By Allen Payton
Haley Wieland is setting aside her feelings and doing something for others during the coronavirus pandemic. While the straight-A, 8th grade student at Bristow Middle School in Brentwood is really bummed about not being in school, she decided to make the most of her time during the shelter in place and sew masks for healthcare workers in Antioch, Brentwood, Discovery Bay, and Oakley.
Haley is sad to miss her 8th grade dance, promotion, and other fun planned activities with her friends. But she’s maintaining a good attitude.
“I feel everyone should pull together and support our hard-working healthcare workers during this pandemic,” she said.
Haley was selected to be part of a program at school called WEB, which stands for Where Everyone Belongs. They help out their community and peers throughout the school year. Now, she’s applying that same approach to helping the healthcare community in East County.
Read MoreBy Allen Payton
As of Tuesday, April 7, 2020 at 11:30 a.m. Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) is reporting a total of 442 cases of COVID-19/coronavirus, and two more deaths for a total of 7 in the county. There are 29 people diagnosed with the virus currently hospitalized, a decrease of three since Friday.
A total of 5,831 people have been tested for the virus. To see the all the statistics provided by CCHS, click here.
Read MoreFor attempted murder, assault, burglary and drug charges. Suspect has criminal record with multiple arrests dating back to 2014.
By Jimmy Lee, Director of Public Affairs, Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff
On Monday, April 6, 2020, at about 9:38 PM, Deputy Sheriffs were dispatched to a report of a shooting at the 2600 block of Dutch Slough Road in unincorporated Contra Costa County.
Deputies arrived on scene finding a 35-year-old woman suffering from a gunshot wound to her leg. The suspect reportedly fled the scene. The woman was transported by helicopter to John Muir Walnut Creek, according to Battalion Chief Craig Auzene of the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District.
A Sheriff’s Office K-9 located the suspect hiding nearby in a shed on Dutch Slough Road. He surrendered and was taken into custody.
The suspect is identified as 44-year-old Terrell Medley of Oakley. He was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on charges that include attempted murder, assault, burglary, and drug charges. Medley also had two warrants for his arrest. He is being held in lieu of $1,130,000 bail.
According to localcrimenews.com, Medley has a history of arrests dating back to 2014, including use/under the influence of a controlled substance in San Mateo on Oct. 14, 2014; possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia in Contra Costa County on Nov. 6, 2015; on Jan. 31, 2018 by the Antioch Police for a bench Warrant/failure to appear on a misdemeanor charge; for warrants/holds only in Contra Costa County on Dec. 1, 2018; and then again for violation of probation in San Mateo County on Dec. 3, 2018.
The investigation into the shooting is ongoing. Anyone with any information on this case is asked to contact the Investigation Division at (925) 313-2600. For any tips, email: tips@so.cccounty.us or call (866) 846-3592 to leave an anonymous voice message.
Allen Payton contributed to this report.
Read MoreRidership down 93% – “Ridership is now at 7% of what is usual” – General Manager Bob Powers
As the Bay Area counties have now extended mandatory shelter in place orders, BART service needs to be reduced to match demand, increase essential rebuilding projects, save costs, and maintain reliable service based on staffing levels. Starting Wednesday, April 8, Monday-Friday service will run every 30 minutes until further notice. Ridership data shows social distancing remains possible on all trains with this change. Effectively, every other train is being cancelled Monday-Friday.
Reducing service also allows greater flexibility to maintain stable service should BART employees need to take time off due to illness or to care for children and family members.
This move will potentially save the operating budget $3-7 million per month. The savings is realized by shifting employees to capital improvement projects that are not funded by the operating budget. BART is using this time of historically low ridership to focus on essential infrastructure projects that typically are very disruptive to riders or can only be accomplished during overnight hours. These rebuilding efforts have been designated as essential public works projects per the region’s public health orders issued in response to the coronavirus.
3-line service will start earlier in the evening
Starting Wednesday, BART will move up the time the Warm Springs-Daly City (Green) and Richmond-Millbrae (Red) lines that provide direct service to/from San Francisco end and 3-line service begins. This will allow for a longer work window for power cable replacement in San Francisco. The last two train dispatches in both directions on these lines will be cancelled and single tracking in San Francisco will begin around 8pm.
