COVID-19
breaking news & updates
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"We still have a vaccine shortage, so people do need to be patient. We understand from projections that in early April the vaccine supply will start going up, so we expect that we’re going to have a few weeks where the vaccine will be a little bit tight. But it will open up, and people will be able to have more access to vaccines.”
Dr. Tomás Aragón, Director of the California Department of Public Health and State Health Officer
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CVS to Start Vaccinations at 119 More California Locations, Including Alameda County
CVS Health announced Thursday that it would begin administering the coronavirus vaccine at 119 additional pharmacy locations in California, including in five Bay Area counties, beginning yesterday. The additional retail locations add to the 167 stores in the state that already administer the vaccine, bringing the total to 286, according to CVS Health. Appointments were to start becoming available on Saturday, depending on when each store receives its shipment of the vaccine. SF Chronicle Read more
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Your Bay Area Guide to (Legitimately) Score a Vaccine - Even If You’re Not "Eligible" Yet
Some enterprising Californians who aren’t eligible for a coronavirus vaccine yet - we’re looking at you, relatively healthy 16-to-64 year olds - are finding ways to get them anyway. And they’re not lying about being health care workers or dressing up as senior citizens to do it. In the coming weeks, millions more people will become eligible - including people with certain disabilities and health problems starting today. But even then, most Californians will be waiting - perhaps all the way until the May 1 deadline for full eligibility President Biden set on Thursday. Feeling impatient? Here are a few ways residents of the Golden State who lack priority access are snagging shots now.
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Bay Area Counties Rejigger, Cancel Vaccine Appointments Amid Tight Supply
Bay Area vaccine providers are facing a tight supply crunch that has forced them to shift doses among clinics, curtail appointments or cancel them altogether - even as another wave of eligible Californians looms. Starting today, an estimated 4 million to 6 million additional people will qualify for the potentially lifesaving injections, but they may have to wait weeks to make appointments as counties are hampered by a dearth of doses. And while the state has pledged that a reliable flow of vaccines will arrive early next month, local providers say the certainty of that delivery - let alone the exact timing - is unpredictable. Mercury News Read more
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Having Trouble Navigating The Vaccine Websites? It's Not Just You
State and local health departments around the country continue to face delays dispensing shots, in part because flaws remain in the appointment software tools. The problems threaten to slow the vaccine rollout even as supplies and distribution are picking up quickly across the country. Large software systems have often been problematic for companies and governments. HealthCare.gov, a site released after the Affordable Care Act, crashed early on. But the issues with the vaccine sites have an added sense of urgency because health officials are trying to vaccinate as many people as possible, as fast as possible. NY Times Read more
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Major European Nations Suspend Use of AstraZeneca Vaccine
Vaccine Yet to Be Approved in U.S.
Germany, France and Italy on Monday became the latest countries to suspend use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine over reports of dangerous blood clots in some recipients, though the company and European regulators have said there is no evidence the shot is to blame. AP Read more
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Vaccines Usher In New Kinds of Confusion
One year ago last week, we began to go to war with our hands. We were told to keep them away from our faces - keep them from people and banisters and elevator buttons and other destinations toward which they were naturally inclined. When they failed to obey, they were scrubbed and sanitized to the bone. For all the uncertainty and terror that greeted the arrival of the coronavirus, there was a certain clarity to the early protocols. If you were lucky enough, you stayed home; you worked and cooked and worked and cooked and spent hours online looking for disinfectant wipes that didn’t cost as much as a dishwasher. Yahoo
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Clergy Preach Faith in the Covid Vaccine to Doubters
During a recent Sunday service at the Gathering Place, an evangelical church in Orlando, Fla., the Rev. Gabriel Salguero focused his sermon on the COVID-19 vaccine, and the fear and suspicion that his largely Latino congregation clutches so tightly. He turned to the New Testament: the parable of the good Samaritan, about the importance of aiding the stranger.
“In getting yourself vaccinated, you are helping your neighbor,” he preached to about 300 masked and socially distanced worshipers. “God wants you to be whole so you can care for your community. So think of vaccines as part of God’s plan."
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8 Things to Know Before Your Second COVID-19 Vaccine
If you've already received your first dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine, congratulations - you're well on your way to being protected from the coronavirus. But to be fully immunized, it's critical to get that second shot. AARP Read more
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I’m High-Risk For COVID-19 and Eligible For a Vaccine - What Do I Need to Know?
