Tuesday, October 4, 2022 – California Healthline

Southern California News Group: After #FreeBritney, Landmark Bill To Reform State Conservatorship System Signed Into Law By Gov. Newsom
Under AB 1663, passed unanimously by both houses of the state Legislature, conservatorships would be a last resort for disabled and elderly people, taking a back seat to “supported decision-making,” that is, helping them to make their own choices. The law becomes effective Jan. 1. (Saavedra, 10/4)

The Mercury News: Law Inspired By South Bay Prosecutor’s Leukemia Aims To Expand Marrow Registry
A new law inspired by a South Bay prosecutor’s experiences with leukemia — and his struggle to get a bone-marrow transplant — aims to make it easier to join a national marrow registry, which advocates hope will increase donor diversity and the availability of life-saving treatments. ‘Charlie’s Law,’ named for Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Charles Huang, will let California residents register for the National Marrow Donor Program when they apply for or renew their state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards. (Salonga, 10/3)

Southern California News Group: LA County Posts 2,600 New COVID Infections For 3-Day Period 
Reflecting continued drops in virus transmission, Los Angeles County reported 2,615 new COVID-19 infections over a three-day period that ended on Monday, Oct. 3. (Bray, 10/3)

Los Angeles Times: New Declarations That ‘The Pandemic Is Over’ Once Again Miss The Larger Point, Experts Say
As California enters fall with the coronavirus very much on the decline, some are once again declaring victory. But health experts say that despite the significant progress, it’s less about turning the page than about understanding that COVID-19 remains quite unpredictable. (Money and Lin II, 10/3)

The New York Times: CDC Ends Country-By-Country Covid Travel Advisories 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will no longer maintain a list of Covid-19 travel advisories for foreign countries, the agency said on Monday, another sign of the gradual shift toward prepandemic normalcy even as about 1,400 people around the world are dying each day from the virus. The agency said it would instead issue travel health notices only for “a concerning Covid-19 variant” or other situation that would change travel recommendations for a particular country, as it does with other diseases like monkeypox, polio and yellow fever. (Cameron, 10/3)

MarketWatch: Norwegian Drops COVID-19 Testing, Vaccination And Masking. Should You Take A Cruise Without Such Measures? Experts Weigh In
Norwegian Cruise Line, one of the largest cruise lines in the world, said Monday that passengers will no longer be required to show they are vaccinated against COVID-19, show the results of such a test, or wear a mask. The new policy goes into action Tuesday. Harry Sommer, chief executive of Norwegian Cruise Line  cited “significant, positive progress in the public-health environment.” (Fottrell, 10/4)

The Mercury News: Monkeypox Cases Have Dropped Dramatically In San Francisco
When the state and local health departments started referring to the monkeypox virus as MPX, it wasn’t long before more than the stigmatizing name started to disappear. So did the virus’ exploding case rates. In San Francisco, one of the hardest hit spots in the country, the number of new daily cases has dropped 90% from the peak, to levels the city last saw in early June, when cases first started skyrocketing. (Rowan, 10/4)

The Daily Signal: ‘Stigma’ Prevented California Health Officials From Closing Bathhouses Amid Monkeypox Spread
San Francisco and California state health officials knew monkeypox was spreading through gay or bisexual men who went to bathhouses and international festivals but hesitated to create a “stigma” by communicating these details and closing such venues, according to emails obtained by The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project. Much of the internal communication between and among San Francisco city officials in early June focused on messaging for bathhouses, as well as “sex clubs” catering to gay and bisexual men.  (Jankowski, 10/3)

CalMatters: Churches Battle California Ballot Measure On Abortion
From the pulpit of the bright and airy Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, Father Bao Thai delivered a homily on a recent Sunday morning, urging his congregation to vote against Proposition 1, a measure on the Nov. 8 ballot that would enshrine the right to abortion in California’s constitution. “A steward is entrusted to care for the master’s property until his return,” he preached. “What precious goods has the creator placed in our care? Do they include the innocent and sacred lives of the unborn and children to be born?” (Koseff, 10/3)

Los Angeles Times: Caruso Has Yet To Fulfill $1-Million Abortion Rights Pledge 
A day after a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion overruling Roe vs. Wade sent shockwaves through the country, Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso took to Twitter to vehemently defend his support of abortion rights. Caruso also vowed to financially support a proposal that Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state leaders had just announced, which would explicitly enshrine abortion rights in the state Constitution through passage of a ballot measure now known as Proposition 1. (Wick, 10/3)

Stateline: Privacy, Stigma May Keep Workers From Using Abortion Travel Benefits
“A lot of companies have talked big about it, but far fewer have actually implemented it,” said Bethany Corbin, senior counsel at health care specialists Nixon Gwilt Law. When companies do begin to offer abortion benefits, she said, she expects worker uptake to be minimal. (Vestal, 10/3)

San Gabriel Valley Tribune: Pipeline Health System Hospital Chain Seeks Bankruptcy Protection 
Citing skyrocketing labor and supply costs and delayed insurance reimbursements, a Los Angeles-based hospital chain has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a move that will impact facilities in Norwalk, Gardena, Huntington Park and East L.A. (Smith, 10/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Gets Hearing On New Trial
Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes is due back in court this month to make the case that she deserves a new trial based on her allegations that the government manipulated testimony from a key witness who testified against her. The hearing was granted Monday by the judge who presided over Ms. Holmes’s monthslong criminal-fraud trial. (Somerville, 10/3)

Axios: Gender-Affirming Care Threats: Medical Groups Urge DOJ, Social Media Action
Three major medical groups sent a letter to the Justice Department Monday asking it to investigate increasing threats of violence against children’s hospitals and physicians that provide gender-affirming care to trans youth. (Ravipati, 10/3)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Mental Health Clinic For Veterans, Families To Open In Oceanside 
Military members and veterans who served since 9/11 have seen more deployments than any era before them, and a new clinic has opened in Oceanside to help them and their families deal with any stress and mental issues associated with their service. (Warth, 10/3)

The California Health Report: Wildfire Smoke Is Hurting Pregnant People And Babies. Can California Cities Protect Them? 
Tania Pacheco-Werner put on her walking shoes. She was halfway through her first pregnancy and had just been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Her doctor’s advice? Stay active.  But Pacheco-Werner lives just outside Fresno. It was summer, and well over 100 degrees. The air outside was also thick with wildfire smoke from nearby forest fires — an increasingly common occurrence due to climate change. (Miller, 10/3)

KQED: SFO Restaurant Workers Win $5 Raise, Free Family Health Care Following Strike
Restaurant workers at San Francisco International Airport approved a new union contract on Sunday, giving them a $5 per hour raise and free family health care, after 1,000 workers went out on strike for three days last week. A tentative agreement between the union and the airport’s consortium of restaurants was announced Thursday, after the union’s bargaining committee unanimously approved it. (Hendricks, 10/3)

Bay Area Reporter: Taking Doxycycline After Sex Reduces STI Risk, Study Finds 
Taking the antibiotic doxycycline as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) after sex can lower the risk of gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis, according to a study presented at the recent International AIDS Conference in Montreal. San Francisco health experts discussed the findings and local implementation at the September 22 meeting of the Getting to Zero Consortium. The DoxyPEP trial showed that gay and bisexual men and transgender women who were living with HIV or on PrEP reduced their risk of acquiring the three most common bacterial sexually transmitted infections by more than 60% if they took doxycycline within 72 hours after condomless sex. (Highleyman, 9/30)