- The last Warm Springs-Daly City (Green) line train departs Warm Springs at 5:16pm and arrives at Daly City at 6:26pm. It then departs Daly City at 6:43pm and arrives at Warm Springs at 7:54pm.
- The last Richmond-Millbrae (Red) line train departs Richmond at 5:41pm and arrives at Millbrae 6:51pm. It then departs at Millbrae at 7:18pm and arrives at Richmond at 8:24pm.
There is only one hole in the new 30-minute schedule. It is on the Red line departing from Millbrae at 6:18pm. To avoid this gap, customers should board the SFO shuttle from Millbrae at 6pm and connect with the Antioch line train at SFO at 6:26pm and then transfer at MacArthur at 7:10pm to the Richmond train.
Plan your trip to avoid waiting
PDFs of the new schedule will be available on bart.gov tomorrow (Tuesday). Riders can use the PDF schedule to start planning their trips and what time they should arrive at the station to avoid a long wait. Riders can also check real time departures before heading to the station. Staff is updating the online Trip Planner to reflect the new service plan and to show every other train as cancelled.
For personalized trip planning assistance, call the Transit Information Center at 510-465-2278 from 8am-6pm, Monday-Friday.
“Ridership is now at 7% of what is usual, and these changes allow us to increase essential rebuilding projects while also ensuring we can provide reliable and predictable service,” said BART General Manager Bob Powers. “With so many unknowns about the length of the shelter in place orders and the timing of recovery, we must take steps to protect the operating budget while also protecting our ability to run service every 30 minutes.”
A change in the BART schedule can only be implemented by doubling headways (train frequency) because the service plan is tied to operational patterns such as timed transfers and train operator reporting times and locations. This is the reason why we can’t go to 20 or 24 minute headways Monday-Friday.
Weekend service unchanged
Weekend service will remain unchanged. The decision to not change weekend service at this time is to avoid doubling weekend headways. Reducing service on the weekend would mean Saturday service would need to go to 40-minute headways and Sunday service would go to 48-minute headways. At this time, that level of service reduction is not something BART is ready to implement but may need to do so in the future if circumstances change.
Shifting workers to rebuilding projects
Running fewer trains means crews can be redeployed to other projects. Maintenance and Engineering staff can now increase the hours of cable replacement in San Francisco and begin work on cable replacement in the East Bay and crews can perform relighting work in the Caldecott BART Tunnel. Train car mechanics can now be put into Fleet of the Future training.
This plan calls for up to 400 employees to be shifted to capital projects. However, this number can change if employees are pulled off a project to prioritize passenger service if staffing levels reduce.
Early FY21 budget estimates show a bleak scenario of possible budget shortfalls of $258 million to $452 million. The federal stimulus funds will help bridge some of the gap, but it is not expected to fill all of it moving forward.
Summary of temporary service cuts to date
- Extra commute trains on the Antioch-SFO (yellow) line were eliminated on Thursday March 19.
- Monday-Friday service is 5am-9pm (previously 5am-Midnight) began on Monday, March 23.
- Saturday-Sunday service is 8am-9pm (previously Saturday service started at 6am) began on Saturday, March 28.
- Starting Wednesday, April 8, Monday-Friday service will run every 30 minutes systemwide all day, with 3-line service beginning earlier in the evening and single tracking in San Francisco starting at around 8pm.
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New Date is October 17, 2020
By Alexandra Rubin, Director of Communications, Cancer Support Community San Francisco Bay Area
WALNUT CREEK, April 6, 2020 – Cancer Support Community San Francisco Bay Area (CSC) has announced that their 6th annual Hope Walk, originally scheduled for May 16, has been rescheduled to October 17. The fun event, which is a major fundraiser for the organization, draws over 1,000 registered walkers and more than 70 exhibitors to Heather Farm Park each year.
“The Hope Walk is a way for our members, supporters, and the whole community to come out and celebrate the great work that Cancer Support Community does, which is helping people live longer and live better when faced with cancer,” said CSC’s Development Director and the event’s manager, Carol Louisell. “And, it’s just a really great time for families to get out and get some exercise along with music, entertainment, and a thousand friends!”