Today, Californians age 16 to 64 with underlying conditions can receive the coronavirus vaccine, adding 4.4 million people to the list of eligible folks. It’s a population that is particularly vulnerable at any age to suffer the worst of the disease, officials said. Mercury News Read more
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Vaccine Resources
Food Pantries
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Confirmed Cases
Bay Area: 414,603
California: 3,623,063
U.S.: 29,451,758
Alameda County
Vaccines Administered: 565,601
Cases: 82,034
Deaths: 1,329
Test Positivity: 1.3%
Hospitalized Patients: 151
ICU Beds Available: 99
Cases have decreased over the past two weeks (-41%) but are still high. The numbers of hospitalized COVID patients and deaths in the Alameda County area have also 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: 5,640
California: 56,573
U.S.: 535,059
Contra Costa County
Vaccines Administered: 411,455
Cases: 64,056
Deaths: 719
Test Positivity: 2.0%
Hospitalized Patients: 64
ICU Beds Available: 35
Cases have decreased over the past two weeks (-33%) but are still high. The numbers of hospitalized COVID patients and deaths in the Contra Costa County area have also fallen. 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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Oakland Strikes Deal For Schools to Reopen Starting This Month
The first Oakland students would be back in classrooms by March 30, with all elementary and one middle or high school grades back in schools by April 19 under a tentative deal reached by the district and union over the weekend. Pre-K through second grade students would return first with older students phased in over the following two weeks. SF Chronicle Read more
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San Leandro Man Survived COVID-19 - His Treatment Odyssey Shows How Complicated That Can Be
Greg and Leslie Wei were prepping their Thanksgiving meal for two when Leslie said she didn't feel well and went to lie down. Greg felt increasingly lousy, too, and three days later he was struggling to breathe. The emergency room sent him home with an inhaler to help with his breathing and a pulse oximeter to measure the level of oxygen in his blood. By Tuesday, Dec. 1, his COVID-19 diagnosis confirmed, Greg was back in the ER, but was still not sick enough to admit. On the third trip, a day later, he was sick enough. USA Today Read more
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Will Another COVID-19 Surge Happen? Bay Area Doctors Make Predictions
One year into the coronavirus pandemic, it's looking like life is slowly getting back to normal, but some Bay Area infectious diseases doctors say people shouldn't celebrate yet. Some predict this could just be the calm before another surge. "In the country, 100%. I hate to be pessimistic," Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UCSF infectious diseases doctor, said. "But I feel that with varying responses by states right now in terms of reopening and not using masks, that’s going to happen, and in the specter of spring break, leading into graduation, etc." NBC Bay Area Read more
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Alameda County Set to Receive $324M in Federal COVID Relief Funding
California's counties and large cities can expect to receive money from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 in two parts with the first coming in 60 days from Thursday, according to preliminary information provided by U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna's office. Alameda County will receive $324 million while Oakland will get $192 million. Berkeley will receive $68.3 million. "We are eager to get to work sponsoring more vaccination sites, instituting better safety measures for in-person learning in our public schools, distributing additional relief for our small business owners and so much more," Khana and other representatives said. Pleasanton Weekly Read more
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How the Bay Area Failed Latino Residents During the COVID Crisis
When COVID-19 came to the Perez family’s apartment, the Bay Area’s shutdown was powerless to stop it. “Work from home” and “shelter in place” had little relevance in a small home in San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood where 10 people jostled for space, with Yanira Perez, her husband and two children consigned to a bunk bed and adjacent hammock. After a roommate who worked in construction brought the virus home in April, it was just a matter of time before they all were infected. East Bay Times Read more
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Hundreds of Tesla Workers Tested Positive For the Virus After Elon Musk Reopened a Plant
More than 400 workers at a Tesla plant in California tested positive for the coronavirus between May and December, according to public health data released by a transparency website. The data provides the first glimpse into virus cases at Tesla, whose chief executive, Elon Musk, had downplayed the severity of the coronavirus crisis and reopened the plant in May, in defiance of guidelines issued by local public health officials. NY Times Read more
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COVID Vaccines Are Coming to Bay Area Homeless Shelters, Jails
Ending an agonizing wait, several Bay Area counties plan to bring COVID vaccines to homeless shelters and encampments starting today - welcome news in a region that’s been struggling to keep its massive population of unhoused residents safe from the virus. Mercury News Read more
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Bay Area Restaurants Breathe Sigh of Relief With Return of Indoor Dining
Contra Costa and Sonoma counties joined the rest of the Bay Area in moving to the red tier Sunday. At Main Street Kitchen and Bar in Walnut Creek, it’s a new day. They had seating outside but can now offer it indoors at limited capacity. NBC Bay Area
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State/National/International News
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California Officials Looking Ahead to Creating "Green" Tier
California officials are contemplating what things will look like in the nation's most populous state once millions of people are vaccinated and they move to phase out restrictions on gatherings and businesses that have altered life for a year.
