The Roundup

California poised to surpass New York with most COVID deaths

MEGHAN BOBROWSKY, Chronicle: "California, the most populous state, was poised Tuesday night to surpass New York as the state with the most coronavirus deaths.

While New York was hard-hit early in the pandemic, California health officials kept cases relatively under control with lockdown policies and safety measures. But now, with the post-holiday surge often causing 450 deaths per day, California — which has about twice as many people as New York — has caught up.

The Golden State hit 44,974 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, closing in on New York’s 45,140 deaths. “It was bound to happen,” said George Rutherford, a professor of epidemiology at UC San Francisco, noting California’s size."

Biden opposes effort to recall Newsom, White House says

PHIL WILLON, LA Times: "The White House on Monday announced that President Biden “clearly opposes” the ongoing recall effort against Gov. Gavin Newsom, adding to a growing chorus of Democrats voicing support for California’s governor in recent days.

Press Secretary Jen Psaki issued the statement in a tweet Tuesday afternoon shortly after she fielded a question about Biden’s position on the recall effort during a White House briefing and responded that she had not discussed the matter with the president.

“In addition to sharing a commitment to a range of issues with @GavinNewsom from addressing the climate crisis to getting the pandemic under control, @POTUS clearly opposes any effort to recall @GavinNewsom,” Psaki said in the tweet."

California school reopening deal could come this week, Gavin Newsom says

LARA KORTE and SOPHIA BOLLAG, SacBee: "Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature are getting close to a deal on reopening elementary schools and hope to announce a final plan this week, the governor said Tuesday morning.

Newsom said he met with lawmakers Monday night and that negotiations are progressing.

A key sticking point has been vaccines, and whether teachers will need to be vaccinated before returning to classrooms. Teacher unions argue schools shouldn’t require teachers to return unless they’ve been offered the vaccine."

READ MORE on school openings: Stats needed for LA County elementary schools to reopen are within sight. But it’s no sure thing. -- RYAN CARTER, LA Daily News; When could Riverside County elementary schools reopen? -- RYAN HAGEN, Prsess-Enterprise; San Bernardino County elementary schools could meet reopening criteria next week, RYAN HAGEN, The Sun; OC won’t start vaccinating teachers, food workers for at least two weeks -- ALICIA ROBINSON, OC Register

Lawsuit seeks to limit in-person L.A. County civil trials because of COVID-19 risk

JAMES QUEALLY and MATT HAMILTON: "A number of public interest attorneys filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to halt in-person traffic and eviction trials held in Los Angeles County, claiming COVID-19 prevention protocols are failing after two court interpreters who were infected died in recent weeks.

The suit, brought by Public Counsel on behalf of the Inner City Law Center and the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, accuses the courts of prioritizing the “continuity of nonessential operations over community safety and human life.”

“The court’s facilities are built and administered in a way that makes it impossible to maintain a safe social distance of six feet or more, particularly within crowded and poorly ventilated courtrooms and hallways. Every day, hundreds of Angelenos crowd into the county’s courthouses to enter pleas on traffic tickets or defend against eviction lawsuits,” the suit read. “Public health experts have determined that not only are these conditions unsafe and likely to result in transmission of the virus, they are ripe for a ‘superspreader’ event.”

How Kaiser members can get COVID vaccine, and why some older patients may have to wait

DARRELL SMITH, SacBee: "Short vaccine supplies are stalling Kaiser Permanente’s efforts to vaccinate its 65-and-older members against COVID-19, say officials at the health system.

Kaiser is now vaccinating its members 75 and older after starting with the health care workers and the long term care staffers and patients who made up the state’s Phase 1A category.

But while the California Department of Public Health has opened vaccine eligibility to those 65 and older, and area medical groups Sutter Health, UC Davis Health and Mercy Medical Group are now vaccinating its 65-and-older members, Kaiser officials on Monday said their COVID-19 vaccine supply is “currently very limited and unpredictable,” just enough to vaccinate fewer than 5% of its California members."

Salesforce to allow remote or flexible work for most employees, with big implications for S.F.

ROLAND LI, Chronicle: "Salesforce, San Francisco’s largest private employer, will permanently allow most workers to stay home for two or more days a week, a major shift that could dampen downtown’s economic recovery well beyond the coronavirus pandemic.

