Eden Health District COVID-19 Bulletin
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“When you have a crowded living condition, when you have a population that perhaps may not have access to health care services, preventive services, social supports, when you have a population that may be socially isolated, all that makes a perfect storm during a pandemic.”
Santa Barbara County Public Health Officer Van Do-Reynoso, 8/17/20
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San Francisco Musician Delivers Free Concerts to a Music-Starved City |
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In the language of music, a rest is a moment of silence, often lasting just a few beats.
For Andrew St. James, though, the rest that Covid-19 composed was way too long for him to stay quiet.
"We had sorts of tours going on, different bands, great stuff ... planned," St. James said. "Everything has been put on hold."
That's why St. James and fellow musician Scott Padden have traded playing San Francisco's clubs and concert halls for its doorsteps and driveways. With the help of music promoter Ashley Graham, they are traveling around the city playing small, free, socially distanced concerts to anyone who requests one.
It was while commiserating with Graham that the two came up with the idea of "delivering" concerts. At first, it was just friends, but then St. James started posting about the gigs on his Instagram page and requests started coming in from all over the city. Playing two nights a week, four concerts a night, Graham estimates they have performed close to 50 times since May. "I think it has become something broader than we expected it would be," St. James said.
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He always knew he would enjoy playing music in front of people, but St. James said he didn't know how much it would mean to the audience.
"The first time we did it, the reaction from the people on the street was incredible," he said.
St. James and Graham soon understood they weren't just playing for people who miss live music. They were playing for people who miss, well, people. "It's a real privilege and it's a real honor to step into people's lives for 25 minutes and have an exchange with a stranger in a safe way but in an emotional way, " Graham said..
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Alameda County: 15,123
Contra Costa County: 11,408
California: 625,307
U.S.: 5,414,381
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Alameda County: 221
Contra Costa County: 157
California: 11,246
U.S.: 170,178
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The California Department of Public Health has resolved the issue with the state’s electronic laboratory reporting system. All cases attributed to the backlog, however, have not yet been added to data at the county level.
A new issue has arisen in Contra Costa County. The health department is working with Kaiser Permanente and the state to resolve a data-reporting issue that has prevented 8,000 to 10,000 local test records from entering our database during the past three weeks.
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Bay Area Covid-19 Cases by Day |
Bay Area Covid-19 Deaths by Day |
SF Gate, August 16, 2020
The University of California at San Francisco, United in Health, Oakland Frontline Healers and a group of Black advocacy organizations will hold a mass COVID-19 coronavirus testing event next weekend for Black residents in the East Bay. The event, which will take place at Eastmont Town Center on Aug. 22 and 23, is intended to offer free coronavirus testing, personal protective equipment and food to some 2,000 Black residents. UCSF's diagnostic laboratory, adjacent to the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub in Mission Bay, will process the test results in two to three days, according to the university. The lab has also been providing free coronavirus diagnostic testing for counties across the state.
East Bay Times, August 15, 2020
Fruitvale in Oakland has been the hardest-hit neighborhood in Alameda County, which in turn has more Covid-19 cases than any other Bay Area county. The neighborhood has 306.5 cases per 10,000 residents, a rate 3.5 times higher than Alameda County as a whole.
Public Health Department Director Kimi Watkins-Tartt said that while their messages have been consistent — wear a mask, avoid gatherings, maintain social distance and regularly wash your hands — getting that information to Fruitvale’s Spanish and Mam speaking residents has been harder. “What we’re finding is that the technology we all depend on is not enough and we have to hit the streets,” she said. “This is back to basics.”
SF Chronicle, August 17, 2020
The ability to get tested for the coronavirus, and get test results quickly, has been one of the most unpredictable and frustrating parts of the nation’s pandemic response.
While some people are getting test results back within a day, others as recently as last week were waiting two weeks or more — way past the window of time when a positive test result can be used to find a sick individual’s contacts to trace and contain spread. Last week, turnaround times began improving. Quest Diagnostics, the largest lab provider in many regions, says it is now reporting test results in two to three days.
Website Update
Our median turnaround time for results from Contra Costa sites is about six days. While we can quickly test high-priority patients, people who are not prioritized by California’s testing guidance often wait 14 days or longer for their results. Last week the county contracted with two additional private laboratories to speed up testing and we are working on more. Our goal is to substantially reduce waiting time for results this month.
