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https://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/news/dejona-shaw-announces-that-she-will-run-for-2nd-district-seat- on-san-bernardino-county/article_cc224658-2235-11ec-9f9e-871a31ca7d0b.html

DeJonaé Shaw announces that she will run for 2nd District seat on San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors

Sep 30, 2021

DeJonaé Shaw announced that she will be a candidate for the 2nd District seat on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors in 2022. TrellisEvans

Janice Rutherford’s tenure as the 2nd District supervisor in San Bernardino County is set to expire next year, and DeJonaé Shaw is hoping to take her place.

Shaw, an LVN and small businesswoman, announced on Sept. 30 that she will be a candidate for the supervisor seat in the election next June. Rutherford, a former member of the Fontana City Council, has been a supervisor since 2010 and will be completing her third four-year term. The district includes the western area of Fontana in addition to Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, and other communities.

Shaw is the vice chair of the Legislation and Education Committee for her union, USW Local 7600 in Fontana.

She is also an active member of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Next Gen Committee, San Bernardino Rotary, the Democratic Party Central Committee, and the Inland Valley Democratic Club, according to a news release.

Shaw said she will “fght for good-paying local jobs, cleaner air, and healthier San Bernardino County neighborhoods where everyone has a chance to thrive.”

As a union representative, she advocated for the National Workplace Violence Prevention Health Care and Social Service Workers Act and has been fghting for fair contracts that improve wages and patient care, the news release said.

In addition, Shaw created Greater Empire Pageants, a local business focused on helping young people reach their potential, the news release said.

Information about her background can be found at ShawForSupervisor.com, where she described her struggle to beat the odds that were stacked against her.

“An absent father and a mother battling addiction. DeJonaé pieced together a broken childhood, sought out mentors, and lifted herself out of the cycle of poverty and addiction that traps too many,” the website said. “She rose above the negative infuences that surrounded her to become her siblings’ protector. DeJonaé grew up fast, taking on parenting roles as a child to make sure her brothers and sisters were fed and succeeded in school.

“DeJonaé knows a strong education and hard work create opportunities to build a better life. When a car accident sidelined her dreams as a young graduate and left her homeless, she saved up and fought to get back on her feet again. She worked nights and attended classes during the day to become a Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN).” According to the San Bernardino County Elections website, 41 percent of all registered voters in the 2nd District are Democrats and 30.7 percent are Republicans. About 21 percent of voters in the district say they have no party preference. ___

LOCAL NEWS • Analysis Fontana warehouse gets OK after speakers condemn, praise it

Opponents and supporters of a proposed warehouse nearly filled the chambers for Tuesday’s Fontana City Council meeting. After hearing from 40 speakers, the council swiftly approved the plan. (Photo by David Allen, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

By DAVID ALLEN || [email protected] || InlandInland ValleyValley DailyDaily BulletinBulletin PUBLISHED: September 30, 2021 at 4:55 p.m. || UPDATED:UPDATED: September 30, 2021 at 4:55 p.m.

Entering the Fontana Council Chambers on Tuesday night, I was startled to find a couple dozen people crowded into the lobby, most of themthem young,young, takingtaking directiondirection fromfrom oneone personperson withwith aa clipboardclipboard andand aa secondsecond whowho waswas holding,holding, atat herher side,side, aa bullhorn.bullhorn.

That was the second surprise. The first was that, unlike my last visit,, thethe automaticautomatic doordoor hadhad slidslid openopen forfor me.me. ItIt mustmust havehave loweredlowered itsits standards.

Everyone in the lobby was there to protest the latest warehouse proposal before the City Council.

Once the meeting started, the police chaplain led the audience in an invocation. He prayed: “We“We askask thatthat wewe havehave aa peacefulpeaceful timetime here,here, OO Lord.” It can’’tt hurthurt toto ask.ask.

Well, it was peaceful for a while. The finance official Lisa Strong, who is retiring in both senses of the word, was honored for 32 years of service. The new dean of Fontana’’s Chaffey College campus was introduced. And a member of the Fontana Unified school board told council members: “Thank you for your leadership.”

Pro tip: You can never go wrong thanking elected officials for their leadership. The warehouse project came up as scheduled. People from the lobby began filing into the chambers, which had well over 100 people.

The warehouse, planned for the northwest corner of Catawba Avenue and Valley Boulevard, would be 92,000 square feet. That’’s rather modest for a warehouse, and smaller than a Target store, although it wouldn’’tt feelfeel smallsmall ifif youyou livedlived nextnext doordoor andand hadhad truckstrucks comingcoming andand going all day.

The Planning Commission approved the project in July, but a neighbor had filed an appeal, leading to the City Council hearing.

“We have received 75 letters in opposition,” the clerk announced, “and one letter in support.”

There’’s always one lonely voice.

Forty speaker cards were turned in, with everyone getting two minutes. Unlike with the letters, the pro and con sides were almost evenly split.

Half said Fontana has too many warehouses or that warehouses are a low-end, dead-end employer. (The dean of Chaffey should have stayed to hand out college applications.) Half said warehouses offer needed job opportunities or that union construction work to build themthem isis welcome.welcome.

Some speakers on both sides seemed to have been recruited or bused in, making it hard to tell how much of the sentiment pro or con was homegrown. As you’’d expect when passion is involved, a few comments went over the top.

“I’’m against this project because I want the human race to survive,” one activist explained.

“Mayor Warren, don’’tt letlet themthem stealsteal ourour jobs,”jobs,” oneone warehousewarehouse supportersupporter implored.implored.

A few people misspoke. Attempting to say that some supporters were absent, one union member said, “Not everyone who is here tonight is here tonight.”

Referring to a school that is near the warehouse site, one opponent said: “There are children at that elementary school as we speak.” She quickly corrected herself: “Well, as we speak they’’re probably asleep. But they’’llll bebe inin schoolschool tomorrow.tomorrow. AndAnd wewe’’re speaking for them tonight.”tonight.”

Possibly my favorite comment was from a speaker who told council members: “I’’m not sure if you realize this, but you’’re ruining this town.”town.” II’’m sure they made a note of it.

After a little more than an hour of testimony, the public hearing was closed. The council then had a robust debate that paid honor to the emotions on both sides.

Just kidding.

“May I have a motion to approve the staff recommendation?” Mayor Acquanetta Warren asked immediately. A motion was made, seconded and approved 4-1, Jesse Sandoval opposed, with no discussion. It was all over within seconds.

The audience walked out quietly without so much as shaking a fist. Even the woman with the bullhorn stayed mum. The chaplain’’s prayer must have been answered.

Next came a short conversation, sparked by Sandoval, on the procedural question of how to handle his dissent on a consent agenda item at thethe nextnext meeting.meeting. GoodGood grief.grief. TheyThey spentspent moremore timetime onon thisthis minutiaeminutiae thanthan onon thethe warehouse.warehouse.

That is, until their comment period, when some council members acknowledged the dissension.

“I want to thank everyone for their participation tonight,” Peter Garcia said to a room that had almost emptied out. “As everyone can tell, therethere waswas aa largelarge diversitydiversity ofof opinion.opinion. EveryoneEveryone mightmight notnot bebe happy,happy, butbut theirtheir opinionsopinions areare welcome.welcome. WeWe alwaysalways dodo whatwhat’’s in the best interestinterest ofof thethe city.”city.”

Warren said the council didn’’tt havehave thethe discretiondiscretion toto rejectreject thethe warehousewarehouse plan.plan.

“We don’’tt havehave thethe abilityability toto denydeny aa projectproject thatthat meetsmeets allall thethe requirements,”requirements,” thethe mayormayor said.said. “We“We’’d open ourselves up to a lawsuit.”

