COVID-19
breaking news & updates
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Alameda County Enters Less Restrictive Yellow Tier
What's Allowed?
Alameda County has been allowed to move to California’s least restrictive reopening tier, a week before the state removes the system entirely. The county met the requirements to move to the yellow tier, with an adjusted daily new case rate per 100,000 residents of 1.5, a testing positivity rate of 0.7%, and a health equity quartile positivity rate of 1.3%. KRON4 Read more
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Bay Area Lining Up With State In Dropping COVID Rules
The Bay Area will be wide open along with the rest of California when the state lifts almost all pandemic restrictions next week. Even San Francisco, which has had among the strictest public health responses in the country, plans to align with the state, city officials said Tuesday night. Health officials in all nine Bay Area counties have said that with very few exceptions, they plan to go along with the rest of the state in lifting mask mandates, capacity rules and pretty much every other order meant to force social distancing and prevent spread of the coronavirus in public settings. SF Chronicle
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Herd Immunity For San Francisco May Be Just Three Weeks Away
There are still a few unknowns, and it would be unwise to declare ourselves definitively out of the woods, but some often-quoted experts at UCSF are sounding pretty bullish about San Francisco's shot at herd immunity. If the city can inoculate enough teens, tweens, and remaining reluctant adults in the next three weeks, herd immunity for the city may be possible, the epidemiologists say. This would make San Francisco the first California city to even approach this ever-elusive remission point for the pandemic. SFist Read more
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Fully Vaccinated Napa Woman Dies From Virus
Medically Vulnerable People Are Protected Only When Everyone Else Is Vaccinated
A Napa woman has died of COVID-19 despite being fully inoculated, offering a sharp reminder that vaccinated people are not invincible, especially if they are medically vulnerable and the virus is still circulating widely. “No vaccine is 100% effective, but this does not diminish the urgency and importance of getting vaccinated, especially as more variant strains emerge,” said Napa County Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Relucio. “Vaccines provide exceptional protection against death and illness from the virus and all residents should continue to get vaccinated to protect themselves and others.” The woman, who was not identified, died Wednesday after a prolonged hospitalization. She had underlying medical conditions and was over the age of 65.
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Assemblyman Bill Quirk Participates in Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Town Hall Today
June is Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month! Assemblyman Bill Quirk will join the Alzheimer's Association for a conversation about the brain today, June 10, at 1 p.m. on Zoom. Hear from experts about common warning signs of Alzheimer’s and what symptoms to look for in yourself and others, as well as tips to approach someone who is experiencing changes in their memory, the benefit of early detection and diagnosis, and more. Register
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UC Berkeley Joins Biden Administration’s COVID-19 College Vaccine Challenge
Last Thursday, President Joe Biden launched the COVID-19 College Vaccine Challenge in hopes of vaccinating more college-aged Americans. More than 300 universities, including UC Berkeley and eight other UC campuses, joined the challenge as of Tuesday, according to the White House website. A U.S. Department of Education press release stated that universities can participate in the initiative by pledging to encourage their students, staff and faculty to get immunized.
