Covid-19

Bay Area may lag behind state’s plan to lift stay-home restrictions

Californians are “weeks, not months” away from seeing some loosening of the state’s stay at home order and schools could bring kids back later this summer, Gov. Gavin Newsom and California health officials said Tuesday. Certain retailers, including those that can offer curbside pickup, manufacturers, offices where working from home isn’t possible and some public...

San Jose residents protest temporary homeless housing plan

More than 200 South San Jose residents and housing advocates spoke at a virtual town hall Monday night to express concern or applaud a plan to fast-track dozens of new housing units for homeless residents during the region’s shelter-in-place order due to the coronavirus pandemic. “As a city, we really have two emergencies on our...

Unsung heroes of Silicon Valley: Moses Arroyo

Underneath the city of San Jose runs 2,000 miles of sanitary pipe that serve more than 1 million people. Each year, those in the city’s Department of Transportation’s Sanitary Sewer division clean more than 900 miles of pipe and complete more than 500 repairs. The dangerous work is done underground with sharp tools at depths of 40...

COVID-19 is intensifying longstanding racial disparities in Silicon Valley

COVID-19 is hitting black and Latinx people hardest, preliminary Santa Clara County data show. Meanwhile, those same groups are the ones most in need of financial relief in the region, community groups say. The pandemic’s racial disparities show officials must center race in discussions to address the public health crisis and Silicon Valley’s economic recovery,...

Exclusive Q&A: Dr. Sara Cody answers San José Spotlight readers

Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody, who led the charge on the nation’s first shelter-in-place order, is a tough person to nail down these days, but on Friday she sat down to answer San José Spotlight readers’ questions. The exclusive Q&A session was streamed online by San José Spotlight on Facebook and moderated...

Construction unions lobby Santa Clara County leaders to loosen restrictions

Statewide and regional stay-home orders have passed the one-month mark, and nearly all businesses are hurting as many employees remain unable to work, upending their finances despite a $2 trillion government stimulus package. Now, a local construction and trades union is asking the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to recommend the county to relax...