Eden Health District COVID-19 Bulletin
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“There is no widespread undetected community transmission in New Zealand. We have won that battle. But we must remain vigilant if we are to keep it that way.”
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand Prime Minister, 4/29/20
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Alameda County:
1,533
Contra Costa County:
842
California:
46,506
U.S.:
1,015,289
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Alameda County:
55
Contra Costa County:
25
California:
1,873
U.S.:
58,529
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We are 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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East Bay Times, April 29, 2020
On Wednesday, the
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
announced a $13.6 million collaboration between the region’s top research institutions that will measure the disease’s future trajectory in our region. Starting next month, the consortium of UC San Francisco, Stanford University and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a research center that brings together scientists from UCSF, Stanford and UC Berkeley, will conduct two long-term studies. The first project will test a broad, representative population of 4,000 residents of six Bay Area counties between May and December. Once a month, participants will take tests for both the virus and the antibodies that indicate past infections.The second study, focused on 3,500 Bay Area healthcare workers, will examine the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare systems and their workforce.
City Press Release, April 28, 2020
Specifically trained firefighter-paramedics and health clinicians tested nearly 4,500 people for coronavirus infection during the first five weeks of operation of the City of Hayward’s COVID-19 Testing Center, the City announced today. Of a total of 4,497 people tested between March 23 and April 26, slightly over 11 percent were positive for the coronavirus.
Berkeleyside, April 28, 2020
The city of Berkeley will soon be distributing $1.7 million to 352 businesses and 47 arts organizations to help them weather the financial downturn caused by the COVID-19 crisis. More than 1,050 businesses with fewer than 50 employees and 70 arts nonprofits applied for the grants, which were part of the $3 million Berkeley put into the
Berkeley Relief Fund
. More funds will soon be granted to renters, and a second round of grants for businesses and arts groups will be made in the near future.
East Bay Times, April 29, 2020
Three more hotels are set to become available for the homeless to temporarily shelter if they show symptoms of coronavirus as a way for them to stay indoors and help stop the spread of the illness. The hotels, which Alameda County supervisors unanimously approved agreements with on Tuesday, are the Quality Inn in Oakland, the Marina Village Inn in Alameda, and La Quinta Inn in Berkeley.
Mission Local, April 29, 2020
In the wake of 24 staffers and formerly homeless residents testing positive for COVID-19 at Casa Quezada in the Mission District last week, advocates say scores of single room occupancy (SRO) hotels could be experiencing similar outbreaks without our knowing. These hotels, approximately 400 that serve some 14,000 San Francisco residents, have become blind spots, they say, lacking mass onsite testing.
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STAT, April 29, 2020
A government-run study of Gilead’s
remdesivir
, perhaps the most closely watched experimental drug to treat the novel coronavirus, showed that the medicine is effective against Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Gilead made the announcement in a statement Wednesday, stating: “We understand that the trial has met its primary endpoint.” The company said that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is conducting the study, will provide data at an upcoming briefing. The finding, although difficult to fully characterize without any data for the study, would represent the first treatment shown to improve outcomes in coronavirus patients.
Ed Yong, The Atlantic, April 29, 2020
In a pandemic characterized by extreme uncertainty, one of the few things experts know for sure is the identity of the pathogen responsible: a virus called SARS-CoV-2 that is closely related to the original SARS virus. But much else about the pandemic is still maddeningly unclear. Why do some people
get really sick
, but others do not?
Are the models
too optimistic or too pessimistic? Exactly how
transmissible
and deadly is the virus? Ed Yong, one the nation's leading science writers, provides answers to these questions.
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Kaiser Health Network, April 28, 2020
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently said
lower-grade
surgical masks are “an acceptable alternative” to N95 masks unless workers are performing an intubation or another procedure on a COVID patient that could unleash a high volume of virus particles. But scholars, nonprofit leaders and former regulators in the specialized field of occupational safety say relying on surgical masks, which are considerably less protective than N95 respirators, is almost certainly fueling illness among front-line health workers, who likely make
up about 11%
of all known COVID-19 cases.
Washington Post, April 28, 2020
Experts agree that HEPA filters are highly effective at capturing everything from viruses to skin flakes. But that is only part of the picture. The problem is passengers can still breathe in tiny floating droplets from a coughing passenger seated nearby, before the air carrying those droplets can be vented out of the cabin and filtered.
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EHD Distributes Face Masks
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This week
the Eden Health District began the free distribution
of 100,000 KN 95 masks. Over 60,000 masks have already been provided to Eden Area first responders, health care providers, nonprofit organizations and essential workers, with the remaining masks to be delivered within the next week.
“Obtaining FDA-certified face masks has been a daunting challenge for many of the outstanding local agencies and nonprofit organizations that treat COVID-19 patients and those most vulnerable to becoming infected with the coronavirus,” stated Eden Health District CEO Mark Friedman.
