The US is reporting nearly 100,000 new COVID-19 cases in a single day, per Johns Hopkins University.
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The COVID-19 pandemic is having a major impact across the world and also in cities across Northern California. The latest number of confirmed cases in the U.S. can be found at the CDC’s 2019 Novel Coronavirus in the U.S. page. (The CDC updates the webpage on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.) Johns Hopkins University of Medicine is reporting nearly 100,000 new COVID-19 cases in a single day. On Friday, the research university reported 99,321 cases and 1,030 deaths in one day, data released Saturday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new month-long lockdown for England Saturday after being warned that without tough action, a COVID-19 surge will overwhelm hospitals in just a matter of weeks. The United Kingdom passed 1 million cases of coronavirus on Saturday and during a press conference, the British leader said “no responsible prime minister” could ignore that number. The latest lockdown will limit bars and restaurants to take-out only and non-essential stores will have to close. California reported more than 5,000 new cases of coronavirus Friday, bringing the state’s total to 922,005. Another 55 people died of the virus, marking 17,626 deaths of the state. California’s seven-day positivity rate is at 2.9 percent and the 14-day positivity rate is at 3.1 percent. The nation’s top infectious disease expert will be a special guest and panelist at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s annual forum. Dr. Anthony Fauci will be talking about the state of the pandemic at the virtual event in San Jose. The discussion will focus on how companies and innovators in Silicon Valley can help with implementation and distribution of the vaccine. AMC is reopening eight theaters across the Bay Area. Capacity will be limited to 40% or less, depending on local guidelines. Masks are required. AMC says strict cleaning protocols will be in place. Cinemark is also reopening its doors in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties. Concession stands will remain closed and eating is not allowed. San Jose kicks off its drive-thru Dia de los Muertos Friday. Because of COVID-19, families and community members will pass through the gallery of altars in their cars. While death is the theme for this Mexican holiday, it’s also a time to show love and respect for deceased family members. The drive-thru is scheduled for Friday and Saturday at Mexican Heritage Plaza. The Bay Area, including Santa Cruz, now as a total of 120,008 cases of COVID-19, as of Friday morning. Santa Clara County has the most cases in the region with 24,665 patients with COVID-19. Solano County health officials confirmed the first case of flu and COVID-19 co-infection in the county on Thursday. The Solano County resident is under the age of 65.”With the likelihood of both COVID-19 and seasonal flu activity this winter, contracting either disease may weaken your immune system and make you more susceptible to the other disease,” said Bela T. Matyas, M.D., M.P.H., Solano County Health Officer. “Getting a flu vaccine this year is more important than ever, and flu vaccines are the best way to protect yourself, your family, and the community from becoming seriously ill with the flu. Vaccination not only reduces the risk of catching the flu, it also reduces the chance that you’ll be hospitalized. In other words, the flu vaccine will provide some protection and reduce your chances of needing to be hospitalized if you do get sick.”The Bay Area, including Santa Cruz County, is now approaching 120,000 cases of COVID-19. This comes as cases are increasing globally and in other parts of the U.S. The region has a total of 119,480 cases and has reported 1,791 deaths as of early Thursday morningSan Francisco based Reddit is the latest Bay Area tech company to give its staff the option of working remotely going forward. The company says it will not lower the pay of employees who choose to work from home. Reddit joins other tech companies, such as Twitter who have made similar moves, during the pandemic. Alameda County is easing restrictions on indoor businesses starting today. Restaurants can offer indoor service at 25% capacity, or fewer than 100 people. That formula also applies to movie theaters and indoor worship services as well as gyms and fitness centers. Indoor stores and malls can even allow more-they can increase their capacity to 50%. San Mateo County is making it easier for children to get tested for COVID-19. A dedicated lane for families is now available at the San Mateo County Event Center. The lane serves children ages 5 to 17 and is open weekdays from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. San Mateo County residents can schedule appointments through the county’s website. Napa County is easing COVID-19 restrictions as it moves into the orange tier. That means wineries can now serve customers inside tasting rooms. Restaurants, fitness centers, worship services and movie theaters can also move people inside starting today. Santa Clara County Public Health officials making it clear on Tuesday, professional sporting events and theme parks will not reopen to guests, despite the state’s allowance.”This is the worst thing in the world to be doing at a time period when California is beginning to see some light. This amounts to another step backward,” said Santa Clara County Executive Dr. Jeff Smith. California’s Great America in Santa Clara sent the following statement to ABC7 News:The 49ers organization released a statement as well:Napa County announces that businesses may officially be allowed to move to less restrictive, “orange” tier on Wednesday. Here’s what that means. Santa Clara County Public Health Department released a statement Tuesday saying fans