Real Thai Kitchen Delivers Spicy, Cozy Specialties

On a chilly evening, we crave something spicy. And the longstanding Thai landmark on Seabright Avenue did not disappoint. I have loved the curries from Real Thai Kitchen on evenings past. The green, the red, the yellow, the super spicy. But we made other choices last week. 

First off—and always—we needed an order of the house-steamed dumplings, Chu Mai ($9.50). It’s more fun to dish these out at the table from the round bamboo basket fresh from steaming. But, for now, we savored the plump wonton spheres stuffed with crab, shrimp, mushroom, chicken and cilantro that are at their very best topped with the mysterious black sauce, sweet, tart, and spicy, that makes each bite so delicious you never want the flavors to stop. 

We also picked up two entrees, a side order of brown rice (outrageously good for $2.75) and steamed silver noodles ($3). The spicy green bean stir-fry ($11.95) was loaded with excellent tofu, as requested, plus green beans, carrots, and green bell peppers. The chili paste with which everything had been wok’d packed the desired kick, and while I wished for more sauce with this dish, it was just fine with brown rice so good we fantasized about a future dinner of just that. Brown rice. Maybe with one of Real Thai Kitchen’s curries. 

Our other main dish from the popular eatery was a classic version of pad thai ($11.95), one of this cuisine’s gifts to the world. Rice noodles stir fried with bean sprouts, slices of green onion, plump shreds of tofu, plus bits of chicken, shrimp and plenty of egg and crushed peanuts in a delicious tamarind sauce. I added both entrees to my bowl, adding loads of texture to each. 

But it was that brown rice that really amazed. With the bran still on the grain, this rice had more flavor and more chewy texture than my home-cooked variety. It is almost a whole new grain and maximizes the flavors and textures of everything you put on it. Fantastic all by itself. On your next visit to Real Thai Kitchen, do not fail to pick up an order of the house brown rice. Flavor galaxies in every bite. Open daily for lunch and dinner.

Learn more at reathaisantacruz.com

Gifts from the Sea

Check out the Dungeness crabs available through Ocean2Table. Fresh from the boat, cooked and cleaned! But there’s more from the marine entrepreneurs: anchovies and trout, not to mention a dizzying array of mushrooms. Shiitakes, black pearl tree oysters, golden chanterelles, black trumpet mushrooms (to sauté in butter and garlic!), hedgehog, dried porcini, candy caps. A serious variety of the fruit of the Earth. Delivered to your place if you want. 

Check getocean2table.com, and keep these guys in business bringing very fresh produce and fish from producers to you.

Looking Forward To …

Bradley Brown’s upcoming Big Basin Vineyards downtown Santa Cruz tasting room.

The next depot of flavor-intensive cooking from Home, where Brad Briske and his creative culinary team flourish, will be HomeFry over at Discretion Brewing, where Santos Majano formerly made menu miracles. So far, Homefry’s menu talks about lots of charcuterie, mushrooms with high wattage sauces, Monterey Bay rock cod and slaw, Fogline Farm chicken creations, and other specials involving huge helpings of finesse and avocado whip. Sounds inventive, as you would expect from Briske.  

And looking forward to the Feb. 1 reopening of that palace of carnitas Steamer Lane Supply at the corner of Lighthouse Field and the Monterey Bay.

California Pajarosa Floral Navigates a Changing Industry

Business at California Pajarosa Floral, one of Watsonville’s last remaining large flower growers, has altered drastically since the outbreak of Covid-19 last year.

Already dealing with an evolving industry before the pandemic due to growth in offshore production, things came to a sudden halt at Pajarosa when the virus hit. For the first six weeks, all transportation of flowers ceased and the business could not get its product to wholesale customers. Then demand began to plummet.

“Once trucking resumed, we were able to ship flowers, however, demand for them was only a small percentage of what is [normal],” said Pajarosa’s Paul Furman. “We lost many accounts due to them closing completely.”

California Pajarosa, which is nestled in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, is the last remaining major rose grower in the Pajaro Valley and one of very few left in the country. Roses were first planted on the property in 1979. In 1992, the company became the first rose grower in the state to utilize hydroponic growing methods. 

The company normally grows flowers for parties and weddings, and has lost a large amount of business due to such events being canceled and discouraged due to Covid-19. This has led to a shift in focus, concentrating on internet sales and customers who have more of an online retail presence.

Meanwhile, safety measures have increased. While the company already had a very strict sanitizing system put in practice pre-pandemic, they have now also mandated mask-wearing for employees.

Thankfully, Furman said, there is still a demand for flowers.

“Many people still find the benefit of enjoying flowers in their homes,” he said. “It has been scientifically proven that flowers reduce stress, boost your mood and memory, increase productivity and are shown not only as a benefit to the recipient, but also to the person giving the flowers.”

