COVID-19 AMA: California Urges Masking, Spikes In LA County Workplaces And More
In our continuing series looking at the latest medical research and news on COVID-19, Larry Mantle speaks with Peter Chin-Hong, M.D., infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at the UCSF Medical Center.
Topics today include:
- California urges masking indoors regardless of vaccination status, following CDC guidance
- Delta variant causes spike in LA County workplace coronavirus infections
- Vaccinated people can transmit COVID-19, CDC says
- In a recent briefing, CDC says 2.7 percent of U.S. adults are immunocompromised but a recent study of U.S. adults showed they make up 44 percent of hospitalized breakthrough cases
- California sees a small boost in vaccinations
- Emergent BioSolutions to resume manufacturing J&J vaccine
- Pfizer outlines case for booster shots
- Why Bay Area adults lag in vaccinations
- Is the Delta variant a big risk for Bay Area kids?
California May Implement A Form Of ‘Climate Insurance’ To Protect Against The Effects Of Climate Change
A recent report by the California Climate Insurance Working Group recommended 40 local and state policy interventions to reduce damage and help recovery from wildfires, heat waves and floods.
Members of the working group say that climate insurance could help blunt the effects of climate change on the most vulnerable, including low income communities and the elderly. It’s still highly conceptual, but if implemented, California would be the first state nationally to adopt this type of insurance.
Today on AirTalk, we’re joined by KPCC reporter Sharon McNary as well as Ricardo Lara, Insurance Commissioner of California and Alice Hill, co-chair of the working group and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is also a former senior advisor on climate to former President Barack Obama, to learn more. Questions? Give us a call at 866-893-5722.
Rethinking Public Safety at the University of Southern California
The murder of George Floyd and the widespread protests that followed led cities, counties, and institutions to rethink their uses of policing. In that vein, USC on Wednesday released a series of recommendations for its campus security officers. The 103-page report is the result of 10 months of research and analysis by a team of faculty, students, staff, and neighbors, published by the Department of Public Safety Community Advisory Board (CAB). The report found Black and Latino students were disproportionately stopped by campus police. To address that, members of the advisory board called for a concept of “One USC,” in which every member of the USC community experiences safety equitably. They also recommended the creation of an independent oversight board, more data collection about officers’ activities, and assigning some calls about mental health or homelessness to groups other than campus police, among other suggestions. Today on AirTalk, we speak with the co-chairs of the Community Advisory Board, Erroll Southers and Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro about their findings.
After City Council Approves Anti-Camping Ordinance, Stakeholders Weigh In On Implementation, Enforcement And Long Term Solutions For LA’s Unhoused
The ordinance, which would mean that unhoused people cannot camp next to libraries, parks and other “sensitive” facilities will now head to Garcetti’s desk. Supporters are hopeful that the law would be a step towards addressing L.A.’s homelessness problem, but critics have called the measure inhumane. We discuss with 10th District City Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas, who co-authored the ordinance 11th District City Councilmember Mike Bonin who voted against the proposal, Tescia Uribe from the homeless services provider PATH and Elizabeth Mitchell with the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights.