California braces for latest COVID surge

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“It’s increasingly likely most of us will have a date with COVID if we haven’t yet.”

Last week’s assessment from Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County’s public health officer, took on newfound significance Tuesday, when the California Department of Public Health reported that the state’s seven-day COVID test positivity rate had reached 5% for the first time since February, at the tail end of the omicron surge that sickened wide swaths of the workforce.

• Experts say the actual positivity rate is almost certainly much higher, given that many Californians self-test at home and don’t report the results, while other infected residents may not test at all.

Also Tuesday, the widely respected Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center announced that the United States has officially surpassed 1 million reported COVID-19 deaths — though the university noted “the number of fatalities is likely much higher.”

More than 90,000 Californians have died of COVID, according to state data — though the Golden State’s death rate has remained fairly stable and low in recent months. And while CalMatters’ tracker shows that statewide hospitalization rates are beginning to tick back up, just 1,527 COVID-positive patients were in the hospital on Monday — a far cry from the nearly 12,900 in late January at the peak of the omicron wave.

Nevertheless, a growing group of local public health officials — including more than a dozen in the Bay Area and Southern California — are urging residents to mask up in public places and avoid nonessential indoor gatherings or move them outdoors. One small Monterey school district reinstated its indoor mask mandate. And Apple indefinitely postponed its plans to require employees to return to the office three days a week starting next Monday.

• Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla: “The bunk that cases are not important is preposterous. They are infections that beget more cases, they beget long COVID, they beget sickness, hospitalizations and deaths. They are also the underpinning of new variants.”

The rise in cases — which experts say appears to be driven by a mix of highly contagious omicron subvariants; increased testing; relaxed restrictions; and waning immunity from vaccination, boosters or prior infection — could test Gov. Gavin Newsom’s long-term plan for dealing with COVID, with the state’s primary election right around the corner.

And it could also pose problems for California’s coronavirus-battered economy, which is still struggling to return to pre-pandemic levels.

• In the Bay Area, the COVID surge is colliding with a persistent worker shortage, forcing many restaurants to temporarily shut down, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
• Stella Dennig, co-owner of Oakland’s DAYTRIP restaurant: “In the end, it’s a burden on restaurant workers whose incomes obviously rely on staying open … and us as restaurant owners, who end up either covering for multiple roles every night, or stressing about the business tanking. It’s a lose-lose.”
• Meanwhile, as kids return to in-person learning — lowering the demand for online classes — unvaccinated Los Angeles Unified educators who have been teaching online could lose their jobs if they don’t get inoculated, the Los Angeles Daily News reports. The news comes as California grapples with a widespread teacher and substitute teacher shortage.

The coronavirus bottom line: As of Monday, California had 8,757,871 confirmed cases (+0.6% from previous day) and 90,219 deaths (+0.1% from previous day), according to state data now updated just twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. CalMatters is also tracking coronavirus hospitalizations by county.

California has administered 75,489,752 vaccine doses, and 75.2% of eligible Californians are fully vaccinated.

Other Stories You Should Know

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1 ‘Critical fire weather’ looms

Californians should gear up for a water conservation “mandate for mandates,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a Tuesday visit to a Carson water recycling facility. By that, he meant his order to water suppliers to step up by June 10 their local responses to California’s devastating drought — a move that might not go over too well, given that residents in March recorded the biggest jump in water use since the drought began.

• Newsom: “I hope folks just pause and reflect on two things. We’re remarkably resilient and resourceful. We got through a five-year drought, 2012 to 2016. We’ll get through this year. That requires us to do things a little differently, be a little more creative. … The approach this year is different than the old administration. It’s bottom-up, not top-down. State vision will be realized at the local level, local flexibility, local strategies, lessons learned from the previous drought … and scaling those plans and best practices all across this diverse state.”
• The governor’s office also encouraged Californians to limit outdoor watering, take showers as short as five minutes, avoid baths, use a broom instead of a hose to clean outdoor areas and only wash full loads of laundry.

The news comes as California braces for a spate of hot, dry, windy weather that could see temperatures soar to triple digits and gusts reach 45 miles per hour in some parts of the state — or, as the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office put it, “critical fire weather conditions” on Thursday and Friday. Incidentally, new research accounting only for the impact of climate change found that the number of California properties facing severe wildfire risk could grow sixfold over the next 30 years to 600,000, the Los Angeles Times reports.

2 California election updates

In the crowded field of candidates vying to be California’s next controller, Ron Galperin is the only one whose name will appear next to the job title he seeks on voters’ June 7 primary ballot. The Democratic controller of the city of Los Angeles is hoping that “golden ballot designation” will help catapult him into the top two and the November general election, Sameea Kamal reports in this comprehensive breakdown of Galperin’s 75-minute interview with CalMatters.

• Galperin: “I’m the only one who’s running for this office who has spent the last nine years as a controller, and who’s actually done this day after day. I think what we need is somebody to step into this role, who actually knows what it is that they are doing.”

