Phlebotomist Gabriel Malan prepares COVID-19 vaccines outside non-profit Serenity House in Oakland, Calif.
Nearly 4,000 people who got their COVID-19 vaccine at Kaiser Permanente’s Walnut Creek Medical Center late last year may have received a slightly smaller dose than is recommended. The omicron surge is causing chaos and anguish to Bay Area parents of kids under 5 years old. Hispanic women were more than twice as likely than their white counterparts to contract COVID-19 during pregnancy, increasing health risks to mothers and children, a Sutter Health study showed. Twitter expanded it’s S.F. headquarters significantly, despite previously embracing the ethos of remote work.
Can you get infected with omicron more than once? The staggeringly swift spread of the omicron variant across the U.S. has led to many more people getting infected with the coronavirus than ever before, some for the second time. Omicron is so incredibly infectious that some are wondering whether it is possible to catch that specific variant twice — and if so, what implications that could have for the current surge and future spread of the coronavirus. Read the full story here.
Scientists may be one step closer to unraveling the mysteries of COVID ‘brain fog’: Scientists studying the persistent “brain fog” that plagues many people after a bout with COVID-19 are reporting, for the first time, abnormalities in the clear liquid surrounding the brain and spinal cord of several patients. The discovery of elevated protein levels in the cerebrospinal fluid suggests the presence of inflammation, while unexpected antibodies may reveal an abnormally activated immune system, according to small study led by UCSF. Read the full story here.
Nose or throat swab for rapid tests? UCSF study has the answer: Researchers from UCSF have found that nasal swabs are far more effective than throat swabs in detecting coronavirus when using at-home rapid test kits. In a study conducted at a walk-up community testing site in San Francisco earlier this month, the researchers conducted simultaneous nasal and oral rapid antigen tests using BinaxNOW and RT-PCR tests. While the laboratory tests remain the gold standard for COVID detection, the nasal swab tests had 98% sensitivity and the oral swabs 49%. “BinaxNOW continues to be a very useful diagnostic during the omicron surge; oral (throat or cheek swab) should not replace nasal swabs due to significantly reduced sensitivity compared to nasal,” the researchers wrote. But the real discovery of the study might be that 40.5% of the people surveyed at the walk-up clinic tested positive.
Adele postpones Las Vegas residency a day before scheduled start: One day before its planned opening, Adele announced that her Las Vegas residency has been postponed. “I’m so sorry, but my show ain’t ready,” the singer said in a tearful video posted on social media Thursday. “We’ve tried absolutely everything that we can to put it together in time.” She said pandemic supply chain issues have forced her to postpone “Weekends With Adele,” which was scheduled to run Fridays and Saturdays at the Caesars Place Colosseum through April 16. “We’ve been absolutely destroyed by delivery delays and COVID,” she said. “Half my crew, half my team are down with COVID. They still are. And it’s been impossible to finish the show. And I can’t give you what I have right now, and I’m gutted. I’m gutted, and I’m sorry it’s so last minute.” The rescheduled dates will be announced later, Adele said.
COVID’s impact on central nervous system highlighted in new report: Although the coronavirus is a respiratory pathogen, acute COVID-19 infection can lead to myriad neurological complications — including confusion, stroke and neuromuscular disorders, according to a new report published by researchers at Yale. “Many people who experience neurologic symptoms that linger after acute COVID-19 are less than 50 years old and were healthy and active prior to infection,” the authors write in the study published Thursday in Science, noting that many of the symptoms that may arise are a result of viral infection in the central nervous system and could lead to long COVID. “The full extent of the long-term neurological complications of COVID-19 has not been realized.”
S.F. pursues legal action against unauthorized COVID testing operator: San Francisco’s city attorney has issued subpoenas seeking records from Community Wellness America Inc., a company that offered free COVID tests at several pop-up sites in the city earlier this month without a permit, the AP reports. City Attorney David Chiu announced the legal action Thursday after the company missed a deadline to provide a valid license for its operation. Investigators believed the San Diego-based test operator was collecting personal information and had a profit motive, said Jen Kwart, a spokeswoman for Chiu’s office. “They were asking people their Social Security numbers and immigration status, which are definitely red flags,” Kwart said. Chiu said in a statement, “Protecting the integrity of our COVID testing operations is crucial as we grapple with a surge in COVID cases. We cannot allow rogue actors to exploit this Omicron surge for profit. We will get to the bottom of this and ensure any bad actors are held accountable.”
Omicron surge has peaked in S.F., says mayor: San Francisco city officials said Thursday that new figures show the worst of the surge in coronavirus infections has peaked, sending case rates on a promising downward trend that could mark a turning point in the pandemic. San Francisco logged a seven-day average of 2,164 new cases per day on Jan. 9 — a record high for the city — but the average dropped to 1,705 by Jan. 12. While more people than ever tested positive for the virus at the peak, declining numbers indicate San Francisco is on track to follow patterns elsewhere in the U.S. and world where the highly infectious omicron variant swept through populations but then rapidly dropped. Read the full story here.
