Eden Health District COVID-19 Bulletin
|
|
"The COVID-19 pandemic is hitting the African American community especially hard due to stark health disparities that were widespread well before this pandemic."
|
|
Alameda County:
2,178
Contra Costa County:
1,080
California:
73,143
U.S.:
1,398,393
|
|
Alameda County:
76
Contra Costa County:
33
California:
2,974
U.S.:
84,575
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
Eden Health District Assists City of Hayward to Continue and Strengthen Free COVID-19 Testing
|
|
|
|
Mark Friedman, CEO of the Eden Health District, announced today that the District has transferred $250,000 to the City of Hayward to underwrite the cost of operating its COVID-19 Testing Center through the remainder of May 2020.
The District has committed to consider additional funding to Hayward, if necessary, to extend testing operations through June 2020
.
The full press release is at the end of this Bulletin.
|
|
 |
Press Release, May 13, 2020
The City of Hayward will begin accepting applications today for rent relief assistance grants for Hayward residents facing economic hardship resulting from the COVID-19 public health emergency. The assistance grants are intended to support Hayward residents at greatest risk of displacement who are unable to pay rent due to loss of income or increased medical or childcare costs attributable to the emergency. The grants will be paid to landlords on behalf of qualifying low-income tenants to reduce financial burden on tenants and ensure landlords receive revenue needed to maintain rental housing services.
SF Chronicle, May 13, 2020
Most retail businesses in San Francisco are expected to be allowed to reopen for curbside sales Monday, barring a significant spike in COVID-19 diagnoses and hospitalizations over the next few days. Mayor London Breed announced the plan Wednesday, a substantial expansion of
the one the city unveiled last week
,
which allowed curbside sales only for certain types of businesses. San Mateo County is expected to issue similar directives that would loosen some retail restrictions, also starting Monday. Customers will still not be allowed inside of stores, and transactions will have to be conducted online or outside.
Mercury News, May 14, 2020
The Bay Area’s unified commitment to strict limits on public life, imposed to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus, fractured this week as officials in three counties announced plans to reopen certain shuttered businesses, while others said the illness remains too great of a threat to loosen shelter-in-place orders. San Mateo County leaders became the first to
break away from Bay Area-wide shelter orders
Wednesday, saying they instead will follow less strict state rules that allow some businesses to open next week, including offices and strip malls with curbside pickup. Later Wednesday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced a similar plan allowing most retail stores to open for curbside sales Monday. Meanwhile, Alameda County officials
blinked in their standoff with Tesla CEO Elon Musk
over the reopening of the company’s Fremont factory, allowing the automaker to ramp up operations this week as the county indicated that a broader easing of restrictions could begin soon.
|
|
|
|
NY Times, May 13, 2020
As we learn more about children and Covid-19, new research is reshaping some of our thinking. It continues to be true that children, as a group,
have been relatively spared
,
b
ut there is evidence that some may become very sick, and we are beginning to learn more about who may be most at risk, and what parents need to watch for. This past week there were reports of children hospitalized in different locations, including
New York City
,
with a
multisystem inflammatory disease
that has
killed three children
.
In addition, new research continues to be published describing the ways that the virus can behave in children, which is not always how it behaves in adults.
BBC, May 13, 2020
Up to 100 UK children have been affected by a rare inflammatory disease linked to coronavirus. Some have needed intensive care while others recovered quickly. Children appear to be affected up to six weeks after they have been infected with the virus, which could explain the appearance of the new syndrome several weeks after the peak of UK cases. Michael Levin, professor of paediatrics and international child health, said there was "a vast amount to learn" about the reaction, which had only been known about for two to three weeks.
NY Times, May 13, 2020
Researchers compared 10 cases in Italy with previous cases of a similar childhood illness, Kawasaki disease. The rate of the new cases was much higher, and the conditions were more serious.
