latimes--2020-06-11--Coronavirus transmissions keep rising in L.A. County, bringing new dangers for hospitals

Coronavirus transmission continues to worsen in Los Angeles County , officials said this week , and that brings risks as the region further reopens .
With higher transmissions , there is a chance that the nation ’ s most populous county could run out of intensive care unit beds in two to four weeks , officials said Wednesday .
The numbers have not reached danger levels yet , but health officials said they are monitoring conditions carefully for any signs of new pressures on hospitals .
The situation comes as L.A. County officials moved forward with plans to reopen broad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including gyms ; sports arenas without live audiences ; movie , TV and music production ; and hotels for leisure travel .
Movie theaters and bars will remain closed in the county for now .
Officials always expected an increase in the number of coronavirus cases as the strictest version of the stay-at-home order was gradually lifted .
The question now is whether the disease will cause the hospitalizations of a moderate number of people that the hospital system can handle , or if it will grow into a surge of severely ill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s too soon to say what will happen .
Here ’ s a rundown of bits of the bad news and some good news in terms of where L.A. County stands amid the COVID-19 pandemic .
There is even more evidence that the spread of the virus is rising , according to data released Wednesday .
Before the county began easing stay-at-home requirements last month , the effective transmission rate of the coronavirus was in a good spot : For every one person infected , that person on average infected fewer than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ghaly , L.A. County ’ s director of health services .
But on Friday , Ghaly disclosed publicly for the first time that the transmission rate is now greater than 1 .
She displayed a chart showing how the effective transmission rate , which was below 1 in April , began ticking upward , rising above 1 by the last week in May .
A little more than two weeks after L.A. County allowed many retail stores to open for pickup service , every one person infected with the virus had infected more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to the transmission rate .
“ The model is now more certain that [ the effective transmission rate ] has increased again slightly , and is now greater than 1 , ” Ghaly said .
“ Because of this , the model predicts more firmly that the spread of COVID-19 in the Los Angeles County area is likely to increase gradually over time.
” As a result , a computer model used by L.A. County to estimate future demand on hospitals predicts there will be heavier use by coronavirus patients in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ghaly said .
Still , there should be sufficient hospital beds and ventilators to accommodate the increased demand , she said .
But it ’ s possible the county ’ s public and private hospitals could run out of ICU beds in the next two to four weeks , Ghaly said .
At the same time , county health officials have defended their reopening plan .
Authorities are still asking people to stay home as much as possible , but “ there are good reasons why sometimes people need to or want to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Some people don ’ t have the privilege of being able to telework , and they have to leave their home to work .
Many people wish to lend their voice in the fight for justice that is going on around all of us , ” Ghaly said .
“ The key to controlling the virus does not have to mean remaining at home.
” Instead , physically distancing and wearing a mask at all times when you ’ re outside of the home and around others who aren ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ghaly said .
Washing hands , cleaning high-touch surfaces and avoiding touching surfaces in general are also important , and staying at home when sick is too .
“ It ’ s a little bit like walking on a tightrope : We do feel confident that if sectors open , adhering to the protocols , it can be done with a lot of safety , ” said Barbara Ferrer , director of public health for L.A. County .
“ If sectors don ’ t adhere to the protocols , there ’ s a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was important for businesses to get back to work if it can be done in a safer way .
“ We ’ re desperate to make sure that people can get back to their jobs , ” Ferrer said .
“ And we just need to do it in a way that adheres to a lot of modifications , so it can be done as safely as possible.
” Ferrer also pointed out that the positivity rate among coronavirus tests is declining , with the cumulative rate now below 8 % .
At @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a dramatic increase in hospitalizations in L.A. County ’ s hospitals , officials said .
Hospitalizations had been declining weekly in L.A. County , but were flat last week compared with the previous week .

A man wears a mask while riding a tricycle along the boardwalk in Venice. Coronavirus transmission continues to worsen in Los Angeles County as officials move forward with reopening more businesses.
Coronavirus transmission continues to worsen in Los Angeles County, officials said this week, and that brings risks as the region further reopens.
With higher transmissions, there is a chance that the nation’s most populous county could run out of intensive care unit beds in two to four weeks, officials said Wednesday. The numbers have not reached danger levels yet, but health officials said they are monitoring conditions carefully for any signs of new pressures on hospitals.
The situation comes as L.A. County officials moved forward with plans to reopen broad sectors of the economy beginning Friday, including gyms; sports arenas without live audiences; movie, TV and music production; and hotels for leisure travel. Movie theaters and bars will remain closed in the county for now.
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What’s going on?
Officials always expected an increase in the number of coronavirus cases as the strictest version of the stay-at-home order was gradually lifted.
The question now is whether the disease will cause the hospitalizations of a moderate number of people that the hospital system can handle, or if it will grow into a surge of severely ill patients who will overwhelm ICUs.
It’s too soon to say what will happen. Here’s a rundown of bits of the bad news and some good news in terms of where L.A. County stands amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coronavirus transmissions are up
There is even more evidence that the spread of the virus is rising, according to data released Wednesday.
Before the county began easing stay-at-home requirements last month, the effective transmission rate of the coronavirus was in a good spot: For every one person infected, that person on average infected fewer than one other person, said Dr. Christina Ghaly, L.A. County’s director of health services.
But on Friday, Ghaly disclosed publicly for the first time that the transmission rate is now greater than 1. She displayed a chart showing how the effective transmission rate, which was below 1 in April, began ticking upward, rising above 1 by the last week in May.
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A little more than two weeks after L.A. County allowed many retail stores to open for pickup service, every one person infected with the virus had infected more than one other person, on average, according to the transmission rate.
“The model is now more certain that [the effective transmission rate] has increased again slightly, and is now greater than 1,” Ghaly said. “Because of this, the model predicts more firmly that the spread of COVID-19 in the Los Angeles County area is likely to increase gradually over time.”
The effective transmission rate of the coronavirus rose above 1 in late May, meaning for every one person infected by the coronavirus, that person on average infected more than one other person. (Los Angeles County Department of Health Services)
As a result, a computer model used by L.A. County to estimate future demand on hospitals predicts there will be heavier use by coronavirus patients in the next two to four weeks, Ghaly said. Still, there should be sufficient hospital beds and ventilators to accommodate the increased demand, she said.
It’s possible L.A. County could run out of intensive care unit beds if the coronavirus transmission rate continues increasing. (Los Angeles County Department of Health Services )
But it’s possible the county’s public and private hospitals could run out of ICU beds in the next two to four weeks, Ghaly said.
Defending the reopening
At the same time, county health officials have defended their reopening plan. Authorities are still asking people to stay home as much as possible, but “there are good reasons why sometimes people need to or want to leave their home,” Ghaly said.
“Some people don’t have the privilege of being able to telework, and they have to leave their home to work. Many people wish to lend their voice in the fight for justice that is going on around all of us,” Ghaly said. “The key to controlling the virus does not have to mean remaining at home.”
Instead, physically distancing and wearing a mask at all times when you’re outside of the home and around others who aren’t part of your household are paramount, Ghaly said. Washing hands, cleaning high-touch surfaces and avoiding touching surfaces in general are also important, and staying at home when sick is too.
“It’s a little bit like walking on a tightrope: We do feel confident that if sectors open, adhering to the protocols, it can be done with a lot of safety,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health for L.A. County. “If sectors don’t adhere to the protocols, there’s a lot of risk.”
Ferrer said it was important for businesses to get back to work if it can be done in a safer way.
“We’re desperate to make sure that people can get back to their jobs,” Ferrer said. “And we just need to do it in a way that adheres to a lot of modifications, so it can be done as safely as possible.”
Ferrer also pointed out that the positivity rate among coronavirus tests is declining, with the cumulative rate now below 8%.
At the moment, there is no sign of a dramatic increase in hospitalizations in L.A. County’s hospitals, officials said. Hospitalizations had been declining weekly in L.A. County, but were flat last week compared with the previous week.


latimes--2020-06-11--Human remains recovered at Mt. Baldy three months after hiker went missing

Human remains have been found atop Mt .
Baldy several weeks after a man told his family he was going for a hike there and did not return , officials said this week .
The remains were recovered Sunday by detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’ s Department and its San Dimas Mountain Rescue Team and Emergency Services Detail , said sheriff ’ s Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez .
The body still has to be identified by the county coroner , she said .
In late March , Los Angeles County resident Kwang Sun Kim , 72 , went @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going on a hike on the mountain .
Mt .
Baldy is a popular , strenuous hiking destination ; in the winter and early spring , trail conditions can be icy and hazardous .
In January , aviation crews with the San Bernardino County Sheriff ’ s Department rescued several hikers who were unprepared for extremely icy conditions in the area .
Two L.A. residents were hiking the Devil ’ s Backbone trail , east of the Mt .
Baldy summit , without crampons when one of them slipped and slid about 200 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a tree .
Another man had gone missing at that time near the Ice House Canyon area before a crew found him a few miles from the trailhead at 8,000 feet elevation in steep , mountainous terrain covered in snow and ice .
In December , Tim Staples , a 32-year-old search and rescue volunteer , was found dead in the ice and snow after he got separated from his partner while searching for Sreenivas “ Sree ” Mokkapati , an Irvine resident who went missing earlier that month while hiking Mt .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ not been found .

