COVID

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03/16/2021 5:49 pm (The Berkeley Post) - by Max Levine - In the Mayors virtual town hall meeting today, hosted by Jesse Arreguin, Mayor of Berkeley, the City announced that those 16-64 who are medically compromised, with underlying medical conditions, are now eligible to be vacinated. Additionally certain transit workers can also be vaccinated. In order to sign up, it is necessary to go to the City of Berkeley and sign up. There is an option to sign up and be notified  by the City of Berkeley when your group is able to be vaccinated. It was also suggested to check out other options like Alameda County Fairgrounds. There is a Berkeley vaccine dashboard and so far over 50,000 in Berkeley have had at least one dose. "Many of the doses are being used as second doses," said Dr. Lisa Warhus, Director of Health, Housing and Community Services 

01/05/2021 5:49pm (The Berkeley Post) - by Max Levine - Jesse Arreguin, Mayor of Berkeley, has launched one of the most thorough and transparent COVID-19 public update programs in the Bay Area. He has launched a regularly occurring Town Hall Meeting with updates from City of Berkeley employees Dr. Lisa Hernandez, Health Officer, Dr. Lisa Warhus, Director of Health, Housing and Community Services and David White, Deputy City Manager. His goal is to provide complete transparency to the public by providing live updates on the status of the spread of COVID-19, vaccination and answering questions from the public. The meeting will be hosted every two weeks. In addition to the Townhall Meeting the City will continue to provide up to date metrics, as always, on the City of Berkeley website. 

Arreguin has been quite vocal about taking a vigilant stance to fight COVID-19 and making it his top priority. In the meeting, via Zoom, Arreguin explained that during “these next few months…(it's important) to continue to follow the stay at home order.” He thanked those who did follow the order and stayed home for New Years. “On a very sad note I want to acknowledge that we've had 2 more deaths of City of Berkeley residents due to succumbing to COVID-19. These deaths were announced recently so we are now up to 12 deaths due to individuals succumbing to COVID-19,” said Arreguin.

Arreguin thanked everyone involved in addressing the health crisis including city workers who have stepped in to new roles. “From the firefighters, to the EMTs, to police officers, to administrative staff and health staff,” Arreguin extended his appreciation for going above and beyond their normal day to day jobs. “I want to also thank not just our essential city workers, but the essential front line medical staff, the grocery workers, the bus drivers - all the people that are making our community run - at great risk,” said Arreguin. “We are (also) moving into a new role which is vaccine distribution”, says Arreguin. 

Dr. Hernandez explained that she started this year with “hope and sadness”. The cases are at an all time high and… we expect a surge on top of a surge”. She sees hope that there is a vaccine on the horizon. 

Dr. Hernandez explained that The City of Berkeley case rates, as of December 30th, are at 1,940 confirmed cases in the City of Berkeley. Berkeley is averaging about 14 cases per day. The test positivity rate is at 1.6%. ICU bed capacity for the state is at 0%. The Bay Area is at 7.9%. There were no specific numbers issued on ICU bed capacity in Berkeley, specifically.

She explained her day to day work involves, “still working with Golden Gate Fields, other worksites and skilled nursing facilities” as it relates to fighting COVID-19. She said the new strain has not been detected in Northern California, yet, but she thinks it probably has reached the Bay Area but just hasn’t been detected. “We are continuing to learn more about this strain,” she explained, “and the vaccine should cover it”. 

Dr Warhus gave a vaccine update and explained, “We are happy to share that we have a new tool in our tool belt - the vaccine. The vaccine distribution is really being driven and led by the Center for Disease control.” She says they are providing direction to local entities 24/7 and “often due to circumstances… are making changes.” She feels confident in the City of Berkeleys’ staff and the guidance they are getting from CDC.

Berkeley has recently begun to receive its first allocations of vaccines. Alta Bates received 975 doses and has been vaccinating their frontline staff. Moderna has provided The City of Berkeley with 1100 doses of the vaccine to date. Warhus explained that the vaccine “is being exclusively allocated and delivered to front line health care workers. We need to protect our diminishing workforce”, she says, “and prepare for broadening our efforts around vaccinations and this may involve our healthcare systems and our medical clinics delivering vaccines. So we need to really strengthen the system.” Varhus says that they are following the three tiers distribution plan dictated by the CDC.

