If you walked across San Francisco today, you’d likely encounter more fully vaccinated people than partially and unvaccinated people combined. Fifty-four percent of San Franciscans were fully vaccinated as of May 18. That’s far more than the U.S. overall rate of 38%. It’s also higher than all U.S. counties with 250,000 people or more save three - Cumberland County in Maine, Dane County in Wisconsin, and neighboring Marin County, which topped the list at 60%. It’s not just San Francisco and Marin, though; most of the Bay Area is vaccinating residents at unusually high rates. Of the region’s eight counties with over 250,000 people, seven make it into the top 25 U.S. counties. Napa County, which has fewer than 250,000, also has a vaccination far above the national average. SF Chronicle Read more

For the first time since March 2020, San Francisco General Hospital has reported zero COVID-19 patients. The development last Thursday marked a major pandemic progress point for San Francisco and one of its biggest and best known hospitals. Officials said COVID-19 vaccinations were largely to thank. “This is a huge milestone in the pandemic to show the power of the effectiveness of the vaccines,” said Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at UCSF and medical director of the HIV Clinic at the hospital. “This milestone continues to assure us the epidemic in San Francisco is no longer a public health threat.” SF Chronicle Read more

In the parking lot of a small supermarket in South Hayward, a handful of volunteers with the Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center asked shoppers in Spanish if they had received the COVID-19 vaccine, and if not, encouraged them to book an appointment. One of the community health workers - known among Latino immigrants as promotoras - struck up a conversation with a woman who got out of a pickup truck holding a baby and a toddler dressed in pajamas. The woman, Mayra Contreras, said she was still deciding whether to get the shot, and needed more information. But she said her hands are full working as a babysitter and helping her own children keep up with virtual school at home. KQED Read more

The "Most Vaccinated Country in The World" Is Seeing a COVID Outbreak Should The Bay Area Be Worried?

Over the past two weeks, Seychelles - which has been dubbed “the most vaccinated country in the world” - has seen a spike in coronavirus cases, causing alarm and panic even among Americans who live more than 10,000 miles away. The archipelago in the Indian Ocean, with a population of about 98,000, has fully vaccinated more than 60% of its population, but it’s also seen its number of active COVID-19 cases nearly double over the past month. The country has closed schools and canceled activities to attempt to curb the spread. If a country with such a high vaccination rate can still see a COVID outbreak, what does that mean for even the highly vaccinated Bay Area? SF Chronicle Read more

NIAID director Anthony Fauci told the Washington Post leadership summit Thursday that if 70% of Americans get at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine by July 4, the U.S. could avoid a case surge later in the year. AXIOS Read more

Mercury News Read more

American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German company BioNTech have pledged to deliver 2 billion doses of their COVID-19 vaccine to middle- and low-income countries over the next 18 months. The companies, which together developed the first vaccine to be authorized for use in the United States and Europe, made the announcement Friday at a global health summit in Rome co-hosted by the European Union’s executive arm and Italy. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla says they expect to provide a billion of the doses this year and another billion in 2022. AP Read more

The Biden administration on Friday highlighted a new plan to encourage more people to get vaccinated: an effort by a number of popular dating apps that will encourage pent-up young singles to promote their vaccination status, as the promise of a maskless summer grows tantalizingly within reach. popular apps like Tinder, OkCupid, and Hinge - along with a suite of others, including BLK and Chispa, that cater to daters in specific communities - will add new features designed to reach a population of young people who may have been largely isolated from each other during the course of the pandemic, and will promote the idea that getting a shot could help users get a date. Tinder plans to launch a “Vaccine Center” to help users find nearby vaccination sites.

NY Times Read more

The push comes as employers are developing plans to bring back office workers after more than a year of remote work. There has been much debate about what the future of the office will look like, with some firms building elaborate barriers and spacing out work stations to avoid coronavirus spread. But the dramatic success of efforts to contain COVID-19 is changing the dynamics, with public health officials believing workers don’t need some of those protections in workspaces where everyone has gotten their shots. LA Times Read more

This time last year, the United States seemed stuck on a COVID-19 plateau. Although 1,300 Americans were dying from the disease every day, states had begun to reopen in a patchwork fashion, and an anxious nation was looking ahead to an uncertain summer. Twelve months later, the situation is very different. Cases are falling quickly. About half as many people are dying every day. Several vaccines were developed faster than experts had dared to predict, and proved to be more effective than they had dared to hope. Despite a shaky start, the vaccination campaign has been successful, and almost half of the country has received at least one shot, including 85 percent of people older than 65. As the pandemic rages on elsewhere in the world, the U.S. is eyeing a summer of reconnection and rejuvenation. The Atlantic Read more

Sources: Johns Hopkins University, SF Chronicle, and dashboards for California and Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

As Bay Area residents emerge from more than a year of COVID-19 lockdown, they’re considering how to reconnect safely with family and friends. As one might expect, diverging views on vaccines and safety are already leading to fraught conversations and awkward social situations. Experts in etiquette, mental health and interpersonal communications say there’s no need to get too stressed out or expect conflict. Rely instead on the core principles of etiquette and self-care to help navigate sensitive situations. Mercury News Read more