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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The California Department of Public Health said Friday that two million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to Californians in some of the state’s hardest-hit communities, increasing immunity where the state's transmission rates and disease burden have been the highest during the pandemic.
With this equity metric met, and because vaccines slow the spread of disease and serious illness, the previously announced update to the Blueprint for a Safer Economy to account for progress with vaccine administration goes into effect.
After reassessment using new thresholds, 13 counties will move to a less restrictive tier, from purple (widespread) to red (substantial): Amador, Colusa, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Mendocino, Mono, Orange, Placer, San Benito, San Bernardino, Siskiyou, Sonoma and Tuolumne.
Twenty-one counties will remain in the purple tier, 33 will be in the red (substantial) tier, three remain in the orange (moderate) tier and one remains in the yellow (minimal) tier. These changes will take effect on Sunday, March 14.
On Tuesday, CDPH said it also expects Sacramento, San Diego and 11 additional counties – Kings, Lake, Monterey, Riverside, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare, Ventura and Yuba – to shift from purple to red based on current data and projections.
These tier adjustments will be assigned on Tuesday and take effect on Wednesday.
Lake County has been in the purple tier since the end of November.
There is potential for additional counties to move tiers next week based on next week’s blueprint tier assessment and assignment.
Going forward, the purple tier threshold is greater than 10 cases per 100,000 people.
“California is doubling down on its mission to keep equity a top priority as we continue to get COVID-19 doses into the arms of all Californians as safely and quickly as possible,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of California’s Health and Human Services Agency. “Focusing on the individuals who have been hardest hit by this pandemic is the right thing to do and also ensures we are having the greatest impact in reducing transmission, protecting our health care delivery system and saving lives.”
On March 4, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state had set aside 40 percent of vaccine doses for the hardest-hit communities and established an equity metric to increase vaccinations in those communities. Doing so recognizes that the pandemic did not affect California communities equally.
Forty percent of COVID cases and deaths have occurred in the lowest quartile of the Healthy Places Index, which provides overall scores and data that predict life expectancy and compares community conditions that shape health across the state.
Six of Lake County’s zip codes – Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks, Finley, Lucerne, Nice and Upper Lake – are in the lowest quartile on the Healthy Places Index.
“While we have reached a milestone today, we still have a lot of work ahead of us to help ensure we can put an end to this pandemic,” said Tomás Aragón, CDPH director and state Public Health officer. “We must all do our part by getting vaccinated as soon as it’s our turn and continue to wear masks and practice physical distancing to keep our communities safe.”
The blueprint will be updated again when four million doses have been administered in the vaccine equity quartile.
More information about the Blueprint for a Safer Economy is available here and additional details on the state's efforts to end the pandemic through equitable vaccine administration is available here.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
“We are looking forward to transitioning back to more on-ground/face-to-face classes at all locations and plan to see our fall 2021 class schedule reflect that,” said Superintendent and President Tim Karas. “We are happy to report that with the help of Mendocino County, we have been able to provide all interested employees access to the COVID-19 vaccine so they feel comfortable coming back to campus and providing excellent student service as before the pandemic began.”
The college has a “Transition Group” which consists of classified staff, faculty and management leaders brainstorming ways to get more students back on campus in a timely and safe manner.
The college is also surveying students to gather input about how that might look. In the fall 2021 semester, the schedule will offer an expanded on ground/face-to-face course listing.
“We won’t be 100 percent back to normal by fall, but we will be increasing the number of classes at all of our locations,” says Debra Polak, vice president of instruction. “We will be introducing innovative instructional methods in the fall that will allow us to have fewer students in classrooms. We hope some of these new methods will help us reach students in our vast geographic area in post-pandemic times as well.”
“In the fall, the centers in Fort Bragg, Lakeport and Willits will have a heavier on-ground presence to support students who have had a difficult time accessing online education. We plan to offer close to the traditional variety of courses, just with reduced class enrollment caps, that align with current county safety guidelines,” says Dean of Centers Amanda Xu. “The center computer labs will also be open during regular business hours so that our rural students can more efficiently access online courses.”
Since the pandemic began, Mendocino College has continued to expand support and services geared toward student success, including free tutoring, books, tuition and more.
More than half the students who attend Mendocino College qualify for some form of financial aid, and many meet the guidelines that eliminate unit fees completely, regardless of their financial situation.
For more information, visit https://www.mendocino.edu/financial-aid.
“There will be numerous opportunities for students to access funds to pay for tuition and other educational expenses in the coming months,” says Karas. “We want students to know that we’re here to help break down any barriers that may be preventing them from returning to school. There is no better time than now to pursue your educational goals.”
Currently enrolled students can register for summer classes using MyMendo beginning April 24 and new students can apply now online at www.mendocino.edu.
The summer 2021 semester officially begins June 7. To make a counseling appointment, please email
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The settlement agreement resolves allegations by the Attorney General’s Office, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and Employers Benefit Trust, or UEBT, and class action plaintiffs that Sutter’s anticompetitive practices led to higher health care costs for consumers in Northern California compared to other places in the state.