Now she tells us.

In other news, the interiminterim citycity managermanager waswas introduced.introduced. ShannonShannon YauchzeeYauchzee (pronounced(pronounced ““Yahtzee“) will run things until the council can findfind aa newnew citycity managermanager toto replacereplace Mark Denny, whose last day is Oct. 14..

Yauchzee retired after seven years as city manager of Baldwin Park and 18 years in the same role in West Covina. His employment agreement with Fontana was approved 4-1 with Sandoval the reliable no vote.

“I live in the city,” Yauchzee said in his remarks Tuesday. “I’’ve been a resident almost two years. It’’s an honor for me to serve the city I live in.”in.”

After the meeting, Yauchzee told me he and his wife had relocated from San Dimas after 30 years to a newer house more affordable than what they could get in L.A. County. Denny drives in daily from — oof — San Juan Capistrano. How long is Yauchzee’’s commute? “Five and a half miles,” he told me cheerfully. “Some days I may bike in.” brIEfly

Evangelist Franklin Graham’’s eight-city “God Loves You” tour of Route 66 cities began in Illinois, continues this week in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Flagstaff, Arizona, and ends where else but San Bernardino.. (Four(Four ofof thethe eighteight cities,cities, includingincluding Berdoo,Berdoo, werewere name-checkedname-checked inin thethe famousfamous song.)song.) GetGet youryour spiritualspiritual kickskicks withwith GrahamGraham’’s free event at the National Orange Show, 689 S. E St., at 7 p.m. Saturday. His famous fatherfather BillyBilly evidentlyevidently nevernever mademade itit toto thethe InlandInland EmpireEmpire butbut twicetwice camecame asas closeclose asas Anaheim.Anaheim.

David Allen is too close for comfort Friday, Sunday and Wednesday. Email [email protected], phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter.

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CALIFORNIA

Most California health workers got vaccinated, but holdouts could be fired The deadline for California’s healthcare workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 was Thursday night. Employers across the state are preparing to suspend or fre a relatively small number of holdouts. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)

BY LAURA J. NELSON, CONNOR SHEETS

OCT. 1, 2021 5 AM PT

California’s aggressive push to vaccinate millions of healthcare workers against COVID- 19 appears to have been mostly successful, with many hospitals and other healthcare facilities reporting overwhelmingly high rates of inoculated employees by the Thursday deadline.

Thousands of workers remain unvaccinated, either in defiance of the state’s order or through approved exemptions for medical or religious reasons. But the number of holdouts seems to represent a small fraction of the Golden State’s approximately 2.4 million healthcare workers. The holdouts nevertheless represent a significant test for employers and public health officials grappling with how to apply the state’s new requirements, including how to ensure compliance from a vast network of health facilities.

Some hospitals said they plan to fire workers Friday; others are starting with suspensions. Most said they plan to offer grace periods to employees who change their minds. Several said they expected the state to give understaffed hospitals hit hard by the Delta variant a 45-day extension to allow administrators to make alternate staffing plans.

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Well over 90% of employees at several healthcare providers across Southern California are in compliance with the order, including some workers who got vaccinated this week, administrators said. About 97% of Kaiser Permanente’s 216,000 employees have complied. Among the 7,500-person staff of USC’s health system, just two workers may lose their jobs.

“If this were an election, it would be a landslide victory in favor of getting vaccinated,” said Chris Van Gorder, chief executive of Scripps Health, which has nearly 17,000 employees and five hospitals in San Diego. He said about 140 employees, or 0.85% of the workforce, have not received an exemption or a vaccine and are scheduled to be fired Friday.

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The story is different in more rural parts of California, where vaccination rates lag far behind the Bay Area and Southern California. The busiest hospital in Tulare County said that more than 30% of workers who care for patients had been granted exemptions, mostly for religious reasons. The Enloe Medical Center in Chico said 18% of employees had not been vaccinated.

At Adventist Health Kern County’s three hospitals in the Central Valley, the vaccine mandate boosted the inoculation rate among approximately 3,800 employees from about 60% to about 90%, said the network’s president, Daniel Wolcott.

California health officials are relying on employers to determine which workers are vaccinated and what will happen to those who are not. The state’s lack of data makes it difficult to determine how many workers are unvaccinated, how many received exemptions, and which facilities have high opt-out rates. The law applies to workers at hospitals and doctor’s offices, dialysis centers, drug treatment centers and other healthcare settings.

“This is a deadline we are watching closely and expect full compliance,” said state Department of Public Health director Tomás J. Aragón. The state has not provided clear guidance on what should happen to employees who did not get the vaccine or an exemption. But Aragón said in a statement that employees can “continue to work” only if they have received a one-dose vaccine or both doses of a two- dose regimen by Thursday.

The state also did not tell healthcare providers how to evaluate medical and religious exemption requests, leaving employers to develop their own systems.

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In Tulare County, the Kaweah Health Medical Center in Visalia is granting religious exemptions to every employee who requests one, fearing that a stricter approach could spur a massive staffing shortage. “We cannot afford to lose a single nurse,” said Chief Executive Gary Herbst. The vaccination rate in Tulare is 43.3%, compared with 60% statewide, and the hospital is seeing a surge of COVID-19 patients, he said. The hospital is struggling with a high rate of turnover and exhaustion, and is relying on overtime from current staff and about 100 travel nurses to meet staffing demands.

The hospital is allowing employees to request a religious exemption without providing details, Herbst said. That lenient approach probably prevented a “mass exodus” of employees, as more than 800 employees submitted declinations, Herbst said.

The UC Davis health system also approved most religious exemption requests, in part to reduce the risk of lawsuits, said Chief Executive David Lubarsky. Employees were asked to explain how getting vaccinated would contradict their spiritual beliefs. He said they denied requests from people who simply disliked vaccines, or whose religious objections were based on misinformation.

Exemptions have also been a significant issue at other healthcare organizations. Dr. David Herbert, president and chief executive of Sutter Independent Physicians, an affiliate of Sutter Health, said some churches have seemingly been writing exemption letters “to all comers,” and some doctors have been writing what “appear to be unwarranted exemptions.” “If the order had included a mechanism to verify medical and religious exemptions, it would have caused much less confusion,” Herbert said.

Dr. Jeffrey Smith, chief operating officer of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said the state’s leeway on how to grant exemptions was helpful, because “every healthcare provider is in a little bit of a different situation.” About 98% of the 17,000-person staff is vaccinated, he said, and about 1% received exemptions.

The hospital’s most common medical exemption was for employees who have recently had COVID-19, Smith said. They will have an additional 90 days to get vaccinated. He said the hospital decided that antibodies from the virus, combined with rigorous mask and testing requirements, should be sufficient to protect workers and patients in the short term.

In San Diego, Scripps approved medical exemptions for 42 pregnant staff members, Van Gorder said. The panel of physicians that considered the exemptions was “split” on the decision because the vaccines are safe during pregnancy, he said, but the hospital opted for a policy that will keep more people in their jobs. The employees will be required to get vaccinated when they return from parental leave.

About 3% of the 2,800-person staff at Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno has not gotten an exemption or a vaccine, said President and Chief Executive Nancy Hollingsworth. Those workers will not immediately be suspended Friday, but will have a two-week grace period to get vaccinated.

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“Our goal is vaccination, not termination,” Hollingsworth said in a statement. The hospital’s parent company, Trinity Health, has 117,000 employees and a “large backlog in reviewing all the final documentation,” she said.

The mandate appears to be on solid legal ground, according to experts. While there will probably be lawsuits filed over the state’s vaccine mandate, the “vast, vast majority of judicial decisions” have upheld vaccine mandates, said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. While most California doctors were vaccinated against COVID-19 months ago, the inoculation rate lagged among nurses, janitors, food service workers and other hospital employees. The looming mandate prompted many to get the shot.

