The latest developments around the region related to the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, as of Saturday afternoon include:
- Officials with the Oakland Unified School District on Friday said students will be learning from home for the foreseeable future as the new school year begins Monday. The officials told parents to call their student’s school, teacher or principal for information. Gov. Gavin Newsom said if a county is on his watch list for COVID-19, schools must conduct distance rather than in-person learning. Alameda County remains on the watch list. “Grab and Go” meals that were provided for students over the summer will continue this fall at more than 20 locations. But, this fall, meals will be limited to OUSD students and adults in the young adult program because of federal restrictions, Sasaki said.
- San Mateo County Health Officer Scott Morrow said this week that the state made the “wrong diagnosis” in adding the county to the COVID-19 watchlist as the its monitoring framework is flawed. San Mateo County was added to the state’s COVID-19 watch list on July 29 for having a case rate above the state’s threshold of 100 per 100,000 people. As of Friday, Aug. 7, that number stands at 114.8 according to the California Department of Public Health’s county data chart. However, the state froze the county monitoring list on July 31 to ensure that hospital data was accurate. Then the state health department announced Tuesday that there were technical issues and delays with the state’s reporting system, leading to an underreporting of cases.
- Applications are being accepted for two rental assistance grant programs that are open to Hayward tenants facing economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic, city officials said Friday. Alameda County started accepting applications Aug. 4 for the Emergency Rent Assistance Program and applications can be submitted until 8 p.m. Aug. 11. Eligibility will be determined by a lottery. The other program, sponsored by the city of Hayward, provides a grant of up to $2,500 to cover rent that the tenant cannot afford.
- As of 3 p.m. Saturday, officials have confirmed the following number of cases around the greater Bay Area region (“+” number added since last check Fri., Aug. 6):
- Alameda County: 12,785 cases, 204 deaths on Friday (County site not updated by 3 p.m. Saturday) (Totals include Berkeley Health Department data)
- Contra Costa County: 9,022 cases (+262), 138 deaths (+2)
- Marin County: 5,287 cases (+30), 79 deaths (+1) (Totals include San Quentin State Prison)
- Monterey County: 5,212 cases (+56), 35 deaths
- Napa County: 1,055 cases (+9), 10 deaths (+1)
- San Francisco County: 7,432 cases (+106), 67 deaths (+3)
- San Mateo County: 6,110 cases (+132), 120 deaths
- Santa Clara County: 11,475 cases (+139), 230 deaths (+34)
- Santa Cruz County: 1,238 (+9) cases, 6 deaths (+2)
- Solano County: 4,029 cases (+70), 40 deaths (+1)
- Sonoma County: 3,431 cases (+73), 47 deaths (+3)
- Statewide: 545,787 cases (+7371), 10,189 deaths (+178)