UC Health system builds COVID-19 patient database in race for treatment breakthrough
Sac Bee's CATHIE ANDERSON: "The University of California Health has gathered information on all COVID-19 patientstreated at its five academic health systems into one secure database that UC researchers can study to quickly advance new theories and potential treatments.
The database contains more than 460 million pieces of information, all stripped of details that could identify a single patient, as federal law requires. Researchers will be able to see things such as medication orders, blood sugar and other test results, admission details, discharge details, COVID test results, vital signs, race, ethnicity, and sex of the patients.
“Aggregating and using our collective clinical data in this safe and responsible way is one of a series of initiatives to speed up ‘bench to bedside’ research to treatment,” said Dr. Atul Butte, chief data scientist for University of California Health. “With the scale of the pandemic, we need as many UC researchers as possible to work on treatment options."
How positive test rate shave roller-coastered in Bay Area counties
The Chronicle's KELLIE HWANG: "As California reverses course this week and shutters many reopened businesses in the counties on its coronavirus watch list, one crucial metric guiding health officials’ decisions is the positive test rate.
That figure, which officials refer to as the “positivity rate,” is the percentage of tests conducted that come back positive for coronavirus. The state threshold for counties to reopen faster is 8% over a seven-day period. California’s current positive test rate sits at 7.1%, and the latest 7-day moving average for the U.S. is 8.7%.
Lee Riley, an infectious disease expert at UC Berkeley, said the positive test rate is one of several ways to assess the trajectory of the epidemic, along with hospitalizations and deaths."
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Five months after outbreak, California to publish COVID-19 data on local jails
Sac Bee's JASON POHL: "California’s jail oversight board on Wednesday said it would collect and publish data about COVID-19 cases in county facilities, a response to months of public criticism and an apparently faltering effort to get similar information from the state’s health department.
The Board of State and Community Corrections in a letter to sheriffs asks them to provide data about COVID-19 deaths as well as positive cases among employees and inmates.
It also requests that sheriffs ensure their jail medical providers work more closely with county health officials. The counties, in turn, collaborate with the state, the goal being to improve the information in an existing infectious disease database used to track the spread of COVID-19."
Western alliance accuses Russia of hacking coronavirus vaccine trials
AP: "Britain, the United States and Canada say Russia is trying to steal information from researchers seeking a COVID-19 vaccine.
The three nations alleged Thursday that hacking group APT29, also known as Cozy Bear and said to be part of the Russian intelligence service, is attacking academic and pharmaceutical research institutions involved in coronavirus vaccine development.
The persistent and ongoing attacks are seen by intelligence officials as an effort to steal intellectual property, rather than to disrupt research."
Congress edges toward deal to extend federal unemployment subsidy in coronavirus bill
LA Times's SARAH D WIRE: "After initial resistance from some Republicans, Congress is inching closer to an agreement to extend at least some of the $600-a-week federal unemployment insurance subsidy approved this spring to help American workers hurt by the coronavirus crisis.
When they return next week to begin talks on another major relief bill, lawmakers face a tight deadline to renew the popular benefit, which expires at the end of the month.
The recent resurgence in COVID-19 cases in many states, including California, is providing a political tailwind for Democrats who want to extend the money."
Steinberg endorses 'split-roll' initiative to raise property tax on California businesses
Sac Bee's MATT KRISTOFFERSEN: "Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is getting behind a California ballot initiative that would raise property taxes on businesses and bring in billions of dollars every year for public services.
The measure — arriving on November’s ballot as Proposition 15 — would end restrictions on assessments for commercial property worth more than $3 million, allowing them to be taxed based on their current value instead of their purchase price.
The “split-roll” initiative would exempt residential property and small businesses, meaning they would continue to be assessed at their purchase price."
Kamala Harris made her mark confronting Joe Biden. Could they end up as running mates?
LA Times's MARK Z BARABAK/MELANIE MASON: "California’s senator needed a big splash in the first Democratic presidential debate, and her main rival, front-runner Joe Biden, seemed to have teed up a perfect opportunity. Days earlier, at a New York City fundraiser, he reminisced of a bygone era in the Senate and his ability to work civilly alongside two segregationist lawmakers.
Harris, only the second Black women ever to serve in the chamber, was deeply offended. But she also had warm feelings toward Biden, a friend and past political ally.
