California Expects Surge In Out-of-State Abortion Patients If Supreme Court Overturns Roe V. Wade: Because the U.S. Supreme Court docket hears oral arguments in the present day in a case that immediately challenges Roe v. Wade, abortion suppliers and advocates in California are bracing for an enormous surge in out-of-state sufferers searching for the process ought to the court docket overturn the 1973 ruling. A latest research from the abortion-rights Guttmacher Institute estimates that the variety of ladies touring to California every year for an abortion might skyrocket from about 46,000 at the moment to round 1.4 million ought to the court docket overturn Roe v. Wade and permit conservative states to ban abortions. Learn extra from KQED, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, New York Times and Washington Post.
Marin County’s Public Health Department Is First In State To Track Home Covid Test Results: A brand new on-line system for residents to self-report outcomes of the speedy antigen assessments they use at residence makes Marin County’s public well being division the primary in California to attempt to monitor this hard-to-measure testing universe that usually isn’t included in native, state or federal COVID surveillance programs. The transfer comes as speedy antigen assessments such because the over-the-counter Abbott BinaxNow, which generates leads to quarter-hour, have gotten extra obtainable and extensively used. Many individuals are taking these assessments earlier than social gatherings or as a part of frequent testing packages at colleges or workplaces. Marin’s self-reporting system, which went stay in October, might give officers extra perception into how the virus is spreading in the neighborhood. Learn extra from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Beneath, take a look at the roundup of California Healthline’s protection. For in the present day’s nationwide well being information, learn KHN’s Morning Briefing.
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Has No Plans For An Omicron Lockdown
No vital new coronavirus-related restrictions are deliberate in Los Angeles County following the emergence of the Omicron variant, a prime well being official stated Tuesday. “At this second, we’ve got actually, I believe, wise precautions in place,” Public Well being Director Barbara Ferrer instructed the county Board of Supervisors. (Cash and Lin II, 11/30)
KQED:
Bay Area Health Officials Brace For Likely Arrival Of Omicron Variant
Native and state well being officers in California are intently monitoring for any indicators of the brand new omicron COVID-19 variant, and bracing for its doubtless arrival. Though little is thus far identified in regards to the new variant, which researchers in South Africa first recognized final week, the World Well being Group on Monday cautioned that “the general international threat … is assessed as very excessive.” That is due partly to the variant’s “unprecedented” variety of mutations, the company stated. (11/30)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
As Omicron Threat Looms, Local Health Care Leaders Take Wait-And-See Approach
With no native circumstances but confirmed, state and native public well being officers appear to be taking a wait-and-see method to Omicron, the brand new coronavirus with worrisome attributes first detected in South Africa. With the World Well being Group naming Omicron a “variant of concern” on Thanksgiving day, and the the Biden administration suspending non-citizen entry into the US from eight African nations efficient Monday, efforts are below approach to hold the most recent coronavirus risk at bay. (Sisson, 11/29)
The Washington Post:
The U.S. Is Better Prepared To Fight Omicron Variant, CDC Director Says
Within the face of mounting considerations and lingering questions over the results of the brand new omicron variant, well being officers reassured the general public Tuesday, arguing that the US is total higher ready to struggle and include the mutation than it was with earlier variants. “To be crystal clear — we’ve got way more instruments to struggle the variant than we had presently final 12 months,” Rochelle P. Walensky, director of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, stated throughout a White Home coronavirus briefing. (Villegas, Suliman and Pletsch, 11/30)
The New York Times:
Federal Health Officials Say That They Are Expanding The Search For Omicron In The U.S.
