Unprecedented spread of super-infectious variants heightens long COVID fears
LAT, RONG-GONG LIN II/LUKE MONEY: "As highly infectious Omicron subvariants continue to fuel a new coronavirus wave, there is growing concern about long COVID, in which symptoms or increased risk of illness can persist for months or even years.
Efforts to understand the scale of long COVID’s effects have taken on additional urgency given the number of people who have come down with the virus since Omicron was first detected in California shortly after Thanksgiving. Some experts think this latest surge may exceed the record-high case counts seen over the fall and winter, leaving more people at risk of developing the condition.
“Because of the sheer volume of people that were infected, we can expect to see more long COVID cases,” said Dr. Anne Foster, vice president and chief clinical strategy officer for the University of California Health system.”
Richer people left San Francisco in the pandemic. And they took billions of dollars with them
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI/RONG-GONG LIN II: “The average income of people who moved out of San Francisco during the early part of the pandemic surged from a year earlier, as more wealthy, white-collar workers, many of whom could work remotely, left the city.
Between 2019 and 2020, the number of people listed on a tax return in San Francisco fell by 39,202, a drop of 4.5%, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service. Residents who left made an average of about $138,000 per year in 2019, up 67% from the prior year, when departing residents had an average annual income of around $82,000. San Francisco’s net out-migration, the number of people who moved out minus the number of people who moved in, nearly tripled in one year.
The agency cited data from tax returns received between 2019 and mid-July 2021. Separate census data showed a 6.3% population drop in San Francisco between July 2020 and July 2021, the largest in the country.”
Crews grow optimistic in battle against 17,000-acre Oak fire, which has destroyed 21 structures
LAT, GRACE TOOHEY/GREGORY YEE: “Crews battling the Oak fire near Yosemite National Park may be turning a corner on the blaze as authorities noted minimal growth Monday.
The inferno in the Sierra Nevada foothills has forced thousands to flee their homes and destroyed at least 21 structures, but California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials were optimistic in an evening update, calling it “a successful day for aircraft and firefighters.”
The burn area, which grew exponentially Friday as the blaze exhibited extreme behavior on its first day amid hot, dry and windy conditions and an abundance of desiccated fuels, increased slightly Monday night to 17,241 acres — up from 16,791 that morning, Cal Fire said. Containment increased to 16% from 10%.”
Bay Area air quality advisory extended over smoke from Oak Fire near Yosemite
The Chronicle, JORDAN PARKER: “An air quality advisory for the Bay Area has been extended through Wednesday because of heavy smoke churning out of the Oak Fire near Yosemite National Park, though officials said conditions in the Bay Area should remain in the “good to moderate range.”
Surface smoke from the Oak Fire, which sparked Friday, so far has been confined to Yosemite National Park — where the 2-week-old Washburn Fire also continues to burn — and across the Western Sierra foothills, said meteorologist Jeff Barlow of the National Weather Service’s Hanford office.
While forecasts had initially indicated smoke would also be visible in parts of the East Bay and North Bay, Barlow said that was no longer the case.”
How California went from paying people to hunt mountain lions to spending millions to protect them
LAT, PATT MORRISON: “Whoever drove the car or truck that last week killed the mountain lion P-89 on the 101 Freeway in Woodland Hills — about 60 years ago, that driver would have been in line for a reward, a government atta-boy bounty of as much as $75 (more than $730 today).
California was not fussy about how you killed a mountain lion, just so long as you did. Over nearly six decades, from 1907 until 1963, the state paid out more than half a million dollars for 12,461 mountain lion corpses.
Today, we mourn publicly when even one Felis concolor is killed by human hands or, as happens far more often, by tires.”
Elementary students are recovering faster from Covid learning loss, research shows
EdSource, ALI TADAYON: “Elementary students are regaining the ground they lost during the pandemic at a faster pace than older students, recent research shows, but K-12 students are still years away from a full recovery.
Comparing the most recent nationwide Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP, assessment data from 8.3 million students in grades 3-8 in reading and math, researchers from the Northwest Evaluation Association testing group found that elementary school students had the most learning recovery last school year of any student group. Meanwhile, students in middle school either made slower progress recovering from learning loss or remained stagnant, NWEA researcher Karyn Lewis said in an interview with EdSource.
Lewis sees the data as a sign of hope for that group of younger students, who researchers initially anticipated would have the toughest time recovering from the pandemic’s disruption to schools.”
California’s strawberry fields may not be forever. Could robots help?
LAT, SAM DEAN: “In a strawberry field surrounded by strawberry fields on the outskirts of Santa Maria, a pair of robots have been picking berries all summer.
