62.8% of eligible Californians are fully vaccinated.
Podcast: I join CalMatters’ Ben Christopher and CapRadio’s Scott Rodd to talk about how Newsom’s vaccine requirements and wildfire response could impact the recall election.
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California reels from Delta variant
Phlebotomist lab assistant Jennifer Cukati, right, and Registered Nurse Carina Klescewski, left, care for a COVID-19 patient inside the Sutter Roseville Medical Center ICU in Roseville on Dec. 22, 2020. Photo by Renee C. Byer, The Sacramento Bee via AP/Pool
If the Delta variant has proved anything, it’s that the pandemic isn’t over. Less than two months after a Santa Monica hospital dismantled its coronavirus ICU unit, it was forced to reassemble and expand the space due to a surge in patients. At least 233 employees at two major San Francisco hospitals tested positive for COVID-19 in July — the vast majority of whom were vaccinated. Cities from San Francisco to Fresno are reporting an uptick in infections among young people. All the while, the divide between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated appears to be growing wider. An increasing number of local governments and businesses — ranging from San Diego County to the San Jose Unified School District — are taking a page from Newsom’s playbook and requiring employees to either be vaccinated or tested frequently for COVID-19. Some, like a group of Los Angeles restaurants, are requiring customers to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result. Demonstrators gathered outside San Diego City Hall on Friday to protest such policies, which they said discriminated against unvaccinated people and children under 12; Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, meanwhile, argued there should be separate restaurants for vaccinated and unvaccinated people.