A snow–covered Mt. Baldy is seen in this file photo. Human remains were found on the mountain over the weekend.
Human remains have been found atop Mt. Baldy several weeks after a man told his family he was going for a hike there and did not return, officials said this week.
The remains were recovered Sunday by detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and its San Dimas Mountain Rescue Team and Emergency Services Detail, said sheriff’s Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez.
The body still has to be identified by the county coroner, she said.
In late March, Los Angeles County resident Kwang Sun Kim, 72, went missing after telling his family he was going on a hike on the mountain. Mt. Baldy is a popular, strenuous hiking destination; in the winter and early spring, trail conditions can be icy and hazardous.
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In January, aviation crews with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department rescued several hikers who were unprepared for extremely icy conditions in the area.
Two L.A. residents were hiking the Devil’s Backbone trail, east of the Mt. Baldy summit, without crampons when one of them slipped and slid about 200 feet down an ice chute before hitting a tree.
Another man had gone missing at that time near the Ice House Canyon area before a crew found him a few miles from the trailhead at 8,000 feet elevation in steep, mountainous terrain covered in snow and ice.
In December, Tim Staples, a 32-year-old search and rescue volunteer, was found dead in the ice and snow after he got separated from his partner while searching for Sreenivas “Sree” Mokkapati, an Irvine resident who went missing earlier that month while hiking Mt. Baldy with a group. Mokkapati has not been found.


latimes--2020-06-11--Lime fire burns 450 acres in Ventura County hills as firefighters try to gain the upper hand

A brush fire burning in the hills surrounding Lake Piru in Ventura County grew to 450 acres early Thursday as fire officials continue to build containment lines around the blaze .
The blaze , dubbed the Lime fire , broke out near Lime Canyon off Piru Canyon Road around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday amid high temperatures and low humidity .
The fire quickly charred through hundreds of acres of dry brush in the surrounding area , prompting officials to evacuate portions of the Lake Piru region , including the campgrounds and properties along Piru Canyon from Piru Lake to Orchard Road @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and challenging terrain , ” said engineer Mike Des Forges , a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department .
About 25 structures , including a few homes and U.S. Forest Service buildings , are threatened by the fire .
No properties have been damaged .
As of 8 a.m. , the fire was 20 % contained .
Two firefighters battling the blaze were removed from duty after suffering from general illness and exhaustion late Wednesday , Des Forges said .
Roughly 250 fire personnel , including a water tender , six hand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to gain an upper hand on the blaze Thursday .
Firefighters made significant progress overnight on a second blaze , dubbed the Elizabeth fire , which broke out Wednesday morning .
As of 8 a.m. Thursday , the fire had burned 275 acres in a remote canyon between Ventura and Santa Paula , but firefighters had boosted containment to 70 % .
Dozens of firefighters were moved from the Elizabeth fire to the Lime fire Wednesday afternoon because of the threat to structures in the Lake Piru area .
However , roughly 130 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fire .
Authorities are investigating what sparked both fires .
Fire crews ’ efforts to build and improve containment lines comes as temperatures across the region continue to linger in the low to mid-90s .
Humidity levels in the fire area are expected to stay relatively low , lingering between 12 % and 16 % for much of the day .
Light winds are also expected throughout the day , with gusts up to 20 mph forecast for the afternoon , said Joe Sirard , a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ low humidity would help the fire to spread without any mitigation , though not as rapidly as it would if there were strong winds , ” Sirard said .
“ I ’ m sure firefighters are working hard to get this under control .
”

A brush fire burning in the hills surrounding Lake Piru in Ventura County grew to 450 acres early Thursday as fire officials continue to build containment lines around the blaze.
The blaze, dubbed the Lime fire, broke out near Lime Canyon off Piru Canyon Road around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday amid high temperatures and low humidity. The fire quickly charred through hundreds of acres of dry brush in the surrounding area, prompting officials to evacuate portions of the Lake Piru region, including the campgrounds and properties along Piru Canyon from Piru Lake to Orchard Road.
“It’s very steep and challenging terrain,” said engineer Mike Des Forges, a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department.
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About 25 structures, including a few homes and U.S. Forest Service buildings, are threatened by the fire. No properties have been damaged. As of 8 a.m., the fire was 20% contained.
Two firefighters battling the blaze were removed from duty after suffering from general illness and exhaustion late Wednesday, Des Forges said.
Roughly 250 fire personnel, including a water tender, six hand crews and two dozers, were working to gain an upper hand on the blaze Thursday.
Firefighters made significant progress overnight on a second blaze, dubbed the Elizabeth fire, which broke out Wednesday morning.
As of 8 a.m. Thursday, the fire had burned 275 acres in a remote canyon between Ventura and Santa Paula, but firefighters had boosted containment to 70%.
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Dozens of firefighters were moved from the Elizabeth fire to the Lime fire Wednesday afternoon because of the threat to structures in the Lake Piru area. However, roughly 130 firefighters remain working to contain the Elizabeth fire.
Authorities are investigating what sparked both fires.
Fire crews’ efforts to build and improve containment lines comes as temperatures across the region continue to linger in the low to mid-90s.
Humidity levels in the fire area are expected to stay relatively low, lingering between 12% and 16% for much of the day. Light winds are also expected throughout the day, with gusts up to 20 mph forecast for the afternoon, said Joe Sirard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
“The hot temperatures and low humidity would help the fire to spread without any mitigation, though not as rapidly as it would if there were strong winds,” Sirard said. “I’m sure firefighters are working hard to get this under control.”


latimes--2020-06-11--Gunman dead, 2 officers shot as Paso Robles manhunt comes to violent end

An intense manhunt for a gunman who wounded a San Luis Obispo County sheriff ’ s deputy ended Thursday with an altercation that left two police officers wounded and the suspect dead , authorities said .
Details of how the manhunt ended were not available .
But a law enforcement source told The Times that two other officers were seriously hurt during a standoff with the suspect .
The wound do not appear to be life-threatening , the source said .
The gunman is believed to have killed a Paso Robles resident and seriously wounded a San Luis Obispo County @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mason James Lira , identified by police as the suspect , was spotted at a Paso Robles convenience store around 2 a.m. Thursday , a clerk told KSBY-TV .
The Chevron gas station clerk described the bearded Lira as sweaty , exhausted and muttering to himself , the TV station reported .
Lira , seen on surveillance video wearing jeans and a long-sleeve pullover , didn ’ t do anything threatening , the clerk said , but he “ seemed crazy ” when he purchased an energy drink , according to the TV @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the Monterey area , was gone when authorities arrived at the gas station , San Luis Obispo County sheriff ’ s Sgt .
Steve Odom said .
As the search continued late Thursday morning , sheriff ’ s officials said they believed Lira was still in the area .
“ We have a strong suspicion he is located somewhere in the riverbed , ” Cipolla said .
The day before , an early morning shooting at a police station in downtown Paso Robles prompted a massive law enforcement response .
A man @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Department building about 3:45 a.m .
The gunman then fired at sheriff ’ s and California Highway Patrol cruisers as they arrived to assist police , Odom said .
One deputy was shot in the face during the attack .
The deputy , identified as 28-year-old Nicholas Dreyfus , underwent surgery and is in guarded condition , officials said .
Residents were asked to shelter in place while a search for the shooter got underway .
During the search , detectives found the body of a man who had been shot in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Pine streets .
The man , who has not been identified but was described as in his 50s , was shot at close range , Cipolla said .

An image from a surveillance camera shows the suspected gunman, identified by police as Mason James Lira, in Paso Robles.
An intense manhunt for a gunman who wounded a San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s deputy ended Thursday with an altercation that left three police officers wounded and the suspect dead, authorities said.
A Reverse 911 shelter in place message was issued for those within a two-mile radius of Volpi Ysabel Rd in Paso Robles due to law enforcement activity. — SLO County Sheriff (@SLOSheriff) June 11, 2020
Details of how the manhunt ended were not available. But a law enforcement source told The Times that three officers were seriously hurt during a standoff with the suspect. Their injuries do not appear to be life-threatening, the source said.
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The gunman is believed to have killed a Paso Robles resident and seriously wounded a San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s deputy on Wednesday.
Mason James Lira, identified by police as the suspect, was spotted at a Paso Robles convenience store about 2 a.m. Thursday, a clerk told KSBY-TV.
The Chevron gas station clerk described the bearded Lira as sweaty, exhausted and muttering to himself, the TV station reported. Lira, seen on surveillance video wearing jeans and a long-sleeve pullover, didn’t do anything threatening, the clerk said, but he “seemed crazy” when he purchased an energy drink, according to the TV report.
Lira, a 26-year-old transient from the Monterey area, was gone when authorities arrived at the gas station, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Odom said.
Mason James Lira is suspected in the shooting of a sheriff’s deputy and the killing of a local man in Paso Robles. (San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office)
The day before, an early morning shooting at a police station in downtown Paso Robles prompted a massive law enforcement response.
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A man began shooting at the Police Department building about 3:45 a.m.
The gunman then fired at sheriff’s and California Highway Patrol cruisers as they arrived to assist police, Odom said. One deputy was shot in the face during the attack.
The deputy, identified as 28-year-old Nicholas Dreyfus, underwent surgery and is in guarded condition, officials said.
The deputy injured in the shooting at the Paso Robles police station was identified as Nicholas Dreyfus, 28. (San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office)
Residents were asked to shelter in place while a search for the shooter got underway.
During the search, detectives found the body of a man who had been shot in the head near the Amtrak station at 8th and Pine streets. The man, who has not been identified but was described as being in his 50s, was shot at close range, San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s spokesman Tony Cipolla said.
Lira had a history of run-ins with law enforcement, including an incident in Oregon in August in which a SWAT team boarded a train and took him into custody after he talked about weapons and threatened other passengers.
In Tulare County, he pleaded guilty in 2015 to battery on a peace officer. He was also accused of trespassing at a school in 2019 and failed to appear in court on that allegation. In June 2019, he was accused of providing a false identity to a police officer.
Two sources said that Lira’s motivation for the shootings remained unknown but that he struggled with mental health issues in the past.
As police searched for Lira, his father told the Associated Press that his son had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, Asperger’s syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Jose Lira said that his son had been in and out of jail and treatment centers and that he often thought he was a special agent or a soldier. Although authorities described the attack on the Paso Robles police station as an ambush, his father believed it might have been a suicide attempt.
His son lived in “a fantasy world” and didn’t have “a beef with the police,” Joe Lira said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-06-11--'They will try to divide us': Protesters demand real accountability for police, prosecutors

