San Bernardino County Sees Biggest Daily Jump in Coronavirus Cases – San Bernardino Sun

12/18/2020 San Bernardino County sees biggest daily jump in coronavirus cases – San Bernardino Sun

LOCAL NEWS •• News San Bernardino County sees biggest daily jump in coronavirus cases Hospitalizations increase as ICU capacity is down to 0% in the region

By DEEPA BHARATH || [email protected] andand NIKIE JOHNSON || [email protected] || OrangeOrange CountyCounty RegisterRegister PUBLISHED: December 17, 2020 at 3:17 p.m. || UPDATED:UPDATED: December 17, 2020 at 3:17 p.m.

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San Bernardino County on Thursday, Dec. 17, saw the largest single-day case increaseincrease inin thethe numbernumber ofof new,new, dailydaily coronavirus cases.cases.

The county reported 9,383 new COVID-19 cases, surpassing the Wednesday, Dec. 16, daily record of 5,550 cases. County health officials said the large jump inin casescases onon ThursdayThursday couldcould bebe attributedattributed toto aa significantsignificant backlogbacklog thatthat isis beingbeing cleared by the state. The cases reported Thursday could span several days, officials said.

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/12/17/san-bernardino-county-sees-biggest-daily-jump-in-coronavirus-cases/?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_me… 1/5 12/18/2020 San Bernardino County sees biggest daily jump in coronavirus cases – San Bernardino Sun The county reported 19 new deaths and is averaging about 16 fatalities per day inin thethe pastpast week.week.

Hospitalizations also hit an all-time high with 1,458 COVID-19 patients in hospitals and 285 in intensive care units. The state reported today that ICU availability is down to 0% inin SouthernSouthern California.California.

The number of people tested was up 22,004 from Wednesday. Also, 140,234 test results in the past one week is an all-time high for the county.

Here are the latest numbers, according to county and state public health officials.

San Bernardino County

Confirmed cases: 144,455144,455 total,total, upup 9,3839,383 fromfrom Wednesday,Wednesday, averagingaveraging 4,1164,116 reported per day in the past week

Deaths: 1,3231,323 total,total, upup 1919 fromfrom Wednesday,Wednesday, averagingaveraging 16.316.3 reportedreported perper dayday inin thethe pastpast weekweek

Hospital survey: 1,4581,458 confirmedconfirmed andand 127127 suspectedsuspected patientspatients hospitalizedhospitalized Wednesday, including 285 confirmed and 12 suspected patients in the ICU, with 25 of 25 facilities reporting. The number of confirmed patients is up 33% from a week earlier.

People tested: 1,405,9181,405,918 total,total, upup 22,00422,004 fromfrom Wednesday,Wednesday, averagingaveraging 20,03320,033 reported per day in the past week

Resolved cases (estimate): 120,570120,570 total,total, upup 2,1992,199 fromfrom Wednesday,Wednesday, averagingaveraging 2,959 per day in the past week

Metrics tracked by the state:

ICU availability: 0.0% across Southern California New cases per day per 100,000 residents: 120.3 Case rate adjusted for testing volume: 60.3 Test positivity rate: 20.1% (24.3% in socioeconomically challenged neighborhoods) What that means: Southern California is under a stay-home order because of the low ICU availability. When that is lifted, San Bernardino County will return to a color-coded tier withwith restrictionsrestrictions basedbased onon thethe other metrics.

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/12/17/san-bernardino-county-sees-biggest-daily-jump-in-coronavirus-cases/?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_me… 2/5 12/18/2020 San Bernardino County sues Newsom over COVID-19 stay-at-home orders

NEWS San Bernardino County sues Newsom over COVID-19 stay-at-home orders Martin Estacio Victorville Daily Press Published 5:03 p.m. PT Dec. 17, 2020 Updated 9:22 a.m. PT Dec. 18, 2020

San Bernardino County is asking the state’s highest court to annul stay-at-home orders issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom in an effort to regain local control over response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a lawsuit filed with the California Supreme Court on Monday, the county argued that the governor exceeded the authority granted to him by the California Emergency Services Act. The county alleges that Newsom was “usurping the County’s statutory duties and substituting his judgment for that of the County and Legislature.”

“The County seeks this instant writ to reclaim its police power over its residents and vast land mass, with incorporated and unincorporated areas, to enable it to tailor regulations and orders which are specific to its residents based on facts which are unique to their locations rather than subject its residents to overbroad multi-county, Governor-implemented, regionalized lockdowns,” county attorneys said in the filing.

The lawsuit comes as most of the state is locked down after Newsom issued new stay-at- home orders for regions, or groups of counties, earlier this month where ICU capacity is below 15%.

As of Thursday, the ICU capacity was 0% in the Southern California region, of which the county is part, according to the California Department of Public Health.

The most recent state data shows that San Bernardino County has just 41 ICU beds available.

Jesse Melgar, a spokesperson for Newsom, told the Daily Press the regional orders, based on capacity, were issued at “the most critical point that they have been since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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“The health and safety of Californians remains this Administration’s top priority,” he said. “The State will defend against this new suit as we have all others, staying laser focused on protecting Californians’ health and safety within the legal authorities available to us.”

County officials have advocated to the state that due to San Bernardino County’s large geographic size and unique characteristics, such as expansive desert and mountain regions, certain areas should be allowed to operate under fewer restrictions.

Last month when the Board of Supervisors directed pursuit of a lawsuit, staff told them that state officials had not responded to the proposed initiative.

“Businesses in the low risk areas of the County should not be closed due to ICU capacities hundreds of miles away. The County should not be forced to allocate significant public health resources to enforce (Newsom's) Stay-At-Home laws in lower risk areas,” the petition stated. “It is unreasonable, irrational, and is not grounded in any reasonable public health justification.”

Additionally, the county argued that using resources to enforce the governor’s orders could hamper “effectuating vaccinations in the new year.”

The county received 15,600 initial doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday, which will first go to health care workers as part of a phased plan.

On Nov. 17, the Board of Supervisors directed county staff to reach out to other local governments in an attempt to bring them on as additional parties. At the time of the filing, however, none had signed on to the lawsuit.

County spokesperson David Wert said the governor's regional stay-at-home order — which went into effect in early December — "brought new urgency to this matter and the (Board) wanted to file the action without delay."

In the lawsuit, the county is seeking relief from the court no later than Dec. 28 by ordering that state officials “cease and desist” from enforcing the stay-at-home directives.

The county seems likely to face an uphill battle, though.

In November, County Counsel Michelle Blakemore told the Board of Supervisors — when they first considered the legal action — that 47 lawsuits filed against Newsom had been dropped or dismissed and that “the state has made it clear that they are challenging” any action related to COVID-19. https://www.vvdailypress.com/story/news/2020/12/17/san-bernardino-county-sues-newsom-over-covid-19-stay-home-orders/3949425001/?utm_camp… 2/3 12/18/2020 San Bernardino County sues Newsom over COVID-19 stay-at-home orders

The Murrieta-based law firm Tyler & Bursch is representing the county in the suit.

The firm has sued the state over other coronavirus orders, including a ban on singing in churches, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Just how much the lawsuit will cost is also unknown. Wert said the county does not disclose the costs of litigation until it is resolved.

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

https://www.vvdailypress.com/story/news/2020/12/17/san-bernardino-county-sues-newsom-over-covid-19-stay-home-orders/3949425001/?utm_camp… 3/3 12/18/2020 COVID-19: Providence St. Mary caregivers receive vaccine

HEALTHCARE COVID-19: Providence St. Mary caregivers among first in High Desert to receive vaccine Matthew Cabe Victorville Daily Press Published 3:07 p.m. PT Dec. 17, 2020 Updated 3:19 p.m. PT Dec. 17, 2020

About 100 Providence St. Mary Medical Center health care workers received the first round of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, a day after an initial 15,600 doses arrived in San Bernardino County.

Providence St. Mary spokesman Bryan Kawasaki said hospital officials in Apple Valley administered the vaccine to roughly 18 caregivers per hour Thursday morning.

“The pace we were hoping for was 12 caregivers an hour,” Kawasaki said. “... We’re very excited for the turnout.”

St. Mary nurse Theresa Tate was the first of the hospital’s staff members to receive the vaccine, according to Kawasaki. Tate has worked at St. Mary for eight years, currently in the Labor and Delivery Department.

Front-line health care workers are not required to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Tate said she researched early findings, including the vaccine's possible side effects, because that was better than “going in blind.”

“I think if anyone were to walk down our hallways and see how much people are suffering … if there’s a vaccine, we should be prepared to take it,” Tate said. “Vaccines have worked for other diseases. This has all come together so fast, but with the technology today, I’m very confident in the medical field and the advances we have today.”

Health care workers who take the first dose will receive a required second dose 21 days later that has been reported to be 95% effective at preventing COVID-19 a week after it is administered.

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The vaccine arrived as St. Mary officials and staff struggle with space and staffing shortages amid the most recent surge of COVID-19 cases in the state, which hospital officials said is worse than at any other time since the pandemic started.

As of Thursday, St. Mary had 133 hospitalized COVID 19-positive patients and 13 more patients suspected to have the virus in its 213-bed facility, Kawasaki said. At last check on Dec. 9, hospitalized patients who were COVID-positive stood at 108.

St. Mary, which has a 20-bed ICU, is currently treating approximately 60 patients who require ICU-level care and more than 90% of those have tested positive for COVID-19.

The main lobby was recently converted into a COVID-19 unit and the Daily Press previously reported that the hospital has 0% total capacity left.

Read more: "Facing COVID overflow, staff shortage, Apple Valley hospital pleads with public to help"

The situation at St. Mary is not unique, though. Hospitals across the High Desert and beyond are inundated with patients as new daily case totals skyrocket.