SF Chronicle, August 17, 2020
As schools start remotely across the Bay Area, working parents are under inordinate pressure. Although some dads have stepped up to care more for kids, mothers are disproportionately bearing the responsibility for child care, and their careers are more likely to suffer collateral damage in the pandemic economy, experts say. National data show more women than men lost jobs as the economy shut down, dropped out of the workforce voluntarily, and took on more child care responsibilities.
SF Chronicle, August 16, 2020
Immunizing the world, or even just California, will involve an unprecedented rallying of public health resources, and a level of government and community collaboration that would be challenging even in the best of times — which these are not. About 4 million people will need to be vaccinated in the Bay Area alone to achieve herd immunity. To end the pandemic, billions of people will need to be immunized around the world. That will require vaccines from a variety of sources, and extraordinary global cooperation.
Wall Street Journal, August 14, 2020
For years there’s been talk of a potential exodus from the San Francisco Bay Area, spurred by the exorbitant cost of living and long, slogging commutes. But before coronavirus, leaving the area meant walking away from some of the best-paying and most prestigious jobs in America.
There are signs the exodus is finally happening. Silicon Valley, America’s signature hub of innovation, may never be the same.Tech companies are giving their employees more freedom to work from anywhere. Employees are taking them up on the option to relocate, forming the beginnings of a shift that could reshape not only the Bay Area, but also the cities where these tech workers are making new homes.
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NY Times, August 17, 2020
Scientists who have been monitoring immune responses to the virus are now starting to see encouraging signs of strong, lasting immunity, even in people who developed only mild symptoms of Covid-19, new studies suggest. Disease-fighting antibodies, as well as immune cells called B cells and T cells that are capable of recognizing the virus, appear to persist months after infections have resolved — an encouraging echo of the body’s enduring response to other viruses.
“Things are really working as they’re supposed to,” said Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona and an author on one of the new studies, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Nature, August 17, 2020
A massive Covid-19 outbreak on a US fishing boat spared crew members who already had antibodies against the new coronavirus, providing what scientists say is the first direct evidence that these antibodies protect people against being reinfected. After a viral infection, the immune system makes compounds called neutralizing antibodies that can attack the virus if it invades again. But previous research had not determined whether such antibodies can shield humans from SARS-CoV-2 reinfection.
NY Times, August 17, 2020
To achieve so-called herd immunity — the point at which the virus can no longer spread because there are not enough vulnerable humans — scientists have suggested that perhaps 70 percent of a given population must be immune, through vaccination or because they survived the infection. Now some researchers are wrestling with a hopeful possibility. In interviews with The New York Times, more than a dozen scientists said that the threshold is likely to be much lower: just 50 percent, perhaps even less.
STAT, August 15, 2020
The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday authorized emergency use of a new and inexpensive saliva test for Covid-19 that could greatly expand testing capacity. The new test, which is called SalivaDirect and was developed by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health, allows saliva samples to be collected in any sterile container. It is a much less invasive process than the nasal swabs currently used to test for the virus that causes Covid-19, but one that has so far yielded highly sensitive and similar results. The test, which also avoids a key step that has caused shortages of chemical reagents used in other tests, can run approximately 90 samples in fewer than three hours in a lab, although the number can be greater in big labs with automation.
Dr. Haider Warraich, cardiologist, NY Times, August 17, 2020
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, was initially thought to primarily impact the lungs — SARS stands for “severe acute respiratory syndrome.” Now we know there is barely a part of the body this infection spares. And emerging data show that some of the virus’s most potent damage is inflicted on the heart.
Myocarditis means inflammation of the heart muscle. Some patients are never bothered by it, but for others it can have serious implications. More severe forms of Covid-19-associated myocarditis can lead to permanent damage of the heart — which, in turn, can lead to heart failure.
Megan McArdle, columnist, Washington Post, August 16, 2020
During the first few months of the coronavirus pandemic, the United States became a nation of novice hermits and amateur epidemiologists seeking to pin down the “infection fatality rate”: the percentage of infected people, including the undiagnosed, who died from covid-19. As we got more information, the plausible estimates narrowed, and is probably in the range of 0.5 to 1.0 percent.
