Weekly CA-COVID Update 9/14/2022

California

The leaders of California’s legislature said on Friday, 9/9, that they would make sure that the state does not tax the federal student loan debt forgiven under the Biden administration’s relief program… 

The Supreme Court on Friday, 9/9, approved the Biden administration’s request to present oral arguments in the anti-affirmative action challenges against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill… 

Experts say factors to blame for the high cost of gas in California — now more than $5 a gallon — include problems at refineries that supply the state as well as higher taxes, more regulations and the same global issues driving the overall U.S. market… 

The massive blaze fueled by shifting wind patterns and extraordinarily dry brush began during last week’s heat wave, and it continues to create enough smoke to affect air quality up to 100 miles away…

Kern County has one of the highest infant mortality rates in California and mothers die during pregnancy and childbirth in the San Joaquin Valley at a higher rate than in any other region of the state…

Coronavirus

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended the updated COVID-19 vaccine boosters this month, after the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) authorization… 

The world has never been in a better position to end the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said last week, urging nations to keep up their efforts against the virus that has killed over six million people…

Senate Republicans are signaling early resistance to attaching billions of dollars for COVID-19 and monkeypox aid in a must-pass government funding bill, a troublesome sign for a White House that says vaccine money is rapidly running out…