Covid Still Kills, but the Demographics of Its Victims Are Shifting

Californians were far less likely to die from covid in the first seven months of 2022 than during the first two years of the pandemic. Still, the virus remained among the state’s leading causes of death in July, outpacing diabetes, accidental death, and a host of debilitating diseases. We break down who’s at risk. (Phillip Reese, 9/24 )

Newsom Vetoes Kids' Mental Health Bill: California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday vetoed a bill that aimed to help children with private insurance access mental health care at school, saying the program would cost too much. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle and CalMatters.

California’s Water Treatment Systems Are A Health Risk, Audit Says: Already battered by drought, dwindling supplies and climate change, California’s failing water treatment systems also suffer from problems that raise the specter of long-term health issues in residents, such as kidney issues and a higher risk of cancer, according to a state report. Read more from Capitol Weekly.

Below, check out the roundup of California Healthline’s coverage. For today's national health news, read KHN's Morning Briefing.

The Mercury News: President Biden Said The Pandemic Is Over. What Do Medical Experts Say? “The pandemic is over,” President Joe Biden has declared — stirring debate in a country where few pay much mind to COVID-19 anymore while the disease still kills hundreds of Americans a day. Though the president’s remarks Sunday on CBS’ 60 Minutes drew jabs from some quarters and puzzlement from others, they raise a question medical experts have struggled to answer clearly: When will we know the COVID-19 pandemic is over? In many ways, that depends how you define it. (Woolfolk, 9/19)

Politico: Fauci: “We Are Not Where We Need To Be If We Are Going To Quote ‘Live With The Virus’” It is unlikely the U.S. will eradicate the coronavirus and a “suspicious” new variant, BA 2.75.2, is on the horizon, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said Monday during a fireside chat with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We are not where we need to be if we are going to quote ‘live with the virus’ because we know we are not going to eradicate it,” Fauci said. “The next question we ask: ‘Are we going to be able to eliminate it from our country or from most of the world?’ and the answer is unlikely, because it is highly transmissible and the immunity that’s induced by vaccine or infection is also transient.” (Garrity, 9/19)

NBC News: Covid Will Be A Leading Cause Of Death Indefinitely In The U.S. "It’s likely, when we think of the causes of death in our society, that Covid’s on the list probably forever,” said Dr. Bob Wachter, the chair of the University of California, San Francisco’s department of medicine. "Whether we call it a pandemic or not, it’s still an important threat to people," he added. (Bendix and Pettypiece, 9/20)

Stat: Is The Covid-19 Pandemic Over? The Answer Is More Art Than Science Is the Covid-19 pandemic over? President Biden told Scott Pelley of “60 Minutes” it was. The Sunday night interview aired just days after the director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the end may be in sight — though Tedros clearly didn’t mean it was days away when he predicted it. (Branswell, 9/19)

Oaklandside: How To Get New Omicron Boosters In Alameda County Michael Souza was trying to get one of the new Moderna COVID-19 boosters, but the 33-year-old Oakland resident wasn’t having much luck finding an available appointment. He tried going through his insurance provider and checked chain pharmacies all over the area, some telling him they were having issues with the supply chain.  Souza’s luck changed Thursday when he learned that the Center of Hope Community Church on MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland was hosting a vaccine clinic run by Umoja Health and had doses. Souza was able to get his, just before they closed up for the day around 2:30. (Krans, 9/19)

Los Angeles Daily News: Senior Living: The Importance Of Vaccines For Older Adults  With increasing age, the body’s immune system gets weaker, making the chances of getting sick higher. Vaccines help your immune system fight disease over time. They work by giving the body a weakened version of a bacteria or virus so it can make the right antibodies to fight off the disease more aggressively and effectively. (Mikhail, 9/19)

CIDRAP: Updated COVID Booster Tied To Strong Omicron Immune Response The new bivalent (two-strain) Moderna COVID-19 vaccine booster triggered stronger neutralizing antibody responses against the highly transmissible Omicron variant at 28 days than the previously authorized booster, with no safety concerns, according to the interim results of a phase 2/3 open-label, nonrandomized study published late last week in the New England Journal of Medicine. "These findings indicate that bivalent vaccines may be a new tool in the response to emerging variants," the researchers wrote. (Van Beusekom, 9/19)

Houston Chronicle: Side Effects From New COVID Boosters Similar To Original Shots Clinical studies that evaluated the safety of the boosters made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna found that each was associated with many of the same side effects as the original vaccines. They included pain, redness and swelling at the injection site; fatigue; headache; muscle pain; chills; joint pain; and fever. (MacDonald, 9/19)