When officials last summer designed the four-tiered, yellow-to-purple system California now uses to decide whether people can dine indoors, go to the movies or gather with friends, they did not include a green tier - a recognition that a return to normalcy after the pandemic was far off. Now, Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration is preparing to add one. KQED Read more
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Lifting Coronavirus Restrictions: What's Opening In CA This Week
After crossing a key vaccine threshold on Friday, many Californians will be able to enjoy indoor pastimes that have been shuttered for months this week as the state began to lift restrictions in some 13 counties in the state on Sunday. Thirteen counties, including Los Angeles, were to be eligible to move out of the state's most restrictive tier by Sunday, allowing businesses that have faced months-long closure to finally reopen. Another 13 counties are expected to move out of restrictive tiers by Wednesday under the state's reopening blueprint. Castro Valley Patch Read more
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Studies Show Students Are Safe With Less Distancing
As infection rates fall and more teachers receive vaccines, one of the biggest remaining hurdles to reopening schools is the difficulty of spacing students six feet apart, as recommended by federal and state health authorities. That guidance has meant fewer kids can be in a classroom at the same time, so schools have to rotate students in smaller shifts while others continue studying online at home. But new research suggests that a three-foot space between students is enough to prevent COVID-19 from spreading in schools. Now, health experts and many parents are calling on the California Department of Public Health to revise its six-foot guidance, as Illinois and Massachusetts have done, as well as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Global Vaccination Rates Are on The Rise, But Many Countries Have Yet to Start
More than 345 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide in the three months since mass inoculation began in December, but there is still a huge disparity in the vaccination rates between countries. Some of the starkest differences can be found when comparing continents. In North America, 18 doses have been administered for every 100 people, while in South America, there have been just 4.9 vaccinations per 100 people amid growing outbreaks across much of the continent. Many African nations have yet to start vaccinations, with less than one dose administered across the continent per 100 people. NY Times Read more
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Another Toll of COVID-19: Lost Casual Friendships and Their Uplifting Value
A year of COVID-19 has affected American life in so many ways - including one painful loss we might not consciously register: Our casual friendships and everyday interactions. Those are our “how ya doing” friendships - people we chat with at work, the gym, in cafés, stores or bars. Plus, we’ve lost the simple hellos and smiles to clerks, building co-inhabitants, people passing on the street and more. They add depth to our lives and a layer of shared humanity that psychologists say is essential to our emotional health. UC Davis Health Read more
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"I Almost Made It": Close to a Vaccine, These Americans got COVID-19 Instead
Joyce Smith, who stocks the shelves at a BJ’s Wholesale outlet in Virginia, ignored a Jan. 20 text from management that store employees qualified as essential workers and could register for the coronavirus vaccine. After working for nearly a year without getting sick, Smith was more afraid of the vaccine’s potential side effects than the virus. Two weeks later, her temperature rose to 103, her head pounded, and she tested positive. For those infected in recent weeks, as vaccinations became available and experts began talking of an impending return to normalcy, the bad timing is the pandemic’s latest cruel twist.
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In a Pandemic, Navajo Community Steps Up For Its Vulnerable
For as long as Raymond Clark has lived alone on this quiet stretch of the Navajo Nation under the watch of the “Praying Mountain,” he has depended on everyone yet no one. The 71-year-old has no vehicle or running water but is content hitchhiking and carrying jugs down a dusty washboard road to replenish his supply. He works at home in Teesto painting murals and silversmithing, but friends often stop by.
Or at least they did before the pandemic. Now, rides and visits are scarcer in an area with no grocery store or gas station and where homes sit far apart. AP Read more
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What Science Has Learned Works and What Doesn’t in COVID Treatments
A year after the first COVID-19 patient was treated in the United States, a number of medications and approaches have been studied and found effective, while others have shown little benefit. There are 394 treatments and 241 antivirals still being developed against COVID-19, and drugs already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or readily-available over-the-counter remedies are being studied to see if they make a difference.
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The Uncounted: People Who Are Homeless Are Invisible Victims of COVID-19
They are the invisible victims of COVID-19, marginalized not just in life, but also in death. Despite the extraordinarily detailed statistics that parse the ages, races, and comorbidities of the nation’s more than 500,000 COVID deaths, no one seems to have any idea how many homeless people have died. STAT Read more
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Why Experts Say It’s Especially Important For Heart Patients to Get a Coronavirus Vaccine
More than 30 million people in the United States have heart disease, which alone kills hundreds of thousands each year. It’s also a significant risk factor for developing serious complications from another major threat right now: COVID-19. That’s because the disease caused by the coronavirus often attacks the lungs, forcing the already injured heart to fight that much harder.
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Is It OK to Take a Pain Reliever Before or After Your COVID-19 Vaccination?
If you're experiencing common side effects such as a headache, fever or chills after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, it's perfectly fine to take an over-the-counter pain reliever such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen to relieve your discomfort, experts say. But don't take those medications before you get your shot, unless advised to do so by your doctor, because you could dampen the effectiveness of the vaccination, said Gregory Poland, M.D., an infectious disease expert at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and director of Mayo's vaccine research group. AARP 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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Over the last seven days, Alameda County officials have reported 689 new coronavirus cases, which amounts to 42 cases per 100,000 residents.
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Over the last seven days, Contra Costa County officials have reported 656 new coronavirus cases, which amounts to 58 cases per 100,000 residents.
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Alameda County, as of 3/14/21
Oakland: 25,455
Hayward: 12,901
Fremont: 7,339
Eden MAC: 5,570
San Leandro: 5,069
Livermore: 4,065
Union City: 3,781
Berkeley: 3,361
Newark: 2,620
Castro Valley: 2,379
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Contra Costa County, as of 3/14/21
Richmond: 9,733
Antioch: 8,871
Concord: 7,549
Pittsburg: 6,377
San Pablo: 4,976
Brentwood: 3,497
Oakley: 2,900
Bay Point: 2,619
Walnut Creek: 2,621
San Ramon: 1,907
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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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