Almost 9 in 10 Californians live in areas with high COVID-19 levels as BA.5 fuels infections
LAT, RONG-GONG LIN II/LUKE MONEY: “Nearly 9 in 10 Californians now live in counties with a high COVID-19 community level, in which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends universal masking in indoor public spaces.
The new developments underscore the increasing concerns about super-infectious subvariants of Omicron that have fueled a summer coronavirus wave.
With the coronavirus resurgent and cases and hospitalizations on the rise, Los Angeles is poised to become the first Southern California county to reinstate mandatory public indoor masking.”
‘Long COVID’ still a mystery as California fights pandemic
JOSHUA AALCIDES, Capitol Weekly: "More than two years after California imposed the nation’s first lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19, the deadly disease persists, fueled now by the highly infectious subvariants and clouded by fears that the malady will stick around awhile — a long while.
Despite the persistent threats and a death toll of about 92,000 and 10.3 million infections, many COVID precautions — remarkably — have been removed. As of early July, the number of those testing positive was about 17% and climbing, putting it on track to being the second-highest positivity rate of the entire pandemic. About half of those were infected by BA.5, Omicron and other subvariants."
Four-out-of-five Californians have been vaccinated, boosted, or both, and experts clearly have gained a better understanding of COVID-19."
People are getting COVID again and again... and again. Is this the new normal?
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: “As the Bay Area’s latest COVID surge threatens to be the biggest yet and the coronavirus continues to spin off new, immune-evasive variants, are repeated infections a part of living with COVID?
Increasingly, experts fear, the answer is yes.
While doctors agree it’s unlikely people will get infected twice with the same variant, it’s probable over the long term that new COVID variants could infect people again due to the lightning-speed evolution of the novel coronavirus.”
UC Irvine and other schools reinstate indoor mask mandates amid rising COVID-19 wave
LAURA NEWBERRY, LAT: "The University of California Irvine on Monday will require all students and staff to wear masks while inside campus buildings, following the lead of other colleges that have chosen to strengthen safety measures in recent weeks as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
UCI’s universal masking policy will apply to everyone on campus regardless of vaccination status , according to a statement from the university. The decision was announced after Orange County on Friday moved into the “high” level of community transmission set by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
Other University of California campuses including UC Riverside temporarily restored indoor mask policies earlier in the summer that have since expired. UCLA temporarily reinstated its indoor mask policy in late June and later extended the requirement until further notice. UCLA has also reinstated daily symptom monitoring for students and staff. Weekly COVID-19 testing is strongly recommended."
Abortion pills will soon be available on California campuses
The Chronicle, MALLIKA SESHADRI: “As California’s efforts to enshrine abortion access continue, the University of California and California State University are working to provide medication abortions on all campuses by Jan. 1.
So far, none of the Cal State campuses offer medication abortions, and access within the UC system varies from campus to campus. Both university systems, however, say they are on track to implement a law passed in 2019 requiring their student health centers to provide access to the pills.
As many as 6,228 students could seek medication abortions on UC and Cal State campuses each year, once they are available, according to Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, a research program at the University of California San Francisco.”
Judge planned to renege on Roman Polanski plea deal, ex-prosecutor testified
BRIAN MELLEY, AP: “A Los Angeles judge privately told lawyers he would renege on a plea deal and imprison Roman Polanski for having sex with a teenage girl in 1977, a former prosecutor testified, setting the stage for the renowned director to flee the U.S. as a fugitive.
A previously sealed transcript obtained by the Associated Press late Sunday of testimony by retired Deputy Dist. Atty. Roger Gunson supports Polanski’s claim that he fled on the eve of sentencing in 1978 because he didn’t think he was getting a fair deal.
Gunson said during closed-door testimony in 2010 that the judge broke a promise to let Polanski go free after state prison officials had determined he shouldn’t serve hard time.”
