COVID-19

With Covid-19 outbreaks reported recently at local juvenile detention facilities and a homeless shelter—and the number of positive cases surging at nursing homes—Santa Clara County officials are again imploring residents to follow protocols to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

While 12 patients of a Gilroy nursing home have died with Covid-19 since this summer, the facility’s management says these deaths were unrelated to their decision in August to begin admitting infected patients to an on-site Covid Recovery Unit. Gilroy Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center staff...

In an effort to regain control of the Covid-19 pandemic, Santa Clara County supervisors Aug. 11 voted unanimously to create a new tool for a group of enforcers by using a combination of warnings and fines rather than criminal penalties.

By Patricia Cohen, @nytimes New claims for unemployment fell last week, the government reported Thursday, the latest sign that the labor market’s recovery, however slow and unsteady, is continuing. “The numbers look encouraging on the face of it,” said Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford...

The Santa Clara County Office of Education released a new online portal that will provide essential workers access to childcare during the shelter-in-place order.

Santa Clara County on Sept. 21 announced a new website—www.sccfreetest.org—that lets residents schedule a Covid-19 test up to a week ahead of time at certain sites. Appointments for the drive-thru testing at the county fairgrounds can be made five days in advance. County health officials...

As a result of Covid-19 and the subsequent economic downturn, Second Harvest of Silicon Valley is now providing food assistance to an average of 500,000 people every month—twice as many people as it served pre-pandemic.

Santa Clara County will receive about $2.4 million from the California Microbusiness Covid-19 Relief Grant Program (MBCRG) to aid very small businesses adversely affected by the pandemic, according to county officials. On Jan. 11, the Board of Supervisors accepted the grant and approved community partner...

The county will ramp up its Covid-19 safety enforcement efforts this weekend as hordes of holiday shoppers are expected to descend on malls and other stores. At a press conference Nov. 24, Santa Clara County officials announced that the Covid-19 Business Compliance Unit will be...

Beginning Feb. 28, workers in education, childcare, emergency services, and the food and agriculture industries will be eligible to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in Santa Clara County. County officials announced the expanded eligibility Feb. 17 after citing strong progress toward vaccinating the current group of...