Santa Clara County COVID-19 Digest

California schools got $23.4 billion in federal pandemic relief money. Low-income schools that got the most may be hardest hit when the funds expire this year.

The monthly rate of antidepressants being dispensed to young people increased about 64% more quickly during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics.

Silicon Valley made everything the world needed when the pandemic hit—and with that came a hiring frenzy. But after COVID subsided, tech workers started losing their jobs, with nearly 16,800 laid off since July 2021.

San Francisco is coping with a “doom loop” of declining employment and business activity in its downtown core, but a new study suggests Sacramento may be in worse shape.

In a sign of continued recovery for Palo Alto retailers, the city’s sales tax revenue is nearly back to pre-pandemic levels, although some parts of town and certain business segments are doing better than others.

As evictions soar across California now that COVID-era moratoria have expired, advocates are pushing for more cities and counties to follow San Francisco's example of guaranteeing tenants access to an attorney in eviction proceedings.

Kern County agrees to better protect free speech in a deal with the state Justice Department—inspired by the county’s’ 2020 squashing of COVID contracts to organizations that advocated defunding police.

Silicon Valley’s offices are rapidly emptying out, as the paradigm-shifting remote work culture brought on by the pandemic continues to affect the commercial real estate market.

As Palo Alto prepares to redesign University Avenue, downtown restaurants are rallying to protect a treasured asset that sustained them through the darkest days of the pandemic: their recently constructed parklets.

Despite a few improvements, results show students are still struggling on several fronts.

Political wonks in California, Florida and maybe a few states in between, will be glued to their screens Thursday night to watch Gov. Gavin Newsom and Gov. Ron Desantis square off in a highly-anticipated Blue vs. Red State debate that’s been brewing since the summer.

Parents say flavored medication can help ensure their kids finish a prescription. Far fewer California pharmacies are offering that service as they await new rules from a state regulator.

California and Florida took starkly different approaches to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Data shows that more Floridians died per capita of COVID than did Californians.

California’s community colleges are seeing enrollment gains for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Older students—those over 50—are some of the first to return.

After years of isolation and virtual classes, young professionals in California’s workforce are reportedly struggling with greater mental health challenges and burnout. If colleges and companies don’t pay more attention, there could be economic consequences.

When Stanford University received permission in 2011 to construct of new hospitals and medical buildings, it pledged to steer its workers away from cars and toward buses, trains and shuttles—but the pandemic has disrupted these plans.

Despite an influx of money to counter learning loss during the pandemic, English language arts and math test scores remain low.

Funding for food insecurity programs in San Jose has been severely cut after losing COVID-19-era dollars.

The San Jose metro area ranks in the top 10 among the lowest in the country for employees returning to the office. San Jose sits in the ninth spot at 40.7% for return-to-office rates, according to a recent study by Kastle.

Companies set the original test dates arbitrarily due to these diagnostic at-home tests being developed rapidly. So, check your boxes before you toss them.

Cases are on the rise, and so are hospitalizations and deaths. So the federal government's release of new, updated COVID boosters feels like good timing.

Nearly a third of K-12 students statewide were chronically absent in 2020-21, more than three times the pre-pandemic rate. Some school officials fear that pattern is becoming the new normal.

Attila Colar went to prison for lying to the government. After California gave him another contract as a provider in a rehabilitation program, a federal jury convicted him of fraud for using the personal information of Bay Area parolees and others to collect government COVID funds.

COVID cases are rising once again due to the emergence of a new variant, EG.5. It’s another version of Omicron, says Dr. Benjamin Neuman of Texas A&M University.

How bad is California hunger? A lot depends on your access to food aid, which expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic but is being reduced.

The iconic California burger joint known for its crossed palm trees and cups printed with Bible verses banned its employees in five states from wearing masks at work.

Excessive drinking during the pandemic increased alcoholic liver disease deaths so much that the condition killed more Californians than car accidents or breast cancer, a California Healthline analysis has found.

A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau highlights the effect of remote work. San Francisco lost nearly 210,000 people during a typical workday, and Santa Clara County saw a drop of nearly 110,000. On the flip side, Alameda and Contra Costa counties added tens of thousands to their workday populations.

Workers denied pandemic-era jobless benefits are still struggling as they fight a state employment agency on edge about fraud and an appeals system facing a “historic” backlog. What happens next will help decide who pays for a multi-billion-dollar debacle three years in the making.

When Palo Alto adopted policies to allow city employees to work from home, its main goal was safety rather than convenience. Three years later, the city's auditors are suggesting stronger rules.

San Jose Mineta International Airport is seeing passenger numbers that are close to pre-COVID levels for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The airport is making great strides to accommodate all who wish to travel by air.

As the Bay Area's economy continues its up-and-down recovery, statistics show that many low-income households and communities of color are getting left behind.