COVID-19
breaking news & updates
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September Is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month
September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month — a time to raise awareness of this stigmatized, and often taboo, topic.The National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) uses this month to shift public perception, spread hope and share vital information to people affected by suicide. The goal is ensuring that individuals, friends and families have access to the resources they need to discuss suicide prevention and to seek help.
- If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988 immediately.
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If you are uncomfortable talking on the phone, you can chat the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988lifeline.org.
- You can also text NAMI to 741-741 to be connected to a free, trained crisis counselor on the Crisis Text Line.
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COVID Test Resources
Food Pantries
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Marin County Weighs Shorter Isolation Period For Schools
Marin County health officials are preparing to further loosen COVID-19 measures in schools, including shortening the recommended isolation time from 10 days to five days after a student or school staff member tests positive for the virus. The individual would instead be required to wear a mask for five days after exiting the abbreviated isolation period, Dr. Matt Willis, the county’s public health officer, told school officials during a recent online briefing. SF Chronicle Read more
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Funding Available To Help East Bay Artists Survive COVID-19 Pandemic
People working in the East Bay's arts and culture sector can apply for funding to help them survive the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the East Bay Relief Fund for Individuals in the Arts. Grants of up to $2,000 are available to artists, teaching artists, culture bearers, and others working in the arts and culture sector in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The application period opened last Tuesday and continues to Sept. 28. More than $400,000 is available this year in the third year of funding. DanvilleSanRamon.com Read more
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Eden Health District Announces Grants Program
Community non-profit agencies serving residents of the Eden area (Hayward, San Leandro, Castro Valley, Ashland, Cherryland, San Lorenzo, Fairview, and Hayward Acres) are encouraged to apply for community grants up to $25,000. Key priorities for funding include mental health, housing and homelessness, and food and nutrition. Here is the link to apply: https://ethd.org/grants/application-forms/. Grant applications are due September 30 at noon. Grant awards will be made in December of 2022. Services funded by community grants should start in January of 2023.
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COVID Vaccine/Treatment News
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Push To Double Up On COVID Booster And Flu Shot May Have A Downside, Experts Caution
As the promotional push to get people vaccinated with one of the updated, bivalent COVID vaccines heats up, federal health authorities are urging Americans to consider getting their COVID shot and their flu shot at the same time. And with concern about a fall wave of COVID paramount in this effort, the messaging is stressing the importance of doing this sooner rather than later. Earlier this week, Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, put it bluntly: “Get your updated COVID-19 shot as soon as you are eligible.” For many people over the age of 12, that would be right now. There’s just one problem with the advice. It’s still early to get a flu shot. STAT Read more
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Are We Really Getting COVID Boosters Every Year Forever?
School is in session, pumpkin spice is in season, and Americans are heading to pharmacies for what may soon become another autumn standby: your annual COVID shot. On Tuesday, the White House announced the start of a “new phase” of the pandemic response, one in which “most Americans” will receive a COVID-19 vaccine just “once a year, each fall.” In other words, your pandemic booster is about to become as routine as your physical exam or — more to the point — your flu shot. One more health-related task has been added to your calendar, and it’s likely to remain there for the rest of your life. The Atlantic Read more
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Which States Have The Lowest COVID-19 Vaccination Rates?
Almost two years into the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, several states are still struggling to immunize their residents. Among the 10 states with the lowest vaccination rates, as of Wednesday, none have cracked the 60% mark of being fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is much lower than the nationwide total of 67.6% total U.S. population being fully vaccinated. Wyoming is the state with the lowest share of residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at 51.9%, as of Sept. 7, CDC data shows. Among the other nine states with the lowest vaccination rates, six - Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee - fall in the South, and the remaining three - Idaho, Indiana and North Dakota -- fall in the Midwest or West. ABC News Read more
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New Antiviral Therapy May Block COVID-19 Transmission
By the time you test positive for COVID-19, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has already taken up residence in your respiratory system. With each breath, you expel invisible viral particles into the air—a process known as viral shedding. Existing drugs aimed at treating COVID-19, even when they address symptoms of the virus, do little to quell viral shedding. Researchers at Gladstone Institutes previously developed a novel approach for treating infectious diseases: a single-dose, intranasal treatment that protects against severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. Daily Kos Read more
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State/National/International News
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U.S. Dedicates $300 Million To Next-Generation COVID Tests
The White House has allocated $300 million for the accelerated development of next-generation coronavirus tests, the National Institutes of Health announced Thursday. Two new funding opportunities are available for diagnostic test manufacturers as part of the incentive program. The first opportunity is to develop accessible over-the-counter tests that can be used by people with disabilities, while the second seeks to improve the performance of over-the-counter tests to ensure ease of use. SF Chronicle Read more
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Mystery As To Why New COVID Variants Have Stalled In Growth
Throughout much of the pandemic, there has been a constant shifting in terms of which COVID-19 variants are most dominant, at a given time, in the U.S. However, for the last five weeks, federal data shows that there has been little to no growth in the different proportions of COVID-19 variants in the country. For more than nine months, the Omicron variant, and its subvariants, have been dominant in the U.S. But now, health experts say it is unclear why the growth of the Omicron strains appears to have stagnated, or why it is that no other significant variants have emerged to challenge its dominance. ABC News Read more
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Even In 2022, L.A. COVID Death Rate Is Worse Than Car Crashes. Here’s Why
The Omicron coronavirus variant killed Angelenos at a higher rate than both the flu and car crashes during the early part of 2022, according to county health officials. An analysis of death certificates from January to April found that there were 31.8 deaths from COVID-19 for every 100,000 residents of all ages in Los Angeles County. That’s nine times the comparable rate for motor vehicle deaths and more than five times that of flu and pneumonia over the same time, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.