For those reasons, California Pajarosa decided last year to donate 1,000 bouquets to local healthcare workers at Watsonville Community Hospital. Furman said they appreciate the sacrifice and effort such workers have been dealing with and wanted to show their support.

“No gesture is too small, and we felt the flowers could have a positive effect on those that risk their own for sake of others’ health,” Furman said.

Looking ahead, Furman says that California Pajarosa will continue to monitor the ever-evolving flower industry both locally and worldwide. He urges consumers to look to support local growers as much as they can.

“We encourage anyone to be aware of the origin of the flowers they buy as buying locally grown flowers supports the community you live in,” he said. “Buy American-grown flowers. Buy California-grown flowers. Buy Santa Cruz County-grown flowers. The closer the origin of the product, the greater it will affect you in a positive way.”

New Exhibit Shows How to Fight Climate Change with Your Fork

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It takes 717 gallons of water to raise just one pound of pork, and only 25 gallons to grow the same amount of potatoes.

That is according to the nonprofit Eat for the Earth’s new exhibit, What’s on your fork?, now on display through the end of January on the first floor of the Santa Cruz County government building. This factoid joins dozens of others intended to show how meat consumption in the United States drives climate change and affects the environment as a whole.

“As a person who is plant-based, I know the power of diet to make changes,” says Rev. Beth Love, founder of Eat for the Earth. “I want people that see the exhibit to understand that their dietary choices do make a difference.”

“Alternative” diets are often the source of derision and pity in America. Yet more and more people across the country are deciding to forgo animal products entirely. A report by a retail analysis company found that in the last 15 years, 290,000 more Americans became vegans, bringing the national total to 9.7 million people. Most of these plant-based converts list the environment as one of the biggest drivers for dumping meat.

Through What’s on my fork?, Eat for the Earth intends to show visitors to the county government building exactly how diet impacts the environment. Through pie charts and bar graphs, the exhibit looks at the difference between growing fruits and vegetables versus raising livestock in terms of land use, greenhouse gas emission, and water use. 

Love’s own decision to go plant-based nearly 20 years ago was inspired by her need to respond to the climate crisis. “I was aware that my diet was probably the largest single contribution I could make as an individual to averting climate change,” she says.

For most of the next two decades, Love was content to make plant-based food for herself, her husband, and her friends while working on a vegan cookbook. But she soon found herself growing frustrated by what she saw as climate inaction. In an interview with Good Times, Love cited a 2019 study that found that moving away from red meat, along with other agricultural reforms, will be necessary to meet the goals set by the Paris Agreement on climate change.

So in January 2019, Love launched Eat for the Earth in the hopes of encouraging others to adopt plant-based diets. For the first months of 2019, this meant going to festivals, plying people with vegan food, and talking to them about the cost of meat-based diets.

“The formula is to give out the food and then give them the education,” Love says, adding: “There is nothing more compelling than giving people a free food sample.”

But with the pandemic, Eat for the Earth had to rethink its strategy.

One of the outcomes of that reframing is What’s on my fork?. Love says that before the pandemic, she could see people reacting with surprise and concern when they saw the cost of meat-based diets. Love wants to tap into that energy in the future, and she thinks that visual representations of the data are the best way to do that.

To that end, the county building is only the first stop for What’s on my fork?. As soon as the world opens back up, she plans on taking the exhibit on the road. In the meantime, Eat for the Earth is also offering online classes and resources to people transitioning to plant-based diets. 

“It’s not enough for people to be educated about why something is important,” Love says. “They also need to know how to do it.”

Evacuation Orders Issued for Santa Cruz Mountains Residents

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Cal Fire CZU announced Monday morning that many evacuation warnings were updated to orders for swaths of the San Lorenzo Valley, including most of Boulder Creek and various areas of Ben Lomond and Felton that just a few months ago were scorched by the CZU Lightning Complex fire.  

About 5,000 residents are impacted by the newest orders, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.

In a press release, Cal Fire said that the upcoming “atmospheric river” is expected to bring 8-12 inches of rain to the Santa Cruz Mountains. These incoming heavy rains have officials worried of a possible debris flow, in which heavy rainfall unable to soak into the fire-damaged soil will instead flow downhill, taking rocks, trees and other items with it. Flows can reach speeds of 30 mph and destroy homes and other structures in their path.  

