By Mike Allen

(Photo at left courtesy of Pedego Electric Bikes)

February 11, 2021 (Santee) -- With bicycle sales, particularly electric models, soaring in recent years, Greg Carter is certainly glad he’s starting his latest business venture, Pedego Electric Bikes, at an opportune time.

But what he’s even more excited about is turning people on to the joys of riding e-bikes.

“I wasn’t looking to get into this business. It sort of found me,” says the tall, former Santee resident who now calls Blossom Valley home.

Last year, Carter and his wife, Stephanie, were in the market for some electric bikes, did their research, and decided to buy a couple of Pedegos from a San Diego dealer. Their experience was similar to what other owners of e-bikes have: the more they ride, the more they want to ride, and tell others it’s a great form of exercise.

By Miriam Raftery

February 9, 2021 (San Diego’s East County) – San Diego County health officials last week reported the death of a 10-year-old child from COVID-19, the first minor to succumb to the virus locally. 

By José A. Álvarez, County of San Diego Communications Office

Video by Suzanne Bartole

February 8, 2021 (San Diego) - Ninety-five percent of all San Diegans who have died from the novel coronavirus had underlying medical conditions and hypertension or high blood pressure was the primary condition.

By Miriam Raftery

January 19, 2021 (San Diego’s East County) – Jamul Indian Chairwoman Erica Pinto, newly elected Chair of the California Indian Health Council, sat down for an interview with ECM in January aired on KNSJ radio.

We discussed healthcare issues facing Native Americans in our region, COVID-19, and her goals as the new Chair, including “finding ways to improve our healthcare,” notably finding and retaining doctors for remote rural areas. We also asked her reaction to Pres. Biden's nomination of the first Native AMerican women to head up the Department of the Interior, which oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs as well as federal public lands.

Reprinted from Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo: Congregants worship at South Bay Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista in June 2019 photo. Image via foursquare.com

February 6, 2021 (San Diego) -- The Supreme Court on Friday overturned judges who supported California’s pandemic-driven ban on indoor church services, ruling that the state’s health orders violate the Constitution’s religious protections.

By Ashley Halsey

February 3, 2021 (San Diego’s East County) -- COVID-19 has spread across the world in the last year, forcing many people into a lifestyle to which they are unaccustomed. With most people confined to their homes indefinitely due to public health restrictions, the effects of the pandemic are potent and lasting, causing formerly productive, active individuals to succumb to burnout--a quarantine phenomenon known as “pandemic fatigue."

By Elizabeth Ireland, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  Hospitalman Apprentice Jewel Guese, a sailor assigned to Naval Medical Center San Diego’s Naval Branch Health Clinic, Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, prepares vaccines at the clinic. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Luke Cunningham

February 1, 2021 (San Diego) - San Diego County public health officials Monday logged 1,082 COVID-19 infections — the fewest new cases in more than a month — and no additional fatalities.

January 30, 2021 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Millions Meant for Public Health Threats Were Diverted Elsewhere, Watchdog Says (MSN)
• The new mosquito bringing disease to North America (BBC)
• Biden to activate FEMA and National Guard to vaccinate Americans (Cnet)
• Moderna announces vaccine upgrades to protect against emerging variants (NBC)
• New study shows COVID-19 could hide in your brain and reactivate down the road (WSBTV)
• New China swine fever strains point to unlicensed vaccines (Reuters)  
• Colchicine reduces the risk of COVID-19-related complications (Univ. of Montreal Institute of Cardiology)
• U.S. CDC says 41.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines distributed, 20.5 million administered (Reuters)
• UN: COVID-19 herd immunity unlikely in 2021 despite vaccines (ABC)
• Pandemic could be WHO's Chernobyl moment for reform -review panel (Reuters)  
• New COVID-19 variant defeats plasma treatment, may reduce vaccine efficacy (Reuters)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• Apple issues new warning: Keep your iPhone six inches away from your pacemaker (CNN)
• Stocks explained: What's going on with GameStop? (BBC)
• Is that app spying on you? Here’s how to read iPhone privacy labels. (Washington Post)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

By Miriam Raftery

January 28, 2021 (San Diego) – Over half of all hand sanitizers from Mexico have been found to contain toxic ingredients, many at dangerous levels, and 84% of samples tested failed to comply with FDA regulations. So on January 26, the FDA announced a nationwide import alert on all hand sanitizers made in Mexico to prevent them from entering the US. Until the agency can review products’ safety.

Veterans exposed to PFAS chemicals may have weakened immune systems

By Miguel Levya

Photo via Pixabay January 28, 2021 (San Diego)

As many communities continue to see COVID-19 spread, one of the most important questions surrounding the pandemic remains: why are some people hit harder than others? Certain underlying medical conditions might account for the differential response, but there’s still variation in impact even among these people who are at higher risk. An important clue could be found in an individual’s previous exposure to various chemical substances. An important percentage of the U.S. population who is most at risk for exposure to several chemicals, thus making it more difficult to fight off COVID-19, are the veterans. And among the class of chemicals known to adversely impact the immune system are per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).PFAS, known as “forever chemicals” - given that, once in the environment, they are present more or less in perpetuity - are man-made substances that have a variety of uses, including in firefighting foams.

By Miriam Raftery

January 27, 2021 (Washington D.C.) – President Joe Biden’s national strategy to combat COVID-19, includes orders to purchase 200 million more vaccine doses from Pfizer and Moderna, boosting supply to 600 million. He also announced ramped up distribution of vaccines by next week to states and tribal governments.

This week he also plans to sign an executive order to reopen open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act health insurance policies, since so many out of work Americans have lost healthcare during the pandemic. Biden also plans to make it easier for low-income people to join Medicaid by rolling back certain restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, CNN reports.

In addition, Biden has ordered increased production of the vaccines  with the expectation that all of the 368 million Americans who want to be vaccinated will have vaccines available this spring, a pace dramatically accelerated over the prior administration both in numbers of vaccines available and pace of distribution.

By Kate Cimini, CalMatters

CalMatters is an independent public interest journalism venture covering California state politics and government.

Photo:  John adjusts the covers on his massage table. Photo by Ayrton Ostly, The Salinas Californian

January 25, 2021 (Salinas) - When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down his Bay Area region massage business, John went 93 days without income.