But with more data, something else has become clear: We’re focusing too much on fatality rates and not enough on the people who don’t die, but don’t entirely recover, either. Covid-19 may eventually be seen not as a disease that kills a tiny percentage of patients, mostly the elderly or the obese, the hypertensive or diabetic, but one that attacks the heart in most of the people who get it, even if they don’t feel very sick. And maybe their lungs, kidneys or brains, too.
CNN, August 15, 2020
Health experts say children make up more than 7% of all coronavirus cases in the US -- while comprising about 22% of the country's population -- and the number and rate of child cases have been "steadily increasing" from March to July. The data was posted alongside updated guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for pediatricians that also includes what is known about the virus in children. "Recent evidence suggests that children likely have the same or higher viral loads in their nasopharynx compared with adults and that children can spread the virus effectively in households and camp settings," the guidance states. Transmission of the virus to and among children may have been reduced in spring and early summer due to mitigation measures like stay-at-home orders and school closures, the CDC says.
Editor's Note: In Alameda County, there have been 1,572 Covid-19 cases reported among persons under age 18. This represents 10.4% of total cases. In late May, the percentage of persons under age 18 in Alameda County with Covid-19 was 6% of total cases.
Older Children and the Coronavirus: A New Wrinkle in the Debate
NY Times, August 14, 2020
The new report does suggest that older children are at least unlikely to transmit more than adults, said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at the University of Florida, as had been originally claimed.
Over all, Dr. Dean added, “We’re not seeing a lot of real transmission from children.” But that may be because most studies have been too small to adequately distinguish between age groups, and because children have been kept at home, away from potential exposures.
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Sacramento Bee, August 16, 2020
On Saturday, California’s total Covid-19 deaths surpassed 11,000. By Sunday, 224 deaths had been added.
Although statewide infection numbers have been bouncing around recently due to the chaos in the system, one thing appears to be consistent: hospitalization rates are declining. As of Sunday, 5,027 Californians were hospitalized, 1,619 of whom were being treated in intensive care units. At the pandemic’s peak in late July, nearly 7,100 people were hospitalized across the state, a figure which has dropped by almost 30% in less than a month. In just the past week, hospitalizations have gone down by 10%.
In the same week, reported statewide infections have gone up by 12.2%, and in the past two weeks, infections have gone up by 22%, although some of the increase is due to the backlogged cases. Deaths have also continued to rise roughly in line with the rate of infections in California. In the past week, the total number of dead has increased by 9%, and increased by 20% in the past two weeks
CalMatters, August 17, 2020
A monthlong investigation by CalMatters and The Salinas Californian uncovered reports of six outbreaks among guest workers at seven companies in four counties across the state, sickening more than 350.
Reporting found at least one person — Chavez Alvarado — has died and companies haven’t always notified local public health departments when they have an outbreak. Without strong state or federal guidelines, some counties struggle to detect or contain outbreaks. Californians’ ability to eat ripe, red strawberries, crunchy celery hearts and fresh leafy greens often depends on imported farmworkers so tightly packed into housing that they are one breath away from infection. Yet, unlike other congregate living facilities like nursing homes, neither federal nor state officials have issued specific safety or reporting requirements aimed at keeping guest workers safe.
Mercury News, August 16, 2020
New York, a coronavirus horror in the spring, has since won praise for corralling the contagion. California, a model for its first-in-the-nation statewide stay-home order to slow the virus’s spread, is now a cautionary tale as it reverses reopenings in a struggle to contain outbreaks. The state’s public health director resigned without explanation last weekend, and New York insists visiting Californians quarantine for two weeks.
What happened? There are no easy answers. Infectious disease experts cite a number of things that influenced the states’ outbreak trajectories, from the way state leaders managed reopenings to public compliance with health orders, different immunity levels and viral strains and even just plain luck. And many point out that the virus was so apocalyptic for New Yorkers — with the nightly sirens of ambulances rushing the stricken to overwhelmed hospitals where lobbies were turned into ERs and cooler trucks into sidewalk morgues — they remain far more vigilant.
That wasn’t so in California, where makeshift surge hospitals and ERs sat mostly empty in the early months of the pandemic – but on Friday the state had totaled more than 600,000 cases and 11,000 deaths.
