Health
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a new recommendation for infants and people above the age of 60 to receive a single-dose of the RSV vaccine, which was approved earlier this year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The CDC, in a September health advisory, found that the respiratory syncytial virus was spreading in the southeastern part of the country. Cases have steadily increased in California in October and November. The risk of infection from RSV,…
Contra Costa Health officials are advising anyone who visited the California Grand Casino in Pacheco in the past five years to be tested for tuberculosis, after confirming a cluster of 11 cases connected to the site. “We are making this recommendation now because there is new evidence that TB may have spread among people who spent time at the casino from 2018-2023,” Dr. Meera Sreenivasan, Contra Costa County deputy health officer, said in a Thursday news release. The news release…
Colorful balloons decorated the Corrine Sain Senior & Family Community Center Friday, where close to 200 residents came for the “Food as Medicine Fair,” featuring music, yoga, Zumba, health screenings, raffles, lunch and bags of fresh produce and groceries for people to take home with them. More than 20 community organizations participated in the fair, the first of its kind for the center, providing information on everything from social justice to cancer. Sponsored by the Community Housing Development Corp. in…
Nearly 40% of 11th graders in the West Contra Costa Unified School District have reported “chronic sadness,” according to a recent California Healthy Kids Survey. The survey says chronic sadness has been on the rise in the county and the state, across grade levels, since 2017. “This is definitely shocking,” said LaShante Smith, the district’s director of positive school climate, after presenting the survey results at the Sept. 6 school board meeting. Smith said the district is hoping to turn…
More than 400 Kaiser Permanente health care workers at Richmond Medical Center are on Day 2 of the strike that is expected to end at 6 a.m. Saturday. Holding signs that said “Respect and value healthcare workers” and “Our patients need more staff,” they marched in a circle around the building in 90-degree heat, chanting “We are union, health care union.” Car horns honked and passersby cheered for the workers, who went on strike Wednesday demanding that Kaiser hire more…
“People of Richmond” is a regular series in which reporters pose a question to people in the community. Answers are presented verbatim, though sometimes edited for brevity. Q: Will you get the new COVID-19 booster when it becomes available? “I don’t think I’m going to take it because I don’t need it. In the place I work, they don’t require me to take the vaccine. I can go to stores to buy things and they don’t ask me to prove…
More than two weeks after Contra Costa Health Services shut down a Richmond spa’s hot tub following the deaths of two patrons, lab results on water samples confirmed high levels of legionella bacteria in the jacuzzi, county officials said Monday. Health Services is working with the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office to determine if charges will be filed in the case. In addition to the deaths, two people who used the Zen Day Spa hot tub came down with Legionnaires’…
Chemtrade’s sulfuric acid manufacturing plant in Richmond has been fined $1.2 million for air quality violations over the last eight years, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District announced Thursday. The plant did not properly calibrate, operate, and maintain its monitoring system, the agency found. That system’s consistent emission measurements are vital to ensure that sulfur dioxide does not reach unsafe and illegal levels, the Air District said in a news release. Without proper upkeep, Chemtrade’s system under-reported sulfur dioxide…
Many people love the holiday season for its chilly weather, twinkling lights and scent of fresh fir trees. But respiratory viruses love it too, spreading through increased travel, family gatherings, and the colder weather driving people indoors. Across California, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising. According to the latest Public Health Department data, the average number of cases diagnosed per day in California has quadrupled since mid-October, when case counts were trending downward, and doubled in the past month, to…