California opens field hospitals to cope with crush of coronavirus cases
The Chronicle's ERIN ALLDAY: "With intensive care capacity buckling under an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases, California has opened four field hospitals where dozens of patients are being treated and the state is bringing in hundreds of additional health care providers.
The majority of the state — all of Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley — continued to be at, or far past, intensive care capacity as of Monday as COVID-19 hospitalizations hit new peaks. Statewide, intensive care availability was 2.5%.
And the pressure on hospitals won’t be abating soon. California reported a record-smashing 62,529 new cases on Monday, a grim reminder that the surge is still swelling and a harbinger of further increases in patients needing intensive care in the coming weeks."
Newsom relies on education over fines to enforce virus edicts. New York is different
ANGELA HART, California Healthline via LAT: "Nearly six months since Gov. Gavin Newsom promised to target businesses that are flagrantly violating public health orders to control the spread of COVID-19, California regulators have issued just 424 citations and suspended two business licenses as of Monday, according to data from 10 state regulatory and law enforcement agencies.
Instead of strictly penalizing businesses for violations, the Democratic governor and businessman with a portfolio of wineries, bars and restaurants under the brand name PlumpJack has relied on educating owners about infectious disease mandates. State agencies have contacted establishments primarily by email, sending them 1.3 million messages since July 1 to urge them to comply with state and local public health rules.
Enforcement at bars and restaurants where alcohol is served, identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as among the highest-risk environments for coronavirus transmission, has been limited, data show. The state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which can issue criminal misdemeanor citations, fine businesses and revoke liquor licenses, has issued just 45 citations against bars and 119 against restaurants since July. No fines have been issued or licenses revoked for the 94,000 businesses it regulates."
Newsom's chief of staff Ann O'Leary steps down, Jim DeBoo to take a top leadership role
Sac Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff Ann O’Leary will leave her post in Sacramento next year and political operative Jim DeBoo will step into a new executive secretary role, the governor’s office announced Monday.
As executive secretary, DeBoo will lead Newsom’s office “alongside” Cabinet Secretary Ana Matosantos, according to Newsom’s office.
“I could not think of a more qualified or committed team in their respective roles to help me and my Administration lead California to a healthier, more inclusive future for all,” Newsom said in a statement."
A Christmas wish-list for politicos
CHUCK MCFADDEN in Capitol Weekly: "The Christmas season tells us that there are only a few days remaining in 2020, California’s annus horribilis. It also means political types begin to harbor fantasies about what they would like Santa to bring them if they’re very, very good. Capitol Weekly has uncovered some of those fantasies, and in the interests of keeping the public informed, can now tell all to avid readers, as follows:
Gavin Newsom – The state Supreme Court rules that recalls are illegal; he signs a law banning photography in high-end wine country restaurants; Rudy Giuliani sues, declaring restaurants that charge $450 an entrée are essential businesses.
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon — All 18 Republican members of the Assembly resign and a new law gives Rendon the power to appoint their Democratic replacements to 10-year terms. Rudy Giuliani sues, saying he should have been included because he could become a Democrat if needed."
More stimulus money is on its way. Here are the answer to your questions
Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "More money is on the way to Californians — $600 stimulus payments and $300 more in unemployment benefits — possibly as soon as next week.
“People are going to see this money the beginning of next week,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday on CNBC, discussing the $600 payments that are expected to go to millions of Californians.
The House and Senate passed the economic relief legislation overwhelmingly late Monday. It’s unclear when the extra unemployment money would be available. Estimates Monday were it would take two to three weeks."
State needs more medical help as ICUs fill. Newsom asks for volunteers, federal aid
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "As California’s hospital beds fill up and intensive care unit capacity goes down, Gov. Gavin Newsom identified the state’s most critical issue during a press conference Monday.
“I remind you the issue at hand for us, the primary issue today and likely for the upcoming future ... is staffing. And that’s why we’re being particularly aggressive in terms of the federal asks. Aggressive in terms of our promotion of the Health Corps program,” Newsom said.
Newsom was referring to California Health Corps, formed to recruit retired and newly graduated doctors and medical staff in order to shore up the state’s COVID-19 hotspots."
As pandemic raged, Sonoma County did little to enforce rules on weddings with as many as 100 people
The Chronicle's TARA DUGGAN: "Even as Sonoma County has had the distinction of ranking worst among Bay Area counties for the prevalence of COVID-19 cases during the pandemic, officials there have taken no enforcement action on complaints about at least 15 large wedding gatherings. The county has heard of about two dozen weddings that didn’t meet COVID-19 restrictions, one with as many as 100 attendees; enforcement in some cases fell to other jurisdictions.
No citations or fines were issued to any of the gatherings violating state and county event restrictions, according to the permit department that’s charged with enforcement, saying it wasn’t necessary because they were “one-time events” that would be difficult to enforce after the fact.