In neighboring Victorville, health care workers at Desert Valley Hospital are treating double the number of patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 during the previous surge in June and July, hospital CEO Fred Hunter said in a statement.

“COVID-19 is real,” Hunter said in the statement. “As a community, we have a responsibility to one another, first and foremost. Every community member is part of the frontline in this fight against COVID-19. Prevention begins with each of us.”

Hunter stressed the importance of COVID-19-related safety precautions, such as washing hands, wearing a face mask and practicing social distancing to help slow the spread of a virus that has been blamed for 1,323 deaths in San Bernardino County, including 63 reported Wednesday and 19 on Thursday.

Across the High Desert, 242 deaths have been linked to COVID-19 as of Thursday. That's nearly 18.3% of the county’s total deaths from the virus.

Details of vaccine rollout at Desert Valley Hospital were not available Wednesday, according to spokesperson Eddie Hernandez.

An inquiry sent Wednesday to officials at Barstow Community Hospital had not been returned as of Thursday afternoon. https://www.vvdailypress.com/story/news/healthcare/2020/12/17/covid-19-providence-st-mary-caregivers-receive-vaccine/3947641001/?utm_campaig… 2/3 12/18/2020 COVID-19: Providence St. Mary caregivers receive vaccine

Health care workers in San Bernardino County began receiving the COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday.

Five high-risk, front-line health care workers at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton were among the first in the county to receive inoculations.

Additional doses of the vaccine are being flown across the county and to rural areas by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's aviation team.

More than 327,000 doses of the first COVID-19 vaccine have arrived or are in transit across California this week. Hospitals in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Eureka were the first to administer the vaccines on Monday.

An additional 393,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which was federally approved for emergency use, are expected to arrive across the state next week.

California has nearly 1.4 million doses already committed for health care workers this month. Gov. Gavin Newsom's goal is to exceed 2.1 million by the end of the year.

Contributing: Palm Springs Desert Sun reporter Maria Sestito.

Daily Press Managing Editor Matthew Cabe can be reached at [email protected] or 760-490-0052. Follow him on Twitter @DP_MatthewCabe.

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California psychiatric hospital's Covid19 outbreak has sickened almost 700 Lawyers have asked a judge to order the release or transfer of half of the patients at Patton state hospital

Kelly Davis in San Diego Fri 18 Dec 2020 06.00 EST

Lawyers representing patients at a southern California psychiatric hospital describe the state-run facility as a “tinderbox” for Covid-19 infections.

In documents ﬁled earlier this week in federal court, attorneys from the advocacy organization Disability Rights California and the private law ﬁrm Covington & Burling asked the judge Jesus G Bernal to order the release or transfer of half of the patients at Patton state hospital.

Patton is located in San Bernardino, east of Los Angeles. With 1,527 beds, it is one of the largest psychiatric hospitals in the US. The majority of people conﬁned to the facility have been accused of a crime but found by a judge to be incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/18/patton-state-hospital-covid-19-outbreak-lawsuit 1/5 12/18/2020 California psychiatric hospital's Covid-19 outbreak has sickened almost 700 | US news | The Guardian Since May, at least 335 Patton patients and 327 staﬀ have tested positive for Covid-19; 10 patients have died, according to court documents and the Department of State Hospitals (DSH) patient tracker.

The attorneys’ emergency request is part of a class-action lawsuit ﬁled in August on behalf of four men committed to Patton. Prior to the lawsuit, several organizations, including the California Public Defenders Association and the ACLU of Northern California, urged the department of state hospitals to evaluate patients for release or transfer to facilitate social distancing.

Some patients “no longer need treatment in a secure and locked facility”, the organizations said in a letter to Stephanie Clendenin, the head of DSH. “Many have family or friends to support them in the community if released.”

The letter echoes pleas from medical experts, who have said since the start of the pandemic that the only way to prevent Covid-19 outbreaks in crowded correctional facilities is to signiﬁcantly reduce the population.

Anne Hadreas, an attorney with Disability Rights California, said she and her colleagues met several times with DSH oﬃcials, but were unable to reach an agreement over how to reduce the hospital’s population. They ﬁled the emergency request after learning of a new outbreak at Patton.

“Based on the staggeringly high numbers we couldn’t wait any longer,” she said.

Since mid-November, more than 150 Patton detainees have tested positive for Covid-19, including all four of the plaintiﬀs named in the lawsuit. Eleven people have been hospitalized with severe cases of the virus.

“Defendants have failed to conduct an adequate systematic review of high-risk patients in order to identify who can be safely discharged to a less dangerous setting; facilitate the release or transfer of such high-risk patients to safer, non- or less-congregate settings; or otherwise reduce the patient population to allow for anything close to adequate social distancing,” the new court ﬁling says.

Sworn statements submitted by patients as part of the lawsuit describe an environment where social distancing is impossible. Patients sleep as many as ﬁve to a room, share bathrooms, eat in the same area, use the same telephones and gather in the same common area. Patients also described Patton as unsanitary and lacking ventilation.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/18/patton-state-hospital-covid-19-outbreak-lawsuit 2/5 12/18/2020 California psychiatric hospital's Covid-19 outbreak has sickened almost 700 | US news | The Guardian

The USC medical center. California’s hospitals have nearly run out of ICU beds for Covid-19 patients amid a surge in cases. Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/AP

Charles Gluck, one of the lawsuit’s plaintiﬀs, told the Guardian that staﬀ never explained the threat the virus posed. Gluck has diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure; he learned from watching television that his health conditions put him at risk for complications if he contracted Covid-19.

“Nobody warned us,” he said.

Gluck recently tested positive for Covid-19. Over the phone, he sounded run down. He said he had a fever and pain in his kidneys and hadn’t been able to sleep.

Gluck’s roommate, Ricardo Tapia, also contracted the virus. Tapia said more than 20 people in their unit fell ill after a man who was showing symptoms was moved to the unit at the beginning of December. The man was supposed to remain in his room, but he used the unit’s communal restroom and would often open his door.

Tapia and Gluck were both moved to an isolation unit with large dorm-style rooms with up to a dozen other patients. Both men said there is little to do besides watching television.

“There’s no treatment here,” Tapia said, referring to therapeutic programs that have been put on hold since March.

A spokesman for DSH said he couldn’t discuss speciﬁc allegations in the lawsuit, but said that “DSH continues to take all actions necessary to protect its patients and staﬀ from Covid-19, following guidance from the California Department of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other state and local partners.”

In their response to the plaintiﬀs’ emergency request, state attorneys asked judge Bernal to halt all further proceedings because Covid-19 vaccines could render the lawsuit moot.

“DSH anticipates that a suﬃcient number of doses of an approved Covid-19 vaccine will be made available for inoculation of more than half of DSH healthcare staﬀ in the highest level priority category in early January 2021,” the attorneys argued.

Hadreas, the lead attorney on the emergency ﬁling, said that waiting until January, when only a portion of staﬀ might be inoculated, isn’t an option.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/18/patton-state-hospital-covid-19-outbreak-lawsuit 3/5 12/18/2020 California psychiatric hospital's Covid-19 outbreak has sickened almost 700 | US news | The Guardian “It will not help the people who are getting sick right now, and those who will get sick over the next weeks,” she said. “The fact that at some point in the future conditions may improve does not change the fact that conditions are extremely dangerous now.”

On 7 December, DSH did move 43 women from Patton to a “surge capacity” facility in Norwalk, a Los Angeles suburb. In a signed declaration, Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco and expert witness, called the move “necessary” yet inadequate. Chin-Hong chastised state oﬃcials for waiting until “an untenable number of patients have tested positive at DSHPatton”, instead of proactively ﬁnding alternative facilities.

Chin-Hong was critical of the dorm-style isolation units, noting that a person with Covid-19 can acquire a more serious infection by being exposed to others with the virus. There is also a risk for reinfection.

“It is important to note that immunity may be short-lived, setting the stage for potential reinfection even after recovery,” he wrote.

Hadreas acknowledged that moving people from Patton will require careful assessment.

“It’s really not a one-size-ﬁts-all approach, and that’s not what we’re asking for,” she said, adding, “The only way to make it a safer environment is for there to be fewer people for social distancing to be possible.”

A hearing on the emergency order is scheduled for 22 December.

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CORONAVIRUS States thought they would get more COVID vaccines. Pentagon system had wrong numbers

BY MICHAEL WILNER DECEMBER 17, 2020 07:16 PM, UPDATED DECEMBER 17, 2020 08:56 PM    

Join us at noon Dec. 15 for a live Q&A with health experts on the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in California, how it will change the fight against the deadly virus and what it means for you. BY THE SACRAMENTO BEE

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A Pentagon system set up for states to keep track of coronavirus vaccines had outdated, inaccurate projections for deliveries that misled governors into expecting they would receive far more doses than will arrive in the coming days, a federal official told McClatchy. https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/coronavirus/article247935785.html 1/6 12/18/2020 Defense system on COVID vaccines misled states on deliveries | McClatchy Washington Bureau The system, called Tiberius, went live months ago in order for state and local officials to prepare for the day that the Food and Drug Administration authorized a coronavirus vaccine, with projections that were intended to help states practice using the complex system.

But when the FDA issued its first emergency use authorization for a vaccine on Friday, the outdated projections in the Defense Department software remained in place.

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Write to Sarah Toy at [email protected] and Joanna Sugden at [email protected]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-vaccine-advice-leaves-some-people-with-allergies-in-limbo-11608308327?mod=e2tw 5/6 12/18/2020 What People With Allergies Should Know About Covid Vaccines - The New York Times

https://nyti.ms/2WqfwsL

Hereʼs What People With Allergies Should Know About Covid Vaccines Four people so far have had allergic reactions after getting the Pﬁzer-BioNTech vaccine. Experts say that shouldnʼt deter most people from getting a jab.

