Health

Health

Bay Area rental market rates expected to drop due to COVID-19

Even in the pricey Silicon Valley market, rents are expected to drop as tenants across the country settle into stay-at-home mandates that have upended their finances amid the coronavirus crisis. Market-rate Bay Area rents saw the slowest start of the season since 2017, rising 2.3 percent compared to last year, landing at an average monthly...

California governor outlines new ‘milestones’ before loosening stay-home order

Californians will remain sheltered in place for weeks and when those restrictions are gradually loosened, life will not likely return entirely to “normal” until there is a vaccine, Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a sobering news conference Tuesday. State officials are watching multiple “indicators” and are aiming to hit several key milestones that will help...

Unsung heroes of Silicon Valley: Lizzie Nolan

When Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Nolan heard about school closures in mid-March because of the coronavirus crisis, her first thought was to create a reading program for homebound students. Nolan, a senior librarian at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, created ‘Spring into Reading,’ an initiative that encourages kids and adults alike to read, log their minutes...

As courts largely close to the public, advocates fear power abuses and deaths

A judge’s decision to limit public attendance to court hearings because of the COVID-19 crisis has advocates and others worried about potential abuse of power and harmful consequences for defendants. “We don’t do secret judicial proceedings in the United States,” said David Snyder, executive director for the First Amendment Coalition. “When courts or any other...

Bramson: When a virus needs a home

What would it be like if we responded to homelessness like a disaster? I’ve heard this question many times over the years. The implication being that while the word “crisis” is thrown around pretty liberally these days when we talk about the conditions for people on our streets, we rarely act with the same mobilized...

Coronavirus cases spike in South Bay nursing homes as state rolls out new plan

Roughly 10 percent of the state’s coronavirus cases at nursing homes and long-term care facilities are in Santa Clara County, according to data released Friday. Throughout Santa Clara County, 164 workers and residents have tested positive at such facilities, including 114 residents and 50 staff members, according to Dr. Sarah Rudman, assistant health officer for...