California coronavirus updates: The latest on the pandemic

Amaya Palestino, 6, receives a COVID-19 vaccine at one of St. John’s Well Child and Family Center mobile health clinics in Los Angeles on March 16, 2022. California is backing away from COVID vaccine mandates for kids. Photo by Alisha Jucevic for CalMatters

Coronavirus

California backs away from COVID vaccine mandates for kids

The state decides it won't require COVID vaccines for children this fall, and a bill to mandate kids vaccines without personal belief exemptions stalls out.

By

Elizabeth Aguilera

• April 15, 2022

Coronavirus

‘An enormous disabling event’: Long COVID could have inequitable impact on Californians

Latino, Black and low-income people with inadequate health care could suffer the most. California doesn't have many long COVID specialists, and disadvantaged communities are underserved.

By

Ana B. Ibarra

• March 24, 2022

Coronavirus

Overdue: State owes community clinics millions for COVID vaccinations

A year after ramping up to vaccinate 6 million low-income residents, community clinics are in dire final straits waiting for state money. Some are cutting services.

By

Kristen Hwang

• March 18, 2022

An Oakland resident receives a COVID-19 vaccination at the La Clinica de la Raza community vaccination site in Oakland on Jan. 4, 2022. Photo by Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters

Coronavirus

California legislators propose new slate of COVID-19 vaccine laws

A group of California legislators has crafted vaccine laws that would be the most aggressive state approach to vaccines in the nation.

By

Elizabeth Aguilera

• March 2, 2022

A health care worker points while a person wearing a protective face mask waits in line to receive a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the L.A. Care Health Plan vaccination site at the First African Episcopal Church in Los Angeles on Jan. 29, 2022. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Coronavirus

Old data? CDC apparently misjudged California’s COVID risks

The CDC said half of Californians live in high-risk counties. But the agency apparently relied on outdated numbers of COVID infections and patients. Newer data indicates only 19 counties are in the CDC’s riskiest category, where universal masking is advised.

By

Kristen Hwang

and

Ana B. Ibarra

• March 2, 2022

LAUSD Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin helps students on the first day back at school for LAUSD students following the COVID-19 remote school period in Los Angeles on Aug. 16, 2021. Photo by Lucy Nicholson, Reuters

K-12 Education

California mask mandate for schools to end after March 11

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state officials said today that the state mask mandate for schools will end, but local jurisdictions are free to impose their own requirements.

By

Joe Hong

• February 28, 2022

George Dowell is vaccinated against COVID-19 at Umoja Health pop-up clinic in Oakland on Feb. 2, 2022. Photo by Marissa Leshnov for CalMatters

Coronavirus

COVID-19 has turned deadlier for Black Californians, who have the state’s lowest vaccination rate

California's African Americans are dying from COVID at a higher rate now. And they make up a disproportionate and growing share of the death toll for middle-aged Californians.

By

Kristen Hwang

• February 25, 2022

Renata Garza-Silva, a teacher in Los Angeles, poses for a portrait inside her classroom on Thurs. Feb. 17, 2022. Garza Photo by Lauren Justice for CalMatters

Coronavirus

‘We don’t count’: The Californians who can’t return to normal as COVID fatigue grips state

Millions of Californians at high risk from conditions like heart disease, autoimmune disorders and diabetes feel unprotected and forgotten as the state rolls back its COVID orders.

By

Ana B. Ibarra

• February 22, 2022

Governor Gavin Newsom discusses the next phase of the state’s comprehensive pandemic response, California’s SMARTER Plan, at a press conference in Fontana on Feb. 17, 2022. The press conference took place in one of many warehouses where PPE supplies are stored. Photo by Alisha Jucevic for CalMatters

Politics

Out of the COVID crisis, but California is still in a state of emergency

Gov. Newsom unveiled a new non-crisis COVID strategy, but Republicans in the Legislature want the state of emergency ended immediately.

By

Alexei Koseff

• February 18, 2022

Eddie Daniels administers rapid COVID-19 tests at Greater St. Paul Church in downtown Oakland on Jan. 4, 2022. Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters

Coronavirus

‘SMARTER’: Newsom administration outlines future plans for COVID

Newsom unveiled a “SMARTER” preparedness plan, including stockpiling masks and tests. But has the state learned lessons from its erratic handling of the pandemic?

By

Ana B. Ibarra

and

Kristen Hwang

• February 17, 2022