Report: 1,500 Homeless People Died On LA Streets During Covid
In other impactful news from California, some water districts will get none of their requested supplies heading into 2022 other than for critical health and safety needs. Other news is from Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Maine, Colorado and Florida.
The Hill:
New Report Says Staggering 1,500 People Died On Streets Of LA During Pandemic
A total of 1,493 people experiencing homelessness died on the streets of Los Angeles during the pandemic, according to a new report. Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, along with a coalition of researchers focused on homelessness, studied data from the LA county coroner’s records and found that nearly 1,500 people died on the city’s streets between March 2020 and July of this year. (O'Connell-Domenech, 12/1)
AP:
California Water Districts To Get 0% Of Requested Supplies
Water agencies in drought-stricken California that serve 27 million residents and 750,000 acres of farmland won’t get any of the water they've requested from the state heading into 2022 other than what's needed for critical health and safety, state officials announced Wednesday. It's the earliest date the Department of Water Resources has issued a 0% water allocation, a milestone that reflects the dire conditions in California as drought continues to grip the nation’s most populous state and reservoirs sit at historically low levels. State water officials said mandatory water restrictions could be coming and major water districts urged consumers to conserve. (Ronayne, 12/1)
The Washington Post:
California Moves Toward Ranking And Categorizing Heat Waves
The narrative is becoming all too familiar: A severe heat wave builds and, days later, people die. Now, legislators, scientists and a think tank are convening to better adapt to the most lethal weather phenomenon — by categorizing and naming it in major U.S. cities. In January, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and other delegates will formally introduce legislation to rate and name heat waves in Los Angeles — potentially establishing the nation’s first ranking system for such occurrences. The categorization would help communities take measures to reduce the number of heat-related fatalities. (Patel, 12/1)
Elsewhere around the country —
Georgia Health News:
Abrams’ Entry Into 2022 Race Sets Up Health Care As A Pivotal Issue
Democrat Stacey Abrams’ entry Wednesday into the 2022 Georgia gubernatorial race almost guarantees that health care will be a leading issue in the campaign. Abrams, who narrowly lost to Brian Kemp in the 2018 race, pushed Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act as a top priority in that campaign. As governor, Kemp has taken a much narrower path toward increasing the Medicaid rolls, and has opposed expanding the program in the standard ACA fashion, as most states have done. (Miller, 12/1)
AP:
New NY Health Commissioner Takes Over From Embattled Zucker
New York’s new state health commissioner stepped into the role Wednesday, at a time when COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise in the state. Mary Bassett, a former New York City health commissioner, spent 17 years developing AIDS prevention programs in Zimbabwe. She’s currently director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and a professor at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (Villeneuve, 12/2)
North Carolina Health News:
A Nationwide Problem, Worse In North Carolina
Early in the morning on July 28, 2017 Amber DelVechio’s phone rang. She missed the call, but it woke her up. She rolled out of bed, and began getting ready for her job as an executive assistant at a manufacturing company in Newton, in Catawba County. Her phone buzzed again. It was the same number: “Are you Madison’s mom?” DelVechio typed back, “Yes. Why?” Call me back, the stranger responded. (DeRoven, 12/2)
AP:
Law Results In Donation Of Thousands Of Menstrual Products
A brand of menstrual hygiene products is donating 100,000 of the products to Maine schools in the wake of a new law that makes the donations easier. A bill signed into law earlier this year provided immunity from civil and criminal liability for donations of such products. U by Kotex made the donation through the Alliance for Period Supplies with distribution help from Michael Klahr Jewish Family Services, said Democrats who supported the creation of the law on Wednesday. Democratic Sen. Cathy Breen of Falmouth introduced the bill to make the donations easier earlier this year. She and other supporters said one in five teenagers have had difficulty affording the products. (12/2)
AP:
Colorado Panel Issues Guidelines For Injecting Ketamine
Colorado’s health department announced Wednesday that emergency workers should not use a condition involving erratic behavior by people as a reason to inject them with the drug ketamine. The announcement came two years after the fatal arrest of a Black man in suburban Denver who had been injected with the drug. Most states and agencies allow ketamine to be administered when people exhibit “excited delirium,” or agitation typically associated with chronic drug abuse, mental illness or both. The drug is used as a sedative and is supposed to be fast-acting with limited side affects. (Nieberg, 12/1)
Health News Florida:
State Rep. Jenne Says Florida Has 'Concrete Shoes' When Responding To Public Health Emergencies
Florida House Minority Co-Leader Evan Jenne says the state is at a disadvantage when it comes to public health. He says that's due to new laws passed last month during a special legislative session. One law is meant to take down vaccine mandates that provide no exemptions for private-sector workers or government employees. Another reinforces the Parents' Bill of Rights to stop school districts from enacting student mask and vaccination requirements with no exemptions. Jenne says laws like these give Florida "concrete shoes" when responding to public health emergencies. (Gaffney, 12/1)
Health News Florida:
Blood-Donation Study In Orlando Continues To Seek Participants With Push On World AIDS Day
Wednesday is World AIDS Day and a local study aimed at making it easier for some LGBTQ people to donate blood is still looking for participants. The study in Orlando and seven other cities around the country could change the Food and Drug Administration’s rules requiring gay and bisexual men to wait three months between sex and blood donation. Those rules have been in place since the height of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. But OneBlood’s Susan Forbes says the Orlando portion of the study housed in the LGBT+ Center still needs about 120 gay and bisexual men between the ages of 18 and 39 to enroll. (Prieur, 12/1)
