COVID-19

New state and federal Covid safety guidelines that reduce the recommended minimum distance between students from 6 feet to 3 feet should make it easier for California schools to return students to classrooms full time, but most districts are not likely to make the...

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...

Santa Clara County is continuing to offer free Covid-19 diagnostic testing Aug. 11-14 in Gilroy. These walk-up testing sites provide Covid-19 viral detection tests free of charge without an appointment, symptoms, insurance or a doctor’s note, and regardless of immigration status. The testing site is located...

Two unions representing nurses and other essential employees of Santa Clara County jointly filed a claim accusing the county of unfair labor practices that left them insufficiently protected against Covid-19. The unfair labor practice charge was filed May 6 by the Registered Nurses Professional Association...

Business owners, city leaders and faith-based organizations implored the county health department Sept. 14 to give them a “fighting chance” to survive the pandemic by allowing indoor operations to resume safely. The Silicon Valley Chamber Coalition joined dozens of Bay Area faith organizations and small...

By early next year, De Paul Health Center’s former emergency room will be renovated to accommodate dozens of hospital beds and a variety of healthcare services in an expanded urgent care clinic, with longer-term plans to develop a skilled nursing home in the Morgan Hill facility’s old hospital wing.

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.

Santa Clara County officials announced a number of new restrictions Nov. 28 that they hope will rein in the record-setting Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. Beginning Nov. 30, stores and other facilities open to the public will be limited to 10 percent capacity indoors. Grocery stores,...

With hospitals stretching beyond capacity and the number of people dying from Covid-19 continuing to rise, Santa Clara County officials described a “ray of hope” Dec. 15 when the first shipment of a vaccine arrived. The county received its first 5,850 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech...

While California K-12 students will still be required to wear masks once the state's indoor mask mandate ends this week, one of the state’s top health officials said Monday that a decision on in-school mask requirements could be made by the end of the...