Tens of Thousands In California Told To Stay Indoors
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Tens of thousands of people in southern California have been advised to remain indoors as "emergency" air quality conditions impact parts of the Coachella Valley on Friday.
The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) AirNow map, which provides a real-time snapshot of air quality, shows that air pollution levels around Cathedral City and Thousands Palms are "very unhealthy" to "hazardous" on Friday morning.
The warnings mean that the risk of negative health effects from air pollution is increased for everyone, not just vulnerable populations.
Smoke fills the air above Los Angeles during the wildfires in January.
Smoke fills the air above Los Angeles during the wildfires in January.
Eric Thayer/AP
Why It Matters
Air pollution and extreme heat pose significant health risks to the general public, in particular for the young, seniors and vulnerable populations such as those with underlying respiratory or cardiovascular conditions.
The EPA warns that the current air pollution levels can lead to serious health issues, including reduced lung function, severe respiratory symptoms including chest pain and aggravated coughs, and increased hospital admissions.
What To Know
The AirNow Map shows that a maroon warning - the highest category - is in force for Cathedral city, which has a population of more than 50,000 people.
A "hazardous" maroon warning means that pollution levels are of "emergency conditions," and that "everyone is more likely to be affected," the AirNow website says.
A "very unhealthy" purple warning - the second highest category - covers Desert Edge, Sky Valley, Thousand Palms and Sunair. AirNow says that the risk of health effects are "increased for everyone" in these areas.
Meanwhile, red warnings are also in force in the Coachella Valley in Rancho Mirage and parts of Palm Desert, along with a large area along the California-Arizona border including Yuma.
Red warnings mean that "some members of the general public may experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects."
What People Are Saying
The EPA said that residents should stay inside wherever possible while the air quality is so poor. "Everyone: Avoid all physical activity outdoors. Sensitive groups: remain indoors and keep activity levels low. Follow tips for keep particle levels low indoors."
It added: "The biggest health threat from smoke is from fine particles... [which] aggravate chronic heart and lung diseases - and even are linked to premature deaths in people with these conditions."
Jonathan Grigg, professor of pediatric respiratory and environmental medicine at Queen Mary University of London, told Newsweek previously: "There are very clear links between inhaling particles and earlier death from both respiratory and cardiovascular diseases."
What Happens Next
Air quality warnings are updated regularly by the EPA and National Weather Service.
Residents in affected areas can access daily forecasts and health guidance via airnow.gov and local agencies, with officials providing current information as environmental conditions develop.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
34 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Should you wear sunscreen when it's cloudy in S.F.? Here's what experts say
How much can the sun damage our skin if we can't even see it? That's a reasonable question in San Francisco, especially given that it's the city's coldest, foggiest summer in recent memory. But experts say there's no ambiguity: You still need to wear sunscreen. Weather — even our eternal fog — should not play a role in your decision. 'There's a significant or clinically meaningful amount (of skin-damaging radiation coming through), even if it is foggy,' said Dr. Sungat Grewal, co-director of laser surgery and cosmetic dermatology at UCSF. On foggier days, clouds scatter and absorb a portion of ultraviolet radiation from the sun, but a lot still gets to the ground — especially UVA rays (which primarily cause skin aging), and to a lesser extent UVB rays (which primarily cause sunburn). Both types can lead to cancer. Up to 80 to 90 percent of UV rays can penetrate fog and clouds, according to Dr. Estelle Kahn, a dermatologist at Kaiser Permanente. All UV radiation contributes to your risk of getting skin cancer, and the damage is cumulative — meaning the problem is not just one day, but rather total exposure throughout your lifetime. Grewal recommends wearing tinted, broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher, every day. 'Broad spectrum' protects against both types of ultraviolet light, whereas SPF mainly refers to UVB protection. The tinted element is more for cosmetic purposes — fighting aging — but still important to consider, both Grewal and Kahn said. Tinted sunscreen blocks visible light, which leads to pigmentation and other skin appearance issues. 'The best sunscreen is the one that you like … and are going to want to use every day,' Grewal said. The UV index, found at the Environmental Protection Agency's SunWise UV Index app or your preferred weather app, shows considerable variation during the day in San Francisco. On Friday in San Francisco, for example, the index — which runs on a scale of 1 to 11 — showed 2 until around 9:30 a.m., but then soared to 10 around 1 p.m. While you can forgo sunscreen if the index is at 1 or 2, indices of 3 and upward warrant sun protection, according to the EPA — and a 1 or 2 can very quickly become a higher number, with 8 or more considered 'very high to extreme.' The National Weather Service calculates the UV index using both UVA and UVB rays. Winter months have a lower UV index. But Kahn said you still need to wear sunscreen then. She reiterated that UV radiation is invisible and doesn't correlate with temperature. Chronicle meteorologist Greg Porter's advice? 'Don't base your sunscreen choice on the cloud cover, certainly in this city.'
Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
Maps Show States With Highest—and Lowest—Kindergarten Vaccination Rates
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed the states with the highest and lowest rates of vaccination coverage for multiple vaccines among kindergartners. Mississippi, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island had the highest rates of vaccination among kindergartners across the board for the four vaccines: DTP/DTaP/DT, hepatitis B, MMR and polio, while Florida, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Minnesota and Wisconsin had some of the lowest rates. The DTP/DTaP/DT vaccine protects against diphtheria, a dangerous bacterial infection, while the hepatitis B vaccine protects against the liver infection. The MMR vaccine protects against measles, mumps and rubella—infections that can lead to serious complications—while the polio vaccine protects against the infection that can cause paralysis in severe cases. Newsweek has contacted the CDC via email for comment. Why It Matters Vaccine rates have been declining across the country, with all kindergartner coverage for the four vaccines, as well as the Varicella vaccine, having dropped since 2021. The shifting views on vaccines in recent years, which has gathered momentum after the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary, has sparked concern among health care professionals. Kennedy Jr., who has been vocal in his vaccination stance, has recently been directing the CDC to change its guidance, from no longer recommending certain vaccines to encouraging patient choice. A measles outbreak in Texas earlier this year drew particular attention to the issue. After being declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, experts pointed to the decrease in MMR vaccine coverage as the reason, with more than 700 cases reported since January. What To Know Nationwide, vaccination coverage declined among kindergartners in the 2024-25 school year across all vaccines, while exemptions from one or more vaccines among kindergartners increased. Exemptions increased across 36 states as well as Washington, D.C., with 17 states reporting exemptions exceeding 5 percent. The national average also increased to 3.6 percent from 3.3 percent the year before. The findings coincide with measles cases hitting a 33-year high last month, as reported by the CDC, with total cases this year at 1,333. Ninety-two percent of the cases were among unvaccinated people and those whose vaccine status was unknown. The states with the highest rates of MMR vaccine coverage were Mississippi, New York, California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island—all of which had vaccine coverage higher than 95 percent among kindergartners. Idaho had the lowest MMR vaccine coverage at 78.5 percent. It was the only state to have a coverage lower than 80 percent. Alaska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kentucky and Georgia were also among the lowest. For the DTP/DTaP/DT vaccine, rates of coverage among kindergartners were highest in Mississippi, Louisiana, Virginia, Maryland, New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island—each with coverage rates over 95 percent. A map showing the DTP/DTaP/DT vaccine coverage among kindergartners in each state. A map showing the DTP/DTaP/DT vaccine coverage among kindergartners in each state. CDC Once again, Idaho had the lowest coverage rate—below 80 percent—with Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky and Wisconsin also at bottom end of the ranking. One state that was not previously in high rankings for vaccine coverage, but was for the hepatitis B vaccine, was Kansas, which showed a significant variation in the coverage between vaccines. A lot of the same states that had high rates of vaccine coverage for the DTP/DTaP/DT vaccine had high rates of coverage for the hepatitis B vaccine, and the situation was the same for the states with low levels of coverage. A map showing the Hepatitis B vaccine coverage among kindergartners in each state. A map showing the Hepatitis B vaccine coverage among kindergartners in each state. CDC For the polio vaccine, the rankings were similar to that for the DTP/DTaP/DT vaccine. There are many reasons for variations between vaccine coverage in states, one being that states that have only medical exemptions for vaccines tend to have higher rates of vaccine coverage, Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told Newsweek. Meanwhile, states that also allow for "philosophical exemptions or religious exemptions" as well as medical exemptions have lower rates of vaccine coverage, enabling more constituents to opt not to have a given vaccine. Also, states have different rules on which vaccines they mandate. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licenses a vaccine and the CDC recommends it, it's up to the state to decide to mandate it, Offit said. "So that's why there would be differences, so some states may mandate the DTAP vaccine and other states not," he said. A map showing the Polio vaccine coverage among kindergartners in each state. A map showing the Polio vaccine coverage among kindergartners in each state. CDC Addressing why vaccine coverage has been going down in recent years, Offit said that there are many factors at play. One is that "there is much more misinformation and disinformation that is readily available," he said, pointing to various anti-vaccine advocacy groups and social media. "It's just very easy to get bad information out there and it's much harder to get good information," he said. Another factor is that vaccines may not only eliminate diseases, like measles, but also the "memory" of them, Offit