding and prejudice. Read more from Andrew J. Campa of the Los Angeles Times. Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day. More News From Across The State Capital Public Radio: Newsom's $1.4 Billion Homelessness Plan Lacks Clear Strategy, California Legislative Analyst's Office Says
An estimate from the federal government puts California's homeless population in 2019 at over 150,000 — a 16 percent increase from the previous year. Newsom's proposed budget would commit substantial money toward addressing the problem. About $750 million would be used to create a new fund for building affordable housing and offering rental assistance to families in need. Another $695 million would go toward reforming Medi-Cal to help serve people with mental health needs. (Rodd, 2/13) KQED: What Would 'Housing As A Human Right' Look Like In California?
Activists with a group of women that took over a vacant house in Oakland want to make the protest chant, 'housing is a human right' a reality by changing the California constitution. The group, Moms 4 Housing, is having preliminary conversations with East Bay Democratic Assemblyman Rob Bonta to introduce legislation that would "establish a fundamental human right to housing," said Leah Simon-Weisberg, an attorney representing the group. Details about what exactly would be in the proposed legislation or when it would be introduced are still being worked out, she said. (Solomon, 2/12) Sacramento Bee: Housing Plans From 2020 Democrats Include Grants, Tax Breaks
Californians rank housing and homelessness as top issues in their state, and the candidates vying for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination are promoting plans to spend billions of dollars to make housing more affordable. Although the issue often gets less airtime than other topics more relevant to voters in early primary and swing states, all the top candidates have laid out plans to make housing more affordable, from offering incentives to cities to speed up construction to pouring more money into subsidies for low-income Americans. (Bollag, 2/14) LA Daily News/City News Service: 10 Trailers Sent To South LA To Shelter Homeless Families As Part Of California's 'Crisis Response'
The California Department of Transportation delivered 10 travel trailers Thursday to a site in South Los Angeles to provide temporary housing for families experiencing homelessness. "California is treating homelessness like the emergency it is, and it's going to take every level of government stepping up to do their part," said California Gov. Gavin Newsom. "State government is doing more than ever before to combat homelessness." (2/14) Los Angeles Times: What 'Dry Fasting' Is And Why You Shouldn't Do It
A new fad diet making the rounds on wellness influencer Instagram won't actually help you lose weight. And it could cause dehydration, urinary tract infections, kidney stones, organ failure – even death. It's called "dry fasting." It goes beyond what most of us would consider fasting – abstaining from solid food or liquid calories – and requires consuming no water or liquids of any kind for many hours or even days at a time. (Roy, 2/14) LAist: Former La Luz Del Mundo Member Alleges The Church Ran Child Sex Slavery Ring
A new lawsuit filed Thursday against religious leader and self-proclaimed "Apostle" of La Luz Del Mundo, Naason Joaquin Garcia, contains shocking allegations of abuse. The filing, made in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, came as the religious group is holding its "Holy Supper" event at the Pomona Fairplex, attended by thousands. (Schrank, 2/13) The New York Times: China Expands Chaotic Dragnet In Coronavirus Crackdown
China's leaders expanded a mass roundup of people possibly sickened with the coronavirus on Thursday, widening their dragnet well beyond the epicenter of the outbreak to at least two more cities in what the government has called a "wartime" campaign to stamp out the epidemic. But the campaign, first announced last week in the city of Wuhan, already has been marred by chaotic conditions that have isolated vulnerable patients without adequate care and, in some cases, left them alone to die. The expansion of the decree to "round up everyone who should be rounded up" in the Wuhan area of central China has deepened the nation's sense of anxiety. (Qin, 2/13) Reuters: China's Hubei Province Reports 116 New Coronavirus Deaths
The death toll from a coronavirus outbreak in China's Hubei province has risen by 116, with the total number of cases up by nearly 5,000, the province's health commission said on Friday. The commission did not disclose the total number of deaths from the newly identified virus, which stood at 1,310 on Thursday. (2/13) Reuters: China Says 1,716 Health Workers Infected By Coronavirus
China National Health Commission Vice Minister Zeng Yixin said on Friday that 1,716 health workers have been infected by the coronavirus and six of them have died as of Tuesday. Zeng, at a press conference about protecting medical workers, said the number of infected medical staff is increasing. (2/14) The New York Times: As Passenger Angst Grows, Japan To Let Some Off Ship, But Fewer Than Hoped
For a moment on Thursday, John and Carol Montgomery thought they might be departing early from the cruise ship quarantined in Yokohama, Japan, where new cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed almost daily. Japan's health minister said a few categories of passengers could spend the remainder of the two-week quarantine ashore. The Montgomerys thought they qualified because they share a cabin without windows or a balcony and Mr. Montgomery, 68, has diabetes. (Rich, 2/13) The Associated Press: US Announces 15th Virus Case, This One In Texas Evacuee