“It was a ground war,” Lubarsky of UC Davis said. Vaccination rates among the health system’s roughly 15,000 workers had plateaued at about 80% earlier this summer, he said. The hospital sent trusted colleagues and supervisors to talk to unvaccinated colleagues, a strategy that Lubarsky said was “far more effective than me jabbering over an email.”

The hospital now has a 94% vaccination rate, with 5.7% claiming a religious or medical exemption. The remaining 0.3% of the staff, about 45 people, have not complied and will be banned from the grounds and suspended without pay Friday, Lubarsky said.

Finding another healthcare job in California may be an uphill battle, he said: “They’re going to have to have a vaccine or a valid exemption wherever they try to get hired.”

Officials and organized labor at Cedars-Sinai spent months improving the hospital’s vaccination rate, said Renée Saldaña from Service Employees International Union- United Healthcare Workers West, which represents nearly 100,000 healthcare workers in the state. ADVERTISEMENT

The union and the hospital arranged for a Black doctor to talk to food service and janitorial workers after seeing their relatively low vaccination rate, Saldaña said. About 98% of union members at Cedars are now vaccinated, she said.

Union steward Jose Sanchez, who works in transportation at Cedars, talked to his co- workers and helped them schedule vaccine appointments.

“It’s a good thing,” Sanchez said, adding that the mandate boosted vaccination rates. “I think everyone should get vaccinated — that way, we can start reaching some level of immunity and things can go back to normal.”

CALIFORNIA COVID-19 PANDEMIC COVID-19 VACCINES

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CALIFORNIA

As virus cases drop, when might the mandatory mask order in L.A. County end? Masked customers visit the Grand Central Market in Los Angeles in July. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

BY RONG-GONG LIN II, LUKE MONEY

SEPT. 30, 2021 7:56 PM PT

Los Angeles County has made tremendous progress in its battle against the coronavirus, but one of the tools officials credit most with helping turn the tide — a countywide indoor mask mandate — doesn’t seem likely to go away anytime soon.

While coronavirus case rates have dropped significantly in recent weeks in L.A. County, health officials say transmission is still too elevated to lift the indoor mask order.

L.A. County is considered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to have substantial community transmission, the second-worst category on the agency’s four-tier scale, noted by the orange color on the agency’s website. The worst level is high community transmission, colored in red.

The CDC recommends that even fully vaccinated people wear masks in indoor public settings in areas of substantial or high transmission.

As of Thursday afternoon, the county was reporting 98.88 weekly coronavirus cases for every 100,000 residents, CDC data show.

To progress to the next tier — moderate community transmission, colored yellow on the CDC’s maps — the county would have to record fewer than 50 weekly cases for every 100,000 residents, a threshold L.A. County did dip below between last winter’s surge and the Delta variant wave that struck over the summer.

That means L.A. County’s weekly coronavirus case rate would need to be reduced nearly in half to achieve moderate community transmission. That’s unlikely to happen anytime soon; it took L.A. County a month — from the end of August to the end of September — for the weekly case rate to fall from about 200 weekly cases for every 100,000 residents to 100. (CDC)

Health officials in the nation’s most populous county have not indicated a specific metric or criteria that would signal an end to the mandate that people wear face coverings in indoor public settings.

Instead, lifting that order will be based on several factors, including the extent of community spread and how many residents are vaccinated. “The most important measure that we’re looking at is getting back to low transmission,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said during a briefing Thursday. “Obviously, the lower the transmission, the less virus is circulating, the less chances we all have of either getting infected or infecting others.”

L.A. County was the first in California to issue a new indoor mask mandate in response to the latest coronavirus wave in mid-July. The rules, which a number of other counties have since adopted, stipulate that residents have to wear masks in indoor businesses, venues or other public spaces, even if they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19.

June, the month in which L.A. County and the rest of California abandoned indoor masking rules, coincided with the proliferation of the highly infectious Delta variant, resulting in a significant increase in disease transmission and hospitalization, but still far below the heights of the devastating winter surge.

Statewide, face coverings are required indoors for those who are unvaccinated. But California only recommends — and does not require — vaccinated residents to do the same.

Officials have regularly credited L.A. County’s early readoption of mask rules with helping gain the upper hand on the Delta variant. To even consider lifting the mask mandate, public health officials would want to see coronavirus transmission levels fall to moderate levels as defined by the CDC, Dr. Muntu Davis, L.A. County’s health officer, said during a town hall meeting last week.

“We want to see the county out of high or substantial community transmission of COVID-19 before we look at removing or lifting that requirement” for wearing masks in indoor public settings, Davis said. Until L.A. County can get to that point, he said, it would be prudent to maintain other layers of protection against the virus.

Earlier this week, Santa Cruz County lifted its indoor face covering mandate after the region momentarily reached the moderate level of community transmission, as defined by the CDC.

“Face coverings and vaccinations continue to be the best way to stop the spread of COVID-19 and protect yourself and loved ones from infection,” officials wrote in a statement. “It is strongly recommended that face coverings continue to be worn in all indoor spaces.”

As of Thursday, however, Santa Cruz County had slid back into the substantial community transmission category. ADVERTISEMENT

Ferrer noted Thursday that “we’ve indicated from the beginning that when transmission was lower, we would be considering lifting the masking mandate.”

But, she added, “if we have variants of concern that are highly infectious, it might not be the appropriate time to go ahead and lift those mask mandates if you don’t have much higher coverage by vaccinations.”

Some elected officials in California have asked health officials to more specifically define when they might ease mask requirements. “It’s really important to all of us to be able to maintain public trust. And I’m very concerned that without an end game or a goal, that trust becomes more and more frayed,” Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg said at a public meeting in late August.

Dr. Sara Cody, the Santa Clara County public health director and health officer, said, “We would need to see our hospitals settle down, our cases low and flat, and some stability before we would recommend taking away this very important prevention measure.”

ADVERTISEMENT Like Santa Cruz County, Santa Clara County was designated as being in the moderate category earlier this week, but slid back into a worse tier later in the week.

The Delta variant, the most transmissible version of the coronavirus yet, remains the dominant strain circulating countywide.

Over the last week, Los Angeles County has reported an average of 1,307 new coronavirus cases per day — down about 29% from two weeks ago, according to data compiled by The Times.

During that time, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 countywide has fallen from 1,156 to 872.

Some experts have suggested that mask requirements can be eased when there are five or fewer COVID-19 patients in hospitals for every 100,000 residents. In L.A. County, however, there are nine hospitalized COVID-19 patients for every 100,000 residents. The average number of daily COVID-19 deaths also has shrunk by about 28% over the last two weeks. Even with that decrease, an average of two dozen Angelenos are still falling victim to the pandemic every day.

“These are largely preventable deaths, and they remain a tragic reminder of this virus’ destructive potential, particularly among those unvaccinated,” Ferrer said.

CALIFORNIA COVID-19 PANDEMIC

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Rong-Gong Lin II

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Rong-Gong Lin II is a metro reporter based in San Francisco who specializes in covering statewide earthquake safety issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bay Area native is a graduate of UC Berkeley and started at the Los Angeles Times in 2004.

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Merck says its experimental pill cuts COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths by half Drugmaker Merck says its experimental COVID-19 pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in newly infected people. (Merck)

BY MATTHEW PERRONE | ASSOCIATED PRESS

OCT. 1, 2021 UPDATED 7:49 AM PT

WASHINGTON — Pharmaceutical giant Merck said Friday that its experimental COVID- 19 pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus and that it would soon ask health officials in the U.S. and around the world to authorize its use.

