COVID-19
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Rush To Vaccinate In East Bay As New Variant Emerges
A vaccination clinic in Contra Costa County on Monday took new urgency as health officials worldwide are monitoring the spread of the newly-discovered Omicron variant. Contra Costa County Health, which held Monday’s clinic, said it has 86% of its eligible population vaccinated against the virus. In the last month, as the outreach continues on children, they have vaccinated 28,000 children in the 5 to 11 age range. KPIX5
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Bay Area Pharmacies Canceling, Postponing Booster Appointments As High Demand Increases
As the demand for COVID-19 booster shots increases, we are getting reports of people showing up to local pharmacies and realizing their appointments were either canceled, or the pharmacy ran out of vaccines. 25 million Californians are fully vaccinated. For many, it's been more than six months since their second shot, which means, it's time for a booster. ABC7 Read more
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CDC Expanding Surveillance At SFO And 3 Other Major U.S. Airports To Look For Omicron
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expanding surveillance at four major international airports to keep an eye out for the Omicron variant of coronavirus in travelers, the agency’s director said Tuesday. Dr. Rochelle Walensky told a White House COVID-19 briefing that the CDC is expanding surveillance with XpresCheck, a testing service at airport terminals, to the following four places:
- San Francisco International Airport
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
- John F. Kennedy International Airport
- Newark Liberty International Airport
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Bay Area Labs Are Even Testing The Wastewater At SFO In Their Hunt For Omicron
California has built up a substantial network of laboratories to look for concerning coronavirus variants over the past year, and now the scientists running those labs are developing creative new strategies to quickly identify Omicron. At UCSF, one team is studying wastewater - including effluent from San Francisco International Airport - for signs of the newest variant, which has not yet been found in the United States but is likely already here. The head of the Stanford Clinical Virology Laboratory hopes to narrow the search for omicron by focusing on one mutation that it happens to be missing. Some scientists plan to use a simple diagnostic test to speed up the hunt.
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Community Invited To Celebrate The Life And Legacy Of Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan
A community celebration honoring the legacy of Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan, San Leandro's supervisor, will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 8, in Oakland. Chan died Nov. 3 after she was hit by a vehicle while walking her dog in Alameda. The event begins at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California Garden, 1000 Oak St. in Oakland. If you plan to attend in person, RSVP on Eventbrite. The event will also be broadcast virtually. The link for the live broadcast will be available on the District 3 Home page. San Leandro Patch Read more
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City of Oakland Extends Downtown COVID Community Clinic through End Of The Year
In response to high demand, the City of Oakland is extending its free, walk-up COVID-19 vaccination and testing clinic through the end of December, and possibly through early 2022 if demand continues. The COVID Clinic operates 7 days/week and offers all three vaccines, booster shots, and COVID-19 testing. No appointment is needed. City of Oakland Read more
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Home COVID Tests Are Not Part Of Official Counts - But Marin County Is Starting To Tally Them
A new online system for residents to self-report results of the rapid antigen tests they use at home makes Marin County’s public health department the first in California to try to track this hard-to-measure testing universe that typically isn’t included in local, state or federal COVID surveillance systems. The move comes as rapid antigen tests are becoming more available and widely used. SF Chronicle Read more
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Will The Vaccines Stop Omicron? Scientists Are Racing To Find Out
As nations severed air links from southern Africa amid fears of another global surge of the coronavirus, scientists scrambled on Sunday to gather data on the new Omicron variant, its capabilities and - perhaps most important - how effectively the current vaccines will protect against it. The early findings are a mixed picture. The variant may be more transmissible and better able to evade the body’s immune responses, both to vaccination and to natural infection, than prior versions of the virus, experts said in interviews. NY Times Read more
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Pfizer Plans To Apply For Booster Shots For 16- And 17-Year Olds
Pfizer and BioNTech are expected this week to apply for regulatory approval for a booster shot of their coronavirus vaccine for 16- and 17-year-olds, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. If approved, the shot would be the first booster available to people under 18. The Food and Drug Administration could authorize extra shots within roughly a week, the people said. NY Times Read more
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FDA Advisory Panel Narrowly Recommends Merck’s COVID Pill For Emergency Use
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted Tuesday to recommend Merck’s experimental antiviral pill to treat COVID-19 for emergency use authorization, paving the way for the agency to clear the first oral drug for the disease. Members of the agency’s Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee voted 13-10 in favor of the treatment, called molnupiravir, for use in adults with mild to moderate COVID-19 who are at risk for severe disease or hospitalization. NBC News Read more
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Pentagon Chief Says National Guard Who Refuse Vaccine Cannot Train
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has decided that National Guard members who refuse COVID-19 vaccination will be barred from federally funded drills and training required to maintain their Guard status. Austin spelled out the policy in an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. In the memo, he instructed leaders of the military services Tuesday to publish guidance by next week on dealing with Guard members who fail to meet military medical readiness requirements by refusing the vaccine. “Vaccination is essential to the health and readiness of the force,” he wrote. KRON4 Read more
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Greece To Fine Over-60s Who Refuse COVID-19 Vaccine
Fines of €100 (around $115) will be imposed at monthly intervals from mid-January on those who refuse COVID vaccines, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said. The money will go towards the Greek health system, which is struggling with a surge in hospital admissions. About 63% of Greece's 11-million population is fully vaccinated, but data show more than 520,000 people over 60 are yet to get the jab. "Greeks over the age of 60 ... must book their appointment for a first jab by January 16," the premier said. The measure is still to be put to a parliamentary vote, but lawmakers are widely expected to approve it. While countries have made vaccines mandatory for health workers and other high-risk workers, Greece will become the first in the EU to target a specific age group. BBC Read more
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Making COVID-19 Vaccines Mandatory Was Once Unthinkable. But European Countries Are Showing It Can Work
In November, Austria took a step once unthinkable for a Western democracy: It announced that COVID-19 vaccinations would become compulsory for its entire population. Up until then, governments around the world had rejected the idea of a universal coronavirus vaccine mandate, opting instead for incentives and other "nudges" to motivate people to get shots. Even in authoritarian states, like China, it is not mandatory policy. Austria's extraordinary move came just days after it introduced a lockdown for the unvaccinated - a restriction that went farther than other European nations in singling out the people who have been driving a worrying surge in hospitalizations. CNN Read more
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State/National/International News |
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Omicron COVID Variant Was In Europe Before South African Scientists Detected And Flagged It To The World
Dutch health authorities announced on Tuesday that they found the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus in cases dating back as long as 11 days, indicating that it was already spreading in western Europe before the first cases were identified in southern Africa. The RIVM health institute said it found Omicron in samples dating from November 19 and 23. Those findings predate the positive cases found among passengers who came from South Africa last Friday and were tested at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. Belgium and Germany have also said that sample tests confirm the variant was in those countries before South African health officials alerted the world on November 24 to its existence. CBS News Read more
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South African Doctor Who First Spotted The COVID Omicron Variant Says Symptoms Seem "Mild" So Far
COVID symptoms linked to the new Omicron variant have been described as “extremely mild” by the South African doctor who first raised the alarm over the new strain. Dr. Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, told the BBC on Sunday that she started to see patients around Nov.18 presenting with “unusual symptoms” that differed slightly from those associated with the Delta variant, which is the most virulent strain of the virus to date and globally dominant. CNBC Read more
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The C.D.C. Plans to Toughen Coronavirus Testing for Travelers To The U.S.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to toughen coronavirus testing and screening of international fliers to the United States by requiring them to provide a negative result from a test taken within 24 hours of departure, a spokesman for the agency said Tuesday night. The move to strengthen the testing regime reflects growing concern about the Omicron variant, a highly mutated form of the virus that was first documented by researchers in South Africa and detected in more than a dozen countries around the world. NY Times Read more
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Why California Is Moving Forward With Firing Vaccine-Resistant Health Care Workers
Health care providers across California are closing in on firing possibly hundreds of workers who have let the clock tick down on a requirement to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The dismissals come in the Golden State despite a federal judge late Tuesday blocking - at least temporarily - the Biden administration’s attempts to require health care workers nationwide to be vaccinated by January. That’s because California has its own vaccination order, issued earlier this year, applying to workers at health care facilities - from hospitals to nursing homes and clinics to dialysis centers. The order doesn’t just cover nurses and doctors but security guards, housekeeping staff and other workers. East Bay Times Read more
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With Federal COVID Sick Leave Gone, Workers Feel Pressure To Show Up At Work
