California reneges on PPE for dentists + Welcome back, Assembly + Record primary votes

Good Monday morning to you, California. Hope you had a sunshine-filled weekend.

SMILE PRETTY

Via Tony Bizjak

In mid-March, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration appeared to throw a lifeline to thousands of dentists who were terrified they’d have to close their offices, leaving cavities unfilled, cleanings unscheduled and dental diseases undetected.

As one of the most dangerous professions for catching airborne infections, the dentists needed personal protection equipment just like California’s hospitals. State officials promised to deliver masks that would go a long way to helping dentists continue to provide at least some level of basic services for the next three months.

“Per our phone conversation, the dental association will get 1 million N95s,” a California Department of Public Health official, Trang Nguyen, emailed to the California Dental Association, on March 13. “Please give me a confirmation later on your trucking arrangement.”

Richard Stapler, an association vice president, replied that four big rigs would arrive to pick up the masks from the state’s warehouse the following week. Stapler, who lives in Sacramento, made the drive to the Fresno warehouse himself. He watched the pallets of masks get loaded into the 53-foot-long trailers, and hauled away to his association’s distribution facility in Reno.

“The next day, after picking up the masks, we got a request – well, it was more than a request – the state ordered their masks back,” Stapler said.

Last week, the governor said healthcare providers could resume doing routine, non-emergency treatments. But the state’s 36,000 dentists aren’t ready.

The Newsom administration’s last-minute reneging on the mask deal was a crushing blow for California’s dentists. One million masks would have been a good start on a stockpile of protective equipment necessary to avoid airborne particles as they drill and scrape, their faces often inches from a patient’s open mouth.

An April 7 memo from state health officials effectively closed dental practices across the state, except for patient emergencies. That order was recently lifted, with caveats, but dentists say they’re not sure how to proceed and are still scrambling to find enough equipment to re-start their practices.

Read more of Bizjak’s story here.

THEY’RE BACK

Well, kinda. Only one legislative house returns today. I suppose the Legislature is also following Newsom’s plan for a phased reopening.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, last week announced a series of initiatives his chamber has taken to ensure members are as safe as possible while working from the Capitol.

So here’s what to expect, should you find yourself in the Capitol anytime soon.

• Committee hearings will be in held in-person, but only in a select few rooms large enough to allow social distancing, including the chamber. The rooms and microphone covers will be cleaned before every hearing.
• Anyone entering the Capitol will have to go through a health screening at the entrance. When I was in the building last week, that included getting my temperature taken and being asked if I’d experienced and coronavirus symptoms in the last 24 hours.
• Expect lots of hand sanitizer to be made available throughout the building.
• Those long lines of people who showed up to protest the vaccine law, or the charter crack down legislation, gig economy bill or rent cap initiative? This year’s public comment will largely have to move online or they’ll be encouraged to call in. However, anyone who snags a coveted spot in the building will be able to speak in the room.
• Some rooms will have “dedicated remote, secure videoconferencing devices for hearing live testimony from witnesses in support of and opposition to bills,” so people can speak their mind “without having to attend public hearing rooms in-person.”
• Advocates for bills and the general public can also use a position letter web portal to submit their comments for committee analysis.
• Only one person per elevator, and guards will escort people through the building from Point A to Point B.

Pulling his 80 members back to Sacramento was “not an easy decision,” Rendon wrote in a Friday SacBee editorial.

“Members of my Democratic caucus are concerned, understandably, with the health risks of returning to work in public spaces,” Rendon said, acknowledging the “risks” associated with returning. “With the advice of experts and public health officers, however, we will bring those risks down to a tolerable minimum, which will allow us to conduct policy without unacceptably endangering the health of legislators, staff members or the public.”

The Capitol is still expected to be a shadow of its former self. The Senate isn’t scheduled to return until May 11. Even then, some Assembly members have opted to stay home as a precaution.

“I do not plan to return on May 4,” said Assemblyman Bill Quirk, D-Hayward, in a Thursday statement. “It was a difficult decision to make but every day we are learning more about the health risks of the virus, how its spread and how long it can live on surfaces. It is a risk that I am not prepared to take.”

CERTIFIED

Finally, we have some certified primary election results.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced on Friday that more than 9.6 million Californians voted on March 3, the most ever in a primary election. (emphasis his, not mine)

Nearly 40 percent of the eligible voting age population also cast ballots, the second highest turnout in close to four decades, according to Padilla’s office.

“California’s presidential primary moved to primetime in 2020 and voters responded in record numbers,” Padilla said. “There was more meaningful campaigning in California by presidential candidates than we have seen in many years. Voting earlier in the presidential nominating process for all parties will continue to be a win for California in the years and election cycles ahead.”

Reminder that March was just the beginning. It seems like a lifetime ago, sure, but we have a months ahead of us until voters head back to the ballot box to vote in the general election.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“To be candid, the Constitution is subordinated to the need to protect the public.”

— Oliver Wanger, a retired, longtime federal judge speaking to The Fresno Bee on challenges to Newsom’s executive orders.

Best of The Bee:

• Rural California counties move to defy Newsom’s shutdown order. Here’s how he could respond, by Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow

• Devin Nunes’ lawyer facing prospect of sanctions after two recent, rare court warnings, by Kate Irby

• Billions in coronavirus aid will go to farms. But is it enough to keep farmers afloat? by Manuela Tobias

• Joe Biden should drop out of presidential race, Tara Reade tells SLO Tribune, by Matt Fountain

• Fact check: Newsom didn’t mention that jobless payments for self-employed will come in phases, by David Lightman

• In the most intense protest yet against California’s stay-at-home order, demonstrators crowded the west steps of the Capitol on Friday and scuffled with California Highway Patrol officers who had ordered them to disperse, by a team of Bee reporters