The areas under an evacuation order are:

  • Boulder Creek
    • Boulder Creek Fire District Zones: BOU-E021A, BOU-E020, BOU-E017, BOU-E016, BOU-E010, BOU-E006, BOU-E001A, BOU-E002, BOU-E033A, BOU-E038A, BOU-E031B, BOU-E030, BOU-E018A, BOU-E014, BOUE009, BOU-E003, BOU-E001B, BOU-E015A, BOU-E039A, BOU-E040A
  • Ben Lomond
    • Ben Lomond Fire District Zones: BEN-E001D, BEN-E002A, BEN-E002D, BEN-E004B
  • Felton
    • Felton Fire District Zones: FEL-E002A, FEL-E003B, FEL-E003C, FELE004A
  • Santa Cruz Mountains
    • Santa Cruz County Fire Department Zones: CRZ-E001B, CRZ-E001D, CRZE002B, CRZ-E003B, CRZ-E003D, CRZ-E006B, CRZ-E006C, CRZ-E007A, CRZ-E017A, CRZ-E017C

To view the interactive evacuation map, visit community.zonehaven.com

Temporary shelters are opening at San Lorenzo Valley High School, the Scotts Valley Community Center, and Pacific Elementary School in Davenport. Extended car parking, Red Cross assistance, refreshments, charging stations, bathrooms and pet food will be available.

County officials predict the storm will hit Tuesday afternoon and intensify throughout the night. 

“I couldn’t stress more the need to follow the evacuation order,” Santa Cruz County Chief Deputy Chris Clark said in a press conference Monday morning. “We want to give you as much time as possible to make preparations to leave.”  

Clark expects rain to more than meet the trigger threshold for flows, 0.30 inches of precipitation in 15 minutes, 0.50 inches of precipitation in 30 minutes, and/or 0.70 inches in an hour.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office will maintain a presence throughout the event, until it becomes dangerous to do so. More than 30 deputies are currently knocking on doors in areas with evacuation orders and teams of 10 will switch every 12 hours to help residents and suppress looting. 

In addition to debris flow concerns, Clark warned of high winds

“We’re going to see a really high degree of wind, potentially gusting to 50-60 mph,” he said. “[The wind] just last week caused a huge disruption. This will be very much the same.”  

The predicted winds will cause challenges for emergency responders and evacuees.  Loss of electricity due to downed power lines will disrupt communications between evacuees and responders. Fallen trees may block roads, impeding access.  

“Winds play a big factor in our ability to communicate with the public. [Residents] need to heed orders now because we will not be able to message later on due to impacts of the storm,” Cal Fire Chief Ian Larkin said.  

Santa Cruz County Public Works Director Matt Machado hopes crews can clean up wind damage by this weekend. 

“We have staged some equipment in the mountains, so we can respond to immediate issues as needed,” he said. 

However, their timeline won’t solidify until the storm passes, as new road blocks may impede progress. Until staff clear roads, the Public Works Department will continuously update the road closure map.

Much like cleanup attempts, county officials are unsure when evacuation orders will lift. 

“It could be this weekend or it could be later,” Clark said. 

Check evacuation orders and zones at community.zonehaven.com. Sign up for Code Red, a reverse 911 system, at scr911.org. Current County road closures are available at sccroadclosure.org.

This story is developing and may be updated.

Mass Covid-19 Vaccination Site Coming to Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds

A mass Covid-19 vaccination site with the capacity to administer 1,000 injections per day will open at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds in Watsonville next week, but it is unlikely that it will reach its capacity anytime soon because of a continuing shortage of Covid-19 vaccine doses.

That’s according to Santa Cruz County health officials who at Friday’s weekly press conference again said the rollout of the vaccine has continued its slow pace. The county received 200 doses this week, and is expected to receive another 2,000 next week.

It has received about 20,000 doses in total of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. That number does not include the doses sent to health care providers, hospitals or the federal pharmacy program.

County officials do not know the total number of doses that have been administered through those other avenues, but were confident that they would move on from Phase 1A—which prioritized health care workers, skilled nursing facilities and some first responders—of the vaccination plan early next week with the help of the County Fairgrounds vaccination site.

That site on Monday will administer vaccines to people in Phase 1A who have not yet received the shot, and County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel said it would then open to those in Phase 1B by the end of the week.

It will be open by appointment only, and health officials urged the public to stay away until their turn arises. 

Those who have insurance and a primary health care provider will most likely receive their vaccine there—and Newel said some providers have already begun administering shots to those 75 and older, the top tier of Phase 1B.

The doses the county receives will be used to vaccinate those without insurance and other disadvantaged communities determined by the state’s Healthy Places Index that have been the most impacted by the pandemic. Most of Watsonville falls in that pool, as well as the Beach Flats community in Santa Cruz.

Those vaccines will be distributed through the mass vaccination site, and various clinics through the county, including Salud Para La Gente in Watsonville. Health Services Agency Director Mimi Hall said the county is also working on plans to bring the vaccine directly to those communities with “strike teams.”

