COVID-19
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COVID-19 Proof Of Vaccination Or Test Required For Some Contra Costa Businesses
Contra Costa County joined San Francisco, Berkeley and other communities across the U.S. on Tuesday with a countywide health order that increases COVID-19 safety in restaurants, gyms and other indoor businesses where there is elevated risk of the virus spreading. The new order, effective September 22, requires patrons of these businesses to show proof they are fully vaccinated to enter indoor areas, or a negative COVID-19 test result from the past three days. Contra Costa has endured a severe spike in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations this summer due to the increasing prevalence of the highly infectious delta variant of the virus and unvaccinated residents.
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Delta Variant Threatens Alameda Despite COVID Shots
The COVID-19 Delta variant continues to affect our community. The city of Alameda reported 481 cases in August, up from 239 in July. Over the last 19 months, cases were only higher during the winter surge last December (571 cases) and January (762 cases). Today, COVID cases are occurring largely among the unvaccinated, and nearly all cases are the highly contagious Delta variant. Vaccines remain the best tool we have to slow transmission and significantly reduce hospitalizations and deaths. East Bay Times
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Marin County First Responders Required To Show Vaccination Proof
First responders in Marin County are now required to show proof that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Those who are not will need to go undergo weekly testing. Officials say it's in response to the ongoing surge in COVID cases across the region. The new health order applies to law enforcement officers, firefighters and EMS personnel. Also related staff involved in emergency calls at high-risk settings like hospitals, jails, nursing and congregate care facilities. ABC7 Read more
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What To Know About Flying From Bay Area Airports During The COVID Pandemic
COVID-19 and airports taken apart can cause mountains of anxiety. Putting them together just makes it worse for many. All the questions: Do you need to be vaccinated to go to a certain country? Do you need to be vaccinated to get on a plane? What happens if you get to the airport and discover an hour before you’re supposed to take off that you need a negative test to do so? Airports want people to know the lay of the land well in advance. Get online, make the phone calls, and know what’s expected of you.
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Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival Cancelled For Second Consecutive Year
The Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival has been cancelled for the second year in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Half Moon Bay's city council voted unanimously last week to deny the special event permit to the festival organizers, citing the need to protect public health. Though the festival's organizers, the Half Moon Bay Beautification Committee, had planned a scaled down event due to the pandemic, councilmembers felt it was not worth the risk. KTVU Read more
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Pop-Up COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic At Oakland Zoo
Sept. 30 and Oct. 21, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Receive your free COVID-19 vaccine at Oakland Zoo’s pop-up clinic (in the Zimmer Auditorium) and get a free Oakland Zoo Family Pass, good for a one-day admission for 2 adults and 2 children, plus free parking for one vehicle (a $98 value). You may use your pass the day of your shot, or at a future date of your choice. The event is presented by Presented by Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, Carbon Health, & Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley. Oakland Zoo
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Data Emerge Showing More Differences Between COVID Vaccines
Recent data suggests that Moderna's coronavirus vaccine may maintain a higher effectiveness over time than Pfizer's. The effectiveness gap could always disappear with more data, and both vaccines remain very effective against severe disease. But if the gap does hold up, it raises questions about whether the two vaccines should be treated the same way policy-wise. Axios Read more
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Teens Turn To COVID-19 Vaccine Advocacy As Most State Laws Prohibit Minors From Being Vaccinated Without Consent
There is a high school sophomore from Texas who wakes up at 6 a.m. on the weekends when she knows her parents are asleep, so she can secretly and quietly make calls as an ambassador for a teen pro-vaccine group, fighting off vaccine misinformation. The reason for all the cloak and dagger secrecy? The 15-year-old, who asked to be called Rain (not her real name), is the daughter of QAnon followers who hold strident views against mask wearing, social distancing and the coronavirus vaccine. ABC News
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Vaccine Resisters Seek Religious Exemptions
But What Counts as Religious?