Fresno Bee: Fresno Nursing Home Staff Set To Strike Over Staffing Levels  Raymond Rodriguez has worked at Sunnyside Convalescent Hospital, a nursing home in southeast Fresno, as a certified nurse assistant and restorative nurse aide for almost 15 years. Though he said he has been through “hard times” with the nursing home, he has no intention of leaving. (Diaz, 9/19)

Capitol Weekly: California Health, With California HHS Secretary Mark Ghaly This is a Special Episode, recorded live at California Health, a one-day conference held in Sacramento on September 13, 2022. Capitol Weekly’s annual look at health care featured three panels looking at different aspects of health care in the Golden State. The Keynote featured an interview with Secretary of Health and Human Services Mark Ghaly, conducted by Capitol Weekly editor John Howard. (Foster, 9/19)

Ukiah Daily Journal: Cookies: Name Of New Cannabis Dispensary In Northern California Has Many Concerned There’s a new building at the corner of Talmage Road and South State Street that many Ukiah residents feel is much more attractive than the structures it replaced. However, some also feel that the name of the new business, “Cookies,” and its signs are much too attractive to minors, given that it sells marijuana. “I think that sign needs to be re-thought,” said James Whittaker, addressing the Ukiah City Council during its Sept. 7 meeting, describing the color, name and imagery used by the business as evoking the Sesame Street character “The Cookie Monster,” which he described as “straight marketing to kids. Somebody really needs to take that seriously." (Frederiksen, 9/20)

Sacramento Bee: Shot In The Head During Alleged Hate Attack, California Man Details ‘Miracle’ Recovery Travis Barber was rushed to Mercy Medical Center in Redding, where he was treated for 15 days in total, including the 12 in the ICU. There, doctors “removed half of his skull,” Daisha Barber said. It was reattached months later, in August 2021. In the interim, Barber had to wear a specially designed helmet for his self-described “extra large” head. (McGough, 9/19)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Chula Vista Mother Fought To Get Her 'Little Warrior's' Rare Disease Diagnosis Confirmed  Neurofibromatosis type 1, or NF1, is a rare disease causing the growth of usually benign tumors throughout the body, including neurofibromas, which develop on nerve cells and tissues. According to the National Cancer Institute, about 1 in 2,500 to 3,000 people are living with the condition, which is correlated with an increased risk for cancerous tumors like sarcoma, brain cancer and breast cancer. (Mapp, 9/20)

Marin Independent Journal: Marin County Sues Monsanto Over PCBs Marin County and nine Marin cities and towns are suing Monsanto and two other companies for alleged damages caused by their sale of products containing PCBs. “PCBs have left a long toxic legacy,” Marin County Counsel Brian Washington said of polychlorinated biphenyls, a group of manmade chemicals once used in a range of commercial, household and industrial applications. (Halstead, 9/19)

The Bakersfield Californian: Study Links Use Of Paraquat, Other Pesticides To Thyroid Cancer In Southern, Central Valley  New research out of UCLA raises concerns about thyroid cancer risks related to the use of certain pesticides in Kern and two other counties in the Central Valley. (Cox, 9/19)

Bloomberg: STDs Chlamydia, Syphilis, Gonorrhea Increased In US In 2021 Rates of common sexually transmitted infections sharply increased in the US last year, alarming some health officials and sexual health advocates who argue the country needs to do more to stop the spread of preventable diseases. (Muller, 9/19)

AP: 'Out Of Control' STD Situation Prompts Call For Changes Sharply rising cases of some sexually transmitted diseases — including a 26% rise in new syphilis infections reported last year — are prompting U.S. health officials to call for new prevention and treatment efforts. “It is imperative that we ... work to rebuild, innovate, and expand (STD) prevention in the U.S.,” said Dr. Leandro Mena of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a speech Monday at a medical conference on sexually transmitted diseases. (Stobbe, 9/19)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Had Bold Plan To Cut Chronic Homelessness In Half In 5 Years. The Numbers Only Got Worse In 2017, San Francisco’s top officials announced an audacious goal: Cut the city’s chronic homelessness number in half over the next five years. A few months earlier, the city had received a gift to help reach that goal — $100 million in private donations from a nonprofit to supplement the city’s more than $250 million annual homelessness budget. (Moench and Fagan, 9/20)

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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