COVID-19
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What To Expect From BUSD’s COVID-19 Policies This School Year
Students will return to Berkeley classrooms Aug. 15 amid an ongoing surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the contagious Omicron sub-variant BA.5. The city’s case rates are “higher than (they have) been at some other points in the pandemic, but we are ready,” district spokesperson Trish McDermott said during a board meeting Wednesday night. She said the district’s goal “is to get back as much as we possibly can to those pre-COVID practices.” McDermott used the California Department of Public Health’s latest COVID-19 guidance for schools to characterize the district’s response to the pandemic. Berkeleyside Read more
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COVID Cases In This Summer's BA.5 Surge Most Concentrated In San Francisco's Southern Neighborhoods
According to data from the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH), Bayview/Hunters Point continued to be a hot spot of COVID infection — and re-infection — in this summer's surge, and the highest concentrations of cases were in the southern part of the city overall. By the official count, San Francisco saw around 22,000 new cases of COVID between May 31 and July 30 this year, driven by the highly infectious BA.5 variant. Some UCSF researchers have recently suggested that 80% of new COVID cases are going uncounted, due to general apathy and the prevalence of at-home testing, so that could mean that the true case count in SF is closer to 100,000 in the last two months. SFist Read more
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Bay Area COVID Sewage Surveillance Labs Join The Hunt For Monkeypox
The same wastewater surveillance techniques that have emerged as a critical tool in early detection of COVID-19 outbreaks are being adapted for use in monitoring the startling spread of monkeypox across the San Francisco Bay Area and some other U.S. communities. Before the COVID pandemic, wastewater sludge was thought to hold promise as an early indicator of community health threats, in part because people can excrete genetic evidence of infectious diseases in their feces, often before they develop symptoms of illness. Israel has for decades monitored wastewater for polio. But before COVID, such risk monitoring in the U.S. was limited largely to academic pursuits. NPR Read more
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COVID Vaccine/Treatment News |
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Fauci Has A Stark Warning For You: Get Those COVID Vaccines And Boosters Now, Or You’re "Going To Get Into Trouble"
Anyone who hasn’t had all their COVID vaccination shots could be in for a difficult time as the colder seasons approach and the virus continues to spread, America’s top doctor has warned. “There are enough people who don’t fall into (high-risk) categories, that if they don’t get vaccinated, if they don’t get boosted, they’re going to get into trouble,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical adviser said last Tuesday. Almost 80% of the U.S. population has been given at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, but only two-thirds of Americans have received their second shot and less than half have had their booster dose, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Yahoo! Read more
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Should You Get Another COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Now Or Wait For The New Shots?
You counted the days until your vaccine appointment, posted a selfie with a bandage on your arm, and diligently came back weeks later for the follow-up shot, already making plans to enjoy hot vax summer. But new COVID-19 variants stepped out of the shadows, and health officials recommended that everyone get a booster dose. You got yours and thought you were done. Then Omicron spawned its own subvariants that started infecting people even if they already had COVID-19 and their boosters. So, do you need another COVID-19 shot? For many people, right now, the unsatisfactory answer is “it depends.” VOX Read more
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Lukewarm Interest In COVID-19 Vaccine For Kids Under 5
U.S. health officials hailed the recent authorization of COVID-19 vaccines for very young children as a pandemic milestone — making the protective shots available to Americans of any age. But despite the rapid spread of the virus, few parents have rushed to get their infants, toddlers and preschoolers jabbed. As of Aug. 3, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that nationwide, just 4% of the 19 million U.S. children under age 5 have received a first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines since the agency recommended the shots on June 18. Mercury News Read more
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COVID-19 Research Reveals Additional Link Between Immune System And Blood Clots
Blood clots are thought to occur in as many as a third of patients hospitalized with COVID-19. In many cases, these clots can be deadly, such as pulmonary embolisms—blood clots that travel to the lungs. In fact, in nearly one-third of patients with COVID-19, these clots led to death. An abnormal immune response is thought to be the primary driver of severe COVID-19. One protein, called soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor, or suPAR, circulates in the blood and originates from immune cells. It has been shown to play a major role in complications of COVID-19. SciTechDaily Read more
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Cognitive Rehab May Help Older Adults Clear COVID-Related Brain Fog
Eight months after falling ill with COVID-19, the 73-year-old woman couldn’t remember what her husband had told her a few hours before. She would forget to remove laundry from the dryer at the end of the cycle. She would turn on the tap at a sink and walk away. Before COVID, the woman had been doing bookkeeping for a local business. Now, she couldn’t add single-digit numbers in her head. Was it the earliest stage of dementia, unmasked by COVID? No. When a therapist assessed the woman’s cognition, her scores were normal. What was going on? Like many people who’ve contracted COVID, this woman was having difficulty sustaining attention, organizing activities, and multitasking. She complained of brain fog. She didn’t feel like herself.