Other election news you should know:

• Attorney General Rob Bonta is seeking to make a name for himself not only as California’s top cop, but also as its top enforcer of housing laws. In the latest episode of the “Gimme Shelter” podcast, Bonta sat down with CalMatters’ Manuela Tobias and the Los Angeles Times’ Liam Dillon to discuss his approach to housing enforcement. One of the latest developments: An Orange County Superior Court judge approved Tuesday Bonta’s request to pause Anaheim’s $320 million sale of Angel Stadium amid an ongoing FBI probe into Mayor Harry Sidhu, who allegedly sought campaign contributions from the Angels in exchange for helping finalize the stadium deal. Also Tuesday, the FBI charged the former head of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce in a separate corruption case.
• Sacramento County District Attorney and attorney general candidate Anne Marie Schubert announced the resolution of a 1998 murder cold case using DNA evidence, the latest example of her office using that method to crack open high-profile cases. Schubert also garnered the endorsement of Ralph Diaz, who retired as head of California’s state prison system in October 2020. Schubert “is a leader in fighting against the early prison release policies that are putting violent criminals back into our communities before they are adequately rehabilitated,” Diaz said.
• Developments in the Los Angeles mayoral race: City Attorney Mike Feuer became the latest candidate to drop out of the race on Tuesday and endorsed Rep. Karen Bass. Meanwhile, rapper Snoop Dogg endorsed billionaire businessman Rick Caruso, who last week secured the backing of another former mayoral contender, City Councilman Joe Buscaino.

3 Can you balance CA’s budget?

This week, state lawmakers are holding a raft of hearings to discuss Newsom’s $300.7 billion budget proposal and more fully flesh out their own priorities for spending California’s whopping $97.5 billion surplus. They have until June 15 to send a balanced plan to Newsom’s desk — but the real question is, how would you spend all that money?

• Now you can put your ideas to the test with this wonderfully fun “Spend the Surplus Game” from CalMatters data journalist John Osborn D’Agostino. Want to pass a wealth tax? That’ll net you $22.3 billion. But want to create a single-payer health care system for all? That’ll cost you $200 billion. To get a better feel for how Newsom and lawmakers have to juggle competing priorities, see if you can find a way to achieve all of your policy goals without running a deficit.
• CalMatters surveyed 2,050 readers to see how they would spend the state’s budget surplus. Here are a couple of interesting takeaways, courtesy of Itzel Luna, a fellow with CalMatters’ College Journalism Network: Nearly 46% supported taxing the ultra-rich, but no one backed creating a single-payer health care system based on a $200 billion annual cost estimate.
• John Robinson, a 50-year-old Pinole resident, said universal health care was his spending priority. “But unfortunately because of its cost — and the game really makes it clear — it’s just impossible to do. No matter how much you increase the budget, you just can’t pay for it.”

Other things worth your time

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How a beloved California teacher repeatedly groomed teenage girls for sex. // Business Insider

Decades later, former foster children allege abuse at MacLaren Children’s Center. // Los Angeles Times

When domestic violence turns fatal: California researchers found common thread in killings. // Sacramento Bee

Taiwan’s president condemns California church shooting. // Associated Press

This doctor was killed saving his mother’s congregation in Laguna Woods church shooting. // Los Angeles Times

Boudin and fentanyl: Court data shows just 3 drug dealing convictions in 2021 as immigration concerns shaped policy. // San Francisco Standard

Bay Area ‘white lives matter’ rally sparks outrage in wake of Buffalo mass shooting. // San Francisco Chronicle

How a San Diego church became a nexus of right-wing political organizing. // Voice of San Diego

Popular Seal Beach pickleball courts taken over by councilman’s nonprofit. // Orange County Register

Indictment: Man stole UCSD students’ identities, obtained $200K in COVID unemployment benefits. // San Diego Union-Tribune

COVID stipends cause outcry at Alameda County Office of Education. // EdSource

California to appeal ruling overturning state law mandating women on corporate boards. // CalMatters

Most California teacher preparation programs flunk math instruction. // EdSource

Job program provides some hope in neighborhood at center of Sacramento’s homeless crisis. // CapRadio

Bay Area diesel prices are soaring. Could they push the cost of consumer goods even higher? // San Francisco Chronicle

Finding a place to rent in Los Angeles has become a competitive sport. // Los Angeles Times

In the San Joaquin Valley, rapidly growing school districts endure overcrowding. // EdSource

Study finds mysterious DDT chemicals in California condors. // Los Angeles Times

Environmentalists oppose more life for California nuke plant. // Associated Press

East Village Green, downtown San Diego’s long-promised park, now costs $80M and comes with fewer features. // San Diego Union-Tribune

An urban wildlife bridge is coming to California. // New Yorker

Reading the tea leaves as California’s early votes come in. // Capitol Weekly

Your BART story: Transit agency solicits literary works to boost ridership. // San Francisco Chronicle