Hall said that the state is running a handful of vaccination pilot programs at Covid-19 testing sites operated by OptumServe—similar to the Ramsay Park site in Watsonville—in which staff there administer vaccines. She said she hopes the state will expand that program to Santa Cruz and other counties of similar size.

But officials warned those plans are still weeks away from being realized, as vaccine doses continue to be in short supply and the state struggles to quickly distribute the available doses. California ranks last in the country in percentage of shots used, administering just 37.3% of its doses, according to the Bloomberg vaccine tracker. The national rate is 48.6%.

More doses are not expected to be widely available until the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are approved by the FDA, which experts believe could take several more months.

Local intensive care unit (ICU) capacity continues to be heavily impacted, as there have been no beds available at local hospitals since Jan. 13, according to data reported to the state. But the Bay Area region’s ICU capacity has improved over the past week, and Newel said state officials told her that the region could exit the stay-at-home order in the next two weeks.

Newel said Santa Cruz County would not break from the rest of the region when the restrictions lift, meaning restaurants would be able to resume outdoor operations and other businesses, such as barbershops and salons, could allow customers indoors.

California Activates Covid-19 Vaccine Clearinghouse Website

Facing criticism for its chaotic COVID-19 vaccine rollout, California has quietly launched a long-promised statewide website to help residents learn when they are eligible to receive the vaccine and schedule appointments. 

Called MyTurn (myturn.ca.gov), the online registry has not yet been widely promoted and still is a work in progress. Gov. Gavin Newsom was expected to formally unveil the registry this week. 

Californians can immediately register on the website to be notified when it’s their turn for the vaccine in a number of counties. But for now, it only can be used to schedule appointments in Los Angeles County — and then only if they are health care workers or aged 65 and older. 

MyTurn is expected to improve in the coming weeks as more counties are able to link their registration systems to the state’s online platform. At least one local official has alerted their constituents to it, but the state has not yet announced or publicized it.

The website advises people without email addresses or a mobile phone to call the state’s COVID hotline at 833-422-4255.

MyTurn serves as a clearinghouse for residents, a one-stop place to get information that until now has been scattered over 58 counties and three cities. State officials largely have left the on-the-ground logistics of vaccine distribution to local health departments that have partnered with local health providers. 

As a result, Californians have had to navigate numerous online registration or notification systems managed by county and city governments, hospitals and even supermarkets. They have spent hours on screens and on the phone, fruitlessly searching for appointments. Some online platforms have buckled under the strain, going dark for hours at a time.

“It’s been frustrating,” said Diane Mendoza, a school transportation manager from Visalia. Earlier this week, she spent hours online and on the phone to get a vaccine appointment for her 82-year-old mother.

The fragmented and confusing rollout prompted a group of tech workers to launch their own statewide information portal, VaccinateCA.com

“It’s been a blur,” Manish Goregaokar, a Berkeley software engineer and one of the site’s organizers, said of the site’s rapid growth since its launch last week. 

“I really wish this (rollout) was more coordinated and that we’d prepped for this more,” Goregaokar said. “We didn’t know when it would be ready but we knew that at some point there is going to be a vaccine. The logistics of this should have been figured out.” 

More than 100 volunteers are now vetting information on the site, Goregaokar said. 

“This kind of haphazard way of getting the vaccine out just creates enormous frustration and is unnecessary,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious disease specialist at UC Berkeley.

Dagny Ellenberg, vice president of Fiona Hutton & Associates, a Sacramento public affairs firm that develops campaigns for state agencies, said a state-run registration site could be useful but had a caveat.

“In a perfect world, anyone in the state could use a single resource, but I think we’ve all lived through large-scale health care rollouts, like Healthcare.gov, and seen the confusion that can result,” Ellenberg said. “Technical glitches can overshadow the good that’s trying to be accomplished. It would be incredibly important to make sure it can be rolled out in a way that’s effective and avoids glitches.”

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Songbirds in Santa Cruz County Face Their Own Epidemic

Tiny brown and yellow migratory songbirds called pine siskins face their own epidemic this year, as an outbreak of salmonellosis threatens populations across the West Coast, including in Santa Cruz County.

Like Covid-19, the infection spreads quickly and easily through groups. Although not new or uncommon, the salmonellosis outbreak appears particularly large this year.

“We first started to receive reports probably mid-to-late December, and those have really increased in the beginning of January,” says Krysta Rogers, a senior environmental specialist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Rogers works as an avian specialist in the Wildlife Investigations Laboratory, where researchers study diseases in animal populations around the state. 

The outbreak primarily affects pine siskins, but a few other types of finches and sparrows might also fall ill if they come into contact with infected birds at feeders or birdbaths. The sick birds act lethargic.