None of the 10 children died, but their symptoms were more severe than those experienced by the children with Kawasaki disease. They were much more likely to have heart complications, and five of them exhibited shock, which did not occur in any of the Kawasaki disease cases.
HealthyChildren.org (American Academy of Pediatrics), May 12, 2020
While Pediatric Multi-system Inflammatory Syndrome is very rare, parents should call their pediatrician if their child has any of the following symptoms:
- a fever that won't go away
- abdominal pain, diarrhea or vomiting
- rash or changes in skin color
- trouble breathing
- your child seems confused or overly sleepy
|
|
|
|
|
|
Inspired by each other, the residents of Livermore’s Everglades Lane are expressing their thanks to frontline workers on the sidewalk.
After Tiffany Dodd’s family started doodling with sidewalk chalk, they decided to use the space to thank healthcare workers, delivery people, and essential workers. The idea spread, and now residents young and old are outside daily creating masterpieces of thanks and positive messages. “Making art is helping us connect with our neighbors,” said Cassidy Dodd.
|
|
|
A Remarkable Double Covid-19 Survivor Story
|
When doctors summoned Martin Jones to the hospital, they told him he could finally see his beloved husband, Kevin Jones, but it was time to say goodbye.
Loved ones usually don’t get to visit COVID-19 patients in isolation rooms. But since Martin (in photo on the left) was already suffering from his own bout with the highly infectious virus, he was allowed the rare privilege last month of sitting for four hours at Kevin’s bedside at Kaiser Oakland, holding his hand as the “Chaplet of Divine Mercy” played in the background and a ventilator pumped what doctors feared would be his final breaths.
The ending of this story is different, though. Coronavirus patients on the brink of death usually don’t survive and go home. But Kevin did. By mid-April, doctors took him off the ventilator for good. He moved out of the ICU. And finally, a month after he arrived, Kevin came home. Kaiser’s doctors and nurses lined the hallway to applaud as Kevin went home.
|
|
|
|
NPR, May 14, 2020
As of Thursday, 18 of California's 58 counties are eligible to move to Expanded Stage 2 of California's
four-stage
reopening plan,
according to
the California Department of Public Health, but major population centers.
Stage 2
still encourages residents over 65 and those showing symptoms to remain at home, but it permits a two-step easing of restrictions. Los Angeles County and counties in the San Francisco Bay Area have signaled they won't soon relax stay-at-home restrictions because of their
still-high coronavirus figures
.
Overall, California infections and deaths have
plateaued
i
n recent weeks, but have yet to see a meaningful decrease in numbers.
Mercury News, May 14, 2020
Of California’s 58 counties, eight of the 10 with the highest rate of new infections are in Southern California. The disease spreads most easily through close contact, so people who live in high-density apartments and condominiums or with many family members packed into a house will be more vulnerable if one member of the household becomes ill. The five most populous counties in the state are in Southern California: Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino. That could also help explain the recent high infection rate in densely packed San Francisco. An increase in testing also can influence the results. Of the 10 counties with daily testing rates of at least 1 per 1,000 people, four also are among the 10 with the highest infection rates.
SF Chronicle, May 13, 2020
California superintendent of public instruction Tony Thurmond said Wednesday that the state’s nearly 1,000 school districts will decide when it’s best to reopen their campuses for classroom instruction. Thurmond, speaking during a Facebook Live session, said his department will provide guidance on how to reopen, based on recommendations from a task force studying the
imposing logistical challenges.
Politico, May 13, 2020
Federal regulators said Wednesday they rejected certification earlier this month of the N95 masks that California had ordered from a Chinese firm in a massive $990 million purchase. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health did not detail its reasons for denying the company BYD, saying an on-site assessment of the company’s N95-model respirators deemed the equipment “not acceptable” on May 4. BYD can tweak its design and again seek approval.
