COVID-19
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Flu Is "Eclipsing COVID As The Biggest Threat," Bay Area Health Officer Says
The flu is back with a vengeance. As the San Francisco Bay Area faces a winter "tridemic" of COVD-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Marin County health officer Dr. Matt Willis says that for the first time since before 2020, he's just as worried about the flu's impact as he is COVID's impact. According to Willis, a staggering 1 in 3 people in Marin County who are experiencing symptoms of a respiratory virus are testing positive for influenza. For reference, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a test positivity rate of 8% was considered very high. SFGate Read more
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"Vaccination Fatigue?" Fewer People In Alameda County Are Getting Flu Shots
When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October warned of a gloomy flu season ahead for people of color, Emoadish Miles, 30, wasn’t moved. The mother of three, who works at a grocery store on 35th Avenue in Oakland, said she wasn’t planning to get the flu vaccine this year, no matter how dire health officials’ predictions. “Too many vaccines out there: monkeypox, COVID — just too many,” said Miles, who last got a flu shot in 2020. “My body needs a break.” Oaklandside
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Bay Area Residents Consider Wearing Face Masks Again As COVID Cases Surge
As COVID-19 numbers continue to surge upwards, some Bay Area counties are revisiting their masking recommendations. Not mandates, but recommendations.
"If you're going out in public right now you're going to be encountering these viruses, and you have a high likelihood of getting infected with them," Dr. John Swartzberg with the UC Berkeley School of Public Health said. "I personally won't go into an indoor building in public without a mask on. I see no reason to take or add to my risk of getting COVID," Dr Swartberg said. ABC7 News Read more
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COVID Vaccine/Treatment News
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COVID-19 Vaccines Have Saved More Than 3 Million Lives In U.S., Study Says, But The Fight Isn’t Over
The COVID-19 vaccines have kept more than 18.5 million people in the US out of the hospital and saved more than 3.2 million lives, a new study says – and that estimate is most likely a conservative one, the researchers say. The U.S. is nearing the second anniversary of its first COVID-19 vaccinations, and although the coronavirus is still causing thousands of illnesses and deaths, the vaccines have made living with the virus more manageable. To determine exactly how much the shots have helped, researchers from the Commonwealth Fund and Yale School of Public Health created a computer model of disease transmission that incorporated demographic information, people’s risk factors, the dynamics of infection and general information about vaccination. CNN
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Two Years After COVID Vaccines Rolled Out, Researchers Are Calling For Newer, Better Options
Two years after the first COVID shots went into arms, a growing chorus of researchers is calling for a new generation of vaccines that provide broader and more long-term protection against the disease. The U.S. is currently recording around 430 COVID deaths per day, on average, according to NBC News’ tally. That includes many people who received at least two COVID shots: Six in 10 adults who died of COVID in August were vaccinated or boosted, according to a report by KFF, a nonprofit health think tank. And for the most part, vaccinated people don’t avoid infections or reinfections anymore.
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What Parents Should Know About COVID Vaccine Boosters For Kids Age 5 And Under
Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the bivalent COVID-19 booster for children 6 months to 5 years old. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has since recommended the booster, and now everyone 6 months and older is able to receive the updated coronavirus vaccine except kids who got three doses produced by Pfizer/BioNTech. Which young children are now eligible to receive the booster? What if kids haven't started or completed the full series — do they now get the updated booster or the original monovalent vaccine? Can parents and guardians choose between the updated booster and the original shot? What are possible side effects? What if kids had COVID-19 already? And which families should consider the updated booster now and who could wait? CBS News Read more
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State/National/International News
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WHO "Hopeful" Global Emergency Will End Next Year
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, said on Wednesday that he is “hopeful” that the COVID-19 pandemic will no longer be considered a global emergency next year. Officials from the U.N. health agency meet every few months to determine if the coronavirus, which has killed more than 6.6 million people globally, still represents a “public health emergency of international concern,” which allows for a coordinated response and special funding. WHO’s senior epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said, “There’s more work to be done.” Globally, the number of new weekly cases remained stable for the week ending Dec. 11 compared to the previous week, with over 3.3 million new cases reported. The number of new weekly deaths increased by over 10% over the same period, with over 9,700 new fatalities reported. SF Chronicle Read more
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COVID Hospitalizations At Least 3 Times Higher Among Seniors Than Other Age Groups: CDC
COVID-19 hospitalizations among seniors are at least three times higher than any other age group, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of Dec. 7, new hospital admissions per 100,000 for those aged 70 and older sits at 6.93 per 100,000. The next highest rate is among those between ages 60 and 69, which sits at 2.21 per 100,000, as of Dec. 6. When looking at rates for younger age groups, the disparity is even greater. Among those aged 17 and younger, the new hospital admissions rate is 0.28 per 100,000. ABC News Read more
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The Deadline For Californians To Claim COVID Sick Pay Is Nearing — Here’s What To Know
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POTS, A Debilitating Heart Condition, Is Linked To COVID And, To A Lesser Degree, Vaccines
Research published Monday has confirmed a link between a COVID infection and a debilitating heart condition called POTS, or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, that has been diagnosed in some patients with long COVID. The findings, published in the journal Nature Cardiovascular Research, are in line with earlier reports from physicians that COVID may trigger POTS, a disorder of the autonomic nervous system often characterized by a rapid heart rate, low blood pressure, fainting and lightheadedness. NBC News Read more