In the shadow of the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles , hundreds of Angelenos gathered Wednesday in the sweltering heat to decry the practices of law enforcement .
The families of victims from officer-involved shootings spoke of losing loved ones as protesters shouted , “ Say their name.
” Diana Hernandez described how her brother , Daniel , was shot and killed , and said more needs to be done to investigate his death .
“ Our family is devastated by the policies of LAPD , ” she said .
Speakers said that the energy of this moment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like Los Angeles Dist .
Atty .
Jackie Lacey and President Trump needed to be voted out of office .
“ Jackie Lacey must go .
Jackie Lacey must go , ” the crowd chanted .
“ We need to show the next D.A .
we mean business , ” one speaker said .
Another chant went up : “ Prosecute killer cops .
Prosecute killer cops.
” Lacey has become a major target of the Black Lives Matter movement , with activists saying she has not done enough to prosecute officers accused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tough runoff against George Gascon , who has also slammed her record on criminal justice reform .
Lacey has strongly defended her record on police oversight , and this week filed charges against an LAPD officer seen on videotape repeatedly punching an unarmed homeless man in Boyle Heights .
The father of Grechario Mack described the circumstances surrounding his son ’ s killing — how Mack was shot by the LAPD when he was already on the ground .
Despite his sadness , he was proud to see this movement grow in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ My son was not a danger .
The police were a danger , ” Quintus Moore said .
“ If it wasn ’ t for these phones and social media , they would be getting away with much more .
“ They [ police ] lie over and over and over .
We can ’ t breath .
It ’ s time for us to breathe.
” The protest Wednesday was ostensibly about calling for reducing policing budgets and increasing money for social services .
Still , speakers and protesters understood @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Activist Janaya “ Future ” Khan spoke about how opponents of the Black Lives Movement would try to sow division between the various races and ethnicities who are participating .
Besides Black people , there were representatives of indigenous people and others who felt wronged by law enforcement in Los Angeles .
“ They will try to divide us , ” Khan said .
“ They will try to use our pain against each other because that ’ s what the colonial project does .
They said that the focus must remain on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unjust to minorities and benefited white people .
”

A shell casing serves as a vase for flowers on the sidewalk outside the L.A. County Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday amid a Black Lives Matter protest.
In the shadow of the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles, hundreds of Angelenos gathered Wednesday in the sweltering heat to decry the practices of law enforcement.
The families of victims from officer-involved shootings spoke of losing loved ones as protesters shouted, “Say their name.”
Diana Hernandez described how her brother, Daniel, was shot and killed, and said more needs to be done to investigate his death.
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“Our family is devastated by the policies of LAPD,” she said.
Speakers said that the energy of this moment shouldn’t wane and that politicians like Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey and President Trump needed to be voted out of office.
“Jackie Lacey must go. Jackie Lacey must go,” the crowd chanted. “We need to show the next D.A. we mean business,” one speaker said.
Another chant went up: “Prosecute killer cops. Prosecute killer cops.”
Lacey has become a major target of the Black Lives Matter movement, with activists saying she has not done enough to prosecute officers accused of misconduct.
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She is facing a tough runoff against George Gascon, who has also slammed her record on criminal justice reform. Lacey has strongly defended her record on police oversight, and this week filed charges against an LAPD officer seen on videotape repeatedly punching an unarmed homeless man in Boyle Heights.
The father of Grechario Mack described the circumstances surrounding his son’s killing — how Mack was shot by the LAPD when he was already on the ground. Despite his sadness, he was proud to see this movement grow in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death.
“My son was not a danger. The police were a danger,” Quintus Moore said. “If it wasn’t for these phones and social media, they would be getting away with much more.
“They [police] lie over and over and over. We can’t breath. It’s time for us to breathe.”
The protest Wednesday was ostensibly about calling for reducing policing budgets and increasing money for social services. Still, speakers and protesters understood these gatherings have a broader purpose.
Activist Janaya “Future” Khan spoke about how opponents of the Black Lives Movement would try to sow division between the various races and ethnicities who are participating. Besides Black people, there were representatives of indigenous people and others who felt wronged by law enforcement in Los Angeles.
“They will try to divide us,” Khan said. “They will try to use our pain against each other because that’s what the colonial project does. They said that the focus must remain on undoing a system that’s been unjust to minorities and benefited white people.”


latimes--2020-06-11--'We do not want you here': Racist tirade against woman in Torrance park goes viral

A woman exercising in a park in Torrance was accosted Wednesday by another woman who unleashed a string of profanities and told her to “ go back to whatever ... Asian country you belong in ” in an incident that was captured on video .
The video has been shared widely and viewed more than 86,000 times since it was posted on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon .
The encounter began as a young woman was recording her workout on a set of stairs at Wilson Park .
An older woman , who was walking down the stairs , bustled past @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That comment apparently set off the second woman , who unleashed a profanity-filled rant that lasted several minutes .
She accused the first woman of taking up too much of the stairs and later criticized her decision to wear black in the “ California sun.
” “ Listen to me .
We don ’ t play games here anymore .
Next time you talk to me like that you ’ re going to get your ... kicked by my family .
They ’ re gon na ... you up , ” the woman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ woman continues , shouting that the exerciser wasn ’ t welcome there as the rant quickly escalated into a racist tirade .
“ This is not your place .
This is not your home , ” the woman yells .
“ We do not want you here.
” Torrance Mayor Patrick Furey said the city is aware of the incident and police are investigating .
“ All visitors to our open spaces should always feel safe and free to exercise while practicing social distancing without conflict , ” he said .
“ Conduct @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not be tolerated.
” Torrance police could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday morning .
Rachel Tennell , a friend of the woman who was working out , said she shared the video on behalf of her friend , who she said no longer feels safe exercising in the park .
“ She works out everyday and always records her workouts for her own personal fitness diary , ” Tennell wrote on Twitter .
“ Luckily , this incident was recorded because a lot of the time these things are not recorded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people of color experience some type of racism in America .
This is our moment as a country to do better and to fix these ills so the next generation doesn ’ t have to fight the same battles .
”

Shannan Tarver, left, talks with Sherry, after giving her an orchid, at the conclusion of a rally and workout titled, “We Sweat With You,” at Charles H. Wilson Park in Torrance. Sherry was the woman that racists remarks were made to as she was exercising in the park earlier this week.
A woman exercising in a park in Torrance was accosted Wednesday by another woman who unleashed a string of profanities and told her to “go back to whatever ... Asian country you belong in” in an incident that was captured on video.
The video has been shared widely and viewed more than 86,000 times since it was posted on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon.
The encounter began as a young woman was recording her workout on a set of stairs at Wilson Park. An older woman, who was walking down the stairs, bustled past the exerciser and nearly bumped her.
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“Jesus,” the first woman muttered.
That comment apparently set off the second woman, who unleashed a profanity-filled rant that lasted several minutes. She accused the first woman of taking up too much of the stairs and later criticized her decision to wear black in the “California sun.”
Reader advisory: This video contains extensive profanity.
My friend was threatened in Wilson Park in Torrance, California today while she was working out in a public park by a Karen. She now does not feel safe to exercise in the park because of this. This is infuriating @TorranceCA @TorrancePD @ABC7 @CNN @LANow pic.twitter.com/JkZbRpODbA — Rachel Tennell (@rmtennell) June 10, 2020
“Listen to me. We don’t play games here anymore. Next time you talk to me like that you’re going to get your ... kicked by my family. They’re gonna ... you up,” the woman says, using an expletive.
The woman continues, shouting that the exerciser wasn’t welcome there as the rant quickly escalated into a racist tirade.
“This is not your place. This is not your home,” the woman yells. “We do not want you here.”
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Torrance Mayor Patrick Furey said the city is aware of the incident and police are investigating.
“All visitors to our open spaces should always feel safe and free to exercise while practicing social distancing without conflict,” he said. “Conduct like that displayed on the video cannot be tolerated.”
Torrance police could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday morning.
Rachel Tennell, a friend of the woman who was working out, said she shared the video on behalf of her friend, who she said no longer feels safe exercising in the park.
“She works out every day and always records her workouts for her own personal fitness diary,” Tennell wrote on Twitter.
“Luckily, this incident was recorded because a lot of the time these things are not recorded and victims are not believed. All people of color experience some type of racism in America. This is our moment as a country to do better and to fix these ills so the next generation doesn’t have to fight the same battles.”