at sporting events will not be allowed anytime soon and theme parks will not resume operation. Officials are expected to give an update on this announcement at 3 p.m. Now that San Francisco is assigned to the state’s “yellow” tier, officials say the city will move forward on reopening offices and expanding capacity at business, including fitness, dining, places of worship, personal services, recreation, and more. More details about tier updates here Santa Clara County may offer businesses relief fundingSanta Clara County Supervisors will vote today on a $100 million program to help struggling businesses. It would provide low-interest loans to small businesses. BART is partnering with Bay Area Community Health to offer free COVID-19 testing starting today. There’s a new pop-up testing site at the Union City BART Station. It will be open today, tomorrow and Thursday, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Anyone can get tested for free. Appointments can be made through the Bay Area Community Health website. Walk-in patients are also welcome. You must wear a mask at the testing site. California reported an additional 2,862 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the state’s case total to 867,317. California also reported 44 more deaths, marking nearly 17,000 coronavirus fatalities in the state. The state’s seven-day positivity rate stands at 2.5 percent, as of Saturday. San Mateo County is set to launch a new COVID-19 Compliance Unit on Monday. The team will be tasked with targeting businesses that aren’t following state guidelines. San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa said Sunday that the eight-person task force will start issuing warnings to businesses who continually refuse to enforce face masks and maintain social distancing. Read more here. The San Francisco Giants said Friday they were eliminating roughly 10% of their 500 full-time jobs in the business and baseball operations departments, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. This means about 50 layoffs, in light of revenue losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced the state has 864,455 confirmed cases to date. Numbers may not represent true day-over-day change as reporting of test results can be delayed. There were 2,979 newly recorded confirmed cases Friday. The 7-day positivity rate is 2.5% and the 14-day positivity rate is 2.6%. There have been 16,756,711 tests conducted in California. This represents an increase of 134,755 over the prior 24-hour reporting period. As case numbers continue to rise in California, the total number of individuals who will have serious outcomes will also increase. There have been 16,899 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Eight million COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States, according to John Hopkins University. The number of new cases of COVID-19 recorded in the United States increased by double digits in week-over-week comparisons, while the number of deaths is also on the rise, according to an internal memo from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that was obtained by ABC News on Thursday night. State Superintendent Tony Thurmond provided an update on efforts to support schools during the pandemic. “At the end of the day the number one priority needs to be safety,” Thurmond said. The superintendent there is no “one size fits all” for reopening schools and helping students and teachers during the pandemic. Starting today, people traveling to Hawaii can bypass the state’s 14-day quarantine restriction by passing a COVID-19 test. United Airlines is now offering the test to its passengers flying out of SFO to the Islands. The carrier was the first U.S. airline to announce that it would make testing options available to customers. More indoor businesses are reopening in Santa Clara County today and Alameda County will follow in a few weeks. It comes after state health officials announced those counties moved from the red to the less restrictive orange tier. San Francisco is the only other Bay Area county also in that tier. The orange tier allows for expanded indoor dining and larger outdoor gatherings. Dr. Mark Ghaly provided guidelines for celebrating Halloween and Dia de los Muertos amid the pandemic. Dr. Ghaly strongly discouraged usual Halloween activities like trick-or-treating and encouraged families to plan alternative celebrations. See more details here. Ten California counties were moved to a different reopening tiers on Tuesday. Colusa, Kern, Kings, San Benito, Stanislaus and Sutter counties were moved from “purple” to “red.” Alameda, Placer and Santa Clara counties were moved from “red” to “orange.” Sierra County was moved into the least restrictive tier, “yellow.” Here’s what that means. Governor Newsom and state officials have announced new guidelines for families as we head toward the holidays. The state now saying you can gather with up to two other households, but say the smaller the number of people, the safer. Sonoma County business owners who operate bowling alleys, arcades and skating rinks are warning they may be forced to close permanently. Some rallied in downtown Santa Rosa yesterday to let people know COVID-19 restrictions are threatening their livelihoods. Sonoma County is the only Bay Area county that’s still in the purple tier because of the number of new cases reported. Under the state’s current system, Sonoma County would have to move up two tiers, to Orange, before it could open. The 7-day positivity rate increased slightly to 2.6% from previous 2.5%.64 deaths are reported since Saturday, adding to a total of 16,564 COVID-19 deaths within the state. New cases: 3,806 (total cases 838,606)7-day average: 3,04714-day average: 3,183Deaths: 67 (16,428 total)7-day average: 6314-day rate: 747-day positivity rate: 2.5%14-day positivity rate: 2.6%There were 56,191 