By Katherine J. Wu

Dec. 18, 2020 Updated 12:43 p.m. ET

Allergic reactions reported in two health workers who received a dose of Pﬁzer’s vaccine in Alaska this week have reignited concerns that people with a history of extreme immune ﬂare-ups might not be good candidates for the newly cleared shots.

The two incidents follow another pair of cases in Britain. Three of the four were severe enough to qualify as anaphylaxis, a severe and potentially life-threatening reaction. But all four people appear to have recovered.

Health ofﬁcials on both sides of the pond are vigilantly monitoring vaccinated people to see if more cases emerge. Last week, British drug regulators recommended against the use of Pﬁzer’s vaccine in people who have previously had anaphylactic reactions to food, medicines or vaccines.

And on Thursday, Dr. Doran Fink, deputy director of the Food and Drug Administration’s clinical division of vaccines and related products applications, addressed the issue during a meeting about the vaccine made by Moderna that contains similar ingredients and is expected to soon receive emergency use authorization, or E.U.A., from the agency.

“We anticipate that there may be additional reports, which we will rapidly investigate,” Dr. Fink said, adding that robust surveillance systems were in place to detect these rare events.

Still, Dr. Fink said that “the totality of data at this time continue to support vaccinations under the Pﬁzer E.U.A., without new restrictions.”

The F.D.A., he added, would work with Pﬁzer to revise fact sheets and prescribing information for the vaccine so that the public would understand the risk of allergic reactions and know how to report them.

What do we know about the people who had bad reactions? The ﬁrst two conﬁrmed cases of allergic reactions came from two health care workers in Britain. Both had a medical history of serious allergic reactions, but had not previously been known to have trouble with any of the vaccine’s ingredients. After an injection of epinephrine — the typical treatment for anaphylaxis — both recovered.

(A third British incident described as a “possible allergic reaction” was also reported and appears to have been minor.)

On Wednesday, two health workers in Alaska experienced reactions as well. One was too mild to be deemed anaphylaxis. But the other, which occurred in a middle-aged woman with no history of allergies, was serious enough to warrant hospitalization, even after she got a shot of epinephrine.

“What is happening does seem really unusual to me,” said Dr. Kimberly Blumenthal, an allergist, immunologist and drug allergy researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital. Vaccine-related allergic reactions are typically rare, occurring at a rate of about one in a million.

Dr. Blumenthal also pointed out that it was a bit bizarre to see allergic reactions clustering in just two locations: Britain and Alaska. Zeroing in on the commonalities between the two hot spots, she said, might help researchers puzzle out the source of the problem.

Do we know for sure that their reactions were caused by the vaccine? British and U.S. agencies are investigating the causes, but no ofﬁcial has declared a direct link.

But Dr. Blumenthal suspects they were connected to the shots, because the reactions were immediate, occurring within minutes of injection.

CORONAVIRUS BRIEFING: An informed guide to the global outbreak, Sign Up with the latest developments and expert advice.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/health/covid-vaccine-allergies.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage 1/3 12/18/2020 What People With Allergies Should Know About Covid Vaccines - The New York Times “We have to think it was related because of the timing,” she said.

Nor is it known if a particular ingredient might have been the cause. Pﬁzer’s vaccine contains just 10 ingredients. The most important is a molecule called messenger RNA, or mRNA — genetic material that can instruct human cells to make a coronavirus protein called spike. Once manufactured, spike teaches the immune system to recognize the coronavirus so it can be fought off in the future. Messenger RNA, which is naturally found in human cells, is unlikely to pose a threat, and degrades within about a day of being injected.

The other nine ingredients are a mix of salts, fatty substances and sugars that stabilize the vaccine. None are common allergens. The only chemical with a history of causing allergic reactions is polyethylene glycol, or PEG, which helps package the mRNA into an oily sheath, protecting it as it goes into human cells.

Covid-19 Vaccines › Answers to Your Vaccine Questions With distribution of a coronavirus vaccine beginning in the U.S., here are answers to some questions you may be wondering about:

If I live in the U.S., when can I get the vaccine? While the exact order of vaccine recipients may vary by state, most will likely put medical workers and residents of long- term care facilities ﬁrst. If you want to understand how this decision is getting made, this article will help.

When can I return to normal life after being vaccinated? Life will return to normal only when society as a whole gains enough protection against the coronavirus. Once countries authorize a vaccine, theyʼll only be able to vaccinate a few percent of their citizens at most in the ﬁrst couple months. The unvaccinated majority will still remain vulnerable to getting infected. A growing number of coronavirus vaccines are showing robust protection against SEE MORE

But PEG is, generally speaking, inert and widespread. It’s found in ultrasound gel, laxatives like Miralax and injectable steroids, among other drugs and products, Dr. Blumenthal said. Despite the chemical’s ubiquity, she said, “I’ve only seen one case of a PEG allergy — it’s really, really uncommon.”

It’s still possible that something else could be causing the reactions — perhaps a factor related to how the vaccines are transported, thawed or administered, Dr. Blumenthal said.

In an email, Steven Danehy, a spokesperson for Pﬁzer, said the company was working with health authorities to assess the situation in Alaska, and would keep close tabs on any subsequent reactions.

“Reports of adverse events outside of clinical studies are a very important component to our pharmacovigilance activities and we will review all available information on this case and all reports of adverse events following vaccination,” Mr. Danehy said.

Did the volunteers in Pfizerʼs clinical trials have any bad reactions? A small number of volunteers in Pfizer’s clinical trials experienced allergic reactions. Just one of the 18,801 participants who received the vaccine in a late-stage trial had anaphylaxis, and the incident was deemed unrelated to the vaccine, said Steven Danehy, a spokesman for Pfizer. No severe reactions were found in people who got a placebo shot.

Pﬁzer excluded people with a history of anaphylaxis to vaccines from its clinical trials.

What does the F.D.A. say about these reactions? Several experts raised concerns about the allergic reactions in meetings convened to discuss both Pﬁzer’s and Moderna’s vaccines. The agency has advised caution, noting that health care providers should not administer the vaccine to anyone with a “known history of a severe allergic reaction” to any component of the vaccine — a standard warning for vaccines.

Should people with mild allergies wait to get vaccinated? There’s no evidence that people with mild allergies, which are quite common, need to avoid the vaccine. Allergies are, simply put, the product of an inappropriate immune response against something harmless — pollen, peanuts, cat dander and the like. In many cases, the results of this overreaction are mild symptoms such as a runny nose, coughing or sneezing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/health/covid-vaccine-allergies.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage 2/3 12/18/2020 What People With Allergies Should Know About Covid Vaccines - The New York Times But allergies are speciﬁc: A reaction to one substance does not guarantee a reaction to another. On Monday, the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology released guidance stating that people with common allergies “are no more likely than the general public to have an allergic reaction to the Pﬁzer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.”

William Amarquaye, a clinical pharmacist at Brandon Regional Hospital, said he wouldn’t let his asthma or allergies stop him from taking the vaccine when it is offered to him in the next few weeks. He’s also never had trouble with other vaccines he has taken in the past.

“It should still be OK to take the vaccine,” Dr. Amarquaye said. “I’m actually excited about it.”

What about people with a history of severe allergies? Most people in this category should be good to go, too, said Dr. Eun-Hyung Lee, an expert in allergy and immunology at Emory University.

Guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identify only one group of people who might not want to get Pﬁzer’s vaccine: those with a known history of severe allergic reactions to an ingredient in the injection.

People with a history of anaphylaxis to any other substance, including other vaccines or injectable drugs, can still get the vaccine, but should consult their health care providers and be monitored for 30 minutes after getting their shots. Everyone else, like people with mild or no allergies, need to wait only 15 minutes before leaving the vaccination site.

“In general, the immediate reactions that require epinephrine are those that happen within the ﬁrst 30 minutes,” said Dr. Merin Kuruvilla, an allergist and immunologist at Emory University.

Some people will understandably be concerned. Dr. Taison Bell, a critical care physician at UVA Health in Charlottesville, Va., said he worried about his 7-year-old son, Alain, who is severely allergic to several foods, including wheat, peanuts and cow’s milk. Alain has about two bouts of anaphylaxis each year.

It’s a bit of a relief that Alain is “later in the prioritization schema,” Dr. Bell said. By the time a vaccine is ready for him, he said, “we’ll get a better sense for how serious this is.” The family plans to discuss their situation with Alain’s doctor.

Ultimately, it’s unlikely that any of the ingredients in a coronavirus vaccine would cause Alain any issues. Alain has tolerated other vaccines, including the flu shot, in previous years, and is looking forward to his own shot at immunization to the coronavirus, said Dr. Bell, who received his first dose of Pfizer’s vaccine on Tuesday.

What about Modernaʼs vaccine? Two volunteers in Moderna’s late-stage clinical trial developed anaphylactic reactions, the company reported at the F.D.A. committee meeting on Thursday. Neither was deemed to be linked to the company’s vaccine, which also contains mRNA, because they occurred weeks or months after the participants received their shots. One of these volunteers also had a history of asthma and a shellﬁsh allergy.

Moderna, unlike Pﬁzer, did not exclude people with a history of anaphylaxis from its trials.

Dr. Tal Zaks, the company’s chief medical officer, said that while Moderna’s vaccine recipe was similar to Pfizer’s, key molecular differences existed that could set the two products on different paths. He said that bad reactions to Pfizer’s vaccine did not guarantee that similar events would happen in relation to the Moderna shots.

Both vaccines do, however, include a version of PEG.

Dr. Blumenthal and others said that anyone concerned about having an allergic reaction to a vaccine should seek the advice of a health care provider.

For anyone getting the vaccine, it’s all about “balancing out the risks,” Dr. Lee, of Emory, said. Allergic reactions can be dangerous. But they are rare and treatable, and the tools to combat them should be available at all vaccination sites. The coronavirus, on the other hand, can have far graver consequences.

