Eden Health District COVID-19 Bulletin
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"This phase is one where science – public health, not politics, must be the guide."
Gov. Gavin Newsom, April 14, 2020
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Alameda County:
884
Contra Costa County:
600
California:
25,808
U.S.:
610,744
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Alameda County:
23
Contra Costa County:
12
California:
790
U.S.:
26,119
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The Eden Health District is proud to partner with the
East Bay Community Foundation
in publishing this bulletin. Through donations to its
COVID-19 Response Fund,
the EBCF provides grants to East Bay nonprofit organizations delivering essential services to those most impacted by the economic fallout from the pandemic.
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LA Times, April 14, 2020
Eleven residents of the Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center in Hayward who tested positive for the coronavirus have died, according to the Alameda County Public Health Department. Additionally, 40 residents and 25 staff members at the nursing home have tested positive in the COVID-19 outbreak plaguing the facility At another facility, East Bay Post-Acute of Castro Valley, one resident who tested positive has died. Twenty-three staff members and 22 residents there have tested positive as of Tuesday.
East Bay Citizen, April 14, 2020
Long-time Chabot-Las Positas Community College District Trustee Dr. Marshall Mitzman has died, according to a number of elected officials, who offered their condolences on social media on Tuesday afternoon. Mitzman was a patient at the Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center in Hayward that is the epicenter of Alameda County’s largest outbreak of Covid-19.
Facebook, April 14, 2020
"
Today Hayward mourns the passing of Dr. Marshall Mitzman. I met Dr. Mitzman 20 years ago and we have been good friends since. . . .
A steady leader, a thoughtful policy maker, and he always puts students front and center of his work. Dr. Mitzman talked the talk and walked the walk when it came to equity."
San Leandro to Distribute $135,000 in Temporary Assistance to Local Food Providers
Press Release [sent by email], April 14, 2020
San Leandro
is releasing $135,000 in emergency funding to nine San Leandro-based non-profit organizations that provide large-scale food relief to the general public. “We are fortunate to have a network of local non-profits that are providing food where it is most needed,” stated Mayor Pauline Cutter. Many of these providers are facing a surge in demand. "That’s why our City is stepping up to support our local emergency food network so that San Leandrans can put food on the table for themselves and their families during this crisis,” Mayor Cutter added.
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CNN, April 14, 2020
Antibody tests, also known as serology tests, aren't meant to diagnose active coronavirus infections. Rather, they check for proteins in the immune system, known as antibodies, through a blood sample. Their presence means a person was exposed to the virus and developed antibodies against it, which may mean that person has at least some immunity, although experts are not sure how strong the immunity may be or even how long it will last. In contrast, diagnostic testing, so far, has mostly used a laboratory technique known as a polymerase chain reaction test or a PCR test. These tests can diagnose active infections through a sample, usually from a nose swab, that is then tested for viral genetic material.
Bloomberg, April 14, 2020
As the number of new Covid-19 cases each day begins to slow in parts of the U.S. and states consider rolling back social-distancing measures, a huge unknown remains: Who has become immune to the disease — and for how long?
Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2020
As Covid-19 cases mount, doctors are seeing patients who are experiencing symptoms like seizures, hallucinations and loss of smell and taste.
Politico, April 13, 2020
Concerns about the accuracy and availability of serological tests, which detect whether a person has ever been exposed to the virus, and are different from the tests used to diagnose the disease, could hamper plans to allow Americans back to work and school. More than 90 antibody tests are now on the market, but only one has been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. The others “may not be as accurate as we’d like,” agency chief Stephen Hahn said Sunday.
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Seniors: Be on Alert for COVID-19 Related Scams and Frauds
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Scammers are using the pandemic as a means to obtain confidential and personal information from California seniors. Any unsolicited phone call or visit from someone claiming to work for or with Medicare and seeking your Medicare or social security number is a red alert that the person is engaged in a fraud.
In one widespread scheme, the
Los Angeles Times reports
, fraudsters call Medicare beneficiaries at home, knock on their doors or approach them in the parking lots of grocery stores and pharmacies, then offer them home-test kits for COVID-19 or packages of hand sanitizer, masks and other protective equipment.
What they’re after, explains Timothy DeFrancesca, a special agent with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Inspector General, is personal information such as Medicare numbers, which they can use to bill the federal government for procedures that aren’t performed and costly equipment that isn’t needed. The scammers aren’t constrained by ripping off only Medicare, DeFrancesca adds; armed with this information, “they could use it for any sort of financial fraud scheme.”