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Thursday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University. The latest daily tally is up by nearly 6,000 from the previous day but is still under the country’s record set on July 16, when there were 77,255 new cases in a 24-hour-reporting period. An additional 961 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded Thursday, down from a peak of 2,666 new fatalities reported on April 17. The nation’s top infectious disease expert Doctor Anthony Fauci will take part in an online fireside chat with the UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy today. Dr. Fauci will discuss how the coronavirus could affect the ability of colleges to re-open safely and the broader impact of COVID-19 on the country. The event will begin at 5 p.m. Eli Lilly announced it is asking the FDA for emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 antibody treatment. Based on early results, the company says the drug reduced symptoms, the amount of the virus, hospitalizations and ER visits for patients with mild or moderate COVID-19. The drug is similar to one that President Trump received on Friday from another company. Eli Lilly says it could supply 100,000 doses in October. The Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, looking to simplify the postponed 2021 Games, on Wednesday announced new initiatives that will help save an estimated $280 million. Dr. Anthony Fauci offered a grim image of the coronavirus pandemic, telling students Tuesday that between 300,000 and 400,000 people could die from the disease in the United States. Speaking at a virtual event hosted by American University, the White House coronavirus specialist said: “If we don’t do what we need to in the fall and winter, we could have 300,000-400,000 Covid-19 deaths,” according to excerpts tweeted by the school. Residents of unincorporated Santa Cruz County can apply for money to help pay for rent and/or utilities that are in debt due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Applications can be filed until Oct.14 at www.cabinc.org. The assistance is limited to residents whose annual income is no more than 80 percent of the area median income, which for a one-person household is $74,350, according to county officials. Unpaid or partially unpaid utilities or rent are eligible if they were incurred on or after April 1, 2020. Households are eligible for assistance of up to $10,000. Ten California counties were moved to a different reopening tier Tuesday, California’s health secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly announced. Merced, Ventura and Yuba counties were moved from “purple” to “red.” Inyo County was moved from “red” to “orange.” Humboldt, Plumas, Sikiyou and Trinity counties were moved into the least restrictive tier, “yellow.” Two counties were moved to more restrictive tiers; Shasta was changed from “orange” to “red” and Tehama was changed from “red” to “purple.” See what that means here California Liberation Collective activists will gather outside San Quentin to protest COVID-19 deaths throughout the state prison system by calling on Gov. Newsom to release prisoners. Santa Clara County officials announced a new COVID-19 risk reduction order on Monday that will take effect the day after the county moves into the “orange” tier. When the new order goes into effect, indoor dining may begin, however, the county will only allow 25% capacity or 100 people. The same rules will apply for other indoor businesses. For the first time since March, four public school districts in Marin County are reopening for in-person learning today. That includes schools in Larkspur-Corte Madera, Reed Union, Miller Creek, and Kentfield. Teachers say they are excited to welcome back students and are decorating hallways with balloons. They say they want to make it comfortable and fun, and to show the kids how much they have missed them. The state reports more than 4,000 new cases, totalling up to 823,729 cases since the pandemic started. California reports a 7-day average of 3,238 cases and a 7-day positivity rate of 2.6%. The 14-day average totals to 3,238 and the positivity rate is 2.8%. President Donald Trump briefly leaves Walter Reed Medical Center in motorcade to surprise supporters which to some was a surprising move that suggested that his health – and his understanding of the coronavirus – may be improving. Hours earlier, the president’s medical team confirmed that his blood oxygen level dropped suddenly twice in recent days. But they also said he could be discharged as early as Monday. You can read more about it here Berkeley elementary schools can reopen starting a week from Tuesday as the number of COVID-19 cases drop, city officials said Friday. Transitional kindergarten through 5th grade schools can reopen Oct.13 if they have a plan to limit the spread of the virus among students, faculty and staff. Read the full story here. Coronavirus cases have reached more than 106,000 in the Bay Area with 1,547 COVID-19 related deaths in the region. Students in the Oakland Unified School District will “likely” remain in primarily distance learning through the end of the year, the district’s superintendent announced Thursday night. This announcement from the district comes after Alameda County said elementary schools could reopen as early as Oct.13 if schools complete a COVID-19 health plan. Under latest county health orders, middle and high school students could return to classrooms in four to 12 week phases “as local disease conditions allow,” the county order says. Oakland Unified clarified Thursday night that any return to school under county health orders would be a blended, hybrid learning model. Alameda County officials announced that starting Oct.13, elementary schools may reopen. Also, indoor gyms, personal services and libraries may reopen starting Oct.9 with restrictions. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond provided an update on schools. Thurmond said the state is working on updating the COVID-19 testing protocols for schools. He also said they are working to get 1 million more computing devices to close the digital divide in the state. The state superintendent also addressed the wildfires in the state and said his department is helping to provide relief to several schools that been damaged or destroyed in California. Thurmond discussed racism and hatred in schools: “We have no tolerance for hate and white supremacy. We will not allow you to tear down our schools and communities.”Students and staff in Palo Alto are one step closer to in-person learning. The school board voted in favor of this after several hours of debate last night. The plan calls for staggering the return of elementary students beginning in less than two weeks on October 12. Middle and high school students would go back in January. Parents have the option to choose between distanced learning or in-person classes, but under the plan once they make their choice they can’t change it. If they don’t make a selection, the default will be distanced learning. San Francisco is moving into the “orange” COVID-19 reopening tier and Contra Costa County is moving into the “red” tier, California officials announced. San Francisco officials announced the city will move forward with indoor dining and places of worship at 25% capacity up to 100 people starting on Wednesday, September 30. In addition, San Francisco will expand the capacity of outdoor places of worship, outdoor political demonstrations, and indoor malls, and will reopen additional family entertainment, hotel fitness centers, and more. In Contra Costa County, officials announced that places of worship, restaurants, movie theaters and museums can be operated indoors at 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is less. Gyms can reopen indoors at 10% capacity, all personal care services, including massage, can move indoors. Indoor shopping malls can operate at 50% maximum occupancy (instead of 25%). Food courts can also open following the state’s guidelines for restaurants. Indoor retail stores can now operate at 50% capacity (instead of 25%). Today, California’s top health expert will provide an update on the state’s response to COVID-19. On Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly warned we could see an 89% rise in coronavirus-related hospitalizations as a result of Labor Day gatherings and reopenings. (Watch Dr. Ghaly’s update live at noon in the media player above)California reported 4,197 new cases of COVID-19 Friday, according to new data released Saturday by the state. The seven-day average case number stands at 3,443. The state now has a total of 15,532 deaths related to the virus with 134 additional deaths Friday. The 14-day positivity rate is now at 2.9 percent. This is the first time that number has fallen below 3 percent. California now has 798,237 total cases of COVID-19. An inmate at San Quentin State Prison died Friday of complications from COVID-19, the department of corrections announced Saturday morning. This marks the 27th death of a San Quentin inmate related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The prison now has three people who are positive for the virus. The inmate who died Friday has not been identified. Alameda County officials announced Friday they are giving nail salons the go ahead to open indoors after California announced an update to it’s four-tier reopening plan earlier this week. There are “early signs” that coronavirus transmission is on the rise again, said California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly in an afternoon briefing. He said he wanted to “raise an early flag” that things aren’t trending in the right direction, especially in the Greater Sacramento area and Northern California. If current trends hold, short-term forecasts predict hospitalizations to go up 89% in the next month, Ghaly said. We may be starting to see the effects of Labor Day socializing, which was two and a half weeks ago. Increased transmission may also be a result of more reopening allowed by California’s switch to a four-tier reopening plan three and a half weeks ago.”With reopening we know that there’s more opportunities for mixing and exposure to others that we’re not frequently around,” said Ghaly. “We’ve seen that before and we’ve done a good job to bring it down.”UCSF will provide a weekend of free coronavirus testing in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, which was hit hard by COVID-19. It’s happening Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for people living in the Fruitvale District — the 94601 zip code. The site will be at 35th Avenue and East 12th Street. People are asked to register online in advance, but no one will be turned away. Yosemite National Park is set to reopen tomorrow, after closing because of hazardous smoke levels. Park officials say conditions have improved since last week, when the air was extremely unhealthy because of nearby wildfires. More campsites will be available for visitors this weekend. You do still need a day use reservation to enter Yosemite, because of the pandemic.7 p.m. Napa Valley Unified School District, St. Helena Unified School District, Calistoga Joint Unified School District, Howell Mountain Elementary School District – announced Wednesday that the districts will open for a hybrid of in-person instruction and distance learning on Monday, Oct.26,2020. This decision was reached jointly and is based on the guidelines provided by the California Blueprint for a Safer Economy, the California Department of Education and the California and Napa County Departments of Public Health. North Bay caregivers including nurses and medical technicians will be holding a rally today to demand more protections against COVID-19.
