Santa Clara County COVID-19 Digest

Milpitas Mayor Rich Tran allegedly attended Tuesday’s city council meeting without telling colleagues he had been exposed to COVID-19 last week. The mayor says he has since tested negative, but Councilwoman Karina Dominguez has asked the city to go back to remote meetings.

A new COVID-19 variant—named Lambda—has arrived in California. The emerging variant is spreading throughout South America. In California, at least 152 cases have been reported, according to state public health officials.

The California Department of Public Health today issued a new public health order requiring all school staff to either show proof of full vaccination or be tested at least once per week.

The Mountain View Voice reached out to local health leaders to find out the state of nursing homes a year into the pandemic. Many say they are better prepared and optimistic about keeping residents safe.

Low-income Californians enrolled in Medi-Cal have been vaccinated at far lower rates than the overall population. About 45 percent of eligible Medi-Cal enrollees had received at least one dose as of July 18, compared to about 70 percent of all eligible Californians, state officials said.

Just as returning to the office finally seemed within reach, the recent surge in Delta variant and breakthrough COVID-19 cases has prompted companies such as Google and Apple to change course.

Mountain View Voice’s Kevin Forestieri reports that as of June 18 only 60 percent of the Palo Alto Police Department were vaccinated against COVID-19, far below the Palo Alto Fire Department’s nearly 100 percent rate.

Elaine Goodman of the Daily Post reports on Palo Alto’s $40 million city shortfall caused by the COVID epidemic, and its effect on city salaries: On the whole, the pay of city officers is at the same rate as 2019.

The US Food and Drug Administration updated the label on Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine to warn of the possible increased risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome after there was an increase in reports of the condition.

Owners of several Los Altos restaurants created a texting group in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has become a place to receive and offer help—proof that working together benefits all the businesses.

Westfield Valley Fair opened at full capacity on June 15, when the state returned to business, and then hosted a summer celebration on the weekend of June 25.

An array of white flags on the civic center lawn on Peak Avenue will remain on view in July to honor the 58 Morgan Hill residents who have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

Two weeks after California’s official reopening, large venues along the Midpeninsula are taking their time coming back online. Some have resumed business mostly as usual, leaving decisions about masking and physical distancing to their customers.

One group of local seniors found ways to stay connected during the pandemic through a grassroots support network to help those aging at home combat isolation. Called Avenidas Village, the organization operates much like a mutual aid society.

Two of the Bay Area’s largest tech giants continue to adjust their post-pandemic plans as they prepare to start bringing employees back into the office.

In another casualty attributable to the pandemic, the twin CineArts theaters at the Palo Alto Square office complex at Page Mill Road and El Camino Real in Palo Alto will close permanently.

As part of the ongoing evolution of post-pandemic return to work environments, Facebook and Salesforce have updates on their plans to bring employees back into the office.

The federal Community Development Block Grant program has provided $1,282,240 in grant funding to the city of Milpitas, and the City Council has moved to allocate the funds toward COVID-19-related services. Twenty-one grants will be directed toward local non-profits.

Apple Inc., the largest public company employer in the Silicon Valley, recently released a detailed re-entry plan to transition employees back into the workplace. Some Apple employees are reportedly not thrilled with details of the plan.

Health officers in nine Bay Area counties have announced that they support recent federal guidance approving people to get vaccines for other illnesses at the same time they get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Office vacancies in downtown San Jose increased during the pandemic, but some say it’s only a matter of time before workers return. At the start of 2021, occupancy was down and new leasing activity was historically low.

Police departments throughout Santa Clara and San Mateo counties are encouraging officers to get vaccinated, but the results vary widely from one department to the next.

Despite plans to wait until the end of October to reopen several streets closed during the pandemic, the Palo Alto City Council will now consider earlier dates.

Public employees say they’re fed up with what they believe are poor working conditions, reduced pay and poor communication from their superiors amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the federal government has loosened mask mandates, California Health officials announced Monday that masks will be required indoors until June 15.

The Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce is currently planning to resume two of its most popular annual events this fall, if all goes well with the pandemic.

When it comes to keeping customers and employees safe, how are local grocery stores faring? The Town Crier reached out to representatives from several markets for answers.

Dr. Kusum Atraya is joining volunteers from around the globe to help India, which is suffering a wave of COVID-19 infections that is pushing hospitals to the brink and resulting in a severe shortage of oxygen.

Medical device companies Calumeo and Phoenix DeVentures collaborated on Calumeo Clean, a device to safely clean N95 masks for reuse, and won FDA approval in just seven months.

Santa Clara County’s move to the orange tier has improved the economic situation of local restaurants. But will it be enough?

When schools switched to distance learning, the gap between the digital haves and have-nots became clear. Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez has proposed two ideas to help close structural inequities exacerbating the digital divide.

Wage theft has been a problem in the county, but the pandemic created new ways for businesses to short workers. According to a report by the Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition, officials received 1,658 complaints alleging businesses violated safety protocols.