Prime federal well being officers stated on Tuesday that they had been increasing a surveillance program at among the largest U.S. airports as a part of a sprawling effort to determine and include what could possibly be the primary circumstances of the Omicron coronavirus variant in the US. Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention director, stated at a White Home information convention on the pandemic that the company was “actively trying” for the variant however had not discovered a case thus far among the many many optimistic virus samples sequenced across the nation every week. Circumstances of the Delta variant, which drove a devastating summer time surge, nonetheless make up 99.9 % of these samples. (Weiland, 11/30)
Bay Area News Group:
Bay Area Researchers Race To Study COVID-19 Omicron Variant
The Delta variant succeeded as a result of stealth, sickening us with COVID-19 earlier than we even knew it was right here.Omicron, the brand new variant, received’t be so fortunate. Even earlier than its arrival within the U.S., scientific labs within the Bay Space and across the nation are racing to construct the experiments wanted to reply two essential questions: Is omicron, which was first recognized in South Africa, extremely transmissible? Can it evade our immune response? (Krieger, 12/1)
CapRadio:
Omicron Could Become Dominant Strain In US, UC Davis Infectious Disease Expert Says
Over Thanksgiving weekend, many people discovered in regards to the newest COVID-19 variant, omicron. International locations worldwide are scrambling to include its unfold by limiting air journey whereas additionally urging individuals to not panic. Nevertheless, on the identical time, many cautioned that omicron is probably going already within the U.S. Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious illnesses at UC Davis Well being, spoke with Perception host Vicki Gonzalez about what we all know and don’t know in regards to the variant. Whereas information of different international locations banning flights has already begun, Blumberg stresses that these bans most likely received’t make a distinction. (11/30)
Los Angeles Times:
How Bad Will Omicron Be? Scientists Won’t Know For Months
In a virus that has already killed 5.2 million individuals throughout the globe, 50 or so new mutations sound like a nightmare for humanity. However within the age-old battle between microbes and mankind, that many genetic modifications can flip the tide in any route. The following chapter of the pandemic might function an Omicron variant that spreads extra readily than Delta, blows previous the defenses of a completely vaccinated immune system, and, like its coronavirus cousin that causes Center East respiratory syndrome, kills greater than one-third of those that get it. That worst-case situation can be an unfathomable catastrophe, stated Dr. Bruce Walker, an immunologist and founding director of the Ragon Institute in Cambridge, Mass. (Healy, 11/30)
The New York Times:
Omicron Was Present In Europe Days Before Flights Were Halted
Two individuals who examined optimistic for the coronavirus within the Netherlands greater than per week in the past had been contaminated with the Omicron variant, Dutch well being officers reported on Tuesday. The timing is important as a result of it means that the variant was already current within the nation for at the very least per week earlier than the arrival of two flights from South Africa on Friday, and earlier than the World Well being Group labeled Omicron a “variant of concern,” the step that prompted international locations around the globe to ban flights from southern Africa, the place researchers first recognized the variant. (Engelbrecht, 11/30)
Politico:
Testing Labs Brace For First U.S. Cases Of Omicron
Public well being officers stated Tuesday they anticipate to uncover the primary U.S. circumstances of the Covid-19 Omicron variant inside days and are making contingencies to activate a testing community that fell quick monitoring earlier strains of the virus. Public well being labs are prioritizing sequencing of optimistic samples that exhibit what is named an “s-gene dropout” — a telltale attribute Omicron shares with different variants however not the Delta pressure. (Lim, 11/30)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Omicron Has A ‘Greatest Hits’ Set Of Mutations. Bay Area Scientists Explain What That Means
To the California scientists on the entrance strains of the hunt for brand spanking new coronavirus variants, omicron is loaded with mutations which might be disturbingly acquainted, and dozens extra that they’ve by no means seen earlier than however are trigger for concern nonetheless. Omicron shares greater than a dozen mutations with variants like delta, alpha and beta which have wreaked havoc globally or in sure elements of the world. A few of these mutations are identified to make the virus much less vulnerable to vaccines or extra infectious. For others, the influence of the mutation is much less clear. (Allday, 11/30)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Labs Are Even Testing The Wastewater At SFO In Their Hunt For Omicron
