COVID-19
breaking news & updates
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La Familia Co-Hosts Pop Up Fruitvale Day Laborer Vaccine Clinic
Next Clinic Set for Saturday, June 26
Partnering with the Street Level Health Project, Homies Empowerment Program, Alameda County Public Health and the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency , La Familia is co-hosting pop up vaccine clinics for day laborers in the Fruitvale district of Oakland. The next pop up clinic will take place on Saturday, June 26, from 7 a.m. -1 p.m. at the Home Depot on Alameda Ave. in Oakland. At the first clinic, 222 community members were vaccinated!
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Masks On, Masks Off
What Are People in Bay Area Doing?
In the past few days, people all over the Bay Area - at least those vaccinated against COVID-19 - faced an ostensibly simple choice as they approached the sliding doors of grocery stores: Do they finally shed their masks, as allowed under last Tuesday’s statewide reopening? Or do they keep their mouths and noses covered, still smiling with their eyes? Turns out, it was a real pickle: a personal health decision involving not only statistics and beliefs but also infinite emotional variables - trauma and comfort, guilt and confusion, familial relationships, self-image, and solidarity with still-masked workers.
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Are COVID Experts Still Wearing Masks?
Four In The Bay Area Explain Their Plans
Californians fully vaccinated against COVID-19 got the go-ahead this week to drop their masks, but many Bay Area residents so far don't appear to be ready to do so - some out of habit, some out of caution. Given the apparent reluctance by some to abandon face coverings, the Chronicle reached out to Bay Area infectious disease experts who have received vaccinations and asked how their own mask-wearing habits have changed, and where and when they still mask up. SF Chronicle Read more
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Bay Area Worker-Owned Businesses Thrive During the Pandemic by Prioritizing Health Over Profits
Chaos filled the aisles of Rainbow Grocery Cooperative in the early days of March 2020, before Bay Area health officers issued shelter-in-place orders to slow the spread of COVID-19. Rainbow faced the choice to operate in some form in danger to employees and customers, or to close its doors. But that decision wouldn’t be made at the top. Worker-owned cooperatives operate exactly like democracies: one person, one vote. As a result, Rainbow's collectively agreed-on safety measures reflected the values of health and community: constant rearrangement of the physical space, gallons of hand sanitizer, department meetings moved awkwardly semi-online, and most of all, fanatical mask enforcement. KQED Read more
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San Francisco Nightlife: Not Quite Back to Normal But Getting There
The unofficial soundtrack of San Francisco is back - not Karl the Fog whistling through the Golden Gate Bridge but happy voices spilling out of crowded restaurants onto the sidewalk. On the first Friday of reopening, restaurants were back to full capacity, not just in street-side parklets but in the inviting interiors San Francisco dining is all about. At Momo’s, across from Oracle Park, patio seating was at a premium prior to the Giants game. Fans were itching to get inside the ballpark with a capacity of 18,000. KPIX5 Read more
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Bay Area Parents With Unvaccinated Children Unsure How to Navigate Reopened California
With the reopening of California last Tuesday, much of the state - along with the rest of the country - is embracing this more relaxed phase of the pandemic, with almost all public health restrictions lifted. But parents of young children say they’re feeling left behind, and even finding themselves trapped in a new conundrum: How do they keep kids too young to be vaccinated safe as the world around them reopens?
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In New Milestone, California Administers 40 Millionth Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine
In a week of milestones, California has hit another major turning point in the fight against the pandemic: More than 40 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have now been administered across the state. State officials announced the latest total, 40,098,803 doses, Thursday afternoon, two days after the economy was fully reopened. Officials and health experts have said California’s high vaccination rates have reduced the risk of outbreaks with the wide reopening, noting that new cases and deaths continue to plummet. LA Times Read more
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Is It Better To Get Immunity From Catching COVID - Or Vaccines?