If cleared, Merck’s drug would be the first pill shown to treat COVID-19, a potentially major advance in efforts to fight the pandemic. All COVID-19 therapies now authorized in the U.S. require an IV or injection. Merck and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said early results showed that patients who received the drug, called molnupiravir, within five days of COVID-19 symptoms had about half the rate of hospitalization and death as patients who received a dummy pill. The study tracked 775 adults with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who were considered higher risk for severe disease because of underlying health problems such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

Among patients taking molnupiravir, 7.3% were either hospitalized or died at the end of 30 days, compared with 14.1% of those getting the dummy pill. There were no deaths in the drug group after that time period compared with eight deaths in the placebo group, according to Merck. The results were released by the company and have not been peer- reviewed by outside experts, the usual procedure for vetting new medical research. Merck said it plans to present them at a future medical meeting.

An independent group of medical experts monitoring the trial recommended stopping it early because the interim results were so strong. That is typical when early results so clearly show a treatment works that there is no need for further testing before applying for authorization. Company executives said they plan to submit the data for review by the Food and Drug Administration in coming days. Once the submission is complete, the FDA could make a decision within weeks — and, if approved, the drug could be on the market soon after. Merck studied its drug only in people who were not vaccinated. But FDA regulators may consider authorizing it for broader use in vaccinated patients who get COVID-19 symptoms.

SCIENCE Vaccines are terrific, but where are the COVID-19 treatments? July 9, 2021

“It exceeded what I thought the drug might be able to do in this clinical trial,” said Dr. Dean Li, vice president of Merck Research Laboratories. “When you see a 50% reduction in hospitalization or death, that’s a substantial clinical impact.”

For the record: 7:50 a.m. Oct. 1, 2021 A previous version of this article misstated the drug’s dosage. Patients in the study took eight pills a day, not two.

Patients take eight pills a day for five days. Side effects were reported by both groups in the Merck trial, but they were slightly more common among the group that received a dummy pill. The company did not specify the problems.

Earlier study results showed that the drug did not benefit patients who were already hospitalized with severe COVID-19.

The U.S. has approved one antiviral drug, remdesivir, specifically for COVID-19, and allowed emergency use of three antibody therapies that help the immune system fight the virus. But all the drugs have to be administered by IV or injection at hospitals or medical clinics, and supplies have been stretched by the latest surge of the Delta variant. CALIFORNIA COVID-19 vaccines — minus the needle? Researchers working on capsules, nasal sprays April 16, 2021

Health experts including the top U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, have long called for a convenient pill that patients could take when COVID-19 symptoms first appear, much the way the decades-old Tamiflu helps fight influenza. Such medications are seen as key to controlling future waves of infection and reducing the impact of the pandemic.

Vaccines remain the most effective way of protecting against COVID-19, but effective drugs are critical given that billions of people around the world remain unvaccinated.

Merck’s pill works by interfering with an enzyme the coronavirus uses to copy its genetic code and reproduce itself. The pill has shown a similar effect on other viruses.

The U.S. government has committed to purchase 1.7 million doses of the drug if it is authorized by the FDA. Merck has said it can produce 10 million doses by the end of the year and has contracts with governments worldwide. The company has not announced prices. ADVERTISEMENT

Several other companies, including Pfizer and Roche, are studying similar drugs and could report results in the coming weeks and months.

Merck had planned to enroll more than 1,500 patients in its late-stage trial before the independent board stopped it early. The results reported Friday included patients enrolled across Latin America, Europe and Africa. Executives estimated about 10% of patients studied were from the U.S.

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EDITORIALS Is the Rocklin Unified school board more interested in education or politics?

BY THE SACRAMENTO BEE EDITORIAL BOARD SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 11:45 AM    

Dereck Counter, Rocklin Unified School District Board of Education president, attends a meeting, Sept. 22, 2021, at the offices on Sierra Meadows Drive in Rocklin. XAVIER MASCAREÑAS [email protected]

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The disturbing trend of far-right extremists and white supremacists targeting school boards around the country has come to Placer County. In Rocklin recently, anti-vax, anti-mask agitators derailed a school board meeting and threatened board members. It’s a local example of a nationwide crisis. On Thursday, a group representing thousands of school board members asked President Joe Biden for protection from “rising threats of violence by members of the public,” according to the New York Times. The California School Boards Association has made a similar request to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

But Rocklin Unified’s school board also bears some responsibility for this unfortunate state of affairs. Too often, the board appears more interested in raising rather than lowering the political temperature.

Granted, the school board is in a difficult position, facing vocal criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. Anti-mask parents and community members see board members as complicit in COVID precautions that they (wrongly) believe are ineffective and harmful to children. But parents and community members who support mask policies are also frustrated with the school board, which they blame for the rising tensions on display.

OPINION

As one Rocklin Unified parent put it, board members are reaping what they’ve sown.

In June, for example, all five Rocklin Unified school board members sent a letter to state health officials and Gov. Gavin Newsom urging that the state’s classroom mask mandate be lifted immediately. The letter raised the dubious concern that “mandated mask wearing of children impedes learning.”

In fact, study after study has shown that mask wearing is a safe and effective way to slow the spread of COVID. As pediatric cases of COVID continue to increase with the rapid spread of the more contagious delta variant, Placer County interim health officer Dr. Rob Oldham has said it’s crucial that children not yet eligible to get vaccinated continue to consistently wear masks.

But Rocklin school board members sometimes seem more interested in politics than public education or health.

At the Sept. 1 meeting that verged on chaos, for instance, board members spent two hours debating district policy on staff email signatures, a subject apparently designed to generate controversy over whether people should be able to state their preferred pronouns and make other gestures toward inclusivity. The discussion was the result of a district staff member’s decision to include the LGBTQ Pride flag and the designation of their classroom as a “safe space” in an email sign-off.

At the Sept. 22 board meeting, a vague agenda item entitled “courses of study” turned out to be a not-so-vague attempt by the board to micromanage new curriculum — a proposal that appears related to countrywide discussions on ethnic studies curriculum.

The board’s politically charged objection to mask mandates doesn’t seem to have won it many friends even within the intended audience. Anti-mask community members have intensely criticized the board for not doing more to stand up to masking requirements, while those who support such precautions feel they’re not doing enough to protect students. The board should stick to state guidelines and stay out of unwinnable debates.

Moreover, Rocklin Unified already had to temporarily scale back in-person instruction due to COVID. In one August week shortly after school started, 50 students and one staff member tested positive for COVID. The next week, 62 students and five staff members tested positive.

At least two children in Placer County have now been hospitalized for COVID, and the rapidly spreading delta variant has infected close to one million U.S. children, and at least 500 children have died of COVID nationwide.

Regarding the raucous board meetings, Rocklin Unified spokesperson Sundeep Dosanjh stressed that the district “prioritizes providing a safe space for students, staff members and members of the community to attend board meetings and participate in the democratic process.”

But the district doesn’t seem to be doing enough to make everyone feel safe. Rocklin Unified lost 664 students from 2019-20 to 2020-21, about 5% of its enrollment, and with them $5 million in funding. Many of these students defected to Rocklin Academy, a group of local charter schools.

Playing politics with COVID is putting students in danger and the district at financial risk. Deliberately inflaming divisions in the community won’t help the Rocklin Unified school board retain the students who remain.

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OPINION EDITORIALS CORONAVIRUS At least 2 Sacramento children have died of COVID, county health office report shows

BY MICHAEL MCGOUGH UPDATED SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 1:58 PM    

Only have a minute? Listen instead -05:58

Between two and four Sacramento County children have died of coronavirus during the pandemic, data in a recent report from the local health office to county leaders showed, compared to nearly 2,200 COVID-19 deaths among adults.

