After fighting to get testing sites in hard-hit communities, South Bay health nonprofits are now turning their attention to ensure equity in vaccine trials. In East San Jose, Gardner Health Services, a community clinic that serves disenfranchised and vulnerable communities, and Stanford Medicine are collaborating to enroll Latinx people in vaccine trials and research. “We...
COVID-19 Updates
Covid-19
Coronavirus hotspots: San Jose neighborhood unites in response
Coronavirus hotspots: Top 3 areas hardest hit in Santa Clara County, Part 3 Patricia Casteillo and her husband both lost their jobs because of COVID-19, pushing her into a state of depression. She says she found hope at nonprofit Amigos de Guadalupe which, among other things, paid the deposit and first month’s rent so her family could...
Coronavirus hotspots: Downtown San Jose’s No. 2 ranking traces back to homelessness
Coronavirus hotspots: Top 3 areas hardest hit in Santa Clara County, Part 2 A near ghost town where row after row of boarded-up storefronts now serve as shelter to a growing homeless population, downtown San Jose has one dubious distinction. Its primary ZIP code — 95113 — this month had the second-highest rate of COVID-19...
Coronavirus hotspots: East San Jose ranks No. 1 in number of cases per capita in the county
Coronavirus hotspots: Top 3 areas hardest hit in Santa Clara County, Part 1 Albert Camarena sat in a chair on the front lawn of his home in East San Jose, facing eastward toward a vacant elementary school. “Everybody’s scared,” Camarena said. “They don’t want to be sick.” Camarena’s neighborhood and its corresponding ZIP code —...
Santa Clara County sees surge in COVID-19 cases
Santa Clara County health officials made an urgent plea for people to continue to take precautions after seeing an alarming uptick in COVID-19 cases and an increase in hospitalizations. “What’s significant about the increase in case counts that we’re seeing now is that it’s different than the slow rise that we’ve seen over the month...
New San Jose job program brings hope to workers displaced by COVID-19
Angellina Duran was scheduling appointments for a cardiologist prior to the pandemic. Things started to fall apart when she and her stepfather came down with COVID-19. Her stepfather, who was her primary childcare provider, was in the hospital for several weeks fighting for his life. He returned in a weakened state. After she recovered from...
Your COVID-19 questions answered: Part Two
San José Spotlight last month hosted an exclusive Q&A webinar with Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody, one of the nation’s leading health experts and the driving force behind the country’s first shelter-in-place order in March. Eight months later, as COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the country, Cody sat down with...
Fauci tells Silicon Valley leaders: ‘We’re getting close to 100,000 COVID-19 cases per day’
As COVID-19 deaths in the United States bypass 229,000 and positive cases across the country rise above 9 million, Dr. Anthony Fauci has grim news for Americans: “Unless we do something to turn this around, we’re going to have a very difficult, very painful winter.” The head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious...
San Jose partners with food truck company to provide free groceries, meals to those at risk of COVID-19
As the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity in Santa Clara County and across the Bay Area, nonprofit organizations, food banks and government officials are working to provide food assistance for residents, ranging from workers and business owners to older adults and people with underlying medical conditions. Off the Grid, the Bay Area’s food truck...
East Side school district easing back with on-campus learning next week
East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD) students are returning to in-person learning next week. Onsite learning will occur during tutorials, advisory periods, after school and on Saturdays as East Side students continue in their block schedules with distance learning. ESUHSD will continue distance learning for the remainder of the school year or until there...