“When it’s my turn in line, I think weighing these odds is what I would do,” Dr. Lee said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/health/covid-vaccine-allergies.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage 3/3 12/17/2020 California’s pandemic mandates cost 500,000 jobs — saved 6,600 lives, Chapman says – San Bernardino Sun

BUSINESS •• Explainer, News California’s pandemic mandates cost 500,000 jobs — saved 6,600 lives, Chapman says California lost 3% more jobs than the national norm due to government policies.

By JONATHAN LANSNER || [email protected]@scng.com || OrangeOrange CountyCounty Register PUBLISHED: December 17, 2020 at 1:01 p.m. || UPDATED:UPDATED: December 17, 2020 at 1:011:01 p.m.p.m.

A Chapman University study says California would have had roughly one-third fewerfewer jobjob losseslosses thisthis yearyear ifif itsits pandemicpandemic preventionprevention actionsactions werewere kinderkinder toto thethe business community.

The same study also says the stateʼs strict business limitation saved 6,600 lives.

Chapman number crunchers found the state mandates designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus were found to cost 500,000 workers their jobs. In total,total, CaliforniaCalifornia isis downdown 1.41.4 millionmillion jobsjobs inin thethe yearyear endedended inin October.October. TheThe findingsfindings werewere releasedreleased ThursdayThursday alongalong withwith thethe schoolʼsschoolʼs annualannual economiceconomic forecast.forecast.

James Doti, a Chapman professor and president emeritus, knows it can seem ghoulish to compare economic outcomes with life-or-death decisions. But policymakers need to know the bottom line of how pandemic mandates interactinteract withwith thethe economyeconomy andand deathdeath rates.rates.

“Quite frankly, looking at the numbers, California went too far. The economic damage was greater than the benefit,” Doti concluded. https://www.sbsun.com/2020/12/17/californias-pandemic-mandates-cost-cost-500000-jobs-saved-6600-lives-chapman-says/?utm_campaign… 1/5 12/17/2020 California’s pandemic mandates cost 500,000 jobs — saved 6,600 lives, Chapman says – San Bernardino Sun Chapman looked at the relative “stringency” of the stateʼs pandemic mandates on a national scale of responses. That ranking was weighed against job losses and virus-related deaths. In Californiaʼs case, those tough policies meant it lost 500,000 more jobs than would have been cut had the state only invoked average business limits, according to the study.

Lockdowns created large losses elsewhere, too. New Yorkʼs strict rules cost it 300,000 more jobs, by Chapmanʼs accounting. And Illinoisʼs harsh tactics cost 200,000 additional jobs.

Then consider large states that issued mandates with less-than-average toughness.toughness. LenientLenient TexasTexas policiespolicies translatedtranslated toto 150,000150,000 moremore jobsjobs thanthan thethe statestate would have if it imposed average pandemic precautions. In Florida, its modest mandates boosted job counts by 60,000.

However, compare Chapmanʼs death estimates. Californiaʼs tight business rules meant 6,600 fewer pandemic deaths vs. if it took average precautions. New York saved 6,000 lives; Illinois, 500.

Conversely, Chapmanʼs work shows Texas had 1,000 extra deaths and Florida 400 due to looser business limitations.

However, using national averages as benchmarks assumes the overall response toto thethe pandemicpandemic waswas donedone correctly.correctly. LetʼsLetʼs politelypolitely saysay thatʼsthatʼs upup forfor debate.debate.

Doti says the averages are “more a line of demarcation than a desirable level” and that “it is likely that we would have saved more lives if the U.S. were as stringent as California.”

“But I donʼt think ʻwealthier.ʼ We would have surely lost more jobs and businesses,” he adds.

I fully agree with Doti that “one needs to evaluate whether saving lives was worth the economic cost.” And wealth vs. health is a gut-wrenching topic for discussion.

To me, Californiaʼs pandemic performance should be looked upon slightly more favorably. For example, my trusty spreadsheetʼs review of somewhat similar pandemic metrics ranked Californiaʼs virus response as slightly above- average at 20th best.

Nevertheless, Doti says important lessons were learned from Chapmanʼs research.

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/12/17/californias-pandemic-mandates-cost-cost-500000-jobs-saved-6600-lives-chapman-says/?utm_campaign… 2/5 12/17/2020 California’s pandemic mandates cost 500,000 jobs — saved 6,600 lives, Chapman says – San Bernardino Sun The biggest mistake he notes is that every state waited too long to start business pullbacks back in March. The summerʼs restrictions — a quick reaction to the virusʼ second uptick — were more effective.

A critical factor in the overall economic impact was tourismʼs clout in a region. Travel was going to suffer during a pandemic no matter the stateʼs policy. Thatʼs why California, especially Orange County, suffered so much with job losses.

Doti says poverty rates proved to be the best indicator of where pandemic deaths came with coronavirus striking hardest, medically speaking, in poorer states.

He also believes income should dictate where vaccines go. Lower-income regions should get a higher priority.

“Not because of equity,” Doti says. “But where it will more significantly impact deaths.”

Interestingly, an early indicator of coronavirus troubles was population density. The crowded New York regionʼs pandemic challenges were a prime example, Doti says.

But since summer began, population density is no longer a factor across the nation.

“It does not matter, rural or urban, death rates are the same,” he said, noting a trendtrend thatthat hashas peoplepeople movingmoving awayaway fromfrom citiescities inin hopeshopes ofof avoidingavoiding thethe virus.virus.

“People moved out of urban centers to get out of the hell zone,” Doti said. “Thatʼs a totally ineffective strategy.”

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Tags: coronavirus economy,, Jobs,, politics,, https://www.sbsun.com/2020/12/17/californias-pandemic-mandates-cost-cost-500000-jobs-saved-6600-lives-chapman-says/?utm_campaign… 3/5 12/18/2020 L.A. COVID-19 spread hits elderly, people of color extra hard - Los Angeles Times

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People of color, elderly pay the cruelest price as COVID-19 spreads throughout L.A. County

Romeo Pichinte, 60, of Downey self-administers a COVID-19 test at a city of Los Angeles mobile testing center in South L.A. “Right now, it is really tough to get a test. I had an appointment in the Valley. And then I found out they were here,” said Pichinte. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

By RONG-GONG LIN II, LUKE MONEY

DEC. 18, 2020 | 8:22 AM https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/la-covid-19-spread-hits-elderly-people-of-color-extra-hard 1/8 12/18/2020 L.A. COVID-19 spread hits elderly, people of color extra hard - Los Angeles Times

The December surge in COVID-19 had spread widely into communities across Los Angeles County, touching more lives than ever before and making the chances of being exposed to the virus much more likely than ever.

New daily cases have hit levels that are hard to fathom, including one day this week when more than 20,000 new COVID cases were reported in the county. An estimated one in 80 people in L.A. County are now contagious with the virus; that’s far worse than in late September, when scientists calculated that one in 880 county residents were infectious.

The latest reminder of the spread came Thursday, when Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said that his 9-year-old daughter Maya had tested positive. Both Garcetti and his wife tested negative, he said.

Garcetti said he doesn’t know how his daughter was infected. “We haven’t mixed households,” he said. “There’s no behavior that she is engaged in that doesn’t adhere strictly to the protocols of our health officials.”

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But there is also a grim pattern to the spread, with some parts of the county being stalked in relentless ways.

The elderly and people of color are being hit disproportionately hard by the latest surge.

L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer warned that the weekly death count in skilled nursing facilities is starting to increase, although it hasn’t reached the level early on in the pandemic.

And, while the death rate among white residents remains stable — at one to two per day per 100,000 white residents — the death rates for Latino, Black and Asian residents are rising. Among Latino residents over the past four weeks, for example, the death rate has jumped from 1.4 daily deaths per 100,000 Latino residents to 4.5 daily deaths.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/la-covid-19-spread-hits-elderly-people-of-color-extra-hard 2/8 12/18/2020 L.A. COVID-19 spread hits elderly, people of color extra hard - Los Angeles Times

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Latino communities are at higher risk for the illness for several reasons. Members tend to be essential workers who must go to retail stores, manufacturing plants and other sites rather than work from home, raising the chances they’ll come in contact with an infected person. Some Latino neighborhoods are more densely populated, making the virus easier to spread.

Among Black residents, the death rate has jumped from less than one death per 100,000 Black residents to more than three deaths per 100,000.

And among Asian residents, the death rate has risen from 0.5 deaths per 100,000 Asian residents to three deaths per 100,000.

The growing numbers are taking a toll. The availability of intensive care unit beds throughout Southern California hit 0% Thursday, and officials warned that conditions in hospitals are expected to erode further if the coronavirus continues to spread unchecked.

California is now tallying an average of 203 COVID-19 deaths a day over a seven-day period, and 35,200 cases a day — both records, and both quadruple the numbers from mid-November.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/la-covid-19-spread-hits-elderly-people-of-color-extra-hard 3/8 12/18/2020 L.A. COVID-19 spread hits elderly, people of color extra hard - Los Angeles Times Younger adults are spreading the virus the most, officials said, but it’s the oldest adults, when they get infected, who are dying at the highest rates.

“This is a preventable tragedy, because those most vulnerable to serious illness from COVID-19 can be protected by everyone else when we wear our face coverings, keep our distance, wash hands frequently and avoid mingling with non-household members,” Ferrer said.

Much of the current surge is believed to be tied to Thanksgiving gatherings that led to major spread of COVID. Officials now hope to avoid a repeat of that as the year-end holidays approach.

“I am afraid,” Dr. Clayton Chau, Orange County’s health officer and Health Care Agency director, said Tuesday. “I have never been so afraid of Christmas and New Year’s in my life like I have now, because ... I can’t imagine what it would be like after the holiday if people are not listening, if people are not complying, if people are in defiance and get together.”

