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"content": "\u003cp>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/09/01/1120560488/cdc-advisers-back-new-booster-shots-to-fight-omicron\">recommending updated COVID boosters\u003c/a>, for people ages 12 and older.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These newly authorized shots are reformulated versions of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines and they’re available at pharmacies, clinics and doctors’ offices around the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The boosters target both the original strain of the coronavirus and the two omicron subvariants which are causing most of the current infections. Vaccine makers have scrambled to rejigger the vaccines as they’ve become less effective against new variants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='small' citation='CDC Director Rochelle Walensky']‘If you are eligible, there is no bad time to get your COVID-19 booster. I strongly encourage you to receive it.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This virus has been mutating so quickly over the past two years,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.ohsu.edu/providers/judith-a-guzman-cottrill-do\">Judith Guzman-Cottrill\u003c/a>, an infectious disease specialist at Oregon Health & Science University. “I feel like we’ve been playing catch up and finally we have caught up,” Guzman-Cottrill says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pfizer’s updated booster is available for anyone 12 and older. The Moderna booster is available for anyone 18 and older.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you are eligible, there is no bad time to get your COVID-19 booster,”\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/09/02/1120692856/new-covid-boosters-cdc-walensky\"> CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told NPR.\u003c/a> “I strongly encourage you to receive it,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='news_11924327,news_11922999' label='More on the Omicron Booster']But after talking to several infectious disease experts, we found there’s a whole range of opinions on who needs to boost and when. So, if you are navigating this decision, here are some things to consider:\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who needs a booster as soon as possible?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“I would recommend this booster shot for those who are immunocompromised or those who are 60 years [old] and above,” says \u003ca href=\"https://medicine.ucsf.edu/people/monica-gandhi\">Monica Gandhi\u003c/a>, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco. Gandhi says people in these groups are at highest risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to CDC guidance, people are eligible if it’s been at least two months since they received their last COVID shot, either a booster or an initial vaccine, but some vaccine experts say it would be better to wait at least four months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I will get it,” says Physician \u003ca href=\"https://medicine.ucsf.edu/people/robert-wachter\">Bob Wachter\u003c/a>, who’s in his mid-60s and in good health. “I’m about eight months out from shot number four. And so my immunity has waned significantly,” Wachter says. He plans to get an updated booster as soon as it’s available as a hedge against serious infection, given COVID is still circulating widely with about \u003ca href=\"https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home\">400 deaths per day\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no question that getting a booster increases the likelihood that you’ll have a benign case,” if you do get infected, he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wachter also agrees with the CDC recommendation that younger adults get the booster. Boosting can protect against the risk of long COVID and helps protect the community at large by reducing transmission, if there’s another surge, he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are good reasons to get it, even for people that have a low chance of a super severe infection,” Wachter says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When does it make sense to wait?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’ve had a recent COVID infection, it makes sense to wait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guzman-Cottrill and her children had mild infections in August, so she says she’ll wait until November to get boosted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our natural antibody response will protect us against COVID for another few months. So I do think it makes sense to wait and get the updated booster about three months after our positive COVID test,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is in line with \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/downloads/slides-2022-09-01/09-COVID-Hall-508.pdf\">the recommendation from CDC vaccine advisers\u003c/a> — people who recently had COVID-19 may consider delaying a booster shot by three months. That’s what the country’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci says he plans to do. Fauci tested positive in mid-June and says he’ll wait three months before he gets his updated booster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guzman-Cottrill says both her teenagers will also get the new booster “to protect us from COVID this winter so we can avoid sick days from work and from school,” she says.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Can I time my shot for maximum protection at the holidays?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It won’t be a surprise if there’s another COVID surge this coming winter. Since the protection from boosters may only last several months, some people say they plan to wait to get the new booster in order to have maximum protection when the risk of infection is higher. “You can make a rational argument to wait until case rates are higher,” says Wachter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re trying to time it for the period of highest risk, he says, there are likely to be a ton more cases in December and January than there are in September and October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Wachter says, this strategy is a bit like trying to time the stock market. It’s hard to predict exactly when the surge will happen, so there’s a risk in waiting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You are basically accepting a period of vulnerability that you don’t need to have,” he says. “And as I weigh all that, my thinking is I’d rather not do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another argument against waiting is that the protection from a booster shot is not instantaneous. “It does take a few weeks for our immune systems to be primed,” says Dr.\u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.uchicagomedicine.org/find-a-physician/physician/aniruddha-hazra__;!!Iwwt!QCe1cWy_YhUDgnuDftP6iGGwaah9fb9DnvhKVF4Ri-DsrpJ9jWkoH2X0MhEcTJo3dvAgg1c89utMauhjaHdhltgO6rTqQQ%24\"> Aniruddha Hazra\u003c/a>, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Chicago. He says it could be risky to wait until a surge is already underway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hazra points out the vaccines can activate our immune systems in a few ways. Immune cells, known as B cells, help produce antibodies that fight off the virus in the short-term. Research shows COVID vaccines boost antibodies for several months, but then they begin to fade. After that, B cells and another type of immune cell, known as T cells, which can destroy infected cells, stick around to\u003ca href=\"https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/covid-19-immune-response-improves-months-after-vaccination#:~:text=Vaccines%20activate%20your%20body's%20disease,cells%2C%20which%20destroy%20infected%20cells.\"> build a deeper immunity\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says this deeper immunity was triggered and primed from the initial vaccines, so everyone who’s been vaccinated should have some protection against COVID But given the omicron subvariants circulating now are so different. “This [new] booster will definitely provide you with higher levels of antibodies, which are short term and short lived. It may also provide more deep-seated immunity,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Will the new booster shots prevent COVID infections completely?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>No. There’s lots of enthusiasm for the updated boosters, but they are not a magic bullet\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As SARS-CoV-2 has evolved, it’s become more transmissible, which is why delta and omicron led to such large surges, despite widespread vaccination in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The goal of this vaccine is to prevent severe illness,” says\u003ca href=\"https://www.chop.edu/doctors/offit-paul-a\"> Paul Offit, director \u003c/a>of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He argues that many people who’ve already received three doses of vaccine remain well protected, so he doesn’t see a clear benefit to giving the new boosters to everyone 12 and up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According \u003ca href=\"https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#covidnet-hospitalizations-vaccination\">to CDC data,\u003c/a> people who have had one or two boosters have a 0.024% chance of being hospitalized with COVID-19. For people under 50, it’s even lower — 0.014%\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Offit agrees that certain groups should receive the new booster including elderly adults, people who are immunocompromised and those with chronic conditions that put them \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html\">at higher risk of serious illness.\u003c/a> But he questions the value of another booster for healthy, younger people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Offit says he had a mild infection in May that lasted a few days. He’s decided against getting the new booster. “I think I’m protected against serious disease.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new boosters offer a few months’ protection against infection, he says, but there’s no clear evidence of benefit beyond that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Omicron+boosters%3A+Do+I+need+one%2C+and+if+so%2C+when%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "‘If you are eligible, there is no bad time to get your COVID-19 booster. I strongly encourage you to receive it.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This virus has been mutating so quickly over the past two years,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.ohsu.edu/providers/judith-a-guzman-cottrill-do\">Judith Guzman-Cottrill\u003c/a>, an infectious disease specialist at Oregon Health & Science University. “I feel like we’ve been playing catch up and finally we have caught up,” Guzman-Cottrill says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pfizer’s updated booster is available for anyone 12 and older. The Moderna booster is available for anyone 18 and older.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you are eligible, there is no bad time to get your COVID-19 booster,”\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/09/02/1120692856/new-covid-boosters-cdc-walensky\"> CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told NPR.\u003c/a> “I strongly encourage you to receive it,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But after talking to several infectious disease experts, we found there’s a whole range of opinions on who needs to boost and when. So, if you are navigating this decision, here are some things to consider:\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who needs a booster as soon as possible?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“I would recommend this booster shot for those who are immunocompromised or those who are 60 years [old] and above,” says \u003ca href=\"https://medicine.ucsf.edu/people/monica-gandhi\">Monica Gandhi\u003c/a>, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco. Gandhi says people in these groups are at highest risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to CDC guidance, people are eligible if it’s been at least two months since they received their last COVID shot, either a booster or an initial vaccine, but some vaccine experts say it would be better to wait at least four months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I will get it,” says Physician \u003ca href=\"https://medicine.ucsf.edu/people/robert-wachter\">Bob Wachter\u003c/a>, who’s in his mid-60s and in good health. “I’m about eight months out from shot number four. And so my immunity has waned significantly,” Wachter says. He plans to get an updated booster as soon as it’s available as a hedge against serious infection, given COVID is still circulating widely with about \u003ca href=\"https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home\">400 deaths per day\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no question that getting a booster increases the likelihood that you’ll have a benign case,” if you do get infected, he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wachter also agrees with the CDC recommendation that younger adults get the booster. Boosting can protect against the risk of long COVID and helps protect the community at large by reducing transmission, if there’s another surge, he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are good reasons to get it, even for people that have a low chance of a super severe infection,” Wachter says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When does it make sense to wait?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’ve had a recent COVID infection, it makes sense to wait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guzman-Cottrill and her children had mild infections in August, so she says she’ll wait until November to get boosted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our natural antibody response will protect us against COVID for another few months. So I do think it makes sense to wait and get the updated booster about three months after our positive COVID test,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is in line with \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/downloads/slides-2022-09-01/09-COVID-Hall-508.pdf\">the recommendation from CDC vaccine advisers\u003c/a> — people who recently had COVID-19 may consider delaying a booster shot by three months. That’s what the country’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci says he plans to do. Fauci tested positive in mid-June and says he’ll wait three months before he gets his updated booster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Guzman-Cottrill says both her teenagers will also get the new booster “to protect us from COVID this winter so we can avoid sick days from work and from school,” she says.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Can I time my shot for maximum protection at the holidays?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It won’t be a surprise if there’s another COVID surge this coming winter. Since the protection from boosters may only last several months, some people say they plan to wait to get the new booster in order to have maximum protection when the risk of infection is higher. “You can make a rational argument to wait until case rates are higher,” says Wachter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re trying to time it for the period of highest risk, he says, there are likely to be a ton more cases in December and January than there are in September and October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Wachter says, this strategy is a bit like trying to time the stock market. It’s hard to predict exactly when the surge will happen, so there’s a risk in waiting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You are basically accepting a period of vulnerability that you don’t need to have,” he says. “And as I weigh all that, my thinking is I’d rather not do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another argument against waiting is that the protection from a booster shot is not instantaneous. “It does take a few weeks for our immune systems to be primed,” says Dr.\u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.uchicagomedicine.org/find-a-physician/physician/aniruddha-hazra__;!!Iwwt!QCe1cWy_YhUDgnuDftP6iGGwaah9fb9DnvhKVF4Ri-DsrpJ9jWkoH2X0MhEcTJo3dvAgg1c89utMauhjaHdhltgO6rTqQQ%24\"> Aniruddha Hazra\u003c/a>, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Chicago. He says it could be risky to wait until a surge is already underway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hazra points out the vaccines can activate our immune systems in a few ways. Immune cells, known as B cells, help produce antibodies that fight off the virus in the short-term. Research shows COVID vaccines boost antibodies for several months, but then they begin to fade. After that, B cells and another type of immune cell, known as T cells, which can destroy infected cells, stick around to\u003ca href=\"https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/covid-19-immune-response-improves-months-after-vaccination#:~:text=Vaccines%20activate%20your%20body's%20disease,cells%2C%20which%20destroy%20infected%20cells.\"> build a deeper immunity\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says this deeper immunity was triggered and primed from the initial vaccines, so everyone who’s been vaccinated should have some protection against COVID But given the omicron subvariants circulating now are so different. “This [new] booster will definitely provide you with higher levels of antibodies, which are short term and short lived. It may also provide more deep-seated immunity,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Will the new booster shots prevent COVID infections completely?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>No. There’s lots of enthusiasm for the updated boosters, but they are not a magic bullet\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As SARS-CoV-2 has evolved, it’s become more transmissible, which is why delta and omicron led to such large surges, despite widespread vaccination in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The goal of this vaccine is to prevent severe illness,” says\u003ca href=\"https://www.chop.edu/doctors/offit-paul-a\"> Paul Offit, director \u003c/a>of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He argues that many people who’ve already received three doses of vaccine remain well protected, so he doesn’t see a clear benefit to giving the new boosters to everyone 12 and up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According \u003ca href=\"https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#covidnet-hospitalizations-vaccination\">to CDC data,\u003c/a> people who have had one or two boosters have a 0.024% chance of being hospitalized with COVID-19. For people under 50, it’s even lower — 0.014%\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Offit agrees that certain groups should receive the new booster including elderly adults, people who are immunocompromised and those with chronic conditions that put them \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html\">at higher risk of serious illness.\u003c/a> But he questions the value of another booster for healthy, younger people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Offit says he had a mild infection in May that lasted a few days. He’s decided against getting the new booster. “I think I’m protected against serious disease.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new boosters offer a few months’ protection against infection, he says, but there’s no clear evidence of benefit beyond that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Omicron+boosters%3A+Do+I+need+one%2C+and+if+so%2C+when%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Newsom Vetos Bill to Pilot Supervised Drug Consumption Sites in SF, Oakland and LA",
"headTitle": "Newsom Vetos Bill to Pilot Supervised Drug Consumption Sites in SF, Oakland and LA | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have sanctioned pilot sites where people could snort or inject illegal drugs under the watchful gaze of health care workers. The measure was designed to save lives as fentanyl-related deaths surge across the state, but Newsom said it could have brought a “world of unintended consequences.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB57\">Senate Bill 57\u003c/a> would have paved the way for a five-year trial of so-called “safe consumption” or “supervised injection” facilities in Oakland, San Francisco and the city and county of Los Angeles. Former Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m acutely concerned about the operation of safe injection sites without strong engaged local leadership and well-documented, vetted and thoughtful operational and sustainable plans,” Newsom said in his \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/SB-57-veto-msg-August-22-2022.pdf?emrc=435330\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">veto statement\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, who introduced the legislation, called the governor’s decision “tragic” and “a huge lost opportunity” for California to address one of its deadliest problems. “We know from decades of experience and numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies that [these sites] work,” he said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/Scott_Wiener/status/1561842889532968960?s=20&t=Gc5MmTVVPLHPRTSkriye4w\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Activist Gary McCoy, who last staged a hunger strike outside San Francisco City Hall demanding local leaders open these sites, expressed disappointed that his grassroots advocacy didn’t pay off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am very angry about the governor’s decision,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote align='left' size='medium' citation='Gary McCoy, HealthRIGHT 360']‘If these sites had been available to me, it wouldn’t have taken until I was 32 for me to finally decide that treatment was right for me.’[/pullquote]McCoy, who is now vice president of policy and public affairs at HealthRIGHT 360, said he \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">spent nearly two decades unhoused and high in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He said he usually injected drugs inside public restrooms at the library, and likely caught HIV from a dirty needle.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I weighed 110 pounds,” said McCoy. “I had psoriasis all over my body. I hated my life so much and I wanted to die.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Known at the time as a “frequent flier” in the city’s jails and public hospitals, McCoy said he now wishes he had known where to seek help. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If these sites had been available to me, it wouldn’t have taken until I was 32 for me to finally decide that treatment was right for me,” he said. “I’m certain it would have happened much sooner.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Just knowing that there’s someone there that’s supportive and treating me with dignity and kindness would have gone such a long way.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 2 1/2 times as many San Franciscans died of accidental drug overdoses in 2020 — a record of roughly 700 people — than died from COVID-19 that year, San Francisco Mayor London Breed said earlier. She cited spiking drug overdose rates in declaring an emergency in the Tenderloin neighborhood in December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nationwide, drug overdose deaths increased 28.5% to more than 100,000 during the 12-month period ending in April 2021 over the same period a year earlier, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including about 10,000 Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Stiff opposition\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">SB 57 faced significant pushback from Republican state leaders and agencies like the National Narcotic Officers’ Associations’ Coalition and the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, who both argued the sites would not provide an adequate path to treatment.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We might save one [life] here and there with the resources,” said state Sen. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, R-Yucaipa, who voted against the measure.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> “But then we have another slew of people coming off the fence and becoming addicted to these drugs.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She said sanctioned drug use sends the message that substances like heroin and cocaine are safe. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The Legislature must work in tandem with law enforcement to get illicit drugs off our streets and hold drug dealers accountable for the lives they ruin,” \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://cssrc.us/content/senate-republicans-call-swift-veto-sb-57\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">said state Senate Minority Leader Scott Wilk\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Santa Clarita Republican, in a statement. “SB 57 doesn’t do that and could ultimately result in innocent people becoming victims to the crimes and hazards surrounding drug abuse.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980039\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1980039\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A view of an ornate government building with a white facade, extending from the right of the image to the center. A narrow balcony across the front is made of gold-colored wrought iron. Round columns rise from level of the balcony across the facade. The doors to the building site back in rounded entryways with ornate golden wrought iron above the doors. A man in brick red pants, blue sneakers, a bright blue jacket, green beanie and black-rimmed glasses sits on a camp chair near a patch of green grass on the low-center of the image.