Bay Area COVID Pandemic Roundup: Tradition-Starved Locals Flock To Christmas Tree Lots; Officials Demand Playgrounds Reopen; Defiant San Jose Pastor Held In Contempt
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.
Ghaly Warns Hospitalization Rates Still Rising, Shutdown Orders Could Be Extended
SACRAMENTO -- State public health chief Dr. Mark Ghaly on Tuesday said that California's COVID positivity and hospitalization rates remained dangerously high, with coronavirus hospitalizations increasing 71% in just two weeks. At one point, Ghaly cautioned that if transmission rates remained high, the state's planned three-week stay-at-home orders in respect to ICU capacity could be extended to six or even nine weeks. Over the last 72 hours, California is averaging more 25,000 new cases a day. The positivity rate has soared from 3.4 percent on Nov. 7 to 8.4 percent on Monday. There were also 59 new deaths. During his Tuesday update on the state's response to the pandemic, California Health & Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly noted that there were 23,272 new cases confirmed Tuesday, a number that was slightly below the state's current 7-day average of 23,503. He noted that the 7-day average has more than doubled just in the last 15 days. Read More
Skyrocketing Cases Starting to Overwhelm California Hospitals
SACRAMENTO -- California health officials expressed concern Tuesday that the surging amount of COVID-19 cases in the state are starting to overwhelm its hospitals. At a noon press conference, California Health & Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly told reporters that ICU's across the state were getting closer to capacity. "We are certainly worried that with so many patients with COVID being admitted and a predictable number of them needing ICU-level care, that that system -- that fragile but important system -- may be overwhelmed," Dr. Ghaly said. Dr. Ghaly noted that there was a 71% increase in the last 14 days for hospitalizations, which was a state record for COVID hospitalizations at just over 10,500. Read More
SF Supe Asks Governor To Open Playgrounds Citing Overcrowding, Impact On Kids
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Crocker Amazon playground was one of the busiest and most visited in the Excelsior neighborhood before San Francisco's latest shutdown. Now, the swings are tied up with caution tape. Playgrounds across the city are virtually deserted - off-limits under the new stay-at-home order. But in District 11, which includes the Outer Mission, Ingleside, and Excelsior neighborhoods, that decision comes with especially damaging consequences, according to Supervisor Ahsha Safai. "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," said Safai. That prompted Safai to send a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Public Health, asking him to reconsider the closure of playgrounds under his regional stay-at-home order. District 11 also has the largest population of children attending the San Francisco Unified School District. 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
Tesla's Elon Musk Joins Exodus From Bay Area; Moves From Silicon Valley To Texas
SAN JOSE -- Like thousands of other San Francisco Bay Area residents during the COVID pandemic, Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he's departed Silicon Valley and moved to Texas. Musk told The Wall Street Journal in an interview Tuesday that he has moved to Texas, saying that California has taken innovators for granted. He likened the current business mode in California to an overconfident sport team in the WSJ article. "They (successful sports teams) do tend to get a little complacent, a little entitled, and then they don't win the championship anymore," he said. "(California) has been winning for a long time. And I think they're taking them for granted a little bit." Read More
Calvary Chapel San Jose, Pastor Held In Contempt For Defying Gathering, Mask Orders
SAN JOSE -- A Santa Clara County judge Tuesday held a San Jose church and its pastor in contempt over holding large indoor gatherings with hundreds in attendance in violation of COVID-19 safety protocols. Judge Peter Kirwan ordered Cavalry Chapel and pastor Mike McClure to pay fines for violating a temporary restraining order requiring the church to stop holding indoor gatherings and requiring congregants to wear face coverings and maintain social distancing. "These public health orders are literally a matter of life and death; they are designed to reduce COVID-19 transmission, avoid serious illness, and save lives," said Santa Clara Counsel James Williams. "This entity's ongoing violations put the whole community at risk, and they won't be tolerated." Read More
East Bay Restaurant Owners Angry Over Latest Stay-At Home Order Mull Protests - 'We Are Being Decimated'