latimes--2020-06-11--'Massive outbreak' swept through nursing home as coronavirus testing lagged

When Budgie Amparo ’ s mom needed a nursing home , he was in a unique position to help .
As a nurse in charge of quality control for a chain of such facilities , he picked the Norwalk Skilled Nursing & Wellness Center , a home with the highest quality rating from Medicare .
So he was shocked to learn , in mid-May , that the home had a resident with COVID-19 and that administrators did not begin testing staff — the most likely spreaders of the virus within facilities — until more than a week later .
So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 32 employees have tested positive , Los Angeles County data show .
At least six have died .
The situation underscores how quickly the coronavirus can spread in skilled nursing homes and how essential early , widespread testing is .
“ The lag time was way too long , ” Amparo said .
“ Now they have this massive outbreak.
” Dr. David Silver , CEO of Rockport Healthcare Services , the company that oversees Norwalk Skilled Nursing and more than 70 other homes in California , acknowledged that it took “ a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ test staff after the first resident turned up positive .
Asked if testing sooner would have limited the outbreak , he said , “ I won ’ t dispute that.
” Since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis , elderly nursing home residents , who are by far the most at risk , have suffered a devastating toll .
As of Tuesday , COVID-19 had killed more than 2,000 residents and 64 employees of skilled nursing facilities in California .
Despite a recent uptick in cases as the California economy begins to reopen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ control in hospitals and other healthcare settings .
But nursing homes like the one in Norwalk , which managed to keep the bug at bay for months , are still suffering outbreaks .
Most health officials say frequent testing of staff is the best way to protect residents and slow the spread , but they have struggled to bring it about .
County health officials , recognizing the threat posed by healthcare workers who frequently work at more than one home and may be infected but asymptomatic , vowed in late April to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the county ’ s nearly 400 skilled nursing facilities .
A month later , The Times found , they had managed to finish the job at only about a third of them .
As of Sunday , there were still 71 that had not tested everyone .
State health officials have also promised to test everyone at nursing homes , but implementation remains scattershot , with no clear rules about how the testing plan will work or who will pay .
At the end of May , Norwalk Skilled Nursing , a single-story @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Imperial Highway , was among the homes county health officials had not gotten around to testing yet .
More than half a dozen employees , who spoke with Times reporters on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation , said the facility has suffered from a severe shortage of personal protective equipment and has allowed nurse aides to move back and forth between the “ dirty ” isolation unit meant to contain infected residents and the “ clean ” unit meant for those who weren ’ t sick yet .
The home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ walkout by a scared , exhausted staff unless they start getting hazard pay , the employees said .
“ It ’ s chaos , ” said a certified nursing assistant .
“ The patients are getting infected , the employees are getting infected.
” As the number of infected residents climbed last month , several nursing assistants said they pleaded with the administration to start testing staff but that their bosses instead waited for the health department to provide test kits , which cost an estimated $ 150 each .
Some employees who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said they sought out tests on their own after developing symptoms , instead of waiting for the county .
One of them suffered chills , exhaustion and a severe headache ; the other a fever .
Both tests came back positive .
“ All they care about is the money they ’ re bringing in here , ” said one of the nursing assistants about her bosses .
“ We fear for our lives , for our families ’ lives.
” Silver , the CEO of Rockport , said his company had been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ county health officials .
When the first positive patient turned up at the Norwalk facility in mid-May , county officials informed him that , “ they were the ones who take care of testing , ” Silver said .
“ They couldn ’ t do it that day , but they would find a day , ” Silver said county officials told him .
In the end , it took more than a week for the county to provide the test swabs , Silver said .
County health officials did not respond to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ delay .
Elena Houmsi , the nurse in charge of quality assurance at the Norwalk facility , was one of several employees who confirmed that healthcare workers have been moving back and forth between the isolation zone with coronavirus infected patients and the rest of the facility where the uninfected residents remain .
“ There are times we are short of staff , ” Houmsi said .
“ So that ’ s what they have to do.
” Silver said he had no knowledge of staff moving between the dirty and clean sides @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be “ against all of our protocols.
” Last week , Rockport suspended the Norwalk facility ’ s long-serving top administrator as well as Houmsi .
Those suspensions were handed down because the two failed to execute a transfer of about 20 patients with COVID-19 to another Rockport facility , Houmsi said in an interview .
Rockport wanted the patients transferred so they wouldn ’ t have to pay Norwalk nurses extra to care for the infected residents , Houmsi said .
Silver denied that the transfers were proposed to save money @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patients to another Rockport home that has been designated by the county as a COVID-19 positive facility , where they would get , “ the highest level of care , ” he said .
Those transfers have been put on hold , Silver said .
The Times reported last month that several experts raised questions when L.A. County designated another Rockport home , Country Villa South , as its first COVID-19 positive facility .
The idea was to create a landing place for patients leaving hospitals with COVID-19 who had nowhere else to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that were trying to limit the spread could also be sent there .
But Country Villa South has the lowest possible Medicare quality rating and a history of failing to follow infection control regulations .
Critics , including the former CEO of Rockport , wondered if the company was motivated by the fact that it can charge Medicare nearly four times as much for a COVID-19 patient as it can for a typical resident whose bills are paid by Medi-Cal , the state insurance system for the poor .
Silver denied that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seeking the COVID-19 positive designation .
He and his company were “ doing our part ” at a time of unprecedented need , he said .
Since then , the county has designated 21 COVID-positive facilities , including several others managed by Rockport .
Amparo , who worked for Rockport when he put his mother in the Norwalk facility a few years ago , now works for another nursing home chain .
But he left his 90-year old mom where she was because it had become her home .
When he discovered what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he said , he reported it to the county health department .
He is not sure if they followed up , he said , but he ’ s more concerned about the failure of Rockport .
“ Where is the management company that is supposed to be providing services to a building in crisis , where are they ?
” he asked .
After filing his complaint , his next move was to pull his mother out of the home .
She has tested positive for the coronavirus , but is doing well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Roma Rathell got a call from facility staff that her 87-year-old mother , Angelina Pascual , had been exposed to the virus after using a bathroom that a COVID positive patient had used .
Soon after , Pascual , who had lived in the facility for about four years , tested positive .
“ I was hoping that she just needed to be quarantined for 14 days and she ’ ll be OK , ” Rathell said .
But after Pascual ran a fever , she was transported to the hospital , where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to comment on her case .

