Category: California

California Taps Libraries and Tax Offices To Recruit 20,000 New Disease Detectives

As California begins one of the largest contact-tracing training programs in the country, many of the new recruits will be librarians: who are known to be curious, tech-savvy and really good at getting people they barely know to open up.

Citing COVID, Sutter Pushes To Revisit Landmark Antitrust Settlement

Six months after agreeing to a $575 million settlement in a closely watched antitrust case filed by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Sutter Health has yet to pay a single dollar, and no operational changes have gone into effect. The nonprofit health care giant was accused of using its market dominance in Northern California to […]

At A Time Of Great Need, Public Health Lacks ‘Lobbying Muscle’

Public health officials are asking for more money in California’s state budget. But unlike some rich and powerful health care interests, they don’t have an army of lobbyists to curry favor with lawmakers.

COVID-19 Batters A Beloved Bay Area Community Health Care Center

Health clinics in isolated African American communities in the San Francisco Bay Area provide crucial services to neglected populations. But like thousands of other community clinics around the nation, their finances have been wrecked by the pandemic shutdown.

Using Stories To Mentally Survive As A COVID-19 Clinician

The practice of narrative medicine helps health care professionals hear the life stories behind a patient’s immediate complaints. Some doctors are finding that these skills also provide an alcove of needed reflection amid the pandemonium of COVID-19.

COVID-19 Overwhelms Border ICUs

Some California hospitals near the Mexican border have received so many COVID-19 patients the past few weeks that they have had to divert some to other facilities. Hospital officials say most of the infected patients are U.S. citizens or legal residents who live in, or recently traveled to, Mexico and came to the U.S. for care.

Judges Try To Balance Legal Rights And Courtroom Health

Courtrooms aren’t built for social distancing, and pandemics don’t offer ideal conditions for fulfilling the right to a speedy trial. But, eventually, every court in the nation will have to reckon with a return that may risk safety to some degree.

Newsom Likes To ‘Go Big’ But Doesn’t Always Deliver

The COVID-19 pandemic is showcasing California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s leadership style to a national audience. The first-term Democrat doesn’t shy away from making splashy announcements and lofty promises, but his plans often lack detail and, in some cases, follow-through.

‘Why Do We Always Get Hit First?’ Proposed Budget Cuts Target Vulnerable Californians

Safety-net health care programs that keep low-income Californians out of nursing homes are on the chopping block as Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers attempt to plug a massive budget deficit caused by the COVID-19 emergency.

Some Ivory Towers Are Ideal For A Pandemic. Most Aren’t.

As reopening decisions approach for the fall semester, colleges and universities are casting about for strategies to keep students safe without bankrupting their institutions. A few have natural advantages.