Friday, December 9, 2022 | California Healthline

Los Angeles Daily News:
LA County Moves Into CDC’s ‘High Transmission’ COVID Category 

Los Angeles County has moved into the CDC’s “high” transmission level for the community spread of COVID, but a new mask mandate is not being announced at this time, reported Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer during a Dec. 8 media briefing. (Harter, 12/8)

Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Hits High COVID-19 Community Level

Los Angeles County has again entered the high COVID-19 community level, further indication that the continuing spike in cases is starting to exert pressure on the region’s hospitals. Should hospitalization rates continue to rise this month, the county could be on track for a renewed universal mask order in indoor public settings. (Lin II and Money, 12/8)

Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Hospitals Feel Strain From COVID Surge, Bad Flu Season

A “tripledemic” of COVID-19, the flu and RSV is hitting Southern California hard, sending patients to the emergency room in droves and presenting a steep new challenge for a healthcare system already worn thin by nearly three years of the pandemic. “When you have the convergence of three very serious respiratory viruses, it puts a huge burden on emergency departments and also on the hospital itself,” said Dr. Kimberly Shriner, medical director of infection prevention at Huntington Health. (Reyes, Money and Lin II, 12/8)

Voice of OC:
Another COVID Wave Hits Orange County Ahead Of Holidays

Orange County is facing another winter COVID-19 wave as positivity rates have steadily increased and hospitalizations tripled throughout November. “I think it will be worse than the little wave we had in the summertime,” said Andrew Noymer, a UC Irvine public health expert and epidemiologist. (Custodio, 12/8)

San Diego Union-Tribune:
ERs Stressed As COVID-19 Cases Increase In San Diego County 

As flu cases show signs of peaking in San Diego County, coronavirus continues to surge, according to the latest weekly update from the county health department. (Sisson, 12/8)

The Bakersfield Californian:
Rise In Viral ‘Co-Infections’ Pressures Local Hospital Staffs 

Bakersfield hospitals are reporting a surge in adults showing up in emergency rooms suffering from two or three viral infections — an unusual situation that has begun to strain staffing levels at local medical centers. (Cox, 12/8)

USA Today:
COVID Bivalent Vaccine For Kids Authorized By FDA

The Food and Drug Administration signed off on the vaccine change Thursday morning. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was expected to quickly follow suit. The change applies to third doses of both the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, called Comirnaty, and Moderna’s vaccine, named Spikevax, though there are slight differences in age and dose between the two. (Weintraub, 12/8)

Politico:
FDA Greenlights Bivalent Vaccines For Children As Young As 6 Months Old 

The agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was slated to meet Friday, however the meeting — which did not have an agenda disclosed — has been postponed, according to the committee’s website. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is expected to endorse the FDA emergency use authorization. (Lim and Gardner, 12/8)

CIDRAP:
Antivirals—Not Monoclonal Antibodies—Neutralize Omicron BQ.1.1, XBB 

The Omicron BQ.1.1 and XBB SARS-CoV-2 subvariants evade the monoclonal antibodies imdevimab, casirivimab, tixagevimab, cilgavimab, bebtelovimab, and S309—but not the antiviral drugs remdesivir, molnupiravir, and nirmatrelvir (Paxlovid), according to a research letter published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Van Beusekom, 12/8)

AP:
House Passes Defense Bill Scrapping COVID Vaccine Mandate

A bill to rescind the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for members of the U.S. military and provide nearly $858 billion for national defense passed the House on Thursday as lawmakers scratch off one of the final items on their yearly to-do list. … The House passed the bill by a vote of 350-80. It now goes to the Senate, where it is expected to pass easily, then to the president to be signed into law. (Freking, 12/8)

CNN:
US Military Braces For Impact Of Covid Vaccine Mandate Repeal

Deputy Defense Press Secretary Sabrina Singh declined on Wednesday to go into detail about what the Pentagon was preparing for if the mandate was repealed. [But] it’s not just about the US. American troops often have additional vaccine requirements depending on the area of the world to which they are deploying or being rotated through. Under the Pentagon’s current policy, service members who have not gotten the vaccine are considered non-deployable, Singh said Wednesday. (Britzky and Liebermann, 12/8)