When Budgie Amparo’s mom needed a nursing home, he was in a unique position to help. As a nurse in charge of quality control for a chain of such facilities, he picked the Norwalk Skilled Nursing & Wellness Center, a home with the highest quality rating from Medicare.
So he was shocked to learn, in mid-May, that the home had a resident with COVID-19 and that administrators did not begin testing staff — the most likely spreaders of the virus within facilities — until more than a week later. So far, at least 42 residents and 32 employees have tested positive, Los Angeles County data show. At least six have died.
The situation underscores how quickly the coronavirus can spread in skilled nursing homes and how essential early, widespread testing is.
Advertisement
“The lag time was way too long,” Amparo said. “Now they have this massive outbreak.”
Dr. David Silver, CEO of Rockport Healthcare Services, the company that oversees Norwalk Skilled Nursing and more than 70 other homes in California, acknowledged that it took “a little more than a week” to test staff after the first resident turned up positive. Asked if testing sooner would have limited the outbreak, he said, “I won’t dispute that.”
Since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, elderly nursing home residents, who are by far the most at risk, have suffered a devastating toll. As of Tuesday, COVID-19 had killed more than 2,000 residents and 64 employees of skilled nursing facilities in California.
Despite a recent uptick in cases as the California economy begins to reopen, the virus appears to be under control in hospitals and other healthcare settings. But nursing homes like the one in Norwalk, which managed to keep the bug at bay for months, are still suffering outbreaks.
Most health officials say frequent testing of staff is the best way to protect residents and slow the spread, but they have struggled to bring it about.
County health officials, recognizing the threat posed by healthcare workers who frequently work at more than one home and may be infected but asymptomatic, vowed in late April to test residents and staff at all of the county’s nearly 400 skilled nursing facilities. A month later, The Times found, they had managed to finish the job at only about a third of them. As of Sunday, there were still 71 that had not tested everyone.
Advertisement
The Norwalk Skilled Nursing and Wellness Centre. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
State health officials have also promised to test everyone at nursing homes, but implementation remains scattershot, with no clear rules about how the testing plan will work or who will pay.
At the end of May, Norwalk Skilled Nursing, a single-story building occupying about a city block on Imperial Highway, was among the homes county health officials had not gotten around to testing yet.
More than half a dozen employees, who spoke with Times reporters on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said the facility has suffered from a severe shortage of personal protective equipment and has allowed nurse aides to move back and forth between the “dirty” isolation unit meant to contain infected residents and the “clean” unit meant for those who weren’t sick yet. The home also faced the threat of a mass walkout by a scared, exhausted staff unless they start getting hazard pay, the employees said.
“It’s chaos,” said a certified nursing assistant. “The patients are getting infected, the employees are getting infected.”
As the number of infected residents climbed last month, several nursing assistants said they pleaded with the administration to start testing staff but that their bosses instead waited for the health department to provide test kits, which cost an estimated $150 each.
Some employees who had been working with COVID-19 positive residents said they sought out tests on their own after developing symptoms, instead of waiting for the county. One of them suffered chills, exhaustion and a severe headache; the other a fever. Both tests came back positive.
“All they care about is the money they’re bringing in here,” said one of the nursing assistants about her bosses. “We fear for our lives, for our families’ lives.”
Silver, the CEO of Rockport, said his company had been in regular contact with both state and county health officials. When the first positive patient turned up at the Norwalk facility in mid-May, county officials informed him that, “they were the ones who take care of testing,” Silver said.
“They couldn’t do it that day, but they would find a day,” Silver said county officials told him. In the end, it took more than a week for the county to provide the test swabs, Silver said.
County health officials did not respond to a request for comment on the testing delay.
Elena Houmsi, the nurse in charge of quality assurance at the Norwalk facility, was one of several employees who confirmed that healthcare workers have been moving back and forth between the isolation zone with coronavirus infected patients and the rest of the facility where the uninfected residents remain.
“There are times we are short of staff,” Houmsi said. “So that’s what they have to do.”
Silver said he had no knowledge of staff moving between the dirty and clean sides of the building, but acknowledged that would be “against all of our protocols.”
Last week, Rockport suspended the Norwalk facility’s long-serving top administrator as well as Houmsi.
Those suspensions were handed down because the two failed to execute a transfer of about 20 patients with COVID-19 to another Rockport facility, Houmsi said in an interview. Rockport wanted the patients transferred so they wouldn’t have to pay Norwalk nurses extra to care for the infected residents, Houmsi said.
Silver denied that the transfers were proposed to save money. The idea was to send the patients to another Rockport home that has been designated by the county as a COVID-19 positive facility, where they would get, “the highest level of care,” he said.
Those transfers have been put on hold, Silver said.
The Times reported last month that several experts raised questions when L.A. County designated another Rockport home, Country Villa South, as its first COVID-19 positive facility. The idea was to create a landing place for patients leaving hospitals with COVID-19 who had nowhere else to go. Infected residents from other facilities that were trying to limit the spread could also be sent there.
But Country Villa South has the lowest possible Medicare quality rating and a history of failing to follow infection control regulations. Critics, including the former CEO of Rockport, wondered if the company was motivated by the fact that it can charge Medicare nearly four times as much for a COVID-19 patient as it can for a typical resident whose bills are paid by Medi-Cal, the state insurance system for the poor.
Silver denied that the higher reimbursement rate was the motive for seeking the COVID-19 positive designation. He and his company were “doing our part” at a time of unprecedented need, he said.
Since then, the county has designated 21 COVID-positive facilities, including several others managed by Rockport.
Amparo, who worked for Rockport when he put his mother in the Norwalk facility a few years ago, now works for another nursing home chain. But he left his 90-year old mom where she was because it had become her home.
When he discovered what he considered a delay in testing, he said, he reported it to the county health department. He is not sure if they followed up, he said, but he’s more concerned about the failure of Rockport.
“Where is the management company that is supposed to be providing services to a building in crisis, where are they?” he asked.
After filing his complaint, his next move was to pull his mother out of the home. She has tested positive for the coronavirus, but is doing well, he said.
Other families weren’t as fortunate.
Last month, Roma Rathell got a call from facility staff that her 87-year-old mother, Angelina Pascual, had been exposed to the virus after using a bathroom that a COVID positive patient had used. Soon after, Pascual, who had lived in the facility for about four years, tested positive.
“I was hoping that she just needed to be quarantined for 14 days and she’ll be OK,” Rathell said. But after Pascual ran a fever, she was transported to the hospital, where her condition soon deteriorated.
Pascual died on May 26.
Silver declined to comment on her case.


latimes--2020-06-11--Coronavirus batters finances of Black healthcare centers in the Bay Area

A small band of volunteers started the Marin City Health and Wellness Center nearly two decades ago with a doctor and a retired social worker making house calls in the public housing high-rises .
It grew into a beloved community resource and a grass-roots experiment in African American healthcare .
“ It was truly a one-stop shop , ” said Ebony McKinley , a lifelong resident of this tightknit , historically Black enclave several miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge .
“ And it was ours.
” By early 2020 , the center had a multimillion-dollar annual operation with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bayview-Hunters Point , a predominantly Black community in an industrial section of southeastern San Francisco .
The clinics offered primary care geared to low-income residents of color , as well as access to dentists , psychotherapists , a substance abuse clinic and a chiropractor .
But in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown , there are worries about the future of Marin City Health and other neighborhood clinics like it .
Community health centers ― which provide medical services for 1 in 6 Californians ― have been forced to cancel in-person patient visits @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clinics have closed since March .
Despite several tranches of emergency government aid , the losses have forced widespread layoffs , said Carmela Castellano-Garcia , president of the California Primary Care Assn .
“ When your patient numbers go down by 66 % , and that ’ s your main source of revenue , it calls for some drastic measures , unfortunately , ” said Brenda Crawford , interim chief executive of the Marin City Health and Wellness Center .
In April , the clinic laid off 10 people ― almost a fifth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ avalanche of data emerged showing the novel coronavirus wreaking a disproportionate burden of illness and death on Black communities .
Black Americans account for 13.4 % of the population but nearly 60 % of COVID-19 deaths , according to a national study released in May .
They have a relatively high prevalence of conditions such as asthma , obesity , heart disease and diabetes that put them at greater risk of COVID-19 complications , and are more likely to live in communities with low-wage jobs and less access to decent medical care .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ front-row seat to such inequities .
Golden Gate Village , its aging public housing project , remains a pocket of poverty and unemployment in one of America ’ s wealthiest counties .
Last year , its struggling public school was hit with California ’ s first desegregation order in half a century .
Marin City took shape during World War II , as some of the thousands of new arrivals who flooded the Bay Area to work in shipyards were housed on the swamplands north of Sausalito .
In “ On the Road @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States , Jack Kerouac described the dormitories as “ the only community in America where whites and Negroes lived together voluntarily.
” Marin County today is known for its redwood trees and Tesla-driving tech executives .
It is also one of California ’ s most segregated counties , stemming in part from discriminatory policies that barred Blacks from relocating within the county after the war .
A nonprofit in 2018 rated Marin home to the largest racial inequities of any county in the state .
And although it was ranked the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the last 10 years , Black residents here live on average only half as long as whites , according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation .
Half a dozen failed redevelopment plans between the 1950s and the late 1980s left Marin City without a supermarket , school or post office .
For residents without a car , getting to the nearest clinic for a Pap smear or a blood pressure check required an hourlong trek involving two buses followed by a walk up a steep hill .
“ Or they just didn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Green , a longtime Marin City resident who helped found the center .
Bad health was something she knew well .
Two of Green ’ s brothers died of heart attacks , and a third of a stroke at age 57 .
Her father succumbed to diabetes complications after losing several toes and one leg below the knee to the disease .
“ Folks was having funerals it looked like every other week , ” Green said .
“ I was tired of that.
” In 2002 , she quit her job as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on bringing a clinic to Marin City .
As a member of a community group called Isoji , the Yoruba word for “ resurrection , ” Green organized health fairs in the bustling parking lots of Marin City ’ s peach-colored public housing towers , setting up a blood pressure machine alongside kids riding scooters and old men playing dominoes .
Accompanied by a family physician with a practice in neighboring Sausalito , she did home visits at the apartments of elder residents .
“ I knew everyone , so I ’ d @ @ @ @ @ @ @ open the door , and then he ’ d do the medical piece , ” Green said .
“ He could not believe what he was seeing in Marin City ― the asthma and high blood pressure , the levels of chronic disease.
” The Marin City Health and Wellness Center opened its Marin City clinic in 2006 using $ 225,000 in cobbled-together seed money .
Dr. Carianne Blomquist joined the clinic a few years later , becoming the first doctor to set up an office in Marin City since the 1950s .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the clinic ’ s cramped offices in a scruffy community center , one wall decorated by a mural of Barack Obama and Martin Luther King Jr .
In the parking lot , moms in SUVs and gentlemen leaning on canes passed muscled young men on their way to the boxing gym next door .
Women shouldering empty tote bags lined up on Tuesday afternoons to score free fresh produce at the clinic ’ s weekly Food Pharmacy ― a big hit in a neighborhood where for years grocery shopping meant stopping by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pork chops and maybe a withered , overpriced apple from CVS .
But in March , the pandemic forced the suspension of the program along with its other community outreach efforts .
Marin City Health is one of about 1,400 community health centers across the country that function as a safety net for the poor and uninsured .
Conceived by civil rights activists during the 1960s , such facilities have steadily expanded as studies showed they improved the health of communities .
The passage of Obamacare in 2010 brought in millions of newly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ City Health opened its clinic in Bayview-Hunters Point , which , like Marin City , is a working-class island amid the world ’ s highest concentration of billionaires .
In the 2000s , the neighborhood had the highest rate of childhood asthma in the city and an incidence of infant mortality on par with that of Jamaica .
The clinic opened in an old medical building where the neighborhood ’ s last private family doctor , Arthur Coleman , had operated until his death at age 82 in 2002 .
Patient Gail Hampton @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time with such a debilitating fear of needles that she shook uncontrollably at the mere sight of a white coat .
But Hampton soon began recommending the clinic to everyone , including from her grandkids and her church group .
“ They treated you like they wanted to help you , ” she said .
“ Not just take your Medicare card and get your money.
” She was shocked to get a phone call in early April notifying her that her dentist and nine other employees were being let go .
An @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the resignation of several providers including Blomquist , who quit in December and has not been replaced .
Under Crawford , a retired management consultant who took the helm in mid-2019 , several services have been suspended , including an experimental high school for troubled teens and a birth center designed to address the staggering infant and maternal mortality rates among Black women .
Crawford said the birth center will reopen , but some are skeptical .
“ It feels like a disservice to the community to allow the clinic to fall apart @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which is killing Black people , ” said Dr. Joshwin Hall , a Bayview-Hunters Point native and a dentist at the clinic until he was laid off in April .
Green has been “ beating the bushes ” to open a drop-in coronavirus testing site at the clinic , so far without much luck .
In the meantime , volunteers have been distributing “ essential bags , ” with supplies such as thermometers and soap , and information on protecting against the virus .
The effort reminds Green of nearly 20 years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to open the Marin City clinic .
“ We ’ re still fighting , ” she said .
This story was produced by Kaiser Health News , which publishes California Healthline , an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation .
KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente .

