Good morning. It’s Friday, Dec. 8. Right here’s what you want to know to begin your day.
‘Tis the (respiratory virus) season
Forward of Thanksgiving, I acquired a COVID-19 booster and flu shot. My reasoning was easy: I’d be gathering in-person with household and associates over the following a number of weeks, so I wished to guard myself and them as greatest I can.
That feels particularly essential as autumn deepens and turns to winter — prime time for respiratory virus season.
And as Instances reporter Rong-Gong Lin II wrote this week, infections of COVID-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are all on the upswing. However well being officers say an infection ranges aren’t as dangerous as they have been in late 2022, he famous: “Final 12 months at the moment, youngsters’s hospitals throughout California have been below stress, with exceptionally excessive hospitalization charges associated to RSV — together with in Orange County, which declared a well being emergency associated to the virus.”
Nonetheless, the rise is renewing considerations a few “tripledemic” within the coming weeks as well being officers urge Californians to stand up up to now on their vaccines.
Well being officers are keeping track of the newest coronavirus subvariant, formally named BA.2.86 however nicknamed “Pirola.”
The brand new subvariant accounted for 8.8% of coronavirus circumstances over the CDC’s most up-to-date two-week reporting interval, up from 3% from the earlier interval.
Pirola is one purpose medical doctors are urging extra folks — particularly older adults — to get the newest COVID-19 vaccine. However to date, many will not be. Statewide, simply over 1 / 4 of California’s seniors have acquired the newest vaccination. Reporting from Southern and Northern California counties reveals a notable hole in vaccinated seniors.
SoCal seniors with up to date COVID-19 vaccination
- L.A. County: 21%
- Orange County: 25%
- San Diego and Ventura counties: 27%
- Riverside County: 20%
- San Bernardino County: 17%
NorCal seniors with up to date COVID-19 vaccination
- Santa Clara County: 36%
- San Francisco and Alameda counties: 38%
- Contra Costa and San Mateo counties: 40%
- Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties: Above 40%
“If any individual’s in danger for getting severely ailing, significantly those that are older than 65, you possibly can’t actually depend on getting the previous shot final 12 months to essentially carry you thru this winter,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious ailments skilled at UC San Francisco, instructed The Instances. “You actually need some replenishing of the antibodies, and that’s what the brand new vaccine will do.”
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As we speak’s nice reads
After a mass capturing, Monterey Park restricted gun gross sales. However native legal guidelines alone received’t cease violence. There’s little proof that barring retailers from sure neighborhoods or requiring them to put in video cameras can considerably drive down gun violence. Solely large-scale adjustments within the variety of firearms sellers throughout a number of neighboring counties had a significant impact on native gun homicides, researchers discovered.
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To your downtime
Going out
Staying in
And eventually … an excellent photograph
Present us your favourite place in California! Ship us images you will have taken of spots in California which might be particular — pure or human-made — and inform us why they’re essential to you.
As we speak’s nice photograph is from Willard Gleeson of Glendale: The Man Fleming Home. Willard writes:
I’ve been visiting Torrey Pines State Reserve north of San Diego for 50 years. It’s some of the lovely and iconic landscapes on the coast. I assumed I knew each sq. inch of the place till I lately took a docents tour and was led to an remoted spot within the bushes and proven the Man Fleming home, fully out of sight. It was constructed over 100 years in the past, a number of years earlier than the well-known Torrey Pines Lodge, and has lately been renovated by the park’s upkeep employees.
Have an excellent day, from the Important California crew
Ryan Fonseca, reporter
Elvia Limón, multiplatform editor
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Laura Blasey, assistant editor
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