COVID-19
breaking news & updates
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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Know The Symptoms
Did you know that 1 in 8 women in the United States will develop breast cancer in her lifetime? According to the American Cancer Society, when breast cancer is detected early, and is in the localized stage, the 5-year relative survival rate is 99%. Early detection includes doing monthly breast self-exams, and scheduling regular clinical breast exams and mammograms. The National Breast Cancer Foundation provides help and inspires hope to those affected by breast cancer through early detection,
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COVID Test Resources
Food Pantries
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Here’s How Bay Area Residents Really Feel About Returning To The Office
The sudden switch to working from home was an unexpected change for millions of people during the early days of the pandemic. But, after years of working remotely, the push to bring workers back to their offices has been full of stops and starts, marked by the threat of new virus variants and employee outcry. Now, as more companies blow the proverbial return to office conch than ever, many are taking a harder line on time spent back in the office, upending the routines people have built during the last two-plus years. SF Chronicle Read more
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S.F. Undercounted 1,400 COVID Cases Due To A Data Error
San Francisco added 1,400 previously unreported cases since the beginning of September to its COVID-19 dashboard on Wednesday to make up for a California Department of Public Health processing error that affected the accuracy of the city’s data. Officials identified the error on the dashboard, noting that the “case data has been identified and corrected.” The new 7-day rolling average daily cases for the month were affected by the data dump, nearly doubling from figures previously reported.
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Concord Launches $7M Pandemic Relief Program For Nonprofits
The city of Concord has launched a $7 million grant program to partner with local nonprofit organizations to help the community recover from restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant application period opened Sept. 30 and will run through 5 p.m. Oct. 28. The grants will be awarded in amounts from $50,000 to $2 million after an application review and interview process. The Concord City Council is expected to award the grants on Dec. 6. Eligible organizations include those that are tax-exempt nonprofits and provide projects or programs benefiting Concord residents.
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Once Known For Vaccine Skeptics, Marin Now Tells Them "You’re Not Welcome"
For more than a decade, few places in the nation were associated with anti-vaccine movements as much as Marin County, the bluff-lined peninsula of coastal redwoods and stunning views just north of San Francisco. This corner of the Bay Area had become a prime example of a highly educated, affluent community with low childhood vaccination rates, driven by a contingent of liberal parents skeptical of traditional medicine. Marin was something of a paradox to mainstream Democrats, and often a punching bag. In 2015, during a measles outbreak in California, the comedian Jon Stewart blamed Marin parents for being guilty of a “mindful stupidity.” But Marin is the anti-vaccine capital no more. NY Times Read more
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COVID Vaccine/Treatment News
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How To Perfectly Time Your New Omicron-Specific COVID Booster
If you’re not one of the 7.6 million Americans who have already gotten the updated Omicron-specific COVID booster, you might still be debating one key question: When should I get it? Experts say most people should get the new booster as soon as possible — particularly ahead of the late fall and winter months, when cases are expected to surge. Last year, cases began to rise in November as cold, dry weather made it easier for the virus to spread. They soared through the end of the year, reaching a peak around mid-January. Vaccine protection slowly ramps up over two or three weeks post-injection: If you get your shot on October 1, you can probably expect its defenses to be fully kicked in by mid- or late-month. That protection typically lasts about three or four months before beginning to wane. CNBC Read more
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How Long Does COVID Immunity Last With The New Bivalent Booster?
Just how long you’re protected after a COVID booster shot varies from person to person, and it has also rapidly changed as new COVID mutations emerge that can evade antibodies. But generally after previous COVID shots, you were protected for about four to six months. Dr. Andy Pekosz, co-director of the Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Dr. Benjamin Abramoff, On/Go medical adviser and founder and director of Penn Medicine’s Post-COVID Assessment and Recovery Clinic, said there is no reason to believe your immunity will wane any sooner after this new booster. “Everything we know about boosters for COVID, as well as for other vaccines, is that you’ll strengthen the long-term immunity ― the memory immunity ― with a booster,” Pekosz said. HuffPost Read more
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Half Of Adults Have Heard Little Or Nothing About New COVID Boosters, Survey Finds
The new, redesigned COVID booster, which now protects against Omicron and its extremely contagious subvariants, appears to have a visibility problem. Federal authorities authorized the shot at the end of August, but by mid- to late September, nearly half of adults had heard little or nothing about it, according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, based on the latest of its monthly surveys about attitudes toward the COVID vaccines. That could have troubling implications. The Biden administration has been touting the booster as a means of warding off a fresh fall or winter surge of the virus. NY Times Read more
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More Than 12.7 Billion COVID Shots Given Globally
Over a year into the biggest vaccination campaign in history, more than 12.7 billion doses have been administered across 184 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 7.07 million doses a day. In the U.S., 613 million doses have been given so far. During the last week, shots were administered at an average rate of 30,866 doses a day. Bloomberg Read more
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State/National/International News
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California COVID Sick Pay Is Now Extended Through Dec. 31, 2022. Here's How To Claim It
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COVID Might Have Changed People’s Personalities, Study Suggests
