Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Calif. State Budget Deal Avoids Big Cuts In Health Care, Education
The Associated Press: California Governor, Lawmakers Agree How To Close Deficit
California will make up its estimated $54.3 billion budget deficit in part by delaying payments to public schools and imposing pay cuts on state workers, according to an agreement announced Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders. The agreement avoids billions of dollars in permanent cuts to public schools and health care programs, including proposals from Newsom that would have made fewer low-income older adults eligible for government funded health insurance and would have eliminated programs aimed at keeping people out of nursing homes where the coronavirus has spread with deadly consequences. (Beam, 6/23)
San Jose Mercury News: Gov. Newsom: California Budget Deal Avoids Teacher Layoffs
As California struggles to manage the impact of the growing coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced a state budget deal that avoids deep education cuts to close a cavernous deficit created by the crisis. Newsom offered few details in the deal hashed out with legislative leaders late Sunday, but he stressed that the most feared cuts to public schools that he’d called for to help close a $54.3 billion shortfall will be averted. (Angst and Woolfolk, 6/22)
San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom, Legislators Reach California Budget Deal That Counts On Federal Bailout
Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders said Monday they have reached a budget deal that will allow California to close the multibillion-dollar deficit that has opened up during the coronavirus pandemic. The deal avoids for at least a year the steep cuts to education and safety net programs that Newsom proposed last month, but makes reductions to other public services and state worker pay unless a federal bailout materializes. (Koseff, 6/22)
Kaiser Health News: California Lawmakers Block Health Care Cuts
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic state lawmakers agreed Monday on a state budget plan that would avoid the deep cuts to essential health care services that the governor had initially proposed. Even though the state faces a massive budget deficit, legislators flatly rejected Newsom’s proposed cuts to safety-net programs intended help keep older adults and low-income residents out of long-term care homes, the epicenters of coronavirus outbreaks. (Young, 6/23)
Modern Healthcare: Calif. Governor, Lawmakers Reject Hospitals' Call For $1 Billion In Relief
California's governor and key lawmakers have rejected a request from the state's hospitals for $1 billion in immediate aid to offset losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The state's budget deal, announced Monday, does not include the California Hospital Association's request for $1 billion in the current budget year, which ends June 30, nor does it include its $3.1 billion request from the state's share of a federal emergency waiver in next year's budget, which begins July 1. (Bannow, 6/22)
Los Angeles Times: Newsom Flags Notable Increase In California Coronavirus Cases
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that hospitalizations from COVID-19 grew 16% over the last two weeks as the state reported more than 46,000 new cases of the virus, marking significant increases as more Californians begin to return to a sense of normalcy. The Democratic governor started easing his stay-at-home order roughly six weeks ago and has now allowed 54 of 58 counties in the state to open businesses again. Newsom also noted a modest uptick in the rate of positive cases — from 4.5% to 4.8% — in the last week. The number of patients in intensive care has also increased by 11% over two weeks, he said. (Luna, 6/22)
WBUR: California Hits New High In COVID-19 Hospitalizations
As of Sunday, the latest publicly available data show that state had 3,702 hospitalized patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19, of which 1,199 were in intensive care. There were an additional 1,102 hospitalized patients with suspected COVID-19. Hospitalizations are seen as a more reliable metric for tracking the coronavirus pandemic than new case numbers as the figure does not hinge on the availability of testing. (Wamsley, 6/22)
San Francisco Chronicle: SF Looks To Speed Up Reopening Salons And Bars, Citing Encouraging Health Stats
San Francisco officials are looking to accelerate the city’s emergence from the economic shutdown prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic by moving up the date at which certain businesses, including hair salons, museums and outdoor bars, can reopen. The next phase of San Francisco’s reopening will now take effect June 29 — rather than mid-July — provided the city gets permission from the state and that critical health indicators, like the number of hospitalizations and new cases, remain stable. (Fracassa, 6/22)
Los Angeles Times: Social Gatherings Fuel Rising California Coronavirus Spread
