Ana B. Ibarra /CalMatters

With 7 million Californians infected, how risky is it to work? When is it safe for omicron-infected workers to return?

Although state and federal rules require COVID tests to be free or covered by health insurance, people often have to pay hundreds of dollars upfront.

In 19 California counties, less than a third of vaccinated residents are boosted. In some counties, it’s less than 25%. One health official blames “pandemic fatigue.”

The Valencia lab, a public-private venture between the state and PerkinElmer, processed only 1 to 8% of all Californians’ COVID tests in the first 10 months of the contract. And the lab was riddled with dozens of problems, according to an inspection report.

The answer is no in many parts of California. Eighteen counties, mostly rural ones, have more hospitalized COVID-19 patients today than a year ago.

Propelled by the delta variant and large numbers of unvaccinated people, COVID-19 patients are flooding California hospitals at a rate not seen since last winter’s surge.

In all California counties, Medi-Cal enrollees have been vaccinated at substantially lower rates than the overall population. Experts point to several factors for this economic divide, like the inability of low-income people to take time off work.

The California Legislature has approved several Medi-Cal budget items that would remove barriers to care, such as the asset rule. Now it’s negotiating with Gov. Newsom.

As the governor and lawmakers wrangle over the budget, local public health departments are underfunded and overwhelmed. Outdated equipment and insufficient staff hamper handling of everything from asthma to syphilis.

Doctors and other health experts predict that, in the near future, the year-long delays in patients seeking medical care brought about by the pandemic could cause worsening health conditions, delayed diagnoses and earlier deaths.

The CEO of Blue Shield predicts it will take until the end of April to ease California’s backlog. “When you make millions of people eligible overnight, there’s not millions of appointments immediately available,” he told CalMatters.

California today hit a benchmark of delivering 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to underserved communities, triggering a big change that will transform the state’s reopening map from purple to mostly red.