California has constructed up a considerable community of laboratories to search for regarding coronavirus variants over the previous 12 months, and now the scientists working these labs are creating artistic new methods to rapidly determine omicron. At UCSF, one staff is learning wastewater — together with effluent from San Francisco Worldwide Airport — for indicators of the most recent variant, which has not but been present in the US however is probably going already right here. The top of the Stanford Scientific Virology Laboratory hopes to slim the seek for omicron by specializing in one mutation that it occurs to be lacking. Some scientists plan to make use of a easy diagnostic check to hurry up the hunt. (Allday, 11/30)
California Healthline and Politifact:
Omicron And Other Coronavirus Variants: What You Need To Know
Individuals, already weary of a pandemic practically two years lengthy, had been dealt a brand new blow through the lengthy Thanksgiving weekend: the announcement {that a} new coronavirus variant had emerged. The omicron variant, formally referred to as B.1.1.529, surfaced in November in a number of southern African nations. It set off alarm bells worldwide when public well being officers in South Africa noticed it starting to outcompete the earlier reigning variant, delta. This urged that omicron might ultimately unfold extensively. Certainly, omicron has since been reported on a number of continents, doubtless as a result of worldwide journey by individuals unknowingly contaminated. (Louis Jacobson, 11/30)
KQED:
Omicron: From Vaccines To Transmission, Here’s What We Know (And Don’t)
Federal well being officers are increasing the seek for the brand new omicron variant of COVID-19 within the U.S, together with at San Francisco Worldwide Airport, the place there’s elevated testing for some worldwide vacationers. There’s nonetheless quite a bit we don’t know — omicron could possibly be an enormous deal, or it might change little or no in regards to the pandemic. Medical specialists are at the moment making an attempt to determine whether or not this variant is extra contagious, whether or not it is extra lethal, and the way the vaccines maintain up towards it. (Cruz Guevarra, Cabrera-Lomelí and Montecillo, 12/01)
AP:
US Tracking Of Virus Variants Has Improved After Slow Start
Viruses mutate continually. To seek out and monitor new variations of the coronavirus, scientists analyze the genetic make-up of a portion of samples that check optimistic. They’re trying on the chemical letters of the virus’s genetic code to seek out new worrisome mutants, resembling omicron, and to comply with the unfold of identified variants, resembling delta. It’s a worldwide effort, however till lately the U.S. was contributing little or no. With uncoordinated and scattershot testing, the U.S. was sequencing fewer than 1% of optimistic specimens earlier this 12 months. Now, it’s working these assessments on 5% to 10% of samples. That’s extra according to what different nations have sequenced and shared with international illness trackers over the course of the pandemic. (Johnson, 11/30)
Reuters:
Courts Block Two Biden Administration COVID Vaccine Mandates
The Biden administration was blocked on Tuesday from imposing two mandates requiring thousands and thousands of American employees to get vaccinated towards COVID-19, a key a part of its technique for controlling the unfold of the coronavirus. U.S. District Decide Terry Doughty in Monroe, Louisiana, quickly blocked the Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Providers (CMS) from imposing its vaccine mandate for healthcare employees till the court docket can resolve authorized challenges. Doughty’s ruling utilized nationwide, besides in 10 states the place the CMS was already prevented from imposing the rule as a result of a previous order from a federal choose in St. Louis. (Hals, 11/30)
Bay Area News Group:
California Still Firing Vaccine-Resistant Health Workers
Well being care suppliers throughout California are closing in on firing presumably a whole bunch of employees who’ve let the clock tick down on a requirement to get vaccinated towards COVID-19. The dismissals come within the Golden State regardless of a federal choose late Tuesday blocking — at the very least quickly — the Biden administration’s makes an attempt to require well being care employees nationwide to be vaccinated by January. (DeRuy, 12/1)
CBS News:
Most Big Employers Say They Are Requiring COVID-19 Vaccinations For Workers
Most giant U.S. employers say they now require, or plan to mandate, that their employees get vaccinated towards COVID-19, in response to a brand new survey of greater than 500 firms by company advisory agency Willis Towers Watson. The survey comes because the Biden administration’s new rule about office vaccinations stays in limbo. Beneath the regulation, firms with 100 or extra workers should require employees to get vaccinated or endure weekly testing for the illness. (Picchi, 11/30)