LIVERMORE -- A group of East Bay restaurant owners upset over the latest shutdowns mull protests as the current stay-at-home order bans outdoor dining until early January. The Tri-Valley restaurant group comprised of 90 restaurants in the valley held a meeting over Zoom to come up with a plan to stay in business. For many business owners, it's the last straw. "We are really, really hurting. Restaurants are absolutely hurting. We are being decimated," said Jesus Orozco, owner of Casa Orozco restaurant and bar. Monica Barajas, who owns Monica's Livermore told KPIX 5, "We already had groups of restaurants that were already on the brink and this could be the turning point. This could be the thing that pushes them over the edge." Read More
Sonoma County Officials Opt Against Early Shutdown Order
PETALUMA -- While much of the Bay Area is already under a COVID-19 stay-at-home order, some counties have chosen to follow looser restrictions. In Sonoma County, business owners are relieved they won't have to close just yet. Sonoma County health officials are watching the number of ICU beds available in the county. As of Tuesday, they still have 25% capacity available, 10% more than state minimums. Even though five Bay Area counties and the city of Berkeley instituted the state's stay-at-home restrictions before reaching the 15% threshold, Sonoma County is holding off. "Our numbers, while escalating right now to some degree -- and we are watching them very carefully -- they are not to the point yet where we think that we need to voluntarily go into that position that the other five counties and the city of Berkeley have already done," said Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt. Read More
East Bay Assemblymember Buffy Wicks Sworn In During Quarantine At Home
OAKLAND -- Buffy Wicks was sworn-in for her second term in the California State Assembly at her East Bay home as she self-isolates with her family following a potential COVID-19 exposure. With baby in hand, Wicks and her family gathered on her front porch for the swearing-in Monday afternoon. State Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) administered the oath from a safe distance. Wicks and her family are self-isolating after one of her children was possibly exposed to the coronavirus. It is unclear if it was her older daughter or her newborn. "The experience was incredibly special … and about as 2020 as you can get," Wicks said in a tweet. Read More
Health Officer Says Solano County Likely To Be Under Stay-At-Home Order Soon
SOLANO COUNTY -- The health officer for Solano County on Tuesday said the county is likely to find itself under the statewide stay-at-home order in the next two weeks due to rising coronavirus cases and hospitalizations throughout the Bay Area. The county is receiving reports of around 130 cases per day, significantly more than the roughly 25 to 30 cases the county was observing per day in late summer and early fall, according to county Public Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas. The county's test positivity rate has also spiked in recent weeks, reaching 12.8 percent over the last seven days, Matyas told the county's Board of Supervisors Tuesday. "The primary driver at the moment, probably not surprisingly, is gatherings by family and friends during Thanksgiving," Matyas said. "That has already begun to impact our county in terms of numbers and I anticipate it will continue to show an impact over the next week, week and a half." Read More
Bay Area Lawmaker Seeks To Extend Renter Protections, Offer Rental Assistance During Pandemic
SAN FRANCISCO -- California Assemblymember David Chiu, D-San Francisco, announced Monday he's introducing two bills to extend eviction protections and create a plan for a rental assistance program as the COVID-19 pandemic reaches unprecedented levels. Chiu's bills come as the California Legislature reconvened for the 2021-2022 session in Sacramento on Monday. According to Chiu, protections for renters are desperately needed as the state grapples with a new COVID-19 surge and unemployment remains at an all-time high. Despite layers of federal, state and local policies to protect renters from eviction through the pandemic, federal and state protections are set to expire within the coming months. Federal protections for renters facing eviction are set to expire in just weeks, on Dec. 31. Furthermore, California Assembly Bill 3088, signed into law in August, pauses evictions for non-payment of rent but it's set to expire on Feb. 1, 2021. Read More
Becerra Faces Massive Task of Vaccinating Americans Against COVID
SAN FRANCISCO -- President-elect Joe Biden tapped a robust defender of the Affordable Care Act when he named Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary. Becerra has used his position as attorney general of California to fend off efforts to roll back the health care plan.