The Hill:
Repeal Of Military Vaccine Mandate Shows Changing Pandemic Politics

By giving in to Republican demands, Democrats acknowledged that the public has moved on, and there’s not much appetite for any sort of virus-fighting rules. “The policy that the Department of Defense implemented in August of 2021 … was absolutely the right policy. It saved lives and it made sure our force was as ready as it possibly could be in the face of the pandemic,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, (D-Wash.), said during a speech before the House Rules Committee defending the authorization bill. “As we are here in December 2022, does that August 2021 policy still make sense? We don’t believe that it is, and I don’t believe that it is,” Smith said. (Weixel, 12/9)

Vox:
The GOP Push To Roll Back The Military’s Covid-19 Vaccine Mandate, Explained 

Republicans’ main argument centers on staffing: They say the military’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate has pushed out thousands of service members in a time when there are already severe labor shortages. Roughly 8,000 active-duty service members have been discharged because they refused vaccination, per US News, but that represents a small fraction of the military’s more than 1 million active-duty service members. As Politico reported, about 98 percent of the military has been vaccinated. (Zhou, 12/7)

USA Today:
Same-Sex Marriage Bill Passes In House, Heads To Biden

President Joe Biden said in a statement the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act will bring peace of mind to millions in the LGBTQ community and to interracial couples. “Congress has restored a measure of security to millions of marriages and families,” he said. “They have also provided hope and dignity to millions of young people across this country who can grow up knowing that their government will recognize and respect the families they build.” (Looker and Rossman, 12/8)

NPR:
What Does The Respect For Marriage Act Do? The Answer Will Vary By State. 

But even when it is signed, the legality of same-sex marriage will still rest on the the 2015 Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, which found that same-sex marriage is constitutionally protected. If the Court were to overturn Obergefell, the legality of same-sex marriages would revert to state law — and the majority of states would prohibit it. The Respect for Marriage Act wouldn’t change that, but it requires all states to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states and federally recognizes these marriages. (Radde, 12/8)

Stat:
Mpox Vaccine Provided Strong Protection, CDC Data Show

People who received one or two doses of mpox vaccine contracted the infection at substantially lower rates than unvaccinated people, a study published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested. (Branswell, 12/8)

CIDRAP:
Studies Show Efficacy, Safety Of Jynneos Vaccine Against Mpox 

In the first study, researcher show mpox cases were 9.6 times higher among unvaccinated men compared to those who had received two vaccine doses, and 7.4 times higher than in those who had received only the first dose. … In the second study, safety monitoring of the Jynneos vaccine was gathered after 1 million doses in the United States, administered from May 22 to Oct 21. Only 14 reports were classified as serious. (Soucheray, 12/8)

ABC News:
CDC Report Shows How Infectious Mpox Is And How Important Vaccination Was In Stemming Outbreak

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows how infectious mpox can be and how important vaccination was in reducing the outbreak over the summer. … The study, published Thursday, looked at cases by vaccination status among men ages 18-49 between July 31 and Oct. 1 in the U.S. (Kekatos, 12/8)

KQED:
When The Tenderloin’s Addiction Crisis Goes Viral

San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood has a reputation for drug addiction, poverty, and homelessness — all big problems that have not been solved by city and state leaders. But the neighborhood’s image is also shaped by disturbing pictures and videos of people taking drugs outside that go viral on social media. These images, which circulate around the world, can evoke anger, fear, and frustration. They also shape opinion about what should be done and galvanize support for harsher, tougher crackdowns on drug dealing and drug use. (Guevarra, McDede, Esquinca and Montecillo, 12/9)

San Francisco Chronicle:
Playground Death Of 7-Year-Old Spurs New Safety Rules In Bay Area Cities

When Eric and Dayna Quanbeck lost their 7-year-old son in a horrific accident at his school in 2019, the San Francisco couple vowed to “channel their grief” into preventing any similar tragedies. Their son Alex was playing football with friends during recess at his San Rafael school when he tried to close a rolling gate so the ball would stay on the playground. The wheels on the gate fell off the rails and the 300 pounds of metal crushed him. His death devastated them. (Flores, 12/8)

CalMatters:
More Street Medicine Teams Tackle California’s Homeless Health Care Crisis

Living on the streets of California is a deadly affair. The life expectancy of an unsheltered person is 50, according to national estimates, nearly 30 years less than that of the average Californian. As homelessness spirals out of control throughout the state, so too do deaths on the street, but it’s those whose lives are the most fragile who are least likely to get medical care. (Hwang, 12/8)

CalMatters:
Homeless Health Care Crisis: Will Street Teams Remedy?

