California

California’s summer vibe is post-COVID. The data are not

Published

1 year ago

July 17, 2024

Press Room

California’s summer vibe is post-COVID. The data are not

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, July 17. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

COVID is crashing California’s summer

The summer COVID bump is not stopping, unlike many of our concerns about getting infected from summers past.

I’ll include myself in that group.

During a journalism industry event I attended over the weekend, I shared a banquet room with hundreds of people, plus smaller rooms for panel discussions. I saw only one person wearing a mask and it stood out; there was someone being cautious at a level I no longer am in daily life.

If I hadn’t spotted that mask, I don’t know that COVID would have crossed my mind. I’ve been getting my boosters. I don’t mask up in my day-to-day anymore, but I still have masks on hand for air travel. Like many Californians and Americans, my guard is mostly down.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted in March found that just 20% of U.S. adults consider the coronavirus a major public health threat. Just 10% said they felt very concerned about getting COVID and having to be hospitalized because of it, while 12% reported feeling very concerned they might unknowingly spread the virus to others.

Shoppers with and without masks at Santee Alley in July 2022.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

We’re now in our fifth summer living with COVID, and we’re over it — even as the data show the virus continues to mutate and spread more easily. The subvariants known as FLiRT now dominate the U.S. caseload, as my Times colleague Rong-Gong Lin II reported this week:

“For the two-week period that ended July 6, an estimated 70.5% of COVID specimens nationwide were of the FLiRT subvariants — officially known as KP.3, KP.2 and KP.1.1 — up from 54.9% a month earlier.”

California is one of seven states with “very high” COVID levels in its wastewater, according to the CDC, and estimated to be significantly higher than last summer.

According to state health data, the seven-day positivity rate reached 13% on July 8. Of course, that’s an undercount, since it does not include at-home tests or the people who catch COVID but don’t test at all.

But look around and you’ll probably notice that we’re traveling, gathering and partying like it’s 2019.

“Certainly, people are trying to get back to whatever life was like before the pandemic,” Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious disease at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, told Rong-Gong. “We’re in a different place than we were before. … However, good common sense shouldn’t go out the window.”

The simplest safeguard tries to employ some of that common sense: If you’re sick, stay home and isolate. And get tested to have a better sense of what you’re dealing with.

COVID symptoms vary, but often include fever, aches, sore throat, chills, fatigue, cough, runny nose and headaches. Although vomiting, diarrhea and stomachaches are less common, they can still be the result of a COVID infection.

Health officials advise people to wear masks for five days after their symptoms improve to protect others. To keep the elderly, immunocompromised and other high-risk people safe, L.A. County recommends anyone infected steer clear for 10 days after a positive test or the start of symptoms.

As COVID continues to rise this summer, we want to hear from you, newsletter readers:

How concerned are you about COVID right now? How often is it on your mind in daily life?

How have the precautions you take changed over time — or have they not? Do you think the average person is taking it more or less seriously than you are?

Share your concerns (or lack thereof) by taking this survey and you might see your and fellow readers’ responses in a future edition of Essential California.

More on COVID:

Today’s top stories

Donald Trump is surrounded by Secret Service agents

California and the 2024 election

Elon Musk v. California

L.A. politics

Sports

More big stories

Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here.

Today’s great reads

The Oakland Athletics and their design teams released renderings Tuesday, March 5, 2024.

MLB players with Vegas roots are skeptical of A’s relocation: ‘It’s a terrible idea’ Athletics owner John Fisher says moving to Las Vegas will improve the franchise, but Paul Sewald, Bryce Harper and other players don’t see it that way.

Other great reads

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

For your downtime

People spend time along Third Street Promenade

Going out

Staying in

And finally … a great photo

Show us your favorite place in California! We’re running low on submissions. Send us photos that scream California and we may feature them in an edition of Essential California.

Today’s great photo is from staff photographer Christopher Reynolds of the colorful cliff faces at Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego. It’s on our new list of the 50 best beaches in SoCal.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Ryan Fonseca, reporter

Christian Orozco, assistant editor

Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

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California

California governor race heats up with uncertainty and potential surprises

Published

57 minutes ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

California governor race heats up with uncertainty and potential surprises

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) As the race for California’s next governor intensifies, uncertainty looms with the primary election just six months away.

A recent Emerson College poll shows Republican Chad Bianco leading by a narrow margin of one point, while 31% of voters remain undecided.

California governor race heats up with uncertainty and potential surprises (KBFX)

“The field remains wide open,” said Tal Eslick, owner of Vista Consulting. “There’s a half dozen credible Democrats in the race. There’s really a couple – two – namely Republicans.”

Eslick noted that Bianco’s lead is more reflective of the crowded Democratic field than a shift toward Republicans statewide.

California governor race heats up with uncertainty and potential surprises (Photo: AdobeStock)

He suggested a “black horse candidate” could still emerge, possibly from Hollywood or outside politics.

With rising energy and gas prices, affordability is expected to be a key issue for voters.

California governor race heats up with uncertainty and potential surprises (AP Photo/Juliana Yamada, File)

“I think that you could also see voters vote with their pockets,” Eslick said, highlighting the potential for a non-traditional candidate to gain traction.

