COVID-19
breaking news & updates
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"Our metrics have improved, but this pandemic is not yet in our rear-view mirror. Variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 are circulating in our county, case rates are rising in other parts of the country and, while nearly a quarter of Alameda County residents aged 16 and older have been fully vaccinated, we aren't at the levels required for broad community protection or immunity."
Dr. Nicholas Moss, Alameda County Health Officer
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Contra Costa County Now Has COVID-19 Vaccine Appointments For All Adults
Contra Costa County opened COVID-19 vaccine appointments to all residents who are at least 16 years and older. The appointments are not available through the state’s MyTurn website until California expands statewide eligibility. But you can register online at cchealth.org/coronavirus or by calling 1-833-829-2626. The county says this makes over 300,000 residents now eligible. KRON4 Read more
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Bay Area Counties Gear Up For COVID-19 Vaccine Eligibility Expansion
As of today, April 1, the entire state will open vaccine eligibility to those 50 and older. "It is going to be a huge rush. It just is because people have been waiting for this," said UCSF Infectious Disease Specialist and Professor of Medicine, Dr. Monica Gandhi. Dr. Gandhi says counties need to equip their vaccine teams now and gear up for the upcoming two weeks and expand hours. She is hopeful more vaccine will be available. ABC 7 News Read more
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Bay Area to Receive $7.6 Million From the State for Vaccine Distribution
The Bay Area will receive $7.6 million from the state for vaccine distribution, weeks after a group of lawmakers from the region expressed concerns about California’s latest equity plan. Earlier this month, 20 lawmakers from the Bay Area sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom's office, arguing that the region wasn't adequately prioritized in the state's equity plan, which allocated 40% of vaccine doses to 400 low-income ZIP codes across the state. KQED Read more
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The Steep Dive in The Bay Area's Coronavirus Numbers Has Stopped - How Worried Should We Be?
The Bay Area has been here before - enjoying a period of loosening pandemic restrictions after a steep drop in coronavirus cases. But as they did last fall, the numbers appear to be flattening out for the first time in more than two months. Statewide, the case rate has also flattened and the death rate has even edged up. SF Chronicle
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Oakland Zoo's Great Apes To Receive Modified COVID-19 Vaccines, Among the First in the World
Since the pandemic came down now over a year ago, COVID-19 has reared its head across the animal kingdom. Dogs have come down with fatal cases of the disease; big cats have tested positive for coronavirus at the Bronx Zoo, later killing one critically-endangered tiger. “Selfie-taking tourists" continue to pose a threat to wild Mountain Gorillas - who insist on snapping a social media flex, despite the dangers it poses to one of the most at-risk primates. But just like in humans, immunizations in animals can thwart disease and even pandemics. That's why New Jersey-based Zoetics has pushed to develop effective vaccines that can be used in domesticated animals and, yes, even great apes. Now, some 100 doses of the vaccine - which are specifically engineered to be used in great apes like orangutans, gorillas, and both chimpanzees and bonobos - have been ordered by the Oakland Zoo. SFist Read more
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Bay-Area Based Dating App's New Feature Allows For COVID-19 Vaccination Status-Based Dating
As qualifications broaden for who can receive the COVID-19 vaccine, singles potentially have a new criteria by which to filter their prospective dates. Bay Area-based dating app, Coffee Meets Bagel, now has a feature that lets singles declare whether they're fully vaccinated, waiting on an additional dose, planning to get vaccinated, not getting vaccinated, or prefer not to say. ABC7 Read more
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Need COVID Rent Relief in the Bay Area? Here's How Tenants, Landlords Can Apply
The coronavirus pandemic has caused financial hardships for many Californians, including low-income tenants who have accumulated debt from late rent or utility payments. Eligible households and landlords can now apply for financial assistance to pay past due rent and utility bills. SF Chronicle Read more
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Pleasanton-Based Pharma Firm Gritstone Starts Trial For "Second Generation" COVID Vaccine
Pleasanton-based Gritstone Oncology, which specializes in immunotherapies for cancers and infectious diseases, says that it's Coral vaccine candidate has "potential for both prolonged protection and potency" against COVID-19 and the emerging variants - which contain different and more infectious versions of the Spike protein found in the original COVID strains. Gritstone has launched a Phase 1 trial and is beginning to dose patients with its Coral vaccine - and the trial is being conducted with the support of the National Institute of Allergic and Infectious Diseases, and a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. SFist Read more
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Pfizer And Moderna COVID Vaccines Found 90 Percent Effective in "Real-World" Study
