Bay Area health officials see hope in the fight against one of the deadliest viruses in modern history as nurses, doctors and other health care workers caring for patients with COVID-19 receive the first batches of a rigorously tested vaccine.
"We now have a critical tool to help fight this pandemic," officials said in a statement issued Tuesday by the San Mateo County Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
Such vaccinations, they said, in acute-care hospital settings follow a locally adopted federal and state framework that will soon also protect those in skilled nursing facilities, such as older adults, who are more likely to acquire the virus.
The document also notes that the 12 county health officials in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sonoma and the city of Berkeley support the state's vaccine distribution guidelines, which currently prioritize health care workers in acute care settings.
For his part, San Mateo County Health Officer Dr. Scott Morrow reminded that the vaccines are still months away from reaching the general public, which is why he called to avoid social gatherings, as it is the most common source of infections at home. "The virus is transmissible without and before any symptoms. Please do not hold gatherings outside nearby homes, wear a mask and, if you know or think you have been exposed to the virus, isolate yourself immediately, even if you have no symptoms," he urged.
Today, the San Mateo County Health Department issued a vaccination plan for COVID-19 after the arrival of 5,820 initial doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's new coronavirus vaccine, SARS-CoV-2, was confirmed.
Five to six more doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccine are expected to arrive soon.
According to the California Department of Public Health's manual, it is established that
San Mateo County has created a Planning Group that includes the Emergency Medical Services division, the Family Health Services division where the County's Immunization Program is located, the Public Health Policy and Planning division, Health Communications, and the County Health Department (DOC) Operations Center. The document states that this group is ready for COVID-19 vaccination.
The vaccine will be provided to first-line medical personnel, who are the ones who directly treat patients who are sick with the new coronavirus, which also includes paramedics and first-aid personnel; that is, a population of about 38 thousand people.
Then to residents of long-term care facilities; about 8,000 in San Mateo County.
In addition, it is noted that equitable distribution is a key priority in the immunization schedule for San Mateo and for the state of California. It explains that this distribution in the application of the initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, is directed to people with greater risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 or their level of vulnerability, whether they are paid or unpaid, as reported by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices -ACIP.
This first phase includes cleaning staff, patient transport staff, administrative staff and any other sector of the population that may fall into the category of workers in the front line of exposure to COVID-19.
It notes that the San Mateo County Health Department will coordinate the distribution of the vaccine because of its storage complexity and says the department "has partnered with hospitals, clinics and care facilities throughout the county to make sure they are in a position to administer the vaccine to their staff.
In the event that, for whatever reason, qualified personnel are not available to administer the vaccine, this partnership will serve as a substitute for this work. Kaiser, Sutter, and the Department of Veterans Affairs will receive the vaccine directly from providers.
It is important to note that after the initial dose of COVID-19 vaccine is completed for frontline workers, more detailed information on vaccine distribution for the rest of the population will be provided, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Public Health.
In addition, the San Mateo County Health Department is expected to collect quantitative information on: the number of doses distributed; as well as the number of people receiving the vaccine by group, ensuring that key groups are not left out; the number of unused or discarded doses; and the number of clinics administering the vaccine in large quantities.
This morning it was announced that 2,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine against the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19, whose origin was recorded more than 1 year ago in a market in the Wuhan region of China, have been received.
Those doses will be administered to staff and health care professionals at San Francisco General Hospital, which serves as the testing site for COVID-19, said Dr. Grant Colfax of the San Francisco Health Department. In addition, he said, more doses of Pfizer's vaccine will arrive and be administered in the coming weeks in addition to the doses arriving this week.
"The fight is happening at the same time we are facing a historic moment for our city and for our nation," Colfax said.
Unfortunately, San Francisco is among the cities reporting the highest number of daily COVID-19 cases with an average of 200 cases every 24 hours and, in California as a whole, more than 20,000 cases are reported every 24 hours on average, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
If this trend continues, it is expected that the occupancy of intensive care units will exceed 90 percent availability, which could create a health crisis by not being able to care for COVID-19 patients.
Following a significant increase in COVID-19 positive cases throughout California, the San Mateo Superior Court has ordered a suspension of jury trials beginning this Monday, December 14 and ending Friday, January 8, 2021.
The emergency order issued by the Chief Justice of the California State Supreme Court details that the San Mateo Superior Court has also closed most of its clerk's offices to the public and all walk-in transactions to minimize foot traffic on the premises.
The court is also suspending certain types of in-person hearings, the county said in a statement.
The document states that the Court will continue to accept and process documents filed electronically, delivered to on-site drop boxes and sent by mail.
At the same time, he said, restraining orders will continue to be accepted by the clerk's offices, while telephone inquiries will only be answered on a limited basis.
For its part, the Self-Help Centre will maintain remote services for self-represented litigants through the Tribunal's LiveChat program at http://www.sanmateocourt.org/self_help/.
It should be noted that the Juvenile Clerk's Office at the Youth Services Center will remain open to the public.
Neal Taniguchi, executive officer of the San Mateo Court, stated that "the closures and suspension of services are unfortunate, but necessary to minimize public interaction and contact, the primary risks of community spread of the coronavirus."