Orange County Register:
Court Blocks Vaccine Mandate For California Prison Employees After Request By Governor, Others
An appellate court docket has quickly blocked a mandate requiring each California jail worker to be absolutely vaccinated towards COVID-19 by mid-January. The keep, granted by the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court docket of Appeals final week, halts the mandate that was to enter impact by Jan. 12 for the state’s 34 prisons. With the court docket order, jail workers who don’t get vaccinated can take common COVID-19 assessments as a substitute to maintain their jobs. (Licas, 11/30)
CalMatters:
Vaccine Mandates: California Adds With Omicron Variant
President Joe Biden on Monday reassured Individuals that the omicron variant “is a trigger for concern, not a trigger for panic” — elevating questions in regards to the technique Gov. Gavin Newsom will make use of to answer a type of COVID-19 about which a lot stays unknown. The governor, who returned to California late Sunday evening after a Thanksgiving journey to Mexico, hasn’t publicly addressed the omicron variant aside from a Saturday tweet urging Californians to get vaccinated and boosted. (Hoeven, 11/30)
CBS News:
U.S. Officials Expect Vaccines To Retain Some Effectiveness Against Omicron Variant
White Home officers expressed optimism Tuesday that the COVID-19 vaccines licensed and permitted within the U.S. will present at the very least some effectiveness towards the Omicron variant, particularly towards extreme illness. Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, stated throughout a White Home briefing that it is “attainable” the brand new mutations within the variant end in a big discount in antibody ranges, however the obtainable vaccines, and particularly booster doses, are more likely to end in some quantity of safety. (11/30)
Los Angeles Times:
Merck’s COVID-19 Pill Narrowly Wins FDA Panel’s Support
By a slim margin, advisors to the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration voted Tuesday to advocate authorization of a brand new tablet that sufferers with early circumstances of COVID-19 can take at residence, although its preliminary promise gave approach to a much more modest profit. The antiviral drug from Merck & Co., molnupiravir, is already licensed for emergency use in Britain. The FDA is predicted to determine inside days whether or not to comply with go well with. The company isn’t required to simply accept the influential panel’s recommendation, but when it does, it would most likely advocate the drug’s use for less than a slim slice of sufferers, with robust cautions and shut monitoring. (Healy, 11/30)
AP:
US Panel Backs First-Of-A-Kind COVID-19 Pill From Merck
A panel of U.S. well being advisers on Tuesday narrowly backed a intently watched COVID-19 tablet from Merck, setting the stage for a probable authorization of the primary drug that Individuals might take at residence to deal with the coronavirus. The Meals and Drug Administration panel voted 13-10 that the antiviral drug’s advantages outweigh its dangers, together with potential delivery defects if used throughout being pregnant. (Perrone, 11/30)
Modern Healthcare:
Pharmacists Ask CMS To Require COVID-19 Pill Dispensing Fee
Medicare Half D plans must be required to pay pharmacists for counseling sufferers and shelling out oral antiviral medicines that deal with COVID-19, organizations representing druggists say. A number of promising COVID-19 remedies have emerged in latest weeks, led by a Merck drug {that a} Meals and Drug Administration advisory panel advisable be permitted for emergency use on Tuesday. However whereas the Well being and Human Providers Division licensed pharmacists to manage lined COVID-19 therapeutics in September, the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Providers hasn’t mandated that well being plans pay pharmacists for giving out the medicines. (Goldman, 11/30)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Adventist Health Bakersfield Offering Vaccine Clinics For Children In December
Adventist Well being Bakersfield will likely be providing free immunizations for kids towards vaccine-preventable illnesses on the following websites in December: (11/30)
Sacramento Bee:
COVID: How Many Sacramento-Area Adults Have Had A Booster?
Greater than 350,000 residents of the four-county Sacramento area have acquired a COVID-19 booster dose however about two-thirds of eligible adults have but to get one, as well being officers strengthen requires most people to get boosted in gentle of the newly found omicron variant. Information from the California Division of Public Well being present that, by means of Monday, about 31% of Californians eligible for a booster dose have gotten one. (McGough, 11/30)
Modesto Bee:
When Are You Fully Protected By Your COVID Booster Shot?