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gary McCoy sits outside City Hall in San Francisco on Aug. 1, 2021, during a hunger strike calling for San Francisco to put funds toward the overdose crisis and implement safe consumption services. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Feds considering safe injection sites\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/inside-nyc-supervised-drug-injection-sites-7ad93117d1566fda53909c0f70984d1b\">first two publicly recognized overdose prevention sites\u003c/a> in the United States opened in New York City in December and have been credited with intervening in more than 150 overdoses. People can go there to inject or snort illegal drugs under the supervision of trained staff who have “crash carts” stocked with naloxone and other life-saving tools. The goal is also to\u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281335915_Drug_consumption_facilities_in_Europe_and_beyond\"> inspire people to seek treatment\u003c/a> and to connect them to primary care and social services.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rhode Island also recently approved the pilot of similar programs.\u003c/span>[pullquote align='right' size='medium' citation='State Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, R-Yucaipa']‘We might save one [life] here and there with the resources, but then we have another slew of people coming off the fence and becoming addicted to these drugs.’[/pullquote]\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022042616679829\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> recent cost-benefit analysis\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> conducted by epidemiologists and sociologists at RTI International and the University of Southern California demonstrates that every dollar spent on safe consumption in San Francisco would save the city $2.33 in related health care and law enforcement costs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Safe injection sites are also on the table at the federal level. While the U.S. Justice Department under the Trump administration adamantly opposed the possibility, Attorney General Merrick Garland’s office \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/business-health-new-york-c4e6d999583d7b7abce2189fba095011\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">appears more open to it, telling The Associated Press\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> it is “evaluating” and talking with regulators about “appropriate guardrails.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Sites have been in operation around the world for about 30 years in Europe, Canada and Australia,” said Sen. Wiener. “Not a single person has ever died of an overdose in one of these consumption sites.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to Newsom’s veto, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu on Monday said he would support a nonprofit immediately opening a safe injection site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While I am disappointed SB 57 was vetoed, San Francisco must continue to work to address our opioid overdose crisis,” he said in a statement.”I fully support a non-profit moving forward now with New York’s model of overdose prevention programs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This story includes reporting from The Associated Press.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have sanctioned pilot sites where people could snort or inject illegal drugs under the watchful gaze of health care workers. The measure was designed to save lives as fentanyl-related deaths surge across the state, but Newsom said it could have brought a “world of unintended consequences.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB57\">Senate Bill 57\u003c/a> would have paved the way for a five-year trial of so-called “safe consumption” or “supervised injection” facilities in Oakland, San Francisco and the city and county of Los Angeles. Former Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m acutely concerned about the operation of safe injection sites without strong engaged local leadership and well-documented, vetted and thoughtful operational and sustainable plans,” Newsom said in his \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/SB-57-veto-msg-August-22-2022.pdf?emrc=435330\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">veto statement\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, who introduced the legislation, called the governor’s decision “tragic” and “a huge lost opportunity” for California to address one of its deadliest problems. “We know from decades of experience and numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies that [these sites] work,” he said in a statement.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Activist Gary McCoy, who last staged a hunger strike outside San Francisco City Hall demanding local leaders open these sites, expressed disappointed that his grassroots advocacy didn’t pay off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am very angry about the governor’s decision,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘If these sites had been available to me, it wouldn’t have taken until I was 32 for me to finally decide that treatment was right for me.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>McCoy, who is now vice president of policy and public affairs at HealthRIGHT 360, said he \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">spent nearly two decades unhoused and high in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He said he usually injected drugs inside public restrooms at the library, and likely caught HIV from a dirty needle.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I weighed 110 pounds,” said McCoy. “I had psoriasis all over my body. I hated my life so much and I wanted to die.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Known at the time as a “frequent flier” in the city’s jails and public hospitals, McCoy said he now wishes he had known where to seek help. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If these sites had been available to me, it wouldn’t have taken until I was 32 for me to finally decide that treatment was right for me,” he said. “I’m certain it would have happened much sooner.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Just knowing that there’s someone there that’s supportive and treating me with dignity and kindness would have gone such a long way.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 2 1/2 times as many San Franciscans died of accidental drug overdoses in 2020 — a record of roughly 700 people — than died from COVID-19 that year, San Francisco Mayor London Breed said earlier. She cited spiking drug overdose rates in declaring an emergency in the Tenderloin neighborhood in December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nationwide, drug overdose deaths increased 28.5% to more than 100,000 during the 12-month period ending in April 2021 over the same period a year earlier, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including about 10,000 Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Stiff opposition\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">SB 57 faced significant pushback from Republican state leaders and agencies like the National Narcotic Officers’ Associations’ Coalition and the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, who both argued the sites would not provide an adequate path to treatment.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We might save one [life] here and there with the resources,” said state Sen. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, R-Yucaipa, who voted against the measure.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> “But then we have another slew of people coming off the fence and becoming addicted to these drugs.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">She said sanctioned drug use sends the message that substances like heroin and cocaine are safe. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The Legislature must work in tandem with law enforcement to get illicit drugs off our streets and hold drug dealers accountable for the lives they ruin,” \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://cssrc.us/content/senate-republicans-call-swift-veto-sb-57\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">said state Senate Minority Leader Scott Wilk\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Santa Clarita Republican, in a statement. “SB 57 doesn’t do that and could ultimately result in innocent people becoming victims to the crimes and hazards surrounding drug abuse.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1980039\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1980039\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A view of an ornate government building with a white facade, extending from the right of the image to the center. A narrow balcony across the front is made of gold-colored wrought iron. Round columns rise from level of the balcony across the facade. The doors to the building site back in rounded entryways with ornate golden wrought iron above the doors. A man in brick red pants, blue sneakers, a bright blue jacket, green beanie and black-rimmed glasses sits on a camp chair near a patch of green grass on the low-center of the image.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/08/RS50522_003_SanFrancisco_OverdoseHungerStrike_08012021-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gary McCoy sits outside City Hall in San Francisco on Aug. 1, 2021, during a hunger strike calling for San Francisco to put funds toward the overdose crisis and implement safe consumption services. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Feds considering safe injection sites\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/inside-nyc-supervised-drug-injection-sites-7ad93117d1566fda53909c0f70984d1b\">first two publicly recognized overdose prevention sites\u003c/a> in the United States opened in New York City in December and have been credited with intervening in more than 150 overdoses. People can go there to inject or snort illegal drugs under the supervision of trained staff who have “crash carts” stocked with naloxone and other life-saving tools. The goal is also to\u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281335915_Drug_consumption_facilities_in_Europe_and_beyond\"> inspire people to seek treatment\u003c/a> and to connect them to primary care and social services.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rhode Island also recently approved the pilot of similar programs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We might save one [life] here and there with the resources, but then we have another slew of people coming off the fence and becoming addicted to these drugs.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022042616679829\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> recent cost-benefit analysis\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> conducted by epidemiologists and sociologists at RTI International and the University of Southern California demonstrates that every dollar spent on safe consumption in San Francisco would save the city $2.33 in related health care and law enforcement costs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Safe injection sites are also on the table at the federal level. While the U.S. Justice Department under the Trump administration adamantly opposed the possibility, Attorney General Merrick Garland’s office \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/business-health-new-york-c4e6d999583d7b7abce2189fba095011\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">appears more open to it, telling The Associated Press\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> it is “evaluating” and talking with regulators about “appropriate guardrails.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Sites have been in operation around the world for about 30 years in Europe, Canada and Australia,” said Sen. Wiener. “Not a single person has ever died of an overdose in one of these consumption sites.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to Newsom’s veto, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu on Monday said he would support a nonprofit immediately opening a safe injection site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While I am disappointed SB 57 was vetoed, San Francisco must continue to work to address our opioid overdose crisis,” he said in a statement.”I fully support a non-profit moving forward now with New York’s model of overdose prevention programs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This story includes reporting from The Associated Press.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "COVID Sewage Surveillance Labs Join the Hunt for Monkeypox",
"headTitle": "COVID Sewage Surveillance Labs Join the Hunt for Monkeypox | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The same \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/human-feces-disease-detection-tool-for-covid/\">wastewater surveillance techniques\u003c/a> that have emerged as a critical tool in early detection of COVID-19 outbreaks are being adapted for use in monitoring the startling spread of monkeypox across the San Francisco Bay Area and some other U.S. communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the COVID pandemic, wastewater sludge was thought to hold promise as an early indicator of community health threats, in part because people can excrete genetic evidence of infectious diseases in their feces, often before they develop symptoms of illness. Israel has for decades monitored wastewater for polio. But before COVID, such risk monitoring in the U.S. was limited largely to academic pursuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the onset of the pandemic, a research collaboration that involves scientists at Stanford University, the University of Michigan, and Emory University pioneered efforts to recalibrate the surveillance techniques for detection of the coronavirus, marking the first time that wastewater has been used to track a respiratory disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Monkeypox Resources\" tag=\"monkeypox\"]That same research team, the \u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/wastewaterscan.org/__;!!Iwwt!R129EHOmx6rfVLnavCZcTz5tE9KtMb4welWbmK_lwtYGyvWDHRGhWUuffGBDFBWv8yP-lrP1dNV4RXc%24\">Sewer Coronavirus Alert Network\u003c/a>, or SCAN, is now a leader in expanding wastewater monitoring to detect monkeypox, a once-obscure virus endemic to remote regions of Africa that in a matter of months has infected \u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/world-map.html__;!!Iwwt!R129EHOmx6rfVLnavCZcTz5tE9KtMb4welWbmK_lwtYGyvWDHRGhWUuffGBDFBWv8yP-lrP1F33uLd8%24\">more than 26,000\u003c/a> people globally and \u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/us-map.html__;!!Iwwt!R129EHOmx6rfVLnavCZcTz5tE9KtMb4welWbmK_lwtYGyvWDHRGhWUuffGBDFBWv8yP-lrP1TIHWlX4%24\">more than 7,000\u003c/a> across the U.S. The Biden administration last week declared the monkeypox outbreak a \u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/04/monkeypox-public-health-emergency-united-states-becerra/__;!!Iwwt!R129EHOmx6rfVLnavCZcTz5tE9KtMb4welWbmK_lwtYGyvWDHRGhWUuffGBDFBWv8yP-lrP1QxssOfI%24\">public health emergency, \u003c/a>following similar decisions by health officials in California, Illinois and New York.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And SCAN’s scientists envision a future in which wastewater sludge serves as a reservoir for tracking a slew of menacing public health concerns. “We’re looking at a whole range of things that we might be able to test for,” said Marlene Wolfe, an assistant professor of environmental health at Emory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since expanding its surveillance in mid-June, the SCAN team has \u003ca href=\"https://soe-wbe-pilot.wl.r.appspot.com/charts\">detected monkeypox\u003c/a> in several of the Northern California sewersheds it is monitoring, including Palo Alto, San Jose, Gilroy, Sacramento, and two locations in San Francisco. Funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and the CDC Foundation, SCAN is doing similar monitoring in Colorado, Georgia, Michigan and four \u003ca href=\"http://publichealth.verily.com/#Contra%20Costa%20County,%20CA:SARS-CoV-2\">other states\u003c/a>, and wants to scale up to 300 U.S. sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='small' citation='Marlene Wolfe\u003cbr>Emory University SCAN research team']‘The pandemic really cracked open our imagination for a tool that already existed but that hadn’t been developed to its full capacity. That’s changing now.’[/pullquote]It is one of a growing number of sewage \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/sewage-surveillance-tracking-covid-infectious-disease-modesto-california/\">surveillance projects\u003c/a> across the U.S. run jointly by universities, public health agencies, and utilities departments that are feeding COVID findings to state and federal agencies. How many of those networks have expanded their search to monkeypox is unclear. SCAN sites in California, Georgia, Michigan and Texas, and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/monkeypox-detected-in-southern-nevada-wastewater-2616398/\">research team\u003c/a> in Nevada are among the few that have reported sludge samples that tested positive for the monkeypox virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Another public health tool\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As with COVID, data on monkeypox can be used to compare trends across regions, but there are limits to what this kind of monitoring can accomplish. Wastewater monitoring doesn’t pinpoint who is infected; it reveals only the presence of a virus in a given area. And it takes a specialist to analyze the samples. Researchers consider wastewater surveillance a complement to other public health tools, not a replacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re still really on the front end in terms of discovering the potential here,” said Heather Bischel, an assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering at the University of California Davis, which included wastewater monitoring as part of its Healthy Davis Together \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/california-university-community-unified-covid-bubble-model/\">COVID testing program\u003c/a> for the campus and surrounding community. “But what we’ve seen already shows that this type of monitoring is adaptable to other public health threats.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='science_1963120']Some U.S. communities were sampling sewage before the pandemic to figure out what kinds of opioids residents were using. More recently, along with COVID and monkeypox, the technology has shown promise for \u003ca href=\"https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.15.22271027v1\">monitoring flu\u003c/a> and respiratory syncytial virus, or \u003ca href=\"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00963\">RSV\u003c/a>. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning pilot studies to see whether sewage can reveal trends in antibiotic-resistant infections, foodborne illnesses and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-auris/index.html\">candida auris\u003c/a>, a fungal infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the wastewater testing that ramped up during the pandemic’s first year was done in concert with universities or county offices and reliant on funding provided through federal COVID relief legislation. On Bischel’s campus, those funds were combined with university donor money to put together a comprehensive testing and treatment program for the school and the city of Davis that included wastewater surveillance. The sewage testing is ongoing under a separate grant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, the CDC is reporting only COVID results on its \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/surveillance/wastewater-surveillance/wastewater-surveillance.html\">national wastewater surveillance system\u003c/a>, a reflection of the limited number of sewersheds that so far are testing for monkeypox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The global spread of monkeypox was first detected in the United Kingdom in May and prompted conjecture that this virus, too, might shed into wastewater, either through feces or when an infected person with an open sore takes a shower. Sewersheds in areas with infected people might then “light up” with evidence of the disease — if the wastewater testing could pinpoint it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It did light up,” said Brad Pollock, who chairs public health sciences at UC Davis Health. “It acts as a warning system, and you don’t have to persuade people to take individual tests in order to use the information; it’s collected passively, so you get a more broad community look.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A public health emergency\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The virus is thought to be spreading primarily through intimate skin-to-skin contact and exposure to symptomatic lesions, although researchers are exploring other potential means of transmission. For now, the U.S. outbreak is concentrated largely in gay communities among men who have sex with men.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The discovery of monkeypox in San Francisco’s wastewater system in June, the first such finding in the nation, set off alarms in a city with a thriving LGBTQ+ population. On July 28, San Francisco declared monkeypox\u003ca href=\"https://sfmayor.org/article/san-francisco-declare-local-public-health-emergency-monkeypox\"> a public health emergency\u003c/a>, urging the federal government to step up its distribution of vaccines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For its Northern California surveillance, SCAN partners with local health officials and universities to collect samples and then sends them to Verily Life Sciences — a health tech company owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet — for analysis. In the Atlanta area, SCAN is working with Emory and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/fulton-testing-wastewater-for-covid-19-monkeypox/JD4MAT6YDFBLPIRN3PVBQFUJCQ/\">Fulton County health officials\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all public health agencies are moving as fast. A wastewater monitoring plan for the virus is only now being put together in Los Angeles County, which had confirmed \u003ca href=\"http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/monkeypox/data/index.htm\">more than 300\u003c/a> cases of monkeypox by the end of July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And though California is collecting monkeypox data from its surveillance partners, it’s not available for all regions, underscoring that wastewater monitoring for viruses is still an emerging methodology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With every new thing that we add to the testing platform, we are learning things,” said SCAN’s Wolfe. “The pandemic really cracked open our imagination for a tool that already existed but that hadn’t been developed to its full capacity. That’s changing now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/about-us\">\u003cem>KHN\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. It is an editorially independent operating program of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kff.org/about-us/\">\u003cem>KFF\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> (Kaiser Family Foundation).\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 Kaiser Health News. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=COVID+sewage+surveillance+labs+join+the+hunt+for+monkeypox&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The same \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/human-feces-disease-detection-tool-for-covid/\">wastewater surveillance techniques\u003c/a> that have emerged as a critical tool in early detection of COVID-19 outbreaks are being adapted for use in monitoring the startling spread of monkeypox across the San Francisco Bay Area and some other U.S. communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the COVID pandemic, wastewater sludge was thought to hold promise as an early indicator of community health threats, in part because people can excrete genetic evidence of infectious diseases in their feces, often before they develop symptoms of illness. Israel has for decades monitored wastewater for polio. But before COVID, such risk monitoring in the U.S. was limited largely to academic pursuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the onset of the pandemic, a research collaboration that involves scientists at Stanford University, the University of Michigan, and Emory University pioneered efforts to recalibrate the surveillance techniques for detection of the coronavirus, marking the first time that wastewater has been used to track a respiratory disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That same research team, the \u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/wastewaterscan.org/__;!!Iwwt!R129EHOmx6rfVLnavCZcTz5tE9KtMb4welWbmK_lwtYGyvWDHRGhWUuffGBDFBWv8yP-lrP1dNV4RXc%24\">Sewer Coronavirus Alert Network\u003c/a>, or SCAN, is now a leader in expanding wastewater monitoring to detect monkeypox, a once-obscure virus endemic to remote regions of Africa that in a matter of months has infected \u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/world-map.html__;!!Iwwt!R129EHOmx6rfVLnavCZcTz5tE9KtMb4welWbmK_lwtYGyvWDHRGhWUuffGBDFBWv8yP-lrP1F33uLd8%24\">more than 26,000\u003c/a> people globally and \u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/us-map.html__;!!Iwwt!R129EHOmx6rfVLnavCZcTz5tE9KtMb4welWbmK_lwtYGyvWDHRGhWUuffGBDFBWv8yP-lrP1TIHWlX4%24\">more than 7,000\u003c/a> across the U.S. The Biden administration last week declared the monkeypox outbreak a \u003ca href=\"https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/04/monkeypox-public-health-emergency-united-states-becerra/__;!!Iwwt!R129EHOmx6rfVLnavCZcTz5tE9KtMb4welWbmK_lwtYGyvWDHRGhWUuffGBDFBWv8yP-lrP1QxssOfI%24\">public health emergency, \u003c/a>following similar decisions by health officials in California, Illinois and New York.