Not included among those complaints were at least four other summer weddings hosted and catered by one of Sonoma’s biggest hospitality companies, Sonoma’s Best Hospitality Group, where attendance ranged from 22 to 46 guests, according to internal documents, social media posts and interviews with former employees. SBHG denied that the events broke the rules."
Departments told to be less specific about COVID case numbers among state workers
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "Gov. Gavin Newsom directed California state departments to provide less specific information to state workers about COVID-19 outbreaks in their workplaces on Friday, citing confidentiality concerns.
State employees have been receiving regular emails telling them about new COVID-19 infections among their coworkers, including details on when infected employees tested positive and when they last appeared at the workplace. The notices don’t identify employees.
Newsom’s new directive says departments shouldn’t share specific numbers unless more than 11 employees have tested positive. The notices should instead say “there are fewer than 11 cases,” according to the directive. The directive suggests less-specific notifications will help ensure confidentiality."
Coronavirus stay-home orders likely to be extended in Southern California
LUKE MONEY and RONG-GONG LIN II, LA Times: "Sweeping restrictions on businesses and activities are expected to remain in place past their original expiration date across a wide swath of California, as the availability of precious intensive care beds continues to dwindle in the face of an unrelenting COVID-19 surge, state officials said.
Though nothing is definite yet, Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged Monday that the stay-at-home orders issued for Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley will probably need to be extended.
The two regions — which combined cover 23 of California’s 58 counties — are technically eligible to emerge from the state order beginning next week."
Dire COVID warnings go unheeded as many insist on Christmas traditions; officials fear new surge
HAYLEY SMITH, RONG-GONG LIN II and LUKE MONEY, LA Times: "Airports are seeing steady increases in travelers determined to spend Christmas with family and friends.
Coronavirus testing centers are seeing brisk business, including from some people who want to know whether they have the virus before attending holiday events.
And last-minute shoppers are still out looking for that perfect gift."
Newsom 'concerned' about new COVID-19 strain, urges UK travel ban
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "As a new strain of COVID-19 continues to spread in southern England, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday called on the federal government to take action to prevent it from reaching the United States.
The governor delivered his remarks from quarantine, after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.
Newsom noted that there is no evidence that the new strain has reached California, but that the U.S. government should take action to make sure it doesn’t."
Pandemic closures alter the rhythm of life in towns on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border
KURTIS LEE, LA Times: "Jesus Tarazon crouched down, gently guiding the yellow Labrador into the back seat of her owner’s Subaru. The veterinary assistant waved as the car pulled away, then glanced at his phone.
It was 5:06 p.m. — his shift was ending, and he had five hours to make it back home across the border, a relief on days he has to run errands.
“Everyone who lives across the line has to watch the clock closely,” said Tarazon, a U.S. citizen who commutes daily from his rural home in Mexico to his job here in this southeastern Arizona town, 12 miles from the border."
California college freshmen find alternatives to campus life in a virtual world
EdSource's ASHLEY A SMITH: "When Kaelynn Kuang pictured being in college, she didn’t just imagine lecture halls and living in dorms.
She wanted to join the honor society and Asian American student alliance at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
“At orientation and even before then, they give you an idea of clubs on campus, and I was so excited,” Kuang, a freshman majoring in art and psychology, said. “I thought there would be club fairs, so I could see everything, but they didn’t have them, so I was disappointed by that. I actually haven’t joined anything.”"
Jupiter, Saturn mingle in night sky, overlapping for first time in centuries
The Chronicle's NORA MISHANEC: "For the first time in centuries, the planets Jupiter and Saturn crossed paths in the night sky Monday, a rare celestial phenomenon made all the more special by falling on the winter solstice.
The notoriously unpredictable Bay Area weather cooperated, and residents were able to spot the glow of the overlapping planets — known to astronomers as a “conjunction”— just after twilight.
It was a highly unusual convergence: the last time Jupiter and Saturn came this close was in 1623, said Andrew Fraknoi, a professor of astronomy at University of San Francisco’s Fromm Institute."
An oakland man was charged Monday with holding up six postal carriers in East Oakland
The Chroonicle's BOB EGELKO: "An Oakland man was charged Monday with robbing five postal carriers and trying to rob another carrier in East Oakland over a six-week period in August and September.
Federal prosecutors said David L. Quinn used a debit card he stole in one robbery to withdraw $1,000 in cash from the card-holder’s account, and later for more than $8,000 to buy a Cadillac SUV that he used in the attempted robbery. He was arrested sometime after the final incident and remains in custody.
Prosecutors said Quinn, 31, and a collaborator who has not been identified or arrested followed mail carriers on their routes, parked near their truck and then confronted the carrier, often with what appeared to be a gun, and took trays of mail and packages from the truck."
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