All adults within the U.S. are eligible for a COVID-19 booster shot of any of the three obtainable coronavirus vaccines. However when are you able to formally profit from the safety the additional dose presents?As is the case along with your preliminary COVID-19 pictures, it would take two weeks after receiving your booster to your physique to supply as a lot coronavirus antibodies as the additional jab permits, a Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention spokesperson instructed McClatchy Information. (Camero, 11/30)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. Mayor Breed Appears Maskless In Another Nightclub Video. She Says She Didn’t Violate COVID Rules
Mayor London Breed was noticed dancing and singing alongside to stay music with out a masks at an indoor nightclub in San Francisco in one other quick video that appeared over the weekend and was extensively distributed on social media. It reignited the controversy over whether or not the mayor is following metropolis well being tips that she is asking residents and companies to obey. Critics referred to as out the mayor on the problem after the same clip surfaced in September. (Vaziri, 11/30)
Los Angeles Times:
How L.A. Escape Room Owners Rebounded From COVID-19
Boarding a luxurious prepare automobile on a weekday morning in Hollywood was as soon as a uncommon prevalence. Earlier than the pandemic, the leather-upholstered chairs, framed paintings, silver cocktail shakers, ornate keys and elaborate puzzles of the One Means Ticket escape room on Highland Avenue remained largely untouched till the night hours. However quickly after Maze Rooms reopened its Hollywood location earlier this 12 months amid the COVID-19 disaster, escape room house owners and spouses Ruslan Balashov and Natalie Lapidus noticed a big improve in weekday morning and afternoon appointments — typically booked by people experiencing unemployment and seeking to escape not solely a room, but additionally actuality for a short time. (Carras, 12/01)
Santa Cruz Sentinel:
Two Unvaccinated Santa Cruz County Residents Die Around Thanksgiving
Shortly after the vacation weekend, the County of Santa Cruz Well being Providers Company confirmed two extra COVID-19 deaths — bringing the pandemic’s native toll to 224 fatalities. HSA Spokesperson Corinne Hyland stated Tuesday that neither particular person was vaccinated. (Hartman, 12/01)
Bloomberg:
Amazon Accused Of Underreporting COVID Cases Contracted At Work
Amazon.com Inc. supplied “deceptive or grossly incomplete” knowledge in regards to the variety of COVID-19 infections doubtlessly unfold in its U.S. services, in response to a labor group that’s calling on the federal authorities to research the corporate. Of the virtually 20,000 workers the corporate stated contracted the coronavirus final 12 months, Amazon maintains that solely 27 doubtlessly caught it at work, in response to the group referred to as the Strategic Organizing Middle, which reviewed Amazon’s annual office sickness and harm disclosures to the Division of Labor. Federal authorities final 12 months required firms to report work-related COVID-19 circumstances. (Soper, 11/30)
CIDRAP:
Weak Immune Systems Tied To More COVID-19 Breakthrough Infections
Whereas COVID-19 breakthrough infections—circumstances after vaccination—are uncommon, absolutely vaccinated individuals with compromised immune programs have them 3 times extra typically than these with robust immune programs and have extra extreme sicknesses, in response to a real-world US research involving practically 1.3 million individuals. Within the retrospective research, printed in the present day within the Journal of Medical Economics, a staff led by researchers from Pfizer analyzed the well being data of 1,277,747 individuals aged 16 or older who had acquired two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from Dec 10, 2020, to Jul 8, 2021. The latter a part of the research interval included the emergence of the Delta (B1617.2) variant in the US. (Van Beusekom, 11/30)
CIDRAP:
Study Ties Long-Haul COVID-19 With Chronic Fatigue, Breathing Problems
Many COVID-19 survivors expertise impaired circulation, irregular respiration patterns, and continual fatigue syndrome a median of 9 months after prognosis, finds a small, single-center research yesterday in JACC: Coronary heart Failure. Within the first research to hyperlink long-haul COVID-19 with continual fatigue syndrome, researchers from the Icahn Faculty of Drugs at Mount Sinai used cardiopulmonary train testing (CPET) and symptom reviews to seek out the causes of shortness of breath in 23 ladies and 18 males with long-haul COVID. (11/30)
CIDRAP:
COVID-19 Infection Linked To Myocarditis In College Athletes
A small however vital share of faculty athletes with COVID-19 develop myocarditis, a doubtlessly harmful irritation of the guts muscle, in response to a research offered yesterday on the annual assembly of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Myocarditis usually follows bacterial or viral infections. In school athletes, earlier harm and scarring to the guts muscle attributable to myocarditis has been linked to as much as 20% of sudden athlete deaths. (11/30)
