Kaiser Permanente has been fined $43,000 for failing to report a deadly coronavirus outbreak that may have been caused by an inflatable holiday costume worn by an unknowingly infected staffer on Christmas Day. The number of cases linked to the outbreak at the Kaiser San Jose Emergency Department has reached...
California Budget Forecasts $15 Billion One-Time Windfall
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom's $227 billion budget plan released Friday would turn a $15 billion windfall into economic relief as the state faces a rapid surge in coronavirus cases and deaths. His budget proposal comes as the state faces “a challenge the likes of which we never expected," Newsom...
Biden to Speed Release of Coronavirus Vaccines
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden will release most available COVID-19 vaccine doses to speed delivery to more people, a reversal of the Trump administration's approach, his office said Friday. “The president-elect believes we must accelerate distribution of the vaccine while continuing to ensure the Americans who need it most get...
California’s New Goal: Vaccinate a Million People in 10 Days
Getting the coronavirus vaccines into the arms of as many Californians as possible has become a race against time as COVID-19 cases continue to spiral upward and a more infectious variant of the virus takes root. Many questions remain unanswered about how the next — and much larger — wave of...
‘Crisis of Epic Proportions’ as California Sees Two-Day Record for Virus Deaths
California health authorities reported Thursday a record two-day total of 1,042 coronavirus deaths as many hospitals strain under unprecedented caseloads. The state Department of Public Health’s website listed 583 new deaths, a day after 459 deaths. The previous two-day record total was 1,013 deaths at the end of December. California’s...
US Long-Term Mortgage Rates Hit New Lows; 30-Year at 2.65%
WASHINGTON — U.S. long-term mortgage rates declined this week to new record lows for the first week of 2021. The year opens against the continuing backdrop of damage from the coronavirus pandemic on the U.S. and global economies, which suppressed home loan rates through most of 2020. Mortgage buyer Freddie...
California Congresswoman Tests Positive for Coronavirus
LOS ANGELES — California Rep. Michelle Steel has tested positive for coronavirus, her office announced Wednesday. The newly elected Orange County, California, Republican said in a statement that she learned had been in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Steel, 65, said he had no symptoms but had...
California Suspends 1.4 Million Virus Unemployment Claims
California has frozen 1.4 million unemployment claims as it battles fraud in its massive coronavirus unemployment relief program, it was reported Wednesday. The state Employment Development Department said it had examined existing claims from people who said they lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic and found about 3.5 million...
Valley Patients Could be Diverted to Out of Area Hospitals Under New Health Order
California is so swamped by the coronavirus pandemic that the state has ordered hospitals with room to accept patients from others that have maxed out on intensive care beds. The public health order issued late Tuesday is the latest attempt by authorities to confront a surge in coronavirus infections and...
Out-of-State Inmates May Have Claimed $42M in California Job Benefits, Analysis Shows
More than $40 million in California funding intended to help people left jobless by the coronavirus pandemic probably went to inmates in out-of-state jails and prisons, it was reported Tuesday. The state has acknowledged that its Employment Development Department was bilked out of hundreds of millions of dollars in COVID-19...