Elevated coronavirus transmissions and related hospitalizations are worsening in some parts of California, and a failure to wear masks in public and increased gatherings are partly to blame, health officials said. Riverside and San Bernardino counties have recently appeared or reappeared on the state’s list of counties needing targeted monitoring by state officials. In both counties, increases in gatherings were a factor in elevated disease transmission, as were outbreaks at state prisons, nursing homes and patients being transferred from Imperial County, which is home to a particularly bad outbreak. (Lin, 6/22)
Los Angeles Times: L.A. County COVID-19 Cases Top 2,000 For Third Day In A Week
Los Angeles County health officials reported 2,571 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, the third day in the last week that the county has reported more than 2,000 infections. The number is especially high considering that cases reported on Mondays are typically lower because of limited testing on weekends and a lag in reporting. In addition, the county announced 18 additional COVID-19 deaths, bringing the death toll to 3,137. (Shalby, 6/22)
San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom Says California Could Reverse Reopening Economy If Coronavirus Cases Surge
California could shut down part of its economy again if the state loses control of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday. Newsom warned that troubling signs have developed since the state began gradually allowing businesses to reopen last month, including a sharp increase during the past two weeks in the number of people hospitalized with coronavirus-related problems and those needing intensive care. (Gardiner, 6/22)
WBUR: California Surgeon General: Systemic Racism Is Linked To COVID-19 Pandemic
A new California rule requires everyone to wear face masks in public as more businesses and public spaces reopen in the state this week. For some residents, the mandate is controversial even as COVID-19 hospitalizations are surging. California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris says public health officials are considering how to boost economic activity in the safest way possible. (Mosley and Hagan, 6/22)
San Francisco Chronicle: How Can Bay Area Counties Prove They Remain Safe? ‘It’s A Scoreboard’
A new state watch list meant to closely monitor counties that are struggling to contain local COVID-19 outbreaks underscores the varied complications health officers are running up against as they lift shelter-in-place restrictions and try to jump-start economies. On Monday, 11 counties were on the list, which state officials quietly unveiled last week. Contra Costa County is the only Bay Area county to to fall under scrutiny so far, though it was removed from the list after just three days when its hospitalization numbers improved. (Allday and Ho, 6/22)
The Washington Post: LAX Is Testing Thermal Cameras As A Coronavirus Health Measure
Officials on Monday planned to announce a pilot program to test the use of thermal imaging cameras at the departures entrance and the corridor for international arrivals in the airport’s Tom Bradley International Terminal. “We’re trying to do everything we can to make sure that our airport terminals are a safe environment, and we’re making sure that we’re doing everything we can to make it healthy for people to come in,” said Justin Erbacci, chief executive of Los Angeles World Airports. (Sampson, 6/22)
Dallas Morning News: Health Care School Is Ready To Start Richardson Campus Construction
A California-based vocational college is moving ahead with plans to move its local campus from Dallas to Richardson. West Coast University reached a deal with the city of Richardson last year to move its Texas nursing and health care school to a three-story building on North Central Expressway. The long-vacant Richardson office building had been owned by real estate developer KDC since 2011. The building sold to a California-based investor in September. (Brown, 6/22)
In other state news —
NBC News: California Man Who Served 30 Years For Stepmom's Murder Pleads Guilty To Killing Doctor
A Southern California man who served nearly 30 years for killing his stepmother pleaded guilty Monday to killing a retired doctor last year after he was released on parole, prosecutors said. The man, Timothy Chavira, 57, was immediately sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in the death of Dr. Editha Cruz de Leon, 76, who was killed with a sharp object in her home Dec. 7, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said in a statement. (Helsel, 6/22)
KQED: Supporters Of Sports Gambling Legalization Halt Effort For 2020 Ballot Measure
A push to legalize sports wagering in California through a November 2020 ballot measure has been abandoned, supporters announced on Monday. The sports gambling proposal, or Senate Constitutional Amendment 6 (SCA 6), could have added California to the growing list of states that permit gambling on sporting events. But provisions in the measure that tackled thorny issues around state gaming laws drew fierce opposition from many of the state's Indian tribes, which own and operate lucrative casinos throughout the state. (Marzorati,6/22)