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And SCAN’s scientists envision a future in which wastewater sludge serves as a reservoir for tracking a slew of menacing public health concerns. “We’re looking at a whole range of things that we might be able to test for,” said Marlene Wolfe, an assistant professor of environmental health at Emory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since expanding its surveillance in mid-June, the SCAN team has \u003ca href=\"https://soe-wbe-pilot.wl.r.appspot.com/charts\">detected monkeypox\u003c/a> in several of the Northern California sewersheds it is monitoring, including Palo Alto, San Jose, Gilroy, Sacramento, and two locations in San Francisco. Funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and the CDC Foundation, SCAN is doing similar monitoring in Colorado, Georgia, Michigan and four \u003ca href=\"http://publichealth.verily.com/#Contra%20Costa%20County,%20CA:SARS-CoV-2\">other states\u003c/a>, and wants to scale up to 300 U.S. sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>It is one of a growing number of sewage \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/sewage-surveillance-tracking-covid-infectious-disease-modesto-california/\">surveillance projects\u003c/a> across the U.S. run jointly by universities, public health agencies, and utilities departments that are feeding COVID findings to state and federal agencies. How many of those networks have expanded their search to monkeypox is unclear. SCAN sites in California, Georgia, Michigan and Texas, and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/monkeypox-detected-in-southern-nevada-wastewater-2616398/\">research team\u003c/a> in Nevada are among the few that have reported sludge samples that tested positive for the monkeypox virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Another public health tool\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As with COVID, data on monkeypox can be used to compare trends across regions, but there are limits to what this kind of monitoring can accomplish. Wastewater monitoring doesn’t pinpoint who is infected; it reveals only the presence of a virus in a given area. And it takes a specialist to analyze the samples. Researchers consider wastewater surveillance a complement to other public health tools, not a replacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re still really on the front end in terms of discovering the potential here,” said Heather Bischel, an assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering at the University of California Davis, which included wastewater monitoring as part of its Healthy Davis Together \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/california-university-community-unified-covid-bubble-model/\">COVID testing program\u003c/a> for the campus and surrounding community. “But what we’ve seen already shows that this type of monitoring is adaptable to other public health threats.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Some U.S. communities were sampling sewage before the pandemic to figure out what kinds of opioids residents were using. More recently, along with COVID and monkeypox, the technology has shown promise for \u003ca href=\"https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.15.22271027v1\">monitoring flu\u003c/a> and respiratory syncytial virus, or \u003ca href=\"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00963\">RSV\u003c/a>. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning pilot studies to see whether sewage can reveal trends in antibiotic-resistant infections, foodborne illnesses and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-auris/index.html\">candida auris\u003c/a>, a fungal infection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the wastewater testing that ramped up during the pandemic’s first year was done in concert with universities or county offices and reliant on funding provided through federal COVID relief legislation. On Bischel’s campus, those funds were combined with university donor money to put together a comprehensive testing and treatment program for the school and the city of Davis that included wastewater surveillance. The sewage testing is ongoing under a separate grant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, the CDC is reporting only COVID results on its \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/surveillance/wastewater-surveillance/wastewater-surveillance.html\">national wastewater surveillance system\u003c/a>, a reflection of the limited number of sewersheds that so far are testing for monkeypox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The global spread of monkeypox was first detected in the United Kingdom in May and prompted conjecture that this virus, too, might shed into wastewater, either through feces or when an infected person with an open sore takes a shower. Sewersheds in areas with infected people might then “light up” with evidence of the disease — if the wastewater testing could pinpoint it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It did light up,” said Brad Pollock, who chairs public health sciences at UC Davis Health. “It acts as a warning system, and you don’t have to persuade people to take individual tests in order to use the information; it’s collected passively, so you get a more broad community look.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A public health emergency\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The virus is thought to be spreading primarily through intimate skin-to-skin contact and exposure to symptomatic lesions, although researchers are exploring other potential means of transmission. For now, the U.S. outbreak is concentrated largely in gay communities among men who have sex with men.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The discovery of monkeypox in San Francisco’s wastewater system in June, the first such finding in the nation, set off alarms in a city with a thriving LGBTQ+ population. On July 28, San Francisco declared monkeypox\u003ca href=\"https://sfmayor.org/article/san-francisco-declare-local-public-health-emergency-monkeypox\"> a public health emergency\u003c/a>, urging the federal government to step up its distribution of vaccines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For its Northern California surveillance, SCAN partners with local health officials and universities to collect samples and then sends them to Verily Life Sciences — a health tech company owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet — for analysis. In the Atlanta area, SCAN is working with Emory and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/fulton-testing-wastewater-for-covid-19-monkeypox/JD4MAT6YDFBLPIRN3PVBQFUJCQ/\">Fulton County health officials\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all public health agencies are moving as fast. A wastewater monitoring plan for the virus is only now being put together in Los Angeles County, which had confirmed \u003ca href=\"http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/monkeypox/data/index.htm\">more than 300\u003c/a> cases of monkeypox by the end of July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And though California is collecting monkeypox data from its surveillance partners, it’s not available for all regions, underscoring that wastewater monitoring for viruses is still an emerging methodology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With every new thing that we add to the testing platform, we are learning things,” said SCAN’s Wolfe. “The pandemic really cracked open our imagination for a tool that already existed but that hadn’t been developed to its full capacity. That’s changing now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/about-us\">\u003cem>KHN\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. It is an editorially independent operating program of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kff.org/about-us/\">\u003cem>KFF\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> (Kaiser Family Foundation).\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 Kaiser Health News. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=COVID+sewage+surveillance+labs+join+the+hunt+for+monkeypox&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Monkeypox Vaccines: California and FDA Do Not Agree on How to Stretch Meager Supply",
"headTitle": "Monkeypox Vaccines: California and FDA Do Not Agree on How to Stretch Meager Supply | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>As monkeypox spreads rapidly, everyone agrees that the meager supply of vaccine needs to be improved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But how exactly to stretch the limited supply? That’s where California and its progressive cities have diverged from federal regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s top health officials advised local agencies in a July 27 memo to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Monkeypox-vaccine-doses.aspx#\">prioritize a single dose of the two-dose monkeypox vaccine for people who are most at risk\u003c/a>. For weeks, San Francisco has used this strategy to spread its limited supply of monkeypox vaccine to people in the city who are at high risk of contracting the disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2022/07/15/nyc-one-dose-monkeypox-strategy-cdc-fda-warnings-against/\">have warned health providers against deviating from the approved schedule\u003c/a>. The vaccine is supposed to be given in two doses, with the second one administered 28 days after the first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do not recommend to go off of the recommended schedule here,” said Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2022/07/15/nyc-one-dose-monkeypox-strategy-cdc-fda-warnings-against/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at a press conference organized by the Department of Health and Human Services\u003c/a>. For people most at risk, he added, “A single dose of this vaccine will not provide the kind of protection over time that is necessary.”[aside postID=news_11920455 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57399_GettyImages-1408879341-qut-1020x765.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Dose sparing’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Now, the FDA is considering a “dose sparing” proposal that would allow health providers to use a single-dose vial of vaccine to administer a total of up to five separate doses. The plan would require changing how the vaccine is administered. Rather than an injection that goes into the fatty tissues underneath the skin, known as subcutaneous administration, people would receive it through a small needle placed delicately under the top layer of skin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is called intradermal administration, and giving vaccines intradermally can also result in a strong immune response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The FDA has identified a potential solution that would allow us to significantly increase the number of doses available [for] administration,” an agency spokesperson told KQED in an emailed statement on Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important to note that overall safety and efficacy profile would not be sacrificed with this approach,” the statement said. “The virus has continued to spread at a pace and rate in recent weeks that made it clear to all of us that we would not meet current demand with the current supply.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FDA’s alternate strategy is now under consideration and not yet approved — nor is it clear when it might be.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The single dose strategy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Health experts warn that the U.S. might not be able to contain the monkeypox outbreak, which has already infected thousands of Americans. And San Francisco has said it is important to take quick action in order to protect the most people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Community Engagement Reporter Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí reported that people seeking a jab at a vaccine clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center are not being offered second shots right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/LomeliCabrera/status/1554845594161598464?s=20&t=AM_k84nHNl35wO0Z-3GI8w\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, San Francisco’s health department is prioritizing first doses of Jynneos, delaying the second. Cabrera-Lomelí reported that patients attending the clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center\u003cstrong>,\u003c/strong> the city’s only walk-in monkeypox vaccine clinic, were told by hospital staff that their second shot could safely be delayed as long as two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials told KQED in an email that “although data on the full efficacy of a first dose of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine is not fully known, the information that we do have and relevant studies on the topic, allows us to take this temporary harm reduction approach while vaccine supply increases.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Monkeypox-vaccine-doses.aspx#\">California’s health department laid out a rationale for a single shot plan\u003c/a> in the memo it sent to local agencies, noting that in the eradication of smallpox — a poxvirus genetically very similar to monkeypox — the first vaccine dose provided quick protection. Clinical trials in humans and animals measuring immunity from the Jynneos have produced similar results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While supplies remain scarce, vaccinators in California may offer first doses of JYNNEOS [sic] to additional persons at risk rather than retain inventory as second doses for immunocompetent persons, even if second doses are consequently administered at an interval greater than 28 days,” the memo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The health department said people who are immunocompromised are still eligible to received two doses. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID=news_11919070 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS57170_GettyImages-1401390462-qut.jpg']\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCSF’s Dr. Peter Chin-Hong told KQED in an email that it “is indeed safe not to get a second dose of the vaccine at 28 days, on time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2022/07/15/nyc-one-dose-monkeypox-strategy-cdc-fda-warnings-against/\">New York, the United Kingdom and Canada are delaying the vaccine boosters\u003c/a>, too. Science magazine reported that \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/content/article/there-s-shortage-monkeypox-vaccine-could-one-dose-instead-two-suffice\">Paul Chaplin, an immunologist and CEO of Bavarian Nordic \u003c/a>— the company that manufactures the vaccine — also endorses the single dose plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/content/article/there-s-shortage-monkeypox-vaccine-could-one-dose-instead-two-suffice\">Federal scientists have cautioned that a single dose regime of vaccine hasn’t been studied\u003c/a> in an actual outbreak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jynneos is the only vaccine currently approved for the prevention of monkeypox in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco health officials say people, “especially those who have only received one dose,” should limit their risk of exposure to monkeypox before and after being vaccinated and second doses will be offered “once supply allows.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As monkeypox spreads rapidly, everyone agrees that the meager supply of vaccine needs to be improved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But how exactly to stretch the limited supply? That’s where California and its progressive cities have diverged from federal regulators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s top health officials advised local agencies in a July 27 memo to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Monkeypox-vaccine-doses.aspx#\">prioritize a single dose of the two-dose monkeypox vaccine for people who are most at risk\u003c/a>. For weeks, San Francisco has used this strategy to spread its limited supply of monkeypox vaccine to people in the city who are at high risk of contracting the disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2022/07/15/nyc-one-dose-monkeypox-strategy-cdc-fda-warnings-against/\">have warned health providers against deviating from the approved schedule\u003c/a>. The vaccine is supposed to be given in two doses, with the second one administered 28 days after the first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do not recommend to go off of the recommended schedule here,” said Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2022/07/15/nyc-one-dose-monkeypox-strategy-cdc-fda-warnings-against/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">at a press conference organized by the Department of Health and Human Services\u003c/a>. For people most at risk, he added, “A single dose of this vaccine will not provide the kind of protection over time that is necessary.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Dose sparing’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Now, the FDA is considering a “dose sparing” proposal that would allow health providers to use a single-dose vial of vaccine to administer a total of up to five separate doses. The plan would require changing how the vaccine is administered. Rather than an injection that goes into the fatty tissues underneath the skin, known as subcutaneous administration, people would receive it through a small needle placed delicately under the top layer of skin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is called intradermal administration, and giving vaccines intradermally can also result in a strong immune response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The FDA has identified a potential solution that would allow us to significantly increase the number of doses available [for] administration,” an agency spokesperson told KQED in an emailed statement on Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s important to note that overall safety and efficacy profile would not be sacrificed with this approach,” the statement said. “The virus has continued to spread at a pace and rate in recent weeks that made it clear to all of us that we would not meet current demand with the current supply.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FDA’s alternate strategy is now under consideration and not yet approved — nor is it clear when it might be.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The single dose strategy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Health experts warn that the U.S. might not be able to contain the monkeypox outbreak, which has already infected thousands of Americans. And San Francisco has said it is important to take quick action in order to protect the most people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Community Engagement Reporter Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí reported that people seeking a jab at a vaccine clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center are not being offered second shots right now.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Instead, San Francisco’s health department is prioritizing first doses of Jynneos, delaying the second. Cabrera-Lomelí reported that patients attending the clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center\u003cstrong>,\u003c/strong> the city’s only walk-in monkeypox vaccine clinic, were told by hospital staff that their second shot could safely be delayed as long as two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials told KQED in an email that “although data on the full efficacy of a first dose of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine is not fully known, the information that we do have and relevant studies on the topic, allows us to take this temporary harm reduction approach while vaccine supply increases.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Monkeypox-vaccine-doses.aspx#\">California’s health department laid out a rationale for a single shot plan\u003c/a> in the memo it sent to local agencies, noting that in the eradication of smallpox — a poxvirus genetically very similar to monkeypox — the first vaccine dose provided quick protection. Clinical trials in humans and animals measuring immunity from the Jynneos have produced similar results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While supplies remain scarce, vaccinators in California may offer first doses of JYNNEOS [sic] to additional persons at risk rather than retain inventory as second doses for immunocompetent persons, even if second doses are consequently administered at an interval greater than 28 days,” the memo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The health department said people who are immunocompromised are still eligible to received two doses. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCSF’s Dr. Peter Chin-Hong told KQED in an email that it “is indeed safe not to get a second dose of the vaccine at 28 days, on time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2022/07/15/nyc-one-dose-monkeypox-strategy-cdc-fda-warnings-against/\">New York, the United Kingdom and Canada are delaying the vaccine boosters\u003c/a>, too. Science magazine reported that \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/content/article/there-s-shortage-monkeypox-vaccine-could-one-dose-instead-two-suffice\">Paul Chaplin, an immunologist and CEO of Bavarian Nordic \u003c/a>— the company that manufactures the vaccine — also endorses the single dose plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/content/article/there-s-shortage-monkeypox-vaccine-could-one-dose-instead-two-suffice\">Federal scientists have cautioned that a single dose regime of vaccine hasn’t been studied\u003c/a> in an actual outbreak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jynneos is the only vaccine currently approved for the prevention of monkeypox in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco health officials say people, “especially those who have only received one dose,” should limit their risk of exposure to monkeypox before and after being vaccinated and second doses will be offered “once supply allows.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "'Poorly Prepared': SF Civil Grand Jury Slams City for Not Protecting Residents From Toxic Contamination",
