SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – Mass vaccination and testing clinics like this one at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds will no longer operate with the end of California’s COVID-19 state of emergency Feb. 28. Pictured here, Megan Wong of San Jose receives an Omicron-specific booster shot at Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
California is poised to record its 100,000th COVID-19 death. But at the end of this month, the Golden State — the first in the nation to lock down because of the virus — will end its pandemic state of