Marin City elders such as Kurth Bailey, front left, and Andrew Johnson, right routinely gather to socialize in the parking lot of Marin City’s public housing “low rises.” Residents in this historically black enclave went decades without accessible medical care.
A small band of volunteers started the Marin City Health and Wellness Center nearly two decades ago with a doctor and a retired social worker making house calls in the public housing high-rises. It grew into a beloved community resource and a grass-roots experiment in African American healthcare.
“It was truly a one-stop shop,” said Ebony McKinley, a lifelong resident of this tightknit, historically Black enclave several miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. “And it was ours.”
By early 2020, the center had a multimillion-dollar annual operation with two clinics, in Marin City and Bayview-Hunters Point, a predominantly Black community in an industrial section of southeastern San Francisco. The clinics offered primary care geared to low-income residents of color, as well as access to dentists, psychotherapists, a substance abuse clinic and a chiropractor.
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But in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown, there are worries about the future of Marin City Health and other neighborhood clinics like it. Community health centers ― which provide medical services for 1 in 6 Californians ― have been forced to cancel in-person patient visits, and more than 200 of the clinics have closed since March. Despite several tranches of emergency government aid, the losses have forced widespread layoffs, said Carmela Castellano-Garcia, president of the California Primary Care Assn.
“When your patient numbers go down by 66%, and that’s your main source of revenue, it calls for some drastic measures, unfortunately,” said Brenda Crawford, interim chief executive of the Marin City Health and Wellness Center.
In April, the clinic laid off 10 people ― almost a fifth of the staff ― just as an avalanche of data emerged showing the novel coronavirus wreaking a disproportionate burden of illness and death on Black communities.
Black Americans account for 13.4% of the population but nearly 60% of COVID-19 deaths, according to a national study released in May. They have a relatively high prevalence of conditions such as asthma, obesity, heart disease and diabetes that put them at greater risk of COVID-19 complications, and are more likely to live in communities with low-wage jobs and less access to decent medical care.
The residents of Marin City have a front-row seat to such inequities. Golden Gate Village, its aging public housing project, remains a pocket of poverty and unemployment in one of America’s wealthiest counties. Last year, its struggling public school was hit with California’s first desegregation order in half a century.
Marin City took shape during World War II, as some of the thousands of new arrivals who flooded the Bay Area to work in shipyards were housed on the swamplands north of Sausalito. In “On the Road,” his 1950s almanac of traversing the United States, Jack Kerouac described the dormitories as “the only community in America where whites and Negroes lived together voluntarily.”
Marin County today is known for its redwood trees and Tesla-driving tech executives. It is also one of California’s most segregated counties, stemming in part from discriminatory policies that barred Blacks from relocating within the county after the war.
A nonprofit in 2018 rated Marin home to the largest racial inequities of any county in the state. And although it was ranked the healthiest county in California for nine of the last 10 years, Black residents here live on average only half as long as whites, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Half a dozen failed redevelopment plans between the 1950s and the late 1980s left Marin City without a supermarket, school or post office. For residents without a car, getting to the nearest clinic for a Pap smear or a blood pressure check required an hourlong trek involving two buses followed by a walk up a steep hill. “Or they just didn’t go anywhere,” said Terrie Green, a longtime Marin City resident who helped found the center.
Bad health was something she knew well. Two of Green’s brothers died of heart attacks, and a third of a stroke at age 57. Her father succumbed to diabetes complications after losing several toes and one leg below the knee to the disease.
Advertisement
“Folks was having funerals it looked like every other week,” Green said. “I was tired of that.”
In 2002, she quit her job as a county mental health worker to focus on bringing a clinic to Marin City. As a member of a community group called Isoji, the Yoruba word for “resurrection,” Green organized health fairs in the bustling parking lots of Marin City’s peach-colored public housing towers, setting up a blood pressure machine alongside kids riding scooters and old men playing dominoes.
Accompanied by a family physician with a practice in neighboring Sausalito, she did home visits at the apartments of elder residents. “I knew everyone, so I’d ask questions, and they’d open the door, and then he’d do the medical piece,” Green said. “He could not believe what he was seeing in Marin City ― the asthma and high blood pressure, the levels of chronic disease.”
Chenetta Richardson holds a sign at a June 2 march and protest in Marin City against police violence that drew at least 1,000 people from around Marin County. Despite its liberal politics, Marin is one of the most segregated counties in the state. (Rachel Scheier/KHN)
The Marin City Health and Wellness Center opened its Marin City clinic in 2006 using $225,000 in cobbled-together seed money.
Dr. Carianne Blomquist joined the clinic a few years later, becoming the first doctor to set up an office in Marin City since the 1950s. Her personable approach brought a diverse clientele to the clinic’s cramped offices in a scruffy community center, one wall decorated by a mural of Barack Obama and Martin Luther King Jr. In the parking lot, moms in SUVs and gentlemen leaning on canes passed muscled young men on their way to the boxing gym next door.
Women shouldering empty tote bags lined up on Tuesday afternoons to score free fresh produce at the clinic’s weekly Food Pharmacy ― a big hit in a neighborhood where for years grocery shopping meant stopping by the dollar store for a couple of pork chops and maybe a withered, overpriced apple from CVS. But in March, the pandemic forced the suspension of the program along with its other community outreach efforts.
Marin City Health is one of about 1,400 community health centers across the country that function as a safety net for the poor and uninsured. Conceived by civil rights activists during the 1960s, such facilities have steadily expanded as studies showed they improved the health of communities. The passage of Obamacare in 2010 brought in millions of newly insured patients.
In 2016, Marin City Health opened its clinic in Bayview-Hunters Point, which, like Marin City, is a working-class island amid the world’s highest concentration of billionaires. In the 2000s, the neighborhood had the highest rate of childhood asthma in the city and an incidence of infant mortality on par with that of Jamaica.
The clinic opened in an old medical building where the neighborhood’s last private family doctor, Arthur Coleman, had operated until his death at age 82 in 2002.
Patient Gail Hampton, 64, came in the first time with such a debilitating fear of needles that she shook uncontrollably at the mere sight of a white coat. But Hampton soon began recommending the clinic to everyone, including from her grandkids and her church group. “They treated you like they wanted to help you,” she said. “Not just take your Medicare card and get your money.”
She was shocked to get a phone call in early April notifying her that her dentist and nine other employees were being let go. An earlier shake-up in leadership had led to the resignation of several providers including Blomquist, who quit in December and has not been replaced.
Under Crawford, a retired management consultant who took the helm in mid-2019, several services have been suspended, including an experimental high school for troubled teens and a birth center designed to address the staggering infant and maternal mortality rates among Black women. Crawford said the birth center will reopen, but some are skeptical.
“It feels like a disservice to the community to allow the clinic to fall apart the way it is during this pandemic, which is killing Black people,” said Dr. Joshwin Hall, a Bayview-Hunters Point native and a dentist at the clinic until he was laid off in April.
Green has been “beating the bushes” to open a drop-in coronavirus testing site at the clinic, so far without much luck. In the meantime, volunteers have been distributing “essential bags,” with supplies such as thermometers and soap, and information on protecting against the virus.
The effort reminds Green of nearly 20 years ago, when she led the campaign to open the Marin City clinic.
“We’re still fighting,” she said.
This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.


