COVID-19 AMA: Hospitals Concerned Of Staffing Issues, Vaccine Data For Children & More
In our continuing series looking at the latest medical research and news on COVID-19, Larry Mantle speaks with Peter Chin-Hong, M.D., infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at the UCSF Medical Center.
Topics today include:
- Elective surgery patients experiencing massive delays due to hospitals backlogged with Covid patients
- Studies conducted by CDC support evidence of mask requirements reducing outbreaks in schools
- Pfizer and BioNTech submit vaccine data for children ages 5 to 11 for FDA review
- Hospitals concerned about staffing issues as vaccine deadlines for healthcare workers draw near
- At least 50 cases of R.1 variant with “multiple spike protein mutations” were detected in California
- Thousands of New York healthcare workers are vaccinated ahead of their Monday deadline
Dangerous Air: As California Burns, America Breathes Toxic Smoke
The flames from wildfires aren’t the only threat facing people in the American west. Smoke from these fires is also choking vast swaths of the country, an analysis of federal satellite imagery by NPR’s California Newsroom and Stanford University’s Environmental Change and Human Outcomes Lab found. The report analyzed more than ten years of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and analyzed down to the ZIP code level. It shows the largest increase in San Jose, where the number of smoke days increased more than 400%; an average of 45 days a year between 2016 and 2020. In Los Angeles, the number of days with wildfire smoke increased 230% to 32 days a year.
Today on AirTalk, we speak with investigative data reporter with NPR’s California Newsroom Alison Saldanha, and Stanford University associate professor of earth system science Marshall Burke about the findings.
Read the full story here.
As CA Tenant Protections Come To An End October 1, We Answer Your Questions
During the pandemic, California tenants who couldn’t pay rent due to COVID-19 have been able to protect themselves from eviction.
State law gave renters a process for telling landlords they had been financially hurt by COVID-19. Millions who lost jobs could use that protection to avoid being kicked out of their homes.
Until now. That broad statewide protection (commonly called California’s “eviction moratorium”) is going away after Sept. 30. Evictions for non-payment of rent will resume.
However, many protections remain. Landlords seeking evictions in the months to come will need to take extra steps. Renters can still use state law to prevent an eviction, and local laws in certain cities — including the city of Los Angeles — offer even stronger protections (more on that below).
How to navigate post-eviction moratorium? We’re learning more with David Wagner, KPCC’s business and economy reporter, Elena Popp, Executive Director of the Eviction Defense Network and Russell Lowery, Executive Director for California Rental Housing Association (CalRHA).
With files from LAist. Read more here.
SoCal Gas To Pay Up To $1.8 Billion In Aliso Canyon Gas Leak Settlement
Nearly six years after a natural gas well broke open in the foothills above Porter Ranch, attorneys suing Southern California Gas Company have announced a settlement potentially amounting to $1.8 billion.
The gas well cracked open in late October 2015 and was not sealed until mid-February of the following year. During that time, some 8,000 households relocated out of the Porter Ranch and Chatsworth areas to escape the rotten-egg smell of the methane gas and toxic chemicals that left oily black spots on homes, cars, playgrounds and patio furniture. Today on AirTalk, Larry talks with Sharon McNary, infrastructure correspondent for KPCC and LAist about the settlement and what it means for residents.
Read Sharon’s full story here on LAist
How Did Our Country Become So Polarized? “Wildland” Tries to Answer the Question of Our Times
When Evan Osnos returned to the United States after more than a decade reporting abroad, he found a country deeply divided. How it became that way is the subject of his new book “Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury.” Osnos argues that in the period between September 11, 2001 and January 6, 2021 “Americans lost their vision for the common good, the capacity to see the union as larger than the sum of its parts.” He makes that case through stories from three places he’s lived and knows well: Chicago, Illinois; Clarksburg, West Virginia; and Greenwich, Connecticut. Today on AirTalk, New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos joins Larry to talk about what he found.