"headTitle": "‘Poorly Prepared’: SF Civil Grand Jury Slams City for Not Protecting Residents From Toxic Contamination | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Standing atop the Polk Street steps of San Francisco City Hall, Arieann Harrison chanted into a megaphone alongside other Bayview-Hunters Point residents, begging city officials to value their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I say, ‘Can we,’ you say, ‘Live,’” Harrison called out. “Can we!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Live!” the crowd shouted back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rally earlier this month followed a report from the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury that confirmed what Bayview-Hunters Point residents have been saying: The city is not acting on — is barely even thinking about — how sea level rise could surface legacy toxic contamination, spreading it in neighborhoods near the World War II-era naval shipyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want to invite our mayor — who we love — to show us that she loves us back,” said Harrison. As the founder of the Marie Harrison Community Foundation, she fights for people’s health in this part of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grand jury report said in blunt and emphatic language that neither the city, nor the Navy, nor any agency involved in Hunters Point has accounted for the severe risk that human-caused climate change poses to the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Arieann Harrison, founder, Marie Harrison Community Foundation'] ‘I want to invite our mayor — who we love — to show us that she loves us back.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jury “found that rising groundwater in the Shipyard could interact in dangerous ways with future infrastructure, and with hazardous toxins the Navy plans to leave buried in the soil. We wanted to know if this new science and these risks had been taken into account by the City, by OCII [the San Francisco Office of Community Infrastructure and Investment], or by the Navy and its regulators. We found that they had not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jurors wrote that the city is “poorly prepared” to protect the health and safety of Bayview-Hunters Point residents, and “cannot cut corners in an era of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Harrison and others who live in the neighborhood around the shipyard, the report validated their message to city officials: that the threats from toxic contamination and climate change are real and demand lasting solutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to secure the future for us as residents and for our kids,” said Harrison. “I am a mother. I am a grandmother. And I want them to not live through a legacy of toxicity. I don’t want them to worry about all the things they have to worry about in our community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The toxic legacy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979781\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979781\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-800x450.png\" alt=\"A photo illustration with torn up pieces of white and grey pieces of paper. Each has an excerpt from a report from the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-800x450.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-1020x574.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-768x432.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Portions of the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury report ‘Buried Problems and a Buried Process: The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in a Time of Climate Change.’ \u003ccite>(Sarah Khalida Mohamad/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The bayshore edge of Bayview-Hunters Point is one of the most polluted areas of the entire San Francisco shoreline. The former Navy shipyard, located on the city’s southeast shoreline, is an 866-acre federal Superfund site, a location the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has designated as highly contaminated with hazardous waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the middle of the last century, the Navy decontaminated ships there after atomic bomb tests and established the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory. Research and other activities contaminated the soil with radionuclides, heavy metals, and petroleum fuels, among other toxic compounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Superfund site has been partially cleaned up. With the oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Navy is continuing the cleanup, preparing it for the eventual development of a sweeping new neighborhood with mixed-use construction of businesses, research institutions and thousands of homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists say the problem is that the cleanup didn’t prepare the site for the worst of rising tides. The Navy’s most recent report on the cleanup describes how, at many sites, toxic contamination that’s buried in the soil is held in place with a cap — often made of concrete, clay or strong plastic-like materials. The problem: Rising sea levels both flood on top of the land and press inward under the surface, pushing up the groundwater underneath this buried contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley scientist Rachel Morello-Frosch says caps over toxic contamination may not hold as the bay presses groundwater upward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you start having groundwater encroachment, those caps of legacy sites can be breached,” she noted. “So it can come up, and it can move to different areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As groundwater rises, the buried pollution can spread throughout the community, exposing people and the bay to contaminants.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>An ‘impenetrable system’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979681\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979681\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A sliver of greenish blue baywater in the foreground. Giant silver metal cranes sit upon a rock levee. Behind the cranes is an apartment laden hill. The mostly white apartments appear to be multiple stories.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apartment buildings in Hunters Point are seen through gantry cranes from San Francisco Bay on March 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LeBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The grand jury report is an indictment of the city and the regulatory agencies overseeing what happens at the Hunters Point Superfund site — that is, the Navy, the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report says lack of attention, inaccessible documents, technical language and poor communication among the agencies involved in cleanup at the Superfund site leave residents of Bayview-Hunters Point and the city unacceptably vulnerable to contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Civil Grand Jury is a panel of 19 citizens who don’t work in government. They serve for a year to investigate and issue reports on significant local government actions or, as they make clear in this case, government lack of action.\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='medium' align='left' citation='San Francisco Civil Grand Jury']‘Aside from some glimmers of awareness at regulatory agencies, groundwater rise has not yet been meaningfully considered in the cleanup at the Hunters Point Shipyard.’[/pullquote]\u003c/span>“The Jury believes that the essence of the City’s disconnect from the Shipyard cleanup lies in the lack of attention paid to it by leaders throughout the City,” the jurors wrote. “Aside from some glimmers of awareness at regulatory agencies, groundwater rise has not yet been meaningfully considered in the cleanup at the Hunters Point Shipyard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Furthermore, the jurors wrote that city leaders have not paid much attention to the cleanup itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Despite the enormous stakes of the process governing the Shipyard cleanup,” the report says, “there is little understanding of the process throughout the City, or even that the City can influence this process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To come to their conclusions, the members of the grand jury read reams and reams of documents, some of which they said were “impenetrable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jurors wrote that because reports on the cleanup are “arcane and very difficult to understand,” it was hard for them to determine what work the Navy had completed. As a result, they wrote, “the cleanup governance process is inaccessible, even invisible” to city leaders or citizens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hidden inside this impenetrable system, [the agencies in charge of the cleanup] are engaging with important questions that concern anyone who might someday live in the Shipyard,” the jurors wrote. “They should certainly concern the leaders of San Francisco.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grand jury report offers seven recommendations for San Francisco leaders. Among them:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Fund an independent study about how groundwater rise could affect toxic contamination in the soil at the Superfund site, under multiple sea level rise scenarios.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Create a permanent Hunters Point Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee to examine and question decisions about the cleanup, and communicate requests to the Navy and oversight agencies.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For that committee, by March 1, 2023, prepare a report on its recommendations based on the groundwater study and deliver that report to the Board of Supervisors, the mayor and the Department of Public Health.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>“This is a solvable problem,” the jurors wrote. “And there is still hope that groundwater rise will be addressed in the Shipyard before it is too late.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>City officials respond \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979668\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 634px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979668 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/map-bvhp.jpg\" alt=\"Two maps of the San Francisco neighborhood of Bayview-Hunters Point side by side. One shows where current groundwater is at and the other shows where groundwater will move to with four feet of sea level rise. The darker the color the closer to the surface the groudnwater is.\" width=\"634\" height=\"764\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/map-bvhp.jpg 634w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/map-bvhp-160x193.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 634px) 100vw, 634px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco officials say they are studying where groundwater rise could happen across the city. But the civil grand jury found they aren’t examining how that rise could affect toxic contamination in Bayview-Hunters Point. \u003ccite>(City and County of San Francisco Civil Grand Jury report 'Buried Problems and a Buried Process: The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in a Time of Climate Change')\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Mayor London Breed and District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton denied requests for an interview for this story. City staff emailed a statement that said officials welcome the report and will carefully consider the recommendations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The email pointed to a study the city is working on in collaboration with scientists from Pathways Climate Institute and the San Francisco Estuary Institute. That study will evaluate how sea level rise will affect flooding and groundwater. A preliminary summary of the study says that sea level rise can push up groundwater as far as three miles inland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city also noted it intends to conduct a study analyzing “known contaminated sites and the potential for rising groundwater to mobilize contaminants.” But the city hasn’t found funding for that study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the grand jury report says the study underway won’t be adequate to guide critical decisions about protecting residents in Bayview-Hunters Point. “The City urgently needs better, more detailed predictions of how groundwater will react to sea level rise at this site,” they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jurors got a preview of the study; the example foreshadows 4 feet of sea level rise — less than half of the end-of-the-century, worst-case scenario laid out in \u003ca href=\"https://opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20180314/Item3_Exhibit-A_OPC_SLR_Guidance-rd3.pdf\">the state’s sea level rise guidance\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Standing atop the Polk Street steps of San Francisco City Hall, Arieann Harrison chanted into a megaphone alongside other Bayview-Hunters Point residents, begging city officials to value their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I say, ‘Can we,’ you say, ‘Live,’” Harrison called out. “Can we!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Live!” the crowd shouted back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rally earlier this month followed a report from the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury that confirmed what Bayview-Hunters Point residents have been saying: The city is not acting on — is barely even thinking about — how sea level rise could surface legacy toxic contamination, spreading it in neighborhoods near the World War II-era naval shipyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want to invite our mayor — who we love — to show us that she loves us back,” said Harrison. As the founder of the Marie Harrison Community Foundation, she fights for people’s health in this part of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grand jury report said in blunt and emphatic language that neither the city, nor the Navy, nor any agency involved in Hunters Point has accounted for the severe risk that human-caused climate change poses to the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jury “found that rising groundwater in the Shipyard could interact in dangerous ways with future infrastructure, and with hazardous toxins the Navy plans to leave buried in the soil. We wanted to know if this new science and these risks had been taken into account by the City, by OCII [the San Francisco Office of Community Infrastructure and Investment], or by the Navy and its regulators. We found that they had not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jurors wrote that the city is “poorly prepared” to protect the health and safety of Bayview-Hunters Point residents, and “cannot cut corners in an era of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Harrison and others who live in the neighborhood around the shipyard, the report validated their message to city officials: that the threats from toxic contamination and climate change are real and demand lasting solutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to secure the future for us as residents and for our kids,” said Harrison. “I am a mother. I am a grandmother. And I want them to not live through a legacy of toxicity. I don’t want them to worry about all the things they have to worry about in our community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The toxic legacy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979781\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979781\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-800x450.png\" alt=\"A photo illustration with torn up pieces of white and grey pieces of paper. Each has an excerpt from a report from the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-800x450.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-1020x574.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-768x432.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/Grand-Jury-Bayview-Hunters-Point-4.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Portions of the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury report ‘Buried Problems and a Buried Process: The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in a Time of Climate Change.’ \u003ccite>(Sarah Khalida Mohamad/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The bayshore edge of Bayview-Hunters Point is one of the most polluted areas of the entire San Francisco shoreline. The former Navy shipyard, located on the city’s southeast shoreline, is an 866-acre federal Superfund site, a location the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has designated as highly contaminated with hazardous waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the middle of the last century, the Navy decontaminated ships there after atomic bomb tests and established the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory. Research and other activities contaminated the soil with radionuclides, heavy metals, and petroleum fuels, among other toxic compounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Superfund site has been partially cleaned up. With the oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Navy is continuing the cleanup, preparing it for the eventual development of a sweeping new neighborhood with mixed-use construction of businesses, research institutions and thousands of homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists say the problem is that the cleanup didn’t prepare the site for the worst of rising tides. The Navy’s most recent report on the cleanup describes how, at many sites, toxic contamination that’s buried in the soil is held in place with a cap — often made of concrete, clay or strong plastic-like materials. The problem: Rising sea levels both flood on top of the land and press inward under the surface, pushing up the groundwater underneath this buried contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley scientist Rachel Morello-Frosch says caps over toxic contamination may not hold as the bay presses groundwater upward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you start having groundwater encroachment, those caps of legacy sites can be breached,” she noted. “So it can come up, and it can move to different areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As groundwater rises, the buried pollution can spread throughout the community, exposing people and the bay to contaminants.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>An ‘impenetrable system’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979681\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979681\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A sliver of greenish blue baywater in the foreground. Giant silver metal cranes sit upon a rock levee. Behind the cranes is an apartment laden hill. The mostly white apartments appear to be multiple stories.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS54624_012_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apartment buildings in Hunters Point are seen through gantry cranes from San Francisco Bay on March 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LeBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The grand jury report is an indictment of the city and the regulatory agencies overseeing what happens at the Hunters Point Superfund site — that is, the Navy, the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report says lack of attention, inaccessible documents, technical language and poor communication among the agencies involved in cleanup at the Superfund site leave residents of Bayview-Hunters Point and the city unacceptably vulnerable to contamination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Civil Grand Jury is a panel of 19 citizens who don’t work in government. They serve for a year to investigate and issue reports on significant local government actions or, as they make clear in this case, government lack of action.\u003cbr>\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Aside from some glimmers of awareness at regulatory agencies, groundwater rise has not yet been meaningfully considered in the cleanup at the Hunters Point Shipyard.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>“The Jury believes that the essence of the City’s disconnect from the Shipyard cleanup lies in the lack of attention paid to it by leaders throughout the City,” the jurors wrote. “Aside from some glimmers of awareness at regulatory agencies, groundwater rise has not yet been meaningfully considered in the cleanup at the Hunters Point Shipyard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Furthermore, the jurors wrote that city leaders have not paid much attention to the cleanup itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Despite the enormous stakes of the process governing the Shipyard cleanup,” the report says, “there is little understanding of the process throughout the City, or even that the City can influence this process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To come to their conclusions, the members of the grand jury read reams and reams of documents, some of which they said were “impenetrable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jurors wrote that because reports on the cleanup are “arcane and very difficult to understand,” it was hard for them to determine what work the Navy had completed. As a result, they wrote, “the cleanup governance process is inaccessible, even invisible” to city leaders or citizens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hidden inside this impenetrable system, [the agencies in charge of the cleanup] are engaging with important questions that concern anyone who might someday live in the Shipyard,” the jurors wrote. “They should certainly concern the leaders of San Francisco.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grand jury report offers seven recommendations for San Francisco leaders. Among them:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Fund an independent study about how groundwater rise could affect toxic contamination in the soil at the Superfund site, under multiple sea level rise scenarios.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Create a permanent Hunters Point Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee to examine and question decisions about the cleanup, and communicate requests to the Navy and oversight agencies.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>For that committee, by March 1, 2023, prepare a report on its recommendations based on the groundwater study and deliver that report to the Board of Supervisors, the mayor and the Department of Public Health.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>“This is a solvable problem,” the jurors wrote. “And there is still hope that groundwater rise will be addressed in the Shipyard before it is too late.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>City officials respond \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979668\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 634px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1979668 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/map-bvhp.jpg\" alt=\"Two maps of the San Francisco neighborhood of Bayview-Hunters Point side by side. One shows where current groundwater is at and the other shows where groundwater will move to with four feet of sea level rise. The darker the color the closer to the surface the groudnwater is.\" width=\"634\" height=\"764\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/map-bvhp.jpg 634w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/map-bvhp-160x193.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 634px) 100vw, 634px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco officials say they are studying where groundwater rise could happen across the city. But the civil grand jury found they aren’t examining how that rise could affect toxic contamination in Bayview-Hunters Point. \u003ccite>(City and County of San Francisco Civil Grand Jury report 'Buried Problems and a Buried Process: The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in a Time of Climate Change')\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Mayor London Breed and District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton denied requests for an interview for this story. City staff emailed a statement that said officials welcome the report and will carefully consider the recommendations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The email pointed to a study the city is working on in collaboration with scientists from Pathways Climate Institute and the San Francisco Estuary Institute. That study will evaluate how sea level rise will affect flooding and groundwater. A preliminary summary of the study says that sea level rise can push up groundwater as far as three miles inland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city also noted it intends to conduct a study analyzing “known contaminated sites and the potential for rising groundwater to mobilize contaminants.” But the city hasn’t found funding for that study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the grand jury report says the study underway won’t be adequate to guide critical decisions about protecting residents in Bayview-Hunters Point. “The City urgently needs better, more detailed predictions of how groundwater will react to sea level rise at this site,” they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jurors got a preview of the study; the example foreshadows 4 feet of sea level rise — less than half of the end-of-the-century, worst-case scenario laid out in \u003ca href=\"https://opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/agenda_items/20180314/Item3_Exhibit-A_OPC_SLR_Guidance-rd3.pdf\">the state’s sea level rise guidance\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Debate Heats Up Over Effort to Pilot Safe Injection Sites in California",
