Bay Area

The Virus, Vaccines and New Variants: Weighing the Threat of a Mutant COVID Strain

“It is based on a pop-up model. We mobilize with local folks who go door-to-door, hand-to-hand, face-to-face, peer-to-peer, asking questions about COVID. As we moved into the vaccination phase, the Alameda Public Health Department recognized that as a major asset. They knew we could reach people, they couldn’t.”

Published

5 years ago

April 3, 2021

Mia Lane

Health care specialists, including several medical doctors, are keeping their eyes on coronavirus variants that some fear could lead to new strains of COVID-19 that could possibly undermine global efforts to vaccinate people and stem the global crisis.

According to the Centers of Disease Control, the B117 variant (first detected in the U.K.), the most threatening because of its prevalence, is the cause of 20% of new infections in the United States – and 30% of new infections in Florida.

Dr. Nirav Shah, Senior Scholar at Stanford University’s School of Medicine and chief medical officer of Sharecare, a health data services firm, says there are currently four different variants of COVID-19. He said the virus is adapting because “of evolution and natural selection.”

“The more virus particles there are, the more chances that a single virus particle may be a little different than the rest of them,” said Shah. “One or more virus particles is all you need to have a slight change. Maybe these spike protein changes – just a little – and it can attach to cells better than all the other particles.”
Shah said the virus is adapting as it encounters new hosts. But scientists are in a race to get everyone inoculated before the level of the disease in a community gets too high.

The B117 strain, he says, is 50% more infectious than the original strain of the coronavirus and it could lead to up to a 60% to 70% higher rate of death, according to a paper published in the journal Nature.

Shah said some of the COVID-19 virus variants could reinfect people who have contracted the disease before. The good news, he says, is that the B117 is susceptible to existing vaccine therapies, although other variants like 1351 (first detected in South Africa) and P1 (first detected in Brazil), could reduce the effectiveness of the COVID shots in patients.

Fortunately, to date, scientists studying COVID-19 have not identified any variants that have been designated ‘Variants of High Consequence.’ Those in that category “cause more disease and more hospitalizations, and they have been shown to defeat medical countermeasures, like vaccines, anti-viral drugs and mono-clonal antibodies,” says Shah.

Shah was speaking at a recent news briefing on COVID-19 virus variants organized by Ethnic Media Services. Other panelists on the Zoom teleconference were: Dr. Daniel Turner Lloveras, a member of the Latino Coalition Against COVID-19; Dr. Dali Fan, a U.C. Davis Health Science clinical professor and Dr. Kim Rhoads, an African American physician and associate professor of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at U.C. San Francisco School of Medicine.

Although the average citizen may be surprised at how COVID-19 is changing, Fan, said the virus’ adaption and mutation are much like other diseases.

He also presented some statistics from the Center for Disease Control about the coronavirus vaccines and their development. He said the vaccines were tested before they were released to the public.

“All three vaccines are very effective against symptomatic COVID-19,” said Fan. He said there are differences in the content of the vaccines and how they are stored. Fan said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which requires one dose, is easier to transport and is perfect for pop-up clinics and rural areas.

“It may be a better option for people who want to get fully vaccinated quickly,” he said.

Turner-Lloveras said that one of the issues overlooked during the coronavirus pandemic is the impact of the digital divide. Black and Latino communities often lag in vaccination rates because they don’t have access to high-speed Internet to discover information and arrange for their vaccination appointments.

“Internet access is a civil rights issue, at this stage,” said Turner-Lloveras. “All of the resources that are provided to people are online.”

He also said more than 20 million seniors don’t have broadband access. “This is a group that needs to be vaccinated, but they don’t have access to the Internet,” he said.

He’s trying to solve this problem with a group called the Digital Companeros, who meet with senior citizens and help them walk through online registration and information. The organization also has a WhatsApp group to target people who access the Internet through their cell phones.

According to Rhoads, some of these reports about Black hesitancy and under-vaccination may not be accurate. She talked about her experiences serving a predominantly African American population in San Francisco through Umoja Health, a coalition of community health organizations that joined their efforts to increase COVID-19 awareness, testing, and vaccinations in Black communities in the Bay Area.