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State/National/International News |
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California Passes 10 Million COVID Cases. Could The Real Total Be Four Times That?
California this week crossed over 10 million official COVID-19 cases. So does that mean nearly 3 out of 4 of the Golden State’s 39 million residents actually have avoided the virus so far? No way, experts say. There likely have been 44.6 million COVID cases in the Golden State since early 2020, according to estimates from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in Seattle. That’s nearly 5 million more than the state’s population. And the high-end of the institute’s modeling says California could have had up to 52 million infections. But because many cases are asymptomatic, and most were not confirmed with a PCR test, the bulk of cases go uncounted. Mercury News Read more
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Biden Leaves White House For 1st Time Since Getting COVID-19
Ending his most recent COVID-19 isolation, President Joe Biden on Sunday left the White House for the first time since becoming infected with the coronavirus last month, settling in for a reunion with first lady Jill Biden in their home state of Delaware. The president tested negative Saturday and Sunday, according to his doctor, clearing the way for him to emerge from an isolation that lasted longer than expected because of a rebound case of the virus. "He will safety return to public engagement and presidential travel," Dr. Kevin O'Connor wrote. ABC7 News Read more
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What Is BA.4.6? The CDC Is Tracking A New COVID "Variant Of Concern" That’s Overtaking Earlier Omicron Strains In At Least 4 U.S. States
New lineages of the Omicron COVID variant, like BA.4 and BA.5, are helping spark a wave of reinfections, as people who previously caught COVID-19 contract COVID again. Now the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is tracking a new “variant of concern”: BA.4.6. This week, the CDC included the BA.4 spinoff in its weekly tracking of COVID cases, with the agency’s chief data officer tweeting that the new subvariant had actually been “circulating for several weeks” in the U.S. The CDC designates strains as “variants of concern” if they display greater transmissibility, reduced effectiveness of treatment, increased severity, or decreased neutralization by antibodies. According to the CDC, BA.4.6 made up 4.1% of COVID cases for the week ending July 30. The new variant is more prevalent in the region comprising Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, where it makes up 10.7% of local cases. The mid-Atlantic region and the South are also seeing rates of BA.4.6 above the national average. Fortune Read more
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Scientists Fear We’re Not Ready For Nightmare New COVID Variant
A wave of COVID infections caused by the BA.5 subvariant has crested. All over the world, daily new cases, hospitalizations and deaths are going down. But the SARS-CoV-2 virus is almost certainly here to stay. Another wave is all but inevitable as new variants and subvariants mutate, compete for dominance, and find new transmission pathways. How fast that wave comes, and how bad it gets, probably comes down to a genetic competition between different mutations of the novel coronavirus. If we get lucky, a mild form of the virus wins out—and buys us time to prepare for a worse form of the virus that’s almost certainly coming, sooner or later. The Daily Beast Read more
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How Many Times Can You Get Reinfected With COVID? Here's What Experts Say
For many of those who have tested positive for COVID-19 this summer, this isn't their first rodeo. In California, new data released by state officials showed that one out of every seven new cases in July was a reinfection. New York health officials have recorded 328,100 cumulative reinfections and 5.77 million infections — suggesting about 5.6 percent of cases are second-time infections. (Reinfections are not tracked at the federal level.) Unlike summer 2020 — when researchers believed that it was unlikely someone could get the coronavirus twice — so-called re-infections are considered to be the "new normal." New subvariants of omicron are considered particularly adept at re-infecting those who've had previous infections. Salon Read more
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Climate Change Is Supercharging Most Infectious Diseases, New Study Finds
More than half of all human infectious diseases in recorded history — Lyme, West Nile, hantavirus, typhoid, HIV and influenza, to name a few — have been exacerbated by the mounting impacts of greenhouse gas-driven climate change. That is the sobering conclusion of a new, first-of-its-kind paper that combed through more than 70,000 scientific studies to pinpoint how an array of climate hazards have impacted 375 pathogenic diseases known to have impacted humans. A team of 11 researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa conducted the analysis, which was published Monday in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Climate Change. HuffPost Read more
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Could Genetics Be The Key To Never Getting The Coronavirus?
Last Christmas, as the Omicron variant was ricocheting around the United States, Mary Carrington unknowingly found herself at a superspreader event—an indoor party, packed with more than 20 people, at least one of whom ended up transmitting the virus to most of the gathering’s guests. After two years of avoiding the coronavirus, Carrington felt sure that her time had come: She’d been holding her great-niece, who tested positive soon after, “and she was giving me kisses,” Carrington told me. But she never caught the bug. “And I just thought, Wow, I might really be resistant here.” She wasn’t thinking thinking about immunity, which she had thanks to multiple doses of a COVID vaccine. Rather, perhaps via some inborn genetic quirk, her cells had found a way to naturally repel the pathogen's assaults instead.