“They often sit for long periods of time—minute to hours—in the same spot with ruffled or puffed-up feathers,” Rogers says.

The strain of bacteria is fairly specific to pine siskins, but outdoor cats might occasionally contract an infection if they grab a sick bird. Rogers recommends wearing gloves when disposing of dead birds or handling feeders. “Just to be on the safe side,” she says.

She requests that people report dead birds to the state Wildlife Investigations Lab. Community reporting helps the investigators track the numbers and locations of the outbreak.

For sick birds, Rogers suggests contacting a local wildlife rehabilitation center, such as Native Animal Rescue of Santa Cruz County. Residents should also take down bird feeders and baths for at least three to four weeks.

The outbreak will likely continue into early spring, when the finches migrate back north.

Amy Red Feather, a wildlife technician at Native Animal Rescue, advises waiting until March to put back feeders and birdbaths. Similar to closing indoor dining to slow the spread of Covid-19, taking down bird feeders limits areas of close contact where salmonellosis spreads. Birds will survive foraging naturally, Red Feather assures.

“People are worried about whether the birds are getting enough food, and it really is OK for them to be eating in the wild,” she says. “Bird feeders are real nice for us as humans, but it’s really not necessary for the birds.”

Native Animal Rescue usually takes in around a dozen sick pine siskins during salmonellosis outbreaks, but this winter they’ve already received more than thirty.

“This year has been phenomenally worse,” Red Feather says.

California Prioritizes Farmworkers for Covid-19 Vaccinations

As California deals with a surge of Covid-19 cases, hope is in sight as the vaccine begins to be administered to health care workers and long-term care residents.

On Jan. 13, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared that farmworkers would be included in the next tier.

The announcement came after numerous leaders and organizations urged the state to prioritize the population, who have been deemed essential to the nation’s food supply yet have received little to no federal assistance during the pandemic. This oversight has led to much higher infection rates amongst the predominantly Latinx workforce.

Assemblyman for California’s 30th district and Vice Chair of the Latino Legislative Caucus Robert Rivas said he was “very thankful” to the state for answering the appeal.

“This effort is something I’ve been advocating for, as have many of my colleagues,” he said. “After the devastation [farmworkers] have encountered …. Making the vaccine available to them is a great first step.”

Guidelines designate that grocery, meat processing, food and agriculture workers are part of Tier One of Phase 1B of California’s vaccine rollout, along with education and childcare workers, emergency service workers, and individuals 65 and older.

Still, the federal government has left it up to states and counties to develop their own plans for distribution, resulting in confusion and slower rollouts than planned.

“It’s been a huge logistical failure on the part of the federal government,” Rivas said. “They did nothing. So states have been doing all these different things. This is why I am so thankful for our local efforts.”

California is home to the largest population of farmworkers in the country. The Center for Farmworker Families has reported that more than 70% of them are undocumented, which Rivas said has been a major barrier in communicating information about the vaccine.

“We’ve had four years of anti-immigrant rhetoric coming from the top of this country’s administration,” he said. “There’s so much fear, mistrust and misinformation. We’ve been trying to build positive relationships … to ensure education and outreach. To make sure they are comfortable. ”

Rivas acknowledged the work of experts, stakeholders and other partners who have been helping the Latino Legislative Caucus in its efforts to bring help, including Spanish-language information, to communities. He singled out Dr. Max Cuevas, CEO of Clinica de Salud del Valle, who has been on the frontline in Salinas since the first days of the pandemic.

In Santa Cruz County, more than half of Covid-19 cases have been identified in Watsonville, despite the city having less than a quarter of the county’s population, and Latinx residents have been disproportionately affected.

Watsonville Mayor Jimmy Dutra echoed Rivas’ observance of mistrust within the farmworker community.

“They’ve been hit so hard,” he said. “They’re afraid of getting sick. They don’t want to be in the same pain they’re seeing their friends and family go through. It’s up to us to show them that [the vaccine] is safe, that it will save lives.”

Dutra said he and other city officials also sent a letter to Newsom last year urging the state to prioritize farmworkers.

“These are essential workers, put in extreme conditions that are unsafe,” he said. “They live in housing that puts them at greater risk. I’m pleased [the state] decided to put them in a higher tier. It brings hope.”

A mass vaccination center, which will be run with help from Salud Para La Gente, is scheduled to open at the Fairgrounds next week, Dutra said. But how fast they will be able to start vaccinating farmworkers depends on when and how many doses are available. Dutra said the county is currently struggling with a shortage—only about 200 doses arrived this week.

“Everything depends on when it gets here, and how much we get,” he said. “We need things to start moving faster.”