When Crisann Holmes’s employer announced last month that it would require all employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by Nov. 1, she knew she had to find a way out. She signed a petition to ask the company to relax its mandate. She joined an informal protest, skipping work with other dissenting employees at the mental health care system where she has worked for two years. And she attempted a solution that many across the country are now exploring: a religious exemption. NY Times
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Pope Questions Vaccine Skeptics, Including Cardinals
Pope Francis said Wednesday he didn’t understand why people refuse to take COVID-19 vaccines, saying “humanity has a history of friendship with vaccines” and that serene discussion about the shots was necessary to help them. "Even in the College of Cardinals, there are some negationists,” Francis said Wednesday. He noted that one of them, “poor guy,” had been hospitalized with the virus. That was an apparent reference to U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, who was hospitalized in the U.S. and placed on a ventilator last month after contracting the virus. ABC News Read more
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Largest Colleges Push Student Vaccines With Mandates, Prizes
At most of the largest U.S. public universities, students are under no obligation to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Some schools do require vaccines, but with leniency for those who opt out. Still others have expelled students who do not comply. As a new semester begins amid a resurgence of the coronavirus, administrators and faculty nationwide see high vaccination rates as key to bringing some normalcy back to campus. Where mandates face political opposition, schools are relying on incentives and outreach to get more students vaccinated. AP Read more
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Conservative Radio Host Who Swore Off COVID-19 Vaccine Dies After Contracting Virus
Conservative radio host Pastor Robert "Bob" Enyart, who swore off Covid-19 vaccines, has died from complications due to the virus, his co-host announced on social media Monday. Enyart is one of several conservative radio hosts who passed away recently from Covid-19 complications after complaining about masks and expressing skepticism about vaccines. CNN Read more
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Nicki Minaj Said COVID Vaccine Could Make You Impotent - Fauci Shut Her Down
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, debunked a claim made by rapper Nicki Minaj that the COVID-19 vaccine can make men impotent.
Fauci dismissed the claim as false when asked about it during an interview Tuesday on CNN. "There’s no evidence that it happens, nor is there any mechanistic reason to imagine that it would happen," he said. "So the answer to your question is no.”
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State/National/International News |
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The Pandemic Marks Another Grim Milestone: 1 in 500 Americans Have Died Of COVID-19
At a certain point, it was no longer a matter of if the United States would reach the gruesome milestone of 1 in 500 people dying of COVID-19, but a matter of when. A year? Maybe 15 months? The answer: 19 months. Given the mortality rate from covid and our nation’s population size, “we’re kind of where we predicted we would be with completely uncontrolled spread of infection,” said Jeffrey D. Klausner, clinical professor of medicine, population and public health sciences at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. “Remember at the very beginning, which we don’t hear about anymore, it was all about flatten the curve.” Washington Post Read more
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Poll Finds Biden’s New Vaccine Measures Broadly Popular Despite GOP Outcry
New polling suggests a majority of voters approve of the sweeping vaccine measures President Joe Biden announced last week despite widespread rebukes from Republican lawmakers and governors, some of whom called for open resistance to the new measures. Forbes Read more
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California Senate Passes Bill Allowing State To Keep Details Of COVID Outbreaks Secret
The California State Senate approved a bill last Friday evening that upholds the state’s ability to keep the details of workplace COVID-19 outbreaks secret, a win for business groups after key transparency clauses were slashed at the last minute. AB 654 was revised days before the end of the legislative session Friday to erase a requirement that the California Department of Public Health publicize COVID outbreaks by location, contradicting the author’s stated purpose in drafting the bill and dealing a blow to employees, advocates and epidemiologists who have long argued that such information is essential to protecting workers. Mercury News Read more
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Child COVID-19 Cases Increased Nearly 240% Since July, Pediatricians' Group Says
COVID-19 infections have risen "exponentially" among children in the U.S. since July, according to data published Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The group reported 243,373 new cases among kids over the past week. While this is a decline from last week, when 251,781 cases were reported, it's about a 240% increase since early July, when kids accounted for 71,726 cases. "After declining in early summer, child cases have increased exponentially with nearly 500,000 cases in the past two weeks," AAP said in a statement. CNN Read more
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New York Hospital To Stop Delivering Babies As Staff Quit Over Vaccine Rules
A hospital in upstate New York will at least temporarily stop delivering babies later this month, after too many employees resigned over a COVID-19 vaccination mandate. “We are unable to safely staff the service after 24 September,” Gerald Cayer, chief executive of the Lewis County Health System, told reporters. “The number of resignations received leaves us no choice but to pause delivering babies at Lewis county general hospital.”
