Amid a historic rise in COVID-19 cases throughout the country, the Biden-Harris Administration has begun accepting orders for free at-home, rapid COVID-19 tests. The federal government launched its ordering site www.COVIDTests.gov a day earlier than anticipated on Tuesday, allowing all Americans to receive four free tests per residential address. According to the Administration, tests are…
Read More »The Biden-Harris Administration recently formed a new Pandemic Innovation Task Force within the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to develop new countermeasures against possible future COVID-19 variants and other pandemic threats. The task force will not be responsible for day-to-day pandemic response activities but longer-term projects, including vaccinate, therapy, diagnostic, and…
Read More »The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) recently published an evaluation report that assessed how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted service utilization under the Whole Person Care (WPC) Program, the statewide Medi-Cal demonstration launched in 2016 to integrate medical, behavioral health, and social services for high-utilizing Medi-Cal beneficiaries. The report…
Read More »After hearing oral arguments on the cases last week, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday issued two decisions on COVID-19 vaccine mandates for specified occupational groups set forth by the Biden-Harris Administration. Below, we highlight these decisions: Vaccine Mandate for Large Employers The Supreme Court struck down the vaccine-or-test mandate for employers with 100 or…
Read More »The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) on Saturday issued updated guidance for health care workers and emergency medical services personnel to help address staffing shortages in care delivery systems. Under the new guidance, health care works and emergency medical services personnel who test positive for COVID-19 and are asymptomatic may return to work immediately…
Read More »This week, amid record spikes in COVID-19 cases nationwide, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a series of actions to support full-time in-person instruction in K-12 schools. These actions include: Sending Five Million No-Cost Point-of-Care Tests Per Month to Schools – The Biden-Harris Administration will distribute five million free, rapid tests to schools each month to help…
Read More »The Biden-Harris Administration announced this week that it is requiring health insurance companies and group health plans to cover the cost of over-the-counter (OTC), at-home COVID-19 tests, enabling individuals with private health insurance coverage to obtain tests for free beginning January 15, 2022. The new coverage requirement will allow beneficiaries to purchase tests online or…
Read More »Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday issued Executive Order N-3-22 to provide staffing flexibility for schools to support continued safe, in-person instruction for students. The Governor’s order addresses barriers that delay the hiring of qualified short-term substitute teachers, permit substitute teachers to have their assignments extended, and provide additional flexibility to support retired teachers who have…
Read More »On Saturday, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-2-22 establishing consumer protections against price gouging on at-home COVID-19 tests. The order comes as the state and nation continues to grapple with significant surges in COVID-19 cases, largely due to the omicron variant. The order prohibits sellers from increases prices on COVID-19 home test kits by…
Read More »The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) over the past several weeks has taken a series of steps to mitigate the surge in COVID-19 cases, including those cased by the Omicron variant, throughout the state. Below, we highlight these changes in guidance. Booster Doses Required for Certain Occupations Just prior to the winter holidays, state…
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