COVID-19
breaking news & updates
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February is American Heart Month
Friday is National Wear Red Day - Wear Red To Raise Awareness About Cardiovascular Disease And Help Save Lives
It's February – American Heart Month – a time when the nation spotlights heart disease, the No. 1 killer of Americans. President Lyndon B. Johnson, among the millions of people in the country who'd had heart attacks, issued the first proclamation in 1964. Since then, U.S. presidents have annually declared February American Heart Month. This year, the federally designated event is even more important due to the impact of the coronavirus on the public's heart health, including potential harmful effects on the heart and vascular system, according to recent research. American Heart Association
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February Is Black History Month
This Year's Theme Is Black Health and Wellness
Every February, the U.S. honors the contributions and sacrifices of African Americans who have helped shape the nation. Black History Month celebrates the rich cultural heritage, triumphs and adversities that are an indelible part of our country's history. This year's theme, Black Health and Wellness, pays homage to medical scholars and health care providers. The theme is especially timely as we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately affected minority communities and placed unique burdens on Black health care professionals. NPR Read more
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COVID Test Resources
Food Pantries
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Early Signals On Moving Toward Bay Area’s Post-Pandemic Life
A clearer picture of post-pandemic life, one that Bay Area health officials increasingly have hinted at since the Omicron wave began slowing a couple of weeks ago, is starting to take shape. Formal public health restrictions like indoor mask requirements and vaccine verification to get into certain indoor spaces will likely ease. Universal contact tracing will be pared back to focus on the highest-risk settings only. In public remarks Tuesday, local health officials started to spell out some details on what to expect in the coming weeks once Omicron infections subside. SF Chronicle Read more
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The Battle Over Masks In Schools Is Getting Ugly, Even In The Bay Area
The debate over required masking in schools has reached a fever pitch across the state as a growing number of previously pro-mask parents, physicians and experts urge health officials to make the face coverings optional in a “return to normalcy” for children. They say mandated masks on children are overused as a public health device in a low-risk population that may suffer some ill consequences from wearing them all the time. But the other side, equally passionate, says masks are a low-cost, low-risk intervention with high rewards in terms of protecting not only children but also their families, teachers and the community at large. SF Chronicle Read more
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Latest Hospital Capacity In Castro Valley Area
COVID-19 hospitalizations continued to decline nationally, but the country still needs time to get back to pre-Omicron variant hospital occupancy levels. Around 128,500 inpatient beds were being used for COVID-19 patients as of Feb. 1, which was a drop of more than 20,000 beds from the prior week, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Check the latest hospitalization numbers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Alameda County. Castro Valley Patch Read more
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Santa Clara County Requires Healthcare Providers To Offer Patients COVID Tests Within 24 Hours
Santa Clara County on Monday began requiring healthcare providers to offer patients a COVID-19 test within 24 hours in an attempt to shift more testing responsibility to hospitals and clinics who the county says haven’t been doing their part. “The county has been carrying a disproportionate burden of testing throughout the pandemic,” said Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody at a press conference Monday. “By a very wide margin.” The new stricter guideline narrows the county’s previous rules in September 2020 that required providers to get back to members by the end of the following day after a request for a test. Mercury News Read more
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Bay Area Tech Shuttle Buses Returning After Disappearing During Pandemic
As the COVID Omicron surge begins to wane, tech industry shuttle buses have returned, at least in a reduced capacity, after having largely disappeared during most of the pandemic. However, many of the tech companies which fueled the tech shuttle phenomena in the first place have hit the brakes on their long-term plans to return to the office in person. “Before the pandemic, people thought that work had to take place in an office,” said Joint Venture Silicon Valley CEO Russell Hancock. “After the pandemic, we were forced to work from home. The future is going to be a combination of both.” KPIX5 Read more
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Over 200 Santa Clara County Workers Disciplined After Not Following Booster Mandate
About 200 Santa Clara County employees are being disciplined for not following a stringent health order that mandates workers in high-risk settings like jails and hospitals receive a booster shot or a first round of vaccination by Feb. 1 — or risk their jobs. The affected departments include 171 healthcare workers, 22 correctional deputies and 16 probation staff members, according to figures provided by the county, which represents slightly less than 2% of a workforce of around 12,000 who were under the health order. Administrators in each department will now decide what disciplinary steps to take with their employees. Mercury News Read more
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Ten Billion COVID Vaccinations: World Hits New Milestone