One of the child deaths happened in February 2021, according to a presentation by the county health officer during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. Local health officials have not publicly disclosed juvenile COVID-19 deaths, citing privacy protocols. The 0-to-17 death toll was redacted in the health officer’s presentation but could be determined indirectly from other data that was displayed.

“The epidemiologist asks that we mask any numbers that are less than five,” county health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye told the supervisors. “So for 0-to-17, the total number is less than five.”

But The Sacramento Bee determined the number of deaths using figures on death rates per capita by age group, which were not redacted and were cited by Kasirye.

“You can see how (the death rate) gradually increases from one per 100,000 in (the) 0-to-9 group to over 1,000 for 80-plus,” Kasirye told supervisors on Tuesday, referencing data tables.

The per-capita death rates included in those tables mean the county through mid- September has recorded two cumulative deaths among minors, both children younger than 10.

Asked during a Thursday call with reporters whether there have been any pediatric COVID-19 deaths in Sacramento County, Kasirye deferred to epidemiology program manager Jamie White, who would only say there have been fewer than five.

“Per our privacy procedures that’s about all I can say about that topic,” White said.

Not all California counties’ health offices share that privacy standard.

Orange County in early September confirmed its second COVID-19 death in a minor, out of more than 5,400 among its residents. Tulare County health officials disclosed a juvenile death this week, also that county’s second of the pandemic. Close to 900 Tulare County adults have died. COVID-19 deaths remain exceedingly rare among children, state and local data show. Sacramento’s juvenile deaths account for a small fraction of the 2,181 reported as of Thursday. More than 1,500 of those fatalities were ages 65 or older, including more than 870 who were at least 80 years old.

The California Department of Public Health reports just 35 of close to 68,000 coronavirus deaths confirmed to date have come in minors — 0.05% of the death toll though they account for 23% of the state’s population. Ten were younger than 5, and 25 were between ages 5 and 17.

COVID DEATHS BY AGE: DATA BREAKDOWN

One slide of the Sacramento County health department’s Tuesday presentation included a graph showing deaths for each week of 2021 broken down into four age groups: 0 to 17, 18 to 49, 50 to 64 and 65-plus.

That graph shows one death in the 0-to-17 group, during the week that began Feb. 14. The graph does not include 2020.

The same slide also includes two tables: one breaking down the county’s total of 2,052 deaths (through early September) across those four broad age ranges, and the other narrowing them down: 0 to 9, 10 to 19 and so on, up through 80-plus.

A chart presented by the Sacramento County public health office to the county Board of Supervisors during a meeting Tuesday, September 28, 2021. Per-capita death rates show there have been deaths in children younger than 10. Sacramento County Department of Health Services

The first table obscures the death total for juveniles, but the totals for the other three age groups add up to two fewer than the overall death toll. The second table redacts raw totals for ages 0 to 9 and 10 to 19, but the remaining decade cohorts add up to three fewer than the overall toll.

The second table also includes an unredacted column displaying deaths per capita in each age group over the course of the pandemic. That column shows 1.0 deaths per 100,000 in ages 0 to 9 and 0.5 in ages 10 to 19 throughout the pandemic — both very low in relation to infections among young people and compared to deaths in older adults, as Kasirye pointed out.

The death rates for adults older than 50 were 107 per 100,000 for residents in their 50s, 228 per 100,000 for those in their 60s, 452 per 100,00 for those in their 70s and 1,556 per 100,000 for those 80 or older, according to Tuesday’s presentation.

Because the 0-to-9 and 10-to-19 cohorts each account for close to 200,000 county residents, per-capita rates of 1.0 and 0.5 suggest death tolls of two and one, respectively.

Additionally, the first table shows 138 deaths in the 18-to-49 age group, but death tolls in the second table for ages 20 to 29, 30 to 39 and 40 to 49 add up to 137. That indicates the death from the 10-to-19 cohort came in a resident who was 18 or 19.

Health officials have also noted cases and hospitalizations trending younger in recent months, as have local hospitals, as the delta variant spreads. UC Davis Medical Center in a Sept. 15 update said it had one pediatric patient in its intensive care unit with COVID-19, on a ventilator.

Concern for children has also been elevated because of the return to on-campus learning this fall at K-12 campuses, and because no vaccine is authorized yet for those under 12.

This week’s report to the supervisors said the median age of death over the preceding 30 days was 63 years old, compared to 76 for the entire pandemic.

Kasirye explained during Tuesday’s meeting that this trend is likely due to the higher vaccination rates among older populations and in congregate care settings, such as nursing homes. Ages 65 and older make up 74% of cumulative deaths throughout the pandemic, but only 49% of deaths in the past month, according to the presentation.

The biggest increase has come in ages 50 to 64, which account for 19% (391) of all county virus deaths but 36% (60) in the past 30 days, Kasirye said.

The youngest to die between early August and early September was 26 years old, according to the report.

This story was originally published September 30, 2021 12:22 PM.

RELATED STORIES FROM SACRAMENTO BEE https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/01/us/us-covid-deaths-700k.html U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Nears 700,000 Despite Wide Availability of Vaccines The latest Covid-19 deaths were concentrated in the South, and included younger people than before. Every age group under 55 saw its highest death toll of the pandemic this August.

By Julie Bosman and Lauren Leatherby

Oct. 1, 2021, 10:08 a.m. ET

Nearly 700,000 people across the United States have now died of the coronavirus, a milestone that few experts had anticipated months ago when vaccines became widely available to the American public.

An overwhelming majority of Americans who have died in recent months, a period in which the country has offered broad access to shots, were unvaccinated. The United States has had one of the highest recent death rates of any country with an ample supply of vaccines.

The new and alarming surge of deaths this summer means that the coronavirus pandemic has become the deadliest in American history, overtaking the toll from the influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919, which killed about 675,000 people.

“This Delta wave just rips through the unvaccinated,” said Howard Markel, a medical historian at the University of Michigan. The deaths that have followed the wide availability of vaccines, he added, are “absolutely needless.”

Recent Covid-19 deaths

Deaths per 100,000 residents since June 16

20 40 60 80 100

Note: The chart shows deaths from Covid-19 since June 16, 2021, the day the United States reached 600,000 deaths according to a New York Times database. Data is as of Sept. 29. • Source: New York Times database of reports from state and local health agencies The recent virus deaths are distinct from those in previous chapters of the pandemic, an analysis by The New York Times shows. People who died in the last three and a half months were concentrated in the South, a region that has lagged in vaccinations; many of the deaths were reported in Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas. And those who died were younger: In August, every age group under 55 had its highest death toll of the pandemic.

That month, Brandee Stripling, a bartender in Cottondale, Ala., told her boss that she felt as if she had been run over by a freight train.

Brandee Stripling

Ms. Stripling, a 38-year-old single mother, had not been vaccinated against the coronavirus, and now she had tested positive. Get some rest, her boss, Justin Grimball, reassured her.

“I thought she would pull through and get back to work and keep on living,” Mr. Grimball said.

Last week, he stood in a cemetery as Ms. Stripling was buried in her family plot. A pastor spoke comforting words, her children clutched one another in grief and a country song, “If I Die Young,” played in the background.

Her death came in the virus surge that gripped the country all summer, as the Delta variant hurtled through the South, Pacific Northwest and parts of the Midwest. Close to 100,000 people across the United States have died of Covid-19 since mid-June, months after vaccines were available to American adults. Mason Hallman, 31, said his sister Brandee Stripling died weeks before the 16th birthday of her daughter Taylor, right. “At 38 years old, you just don’t plan on dying,” Mr. Hallman said. “We want our children to bury us when we’re old, not when we’re young.” Wes Frazer for The New York Times

The United States government has not closely tracked the vaccination status of everyone who has been infected with the virus, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has so far identified 2,900 people who were vaccinated among the 100,000 who died of Covid since mid-June.