Dr Warhus said the skilled nursing facilities and long term care facilities are signed up to receive their vaccinations through a different method. They are getting them through the CDC Pharmacy Partnership where they have signed up to a particular pharmacy onsite. “We did get word that 3 of these facilities are in line to get these vaccines next week. We don't know how much vaccine they have (or are getting exactly)”, she explained. It is outside of the vaccines that The City of Berkeley received directly. 

She said so far the city has provided 496 vaccines to front line health care staff. “We are rapidly using up all of the vaccines we have and in some cases we were able to squeeze out some extra vaccines out of what we have.” She said,  “What we need is more than what we’ve received for our existing front line healthcare workers but we are confident more is coming soon.” 

Arreguin added that, “I am guessing we will get beyond phase 1 sometime in the Spring. We are moving into a new role which is vaccine distribution”.

City Manager White talked about enforcement. He said that enforcement has “been more around education, safety and wearing masks (than issuing tickets)”.

In a Q&A form the public following the updates the question of accessing additional school sites for exercise was posed. As of December 15th a new MOU was signed with the School Board to open up access to additional school sites. White explains, “the MOU was adopted.” White thanked Arreguin and staff for making this happen. He said that because schools are closed people still don't have access to the open space but once they open people should have access. 

One resident asked why tickets are not being issued for non-compliance of face coverings being worn in public. White explained that enforcement is “complaint driven. Our approach is to look toward education first.” He explains that residents can call 311 or non emergency 911 to provide information on non-compliance. To find out about the next Townhall Meeting go to jessearreguin.com.

(UPDATE) 12/31/2020 5:49pm (The Berkeley Post) - by Verenice Berroa - As of 12/31/2020 the City of Berkeley has acquired 1000 doses with expectations of 100 more on Monday, according to Ben Bartlett, Berkeley Citycouncilman. “These are being used for Berkeley healthcare workers. Long term care facilities will be receiving through the CDC Pharmacy Partnership and CAL will receive (their vaccine from) CAL”.   Berkeley has been quick, comparatively, to other cities and has already vaccinated over 500 Health care workers. Jesse Arreguin, City of Berkeley Mayor and Bartlett have both stated fighting COVID as being one of their top priorities. Berkeleys’ 1.77% test positivity rate is one of the lowest in California. This is a direct indicator of just how well Berkeley is doing.
The City of Berkeley receives first allotment of 700 doses of Moderna Vaccine yesterday12/24/20 12:53pm (The Berkeley Post) - by Verenice Berroa - Lisa B. Hernandez, MD, Health Officer, City of Berkeley told The Berkeley Post that “The City of Berkeley received 700 doses of Moderna Vaccine and will be providing this to first responders and other essential health and outreach personnel that are at high risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 through direct contact with patients.  We anticipate additional allotments weekly.”
12/23/20 9:01pm - The Berkeley Post reached out to Dr. Lisa Warhuus, Director Health, Housing and Community Services, City of Berkeley who explained, “The CIty of Berkeley anticipates receipt of 700 doses of Moderna Vaccine toward the end of this week.” The population of Berkeley is 122,667. So far there were 975 doses delivered last Friday to Alta Bates and it's expected another 700 will be delivered this Friday and distributed to CVS and Walgreens. Although there are 122,667 people in Berkeley, it is unclear how many of these people would need treatment in Berkeley versus another city, such as Oakland. In terms of controlling spread and the public communication the City of Berkeley is doing a great job and Mayor Areguin has made this his top priority. In terms of the number of vaccines and dates that they will arrive, the City of Berkeley has no control - they are largely at the discretion of the state.Warhuus told us that the “additional vaccine will be distributed to Walgreens and CVS”. She said, “These doses will primarily go toward Long Term Care and Adult Residential.” She does not know when the next round will be delivered after the 700 but explained, “We anticipate continued receipt of both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in amount to be determined.” 12/20/20 2:01pm (The Berkeley Post) - Alta Bates Spokesperson, Monique Binkley Smith, explained over a call with The Berkeley Post that, "We've received successful delivery to all three of our locations on Friday 12/18/20. Alta Bates campus in Berkeley received their expected allocation". She explained in a press release that, "We have begun vaccinating our frontline healthcare workers at our acute care hospitals... The first, very limited allocation of the Pfizer vaccine is being directed by county health officials". More on this story to come shortly12/18/20 3:45pm (The Berkeley Post) - The Berkeley Post reached out to Matthai Chakko Spokesperson for the City of Berkeley on Friday, Dec 19, 2020 to find out how the 975 Vaccines that are arriving to Alta Bates shortly would be distributed. He explained, "All of the Bay Area’s Health Officers have a shared vision of using federal and state guidelines to outline steps. This first phase is outlined by the state."  We asked when the 975 doseswould arrive and Chakko explained, "We are receiving one box of 975 doses and we have arranged for that to be delivered directly to the Berkley campus of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center." He said, "You'd have to talk to them about the exact dates and times of receipt, delivery and administering of the vaccine."California Department of Public Health Vaccine Phase 1A distribution guidelines:During Phase 1a of allocation, COVID-19 vaccine should be offered to the following persons in California:

