COVID-19
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Expert: Expect Bay Area Holiday COVID Surge; New Treatments, "Immunity Force Field" Will Keep Hospitalizations Low
With holiday travel soaring and Ramadan, Easter and Passover being celebrated on the same weekend for the first time in years, San Francisco Bay Area residents came together this weekend in large family or religious gatherings in numbers not seen since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic. So, a leading infectious disease expert says, expect a spike in new COVID cases over the next week or so. “I think these gatherings are going to drive up cases as people travel all around the country,” said UCSF’s Dr. Peter Chin-Hong. KPIX5 Read more
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Bay Area Doctors Say Mask Recommendations, Not Mandates, Could Return Given Recent COVID Case Rate
It will be a busy weekend with people across the Bay Area celebrating Easter and Passover. For many, it will be the first time gathering without restrictions in years. But, doctors want to remind everyone COVID-19 is still a dangerous threat. "The recommendations really haven't changed," ABC7 News Special Corresponded Dr. Alok Patel said. "If you're gathering with people this weekend, just like any other gathering, you want to make sure that people around you are not symptomatic, people haven't had recent exposures and especially find out if everyone around you has been vaccinated because that is the best way to prevent the transmission." ABC7 News Read more
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Oakland Unified To Drop Indoor Masking Requirement Today
A month after California lifted its school mask mandate, the Oakland Unified School District has announced it will stop requiring students to wear face coverings indoors too. In a memo sent to school families Friday, the district’s COVID Safety Team said the masks can come off Monday inside schools and other campus facilities, although it “strongly” recommended that students and staff continue to wear them. East Bay Times Read more
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S.F. Startup Phylagen’s Quest: Airborne COVID-19 Detection In Offices
When the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down in 2020, Jessica Green’s interest in safe buildings went from a corporate afterthought to global priority. “That trigger was an awakening in the world where, now, almost everybody understands that we live submerged in this ocean of air indoors — we spend 90% of our lives indoors — and we’re surrounded by this very rich microbial ecosystem,” Green said. “The majority of the spaces that we work, live and play in are managed in a very unintentional way with regards to indoor air quality, and it doesn’t have to be that way.” SF Chronicle
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Alameda County Courts To Reopen Courtrooms, Expand Hours
The Superior Court of Alameda County said that starting later this month, it plans to reopen courtrooms and expand hours at its clerk’s office after closures first spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement Thursday, the court acknowledged that measures enacted in March 2020 to limit all but essential trials and in-person proceedings will change, with courtrooms opening up as resources allow on a limited basis, and listed on the court’s dedicated COVID-19 Web page. Mercury News
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COVID Vaccine/Treatment News |
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California Invests $10 Million In New KidsVaxGrant To Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Access For Children
In an effort to expand COVID-19 vaccine access for youth, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is offering $10 million in grant funding through the newly launched KidsVaxGrant. This makes healthcare providers enrolled in the state's Vaccines for Children (VFC) program eligible to receive funding of up to $25,000 per site to expand operating hours. "Vaccines are the most powerful tool we have to protect our children and our communities from the dangers of COVID-19," said Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, Dr. Mark Ghaly. "This grant program will make COVID-19 vaccines more accessible to children and their families by recruiting new providers and supporting existing providers by expanding operating hours. As a father and a pediatrician, I assure you COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. Please make an appointment to get your family vaccinated today." CDPH Read more
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When Are COVID Experts Getting Their Second Booster Shots?
Here’s What 6 From The Bay Area Said
The FDA and CDC in late March allowed three groups of people to get a second booster shot against COVID-19 if it’s been at least four months since their first booster: people 50 and older, those 12 and older who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, and those who got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as their initial shot and booster. For most Americans, who got two mRNA shots as their primary vaccine series and then a booster, this would be their fourth shot. For people who are immunocompromised who got three shots as their primary series and then a booster, it would be their fifth shot.