The cloud software company, which has over 9,000 San Francisco workers, said most staff will be in the office for one to three days per week. Workers who don’t need to be in an office can be fully remote, while a minority of workers will be at desks four or five days a week.

Airport workers in San Diego demand Gov. Newsom put them on vaccine priority list

ANDREW DYER, Union-Tribune: "When California Gov. Gavin Newsom recalibrated the vaccine distribution hierarchy last week to an age-based approach, certain essential workers suddenly found themselves further back in the line than before.

That’s a problem for janitors at California’s airports, said Christian Ramirez, a policy director for SEIU United Service Workers union. On Thursday, Ramirez and about 40 other members of the union rallied in shifts at San Diego International Airport and held a memorial for uncounted airport workers who have died during the pandemic.

“A large number of (these) workers have been infected at the airport,” Ramirez said. “It’s an extra level of anxiety and stress. Many live in ZIP codes devastated by the pandemic.”

Teachers, food employees, essential workers cleared for COVID-19 vaccine in San Francisco

MAURA DOLAN, LA Times: "San Francisco will begin vaccinating teachers and other essential workers on Feb. 26, but Mayor London Breed said the vaccines would likely not be enough to get staff and students back in public school classrooms.

During an online news conference, officials announced the city would open up vaccines to educators, child-care workers, food and agricultural employees and first responders later this month, but supply was likely to be limited.

The city has the capacity to give vaccines to more than 10,000 people a day but has been receiving only 10,000 to 11,000 doses a week. So far, officials said, more than 30% of San Franciscans age 65 and older have received a first dose."

Ammon Bundy, veteran of armed standoffs, builds militia network on COVID backlash

RICHARD READ, LA Times: "Now Bundy has seized on the backlash against coronavirus restrictions as an opportunity to start a new movement.

Since last March, when he launched People’s Rights — which he describes as “neighborhood watch on steroids” — the organization has attracted tens of thousands of members and sponsored more than 50 demonstrations across the country, dispatching gun-toting activists to the homes of politicians, health agency managers and even a police officer who had arrested a protester.

Experts who track extremists say that the network has significant overlap with white supremacist groups and other far-right organizations and that it has whipped up paranoia and rage, risking lives of hospital workers, health officers, politicians and others in the crosshairs."

Great white shark numbers are up significantly in Monterey Bay

Associated Press, via LAT: "There is a dramatic increase in the number of great white sharks swimming in Monterey Bay, including an area off Santa Cruz County where a surfer was killed last year, according to a study published Tuesday.

The study found young great whites that are between 5 and 9 feet long and traditionally concentrated in warm waters off northern Mexico and Southern California have moved north since 2014 as water temperatures have warmed.

Where once there were no juvenile white sharks spotted in the ocean between Aptos and Capitola, now there are dozens seen every year, according to research from scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Duke University and Cal State Long Beach. The sharks swim there in groups between April and October, sometimes within a few yards of the shoreline; some have been photographed swimming near people."

SF contractor to be sentenced in federal public corruption probe; she bribed public works director with $36.5k Rolex

NATE GARTRELL, Mercury News: "Florence Kong, the contractor who admitted to bribing former San Francisco public works director Mohammed Nuru with a $36,500 Rolex watch, is set to be sentenced in the ongoing federal probe into public corruption within the city’s government.

Prosecutors are requesting U.S. District Judge William Orrick to sentence Kong to 18 months and fine her $250,000. The defense has argued for a $95,000 fine and an unspecified period of “home confinement rather than incarceration in the Bureau of Prisons.”

Kong was one of numerous private and public officials who’ve been charged in an ongoing FBI probe into bribery and other corruption in San Francisco city government, including Nuru and the head of the city’s Public Utilities Commission, Harlan Kelly. Kong was charged in June and pleaded guilty to bribery and making false statements to a government agency last October."

Navy fleet admirals meet with sailors on San Diego warships about extremists

ANDREW DYER, Union-Tribune: "Pacific Fleet leaders visited several San Diego-based ships Monday and Tuesday to begin a series of “stand-downs” addressing extremism in the ranks. The stand-downs were ordered by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last week.