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Biden to Announce Plan to Give 500 Million COVID-19 Vaccines to Countries In Need
President Joe Biden will announce Thursday at the G-7 meeting in Britain his plan to purchase 500 million doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to donate to other countries struggling with a limited supply. Of the doses, 200 million will be donated this year and 300 million across the first half of next year. The doses will be distributed through COVAX and will be given to 92 low income countries as well as the African Union. NBC News Read more
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COVID Cases Have Plummeted As More People Get Vaccinated
Less than six months ago, the coronavirus crisis was at its most deadly point. Now, with more than half the country at least partially vaccinated, Americans are seeing what life looks like at the other side of the curve. New daily COVID-19 infections have declined dramatically in the United States, recently hitting their lowest numbers since March of 2020. As of June 3, cases were down 94 percent from their peak, in January of this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. PBS Read more
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WHO: High Vaccination Rates Can Help Reduce Risk of Variants
A top World Health Organization official estimated Monday that COVID-19 vaccination coverage of at least 80% is needed to significantly lower the risk that “imported” coronavirus cases like those linked to new variants could spawn a cluster or a wider outbreak. Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO’s emergencies chief, told a news conference that ultimately, “high levels of vaccination coverage are the way out of this pandemic.” AP Read more
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Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine For Younger Kids On Track, With Shots To Come In The Fall
Pfizer released details Tuesday about the progress of its COVID-19 vaccination trials in children, showing that they have completed early testing and are moving forward with lower-dose trials in younger kids. Children are less likely than adults to have a serious case of COVID-19, so drug companies are trying to minimize vaccine side effects while maximizing benefits. For now, Pfizer, which collaborates with German biotech BioNTech, is testing its vaccine at lower doses in grade schoolers than adolescents and still lower doses in younger children. USA Today Read more
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China is Vaccinating a Staggering 20 Million People a Day
For more than a week, an average of about 20 million people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 every day in China. At this rate, the nation would have fully vaccinated the entire UK population in little more than six days. China now accounts for more than half of the 35 million or so people around the world receiving a COVID-19 shot each day. Zoltán Kis, a chemical engineer in the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub at Imperial College London, doesn’t know of “anything even close to those production scales” for a vaccine. “The manufacturing efforts required in China to reach this high production throughput are tremendous,” he says. Nature Read more
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Unused Johnson & Johnson COVID Doses Are Piling Up as FDA Waits to See if Shelf Life Can Be Extended
The Biden administration is encouraging states to hold on to hundreds of thousands of soon-to-expire COVID vaccine doses from Johnson & Johnson, given the possibility that additional data will show the shots are viable beyond their expiration date at month’s end. State health officials have strenuously warned vaccine administrators against using expired doses. Now, though, the FDA appears optimistic that the Johnson & Johnson expiration dates - which begin to kick in later this month - could be extended.
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An Anti-Vaccine Film Targeted to Black Americans Spreads False Information
When a filmmaker asked medical historian Naomi Rogers to appear in a documentary, the Yale professor didn’t blink. She had done these “talking head” interviews many times before. She assumed her comments would end up in a straightforward documentary that addressed some of the most pressing concerns of the pandemic, such as the legacy of racism in medicine and how that plays into current mistrust in some communities of color. The subject of vaccines was also mentioned, but the focus wasn’t clear to Rogers.
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State/National/International News |
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99% of California's Public Schools Plan to Fully Reopen In-Person This Fall, State Says
According to data released by the state Monday, 99% of the California public school districts that provide data to the state say they will fully reopen for in-person instruction this fall. The state also rolled out a series of interactive tools on its Safe Schools web portal Monday, which allow parents and educators to track school reopenings, summer instruction and COVID-19 resources for both public school districts and charter schools in real time. KQED Read more
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Fauci Warns of New Threat From COVID Variant
U.S. health officials warned that a more harmful COVID-19 variant known as Delta has surged in the U.K. (a country with high vaccination levels) in a grim warning to America as demand for inoculations in some states fades (only 42% of the U.S. is fully vaccinated). White House adviser Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday that the variant first reported in India dominates new infections in Britain. “It’s essentially taking over,” he said. “We cannot let that happen in the U.S.” Bloomberg Read more
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CDC Issues New Travel Advice For More Than 120 Countries
As more people get vaccinated and the spread of COVID-19 becomes more controlled, public health officials are issuing new travel advice for more than 120 countries. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its international travel guidance on Monday to give specific advice for both vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers. The update includes moving 33 countries, including Iceland, Israel and Singapore, into the lowest risk category. CNN Read more
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Masks? Vaccines? How Parents of Newborns Should Handle Visitors in This Phase of The Pandemic
Bringing home a newborn is already one of the scariest and most vulnerable times for parents. Bringing one home during a pandemic creates a host of other questions, worries and risks. Opinions abound - from pediatricians, well-meaning relatives and strangers on the Internet - and many new parents remain unsure how to protect their families while enjoying a bit of post-quarantine freedom. Washington Post Read more
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New Pandemic-Era Accessory: A Bracelet That Signals Your Boundaries
Americans are returning to offices, trade shows, meet-and-greets and wedding receptions, but individual needs for personal space aren’t the same after a long hiatus from face-to-face schmoozing and socializing. Some guests are ready to lean in for group photos. Others favor an extremely distant air kiss or a wave from afar. Office managers, convention planners and party hosts are distributing color-coded wristbands, stickers or lanyards designed to signal preferences without the awkward conversations. Wall Street Journal
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America Still Needs to Learn From Its Biggest Pandemic Failure
America’s biggest mistake in fighting COVID-19 began with an assumption made long before the virus behind the pandemic first appeared in humans. In the federal government's previous pandemic playbook, the initial actions taken by President Donald Trump’s administration, and advice given by experts, there was a common theme: that America would come together against a major national threat, helping put it down collectively. Over the past year and a half, we’ve learned how wrong that was.