However, the official also noted that staff shortages due to the state's budget crisis also necessitated the suspension and reduction of services in the secretary's office.
For more information on court closings and adjournments of hearings, please see the Court's website at www.sanmateocourt.orgor call (650) 261-5016.
On Tuesday morning, the Morgan Hill area was surprised by two low-intensity earthquakes just a minute apart, reported the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
The first telluric movement was registered at 6:58 a.m., magnitude 3.7, a minute later another earthquake M3.6 was registered. So far there are no reports of damage or injured people.
Given the seismicity of the Bay Area, it is important to be alert for possible movements that may occur in the near future, as well as to always have a contingency plan that allows you to keep yourself and your family and pets safe.
The San Francisco Bay Area has had and will continue to have earthquakes because there are at least eight earthquake faults that can cause very serious damage, according to the USGS, which added that several major earthquakes occurred in 1868, 1906 and 1989, while smaller quakes occur more often.
Scientific research indicates that a strong earthquake is very likely to occur in this region within the next 30 years.
The Geological Survey also notes that the most severe damage will be caused by intense ground shaking, with most of the Bay Area experiencing the strongest shaking.
Unlike undersea earthquakes, Bay Area earthquakes are not expected to produce tsunamis or violent waves. However, some distant earthquakes around the Pacific Ocean can generate tsunamis or huge waves that can damage the state's coastline.
Researchers from Stanford University analyzed water consumption, with the help of Macrodata and Artificial Intelligence tools, which could change the urbanization strategy, as well as provide a better understanding of the use and supply of water in cities.
Notably, the research, published in Environmental Research Letters, is the first to demonstrate how real estate platforms can be used to obtain data on water use for city planning, drought management and sustainability.
The report uses data from Zillow and other real estate websites to compile information on single-family homes, including lot size, home value and number of bedrooms in Redwood City, California, a fast-growing and economically diverse city with various home styles, lots and neighborhoods.
Then, using demographic information from the city's Census Bureau, they analyzed factors including average household size and income, along with the percentage occupied by renters, non-family, college-educated, and seniors.
By combining the data and applying machine learning methods, the researchers were able to identify five clusters of communities, which they also compared to billing data from the city's public works department, to identify water use trends, seasonal patterns, and conservation rates during California's 2014-2017 drought.
"Evolving development patterns may be the key to our success in becoming wiser in our use of water and building long-term water security," said the study's lead author, Newsha Ajami, director of urban water policy for Stanford's Water in the West program.
Researcher Kim Quesnel, for her part, said that with this method "we were able to develop more precise community groupings, beyond simply grouping clients based on income and other socioeconomic qualities," which resulted in some unexpected findings.
Contrary to previous studies, the researchers found that the two lowest income groups scored average on water use, despite having a greater number of people living in each household.
The middle-income group had high outdoor but low indoor water use, indicating the use of efficient appliances, such as low-flow faucets and toilets.
While, of the two highest income groups, younger residents with smaller lots, as well as newer homes in dense, compact developments, had the lowest water use citywide.
While the other high-income group, consisting of older homes built on larger lots and with fewer people, turned out to be the biggest water consumers.
"The finding runs counter to most previous research linking income and water use, and suggests that changing the way communities are built and developed. It may also change patterns of water use, even for the wealthiest customers," the report adds.
Thus, this research sets the framework for integrating big data and artificial intelligence into urban planning, providing more accurate usage expectations for different community configurations.
Redwood City. In order to create an informative, cultural and economic bridge between the Chinese community and the Latino community in the San Francisco Peninsula, News for Chinese and Peninsula 360 Press presented a partnership agreement between the two digital media outlets.
The directors of News for Chinese -an online news platform with a large audience in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as the coordinators of Peninsula 360 Pressexpressed their interest in sharing content about culture, food and festivities between the two media, so that the Latino community, the Chinese community, the Anglo-Saxon community and others, know more about each other and this will lead to greater understanding and multicultural support.
Therefore, soon, through our website and social networks, we will include local news and information on the enormous diversity and cultural richness of the Chinese community in San Francisco and the Peninsula.
According to exit polls in the last U.S. election, three out of five white voters gave their vote to Republican Donald Trump so that he could stay four more years at the helm of the country, which meant a slight increase compared to the 2016 election, but what made them make such a decision?
Manuel Ortiz Escámez
For Arlie Russell Hochschild, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, who over several years has studied those who support the "Tea Party" - a conservative-centered American political movement - to which Trump belongs, the vote for the Republican is more visceral than rationed.
Although Democrat Joe Biden won, the election was very close, with Donald Trump receiving more than 74 million votes, representing 46.91 percent of the total vote.
The also author of several books, including Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, noted that the Trump Effect, which has been to divide society, has worked.
On the one hand, the Republican makes a group of his white voters feel that they are the best, that other communities have tried to appropriate jobs, spaces and opportunities that they don't deserve.
While, on the other hand, he plays the role of a martyr or even the "Savior" who suffers for his people, who understands all the problems and seeks to save them from bad situations.
