Tuesday, May 3, 2022 | California Healthline

Politico:
Supreme Court Has Voted To Overturn Abortion Rights, Draft Opinion Shows

The Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, according to an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court and obtained by POLITICO. The draft opinion is a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision – Planned Parenthood v. Casey – that largely maintained the right. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito writes. (Gerstein and Ward, 5/2)

San Francisco Chronicle:
Supreme Court Has Voted To Strike Down Roe Vs. Wade, Leaked Draft Shows

The draft opinion in the case Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has not been published by the court and is not law. Draft opinions can change before publication. If made official, the draft opinion as worded would likely mean the end of federally sanctioned abortion rights in the U.S., leaving it up to states to affirm or deny a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy and under what circumstances. A leaked Supreme Court draft decision is unprecedented in modern history.(Asimov, Picon and Egelko, 5/2)

Los Angeles Times:
With Roe Vs. Wade Hanging In The Balance, California Gears Up For A Fight

California officials and abortion providers spoke out Monday night against a purported draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion that was leaked to Politico and seemed to signal that the nation’s highest court is poised to overturn Roe vs. Wade — a move that would allow states to outlaw abortion. It is highly unusual for the high court to overturn a landmark decision and equally extraordinary, or perhaps more so, for a draft opinion to leak out in advance of its final release. In a statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the draft opinion “an appalling attack on the rights of women” across the country. (Yee and Martinez, 5/3)

CalMatters:
How California Created The Nation’s Easiest Abortion Access — And Why It’s Poised To Go Further

California lawmakers intend to buck the trend. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom aims to make the state a “sanctuary” for out-of-state abortion seekers — even proposing to use state funds to defray their travel costs. He’s already signed into law a measure eliminating out-of-pocket costs for Californians. The state Legislative Women’s Caucus has also introduced a 13-bill package to further cut barriers to access and protect patient and provider rights, and many of those are advancing through the Legislature.But the state wasn’t always a bastion for reproductive choice. It took decades of black market abortions, a national rubella epidemic, an international drug scandal, several high-profile trials against physicians, and thousands of maternal deaths for California to decriminalize abortion. In fact, abortion remained illegal here until 1967, when state lawmakers passed the Therapeutic Abortion Act. It was signed into law by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan — surprisingly the same politician who later, as president, championed a constitutional “right-to-life” amendment. (Hwang, 5/2)

Los Angeles Times:
California Aims To Be A National Haven For Abortion Rights As Roe Vs. Wade Appears Doomed

As some states have placed severe restrictions on abortions in recent years, California has made it clear it wants to be a safe haven for reproductive rights. “As states across the country attempt to move us backward by restricting fundamental reproductive rights, California continues to protect and advance reproductive freedom for all,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in March, signing a law making abortions cheaper for people on private insurance plans. The effort has been building steam for several years. (5/2)

San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Area Supervisors Are Asking For Up To $3 Million In Funding For Out-Of-State Abortion Seekers

Two Santa Clara County supervisors are seeking up to $3 million in county funding for Planned Parenthood to boost services for women from states where abortion access is curtailed. “We know that abortion rights are more fragile than they have been in decades in this country,” Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who co-authored a proposal to the Board of Supervisors, said at a briefing on Monday. “In states other than California, lawmakers are increasingly passing strict bans on abortion as the Supreme Court reconsiders the scope and existence of this constitutional right.” (Vaziri, 5/2)

San Francisco Chronicle:
As COVID Cases Rise, Next COVID Surge May Hit SF’s Wealthy Neighborhoods The Hardest

As COVID-19 case rates once more begin to climb in San Francisco, wealthy neighborhoods are seeing higher case rates than less-wealthy ones — a rare occurrence in a pandemic that has most deeply impacted lower-income people of color. But unlike the omicron wave last December, which started in wealthy neighborhoods and then quickly migrated to lower-income ones, public health experts say there’s a chance this latest wave could be the first to hit wealthy people harder — thanks both to pandemic fatigue within the demographic, and its relatively lower rates of natural immunity from prior infections. (Neilson, 5/3)

