Signal Tribune Your Weekly Community Newspaper
VOL. XLIII NO. 27 COVID-19
INSIDE: On the Record: Twelves Record Store keeps spinning through the pandemic see page 2
Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill
Friday, July 2, 2021
COMMUNITY
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Highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 found in Long Beach Staff Report Signal Tribune
The Long Beach Health Department discovered the first instance of the more transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 on Monday, June 28. The Delta variant is believed to be more transmissible and more likely to cause severe disease. The variant is “of grave concern,” a Long Beach Health Department statement said. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health strongly recommends that everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in public places as a precautionary measure. In the week ending June 12, Delta variants comprised nearly half of all variants sequenced in Los Angeles County. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that Delta variants are now responsible for about one in every five new infections across the country, up from approximately one in every ten the week before. The Delta variant is expected to become the dominant variant in the United States within weeks, the Long Beach Health Department said. Both departments are urging residents to get vaccinated to protect themselves against severe illness. In a release, LA County said that fully vaccinated people appear to be well-protected from infections with Delta variants, but people with only one dose of Pfizer or Moderna are not as well protected. “While COVID-19 vaccine provides very effective protection preventing hospitalizations and deaths against the Delta variant, the strain is proving to be more transmissible and is expected to become more prevalent,” LA County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said, urging residents to wear masks. Residents can find information about vaccines and vaccination sites at longbeach.gov/vaxlb.
La Fuente: The two doulas breaking the myth of the ‘right way’ of childbirth Richard H. Grant| Signal Tribune
La Fuente founders Marisol Garcia (left) and Danellia Arechiga (right) sit for a picture in their office on June 29, 2021. Both founders are also doulas and childbirth educators who opened the space for birthing people and co-working spaces.
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Kristen Farrah Naeem Staff Writer
riends Marisol Garcia and Danellia Arechiga were both working as doulas out of their homes when they decided to go into business together in 2018. And so La Fuente: Birth, Postpartum y Mas was born—a space where expectant parents could receive personalized guidance through pregnancy, birth and beyond. “La Fuente means the fountain, and so we wanted people to come in, take the knowledge, the education, the support, the love, the guidance—whatever it is that they are receiving from us—and to take that back into their homes, into their communities,” Arechiga said. While doulas are not medical professionals, they help to support and inform parents through the complex process of having a child. “We are more based on education, so really working with the clients to teach them the mechanics of labor, how it works, ways to stay comfortable, nutrition, ways to stay healthy throughout their pregnancy and things like that, ways to take care of themselves after birth,” Arechiga said. Garcia and Arechiga assist in births that take place in homes, hospitals and birthing centers—helping parents follow the birthing plan that suits them best.
Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune
Marisol Garcia shows one way to use a rebozo. It can be tied to help relieve the physical strain that pregnant people have while carrying a child on June 29, 2021. The rebozo is similar to a shawl that is often worn by Indigenous Americans and has various uses to help expecting and current mothers.
Doulas act as advocates for expecting mothers, during and before labor When assisting with hospital births, they often act as advocates for the mother’s best interest when medical staff try to prioritize what is conve-
see LA FUENTE page 11