The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are extremely effective in the real world, reducing infections by 90 percent in fully vaccinated people, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky called the study "tremendously encouraging" in a briefing Monday, adding that it "underscored the importance of getting both of the recommended doses of the vaccine in order to get the greatest level of protection against COVID-19, especially as our concerns about variants escalate." NBC News Read more
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The Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Is Said to Be Powerfully Protective in Adolescents
The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is extremely effective in adolescents 12 to 15 years old, perhaps even more so than in adults, the companies reported on Wednesday. No symptomatic infections were found among children who received the vaccine in a recent clinical trial, the drug makers said; the children produced strong antibody responses and experienced no serious side effects. NY Times Read more
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COVID Vaccine Hesitancy Drops Among All Americans, New Survey Shows
A new poll of attitudes toward COVID vaccinations shows Americans are growing more enthusiastic about being vaccinated, with the most positive change in the past month occurring among Black Americans. About 55% of Black adults said they had been vaccinated or plan to be soon, up 14 percentage points from February, according to a poll released Tuesday by KFF. The rate now approaches that of Hispanics, at 61%, and whites at 64%. (Asian Americans were not polled in sufficient numbers to compare their responses with other racial and ethnic groups.) Kaiser Health News Read more
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How Long Will The Coronavirus Vaccines Protect You?
You may be among the more than 95 million people in the United States who have taken at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. Or you may still be awaiting your turn. Regardless, there’s a crucial question on most of our minds: How long will the vaccine really protect us? As with most aspects of the virus, the answer is not completely clear. Why? Because although we have been battling the pandemic for more than a year, the vaccines were granted emergency use authorization relatively recently. So experts have not had time to observe their long-term effectiveness. Washington Post
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Vaccine FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) Sets In As Bay Area Residents Wait For Their Turn
The other day, Sharon Gillenwater made an early morning trip to the Moscone Center vaccination center. She didn’t have an appointment for the vaccine - at 55 years old, she wasn’t eligible. But she really, really wanted one, and a friend of hers had done the same thing the day before, managed to get herself on a wait list and, later that night, got her first dose of the vaccine. After an hour, though, the news wasn’t great: The list was full, the site was overwhelmed. “A couple months ago I was perfectly happy to wait and my expectation was that I would be lucky to get it in July,” she said. But that was before her husband got a shot. And her three best friends. “It’s just messing with my head.” SF Chronicle Read more
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Vaccine Resources
Food Pantries
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Confirmed Cases
Bay Area: 422,147
California: 3,667,512
U.S.: 30,447,282
Alameda County
Vaccines Administered: 887,860
Cases: 83,354
Deaths: 1,423
Test Positivity: 1.5%
Hospitalized Patients: 112
ICU Beds Available: 90
Cases have stayed about the same over the past two weeks (-1%) and are still high. The numbers of hospitalized COVID patients and death in the Alameda County area have fallen. The test positivity rate in Alameda County is relatively low, suggesting that test capacity is meeting current demand. NY Times
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Reported Deaths
Bay Area: 5,916
California: 59,217
U.S.: 551,817
Contra Costa County
Vaccines Administered: 648,327
Cases: 65,370
Deaths: 757
Test Positivity: 2.0%
Hospitalized Patients: 46
ICU Beds Available: 40
Cases have decreased over the past two weeks (-13%) but are still 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 meeting current demand. NY Times
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State/National/International News |
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"We're Skating On a Knife's Edge Right Now": Scientists Worry U.S. Could Be Headed For Yet Another COVID-19 Surge
As COVID-19 cases creep up again across the country, federal officials and epidemiologists say they're worried we could hit another tipping point, leading to a fourth significant surge of infections, hospitalizations and deaths. "We're skating on a knife's edge right now," said Nicholas Reich, a biostatistician at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Average daily reported cases are up 10% compared to a week earlier, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows, with more than 30 million COVID-19 cases reported since early last year. Hospitalizations and deaths, which usually lag cases by a few weeks, have inched upward as well, after a decline and plateau that began in early January. USA Today Read more
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World Leaders Unite to Call For Pandemic Treaty, Saying: "No One Is Safe Until We Are All Safe"
Global leaders have called for a new treaty to help the world prepare for future pandemics, in a warning against rising vaccine nationalism. More than 20 national leaders, including France's Emmanuel Macron, Britain's Boris Johnson and Germany's Angela Merkel, wrote a piece published in several media outlets on Tuesday warning that it is a question of "not if, but when" the next health crisis strikes.The piece calls for greater international co-operation and says countries should avoid isolationism and nationalism. "There will be other pandemics and other major health emergencies. No single government or multilateral agency can address this threat alone. The question is not if, but when," the article states. CNN Read more
