Bay Area COVID Pandemic Roundup: San Jose Pastor's Defiant Stand; State Reopens Playgrounds; South Bay ICUs Filling Up
CBS San Francisco Staff Report
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- With a surge in coronavirus cases, the information you need to know is coming fast and furious. Here's a roundup of the COVID stories we've published over the last 24 hours.
COVID Surge: 1,700 New Cases Reported In Santa Clara County; 3 South Bay Hospitals Out Of ICU Beds
SAN JOSE -- As new COVID cases continue to surge in Santa Clara County Wednesday, health officials confirmed a record 1,700 new cases and reported that three South Bay hospitals had reached ICU capacity. According to the county COVID dashboard, there were a record 1,700 new confirmed cases over the past 24 hours in the county of some 2 million residents. The county also reported 76 new hospitalizations and three additional death on Wednesday. Doctors say the real problem is that the trend that has pushed the hospitals to their ICU limit shows no sign of slowing. "We are continuing to see more and more patients at record numbers, every day, coming into our emergency rooms and into our hospitals," said Santa Clara County Director of Health Preparedness Dr. Ahmad Kamal. Read More
Dr. Colfax Warns San Francisco 'At A Crossroads;' Hundreds Could Die In Worst-Case Scenario
SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax on Wednesday warned that the city was entering the worst COVID-19 case surge to date and that as many as 1,500 residents could die by the spring if safety measures aren't followed. Colfax started with a serious tone, saying this was his most important message of the entire pandemic. "To be blunt, we have one chance to turn this serious surge around. And that chance is right now, but our window is narrowing and closing fast," Colfax said. Colfax said that the current surge was the worst that the city had seen since the start of the pandemic and, if allowed to grow, would have far more widespread impact on San Francisco. "I want to stress the significant impact this surge will have on you, your neighbors and friends, your family and future generations, if we do not bend the trajectory of this surge right now," said Colfax. "The projections I'm going to show you of hundreds of deaths stretching towards the spring of 2021 are not our destiny yet. We have the power to avoid these terrible outcomes." Read More
California Reopens Playgrounds During Regional Stay-Home Order
SAN FRANCISCO -- California quietly changed its regional stay-home order to allow playgrounds to reopen in areas impacted by restrictions, state health officials confirmed Wednesday. The order, announced last Thursday, originally made outdoor playgrounds off-limits as a way to curb surging coronavirus cases across the state. Other spaces shut down during the order included outdoor dining at restaurants. The state received significant criticism over the closure of the park, including from government officials like San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safai, who wrote Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Public Health a letter expressing her concerns. READ MORE: SF Supe Asks Governor To Open Playgrounds Citing Overcrowding, Impact On Kids "We have the second highest concentration of Latino population, which has been disproportionately impacted, we have a lot of renters, a lot of families in overcrowded housing that don't have access to a backyard," Safai said at the time. Read More
Oakland Unified Teachers Push Back On Plan To Reopen In-Person Learning
OAKLAND -- A group of protestors Wednesday night took to the streets of Oakland, speaking out about reopening schools. The car caravan protest started at East Oakland Pride Elementary School and ended outside of the school district office. Organizers of the protest said it would be too dangerous to return to school during a pandemic. Protesters with signs plastered on their cars honked their horns as they cruised down Broadway with a message. Mark Airgood, an Oakland Unified Teacher told KPIX 5, "We're saying we need a near-zero transmission of COVID in every zip code in Oakland." Currently, Alameda County is in the purple tier and schools wouldn't be allowed to open even if they wanted to. The district submitted a reopening plan to the county in hopes of returning to in-person learning after the winter break, but the Oakland Unified School district says that's unlikely. Read More
Calvary Chapel San Jose Defies Judge's Contempt Of Court Ruling; Plans Continuing Indoor Worship Services
SAN JOSE -- The day after a judge ruled a San Jose church in contempt of court for violating county COVID-19 health orders, Calvary Chapel San Jose plans to continue with indoor services. Calvary declined an on-camera interview with KPIX 5, but a spokesperson confirmed the services listed on their website will go on as scheduled for Sunday at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. The website also lists a Christmas Eve service at 5 p.m. A video recording posted to YouTube, dated December 6, features pastor Mike McClure delivering an indoor hour-long service, to an applauding congregation. McClure emerged from court in downtown San Jose Tuesday, to about 200 cheering supporters, many of whom were not wearing masks. Read More
SFUSD Begins Process With Department Of Public Health On Reopening Schools
SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Unified School District announced Wednesday that it has taken the first step with the city's Department of Public Health on reopening schools to in-person learning. SFUSD said in a statement that it has submitted a letter of interest to public health officials to receive city approval for reopening. Under public health guidance, TK-12 schools must submit the letter, along with a plan for Health Officer review and approval before resuming in-person learning. "We know that schools are places for interaction and connection, and there are critical components that must be in place for in-person learning to happen safely," said SFUSD Superintendent Vincent Matthews. "This is new for all of us and it's important that we approach this work in a systematic and thoughtful way, providing opportunities for us to learn and make adjustments and improvements along the way." Read More
Airbnb Going Public After Showing Resilience In Pandemic