What Science Shows
Research shows both coronavirus infection and vaccination offers immunity that can protect people from getting sick again. But by how much and for how long remains unclear - a scientific gap that only time could fill. Regardless of how immunity is acquired, there’s no telling whose bodies will or won’t create effective antibodies, and why they last longer for some than others; doctors speculate age or certain medical conditions might play a role. While people can gain immunity from both infection and vaccination, antibodies created from both routes target different parts of the virus, which leads to variations in the quality of protection. The Modesto Bee Read more
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Vaccine Effort Turns Into Slog As Infectious Variant Spreads
As cases tumble and states reopen, the potential final stage in the U.S. campaign to vanquish COVID-19 is turning into a slog, with a worrisome variant gaining a bigger foothold and lotteries and other prizes failing to persuade some Americans to get vaccinated. “The last half, the last mile, the last quarter-mile always requires more effort,” Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said last week. AP Read more
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Some Vaccine Experts Having Second Thoughts About Rushing To Inoculate Kids
From the earliest days of the pandemic, doctors and public health officials have seen widespread vaccination as the most effective way to stop COVID-19 in its tracks. But a growing contingent of medical experts is now questioning whether that conventional wisdom ought to apply to children. Their doubts are not borne of conspiracy beliefs, but couched in the carefully calibrated language of risk and benefit. And they’re expected to get a public airing next week as advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ponder a spate of post-vaccine heart problems in adolescents and young adults. LA Times Read more
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How Pastors And Health Experts Are Struggling to Close The Vaccine Gap Among White Evangelicals
Retired pastor Jerry Belloit waited in his car at 4 a.m. on the first day coronavirus vaccine doses were available in his rural Florida community earlier this spring. His wife and his mother were with him, all eager to be among the first 500 people to get the shot. Convincing the rest of the congregation at his church to get the shot proved to be more difficult.
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Border COVID-19 Vaccination Plan With U.S.-Donated Shots Starts in Baja California
Baja California has started administering more than 1.3 million Johnson & Johnson single shots donated to Mexico by the U.S. as part of a strategy that could lead to the reopening of the border. This border state became the first in Mexico to open COVID-19 vaccination to people 18 years and over and is on its way to also become the first to reach herd immunity, according to Baja California’s secretary of health, Alonso Perez Rico. LA Times Read more
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State/National/International News |
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Nearly Three-Quarters of California Seniors Are Fully Vaccinated
About three-quarters of Californians 65 and older, who are the most vulnerable to complications from COVID-19, are fully inoculated against the virus and 92 percent have at least one shot, a significant milestone the week the state lifted most pandemic restrictions. Among Californians 12 and older - covering all those eligible for a shot - 70 percent have at least one dose and 56 percent are fully vaccinated. Mercury News
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California Board Tosses COVID Workplace Mask Order For Vaccinated People
Eliminating a major stumbling block to his plan for a smooth reopening of the California economy, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Thursday that he said would allow vaccinated workers in most jobs to go mask free beginning last Friday. Newsom signed the order following a vote from California’s workplace safety board to align its rules for businesses and employees with the state’s reopening guidelines. Newsom’s order skirts a 10-day delay that would have been required under regulator Cal/OSHA’s rules and offers employers more clarity. East Bay Times Read more
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A Pill to Treat COVID-19? The U.S. Is Betting on It
The U.S. government spent more than $18 billion last year funding drugmakers to make a Covid vaccine, an effort that led to at least five highly effective shots in record time. Now it’s pouring more than $3 billion on a neglected area of research: developing pills to fight the virus early in the course of infection, potentially saving many lives in the years to come. The new program, announced on Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services, will speed up the clinical trials of a few promising drug candidates. If all goes well, some of those first pills could be ready by the end of the year. NY Times
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California and Florida Took Dramatically Divergent Pandemic Paths
Who Did Better?
From the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, the governors of California and Florida have taken almost polar opposite approaches to managing an unprecedented health crisis: California Gov. Gavin Newsom shut down his state early, prioritizing public health; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis largely kept his state open for business, prioritizing the economy. California just fully reopened on Tuesday, while Florida has been open all year, save for a short lockdown last spring. The split mirrors the political divisions that have bedeviled the United States during the pandemic - with both sides claiming victory at various times. But now, more than a year of data is offering some clear takeaways on which state’s approach has produced better outcomes on a number of fronts. KQED Read more
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The Hard Realities of a "No Jab, No Job" Mandate for Health Care Workers
Dr. Eric Berger, a pediatrician in Philadelphia who opened his practice more than a dozen years ago, enforced mandatory shots in May and saw six of his 47 staff members walk out. Berger said he worked for months to educate resistant workers. In April, he learned that several, women in their 20s and 30s, had attended a private karaoke party. Within days, four staffers were infected with COVID. Berger, who had seen in-office costs for protective equipment soar, then set a deadline for shots. He looks back with steely resolve over the last-minute “I quit” texts he received - and the hassle of finding a new receptionist and billing and medical assistants. "It’s been stressful, but I think we did the right thing,” he said. Kaiser Health News Read more
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"Two Americas" May Emerge as Delta Variant Spreads And Vaccination Rates Drop
With COVID vaccination penetration in the U.S. likely to fall short of Joe Biden’s 70% by Fourth of July target, pandemic analysts are warning that vaccine incentives are losing traction and that “two Americas” may emerge as the aggressive Delta variant becomes the dominant U.S. strain.
