‘Tis the (respiratory virus) season. Health officials say vaccines are the gifts that keep on giving

Good morning. It’s Friday, Dec. 8. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

• ‘Tis the (respiratory virus) season
• Newsom seeks ‘major changes’ to the healthcare wage law
• 9 outdoor yoga classes to try this winter in L.A.
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper

‘Tis the (respiratory virus) season

Ahead of Thanksgiving, I received a COVID-19 booster and flu shot. My reasoning was simple: I’d be gathering in-person with family and friends over the next several weeks, so I wanted to protect myself and them as best I can.

That feels especially important as autumn deepens and turns to winter — prime time for respiratory virus season.

And as Times reporter Rong-Gong Lin II wrote this week, infections of COVID-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are all on the upswing. But health officials say infection levels aren’t as bad as they were in late 2022, he noted: “Last year at this time, children’s hospitals across California were under stress, with exceptionally high hospitalization rates related to RSV — including in Orange County, which declared a health emergency related to the virus.”

Still, the increase is renewing concerns about a “tripledemic” in the coming weeks as health officials urge Californians to get up to date on their vaccines.

Health officials are keeping an eye on the latest coronavirus subvariant, officially named BA.2.86 but nicknamed “Pirola.”

The new subvariant accounted for 8.8% of coronavirus cases over the CDC’s most recent two-week reporting period, up from 3% from the previous period.

Pirola is one reason doctors are urging more people — especially older adults — to get the latest COVID-19 vaccine. But so far, many are not. Statewide, just over a quarter of California’s seniors have received the latest vaccination. Reporting from Southern and Northern California counties shows a notable gap in vaccinated seniors.

SoCal seniors with updated COVID-19 vaccination

• L.A. County: 21%
• Orange County: 25%
• San Diego and Ventura counties: 27%
• Riverside County: 20%
• San Bernardino County: 17%

NorCal seniors with updated COVID-19 vaccination

• Santa Clara County: 36%
• San Francisco and Alameda counties: 38%
• Contra Costa and San Mateo counties: 40%
• Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties: Above 40%

“If somebody’s at risk for getting seriously ill, particularly those who are older than 65, you can’t really rely on getting the old shot last year to really carry you through this winter,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases expert at UC San Francisco, told The Times. “You really need some replenishing of the antibodies, and that’s what the new vaccine will do.”

Today’s top stories

California Gov. Gavin Newsom leaves the stage after delivering his budget proposal in Sacramento in January.

(José Luis Villegas / Associated Press)

Politics

• As the budget deficit estimate rises, Gov. Gavin Newsom seeks “major changes” to the healthcare wage law.
• Kevin McCarthy’s constituents “don’t blame him” for retiring, but they worry about losing their voice in Congress.
• Since 2012, McCarthy’s leadership PAC spent more than 10 times what other congressional leaders did on private jets, restaurants and lodging.
• Young voters may be disenchanted with Biden, but they still oppose Trump, a poll finds.

UNLV mass shooting

• The gunman in a mass shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was an academic who was seeking work there, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
• The UNLV gunman wrote about the Zodiac killer, the vanished Malaysia Airlines flight and conspiracy theories.

Housing

• Mayor Karen Bass says Los Angeles has put 21,000 homeless people into interim housing. Here’s what that means.
• Black-trimmed homes, tiny libraries and other signs your neighborhood is about to be gentrified.
• A Westside nonprofit group sues L.A. over a Midvale Avenue homeless housing project.

Crime and courts

• Hunter Biden was indicted in Los Angeles on several federal tax charges, marking the start of a second criminal case that will proceed during his father’s reelection campaign.
• A former La Habra police chief was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for joining the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
• How Jerrid Powell went from high school jock to accused serial killer.
• How an L.A. marriage fraud scheme helped over 300 people obtain green cards.
  

More big stories

• A 17-year-old from Tulare County passed the California bar exam, the youngest person in history to do so, officials said.
• In California’s conservative northern reaches, residents say that urban Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom are failing to acknowledge the limitations of electric vehicles in rural areas.
• An LAPD union official wrote a column accusing the department of lowering its standards on beards and allowing officers to have “Coolio-style hair.”

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Commentary and opinions

• Brian Merchant: The worst tech of 2023 (an anti-gift guide).
• Editorial: Los Angeles doesn’t need more bright, blinking digital billboards.
• Editorial: Funding for California’s bullet trains puts the high-speed rail revolution back on track.
• Opinion: As a Gaza teen, I used to dream of college. Now I feel sentenced to death by Israel’s bombings.
• Opinion: The GOP challengers are fragmented. Biden’s coalition is weakening. What can stop Trump now?
• Opinion: Metro might create its own police force. Why that won’t make trains and buses safer.

Today’s great reads

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

After a mass shooting, Monterey Park limited gun sales. But local laws alone won’t stop violence. There’s little evidence that barring retailers from certain neighborhoods or requiring them to install video cameras can significantly drive down gun violence. Only large-scale changes in the number of firearms dealers across multiple neighboring counties had a meaningful effect on local gun homicides, researchers found.

Other great reads

• Buying guns for criminals: Easy, illegal and “extremely difficult” to stop.
• She wanted to open a gun store. They wanted to shut one down. Local laws got in the way.
• Here’s how many jobs L.A. lost during the Hollywood strikes.
• Bake like Nonna: generations of L.A.’s oldest Italian society share their holiday cookies.

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your downtime

Jessica Stenhouse, left, and Grace Turnage participate in a yoga class on the water with “YOGAqua” at Marina “Mother’s” Beach in Marina del Rey.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

• 🧘☀️ Need a boost of vitamin D? Here are nine outdoor yoga classes to try this winter in L.A.
• 🖼️ Where can you find three exhibitions in one place? This gallery has something for everyone.
• 🍽️ 🥢 19 gifts that make life easier in the kitchen for cooks and food lovers.

Staying in

• 📺 The best TV shows of 2023, according to The Times’ television critics.
• 🎧 The Envelope podcast is back — now in living color!
• 🎞️ The best movies of 2023 — and where to find them.
• 🧑‍🍳 Here’s a recipe for Amanda Lanza’s “the brick” cookies.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

And finally ... a great photo

Show us your favorite place in California! Send us photos you have taken of spots in California that are special — natural or human-made — and tell us why they’re important to you.

The Guy Fleming House at Torrey Pines State Reserve in San Diego.

(Willard Gleeson)

Today’s great photo is from Willard Gleeson of Glendale: The Guy Fleming House. Willard writes:

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Ryan Fonseca, reporter
Elvia Limón, multiplatform editor
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Laura Blasey, assistant editor

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