Well being Care Employees Relieved As Vaccine Arrives; Report New Circumstances In San Francisco; Silicon Valley ‘Texit’ Gaining Momentum – CBS San Francisco

CBS San Francisco Staff Report
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — With a surge in coronavirus cases, the information you need to know is coming fast and furious. Here’s a roundup of the COVID stories we’ve published over the last 24 hours.
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Bay Area COVID Front Line Health Care Workers Anxiously Await Vaccine’s Arrival
SAN FRANCISCO — For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, San Francisco health care worker Charlotte Countee began feeling a sense of relief Sunday. Shipments of the new vaccine began arriving in California late Sunday night. Countee is a front line health care worker — an employee of the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Lately, she has been testing people for COVID-19. She and her colleagues have been worried for months not just about their own health, but also that of their patients. “It would be a great relief to be vaccinated, and be in the clear,” she said. “I think treatment and care of patients would be better, because at this point we’re all, you know, very very careful and very concerned and we can’t get too close to patients, and I worry sometimes that that affects their care.” Read More
San Francisco, Los Angeles Counties Set Single Day Record For New COVID-19 Cases
SAN FRANCISCO — Even as the first vaccine shipment began arriving in California late Sunday night, the devastating surge in COVID infections continued to soar with both San Francisco and Los Angeles counties recording the highest number of new cases since the pandemic began. Meanwhile, Santa Clara County reported 2,055 new cases over the last several days. Statewide, more than 30,000 confirmed coronavirus cases were reported raising California’s total at 1,551,766. Millions of Californians in the majority of the state are under stay-at-home orders. In Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous, more than 4,000 people were hospitalized for COVID-19, according to figures released Sunday afternoon. More than one-fifth of hospitalized patients are in intensive care units. Read More
Historic Cliff House in San Francisco to Close Permanently
SAN FRANCISCO — The Cliff House restaurant, which first opened 157 years ago, announced Sunday that the restaurant will close permanently on Dec. 31, a victim both of the COVID-19 pandemic and, its owners say, delays by the National Park Service in reaching a long-term operating contract with the restaurant. The announcement of the permanent closure was posted Sunday by Cliff House’s longtime owners, Dan and Mary Hountalas, on the restaurant’s website. They said 180 employees will lose their jobs. The Cliff House ended in-house dining in March, owing to the pandemic. After 10 weeks of offering only takeout service, the restaurant shut down to diners as the pandemic struck. The operators said they attempted to try takeout-only service in early June but, after 10 weeks of that, closed down completely in mid-July, saying the restaurant was losing too much money as a takeout-only operation. Read More
Silicon Valley ‘Texit’ Is Real: Here’s Who’s Going and Where
SAN FRANCISCO — Silicon Valley has been the epicenter of the tech industry for decades, starting in 1938 when Bill Hewlett and David Packard started tinkering in a Palo Alto garage. But that may be changing. Perhaps the most striking evidence of that: A descendant of the company they founded, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, will move its headquarters to Texas. On Friday, another longtime Silicon Valley stalwart, Oracle, announced plans to join them, saying it will relocate its headquarters to Austin. A string of high profile tech investors and executives are leaving San Francisco too: Last week, Elon Musk said he has moved to Texas after selling his Bel Air homes earlier this year. Such moves are to be expected during the pandemic, when people are working from home anyway. Several tech firms have said they’ll give employees the option to permanently work from home even after the pandemic ends. Read More
‘People Need to Eat!’ Protesters Demand Mayor Breed Reopen Outdoor Dining in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO — Protesters gathered for a loud and noisy demonstration outside San Francisco mayor London Breed’s home on Sunday. Demonstrators want the mayor to reopen outdoor dining. They chanted “Open SF now!” “The people need to eat!” and other slogans. Protesters said they’re fighting for the little guys like the cooks who can’t work from home and the low-wage servers who can’t pay their rents. “The money is not enough. The money is not enough for a family of four — especially in San Francisco — when the rent is too high,” said Adrian Cruz, a restaurant server who has been on unemployment since March. He and many workers worried they’ll be homeless once unemployment runs out. “Please London Breed, Gov. Newsom, we beg you to open the business,” Cruz pleaded. About 40 to 50 people demonstrated in the rain. Some said this was their first protest on any issue. Read More
COVID Casualty: Dec. 19 Cal – Arizona Game Canceled
BERKELEY — Next weekend’s PAC-12 conference football game between the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Arizona has been canceled because neither team will be able to field enough scholarship athletes to play, conference officials said Sunday. This will be the fourth Cal football game canceled this season. Three previous games were canceled because of COVID-19, and the protocols to which players, coaches and staff must adhere. A PAC-12 spokesman Sunday night would not confirm that the Dec. 19 game was canceled specifically because of COVID-19. Under Conference policy, the game will be declared a “no contest.” In a statement Sunday night, Cal head football coach Justin Wilcox said, “We are disappointed that we are not able to host Arizona but I am proud of our team and what we have been able to accomplish under difficult and unprecedented circumstances this season.” Read More
New Caltrain Schedule Aims to Serve Essential Workers During Pandemic
SAN FRANCISCO — Caltrain is implementing a new schedule starting Monday aimed at improving service for essential workers and others dependent on public transit who have continued riding the agency’s trains amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has reduced overall ridership by 95 percent. The new schedule includes more frequent off-peak and weekend service, with the ridership nine months into the pandemic tending to be essential workers who may travel during off-peak times. There will be 68 trains on weekdays, with two trains per hour, per direction running throughout the day, allowing for 30-minute frequency at stations in higher demand, including the connection to or from BART at Millbrae. Read More