If there are more super-spreader events on those holidays, the impact will likely continue to be felt unevenly.

That’s because people living in the most impoverished areas of L.A. County are also more likely to die from COVID- 19.

“The death rate among people living in the lowest-resource areas is now four times that of people living in areas with the most resources,” Ferrer said. “And unfortunately, this gap, too, looks to be growing.”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/la-covid-19-spread-hits-elderly-people-of-color-extra-hard 4/8 12/18/2020 L.A. COVID-19 spread hits elderly, people of color extra hard - Los Angeles Times “The widening gaps are stark reminder that many of our essential workers are Black and brown, and many are not able to telework or stay home,” Ferrer said. “Many work at jobs with low wages, and many live in underresourced neighborhoods.”

Ferrer asked businesses to fully implement safety rules to protect workers from COVID-19, including providing personal protective equipment and adhering to infection control measures.

“And we also need every resident to protect our essential workers by playing by the rules. This means always wearing a face covering and keeping distance from others,” Ferrer said.

Violations at workplaces can be reported anonymously can reported at (888) 700-9995.

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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.

Luke Money

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Luke Money is a Metro reporter covering breaking news at the Los Angeles Times. He previously was a reporter and assistant city editor for the Daily Pilot, a Times Community News publication in Orange County, and before that wrote for the Santa Clarita Valley Signal. He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Arizona. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/la-covid-19-spread-hits-elderly-people-of-color-extra-hard 5/8 12/18/2020 The wealthy scramble to get the COVID-19 vaccine - Los Angeles Times

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The wealthy scramble for COVID-19 vaccines: ‘If I donate $25,000 ... would that help me?’

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/wealthy-patients-scramble-covid-19-vaccine 1/17 12/18/2020 The wealthy scramble to get the COVID-19 vaccine - Los Angeles Times

Pﬁzer’s COVID-19 vaccine. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)

By LAURA J. NELSON, MAYA LAU

DEC. 18, 2020 | 5 AM

They’re offering tens of thousands of dollars in cash, making their personal assistants pester doctors every day, and asking whether a five-figure donation to a hospital would help them jump the line.

The COVID-19 vaccine is here — and so are the wealthy people who want it first.

“We get hundreds of calls every single day,” said Dr. Ehsan Ali, who runs Beverly Hills Concierge Doctor. His clients, who include Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, pay between $2,000 and $10,000 a year for personalized care. “This is the first time where I have not been able to get something for my patients.”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/wealthy-patients-scramble-covid-19-vaccine 2/17 12/18/2020 The wealthy scramble to get the COVID-19 vaccine - Los Angeles Times With the first doses in short supply, California has laid out a strict order of vaccinations based on need and risk: Healthcare workers and nursing home residents, then essential workers and those with chronic health conditions, then, finally, everyone else.

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But to those with power, money and influence, rules can always be bent. California’s stern messaging about serving the neediest first hasn’t stopped the rich from trying to leap ahead of teachers, farmworkers and firefighters.

Dr. Jeff Toll, who has admitting privileges at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, one of the first hospitals to stock the vaccine, recalled a patient asking: “If I donate $25,000 to Cedars, would that help me get in line?’” Toll said no.

CALIFORNIA Who will be at the front of the line for vaccines in California? Here’s what we know Dec. 14, 2020

Watchdogs have been warning that the COVID-19 vaccine’s initial scarcity could create a thriving black market, particularly if well-connected people in the healthcare industry https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/wealthy-patients-scramble-covid-19-vaccine 3/17 12/18/2020 The wealthy scramble to get the COVID-19 vaccine - Los Angeles Times skim off a few doses here and there for friends, family or the highest bidder.

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But getting earlier access to the shot may not even require much backroom deal- making. Some wealthy patients may get the shots sooner than the average person because they’re members of exclusive healthcare groups that offer the kind of high- quality, primary care most Americans can’t afford.

Those patients are already on waiting lists with concierge doctors who charge as much as $25,000 a year for 24-hour access to top-notch care, which includes working to get their clients vaccinated as soon as it’s available.

CALIFORNIA COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Southern California Dec. 16, 2020

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/wealthy-patients-scramble-covid-19-vaccine 4/17 12/18/2020 The wealthy scramble to get the COVID-19 vaccine - Los Angeles Times

Concierge practices are fielding frantic, repeated phone calls from well-heeled clients and their assistants. They’re busy assembling lengthy patient files with medical histories and potential COVID-19 risks.

And they’re snapping up expensive, ultra-low temperature freezers, which are in short supply, to store the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine, which must be kept at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit.

Doctors in boutique practices say they’ll adhere to public health guidelines in determining who gets priority. But being on a waiting list at a practice that has special freezers and other high-quality resources means you’re already near the front of the line once the supply opens up.

Some boutique practices have already applied to California health officials for approval to store and administer the vaccine at a time when the typical primary care doctor has little idea when and how their patients will get access to the shots.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/wealthy-patients-scramble-covid-19-vaccine 5/17 12/18/2020 The wealthy scramble to get the COVID-19 vaccine - Los Angeles Times “As soon as we heard about the vaccine coming to market, we started looking for freezers,” said Andrew Olanow, co-founder of Sollis Health, a concierge practice with clinics in New York, the Hamptons and Beverly Hills.

SCIENCE When can I get the COVID-19 vaccine? Dec. 15, 2020

Six weeks ago, Sollis Health placed an order for six ultra-low temperature freezers at about $5,000 each. They’re due to arrive next month.

After Sollis reserved their freezers, he said, several “larger governmental orders” sucked up much of the remaining supply, meaning wait times will be longer for clinics just ordering now.

Representatives for Pfizer and Moderna, whose vaccine is expected to be authorized this week, said doctors and private citizens cannot buy doses from them yet. The U.S. government is controlling the allocation of doses to all 50 states.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/wealthy-patients-scramble-covid-19-vaccine 6/17 12/18/2020 The wealthy scramble to get the COVID-19 vaccine - Los Angeles Times

Until the vaccine is available to nongovernmental buyers, concierge doctors are in the unusual position of telling their demanding patients that, for now, they will just have to wait.

That hasn’t stopped patients from trying.

“People are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars,” said Toll, the doctor with admitting privileges at Cedars-Sinai. His private concierge practice in Los Angeles starts at $5,000 a year and can go as high as $25,000.

Doctors fielding these kinds of requests, he said, have to be comfortable telling rich, powerful people “no,” similar to when they ask for inappropriate medications. Toll tells his patients that those designated as most at-risk by public health officials should get it first.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/wealthy-patients-scramble-covid-19-vaccine 7/17 12/18/2020 The wealthy scramble to get the COVID-19 vaccine - Los Angeles Times

“We’re governed by the Hippocratic oath, the responsibility to provide care for the people who need it most,” said Dr. Abe Malkin, the founder of Concierge MD LA, a house-call medical service that charges up to $750 per month. “But at the same time, there’s obviously going to be gray areas based on individual patients’ needs.”

SCIENCE Your questions about COVID-19 vaccines answered Dec. 17, 2020

Guidelines that prioritize people who work in essential industries, have underlying health conditions, or are older than 65 are massive gray areas. In California alone, nearly 12 million people — two-thirds of the state workforce — work in essential industries.

That ambiguity creates opportunities for the well-connected to argue that an underlying health condition or a C-suite level position at an essential company should push them toward the front of the line, said Glenn Ellis, a bioethicist and a visiting scholar at Tuskegee University.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/wealthy-patients-scramble-covid-19-vaccine 8/17 12/18/2020 The wealthy scramble to get the COVID-19 vaccine - Los Angeles Times “With enough money and influence, you can make a convincing argument about anything,” Ellis said. But unlike lobbying for a better table at a restaurant or a better seat at a Broadway show, he said, taking a vaccine dose that was meant for an essential worker could cost someone their health or their life.

The pattern is familiar in a state where Hollywood stars and Silicon Valley executives are accustomed to getting their way. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who made his own blunder by dining without a mask at The French Laundry in Napa Valley, has warned that California will be “very aggressive in making sure that those with means, those with influence, are not crowding out those that are most deserving of the vaccines.”

“Those that think they can get ahead of the line and those that think because they have resources or they have relationships that will allow them to do it ... we also will be monitoring that very, very closely,” Newsom said.

Alison Bateman-House, an assistant professor of medical ethics at NYU, said not everyone plying their connections for a shot is doing it out of purely selfish motivation. Some people “are not a top priority for vaccination, but have what they consider to be a pressing need,” she said, including the families of immuno-compromised relatives who may otherwise wait months to be immunized.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/wealthy-patients-scramble-covid-19-vaccine 9/17 12/18/2020 The wealthy scramble to get the COVID-19 vaccine - Los Angeles Times “Every system has a weak link somewhere, and I’m sure someone is going to find it and someone’s going to exploit it,” Bateman-House said. “The question is: Where’s that weak link going to be, and how quickly will it be identified and stopped?”

Taryn Vian, a health sector anti-corruption expert who teaches at the University of San Francisco, said powerful people could gain early access to the vaccine not by using bribery or coercion, but through more subtle means, like making requests to similarly powerful friends.

SCIENCE COVID-19 vaccine side effects: What you need to know Dec. 16, 2020

A friend of the leader of a pharmaceutical company, medical distributor, hospital or nursing home could ask if there are any extra doses available, and the leader could ask their assistant to see if they could help. The assistant might then interpret the request as a demand to misappropriate a dose, Vian explained.

“V.I.P. treatment is very common” in the healthcare industry, Vian said.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/wealthy-patients-scramble-covid-19-vaccine 10/17 12/18/2020 The wealthy scramble to get the COVID-19 vaccine - Los Angeles Times That’s already happening in California, doctors say, particularly in the entertainment world. Celebrities and executives aren’t badgering their doctors themselves but are instructing their assistants to find out how they can get better treatment.

