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Faced with a near-certain recall vote, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has embarked on an ambitious roadshow touting COVID-19 vaccine clinics to improve the state’s ranking as the nation’s worst dispersion rate.
During the past few weeks, Newsom has visited about a dozen clinics across the state and spoken to local officials touting his administration’s efforts to ramp up vaccinations, according to his Facebook page. The efforts have worked: California’s administration rate went from 5% per 100 people at the end of January to 19.5% Wednesday, according to
“We are making progress, there’s not just a light at the end of the tunnel there’s a bright light,” Newsom said at a Monday press conference in Long Beach. “A month ago, we were at 23,000 cases reported, today, just shy of 4,700.”
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In the majority of Southern California, the people eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine are an exclusive group. Phase 1A seniors and health care workers only.
A few places, however, are already vaccinating the second group, Phase 1B, which includes essential workers in education, emergency services, and the food industry.
One such place is the city of Long Beach (Riverside County is also ahead).
In early February, thousands of food service workers lined up at the Long Beach convention center to get their first shots, while firefighters, 911 dispatchers and other emergency service personnel headed to fire stations to get their doses of the vaccine.
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Irma Macedo, 65, is no stranger to syringes and needles after working as a lab technician in Mexico before coming to the United States.
On Saturday she chuckled as she watched a Long Beach City College nursing student prepare a dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
“How are you feeling, are you nervous?” the nursing volunteer asked Macedo in Spanish.
Macedo said she wasn’t nervous, but added that other Latino community members are hesitant to take the vaccine.
“I feel really happy, because I think it’s something that’s for our own good,” Macedo said. “It’s going to protect us.”
Local Kroger Stores Close as California ‘Hero Pay’ Ordinance Backfires
This result certainly wasn’t what local lawmakers intended, but it was actually quite predictable.
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
A new “Hero Pay” mandate in Long Beach, California has inadvertently cost some frontline grocery workers their jobs.
“Ralphs and Food 4 Less, both owned by the parent company Kroger, announced Monday that they will be closing 25% of their stores in Long Beach after the city council passed an ordinance requiring companies with over 300 employees nationwide to pay employees an extra $4 per hour,” local news outlet Fox 11 reports. Two stores in the area will be shut down.