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Coming Soon: Permanent COVID-19 Safety Rules For Health Care Workers
The federal agency that oversees workplace safety is moving forward with making certain COVID-19 protections for health care workers permanent, and not everyone is happy about it. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been working since last year on rules governing masks and vaccination requirements in hospitals. After putting out proposed standards and then gathering hundreds of comments from hospitals, clinicians, unions, and others, it sent a final version of the regulation to the White House budget office for review last week. It’s a surprisingly contentious subject. Many hospitals argue they already follow COVID-19 rules from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and having a third agency enforcing such rules would cause confusion and add expense at what’s already the toughest time for providers’ bottom lines in years. STAT Read more
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COVID Spreads And Medical Staff Sicken After China Relaxes Restrictions
Chinese hospitals scrambled to contain emerging outbreaks across the country Monday as authorities rolled back more than two years of coronavirus controls. After widespread protests against the government’s strict “zero COVID” policies, authorities last week announced a dramatic loosening of requirements for testing, digital health passes, and tracking and quarantines. In the days since, hospitals have reported a surge in patients while hundreds of medical staffers have contracted the virus. Beijing municipal officials said at a briefing Monday that 22,000 patients visited fever clinics the day before, 16 times the daily average a week ago.Washington Post Read more
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A Strange Pandemic For John Hollis, Naturally Immune To COVID
It was summer 2020 and John Hollis, a publicist at George Mason University, was asking a scientist about his research on COVID-19 antibodies, when the scientist turned the tables. The scientist, Lance Liotta, asked his own question: Would Hollis like to join the study as a subject? Less than a week later, Liotta was standing with his staff fixated on the computer screen of his lab assistant, marveling at the numbers representing Hollis’s blood sample. Liotta marched back to his office to call Hollis. “He says, ‘Are you sitting down?’” Hollis recalls. “‘Because not only did you have COVID, and you didn’t know it, but you have super antibodies in your blood — that make you immune.’” Mercury News Read more
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How Dangerous Is Flu? What To Know About Symptoms And Signs Of Complications
The U.S. is experiencing the highest number of flu hospitalizations in a decade, and there’s no sign that the virus is going to peak or go away in the coming weeks. With the busy holiday travel season approaching and a comparatively low percentage of adults vaccinated for flu, that leaves millions at potential risk for severe complications. While most people who get flu will recover in a few days, some can develop life-threatening complications. There have been at least 7,300 deaths from flu, including 21 children, since October, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. NBC News Read more
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Why Special Flu Shots Are Recommended For Those 65 And Older
For many years, people 65 or older have had the option to get a flu shot specially formulated for them. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declined to recommend that older adults get these shots instead of the standard flu shot options. This flu season, that changed. The CDC is now recommending that people 65 or older try to find one of these specially formulated vaccines. Washington Post Read more
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Untreated Mental Illness Leads To Worse Outcomes For Minorities
Racial and ethnic minorities with untreated mental illnesses are more likely to have experienced poverty, have been unemployed, and/or experienced incarceration during the past year, according to a paper published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. The paper’s authors—led by Lonnie R. Snowden, UC Berkeley School of Public Health professor of health policy and management—found that African Americans with untreated mental illness were particularly vulnerable compared to white, Native American, and Latino populations. UC Berkeley Public Health Read more
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More Than 1,200 Families Suing Social Media Companies Over Kids' Mental Health
When whistleblower Frances Haugen pulled back the curtain on Facebook last fall, thousands of pages of internal documents showed troubling signs that the social media giant knew its platforms could be negatively impacting youth and were doing little to effectively change it. With around 21 million American adolescents on social media, parents took note. Today, there are more than 1,200 families pursuing lawsuits against social media companies including TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Roblox and Meta, the parent company to Instagram and Facebook. CBS News Read more
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A Failing Mental Health System Leaves This Mother Pleading: Keep Him In Jail
Deborah Smith begins her days online, searching for her son’s name on the Los Angeles County sheriff’s inmate locator, a ritual she shares with many moms she’s bonded with over the years. “This is something that mental health mothers get used to when you don’t know where your kid is,” she said. “You can call hospitals, but they won’t tell you. The only thing you have left is, ‘Did he get arrested?’ ” His name came up after his Oct. 7 arrest in Santa Monica. He was standing in traffic waving a knife and wearing a Ghostface mask from the movie “Scream.” LA Times Read more
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Total Confirmed Cases
Bay Area: 1,830,773
California: 11,633,186
U.S.: 99,580,599
Alameda County
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the Latest Figures
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Total Reported Deaths
Bay Area: 9,446
California: 97,892
U.S.: 1,085,582
Contra Costa County
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the Latest Figures
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Are There Still COVID Rules For Airports And Planes? What California Travelers Should Know
California airports have been relaxing their COVID-19 restrictions, as we near three years since the start of the pandemic. For instance, since June, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recalled its requirement that travelers coming into the United States must show documentation of a negative COVID test or recovery, regardless of citizenship or vaccination status. Sacramento Bee 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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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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