WASHINGTON — For nearly a year it was the Trump show. Now President Joe Biden is calling up the nation’s top scientists and public health experts to regularly brief the American public about the pandemic that has claimed more than 425,000 U.S. lives. Beginning Wednesday, administration experts will host briefings three times...
Walters: California Employment Takes a Downturn
Another day and still another maneuver in California’s erratic management of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, officials lifted California’s most recent stay-at-home order, giving businesses — small businesses mostly — and their employees permission to take a couple of baby steps toward reopening profitable operations. It’s not a moment too...
‘Too Little, Too Late’: California Small Businesses Chase COVID-19 Relief
Since the coronavirus swept into Silicon Valley last spring, Denise Russell’s race to save her San Jose salon has stretched into a marathon. It started with a $103,020 Paycheck Protection Program loan. Then came a federal small business Economic Injury Disaster Loan for $159,000. Now, she’s applying for a $15,000...
Biden More Bullish on Vaccines, Open to 1.5M Daily Shot Goal
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday appeared to boost his goal for coronavirus vaccinations in his first 100 days in office, suggesting that the nation could soon be vaccinating 1.5 million Americans on average per day. Biden signaled his increasing bullishness on the pace of vaccinations after signing an...
US Virus Numbers Drop, but Race Against New Strains Heats Up
Coronavirus deaths and cases per day in the U.S. dropped markedly over the past couple of weeks but are still running at alarmingly high levels, and the effort to snuff out COVID-19 is becoming an ever more urgent race between the vaccine and the mutating virus. The government's top infectious-disease...
Opinion: Newsom, Legislature Must Urgently Prioritize Kids and Reopen Schools
We are in a crisis. Not just a health crisis, but a kid crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on nearly every aspect of our daily lives, the economy and our health system. But the most overlooked and forgotten are our kids, who have sadly been the collateral damage...
Going Underground: California Business Operates in Secret Amid Pandemic Restrictions
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down his Bay Area region massage business, John went 93 days without income. In March, John and his business partner, Dee, packed away their massage tables and locked up their office. (Both John and Dee are going by pseudonyms for fear of legal repercussions.) But...
Mexico President Tests Positive for COVID as Country Hits New Infection High
MEXICO CITY — Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador worked from isolation Monday, a day after announcing that he had tested positive for COVID-19, and was absent from his daily news conference for the first time in his two years in office. López Obrador's absence came as his country registered...
China Pushes Conspiracy Theories on COVID Origin, Vaccines
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Chinese state media have stoked concerns about Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, despite rigorous trials indicating it is safe. A government spokesperson has raised the unsubstantiated theory that the coronavirus could have emerged from a U.S. military lab, giving it more credence in China. As the ruling Communist Party...
California May Prioritize Age Above All for COVID-19 Vaccine
SAN FRANCISCO — Advocates for farmworkers, teachers, grocery store clerks and other essential workers are worried they will have to wait until this summer to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as California considers giving priority to older residents. State officials said the move makes sense given older people have a...