Associated Press, August 16, 2020
While homeless shelters have seen some large Covid-19 outbreaks, the virus so far doesn’t appear to have brought devastation to the homeless population as many feared. However, researchers and advocates say much is unknown about how the pandemic is affecting the estimated half-million people without housing in the U.S.
“I am shocked, I guess I can say, because it’s a very vulnerable population. I don’t know what we’re going to see in an aftermath,” said Dr. Deborah Borne, who oversees health policy for Covid-19 homeless response at San Francisco’s public health department. “That’s why it’s called a novel virus, because we don’t know.”
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Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2020
The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus pandemic passed 170,000, while the number of new cases declined, reaching the lowest daily level since June 29. The U.S. reported just over 42,000 new cases for Sunday, a sharp drop from Friday’s total of more than 64,000. Case counts, however, sometimes fall over the weekend before rising midweek.
The nation’s total number of cases surpassed 5.4 million, about a quarter of the world-wide figure. Twenty states reported seven-day averages of new cases that were above their 14-day case averages. That number has been largely steady for four straight days of reporting. When a seven-day average is above a two-week average, it suggests cases are increasing.
Deaths from the coronavirus are skewing younger for many minorities, a stark disparity that offers a clear picture of the pandemic’s outsize impact on vulnerable populations. Among people in the U.S. who died between their mid-40s and mid-70s since the pandemic began, the virus is responsible for about 9% of deaths. For Latino people who died in that age range, the virus has killed nearly 25%.
USA Today, August 16, 2020
Testing for the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 has dropped nationwide the past two weeks even as the evidence builds disease spread is picking up in many states. Nowhere is the danger of the testing slowdown more evident than the South. In Mississippi, more than one in five tested for the virus in the past week were positive, the highest rate in the nation as of Friday. The average number of daily tests in Texas and Florida dropped, but the ratio of positive tests in each state is more than double what the World Health Organization recommends.
CNN, August 17, 2020
Black, Latino and American Indian and Alaskan Native people were disproportionately hospitalized for Covid-19, according to a new analysis of 12 states' populations published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. In a nearly two-month period from late April to late June, there were 48,788 cumulative Covid-19 hospitalizations in the states that reported race and hospitalization data -- Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia and Washington.
"The share of the hospitalizations of White patients was substantially smaller vs. their share of the population in all 12 states," the authors found. The authors found that the opposite was true for Black patients -- their percentage of hospitalizations exceeded the percentage of their representative proportion of state population. This was highest in Ohio, where Black patients accounted for 31.8% of hospitalizations and are 13% of the population. Minnesota, Indiana and Kansas also had particularly high rates of hospitalizations for Black people compared to the population.
Associated Press, August 17, 2020
Since the pandemic began, Congress has set aside trillions of dollars to ease the crisis. Many communities with big outbreaks have spent little of that federal money on local public health departments for work such as testing and contact tracing. For example, the states, territories and 154 large cities and counties that received allotments from the $150 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund reported spending only 25% of it through June 30.
Politico, August 17, 2020
Dr. Scott Atlas has become a star adviser in President Trump’s inner circle at a crucial moment during the pandemic. Atlas, relentlessly on message that Americans should resume life as much as they can, is the live embodiment of the president’s Covid-is-not-that-big-of-a-deal approach. Where school superintendents see a risk of the virus’s spread this fall, he cautions against too-strict measures.
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Orange County Register, August 16, 2020
While some experts — from Stanford researchers to the Centers for Disease Control — say the sooner schools can reopen for in-person instruction with proper precautions the better, many teachers and their unions across the state are advocating for more cautious approaches. Sohil Sud, an associate professor at UCSF School of Medicine, says the single biggest predictor of a successful return to in-person learning within schools is what’s happening with Covid-19 transmission outside of schools.
Under current California restrictions laid out by Gov. Newsom last month, schools in counties on the state’s “watchlist” — where more than 90% of Californians live — are prohibited from opening classroom doors without a special waiver. A county can jump off the governor’s watch list and allow schools to open again when it meets certain thresholds for 14 consecutive days, including at least 80% ICU bed availability, a positive test rate of less than 8% and case rates below 10 per 10,000 population.
