COVID-19
breaking news & updates
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We are back on our regular Monday and Thursday publication schedule
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San Francisco declares a local health emergency on monkeypox
While federal officials weigh a nationwide public health emergency declaration around the monkeypox outbreak, San Francisco and New York state began sounding the alarm Thursday.
San Francisco became the first major US city to declare a local health emergency on monkeypox in an effort to strengthen the city’s preparedness and response amid high demand for the vaccine. The declaration, which goes into effect Monday, is a legal action that allows city departments to mobilize and coordinate more effectively, Mayor London Breed’s office said in a statement. It also allows for future reimbursement by state and federal governments.
“We need to be prepared and this declaration will allow us to serve the city better,” Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax said. “Our COVID-19 response has taught us that it is imperative that we mobilize city resources. The declaration helps us ensure we have all the tools available to augment our outreach, testing and treatment, especially to the LGBTQ+ who remain at highest risk for Monkeypox.” East Bay Times Read more
80% of COVID test results unreported, UCSF study finds
About 80% of coronavirus test results go unreported as people become more dependent on rapid at-home tests, according to preliminary data from an ongoing study by researchers at UCSF. Using data from more than 100,000 U.S. residents, the COVID-19 Citizen Science Study attempts to identify which local government policies are most effective in curbing the spread of the virus, according to a report from KRON.
The researchers found that even though a majority of tests currently go unreported, skewing the true case numbers in the nation’s most populated regions, the test positive rate among at-home tests and medical PCR tests are roughly the same, providing at least one reliable signpost of pandemic trends. “This is actually reassuring that our surveillance data in the U.S. using test positivity numbers actually is reflecting positivity on different kinds of tests,” said Dr. Mark Pletcher, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UCSF and one of the study’s lead researchers. SF Chronicle Read more
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COVID Vaccine/Treatment News |
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Updated Covid-19 booster shots could be available in September
The US Food and Drug Administration advised vaccine makers in June to update the boosters to add an Omicron BA.4/5 component and create a bivalent booster.
"Pfizer and Moderna have indicated that they anticipate the modified vaccines being available as early as September," an FDA spokesperson said.
HHS announced Friday an agreement to purchase 66 million doses of Moderna's bivalent booster shot for potential use in fall and winter. That's in addition to 105 million bivalent boosters the US government has purchased from Pfizer.
The FDA spokesperson said that agency "has been working closely with vaccine manufacturers over the past several months to ensure that modified COVID-19 vaccines are available this fall to meet evolving public health needs, following FDA's review for safety and effectiveness. The agency will work expeditiously to review submissions to make COVID-19 vaccines available." CNN Read more
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How long is COVID infectious? What scientists know so far
When the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) halved its recommended isolation time for people with COVID-19 to five days back in December, it said that the change was motivated by science. Specifically, the CDC said that most SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of the illness, in the one to two days before the onset of symptoms and for two to three days after.
Many scientists disputed that decision then and they continue to do so. Such dissent is bolstered by a series of studies confirming that many people with COVID-19 remain infectious well into the second week after they first experience symptoms. Reductions in the length of the recommended isolation period — now common around the world — are driven by politics, they say, rather than any reassuring new data.
“The facts of how long people are infectious for have not really changed,” says Amy Barczak, an infectious-disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “There is not data to support five days or anything shorter than ten days [of isolation].” Barczak’s own research, published on the medRxiv preprint server, suggests that one-quarter of people who have caught the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 could still be infectious after eight days.
Coronavirus can be contagious during a Paxlovid rebound, researchers warn, even if people don't have symptoms
People who have a Covid-19 rebound after treatment with the antiviral drug Paxlovid can be contagious and may not know it because they might not have symptoms, researchers warn.
"People who experience rebound are at risk of transmitting to other people, even though they're outside what people accept as the usual window for being able to transmit," said Dr. Michael Charness of the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Boston.
Charness and his colleagues recently collaborated with a team of researchers at Columbia University to look into cases of Covid-19 that return after Paxlovid treatment. He said they've found at least two instances in which people have transmitted to others when their infection recurs.CNN Read more
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Gender differences in response to Covid
Men and women experience Covid-19 differently. Epidemiological studies show that, while males and females have similar infection rates, males are more likely to experience severe Covid-19 and die from SAR-CoV-2 infection.