Newsom’s bid to make textbooks free delayed in community colleges central office
EdSource, MICHAEL BURKE: “More than one year after California lawmakers set aside $115 million to expand free textbook programs across the state’s system of 116 community colleges, the money remains stalled in the state chancellor’s office.
The funds have yet to reach the colleges or support the system’s students who often spend hundreds of dollars per semester to buy books.
The funding was approved last summer by lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom, just months after Newsom generated headlines when he called the textbook industry a “racket.” The money is meant to fund degree and certificate programs that will allow students to complete those programs without spending anything on textbooks.”
Why don’t Californians use goats and sheep more often to reduce fire risk?
The Chronicle, EMMA TALLEY: “Ira Hocherman remembers looking out his window in the Point Reyes area in 2020 and seeing the glow of fire a few miles away.
He and his husband spent a few smoky and sleepless nights — and they don’t want a future fire to get any closer.
And so, Hocherman called in a herd of sheep to munch the meadow around their house, where grass can sometimes grow 6 or 7 feet high. In previous years, he and his husband used a crew of weed whackers, but they found that although the sheep were somewhat more expensive, they ate everything.”
Britain’s next prime minister is unlikely to be a white man
LAT, JAWEED KALEEM/CHRISTINA BOYLE: “For the first time in history, Britons could soon have a person of color as their prime minister. Even more, that person could also be a woman.
What it’s least likely to be: a white male.
A historically diverse slate of candidates is vying to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who announced his resignation this month as premier and as leader of the Conservative Party after a series of ethics scandals. The competition is down to five contenders, only one of whom is a white man — a development that might seem all the more surprising considering that the Conservatives stand exactly where their name implies: firmly on the right.”
Crowds pour in as Presidio Tunnel Tops park opens in San Francisco
The Chronicle, SAM WHITING: “After 30 years of planning and delay followed by two days of pomp and ceremony, the great San Francisco land bridge finally opened to the general public in the Sunday morning fog.
Presidio Tunnel Tops connects the park’s Main Post to Crissy Field by overcrossing seven lanes of the Presidio Parkway and culminating in a large nature-based playground. It took $118 million to get the job done, but the vision of a seamless national park site is now fully realized. To see it, the public came rolling down the 7-acre lawn as if it were the Oklahoma land grab.
Over the twin tunnels they came without being stopped by the highway approach to the Golden Gate Bridge, for the first time since the 1930s when the park was still an Army post. They came pushing kids in strollers and pulling kids in wagons and they came with dogs on leashes and walking bikes.”
Real-life ‘Lassie’ dog aids rescue of man injured near Tahoe National Forest
The Chronicle, LAUREN HEPLER: “Northern California rescue officials are crediting the dog of a man who fell 70 feet with guiding search crews to his injured owner.
“In true ‘Lassie’ fashion,” the border collie ran around 200 yards to alert members of a 25-person response team to his owner’s hidden location in the mountainous area near Tahoe National Forest, Nevada County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue officials said on social media.
Rescue crews were called in by Cal Fire on July 13, the officials said, after reports that a 53-year-old man had suffered the long fall and complained of broken ribs and a broken hip.”
The 2024 shadow campaign heats up: Gov. French Laundry vs. Gov. DeathSantis
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: “Gov. Gavin Newsom spent a high-profile chunk of his presidential exploratory campaign, er, trip to Washington, D.C., last week railing on his archrival, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Why? Because they’re both warming up in the bullpen for a 2024 presidential run — just in case Joe Biden and Donald Trump fade or bow out. Newsom is picking a fight with the next biggest bully on the playground. So is DeSantis.
Their ongoing shadow White House race heated up last week as Newsom accepted an award in Washington from the Education Commission of the States honoring California’s innovation in education. (Yes, even though the state has the nation’s lowest literacy rate; Florida is third-worst.). Newsom used his mike time to rip on Florida, from its Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which forbids discussing sexual orientation in early grades, to its banning of dozens of math textbooks for alleged references to critical race theory.”