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COVID-19, flu and RSV: A guide to this fall’s vaccine options

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:52 GMT

We all feel vaccine fatigue.If you’re like many Californians, you rushed out in the spring of 2021 to get two COVID-19 shots. That was followed by a third “booster” shot in the fall. When a new and improved vaccine was offered in 2022, you might have gotten that, too.Now another shot will soon be available. Should you get it? The answer: It depends.While young people are at lower risk of severe illness than elders, “most people are under-vaccinated now. Which means our immunity is way down,” unless you were hit by this summer’s wave of infection, said Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at UC Berkeley.Even as we grow weary of sore arms, viruses continue on their merry way. Evolutionarily, they’re speed demons. New lineages of SARS-CoV-2 are constantly adding mutations that give them a competitive edge. Meanwhile, our antibodies fade — taking with them important protection.Soon after the CDC...

Buffered bike lanes may look complicated, but here’s how you navigate them safely: Roadshow

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:52 GMT

Q: There is a new bike lane on Java Drive in Sunnyvale, and it has line markings that I’ve never seen before. It’s a solid white line on the car traffic side, then a bunch of diagonal lines, then a dashed white line, then the bike lane, then the curb. The speed limit there is 45.Am I allowed to carefully merge into it, yielding to any bikes, in order to turn right into the parking lot of the post office, as with a regular bike lane? Or does the solid-on-my-side-dashed-on-their-side rule apply? Or am I supposed to be regarding a space filled with diagonal painted lines as if it were a concrete barrier? The City of Sunnyvale website calls it a buffered bike lane.Lisa Payne, SunnyvaleA: The new bike lanes installed along Java Drive are buffered bicycle lanes. The buffer is an additional space separating the bike lane from the regular vehicular traffic lane. Motorists are not to enter the bike lane to make right turns at intersections until the bike lane and the buffer becom...

Will business travel to the Bay Area bounce back to pre-COVID levels? Maybe not

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:52 GMT

Before the pandemic, Oakland lawyer Bryan Schwartz boarded planes for three to four business trips a month. Now he takes that many work trips in an entire year.Some events and hearings function better in person, and jury trials need courtrooms. But taking to the skies for a simple, one-hour meeting, formerly commonplace for Schwartz, is no longer on the agenda.“One of the best silver linings coming out of the whole global nightmare of COVID was just that we have other ways to do business now, and for most of the work that lawyers do, though we never knew it before, we can do it from home or from our desk in the office,” Schwartz said.Attorney Bryan Schwartz, founder of his law firm, Bryan Schwartz Law, looks out the window of his office in Oakland on Aug. 18, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group) Businesses large and small across the United States have slashed their spending on out-of-town trips. Stanford University economics professor Nicholas Bloom said research ...

Examining 49ers’ end game if Nick Bosa doesn’t face Steelers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:52 GMT

SANTA CLARA — We’re at the point where it’s time to consider the possibility that the 49ers will go into their Week 1 opener in Pittsburgh Sunday without their best player.Edge rusher Nick Bosa remains unsigned while seeking a contract extension that would likely make him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL at $32 million per season or more, although it’s not known if the 49ers are willing to go that high in terms of a multi-year deal.The stages of grief among 49ers have have gone from “unconcerned” throughout the offseason to “barely worried” at the start of camp to “OK, now this is serious” as training came to a close.And although it’s still possible Bosa could sign an extension and be on the field Sunday in Pittsburgh, it remains to be seen how much he’d play no matter the amount of high-tech training he’s done in the last several months.Whether Bosa has minimal snaps or doesn’t play at al...

McManus: Republican foreign policy divide good for country — and GOP

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:52 GMT

Last month, eight Republican presidential candidates did something unusual: They held a serious debate about foreign policy, focused mostly on their disagreements over U.S. aid to Ukraine.Of those on the stage in Milwaukee, only two — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and upstart capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy — said they oppose additional help for Ukraine as it fights to repel the Russian invasion.“Ukraine is not a priority for the United States,” Ramaswamy said.DeSantis hedged his answer, saying he would halt aid unless Europe sent more. Former President Trump, who skipped the debate, has sounded similar notes.Three candidates pushed back loudly against the Trumpist tide. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie argued that helping Ukraine win is in the interest of the United States.“Ukraine is the first line of defense for us. … You are choosing a murderer over a pro-American country...

