Alameda County Coronavirus Vaccination, Cases: Latest Info

NEWARK, CA — Within the next couple of weeks, more than half of U.S. adults will have received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, White House officials said this week. But that figure obscures wide variations in vaccination rates among states and even wider variations among local communities.

As of April 8, 25 percent of California residents 18 and over have been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state ranks 36th nationwide by that metric.

In Alameda County, about 31 percent of people 18 and older and 65 percent of people 65 and older have been fully vaccinated as of April 8, according to CDC data.

On a typical day, the U.S. administers more than 2.8 million vaccine doses, and well over 100 million people have had at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Better days are on the horizon,” White House Senior Advisor Andy Slavitt said Wednesday at the weekly White House coronavirus news conference. “We do believe a more normal Fourth of July holiday is within reach. But that’s nearly three months away.  And as the president said, ‘The real question is: How much death, disease, and misery are we going to see between now and then?”

President Joe Biden will direct states to open up vaccination eligibility for all adults by April 19, which is a couple of weeks earlier than his original deadline.

Each state has its own requirements for vaccine eligibility. Here is more information on how to get a vaccine and who is eligible in California.

Experts disagree on whether the U.S. has entered a fourth surge in the coronavirus caseload.

The U.S. had a seven-day rolling average of 63,400 daily cases as of April 6, which was up about 2 percent from the previous seven-day period, according to the CDC. Still, the daily number of cases has dropped significantly from the peak of nearly 250,000 daily cases in mid-January.

Locally, coronavirus cases were rising 696 coronavirus cases were reported in Alameda County between April 1 and 7; there were 577 between March 25 and March 31, according to data collected by The New York Times.

Coronavirus-related deaths continue to decline nationally, with a seven-day daily average of 736 nationally as of April 6; that is down around 20 percent from the previous seven-day period.

“I’m really encouraged by these decreased numbers of deaths that I believe to be an impact of vaccination, especially the vaccination of our elderly communities,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at the White House briefing. “But I think we’re way too high to be thinking that we’ve won this race.”

Michigan continues to be the hottest part of the country for coronavirus infections, with some counties in full-blown outbreaks. Parts of the Northeast have an elevated infection rate, but there has been some improvement recently.

Editor's note: This post was automatically generated using data from the CDC and the New York Times. Please report any errors or other feedback to content@patch.com.