Sacramento Bee, May 14, 2020
Gov. Newsom plans to reduce state worker pay by 10 percent as part of a cost-saving plan for state government, according to SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker. She told members that without bargaining, the reduction would mean two furlough days per month.
|
|
|
|
NPR, May 14, 2020
Nearly 3 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total to 36.5 million in the past eight weeks, the Labor Department
said Thursday
. It's the latest sign of the economic damage from the coronavirus crisis. The unemployment rate
s
hot up to 14.7%
last month, the highest level since the Great Depression. On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell painted
a grim picture for the economy
.
"The scope and speed of this downturn are without modern precedent, significantly worse than any recession since World War II," he said. A Fed survey found that nearly 40% of workers in households making less than $40,000 a year had lost a job in March, Powell noted
.
Politico, May 14, 2020
The Trump administration missed early warning signs of the severity of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed tens of thousands of Americans so far, ousted vaccine expert Rick Bright
will tell a House panel
on Thursday morning. The crisis could worsen significantly without fast federal action, according to written testimony from Bright,
who was abruptly removed
as director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority in April. He has accused officials of pushing him out over his hesitation to back hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment and clashes with senior officials including HHS Secretary Alex Azar and Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Robert Kadlec.
NY Times, May 13, 2020
President Trump on Wednesday criticized
congressional testimony
delivered
a day earlier by Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, who had warned against reopening the country too quickly and stressed the unknown effects the coronavirus could have on children returning to school. “I was surprised by his answer,” Mr. Trump told reporters who had gathered in the Cabinet Room for the president’s meeting with the governors of Colorado and North Dakota. “To me it’s not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools.”
Kaiser Health Network, May 12, 2020
As the coronavirus has raced through long-term care centers and killed thousands of America’s most vulnerable seniors, testing has varied widely across facilities, even within the same states and communities. There’s still no federal mandate to test, although President Donald Trump said he’d consider one. Rules about testing, and public reporting of results, differ from state to state and by type of facility. Shortages of test kits linger, and there’s no uniform standard on which entity should do the testing or how often.
Washington Post, May 13, 2020
The Abbott coronavirus test hailed by President Trump and used by the White House failed to detect half of the infected samples in a large number of cases that were caught by a rival firm, a preliminary study done by a group from New York University.
|
|
|
|
|
The Atlantic, May 13, 2020
With only 27 deaths from the coronavirus in a nation of 5.5 million people, Slovakia has
lowest
per-capita death rate from Covid-19 in all of Europe. The country’s president and prime minister led by example by wearing face masks. That signal from the top in Slovakia led to the widespread adoption of face masks. But it wasn’t just that Slovak leaders and public figures were seen wearing masks. They also had a clear explanation for why they were doing so. “The communication campaign was very strong from the beginning,” Nad’a Kovalcikova, a program manager at the German Marshall Fund’s Brussels office. The message was “Protect others and you’ll be protected … It’s not embarrassing. It helps everyone.”
Politico, May 14, 2020
On Thursday, New Zealand's 5 million citizens woke up to a reality both different and familiar, as relaxed rules come into effect. They can flock to the beaches and parks. They can meet in cafés and restaurants. They may even hug, because the country’s top health official, a serious-minded man called Ashley Bloomfield, said that a careful hug given to family members or close friends would be OK. Getting rid of the pandemic is an achievement. New Zealand will have a head start on rebuilding its economy.
The Guardian, May 13, 2020
Montreal, a city touted by tourist guides as “North America’s Europe” for its rich culture and joie de vivre, is Canada’s centre for Covid-19. Of the entire country’s 70,000 cases and 5,000 deaths, the city of 2 million people has
20,000 cases and more than 2,000 deaths
. Those numbers have catapulted Quebec into an unfavorable position: it is now the seventh deadliest place in the world for daily coronavirus deaths. The trends overwhelmingly point to the reality that many infected with Covid-19 are people who already experience systemic inequality, poverty and discrimination, issues that existed long before the virus, and which are now being cracked open for all to see.