California Healthline:
For Older Adults, Smelling The Roses May Be More Difficult
The reviews from covid-19 sufferers are disconcerting. Just a few hours earlier than, they had been having fun with a cup of pungent espresso or the perfume of flowers in a backyard. Then, as if a change had been flipped, these smells disappeared. Younger and outdated alike are affected — greater than 80% to 90% of these identified with the virus, in response to some estimates. Whereas most individuals get well in just a few months, 16% take half a 12 months or longer to take action, analysis has discovered. In line with new estimates, as much as 1.6 million Individuals have continual scent issues as a result of covid. (Graham, 12/1)
California Healthline and PBS Newshour:
Watch: No Extra Resources For Children Orphaned By Covid
The variety of U.S. deaths from covid-19 has surpassed 778,000. Left behind are tens of 1000’s of youngsters — some orphaned — after their mother and father or a grandparent who cared for them died. On this report, co-produced with PBS NewsHour, KHN correspondent Sarah Varney appears to be like on the dangers these grieving youngsters face to their well-being, each within the quick and long run. No concerted authorities effort exists to assist the estimated 140,000 youngsters who’ve misplaced a guardian — and even to determine them. (Varney and Kane, 12/1)
Los Angeles Times:
Supreme Court Weighs Future Of Abortion In Mississippi Case
The Supreme Court docket’s new conservative majority will weigh in for the primary time Wednesday on the way forward for abortion rights — listening to arguments that would decide whether or not it limits the scope of Roe vs. Wade or overturns it solely. Mississippi’s Atty. Gen. Lynn Fitch is defending a state regulation that bans abortion after 15 weeks of a being pregnant, although below Roe, abortion rights have been protected till about 24 weeks. (Savage, 12/01)
Axios:
Abortions Could Require 200-Mile Trips If Roe Is Overturned
If the Supreme Court docket overturns Roe v. Wade, the typical American might need to journey round 125 miles to succeed in the closest abortion supplier, in comparison with the present common of 25 miles, in response to the Myers Abortion Facility database. 12 states will instantly prohibit abortion if Roe disappears, and others can be more likely to impose vital new restrictions. (Gonzalez, Smart and Oide, 12/1)
The Bakersfield Californian:
BC Reports High Rate Of Vaccinations For Students On Campus
With a month handed since its Nov. 1 deadline, Bakersfield Faculty says it has processed both a proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or an exemption for greater than 99 % of scholars and workers on its campuses. Of the 9,407 college students who attend class in-person on campuses, 317 had been granted exemptions, in response to school spokeswoman Norma Rojas-Mora. That’s 3.37 % of the on-campus inhabitants of scholars. (Gallegos, 11/30)
Modesto Bee:
Turlock CA School Board On COVID-19 Mask Rules At Meetings
Turlock Unified trustees affirmed they’ll uphold public well being tips on masks in a polarized assembly on Monday, although enforcement stays unclear. “We’ll cross that bridge if it ought to come,” Barney Gordon, Assistant Superintendent for Enterprise Providers, instructed trustees. Superintendent Dana Trevethan instructed The Bee the board would suggest a decision requiring masks following the Nov. 16 assembly at which scholar board representatives had been instructed to depart as a result of neighborhood members and Trustee Jeffrey Cortinas refused to put on face coverings in accordance with state guidelines. Cortinas didn’t put on a masks on Monday and referred to as the decision a “lure.” (Isaacman, 11/30)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
One San Diego School District Wants To Create An In-Person Option For Unvaccinated Students
The Alpine Union Faculty District was one of many first San Diego County districts to reopen final college 12 months through the pandemic and was one of some that attempted — unsuccessfully — to defy the state’s college masks rule, arguing that folks deserve to decide on whether or not their youngsters put on masks. Now the small district is engaged on a approach that college students who don’t get a COVID-19 vaccine can nonetheless proceed studying in particular person, even when vaccines are required by the state for in-person college attendance. (Taketa, 12/1)
CapRadio:
Cal State Requires Students To Be Vaccinated For COVID-19 — But It’s Not Evenly Enforced