Two-time A’s World Series champ featured at re-opening at Rickey’s Sports Lounge

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:52 GMT

There will be a celebration of the Bay Area’s past sports greatness on Wednesday when the Multi-ethnic Sports Hall of Fame resurfaces at one of the country’s great sports bars of yesteryear.Former A’s and Giants outfielder Bill North, a two-time World Series champion with Oakland in the early ‘70s, will be the special guest from 6 p.m.-10 p.m. at the grand re-opening of Rickey’s Sports Lounge in San Leandro.A number of other former East Bay greats are expected to be on hand at the former go-to place for Raiders fans, which had a soft re-opening in May ahead of its official restart coinciding with the beginning of the NFL season this week.Former A’s great Dave Stewart will be among the guests at Rickey’s Sports Lounge on Wednesday night. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) Dave Stewart, a four-time 20-game winner who led the A’s to their last World Series championship in 1989, headlines a list of former players in attendance that includes ex-baseball players Mi...

South Bay and East Bay office markets outperform San Francisco: report

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:52 GMT

SAN JOSE — The office markets in the South Bay and East Bay — while feeble in a post-coronavirus era — still outperform San Francisco’s moribund office sector in key benchmarks.The South Bay and East Bay display a greater degree of health — or less weakness — than San Francisco, in a comparison of the performance of these markets before and after the coronavirus outbreak, according to a report prepared by Avison Young, a commercial real estate firm.The benchmarks to compare the three regions include the average size of an office lease, the length of a rental agreement and concessions that landlords make to tenants such as free rent, Avison Young determined.Google Bay View campus on the grounds of the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, May 2022. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)“Silicon Valley is the epicenter of tech with decades of tenants that have withstood various economic cycles with new innovations at the rebirth of each r...

California launches new map to track fire prevention, forest health projects

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:52 GMT

 Fidel Tupul, left, uses a chainsaw to cut dead branches in the Mt. Tamalpais watershed near Sky Oaks Road in Fairfax on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. He was on a crew contracted by the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority to reduce fire fuels near residences.(Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal) A task force commissioned by Gov. Gavin Newsom has unveiled a new online tool that it says will provide a first-of-its-kind map showing all forest and fire prevention work completed in California.Following the destructive wildfires experienced across the state this past decade, a multitude of agencies has ramped up fire prevention projects on public lands and forests in an effort to prevent future disasters.Until now, state officials said there has not been a simple way to track the collective work that has been accomplished thus far.Patrick Wright, director of Newsom’s California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, said giving these agencies and communities a better understanding...

On Marin’s highest peak, Mount Tamalpais, a most accessible trail

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:52 GMT

This past year has involved a series of injuries in our family that have left us on group outings looking for trails that we can all navigate successfully. On a recent August weekend, we looked for the millionth time at Mount Tamalpais and decided that the 0.7-mile Verna Dunshee Loop trail around the east peak was just what we needed: a beautiful (if winding and long) scenic drive that would end with some out-of-doors time that we all could enjoy.We also encountered an unexpected but welcome history lesson during our visit, and those of us who could took some short side trips on spurs spiking off of Verna Dunshee. It was a perfect day with what are hands-down some of the best views in Bay Area, a crowded and competitive field.The 360-degree journey around the eastern peak of Mount Tamalpais offers views from on highest of fog sliding into the San Francisco Bay, San Pedro Mountain and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge all the way to Mount Diablo, Bon Tempe and the surrounding greenspace...

Alameda crews return home after fighting fires at California-Oregon border

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:52 GMT

(KRON) -- Firefighters from the East Bay are back home after responding to dangerous fires at the California-Oregon border.A group of men and women spent two weeks battling the Smith River Complex fire in Del Norte County. The fire has burned more than 84,000 acres and is 19 percent contained. City of Alameda Fire DepartmentCity of Alameda Fire DepartmentCity of Alameda Fire DepartmentThe United States Forest Service says the fire started during thunderstorms on Aug. 15. Firefighters from Cal OES Strike Team 2802A and OES Engine 409 were among those who deployed.