Coronavirus

As Numbers Spike, California to Begin “Smart Testing” for COVID-19

Published

4 years ago

July 2, 2020

During Gov. Gavin Newsom’s daily COVID-19 update to Californians on June 26, he announced that the state will begin “smart,” or “targeted” testing, for the disease. He announced the plan after health officials released data last week showing a sharp upturn in the numbers of infected people.

“The next iteration of our testing, we want to see the volume, but it’s not just the volume. We want to see the specificity of testing and the sophistication of the type and target of the testing,” he said.

The governor said the new testing strategy will focus on communities that have “been underserved, under-tested and under-resourced.” But he did not give details about the places the state plans to prioritize.

As of June 27, more than 211,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in California. So far, there have been close to 6,000 deaths in the state.

Los Angeles County accounts for close to half of the state’s infections with roughly 90,000 infections and more than 3,200 deaths.

Younger people, between the ages of 18 and 49, account for about 118,900 cases, the majority of infections in the state.

“From my standpoint, the testing has gotten a lot better,” said Dr. Rodney Hood, who is a medical doctor in the San Diego area and former president of both the Golden State Medical Association and the National Medical Association, respectively.

At the onset of the crisis, Hood said, he struggled to bring tests to low-income Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Southeast San Diego near where his practice is located.

“We have been fortunate in California. I was concerned about the testing at the beginning but the state and most counties have responded in positive ways, and now we are able to get more people tested,” he said. “But we need to do more.”

There have been more than 3.5 million tests administered in the state so far, according to the California Dept. of Public Health (DPH). In one week alone, Newsom said, more than 88,000 people took coronavirus tests across the sate

Hood, who has run his own practice for 40 years, says he recently joined a network of federally qualified clinics called the San Ysidro Health Center. Since he and other doctors set up the two testing centers in his area — one drive-in and the other walk-up — they have tested about 3,000 people in two zip codes in San Diego county,

“We’ve found that once you remove barriers to testing, like demanding appointments people can’t keep because they couldn’t get a day off from work or another reason like that, they will show up. They will come to get tested,” he says.

Hood says the state should focus on zip codes with the highest percentages of infections, most of them are places in the state where there are concentrations of African Americans and Hispanics.  

As of June 28, 6,445 Black Californians have tested positive for the disease, and a total of 544 African Americans have died from COVID-19 related complications, according to the DPH. Those numbers account for 4.4% of all cases and 6% of all deaths. Both percentages represent decreases since the state first started collecting racial data when the infection rate among Black people hovered around over 10% and the death rate at about 6 %.

Latinos account for the majority of cases in the state (55.3%) and 36.3% of all deaths.

In his message, Newsom warned Californians that the crisis is getting worse in the state.

“This disease does not take a summer vacation,” he said. “Let us disabuse ourselves of the notion that somehow this is a seasonal disease. I cannot impress on people more as you move, understandably, into more of a festive mode celebrating democracy and freedom, and our independence as a nation, to do so more responsibly.”

Dr. Hood says there is one critical thing the state can do to flatten the curve of new infections.

“We have to implement effective contact tracing,” he says. “We need to have the ability to successfully identify and target where people contract the disease and who they have exposed to it. That is the only way we can bring these numbers down.”

Tanu Henry, California Black Media

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Bay Area

Authorities Warn: There’s a COVID Surge in California

According to data estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the coronavirus in California’s wastewater has spiked for eight consecutive weeks. Hospitalizations and emergency room visits have also increased since the rise of the new subvariants. Over the last month, Los Angeles County experienced an average of 389 hospital patients per day that tested positive for the coronavirus. The FLiRT subvariants such as KP.3.1.1. Made up over 2% of coronavirus samples nationwide, an increase of more than 7% last month.

Published

3 months ago

August 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo provided by California Black Media.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

California is experiencing a COVID-19 surge this summer, experts warn, as numbers of infections increased for the third month this year.

State public health authorities attribute the summer COVID surge to more infectious subvariants that have emerged as the coronavirus evolves.

Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious disease at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, stated that subvariants of COVID-19 called FLiRT increased in recent months, particularly one named KP.3.1.1 that has become the most common strain in the country.

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases expert at UC San Francisco, said that the subvariant KP.3.1.1 seems most adept at transmission.