But what remains to be seen is if Becerra can handle the enormous task of vaccinating Americans for COVID-19 and ending the pandemic. In his state position, he's been less involved in the day-to-day work to combat the coronavirus, is not a health care expert and has not overseen an office as sprawling as the Department of Health and Human Services. With the U.S. expected to begin vaccine distribution in the coming months, few Cabinet posts will have such influence over the nation's ability to move past the pandemic, an effort that will likely define the Biden presidency. Allies of Becerra, a former congressman who would be the first Latino HHS secretary at a time when the pandemic is taking a disproportionate toll on people of color, say he's well suited for the role. Read More
Other Trends Bay Area COVID Stories
Anticipated Thanksgiving Surge Underway; State Slips Under 15 Percent ICU Capacity
SACRAMENTO -- The much anticipated surge of new cases from Thanksgiving gatherings and travel has begun, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state public health chief Dr. Mark Ghaly revealed Monday during a COVID-19 update, taxing ICU capacity for treatment of the critically ill, particularly in Southern California. Newsom last week set a mandated level of 15 percent ICU capacity as the point at which any of the five hospital regions of the state would need to impose strict new health restrictions on local residents and businesses to slow the surge in new cases. Overall, the state was at 14.2 percent ICU capacity on Monday, Newsom said. Southern California at 10.9 percent and the San Joaquin Valley at 6.3 percent were the individual regions that have now tumbled well below 15 percent. In those regions, restaurant dining is banned, beauty and barber shops closed, bars shuttered and other businesses dramatically impacted. Read More
CA Lawmakers Demand Answers From Bank Of America After Tens Of Thousands Of EDD Debit Cards Get Hacked
SAN FRANCISCO -- There has been a new development in a series of massive hacks at California's unemployment department that KPIX 5 first exposed. Now, attention is shifting from the state to Bank of America that distributes most of the money, at last count $105 billion dollars, through debit cards we discovered are vulnerable to hacks. KPIX has received more than a hundred emails from victims. Now lawmakers are taking notice. From a criminal's perspective, it's the perfect scenario: ATMs give out bills and cash is king in the underground economy. KPIX was the first to expose how fraudsters are hacking Employment Development Department (EDD) debit cards and wiping out the benefits of potentially tens of thousands of Californians. "This is just absolutely unacceptable, that we have a bank that's not responding. They're not responding to you. Not responding to me, not responding to the people who they are serving," said California Assemblyman Phillip Ting. Read More
Bay Area Salon Operators Push Back Against Latest Lockdown
FREMONT -- As ICU bed availability continues to drop and much of the Bay Area begins its third round of lockdowns, some in the beauty industry are pushing back, arguing that they are being made COVID scapegoats. Joanna Brignolo, the owner of Visual Image Salon in Fremont, is "angry, anxious, and frustrated" at the new health orders. She's wondering if her business can last much longer. "I can't. Certainly not another month," said Brignolo. Brignolo points to the enhanced protocols salons must follow, including rules for sanitation, social distancing, temperature checks and questionnaires, and hand sanitizer. This is in addition to the hundreds of hours of training required for state certification, said Brignolo. She feels the new health order is unfair, heavy handed and puts the livelihoods of those in the beauty industry in jeopardy. Read More
Exasperated Bay Area Restaurant Owners Consider Defiance Of Shutdown Orders
MORGAN HILL -- Restaurant owners across the Bay Area on Monday said their long simmering fear and frustration over COVID restrictions has finally boiled over, becoming red-hot anger mixed with thoughts of open defiance of public health orders. "From a small-business standpoint, it's completely unfair what's going on," said Jim Angelopoulos, owner of Yolked in Morgan Hill. Angelopoulos told KPIX 5 he invested $3,000 into building a patio outside his restaurant and installing plexiglass dividers inside only to learned that the county was banning indoor and outdoor dining as cases of the coronavirus spike. "I'm just throwing my hands up. I don't have any answers. I don't know why small business is picked on like this," Angelopoulos said from inside his empty restaurant Monday afternoon. Many restaurant owners said they fear they simply will not be able to survive on the revenue generated by takeout orders alone. Moreover, they feel like they're being punished by public health officials without proof that outdoor dining is to blame for spreading the virus. Read More