SAN FRANCISCO -- Airbnb proved its resilience in a year that has upended global travel. Now the San Francisco-based company needs to prove to investors that it sees more growth ahead. The home sharing company makes its long-awaited debut on the public market Thursday. The company priced its shares at $68 apiece late Wednesday, giving it an overall value of $47 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the transaction who was not authorized to speak because the amount had not yet been made public. The shares will trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol "ABNB." Airbnb raised $3.7 billion in its offering, making it the biggest U.S. IPO this year, according to Renaissance Capital, which tracks IPOs. The company had initially set a price range of $44 to $50 for it shares, but raised that to a range of $56 to $60 earlier this week indicating rising investor demand. Read More
After FDA Approval First Shipment Of Vaccinations Could Arrive In Bay Area Next Week
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Bay Area is very close to receiving the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine but only a fraction of the 40 million doses available in the country will be shipped initially. Millions of doses will be divided up among the 50 states and shipped as early as next week. Thousands of the initial shipments will be arriving at hospitals and other facilities determined by local county health departments across the Bay Area. Still, the vaccine is still months away from being available to the general public. The Coast Guard Base in Alameda is one of 13 federal sites chosen to receive the first shipments of the COVID vaccine for the Department of Defense. The federal government will coordinate distribution, with each state and county receiving doses on a per capita basis. Read More
Monterey County To Adopt State's Regional Stay Home Order
SALINAS -- Monterey County will be joining suit with other Bay Area counties in implementing the state's regional order before it is required in an effort to preserve critical hospital bed capacity and curb the spread of COVID-19. Starting Sunday, Dec. 13 at 10 p.m. Monterey County will adhere to the most recent state directives released on Dec. 3 closing sector operations except for critical infrastructure and retail, require restaurants to close outdoor dining and prohibit private gatherings of any size. However, the state's order is not mandated until the region falls under 15 percent ICU capacity - a number the Bay Area has not reached yet. Monterey's order is in effect until Monday, Jan. 11 at 6 a.m. unless adjusted by the state or the county's health officer Dr. Edward Moreno. Read More
San Francisco Restaurateurs Provide Meals And Help Filipino-American Owned Businesses
SAN FRANCISCO -- A pair of San Francisco restaurateurs facing challenges during the pandemic cooked up an idea to help Filipino-American owned businesses and feed their community at the same time. Jason Angeles and business partner Ronnie Taylor saw their catering calendar collapse with the COVID-19 lockdown. "All of our contracts, all of our booked events came to a screeching halt," Angeles said. The pair, whose businesses include IVSF Catering and SSFChickenbox, met with other business owners and the nonprofit Kultivate Labs back in March. "We were all sitting together brainstorming, how we could kill two birds with one stone, feed the community and also help support local businesses," Taylor said. Read More
BART Joins U.S. Transit Agencies In Demand For Federal Funding
SAN FRANCISCO -- Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officials joined other U.S. transit agencies Wednesday in calling for more federal funding to decrease the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their budgets. BART General Manager Bob Powers and transit agency executives from New York, New Orleans, Denver, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Cleveland outlined the multi-million budget shortfalls their agencies face in the coming fiscal years, even after considering the $25 billion for transit agencies included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. BART is facing a deficit of roughly $30 million for the current fiscal year, which will end June 30, 2021. The following fiscal year, Powers said, the agency's budget officials are projecting a deficit of more than $200 million. Read More
State Assembly Leaders Press For All Schools To Resume In-Person Learning In Spring
SACRAMENTO -- Looking beyond the state-ordered COVID-19 lockdown that has shut down all but essential services in all but a handful of counties in California, three Democratic Assembly leaders proposed legislation Monday that would require public school students to physically return to school in stages by early spring, after public health officials lift closure orders. The effect would be to start reopening schools for at least the most struggling or perhaps the youngest students when their counties move from the most restrictive purple tier, where 99 percent of school districts are now, to any less restrictive color: red, orange or yellow. According to a story published on EdSource.org, Assembly Bill 10 -- which has not yet been electronically posted -- signals the growing impatience of parents and some legislators that schools have been slow to reopen to in-person instruction and have ignored the needs of low-income students and English learners who have foundered under distance learning. Read More
Yearning For Tradition More People Flocking To Christmas Tree Lots
ALAMEDA -- The pandemic has forced many of us to change the way we celebrate the holidays this year but one yearly tradition though is more popular than ever. Christmas tree farms are struggling to keep up with the demand. At Speer Family Farms Wonderland, even though they have rows of trees on the lot, they say the stock has never been this low, this early. It's a record breaking year for many tree farms in the area. No problem finding a home for the holidays for Christmas trees in this year. For some, the tree represents a less stressful point in time when the world was COVID-free. "I'm just trying to get some Christmas spirit going on in the house for the kids. With everything going on we need some type of happiness right," said Milly Finch of Alameda. Read More