Image by Kuzmik_AOPINION – California vaccination rates for communicable illnesses dropped during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic when our health system moved to an “emergency only” system. Today, many Californians are still behind on their routine vaccines, leaving communities across our state susceptible to contracting and spreading dangerous illnesses.
A nurse at a protest at Alameda Hospital in 2020 seeking improved medical protective equipment. (Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald, via Shutterstock)On the front line of health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, registered nurse members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United are pushing for more employer accountability tied to a crisis of staffing and unsafe workplaces. The union, which represents about 100,000 registered nurses in California, says the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has not adopted such workplace protections.
A man receives the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in Covina in March. (Photo: Ringo Chiu, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Vaccines are one of the greatest public health tools for preventing the spread of infectious disease and death. Innovations in vaccines have helped all but eliminate significant threats from measles, polio, pertussis (whooping cough), influenza, and pneumococcal disease among those who are vaccinated.
Illustration of a pregnant woman. (Image: Tanya Antusenok,via Shutterstock)Amid a pandemic that has pushed millions of mothers out of the workplace, caused fertility rates to plunge and heightened the risk of death for pregnant women, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic lawmakers are seeking a slate of health proposals for low-income families and children. Newsom, a self-described feminist and the father of four young children, has long advocated family-friendly health and economic policies.
A doctor moves an ultrasound transducer across a woman's belly. (Photo: Andrey_Popov, via Shutterstock)OPINION: With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, expectant mothers of color in California now face two battles at once: potential exposure to a deadly virus, and long-standing inadequate access to the best prenatal and maternal healthcare. And as the Black Lives Matter protests and national conversations around racial injustice continue to spread across California, it is more important than ever that California lawmakers address the systemic racial health disparities that plague our communities and give rise to this lack of access.
A hiker takes a break during the pandemic. (Photo: Leah-Anne Thompson, via Shutterstock.OPINION: The coronavirus pandemic is taking a toll on public health, a toll that extends well beyond those who have been infected by the virus. Nearly all of us have experienced or witnessed the effects: increased stress, heightened anxiety, at least a bit of depression. These conditions are to be expected given the isolation and disruption of our daily lives.
Laboratory testing of HCV. (Photo: Jarun Ontakrai, via Shutterstock)Millennials haven’t inherited the best batch of goods from baby boomers. They got a housing crisis, a shaky job market, and some enormous student loans. But until recently, viral hepatitis was the burden of boomers alone to bear. Now, millennials are also facing an outbreak of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV).
Bicyclists navigating the streets of San Francisco. (Photo: Can Balcioglu)FairWarning: More Americans are bicycling or walking to work these days, but with little government investment in safety measures, such as protected bike lanes and sidewalks, more cyclists and pedestrians are getting killed. In San Francisco, the hit-and-run deaths of two female bicyclists in a single day in late June spurred community outrage and a plan to add 15 miles of protected bikeways, more than doubling the city’s current total.