San Francisco Chronicle:
Amazon No Longer Giving Paid Leave For Infected Frontline Workers

Amazon is no longer providing paid time off for frontline U.S. workers who test positive for the coronavirus. As of Monday, any U.S. Amazon worker with a COVID-19 diagnosis will instead get five days of unpaid leave, the company said in a bulletin to workers that was obtained by CNBC. Those waiting for a test result will not qualify for the excused leave, Amazon said, citing the wide availability of at-home rapid tests. The company will also no longer notify employees of cases at its facilities unless required by law. The sustained easing of the pandemic, ongoing availability COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and updated guidance from public health authorities, all signal we can continue to safely adjust to our pre-COVID policies,” the company said in the notice. (Vaziri, Beamish and Copan, 5/2)

San Diego Union-Tribune:
Face Masks Now Optional In Baja California

Masking is now optional in indoor and outdoor public settings in Baja California, Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila announced last week. The announcement came after a “notable decrease in infections and severity of COVID-19,” according to a news release. (Mendoza, 5/2)

Bay Area News Group:
Contra Costa County Announces New ‘Path To Zero’ COVID Deaths

It’s a new era in the COVID pandemic: Most precautions have been rolled back, and cases are once again on the rise in California. But with the Bay Area boasting some of the nation’s highest vaccination rates, and the availability of new therapies, Contra Costa County public health officials announced a new goal on Monday: to reduce, and ideally eliminate, “preventable” COVID deaths.“We feel confident that you no longer have to die from COVID-19,” Contra Costa County Health Director Anna Roth said at a news conference, announcing the county’s “Path to Zero” plan to expand at-home testing and get COVID patients effective antivirals quickly. “We believe that many deaths, most deaths, are preventable at this point because we have powerful tools available.” (Rowan, 5/2)

Bay Area News Group:
Opposition Mounts As Newsom’s Mental Health Care Overhaul Advances

Gov. Gavin Newsom is backing a sweeping proposal to overhaul California’s mental health care system and end homelessness for the sickest people living on our streets. But his plan to make treatment mandatory is facing pushback from opponents who argue it’s an inhumane and ineffective solution that will do little to solve the state’s homelessness crisis.Senate Bill 1338, dubbed Community Assistance, Recovery & Empowerment (CARE) Court, would allow California courts to order people with severe, untreated schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders to submit to a care plan. The goal is to help people who can’t help themselves — people who are wandering in traffic, shouting at no one, and bouncing between hospitals, jail and the streets. (Kendall, 5/2)

Capital & Main:
Activists Call On Gov. Newsom To Fund The Fight Against Health And Racial Inequities

Nonprofits working in the state’s most disadvantaged communities are asking Gov. Newsom once again to create a fund that would let them tackle health and racial disparities head on. Dozens of supporters staged a series of rallies over the past two weeks in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Fresno, San Diego and Oakland, carrying signs with messages such as “Gov. Newsom will you include us in your #CABudget” and “We are all public health.” Community advocates are hoping the public demonstrations will help convince the governor of the importance of providing direct funding to their organizations, and hoping for a different outcome than the one they experienced last year. In 2021 Gov. Newsom rejected a proposal to include $100 million in his budget for the California Health Equity and Racial Justice Fund, which would provide grants to nonprofits serving disadvantaged communities. As it turned out, a budget surplus and the COVID-19 related deaths of tens of thousands of Black and Latino residents wasn’t enough to persuade the governor to create a special fund explicitly combatting health and racial inequities. (Canto, 5/2)

CapRadio:
Extreme Heat Will Return Again This Summer. Here’s California’s Plan

Each summer brings new record high temperatures in California. That’s been the pattern for years. And communities rush to adapt to these heat waves, which affect everything from immediate health to electricity at home. In response, Governor Gavin Newsom’s office released an extreme heat plan last Thursday to outline protections for communities hit by these impacts. (Secaira, 5/2)