latimes--2020-06-11--A coronavirus vaccine in 2020? Maybe. Here's what has to go right

When President Trump announced last month that a vaccine against the new coronavirus could be available by the end of the year or sooner , his claim was met with a mix of hope and doubt .
The search for vaccines often ends in failure , and the successful efforts have always taken years .
So it seemed improbable , if not impossible , that researchers , who began working on vaccines for the new virus in January , could discover something so elusive and do it so quickly .
But then scientists at Moderna , a pharmaceutical company , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and claimed they could potentially have a proven vaccine by winter .
So , could a vaccine in 2020 really be in the cards ?
Possibly , said Dr. Anthony Fauci , the nation ’ s top infectious disease expert , and others involved in a program the U.S. government has set up to expedite vaccines that protect people from becoming infected by the virus .
Fauci and others believe they have created a doable , albeit hugely expensive , blueprint for how vaccines could be safely tested and manufactured in a matter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dubbed Operation Warp Speed by the president , the federal government has invested heavily in several vaccine efforts while also rolling out a massive testing program .
What the plan can not address is the question that matters the most : Will any of the vaccines being tested actually work ?
“ All of this is unprecedented , ” Fauci said in an interview .
“ When people say , ‘ Having a vaccine by the winter , that ’ s impossible.
’ It ’ s not impossible ... .
If the Fates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccine and there are no glitches that are unanticipated , it is possible that we will have one in the middle of the winter .
There ’ s no guarantee , though.
” Quick out of the gate The quick jump that some researchers were able to make into working on vaccines shaved many months , if not more , off the typical timeline , Fauci and others said .
In January , within days of Chinese officials releasing the genetic code of the coronavirus , a team of researchers from Moderna and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a possible vaccine based on a part of the virus ’ genetic machinery called mRNA .
Moderna had been working for years on the technique , which has never been used to make a human vaccine , and was able to quickly apply it to the new virus .
Just two months later , the first participants in a study of the vaccine were injected with it — a turnaround time that would have been inconceivable before the coronavirus .
Scientists at Oxford University , as well as groups in China and elsewhere @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the gate quickly to begin tests on various types of vaccines .
As of last week , 10 teams had moved beyond laboratory work to begin testing their vaccines on humans , and more than 120 others are in earlier stages of development , according to the World Health Organization .
Human trials are arduous undertakings that typically play out over several years as researchers recruit thousands of volunteers in different age groups who meet strict criteria to be injected with the potential vaccine .
Early phases of testing are meant to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In later phases , researchers compare the rate at which vaccinated volunteers contract the virus against a group given a placebo , or dummy vaccine , to determine how much protection , if any , different doses of the vaccine provide .
The process is designed to be slow and deliberate .
But with the world desperate for a vaccine or vaccines to bring the coronavirus to heel , the U.S. has looked to accelerate dramatically the discovery , manufacturing and distribution of vaccines and medicines to treat the virus that has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of several nations last month pledged $ 8 billion for a similar effort to support promising vaccines around the world .
Under the U.S. program , the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has so far announced plans to spend more than $ 2 billion to spur the development and manufacturing of at least five vaccines considered to be promising — those from Moderna ; Oxford , which has partnered with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca ; as well as Janssen , which is a part of Johnson & Johnson ; Sanofi ; and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to AstraZeneca , which agreed to provide the U.S. government with 300 million doses of the Oxford vaccine in exchange for up to $ 1.2 billion in funding , “ with the first doses delivered as early as October 2020 , ” according to the Health and Human Services Department .
All of the vaccines in the U.S. program , as well as others under development , take aim at a spike-shaped protein on the virus that plays a role in infecting people .
Using an array of scientific techniques , the vaccines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ system the information needed to recognize the protein as a threat and then respond with antibodies capable of neutralizing the protein .
The nascent vaccines are appealing , in part , because each one of them could be produced at massive scale far more quickly than traditional types of vaccines .
The Oxford-AstraZeneca effort , which is also receiving funding from the British government , is made from a virus that causes common cold infections in chimpanzees and has been genetically altered to target the coronavirus .
Early tests show the vaccine may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in several monkeys , but it did not prevent the virus from taking hold in the animals ’ noses .
Results have not been released from its early tests on humans .
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine takes the same approach as Oxford ’ s but won ’ t be tested on humans until September , according to the company .
Sanofi also has yet to begin human tests on its vaccine , which embeds the genetic code for the spike protein into the DNA of another innocuous virus .
Beyond investing in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also oversee a plan to streamline and coordinate the testing of vaccines .
The five potential vaccines will be evaluated using the same measurements to make comparisons easier , and a single , independent monitoring board will decide if any of vaccines have been proved to work .
Researchers will have access to at least 72 testing sites that have been identified across the country and an equal number in other countries , said Dr. Larry Corey , an expert in vaccine development at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center who is helping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plan relies heavily on testing networks that have been built over the years for work on vaccines against HIV and other pathogens , according to Corey and Fauci .
Testing sites are often based at university medical centers .
Moderna researchers have said they expect to begin the third , and final , phase of testing in July , which would give them six months to determine whether a vaccine is effective before the new year .
The Oxford-AstraZeneca team is on a similar timeline .
Six months could be enough time under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Fauci and Corey said .
Corey says , however , he believes it would be more realistic to start the clock once all the participants in the Moderna study have been enrolled instead of at the start , which would push the timeline into early next year .
If researchers can recruit a sufficiently large pool of participants in areas where the virus is infecting high numbers of people , less time probably will be needed to know if a vaccine works .
Doing so can be a challenge , especially when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poorly understood .
Where the virus will be most active when a vaccine is ready for large-scale testing , for example , is “ a moving target , ” Corey said .
“ We have a virus that is sweeping through different areas , ” Corey said .
“ How do we match our clinical trial sites with where the viral activity is ?
” The large network of sites the government has set up is meant to guard against researchers losing time chasing the virus around the country and overseas .
Sites @ @ @ @ @ @ @ down as needed .
And , in the end , many sites the government pays to set up will probably go unused , Corey and Fauci said .
“ We are putting a lot of money to get the sites ready ... before we even know , for example , whether a particular vaccine candidate is safe , ” Fauci said .
“ If we discover from [ preliminary testing ] that , God forbid , that it ’ s not safe , then we ’ ll have invested a lot of money @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do something that we ’ re not going to do ... .
The risk is the money , not the safety , not the integrity of the trial.
” Similarly , it is unknown whether the hot summer months in the United States could significantly suppress the virus , leaving researchers with too few options for testing whether a vaccine works .
If that happens , Corey said , researchers will probably have to turn their focus to sites in African countries , Brazil and other places that may be experiencing outbreaks .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be needed in the final stage of tests for each of the five vaccines , Corey said .
“ A virus that we ’ ve never seen before is unpredictable , ” he said .
“ We have to anticipate all options.
” How many doses of a vaccine could be made by the end of the year is an open question .
Pharmaceutical companies have announced partnerships with manufacturing companies as well as plans to begin mass-manufacturing their vaccines before it is known if they work .
When the operations are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of doses of a vaccine could be produced each month , but getting the specialized equipment , staff and materials needed to produce the vaccines takes time .
Albert Baehny , chief executive of Lonza , which will manufacture the central component of Moderna ’ s vaccine , for example , said its U.S. facility would be able to make more than 8 million doses of the vaccine ’ s so-called active ingredients each month , but wouldn ’ t be ready to begin production until October .
The company ’ s facilities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 25 million doses each month , are expected to start in December , Baehny said .
And after Lonza completes its work , more time will be needed for another company to complete the last steps of the manufacturing process .
All about the data All the logistical planning , however , will amount to nothing if none of the vaccines being supported by the U.S. program are effective at protecting people from the coronavirus .
The time it will take to determine if a vaccine works is pegged to the vaccine itself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ May that early tests on a handful of study participants found the vaccine had triggered an immune response that researchers believed could be effective at preventing the virus from infecting people .
But it will be up to an independent board of outside experts to decide if that is actually the case for Moderna , AstraZeneca and , later , the other vaccines being tested in the government program .
To do so , statisticians on the board will perform complex calculations based on the data collected in the large trials to determine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effect that can not have been due to chance and to estimate the specific level of protection it provides .
If a vaccine is , in fact , very effective , those results will become clear quickly because the difference between people who are vaccinated and those who receive the placebo will be stark .
In that case , the monitoring board could declare the vaccine a success , clearing the way for it to be put into use .
The board probably would need longer to reach a decision about a lower-performing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ collect sufficient data to establish its effectiveness .
“ None of us have a crystal ball to know where all these efforts will be on Dec. 31 , ” said Dr. Bali Pulendran , a Stanford immunologist .
“ I ’ m cautiously optimistic , but if there is one thing I ’ ve learned about the immune system , it is that we have to be humble .
”