The nonprofit Sutter Health is the largest hospital system in Northern California. The Sutter network consists of some 24 acute care hospitals – including Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport – along with 36 ambulatory surgery centers and 16 cardiac and cancer centers. It also includes some 12,000 physicians and over 53,000 employees. In addition, Sutter negotiates contracts on behalf of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and many affiliated physician groups.
The settlement “represents a huge step toward making health care more accessible and affordable for patients who need it, especially for Northern California patients served by Sutter,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
“This landmark settlement will require Sutter to stop practices that drive patients into more expensive health services and to operate with more transparency. The California Department of Justice will continue to work to keep the healthcare market competitive so that patients, families, and employers aren’t left holding the bag when big players dominate the market,” Becerra said.
Sutter Health said in a statement released to Lake County News that the ruling “enables the settlement approval process to continue moving toward final approval, which will ultimately help preserve our integrated network of care and is in the best interests of our patients and the communities we serve.”
The settlement requires Sutter to pay $575 million in compensation, prohibits anticompetitive conduct, and requires Sutter to follow certain practices to restore competition in California’s healthcare markets.
This settlement is the result of litigation that began in 2014 when the UEBT and numerous individual plaintiffs — later consolidated into a class action — filed their lawsuit challenging Sutter’s practices in rendering services and setting prices.
They sought compensation for what they alleged were unlawful, anticompetitive business practices, which caused them to pay more than necessary for health care services and products.
In March of 2018, Attorney General Becerra filed a similar lawsuit against Sutter on behalf of the people of California, principally seeking injunctive relief to compel Sutter to correct its anticompetitive business practices moving forward.
The separate lawsuits were combined by the court into one case.
In October of 2019, on the eve of trial, the parties reached an agreement to settle. The settlement was filed with the court on Dec. 19, 2019, together with an unopposed motion for its preliminary approval.
This week’s ruling grants preliminary approval and following the required class notice period, sets a hearing date for final approval.
With approval of the settlement, Sutter is required to:
– Pay $575 million to compensate employers, unions and others covered under the class action, and to cover costs and fees associated with the legal efforts.
– Limit what it charges patients for out-of-network services, helping ensure that patients visiting an out-of-network hospital do not face outsized, surprise medical bills.
– Increase transparency by permitting insurers, employers, and self-funded payers to provide plan members with access to pricing, quality, and cost information, which helps patients make better care decisions.
– Halt measures that deny patients access to lower-cost plans, thus allowing health insurers, employers, and self-funded payers to offer and direct patients to more affordable health plan options for networks or products.
– Stop all-or-nothing contracting deals, thus allowing insurers, employers, and self-funded payers to include some but not necessarily all of Sutter’s hospitals, clinics, or other commercial products in their plans’ network.
– Cease anticompetitive bundling of services and products which forced insurers, employers, and self-funded payers to purchase for their plan offerings more services or products from Sutter than were needed. Sutter must now offer a stand-alone price that must be lower than any bundled package price to give insurers, employers, and self-funded payers more choice.
– Cooperate with a court-approved compliance monitor to ensure that Sutter is following the terms of the settlement for at least 10 years. The monitor will receive and investigate complaints and may present evidence to the court.
– Clearly set definitions on clinical integration and patient access considerations. The settlement makes clear that for Sutter to claim it has clinically integrated a system, it must meet strict standards beyond regional similarities or the mere sharing of an electronic health record, and must be integrating care in a manner that takes into consideration the quality of care to the patient population. This is important because clinical integration can be used to mask market consolidation efforts by hospital systems, when in fact there is no true integration of a patient’s care. For example, saying that hospitals are regionally close or that hospitals are sharing electronic health records is not enough, there must be close coordination that will lead to less costly, higher quality care for local communities.
A number of studies have shown how overconsolidation drives up prices for consumers.
For example, a University of California Berkeley report found that outpatient cardiology procedures in Southern California cost nearly $18,000 compared to almost $29,000 in Northern California.
For inpatient hospital procedures, the cost in Southern California is nearly $132,000 compared to more than $223,000 in Northern California, a more than $90,000 difference.
A 2016 study found that a cesarean delivery in Sacramento, where Sutter is based, costs more than $27,000, nearly double what it costs in Los Angeles or New York, making Northern California one of the most expensive places in the country to have a baby.
A copy of the order granting preliminary approval is published below.
Order Granting Preliminary Approval Sutter 20210309[3] by LakeCoNews on Scribd
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The following dogs are ready for adoption or foster.
‘Dorito’
“Dorito” is a male American Staffordshire Terrier mix with a short white and gray coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 4576.
‘Hector’
“Hector” is a male American Pit Bull Terrier mix with a short brindle coat.
He is dog No. 4697.
‘Inky’
“Inky” is a male German Shepherd mix with a long black coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 4324.
‘Ranger’
“Ranger” is a male husky mix with a long red and white coat.
He has been neutered.
Ranger is dog No. 4443.
‘Tia’
“Tia” is a female American Bully with a short black with white markings.
She is dog No. 4602.
‘Toby’
“Toby” is a friendly senior male boxer mix.
He has a short tan and white coat.
He is dog No. 4389.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
Email Elizabeth Larson at