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Fake COVID Vaccine Cards Are Being Sold Online - Using One Is A Crime
A vendor on Amazon was discovered selling a pack of blank COVID-19 vaccination cards this week. The post has since been removed, but photos reshared online showed a 10-pack of blank cards going for $12.99. In the U.S., actually getting a COVID-19 vaccine and receiving a legitimate vaccination card is free. NPR Read more
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The Four Most Urgent Questions About Long COVID
When Claire Hastie fell ill in March of last year, she reacted the way she usually would to a minor ailment: she tried to ignore it. “It started off incredibly mild,” she says. “I would normally have paid no attention to it whatsoever.” But within a week she was flattened. “I had just never felt ill in this way before. I felt like I had an elephant sitting on my chest.” At times, she became convinced she was going to die. Nature Read more
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Confirmed Cases
Bay Area: 445,776
California: 3,798,313
U.S.: 33,402,758
Alameda County
Vaccines Administered: 1,948,864
Cases: 89,201
Deaths: 1,270
Test Positivity: 0.6%
Hospitalized Patients: 50
ICU Beds Available: 98
Cases have decreased over the past week and are at a moderate level. The number of hospitalized COVID patients has also fallen in the Alameda County area. Deaths have remained at about the same level. 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: 6,253
California: 63,627
U.S.: 598,638
Contra Costa County
Vaccines Administered: 1,358,997
Cases: 70,116
Deaths: 804
Test Positivity: 1.2%
Hospitalized Patients: 29
ICU Beds Available: 33
Cases have decreased over the past week but are still high. The number of hospitalized COVID patients has also fallen in the Contra Costa 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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In a survey of thousands of adults last summer, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that 20 percent of Americans said they had trouble sleeping because of the pandemic. Not surprising. But when the academy repeated its survey 10 months later, in March, with coronavirus infection rates falling and more people being vaccinated, sleep problems had only gotten worse: Roughly 60 percent of people said they struggled with pandemic-related insomnia, and nearly half reported that the quality of their sleep had diminished. 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 246 new coronavirus cases, which amounts to 15 cases per 100,000 residents. |
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Over the last seven days, Contra Costa County officials have reported 355 new coronavirus cases, which amounts to 31 cases per 100,000 residents. |
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Alameda County, as of 6/9/21
Oakland: 27,806
Hayward: 13,788
Fremont: 8,109
Eden MAC: 5,996
San Leandro: 5,548
Livermore: 4,329
Union City: 4,052
Berkeley: 3,626
Newark: 2,816
Castro Valley: 2,600
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Contra Costa County, as of 6/9/21
Richmond: 11,739
Antioch: 9,803
Concord: 8,150
Pittsburg: 6,956
San Pablo: 5,323
Brentwood: 3,900
Oakley: 3,289
Walnut Creek: 2,907
Bay Point: 2,815
San Ramon: 2,139
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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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