More than 130 labs around the world are working to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. But what would it take to vaccinate everyone by early next year?
When President Trump announced last month that a vaccine against the new coronavirus could be available by the end of the year or sooner, his claim was met with a mix of hope and doubt.
The search for vaccines often ends in failure, and the successful efforts have always taken years. So it seemed improbable, if not impossible, that researchers, who began working on vaccines for the new virus in January, could discover something so elusive and do it so quickly.
But then scientists at Moderna, a pharmaceutical company, announced they had made promising early progress and claimed they could potentially have a proven vaccine by winter.
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So, could a vaccine in 2020 really be in the cards?
Possibly, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, and others involved in a program the U.S. government has set up to expedite vaccines that protect people from becoming infected by the virus.
Fauci and others believe they have created a doable, albeit hugely expensive, blueprint for how vaccines could be safely tested and manufactured in a matter of months. Under the plan, dubbed Operation Warp Speed by the president, the federal government has invested heavily in several vaccine efforts while also rolling out a massive testing program.
What the plan cannot address is the question that matters the most: Will any of the vaccines being tested actually work?
“All of this is unprecedented,” Fauci said in an interview. “When people say, ‘Having a vaccine by the winter, that’s impossible.’ It’s not impossible.... If the Fates have it that we have an effective vaccine and there are no glitches that are unanticipated, it is possible that we will have one in the middle of the winter. There’s no guarantee, though.”
Quick out of the gate
The quick jump that some researchers were able to make into working on vaccines shaved many months, if not more, off the typical timeline, Fauci and others said.
In January, within days of Chinese officials releasing the genetic code of the coronavirus, a team of researchers from Moderna and the National Institutes of Health had devised a possible vaccine based on a part of the virus’ genetic machinery called mRNA.
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Moderna had been working for years on the technique, which has never been used to make a human vaccine, and was able to quickly apply it to the new virus. Just two months later, the first participants in a study of the vaccine were injected with it — a turnaround time that would have been inconceivable before the coronavirus.
Scientists at Oxford University, as well as groups in China and elsewhere, also were able to get out of the gate quickly to begin tests on various types of vaccines. As of last week, 10 teams had moved beyond laboratory work to begin testing their vaccines on humans, and more than 120 others are in earlier stages of development, according to the World Health Organization.
Human trials are arduous undertakings that typically play out over several years as researchers recruit thousands of volunteers in different age groups who meet strict criteria to be injected with the potential vaccine.
Early phases of testing are meant to assess a potential vaccine’s safety. In later phases, researchers compare the rate at which vaccinated volunteers contract the virus against a group given a placebo, or dummy vaccine, to determine how much protection, if any, different doses of the vaccine provide. The process is designed to be slow and deliberate.
But with the world desperate for a vaccine or vaccines to bring the coronavirus to heel, the U.S. has looked to accelerate dramatically the discovery, manufacturing and distribution of vaccines and medicines to treat the virus that has killed more than 112,000 Americans.
Leaders of several nations last month pledged $8 billion for a similar effort to support promising vaccines around the world.
Five promising vaccines
Under the U.S. program, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has so far announced plans to spend more than $2 billion to spur the development and manufacturing of at least five vaccines considered to be promising — those from Moderna; Oxford, which has partnered with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca; as well as Janssen, which is a part of Johnson & Johnson; Sanofi; and Merck.
The largest infusion is going to AstraZeneca, which agreed to provide the U.S. government with 300 million doses of the Oxford vaccine in exchange for up to $1.2 billion in funding, “with the first doses delivered as early as October 2020,” according to the Health and Human Services Department.
All of the vaccines in the U.S. program, as well as others under development, take aim at a spike-shaped protein on the virus that plays a role in infecting people.
Using an array of scientific techniques, the vaccines will try to relay to the immune system the information needed to recognize the protein as a threat and then respond with antibodies capable of neutralizing the protein. The nascent vaccines are appealing, in part, because each one of them could be produced at massive scale far more quickly than traditional types of vaccines.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca effort, which is also receiving funding from the British government, is made from a virus that causes common cold infections in chimpanzees and has been genetically altered to target the coronavirus.
Early tests show the vaccine may have stopped the virus from causing pneumonia in several monkeys, but it did not prevent the virus from taking hold in the animals’ noses. Results have not been released from its early tests on humans.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine takes the same approach as Oxford’s but won’t be tested on humans until September, according to the company. Sanofi also has yet to begin human tests on its vaccine, which embeds the genetic code for the spike protein into the DNA of another innocuous virus.
Beyond investing in the vaccines, the U.S program will also oversee a plan to streamline and coordinate the testing of vaccines. The five potential vaccines will be evaluated using the same measurements to make comparisons easier, and a single, independent monitoring board will decide if any of vaccines have been proved to work.
Researchers will have access to at least 72 testing sites that have been identified across the country and an equal number in other countries, said Dr. Larry Corey, an expert in vaccine development at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center who is helping to orchestrate the government program.
The plan relies heavily on testing networks that have been built over the years for work on vaccines against HIV and other pathogens, according to Corey and Fauci. Testing sites are often based at university medical centers.
Moderna researchers have said they expect to begin the third, and final, phase of testing in July, which would give them six months to determine whether a vaccine is effective before the new year. The Oxford-AstraZeneca team is on a similar timeline.
Six months could be enough time under the framework the government has set up, Fauci and Corey said. Corey says, however, he believes it would be more realistic to start the clock once all the participants in the Moderna study have been enrolled instead of at the start, which would push the timeline into early next year.
Needed: Huge volunteer pool
If researchers can recruit a sufficiently large pool of participants in areas where the virus is infecting high numbers of people, less time probably will be needed to know if a vaccine works.
Doing so can be a challenge, especially when dealing with a new virus that is poorly understood. Where the virus will be most active when a vaccine is ready for large-scale testing, for example, is “a moving target,” Corey said.
“We have a virus that is sweeping through different areas,” Corey said. “How do we match our clinical trial sites with where the viral activity is?”
The large network of sites the government has set up is meant to guard against researchers losing time chasing the virus around the country and overseas. Sites will be pressed into service and shut down as needed. And, in the end, many sites the government pays to set up will probably go unused, Corey and Fauci said.
“We are putting a lot of money to get the sites ready ... before we even know, for example, whether a particular vaccine candidate is safe,” Fauci said. “If we discover from [preliminary testing] that, God forbid, that it’s not safe, then we’ll have invested a lot of money getting a lot of sites ready to do something that we’re not going to do.... The risk is the money, not the safety, not the integrity of the trial.”
Similarly, it is unknown whether the hot summer months in the United States could significantly suppress the virus, leaving researchers with too few options for testing whether a vaccine works.
If that happens, Corey said, researchers will probably have to turn their focus to sites in African countries, Brazil and other places that may be experiencing outbreaks. The participation of 25,000 to 30,000 people will be needed in the final stage of tests for each of the five vaccines, Corey said.
“A virus that we’ve never seen before is unpredictable,” he said. “We have to anticipate all options.”
How many doses of a vaccine could be made by the end of the year is an open question. Pharmaceutical companies have announced partnerships with manufacturing companies as well as plans to begin mass-manufacturing their vaccines before it is known if they work.
Science & Medicine Three potential coronavirus vaccines moving ahead in tests CanSino Biologics of China is in the second phase of testing a coronavirus vaccine candidate, and a U.S. shot by Moderna and the NIH isn’t far behind.
When the operations are up and running, tens of millions of doses of a vaccine could be produced each month, but getting the specialized equipment, staff and materials needed to produce the vaccines takes time.
Albert Baehny, chief executive of Lonza, which will manufacture the central component of Moderna’s vaccine, for example, said its U.S. facility would be able to make more than 8 million doses of the vaccine’s so-called active ingredients each month, but wouldn’t be ready to begin production until October.
The company’s facilities in Switzerland, which will produce about 25 million doses each month, are expected to start in December, Baehny said. And after Lonza completes its work, more time will be needed for another company to complete the last steps of the manufacturing process.
All about the data
All the logistical planning, however, will amount to nothing if none of the vaccines being supported by the U.S. program are effective at protecting people from the coronavirus. The time it will take to determine if a vaccine works is pegged to the vaccine itself, experts said.
Moderna announced in May that early tests on a handful of study participants found the vaccine had triggered an immune response that researchers believed could be effective at preventing the virus from infecting people. But it will be up to an independent board of outside experts to decide if that is actually the case for Moderna, AstraZeneca and, later, the other vaccines being tested in the government program.
To do so, statisticians on the board will perform complex calculations based on the data collected in the large trials to determine whether a vaccine has had a genuine effect that cannot have been due to chance and to estimate the specific level of protection it provides.
If a vaccine is, in fact, very effective, those results will become clear quickly because the difference between people who are vaccinated and those who receive the placebo will be stark.
In that case, the monitoring board could declare the vaccine a success, clearing the way for it to be put into use. The board probably would need longer to reach a decision about a lower-performing vaccine since it would take time to collect sufficient data to establish its effectiveness.
“None of us have a crystal ball to know where all these efforts will be on Dec. 31,” said Dr. Bali Pulendran, a Stanford immunologist. “I’m cautiously optimistic, but if there is one thing I’ve learned about the immune system, it is that we have to be humble.”