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Coronavirus numbers in California have fallen almost back to levels observed before omicron became the state's dominant variant, the latest COVID-19 infections and hospitalization data show. California and many counties last Wednesday ended their mask requirement in indoor public places for the fully vaccinated, while Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties kept their mandates in effect. Masks remain mandatory throughout the state in several settings, including on public transit, in health care settings, at long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and at K-12 schools.

Four doctors, including the director of Covid response for UCSF Medical Center’s emergency department, are calling on state leaders to acknowledge the transition of Covid to an endemic disease and lift most masking policies for school-aged children.The petition was first circulated Friday and currently has more than 9,500 signatures. It includes a strongly-worded open letter to Gov. Newsom and state public health and education leaders, and it notes that “restrictive policies … have long lost their justification as necessary for prevention of serious illness and death.”The California Public Health Department said in a statement responding to the letter that “vaccinations,...

Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration this week announced a plan for addressing extreme heat that includes recommendations on how to monitor deaths caused by heat waves and the possible establishment of temperature limits for residential units.The release of the plan follows the publication of a Los Angeles Times investigation that revealed that California has done a poor job tracking the number of people who have died due to extreme heat and has largely failed to provide resources to communities that are most vulnerable to the effects of heat and global warming."Extreme heat threatens public health and safety, economic prosperity and communities...

Elon Musk has attacked a draft plan under consideration in California that critics say disincentivizes the use of rooftop solar panels.The Tesla founder was responding to changes proposed by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to the state's Net Energy Metering (NEM) program.Under the program, the estimated 1.3 million homeowners and businesses in the Golden State who have installed rooftop solar panels can sell back surplus energy to the grid and receive credit on their bills.But last month the CPUC released a proposal calling for a number of changes, one of which is how much customers are paid when they...

Nearly half of Bay Area employers expect employees to work in person on three days a week post-pandemic, a market shift that could result in roughly 1.1 million fewer commute trips per day... The survey, conducted monthly since April, found that an average of 40.75% of Bay Area employers surveyed expect their workers to return to the office three days a week once the pandemic subsides. Around 15% to 20% of employers said they expect their workers to return to in-person work five or more days per week while less than 5% of employers said they thought their employees would...

California will impose a statewide mask mandate in all indoor public spaces as COVID-19 case rates soar, state Secretary of Health and Human Services Mark Ghaly said on Monday... The mandate, which will take effect on Wednesday and last one month... In addition to requiring masks, the state is tightening its testing requirements for unvaccinated people who want to attend large events such as music festivals and professional ball games where more than 1,000 people are in attendance. The state is also recommending that all travelers to the state be tested for COVID-19 within three to five days of arrival,...

The pandemic resulted in the permanent closure of roughly 200,000 U.S. establishments above historical levels during the first year of the viral outbreak, according to a study released Thursday by economists at the Fed. Barber shops, nail salons and other providers of personal services appear to be hardest hit, according to the Fed study, accounting for more than 100,000 establishment closures beyond historically normal levels between March 2020 and February 2021. The Fed estimates don’t include the roughly 26 million U.S. businesses without employees. Business failures traditionally have been highest among the smallest firms, those with fewer than five employees.

What is the Shielding Approach1?High-risk individuals would be temporarily relocated to safe or “green zones” established at the household, neighborhood, camp/sector or community level depending on the context and setting.1,2 They would have minimal contact with family members and other low-risk residents.A summary of the shielding approach described by Favas is shown in Table 1. See Guidance for the prevention of COVID-19 infections among high-risk individuals in low-resource, displaced and camp and camp-like settings 1,2 for full details.Table 1: Summary of the Shielding Approach1LevelMovement/ InteractionsHousehold (HH) Level:A specific room/area designated for high-risk individuals who are physically isolated from other HH...

The In-N-Out hamburger chain is sizzling mad after San Francisco shut down its indoor dining for refusing to check customers’ vaccination status. The company’s Fisherman’s Wharf location — its only one in San Francisco — was temporarily shut by the Department of Public Health on Oct. 14. “We refuse to become the vaccination police for any government,” Arnie Wensinger, the chain’s chief legal and business officer, said in a statement. Wensinger called San Francisco’s mandate unreasonable, invasive and unsafe for employees to “segregate customers” into groups who can and can’t be served. “We fiercely disagree with any government dictate that...

Walgreens announced Tuesday it would be closing five of its San Francisco locations due to "organized retail crime," but police department data, local officials, and policy experts are casting doubt on that reasoning, according to a report published by the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday.While the report said the chain has experienced retail theft, other factors like the COVID-19 pandemic and oversaturation of stores were cited as potential factors behind the decision to close the stores.However, San Francisco Police Department data obtained by the Chronicle contradicts Walgreens' claims, with one of the stores slated to close reporting only 23 shoplifting...