Living on the streets of California is a deadly affair. The life expectancy of an unsheltered person is 50, according to national estimates, nearly 30 years less than that of the average Californian. As homelessness spirals out of control throughout the state, so too do deaths on the street, but it’s those whose lives are the most fragile who are least likely to get medical care. Now, the state Medi-Cal agency is endeavoring to improve health care access for people experiencing homelessness. Through a series of incentives and regulatory changes, the Health Care Services Department is encouraging Medi-Cal insurers to fund and partner with organizations that bring primary care into encampments. (Hwang, 12/8)

Los Angeles Times:
Homeless Encampments Cleared For Karen Bass’ Inauguration

During her campaign, Los Angeles Mayor-elect Karen Bass repeatedly promised she would make homelessness her priority on Day 1, with an immediate focus on the city’s most “challenging” encampments. Three days before her inauguration, one particularly visible encampment — across the street from City Hall — was already receiving a swarm of attention from sanitation crews, outreach workers and other government employees. (Zahniser and Wick, 12/8)

Orange County Register:
Barbara Ferrer Continues To Stir Up Unsubstantiated Fear About COVID

Testing, testing. One. Two. Three. For three years now, our daily lives have been tossed around like a juggler’s clubs by the obsession with counting positive COVID-19 tests. Although a positive COVID test is not the same as an illness, not evidence of contagiousness, and not necessarily even accurate, Los Angeles residents have been living under the government’s threat to impose restrictions based on arbitrary numbers of positive COVID tests. (Susan Shelley, 12/6)

San Diego Union-Tribune:
Vaccines, Boosters Are Best Protection Against COVID-19, Flu 

I’ve done a lot of listening about COVID-19 and about COVID-19 vaccines and boosters. Many friends have told me they just weren’t ready to vaccinate their kids. Others figure they or their children are protected because they’ve had at least one vaccine dose or already had the virus. (Mark Ghaly, 12/8)

San Francisco Chronicle:
‘Bodies Everywhere’: S.F. Tenderloin Center Closure Portends Grim Future

Carla Firnschild is 72 years old with tidy grey pigtails and glasses. She uses a wheelchair to get around. On Thanksgiving Day, she overdosed on opiates. Drugs, she says, help her with her arthritis pain. For much of the past year, she rolled into the Tenderloin Center in United Nations Plaza to smoke safely under the watchful eyes of trained personnel from the HealthRight360 clinic, who staffed the center and were ready to reverse an overdose. (Nuala Bishari, 12/6)

CalMatters:
California Is Fighting Childhood Trauma With Trauma

Two years ago, Dr. Robert Anda, one of the authors of the original study of Adverse Childhood Experiences, cautioned that the scores from questionnaires to screen children for ACEs could be “misappropriated” as a diagnostic tool. California does not appear to have listened. (Richard Wexler, 12/9)

Los Angeles Blade:
Walking A Fine Line: The Self-Harm Incident & Anti-LGBTQ Ted Cruz

National media attention has been focused on a Houston, Texas teenaged girl today in what sources are saying to multiple outlets was a self-harm potential suicide attempt. The intensity of the coverage is driven by the girl’s father, controversial right-wing Texas Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, and in part driven by a social media post in a comment thread between the daughter and another person on a TikTok post over her listing her sexual orientation as bisexual. … Senator Cruz is indeed a public figure and his children are not. While the request made for privacy by the media seems reasonable, given the circumstances, it is also problematic in a “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” cliché when reviewing the numerous hateful attacks that Cruz has made on LGBTQ+ youth, their parents, and the LGBTQ+ community. (Brody Levesque, 12/7)

East Bay Times:
Examine The Causes Of Nation’s Youth Mental Health Crisis

The tragedies keep mounting, here and across the country. Yet despite the long-term decline in youth mental health prompting the U.S. surgeon general’s declaration last December of a crisis, little attention has been paid to the underlying causes of this growing national epidemic. (David Labaree and Deborah Malizia, 12/2)

Los Angeles Daily News:
We Disagree With Doctors’ Lobby, Care From Nurse Practitioners Should Be Expanded

People with MDs, despite what some of them and all of their lobbies maintain, are not the only doctors in this world. And they are not the only top-level medical professionals, either. (12/2)