The organization held a mass testing event in the Sunnydale and Bayview Hunters Point neighborhoods in San Francisco where they screened about 400 people, taking a community-based approach she calls “service in the name of public health.” No one came back positive for the coronavirus at a time when there was a 2 % positivity rate in all of San Francisco. She said the people, who were tested by community members, were also eager to get the vaccines. However, she attributes their willingness and openness to their confidence in Umoja Health.

“The community developed rapid trust in us. I was very surprised by this and they called out to us when one community member tested positive,” she said. “We saw neighbors going door to door, knocking telling people to come out and get tested.

“What we recognized from that mass-testing site was that it was not going to work for the African American community,” said Rhoads. “But something more intimate would.”

Rhoads said when African Americans know and trust the health care workers, there is more participation. Because of the organization’s successful testing effort, Alameda County has now entrusted it to provide vaccines in Oakland and areas across Alameda County with African American populations.

Mia Lane

Posts by Mia Lane

Up Next

Racism and Its Deadly Cousins

Don't Miss

COVID-19 Rent Relief Funds Available to Oaklanders

Mia Lane

Click to comment

Activism

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses. The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Published

3 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Toks Omishakin, secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, was one of the speakers at the event. Photo by Shellee Fisher Photography and Design.

By Calvin Naito, Special to The Post

On June 4, a national nonprofit named the Equity in Infrastructure Project (EIP) – which aims to increase public construction contracting opportunities for small and historically underutilized businesses – held a day-long event in downtown San Francisco to rally supporters and build momentum to its cause.

It was attended by more than 100 individuals from public agencies, private firms, and other organizations committed to increasing contracting opportunities with governmental agencies, thereby creating more competition and lowering public costs.

The EIP event was held the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in conjunction with BuildIT, which aims to increase contracting opportunities for LGBT-owned businesses.

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses.

The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Following the workshop, BuildIT hosted a VIP evening reception honoring EIP, whose principals – Phil Washington, John Procari, and Rick Jacobs – accepted the award.

The event also set in motion the coalition’s efforts to implement recommendations from EIP’s “Procurement for Prosperity: A Playbook.”

The Playbook is a practical guide for public agency leaders and procurement and contracting practitioners to grow the capacity of small and first-time contractors, strengthen competition, and deliver better value for taxpayers.

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), a long-time EIP supporter, also told attendees, “This is about commitment. This has been a life’s work. This is a tailwind moment.”

The event’s presenting sponsor was Hub International, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the nation, which was joined by partners Travelers Insurance and the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

After the pledge-signing ceremony, attendees participated in a workshop in which they examined the policies, practices, and programs needed to meet EIP goals, learned from practitioners, and identified next steps toward utilizing the Playbook.

Ingrid Meriwether, formerly of Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services (MWIS) and current president of Hub International’s Aligned Risk Management, MWIS, described the hard-fought lessons she and her MWIS team have learned over the last three decades administering contractor development programs (CDPs) for the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, City of Los Angeles, LA Metro, and other municipalities.

The CDPs help small and local construction firms win public infrastructure contracts with these government agencies. The program provides bonding assistance, contract financing, technical support, training, and other services to underrepresented businesses funded by public agencies who seek greater contracting participation with these firms.

Merriwether said programs like these “break down systemic barriers, create greater fairness, and save taxpayers money by enabling more competition. The contractor development programs have, cumulatively, over two decades, helped contractors access over $1 billion in bonding, supporting over $380 million in awarded contracts, and maintaining a loss ratio 250 times lower than the industry average – while saving participating municipalities more than $27 million in contracting costs as a result of enabling more competition.”

Rick Jacobs, EIP co-founder and co-chair urged attendees make plans to meet again in the near future “to continue building on this work, share progress on organizational commitments, and discuss how we can collectively advance the goals of the EIP pledge.”

For more information on the EIP and to access a copy of the Playbook, go online to https://equityininfrastructure.org/

Calvin Naito is communications manager for Equity in Infrastructure Project.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Museum Presents Landmark Retrospective Celebrating Beloved Bay Area Artist Mildred Howard

“Poetics of Memory” coincides with a year of major recognition for Howard. In 2026, she received the California Arts Council’s 50th Anniversary Award, honoring artists whose work has shaped California’s cultural and civic life, as well as the Museum of the African Diaspora’s Artist Impact Award. In 2025, she was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in recognition of her transformative contributions to American cultural life.

