A COVID-19 Resurgence In Local Nursing Homes

Good Morning, I’m Annica Colbert….it’s Monday August 9TH >>>> Nursing homes seeing more Covid-19 cases More on that next, but first... let’s do the headlines…. ###### The northern California Dixie Fire is now the third-largest wildfire in state history. It’s burning across Plumas and Butte counties...and also forcing evacuations in Lassen County. According to the Cal Fire map, the fire has burned more than 480-thousand acres and is 21% contained. Craig Clements leads the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center at San Jose State University. He says Californians should expect more of the same in the coming months. “Once we get into our off-shore wind season, which is our fall, if we have ignitions during those wind events, it can be very challenging for firefighting agencies to manage those fires. Already these fires are becoming a challenge.” Clements says human-caused climate change and overgrown forests are to blame for this year’s dangerous fire conditions. ######## The California Republican Party will not give out an endorsement in the recall campaign, in a move meant to signify party unity against Governor Gavin Newsom. Republican delegates voted Saturday to move forward without endorsing a particular candidate in a crowded field of GOP hopefuls. The move was proposed by national committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon-- “So that we can issue a ‘no endorsement’ in this race and keep our focus on recalling the worst governor in the United States, Gavin Newsom.” Recent polls have shown the governor could be in a tight spot, with his base of Democratic voters less engaged and less likely to turn out for the recall, which takes place on September 14. ######## San Diego county officials have closed the shoreline at the Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge and Border Field State Park due to contamination found in water samples exceeding state health standards. The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality says the closure stretches from the border to the south end of Sea Coast drive. Southern San Diego county beaches have been closed off and on all summer due to pollution. ######### From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need. California became the first state in the nation to require workers in health care settings be fully vaccinated. The new rule comes as the Covid-19 delta variant is causing cases to spike among residents and caregivers at California nursing homes. KPBS’s Amita Sharma has more. New cases among California nursing home residents jumped 53 percent Wednesday, bringing the current total to 185. Outbreaks amid nursing home care staff also grew by 47 percent. Karl Steinberg is president of The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. [00:01:05.580] Well, we're definitely well into yet another surge of this virus. We keep thinking we're getting to the end of the line and then throws us another curve ball. That's clearly what's going on now. San Diego County hasn’t yet seen a big jump in nursing home cases . Steinberg says it could because the county has relatively high vaccination rates in nursing homes. Locally, approximately 75 percent of caregivers and 90 percent of residents have been vaccinated. Three San Diego nursing homes have had small outbreaks among residents. But around 30 local homes have reported new cases of fewer than 11 among caregivers. Steinberg fears those numbers will continue to rise. [00:04:33.730] And I think ultimately we will see many facilities have to go back to but significant restrictions on visiting and that sort of thing. I hate to say it. Everybody was so happy that things were going in the other direction. This week’s order by state health officials requires all nursing home staff to be fully vaccinated by September 30. Amita Sharma, KPBS News. That reporting from KPBS Amita Sharma, The order last week by state health officials requires all nursing home staff to be fully vaccinated by September 30th. ########## Last year - in the midst of supply chain impacts from the pandemic, some San Diego bike shops were struggling to keep bikes stocked. . Today, the problem is bike parts. KPBS’ John Carroll has more. at adams avenue bicycles in normal heights, owner chuck cofer has had all the business he can handle over the last 18-months. business spiked once the pandemic took hold… lots of people wanted bicycles and before long his inventory was down to just a few bikes. fast forward to today and he’s got enough bikes to sell - the problem now is getting parts. “if i was just to sell every part i could get my hands on for walk in sales, that leaves me with no parts to do service and service is a big part of our business.” cofer says the issue is the same whether its bikes or parts… disruptions in the global supply chain that have not eased since the pandemic began. jc, kpbs news. ############ We’ve reported for the last week or so that COVID-19-related hospitalizations are steadily rising, both in San Diego and across the nation.The bulk of infections reported by the county is among the