Vaccines have been proven highly effective in preventing severe illness and death, and a study from the C.D.C. that was published in September found that after Delta became the dominant variant, unvaccinated people were more than 10 times as likely to die of the virus as the vaccinated were. The study, which spanned from April to mid-July, used data from 10 states, New York City, Los Angeles County and King County, Wash., which includes Seattle.

Recent Covid-19 deaths compared with state vaccination rates

80 deaths per 100,000 residents Fla.

Miss. La. Lower vaccination rate, higher death rate Ala. Ark. 60

S.C. Nev. Wyo. Texas W.Va. Ga. Okla. Tenn. Idaho Mont. Ky. Higher vaccination rate, N.C. lower death rate Ind. Del. Wash. N.M. Utah Hawaii Ore. 20 Ill. Va. Mich. Wis. N.D. N.J. Maine Ohio Colo Ohio Colo. Neb. Minn. D.C. N.Y. Mass. Vt.

40% 50% 60% 70% SHARE FULLY VACCINATED

Note: The map shows deaths from Covid-19 since June 16, 2021, the day the United States reached 600,000 deaths according to a New York Times database. Data is as of Sept. 29. • Sources: New York Times database of reports from state and local health agencies, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Texas Department of State Health Services, Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment, Massachusetts Department of Public Health

The pace of death has quickened, then slowed, then quickened again over the past 18 months as the virus has rippled across America in waves.

The most recent 100,000 deaths occurred over more than three months, a considerably slower pace than when the pandemic reached its peak last winter. During that earlier surge, just 34 days elapsed between the nation’s 400,000th and 500,000th death.

695,232 deaths

All U.S. adults eligible for 600,000 vaccine

500,000

The pace of Covid-19 deaths nationwide 400,000

First vaccines administered 300,000

89 118 83 36 34 114 105 days days days days days days days 200,000 to reach to reach to reach to reach to reach to reach 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 U.S. deaths 100,000

Feb. 29: May 27, Sept. 22, Dec. 14, Jan. 19, Feb. 22, June 16, Sept. 29, First report of 2020 2020 2020 2021 2021 2021 2021 a U.S. death

Source: New York Times database of reports from state and local health agencies

By late September, more than 2,000 people on average were dying from the virus each day, a level the country has not reached since February.

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But the recent deaths have left families and friends, some of whom said they had thought the pandemic was largely over, stunned and devastated. Weary doctors and nurses voiced frustration that many of the patients whose lives they were now struggling to save had shunned vaccines. Coroners, funeral home directors and clergy members were again busy consoling the grief-stricken and preparing the dead for burial.

Wayne Bright, a funeral home director in Tampa, Fla., has been handling Covid-19 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, working long hours under difficult circumstances. Still, this summer has been different.

About 40 percent of the most recent 100,000 people to die of the virus were under 65, a share higher than at any other point in the pandemic, and Mr. Bright has spent months bearing witness to what he calls “premature grief.” In one family, a father of teenagers died. A 16-year-old girl in another family lost her mother, aunt and cousin to the virus, all in quick succession.

“Now you’re dealing with people in their 30s and 40s and 50s,” he said. “These are people who, without the pandemic, they would almost certainly be alive and live full lives. It’s so much worse now than it was when the pandemic first happened. The Delta variant is tremendously worse. It would be hard for me to define just how much worse it is.”

Monthly Covid-19 deaths by age

A record number of young people died during the Delta surge ...

Ages 45-54 5,000 deaths

4,000

3,000

Ages 35-44 2,000

1,000 Ages 25-34

25 and under Mar. Jan. Aug.

… even though those in older age groups continued to make up the majority of deaths.

100,000 deaths

85+

50,000 75-84

65-74

55-64

Under 55 Mar. Jan. Aug.

Note: The number of deaths reported by age is provisional because of delays in reporting. • Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

His own exhaustion runs deep. He works seven days a week and has lately been confronted with previously unimaginable problems: shortages of caskets, hospitals with full morgues and a need to schedule burials weeks into the future so cemeteries will have vaults available.

“It certainly has taken a toll,” he said. “And you just think, this just doesn’t have to be.” The Delta surge has hit working-age Americans particularly hard. Older Americans are still more susceptible to the virus but have benefited from their willingness to be vaccinated: People 65 and older, who have been among the most vulnerable to serious illness from the virus, have the highest rate of vaccination of all age groups, at 83 percent fully vaccinated, according to the C.D.C.

Vaccine mandates have begun to take effect in some states and within some companies, but only 65 percent of the eligible U.S. population is fully vaccinated. The nation’s vaccination campaign has been slowed by people who say they are hesitant or unwilling to get shots, amid a polarized landscape that has included misinformation from conservative and anti-vaccine commentators casting doubt on the safety of vaccines.

Vaccination rates are lower for people in their 30s, and the number of people in that age group who died of the virus in August was almost double the number who died during January, the previous record month, according to provisional counts from the C.D.C. More than 3,800 people in their 40s died of Covid-19 in August, compared with 2,800 in January.

Stephen Kimmel, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Florida, said younger people were particularly vulnerable to infection now because they have a relatively low rate of vaccination and are increasingly interacting with one another, leading to more opportunities to be infected. The Delta variant is much more contagious than previous variants.

“If you look back when the virus first started, the mantra was, this seems to be a disease that affects older people more severely, and fortunately younger people don’t seem to get as sick,” he said. “Younger people now feel this is a virus that won’t affect them.”

In many parts of the South that weathered the worst of the summer surge, deaths from Covid-19 have only recently begun to slow down.

James Pollard, the coroner in Henry County, Ky., outside Louisville, said he was seeing more deaths occur at home than at any other time during the pandemic. On a recent day, he said, an ambulance was summoned to return a coronavirus patient to a hospital, but the person died before the ambulance arrived.

“The families are going through a lot of initial pain and shock and when we’re getting 20-, 30-, 40-year-old people who are passing away from it, that makes it so much more difficult,” he said. “It has more of a lasting effect than any other natural death.”

He hears a frequent refrain: family members who vow to be vaccinated after losing a relative to the disease.

The wave of Delta deaths has been particularly high in rural areas of the South, where vaccination rates trail those of nearby metropolitan areas. Even though the raw number of Covid-19 deaths is higher in metropolitan areas because their populations are larger, the share of people dying of the virus in rural areas has been much greater. Mr. Bright said the people dying of Covid-19 now were mostly unvaccinated, as were many of the family members who crowd into his funeral home for services. Zack Wittman for The New York Times

The outsize impact on the South propelled Mississippi ahead of New York and New Jersey for the most coronavirus deaths relative to population throughout the pandemic. Before the Delta surge, the worst-hit states had been mostly Northeastern states that suffered dire early outbreaks, as well as Arizona. But Louisiana and Alabama have become two of the five states with the highest proportion of Covid deaths.

Harold Proctor, the coroner in Floyd County, Ga., said his office was handling twice the number of deaths compared with this time last year. At this point in the pandemic, he said, some families are so accustomed to hearing and reading about Covid-19 that they have a sense that deaths from the virus are commonplace.

“It does seem like they have more accepted that people will die of Covid now,” Mr. Proctor said.

Other families have expressed sorrow mixed with profound remorse that their dead relative was not vaccinated.

The Rev. Joy Baumgartner, a minister in Beloit, Wis., presided over a recent funeral that she described as “the saddest, most grief-stricken I have ever experienced.”

The woman who died of Covid-19 was a 64-year-old church member, talented baker and frequent volunteer during group dinners on Thanksgiving. Her adult children had advised her not to receive a shot.