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49ers Offensive Line Coach Tests Positive COVID; Sidelined For Sunday’s Game
PHOENIX — Just hours before their kickoff against Washington, the San Francisco 49ers announced Sunday that offensive line coach John Benton had tested positive for COVID-19 and would not attend the game. Fortunately, it appears that none of the team’s offensive linemen — including former Washington star offensive tackle Trent Williams — have been exposed to the virus. “The San Francisco 49ers today were informed that offensive line coach John Benton has tested positive for COVID-19 and will not attend today’s game,” the team said in a release. “His duties will be absorbed by the offensive coaching staff.” Benton immediately went into self-quarantine and the team conducted the appropriate contact tracing as part of the NFL’s intensive COVID-19 protocol. Read More
‘We See The Train Coming Down The Track’; San Joaquin Valley Runs Out Of ICU Beds
LODI — The number of available intensive care unit beds in California’s San Joaquin Valley plummeted to zero for the first time Saturday, state officials announced as ICU units fill up statewide amid spiking COVID-19 cases. Just a day earlier, the region’s ICU capacity was at 4.5%, according to the California Department of Public Health. The region comprised of 12 counties in central California, along with the enormous Southern California region, contain more than 60% of the state’s 40 million residents. Last week, the two regions were ordered to follow the strictest anti-COVID-19 rules under a new state stay-at-home order that aims to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed by restricting infectious contacts. The 0% calculated by the state doesn’t mean all hospitals have run out of intensive care unit beds, and in Stanislaus County 3.6% of ICU beds were available as of Saturday, said Kamlesh Kaur, a spokeswoman for the county’s public health department. Read More
Other Trending COVID Weekend Stories
Bay Area Hospitals Prepare For Sunday Arrivals Of First COVID Vaccine Shipments
SAN FRANCISCO — In just hours, the first doses of the Pfizer COVID vaccine will be shipped from its manufacturing plant to hundreds of locations across the country including the San Francisco Bay Area. UPS and Fed-Ex will be delivering to hospitals and other medical facilities starting early Sunday morning. The companies say some shipments will reach locations within a day. That means those at the top of the list to get vaccinated could be getting shots as early as Monday. But with San Francisco hospitals just getting 12,000 doses combined in the first shipment, those shots will mostly only be given to front line health care workers. The vaccine needs to be administered in two doses. A second batch of vaccine was expected to arrive within 21 days for those second doses. Read More
In First Game Since March COVID Shut Down, Warriors Edge Nuggets In Pre-Season Game At Fan-Free Chase Center
SAN FRANCISCO — It’s been 277 days since the Warriors played at Chase Center. It is a night of firsts for the players, staff, and the media. From the stands, it sounded like a game, and on the court, it looked like a game, especially with Steph Curry back in action. It just wasn’t the kind of game anyone’s used to. “It’s a strange atmosphere out on the court, and it’ll be weird tonight to play a game without our fans out there,” said head coach Steve Kerr. The Warriors, playing their first game since the NBA shutdown last March, defeated the Denver Nuggets 107-105 with Curry scoring 10 points and Kent Bazemore, who rejoins the team this year after signing a free agent contract, chipping in a team-high 13 points. Star Draymond Green and NBA No. 2 draft pick James Wiseman did not dress for the game after reportedly testing positive for COVID-19 earlier in the week. Read More
Doses Begin Rolling Out Along With Unprecedented Security Challenges
SAN JOSE — The first coronavirus vaccine shipments are expected to arrive in the Bay Area as soon as Monday. With them comes tremendous complexity in terms of logistics and security. Some have called the vaccine the largest cybersecurity risk in history. We asked an expert: is that hyperbole? “You know, it is not,” replied San Jose State professor Ahmed Banafa. “The reason for this one is: you’re talking about 7.5 billion people exposed to this virus.” Banafa said the global clamor for a vaccine presents security threats on multiple levels: intellectual property theft, fraud and phishing scams and something a bit like an old-fashion train robbery. “There are a lot of hospitals, they are told ‘don’t tell them when the vaccine will arrive’ because they are afraid someone will go and wait for them,” Banafa said. Read More
Bay Area Law Enforcement Agencies Carry On Holiday Toy Drives Despite COVID Pandemic Restrictions
SAN FRANCISCO — With Christmas rapidly approaching, the pandemic is having a Grinch-like effect on a lot of the usual traditions. Across the Bay Area those who organize yearly toy drives are finding creative ways to get the job done. “We do not want to be deterred by COVID-19 or anything else going on” said Darrel Cortez, executive director of the Shop With A Cop Foundation of Silicon Valley. “These families need us and we want to give back to them as much as we can.” In normal years, the Shop With A Cop program pairs kids with an officer for a $150 shopping spree but, this year, it was a drive-by event at the local Elks Club. Santa waved at cars from his chair and a machine created a miniature snow flurry for them to drive through. Officers from a range of South Bay agencies, including San Jose PD, Santa Clara sheriff’s office, the FBI, DEA, Los Altos police and Santa Clara County Parks, lined the route handing out bags of gifts and spreading cheer to 240 families. Read More
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Oakland Sees Mounting Plague of Gun Violence Deaths in 2020 as COVID Pandemic Rages
OAKLAND — When it comes to crime and safety, Oakland is a tale of two cities. Police say their figures show that, collectively, the Lake Merritt, downtown, uptown and West Oakland neighborhoods experienced 12 homicides in the first 11 months of 2020. For East Oakland that number during the same period was 88 homicides. The farther east you go, the more shootings and killings. From the Eastlake neighborhood to the San Antonio district, 21 people were slain and 93 people injured in shootings. From Fruitvale to 66th Avenue: 24 dead and 91 wounded. When you get deeper in East Oakland — from the Coliseum to the San Leandro border, you’ll see the biggest number of homicides among all the districts — 43 people killed and 172 people shot. Read More