IKEA is temporarily removing unavailable products from its websites and store showrooms as the retailer battles the impacts of the supply chain crunchThe company is also reducing the number of versions of some products to ensure its most popular items are availableAdditionally, the retailer plans to lease more ships, buy containers and re-route goods between warehouses in an effort to reduce disruptionsIKEA executives, who shared that no one at the company anticipated the current disruptions, predict the supply chain crisis to continue well into 2022Like most retailers, IKEA is feeling the impacts of the supply chain crunch and struggling to...

With a lack of tech workers and foot traffic, downtown San Jose became a ghost town during the pandemic, but five miles away high-end Santana Row flourished. These two destinations linked by San Carlos and Stevens Creek boulevards and Interstate 280 are worlds apart socioeconomically and the COVID-19 pandemic made that schism wider. Downtown was hit incredibly hard by shelter-in-place mandates during the pandemic. Numerous businesses were unable to survive, leaving streets littered with empty restaurants and storefronts. Built more for office workers than retail shoppers, its restaurants and bars suffered as tech employees worked from home. Uphill road for...

The Food and Drug Administration is asking food manufacturers and restaurants to cut the salt in their products over the coming 2½ years with the goal of reducing Americans’ overall sodium intake by 12 percent. The sweeping recommendation, announced Wednesday, is expected to cover a wide variety of foods — from chain restaurant meals to processed food on grocery store shelves and even baby food. the FDA will watch the industry carefully over the coming years, rewarding companies that comply. It was unclear Wednesday what the rewards would be, and Woodcock did not say whether the FDA would take any...

More than half of restaurant operators surveyed by the National Restaurant Association say that business conditions are worse now than three months ago.The delta variant, understaffed restaurants and higher food costs are among the issues plaguing the industry.Just 9% of survey respondents said business conditions improved over the last three months.The trade group surveyed 4,000 operators between Sept. 7 and Sept. 15 and is using the results to lobby against President Joe Biden’s plan to raise the corporate tax rate and proposed changes to the National Labor Relations Act that would allow fines of $50,000 to $100,000 for labor violations....

Roll up your sleeves if you want to work in San Francisco.Starting Wednesday, employees must prove they’re fully vaccinated if they want to clock in.The rule goes for workers at businesses like:BarsRestaurantsClubsTheatersEntertainment venuesIndoor gyms and other fitness establishmentsSan Francisco gave employees two months to get the vaccine. Back on August 12th, San Francisco required customers to show proof of vaccination at the businesses.This is the city’s way to protect people against the spread of COVID-19 but also keep businesses open.The vaccination requirements apply to health care providers too.That includes workers at adult day-care centers, residential care facilities, dental offices, home...

The state of California is jumping into an historic lawsuit against companies who make kits to assemble so-called “ghost guns.” The suit, originally filed in August by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office along with the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the law firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters, accuses three companies of selling illegal prepackaged kits, allowing people to make a firearm at home. These ghost guns don’t have serial numbers, making them untraceable. In joining the lawsuit against Blackhawk Manufacturing Group, Inc., GS Performance, LLC, and MDX Corporation, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the...

From the end of 2019 to the middle of 2021 — the duration (so far) of the pandemic, more or less — the U.S. economy grew at an annualized pace of 0.6%. It doesn’t explain why California’s growth handily outpaced Florida’s, though, or why Washington grew fastest of all. The simplest explanation for all of this is that the West is where the tech industry is concentrated, and tech companies had a great pandemic. The increase in real GDP produced by the Far West’s information sector, which includes software, gaming and most internet enterprises, was greater than the region’s overall...

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to pass an ordinance that, as of Nov. 4, will require proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enter restaurants, movie theaters and many other private businesses. Now, the businesses that must require vaccines also include restaurants of any kind (fast food establishments, coffee shops, tasting rooms, cafeterias), gyms and fitness venues, entertainment venues (movie theaters, shopping centers, concert and performance venues, sports arenas, museums, arcades) and personal care establishments (spas, nail salons, hair salons, tanning salons, estheticians, skin care, tattoo shops). “If we ever want to get back to normal, to what Los Angeles...

Bay Area health officials are considering dropping indoor mask mandates. On Tuesday, Mayor London Breed said the change is long overdue. But, there's still a lot of hesitation among Bay Area residents, epidemiologists included. Mask mandates have been a moving target throughout the pandemic. In mid-June, when California reopened, the state dropped indoor mask mandates. But when Delta created a new surge, seven Bay Area counties re-issued indoor masking mandates in early August. Now Bay Area health officials are discussing ditching the face coverings once again. "The mask just feels like a safety blanket," said San Francisco resident, Danielle Coller....

Bay Area health officials on Thursday are expected to announce plans for an eventual end to the region’s indoor masking mandate.Health officials are finalizing criteria in which counties would be required to meet in order to lift the restrictions. Those criteria are likely to include case rates, vaccination rates and hospitalizations, according to officials.“We have been discussing this among the health officers in the region, and our intention and our plan is to develop a set of metrics we all share that are common across the region as to when to lift indoor masking,” Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr....