Organized by the Black Business Roundtable of the Hayward Chamber of Commerce, with the support of the Hayward South Alameda County Chapter of the NAACP, a Juneteenth Jobs, Wellness and Resource Fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 19, at City Hall Plaza, next to the Hayward Farmers Market. The Fair organizers and other sponsors and presenters, including Kaiser Permanente, La Familia and Eden Health District, are teaming up to make up to 300 COVID-19 vaccinations available at the event. Vaccine recipients will receive a $50 gift certificate redeemable for purchases at the Farmers Market. Read more

Rev. Dr. Arlene Nehring, senior minister of Eden United Church of Christ in Hayward, was quick and enthusiastic to recently share the church’s latest tool: a COVID-19-themed lotería, a bingo-like game familiar to many Mexican families. Eden United is handing out 500 copies of the game during its regular food distribution, which happens on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month. Oaklandside Read more

It’s evident in the voices of the health care workers who have just come through perhaps the most trying period of their professional lives. It’s visible in the repurposed COVID-19 wards and clear in the data: The coronavirus pandemic as we have experienced it this last year and a half is ending, and Bay Area hospitals, ground zero for the worst of the illness and death, are returning to some semblance of normal. The number of coronavirus patients has plummeted to single digits at many medical centers as the state chugs toward Tuesday’s reopening. Local hospitals are dismantling or converting triage tents, allowing more visitors and even encouraging weary health care workers to finally take much needed time off. Mercury News Read more

San Francisco will require proof of COVID-19 vaccination for employees at hospitals, skilled nursing homes, residential care facilities, shelters and jails, and will go beyond state safety requirements for indoor events with more than 5,000 attendees, according to a new health order posted Friday. The city will align with most of California’s safety rules when the state eliminates pandemic restrictions Tuesday, with some notable exceptions. SF Chronicle Read more

The Oakland A’s will offer COVID-19 vaccinations at the Coliseum in exchange for two game ticket vouchers starting today. The team announced the program Friday in coordination with local healthcare providers and MLB’s “Vaccinate at the Plate” program to increase vaccination rates. The clinic will be located at the Coliseum’s Eastside Club and be available to anyone on gamedays; no game ticket will be necessary. Fans will be able to receive the free vaccine without an appointment up to 90 minutes before first pitch and through the fifth inning of each home game. Mercury News Read more

More than half of Californians 12 and older, the current minimum age to be eligible for one of the vaccines against COVID-19, are fully inoculated, a significant milestone just days before the state’s major lifting of pandemic restrictions on June 15. Additionally, 68.5 percent of Californians 12 and older have received at least one shot of a vaccine, according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Among Californians 18 and older, 71.6 percent have at least one dose and 56.8 percent are fully vaccinated. Mercury News Read more

The leaders of the world's seven richest countries agreed to donate 1 billion coronavirus vaccine doses to poorer countries over the next year. As the Group of Seven summit in the English town of Carbis Bay wrapped up, President Joe Biden said that the COVID-19 pandemic would be a "constant project for a long time." There was a "clear consensus" among the other leaders that commitments they had made to donate vaccine doses wouldn't be the end, he said, adding that the U.S. would be responsible for around half of the 1 billion doses. NBC News Read more

Vaccine maker Novavax said Monday its COVID-19 shot was highly effective against the disease and also protected against variants in a large study in the U.S. and Mexico, potentially offering the world yet another weapon against the virus at a time when developing countries are desperate for doses. The two-shot vaccine was about 90% effective overall, and preliminary data showed it was safe, the American biotechnology company said. That would put the vaccine about on par with Pfizer’s and Moderna’s. AP Read more

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that it will convene an "emergency meeting" of its advisers on June 18 to discuss rare but higher-than-expected reports of heart inflammation following doses of the mRNA-based Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. So far, the CDC has identified 226 reports that might meet the agency's "working case definition" of myocarditis and pericarditis following the shots, the agency disclosed. CBS News Read more

California will fully reopen its economy tomorrow under remarkably favorable conditions, with the COVID-19 risk rapidly receding and new cases being reported at the lowest levels in 14 months. The state has for several months recorded one of the lowest coronavirus infection rates in the country, a distinction that’s endured despite the end of many restrictions and the rise of new variants. The numbers and rapid rollout of vaccinations have given public health officials even more confidence that life can return to some semblance of normal without the horrific surges that thwarted California’s two previous attempts at reopening. California has one of the highest rates of vaccinations in the nation, with 56% of residents of all ages - and 71% of adults - having received at least one dose of vaccine. LA Times Read more

As California heads to a full reopening on Tuesday, federal officials are expressing concerns about the highly infectious Delta variant circulating in the U.S. and dozens of other countries worldwide. The Delta variant is believed to be even more transmissible than the Alpha variant, or B.1.1.7, which was first identified in the U.K. and which has become the dominant strain in California and the U.S. The Delta variant may also be associated with increased disease severity, such as the risk of hospitalization, compared to the Alpha variant. LA Times Read more

Routine childhood vaccinations dropped dramatically during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, and although they began rebounding last summer as families rescheduled doctors’ visits, many children and adolescents are behind on their shots, according to a federal health report released Thursday. The lag might pose “a serious public health threat” of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses, such as measles and whooping cough, that have the potential to derail school-reopenings, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Washington Post Read more

Two months ago, the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital in India’s capital was a battlefield. Every one of its 1,500 beds for coronavirus patients was full. It came perilously close to running out of oxygen not once, but three times. Now, the hospital has space for every patient who needs a bed and there is oxygen to spare. Ritu Saxena, the hospital’s deputy medical superintendent, no longer spends nights fielding calls from desperate relatives. Instead, she is focused on the future: helping prepare the hospital for more surges. Washington Post Read more

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

For much of the pandemic, the keen sensitivity of the primary test for COVID-19 has been a blessing, detecting even small amounts of the virus that can spread silently among people who might not feel sick. But as more people get vaccinated, the test’s sensitivity is raising questions among health experts about whether results should be looked at more critically when an immunized person with no symptoms tests positive for COVID-19. Is that person truly a threat to spread the virus, or just fighting it off and keeping it at levels too low to be contagious? Mercury News Read more