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"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">Lawmakers in California are debating whether to open sites where people can inject or snort illegal drugs under the watchful gaze of a health care worker. These facilities are an effort to save lives, as overdoses skyrocket across California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“Instead of having people use drugs on the sidewalk when your kid is walking by, we want to give them a place where they can go inside,” said state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), the sponsor of \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB57\">a \u003cspan class=\"s1\">bill\u003c/span> to pilot facilities in Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles\u003c/a>.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">[pullquote size='small' citation='Anne Marie Schubert, Sacramento County district attorney']‘The fact that we’re considering allowing our government to essentially aid and abet the illicit use of drugs that are killing our citizens, I find shocking.’[/pullquote]Wiener stresses that so-called “safe consumption” or “supervised injection sites” not only would prevent overdoses, but also slow the spread of HIV and hepatitis by offering clean syringes. On-site health care workers would \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281335915_Drug_consumption_facilities_in_Europe_and_beyond\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">inspire folks to seek treatment\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">The last time supervised injection facilities were on the table in California, in 2018, a bill progressed all the way to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk. He vetoed it. Wiener is trying again. He points to a \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022042616679829\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">recent cost-benefit analysis\u003c/span>\u003c/a> demonstrating that every dollar spent on safe consumption in San Francisco would save the city $2.33.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“Our hospitals, our emergency rooms, our fire department, our ambulances are all spending huge resources on people who are overdosing,” Senator Wiener said.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘I certainly would have been in much better hands’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Gary McCoy, formerly addicted to heroin then methamphetamine, wishes he would have had a safe place to shoot up before he hit rock bottom and nearly died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">He overdosed on heroin for the first time when he was 18 years old, at a gas station. The store attendant called 911 when McCoy deliriously crawled out of the bathroom and collapsed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">[pullquote size='small' citation='Alex Kral, epidemiologist, RTI International']‘There have probably been tens of millions of injections people have done in these sites over the last 35 years. And no one has ever died of an overdose.’[/pullquote]“I immediately went back to my dealer’s house from the hospital and bought everything that she had because it was the best heroin I had ever done,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">At the time, McCoy was grappling with his sexuality in a conservative town in Virginia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“I wasn’t quite in the closet,” said McCoy. “But I wasn’t really open about the fact that I was gay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He spent the next decade high, homeless and near the brink. At 24 years old, McCoy learned he was HIV-positive. He was staying in a cheap hotel in San Francisco alone. It was Christmas Eve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“I weighed 110 pounds, psoriasis was all over my body, I was injecting every day, couch-surfing when I could, and trading sex for drugs or a place to sleep.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">When he didn’t have anywhere else to shoot up, McCoy used bathroom stalls at public libraries.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“I think if I had a place to go where I could safely use, where people could see that I needed medical assistance, I think it would have avoided a lot of trauma,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">McCoy says he spent lots of time in jail spread over many arrests, and landed in the emergency department monthly for at least a decade as his drug habits and AIDS ravaged his body.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Zero recorded overdoses\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">A safe consumption site can range from a converted RV to a sprawling warehouse. Inside, it typically looks somewhat like a hair salon, with mirrors lining the walls, individual stalls for each client, and sterile supplies laid out on steel countertops.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979240\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979240\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-800x600.jpeg\" alt='A man with white skin stands in front of a huge wall mural showing musicians. The man has a very short buzz cut and wears black glasses, and a long-sleeved white t-shirt under a short-sleeved black t-shirt that reads, \"Harm reduction is recovery.\" The three male musicians in the mural are dressed in formal wear of all white or a tuxedo. One plays a violin, one a base, and one a guitar. A woman on the right side of th emural is dressed in a formal gown of black with white sequins, a lush dark brown cape and a black hat with a wide brim.' width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gary McCoy in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, on April 27, 2022. In August 2021, McCoy slept on the sidewalk and did not eat for three days to draw attention to the overdose crisis. City leaders took note and declared a state of emergency. \u003ccite>(Lesley McClurg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“You’ll have two rooms,” said Alex Kral, epidemiologist for the nonprofit research group RTI International. “The first room is where people can inject under supervision. And then you have a second room where people can basically chill out after they have used drugs and be monitored.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Health care workers equipped with “crash carts” stocked with naloxone and other lifesaving tools stand by.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/rhode-island-set-to-be-first-state-to-pilot-safe-injection-sites-for-drug-users-11635067801\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Rhode Island\u003c/span> greenlighted supervised injection sites last year\u003c/a>, but nothing has launched yet. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/11/30/1054921116/illegal-drug-injection-sites-nyc\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">New York City\u003c/span> opened two sites last fall.\u003c/a> Around the world, more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871621000168?via%3Dihub021/ExhibitDocument/OpenExhibitDocument?exhibitId=54137&fileDownloadName=AHHS652I.pdf020/10/ICER_SIF_Final-Evidence-Report_010821.pdf\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">100 safe consumption sites exist in more than a dozen countries\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“There have probably been tens of millions of injections people have done in these sites over the last 35 years,” said Kral. “And no one has ever died of an overdose.”\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Yet, just last year, more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">10,000 people in California\u003c/span>\u003c/a> and more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">100,000 people\u003c/span> nationwide\u003c/a> died of an overdose on the streets, at parties, at home.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Sends the wrong message\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“That number is really underreported because there are parts of the country that don’t have the resources to do toxicology screens on every death,” said Ron Brooks, president of the National Narcotics Officers’ Associations’ Coalition.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">He estimates the accurate tally could be as high as 140,000 deaths nationwide, which is why he says the overdose crisis is the most significant public health epidemic facing the nation. However, Brooks does not support opening “safe consumption sites” to solve the problem because, he says, there is no safe way to do drugs.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“You can call it what you want to call it. It’s an open drug scene,” said Anne Marie Schubert, Sacramento County district attorney. “The fact that we’re considering allowing our government to essentially aid and abet the illicit use of drugs that are killing our citizens, I find shocking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Schubert would rather see more court-ordered treatment. She says \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/local/crime/la-me-prop47-anniversary-20151106-story.html\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">current law\u003c/span> does not allow judges to require nearly enough people to seek help\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p5\">However, Gary McCoy says you can’t force sobriety. When he finally limped into treatment, AIDS had nearly wiped out his immune system. In fact, he was in such ghastly shape that his drug dealer finally nudged him to seek help, which is why he’s now a huge advocate for supervised injection sites.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p5\">“I don’t know if I would have stopped using sooner, but I certainly would have been in much better hands,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p5\">These days on morning strolls through his neighborhood in San Francisco, McCoy chats with people getting high on the streets. He lets them know there’s help available, and says that’s the real service outreach workers at safe consumption sites could provide.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">Lawmakers in California are debating whether to open sites where people can inject or snort illegal drugs under the watchful gaze of a health care worker. These facilities are an effort to save lives, as overdoses skyrocket across California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“Instead of having people use drugs on the sidewalk when your kid is walking by, we want to give them a place where they can go inside,” said state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), the sponsor of \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB57\">a \u003cspan class=\"s1\">bill\u003c/span> to pilot facilities in Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles\u003c/a>.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Wiener stresses that so-called “safe consumption” or “supervised injection sites” not only would prevent overdoses, but also slow the spread of HIV and hepatitis by offering clean syringes. On-site health care workers would \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281335915_Drug_consumption_facilities_in_Europe_and_beyond\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">inspire folks to seek treatment\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">The last time supervised injection facilities were on the table in California, in 2018, a bill progressed all the way to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk. He vetoed it. Wiener is trying again. He points to a \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022042616679829\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">recent cost-benefit analysis\u003c/span>\u003c/a> demonstrating that every dollar spent on safe consumption in San Francisco would save the city $2.33.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“Our hospitals, our emergency rooms, our fire department, our ambulances are all spending huge resources on people who are overdosing,” Senator Wiener said.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘I certainly would have been in much better hands’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Gary McCoy, formerly addicted to heroin then methamphetamine, wishes he would have had a safe place to shoot up before he hit rock bottom and nearly died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">He overdosed on heroin for the first time when he was 18 years old, at a gas station. The store attendant called 911 when McCoy deliriously crawled out of the bathroom and collapsed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘There have probably been tens of millions of injections people have done in these sites over the last 35 years. And no one has ever died of an overdose.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I immediately went back to my dealer’s house from the hospital and bought everything that she had because it was the best heroin I had ever done,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">At the time, McCoy was grappling with his sexuality in a conservative town in Virginia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“I wasn’t quite in the closet,” said McCoy. “But I wasn’t really open about the fact that I was gay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He spent the next decade high, homeless and near the brink. At 24 years old, McCoy learned he was HIV-positive. He was staying in a cheap hotel in San Francisco alone. It was Christmas Eve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“I weighed 110 pounds, psoriasis was all over my body, I was injecting every day, couch-surfing when I could, and trading sex for drugs or a place to sleep.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">When he didn’t have anywhere else to shoot up, McCoy used bathroom stalls at public libraries.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“I think if I had a place to go where I could safely use, where people could see that I needed medical assistance, I think it would have avoided a lot of trauma,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">McCoy says he spent lots of time in jail spread over many arrests, and landed in the emergency department monthly for at least a decade as his drug habits and AIDS ravaged his body.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Zero recorded overdoses\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">A safe consumption site can range from a converted RV to a sprawling warehouse. Inside, it typically looks somewhat like a hair salon, with mirrors lining the walls, individual stalls for each client, and sterile supplies laid out on steel countertops.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979240\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1979240\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-800x600.jpeg\" alt='A man with white skin stands in front of a huge wall mural showing musicians. The man has a very short buzz cut and wears black glasses, and a long-sleeved white t-shirt under a short-sleeved black t-shirt that reads, \"Harm reduction is recovery.\" The three male musicians in the mural are dressed in formal wear of all white or a tuxedo. One plays a violin, one a base, and one a guitar. A woman on the right side of th emural is dressed in a formal gown of black with white sequins, a lush dark brown cape and a black hat with a wide brim.' width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/01D7C956-B602-4CF2-B2CB-9439D8906F35_1_201_a-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gary McCoy in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, on April 27, 2022. In August 2021, McCoy slept on the sidewalk and did not eat for three days to draw attention to the overdose crisis. City leaders took note and declared a state of emergency. \u003ccite>(Lesley McClurg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“You’ll have two rooms,” said Alex Kral, epidemiologist for the nonprofit research group RTI International. “The first room is where people can inject under supervision. And then you have a second room where people can basically chill out after they have used drugs and be monitored.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Health care workers equipped with “crash carts” stocked with naloxone and other lifesaving tools stand by.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/rhode-island-set-to-be-first-state-to-pilot-safe-injection-sites-for-drug-users-11635067801\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Rhode Island\u003c/span> greenlighted supervised injection sites last year\u003c/a>, but nothing has launched yet. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/11/30/1054921116/illegal-drug-injection-sites-nyc\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">New York City\u003c/span> opened two sites last fall.\u003c/a> Around the world, more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871621000168?via%3Dihub021/ExhibitDocument/OpenExhibitDocument?exhibitId=54137&fileDownloadName=AHHS652I.pdf020/10/ICER_SIF_Final-Evidence-Report_010821.pdf\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">100 safe consumption sites exist in more than a dozen countries\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“There have probably been tens of millions of injections people have done in these sites over the last 35 years,” said Kral. “And no one has ever died of an overdose.”\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Yet, just last year, more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">10,000 people in California\u003c/span>\u003c/a> and more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">100,000 people\u003c/span> nationwide\u003c/a> died of an overdose on the streets, at parties, at home.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Sends the wrong message\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“That number is really underreported because there are parts of the country that don’t have the resources to do toxicology screens on every death,” said Ron Brooks, president of the National Narcotics Officers’ Associations’ Coalition.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">He estimates the accurate tally could be as high as 140,000 deaths nationwide, which is why he says the overdose crisis is the most significant public health epidemic facing the nation. However, Brooks does not support opening “safe consumption sites” to solve the problem because, he says, there is no safe way to do drugs.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">“You can call it what you want to call it. It’s an open drug scene,” said Anne Marie Schubert, Sacramento County district attorney. “The fact that we’re considering allowing our government to essentially aid and abet the illicit use of drugs that are killing our citizens, I find shocking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Schubert would rather see more court-ordered treatment. She says \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/local/crime/la-me-prop47-anniversary-20151106-story.html\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">current law\u003c/span> does not allow judges to require nearly enough people to seek help\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p5\">However, Gary McCoy says you can’t force sobriety. When he finally limped into treatment, AIDS had nearly wiped out his immune system. In fact, he was in such ghastly shape that his drug dealer finally nudged him to seek help, which is why he’s now a huge advocate for supervised injection sites.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p5\">“I don’t know if I would have stopped using sooner, but I certainly would have been in much better hands,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p5\">These days on morning strolls through his neighborhood in San Francisco, McCoy chats with people getting high on the streets. He lets them know there’s help available, and says that’s the real service outreach workers at safe consumption sites could provide.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "The Omicron Subvariant BA.2 Has Been in the Bay Area for Weeks — With Limited Impact",
"headTitle": "The Omicron Subvariant BA.2 Has Been in the Bay Area for Weeks — With Limited Impact | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>We’ve seen this play out before: Just as we start letting down our guard, the coronavirus mutates into another insidious version, wreaking havoc on our plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cue BA.2, or \u003ca href=\"https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/what-ba2-or-stealth-omicron-subvariant\">stealth omicron\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month when mask mandates started falling away, the subvariant struck parts of Europe and Asia, driving \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/23/omicrons-subvariant-bapoint2-could-spread-wildly-in-europe-epidemiologist.html\">unprecedented spikes\u003c/a>. Now, it’s traveling fast within the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BA.2 is both the dominant strain globally and, now, nationally, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u003c/a>, which credits more than half of U.S. cases to stealth omicron. Infections are edging up in parts of the Northeast, and \u003ca href=\"https://soe-wbe-pilot.wl.r.appspot.com/charts#page=overview\">recent wastewater data\u003c/a> from Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and Davis suggest BA.2 is starting to push cases up around Northern California — the first real sign that it’s having an impact in the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the data does not suggest a repeat of last winter’s surge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not that sharp, dramatic increase from the beginning of the omicron wave,” said Marlene Wolfe of Emory University, one of the researchers who monitors wastewater sites across Northern California. “It’s something to watch, something to be careful of, something that we are glad we have this data to speak to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Here’s what you need to know about BA.2 across California\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>BA.2 is really good at its job: To date, it’s the most transmissible strain of the coronavirus. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.28.22270044v1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Danish study\u003c/a> shows the virus spreads very quickly inside households, and a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.26.22272984v1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">Swedish study\u003c/span>\u003c/a> shows that the viral loads are twice as high as the original omicron, which helps to explain why the latest strain of COVID-19 is furiously outcompeting its predecessor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The good news is BA.2 does not appear to lead to more severe symptoms than the original omicron. Patients complain of cough, fatigue, congestion, dizziness and a runny nose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not causing more intensive care hospital admissions in Europe,” said Dr. Susan Philip, San Francisco’s health officer. “[This is] a positive thing when we look at the characteristics of this virus.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How worried should we be?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Not too worried, according to Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of UCSF’s department of medicine. “It might well lead to a small increase in cases, which we should watch carefully,” he said in an email. “It is unlikely to cause a major surge given the extent of [local] vax and infection-related immunity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That sentiment is shared by other local experts. UCSF epidemiologist Dr. George Rutherford suspects the impact in Northern California will be “relatively minor.” He estimates immunity coverage in the Bay Area is hovering around 90% due to high vaccine rates and the recent omicron wave, which left many people with natural immunity, at least in the short term. Those two factors wrap the region in a protective layer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rutherford points to what he sees as hopeful signs unfolding overseas. “Look at Western European data,” he said. “Cases are going up in some countries and not in others. A surge is not inevitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California cases continue to plummet\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It’s not time to panic. \u003ca href=\"https://covid19.ca.gov/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw3IqSBhCoARIsAMBkTb0HWWvfRHDNjPLxgEaX7PUdfx_IgCF7LJ77g3o8FIZ0HxBPJmRdTDIaAtYAEALw_wcB\">Cases across the state\u003c/a> have fallen about 32% over the past two weeks. Hospitalizations are not increasing and death rates continue to fall. Some regions are experiencing very slight upticks, but nothing concerning to public health officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, BA.2 poses the highest risk to anyone who is not vaccinated and did not catch omicron during the last surge. “The consequences for hospitalizations and deaths will be largely determined by how many people are vaccinated and how many older people are boosted,” said Bill Hanage, a Harvard epidemiologist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This means children who are not yet old enough for a vaccine, as well as many disabled and immunocompromised people, remain at high risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If an actual surge were to form, regions with low vaccination rates would be the most vulnerable. In California that means rural areas and parts of the Central Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How can I protect myself?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At this point California health officials are not recommending people make any course corrections to their daily lives. The state has a \u003ca href=\"https://files.covid19.ca.gov/pdf/smarter-plan--en.pdf\">road map for potential surges\u003c/a>, if the situation were to change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we do start to see concerning increases in cases, increased severity or increasing hospitalization — we may need to reinstate some of our prior tools, things like masking,” California State Epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She recommends making sure you’re up to date on your vaccinations, and stocking up on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11901928/you-can-now-order-free-covid-at-home-tests-via-usps\"> home testing kits\u003c/a> to protect loved ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Should I get a 4th dose if I’m over age 50?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it has approved a fourth shot for people over 50. Until now the only people authorized for a fourth dose were those \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/09/health/immunocompromised-fourth-dose-booster.html\">with weakened immune systems\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCSF’s Wachter recommends a fourth shot for older adults who didn’t catch omicron in the last wave. This is especially critical if folks are engaging in riskier behaviors like eating inside restaurants. For those who caught the virus recently, Wachter suggests holding off on a fourth shot for a few months because a recent infection offers similar protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.01.22270232v1.full.pdfre-pharmaceuticals/israeli-study-2nd-vaccine-booster-significantly-lowers-covid-death-rate-2022-03-27/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">compelling mortality data out of Israel\u003c/span>\u003c/a> suggesting a fourth shot dramatically lowers severe illness. However, the available data is preliminary and it’s not clear how long the benefits of a fourth dose will last.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/Bob_Wachter/status/1508444987783929858?s=20&t=yr0py0rn9KRqRoEXy1Nb6Q\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m going to get it when I can,” \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Bob_Wachter/status/1508446942887485440?s=20&t=yr0py0rn9KRqRoEXy1Nb6Q\">Wachter said in another tweet\u003c/a>. “I see the advantages of the 2nd boost as outweighing the small potential downside.