School Nurse Shortages Worsen, Relief Funds Not Seen Helping With Staffing
Stateline reports on ongoing school nurse staffing issues across the U.S., highlighting worries that new federal money likely will be spent other services — and "not on fresh troops." Separately, San Francisco may be the first place to mandate paid sick leave for house cleaners and nannies.
Stateline:
School Nurse Deficit Deepens As States Seek Relief
Last year was a nightmare for nearly everyone in health care. But for school nurses, 2021 has been worse. Since school doors opened this fall, school nurses have been working nonstop on COVID-19 contact tracing and quarantines. In most places, they’ve had to abandon many of their regular duties and add brutal weekend and evening hours to their schedules. Janis Hogan, a 22-year veteran of school nursing, is among them. Her job at Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport, Maine, has been reduced to COVID-19 contact tracing all day every day, she told Stateline. (Vestal, 10/26)
San Francisco Chronicle:
S.F. Could Be First To Mandate Paid Sick Leave For House Cleaners, Nannies
Mirna Arana was pregnant and didn’t feel well. But if she didn’t clean houses, she wouldn’t get paid. So she went to work. She kept cleaning even as cramps racked her body. Then she began to bleed and eventually miscarried. House cleaners, nannies and others who work in private homes rarely get paid sick leave, sometimes forcing them to choose between their health and their paycheck. Now San Francisco is poised to become the first city in the nation to create a way for domestic workers to have paid sick days, via an ordinance being introduced Tuesday by Supervisor Hillary Ronen and co-sponsor Myrna Melgar. (Said, 10/25)
Dallas Morning News:
Texas Judge Denies Order To Keep Delta-8 THC Products From Being Considered ‘Illegal’
A judge has denied a temporary restraining order against the Texas Department of State Health Services that was prompted by confusion in the cannabinoid industry. Court documents show that the judge denied the order from Hometown Hero, an Austin-based company that sells delta-8 and CBD products, because “the plaintiff has not met requirements of a temporary restraining order.” The health department responded to the emergency order by stating there was no emergency. Hometown Hero filed the suit on Thursday after the state health department issued a notice on its website on Oct. 15 that delta-8 products are illegal. Delta-8 is a less-potent alternative to the delta-9 product known as “marijuana.” (Addison, 10/25)
Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Nevada Offers $5k Grants To Help Disabled Kids Recover From Pandemic
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced a first-of-its-kind grant program Monday that will help families with disabled children recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Transforming Opportunities for Toddlers and Students (TOTS) program will use $5 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to help those families meet everyday expenses. Recipients will receive $5,000, and applications for the grants are available now. “Never before have we invested this much money directly into our kids with disabilities,” Sisolak said at a news briefing in Henderson Monday morning. (Apgar, 10/25)
The Boston Globe:
Mass. House Leaders Propose Up To $2,000 For Low-Income Workers Who Showed Up In Person During Pandemic State Of Emergency
Top Massachusetts lawmakers on Monday offered a sweeping plan for spending $3.65 billion in federal stimulus money and state surplus funds, including to set aside a half-billion dollars for bonuses to essential workers, funnel hundreds of millions of dollars toward struggling hospitals, and commit $600 million to help spur more housing. The proposal unveiled by House leaders uses, for now, about $2.5 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds and another $1.15 billion from a state surplus to buttress an array of programs affected and priorities amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. (Stout, 10/25)
San Antonio Express-News:
Texas Family Suing Torchy's Tacos After Boy Hospitalized For Salmonella
A family is suing Torchy’s Tacos after a child became ill weeks after eating at the chain's Sonterra Place location in San Antonio, according to court documents. The boy was rushed to a local pediatric intensive care unit for sepsis, organ failure and pneumonia treatments linked to a salmonella outbreak in onions that affected 37 states, the court documents say. Texas alone has reported almost 160 cases of salmonella. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked the outbreak to fresh whole red, white, and yellow onions imported from Chihuahua, Mexico. The onions were sold to American restaurants and grocery stores ending on Aug. 31. (Fanning, 10/25)
The Boston Globe:
Thousands Of Additional Mass. Students Expected To Have Access To Free School Meals Under New Law
A new Massachusetts law is expected to give thousands of additional students access to free meals at school and will prohibit school employees from punishing students who have meal debt by publicly identifying them, denying them a meal, or serving them an alternative meal. The law, ceremonially signed by Governor Charlie Baker on Monday, requires schools and districts to offer all students free breakfast and lunch if a majority of its students meet low-income criteria, the governor’s office said in a statement. (Kovatch, 10/25)