Another common scheme,
CNN reports
, involve phone calls from a person claiming to be a hospital or
health care official. The caller states that a relative is in the hospital with coronavirus. The caller then insists upon obtaining the call recipient's credit card information to pay the hospital bill.
Finally, there has been a surge in individuals and companies advertising and selling products claimed to be a cure or treatment for the coronavirus. Currently, no
consumer or over-the-counter health products have been found to treat or prevent the virus.
Yesterday, the
Federal Trade Commission announced
it has sent
sent
10 letters
warning companies, both in the United States and abroad, to cease making unsubstantiated claims that their products can treat or prevent coronavirus disease. The companies receiving warning letters sell everything from a bundle of supplements called an “ANTI-VIRUS KIT” to “Sonic Silicone Face Brushes” and intravenous (IV) “therapies” with high doses of Vitamin C. While some letters challenge products sold online, others challenge purported treatments offered in clinics or even at a consumer’s home.
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LA Times, April 14, 2020
Governor Newsom highlighted six key indicators for altering his stay-home mandate, including the ability to closely monitor and track potential cases, prevent infection of high-risk people, increase surge capacity at hospitals, develop therapeutics and ensure physical distance at schools, businesses and child care facilities.
Mercury News, April 15, 2020
Answers to common questions on what Gov. Newsom's six factors for re-opening California mean.
SF Chronicle, April 14, 2020
California will need to restructure daily life and dramatically bolster its public health resources in the coming weeks, or possibly months, before it can lift a statewide stay-at-home order. But even when the lockdown measures are modified, Gov. Newsom warned, life will be “anything but” normal.
Associated Press, April 15, 2020
Staggered school start times. Class sizes cut in half. Social distancing in the hallways and cafeteria. These are a few of the possible scenarios for California schools that Gov. Gavin Newsom laid out as part of a roadmap for reopening the state amid the coronavirus.
SF Chronicle, April 14, 2020
Gov. Gavin Newsom painted an eerie picture of restaurant dining
during a newsconference on Tuesday
, leading chefs and restaurateurs to think more critically about the reopening of the industry while the coronavirus keeps people at home.
CalMatters, April 13, 2020
SF Chronicle, April 14, 2020
The California Department of Motor Vehicles is extending all driver’s licenses expiring from March through May amid the coronavirus pandemic. Drivers younger than 70 whose licenses are expiring will now have them valid through May 31, 2020. The DMV previously extended expiring licenses of drivers 70 and older for 120 days.
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Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2020
President Trump said the U.S. would halt funding to the World Health Organization while his administration investigates what he called the group’s mismanagement of the coronavirus response. The president faulted the WHO for, in his view, failing to adequately investigate early information about the virus’s ability to spread from one human to another and for not calling out China on its alleged lack of transparency over the virus.
NY Times, April 14, 2020
New York City, already a world epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, sharply increased its death toll by more than 3,700 victims on Tuesday, after officials said they were now including people who had never tested positive for the virus but were presumed to have died of it. The new figures, released by the city’s Health Department,
drove up the number of people killed in New York City to more than 10,000
,
and appeared to increase the overall United States death count by 17 percent to more than 26,000
.
Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2020
Governors across the U.S. asserted their authority to reopen their states’ economies, outlining plans to slowly roll back emergency orders, and President Trump appeared to tone down his previous comments about being the final decision maker on reopening the country. Mr. Trump at a news conference said he would soon speak with all governors to discuss guidelines for reopening, and he said he would defer to the state leaders.
STAT News, April 14, 2020
Unless a vaccine quickly becomes available,
intermittent periods of social distancing may need to persist into 2022 in the US to keep the surge of people severely sickened by Covid-19 from overwhelming the health care system. The study,
published Tuesday
in the journal Science, looked at a range of scenarios for how the coronavirus will spread over the next five years. Those scenarios included variables like whether people who are infected develop short-term immunity, less than a year, or longer-term protection. But, overall, the research concludes it is unlikely that life will return any time soon to the way it was before the virus’ emergence.
Bloomberg, April 2020
About 5.5 million people are estimated to have filed for unemployment last week, in data due out Thursday. That would push the four-week total above 22 million, roughly one-in-eight of the workforce -- essentially wiping out all the job gains since the last recession.