Her decision to call him to account before a national prime-time audience produced one of the most electric moments of the 2020 campaign and, more than a year later, continues to echo as the presumptive Democratic nominee chooses his vice presidential running mate. Harris is seen as a top contender."
A game of red light, green light for California wineries
The Chronicle's ESTHER MOBLEY: "I was on vacation last week and managed to not check email, Slack or my work-related social media channels — not even once. I left my cell phone off for long stretches of time. It felt amazing, until I forced myself back into reality and realized I’d missed what felt like 10 news cycles’ worth of changes in California’s reopening plans.
Who can keep track of this stuff? (The Chronicle’s handy-dandy Reopening Tracker, that’s who.) Within the last week, Napa County rolled back the reopening of indoor tasting rooms and restaurants, and closed bars altogether. Sonoma County followed with similar plans.
Then, just when I was starting to parse apart the different regulations in various Bay Area counties, Gov. Gavin Newsom made things simpler to understand: He announced on Monday that all wineries and restaurants (plus movie theaters, museums and other businesses) throughout the state would have to close for indoor visitation. Bars would have to cease all operations."
Dems used Obamacare to win California battlegrounds. Will it work again in 2020?
Sac Bee's KATE IRBY: "Democrats trounced Republicans in the battle districts of California in 2018, largely by focusing on health care and the GOP efforts to dismantle Obamacare.
They cited the many times Republican congressmen tried to repeal Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, and the failed effort to put in a Republican replacement. They drew attention to President Donald Trump’s attempts to pull down Obamacare piece by piece, portraying Republicans as uncaring about health care for low-income Americans.
It helped them flip seven Republican held seats, from Modesto to Orange County."
Number of laid-off workers seeking jobless aid stuck at 1.3M
AP: "The number of laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits remained stuck at 1.3 million last week, a historically high level that indicates many companies are still cutting jobs as the viral outbreak intensifies.
The elevated level of applications for jobless aid is occurring as new confirmed cases of coronavirus are spiking across much of the Sunbelt, threatening to weaken the economic recovery. Case counts are rising in 40 states, and 22 states have either paused or reversed their efforts to reopen their economies, according to Bank of America.
Rising infections paralleled rising applications for aid in some states getting hit right now, and fell in states with declining infections. In Florida claims doubled to 129,000, and in Georgia they rose nearly one-third to 136,000. In California they increased 23,000 to nearly 288,000. Applications also rose in Arizona and South Carolina."
Relax, Obama strategist tells Democrats: Joe Biden should stay in his basement
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "Barack Obama’s top strategist, David Plouffe, famously had a name for Democrats who fretted that the former president would lose his 2012 re-election bid: “bed wetters.”
They’re back this summer, triggered by Joe Biden surging well ahead of President Trump in national polls, opening up leads in swing states and improbably running even in long-Republican Texas, according to the RealClearPolitics.com roundup of major polls.
That’s too good to be true, say the fretful. They’re concerned that Biden’s stay-in-the-basement strategy is too cautious. Shouldn’t he be getting out on the road as much as the pandemic will allow, as Trump is attempting to?"
Even darker and stormier nights ahead...
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "California’s wild weather swings, from pounding rain to drought and from fires to floods, are widely expected to worsen as the climate warms. A new study shows just how severe things might get, and it’s not pretty.
The biggest of Pacific storms will dump 40% more rain and snow on parts of the Sierra, boost the hourly rate of precipitation in hills and valleys nearly a third, on average, and be about 4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer upon landfall, the research shows.
The findings, distilled from models of the weather phenomena known as atmospheric rivers, mean that a worst-case storm scenario, on par with the Great Flood of 1862 that turned the Central Valley into a raging sea and took countless lives, is an increasingly real possibility."
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Caltrains closure = A Bay Area disaster
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "When Caltrain officials said Tuesday that they may have to shut the rail line down after two San Francisco supervisors scuttled a tax measure to save it, transit activists predicted disaster.
Traffic would pile up on Highway 101. More tech workers would rely on corporate shuttles or private cars when their offices reopened. And if the trains kept running with few passengers, Muni and Valley Transportation Authority would be on the hook to fund them.
“When we return to normal we’re going to see highways flooded with cars, an increase in greenhouse gases and a decrease in mental health,” said Caltrain board Director Charles Stone, describing the social consequences of so many people stuck in automobiles."