LA Times, August 16, 2020
Amid public alarm over the inadequacy of coronavirus testing across the nation, Los Angeles schools on Monday will begin a sweeping program to test hundreds of thousands of students and teachers as the nation’s second-largest school district goes back to school — online. The program, which will be rolled out over the next few months by the Los Angeles Unified School District, will administer tests to nearly 700,000 students and 75,000 employees as the district awaits permission from public health authorities to resume in-person instruction, said Austin Beutner, the district’s superintendent.
Overseeing the testing will be a task force of epidemiologists, analysts and other experts from the University of California, Los Angeles; Johns Hopkins University; Stanford University; Microsoft; and the insurers Anthem Blue Cross and Health Net. Mr. Beutner said he would lead the initiative with Arne Duncan, who served as education secretary in the Obama administration and who will coordinate with other government agencies.
EdSource, August 14, 2020
School districts will be able to bring back to school small groups of students with disabilities and others with “acute” needs for face-to-face instruction, Gov. Newsom and State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond announced Friday. The California Department of Public Health will provide details for districts to follow, perhaps next week. All districts will be able to bring small groups of students on campus, including those whose schools cannot currently open because they’re in counties on the state’s watch list for high rates of coronavirus infection, hospitalizations and other criteria, Darling-Hammond said.
The state will move forward with this policy, Newsom said, out of the “recognition that there are kids that will never” be able to adjust to learning online “no matter what kind of support we provide, even if we individualize it.”
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Vox, August 17, 2020
Scientists have found clear evidence that children, especially those over 12, can and do transmit the virus, though the disease is generally more mild than in adults. This means school outbreaks can be a risk for students, teachers, and the wider community. While many school districts that reopened are reporting infected students, these initial cases may not have originated in the classroom.
What’s remarkable is that health experts predicted that cases among young people would surge if schools reopened before community transmission was under control — yet many school districts went ahead anyway. “This is exactly what we’ve been warning about — when you have high levels of Covid in the community, you will have cases showing up in schools, just because people are catching it out in the community,” says Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and the director for the Center for Digital Health at Brown University
USA Today, August 17, 2020
Colleges already lost billions of dollars when they pivoted to digital instruction in the spring, in the form of refunded room-and-board payments and expensive technology for online courses. Another semester — or year — of online courses could be even worse, especially for universities without large endowments. For any institution, online instruction also means no money from dorm rooms, dining halls or campus bookstores. Athletic proceeds have also dried up as the NCAA has canceled championship competitions for the fall and conferences have canceled fall seasons.
A survey by SimpsonScarborough, a higher education research firm, in July found roughly 40% of incoming first-year college students said they were likely or highly likely to change where they attended school because of the Covid-19 outbreak. And returning college students, who complained of paying full tuition for lackluster classes in the spring, have weighed deferring future enrollment until campuses reopen.
USA Today, August 16, 2020
As students return to class, many school districts have introduced routine symptom screenings into their reopening plans. But their effectiveness and feasibility in stopping the spread of Covid-19 in schools remain unclear. Adam Karcz, director of infection prevention at Indiana University's Riley Hospital for Children, said screenings are limited for a variety of reasons, including that the novel coronavirus shares many symptoms with common illnesses like the flu, and not everyone with Covid-19 will have symptoms.
The CDC doesn't recommend universal health screenings or Covid-19 testing at schools because of such limitations. That's why Karcz says school districts should pair symptom screenings with other mitigation tactics.
"Screenings are one part of the puzzle," Karcz said. "The other parts of that puzzle that you can see that schools are putting in place are the universal masking, the social distancing, the hand hygiene and the additional disinfection."
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Covid survivor walks out of Pomona hospital after almost 3 months |
After an 80-day hospitalization for Covid-19, Beatrice Marquez was able to walk out of Casa Colina Hospital in Pomona this week unassisted and into the arms of her family.
She says she is blessed after battling the coronavirus for more than two months.
The 58-year-old with underlying health conditions says she tested positive for Covid-19 in May and fell into a coma.
Marquez says she followed all the rules to stay safe — wearing a mask, avoiding crowds, staying home — and was admitted to a hospital with pneumonia.
