Covid-19

Give to CalMatters today and your gift will be doubled! Your support helps keep our nonprofit journalism free and accessible to all Californians. Donate now. California’s statewide mask mandate is back after a six-month hiatus. Starting Wednesday, all residents will be required to wear face coverings indoors regardless of vaccination status, Dr. Mark Ghaly, the […]

As concern over the omicron variant mounts in California — with the state’s second case confirmed Thursday in Los Angeles County — another public health crisis is lurking in plain sight: the drug epidemic. A jaw-dropping report released Wednesday by the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy found that nearly 1,500 people, the vast […]

What a difference a year makes. On Wednesday, not long after the country’s first known case of the omicron COVID-19 variant was confirmed in San Francisco, Gov. Gavin Newsom held a press conference to promote vaccines and booster shots — and to reassure weary Californians that more lockdowns are unlikely. Newsom: “There’s more panic than […]

At a CalMatters/Milken Institute event, experts discuss how the pandemic has changed the California economy, but why there's reason for hope. Here are three key takeaways.

President Joe Biden on Monday reassured Americans that the omicron variant “is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic” — raising questions about the strategy Gov. Gavin Newsom will employ to respond to a form of COVID-19 about which much remains unknown. The governor, who returned to California late Sunday night after a […]

The omicron variant has just entered the U.S., and California is already bracing for a surge in COVID cases.

EN RESUMEN La respuesta es no en muchas partes de California: Dieciocho condados, en su mayoría rurales, tienen más pacientes COVID-19 hospitalizados hoy que hace un año. Pero a los condados urbanos les va mejor. Read this article in English.  Las fiestas están aquí y la gente está lista para reunirse, abrazarse y festejar. Pero, ¿está […]

The answer is no in many parts of California: Eighteen counties, mostly rural ones, have more hospitalized COVID-19 patients today than a year ago. But urban counties are faring better.

Wins are mounting for California workers as “Striketober” morphs into “Strikesgiving” and as the state cracks down on companies it says are violating labor laws. Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday announced an agreement with Amazon that, if approved by a judge, would require the e-commerce giant to pay California $500,000 to help enforce consumer […]

Citing a possible surge in COVID cases and short-staffed hospitals, Newsom extended parts of his emergency order through March 2022.