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FDA Authorizes Breath Test That Can Detect COVID-19 In Three Minutes
The Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use authorization to a new COVID-19 test that can detect infections with only a sample of a patient's breath, using a device that can yield results in less than three minutes. The agency says the InspectIR COVID-19 Breathalyzer will only be available for tests "by a qualified, trained operator under the supervision of a health care provider." CBS News Read more
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Fourth COVID Vaccine Dose Gives 76% Added Protection Against Death
Compared with a third vaccine dose, a fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine lowered the risk of infection, symptomatic infection, hospitalization, severe illness, and death 52% to 76%—depending on the measure — amid the Omicron surge among older adults, finds a new Israeli study. Protection against infection waned, however, after 5 weeks, but not protection against severe COVID-19. The findings were published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine. CIDRAP Read more
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Are COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates Losing Their Luster?
After COVID-19 vaccines became widely available last year, federal, state and local leaders were tripping over themselves to show their tough-on-the-virus bona fides by mandating the shots for the workplace, the classroom, the bar and the ballgame. Now, vaccine passports are being put on the shelf and many mandates dialed back, with delayed implementation and softened penalties. For a variety of reasons – practical, medical, political – there’s less appetite now for forcing the reluctant to get the jabs, especially now with case rates so low. “Anti-vaxxers are just as fervent as ever,” said longtime political analyst Dan Schnur. “Those who support the vaccines just don’t have the same sense of urgency they once did.” Mercury News Read more
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COVID-19 Booster Raises Antibody Levels Against Omicron For Children Ages 5 Through 11, Pfizer And BioNTech Say
A third shot of the children’s dose of Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine raised Omicron-fighting antibodies by 36 times in kids 5 through 11 years of age, the companies said in a news release Thursday. The companies plan to request emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration for a booster dose for this age group. The new data come from a small study of 140 children ages 5 through 11 who were given a third 10-microgram dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at least six months after their second dose. Mercury News
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State/National/International News |
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COVID Death Rates Globally Seen Dropping To 2-Year Low Point, But There’s A Caveat
As the world climbs its way out of two years of coronavirus pain, one measure offering hope is that the global rate of COVID deaths appears to be at a level not seen since the early pandemic days of March 2020, the COVID-19 data monitoring site Our World in Data indicates. Although based on available official death tallies that are widely seen as undercounts, the overall trendline nonetheless shows that the number of people losing their lives to COVID is heading in a positive direction — “something to celebrate,” in the words of Dr. Eric Topol, head of Scripps Research Translational Institute, who recently tweeted Our World in Data’s chart showing the steep drop-off in global deaths since February. SF Chronicle Read more
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Has Omicron XE Arrived In California?
Here’s What We Know About The New COVID Subvariant
Even as the highly transmissible BA.2 omicron subvariant extends its dominance across the U.S., including the western region that incorporates California, a new coronavirus mashup combining BA.2 and the original Omicron strain is gaining attention. Omicron XE, which was first detected in the United Kingdom, has been found in the U.S. and, most recently, in Japan. While much is still unknown about the subvariant and what effect it will have on COVID-19’s spread, here’s what we know so far. The XE variant is what experts call a “recombinant” of the BA.1 and BA.2 variants. SF Chronicle Read more
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California Pauses Plans To Require COVID-19 Vaccinations For Schoolchildren
California will not require schoolchildren to be immunized for COVID-19 after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that he is pausing a state mandate set to go into effect before the upcoming academic year while an influential Democratic lawmaker said he will drop his bill pushing even stricter inoculation rules. Newsom made headlines in October when he announced California would be the first state to mandate the vaccine in schools once shots were fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for children ages 12 and older, with the requirement going into effect by July 1. On Thursday, the California Department of Public Health announced that the timeline will be pushed back to at least July 1, 2023, since the FDA has not yet fully approved the vaccine for children and the state will need time afterward to initiate its rule-making process. LA Times Read more
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How The Test-to-Treat Pillar Of The U.S. COVID Strategy Is Failing Patients
The federal “test-to-treat” program, announced in March, is meant to reduce COVID hospitalizations and deaths by quickly getting antiviral pills to people who test positive. But even as cases rise again, many Americans don’t have access to the program. Pfizer’s Paxlovoid and Merck’s Lagevrio are both designed to be started within five days of someone’s first symptoms. They’re for people who are at high risk of developing severe illness but are not currently hospitalized because of covid-19. Millions of chronically ill, disabled, and older Americans are eligible for the treatments, and Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health said April 11 that more people may qualify soon. Kaiser Health News Read more
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California Lawmaker Drops Bill To Eliminate COVID Vaccine Personal Belief Exemption For Students
A California state senator has dropped a bill that would have required all students to get vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend school by eliminating the state’s existing personal belief exemption. The bill is the second major piece of vaccine legislation to die at the State Capitol in the past two weeks. Legislators earlier shelved a separate bill that would have required California businesses to vaccinate employees against the virus.