While the Hope Walk has had to be postponed due to the shelter-in-place order, CSC has been able to continue bringing support, hope, and healing to cancer patients and their caregivers without interruption. CSC started providing virtual support groups the same day the order was announced, on Monday, March 16. By the next week, CSC not only had very strong participation in support groups and individual counseling sessions – with their therapists and facilitators working from their homes – but also had moved many movement classes and some workshops online.
“This is exactly what our mission is,” said James Bouquin, CSC’s Chief Executive Officer. “We help people deal with the unexpected, dramatic crisis of cancer every day. It’s one of the most isolating of diseases, creating anxiety and fear. We are proud and profoundly grateful that we can continue to be a source of hope, community, and relief for our members.”
People can register for the walk and make donations at http://www.hopewalkbayarea.net/. All registrations for the May date will be transferred to the new date.
CSC’s gala, “An Evening of Hope and Healing,” is still scheduled for September 19. For information on either of these events, please contact Carol Louisell at clouisell@cancersupport.net.
About Cancer Support Community San Francisco Bay Area
Celebrating 30 years in the East Bay, Cancer Support Community provides comprehensive, integrative care—including counseling, support groups, nutrition training, exercise classes, and patient education programs—for people with cancer, their caregivers, and their families. Our evidence-based services enable cancer patients to partner with their medical teams to manage their treatment and recovery most effectively, increase their chances for survival, reduce their chances of recurrence, and provide for the highest possible quality of life. We never turn anyone away, and all of our services are always provided free of charge. With services provided at our Walnut Creek center, in local medical centers throughout the Bay Area, and now in Antioch, we serve more than 2,200 people annually.
Read MoreBy CHP – Contra Costa
Today at about 4:50pm, Contra Costa CHP units were advised of a solo vehicle collision off the roadway on Hwy-4 westbound just east of Pine Street in Martinez. Upon CHP and emergency personnel arrival, a solo white Toyota Corolla had crashed completely off Hwy-4, overturned and landed on its roof and into a fire hydrant on Arnold Drive (north of Hwy-4).
The 26-year-old male driver of the Toyota suffered major injuries. He was also suspected of driving under the influence.
The driver, Michael Moore from Martinez, was transported to John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek for his injuries. While at the hospital, Moore was investigated and arrested for DUI. Due to his injuries, he was admitted to the hospital and will remain there for an unknown amount of time.
There is no reason to drive impaired and risk injuries to yourself or others. There are many responsible choices available to get home safely. Please utilize them and never drive impaired.
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As of Sunday, April 5, 2020 Contra Costa Health Services now shows a break down of how many cases are in each city or community on the coronavirus dashboard on their website. Richmond has the most with 37, followed by Orinda with 33 – 27 of which were from the senior care home, then Pittsburg with 28, Walnut Creek with 26 and then both Concord and Antioch have the fifth most with 24. They’re followed closely by San Ramon with 23, San Pablo with 22 and Brentwood with 21.
In a post on Sunday, Chair of the Contra Costa County Board off Supervisors Candace Andersen shared the following information: “Contra Costa County Health’s Dashboard is now breaking down COVID-19 cases by city. Please keep in mind that this is not per capita, and our cities all have different sized populations. It shows there is “community spread” throughout the County. Please continue to Shelter in Home, and put on a mask or face covering those limited times you are out in public.”
UPDATE: the dashboard now provides a statistic showing cases per 100,000 population for each city and community, with a countywide average of 33.
Read MoreHasty infringements on individual rights at a time of coronavirus.
By John You, Harmeet K. Dhillon
As losses mount throughout the economy due to the coronavirus quarantines, President Trump suggested that he wants the nation “to be opened up and just raring to go by Easter.” He has since stepped away from that proposal and issued guidelines that lockdowns stay in place until the end of April. But Trump still seems to be more optimistic than many state governors in his hope that the U.S. will return to normal economic activity sooner rather than later.
But even if Trump were to issue a declaration re-opening American businesses, a nationwide compliance would remain beyond his power. The Constitution’s system of federalism reserves the authority to lift the quarantine orders in the same people who issued them in the first place: the state governors.