In little more than a year, ten billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered globally, in what has become the largest vaccination programme in history. Many nations began rolling out vaccines in late 2020 and early 2021, and since then more than 60% of the world’s population — 4.8 billion people — have received at least one dose of one of more than 20 different COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved by nations for use around the world. “The world has never seen such rapid scale-up of a new life-saving technology,” says Amanda Glassman, executive vice-president of the Center for Global Development in Washington DC. “The effort under way is inspiring.” Nature Read more
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Experts Question Unusual Authorization Plan For COVID Vaccine For Kids Under 5
The Food and Drug Administration’s willingness to consider authorizing a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech for children under the age of 5 — without evidence yet that it would be protective — is raising concerns among some vaccine experts who fear the plan could backfire and undermine vaccine uptake in this group. Pfizer and BioNTech confirmed Tuesday that they had been asked by the FDA to submit an application for the use of a two-dose vaccine in children 6 months to 4 years old. Data on a third shot would be submitted to regulators once they became available in the spring — ostensibly clearing the way for the agency to authorize a three-shot regimen for the youngest children who can get vaccinated. STAT Read more
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Novavax Asks FDA To Authorize Its COVID Vaccine
Novavax asked the Food and Drug Administration on Monday to authorize its protein-based COVID-19 vaccine for adults. The vaccine is already available for use in at least 170 countries, but if cleared for emergency use in the United States, it would provide an alternative to the popular mRNA-based shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. For certain groups of people — particularly young men — the mRNA vaccines carry a slightly elevated risk of a heart condition called myocarditis. Novavax's vaccine has not been linked to myocarditis. NBC News Read more
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Do You Need A COVID-19 Vaccine Booster To Travel?
Two COVID-19 shots aren’t enough for some travelers anymore. Destinations are now increasingly requiring boosters for easy entry. Spain, the Netherlands and Singapore are among several places that have mandated or will soon mandate that U.S. travelers who had their last vaccine dose 270 days or more ago show proof of a booster shot or face additional testing requirements. As of Monday, 88 million Americans had received a booster, or 41.5% of the country’s fully vaccinated population, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wall Street Journal Read more
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These Countries Have The Lowest COVID Vaccination Rates In The World
Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti are the least vaccinated countries in the world against COVID-19, data has shown. Just 0.05% of Burundi’s population has received at least one COVID vaccination dose, according to statistics compiled by Our World in Data. In DR Congo, 0.4% of people have been given at least one dose, while in Haiti that proportion of the population rises to around 1%. CNBC
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Willing But Unable To Get COVID Shot - Study Of Racial, Ethnic Disparities In Vaccine Rates
People of color in the U.S. and UK were up to three times likelier than white people to report being unsure or unwilling to get a COVID-19 shot during the initial vaccine rollout, found a study published in Nature Communications. But among those who wanted the vaccine, Black people in the U.S. were less likely to receive it than white people, a disparity that wasn’t present in the UK. The Harvard Gazette Read more
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State/National/International News |
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Omicron Cases Are Falling Rapidly, And The Next Few Weeks Could Show Where The Pandemic Is Going
Within the next few weeks, we’re going to reach a critical moment in the COVID-19 pandemic—one that will tell us whether we’re in for that long-awaited near-normal by summer, or whether we’re going to go on fuming and arguing over the appropriate level of social distancing indefinitely. Over the last week, the United States averaged over 440,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day. That’s almost twice the levels seen at this time a year ago, before the nation settled down into a period where everything seemed “almost over” … before the Delta variant rose up and smacked us in the collective face. Still, the rates of new cases have fallen by over 40% in just two weeks. All signs are that the rates are still falling, particularly in New York City and other urban areas that were among the first locations where Omicron exploded. Daily Kos Read more
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One Million Deaths: The Hole The Pandemic Made In U.S. Society
Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, America’s death toll is closing in on one million. Federal authorities estimate that 987,456 more people have died since early 2020 than would have otherwise been expected, based on long-term trends. People killed by coronavirus infections account for the overwhelming majority of cases. Thousands more died from derivative causes, like disruptions in their healthcare and a spike in overdoses. COVID-19 has left the same proportion of the population dead—about 0.3%—as did World War II, and in less time. Wall Street Journal Read more
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Denmark Becomes First EU Country To Lift All COVID-19 Restrictions
Denmark has lifted all COVID-19 restrictions within the country, with coronavirus no longer considered a "socially critical sickness," according to the government.