KQED:
Stanford Nurses Approve New Contracts, Ending Weeklong Strike

Nearly 5,000 striking nurses at Stanford and Lucile Packard Children’s hospitals plan to return to work Tuesday after overwhelmingly approving new three-year contracts. The new agreements, which cover nurses at both hospitals, include yearly wage increases of 7% this year and 5% for each of the following two years, along with more generous retirement benefits and additional vacation time. In an effort to address severe staffing shortages and high rates of burnout in the profession, the contracts also offer better access to mental health support and new pay incentives for recruiting and retaining nurses in hard-to-staff sectors, like critical care. (Green, 5/2)

Bay Area News Group:
Nurses Ratify Agreement With Stanford, Putting An End To Weeklong Strike

The union representing thousands of nurses at Stanford and Lucile Packard Children’s hospitals has reached an agreement to return to work, ending a historic strike that highlighted grievances over staffing, pay and quality of life that have mounted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The agreement will raise nurses’ salaries 7% this year, 5% in April 2023 and another 5% in April 2024, as well as boost their health benefits, according to the union, the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement. In a Sunday vote, 83% of CRONA — which has nearly 5,000 members — voted to approve the contracts that will cover nurses at both hospitals. (Lin, 5/2)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat:
Petaluma Valley Hospital Recognized For Outstanding Care

Petaluma Valley Hospital on Monday was recognized for its expertise and results in treating heart failure, sepsis and stroke. The hospital evaluation organization Healthgrades ranks health care providers using a star system, with 5-star ratings representing the highest level of achievement. Patients treated at hospitals receiving 5-star ratings, as Petaluma Valley Hospital did in three key areas, have a lower risk of death and complications during hospital stays compared to lower-rated hospitals. (Silvy, 5/2)

KPBS:
Renewed Lawsuit Challenges San Diego Unified Vaccine Mandate

Four students are now part of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the San Diego Unified School District’s vaccination mandate, arguing it violates their religious beliefs. Starting this summer, San Diego Unified students 16 and over will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The district is mandating it where there is full FDA authorization, which right now includes ages 16 and over. Officials are taking medical exemptions, but not those for religious or personal beliefs. (Hoffman, 5/2)

Orange County Register:
Lawsuit Claims Yorba Linda High Junior ‘Expelled’ Over Mesh Facemask 

Aidan Palicke was on his way to his fifth-period AP language arts class when he was stopped by a school supervisor.The reason: Palicke, a junior at Yorba Linda High, was wearing a mesh facemask. School officials wanted something that would provide more protection for himself and others. When he was offered a blue surgical mask, he declined. After phone conversations with his parents, and an hour-plus meeting the following day, Palicke was told to not return to campus unless he had a more protective face covering, one without little holes in them. (Kopetman, 5/2)

CalMatters:
California School Districts That Are Growing Feel Shortchanged

While the vast majority of California’s school districts lost students during most of this past decade, hundreds of districts — mostly small and rural — have grown, emerging from the height of the pandemic with higher enrollment. Most districts would welcome an enrollment increase and the per-student state funding boost that usually comes with it. But these growing districts were shortchanged when the state implemented blanket COVID-19 policies protecting districts that lost enrollment during the pandemic. (Hong, 5/2)

San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco Can’t Ban Suspected Drug Dealers From Tenderloin, Court Rules

The grim toll of drug dealing in San Francisco’s Tenderloin does not give the city legal authority to ban four suspected dealers from a 50-square-block area of the neighborhood, says a state appeals court. Then-City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed suit in September 2020 seeking stay-away orders against 28 people from a large area of the Tenderloin, the center of the narcotics trade in San Francisco. Police said there were 600 drug-dealing arrests in the Tenderloin in 2020 and crime rates there were three times the city’s overall rate. Out of 699 drug overdose deaths in San Francisco in 2020, more than 40% were in the Tenderloin and South of Market, officials said. (Egelko, 5/2)

San Diego Union-Tribune:
Don’t Know Where To Drop Off Old Prescription Meds? This Map Will Help.