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Marquez received care at three hospitals, eventually recovering enough to get off a ventilator and learning how to walk again
"A lot of patients aren't walking out of here," said Dr. David Patterson. "They're leaving, unfortunately, in wheelchairs with extended rehabilitative courses or even going to a nursing home from here. It's truly on the level of a miracle."
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Reuters, August 17, 2020
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday he would volunteer to be among the first to try a Russian vaccine for the novel coronavirus if it proved effective. Moscow's decision to approve the vaccine and produce here the first batches after less than two months of human testing has raised concerns among some scientists considering only about 10% of clinical trials are successful.
Associated Press, August 14, 2020
Mexico’s point man for the coronavirus pandemic said Friday that he thinks the country reached its peak of infections over the last three weeks. Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell had previously wrongly predicted that infections would peak in May and June, but on Friday he said, “We have now had a maximum point in the curve.” But he also predicted that second waves of infections would continue occurring around the world for some time. “This is a phenomenon that is going to be with us in the whole world for several years,” he said.
CNN, August 17, 2020
New Zealand’s election has been delayed by four weeks, to October 17, because of concern over the spread of coronavirus in the country, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced. The prime minister said the country’s “resurgence plan is in full swing” with high levels of testing and contact tracing, alongside restrictions on the community.
France24, August 17, 2020
Across Europe, governments have been pulling out all stops to tackle new clusters of coronavirus cases. In Greece, the island of Mykonos has enforced a midnight cut-off for restaurants, bars and cafes, leaving business-owners enraged. Meanwhile in Spain, 60 percent of nightclub-related businesses in Barcelona have been shut since March.
The Guardian, August 17, 2020
As India’s positive cases hovered around 2.4 million, there are growing fears that the virus’s impact on rural communities could be devastating. Some 600 million Indians live in rural areas, and fears are rising that they could be overwhelmed by an invisible catastrophe, where many will die without testing or treatment. Data from the National Family Health Survey-4 showed that only about 25% of rural Indians have access to public outpatient (OPD) healthcare.
India’s top epidemiologist Jayaprakash Muliyil, who believes up to half of India’s population (670 million people) will get the virus, says that most people with co-morbidities in rural India fail to get treatment. Since the deaths will be spread out across huge geographical districts, some as big as 10,000 sq. km (London is 1,572 sq. km), Muliyil says the real scale of the human tragedy will only emerge much later, if at all.
NPR, August 17, 2020
After keeping the coronavirus under control for roughly five months, South Korea finds itself on the verge of another major outbreak, as Covid-19 cases jump to their highest level since March and the capital region re-tightens social distancing guidelines. South Korea now appears to be in the "early stage of large-scale community outbreaks," Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Jeong Un-kyeong stated.
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Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo and Margot Kushel, LA Times, August 16, 2020
California’s plan for reopening businesses and schools, like that of many other states, now depends on using county-specific case counts to determine whether a county has sufficiently controlled the coronavirus spread. The trouble with this approach is that it hides the reality that the pandemic is playing out as a tale of two Californias. A single county can contain these two Californias in communities just a few miles apart — yet public policy has failed to recognize this difference, with devastating consequences.
STAT, August 17, 2020
Since Chinese scientists confirmed the rapidly spreading disease in Wuhan was caused by a new coronavirus and posted its genetic sequence on line, an extraordinary amount has been learned about the virus, SARS-CoV-2, the disease it causes, Covid-19, and how they affect us.
What we know:
· Covid and kids: It’s complicated
· There are safer settings, and more dangerous settings
· People can test positive for a long time after they recover.
· After the storm, there are often lingering effects
· ‘Long-haulers’ don’t feel like they’ve recovered
· Vaccine development can be accelerated. A lot
· People without symptoms can spread the virus
· Mutations to the virus haven’t been consequential
· Viruses on surfaces probably aren’t the major transmission route
What we don’t know
· People seem to be protected from reinfection, but for how long?
· What happens if or when people start having subsequent infections?
· How much virus does it take to get infected?
· How many people have been infected?
· It’s not clear why some people get really sick, and some don’t
Julia Marcus, The Atlantic, August 15, 2020
State and local officials across the country are unleashing a new weapon in America’s war against the coronavirus: the cops. As long as any clusters of infections are linked to parties, public-health officials will need to figure out how to help people avoid these dangers. Public health is a service industry, and it cannot serve customers without first trying to understand them. Instead of yelling at people for being careless and selfish—a perfectly understandable reaction—let’s start by asking why people are partying.
