Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
California Limps Through Week Of Heat, Fires, Blackouts And COVID
AP: California Slammed By Wildfires, Heat, Unhealthy Smoky Air
Northern Californians were confronted with multiple threats as wildfires, unhealthy smoky air, extreme heat, the looming possibility of power outages and an ongoing pandemic forced many to weigh the risks of staying indoors or going outside. Ash sprinkled the ground and smoke from several wildfires cast an eerie glow over much of the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday, creating unhealthy air quality and heightening concerns about people most prone to respiratory illnesses. (Nguyen and Borenstein, 8/20)
The New York Times: California Endures Fires, Blackouts, A Heat Wave And A Pandemic
How many things can go wrong at once? On Wednesday millions of California residents were smothered by smoke-filled skies as dozens of wildfires raged out of control. They braced for triple-digit temperatures, the sixth day of a punishing heat wave that included a recent reading of 130 degrees in Death Valley. They braced for possible power outages because the state’s grid is overloaded, the latest sign of an energy crisis. And they continued to fight a virus that is killing 130 Californians a day. Even for a state accustomed to disaster, August has been a terrible month. (Fuller, 8/19)
Kaiser Health News: COVID Plans Put To Test As Firefighters Crowd Camps For Peak Wildfire Season
Jon Paul was leery entering his first wildfire camp of the year late last month to fight three lightning-caused fires scorching parts of a Northern California forest that hadn’t burned in 40 years. The 54-year-old engine captain from southern Oregon knew from experience that these crowded, grimy camps can be breeding grounds for norovirus and a respiratory illness that firefighters call the “camp crud” in a normal year. He wondered what the coronavirus would do in the tent cities where hundreds of men and women eat, sleep, wash and spend their downtime between shifts. (Volz, 8/20)
In other California news —
Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus CA: Folsom Prison Reports 223 Active Inmate Cases
A coronavirus outbreak at Folsom State Prison has more than doubled in size in the past week, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, now representing the largest current outbreak among the state’s nearly three dozen prisons. Folsom had 223 inmates with active COVID-19 infections in its custody as of Wednesday afternoon, according to a COVID-19 tracker on the CDCR website. All tested positive in the past two weeks. (McGough, 8/19)
Sacramento Bee: CA Correctional Officers Kept Jobs After Beating Inmate
Two California corrections officers should have been fired for beating a mentally ill inmate and then lying about it later, according to a new report released by a state watchdog. The Office of the Inspector General released a report Wednesday that criticized the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s handling of the incident, as well as the department’s refusal to allow video of the incident to be released to the public with the new report. (Sheeler, 8/19)
San Francisco Chronicle: If COVID-19 Isn’t Driving A Dramatic Increase In Homeless Deaths In SF, Then What Is?
As the coronavirus collides with San Francisco’s existing homelessness, mental health and drug crises, Edwards’ story highlights the intractability of dealing with everything at once. Not only has the pandemic disrupted the city’s already fragile ecosystem of social services, but experts say the increased use of stronger opioids, along with loneliness and isolation also have resulted in more overdoses among the city’s most vulnerable. (Thadani, 8/19)
San Francisco Chronicle: What If ‘Nothing Ever Goes Back To Normal’? Depression, Anxiety Mount In Bay Area
In San Francisco, calls for high-risk suicide situations rose 25% on average from May through July 2020 compared to February through April, according to data from the Felton Institute-SF Suicide Prevention, a nonprofit that handles crisis calls for the city. Behavioral health calls doubled in that same period, with more than 5,500 callers expressing mental health concerns from May through July, according to the same report. (Kramer, 8/19)