U.S. officials on Thursday announced the country's 15th confirmed case of the new coronavirus — an evacuee from China who had been under quarantine in Texas. The patient, who had been flown to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio last week, is now in isolation at a hospital and was reported in stable condition. The infection was confirmed through a Wednesday night lab test , making the person the first coronavirus patient in Texas. (2/13) The New York Times: U.S. Supports Aid To North Korea For Fighting The Coronavirus
The United States said it would approve humanitarian assistance to North Korea to help international aid agencies fight the coronavirus there, amid fears that the impoverished country may be hiding an outbreak. North Korea has not reported any cases of the new coronavirus. But in the past week, some South Korean news reports, citing unnamed sources within the secretive North, said there had been deaths that were suspected to be related to the virus. The reports could not be confirmed. (Sang-Hun, 2/14) The New York Times: 'Thermometer Guns' On Coronavirus Front Lines Are 'Notoriously Not Accurate'
It has become an iconic image of the coronavirus outbreak in China: a masked official aiming what appears to be a small white pistol at a traveler's forehead. For weeks, this ominous-looking device has been deployed at checkpoints across China — tollbooths, apartment complexes, hotels, grocery stores, train stations — as government officials and private citizens screen people for fevers in an effort to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Sometimes described as a "thermometer gun," the device is equipped with an infrared sensor that can quickly measure surface temperature without making any contact with a person's skin. (Yaffe-Bellany, 2/14) The New York Times: Coronavirus 'Hits All The Hot Buttons' For How We Misjudge Risk
Shortly after the University of Washington announced that the school's fourth suspected case of the new coronavirus had turned out negative, two professors, one of public policy and the other of public health, held a small dinner for students and faculty members. Like everywhere else on campus, and in much of the world, the coronavirus was all anybody could talk about. But one of the attendees, a public health student, had had enough. Exasperated, she rattled off a set of statistics. (Fisher, 2/13) CNN: Novel Coronavirus 'Is Probably With Us Beyond This Season, Beyond This Year,' CDC Director Says
As an outbreak of a novel coronavirus has swept through Hubei province, China, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been preparing for its worst case scenario -- a widespread outbreak of illnesses in the United States... "We don't know a lot about this virus," [CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta] said. "This virus is probably with us beyond this season, beyond this year, and I think eventually the virus will find a foothold and we will get community-based transmission." (Andone and Shoichet, 2/14) The New York Times: Veterans Affairs, A Trump Signature Issue, Is Facing Turmoil Again
As President Trump enters his re-election year, his administration's focus on the nation's veterans has emerged as a centerpiece of the campaign. But the agency tasked with caring for more than nine million former service members, a department he claims to have transformed, is showing signs of disarray. The mysterious firing last week of the deputy secretary of veterans affairs was only the latest in a string of incidents that have shaken the second-largest cabinet agency in the government as it embarks on ambitious changes to veterans health care. (Steinhauer, 2/13) Politico: McConnell Forces Senate Votes On Anti-Abortion Bills
Mitch McConnell on Thursday set up two votes on anti-abortion bills for later this month, a move intended to excite conservatives and put a vulnerable Senate Democrat in a difficult position. The Senate majority leader teed up votes on a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks and also the "Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act." Both bills have been rejected by the Senate in recent years after failing to clear the chamber's 60-vote threshold. But forcing votes on them in an election year could help boost enthusiasm on the right for keeping the Senate in Republican hands. (Everett, 2/13) Los Angeles Times: Here's Where Democratic 2020 Candidates Stand On Gun Control
As Democratic voters settle in to decide which candidate to support in the presidential primary contest, they'll notice two things about their gun control policies. First, the Democratic Party as a whole has tilted to the left on pushing for increasingly expansive federal gun control policies. Second, there's not much broad-stroke distinction between the candidates' views on how far to go. The 2020 Democratic presidential candidates agree on big gun control policies, including banning the sale of semiautomatic rifles such as the AR-15. (Pearce, 2/14) The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Indian Health Service Doctor Indicted On Charges Of Sexual Abuse
