Air-Quality Warning Issued In San Diego Amid Navy Ship Fire

AP: Fire Ravages Ship For 2nd Day; Sends Acrid Haze Over City
Flames tore through a warship for a second day Monday as a top Navy official revealed that a fire suppression system was inoperable when the blaze erupted while the ship was docked in San Diego. Meanwhile, acrid smoke from the blaze wafted across San Diego, and health officials urged people to stay indoors if they smelled it. (Watson, 7/14)

Los Angeles Times: Winds Fuel Fresno County Fire To 1,000 Acres; Homes Evacuated 
A handful of homes were evacuated west of Coalinga in Fresno County on Monday evening after a fire spread rapidly and threatened structures. The Mineral fire broke out about 5 p.m. in steep, rocky and inaccessible terrain in the area of South Coalinga Mineral Springs Road and Highway 198. By about 9 p.m., it had grown to 1,000 acres, fueled by nighttime winds and 100-degree weather, said Dustin Hail, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection assistant chief. (Reyes-Velarde, 7/13)

Billings Gazette: 7 Now Dead From COVID-19 Outbreak At Canyon Creek Memory Care In Billings 
Two more of the Canyon Creek Memory Care residents have died from COVID-19. In all, seven residents of the Billings memory care facility have now died in a week. Both of the people who died were women in their 90s, said RiverStone Health, Yellowstone County's public health department, in a press release Monday morning. One of the women died Sunday at a Yellowstone County hospital and the other woman died Sunday at Canyon Creek. (Kordenbrock, 7/13)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Geriatric Inmates Being Deprived Of Protection From COVID, Lawyers Argue In Hearing 
Guards sort sack lunches without masks or gloves on.Inmates arrive at showers to find Band-Aids, razors and socks discarded on the floor. They wash their hands with soap, but are not allowed hand sanitizer after they’ve rolled themselves back to their bunks in wheelchairs. These were examples of the callous disregard the Texas prison system has shown to geriatric inmates, according to testimony Monday by Laddy Valentine, a 69-year-old inmate involved in a federal class action seeking more protective measures to combat COVID-19 at a lockup of elderly, medically compromised and mobility impaired inmates outside Houston. (Banks, 7/13)

The Washington Post: At College Health Centers Nationwide, Students Have Battled Misdiagnoses And Inaccessible Care 
As millions go back to school during the pandemic, the ability of campus health services to safeguard and care for students will be tested as never before — and many colleges appear unprepared for the challenge. (Abelson, Dungca, Kornfield and Ba Tran, 7/13)

Kaiser Health News: You Can See Friends And Relatives During The Pandemic Surge — But Do It Carefully 
Cooped up too long, yearning for a day at the beach or a night on the town — and enticed by the easing of restrictions just as the warm weather arrived — many people have bolted from the confines of home. And who can blame them? But Houston — and San Antonio and Phoenix and Miami and Los Angeles — we have a problem. (Wolfson, 7/14)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: GA Addiction Centers In $122 Million Settlement Of Fraud Claims
A company that runs mental health and substance abuse treatment centers in Georgia and other states will pay $122 million to settle more than a dozen federal whistleblower lawsuits alleging numerous violations, including that it admitted people who didn’t need to be hospitalized, kept patients longer than necessary and routinely used drugs to sedate and chemically restrain patients. (Hart, 7/13)

Kaiser Health News: Lost On The Frontline 
America’s health care workers are dying. In some states, medical personnel account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. They tend to patients in hospitals, treating them, serving them food and cleaning their rooms. Others at risk work in nursing homes or are employed as home health aides. “Lost on the Frontline,” a collaboration between KHN and The Guardian, has identified 795 such workers who likely died of COVID-19 after helping patients during the pandemic. (7/14)

In news about mask-wearing —

The Hill: Man In MAGA Hat Shows Kansas Restaurant Worker His Gun After Being Pressed About Mask
A man wearing a Make America Great Again hat showed his gun to an employee at a restaurant in Mission, Kan., after he was asked to provide an explanation for not wearing a mask in accordance with coronavirus restrictions, staff told local media this week. Arlo Kinsey, 18, told The Kansas City Star that the encounter occurred shortly after the customer, who has not yet been identified, entered the eatery without a mask during Kinsey's shift at RJ’s Bob-Be-Que Shack a week ago. (Folley, 7/13)

The Hill: Gallup Poll: Democrats, Women More Likely To Wear Masks 
Democrats, women and people with college educations are more likely to wear masks in public to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, according to a new poll released Monday. The Gallup survey found mask-wearing remains a political issue, with 94 percent of Democrats stating that they “always” or “very often” wear masks when outside their homes, compared to 46 percent of Republicans who said the same. (Hellmann, 7/13)

AP: Masks Outside Part Of New Oregon COVID-19 Safety Measures
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Monday announced two new statewide COVID-19 safety mandates — a ban on indoor social gatherings of more than 10 people and a requirement that people wear face coverings outside if they can not socially distance. (Cline, 7/13)

Detroit Free Press: Meat And Poultry Processors Required To Meet New Safety Guidelines
Workers in meatpacking and poultry processing plants in Michigan now have more guidelines and standards in place to help keep them safe.  Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday signed an executive order outlining workplace safety guidelines to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The new guidelines include daily screening of employees, spacing employees 6  feet apart, face coverings and reduction in production. (Selasky, 7/13)