unvaccinated, but the number of vaccinated people catching the virus is also rising. As ICU’s continue to fill up, health officials are urging increased preventative measures to limit the spread of the virus. Dr. Ghazala Sharieff is Chief Medical Officer for Scripps Health. She spoke with KPBS Midday Edition host Jade Hindmon about the situation in San DIego. Here’s that interview. That was Dr. Ghazala Sharief. Chief Medical Officer for Scripps Health ########## Coming up...Climate change and sport fishing in the north county. We’ll have more on that situation next, just after the break. An effort to improve California's air quality could have unintended consequences for sport fishing. Some boat owners say a new proposal to limit pollution from boat engines could cost them their businesses. KPBS north county reporter Tania Thorne has more. Captain joe cacciola (ca-ssi-ola) says his company is finally making a comeback after covid robbed him of a year of business. Capt joe.“ever since may it pretty much took off and i’d say because of the pent up demand, we’re really close to being back to normal.” Captain joe has owned sea star sportfishing in oceanside for the last 40 years. Capt joe.“we do sport fishing trips. we do sea life adventures, which is whales, dolphins, birds. We do floating science labs, we do that with elementary schools and high school students. And we also do the burials at sea.” But just as business is back up and running, he has a new worry - about some proposed regulations to improve air quality. The California air resources board says current commercial boat engines are old and put out polluting fumes. Karen ceasar is a spokesperson for carb. Karen caesar- carb“ca has the worst air quality in the nation and we have these federal standards that we have to meet, and it's often painful, but we have to make these regulations if we want clean air to breathe.” Carb wants boat owners to upgrade to newer, less polluting engines. But the engines they’re requiring don’t exist in the u.s. For sport fishing vessels. Capt joe.“no manufacturer in the united states makes them but yet they’re going to require us to put them in our boats. Well if they're not there how can you do that?” The engines are made in europe, but they’re so big they physically don’t fit on the fishing boats. Capt joe“some of these boats are not going to be able to accomodate the equipment because there's equipment you're gonna have to add on … which takes up space, they get very warm, they plug up at times and you lose your engine and it just stops. It's not like on land, you can't just pull over…” Carb acknowledges the problem. David quiros is a carb manager, and says if a boat can’t be upgraded: Quiros“it would need to be retired from service, potentially sold in an out of state market.” Capt joe. That’s not even possible. Nobody's going to do that, we can’t do that. that basically takes us out of business.” Carb suggests replacing old boats with new ones that meet the requirements. Capt joe.“to actually build a new boat to replace what i have, anywhere from 1.2 to 1.5 million dollars, and that's just one boat, so multiply that by how many boats. It's not going to happen, we can't do it. It's not possible. If the regulations are adopted later this year, boat owners will have 6 years to make the change. Carb suggests that during that time, sportfishing businesses raise their prices in order to start saving money for a boat loan. Frank ursutti (ur-setti) is the owner of h&m landing, the largest landing on the west coast. Ursutti“the customer base for these boats, for this type of activity, are the folks who can't afford to buy their own boat. They can't afford everything that goes along with owning your own boat, such as a sled, registration of that craft, maintenance of that watercraft, etc. What we're doing now is beginning the gentrification of recreational fishing.” He said these regulations would devastate this industry and all the businesses that support it. Ursutti“right here right outside my door right now there's over 2000 jobs that would immediately go away. Those are directly impacted crew members. We're not talking about their families and what that means to them. Immediately those jobs would evaporate.” Captain joe and urustti hope carb will consider an upgrade to the next cleanest engine that is easily available and physically feasible. Ursutti “everyone of these boats, everyone of these boat owners would be lined up standing by ready to up-tier to tier 3 so we can continue working.” Capt. Joe“we would hope that the conversation would include some kind of a compromise, because everybody, all of us owners, operators, were all for clean air, believe me.” Carb will be holding two more public comment meetings in November before the regulations are adopted. Tt kpbs news. That’s it for the podcast today. Be sure to catch KPBS Midday Edition At Noon on KPBS radio, or check out the Midday podcast. You can also watch KPBS Evening Edition at 5 O’clock on KPBS Television, and as always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Annica Colbert. Thanks for listening and have a great day.