"Donald Trump has a way of insinuating, of pretending that he is a dominant paradigm of evangelical Christians and makes one think that the Savior is about to come... he makes one think that one is suffering, listen to him when he says - I am suffering for you - for the ears of a Christian that is a - who is suffering for me - Christ".
In that sense, he said that for Democrats, the image of the Trump supporter who could be described by the term "sitting pretty," those who wear a red hat with the acronym MAGA, Make America Great Again, and cheer every word of the Republican, however, he said, that image of "sitting pretty" describes very few.
Another image of the current U.S. president's follower is that of the wealthy guardian, an example of which is the McCloskey family, a couple of lawyers who pointed guns at protesters in an anti-racism march from the front yard of their home in St. Louis, Missouri, the specialist explained during the virtual panel "The 2020 Election Race Gap: Why White Voters, Including Women, Supported Trump," conducted by Ethnic Media Services.
And thirdly, those white, college-educated and Christian voters who feel they are part of a minority group, "I know it's hard to say, but they feel like a kind of minority group themselves, and they think life is against them, their image of reality is what they see not only on Fox News, but also CNN or NBC," he said.
"And what they think is: -ohhh look at all these black people who are news and weather anchors, there are no white people anymore. They see basketball stars and football stars who are colored and billionaires and advertising offers...they're billionaires, God, those blacks are coming out ahead," he added.
And it's not that they took ethnic courses at the university, but simply based on what they see in the media, "that's the impression they have.
Similarly, he explained that not all, but several of these Trump supporters feel relegated, as they consider other ethnic communities to be growing, while theirs is declining.
He recalled that in the case of the African-American community, household incomes have not increased in the last 30 years, while for Latinos, the situation has not been easier as many of them have lost their jobs.
In that sense, he noted that there are many jobs that Latinos do, which do not compete with those done by whites.
In the face of this and this idea of displacement, he pointed out that these people, being depressed, are looking for someone to blame. "They're not angry, they're depressed, in fact, they're terrified, and somehow that depression turns into fear.
Hochschild said that in various parts of the country, the Democratic Party does not have a face, so they believe that no one has extended a hand for them, there is an invisibility.
She added that support for Trump from white, college-educated women is not as strong as that of their male relatives, but the issue of the right to life has been a big factor in making them vote more conservatively.
In the case of the "proud boys," he said, they are white nationalists who often have stories behind them that have to do with alcoholism, drug addiction and sociopathy, and in Trump, they see a figure that really understands them and listens to them, "that's very powerful.
For her part, Mindy Romero, director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy, said that since almost 50 percent of voters don't understand how Donald Trump got so many votes, the blame game is used.
"All of this is based on a fairly poor understanding of the Latino community and other groups ... expectations are always based on unrealistic terms of what to expect about historically unrepresented groups," he said.
He said only 67 percent of eligible voters cast ballots on Nov. 3, while 33 percent, many from non-white communities, did not vote.
In that sense, he said it is incorrect to believe that half the country is with the Republican, when only 31 percent of the voters voted for him.
In the case of California, he explained that 47 percent of white voters chose Trump, very similar to what happened in the 2016 vote.
However, the gaps between the participation of white and minority voters are very wide.
In this election "the voters did not represent the people. Whites are overrepresented in every state, but those who don't vote have other differences and that doesn't even show up in the polls.
The United States has begun vaccination against COVID-19, with frontline health care workers who face the virus on a daily basis receiving the first doses.
Thus, intensive care nurse Sara Lindsey was the first person in New York to receive one of the first doses of the vaccine licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) against the SARS-Cov-2 virus.
At a live event around 9:20 a.m., Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, New York, nurse Sandra Lindsey received an injection in her left arm from Northwell Health's corporate director of employee health services, Dr. Michelle Chester.
"I feel good. I'd like to thank all the first responders, all my colleagues who have been doing such a great job to fight this pandemic around the world," Lindsey said after receiving the vaccine developed by Pfizer.
She added that she is hopeful and relieved that the cure is coming, "I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history.
In her white uniform and wearing a mask, the nurse said, "I want to instill confidence in the public that the vaccine is safe," and insisted that she believes in science, and that her work is "guided by science.
In this regard, President Donald Trump wrote on his Twitter account, "First vaccine administered. congratulations USA! congratulations to the WORLD!"
The vaccine comes in the midst of one of the worst moments of the pandemic, because only until yesterday, December 13, the country recorded a cumulative of more than 16 million 262 thousand infections, and more than 299 thousand deaths resulting from COVID-19.
California Governor Gavin Newsom tweeted last night, "Hope has arrived," alongside a photo of a FedEx plane at Los Angeles International Airport carrying a shipment of doses of Pfizer's new FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine.
Members of the singing and acting classes of the organization Casa Círculo Cultural, based in Redwood City, during the rehearsals for the Virtual Christmas Festival that they will have on Saturday December 19 through Facebook Live. https://www.facebook.com/circulocultural.rwc
Manuel Ortiz Manuel Ortiz Manuel OrtizManuel Ortiz