said. "While we eliminated measles from this country by the year 2000, I also think we eliminated the memory of measles. I think people don't remember how sick, or dead, that virus can make you," he said. He added that for as long as people are "not scared of those diseases," they are not going to feel "compelled" to get the vaccines. Offit also said that "the pushback is understandable," given that parents are asked to get their children multiple vaccines throughout the first few years of their lives, with "as many as five shots at one time to prevent a disease most people don't see using biological fluids most people don't understand." What People Are Saying Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told Newsweek: "Already, you can see the decline in child health in the present. We have a measles outbreak that's bigger than anything we've had in 33 years. We've had three measles deaths in this country. That equals the total number of measles deaths in this county over the last 25 years. We've a healthy little 6-year-old girl and a healthy 8-year-old girl dying in West Texas. That's the first child death in the country since 2003, and that was an immuno-compromised child back then. We've had about 260 pediatric deaths from influenza. The last time we've seen a number that large was in 2009."
Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
California Removes 900,000 People From Health Care Plan
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Hundreds of thousands have been removed from a health care plan in California over the course of two years, according to data from KFF, a nonprofit health policy research and news organization. About 900,000 Americans were disenrolled from Medicaid in the state as part of the unwinding process happening nationwide after Medicaid coverage was expanded following the COVID-19 pandemic. Newsweek has contacted the California Department of Public Health via email for comment. Why It Matters The unwinding process has resulted in significant drops in Medicaid enrollment across the U.S. There is now growing concern about the rising population of those without health insurance and the wider impacts this could have, such as worsening health outcomes, increasing strain on emergency services and rising medical costs. The worry has been amplified by the recent passing of President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, in which funding cuts, a focus on "waste, fraud and abuse" and work requirements are in store for Medicaid. Many have voiced concern that the measures will result in millions losing health coverage. File photo: A doctor walks with a young boy through a hospital. File photo: A doctor walks with a young boy through a To Know In California, there were 14,285,643 covered by Medicaid in March 2023, but by March 2025, that number was 13,392,566, KFF data shows. This was because during the pandemic, some states expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), causing nationwide enrollment levels to increase. Federal rules forced states to keep most Medicaid enrollees on the program, even if their eligibility status changed, until March 2023, when they were then allowed to start rolling recipients off the program. This marks a change of about 900,000, a decline that was smaller than other highly populated states like Texas, Florida and New York. In March 2025, the number of people with Medicaid coverage in California was still higher than pre-pandemic levels, by 16 percent. The reason why Medicaid coverage is unwinding at different rates in states is because "states approached the process of reviewing the eligibility of their Medicaid beneficiaries with fundamentally different strategies," Michael Sparer, professor and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University, told Newsweek. He said that Florida and Texas began the review process "as fast as they could and immediately declared ineligible those beneficiaries who did not promptly respond to review notices." "There is clear evidence that many beneficiaries who were still eligible lost coverage simply because they did not timely navigate the administrative hurdles to recertification," he added. Meanwhile, he said that New York and California "were far more deliberate in how they approached the review process, thus the number who've lost their eligibility via this process is far fewer." What People Are Saying Michael Sparer, professor and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University, told Newsweek: "Medicaid enrollment surged during the pandemic for several reasons, including increased unemployment combined with a requirement that in exchange for additional federal funding, states could not recertify beneficiary eligibility until the "public health emergency" was declared over. Put simply, millions signed up during the pandemic and their eligibility could only be reviewed beginning in the spring 2023. "There is reason to be quite concerned about how this has played out and also what it suggests may happen when Medicaid work requirements, which create their own set of administrative hurdles, are implemented. First, persons who are eligible for coverage should not lose coverage. Bad health outcomes will follow. Second, persons who are no longer Medicaid eligible should be guided to other options, such as subsidized ACA marketplace coverage. Finally, the variation in how states conduct Medicaid eligibility reviews leads to unfortunate inequities." What Happens Next As the unwinding continues, more reductions in enrollment are expected in California and across the country. With millions already having lost health coverage, concerns remain about access to care for low-income individuals and families.