Because state government sits closer to the people, we can and should demand more immediate transparency and accountability of our officials for these draconian, potentially devastating policies. They may impede the spread of the disease, but we cannot tell if this comes at an acceptable cost because neither governors Gavin Newsom nor Andrew Cuomo have explained how they made the cost-benefit trade-off involved. They risk judicial intervention or, ultimately, popular rejection, should they continue to keep shutting down their economies without justified benefits.
Richard Epstein, a Hoover scholar and friend, has come under fire for his claim that public health officials have overestimated the rate of infection and the lethality of the coronavirus. Regardless of Epstein’s theory of why the spread of the virus will slow, the underlying truth of his argument remains: stopping the spread of disease balances lives potentially saved against the economic losses from the lockdowns.
Here is a quick, back-of-the-envelope calculation for a single state, California. The U.S. economy generates approximately $24 trillion a year in GDP, or $2 trillion a month. California is about 15 percent of that total, for about $300 billion per month. Suppose that the lockdown causes economic activity to drop by 75 percent in California (it may well be worse). Is it worth immediate losses of $225 billion per month, in just one state, with potentially longer-lasting recessionary effects, to reduce (but not eliminate) the lives lost to the coronavirus?
It depends on how we estimate the number of lives saved from the lockdowns. Take California as an example. At last count, California has 4,643 confirmed cases and 101 deaths from the virus. We have to balance the lockdowns not against those lives, but against the reduction in the expected harms of an outbreak (which is the probability of an outbreak times the estimated number of deaths). Some experts, such as doctors at Stanford Medical School, argue that current estimates are inflated, due to the lack of good data from China and Italy and the propensity to test those already infected. Instead, they calculate that the U.S. population may suffer an infection rate of about 2.2 percent, which translates into about 7.7 million infected Americans, or 924,000 Californians.
If the mortality rate from the coronavirus ranges from 1-2 percent, as doctors estimate, then the number of lives that would be lost in an epidemic in California would be 18,500. Suppose that there were a 50 percent chance of that happening without any aggressive government measures, and that the lockdown instead dropped the chances of an outbreak to 10 percent. By shutting down most economic activity within its borders, California would be spending millions to save a single life, without taking into account less intrusive alternative measures, such as protecting the elderly and placing quarantine orders on those with high probability of testing positive for the disease.
That same money would otherwise allow millions of families – many of them in the lowest income brackets – to pay the rent, put food on the table, and afford health care. Our states do not shut down their economies every winter to stop the flu, which can kill 60,000 a year nationwide. Even if the deaths from the coronavirus extend to a higher estimate of 200,000 deaths nationwide, or 24,000 deaths in California, we are still forgoing millions in economic activity to save each life. While each life is precious, our society chooses not to stop all economic activity to stop other illnesses, such as the flu, or to forgo certain valuable freedoms such as driving to reduce auto accidents. As the Great Recession showed, massive economic losses can cost lives too by reducing incomes, decreasing longevity, and increases in death by suicide and drug overdoses.
Our state officials should explain whether they could have implemented other policies that could have reduced the spread of the disease without incurring such massive economic destruction. Did state officials consider less intrusive measures, such as quarantining the identified infected and safeguarding the elderly, who are most vulnerable to the illness, instead of imposing a shutdown of the state’s economy? Was any consideration given to the human health effects of the mandatory stay-at-home order, including exacerbation of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety; a predicted increase in domestic violence; suicides by business owners facing debt and ruin? We simply don’t know.
These are tough decisions. California cannot spend whatever it takes to save every life. In the 2017-18 flu season, the CDC estimates that 61,000 Americans died of influenza; but we do not impose the types of economic lockdowns and social distancing we see today to stop the flu. We elect officials to state government to make these policy decisions for us, in a responsible and informed manner. If they do not explain how and why they arrived at their decision, they risk popular discontent. If the lockdown continues for weeks on end, and it appears that our leaders imposed statewide quarantines without sufficient proof that the numbers of lives saved would justify the heavy, widespread cost, they even risk civil disobedience where Americans will simply ignore the bans on social and economic activity. No state has enough manpower to control an unwilling American population.