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The District provided 10,000 masks to First 5 Alameda County for distribution to a wide range of community-based organizations and the county’s childcare resource and referral agencies. In the above photo are, left to right, Maria Hasse
l (
BANANAS
), Vanessa Dilks (
Hively
), Lanikque Howard (
First 5 Alameda
), Mark Friedman, and Celia Goetz (
4Cs of Alameda County
).
“We appreciate Eden Health District’s partnership. Our childcare workforce and community partners perform critical work to keep our society going,” Kristin Spanos, CEO of Alameda First 5, stated. “We’re relying on them to care for children of essential workers and to provide a vital link to food and emergency supplies for the public, especially children and families. It’s important that we prioritize their health and safety.”
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Politico, April 29, 2020
California schools could welcome back students this summer and retail and manufacturing businesses could reopen in the coming weeks, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday as he offered his most concrete glimpse yet of what a gradual reopening may look like. With health care capacity and hospitalizations stabilizing, Newsom said the state is "weeks, not months" away from making “meaningful modifications” to a statewide order that has relegated Californians to their homes for nearly six weeks.
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State website, April 28, 2020
Click the link above to see the Gov. Newsom's slide presentation yesterday.
Cal Matters, April 28, 2020
Click the link below for a summary of Gov. Newsom's roadmap.
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Cal Matters, April 28, 2020
California could reopen for an earlier school year, perhaps as soon as late July, to make up for lost learning time, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced today in laying out a course for easing his shelter-in-place order. Pointing to the state’s stable
hospitalization data
, the governor delivered hopeful news for throngs of parents struggling with distance learning. School administrators shared Newsom’s concern about lost learning but suggested a lot more work still has to happen before reopening schools.
SF Chronicle, April 28, 2020
Schools across California face a devastating fiscal future, with a loss in revenue of $1,400 per student, or more, state education experts said Tuesday. That figure is perhaps optimistic. With the state heading into what could be a severe recession, the loss may be closer to $2,000 per student, a 15% reduction from the current funding level of $13,000. That will likely mean larger class sizes, layoffs, furloughs, pay cuts and other ways to curb spending, officials said.
Sacramento Bee, April 28, 2020
Residents of long-term care homes in California make up nearly 40 percent of the COVID-19 deaths in the state, new public health data shows, making skilled nursing and assisted living facilities by far the deadliest hotspots in the coronavirus pandemic. The numbers could be higher because the current ones only include those “known by the facility” and might not include deaths that occurred after a resident was transferred to a hospital or private home.
Associated Press, April 28, 2020
Three million surgical masks arrived in California as the first shipment in a major deal cut by Gov. Gavin Newsom for 200 million masks a month to protect health care and other workers from the coronavirus. The weekend shipment came as part of a $104.7 million payment under a $1 billion contract with Chinese company BYD. California expects to get 500 million masks over 2.5 months under the contract, and about 75% will be N95 masks.
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Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2020
The U.S. economy shrank at a 4.8% annual pace in the first quarter as the coronavirus pandemic pushed the U.S. toward a near-certain recession. The decline in seasonally and inflation-adjusted gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, was the steepest quarterly contraction since the last recession and signaled the end of the longest expansion on record.
The Hill, April 28, 2020
The coronavirus death toll in the U.S. officially exceeds the number of fatalities during the Vietnam War.
Johns Hopkins University’s
death toll in the country reached 58,351 as of Tuesday night, surpassing the 58,220 who died during the Vietnam War that lasted almost 20 years, according to the
National Archives
. The coronavirus has also killed many more people per day, with the daily death toll passing 2,000 eight days during April so far. The deadliest day of the Vietnam War occurred on Jan. 31, 1968, the day of the Tet Offensive, when 246 U.S. people were killed.
NY Times, April 28, 2020
The Mayo Clinic, the renowned medical center in Minnesota, has a clear policy in place during the coronavirus outbreak that any visitor should wear a protective face mask.
The vice president, who leads the White House’s coronavirus task force, said that masks were meant to prevent the spread of the virus and that he was tested regularly and does not have it. Even in coronavirus patients who show symptoms, diagnostic tests may detect the virus only 75 percent of the time, said Dr. Mark Loeb, a microbiologist and infectious disease specialist at McMaster University, and it is unclear how sensitive the tests are in asymptomatic cases.
Texas Tribune, April 28, 2020
Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to
reo
p
en
Texas will allow some businesses, like retail stores, restaurants, movie theaters and malls to open as early as Friday, with new rules outlined by the governor's taskforce. Abbott also said a second wave of openings and looser restrictions that will include barbershops, hair salons, bars and gyms could go into effect as early as May 18, as long as the state sees "two weeks of data to confirm no flare-up of COVID-19.