A U.S. Indian Health Service doctor was indicted Thursday on charges of sexually abusing his Native American patients at a health center in South Dakota, deepening a crisis over the handling of sexual misconduct that has consumed the federal agency for a year. The doctor, Pedro Ibarra-Perocier, a family medicine physician, was indicted on eight counts of sexual abuse involving four different adult patients at the agency's clinic on the Yankton Sioux Reservation, in the town of Wagner in the southeastern corner of the state. A lawyer for Dr. Ibarra-Perocier declined to comment. A U.S. District Court clerk in Sioux Falls said he had pleaded not guilty. (Weaver and Frosch, 2/13) Los Angeles Times: Trump Takes Aim At The Poor, The Sick And The Elderly
In accordance with the old adage that budgets are political documents, President Trump's budgets are windows into his political id. Trump's proposed $4.8-trillion budget for the 2021 fiscal year makes his intentions crystal clear: He means to shred the federal safety net for the poor and the sick. The budget proposal released Monday calls for drastic cuts in Social Security and Medicaid benefits, as well as in a program protecting defrauded student loan borrowers. (Michael Hiltzik, 2/10) San Francisco Chronicle: A Wise Warning About Newsom's Approach To Homelessness
Spending large amounts of public money on homeless services and housing subsidies allows politicians to seem to be doing something about a problem that has rightly risen to the top of California voters' concerns. And in a state governed by Democratic supermajorities and general acceptance of big state and local budgets, it has the additional advantage of being relatively easy. The problem, as a new analysis points out, is that it doesn't work. California accounted for more than the entire national increase in homelessness last year, and its slumping housing construction and soaring prices promise to exacerbate the shortage of homes and push even more people to the brink. (2/14) Fresno Bee: Trump Right In Fight Against Calif. Over Abortion Services
Some people sloppily refer to the First Amendment as merely protecting "freedom of worship," but it protects more than that. The First Amendment protects the "free exercise of religion." People of faith are not protected from government intrusions simply within the walls of their churches on Sunday morning. Rather, the protections of the Constitution allow people of faith to live out their lawful convictions in the public square and in their own businesses and charitable works. In that spirit, the Trump administration's action was a welcome check against California's reckless attack on free exercise. (John Gerardi, 2/13) San Francisco Chronicle: 'Lord Of The Flies': Fights, Bullying, Chaos Upend Once-Stellar San Francisco Middle School
Middle school is rarely easy — but it should never, ever be this hard. Aptos Middle School stands grandly among stunning homes near some of the city's toniest neighborhoods: Saint Francis Wood, Mount Davidson Manor and Ingleside Terraces. It's long been one of San Francisco Unified School District's most desirable, renowned middle schools. But lately, the calm, stately exterior has masked chaos inside.Kids, parents, teachers and administrators agree there's a small group of kids — as few as five, as many as 20, depending on whom you ask — who've managed to wrest control of the school from the adults. (Heather Knight, 2/14) Los Angeles Times: Coordination Across Agencies Will Help Lessen Likelihood Of Disease Outbreaks In O.C.
In Orange County, we need to work together to prevent not only the Coronavirus, but any major epidemic from causing disturbance in our area.In the same way as Chinese infrastructure, healthcare and educational sources work together at the national level, so can we do on the local level. We can work together in solidarity, not fragmentation. (Peggy Palmer, 2/13) Sacramento Bee: California Needs Big Solutions To Increase Housing Affordability
California's housing crisis is getting worse. The status quo is not working. But as much as we like to complain about high housing costs, traffic congestion, and dwindling open space, we remain attached to an old version of the California Dream: single-family homes with big green lawns and swimming pools out of a David Hockney painting. One legislative leader is aggressively challenging the status quo. Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco is emerging as the state's most visible advocate for more density. Unfortunately, on January 30, his landmark housing bill fell three votes short of passage. (Nathan Ballard, 2/13) Sacramento Bee: CA Should Stop Threatening Vegan Cheese And Butter Makers
You won't find any vegans on The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board. Most of us are verified meat-eaters and, though one of us is vegetarian, all of us regularly enjoy cheese, cream, butter and milk. But you don't have to embrace a plant-based diet to see the ridiculousness of the California Department of Food and Agriculture's bullying attack on Miyoko's Creamery. The department has ordered the small Sonoma County company, which makes non-dairy, vegan cheese and butter, to stop labeling its products as such. (2/11) Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Campaign Is Reducing Black Child Deaths
As a native Sacramentan, I never tire of proudly promoting my home county. During the past few months, I've had the opportunity to do so across the nation, and for good reason: We're saving kids' lives and reducing the decades-long disparity affecting African American children, their families and our neighborhoods. This "collective impact" life-saving initiative is called The Black Child Legacy Campaign (BCLC), formerly the RAACD effort (Reducing African American Child Deaths). (Phil Serna, 2/12) | | | | | |
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