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Actor Jeff Bridges Says He Got COVID While In Chemo And It Made "Cancer Look Like A Piece Of Cake"
Oscar-winning actor Jeff Bridges said Monday that his lymphoma is in remission, and he is feeling better after battling Covid-19, which he said made "cancer look like a piece of cake." "Covid kicked my ass pretty good, but I'm double vaccinated and feeling much better," he wrote, saying he believed the vaccine was to thank for his "quick improvement." NBC News Read more
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ICUs Are Filled With COVID - And Regret
It’s a struggle for Joe Gammon to talk. Lying in his bed in the intensive care unit at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, this month, he described himself as “naive.” “If I would have known six months ago that this could be possible, this would have been a no-brainer,” said the 45-year-old father of six, who has been in critical condition with COVID-19 for weeks. “But I honestly didn’t think I was at any risk.”
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Confirmed Cases
Bay Area: 564,082
California: 4,497,470
U.S.: 41,400,046
Alameda County
Vaccines Administered: 2,294,079
Cases: 112,778
Deaths: 1,330
Test Positivity: 2.2%
Hospitalized Patients: 201
ICU Beds Available: 100
Cases have decreased recently but are still very high. The number of hospitalized COVID patients has remained at about the same level in the Alameda County area. Deaths have increased. 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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Reported Deaths
Bay Area: 6,691
California: 67,298
U.S.: 664,572
Contra Costa County
Vaccines Administered: 1,619,979
Cases: 93,290
Deaths: 906
Test Positivity: 3.1%
Hospitalized Patients: 148
ICU Beds Available: 29
Cases have decreased recently but are still very high. The number of hospitalized COVID patients has also fallen in the Contra Costa County area. Deaths have 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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What I Learned From My "Mild" Breakthrough Case of COVID
A Reporter's Story
The test results that hot day in early August shouldn't have surprised me - all the symptoms were there. A few days earlier, fatigue had enveloped me like a weighted blanket. I chalked it up to my weekend of travel. Next, a headache clamped down on the back of my skull. Then my eyeballs started to ache. And soon enough, everything tasted like nothing. As a reporter who's covered the coronavirus since the first confirmed U.S. case landed in Seattle, where I live, I should have known what was coming, but there was some part of me that couldn't quite believe it. I had a breakthrough case of COVID-19 - despite my two shots of the Pfizer vaccine, the second one in April. KQED
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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 past week, Alameda County has averaged 257 new cases and 1.1 new deaths per day.
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Over the past week, Contra Costa County has averaged 241 new cases and 2.4 new deaths per day.
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Alameda County, as of 9/15/21
Oakland: 35,834
Hayward: 16,524
Fremont: 9,924
Eden MAC: 7,200
San Leandro: 7,001
Livermore: 5,997
Union City: 4,867
Berkeley: 4,738
Castro Valley: 3,468
Newark: 3,315
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Contra Costa County, as of 9/15/21
Richmond: 14,428
Antioch: 13,701
Concord: 10,490
Pittsburg: 8,980
San Pablo: 6,310
Brentwood: 5,775
Oakley: 4,854
Walnut Creek: 3,971
Bay Point: 3,592
San Ramon: 2,964
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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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