March 2021

New COVID Campaign to Provide Coordinated Statewide Public Health Response to Most Impacted Communities Led by Public Health Advocates, a new California COVID Justice: Recovery, Response & Repair campaign will strengthen California’s ability to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and build capacity in the state to address underlying systems contributing to longstanding health disparities. With guidance from a steering committee of community partners, targeted statewide and regional...

By Margarita Alegría, STAT, February 9, 2021 Gonzales is a small city in central California populated mostly by Latino immigrant families and farmworkers. Like other places, it has felt the weight of the coronavirus pandemic. When Covid-19 hit, the city’s youth council conducted an online mental health survey of middle and high schoolers. The students received an overwhelming response that revealed high levels of anxiety symptoms and stress among their peers. The findings were a wake-up call...

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as child abuse and neglect, can lead to negative psychological, social and physical outcomes later in life – and can even affect future generations. New and exacerbated stressors during the pandemic underscore concern for the risks and long-term health effects of ACEs, particularly for groups already disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Certain interventions can help mitigate negative outcomes from ACEs and prevent them from occurring in the...

By Laura Hagar Rush, Sonoma West Times & News, March 2, 2021 A recent transplant to Sebastopol, Elizabeth Smith has thrown herself into serving the Sebastopol community, especially its children, in so many ways it’s hard to count – all the while, trying to establish a career and raising two children together with her husband Teran, a Sonoma County native. An author, public speaker and advocate for suicide awareness and the prevention of child abuse and neglect, Smith is the founder of...

By Rachel Treisman, National Public Radio, March 4, 2021 A high-profile universal basic income experiment in Stockton, Calif., which gave randomly selected residents $500 per month for two years with no strings attached, measurably improved participants' job prospects, financial stability and overall well-being, according to a newly released study of the program's first year. The Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration, or SEED , was founded in February 2019 by then-Mayor Michael Tubbs...

By Pauletter Cha, Public Policy Institute of California, March 4, 2021 Teen mental health is a major public health concern that has become even more pressing during the COVID-19 crisis. Among the many links the pandemic has illuminated is the role of schools and mental health care for teens. After schools closed in March 2020, disagreements arose and continued between teachers’ unions and government leaders , while federal and state guidance around COVID-19 evolved. As a result, many middle...

By Jocelyn Guyer, Alice Lam, and Madeleine Toups, JD Supra, March 1, 2021 California’s long-standing efforts to promote child development and kindergarten readiness have brought greater focus to the vital role of child health in realizing the full strength of these critical state investments. As a large and diverse state, with 5 million children enrolled in Medi Cal – including 64 percent of all children under the age of 5 - policy and practice innovations originating in California that...

By Nicole Chavez and Stella Chan, CNN, February 25, 2021 Lawmakers in California this week allocated $1.4 million in state funds to help Asian Americans report hate incidents after a string of recent violent attacks in the state. "The rise in hate incidents against Asian Americans during the pandemic is alarming. But, we can't solve a problem without knowing how big it is," said Assemblymember Phil Ting of San Francisco and chair of the state's budget committee. The funds will support the...

By Laurence Du Sault, The Mercury News, February 22, 2021 Borrowing from a Santa Clara County program he proposed, state Sen. Dave Cortese has introduced legislation to provide $1,000 monthly cash payments for California’s foster care youth as they leave the child welfare system. “I can’t think of a more urgent time to roll out this kind of assistance,” Cortese said during an online press conference Monday. “Especially as they enter the adult world during an economic decline caused by...

Por Redacción Bogotá, 5 Febrero 2021 La profesional de la salud asegura que las vacunas aprobadas han demostrado en estudios clínicos su alta eficacia contra el COVID-19, ya que estimulan el sistema inmune para crear anticuerpos que combaten a este coronavirus. “Yo no me vacuno” es una de las frases que ha comenzado a ser usada en las redes sociales. Videos, e incluso grupos en Facebook, agrupan personas bajo esta premisa. Parte de los argumentos utilizados es que las vacunas contra el...

By Annie Sciacca, East Bay Times, March 3, 2021 When someone has a mental health crisis in Oakland, chances are good in the near future that police officers won’t be showing up to try to calm them down. The City Council this week unanimously signaled that it wants the fire department to handle mental health crises and other non-crime calls by sending out paramedics and counselors. Although residents of Oakland and other cities have long discussed the benefit of dispatching special teams of...

By Catherine Ho, San Francisco Chronicle, March 4, 2021 California plans to adopt a coronavirus vaccine system that will allocate 40% of vaccine supply to its lowest-income residents, state officials said Wednesday. The changes, which are expected to take effect in the next two weeks, will not affect who is currently eligible to get vaccinated, which is health care workers, people who are 65 and older, education and child care workers, food and agriculture workers, and emergency services...