When they arrived at the church, Ms. Baumgartner said, the woman’s children were full of regret, despairing over their actions and searching for a rationale. “They condemned themselves,” she recalled. “I had to hold these people in my arms in front of this urn of ashes, asking God to help them through this. It was a never-ending week of excruciating pain.”

Amy Schoenfeld Walker contributed reporting. GOVERNMENT Victorville will try again to fund what would be the largest homeless shelter in the High Desert City Council signs off on allowing staff to seek $35M Homekey grant for project

Martin Estacio Victorville Daily Press Published 5:36 p.m. PT Sept. 30, 2021

The Victorville City Council has voted to authorize applying for a $35 million state grant that officials say would fund construction of what would be the largest homeless shelter in the High Desert.

The Wellness Center Campus — proposed to be constructed near Eva Dell Park — would offer beds for 170 people who are either homeless or close to it, as well as provide support services, such as a medical clinic and job placement.

Victorville has had the second-highest homeless population in San Bernardino County for three straight years as of 2020, trailing only San Bernardino city in annual Point-In- Time counts.

But funding the ambitious project that is expected to help tackle the homelessness issue has proven difficult.

The City Council’s latest decision on that front came during a special meeting on Wednesday. It allows staff to apply for a Homekey grant, which will be the second time the city has requested such funding.

Last year, Victorville received a $16.8 million funding reservation from the program, but city officials said a Dec. 30, 2020, deadline to use the money was too tight.

“There was no way the City could hire a contractor, construct the Wellness Center Campus, and expend all the grant funds that quickly,” Victorville spokesperson Sue Jones told the Daily Press in January. “This was not a fiscally prudent choice, so we were unable to accept the grant with such time limitations.” This year, the Homekey program is being funded with $1.45 billion — compared to $800 million in 2020 — and its grant conditions appear to be more lenient this time around.

City staff said in a report that if their grant application is successful, they will have eight months within the “date of award” to spend the construction money. Subsidies for operation of the shelter can be used until June 30, 2026.

Although the City Council approved authorizing an application for no more than $35 million, staff said it intends to only spend roughly $25.8 million. About $21.8 million would go toward construction costs, while almost $4 million would fund operational subsidies.

City Planner Scott Webb explained that the California Department of Housing and Development, which oversees the Homekey program, recommended the city pass a resolution for more money than the “actual ask.”

The state department advised the city this way so that additional funds could be granted if they are available without the City Council needing to approve another resolution, Webb said.

Spokesperson Jones said in a Thursday email that expanding the number of beds at the shelter and increasing the floor space of some buildings also led city officials to ask for more money. A nationwide rise in construction costs over the past year contributed as well, she said.

What the center will offer

The requested money is about $9 million more than what the city initially asked for the project last year.

Originally intended to be a 168-bed shelter, Webb said the plan now calls for 170 beds, with support service buildings expanded to 9,600 square feet.

“That’s more than double the amount of community space which we originally envisioned for this project,” he said.

Services will include occupational training; behavioral health and substance abuse counseling; assistance in acquiring public benefits; and rental and utility assistance that won’t just be available to the center’s residents, according to Cassandra Searcy, Victorville’s homeless solutions coordinator. Searcy said the general public will also be able to access the help, which will include a medical clinic that will operate as a federally qualified health center.

Funded by the government, the health centers offer primary and preventive care to people regardless of their insurance status.

The Wellness Center will also feature the first recuperative care center in the High Desert, Searcy said, adding that it will provide a place for homeless people to fully recover after they are released following hospitalization.

Advocates say such centers save taxpayer dollars by reducing hospital stays and readmissions.

“So having a recuperative care center onsite that’s professionally managed will allow hospitals and HMOs to better coordinate safe discharges for homeless individuals still in need of recovery for chronic and acute health conditions,” Searcy said.

If the center is eventually built, future plans include building a micro-housing community of “Wellness Cottages” to house the chronically homeless near the campus.

Each 320-square-foot cottage would include a restroom; living and sleeping areas; dining space; kitchenette; and storage unit, staff said.

Daily Press reporter Martin Estacio may be reached at 760-955-5358 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @DP_mestacio. ___

LOCAL NEWS • News Thousands petition to keep popular San Bernardino swap meet open A recent announcement by management said the night swap meet is closing Oct. 24

Vendors have sold their wares at the Pro-Swap-Meet in San Bernardino for more than 19 years. (File photo)

By BRIAN WHITEHEAD || [email protected] || TheThe SunSun PUBLISHED: September 30, 2021 at 1:54 p.m. || UPDATED:UPDATED: September 30, 2021 at 2:17 p.m.

Thousands have signed an online petition to keep a popular night swap meet in San Bernardino open following a recent announcement thatthat itit isis closingclosing Oct.Oct. 2424 afterafter 1919 years.years.

“With the COVID-19 pandemic regulation,” the Sept. 24 announcement reads, “new types of commerce and so many other developments, thethe timestimes andand conditionsconditions areare nono longerlonger thethe bestbest forfor thisthis activityactivity atat thethe Pro-Swap-MeetPro-Swap-Meet location.”location.”

Headquartered at 632 S. Mount Vernon Ave. in San Bernardino, Pro-Swap-Meet is open from 4 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Admission is 50 cents. Children under 12 and seniors over 65 get in for free.

Management did not respond to an email this week requesting comment.

“Pro-Swap-Meet is grateful for and thanks our vendors, guests, suppliers, employees, neighbors and local officials almost for your support thatthat hashas lastedlasted twotwo fullfull decades,”decades,” thethe announcementannouncement reads.reads.

As of Thursday, Sept. 30, the online petition hadhad moremore thanthan 4,2004,200 signatures.signatures. “For nearly two decades, the night swap meet has brought all types of people together,” the petition says. “It’’s not only a place where vendors make a living, but a community.”

Dozens who signed the petition shared fond memories of visiting the swap meet.

“I grew up going there and would like my daughter to go there as well it’’s a family tradition,” commenter Rosy Gonzalez wrote.

Anastacia Gonzalez added: “This place is vital to our community.”

“I grew up going here and I’’m not just going to allow it to get shut down,” Jose Bonilla vowed.

The San Bernardino Community College District is in conversations with the property owner about the possibility of purchasing the land to build affordable student housing and expanding access to workforce training to support the most underserved within our community, district spokesman Angel Rodriguez said in an email.

District officials have scheduled a Zoom meeting forfor 55 p.m.p.m. Wednesday,Wednesday, Oct.Oct. 6,6, forfor thethe communitycommunity toto discussdiscuss thethe matter.matter.

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Join the Conversation TRANSPORTATION Town officials plan to close a portion of Apple Valley Road to speed up realignment project on Highway 18 Rene Ray De La Cruz Victorville Daily Press Published 3:45 p.m. PT Sept. 30, 2021

To shorten commuter inconveniences at one major intersection on Highway 18, the town of Apple Valley has announced the upcoming closure of a portion of Apple Valley Road over one weekend.

Town officials said all lanes of Apple Valley Road — just south of Highway 18 — will be closed from the morning of Friday, Oct. 8 through the evening of Sunday, Oct. 10.

The portion of roadway to be closed is nearly 300 feet in length. Detours will allow motorists access to all nearby shopping centers, businesses and alleyways near the intersection, according to the town.

The original construction plan was to close portions of the roadway for 16 working days, which would impact traffic for three weeks in two phases, the town said in a press release.

However, an alternative was later approved that involved closing a portion of the intersection entirely for three days, a move town officials say will minimize longer inconveniences and avoid major traffic congestion during the work week.