Published

3 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Mildred Howard. Photo by Christine Cueto for the Oakland Museum of California, 2025.

Special to The Post

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) opened “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory,” the first major museum survey of Bay Area artist Mildred Howard, on June 12.

The exhibition spans five decades of Howard’s influential work, bringing together immersive installations, found-object sculptures, archival materials, and new commissions that explore memory, identity, and power in American life.

Howard was born in San Francisco in 1945 and raised in the East Bay, where she went on to study Afro-Haitian dance, make and sell clothing, and experiment with collage and sculpture.

Her multimedia art practice emerged from these experiences, later becoming associated with West Coast conceptual art, San Francisco funk, and a vibrant community of artists like Oliver Jackson, Betye Saar, and Raymond Saunders. Since the 1970s, she has used found materials and family stories to explore memory—both individual and collective.

At OMCA, visitors enter “Poetics of Memory” through a series of intimate galleries featuring Howard’s early mixed-media pieces and sculptures, along with a large video projection of a number of her public artworks.

Together, they emphasize Howard’s interest in everyday objects as powerful carriers of individual and shared stories. Highlights include collages that remix images of the artist herself; found-object sculptures like The History of the United States with a few Parts Missing (2007) that address omissions in dominant narratives; and public works like “Locks and Keys for Harry Bridges” (2001) that transform urban space into a meditation on access and labor.

This culminates in a richly detailed “studio” environment, where works in progress, archival exhibition flyers, historic photographs of Howard and her community, postcards from fellow artists, and other materials offer insight into her creative process and daily life.

The exhibition then opens into a high-ceilinged, dramatically lit space that brings together Howard’s signature immersive installations. On one end, “Crossings” (1997/2026) – a field of hundreds of ceramic eggs leading to an ornate mirror – suggests cycles of birth, motherhood, and transition, while drawing on the emotional echoes of the Middle Passage. On the other end, “Blackbird in a Red Sky” (a.k.a. “Fall of the Blood House”) (2002) – a red glass shack bordered by a pond – also uses reflection and transparency to draw viewers into the work and prompt consideration of themes of identity and home.

Howard’s newest video installation, “Moving Stills” (2026), repurposes never-before-seen family footage she took as a teenager on a train trip to the American South. Projected onto cascading layers of translucent fabric that stretch across an entire gallery wall, the piece immerses viewers in a layered meditation on memory, migration, and time.

The “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory” exhibit will be on display through Oct. 11 at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland, CA 94612. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Fridays to 9 p.m.

This story is sourced from the Oakland Museum of California press office.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Alameda County

Ferry Fares to Increase July 1 as Ridership Hits Record Highs

The Oakland and Alameda routes will increase from $4.90 to $5.10, the South San Francisco route will go up from $7.40 to $7.60, and the Vallejo route will increase from $9.90 to $10.

Published

3 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Courtesy photo.

By Mike Aldax, The Richmond Standard

Starting July 1, the standard adult fare for the San Francisco Bay Ferry route between Richmond and San Francisco will increase to $5.20, up from the current $4.90.

Discounted fares for eligible passengers, including youth, seniors, people with disabilities, and Clipper START users, will rise to $2.60 from the current $2.40. Children under 5 will continue to ride for free.

The Oakland and Alameda routes will increase from $4.90 to $5.10, the South San Francisco route will go up from $7.40 to $7.60, and the Vallejo route will increase from $9.90 to $10.

The adjustments are part of a systemwide fare update approved by the agency’s Board of Directors, which is moving away from a flat 3% annual increase to route-specific pricing for the 2027 and 2028 fiscal years.

This fare update arrives as San Francisco Bay Ferry celebrates a historic May, transporting 301,270 passengers. The record-breaking figure represents an 8% increase over May 2025 and marks the third consecutive month of record-setting ridership.

Furthermore, it is the sixth month in a row that passenger numbers have exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Weekend travel has been a primary driver of this growth, with average weekend ridership seeing a 56% increase compared to pre-pandemic trends.

The agency states that the fare adjustments are necessary to ensure the long-term fiscal sustainability of public ferry services. By shifting to route-specific adjustments, the agency aims to offset rising operating costs while maintaining the high levels of service frequency and reliability.