“Their people are calling me literally every day,” said one doctor who requested anonymity to speak frankly about their clients, many of whom work in Hollywood. “They don’t want to wait. They want to know how they can get it more quickly.”

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Laura J. Nelson https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-18/wealthy-patients-scramble-covid-19-vaccine 11/17 Hot spot: California hospitals buckle as virus cases surge

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ADVERTISEMENT Election 20 Politics Sports Entertainme Lifestyle Oddities Photograph Travel Technology Click to copy AP Fact Ch Business U.S. News Health Science Click to copy Internationa Religion RELATED TOPICS Podcasts U.S. News Press Relea AP Top News Fresno Health Coronavirus pandemic California

Hot spot: California hospitals buckle as virus cases surge By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and JOHN ANTCZAK 11 minutes ago

https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-california-coronavirus-pandemic-56d285bac1b34bbfad417f0449de4f68[12/17/2020 1:52:45 PM] Hot spot: California hospitals buckle as virus cases surge

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hospitals across California have all but run out of intensive care beds for COVID-19 patients, ambulances are backing up outside emergency rooms, and tents for triaging the sick are going up as the nation’s most populous state emerges as the latest epicenter of the U.S. outbreak.

On Thursday, California reported a staggering 52,000 new cases in a single day — equal to what the entire U.S. was averaging in mid-October — and a one- https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-california-coronavirus-pandemic-56d285bac1b34bbfad417f0449de4f68[12/17/2020 1:52:45 PM] Hot spot: California hospitals buckle as virus cases surge day record of 379 deaths. More than 16,000 people are in the hospital with the coronavirus across the state, more than triple the number a month ago.

“I’ve seen more deaths in the last nine months in my ICU than I have in my entire 20-year career,” said Amy Arlund, a nurse at Kaiser Permanente Fresno Medical Center.

While the surging virus has pushed hospitals elsewhere around the country to the breaking point in recent weeks, the crisis is deepening with alarming speed in California, even as the nationwide rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations this week and the impending release of a second vaccine have boosted hopes of eventually defeating the scourge.

Intensive care unit capacity is at less than 1% in many California counties, and morgue space is also running out, in what is increasingly resembling the disaster last spring in New York City.

Patients are being cared for at several overflow locations, including a former NBA arena in Sacramento, a former prison and a college gymnasium. Standby sites include a vacant Sears building in Riverside County.

At St. Mary Medical Center in Southern California’s Apple Valley, patients are triaged outside in tents, and the hospital put up temporary walls in its lobby to make more room to treat those with COVID-19. Patients are also being treated in the halls on gurneys or chairs, sometimes for days, because there is nowhere else to put them, said Randall Castillo, the hospital’s chief executive.

Dr. Nasim Afsar, chief operating officer at UCI Health in Orange County, described an unrelenting churn of patients, many of them left to wait in the ER until a bed elsewhere in the hospital opens up.

“Every day we work through and we discharge the appropriate number of people, and by the next day all of those beds are again filled up,” she said.

Dr. Denise Whitfield, an emergency room physician at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, said ambulance crews are left waiting around for patients to be seen.

“Over the last nine months that we’ve been dealing with this COVID pandemic, I can say that it’s been the worst that I’ve seen things in terms of looking at our capacity to care for our patients,” she said.

The virus has killed more than 300,000 Americans, and the nation is averaging over 2,500 deaths and more than 215,000 new cases per day. Nationwide the

https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-california-coronavirus-pandemic-56d285bac1b34bbfad417f0449de4f68[12/17/2020 1:52:45 PM] Hot spot: California hospitals buckle as virus cases surge number of patients in the hospital with COVID-19 has climbed to an all-time high of more than 113,000.

Around the country, other hospitals are likewise parking patients in ERs because they have run out of ICU beds, and also moving adults into pediatric hospitals and bringing in staff from out of state to treat the sick in makeshift wards.

Doctors are being forced to make tough decisions. Some hospitals are sending lower-risk COVID-19 patients home with oxygen and monitors to free up beds for the seriously ill.

Some states are preparing for the possibility of rationing care if hospitals are further swamped. If a hospital doesn’t have enough ventilators, for example, doctors would have to make the agonizing decision of which patients should get them.

Idaho’s top public health leaders last week cleared the way for the state to resort to rationing — or impose what are called crisis standards of care — if necessary. Hospitals would have to reserve scarce, potentially lifesaving resources for those patients most likely to survive.

In Texas, many intensive care units are either full or approaching capacity. On Wednesday, authorities reported having just over 700 ICU beds open across the entire state.

In St. Louis, where intensive care units are about 90 percent full, hospitals have had to double up patients in ICU rooms and pull nurses out of the operating room so they could help those who are seriously ill, said Dr. Alex Garza, head of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force.

Garza said overworked health care workers can only keep this up for so long: “You are just going to burn them out or you’re going to make them sick or something is going to happen.”

California’s hospitalizations are now are double the summertime peak. The state has brought in more than 500 extra staff and deployed them around the state, though most don’t have the skills to help in ICUs. The state is seeking a total of 3,000 contracted medical staff members.

Fresno County’s hospital system is under so much strain that officials hired an outside team of 31 doctors, nurses and support staff to help treat patients in a makeshift ward.

In the farm-heavy Central Valley, where hospital space is dwindling fast, health officials say the heavily Latino and migrant farmworker region is burdened by a lack of access to transportation and health care; higher rates of disease, mistrust of medicine; crowded households; and jobs that do not allow people to work from home.

“They’re front-line workers, they work in our grocery stores, they work in sanitation. They cannot stay at home. They don’t have the luxury of work at home,” Dr. Piero Garzaro, an infectious-disease specialist at Kaiser Permanente Central Valley. “How can you isolate when you live in a 1,000-square-foot apartment when there are five people there, including Grandpa and Grandma?”

___

Richer reported from Boston. Associated Press reporters Amy Taxin in Orange County, Haven Daley and Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco and Paul Weber in Austin, Texas contributed to this report.

https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-california-coronavirus-pandemic-56d285bac1b34bbfad417f0449de4f68[12/17/2020 1:52:45 PM] 12/18/2020 Councilwoman blasts San Bernardino mayor for ‘marginalizing’ female colleagues – San Bernardino Sun

LOCAL NEWS •• News Councilwoman blasts San Bernardino mayor for ‘marginalizing’ female colleagues Kimberly Calvin said she was "disheartened" no women were recommended for board appointments

By BRIAN WHITEHEAD || [email protected] || TheThe SunSun PUBLISHED: December 17, 2020 at 4:11 p.m. || UPDATED:UPDATED: December 17, 2020 at 9:49 p.m.

On her first night in office, San Bernardino City Councilwoman Kimberly Calvin said she found Mayor John Valdiviaʼs recommendations for council representation on various regional boards “very sexist, racist (and) marginalizing.”

San Bernardino City Councilwoman Kimberly Calvin (Courtesy photo)

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/12/17/councilwoman-blasts-san-bernardino-mayor-for-marginalizing-female-colleagues/?utm_content=tw-sbsu… 1/4 12/18/2020 Councilwoman blasts San Bernardino mayor for ‘marginalizing’ female colleagues – San Bernardino Sun Shortly after a new City Council was seated Wednesday,Wednesday, Dec.Dec. 16,16, Valdivia,Valdivia, whowho under the city charter has the power to appoint elected officials to regional boards, put forward a list of appointments that did not include Calvin nor Councilwoman Sandra Ibarra.

Councilman Theodore Sanchez subsequently proposed new appointments, nominating Calvin to the San Bernardino County Homeless Partnership, or the Interagency Council on Homelessness, as a voting member and Ibarra to the Omnitrans Board of Directors.

Sanchez said his list reflected “the various talents and life experiences of the whole council.”

“Every council member will have the opportunity to be on a regional board with the list I presented tonight,” he added.

Before voting on Sanchezʼs recommendations, Calvin said she was “disheartened to take the dais tonight with (Valdiviaʼs) appointment list.”

“This list I find to be very sexist, racist, marginalizing and (it) definitely does not represent equity,” she said. “In this day and time, when our newly-elected Vice President Kamala Harris has been elected the first female vice president of this country and this nation, I find it to be very disheartening that Mayor Valdivia would choose to not appoint a female to any of these positions.

“Your ability to show women are not valued is not going to be accepted on this council any longer.”

Valdivia, whose alleged treatmenttreatment ofof womenwomen at City Hall hashas beenbeen challenged legallylegally byby formerformer employees,employees, denieddenied havinghaving suchsuch intentions.intentions.

“That thought never crossed my mind,” he responded. “I completely, certainly donʼt adhere to any of that.”

After Councilman Juan Figueroa attempted to explain the logic behind some of Valdiviaʼs nominations, Calvin continued her critique.

“We need to spread the wealth,” she said. “Equity is involved here. With these recommendations, it is clearly sending a message that the mayor does not feel thethe womenwomen onon thisthis councilcouncil areare valuablevaluable enough,enough, comparablecomparable enough,enough, capablecapable enough to serve on any of these commissions. …

“I would beg to ask all of my male colleagues on this council,” Calvin added, “do you not agree this is very problematic for every woman in this city? The city of San Bernardino deserves more than this.”

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/12/17/councilwoman-blasts-san-bernardino-mayor-for-marginalizing-female-colleagues/?utm_content=tw-sbsu… 2/4 12/18/2020 Councilwoman blasts San Bernardino mayor for ‘marginalizing’ female colleagues – San Bernardino Sun In addition to placing Calvin and Ibarra on their respective boards, most council members voted to sit Figueroa on the San Bernardino International Airport Authority board, Sanchez and newly elected Councilman Ben Reynoso on the Inland Valley Development Agency and newly elected Councilman Damon Alexander on the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority as an alternate.