“The subvariant is the one that people think will continue to take over, not only in the United States, but … around the world,” Chin-Hong said.

The majority of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 complained of a sore throat and a heavy cough. Risk factors that can increase the illness include age, underlying health issues, and vaccine dosage.

Health experts stated that the demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has increased in Northern California. However, people are having a hard time getting the vaccine due to the increasing number of cases.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

California Black Media

Gov. Newsom and Gov. DeSantis Go Head-to-Head in Nationally Televised Debate

Conservative Fox News personality Sean Hannity moderated the duel, during which the TV pundit, more than once, injected his opinion, and appeared to be providing subtle assists to DeSantis. As the debate progressed, it was clear that opinions about each topic discussed was representative of the philosophical and political chasm that divides liberal and conservative America, and a preview of campaign mudslinging that is bound to intensify as the 2024 presidential campaign ensues.

Published

11 months ago

December 10, 2023

Oakland Post

The debate between Gov. Gavin Newsom and Gov. Ron DeSantis was moderated by Fox News personality Sean Hannity. California Black Media image.

By California Black Media

In an intense, 95-minute-plus televised faceoff between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Nov. 30, the men traded jabs and putdowns, defended their respective gubernatorial records, disagreed sharply on how to solve the country’s most pressing problems, and expressed clashing views on the performance of the Biden-Harris administration.

Conservative Fox News personality Sean Hannity moderated the duel, during which the TV pundit, more than once, injected his opinion, and appeared to be providing subtle assists to DeSantis.

As the debate progressed, it was clear that opinions about each topic discussed was representative of the philosophical and political chasm that divides liberal and conservative America, and a preview of campaign mudslinging that is bound to intensify as the 2024 presidential campaign ensues.

“I’ll tell you why I’m here,” Newsom said. “I’m here to tell the truth about the Biden-Harris record and also compare and contrast Ron DeSantis’ record and the Republican Party’s record” with that of California.

DeSantis blasted Newsom’s management of the COVID-19 crisis and criticized Newsom for prevalent crime, homelessness and deteriorating social conditions in California cities.

“You have the freedom to defecate in public in California,” DeSantis said. “You have the freedom to pitch a tent on Sunset Boulevard. You have the freedom to create a homeless encampment under a freeway and even light it on fire. They’re not the freedoms our founding fathers envisioned.”

Newsom took a jab at DeSantis’ presidential candidacy, predicting that the Florida Governor would be endorsing GOP frontrunner Donald Trump soon.

“There’s one thing we have in common,” Newsom said. “Neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

BayCityNews

FDA Updates Approval of Pfizer Booster Vaccine for Children Under 5

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its approval Tuesday of the Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine, making it available to some children under age 5. Before this update, children under 5 were not eligible for COVID-19 booster shots. Instead, they received three doses of the regular vaccine.

Published

2 years ago

March 22, 2023

Oakland Post

As of December 2022, children age 4 and younger who have not been vaccinated receive the omicron variant-specific booster vaccine as the third dose in their primary vaccine series, following two doses of the original Pfizer vaccine.

By Eli Walsh
Bay City News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its approval Tuesday of the Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine, making it available to some children under age 5.

Before this update, children under 5 were not eligible for COVID-19 booster shots. Instead, they received three doses of the regular vaccine.

However, children in that age range who completed their initial vaccination series before December 2022 only received three doses of the original Pfizer vaccine, and are less protected against more infectious variants of the virus as a result.

FDA officials updated the vaccine’s emergency use authorization Tuesday to allow those children who only received the original Pfizer COVID vaccine to receive one dose of the bivalent booster if it has been at least two months since they completed their initial series.

Other children under age 5 are not eligible for the booster, although everyone age 5 and up is eligible for a booster.

“Currently available data show that vaccination remains the best defense against severe disease, hospitalization and death caused by COVID-19 across all age groups, and we encourage all eligible individuals to make sure that their vaccinations are up to date with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine,” said Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Clinical data has found that both the original Pfizer vaccine and the booster vaccine that targets the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are safe for everyone aged 6 months and up and effective at preventing the worst outcomes of COVID infection, including serious illness and death.

COVID vaccines are available at primary care providers, retail pharmacies and some facilities operated by local health departments.

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