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As Mask Mandates Lift, Retail Workers Again Feel Vulnerable
Many retail and fast-food workers in states like Mississippi and Texas, where governments have removed mask mandates before a majority of people have been vaccinated and while troubling new variants of the coronavirus are appearing, are feeling a heightened anxiety. It feels like a return to the early days of the pandemic, when businesses said customers must wear masks but there was no legal requirement and numerous shoppers refused. Many workers say that their stores do not enforce the requirement, and that if they approach customers, they risk verbal or physical altercations. NY Times Read more
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Apple Encourages Staff to Get Vaccinated, Offers Paid Time Off
Apple Inc. is encouraging employees to get COVID-19 vaccines by offering paid time off for appointments and paid sick leave for those experiencing side effects, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant also told staff in recent weeks that it does not have access to vaccines and is not providing shots itself to workers, the people said. They asked not to be identified discussing private matters. Since the pandemic began to spread last year, Apple has offered paid time off to those with COVID-19 symptoms. Many corporate employees are still working from home, but the company has gradually brought back retail staff as Apple stores across the U.S. have reopened. Bloomberg Read more
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FEMA Is Offering Financial Assistance With Funeral Costs In COVID-19 Deaths
FEMA will soon begin offering financial assistance to people who paid for the funeral expenses of someone who died from COVID-19, going back to the early days of the pandemic. Beginning in April, the federal disaster response agency will start reimbursing people for funeral costs that occurred on or after Jan. 20, 2020 - up to $9,000 per funeral. There are cases where the virus swept through families, and people who apply for assistance for multiple deaths could receive up to $35,500, officials said. Orange County Register Read more
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The Hybrid Office Is Here To Stay - The Shift Could Be More Disruptive Than The Move To All-Remote Work
The post-vaccine workplace is taking shape, and for many it’s going to be a hybrid model, allowing more remote work but with clear expectations that some days a week will be in the office. Workforce experts are bracing for a whole new set of post-pandemic upheavals, in some instances more transformative than the unplanned move to working from home last March, with some making efforts to avoid pre-pandemic remote-work mistakes.
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How mRNA Technology Could Change the World
Synthetic mRNA, the ingenious technology behind the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, might seem like a sudden breakthrough, or a new discovery. One year ago, almost nobody in the world knew what an mRNA vaccine was, for the good reason that no country in the world had ever approved one. Months later, the same technology powered the two fastest vaccine trials in the history of science. The Atlantic Read more
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Many U.S. Graduations Are Curtailed Again, But Some Commencements Will Go On Without Guests
Yale plans to hold a version of in-person graduation for the class of 2021 in May - with no guests allowed. Harvard is not even calling its commencement a “commencement.” It plans to hold virtual degree-granting ceremonies and, for the second year in a row, will postpone traditional festivities. NY Times Read more
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You Can Help Combat COVID
Clinical trials offer hope for many people and an opportunity to help researchers find better treatments for COVID-19 and other conditions. Learn more about joining a clinical trial on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website.
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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 the last seven days, Alameda County officials have reported 551 new coronavirus cases, which amounts to 34 cases per 100,000 residents. |
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Over the last seven days, Contra Costa County officials have reported 551 new coronavirus cases, which amounts to 49 cases per 100,000 residents. |
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Alameda County, as of 3/31/21
Oakland: 25,877
Hayward: 13,077
Fremont: 7,467
Eden MAC: 5,637
San Leandro: 5,172
Livermore: 4,120
Union City: 3,838
Berkeley: 3,435
Newark: 2,651
Castro Valley: 2,424
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Contra Costa County, as of 3/31/21
Richmond: 9,885
Antioch: 9,030
Concord: 7,670
Pittsburg: 6,510
San Pablo: 5,057
Brentwood: 3,583
Oakley: 2,978
Bay Point: 2,651
Walnut Creek: 2,692
San Ramon: 1,955
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Mask On!
Protect Yourself While Protecting Others
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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 in the Eden Health District area. These posters are free of charge and intended for businesses, health clinics, schools, churches, public agencies and nonprofit agencies to display in their entrances. The posters are available in English, Spanish and Chinese languages.
The public is welcome to download and print or share "Mask On" posters from our website.
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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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