COVID-19

CALIFORNIA — Before state officials announced that 40% of California's new vaccine doses would go to low-income communities, leaders were struggling to make good on promises to prioritize vulnerable Californians in the vaccine rollout. As my colleague Miriam Jordan recently wrote, farmworkers were among those...

We’ve been waiting for this week for a long time. After more than a year of complex, evolving rules governing where Californians can go and what we can do, on Tuesday, nearly all of them will go away. California, the nation’s most populous state, will be...

MONTEREY COUNTY — Monterey County’s indoor face covering ordinance has been triggered, with countywide mask requirements taking effect as soon as this Friday. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published data Monday morning showing that Monterey County was in the “substantial” community transmission rate...

Between reinstated mask mandates and spiking coronavirus case numbers, this summer is starting to feel a little too much like 2020. Even in California, a state with a vaccination rate well above average, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has nearly doubled in the...

YUMA, Ariz. — The Rev. Emilio Chapa was delivering a homily on a recent Sunday when he paused to lament a sight that had shaken him as he entered the sacristy before Mass. The board where his staff posted requests for funeral services was covered...

Robert Hesse was expecting an imminent promotion to manager of Sub Zero Ice Cream, a nitrogen ice cream shop in Ventura, California, when it shut down in March because of the pandemic. “I like to work,” said Hesse, a college graduate who turns 26 on...

KING CITY — Monterey County has started the process of demobilizing Operation Oasis, its isolation housing program that assisted more than a thousand residents during the Covid-19 pandemic. As of June 24, referrals are no longer being made to Operation Oasis and assigned staff have...

WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took a major step Tuesday toward coaxing Americans into a post-pandemic world, relaxing the rules on mask wearing outdoors as coronavirus cases recede and people increasingly chafe against restrictions. The mask guidance is modest and carefully...

Last week, President Joe Biden signed into law a wide-reaching $1.9 trillion stimulus package aimed at throwing a lifeline to Americans struggling through the pandemic. In California, the news has come as a particular relief. Many businesses here have been closed or restricted for a year....

State prison systems across the United States have begun allowing visitors for the first time since the pandemic started, presenting challenges for facilities that want to balance much-needed contact between inmates and their families with the need to limit the spread of COVID-19 in...