With vaccinations rolling along and Bay Area counties moving out of restrictive tiers, we're seeing more and more reopenings of movie theaters, museums, attractions and even live music. Check this regularly updated list of what we know is open. Check back for updates to guide your weekend planning, and as always, adhere to your county's mandates and guidance for COVID-19. KQED Read more

If worsening traffic isn’t enough to get you back on BART, maybe cutting ticket prices in half will do the trick. That’s the idea behind a promotion BART is announcing this week: For the month of September, riders will get half off their fare when they swipe their Clipper cards. It won’t apply with paper tickets, which the agency is phasing out. The discount will coincide with BART’s plan to restore most of the service cuts it implemented for the pandemic. Starting on Aug. 30, BART will once again run trains every 15 minutes for most of the day - currently, they’re every half-hour - and end service at midnight, rather than 9 p.m., from Monday through Saturday. Mercury News Read more

San Mateo County advanced into the least restrictive stage of California’s color-coded reopening plan Tuesday, becoming the first Bay Area county to join San Francisco in the yellow tier. Sonoma County was also expected to make the move, but fell just short of the state’s metrics to move out of the orange tier and into the final reopening level, which allows most businesses to expand capacity indoors and lets many outdoor events resume. In the yellow tier, restaurants, movie theaters, libraries, offices, churches, family entertainment centers, gyms and fitness studios can expand capacity indoors. Indoor bars, breweries and wineries can open at 25% capacity, up to 100 people. SF Chronicle Read more

East Bay cities will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds through the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion package passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden. The money will be used to support public health, help families struggling with food insecurity or lack of housing, assist small businesses, invest in water and sewer infrastructure and aid communities hardest hit by the crisis. KTVU Read more

Remember when trying to get a COVID-19 vaccine appointment felt about as easy as scoring tickets to the Super Bowl? How times have changed. In just the last month, what was overwhelming demand to get jabbed has plummeted, leaving health care providers awash in perishable vaccine doses and hungry for arms to put them in. That appears to be the case in Berkeley, which this week (through Friday) is operating a temporary walk-in vaccine clinic in Civic Center Park. The city, which has its own health department, is also hosting a vaccination in West Berkeley on Friday. KQED Read more

Anyone needing a ride to get a COVID-19 vaccine shot will be able to get a free trip from the ride-sharing companies Lyft and Uber, the White House announced Tuesday, in the latest push to encourage Americans to get vaccinated. "The feature will launch in the next two weeks and run until July 4," the White House said. People who want to use the program would need to select a vaccination site near them and then redeem the companies' offer of a free ride. The two ride-sharing firms will promote the offer in their apps. NPR Read more

For a few weeks this spring, the United States was a world leader in vaccines, administering shots to a larger share of its population than even the United Kingdom or Israel. But since the middle of April, our vaccine campaign has stalled. The average number of people getting a first or single dose is down almost 50 percent from its peak on April 13. What’s notable about that date? Well, it just happens to be the same day that the CDC and the FDA recommended a pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The Atlantic Read more

As vaccination rates climb and daily new cases and deaths drop, experts said that people should feel more comfortable easing up on precautions, shifting the world back to the pre-pandemic days. That might happen sooner than you think - Israel's experience suggests that cases could start to sustainably plummet once about 60 percent of the population is vaccinated, a point that could be just a month or two away in the U.S.. And with 46 percent of Americans getting one dose so far, cases in the U.S. have already started to decline. Vox Read more

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California’s battle against coronavirus has progressed so rapidly in the last few months that many experts are optimistic the state has experienced the worst of the pandemic and that another disastrous wave is unlikely as vaccinations increase and case rates keep plunging. If those forecasts hold fast, California will enter the summer in a better place than many thought. State officials hope to have the economy largely reopened by June 15. LA Times Read more

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A year full of social distancing, mask wearing, hand washing and staying at home to prevent coronavirus spread rendered the 2020-2021 influenza season practically nonexistent. Public health and clinical laboratories reported 2,038 flu cases during the season from Sept. 27, 2020, to April 24, 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency estimated about 38 million people were sick with the flu during the 2019-2020 season. Though low flu incidence is unarguably a good thing, it raises questions about the upcoming flu season and what the vaccine will look like in the fall. USA Today Read more

A micro-brewery in Buffalo, New York, has been offering free beer to encourage vaccine-hesitant customers to visit pop-up vaccination clinics next to its taprooms - and the program has been a roaring success. The scheme, a hook-up between Erie county health department and two local breweries, comes as many regions across the U.S. are seeing sharp declines in vaccine demand. The Guardian Read more

Sources: Johns Hopkins University, SF Chronicle, and dashboards for California and Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

So-called quad tests, now available at thousands of hospitals and clinics, can detect not only the coronavirus but also two types of influenza and the respiratory syncytial virus, or R.S.V. That might not seem essential given that the United States, like many other countries, witnessed a shocking absence of a flu season this past winter. But as the country begins to reopen, doctors say that flu and other pathogens could make a comeback this fall. NY Times Read more