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Is Herd Immunity For COVID-19 Still Possible?
This time last year, the brand new, stunningly effective COVID-19 vaccines were rolling out across the country, injecting a strong note of optimism into the United States' once fumbling pandemic response. Millions of people were lining up daily to get their shots. Instead of the steady drumbeat of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, we were tracking a new number: the percentage of Americans who had been vaccinated. This number, we believed, was our best chance to beat the virus. CNN Read more
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It’s Not Just Physicians And Nurses - Veterinarians Are Burning Out, Too
At the park near Duboce Triangle in San Francisco, 5 p.m. is canine happy hour. About 40 dogs run around, chasing balls and wrestling, as their owners coo and ’90s hip-hop bumps out of a portable speaker. After spending two years at home through the pandemic, it’s clear that for a lot of these owners, their dogs are their children.
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Children Of Health Care Workers Had A Front Row Seat To The Pandemic. It Took A Toll
Seven-year-old Phil Will still recognizes where the tape that split his house into two sides was glued to the ground. The kitchen and shelves where his mom stores board games were on one side, and the staircase leading to the basement was on the other side. That tape stayed there for more than four months before his parents ripped it off. It did not leave much of an imprint on the ground, but it left a big one on Phil’s mental health. Iowa Public Radio Read more
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Total Confirmed Cases
Bay Area: 1,305,552
California: 9,157,755
U.S.: 80,635,953
Alameda County
Primary Vaccine Series Completed: 85.6%
Total Cases: 260,551
Total Deaths: 1,862
Test Positivity (7-day rate): 3.3%
Hospitalized Patients (as of 4/18): 53
ICU Beds Available (as of 4/18): 123
As of April 18, cases have increased recently and are very high. The number of hospitalized COVID patients has fallen in the Alameda County area. Deaths have increased. The test positivity rate in Alameda County is relatively low, suggesting that testing capacity is adequate for evaluating COVID-19 spread in the area. NY Times
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Total Reported Deaths
Bay Area: 8,311
California: 89,670
U.S.: 988,663
Contra Costa County
Primary Vaccine Series Completed: 86.2%
Total Cases: 192,045
Total Deaths: 1,297
Test Positivity (7-day rate): 3.7%
Hospitalized Patients (as of 4/18): 26
ICU Beds Available (as of 4/18): 36
As of April 18, cases have stayed about the same recently and are still high.The number of hospitalized COVID patients has 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 adequate for evaluating COVID-19 spread in the area. NY Times
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How To Tell The Difference Between Seasonal Allergies And COVID-19
As allergy season collides with yet another rise in COVID-19 cases nationwide, deciphering the difference between symptoms of the coronavirus and allergies can be tricky. So how can you tell the difference between the two "The pollen counts are up throughout the country, and the symptoms can be quite similar," board certified allergist, pediatrician and immunologist Dr. Anjuli Mehrotra told CBS News' Vladimir Duthiers and Nancy Chen Thursday. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, common symptoms between seasonal allergies and COVID can include cough, headache and tiredness. CBS News 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 past week, Alameda County has averaged 178 new cases and 1 new death per day.
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Over the past week, Contra Costa County has averaged 84 new cases and 0.3 new deaths per day.
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Alameda County, cumulative
as of 4/18/2022
Oakland: 76,111
Hayward: 33,794
Fremont: 26,603
San Leandro: 15,972
Eden MAC: 14,662
Berkeley: 13,784
Livermore: 13,093
Union City: 11,450
Alameda: 8,995
Castro Valley: 8,931
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Contra Costa County, cumulative
as of 4/18/2022
Richmond: 28,192
Antioch: 25,678
Concord: 20,758
Pittsburg: 16,631
San Pablo: 12,002
Brentwood: 11,575
Oakley: 9,649
Walnut Creek: 9,602
San Ramon: 8,335
Martinez: 6,363
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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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