Bay Area’s sewers show continuing COVID signs: Wastewater samples across Bay Area are showing a sharp uptick in COVID-19 genetic material in the region’s sewage systems after what appeared to be a downtrend last week. A wastewater surveillance tool created by researchers at UC Berkeley shows the concentration of coronavirus RNA in the effluent rising rapidly in San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, and Marin counties, indicating cases in the region may not yet have reached their peak. The samples from San Francisco’s Oceanside treatment plant, for example, show a nearly hundred-fold increase in COVID-19 genetic material from just a week earlier.
U.S. discourages use of two monoclonal antibody treatments: Monoclonal antibody treatments from Regeneron and Eli Lilly are not effective against the omicron variant of the coronavirus and the National Institutes of Health’s COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel is now discouraging their use in guidance updated Wednesday. The only monoclonal antibody treatment — which helps people manage symptoms of the virus at home — that has shown to work against omicron is Sotrovimab, made by GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology. It remains in short supply during the current surge.
Two years since first virus case was identified in the U.S.: Today marks two years since the first case of the novel coronavirus was detected in the United States, in a resident of Washington state. “Our state lead the nation in the early days of the pandemic response by being proactive, transparent, and tough in its fight to protect people from the fast-spreading virus,” the state’s department of health said in a statement marking the occasion. “Over the past two years, our lives have changed dramatically at school, at work, and at home.” Since that case was documented, more than 68 million people have become infected with COVID-19 nationwide and over 858,000 have died, according to data collected by The Chronicle.
Kaiser may have given wrong COVID-19 vaccine dose to nearly 4,000 people: Nearly 4,000 people who got their COVID-19 vaccine at Kaiser Permanente’s Walnut Creek Medical Center late last year may have received a slightly smaller dose than is recommended, according to the health care provider. Read the full story here.
Omicron surge causing chaos and anguish for Bay Area parents of kids under 5: The start of the new year brought a familiar wave of distress for many Bay Area parents: omicron infections were accelerating; preschools and childcare centers were shutting their doors; adults saw their work regimens upended, their children cloistered and irritable. But this time, something was different. The kids were getting sick. Read the full story here.
Study confirms mRNA boosters more effective for J&J vaccine recipients: A study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine confirms earlier reports that those who initially received the Johnson & Johnson-Janssen vaccine got a stronger immune response from a follow-up dose of an mRNA vaccine — those offered by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna — than from another J&J dose. “Single-shot Ad26.COV2.S [J&J] vaccination adequately primes the immune system. We found that in the face of waning immunity and circulation of SARS-CoV-2 variants, these responses were boosted most efficiently with mRNA-based vaccines,” the study said. The difference with respect to hospitalization among sick patients was less clear. The study found that a Moderna booster shot produced more binding antibodies than one from Pfizer.
Richmond High teachers stage sickout, demand school closure during omicron surge: At least 32 teachers at Richmond High School in the East Bay staged a sickout on Wednesday, according to an update posted on Twitter by a teacher. The group has posted an online petition urging West Contra Costa Unified officials to temporarily close schools during the omicron COVID-19 surge and to provide classrooms with more personal protective equipment and better ventilation. It has nearly 350 signatures so far. The petition says there have been 91 positive cases on campus since classes resumed after winter break on Jan. 3 but “this number is not including students who have tested positive for COVID or are quarantining that have not come to campus.” It adds that students and staff do not feel safe on campus.
S.F. hits a new high for hospital patients with COVID: There were 262 COVID-positive patients hospitalized in San Francisco on Tuesday, according to data collected by The Chronicle. That number tops the previous peak of 256 people hospitalized with the coronavirus reached during last year’s winter surge. With new case rates still running high, the tally of hospitalizations — a lagging indicator of pandemic trends — may rise even further. The health department does not break down what percentage of those hospitalizations are “incidental” COVID, meaning the patients tested positive even though they were admitted for other reasons. The number of people in intensive care unit beds in the city reached 37 on Tuesday — about half as many who were admitted last January.
California lawmakers form vaccine working group: A group of state lawmakers on Wednesday announced the formation of a Vaccine Work Group created to develop “cohesive and comprehensive, evidence-based policies to strengthen our ability to stop the spread of COVID and other diseases, while battling misinformation,” according to a press release. The group is dominated by Bay Area lawmakers, and includes Sens. Richard Pan, Josh Newman and Scott Weiner, and Assembly Members Buffy Wicks, Evan Low, Akilah Weber and Cecilia Aguiar-Curry.
Dominic Fracassa is an assistant metro editor overseeing breaking news and criminal justice in San Francisco. He previously covered San Francisco City Hall as a staff writer.
Aidin Vaziri is a staff writer at The San Francisco Chronicle.