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>We’ve seen this play out before: Just as we start letting down our guard, the coronavirus mutates into another insidious version, wreaking havoc on our plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cue BA.2, or \u003ca href=\"https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/what-ba2-or-stealth-omicron-subvariant\">stealth omicron\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month when mask mandates started falling away, the subvariant struck parts of Europe and Asia, driving \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/23/omicrons-subvariant-bapoint2-could-spread-wildly-in-europe-epidemiologist.html\">unprecedented spikes\u003c/a>. Now, it’s traveling fast within the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BA.2 is both the dominant strain globally and, now, nationally, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u003c/a>, which credits more than half of U.S. cases to stealth omicron. Infections are edging up in parts of the Northeast, and \u003ca href=\"https://soe-wbe-pilot.wl.r.appspot.com/charts#page=overview\">recent wastewater data\u003c/a> from Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and Davis suggest BA.2 is starting to push cases up around Northern California — the first real sign that it’s having an impact in the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the data does not suggest a repeat of last winter’s surge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not that sharp, dramatic increase from the beginning of the omicron wave,” said Marlene Wolfe of Emory University, one of the researchers who monitors wastewater sites across Northern California. “It’s something to watch, something to be careful of, something that we are glad we have this data to speak to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Here’s what you need to know about BA.2 across California\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>BA.2 is really good at its job: To date, it’s the most transmissible strain of the coronavirus. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.28.22270044v1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Danish study\u003c/a> shows the virus spreads very quickly inside households, and a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.26.22272984v1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">Swedish study\u003c/span>\u003c/a> shows that the viral loads are twice as high as the original omicron, which helps to explain why the latest strain of COVID-19 is furiously outcompeting its predecessor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The good news is BA.2 does not appear to lead to more severe symptoms than the original omicron. Patients complain of cough, fatigue, congestion, dizziness and a runny nose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not causing more intensive care hospital admissions in Europe,” said Dr. Susan Philip, San Francisco’s health officer. “[This is] a positive thing when we look at the characteristics of this virus.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How worried should we be?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Not too worried, according to Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of UCSF’s department of medicine. “It might well lead to a small increase in cases, which we should watch carefully,” he said in an email. “It is unlikely to cause a major surge given the extent of [local] vax and infection-related immunity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That sentiment is shared by other local experts. UCSF epidemiologist Dr. George Rutherford suspects the impact in Northern California will be “relatively minor.” He estimates immunity coverage in the Bay Area is hovering around 90% due to high vaccine rates and the recent omicron wave, which left many people with natural immunity, at least in the short term. Those two factors wrap the region in a protective layer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rutherford points to what he sees as hopeful signs unfolding overseas. “Look at Western European data,” he said. “Cases are going up in some countries and not in others. A surge is not inevitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California cases continue to plummet\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It’s not time to panic. \u003ca href=\"https://covid19.ca.gov/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw3IqSBhCoARIsAMBkTb0HWWvfRHDNjPLxgEaX7PUdfx_IgCF7LJ77g3o8FIZ0HxBPJmRdTDIaAtYAEALw_wcB\">Cases across the state\u003c/a> have fallen about 32% over the past two weeks. Hospitalizations are not increasing and death rates continue to fall. Some regions are experiencing very slight upticks, but nothing concerning to public health officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, BA.2 poses the highest risk to anyone who is not vaccinated and did not catch omicron during the last surge. “The consequences for hospitalizations and deaths will be largely determined by how many people are vaccinated and how many older people are boosted,” said Bill Hanage, a Harvard epidemiologist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This means children who are not yet old enough for a vaccine, as well as many disabled and immunocompromised people, remain at high risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If an actual surge were to form, regions with low vaccination rates would be the most vulnerable. In California that means rural areas and parts of the Central Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How can I protect myself?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At this point California health officials are not recommending people make any course corrections to their daily lives. The state has a \u003ca href=\"https://files.covid19.ca.gov/pdf/smarter-plan--en.pdf\">road map for potential surges\u003c/a>, if the situation were to change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we do start to see concerning increases in cases, increased severity or increasing hospitalization — we may need to reinstate some of our prior tools, things like masking,” California State Epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She recommends making sure you’re up to date on your vaccinations, and stocking up on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11901928/you-can-now-order-free-covid-at-home-tests-via-usps\"> home testing kits\u003c/a> to protect loved ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Should I get a 4th dose if I’m over age 50?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it has approved a fourth shot for people over 50. Until now the only people authorized for a fourth dose were those \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/09/health/immunocompromised-fourth-dose-booster.html\">with weakened immune systems\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCSF’s Wachter recommends a fourth shot for older adults who didn’t catch omicron in the last wave. This is especially critical if folks are engaging in riskier behaviors like eating inside restaurants. For those who caught the virus recently, Wachter suggests holding off on a fourth shot for a few months because a recent infection offers similar protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.01.22270232v1.full.pdfre-pharmaceuticals/israeli-study-2nd-vaccine-booster-significantly-lowers-covid-death-rate-2022-03-27/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s2\">compelling mortality data out of Israel\u003c/span>\u003c/a> suggesting a fourth shot dramatically lowers severe illness. However, the available data is preliminary and it’s not clear how long the benefits of a fourth dose will last.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m going to get it when I can,” \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Bob_Wachter/status/1508446942887485440?s=20&t=yr0py0rn9KRqRoEXy1Nb6Q\">Wachter said in another tweet\u003c/a>. “I see the advantages of the 2nd boost as outweighing the small potential downside.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Omicron Was in California Before It Was Named Omicron, According to Sewage Samples",
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"content": "\u003cp>We’ve learned a lot about COVID-19 by examining what we’ve flushed down the toilet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are a few of those things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The variant was in a waste sample collected in Merced County on Nov. 25 — that’s a day before the World Health Organization named it omicron.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists in New York found it in a sample collected even earlier, on Nov. 21, predating the alarms from leaders in South Africa about a troubling new variant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials in Texas also detected omicron early through wastewater surveillance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7103a5.htm?s_cid=mm7103a5_w&utm_source=STAT+Newsletters&utm_campaign=6439030dc2-MR_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8cab1d7961-6439030dc2-151495997#T1_down\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">report\u003c/span>\u003c/a> last week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlined these facts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agency scientists describe this as “strong early evidence that the Omicron variant was likely present or more widely distributed in these communities than originally indicated by clinical testing alone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report makes a case that by the time officials have detected a new variant, it likely has spread to numerous other countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this light, travel bans look ineffective and like “closing the barn door after the horses have fled,” as researchers from the University of Illinois argued in a \u003ca href=\"https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/583337-omicron-is-already-global-tests-for-international-flights-are-far-better\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">recent op-ed\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Requiring testing on international flights would be a much more effective policy, they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study also underscores the potency of this new surveillance tool, which counties increasingly rely on as demand for COVID-19 tests outpace supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ability to ramp up the infrastructure to test the number of people that need to be tested right now is an enormous strain on the health care system and on our testing systems that we’ve set up,” said Marlene Wolfe of Emory University, one of the researchers who monitors sites across Northern California. “But with this wastewater data, we have not had to increase our capacity at all. We are doing exactly what we’ve been doing for a year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wolfe’s method can detect as few as one or two cases per 100,000 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re in close communication with public health officials,” she said. “They’re able to use that data to plan for what’s next. It’s similar to how they would use clinical case data but is actually more reliable. We are not biased by the fact that it’s so difficult to find a test right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wolfe says this moment is a good opportunity to expand the surveillance regime and collect data on other diseases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re starting to monitor for \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">respiratory syncytial virus\u003c/a> and influenza,” she said. “There are a lot of areas where we can provide very useful public health data using wastewater because we have developed these tools so fully over the course of this pandemic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all of the information in the CDC’s report is new, although now it’s been verified by federal scientists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Raquel Maria Dillon was the first to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11898161/scientists-find-traces-of-omicron-in-sewage-from-sacramento-and-merced\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">report\u003c/span>\u003c/a> on the detection in Merced, as well as a similar sample found in Sacramento on Nov. 30 — that’s a day before health officials confirmed the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1977807/first-u-s-case-of-omicron-variant-found-in-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">first U.S. case in a San Francisco resident on Dec. 1\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers notified Sacramento of the findings, and officials there described the data as useful and “one of the tools that helps us identify new variants.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>We’ve learned a lot about COVID-19 by examining what we’ve flushed down the toilet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are a few of those things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The variant was in a waste sample collected in Merced County on Nov. 25 — that’s a day before the World Health Organization named it omicron.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists in New York found it in a sample collected even earlier, on Nov. 21, predating the alarms from leaders in South Africa about a troubling new variant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials in Texas also detected omicron early through wastewater surveillance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7103a5.htm?s_cid=mm7103a5_w&utm_source=STAT+Newsletters&utm_campaign=6439030dc2-MR_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8cab1d7961-6439030dc2-151495997#T1_down\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">report\u003c/span>\u003c/a> last week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlined these facts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agency scientists describe this as “strong early evidence that the Omicron variant was likely present or more widely distributed in these communities than originally indicated by clinical testing alone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report makes a case that by the time officials have detected a new variant, it likely has spread to numerous other countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this light, travel bans look ineffective and like “closing the barn door after the horses have fled,” as researchers from the University of Illinois argued in a \u003ca href=\"https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/583337-omicron-is-already-global-tests-for-international-flights-are-far-better\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">recent op-ed\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Requiring testing on international flights would be a much more effective policy, they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study also underscores the potency of this new surveillance tool, which counties increasingly rely on as demand for COVID-19 tests outpace supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ability to ramp up the infrastructure to test the number of people that need to be tested right now is an enormous strain on the health care system and on our testing systems that we’ve set up,” said Marlene Wolfe of Emory University, one of the researchers who monitors sites across Northern California. “But with this wastewater data, we have not had to increase our capacity at all. We are doing exactly what we’ve been doing for a year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wolfe’s method can detect as few as one or two cases per 100,000 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re in close communication with public health officials,” she said. “They’re able to use that data to plan for what’s next. It’s similar to how they would use clinical case data but is actually more reliable. We are not biased by the fact that it’s so difficult to find a test right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wolfe says this moment is a good opportunity to expand the surveillance regime and collect data on other diseases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re starting to monitor for \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">respiratory syncytial virus\u003c/a> and influenza,” she said. “There are a lot of areas where we can provide very useful public health data using wastewater because we have developed these tools so fully over the course of this pandemic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all of the information in the CDC’s report is new, although now it’s been verified by federal scientists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Raquel Maria Dillon was the first to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11898161/scientists-find-traces-of-omicron-in-sewage-from-sacramento-and-merced\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">report\u003c/span>\u003c/a> on the detection in Merced, as well as a similar sample found in Sacramento on Nov. 30 — that’s a day before health officials confirmed the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1977807/first-u-s-case-of-omicron-variant-found-in-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">first U.S. case in a San Francisco resident on Dec. 1\u003c/span>\u003c/a>.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers notified Sacramento of the findings, and officials there described the data as useful and “one of the tools that helps us identify new variants.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "This Bay Area Doctor Says Climate Action Is Central to Health",
"headTitle": "This Bay Area Doctor Says Climate Action Is Central to Health | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>It’s an all-hands-on-deck decade for the climate — and experts say we all need to step up. But how do you manage that, as a busy person, trying to pay the rent, during a pandemic?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s one formula from marine biologist \u003ca href=\"https://www.ayanaelizabeth.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson\u003c/a>: Consider what you’re good at, what you love, and what in the climate world needs doing. Your climate sweet spot is where those things intersect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977319\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1977319 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1020x1020.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1020x1020.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-800x800.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-160x160.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-768x768.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1536x1536.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-2048x2048.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1920x1920.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has created this Venn diagram to help people find their place in climate action. \u003ccite>(Courtesy The All We Can Save Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We’re bringing you stories of people who are doing that. This is the first in a series about Bay Area people new to climate action.Dr. Ashley McClure describes herself as “a mom, primary care doctor and medical community climate organizer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She co-founded \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatehealthnow.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Climate Health Now\u003c/a>, a group of California health professionals advocating for climate action through a lens of health and equity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group aims to decarbonize health care, communicate climate change as a health emergency, and partner with community-based organizations to assist their climate justice campaigns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Laura Klivans spoke with McClure about Climate Health Now, which has more than 500 members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: Tell me about your climate awakening.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Ashley McClure\u003c/strong>: It was August, 2018. I was nursing my then 2-month-old daughter, Callalucia. She [had] just fallen asleep while I was sitting, so I didn’t want to move. I just happened upon the \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Inconvenient-Sequel-Truth-Power/dp/B07481RLPH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“Inconvenient Truth” sequel\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And at that moment, the climate crisis of 2 degrees Celsius and megatons of carbon and all these intellectual understandings — being a new mom and that fierce love and willingness to do anything — tears fell down my cheeks onto her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her life is so threatened by inaction: by my inaction, by our collective inaction. This is about the safety of everyone we love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I always thought the experts had the climate crisis figured out; the experts will take care of it. But my job is being a doctor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I realized the experts know what’s wrong, but they don’t have the power to make the changes that we need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We all have a role to play in this catastrophe that threatens the safety of all of our loved ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How’d you relate to climate action before?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve been a vegetarian for decades and I recycled and stuff, but [addressing climate change] was about my personal choices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I figured, if I do my part, somebody else is going to do their part and experts are going to be leading the solutions. And once I realized that no one’s really watching the store, my sense of obligation became about much more than myself and my family; it’s about the collective fate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where did you start when it came to taking action? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://citizensclimatelobby.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Citizens’ Climate Lobby\u003c/a> was my first climate home. But I realized in just a few months that it wasn’t using my greatest tool: being a physician.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/01/11/americas-most-least-trusted-professions-infographic/?sh=265a8ed37e94\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">If people are polled\u003c/a>, they usually rate nurses as the most trusted professionals, then doctors, and then pharmacists. So that social trust is what we have to give to the climate movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started networking and finding health professional colleagues who are also climate-concerned. Then around the youth climate strikes in September of 2019, I organized a big day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We set up an urgent climate care clinic with a big banner in front of [U.S.] Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi’s office in San Francisco. We wore our white coats and had signs that said: ‘Climate change is a health emergency.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We handed out medical excuse notes for all the students who were striking, saying as physicians, we support these children striking. The climate crisis is making asthma and heat worse. These compromise the health of kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also had meetings with Speaker Pelosi’s office, then-Senator [Kamala] Harris’s office, Senator [Dianne] Feinstein and Congresswoman Barbara Lee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And this led you and your co-founder, Dr. Amanda Millstein, to start your own organization? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We did a lot of soul-searching and discussed with mentors and colleagues whether we should join other groups. After careful conversation, we decided that there was a need [to create a new one]. There wasn’t a state-level group in California for doctors and nurses to bridge into the climate movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What does Climate Health Now do?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s an example: Environmental justice groups have been working for years to get the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to require East Bay refineries to decrease the amount of particulate matter they produce. Particulate matter is a toxin that we breathe. It increases our risk of heart attacks, strokes and all-cause mortality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The refineries were saying that to install these retrofits would be really expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We joined in conversation with the community groups who had been leading this fight and asked them, ‘What can we do to help?’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they said, ‘Have a press conference and have meetings with as many of the 24 air district board members as you can.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Have a press conference? We didn’t learn about that in medical school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But my partner, Dr. Amanda Millstein, pulled this off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was really powerful because we were working with community groups and we won. This was a historic vote of the communities winning. That’s a model of what we want to do across the whole state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>(Editor’s note: Chevron’s Richmond refinery and the \u003c/em>\u003cem>PBF\u003c/em> \u003cem>Energy\u003c/em>\u003cem>–\u003c/em>\u003cem>owned\u003c/em> \u003cem>refinery\u003c/em> \u003cem>in\u003c/em> \u003cem>Martinez\u003c/em> — \u003cem>two refineries facing regulations — questioned the environmental benefits of the rule change, arguing it \u003c/em>\u003cem>would cost jobs and raise gas prices. The board overseeing the agency voted for the regulations last July.\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11876301/bay-area-refineries-must-dramatically-cut-pollution-air-district-says-in-historic-vote\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> You can read more of KQED’s reporting on the issue\u003c/a>).