The impact of the COVID pandemic may have been so deep that it altered people’s personalities, according to research. Previously psychologists have failed to find a link between collective stressful events, such as earthquakes or hurricanes, and personality change. However, something about the losses experienced or simply the long grind of social isolation appears to have made an impact. “Younger adults became moodier and more prone to stress, less cooperative and trusting, and less restrained and responsible,” according to the authors of the study, led by Prof Angelina Sutin of Florida State University College of Medicine. The Guardian Read more
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Fatter People Suffer More From COVID. Scientists Maybe Closer To Figuring Out Why
The virus that causes COVID-19 can infect and replicate in fat cells, and cause inflammation in fat tissue, Stanford researchers found in a new study that could help explain why obese people are at higher risk for severe COVID. Since the early days of the pandemic, doctors and researchers have observed that people who are obese, across many ethnic groups, experience disproportionately bad COVID outcomes, including hospitalization, ICU admission, mechanical ventilation and death. But it wasn’t clear how or why. SF Chronicle Read more
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In a small study published in eBioMedicine, researchers from University College London show that a blood sample taken at the time of COVID-19 infection could predict who would develop persistent symptoms up to 1 year later by using precise measurements of proteins. To conduct the study, the researchers looked at blood plasma samples from 54 British healthcare workers who had a confirmed COVID-19 infection, taken every week for 6 weeks in the spring of 2020. Those samples were compared to samples from 102 healthcare workers who were not infected during the same period. Using targeted mass spectrometry, the researchers found abnormally elevated levels of 12 proteins out of the 91 studied among those infected by SARS-CoV-2. The degree of protein level elevation correlated to increased symptoms. They found that abnormal levels of 20 proteins, most related to anti-clotting and anti-inflammatory processes, were predictive of persistent symptoms 1 year after infection. CIDRAP Read more
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COVID Infections Rise By 14% In UK And Now Top A Million
COVID infections in the UK are rising and have topped more than one million, according to official estimates. There has been a 14% rise in people testing positive in the week to 20 September - the biggest increase since the summer. But there is no clear evidence of an autumn COVID wave starting, says the Office for National Statistics (ONS). More recent data showing a rise in hospital admissions with COVID has been called "a wake-up call". BBC Read more
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Doctors May Be Disciplined For Spreading COVID Lies
Doctors who spread coronavirus lies could be disciplined for unprofessional conduct in California under a law signed Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The bill, introduced by Democratic Assembly Member Evan Low, declares that a physician or surgeon commits professional misconduct if they disseminate “misinformation or disinformation” about the nature and risks of COVID-19, its prevention and treatment and the development, safety and effectiveness of vaccines. NBC Bay Area Read more
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How San Francisco Became A "Shining Star" In Facing Down Monkeypox
The number of people testing positive for monkeypox has plunged in California, with the seven-day average of new cases down about 95% since the peak of the outbreak in early August. Though health experts caution that the virus threat hasn’t disappeared, progress in fending it off so far constitutes a major public health success. The state has made great strides in reducing the spread of infections after about three months of rapid growth, thanks to improved access to vaccines — which were initially in critically short supply — and effective communication to the populations at greatest risk of catching the virus. “San Francisco is a shining star in all of this response,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UCSF. “The messaging here was very specific with interventions people can make.” SF Chronicle Read more
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Monkeypox Eradication Unlikely In The U.S. As Virus Could Spread Indefinitely, CDC Says
The monkeypox virus is unlikely to be eliminated from the U.S. in the near future, according to a report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week. The CDC, in a technical brief, said the outbreak is slowing as the availability of vaccines has increased, people have become more aware of how to avoid infection, and immunity has likely increased among gay and bisexual men, the group most impacted by the virus. CNBC Read more
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Total Confirmed Cases
Bay Area: 1,762,784
California: 11,266,623
U.S.: 96,402,381
Alameda County
Primary Vaccine Series and Boosted: 73.6%
Total Cases: 347,826
Total Deaths: 2,027
Test Positivity (7-day rate): 5.0%
Hospitalized Patients (as of 10/3): 73
ICU Beds Available (as of 10/3): 89
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Total Reported Deaths
Bay Area: 9,172
California: 95,965
U.S.: 1,059,651
Contra Costa County
Primary Vaccine Series and Boosted: 70.4%
Total Cases: 272,030
Total Deaths: 1,432
Test Positivity (7-day rate): 5.6%
Hospitalized Patients (as of 10/3):42
ICU Beds Available (as of 10/3): 49
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Is It A Cold? The Flu? Or COVID?
It starts with a sniffle, then it moves to a cough. Maybe you get a sore throat or achy muscles, or spike a fever. Is it a cold? Perhaps the flu? Could it be COVID? It’s been more than two years since COVID-19 burst on the scene, adding yet another virus-causing illness that could be to blame for your feeling crummy. After all, the common cold, the flu and COVID-19 share a similar list of symptoms. Further complicating the guessing game are the COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, which can fight off some of the disease’s most severe symptoms, making it even more difficult to identify the culprit behind a mild cough or scratchy throat. As we head into fall, when people head inside and respiratory viruses come out in full force, experts share some tips on how to distinguish among the different diseases and how to recover from each of them. 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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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Alameda County, cumulative
as of 10/3/2022
Oakland: 98,956
Hayward: 42,758
Fremont: 38,447
San Leandro: 21,307
Berkeley: 20,001
Eden MAC: 18,530
Livermore: 16,709
Union City: 15,331
Alameda: 12,925
Castro Valley: 12,361
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Contra Costa County, cumulative
as of 10/3/2022
Richmond: 37,589
Antioch: 34,509
Concord: 28,406
Pittsburg: 21,507
Brentwood: 17,827
San Pablo: 15,766
Walnut Creek: 14,621
San Ramon: 14,125
Oakley: 13,133
Martinez: 9,827
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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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