California approaches pandemic record for all hospitalizations
RONG-GONG LIN II, LUKE MONEY and EMILY ALPERT REYES: "In a stunning sign of the heavy burden facing California’s healthcare system, the total number of people hospitalized statewide is approaching the peak of last winter’s COVID-19 surge, even as there are indications that the rise in coronavirus-positive patients may be starting to ebb.
Late last week, California averaged 52,000 people daily in its hospitals for all reasons — more than was seen during any seven-day period during the summer Delta surge. California’s pandemic record of 55,000 people hospitalized daily was set last winter, according to state Department of Public Health data reviewed by The Times.
Coronavirus-positive patients continue to account for a wide margin of the overall census. As of Tuesday, 15,179 such patients were hospitalized statewide, the highest since Jan. 29, 2021, state data show."
Judge fires parting shots at PG&E as the utility’s probation comes to end
JULIE JOHNSON, Chronicle: "The federal judge who has scrutinized Pacific Gas and Electric Co. operations through a crisis of wildfires sparked by power lines said he believes the utility should be split into two companies, one serving fire-prone areas of its California service area and another serving the rest.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup offered this sharp conclusion in a scathing 8-page rebuke of the company filed in court Wednesday, his final comments on the court’s efforts to rehabilitate PG&E after its criminal conviction in the deadly 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion.
Alsup said while probation oversight ends next week, he does not believe PG&E has done enough to improve its safety, lamenting, as he has previously from the bench, his failure to ensure the utility wouldn’t start more disastrous wildfires. While on probation for its gas line failure, PG&E has ignited 31 wildfires that burned nearly 1.5 million acres, destroyed nearly 24,000 structures and killed 113 Californians."
Wildfire Risk in California Drives Insurers to Pull Policies for Pricey Homes
LESLIE SCISM, Wall Street Journal: "Worried about wildfire exposure and frustrated by state regulations, insurers in California have been cutting back on their homeowner businesses. Now, affluent homeowners are feeling more of the pain, as two of the biggest firms offering protection for multimillion-dollar properties end coverage for some customers.
As early as this month, American International Group Inc. AIG +0.36% will begin notifying about 9,000 customers in its Private Client Group that their home policies won’t be renewed this year. The change is part of a plan by AIG to cease selling home policies in California through a unit regulated by the state’s insurance department.
AIG told insurance brokers in an email late last year that some policyholders instead may be eligible for coverage via another AIG unit. The other unit operates alongside other so-called excess-and-surplus lines insurers, which have more freedom on policies’ rates and terms than do insurers in the broader, tightly overseen home-insurance market."
Spears case drives California bid to limit conservatorships
DON THOMPSON, AP: "Disability rights activists and advocates for Britney Spears backed a California proposal Wednesday to provide more protections for those under court-ordered conservatorships, while promoting less-restrictive alternatives.
Their move came as the volatile Spears case again boiled over in a Los Angeles County courtroom.
The hearing to settle lingering issues in the aftermath of Spears’ conservatorship, which was terminated in November, quickly descended into a series of angry accusations between attorneys for Spears and her father, and the case appears headed for a long trial to determine the truth of allegations of misconduct against him."
At-risk students question UC Davis response to COVID
JOSHUSA AALCIDES, Capitol Weekly: "Amid a surge in COVID infections, campuses across the University of California have extended remote learning until the end of the month, with regular classes expected to resume Jan. 31.
But a number of UC Davis students with pre-existing health conditions are urging officials through a petition to adopt a permanent hybrid approach — a proposal that so far is getting traction with over 7,600 signatures as of Jan. 17.
“This institution needs to care about us more. [UC Davis Chancellor] Gary May said that they’re listening but it doesn’t seem like they’re actually listening,” says adnan Minasian, a third-year Native American Studies major at UC Davis who has taken a lead role in urging theadministration to act."
Will California put vaccine mandates into law? Legislators look to tighten rules
LARA KORTE and SOPHIA BOLLAG, SacBee: "California lawmakers want stronger policies when it comes to vaccine requirements, but just what those policies will look like is still up for debate. Democrats for months have said they want to increase the state’s COVID-19 vaccination rates, especially among schoolchildren.
But given the quickly changing nature of the virus and new information about how variants interact with vaccines, writing legislation is a complicated task. A group of eight Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday announced the formation of a Vaccine Work Group with the goal of developing “cohesive and comprehensive, evidence-based policies” to stop the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases while battling misinformation.
The group plans to examine data, hear from experts and determine the best approaches to promoting vaccines.
COVID-19 surge at LAPD and Sheriff’s Department keeps over 2,000 personnel at home
RICHARD WINTON: "More than 2,000 employees of the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are at home sick or quarantining after testing positive for the coronavirus, officials said Wednesday.
LAPD Det. Meghan Aguilar said that some 1,134 personnel out of 12,200 are currently at home, including 898 sworn officers. Those numbers are up 42% from the 803 personnel who were out Jan. 11.
On average, an LAPD officer sidelined with a coronavirus infection is missing 20 days of work and a civilian employee is missing 33 days, Aguilar said. Officials noted that average includes some personnel with long-term COVID-19 cases who have spent months recuperating."
Highway 37, a major Bay Area corridor, could be fully underwater as soon as 2040
JOSHUA BOTE, SF Gate: "California State Route 37, the major throughway that bridges the divide between Highway 101 and Interstate 80 and serves thousands of drivers daily in the North Bay, is in dire straits.
A recent dispatch from the California Department of Transportation warns that nearly the entire route — spanning Novato to Vallejo — could be “permanently submerged” as soon as 2040 by increasing weather crises and rising sea levels caused by climate change.
Its proximity to the San Pablo Bay makes this route especially vulnerable. The marshlands in the bay, while vital for preventing flooding, are in a precarious state, with a 285-foot-wide levee only being breached in 2015, after the area had been drained and used as farmland for decades. The marshlands in that area still require decades to fully establish.
ICU beds are filling up, as lagging effects of LA County’s booming COVID case counts emerge
RYAN CARTER, LA Daily News: "Public health officials on Tuesday, Jan. 18, confirmed a nearly 10% increase in patients admitted to intensive care units in Los Angeles County compared to last week — a sign that the lagging effects of the staggering surge in overall cases are beginning to play out.
Those lagging effects have always been more severe cases, and tragically deaths, for the most vulnerable to the disease.
And while the omicron variant is regarded by experts to be less severe overall than its predecessors, its high transmissibility is infecting tens of thousands every day, landing many in local ICUs, even as many leave the hospital with no serious effects from infection."
Citing wildfires, animal rights activists petition California officials to stop bear hunting
RYAN SABALOW, SacBee: "Millions of acres of California’s bear habitat have suffered years of severe drought and wildfires. Now, an influential animal rights organization is calling for a ban on black bear hunting, at least until scientific studies can prove the population is healthy.
Next month, the California Fish and Game Commission, which sets state hunting regulations, will hear a petition from the Humane Society of the United States that urges the board to suspend the state’s upcoming bear season that begins in late summer.
The Humane Society is challenging the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s long-standing assertion the state’s black bear population is healthy and has nearly tripled in recent decades to at least 30,000 to 40,000 animals statewide.
Mountain lion seen in Bay Area neighborhood after killing other lion
ANDREW CHAMINGS, SF Gate: "An "aggressive" mountain lion was seen walking a residential street in Belmont after killing another lion early Wednesday morning.
According to the Belmont Police Department, the animal was seen on the 2500 block of Hastings Drive between Carlmont High School and Waterdog Lake and Open Space.
The police advise the public to use caution in the area. The location and timing of the killing of the other mountain lion was not detailed in the post. "