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How Long Does Coronavirus Stay In The Air After Someone With COVID Leaves The Room?
The dynamics of aerosol transmission are complicated, and each indoor setting is different, involving a large number of variables. Generally, it’s true that once an infected person leaves the room, “the concentration of virus-laden aerosol particles in the room will decline,” said Richard Corsi, dean of U.C. Davis’ College of Engineering, who has extensive knowledge about indoor air quality. Beyond that, it quickly gets very complicated. The length of time the virus remains in the air depends on a number of factors, including the size of the droplet or aerosol carrying the virus, and the amount of clutter and air motion in the room, according to an aerosol protection FAQ by nearly a dozen experts from universities across the world, including Corsi. SF Chronicle Read more
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Australia’s Bad Flu Season Is A Warning For The U.S. This Year
The U.S. may be in for a severe flu season this year if trends in the Southern Hemisphere — historically a seasonal harbinger for the U.S. — hold true. It isn't the first time since the COVID pandemic began that experts have warned of a bad flu season or even a "twindemic": a bad flu season on top of a winter surge of COVID. But so far, that hasn't materialized. What makes this year different, however, is that flu is surging in Australia for the first time since the pandemic began. Flu season in Australia can be an indication of what's to come in the U.S. NBC News Read more
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COVID Lockdown Strands 80,000 Tourists In "China's Hawaii"
Around 80,000 tourists are stranded in the popular resort city of Sanya on China's tropical Hainan island after authorities announced lockdown measures to stem an outbreak of COVID-19. Public transportation was suspended and people's movements inside the city were restricted from early Saturday morning, authorities said. Stranded tourists are required to stay for seven days and clear five COVID-19 tests before leaving. The restrictions come at the height of the summer tourism season for the island province, a popular destination often called China's Hawaii for its sandy beaches, tropical forests and high-end hotels. CNN Read more
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U.S. Declares Monkeypox A Public Health Emergency
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Thursday declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency as cases continue to spread rapidly across the country — including in California — at a faster rate than previous smaller outbreaks of the disease. “We are prepared to take our response to the next level,” Becerra said. A Public Health Emergency declaration frees up more funding for fighting a disease and makes it easier to gather data and coordinate a response. It comes amid criticism of a U.S. response seen as inadequate as cases spread rapidly, mostly among gay men. East Bay Times Read more
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Sex, "Casual Contact," Pimples: A California Monkeypox Guide, Separating Fact And Fiction
With local, state and national officials declaring emergencies over the monkeypox outbreak and a scramble for vaccines spurring long lines — and waits — in many U.S. cities, the latest updates about the rare virus can seem overwhelming and, well, confusing. But experts say it’s important to remember that monkeypox is a known disease that is rarely deadly (unlike the coronavirus) and already has an approved vaccine and treatment. That’s not to say there aren’t real concerns about the outbreak, including a vaccine shortage, rapidly rising infections and the fact that one community — men who have had sex with men — remains most at-risk. LA Times Read more
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Total Confirmed Cases
Bay Area: 1,686,449
California: 10,810,291
U.S.: 92,113,982
Alameda County
Primary Vaccine Series Completed: 82.5%
Total Cases: 333,231
Total Deaths: 1,968
Test Positivity (7-day rate): 12.9%
Hospitalized Patients (as of 8/8): 161
ICU Beds Available (as of 8/8): 87
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Total Reported Deaths
Bay Area: 8,806
California: 93,816
U.S.: 1,033,559
Contra Costa County
Primary Vaccine Series Completed: 82.9%
Total Cases: 240,473
Total Deaths: 1,381
Test Positivity (7-day rate): 14.3%
Hospitalized Patients (as of 8/8): 114
ICU Beds Available (as of 8/8): 41
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Back-to-School COVID-19 And Monkeypox Safety Tips From UCSF
Dr. George Rutherford, UCSF Professor of Epidemiology shares what parents and students can keep in mind as the school year kicks off this month. KRON4 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 8/8/2022
Oakland: 95,005
Hayward: 40,970
Fremont: 36,406
San Leandro: 20,197
Berkeley: 19,199
Eden MAC: 17,950
Livermore: 15,967
Union City: 14,551
Alameda: 12,211
Castro Valley:11,844
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Top 10 Locations of Cases in
Contra Costa County, cumulative
as of 8/8/2022
Richmond: 33,587
Antioch: 30,864
Concord: 26,016
Pittsburg: 19,762
Brentwood: 14,352
San Pablo: 14,174
Walnut Creek: 13,056
San Ramon: 12,130
Oakley: 11,638
Martinez: 8,385
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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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