County officials have been working with the county farm bureau to make it easily available to farmworkers. This may include taking them in buses to vaccine centers, or bringing pop-up centers directly to their work.

Dutra added that they must remain flexible, as orders are continually changing. Just last week, Newsom opened up Tier 1 vaccines to residents 65 and older, instead of the initial 75 and older decision. This might bump farmworkers a bit lower.

“The governor’s decisions have been very fluid,” Dutra said. “He’s been moving things around …. So for farmworkers, it will probably be another month. We’ll see.”

Covid-19 Cases, New Syndrome on the Rise Among Children, Especially Latino Children

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At least seven California children have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began, more than 350,000 kids have tested positive for the virus and the number of youngsters diagnosed with a new, rare inflammatory syndrome continues to spread.

All of these stats are on the rise just as a new highly contagious strain of the virus is worrying parents and experts alike and as the state tries to move toward reopening schools next month.

“We are at a critical time because the overall number of cases of COVID are increasing so much,” said Dr. Jackie Szmuszkovicz, pediatric cardiologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “We are seeing more children with MIS-C the last few weeks following that big increase (of cases) in the community.”

MIS-C, or Multi-system Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, is the name of a new inflammatory syndrome that afflicts a small number of kids three to six weeks after they experienced coronavirus, even if they had mild or no symptoms at all. 

While children have been spared some of the worst effects of the coronavirus and the high death toll seen among adults, the youngest Californians are still at-risk, especially given the current surge. Kids usually experience mild to no symptoms of the infection but it’s what happens to a small number of them a few weeks afterward that has doctors worried. Pediatric doctors are preparing for a wave of inflammatory syndrome cases three to six weeks after the current surge especially with the new more transmissible variant, said Szmuszkovicz.

Kids do get sick

Although severe COVID-19 has been uncommon in kids, there has been a tiny uptick in more serious cases recently, said Dr. Erica Lawson, a pediatric rheumatologist at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco.

“We are seeing more kids on the far end of the curve, who are sick enough to be admitted,” she said. “It’s because of the higher numbers in the community. If you have a prevalence in the community the more cases you have the more severe cases you will have.”

Dr. Behnoosh Afghani, a pediatric infectious disease expert at UCI Health in Orange County, hopes that the spread of the vaccine will start to decrease the number of infections in adults and therefore also contribute to fewer infections among children. While children under 16 cannot be vaccinated, if more adults around them are vaccinated it will increase protection for children, she said.

California’s Department of Public Health reports that at least six minors have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. At least one more child has died in Southern California at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles that has not yet made the state’s count.  

The state does not identify which of the children had the inflammatory syndrome and how many had COVID-19 at the time of their death. It is also not releasing information about where they lived or their ages, although there has been a confirmed death in Orange County, one in the Central Valley and two in Los Angeles.

A rare post-COVID syndrome is affecting kids

MIS-C, the rare inflammatory syndrome, was discovered last year in children who had previously had coronavirus. Originally it was thought to be Kawasaki disease, a post-infection syndrome that afflicts young children, but physicians connected the new syndrome to COVID-19. It is marked by overwhelming inflammation in the body that sometimes impacts major organs and can lead to heart failure. Children develop a fever, some have abdominal pain, vomiting or diarrhea, rash, are severely fatigued and have red eyes.

So far, 176 children in California have been diagnosed with the inflammatory syndrome.

“These kids develop a lot of inflammation in their bloodstream and could have multiple organ systems affected, including the heart,” said Lawson. The San Francisco hospital and its campus in Oakland have treated about 20 children so far with the syndrome but have had no deaths, she said. Most of the children have been Latino.

Statewide, Latino kids account for 64% of COVID-19 cases among kids under 18 where race and ethnicity is known, but make up only 48% of the state’s children, according to the state Department of Public Health.

Lawson reasons that the child cases reflect what is going on with adults. In California, Latinos account for 54% of cases among adults. They are most often essential workers — like drivers, restaurant cooks and grocery workers — and sometimes live together in crowded conditions with extended family members or other family groups where it is difficult to isolate.

Nationally, racial and ethnic trend lines among children are also mirroring adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The majority of children in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with the infection and the inflammatory syndrome have been Latino or Black.   

As of Jan. 8 there were 1,659 cases of MIS-C in the U.S. among kids and 26 deaths. The average age is 8 and more than 70% of the cases occurred in Latino or Black children, according to the federal agency.

Pediatric experts advise parents to be on the lookout for the signs of MIS-C a few weeks after their children or they are sick with the virus. Some families may not realize their children had the virus until they show signs of the syndrome, said Szmuszkovicz.

