COVID-19

Black Educators Take on Hesitancy as Gov. Newsom Issues COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate

Across California’s 58 counties, about 60% of the state’s population has been fully vaccinated. Black people account for about 5.8% of California’s population and 4% of those who have been vaccinated.

Published

4 years ago

October 11, 2021

Christy Price

Man with face mask has a lot of questions and doubts about covid 19 vaccine./iStock

As the COVID-19 pandemic lingers on with Black Californians still lagging behind on getting fully vaccinated, leaders in the state, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, are taking steps to push more people to get the shot. It is the most effective way, public health experts say, we will end the global public health crisis.

To help slow the spread of COVID-19, Newsom signed an executive order late last month to extend telehealth services. Then, last week, the governor also made vaccines mandatory for all students at public and private schools.

California’s school vaccination mandate will take effect for students enrolled in grades 7 through 12 one semester after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the vaccine for children 12 and older. The mandate will also apply to children under 12 after a vaccine is approved for that age group.

“The state already requires that students are vaccinated against viruses that cause measles, mumps, and rubella – there’s no reason why we wouldn’t do the same for COVID-19. Today’s measure, just like our first-in-the-nation school masking and staff vaccination requirements, is about protecting our children and school staff, and keeping them in the classroom,” Newsom said. “Vaccines work.

“It’s why California leads the country in preventing school closures and has the lowest case rates. We encourage other states to follow our lead to keep our kids safe and prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

Last month, Black educators from around the state met at the Reef Restaurant in Long Beach. One of the items on their agenda was getting to the bottom of why some Black Californians remain reluctant to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The event, themed “Vaccine Hesitancy: Understanding the Science and Getting people to Trust It,” was a presentation held during a meeting co-hosted by the California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators (CAASA), along with along with the Los Angeles County Alliance of Black School Educators and the National Coalition.

In the process, participants said they wanted to provide some historical context.

Lillie Tyson Head, daughter of a survivor of the United States Public Health Service Syphilis Study in Tuskegee, talked about the far-reaching damage caused by the controversial and unethical research project.

“The men were told that they had ‘bad blood’ and that they would receive treatment,” Head said. “They were never told they were in a study and the intent of the study.”

She said the federal government study fostered distrust among African Americans of the health care system.

“Forty-nine years after the study was exposed and 89 years after the study began, people, particularly in the African American communities, distrust certain medical treatment and medical research. And they are using this study as reasons for hesitating getting vaccinated or refusing to get vaccinated at all,” Head said.

Dr. Oliver Brooks, chief medical officer at the Watts Healthcare Center, said there are built-in biases in the medical system that contribute to African American skepticism.

“There are studies showing that African Americans are less likely to get cardiac studies and procedures, stents versus just medication. They get less treatment for pain when they come in with sickle cell and other injuries like femur fractures,” he said. “The mistrust with the medical system is valid. It is a decision based on primarily mistrust of the vaccine and mistrust with the healthcare system.”

Head also encouraged people to get vaccinated although she acknowledged that she understood why some Black people remain hesitant.

“How fortunate and blessed we are to know about the types of COVID vaccines that are available today,” Head said. “Why then should we deny ourselves getting vaccinated? We all have the opportunity to be informed, receive advice from professionals we trust and understand how we can protect ourselves by getting vaccinated.”

California Black Media’s coverage of COVID-19 is supported by the California Health Care Foundation.

Christy Price

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After Years of Working Remotely, Oakland Requires All City Employees to Return to Office by April 7

City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week. These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.

Published

2 months ago

February 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Oakland City Hall. File photo.

By Post Staff

The City Oakland is requiring all employees to return to the office, thereby ending the telecommuting policy established during the pandemic that has left some City Hall departments understaffed.

City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week.

These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.

The administration may still grant the right to work remotely on a case-by-case basis.

In his memo to city unions, Johnson said former President Joe Biden had declared an end to the pandemic in September 2022, and that since then, “We have collectively moved into newer, safer health conditions.”

Johnson said “multiple departments” already have all their staff back in the office or workplace.

The City’s COVID-era policy, enacted in September 2021, was designed to reduce the spread of the debilitating and potentially fatal virus.

Many cities and companies across the country are now ending their pandemic-related remote work policies. Locally, mayoral candidate Loren Taylor in a press conference made the policy a central issue in his campaign for mayor.

City Hall reopened for in-person meetings two years ago, and the city’s decision to end remote work occurred before Taylor’s press conference.

At an endorsement meeting last Saturday of the John George Democratic Club, mayoral candidate Barbara Lee said she agreed that city workers should return to the job.

At the same time, she said, the city should allow employees time to readjust their lives, which were disrupted by the pandemic, and should recognize individual needs, taking care to maintain staff morale.

The John George club endorsed Lee for Mayor and Charlene Wang for City Council representative for District 2. The club also voted to take no position on the sales tax measure that will be on the April 15 ballot.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Freddie Ray Turner, 75

Fred enjoyed a 27-year career (1972-1999) with the Oakland Unified School District. Starting as a classroom teacher, he went on to serve as a vice principal, principal and retired as director of Student Services. But retirement was not in the cards for Fred. He went on to serve as the Fremont Unified School District’s director of Pupil Services for five years, retiring in 2004.

Published

4 months ago

January 1, 2025

Oakland Post

Freddie Ray Turner. Courtesy photo.

Special to The Post

Freddie Ray Turner was born in Mesa, Arizona, on July 15, 1949, the youngest of Carlanthe and Jimmie Turner’s seven children. Fred attended the Chandler public schools and graduated high school in 1966. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama and Spanish from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.

Relocated to the Bay Area, he continued his education, and earned a master’s degree in Education Administration from California State University-Hayward.

Throughout his life, Fred traveled the world. He didn’t just have a “travel bug,” Fred was a travel bug. He graduated from overnight stays in youth hostels in Paris, Rome, and Madrid to vacationing in much finer accommodations in Kenya, Turkey, China, Japan, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Israel, Amsterdam, and South Africa. If there was an airport, at some time in his life Fred Turner landed in it.

Fred was a devoted member of Brother-to-Brother from 2005 until his passing. He was also a life associate of the East Oakland-Hayward section of the National Council for Negro Women, an organization he strongly supported since 2013. Fred also served on the Board of Directors for the Leadership Institute at Allen Temple Baptist Church.

An avid reader, Fred’s response to the lockdown caused by the 2020 COVID pandemic was to organize “Plot Chasers,” a close group of friends who meet weekly to read and discuss short stories.

Fred passed away on Dec. 15, 2024, following a brief hospitalization. He was predeceased by his parents, his sister, Madelyn, and brothers Robert Lee and Franklin Eugene.

He leaves to mourn his surviving siblings Artie Mae Clark, Dorothy Rome, and Jimmie Richard Turner; first cousin, Catherine Markham; a host of nieces and nephews, great- nieces and nephews, and very close friends.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8, at Allen Temple Family Life Center, 8501 International Blvd., in Oakland, CA.

In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that friends honor Fred’s memory with a donation in Fred’s name to the National Alzheimer’s & Related Disorders Association, or to the East Bay AIDs Advocacy Foundation.

Oakland Post

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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

8 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.