\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What challenges have you come up against?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We get a lot of health care workers saying, ‘This isn’t in our lane.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I have a colleague who says this, I go to the science. That’s our shared language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The science really clearly shows that in this moment, the greatest public health crisis is burning fossil fuels. The number of people in the world who die from fossil fuel-related air pollution every year is \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935121000487#preview-section-introduction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">8 [million] to 9 million\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the chronic disease management we’ve worked so hard on pales in comparison to the consequences of burning fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change is not exactly in most of our lanes, but it’s also going to determine the outcome of all of our lanes. So we have to all expand our lanes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you juggle this new work with your life?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a lot of late nights, early mornings, and lunch hours packed with meetings. But it’s given me my way more than I’ve given it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What have you gained from this work? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The community organizing I’m doing around climate is where I have found the most meaningful friendships I have. It’s become a new community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using my voice as a physician has breathed new life into my sense of meaning as a physician. It’s not just about that one-on-one interaction in my clinics. It’s about my place as a healer in society. \u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s an all-hands-on-deck decade for the climate — and experts say we all need to step up. But how do you manage that, as a busy person, trying to pay the rent, during a pandemic?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s one formula from marine biologist \u003ca href=\"https://www.ayanaelizabeth.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson\u003c/a>: Consider what you’re good at, what you love, and what in the climate world needs doing. Your climate sweet spot is where those things intersect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977319\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1977319 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1020x1020.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1020x1020.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-800x800.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-160x160.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-768x768.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1536x1536.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-2048x2048.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Square-1920x1920.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has created this Venn diagram to help people find their place in climate action. \u003ccite>(Courtesy The All We Can Save Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We’re bringing you stories of people who are doing that. This is the first in a series about Bay Area people new to climate action.Dr. Ashley McClure describes herself as “a mom, primary care doctor and medical community climate organizer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She co-founded \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatehealthnow.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Climate Health Now\u003c/a>, a group of California health professionals advocating for climate action through a lens of health and equity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group aims to decarbonize health care, communicate climate change as a health emergency, and partner with community-based organizations to assist their climate justice campaigns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Laura Klivans spoke with McClure about Climate Health Now, which has more than 500 members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Klivans: Tell me about your climate awakening.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Ashley McClure\u003c/strong>: It was August, 2018. I was nursing my then 2-month-old daughter, Callalucia. She [had] just fallen asleep while I was sitting, so I didn’t want to move. I just happened upon the \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Inconvenient-Sequel-Truth-Power/dp/B07481RLPH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">“Inconvenient Truth” sequel\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And at that moment, the climate crisis of 2 degrees Celsius and megatons of carbon and all these intellectual understandings — being a new mom and that fierce love and willingness to do anything — tears fell down my cheeks onto her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her life is so threatened by inaction: by my inaction, by our collective inaction. This is about the safety of everyone we love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I always thought the experts had the climate crisis figured out; the experts will take care of it. But my job is being a doctor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I realized the experts know what’s wrong, but they don’t have the power to make the changes that we need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We all have a role to play in this catastrophe that threatens the safety of all of our loved ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How’d you relate to climate action before?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve been a vegetarian for decades and I recycled and stuff, but [addressing climate change] was about my personal choices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I figured, if I do my part, somebody else is going to do their part and experts are going to be leading the solutions. And once I realized that no one’s really watching the store, my sense of obligation became about much more than myself and my family; it’s about the collective fate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where did you start when it came to taking action? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://citizensclimatelobby.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Citizens’ Climate Lobby\u003c/a> was my first climate home. But I realized in just a few months that it wasn’t using my greatest tool: being a physician.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/01/11/americas-most-least-trusted-professions-infographic/?sh=265a8ed37e94\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">If people are polled\u003c/a>, they usually rate nurses as the most trusted professionals, then doctors, and then pharmacists. So that social trust is what we have to give to the climate movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started networking and finding health professional colleagues who are also climate-concerned. Then around the youth climate strikes in September of 2019, I organized a big day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We set up an urgent climate care clinic with a big banner in front of [U.S.] Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi’s office in San Francisco. We wore our white coats and had signs that said: ‘Climate change is a health emergency.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We handed out medical excuse notes for all the students who were striking, saying as physicians, we support these children striking. The climate crisis is making asthma and heat worse. These compromise the health of kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also had meetings with Speaker Pelosi’s office, then-Senator [Kamala] Harris’s office, Senator [Dianne] Feinstein and Congresswoman Barbara Lee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And this led you and your co-founder, Dr. Amanda Millstein, to start your own organization? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We did a lot of soul-searching and discussed with mentors and colleagues whether we should join other groups. After careful conversation, we decided that there was a need [to create a new one]. There wasn’t a state-level group in California for doctors and nurses to bridge into the climate movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What does Climate Health Now do?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s an example: Environmental justice groups have been working for years to get the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to require East Bay refineries to decrease the amount of particulate matter they produce. Particulate matter is a toxin that we breathe. It increases our risk of heart attacks, strokes and all-cause mortality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The refineries were saying that to install these retrofits would be really expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We joined in conversation with the community groups who had been leading this fight and asked them, ‘What can we do to help?’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they said, ‘Have a press conference and have meetings with as many of the 24 air district board members as you can.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Have a press conference? We didn’t learn about that in medical school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But my partner, Dr. Amanda Millstein, pulled this off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was really powerful because we were working with community groups and we won. This was a historic vote of the communities winning. That’s a model of what we want to do across the whole state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>(Editor’s note: Chevron’s Richmond refinery and the \u003c/em>\u003cem>PBF\u003c/em> \u003cem>Energy\u003c/em>\u003cem>–\u003c/em>\u003cem>owned\u003c/em> \u003cem>refinery\u003c/em> \u003cem>in\u003c/em> \u003cem>Martinez\u003c/em> — \u003cem>two refineries facing regulations — questioned the environmental benefits of the rule change, arguing it \u003c/em>\u003cem>would cost jobs and raise gas prices. The board overseeing the agency voted for the regulations last July.\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11876301/bay-area-refineries-must-dramatically-cut-pollution-air-district-says-in-historic-vote\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> You can read more of KQED’s reporting on the issue\u003c/a>).\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What challenges have you come up against?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We get a lot of health care workers saying, ‘This isn’t in our lane.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I have a colleague who says this, I go to the science. That’s our shared language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The science really clearly shows that in this moment, the greatest public health crisis is burning fossil fuels. The number of people in the world who die from fossil fuel-related air pollution every year is \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935121000487#preview-section-introduction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">8 [million] to 9 million\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the chronic disease management we’ve worked so hard on pales in comparison to the consequences of burning fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change is not exactly in most of our lanes, but it’s also going to determine the outcome of all of our lanes. So we have to all expand our lanes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you juggle this new work with your life?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a lot of late nights, early mornings, and lunch hours packed with meetings. But it’s given me my way more than I’ve given it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What have you gained from this work? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The community organizing I’m doing around climate is where I have found the most meaningful friendships I have. It’s become a new community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using my voice as a physician has breathed new life into my sense of meaning as a physician. It’s not just about that one-on-one interaction in my clinics. It’s about my place as a healer in society. \u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "After Their Son Was Swept Into The Ocean, This Fremont Family Turned Their Grief Into Advocacy",
"headTitle": "After Their Son Was Swept Into The Ocean, This Fremont Family Turned Their Grief Into Advocacy | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Find tips for staying safe at the beach this winter at the \u003ca href=\"#question\">bottom of this post\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last January, Sharmistha Chakraborty and Tarun Pruthi lost their 12-year-old son, Arunay Pruthi, after he was swept off the beach by a wave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with the help of other beachgoers “we couldn’t get to him because there was no device or equipment to throw at him,” Sharmistha said. “They were trying to make ropes out of tents, pulling them apart, trying to make a long line so they could throw it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort proved unsuccessful. Arunay drifted away too quickly, after being dragged into the ocean by a sneaker wave — a dangerous surge of ocean water that suddenly pushes high on the beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since that tragic day, the Fremont couple has funneled their grief into a mission to protect others from living the same tragedy. Their advocacy resulted in the installation of permanent lifesaving stations and ring buoys at three local Bay Area beaches last November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978070\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978070 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach.jpg\" alt=\"A women with a beige trenchcoat and a man with a gray fleece stand on a bluff looking over the ocean. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sharmistha Chakraborty and Tarun Pruthi, parents of 12-year-old Arunay Pruthi, who drowned at Cowell Ranch State Beach in Half Moon Bay, Calif. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The family hopes that warning signs and the rings, which are attached to 100 feet of rope, will alert people to the danger of the ocean and help those who are drowning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arunay was one of at least 11 people who died or nearly drowned at Bay Area beaches last fall and winter, according to the National Weather Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drew Peterson, a meteorologist with the agency, says the public is increasingly aware of this once little-known coastal hazard, in part because of tragic stories like Arunay’s. And that’s critical, he says, to prevent more people\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>from being involved in ocean-related deaths and accidents each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sneaker waves claimed so many lives last year, in part, because people flocked to the beach to enjoy unseasonably warm weather at a safe outlet during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Bay Area officials are warning the public to be extra cautious, especially now as we enter the winter months, prime season for sneaker waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peterson says the number of beach hazard events is already higher than at this time last year, when beaches were pummeled by huge swells. He attributes the increase to La Niña conditions and a high-pressure ridge that creates unseasonable, dry weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The weather pattern also allows offshore storms to transfer energy to the ocean’s surface and spawn long, powerful waves that fan out along the California coastline, surprising beachgoers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978071\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978071 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10.jpg\" alt=\"White ocean water rises up along brown sand. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">High tide waves at Mavericks Beach in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2021. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>The season for sneaker waves\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A sneaker wave, sometimes referred to as a “sleeper wave,” is a large, unusual train of waves that can surge up powerfully on a beach with no apparent warning. They often arrive after lengthy periods of gentle, lapping waves, knocking people off their feet into the cold water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The season for sneaker waves can begin as early as September and continue to April, though they are most likely from December to February, Peterson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For much of the West Coast, sneaker waves kill more people than all other weather hazards combined, according to the National Weather Service’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/safety/ripcurrent-waves\">website\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area’s coastline was active early this year, with three reported drownings in mid-September due to sneaker waves and associated rip currents, Peterson said. The drownings occurred along the craggy, winding shoreline between Davenport and Santa Cruz. Two people drowned at Panther Beach and another — a 17-year-old swimmer and cross-country athlete — at Laguna Creek State Beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ocean is a very powerful force of nature,” Peterson said. “People should understand that any day on the coast can be a dangerous or deadly day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘How can we not know?’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Before their son died, Sharmistha and Tarun had never heard of sneaker waves, although they’d visited beaches all over the world. Now, Sharmistha wonders why more people haven’t either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We thought: ‘How can we not know?’” she said. “And if we did not know, that means hundreds of other families don’t know either —maybe even thousands more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sneaker waves not only sweep away unsuspecting beachgoers, said Tuba Özkan-Haller, a professor of ocean science at Oregon State University. They can also knock them off of rocks and logs, or wash them out of beachside caves and pocket beaches with high-walled bluffs, like those at Cowell Ranch State Beach, where Arunay drowned. Once a person is in the ocean, the cold water can cause hypothermia within minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It does not look like a curling wave,” she said. “It looks like the tide is rising fast over the course of a few minutes, and it just keeps coming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conditions need to be right for sneaker waves to push up along Bay Area beaches. They are generated by storms offshore in the northern Pacific Ocean and arrive only if there’s no local storm to disrupt or weaken them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They often can hit on a beautiful day that basically invites people to come right out to the beach,” Özkan-Haller said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most years, sneaker waves are responsible for several drownings or near drownings from Northern California to southern Washington, but many are unreported, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So often the stories of people being affected by sneaker waves are tragic,” she said. “It’s a split second, and your life can change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Tragedy strikes\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>It seemed the perfect day for a beach outing, sunny and unseasonably warm, Sharmistha recalled. It was the family’s first time visiting Cowell Ranch State Beach in Half Moon Bay. They were joined by a group of other families on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They hadn’t been there long, when a powerful sneaker wave ran up the beach, knocking their younger son, 8-year-old Siddhant, off his feet as he was playing at the water’s edge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tarun dashed into the water after him, with Sharmistha following, both desperately trying to grab hold of their younger son. But they were rocked about and flung in all directions by a set of turbulent waves, the sand shifting underneath their feet with each step.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one point, Sharmistha lost consciousness, but awoke with relief when she saw Tarun and Siddhant on the beach beside her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then they realized that their older son, Arunay, who they’d last seen higher up on the beach playing frisbee, was missing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He knew he was the best swimmer of all of us in the family,” she said. “Maybe that’s the reason he thought he needed to jump into the water to save us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water “looked deceptively calm that day,” Tarun said. “In a matter of a minute, no one was able to hold their ground, the wave was just way too strong. It created a churn. I remember going up and down, just like a washing machine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then “someone grabbed my hand and pulled me out,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Throwing a lifeline\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A couple dozen people formed several long lines — human chains with linked arms — and were able to save Tarun, Sharmistha and their youngest son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chain of people tried to reach Arunay, too, but he had drifted past their reach. They tried to tie tents together to throw out to him, but weren’t able to do so in time. By the time first responders arrived, he was no longer visible from the shore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s where the idea of installing ring buoys on beaches came from, and that’s how our journey started,” Sharmistha said, adding that she believes Arunay might be alive today if one had been nearby that day.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The right tools for beach safety\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In May, the couple started the \u003ca href=\"https://www.arunayfoundation.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Arunay Foundation\u003c/a>, in their son’s name, to advocate for beach safety. They worked with Eric Jones of \u003ca href=\"https://www.seavalor.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sea Valor\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that teaches sailing to veterans with PTSD and kids from underserved communities, to build and install the emergency buoy stations. He played a key role in the more than six-week search for their son’s body, which was not recovered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They hope that the buoy stations at Mavericks Beach, Pillar Point Harbor and Surfers Beach in Half Moon Bay are just the beginning, the couple said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their organization has advocated for more lifeguards and better warning systems, and designed a beach safety class — similar to those for earthquakes and fires — that they hope will be taught across California to schoolchildren.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are more exposed to the beach than they are exposed to a fire or earthquake, so beach safety should be a part of the curriculum, too,” Tarun said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978072\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1978072\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling mother holds her young son. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-1536x1026.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arunay Pruthi with his mother, Sharmistha Chakraborty, photographed on May 29, 2017. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of family)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>‘Still searching’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>It was less than a year ago that they lost their son. Yet, the couple quickly realized that they needed to spring into action to prevent other tragedies, even at times when they felt more like staying at home under a blanket, Sharmistha said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Something has to be done so that tomorrow this doesn’t happen to anyone else’s child,” she said. “But the sadness doesn’t go away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tarun used to love the beach, but he says he no longer enjoys it. And when he does go, it’s no longer to relax, but to advocate for beach safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November, they attended a dedication ceremony for the buoy station at Pillar Point Harbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last May, they went to a dedication for a memorial picnic table for their son at Cowell Ranch State Beach. The ceremony occurred on what would have been his 13th birthday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tarun says that he and his wife still hope to see a sign of Arunay, when they walk the half-mile trek past the coyote brush and thistles to the beach where they lost him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every time I come here, I’m always searching,” he said. “Still looking for him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978073\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978073 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sharmistha Chakraborty and Tarun Pruthi look out at the beach where they lost their son. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"question\">\u003c/a>Tips for staying safe at the beach:\u003c/h3>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Check the National Weather Service Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/mtr/\">website \u003c/a>and social media for coastal hazard advisories and warnings. Arrive knowing the weather, tide and surf forecast.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Never turn your back on the ocean. Examine wave activity for 20 minutes from higher ground. Check for wet or dark sand before deciding where to sit. Build in a buffer between you and the surf. Stay further back than you think is necessary and expand the buffer if the beach is low or sloping.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Always have an exit plan. Are you able to get to higher ground easily? Or is it difficult to scramble up the rocks or dunes behind you? If waves do swamp the beach, you should be able to get to higher ground quickly — within 20 seconds — and take into account how able-bodied you are.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Use caution around logs near the water, which can float away or could roll on top of you.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Avoid walking or standing on rock jetties, as waves can knock you off, as well as caves and high-walled bluffs, as tides rise fast and can prevent escape.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Put children in a life vest and dogs on a leash, whenever they play close to the water.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\u003cem>Sources: Tuba Özkan-Haller and the National Weather Service\u003c/em>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Find tips for staying safe at the beach this winter at the \u003ca href=\"#question\">bottom of this post\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last January, Sharmistha Chakraborty and Tarun Pruthi lost their 12-year-old son, Arunay Pruthi, after he was swept off the beach by a wave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with the help of other beachgoers “we couldn’t get to him because there was no device or equipment to throw at him,” Sharmistha said. “They were trying to make ropes out of tents, pulling them apart, trying to make a long line so they could throw it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort proved unsuccessful. Arunay drifted away too quickly, after being dragged into the ocean by a sneaker wave — a dangerous surge of ocean water that suddenly pushes high on the beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since that tragic day, the Fremont couple has funneled their grief into a mission to protect others from living the same tragedy. Their advocacy resulted in the installation of permanent lifesaving stations and ring buoys at three local Bay Area beaches last November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978070\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978070 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach.jpg\" alt=\"A women with a beige trenchcoat and a man with a gray fleece stand on a bluff looking over the ocean. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52772_CowellRanchStateBeach-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sharmistha Chakraborty and Tarun Pruthi, parents of 12-year-old Arunay Pruthi, who drowned at Cowell Ranch State Beach in Half Moon Bay, Calif. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The family hopes that warning signs and the rings, which are attached to 100 feet of rope, will alert people to the danger of the ocean and help those who are drowning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arunay was one of at least 11 people who died or nearly drowned at Bay Area beaches last fall and winter, according to the National Weather Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drew Peterson, a meteorologist with the agency, says the public is increasingly aware of this once little-known coastal hazard, in part because of tragic stories like Arunay’s. And that’s critical, he says, to prevent more people\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> \u003c/span>from being involved in ocean-related deaths and accidents each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sneaker waves claimed so many lives last year, in part, because people flocked to the beach to enjoy unseasonably warm weather at a safe outlet during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Bay Area officials are warning the public to be extra cautious, especially now as we enter the winter months, prime season for sneaker waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peterson says the number of beach hazard events is already higher than at this time last year, when beaches were pummeled by huge swells. He attributes the increase to La Niña conditions and a high-pressure ridge that creates unseasonable, dry weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The weather pattern also allows offshore storms to transfer energy to the ocean’s surface and spawn long, powerful waves that fan out along the California coastline, surprising beachgoers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978071\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978071 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10.jpg\" alt=\"White ocean water rises up along brown sand. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52919_PillarPointMavericksBeaches-10-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">High tide waves at Mavericks Beach in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Dec. 5, 2021. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>The season for sneaker waves\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A sneaker wave, sometimes referred to as a “sleeper wave,” is a large, unusual train of waves that can surge up powerfully on a beach with no apparent warning. They often arrive after lengthy periods of gentle, lapping waves, knocking people off their feet into the cold water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The season for sneaker waves can begin as early as September and continue to April, though they are most likely from December to February, Peterson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For much of the West Coast, sneaker waves kill more people than all other weather hazards combined, according to the National Weather Service’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/safety/ripcurrent-waves\">website\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area’s coastline was active early this year, with three reported drownings in mid-September due to sneaker waves and associated rip currents, Peterson said. The drownings occurred along the craggy, winding shoreline between Davenport and Santa Cruz. Two people drowned at Panther Beach and another — a 17-year-old swimmer and cross-country athlete — at Laguna Creek State Beach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ocean is a very powerful force of nature,” Peterson said. “People should understand that any day on the coast can be a dangerous or deadly day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘How can we not know?’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Before their son died, Sharmistha and Tarun had never heard of sneaker waves, although they’d visited beaches all over the world. Now, Sharmistha wonders why more people haven’t either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We thought: ‘How can we not know?’” she said. “And if we did not know, that means hundreds of other families don’t know either —maybe even thousands more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sneaker waves not only sweep away unsuspecting beachgoers, said Tuba Özkan-Haller, a professor of ocean science at Oregon State University. They can also knock them off of rocks and logs, or wash them out of beachside caves and pocket beaches with high-walled bluffs, like those at Cowell Ranch State Beach, where Arunay drowned. Once a person is in the ocean, the cold water can cause hypothermia within minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It does not look like a curling wave,” she said. “It looks like the tide is rising fast over the course of a few minutes, and it just keeps coming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conditions need to be right for sneaker waves to push up along Bay Area beaches. They are generated by storms offshore in the northern Pacific Ocean and arrive only if there’s no local storm to disrupt or weaken them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They often can hit on a beautiful day that basically invites people to come right out to the beach,” Özkan-Haller said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most years, sneaker waves are responsible for several drownings or near drownings from Northern California to southern Washington, but many are unreported, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So often the stories of people being affected by sneaker waves are tragic,” she said. “It’s a split second, and your life can change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Tragedy strikes\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>It seemed the perfect day for a beach outing, sunny and unseasonably warm, Sharmistha recalled. It was the family’s first time visiting Cowell Ranch State Beach in Half Moon Bay. They were joined by a group of other families on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They hadn’t been there long, when a powerful sneaker wave ran up the beach, knocking their younger son, 8-year-old Siddhant, off his feet as he was playing at the water’s edge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tarun dashed into the water after him, with Sharmistha following, both desperately trying to grab hold of their younger son. But they were rocked about and flung in all directions by a set of turbulent waves, the sand shifting underneath their feet with each step.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one point, Sharmistha lost consciousness, but awoke with relief when she saw Tarun and Siddhant on the beach beside her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then they realized that their older son, Arunay, who they’d last seen higher up on the beach playing frisbee, was missing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He knew he was the best swimmer of all of us in the family,” she said. “Maybe that’s the reason he thought he needed to jump into the water to save us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water “looked deceptively calm that day,” Tarun said. “In a matter of a minute, no one was able to hold their ground, the wave was just way too strong. It created a churn. I remember going up and down, just like a washing machine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then “someone grabbed my hand and pulled me out,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Throwing a lifeline\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A couple dozen people formed several long lines — human chains with linked arms — and were able to save Tarun, Sharmistha and their youngest son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chain of people tried to reach Arunay, too, but he had drifted past their reach. They tried to tie tents together to throw out to him, but weren’t able to do so in time. By the time first responders arrived, he was no longer visible from the shore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s where the idea of installing ring buoys on beaches came from, and that’s how our journey started,” Sharmistha said, adding that she believes Arunay might be alive today if one had been nearby that day.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The right tools for beach safety\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In May, the couple started the \u003ca href=\"https://www.arunayfoundation.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Arunay Foundation\u003c/a>, in their son’s name, to advocate for beach safety. They worked with Eric Jones of \u003ca href=\"https://www.seavalor.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sea Valor\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that teaches sailing to veterans with PTSD and kids from underserved communities, to build and install the emergency buoy stations. He played a key role in the more than six-week search for their son’s body, which was not recovered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They hope that the buoy stations at Mavericks Beach, Pillar Point Harbor and Surfers Beach in Half Moon Bay are just the beginning, the couple said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their organization has advocated for more lifeguards and better warning systems, and designed a beach safety class — similar to those for earthquakes and fires — that they hope will be taught across California to schoolchildren.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are more exposed to the beach than they are exposed to a fire or earthquake, so beach safety should be a part of the curriculum, too,” Tarun said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978072\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1978072\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling mother holds her young son. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52951_Arunay-Pruthi-3-qut-1536x1026.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arunay Pruthi with his mother, Sharmistha Chakraborty, photographed on May 29, 2017. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of family)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>‘Still searching’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>It was less than a year ago that they lost their son. Yet, the couple quickly realized that they needed to spring into action to prevent other tragedies, even at times when they felt more like staying at home under a blanket, Sharmistha said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Something has to be done so that tomorrow this doesn’t happen to anyone else’s child,” she said. “But the sadness doesn’t go away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tarun used to love the beach, but he says he no longer enjoys it. And when he does go, it’s no longer to relax, but to advocate for beach safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November, they attended a dedication ceremony for the buoy station at Pillar Point Harbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last May, they went to a dedication for a memorial picnic table for their son at Cowell Ranch State Beach. The ceremony occurred on what would have been his 13th birthday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tarun says that he and his wife still hope to see a sign of Arunay, when they walk the half-mile trek past the coyote brush and thistles to the beach where they lost him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every time I come here, I’m always searching,” he said. “Still looking for him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1978073\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1978073 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/12/RS52773_CowellRanchStateBeach-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sharmistha Chakraborty and Tarun Pruthi look out at the beach where they lost their son. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>\u003ca id=\"question\">\u003c/a>Tips for staying safe at the beach:\u003c/h3>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Check the National Weather Service Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/mtr/\">website \u003c/a>and social media for coastal hazard advisories and warnings. Arrive knowing the weather, tide and surf forecast.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Never turn your back on the ocean. Examine wave activity for 20 minutes from higher ground. Check for wet or dark sand before deciding where to sit. Build in a buffer between you and the surf. Stay further back than you think is necessary and expand the buffer if the beach is low or sloping.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Always have an exit plan. Are you able to get to higher ground easily? Or is it difficult to scramble up the rocks or dunes behind you? If waves do swamp the beach, you should be able to get to higher ground quickly — within 20 seconds — and take into account how able-bodied you are.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Use caution around logs near the water, which can float away or could roll on top of you.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Avoid walking or standing on rock jetties, as waves can knock you off, as well as caves and high-walled bluffs, as tides rise fast and can prevent escape.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Put children in a life vest and dogs on a leash, whenever they play close to the water.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\u003cem>Sources: Tuba Özkan-Haller and the National Weather Service\u003c/em>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Elizabeth Holmes, the former chief executive of the once high-flying biotech startup Theranos, was found \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/elizabeth-holmes-trial-theranos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">guilty on four of 11 charges\u003c/a> of defrauding the company’s investors and patients. She was found not guilty on four counts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Holmes could face up to 20 years in prison, although legal experts say her sentence is likely to be less than that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the nearly four-month federal trial in San Jose, jurors heard from over 30 witnesses called by prosecutors. Together, they painted Holmes as a charismatic entrepreneur who secured hundreds of millions of dollars in investment for a medical device that never delivered on her promises. When Theranos’ technology fell short, the government argued, Holmes covered it up and kept insisting that the machines would transform how diseases are diagnosed through blood tests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jury’s decision followed seven days of deliberations. Still, the jury could not reach a unanimous decision on three charges, which will be resolved at a later date..\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Holmes accuses deputy Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani of sexual abuse\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Holmes took the witness stand for more than 20 hours to defend herself. She accused her ex-boyfriend and former deputy at Theranos, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, of sexual abuse, saying that clouded her sense of judgement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Balwani faces a separate fraud trial in the same court in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Holmes also showed remorse on the stand. She said she wished she had handled some key business matters differently. But she blamed others for the downfall of Theranos. She said lab directors whom she had trusted were the ones closest to the technology. And she said Balwani, not her, oversaw the company’s financial forecasts, which were later discovered to be grossly inflated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet the government offered evidence that Holmes had an iron grip on Theranos’ operations. Prosecutors argued she did not stop — and even helped spread —falsehoods about the company that misled investors into pouring millions into the startup. Theranos’ value, once estimated at more than $9 billion, was ultimately squandered.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Promised a finger prick of blood would scan for hundreds of diseases\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Holmes dropped out of Stanford at age 19 to found Theranos. She claimed she had invented a new way to scan for hundreds of diseases using just a drop or two of blood from a finger prick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when Theranos’ machines were rolled out to Walgreens stores in California and Arizona, they gave patients false or flawed results. One patient testified that she was led to believe she was having a miscarriage after taking a Theranos test, when indeed her pregnancy was viable. Another patient thought her cancer had returned, when it had not, following a test.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers for Holmes have vowed to appeal. Legal experts say winning an appeal of a jury verdict is rare, however.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is unusual for tech executives to face criminal changes when their startups collapse under the weight of unrealized promises. Former prosecutors\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/09/25/1040442689/elizabeth-holmes-trial-why-her-not-other-ceos\"> have said\u003c/a> that the egregiousness of the fraud at Theranos, and the fact that the startup was in the highly-regulated health care industry, where the health of private citizens is on the line, distinguished this collapse from that of other once-hyped startups that also flamed out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Former+Theranos+CEO+Elizabeth+Holmes+is+found+guilty+on+4+counts+in+her+fraud+trial+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Elizabeth Holmes, the former chief executive of the once high-flying biotech startup Theranos, was found \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/elizabeth-holmes-trial-theranos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">guilty on four of 11 charges\u003c/a> of defrauding the company’s investors and patients. She was found not guilty on four counts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Holmes could face up to 20 years in prison, although legal experts say her sentence is likely to be less than that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the nearly four-month federal trial in San Jose, jurors heard from over 30 witnesses called by prosecutors. Together, they painted Holmes as a charismatic entrepreneur who secured hundreds of millions of dollars in investment for a medical device that never delivered on her promises. When Theranos’ technology fell short, the government argued, Holmes covered it up and kept insisting that the machines would transform how diseases are diagnosed through blood tests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jury’s decision followed seven days of deliberations. Still, the jury could not reach a unanimous decision on three charges, which will be resolved at a later date..\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Holmes accuses deputy Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani of sexual abuse\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Holmes took the witness stand for more than 20 hours to defend herself. She accused her ex-boyfriend and former deputy at Theranos, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, of sexual abuse, saying that clouded her sense of judgement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Balwani faces a separate fraud trial in the same court in February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Holmes also showed remorse on the stand. She said she wished she had handled some key business matters differently. But she blamed others for the downfall of Theranos. She said lab directors whom she had trusted were the ones closest to the technology. And she said Balwani, not her, oversaw the company’s financial forecasts, which were later discovered to be grossly inflated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet the government offered evidence that Holmes had an iron grip on Theranos’ operations. Prosecutors argued she did not stop — and even helped spread —falsehoods about the company that misled investors into pouring millions into the startup. Theranos’ value, once estimated at more than $9 billion, was ultimately squandered.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Promised a finger prick of blood would scan for hundreds of diseases\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Holmes dropped out of Stanford at age 19 to found Theranos. She claimed she had invented a new way to scan for hundreds of diseases using just a drop or two of blood from a finger prick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when Theranos’ machines were rolled out to Walgreens stores in California and Arizona, they gave patients false or flawed results. One patient testified that she was led to believe she was having a miscarriage after taking a Theranos test, when indeed her pregnancy was viable. Another patient thought her cancer had returned, when it had not, following a test.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers for Holmes have vowed to appeal. Legal experts say winning an appeal of a jury verdict is rare, however.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is unusual for tech executives to face criminal changes when their startups collapse under the weight of unrealized promises. Former prosecutors\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/09/25/1040442689/elizabeth-holmes-trial-why-her-not-other-ceos\"> have said\u003c/a> that the egregiousness of the fraud at Theranos, and the fact that the startup was in the highly-regulated health care industry, where the health of private citizens is on the line, distinguished this collapse from that of other once-hyped startups that also flamed out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Former+Theranos+CEO+Elizabeth+Holmes+is+found+guilty+on+4+counts+in+her+fraud+trial+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"marketplace": {
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
},
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"perspectives": {
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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},
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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