Economists and public health experts alike say paid sick leave is an essential tool - like testing, masks and vaccines - in the effort to prevent COVID-19 infection and keep workplaces safe. Yet the U.S. is in the midst of another COVID holiday season, and federal laws that offered COVID-related paid sick leave to workers have expired. Colorado, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh are among a small number of places that have put in place their own COVID protections, but many sick workers across the country must wrestle with difficult financial and ethical questions when deciding whether to stay home. California Healthline Read more
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In L.A. County, Low-Income Areas Have Been Less Likely To Get COVID-19 Boosters
The percentage of vaccinated Los Angeles County residents who have gotten COVID-19 booster shots is significantly lower in poorer neighborhoods than other areas, a troubling trend officials say could leave already hard-hit communities exposed to a potential surge over the winter. In the county’s high-need areas, only 6.9% of fully vaccinated people eligible for additional COVID-19 shots had received a booster as of Nov. 11, health figures show. The areas were identified using, among other things, a socioeconomic measurement tool called the California Healthy Places Index, and include places such as South L.A., southeast Los Angeles County, the Eastside, the eastern San Fernando Valley and El Monte. LA Times Read more
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Covax Delivers 11 Million Vaccine Doses in 24 Hours, Its Biggest Day Ever
The head of the United Nations-backed global vaccine distribution program said on Tuesday that it had shipped more than 11 million doses in the last 24 hours, its busiest day of deliveries ever.The leader, Seth Berkley, said the program had been asking donors and vaccine manufacturers for months “to give us better-quality donations” and more information on when doses would arrive. That message, he wrote on Twitter, “is just starting to be heard.” Covax, a multibillion-dollar alliance between international health bodies and nonprofits, was supposed to ensure that poor countries got access to coronavirus vaccines and that rich countries did not hoard them. It has struggled in that mission and had to scale back its goals. NY Times Read more
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Total Confirmed Cases
Bay Area: 617,476
California: 5,086,437
U.S.: 48,664,361
Alameda County
Total Vaccines Administered: 2,805,117
Total Cases: 122,427
Total Deaths: 1,507
Test Positivity (7-day rate): 1.8%
Hospitalized Patients (as of 12/1): 69
ICU Beds Available (as of 12/1): 90
As of December 1, case have decreased recently but are still high. The numbers of hospitalized COVID patients and deaths in the Alameda County area have also fallen. The test positivity rate in Alameda County is relatively low, suggesting that testing capacity is adequate for evaluating COVID spread in the area. NY Times
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Total Reported Deaths
Bay Area: 6,832
California: 74,540
U.S.: 781,590
Contra Costa County
Total Vaccines Administered: 1,988,404
Total Cases: 102,040
Total Deaths: 1,049
Test Positivity (7-day rate): 2.6%
Hospitalized Patients (as of 12/1): 58
ICU Beds Available (as of 12/1): 44
As of December 1, cases have stayed about the same recently and are still high. The numbers of hospitalized COVID patients and deaths in the Contra Costa area have also remained at about the same level. The test positivity rate in Contra Costa County is relatively low, suggesting that testing capacity is adequate for evaluating COVID-19 spread in the area. NY Times
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Antibodies Mimicking The Virus May Explain Long Haul COVID-19, Rare Vaccine Side Effects
With around 256 million cases and more than 5 million deaths worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged scientists and those in the medical field. Researchers are working to find effective vaccines and therapies, as well as understand the long-term effects of the infection. While the vaccines have been critical in pandemic control, researchers are still learning how and how well they work. This is especially true with the emergence of new viral variants and the rare vaccine side effects like allergic reactions, heart inflammation (myocarditis) and blood-clotting (thrombosis). UC Davis Health
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- COVID-19 testing is a good idea, but keep in mind, people who test negative can still harbor the virus if they are early in their infection.
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A viral test tells you if you have a current infection.
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An antibody test might tell you if you had a past infection.
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Over the past week, Alameda County has averaged 81 new cases and 2.3 new deaths per day.
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Over the past week, Contra Costa County has averaged 86 new cases and 0.1 new death per day.
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Alameda County, cumulative
as of 12/1/21
Oakland: 38,138
Hayward: 17,488
Fremont: 10,991
Eden MAC: 7,621
San Leandro: 7,532
Livermore: 6,691
Berkeley: 5,277
Union City: 5,182
Castro Valley: 3,866
Newark: 3,628
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Contra Costa County, cumulative
as of 12/1/21
Richmond: 15,278
Antioch: 14,807
Concord: 11,442
Pittsburg: 9,657
San Pablo: 6,679
Brentwood: 6,479
Oakley: 5,435
Walnut Creek: 4,490
Bay Point: 3,863
San Ramon: 3,366
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About Eden Health District |
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The Eden Health District Board of Directors are Chair Mariellen Faria, Vice Chair Pam Russo, Secretary/Treasurer Roxann Lewis, Gordon Galvan and Varsha Chauhan. The Chief Executive Officer is Mark Friedman.
The Eden Health District is committed to ensuring that policy makers and community members receive accurate and timely information to help make the best policy and personal choices to meet and overcome the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
We welcome your feedback on our bulletin. Please contact editor Lisa Mahoney.
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