COVID-19

Health officials across nine Bay Area jurisdictions announced their criteria Thursday to eventually lift the region's requirement to wear a mask indoors regardless of vaccination status. The health officers in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties and...

Local business owners and city officials are bracing again for a prolonged stay-at-home order, which was indefinitely extended by state officials over the weekend as the Bay Area’s hospital capacity remains dangerously low.

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...

Santa Clara County will close its mass Covid-19 vaccination and testing sites by the end of the month as they are no longer essential to the county’s pandemic response, officials said Feb. 1.  While county health officials emphasized that the pandemic is not over and...

Gilroy High School is poised to become South County’s first mass Covid-19 vaccination site. On Feb. 11, the Gilroy Unified School District Board of Education will consider allowing Santa Clara County Public Health to operate the site through the end of July. According to the tentative...

Residents of Santa Clara County and other counties in California’s “purple” Covid-19 risk tier are subject to a “limited stay at home order” starting Saturday, Nov. 21, Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted Thursday.

Gilroy has the highest rate of Covid-19 infections of any city in Santa Clara County, according to statistics released by the county’s department of public health.  “The rates in the city of Gilroy are actually higher than elsewhere,” Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Sara...

California public health officials updated the state's guidance for places of worship and cultural ceremonies Monday, removing capacity limits for both indoor and outdoor gatherings.  Since unveiling the tiered Covid-19 reopening system late last August, the state has faced pushback from religious groups and advocates...

Santa Clara County this week launched a program that offers grants of up to $5,000 for local small businesses that have taken or plan to take steps to protect their workforce and customers from Covid-19. The county is partnering with the Silicon Valley and Hispanic...

Deaths from fentanyl, a powerful opioid drug, are drastically on the rise in Santa Clara County this year, and public health officials think stress and anxiety resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic might be contributing to the increase.