“We really want to encourage people not to delay care because we are seeing earlier treatment leads to the best outcomes,” she said. “In some cases, the syndrome can, in its most severe form, affect the heart function and cause coronary aneurism.”

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has cared for the largest bunch of afflicted kids — at least 51 so far — ranging in age from 4 months to 17. Two children have died, one in December and one in January, according to the hospital. The hospital would not release any other information on the children due to patient privacy.

Treatment for MIS-C appears to work well if administered early on, she said. Most children get IV fluids and others also need medication like steroids and intravenous immunoglobulin, while some go on to need respiratory support, from oxygen to a ventilator.

In Los Angeles, Alexis Winter has been keeping an extra close eye on her two young daughters. Her whole family, including her 3-year-old and 14-month-old, had COVID-19 last month.

“It’s terrifying and I try not to obsess over it,” Winter said, noting her children are nearly at the one-month mark since their infections.

She said she doesn’t know how the family got the infection and that they had been very careful not to interact with others because Winters is high-risk.

It started with her husband and then Winter and the children got sick. Her daughter, 3, threw up in bed and didn’t feel well the next day. Then her baby was super fussy and had a raspy voice.  Neither of the girls had a fever, she said.

“For the kids, the complications are not worth the risk,” she said. “If I could go back in time and figure out what happened, I would. Because it’s scary to know they had the virus and were exposed to it.”

Is the new variant more dangerous for kids?

As more kids get the virus, pediatric doctors are carefully looking for the new, more transmissible variant first found in the United Kingdom. The variant, known as B117, landed in California last month and one study suggests that it is more contagious and affects younger people. But officials at the Imperial College that published the study said more research is needed.

Meanwhile, a second variant, this one originating in Denmark, has also been found to be responsible for an outbreak in the Bay Area in recent days. There is little information about the Denmark variant and children.

Pediatric doctors say even if the new U.K. variant doesn’t affect kids the way it does adults, they expect more children will still get sick.

“If it is more contagious in general, then more children will also get it,” Lawson said. “Kids do get COVID — they just don’t get very ill. If the new strain is more transmissible in humans then it’s highly likely that more kids would get it.”

And that means more cases of the inflammatory syndrome a few weeks down the road, Szmuszkovicz said.

“We have to be open minded and very vigilant and be ready for anything that comes,” she said.

The U.K. variant emerged in the Golden State right around the time Gov. Gavin Newsom announced incentives to get elementary schoolers back on campus by February.

Is this the time for school to reopen?

Afghani of UCI Health said returning to school is critical for the health of children, but “at the same time we have to be cautious until we see a marked decrease in the incidence of the disease.”

Lawson said school is important and points to schools that have remained open or reopened with safety procedures in place.

“Kids are really suffering at home and families are suffering without the ability of kids to go to school,” she said. “I think for the health of our communities, mental health of our children and the priorities of parents it can be done and should be done safely.”

But, she acknowledged that if the new strain causes outbreaks among kids then things would need to change again.

When the state does make the determination that kids can go back to school, Szmuszkovicz said, everyone has to follow the rules.

“All of us want kids back together with other kids and learning in school,” Dr. Jackie said. “How we are going to get to that point safely is by each of us individually doing what we can do to stop the spread of COVID in the community.”

Gian Schwehr, a mother in Los Angeles, said she isn’t sure if she would send her 10-year-old son back to school even though the family had COVID-19 over Christmas. His symptoms lasted about 24 hours.

Schwehr said even though her son had the virus already she doesn’t want to put him in a situation where he might be around others who have it, especially if the new variant makes it easier for kids to get it.

“I’d have to think about it,” she said. “If he hadn’t had it I would not send him. There’s definitely no easy choice.”

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the timing of some of the deaths at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

CalMatters coverage of early childhood issues is supported by grants from First 5 Los Angeles and The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Biden’s Covid Challenge: 100 Million Vaccinations in the First 100 Days. It Won’t Be Easy.

It’s in the nature of presidential candidates and new presidents to promise big things.

Just months after his 1961 inauguration, President John F. Kennedy vowed to send a man to the moon by the end of the decade. That pledge was kept, but many others haven’t been, such as candidate Bill Clinton’s promise to provide universal health care and presidential hopeful George H.W. Bush’s guarantee of no new taxes.

Now, during a once-in-a-century pandemic, incoming President Joe Biden has promised to provide 100 million covid-19 vaccinations in his first 100 days in office.

“This team will help get … at least 100 million covid vaccine shots into the arms of the American people in the first 100 days,” Biden said during a Dec. 8 news conference introducing key members of his health team.

When first asked about his pledge, the Biden team said the president-elect meant 50 million people would get their two-dose regimen. The incoming administration has since updated this plan, saying it will release vaccine doses as soon as they’re available instead of holding back some of that supply for second doses.