Reuters, May 14, 2020
The coronavirus has infected at least six senior Russian officials and more than 250,000 people nationwide. The case total is the second highest in the world after the United States, although authorities say the high figure shows how thoroughly officials are testing people. Ninety-three people died overnight, pushing the death toll to 2,305, a level that is well below many countries and has prompted the Kremlin’s critics to cast doubt on the accuracy of the figure.
Folha de S.Paulo, May 12, 2020
The novel coronavirus began circulating in Brazil the first week of February, more than 20 days before the first case was diagnosed during Carnival a study by Fiocruz's Instituto Oswaldo Cruz concluded.
|
|
|
|
Nicholas Kristof, opinion columnist, NY Times, May 13, 2020
We’ve crunched the numbers, state by state, and it appears that somewhere around 100,000 to 110,000 Americans have already died as a result of the pandemic, rather than the 83,000 whose deaths have been attributed to the disease, Covid-19. That’s my estimate reached with the help of a Harvard statistician, Rafael Irizarry, based on a comparison of death rates this spring with those in previous years. Some states have been largely unaffected, death rates in some even appear to have dropped, perhaps because of less driving and fewer car accidents, but others have seen huge surges in deaths.
Over all, in a bit more than two months, the United States lost more Americans to the coronavirus than died over seven decades in the Korean, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.
Mario Livo, astrophysicist, STAT, May 14, 2020
Defending science and scientific integrity can be a frustrating and lonely battle. As I watch Dr. Anthony Fauci do this on the news, I think of another “battler” who ultimately had the last word, Galileo Galilei. As late as Feb. 26, as the U.S. was beginning to hear the roar of the pandemic, President Trump stated, “When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.” Sadly, the science denial didn’t end there. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the top infectious disease expert in the U.S., now finds himself fighting a “Galilean” fight in an effort to slow down an uninformed rush to open the country.
Anna Almendrala, health correspondent, Kaiser Health Network, May 13, 2020
The coronavirus has disproportionately hurt blacks. In California, 10% of COVID-19 deaths occurred among African Americans, who make up
6% of the state population
. A national CDC
survey
showed that 33% of hospitalized COVID patients were non-Hispanic blacks, though that group represented only 18% of residents in the surveyed communities. Officials are finding it’s still difficult to talk about race and COVID-19. Fear of stigmatization remains high, said California Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris, who said she walks a fine line by letting certain groups know about the heightened risks without casting blame on them. Preexisting conditions aren’t the only reason black people are dying at disproportionate rates of COVID-19, said Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health. Despite states’ orders to stay at home, entire sectors of “essential” jobs have disproportionately high rates of minority employees, which increases their exposure risk.
Supervisor Nate Miley, Oakland Post, May 7, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic is hitting the African American community especially hard due to stark health disparities that were widespread well before this pandemic. In response, the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency’s Public Health Department (ACPHD) is working to reduce disparities and promote health equity. ACPHD is using a multi-pronged strategy: increasing access to testing, facilitating isolation and quarantine through health and social supports, providing community-specific health education, and improving the quality and integrity of race/ethnicity data.
|
|
|
|
Eden Health District Assists City of Hayward to Continue and Strengthen Free COVID-19 Testing
La Familia and Cal State University East Bay Nursing Program Graduates and
Students will participate in Staffing at the Center
|
|
May 14, 2020 – Castro Valley, CA – Mark Friedman, CEO of the
Eden Health District
, announced today that the District has transferred $250,000 to the City of Hayward to underwrite the cost of operating its COVID-19 Testing Center through the remainder of May 2020. The District has committed to consider additional funding to Hayward, if necessary, to extend testing operations through June 2020.