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Commercializing COVID Likely Means More Out-Of-Pocket Costs
Sometime in the next few months, Americans will no longer have free access to government-funded COVID tests, treatments and vaccines. Those tools will move to the private sector — and likely be subject to some of the same access and affordability issues found in the rest of the health care system. After two-plus years of being the exception to the rule, COVID will start being handled like any other disease. Billions of dollars currently shouldered by taxpayers will instead be transferred to patients via their premiums and out-of-pocket costs. Axios Read more
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Just Bread And Noodles: China’s COVID
This summer, Yining, a city in the Xinjiang region of far-western China, celebrated a boom of Chinese tourists seeking a sunny respite from COVID worries in their hometowns. Now Yining is under its own grueling, weeks long pandemic lockdown, with residents calling for help over limited food, difficulty getting medicines and drastic shortages of sanitary pads for women. People in the city of 600,000 have been commanded to stay in their homes since early August, forcing many to rely largely on neighborhood officials to deliver supplies. NY Times Read more
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So You Haven't Caught COVID Yet. Does That Mean You're A Superdodger?
By this point in the pandemic, most Americans have had at least one bout of COVID. For children under age 18, more than 80% of them have been infected, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. But just as with HIV, some people have been exposed multiple times but never had symptoms and never tested positive. "We've heard countless anecdotes about nurses and health-care workers being exposed without any protection and remaining negative over and over again," says pediatrician Jean-Laurent Casanova. NPR Read more
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U.S. May Expand Monkeypox Vaccine Eligibility To Men With HIV
U.S. officials are considering broadening recommendations for who gets vaccinated against monkeypox, possibly to include many men with HIV or those recently diagnosed with other sexually transmitted diseases. Driving the discussion is a study released Thursday showing that a higher-than-expected share of monkeypox infections are in people with other sexually transmitted infections. Dr. John T. Brooks, chief medical officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s monkeypox outbreak response, said the report represents a “call to action.” AP Read more
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Can You Get Reinfected With Monkeypox?
The United States has reported more monkeypox cases than any other country in the world. As people recover from their infections, they’ll naturally want to avoid a repeat infection and repeat episodes of the pain and fear associated with the disease. The good news is that experts believe you are not likely to become reinfected with monkeypox after you’ve been infected or vaccinated. Based on what scientists know of other orthopox infections — such as smallpox, monkeypox’s close cousin — immunity to the disease should be lifelong. NY Times Read more
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Total Confirmed Cases
Bay Area: 1,745,310
California: 11,166,567
U.S.: 95,255,155
Alameda County
Primary Vaccine Series Completed: 83.0%
Total Cases: 344,631
Total Deaths: 2,014
Test Positivity (7-day rate): 6.3%
Hospitalized Patients (as of 9/12): 118
ICU Beds Available (as of 9/12): 94
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Total Reported Deaths
Bay Area: 9,101
California: 95,311
U.S.: 1,050,346
Contra Costa County
Primary Vaccine Series Completed: 83.3%
Total Cases: 268,571
Total Deaths: 1,415
Test Positivity (7-day rate): 7.5%
Hospitalized Patients (as of 9/12): 62
ICU Beds Available (as of 9/12): 44
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COVID-19 Symptoms Have Changed Over Time. Here Are The Latest Signs Of Infection To Look Out For
As COVID-19 mutates, composing itself to become highly-transmittable through novel strains, the virus is also finding new ways to present itself in patients. While some symptoms have become more or less noticeable since the start of the pandemic, officials say that respiratory symptoms from the virus remain the most prevalent. "We're seeing a lot of more sore throats, fatigue, still seem some fever, and runny nose," Dr. Allison Arwady said. Arwady also stressed that while headache and rash can be symptoms of COVID, neither of them are the "one of the top ones." NBC Chicago 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 9/12/2022
Oakland: 97,882
Hayward: 42,240
Fremont: 37,923
San Leandro: 20,965
Berkeley: 20,117
Eden MAC: 18,469
Livermore: 16,500
Union City: 15,109
Alameda: 12,746
Castro Valley: 12,243
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Contra Costa County, cumulative
as of 9/12/2022
Richmond: 37,171
Antioch: 34,075
Concord: 28,046
Pittsburg: 21,134
Brentwood: 17,620
San Pablo: 15,613
Walnut Creek: 14,440
San Ramon: 13,953
Oakley: 13,030
Martinez: 9,704
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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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