Women tend to have better prognoses; pregnant females are the exception, as they have an increased risk of severe illness, hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, mortality and preterm delivery. After excluding societal and behavioral factors, a question remains: what are the biological mechanisms driving these observed differences? Ho et al. attempt to answer this question in their review, The Immune Response to Covid-19: Does sex matter?
Click on read more for the complete article. Forbes Read more
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State/National/International News |
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President Biden tests positive again
President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 again Saturday morning, per a letter from presidential physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor, in what is likely a "rebound" Covid-19 positivity that the doctor noted is "observed in a small percentage of patients treated with Paxlovid."
Biden has experienced "no reemergence of symptoms, and continues to feel quite well" and will, as a result, not resume treatment, the White House said. O'Connor said the President tested negative on Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning, Thursday morning and Friday morning before testing positive on Saturday morning.
"However, given his positive antigen test, he will reinitiate strict isolation procedures," the doctor noted. Biden ceased isolating on Wednesday after testing negative on successive antigen tests, celebrating his return in remarks from the White House Rose Garden.
Biden's physician said the President is not experiencing any symptoms but that he will isolate at the White House. He canceled plans to travel to his home in Delaware Sunday and to Michigan, where he was expected on Tuesday to tout the recently passed bill aimed at boosting US semiconductor production, the White House said Saturday.
"Folks, today I tested positive for COVID again," Biden wrote on Twitter. "This happens with a small minority of folks. I've got no symptoms but I am going to isolate for the safety of everyone around me. I'm still at work, and will be back on the road soon."
LA County narrowly avoids reinstating an indoor mask mandate
Citing declining cases, Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer announced Thursday her department would not impose a mask mandate to deal with a summer surge fueled by super-contagious Omicron subvariants such as BA.5.
But that does not mean L.A. County is out of the woods.
Despite recent improvements, L.A. County is still wrestling with an immense amount of coronavirus transmission. The latest case rate remains far above the peak of last summer’s Delta surge, and officials note the tally is likely a significant undercount due to the widespread use of at-home tests. LA Times Read more
Monkeypox outbreak: California releases first data report, revealing disproportionate toll on LGBTQ community
As monkeypox cases quickly spread across California, the virus is inflicting an uneven toll on gay and bisexual men, according to new data released Friday by the state Department of Public Health.
The numbers show that among cases with available data, 91.7% of all patients who’ve tested positive for monkeypox have been gay people and 5.6% have been bisexual; men account for more than 98% of all cases. Transgender and gender nonbinary people account for 1% of cases.
While it’s been known for weeks that the virus was rapidly spreading through LGBTQ social networks, the state had not previously released such infection data.
LGBTQ advocates say releasing the data will help bolster their demands for a more urgent federal and state response. Showing the severity of the outbreak in the gay and trans community could also inform how the state distributes vaccines and shapes public-education campaigns and other relief efforts.
“It is so important to know who is getting sick and what groups are being disproportionately impacted because that will help guide the public health response,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco. “Without that data, we’re flying blind in terms of a public-health response.” SF Chronicle Read more
Millions of Americans not working because they have long Covid
As the number of people with post-COVID symptoms soars, researchers and the government are trying to get a handle on how big an impact long COVID is having on the U.S. workforce. It's a pressing question, given the fragile state of the economy. For more than a year, employers have faced staffing problems, with jobs going unfilled month after month.
Now, millions of people may be sidelined from their jobs due to long COVID. Katie Bach, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, drew on survey data from the Census Bureau, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and the Lancet to come up with what she says is a conservative estimate: 4 million full-time equivalent workers out of work because of long COVID.
"That is just a shocking number," says Bach. "That's 2.4% of the U.S. working population." NPR Read more
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International News
Compelling new evidence tracks Covid's origin to Wuhan Market
The coronavirus pandemic began in separate viral spillovers — at least two but perhaps as many as two dozen — from live animals sold and butchered in late 2019 at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, according to two papers published Tuesday in the journal Science.
The publication of the papers, which underwent five months of peer review and revisions by the authors, is unlikely to quell the rancorous debate about how the pandemic began and whether the virus emerged from a Chinese laboratory. And the authors acknowledge there are many unknowns requiring further investigation — most notably, which animals were involved.
“Everything upstream of this — which animals, where did they come from, how it’s all connected — is completely unknown at this stage,” Kristian Andersen, an immunologist at Scripps Research, said in a media briefing Tuesday.
“Have we disproven the lab leak theory? No, we have not. Will we ever be able to? No. But there are ‘possible’ scenarios and there are ‘plausible’ scenarios. … ‘Possible’ does not mean equally likely,” Andersen said.