Figueroa was the lone vote against the appointments.

Later in the evening, Ibarra was named mayor pro tem.

Note: This article has been updated to reflect the correct members appointed toto eacheach board.board.

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Brian Whitehead | Reporter https://www.sbsun.com/2020/12/17/councilwoman-blasts-san-bernardino-mayor-for-marginalizing-female-colleagues/?utm_content=tw-sbsu… 3/4 12/18/2020 New San Bernardino council eyes bright future amid tumultuous times – San Bernardino Sun

LOCAL NEWS •• News New San Bernardino council eyes bright future amid tumultuous times “I’m ready to begin this journey with you,” one councilman said

New San Bernardino City Council members Ben Reynoso, left, and Damon Alexander share a laugh at San Bernardino City Hall where both were sworn in to begin four-year terms of office on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. Newly elected Councilman Kimberly Calvin and incumbent Councilman Juan Figueroa were also sworn in following the Nov. 3 election. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press- Enterprise/SCNG)

By BRIAN WHITEHEAD || [email protected] || TheThe SunSun PUBLISHED: December 17, 2020 at 4:15 p.m. || UPDATED:UPDATED: December 18, 2020 at 8:22 a.m.

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/12/17/new-san-bernardino-council-eyes-bright-future-amid-tumultuous-times/?utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_ca… 1/6 12/18/2020 New San Bernardino council eyes bright future amid tumultuous times – San Bernardino Sun Ben Reynoso traded his Cajon High School varsity jacket for a more formal blazer Wednesday, Dec. 16, as he became one of the youngest City Council members in San Bernardino history.

Kimberly Calvin, meanwhile, began her four years in office three days after turningturning 57.57.

Inside what used to be the makeshift council chambers in the heart of town, Damon Alexander quoted an African proverb after he was sworn in to take his seat on the dais.

“If you want to go someplace fast, go alone,” he said. “But if you want to go someplace far, go together.”

“So let us go together,” Alexander told San Bernardino, “and letʼs turn this around.”

Six weeks after Election Day, newly elected council members Alexander, Calvin and Reynoso and incumbent Juan Figueroa were sworn in Wednesday to begin theirtheir respectiverespective four-yearfour-year terms.terms.

Figueroa, reelected in March to the 3rd Ward post, called serving his constituents “a genuine honor.”

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/12/17/new-san-bernardino-council-eyes-bright-future-amid-tumultuous-times/?utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_ca… 2/6 12/18/2020 New San Bernardino council eyes bright future amid tumultuous times – San Bernardino Sun

San Bernardino City Councilman Juan Figueroa (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

“There are many great and positive things happening in this city,” he added, “but thereʼs still a lot of work to get done.”

The seating of Reynoso, Calvin and Alexander marked the first time in San Bernardino history threethree BlackBlack leadersleaders havehave servedserved onon thethe CityCity CouncilCouncil concurrently.

In their respective speeches Wednesday, the three freshman policymakers vowed to represent all residents and asked constituents to hold them accountable, demand transparency and continue sharing their concerns when theythey seesee themthem aroundaround town.town.

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/12/17/new-san-bernardino-council-eyes-bright-future-amid-tumultuous-times/?utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_ca… 3/6 12/18/2020 New San Bernardino council eyes bright future amid tumultuous times – San Bernardino Sun Above all, they urged San Bernardino to come together in these tumultuous timestimes toto movemove thethe citycity forward.forward.

“I commit to you to do my due diligence in creating policies in San Bernardino thatthat willwill benefitbenefit allall communitycommunity members,”members,” Calvin,Calvin, electedelected inin MarchMarch toto represent the 6th Ward, said. “For too long, we the residents of San Bernardino have taken a back seat to determining what is in our cityʼs best interest. I intend toto createcreate aa spacespace onon thethe daisdais forfor allall communitycommunity members,members, forfor allall whowho needneed toto be addressed and attended to.

“This will not always be easy,” she added, “but journeys to positive changes never are.”

Reynoso, who defeated incumbentincumbent 5th5th WardWard CouncilmanCouncilman HenryHenry NickelNickel inin lastlast monthʼs general election and, despite Nickelʼs protest,, waswas foundfound toto bebe eligibleeligible forfor thethe position,position, shedshed tearstears earlyearly inin hishis speechspeech asas hehe spokespoke toto thethe energyenergy andand hope he felt while campaigning as a first-time candidate.

The 28-year-old many this year saw around the 5th Ward in his Cajon varsity jacketjacket andand whitewhite NikeNike shoesshoes dedicateddedicated hishis winwin toto hishis grandmothergrandmother andand parents.parents. They believed in him, he said, and gave him an “undying thirst for knowledge and the dedication to do it for the people who need it, the people who are underserved, misrepresented and totally left behind.

“This is the future of San Bernardino and the region beyond,” he added. “We shook up a political machine, and theyʼll try to come for us as we try real things thatthat reallyreally representrepresent people,people, butbut aa lotlot ofof youyou knowknow BenBen ReynosoReynoso isis notnot afraidafraid ofof anything.

“The only thing heʼs afraid of is disappointing his constituents and those who put their faith in him.”

Alexander, the first Black man to represent the 7th Ward, defeated incumbent Councilman Jim Mulvihill last month, and on Wednesday said he owed his victory to those close to and around him.

“I find myself here thinking and wanting the same thing my other newly- elected and old council members want,” he said. “They want a better San Bernardino, so weʼre going to have to do better, act better, perform better, to give you what you want, residents of San Bernardino.”

The new council has plenty to address in the months ahead, with homicides onon thethe rise,rise, quality of life issuesissues abound,abound, aa generalgeneral planplan inin need of updating andand large-scalelarge-scale development onon thethe horizon.horizon.

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/12/17/new-san-bernardino-council-eyes-bright-future-amid-tumultuous-times/?utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_ca… 4/6 12/18/2020 New San Bernardino council eyes bright future amid tumultuous times – San Bernardino Sun “Iʼm ready to begin this journey with you,” Reynoso said, “and I fully intend to have every single one of you with me.”

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Brian Whitehead | Reporter Brian Whitehead is a reporter for The San Bernardino Sun, covering Colton, Fontana, Grand Terrace, Rialto and San Bernardino. He previously covered prep sports and the cities of Buena Park, Fullerton and La Palma for The Orange County Register. A Grand Terrace native and Riverside Notre Dame alumnus, he earned his journalism degree from Cal State Fullerton in 2010. Since joining The Sun in late 2017, he has reported on development, education, homelessness, marijuana, political strife and the myriad issues facingfacing SanSan BernardinoBernardino post-bankruptcy.post-bankruptcy.

[email protected]

 Follow Brian Whitehead @bwhitehead3 https://www.sbsun.com/2020/12/17/new-san-bernardino-council-eyes-bright-future-amid-tumultuous-times/?utm_content=tw-sbsun&utm_ca… 5/6 12/18/2020 26-year-old sworn in to Chino City Council after unseating 69-year-old – Press Enterprise ___

LOCAL NEWS •• News 26-year-old sworn in to Chino City Council after unseating 69- year-old

Chino’s newly constituted City Council poses for a portrait before the start of Tuesday’s meeting. Christopher Flores, left, shares a smile with Mayor Eunice Ulloa as Karen Comstock and Marc Lucio look on. (Photo by David Allen, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

By DAVID ALLEN || [email protected] || InlandInland ValleyValley DailyDaily BulletinBulletin PUBLISHED: December 17, 2020 at 4:41 p.m. || UPDATED:UPDATED: December 17, 2020 at 4:42 p.m.

https://www.pe.com/2020/12/17/26-year-old-sworn-in-to-chino-city-council-after-unseating-69-year-old/?utm_content=tw-pressenterprise&ut… 1/6 12/18/2020 26-year-old sworn in to Chino City Council after unseating 69-year-old – Press Enterprise In the Before Times, I would go to city council meetings with some regularity. January and February saw me attend six meetings total in La Verne, Pomona, Upland and Fontana. La Verne let me into its April 6 meeting as the only representative of the public toto watchwatch TimTim HepburnHepburn bebe swornsworn inin asas mayormayor..

During coronavirus Iʼve moved on to other pursuits. Remote meetings conducted via Zoom donʼt offer the sense of live theater Iʼve always cherished.

On Tuesday, though, I was in Chino — my first in-person council meeting in eight months — to watch two newly elected members be sworn in.

Karen Comstock,, thethe retiredretired policepolice chief,chief, isis oneone newnew membermember —— moremore onon herher inin aa bit. The other is Christopher Flores, who is a mere 26, and by far the youngest council member Iʼve ever dealt with. Even in my mid-50s, the majority are older thanthan me.me.

On a Chino council that until two years ago was made up exclusively of senior citizens, a 26-year-old is a jolt of youthful vigor. Flores could be the electoral equivalent of a monkey gland shot.

“He seems very eager,” said Linda Takeuchi, a retired teacher who attends every council meeting. “Iʼm excited to see young people get involved.”

Flores unseated Paul Rodriguez,, whowho hadhad drawndrawn wrathwrath forfor aa campaigncampaign flyerflyer describing his rural district as resembling “a third world.” Mayor Eunice Ulloa blasted Rodriguez on Facebook and Flores won handily. Ulloa gave him the credit.

“He walked every house in that district. He did an old-fashioned campaign and it worked,” Ulloa told me last month by phone. She was washing dishes at the time. I lovelove smallsmall towns.towns.

In the council chamber before Tuesdayʼs meeting began, I asked Flores how heʼd won.

Social media and door-knocking as well as outreach, he said. He sought out older citizens for their advice and played up his skateboarding to connect to youths.

“Iʼm a skateboarder, but more than a skateboarder, Iʼm a man of the people,” Flores said, smiling. If he says so.