La Familia will employ recent graduates from the nursing program to conduct tests. Current CSUEB nursing students will also assist in testing onsite as part of their course curriculum. Members of the Eden Health District Board, including Director Roxann Lewis, and CEO Friedman will also be volunteering at the center to assist with operations.
|
|
Hayward Deputy Fire Chief Scott Anderson answers questions from (left to right) Eden Health District Directors Mariellen Faria, Pam Russo and Roxann Lewis on procedures at the Hayward Testing Center.
|
|
|
“We are pleased to partner with the City of Hayward and bring together La Familia and the CSUEB nursing program with the Hayward Fire Department to continue testing services and help slow the spread of the virus,” stated Director Russo. “The Eden Health District is proactively seizing opportunities to work with local agencies and leverage public resources to meet the health needs of Eden Area residents.”
“Combined with the District’s earlier distribution of 100,000 KN 95 face masks to health care workers and nonprofit organizations, the District is fulfilling the commitment it made earlier this year to partner with other agencies in addressing the COVID-19 outbreak,” added Director Faria.
“The Hayward Testing Center was the first free COVID-19 testing site of its kind in the country and remains vital to controlling coronavirus throughout Alameda County,” said Hayward Mayor Barbara Halliday. “It is a model of efficient use of public resources and we are grateful for our new partnerships with Eden Health District, La Familia and Cal State to keep it going.”
“The importance of alleviating pressure on local hospitals from residents concerned whether they have contracted the virus and providing a quick and easy means for health-care workers and first responders to be tested for the virus remains paramount even as additional testing sites have opened in Alameda County,” stated Hayward Fire Chief Garrett Contreras. “The funding from the Eden Health District will also enable us to continue to do mobile testing of vulnerable populations in coordination with Alameda County Department of Public Health.”
“La Familia has a 40-year history of providing high-quality mental health and community support services in the San Francisco Bay Area,” stated Aaron Oritz, La Familia Chief Executive Officer. “We are proud to continue this legacy of service during the most significant public health crisis of our lifetimes.”
“One of the hallmarks of our nursing program is preparing students to be responsive to the ever changing health needs of the diverse communities they serve,” explained Lindsay McCrea, Professor and Chair of the Department of Nursing at CSUEB. “Research shows that the coronavirus is disproportionately impacting members of underserved multicultural communities. Our graduates and students are determined to make a difference in countering this negative impact in the East Bay.”
Details on the Hayward COVID-19 Testing Center
The Hayward Testing Center, located at Lot A on the CSUEB campus, is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, though it may close earlier on any given day based on demand or if the available number of tests for the day has been exhausted.
Test results also are shared with public health authorities in the counties of residence of those tested, and by those county authorities with the California Department of Public Health.
Testing at the Center is free and available to anyone regardless of where they live or immigration status. To be tested, individuals generally must have a fever over 100 degrees or other COVID-19 symptoms.
Health-care workers and first responders can make advance appointments for testing by calling Hayward’s COVID-19 hotline at (510) 583-4949.
|
|
Tracking California Reopening
|
|
The Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle have produced informative charts and graphics on the pandemic in California, including on the status of each county reopening.
|
|
|
|
California is currently in the second phase of Gov. Newsom's
four-phase plan
to gradually reopen the state. There is no official date for when the third and fourth phases will begin, but some counties are charting their own path to reopening independent of the state's guidelines. Most of California's 58 counties have moved into Phase 2. Some counties, particularly in the Bay Area, have taken a more cautious path, holding off on reopening at the same pace as the state.
|
|
|
State officials released a
checklist of criteria
counties need to meet in order to reopen, but officials for six Bay Area counties previously established
their own set of indicators
they will use to decide when to remove shelter-in-place orders. All counties are doing well in terms of new cases, hospitalization rates and capacity. Testing will be a major hurdle as most of the counties are far below their goal of 200 daily tests per 100,000 residents.
|
|
|
We have gathered information on food pantries and food services in the cities of Hayward and San Leandro and unincorporated Alameda County including Castro Valley and San Lorenzo. You can access the information
here on our website
.
Alameda County has also released an
interactive map
listing food distributions and other social services.
|
|
Your feedback is welcome. Please share the Bulletin.
|
|
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
[email protected]
. 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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