Either way, Biden may run into difficulty meeting that 100 million mark.

“I think it’s an attainable goal. I think it’s going to be extremely challenging,” said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers.

While a pace of 1 million doses a day is “somewhat of an increase over what we’re already doing,” a much higher rate of vaccinations will be necessary to stem the pandemic, said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF. (KHN is an editorially independent program of KFF.) “The Biden administration has plans to rationalize vaccine distribution, but increasing the supply quickly” could be a difficult task.

Under the Trump administration, vaccine deployment has been much slower than Biden’s plan. The rollout began more than a month ago, on Dec. 14. Since then, 12 million shots have been given and 31 million doses have been shipped out, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine tracker.

This sluggishness has been attributed to a lack of communication between the federal government and state and local health departments, not enough funding for large-scale vaccination efforts, and confusing federal guidance on distribution of the vaccines.

The same problems could plague the Biden administration, said experts.

States still aren’t sure how much vaccine they’ll get and whether there will be a sufficient supply, said Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, which represents state public health agencies.

“We have been given little information about the amount of vaccine the states will receive in the near future and are of the impression that there may not be 1 million doses available per day in the first 100 days of the Biden administration,” said Plescia. “Or at least not in the early stages of the 100 days.”

Another challenge has been a lack of funding. Public health departments have had to start vaccination campaigns while also operating testing centers and conducting contact tracing efforts with budgets that have been critically underfunded for years.

“States have to pay for creating the systems, identifying the personnel, training, staffing, tracking people, information campaigns — all the things that go into getting a shot in someone’s arm,” said Jennifer Kates, director of global health & HIV policy at KFF. “They’re having to create an unprecedented mass vaccination program on a shaky foundation.”

The latest covid stimulus bill, signed into law in December, allocates almost $9 billion in funding to the CDC for vaccination efforts. About $4.5 billion is supposed to go to states, territories and tribal organizations, and $3 billion of that is slated to arrive soon.

But it’s not clear that level of funding can sustain mass vaccination campaigns as more groups become eligible for the vaccine.

Biden released a $1.9 trillion plan last week to address covid and the struggling economy. It includes $160 billion to create national vaccination and testing programs, but also earmarks funds for $1,400 stimulus payments to individuals, state and local government aid, extension of unemployment insurance, and financial assistance for schools to reopen safely.

Though it took Congress almost eight months to pass the last covid relief bill after Republican objections to the cost, Biden seems optimistic he’ll get some Republicans on board for his plan. But it’s not yet clear that will work.

There’s also the question of whether outgoing President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial will get in the way of Biden’s legislative priorities.

In addition, states have complained about a lack of guidance and confusing instructions on which groups should be given priority status for vaccination, an issue the Biden administration will need to address.

On Dec. 3, the CDC recommended health care personnel, residents of long-term care facilities, those 75 and older, and front-line essential workers should be immunized first. But on Jan. 12, the CDC shifted course and recommended that everyone over age 65 should be immunized. In a speech Biden gave last week detailing his vaccination plan, he said he would stick to the CDC’s recommendation to prioritize those over 65.

Outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar also said Jan. 12 that states that moved their vaccine supply fastest would be prioritized in getting more shipments. It’s not known yet whether the Biden administration’s CDC will stick to this guidance. Critics have said it could make vaccine distribution less equitable.

In general, taking over with a strong vision and clear communication will be key to ramping up vaccine distribution, said Hannan.

“Everyone needs to understand what the goal is and how it’s going to work,” she said.

A challenge for Biden will be tamping expectations that the vaccine is all that is needed to end the pandemic. Across the country, covid cases are higher than ever, and in many locations officials cannot control the spread.

Public health experts said Biden must amp up efforts to increase testing across the country, as he has suggested he will do by promising to establish a national pandemic testing board.

With so much focus on vaccine distribution, it’s important that this part of the equation not be lost. Right now, “it’s completely all over the map,” said KFF’s Kates, adding that the federal government will need a “good sense” of who is and is not being tested in different areas in order to “fix” public health capacity.


The Biden Promise Tracker, which monitors the 100 most important campaign promises of President Joseph R. Biden, has launched. Biden listed the coronavirus and a variety of other health-related issues among his top priorities. You can see the entire list – including improving the economy, responding to calls for racial justice and combating climate change – here. As part of KHN’s partnership with PolitiFact, we will follow the health-related issues and then rate them on whether the promise was achieved: Promise Kept, Promise Broken, Compromise, Stalled, In the Works or Not Yet Rated. We rate the promise not on the president’s intentions or effort, but on verifiable outcomes. PolitiFact previously tracked the promises of President Donald Trump and President Barack Obama

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.


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