He grew up in Boyle Heights and lived across the street from Jose Huizar, a Los Angeles councilman, an early inspiration, then moved to Chino with his family six years ago. He has a real-estate license and studied for a law degree at University of La Verne.

https://www.pe.com/2020/12/17/26-year-old-sworn-in-to-chino-city-council-after-unseating-69-year-old/?utm_content=tw-pressenterprise&ut… 2/6 12/18/2020 26-year-old sworn in to Chino City Council after unseating 69-year-old – Press Enterprise When I was 26, I secretly thought I knew everything. Flores insists he doesnʼt, even though heʼd originally thought heʼd start his political career by running for mayor, and told me heʼll “be running again in four years” — for a job he hadnʼt even started yet.

“I come into this with more questions than answers,” he insisted.

He proceeded to try to prove it by posing a series of questions to me. He wondered why people said he should be wary of the local news media — I assured him that he could trust me implicitly — and inquired about my career. “Where do you see yourself in five years?” he asked.

“Is this a job interview?” I replied worriedly.

Moving on to Comstock, she retired from a career with the Chino Police Department in 2019,, includingincluding fivefive yearsyears asas thethe cityʼscityʼs firstfirst femalefemale chief.chief. SheShe movedmoved toto ChinoChino fromfrom LongLong BeachBeach inin FebruaryFebruary afterafter learninglearning thatthat TomTom HaugheyHaughey wouldwould not seek re-election in his district.

“I thought, hereʼs an opportunity for me to come back to Chino in a leadership role,” Comstock, 51, said.

“Twenty years, 400 council meetings, thatʼs enough,” Haughey told me. Of Comstock, he said, “Sheʼs going to be phenomenal. She knows the city better than anybody.”

I asked about the 26-year-old.

“Itʼll be a fresh, younger perspective. Obviously heʼs going to lower the average age, right?” joked Haughey, 70. Ulloa is 73, Mark Hargrove is 56 and Marc Lucio is 50. The departing Rodriguez is 69.

Starting in 2016, after 15 years with no change on the dais except more gray hairs, fourfour membersmembers havehave retired.retired. Ulloa,Ulloa, whoʼswhoʼs servedserved sincesince 1984,1984, isis nownow thethe onlyonly council member with more than two yearsʼ tenure.

As for the meeting itself, council members had buffer seats between them on the dais and did not wear masks. A table was shared by the city attorney, masked, and thethe citycity manager,manager, unmasked.unmasked. Awkward.Awkward.

In the audience, chairs were spaced apart, although families sat together, and nearly everyone wore a mask. Two school board members were spotted: James Na, masked, and Andrew Cruz, unmasked. Cruz has placed advertisements in the Chino Champion against masks and vaccines. I kept my distance.

https://www.pe.com/2020/12/17/26-year-old-sworn-in-to-chino-city-council-after-unseating-69-year-old/?utm_content=tw-pressenterprise&ut… 3/6 12/18/2020 26-year-old sworn in to Chino City Council after unseating 69-year-old – Press Enterprise

The audience at Tuesday’s Chino City Council meeting sits inside with social distancing or, with the room’s sliding glass doors open, watches from outside. (Photo by David Allen, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

The sliding glass doors in the back were all open and at least half of the audience of 80 was outside, standing or sitting.

Few cities are conducting in-person meetings, but Chino has been doing them for months. Several restaurants and bars are apparently serving indoors, like speak- easies. “In Chino, weʼre not going to let COVID stop us,” Ulloa declared early in the meeting, shortly before an unmasked pastor from Calvary Chapel gave the invocation.invocation.

I kept my mask on, sat alone and hoped for the best. If I get the ʻrona in the line of duty, maybe Chinoans will send me get-well cards.

During public comments, Zeb Welborn, president of the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce, phoned in. Audio trouble meant that we could only hear half of what he said.

Midway through I began taking notes.

“… Make our business stronger overall … going forward … impact … for the past year,” Welborn said. “… started in January … obviously … they donʼt have … I just kind of wanted to bring that to your attention.”

All Ulloa could say was: “Thank you for your sentiment.”

https://www.pe.com/2020/12/17/26-year-old-sworn-in-to-chino-city-council-after-unseating-69-year-old/?utm_content=tw-pressenterprise&ut… 4/6 12/18/2020 26-year-old sworn in to Chino City Council after unseating 69-year-old – Press Enterprise Hargrove, whoʼs ailing, participated from home by phone. At least all he had to say was “yes” when the council voted. Rodriguez skipped his last meeting.

Haughey said his farewells, and Ulloa, Comstock and Flores were sworn in by District Attorney Jason Anderson. Floresʼ parents, Angel and Veronica, were among the family members present.

“I think heʼll be a little inexperienced,” Angel told me of his son, “but heʼll catch on. He always gives 110%.”

Personally, it was great to be back in a council chamber, and especially at one of Chinoʼs amiable meetings. And after a tough year, it was comforting to see so many familiar faces.

At least, the top half of so many familiar faces.

David Allen (who?) writes Friday, Sunday and Wednesday. Email [email protected], phone 909-483-9339, visit insidesocalinsidesocal..com//davidallen,, likelike davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter.

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NEWSCRIME AND PUBLIC SAFETY •• News Apple Valley pedestrian dies after being struck by 2 vehicles on highway

By QUINN WILSON || [email protected] || PUBLISHED: December 17, 2020 at 6:14 p.m. || UPDATED:UPDATED: December 17, 2020 at 6:17 p.m.

A 55-year-old Apple Valley pedestrian died after he was fatally struck by two vehicles after standing in the roadway, the San Bernardino County Sheriffʼs Department said.

The collision happened Tuesday, Dec. 15, at about 12:13 a.m. The incident involvedinvolved aa pedestrianpedestrian andand twotwo vehiclesvehicles inin thethe areaarea ofof StateState HighwayHighway 1818 easteast ofof Rancherias Road in Apple Valley.

A preliminary investigation determined the pedestrian was standing in the eastbound lanes of State Highway 18 east of Rancherias Road. A white semi- trucktruck withwith attachedattached trailerstrailers waswas travelingtraveling easteast onon HighwayHighway 18.18. TheThe trucktruck isis believed to have partially struck the pedestrian, knocking him to the ground, thethe SheriffʼsSheriffʼs DepartmentDepartment saidsaid inin aa newsnews release.release.

A Ford Mustang was traveling behind the semi-truck and also struck the pedestrian. A San Bernardino County Fire Department fire truck was driving in thethe areaarea andand immediatelyimmediately stoppedstopped toto renderrender aidaid toto thethe pedestrian.pedestrian.

The pedestrian succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. His name has not been released.

All people involved remained at the scene and contacted law enforcement.

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/12/17/apple-valley-pedestrian-dies-after-being-struck-by-2-vehicles-on-highway/?utm_source=twitter.com&utm… 1/3 12/18/2020 Apple Valley pedestrian dies after being struck by 2 vehicles on highway – San Bernardino Sun Anyone who may have witnessed the collision is urged to contact Deputy C. Sahagun at 760-240-7400. Those wishing to remain anonymous may call WeTip at 800-78-CRIME or www.wetip.com.

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FORMER MARINE SENTENCED TO 11 YEARS IN DEATH OF INFANT

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Zachary Brendemuhl, 34, a former Marine at the Twentynine Palms Combat Center, was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in state prison for voluntary manslaughter in the death of his infant son in Twentynine Palms 7 ½ years ago. Managing editor Tami Roleff was in the courtroom, and explains why the prosecution agreed to such a low sentence for the crime…

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Zachary Brendemuhl, anked by Assistant District Attorney David Foy, and defense attorny Daniel Greene, was sentenced to 11 years in state prison December 16, 2020. Brendemuhl has spent more than 7 1/2 years in county jail, so will have to serve less than two years in state prison, due to a credit of time shared. Tami Roleff photo

Zachary Brendemuhl says he lied to investigators in April 2013 when he told them that the baby Privacy - Terms had stopped breathing while he was giving him a bottle. What really happened, he later claimed, is

z1077fm.com/former-marine-sentenced-to-11-years-in-death-of-infant/ 3/7 12/18/2020 FORMER MARINE SENTENCED TO 11 YEARS IN DEATH OF INFANT | Z107.7 FM

that he was tossing the baby in the air and accidentally dropped him.

Medical experts—who took years to examine the medical reports, and only learned years after that that the baby may have been dropped—then changed their opinion concerning the cause and manner of death; there were too many indications, they said, that this was accidental trauma and not abuse.

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One expert, identied as Dr. Sheridan, said if the claim of dropping a baby had been known at the time, he would not have given the opinion of abuse. None of the detectives or medical records indicated how far the baby may have been dropped. If the distance was one to two feet, the baby’s injuries would not have been caused by the drop. But if the baby had been dropped from a height of four feet or more, his injuries could denitely have been caused by the drop. In addition, the baby was a very large baby at birth, and the defense claimed the baby was born with a brain hematoma; the hematoma could have contributed to many of the infant’s bruises, injuries, and symptoms seen in the hospital.

Prosecutor David Foy told Judge Rodney Cortez that the change in opinion meant that there was maybe a 25 percent chance of a conviction during a trial. Rather than take the risk that Brendemuhl would go free, the prosecution agreed to a plea bargain with terms that were very generous to Brendemuhl.

With more than 7 ½ years spent in San Bernardino County jails (which bailiffs said set a record for longest time in a county jail), Zachary Brendemuhl will spend just under two years in state prison to serve out the remaining time of his sentence.

The infant’s mother, Sarah Wyss, submitted an impact statement, which was read in court by Foy. She objected to the lenient sentence, but agreed to it only because she wanted to close the case and have her son get justice. She said Brendemuhl should spend his life behind bars for the death of their son. She maintained that Brendemuhl had never apologized to her for the baby’s death