Associated Press, August 17, 2020
For nurses home is fraught with uncertainty. Are they bringing the virus there? Are they exposing their partners and children? Should they isolate or quarantine themselves?
As the pandemic rages on and cases climb throughout California, once again one of the nation’s hot spots, the answers remain unclear. In the meantime, the nurses forge ahead. They care for their patients during 12-hour shifts, taking temperatures and holding their hands through gloves and wondering when — if — it will all end. And then they go home, to a new routine of changing clothes in the garage and rushing inside to shower before they can kiss their kids goodnight.
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Over the last two weeks, Alameda County officials have confirmed 3,599 new cases, which amounts to 219 cases per 100,000 residents. |
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Over the last two weeks, Contra Costa County officials have confirmed 3,262 new cases, which amounts to 288 cases per 100,000 residents. |
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Top 8 Locations of Cases in Alameda County, cases as of 8/16/20
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Oakland: 6,041
Hayward: 2,159
Fremont: 962
Eden MAC: 901
San Leandro: 773
Livermore: 658
Union City: 483
Castro Valley: 401
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Top 8 Locations of Cases in Contra Costa County, cases as of 8/17/20
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Richmond: 2,313
Antioch: 1,478
Concord: 1,449
Pittsburgh: 1,209
San Pablo: 999
Bay Point: 579
Walnut Creek: 451
Brentwood: 433
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We are proud to partner with the East Bay Community Foundation in publishing this bulletin. Through donations to its Covid-19 Response Fund, the EBCF provides grants to East Bay nonprofit organizations delivering essential services to those most impacted by the economic fallout from the pandemic.
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From left to right, Hayward City Council member Mark Salinas, Eden Health District Directors Roxann Lewis and Pam Russo, Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley and Hayward City Council member Elisa Marquez. |
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Eden Health District Directors Pam Russo and Roxann Lewis, Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley and City of Hayward Council members Elisa Marquez and Mark Salinas came together in Castro Valley yesterday to encourage the public’s use of masks and face coverings to counter the spread of the coronavirus.
Working in collaboration with the Alameda County Public Health Department, the Cities of Hayward and San Leandro, and the Castro Valley and Eden Area Municipal Advisory Councils, the District has printed “Mask On” posters for each city and community in the Eden Health District area. The posters are free and intended for businesses, health clinics, schools, churches, public agencies and nonprofit organizations to display in their entrances.
“Wearing masks in public or any gatherings, including events with friends and extended families, is essential for slowing the spread of the virus,” stated Director Russo. “We are seeing signs of progress in California, Alameda County remains a Covid-19 'hot spot' in the Bay Area. Please wear a mask to protect yourself while protecting others.”
The public is also welcome to download and print or share “Mask On” posters from the District’s website. Posters are available in English, Spanish and Chinese languages.
Posters may be retrieved during business hours from the lobby of the Eden Health District office building located at 20400 Lake Chabot Road, Castro Valley. Posters for the City of Hayward are also available from the Hayward Chamber of Commerce located at 22561 Main Street, Hayward.
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Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley |
"Our public safety and health are the top priorities as we continue to adapt to the effects of Covid-19 on our community,” stated Supervisor Miley. “If everyone continues to follow protocols, we have the chance to lead more public lives during the pandemic. If not, we go back to square one. I commend the Eden Health District for stepping up and launching an excellent local campaign to raise awareness about the vital importance of wearing a mask in public, and I am hopeful that residents and neighbors will take their important message to heart." |
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We have posted information on food pantries and food services in the cities of Hayward and San Leandro and unincorporated Alameda County including Castro Valley and San Lorenzo. You can access the information here on our website. Alameda County has also released an interactive map listing food distributions and other social services.
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Your feedback is welcome. Please share the Bulletin. |
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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.
Each bulletin includes a summary of the top health, Bay Area, California, national, education and international news on the pandemic plus links to a diverse range of commentary and analysis. We publish the Bulletin on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
We welcome your feedback on our bulletin. Please contact editor Stephen Cassidy.
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