Miami Herald, April 28, 2020
Florida’s Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed there were 83 new deaths announced, the highest reported on a single day, bringing the statewide death toll to 1,171. Despite the daily reports of new cases and deaths, social distancing measures have begun to ease across Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis says the state’s coronavirus curve has flattened and he is looking to slowly reopen the state’s economy.
13MAZ-TV (CBS affiliate in Georgia), April 28, 2020
A
COVID-19 simulator
predicts a second wave of cases in Georgia this summer based on easing restrictions. “We are expecting the spike to come in about two to three months after the restrictions are lifted," Turgay Ayer, a Health Systems Engineering Professor at Georgia Tech, says. In the worst-case scenario, the simulator estimates Georgia will see more than 23,000 deaths by August if restrictions were lifted in four for more weeks.
Daily Beast, April 28, 2020
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Heroes Wear Scrubs: USCF Medical Professionals in NYC
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When Emergency Medicine Professor Clement Yeh, part of UCSF’s team of 20 healthcare professional working in New York City, volunteered for the project, he had no idea what was in store. "I don't think anyone has seen anything like this before," said Dr. Yeh. "We have been utilizing every space and they have managed to mobilize and care for people all over the hospital.”
Yeh's biggest concern is getting sick himself, but his overriding feeling is one of gratitude for being able to help on the frontlines in the epicenter of the outbreak. Source:
ABC7 News
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Financial Times, April 28, 2020
Mass testing has managed to stem the death toll in one of Europe's most heavily populated nations.
Huffington Post, April 28, 2020
On Monday at 11:59 p.m. local time, New Zealand lifted its strict lockdown. “There is no widespread undetected community transmission in New Zealand. We have won that battle,” said the country’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, on Monday. “But we must remain vigilant if we are to keep it that way.” Ardern has led the way in embracing science and has a good
relationship with her public health officials
. On their advice, New Zealand pursued a policy of elimination, rather than mitigation, which meant the country shut down businesses and its borders when there were around 100 coronavirus cases and before any deaths. Meanwhile other countries, such as the U.S. and the U.K., stepped up restrictions only as the impacts of the pandemic worsened.
Japan Times, April 28, 2020
So what is the Japan model? First, it is a cluster-based approach. It posits that the explosive increase in infected persons is a result of the high transmissibility of certain infected individuals, which forms a cluster. Infected individuals with even higher transmissibility appear from these clusters to form more clusters and infect many others.
BBC, April 28, 2020
Spain has announced a four-phase plan to lift its stringent coronavirus lockdown and return to a "new normality" by the end of June. Spain's coronavirus outbreak has so far killed almost 24,000 people. The country has endured some of the world's toughest containment measures since 14 March, with children banned from going outside for six weeks.
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Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2020
The 2009 swine flu, an outbreak of H1N1 flu, turned out to be a dry run for a major pandemic. But neither hospitals nor manufacturers nor the government made sweeping changes to be ready for one. Instead, each part of the medical-industrial equation acted in its own interest, and didn’t set aside resources that might have better prepared America for the coronavirus crisis. Each ignored warnings of shortages of protective equipment in case of a pandemic, shortages that handicapped the struggle against the virus early on and continue today.
NY Times, April 28, 2020
A disregard for scientific advice has been a defining characteristic of President Trump’s administration. As the nation confronts one of its worst public health disasters in generations, a moment that demands a leader willing to marshal the full might of the American scientific establishment, the White House is occupied by a president whose administration, critics say, has diminished the conclusions of scientists in formulating policy, who personally harbors a suspicion of expert knowledge, and who often puts his political instincts ahead of the facts.
Bloomberg, April 28, 2020
On Sunday, the director of emergency medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital died by suicide after treating virus patients and falling ill herself. She belonged to a legion of health-care workers trying to save people in a pandemic unprecedented in our lifetimes, and the consequences for those workers may be unprecedented as well. With no proven cures, they witness patients die at rates rarely seen in civilian medicine. They deliver the news to grieving families who are not permitted inside for fear of spreading the virus.
The Guardian, April 28, 2020
Carl Bergstrom is uniquely suited to understanding the current moment. A professor of biology at the University of Washington, he has spent his career studying two seemingly disparate topics: emerging infectious diseases and networked misinformation. They merged into one the moment reports of a mysterious respiratory illness emerged from China in January.
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Map of Alameda County COVID-19 Cases
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A
new, interactive map
released by Alameda County shows the geographic spread of COVID-19 cases by zip code.
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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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Your feedback is welcome. Please share the Bulletin.
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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,
please contact bulletin editor Stephen Cassidy at
stephen.cassidy@ethd.org
. And if you are operating a local food bank and would like your organization profiled in our nonprofit spotlight, please contact us.
The
Eden Health District Board of Directors
are Gordon Galvan, Chair, Mariellen Faria, Vice Chair, Charles Gilcrest, Secretary, Roxann Lewis and Pam Russo. The Chief Executive Officer is Mark Friedman.
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