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Brazil Hits 500,000 Deaths Amid "Critical" Situation
The number of deaths related to COVID-19 has passed 500,000 in Brazil, the second-highest in the world, as experts say the outbreak could worsen amid slow vaccination and the start of winter. The virus continues to spread as President Jair Bolsonaro refuses to back measures like social distancing. The health institute Fiocruz says the situation is "critical". Only 11% of adults are fully vaccinated. BBC Read more
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Amazon Has Made Its COVID-19 Test Available Online
Amazon has made its FDA-cleared COVID-19 test available to consumers online, alongside a consumer diagnostics website where people can view their results. The consumer diagnostics website, AmazonDx.com, previously only had a login for Amazon employees. As of Tuesday, however, it appears any customer can sign into the site using the same login information they use to access the shopping portion of the tech giant’s website. Amazon received FDA authorization for the at-home test kit in May. STAT Read more
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"It’s a Tipping Point": Flood of COVID-19 Vaccine Donations Buoys Mood at WHO
Just a few weeks ago, the mood here at the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) was still decidedly somber. WHO had pushed hard for equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, yet a "grotesque" gap had formed between rich and poor nations, said WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. But a meeting of the G7, held in Cornwall, U.K., last weekend, has changed the gloomy outlook. Science
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Confirmed Cases
Bay Area: 447,969
California: 3,808,258
U.S.: 33,543,261
Alameda County
Vaccines Administered: 2,012,887
Cases: 89,592
Deaths: 1,273
Test Positivity: 1.0%
Hospitalized Patients: 61
ICU Beds Available: 115
Cases have stayed about the same over the past week and are at a moderate level. The numbers of hospitalized COVID patients and deaths in the Alameda County area have fallen 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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Reported Deaths
Bay Area: 6,257
California: 63,335
U.S.: 601,846
Contra Costa County
Vaccines Administered: 1,413,252
Cases: 70,691
Deaths: 811
Test Positivity: 1.5%
Hospitalized Patients: 25
ICU Beds Available: 39
Cases have increased over the past week and are high. The number of hospitalized COVID patients has fallen in the Contra Costa area. Deaths have remained 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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Wondering if The Vaccine Worked?
Get The Right Test, at The Right Time
Now that tens of millions of Americans are vaccinated against the coronavirus, many are wondering: Do I have enough antibodies to keep me safe? For a vast majority of people, the answer is yes. That hasn’t stopped hordes from stampeding to the local doc-in-a-box for antibody testing. But to get a reliable answer from testing, vaccinated people have to get a specific kind of test, and at the right time. NY Times 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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COVID Test Resources
Food Pantries
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Over the last seven days, Alameda County officials have reported 205 new coronavirus cases, which amounts to 12 cases per 100,000 residents. |
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Over the last seven days, Contra Costa County officials have reported 363 new coronavirus cases, which amounts to 32 cases per 100,000 residents. |
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Alameda County, as of 6/20/21
Oakland: 27,949
Hayward: 13,838
Fremont: 8,134
Eden MAC: 6,009
San Leandro: 5,569
Livermore: 4,343
Union City: 4,059
Berkeley: 3,646
Newark: 2,822
Castro Valley: 2,611
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Contra Costa County, as of 6/20/21
Richmond: 11,837
Antioch: 9,932
Concord: 8,194
Pittsburg: 7,027
San Pablo: 5,368
Brentwood: 3,945
Oakley: 3,330
Walnut Creek: 2,924
Bay Point: 2,827
San Ramon: 2,151
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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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