Lockdown critics might also point to the fact that the states imposing the most draconian suspensions of civil liberties – the rights to travel, congregate, or use property, enjoy due process before the loss of your business or livelihood – have a mixed record when it comes to public safety. California has the highest homeless population in the nation, with over 100,000 living on the streets in squalid conditions that lend themselves to disease outbreaks, including hepatitis, typhus, and others. A lack of public trust as to the consistency of the government’s public health intervention may undermine confidence in the current orders.
This is a good area where the law can step in. Lawsuits could challenge the government to explain itself and to even compensate business losses for panicked decisions. The Takings Clause of the Constitution, for example, requires just compensation when the state takes private property for public purposes. If Newsom or Cuomo commandeer hotel rooms to convert into makeshift hospital rooms, the states would have to pay the market rate. On the other hand, if the state has to close restaurants that fail health and safety codes, they do not.
Statewide lockdowns test these principles and would demand that state governors explain themselves. A restaurant or nail salon shut down by the lockdown orders is not inherently a threat to public health or safety. It is as if the governors commandeered all of these private spaces because people might congregate there and – they believe – spread the virus. If the state forbids private property owners from using their land for a reasonable, lawful purpose, it must compensate the owners for sacrificing for the public good.
In this crisis, property and business owners could claim that the state cannot force them to bear alone the costs for achieving a social goal. And at the very least, such lawsuits would force state government to explain why the benefits shutdowns exceed their costs, when compared to less intrusive approaches such as quarantines, monitoring, and testing. Our Declaration of Independence recognized the natural law principle that the consent of the governed is needed for that government to have enduring legitimacy – and hasty infringements on individual rights will soon test that consent.
John Yoo is Heller professor of law at the UC Berkeley School of Law, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. From 2001 to 2003 he served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department of President George W. Bush. Harmeet K. Dhillon is a trial lawyer and a partner in the Dhillon Law Group in San Francisco. She is the founder of the Center for American Liberty, a civil rights nonprofit organization.
Read MoreLatest county stats: 4,929 tested, 353 cases, 31 currently hospitalized, 5 deaths as of Saturday morning, April 4
“Our resources are stretched extremely thin and business as usual is not an option.” – Health Officer Dr. Chris Farnitano
From Contra Costa Health Services
Contra Costa County Health Officer Dr. Chris Farnitano announced Friday evening that the county is issuing a mass order for residents with COVID-19 and their close contacts to isolate and quarantine themselves.
The mass order is being issued to help slow COVID-19’s spread, protect vulnerable individuals, and prevent the healthcare system in the County from being overwhelmed. The county’s public health staff no longer have the capacity to individually notify and track everyone with COVID-19 and their close contacts who may have been exposed to the virus.
As of Friday, 307 county residents have tested positive for COVID-19 and five people have died from the virus. Contra Costa County had no local cases at the beginning of March.
“We’ve reached a critical point in the COVID-19 crisis here in Contra Costa,” Dr. Farnitano said. “Our resources are stretched extremely thin and business as usual is not an option. We believe this mass order is a creative and effective way of getting the job done to keep the sick isolated from others.”
Residents must isolate themselves in their home or another residence if they test positive for COVID-19. They may not leave their home except to receive necessary medical care or during an emergency that requires evacuation.
COVID-positive individuals without symptoms must isolate for 7 days from the date of a positive test. Those with symptoms must isolate at least 7 days have passed since their symptoms started. Initially symptomatic people must also wait at least 72 hours have passed since after symptoms go away. Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, coughing and shortness of breath.
County residents who test positive for COVID-19 will now be required to tell their close contacts that they need to quarantine themselves if they may have been exposed. Close contacts must then remain at home or another residence for 14 days from the last date that they were in contact with the person infected or with COVID-19.
People considered “close contacts” are persons who, during the sick individual’s infectious period, live in, or have stayed overnight, at the individual’s residence; are intimate sexual partners of the individual; or provided care to the individual without wearing a mask, gown, and gloves.
People can access instructions on how to isolate and quarantine themselves at cchealth.org/coronavirus.
Read MoreAs of Friday, April 3, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) is reporting 31 more cases of COVID-19/coronavirus for a total of 305, and two more deaths in the county. There are 32 people diagnosed with the virus currently hospitalized, an increase of just one from Thursday’s update.
27 of the new cases are from the senior care home in Orinda. (See related article)
To see the all the statistics provided by CCHS, click here.
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