The revised plan will alleviate the need for construction crews to switch K-rails and re-stripe lanes multiple times. The full closure will also minimize the number of traffic switches and allow crews to work in a larger area for longer periods of time, the town said.

“We appreciate the community’s patience as we work through the last months of this project,” Mayor Curt Emick said in a statement. “I know we’ll all be pleased when the improvements are completed and traffic flows much easier and smoother!” The project

The realignment of Apple Valley Road and Highway 18, west of Kasota Road, began in September 2020 and comes with a price tag of nearly $10.5 million.

The project includes widening the highway from four to six lanes and adding a second left- hand-turn lane from westbound Highway 18 onto Apple Valley Road.

Also, construction will realign and widen Apple Valley Road, add a second thru lane that will allow vehicles to pass through the intersection, replace the traffic signal, and construct bike lanes and retaining walls.

“The whole goal is to, of course, move more cars in less time,” Town Engineer Brad Miller told the Town Council last year. “What that means is simply the efficiency of the intersection. It will cycle faster. It will clear the queues faster.”

Plans to improve the busy intersection were discussed for more than a decade before construction started. A traffic study conducted in 2009 revealed that, without upgrades, wait times for vehicles — which range from 35 to over 80 seconds — were expected to be six times longer by 2035.

More than two-thirds of Apple Valley workers travel to work outside of Apple Valley, a Caltrans report found, which town officials said helped explain the high traffic volume at the crossing that connects motorists to Interstate 15.

Town officials say the realignment project is ahead of schedule. They expect completion in late November.

Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz. 67°

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LOCAL NEWS Preliminary magnitude 3.0 earLearnthquak Savinge strikes near Yucca Valley

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 3.0 struck near Yucca Valley on Sept. 30, 2021. (USGS) ✕ ___ by: Cameron Kiszla Posted: Sep 30, 2021 / 08:59 PM PDT / Updated: Sep 30, 2021 / 09:04 PM PDT See More An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 3.0 struck near Yucca Valley at 8:46 p.m. Thursday, according to the the United States Geological Survey.

The quake’s epicenter was about 1.8 miles north-northwest of Yucca Valley and at a depth of about 3.7 miles, according to the USGS.

Check back for updates to this developing story.

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NEWSCRIME AND PUBLIC SAFETY • News Newsom signs police reform bill to banish bad cops

During a press conference at Rowley Park in Gardena Thursday, Sept. 30, Governor Gavin Newsom signed four bills into law aimed at police reform,reform, mostmost notablynotably oneone thatthat couldcould createcreate aa processprocess forfor decertifyingdecertifying ofofficersficers whowho areare foundfound toto havehave engagedengaged inin misconductmisconduct andand preventingpreventing themthem fromfrom movingmoving toto anotheranother agency.agency. Photo:Photo: YouTube,YouTube, Gov.Gov. Newsom’sNewsom’s officeoffice

By NATHANIEL PERCY || [email protected] || DailyDaily BreezeBreeze PUBLISHED: September 30, 2021 at 1:47 p.m. || UPDATED:UPDATED: September 30, 2021 at 2:00 p.m.

Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed four bills into law aimed at police reform, including one that creates a process for decertifying officers who engage in misconduct, preventing them from moving to another agency.

The law sets up an advisory committee that will review misconduct cases and make recommendations to the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, which could then suspend or revoke officers’’ certifications.certifications.

Senate Bill 2 was co-authored by State Sens. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena and Toni G. Atkins, D-San Diego. The wrongdoing would include excessive force, sexual assault, making a false arrest, being part of a law enforcement gang or showing bias based on race religion or gender.

California became the 47th state to create a process to banish problem officers as Newsom signed the bill into law during a news conference at Rowley Park in Gardena.

“I’’m here as governor mindful that we are in the juxtaposition of being a leader on police reform and a laggard on police reform,” Newsom said. “We have a lot to be proud of, but there are areas where we have nothing to brag about. California has asserted itself in certain areas, but it’’s remarkable that we still struggle in other areas.”

Bradford said the bill was inspired by the fatal shooting of Kenneth Ross Jr., who was killed at Rowley Park in April 2018.

Michael Wayne Robbins, the officer who shot Ross, had transferred to Gardena from the Orange Police Department in 2016 and had been involvedinvolved inin threethree policepolice shootingsshootings inin OrangeOrange County,County, BradfordBradford said.said.

Ross was running southbound in the parking lot at Rowley Park with another officer in pursuit when Robbins parked his patrol SUV along thethe easteast curbcurb atat VanVan NessNess Avenue,Avenue, stoodstood onon thethe driverdriver’’s side of the SUV and fired two rounds at Ross from a rifle as Ross ran a short distance away, bodycam video released by the department showed.

Police have said they found a loaded 9-mm gun in Ross’’ leftleft pocket.pocket. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’’s office said the shooting was justified. Robbins has since retired from Gardena Police Department.

“He was having some issues,” Bradford said of Ross on Thursday. “Instead of bringing a crisis team, he was shot in the back in broad daylight.”

Ross’’ mother,mother, FouziaFouzia Almarou,Almarou, stoodstood toto NewsomNewsom’’s right as he signed the bills. She said Ross, the oldest of her six children, was murdered in thethe parkpark forfor doingdoing nothing,nothing, “but“but hehe’’s with me spiritually and why I fight for change.”

“Kenneth Ross Jr. was a very kind and loving man,” she said. “He loved me, he loved his siblings, he has a son he left behind. This bill is going to protect other families and I hope and pray it will keep other parents from ever having to feel the pain I do.”

SB 2 was approved in the senate, 28-9, Sept. 8, which sent it to Newsom’’s desk.

Opponents have said the bill would establish an untrustworthy process to decide the meaning of “serious misconduct” and determine who should lose their eligibility to carry a badge and gun.

Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said earlier this month that he supports efforts to keep bad employees out of law enforcement, but “unfortunately, SB 2 is a flawed solution. The bill includes poorly defined language and creates an advisory board with the potential for anti-law enforcement bias.

Instead, he said, the legislature should work with shareholders on a decertification process “that accomplishes the goal of holding accountable bad peace officers without penalizing the vast majority of peace officers who take good faith actions each day.”

The Los Angeles Police Protective League also issued a joint statement with the San Francisco and San Jose Police Officers Associations opposing the bill and also claiming the possibility of a biased advisory panel.

Newsom signed three other bills Thursday:

Assembly Bill 26 requires cops to intervene in situations where other police officers use excessive force and prohibits retaliation against officers who report an incident of excessive force. Assembly Bill 89 moves the minimum age requirement to get hired by a law enforcement agency to 21 and establishes certain higher education requirements for employment. Assembly Bill 490 expands a law signed last year prohibiting carotid restraint and chokeholds.

Also in attendance at Thursday’’s news conference were family members of Angelo Quinto, a 30-year-old Antioch man and Navy veteran who died in December, they say, after an officer responding to a call of a mental health issue put his knee on Quinto’’s neck for several minutes while Quinto was face down on the ground. Quinto never regained consciousness and died three days later.

A coroner’’s inquest concluded he died due to “excited delirium syndrome,” brought about by a physical struggle with officers, but family members dispute that claim.

They were on hand to support the signing of AB 490.

“Angelo was not violent, he was having a mental health crisis and that was not addressed,” said Robert Collins, Quinto’’s step-father. “These bills…bring justice for the mothers, hope that change is possible and that this loss is not in vain if it can prevent others from suffering the same loss.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the bills would “infuse our criminal justice system with more trust, more transparency and more accountability.

“We are in a crisis of trust when it comes to law enforcement right now, across the state, across the nation,” Bonta said. “With these laws, we are showing that you can build trust with the public and enhance safety of our community and officers at the same time.”