This means that an indoor mask mandate, the use of a "COVID pass" for bars, restaurants and other indoor venues, and the legal obligation to self-isolate if you test positive are all ending."No one can know what will happen next December. But we promised the citizens of Denmark that we will only have restrictions if they are truly necessary and we'll lift them as soon as we can," Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke told CNN on Monday. "That's what's happening right now." CNN Read more
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A Number of Nations Are Shifting Their Pandemic Approaches. The W.H.O. Warns That Might Be "Premature"
Nightclubs in Denmark are reopening. Norway is dropping its coronavirus test requirements for fully vaccinated travelers to enter the country. France is ending its outdoor mask mandate. Unvaccinated Austrian are no longer confined to their homes. Pandemic protocols are being eased in several European nations, as public support for them has waned and shifted instead to treating the virus as endemic, or a manageable part of life. Now some parts of the United States, where the Omicron wave has crested, are heading in that direction, with several state leaders saying it is time to be realistic about pandemic fatigue. NY Times Read more
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Even If They Can Find A Test, Not Everyone Wants To Know They Have COVID
A major public health tenet is that testing is critical for controlling viral spread, but Cristina San Martin could have found plenty of reasons not to test for COVID-19. At-home rapid tests have been sold out, and lines at lab testing sites have wrapped around the block and booked a week in advance. As a dog washer at a grooming salon, San Martin can't afford $150 to test at an urgent-care site. And then there's the unpleasantness of the test itself. But even if a test can be had, a positive result can bring stigma and isolation. NPR Read more
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U.S. Has Far Higher COVID Death Rate Than Other Wealthy Countries
Two years into the pandemic, the coronavirus is killing Americans at far higher rates than people in other wealthy nations, a sobering distinction to bear as the country charts a course through the next stages of the pandemic. The ballooning death toll has defied the hopes of many Americans that the less severe Omicron variant would spare the United States the pain of past waves. Deaths have now surpassed the worst days of the autumn surge of the Delta variant, and are more than two-thirds as high as the record tolls of last winter, when vaccines were largely unavailable.
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Total Confirmed Cases
Bay Area: 1,181,685
California: 8,471,125
U.S.: 75,483,395
Alameda County
Total Vaccines Administered: 3,420,931
Total Cases: 234,772
Total Deaths: 1,618
Test Positivity (7-day rate): 12.4%
Hospitalized Patients (as of 2/2): 403
ICU Beds Available (as of 2/2): 68
As of February 2, cases have decreased recently but are still extremely high. The numbers of hospitalized COVID patients and deaths in the Alameda County area have risen. The test positivity rate in Alameda County is very high, suggesting that cases are being significantly undercounted. NY Times
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Total Reported Deaths
Bay Area: 7,324
California: 80,370
U.S.: 892,460
Contra Costa County
Total Vaccines Administered: 2,380,672
Total Cases: 177,518
Total Deaths: 1,115
Test Positivity (7-day rate): 15.9%
Hospitalized Patients (as of 2/2): 263
ICU Beds Available (as of 2/2): 21
As of February 2, cases have decreased recently but are still extremely high. The numbers of hospitalized COVID patients and deaths in the Contra Costa County area have risen. The test positivity rate in Contra Costa County is very high, suggesting that cases are being significantly undercounted. NY Times
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How To Avoid Buying A Fake COVID-19 Test Kit
The rapid spread of the Omicron variant has spiked demand for COVID-19 testing. Scammers have taken notice, with some selling fake COVID-19 test kits online while others use bogus testing sites to rip off unsuspecting consumers and even gather personal data for future use in identity thefts schemes. “It’s a real problem. Not only are these tests a waste of money, but they also increase the risk of spreading the disease and users not getting proper medical treatment,” said Dr Emily Volk, president of the College of American Pathologists. Healthline 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 2,356 new cases and 3.7 new death per day.
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Over the past week, Contra Costa County has averaged 1,615 new cases and 3.3 new deaths per day.
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Alameda County, cumulative
as of 2/2/2022
Oakland: 68,895
Hayward: 31,132
Fremont: 23,499
San Leandro: 14,442
Eden MAC: 13,554
Livermore: 11,967
Berkeley: 11,132
Union City: 10,358
Castro Valley: 8,026
Newark: 7,285
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Contra Costa County, cumulative
as of 2/2/2022
Richmond: 26,326
Antioch: 23,963
Concord: 19,213
Pittsburg: 15,641
San Pablo: 11,198
Brentwood: 10,675
Oakley: 8,973
Walnut Creek: 8,636
San Ramon: 7,483
Bay Point: 5,916
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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, and Gordon Galvan. 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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