The biannual Prescription Drug Take Back Day event happened Saturday, but that’s not the only time people can drop off unwanted or unused prescription medication. Plenty of safe and free disposal sites are open across the county year round, and a new interactive map can help you find them. (Winkley, 5/2)

AP:
US Pediatricians’ Group Moves To Abandon Race-Based Medicine 

For years, pediatricians have followed flawed guidelines linking race to risks for urinary infections and newborn jaundice. In a new policy announced Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics said it is putting all its guidance under the microscope to eliminate “race-based” medicine and resulting health disparities. A re-examination of AAP treatment recommendations that began before George Floyd’s 2020 death and intensified after it has doctors concerned that Black youngsters have been undertreated and overlooked, said Dr. Joseph Wright, lead author of the new policy and chief health equity officer at the University of Maryland’s medical system. (Tanner, 5/2)

Napa Valley Register:
Change At The Top For Biogen After Alzheimer’s Drug Flops

Biogen will replace its CEO and largely abandon marketing of its controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm less than a year after the medication’s launch triggered a backlash from experts, doctors and insurers. CEO Michel Vounatsos will continue to lead the company until a successor is found, the company said Tuesday. (Perrone and Murphy, 5/3)

Los Angeles Daily News:
Los Angeles County Looks To Form New Entity To Solve Homeless Crisis

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger once again urged her peers to reject the failing status quo and to develop a cohesive way to address homelessness at the Board of Supervisors meeting when they gather on Tuesday, May 3. Tuesday’s vote could mean the creation of a new entity entirely responsible for homelessness matters in county jurisdictions, a concept she hopes can alter the lives of millions, and that allows county leaders to “take the first step to reforming how homeless systems are governed in our county,” said Barger. (Dixson, 5/2)

Los Angeles Times:
L.A.’s Anti-Camping Law Is A Patchwork Of Compliance 

Nine months after the City Council adopted the new law allowing council members to designate areas as off-limits to homeless camps, permanent metal signs setting deadlines for all homeless people to leave have been posted at more than 100 locations. But tents and makeshift shelters remain at many of the sites even weeks or months past the deadlines as outreach workers struggle to persuade people to move voluntarily and the Los Angeles Police Department has issued tickets sparingly. (Smith, Oreskes, Zahniser and Vives, 5/2)

Sacramento Bee:
CalFresh Expanded? California’s Undocumented Going Hungry

Nearly half of all undocumented immigrants in California don’t have access to healthy foods or struggle to buy meals, according to a staggering new statewide analysis. The report, published by Nourish California and the California Immigrant Policy Center on Friday, reveals that 45% of non-citizen residents have limited, uncertain or inconsistent access to food necessary for a healthy life. Food insecurity is particularly dire among children — about two in three undocumented children go hungry. And nearly 500,000 undocumented adults live in a household struggling with food insecurity. (Yoon-Hendricks, 5/3)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat:
Surge In Anti-LGBTQ Legislation Across US Has Locals Concerned

Members of Sonoma County’s LGBTQ+ community and their allies say a surge in legislation being considered in other parts of the country that aims to limit the rights of people from gender and sexual minorities has them concerned. Though none of the recent wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation has come out of Sacramento, both groups say they worry hateful rhetoric born out of such laws may encourage similar speech, either online or in person, in the West Coast. (Chavez, 5/1)

Modesto Bee:
Mussels Pose Shellfish Poisoning Risk Across California 

Harvesting mussels to eat was prohibited starting Sunday through October due to dangerous levels of biotoxins, according to a state order. An annual quarantine for sports-harvested mussels protects against the high-risk period of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) and domoic acid poisoning, also known as Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning, according to the California Department of Public Health. (Allen, 5/2)