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California threatens Tesla with 30-day suspension of sales license for deceptive self-driving claims

Published

13 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

California threatens Tesla with 30-day suspension of sales license for deceptive self-driving claims

SAN FRANCISCO — California regulators are threatening to suspend Tesla’s license to sell its electric cars in the state early next year unless the automaker tones down its marketing tactics for its self-driving features after a judge concluded the Elon Musk-led company has been misleading consumers about the technology’s capabilities.

The potential 30-day blackout of Tesla’s California sales is the primary punishment being recommended to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles in a decision released late Tuesday. The ruling by Administrative Law Judge Juliet Cox determined that Tesla had for years engaged in deceptive marketing practices by using the terms “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” to promote the autonomous technology available in many of its cars.

After presiding over five days of hearings held in Oakland, California in July, Cox also recommended suspending Tesla’s license to manufacture cars at its plant in Fremont, California. But California regulators aren’t going to impose that part of the judge’s proposed penalty.

Tesla will have a 90-day window to make changes that more clearly convey the limits of its self-driving technology to avoid having its California sales license suspended. After California regulators filed its action against Tesla in 2023, the Austin, Texas, company already made one significant change by putting in wording that made it clear its Full Self-Driving package still required supervision by a human driver while it’s deployed.

“Tesla can take simple steps to pause this decision and permanently resolve this issue — steps autonomous vehicle companies and other automakers have been able to achieve,” said Steve Gordon, the director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The automaker has already been plagued by a global downturn in demand that began during a backlash to Musk’s high-profile role overseeing cuts in the U.S. government budget overseeing the Department of Government that President Donald Trump created in his administration. Increased competition and an older lineup of vehicles also weighed on Tesla sales, although the company did revamp its Model Y, the world’s bestselling vehicle, and unveil less-expensive versions of the Model Y and Model X.

Although Musk left Washington after a falling out with Trump, the fallout has continued to weigh on Tesla’s auto sales, which had decreased by 9% from 2024 through the first nine months of this year.

Despite the slump and the threatened sales suspension in California, Tesla’s stock price touched an all-time high $495.28 during Wednesday’s early trading before backtracking later to fall below $470. Despite that reversal, Tesla’s shares are still worth slightly more than they were before Musk’s ill-fated stint in the Trump administration — a “somewhat successful” assignment he recently said he wouldn’t take on again.

The performance of Tesla’s stock against the backdrop of eroding auto sales reflects the increasing emphasis that investors are placing on Musk’s efforts to develop artificial intelligence technology to implant into humanoid robots and a fleet of self-driving Teslas that will operate as robotaxis across the U.S.

Musk has been promising Tesla’s self-driving technology would fulfill his robotaxi vision for years without delivering on the promise, but the company finally began testing the concept in Austin earlier this year, albeit with a human supervisor in the car to take over if something went awry. Just a few days ago, Musk disclosed Tesla had started tests of its robotaxis without a safety monitor in the vehicle.

California regulators are far from the first critic to accuse Tesla of exaggerating the capabilities of its self-driving technology in a potentially dangerous manner. The company has steadfastly insisted that information contained in its vehicle’s owner’s manual on its website have made it clear that its self-driving technology still requires human supervision, even while releasing a 2020 video depicting one of its cars purportedly driving on its own. The video, cited as evidence against Tesla in the decision recommending a suspension of the company’s California sales license, remained on its website for nearly four years.

Tesla has been targeted in a variety of lawsuits alleging its mischaracterizations about self-driving technology have lulled humans into a false of security that have resulted in lethal accidents. The company has settled or prevailed in several cases, but earlier this year a Miami jury held Tesla partly responsible for a lethal crash in Florida that occurred while Autopilot was deployed and ordered the automaker to pay more than $240 million in damages.

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California warns Tesla faces 30-day sale ban for misleading use of

Published

1 day ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

California warns Tesla faces 30-day sale ban for misleading use of

Updated on: December 16, 2025 / 10:36 PM PST
/ CBS San Francisco

The California DMV on Tuesday said Tesla Motors faces a possible 30-day sale ban over its misleading use of the term “autopilot” in its marketing of electric vehicles.

On Nov. 20, an administrative judge ruled that Tesla Motors’ use of “autopilot ” and “full self-driving capability” was a misleading description of its “advanced driving assistant features,” and that it violated state law, the DMV said.

In their decision, the judge proposed suspending Tesla’s manufacturing and dealer license for 30 days. However, the DMV is giving Tesla 60 days to address its use of the term “autopilot” before temporarily suspending its dealer license.

“Tesla can take simple steps to pause this decision and permanently resolve this issue — steps autonomous vehicle companies and other automakers have been able to achieve in California’s nation-leading and supportive innovation marketplace,” DMV Director Steve Gordon said.

Tesla had already stopped its use of “full self-driving capability” and switched to “full self-driving (supervised)” after the DMV filed accusations against it in November 2023.

The DMV said its decision to file those accusations stretches back to Tesla’s 2021 marketing of its advanced driver assistance system. Besides the two terms, the DMV said it also took issue with the phrase, “The system is designed to be able to conduct short and long-distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver’s seat.”

“Vehicles equipped with those ADAS features could not at the time of those advertisements, and cannot now, operate as autonomous vehicles,” the DMV said.

As for the manufacturing license suspension, the DMV issued a permanent stay on that proposal.

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