Each robot, made by a Colorado company called Tortuga AgTech, trundles between the elevated beds on rugged wheels, then stops in front of a plant. An articulated arm maneuvers its sensor array among the leaves; machine vision software scours the sensor data in search of ripe berries.
Most California strawberry plants sprout constantly over the course of the season — little green berries sitting alongside fat red ones, nestled among the leaves. If an unripe berry is in the way, the robot repositions for a better angle. A snipper-grabber mounted in the middle of the sensors jabs in to cut the berry’s stem, then gingerly places it in a waiting plastic clamshell in a compartment at the robot’s base. The motion calls to mind a bird hunting, peering and pecking for insects.”
Stress relief or toxic exposure? State cautions ‘rage rooms’ may deliver unwanted release
CALMatters, ROBERT LEWIS: “If you’re a fan of local TV news, there’s a good chance you’ve seen a segment about so-called “rage rooms.” These are businesses – often in strip mall storefronts or office parks – where people pay to don a pair of safety glasses, grab a baseball bat and smash the heck out of things like old dishes, cabinets and fax machines.
There’s no shortage of fun features showing some affable news figure putting on coveralls and whacking glassware and old phones, often in a plywood-walled room adorned with funky graffiti. It’s de-stressing through destruction.
While the businesses have been growing in popularity, some California environmental officials say they are worried that operators often don’t know about safety regulations and could be releasing hazardous waste into the environment. One high-ranking state environmental regulator says her department is too thinly staffed to do anything about it.”
Is immigration Silicon Valley’s secret sauce for success? Report says more than half of ‘unicorn’ startups founded by immigrants
The Chronicle, CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO: “Silicon Valley prides itself on wunderkind tech founders who generate huge sums of money for their Bay Area companies and, sometimes, change industries virtually overnight.
But while the Silicon Valley reaps much of the praise for the technology and ideas coming out of the region, it’s a sector relying on immigrants to lead it. More than half of startups valued at $1 billion or more were founded by immigrants to the United States, according to a report from the nonprofit National Foundation for American Policy.
The report found that of the 582 “unicorn” startups valued at $1 billion or more in the U.S., 319 of them, or 55% had at least one immigrant founder. That number rose to two-thirds when counting companies that were founded or co-founded by immigrants, or the children of immigrants.”
New police accountability laws up demands on state agencies
CALMatters, NIGEL DUARA/BYRHONDA LYONS: “California Department of Justice agents realized they were short-handed just hours after a Los Angeles police officer shot and killed an unarmed man on Hollywood Boulevard.
A 911 caller told police the man was threatening people on the morning of July 15, 2021, waving what appeared to be a pistol in a busy tourist pocket. The object in his hand turned out to be a lighter with a pistol grip.
The fatal shooting was the first test of a law requiring the Justice Department to investigate police shootings of unarmed civilians. The agents would need to interview witnesses, mark evidence and canvass nearby businesses for surveillance footage, according to documents detailing the state’s response.”
L.A. skid row’s ‘everything store’ offers food, drink and lots of kindness
LAT, FRANK SHYONG: “On a block of L.A.'s skid row where the tents cluster corner to corner, there’s a store that most people know as the place with a little of everything.
When May and Bob Park took it over in 1995, the store was called Best Market. The Parks tried to stock it all, and if they didn’t have it, they were known to drive to the warehouse after hours to get it.
After their son, Danny, joined the business in 2015, he renamed it Skid Row People’s Market. It’s the latest of many names over the years, and the everything store tries to live up to all of them, stocking food, drinks and items geared toward life outdoors, such as drink mix, tents, cups of ice on hot days, warm socks on cold ones.”
‘Justice wasn’t being served’: This man says S.F. cheated him out of $1 million after a wrongful conviction
The Chronicle, JOSHUA SHARPE: “A man who spent 20 years in prison on a wrongful murder conviction says the city of San Francisco withheld a key piece of evidence to make him seem guilty and, thus, not entitled to compensation.
Maurice Caldwell was released in 2011, after a judge overturned his murder conviction. Caldwell sued the city in federal court, alleging that police misconduct led to his imprisonment for a crime he didn’t commit. Now, he alleges city attorneys withheld for six years a videotaped interview that could have helped his lawsuit and secured him $1 million from a state victims fund at a time he desperately needed money.
In December 2021, he received an $8 million settlement from the city, but Caldwell said this was only after the city fought him for nearly a decade and after, Caldwell alleges, the city’s withholding of evidence cost him a smaller amount from the state Victims Compensation Board, allegations the City Attorney’s Office denies.”