In July, with the Delta variant of the coronavirus on the rise, California State College introduced that each one college students and workers going to campus would want to show they had been vaccinated towards the virus, or apply for a spiritual or medical exemption, no later than Sept. 30. The transfer by the nation’s largest four-year public college was pushed by “the overarching objective of attaining population-level immunity all through the CSU,” Cal State Chancellor Joseph Castro wrote. However whereas the vaccine mandate doubtless has helped keep away from giant outbreaks of COVID-19, it’s being inconsistently enforced throughout the system greater than a month after the deadline. Some campuses barred college students from in-person lessons and on-campus buildings after they did not add proof of vaccination or request an exemption, whereas others allowed them to proceed attending. (Huck, Shaikh and Mendoza, 11/30)
Bay Area News Group:
Elizabeth Holmes Trial: Theranos Founder Emotional On Stand
Separated by 10 ft and a see-through, anti-COVID barrier, Elizabeth Holmes confronted off towards federal prosecutor Robert Leach for six hours Tuesday as Leach sought to spotlight her alleged lies in regards to the failed blood-testing startup and emphasize her decision-making position on the agency — whereas additionally showcasing the love between Holmes and the previous firm president she yesterday accused of sexually abusing and controlling her.bTaking the witness stand for the fifth day, Holmes was at occasions gruff, the frequent small smiles she gave whereas answering her attorneys’ questions largely absent as she fought again towards allegations that she deceived buyers, retaliated towards whistleblowers and managed her purported abuser and ex-lover, relatively than the opposite approach round. (Baron, 11/30)
Media News Group:
Mental Health Tips Offered To Deal With Crisis
Within the wake of Tuesday’s taking pictures at Oxford Excessive Faculty, Oakland Group Well being Community is offering tricks to handle stress and trauma related to such a disaster. (Wingblad, 12/01)
Sacramento Bee:
Mental, Physical Health Risks Of Work From Home: CA Experts
Boundaries are damaged down, individuals typically expertise isolation and loneliness and their bodily well being, in some circumstances, can undergo throughout extended distant work, California well being specialists stated. Many Individuals are nearing their second 12 months of working from residence as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. And whereas this permits for extra comfort and fewer commutes, teleworking has impacted the psychological and bodily well being of many individuals, specialists instructed The Bee. (Truong, 12/01)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Voters Frustrated, Impatient Over Homelessness Crisis
Amid deep frustration over widespread, seen homelessness, Los Angeles voters need the federal government to behave sooner and concentrate on shelter for individuals residing within the streets, even when these efforts are short-term and fall wanting everlasting housing, a brand new ballot of county voters exhibits. Most voters proceed to precise empathy for homeless individuals, but additionally impatience and disappointment with the area’s management, in response to the ballot, performed by the Los Angeles Enterprise Council Institute in cooperation with The Instances. (Oreskes and Lauter, 12/01)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. Supervisors Set Aside $64 Million For Anti-Displacement Program. But It Might Not Get Spent This Year
The Board of Supervisors permitted spending $64 million to fund an current program that buys small residence buildings the place residents are liable to displacement. However Mayor London Breed opposed the plan and introduced forward of the vote Tuesday that town would work on reforming this system. Town budgeted $77 million for this system this fiscal 12 months. Supervisors had already put aside one other $10 million to this system, and Breed pledged Tuesday to allocate as much as $10 million extra. (Moench, 11/30)
CNN:
Biden Will Mark World AIDS Day With New National HIV/AIDS Strategy
President Joe Biden will mark World AIDS Day on Wednesday by unveiling a brand new nationwide HIV/AIDS technique with the objective of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030, a senior administration official instructed CNN. The technique — one thing Biden had promised on the marketing campaign path — will present a “framework and route for the administration’s insurance policies, analysis, the packages and planning by means of the 12 months 2025 to steer us towards ending the HIV epidemic in the US by 2030,” the official stated. (Malloy and LeBlanc, 12/1)
USA Today:
Biden’s HIV/AIDS Strategy To Include New Emphasis On Older Americans
President Joe Biden will unveil Wednesday a technique for combatting HIV/AIDS that the administration says may have a brand new concentrate on the rising inhabitants of individuals with HIV who’re ageing, together with different modifications. Greater than half of the1.2 million individuals in the US who’re residing with HIV are over age 50. The plan may even acknowledge racism as a critical well being risk, broaden the concentrate on addressing points like homelessness that make it laborious to struggle HIV/AIDS and encourage reform of state HIV criminalization legal guidelines. (Groppe, 12/1)
NBC News:
World AIDS Day: Is The World Closer To An HIV Vaccine In The Face Of Covid-19?
