The latest developments around the region related to the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, as of Thursday afternoon include:
- San Jose’s City Council has approved renegotiating emergency food distribution contracts so they extend through October. Challenges related to the pandemic — including rising unemployment, constricted access to grocery stores and lack of childcare while schools are closed — have exacerbated hunger among the city’s low-income residents.
- San Mateo County Superior Court on Wednesday announced furloughs, layoffs and a slew of service reductions due to an estimated $4.5 million budget reduction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Court officials said in a news release that they gave notice to 20 positions subject to layoffs, and asked other employees to take mandatory furloughs of roughly one day per month. The court also cut public hours by 50 percent, and said that members of the public should expect delays in obtaining judgments, fulfilling public records requests, and processing and filing documents.
- Beginning this week, Santa Clara County will provide appointment-based testing sites on a consistently scheduled, rotating basis, according to County Supervisor Joseph Simitian. Testing sites will take place in cities including Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Saratoga, and Sunnyvale.
- As of Thursday at 1:00 p.m., officials have confirmed the following number of cases around the greater Bay Area region (“+” number added since last check Wed., Aug 5):
- Alameda County: 12,136 cases, 193 deaths (Totals include Berkeley Health Department data)
- Contra Costa County: 8,532 cases (+208), 134 deaths (+3)
- Marin County: 5,199 cases (+17), 78 deaths (+1); (Totals include San Quentin State Prison)
- Monterey County: 5,120 cases (+71), 35 deaths (+1)
- Napa County: 1,007 cases, 9 deaths
- San Francisco County: 7,228 cases (+147), 63 deaths (+1)
- San Mateo County: 5,891 cases (+133), 120 deaths
- Santa Clara County: 11,128 cases, 196 deaths
- Santa Cruz County: 1,213 cases(+17), 4 deaths
- Solano County: 3,884 cases (+78), 38 deaths
- Sonoma County: 3,208 cases, 42 deaths
- Statewide: 529,980 cases (+5258), 9,869 deaths (+166)