12/27/20  6:30am (The Berkeley Post) - Oakland, Ca - An Increase in COVID causes Kaiser Permanente in Oakland to delay “elective and non-urgent surgeries and procedures” through Jan. 4th. One Kaiser employee, who chose to remain annonymous said this is “all about Thanksgiving and people not taking warnings to distance separately. Its a real shame. This could go on for awhile.”
On Christmas Day, California surpassed 2 million coronavirus cases. Maa as my are worried this will create yet another spike in 2 weeks, similar to what we are seeing today.  ICU capacity has dropped as low as 0% in some cities. Anything below 15% triggers tighter measures. Kaiser hopes to begin elective surgeries sometime in January. Many Berkeley residents are Kaiser members. The announcement was made on December 25th.

12/23/20 9:01pm - The Berkeley Post reached out to Dr. Lisa Warhuus, Director Health, Housing and Community Services, City of Berkeley who explained, “The CIty of Berkeley anticipates receipt of 700 doses of Moderna Vaccine toward the end of this week.” 

The population of Berkeley is 122,667. So far there were 975 doses delivered last Friday to Alta Bates and it's expected another 700 will be delivered this Friday and distributed to CVS and Walgreens. Although there are 122,667 people in Berkeley, it is unclear how many of these people would need treatment in Berkeley versus another city, such as Oakland. 

In terms of controlling spread and the public communication the City of Berkeley is doing a great job and Mayor Areguin has made this his top priority. In terms of the number of vaccines and dates that they will arrive, the City of Berkeley has no control - they are largely at the discretion of the state.

Warhuus told us that the “additional vaccine will be distributed to Walgreens and CVS”. She said, “These doses will primarily go toward Long Term Care and Adult Residential.” She does not know when the next round will be delivered after the 700 but explained, “We anticipate continued receipt of both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in amount to be determined.”

(UPDATE) 12/20/20 2:01pm (The Berkeley Post) - Alta Bates Spokesperson, Monique Binkley Smith, explained over a call with The Berkeley Post that, "We've received successful delivery to all three of our locations on Friday 12/18/20. Alta Bates campus in Berkeley received their expected allocation". She explained in a press release that, "We have begun vaccinating our frontline healthcare workers at our acute care hospitals... The first, very limited allocation of the Pfizer vaccine is being directed by county health officials". More on this story to come shortly

12/18/20 3:45pm (The Berkeley Post) - The Berkeley Post reached out to Matthai Chakko Spokesperson for the City of Berkeley on Friday, Dec 19, 2020 to find out how the 975 Vaccines that are arriving to Alta Bates shortly would be distributed. He explained, "All of the Bay Area’s Health Officers have a shared vision of using federal and state guidelines to outline steps. This first phase is outlined by the state."  We asked when the 975 doseswould arrive and Chakko explained, "We are receiving one box of 975 doses and we have arranged for that to be delivered directly to the Berkley campus of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center." He said, "You'd have to talk to them about the exact dates and times of receipt, delivery and administering of the vaccine."