As Covid-19 introduced practically each nook of the Earth to a halt early final 12 months, researchers around the globe scrambled to develop a vaccine to fend off the lethal respiratory coronavirus. And simply a number of months later — in a course of that usually takes years — a number of vaccines had been prepared for worldwide distribution. As compared, about 40 years because the earliest reviews of what turned referred to as AIDS, scientists are nonetheless scratching their heads to develop a vaccine towards the virus that causes the life-threatening illness — HIV. (Lavietes, 12/1)
Stat:
Rates Of HIV Infection Among Black, Hispanic Men Unchanged In 10 Years
Regardless of quite a few advances within the prevention of HIV, new knowledge present that the speed of latest infections amongst Black and Hispanic/Latino homosexual and bisexual males didn’t decline over the previous decade. Officers say the discovering, from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, underscores the necessity to deal with underlying social points and gaps within the distribution of care whilst public well being initiatives proceed to attempt to scale back HIV charges. (Bender, 11/30)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Parkinson’s Association To Host 4th Empowerment Day To Help Those Diagnosed With The Disease
Parkinson’s Affiliation of San Diego will maintain its fourth Empowerment Day convention on Wednesday, aiming to show individuals residing with Parkinson’s illness and their caregivers easy methods to stay and thrive regardless of their prognosis. The all-day occasion will function a collection of 15- to 20-minute lengthy classes led by a staff of specialists within the area of Parkinson’s illness. Their discussions will cowl a wide range of matters, together with medicines, workout routines and stretches to assist individuals address signs. (Mapp, 11/29)
Fox News:
FDA Approves ‘Glowing Tumor’ Drug To Help Surgeons Identify Ovarian Cancer Cells
Cytalux (pafolacianince), a drug that binds to ovarian most cancers tissue and glows when uncovered to fluorescent gentle, has been permitted by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) to assist surgeons detect ovarian tumors throughout surgical procedures in sufferers. A Purdue College spokesperson instructed Fox Information that Philip Low, Purdue College’s Presidential Scholar for Drug Discovery, invented the drug. Low described in a press launch that when a surgeon activates the near-infrared gentle through the surgical procedure, “these lesions gentle up like stars towards an evening sky.” (McGorry, 11/30)
AP:
New Lead Testing Method Could Reveal Higher Levels In Water
After the Flint water disaster, Michigan handed the nation’s most aggressive lead measures, together with extra stringent testing of water. When utilizing strategies comparable to what’s at the moment required by the Environmental Safety Company, testing of 170 programs in Michigan with lead strains resulted in 11 samples that exceeded the federal lead stage requiring corrective motion. When utilizing one other methodology just like the one the EPA is reviewing and will quickly mandate nationally, the determine doubled to 22. With an much more thorough testing methodology Michigan adopted, it climbed to 31. Different states are more likely to see extra elevated lead outcomes as nicely below new testing; lead pipes nonetheless ship water to thousands and thousands of properties and companies, a relic of the nation’s outdated infrastructure. (Phillis, 11/30)
CBS News:
Teens Have Easier Access To Drugs As Illegal Trade Booms On Social Media
Final winter, Megan Macintosh discovered her 18-year-old son Chase unconscious after she says he experimented with capsules. He died simply over a month later, doubtless from a tablet laced with fentanyl from an unknown supply. Macintosh turned to his social media for solutions. Wanting by means of her son’s Snapchat, she stated she noticed baggage of capsules and mushrooms. “I felt actually helpless like there’s actually nothing I can do after I noticed how prevalent it was, how many individuals had been in his feed,” she stated. (Hanson, 11/30)
CNN:
Deodorant And Antiperspirant Recall: What The Finding Of The Cancer-Causing Chemical Benzene Means For You
Benzene, a identified cancer-causing chemical, was present in over half of 108 batches of antiperspirant and deodorant physique sprays from 30 completely different manufacturers, in response to a citizen’s petition filed this month with the US Meals and Drug Administration. Benzene shouldn’t be used within the manufacture of drug substances or merchandise as a result of it’s a class one solvent with “unacceptable toxicity,” in response to the FDA. Nevertheless, the FDA did enable a “non permanent” use of benzene in liquid hand sanitizers through the pandemic, setting the higher restrict to 2 elements per million. (LaMotte, 12/1)
Axios:
Massage, Facial, Pedicure… Intravenous Drip?
IV drips — the sort you may get in the event you’re rushed to the hospital — are trending as a spa remedy, thanks partly to endorsements by celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Madonna. Like different “wellness” developments with a whiff of medical imprimatur, IV nutrient drips could be innocent or mildly restorative — or go awry, notably within the mistaken palms. (Kingson, 12/1)
Modesto Bee:
Here’s How To Prevent Glasses From Fogging In The Winter
Because the climate will get colder and masks carrying continues as new COVID-19 variants emerge, those that put on glasses could face an unwelcome problem. We’re speaking about your eyeglasses fogging up. It’s a pesky downside many individuals face as they put on glasses and a masks, however there are methods to forestall it. (Stunson, 11/30)