A natural origin of the pandemic — a “zoonosis” — has long been a favored theory among scientists for the simple reason that most pandemics, including the SARS coronavirus outbreak of 2002-2003, have started that way. Andersen and his colleagues believe multiple lines of evidence, including the clustering of early cases of covid-19 around the market, make a market origin not only a likely scenario but the only one that fits the data. . Washington Post Read more
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Swiss lab trying to stop the next pandemic
Spiez Laboratory, known for its detective work on chemical, biological and nuclear threats since World War Two, was tasked last year by the World Health Organization to be the first in a global network of high-security laboratories that will grow, store and share newly discovered microbes that could unleash the next pandemic.
The WHO's BioHub program was, in part, born of frustration over the hurdles researchers faced in getting samples of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, first detected in China, to understand its dangers and develop tools to fight it.
But just over a year later, scientists involved in the effort have encountered hurdles.
These include securing guarantees needed to accept coronavirus variant samples from several countries, the first phase of the project. Some of the world's biggest countries might not cooperate. And there is no mechanism yet to share samples for developing vaccines, treatments or tests without running afoul of intellectual property protections.
"If we have another pandemic like coronavirus, the goal would be it stays wherever it starts," Isabel Hunger-Glaser, head of the BioHub project at Spiez, told Reuters in a rare media interview at the lab. Hence the need to get samples to the hub so it can help scientists worldwide assess the risk. "We have realised it's much more difficult" than we had thought, she said.
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China's factory activity contracts unexpectedly in July as COVID flares up
China's factory activity contracted unexpectedly in July after bouncing back from COVID-19 lockdowns the month before, as fresh virus flare-ups and a darkening global outlook weighed on demand, a survey showed on Sunday.
The official manufacturing purchasing managers' Index (PMI) fell to 49.0 in July from 50.2 in June, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, below the 50-point mark that separates contraction from growth and the lowest in three months.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a reading of 50.4. "The level of economic prosperity in China has fallen, the foundation for recovery still needs consolidation," NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe said in a statement on the NBS website. Reuters Read more
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Total Confirmed Cases
Bay Area: 1,569,899
California: 9,871,930
U.S.: 87,858,093
Alameda County
Primary Vaccine Series Completed: 84.8%
Total Cases: 329,463
Total Deaths: 1,963
Test Positivity (7-day rate): 5.2%
Hospitalized Patients (as of 7/26): 47
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Total Reported Deaths
Bay Area: 8,621
California: 92,595
U.S.: 1,017,880
Contra Costa County
Primary Vaccine Series Completed: 83.2%
Total Cases: 236,243
Total Deaths: 1,373
Test Positivity (7-day rate): 16.9%
Hospitalized Patients (as of 7/26): 107
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Walking 21 minutes a day can reduce your risk of heart disease by 30%
Walking is a powerful tool for both our physical and mental health ― perhaps even more powerful than we think.
Walking an estimated 21 minutes a day can reduce your risk of heart disease by 30%, according to a Harvard Health special report published in 2017 that has been used often to underscore the importance of going for a walk. The report also suggests that walking has been “shown to reduce the risk of diabetes and cancer, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and keep you mentally sharp.” In other words, walking has serious health benefits, along with being a free workout that doesn’t require any equipment or much planning.
“Anyone can benefit from walking,” Dr. Tamanna Singh, co-director of the sports cardiology center at Cleveland Clinic. said. People who have minimal or no cardiovascular risk can prevent disease, while those who deal with things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or obesity can use walking to reach their health goals and prevent future strokes or heart attacks, she added.
In fact, walking is so good for so many different things, the Harvard Health report stated that “the next time you have a medical check-up, don’t be surprised if your doctor hands you a prescription to walk.” Huff Post Read more
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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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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Alameda County, cumulative
as of 7/26/2022
Oakland:94,202
Hayward: 40.341
Fremont: 35,814
San Leandro: 19,884
Berkeley: 18,919
Eden MAC: 17.686
Livermore: 15,927
Union City: 14,347
Alameda: 12,126
Castro Valley: 11,704
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Contra Costa County, cumulative
as of 7/26/2022
Richmond: 33,045
Antioch: 30,332
Concord: 25,534
Pittsburg: 19,455
Brentwood: 14,122
San Pablo: 13,927
Walnut Creek: 12,778
San Ramon: 11,891
Oakley: 11,478
Martinez: 8,250
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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 Ed Hernandez. 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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