In California: New CDC guidelines on masks raise questions for vaccinated Golden Staters

But first. The May 17 tax deadline is just around the corner. If you haven't filed yet and are feeling pressed for time, don’t panic. You may want to consider an extension. The IRS doesn't care what your reason is. Maybe you lost tax documents, experienced a family emergency or just procrastinated. Regardless of the issue, you can still get an extension to file until Oct. 15. This could give you more time to review your return to ensure that you're taking advantage of all the tax benefits available to you. Read how here.

Know someone who cares about the Golden State? Let them know they can sign up for the In California newsletter via this link. I'm Julie Makinen, California editor for the USA Today Network, bringing you Thursday's key headlines.

CDC says those vaccinated generally can drop masks. But Calif. holds back 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new masking guidelines Thursday that carry welcome words: Fully vaccinated Americans, for the most part, no longer need to wear masks indoors. The agency also said fully vaccinated people don’t have to wear masks outdoors, even in crowded spaces. 

But don't throw out your mask just yet. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported, the California Department of Public Health did not immediately respond to questions Thursday about whether or when it would adopt the new federal guidelines. The state typically follows the CDC’s COVID-19 recommendations. But with masking rules, the Bay Area and state have previously gone further than the federal government, instituting local mandates in the absence of a federal one.

Los Angeles County, with 10 million people, said it would not immediately hop on board with the CDC's guidelines, the L.A. Times reported.

Still, the CDC announcement represents a quantum shift in recommendations and a major loosening of the mask restrictions that Americans have had to live with since COVID-19 became a major part of U.S. life 15 months ago.

"Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing,'' CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House briefing. "If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic.''

Health experts say the new CDC guidelines may encourage more people to get vaccinated by enticing them with tangible benefits, but it may also add to the confusion of mask etiquette in the United States.

Still have questions? Head over to this USA Today explainer. 

And remember, people are still dying from COVID in California despite huge progress. The L.A. Times takes a look at who they are.

Vaccinations start for kids 12+, but many teens are hesitant

Adolescents 12 and up can now get vaccines at RiteAid, CVS and many county vaccination sites across California. On Thursday in Southern California's Riverside County, for example, parents started bringing their kids to inoculation sites.

But officials say they're seeing a reluctance among teens of color — even those who have been eligible for weeks now, LAist reports. Conspiracy theories on platforms like TikTok and anti-vaccine comments by entertainers like Joe Rogan are influencing them, the outlet says.

“The lowest [vaccination] rates are among young Black and LatinX men and women, and it's among the 16-to-29 year olds that we have the most work to do,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of the L.A. County Health Department.

In L.A. County, 68% of Asian teens and 60% of white teens age 16 and up are at least partially vaccinated. But only 38% of Black teens and 42% of Latino teens are.

Cynthia Gonzalez, principal of an L.A. school, says many parents are swayed by sensational stories on Spanish-language media, while students pay closer attention to false vaccine rumors on platforms such as TikTok. “That’s what the kids are into, that and the YouTubers,” she said.

Experts: No need for Golden Staters to panic buy gasoline

California motorists have seen an uptick in prices of gas. But fuel analysts say the state has plenty of gasoline, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports — and there’s no reason for drivers to make a run on service stations to fill up, as seen in the Southeast in the wake of the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack.

“Colonial has got nothing to do with California,” David Hackett, president of Stillwater Associates, a transportation energy consulting company in Irvine, told the paper. “There’s plenty of gas out here in California.”

Gasoline stock in the West is above the normal, five-year range, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Be glad you're not in the South or along the Atlantic Coast, where a frenzied run on gas stations made the fuel shortage worse in those states. As of late Wednesday, 52% of gas stations in Virginia, 48% of stations in South Carolina and 46% in Georgia were out of gas, according to gasbuddy.com. 

New report: Drought to hit rural Latino communities hardest

Rural, low-income Latino communities across California were hardest hit by the last drought and could see drinking water shortages again this year as extreme drought spreads across the state, according to a report released Thursday by non-partisan advisors to California’s lawmakers. 

CalMatters says the report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office warns state officials to prepare by ramping up monitoring of wells in vulnerable communities and lining up emergency drinking water supplies to send there. 

“The communities most impacted by drinking water challenges during the last drought were small and rural; many were farmworker communities located in California’s Central Valley. Moreover, many of the communities that lost — or remain vulnerable to losing — access to safe drinking water contain high proportions of both lower‑income and Latino residents,” the report says.

The last drought — a record-breaking 2012-2016 event — spanned the driest four consecutive years since record-keeping began in California. The dry weather collided with hot temperatures to suck water from soils, parch plants and create warm, shallow rivers where 95% of the young winter-run Chinook salmon were killed in 2014 and 2015. 

Now, most of the state is again experiencing extreme drought conditions or worse. This week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency in 39 counties, including most of the parched Central Valley and Klamath River area, bringing the total counties under drought emergencies to 41. Declarations were already announced last month for Mendocino and Sonoma counties due to severe conditions in the Russian River watershed.

Hiking the California coast, from top to bottom

There are currently 875 miles of trail along the California coast. That sounds like a lot, but that still leaves hundreds of miles of gaps.

A digital map showing existing sections of the California Coastal Trail has been released by the Coastal Commission and Coastal Conservancy. Executive Director Jack Ainsworth says now that people can finally see exactly where those gaps are, it will spur efforts to bridge them. Planning of the California Coastal Trail has been underway since 1975. The aim is to someday allow people to traverse the length of the state's 1,230-mile-long coast. Check it out here. 

In California is a roundup of news from across USA Today network newsrooms. Also contributing: Los Angeles Times, LAist, CalMatters, San Diego Union Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle. Julie Makinen is California editor for the USA Today Network. Follow her on Twitter at @Julie_Makinen.