On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the state’s intent to immediately allocate $62 million in one-time funds from the state’s Disaster Response-Emergency Operations Account (DREOA) to counties providing housing to current Project Roomkey participants. According to the Administration, funds are being made available to Roomkey sites to ensure clients living in motel or hotel rooms…
Read More »This week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an advisory, urging Americans to celebrate the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday at home with household members only. The CDC indicates travel may increase the risk of getting or spreading COVID-19 and postponing travel and staying home is the best way for Americans to protect…
Read More »Today, Pfizer and BioNTech submitted an emergency use authorization (EUA) request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its mRNA vaccine candidate for use against the COVID-19 virus. According to Pfizer, today’s FDA filing would potentially enable use of the vaccine in high-risk populations in the U.S. by the middle to end of…
Read More »This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first prescription at-home COVID-19 test, developed by Lucira Health, for use by people who are at least 14 years old and have COVID-19 symptoms. The test is available for younger people, but a healthcare provider must collect the…
Read More »Today, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a travel advisory amid increasing COVID-19 incidence in many states and countries. California joined Oregon and Washington in issuing the advisory that discourages non-essential travel. Under the advisory, persons arriving in California from other states and countries, including returning California residents, are instructed to self-quarantine for…
Read More »On Tuesday, the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 6 on Budget Process, Oversight, and Program Evaluation and the Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization convened a joint informational hearing to receive an update on California’s response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The hearing featured an overview of the state’s operational efforts to contain the pandemic, investments in…
Read More »The Assembly Health Committee convened this week to explore California’s Health Information Exchange (HIE) landscape. Members of the Committee heard from several experts who discussed how HIE works currently in California, federal and state policy that has shaped HIE systems, what other states have done to build HIE capacity, and options for California to consider…
Read More »Late last week, the California Department of Finance (DOF) issued a November fiscal update detailing expenditures associated with the state’s COVID-19 direct response activities. DOF estimates the combined total costs across the 2019-20 and 2020-21 fiscal years to be approximately $9.8 billion, with an estimated net General Fund impact of approximately $1.3 billion. In the…
Read More »On Monday, President-Elect Joe Biden announced the formation of a Biden-Harris Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board, consisting of leading public health experts who will advise President-Elect Biden, Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, and the nascent administration’s staff. The advisory board is comprised of: Co-Chair Dr. David Kessler, Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University…
Read More »This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced partnerships with large chain pharmacies and networks to increase access to future COVID-19 vaccines. Through the federal partnership with pharmacy chains, approximately 60 percent of pharmacies throughout the 50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Independent pharmacies and…
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