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Nonprofit Spotlight: Comida Para Cherryland
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A pantry run by volunteers, including members of
Congregation Shir Ami
in Castro Valley and
Eden Church
in Hayward
,
Comida Para Cherryland
addresses the food insecurity needs of residents of Cherryland, a portion of unincorporated Alameda County next to Hayward. With COVID-19, Comida is seeing the highest participation by families seeking food assistance in its eight years of operation. On Wednesday, April 8th, Comida served 900 clients in 1 hour.
In support of Comida, the Hayward Rotary has agreed to match community donations dollar for dollar up to $5,000 in donations. To make a tax deductible donation, please visit the Eden Church's website by
clicking here
and select "Comida Para Cherryland" in the drop down menu.
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LA Times, April 14, 2020
Just weeks ago, Singapore was a coronavirus success story. But the island city-state is now battling to control an enormous outbreak spreading among a population that officials had mostly overlooked: the migrant workers who form the vast but unseen engine of Singapore’s prosperity. COVID-19 cases in Singapore have tripled since the start of the month to more than 3,200, with most of the new infections found in laborers from India and Bangladesh who live in crowded, airless dormitories on the edges of the city-state.
April 14, 2020
Taiwan reported no new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, marking the first time authorities there have reported zero new cases in more than a month. Taiwan, with a population of around 23 million, has just 393 confirmed COVID-19 cases; six people have died from the disease. Because of its aggressive and early response to the coronavirus, Taiwan — like Hong Kong and
South Korea
— has been able to avoid lockdown measures and keep many schools, restaurants and offices open.
Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2020
Newly published figures show deaths linked to
the new coronavirus
in the U.K. have far exceeded preliminary estimates, adding to a growing body of evidence across Europe that closely watched daily death tallies don’t reveal the virus’s true toll. Behind the discrepancy are lags in recording some deaths that can stretch to a week or more, as well as deaths in nursing homes and other non-hospital settings that aren’t normally captured by rapid-fire estimates used to track the pandemic. Similar issues have complicated efforts to get an accurate read in France, Spain and Italy.
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April 14, 2020
"Halting funding for the World Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds. Their work is slowing the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace them. The world needs
@WHO
now more than ever."
Ed Yong, science writer, The Atlantic, April 14, 2020
The U.S. must abandon the question When do we go back to normal? It glosses over the ongoing nature of the coronavirus threat. There is no going back. The only way out is through—past a turbulent spring, across an unusual summer, and into an unsettled year beyond.
Britta Jewell & Nicholas Jewell, epidemiologists, NY Times, April 14, 2020
On March 16, the White House issued initial
social distancing
guidelines, including closing schools and avoiding groups of more than 10. Ninety percent of the forecast deaths in the US from Covid-19, might have been prevented by putting social distancing policies into effect two weeks earlier, on March 2, when there were only
11 deaths
in the entire country. The effect would have been substantial had the policies been imposed even one week earlier, on March 9, resulting in 60 percent reduction, or 23,000 deaths, from current projection of 60,000 deaths.
CBS News, April 14, 2020
"This is an infection that's going to be with us for a long time,"Gottlieb stated. "We're going to have to learn to live with some element of risk here, and I think we're going to face a bigger risk heading into the fall, as we go back to school as college campuses go back into session."
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Hayward Rotary Announces Total of $10,000 in Matching Donations to Local Food Pantries
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The Hayward Rotary has committed to match community donations of up to $5,000 each for the food pantry operations at the
South Hayward Parish
and Comida Para Cherryland (see Nonprofit Spotlight above). Club President Mike Cobb (in photo) stated,
"Hayward Rotary Club is proud to help support our community at this monumental time of need. We are happy to be able to help and hope that others will follow our lead and support these worthy causes."
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Donate PPE To Area Hospitals
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Hospitals throughout the East Bay are experiencing
a shortage of medical supplies. They are seeking donations of new Protective Personal Equipment (masks, gowns and other products). For more information visit:
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We Welcome Your Feedback and Please Share
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.
Please share our bulletin with your contacts. If you would like to submit feedback or stories on the local response to the pandemic you would like us to highlight, please contact Barbara Adranly, EHD Clerk, at
badranly@ethd.org.
And if you are operating a local food bank and would like your organization profiled in our nonprofit spotlight, please contact us.
We welcome additional subscribers to our free bulletin.
Please click here
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