Numbers jump for Saturday report, over 6,700 new cases and 50 deaths reported

10:07 p.m. COVID-19 deaths in California hit a record 700 in one day: For the first time, California recorded 700 deaths from COVID-19 in a single day. Until Friday, the one-day loss to the disease had been 685 people, reported on Jan. 8.

8:55 p.m. Santa Clara County reports 1,604 new cases: County public health officials reported 1,604 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday, marking the 11th day in a row officials reported more than 1,000 new daily cases, according to data reviewed by The Chronicle. While not all infections require hospitalization or intensive care, many do. The county announced on Twitter that just 6% of all ICU in the county were available Friday.9:42 p.m. Santa Clara County launches new COVID-19 vaccine dashboard: County officials published a new online dashboard that tracks the number of vaccine doses received and administered in the county. The dashboard will be updated daily, although county officials said some data are missing because of “failure to report or due to the provider receiving supply directly from the federal government and therefore not being subject to the reporting requirement.”

8:43 p.m. Kaiser says coronavirus vaccine supply ‘limited and unpredictable’: Kaiser Permanente officials said on Twitter that the coronavirus vaccine supply is “limited and unpredictable,” and the “recent expansion of eligibility by the state to include individuals over 65 years old has not yet come with additional supply.” There are 1.4 million Kaiser members in California who are 65 or older, officials said, and the medical group has only “been getting vaccine for about 20,000 people a week.” Kaiser members who are eligible for the vaccine are not likely to get it, maybe for months, officials said, adding that their phone and online appointment systems are already overloaded with requests.

7:21 p.m. Intensive care unit availability at 3.4% in Bay Area region: The availability of intensive care beds remained well below 15% in the Bay Area region, one of five state-designated regions, according to California Department of Public Health officials. The Bay Area region includes the nine Bay Area counties plus Monterey and Santa Cruz counties and had 3.4% ICU availability Friday. Public health officials say that ICU availability is crucial for public safety, so when a region’s ICU capacity drops below 15%, that triggers a shutdown. ICU availabilty was at 0% in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions.

6:55 p.m. Contra Costa County officials to discuss vaccine distribution, safety with public: Assemblymember Buffy Wicks and Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia will talk with the county’s chief medical officer, Dr. Ori Tzvieli, on Friday, Jan. 22 about the safety of the coronavirus vaccine and distribution plans in Contra Costa County. The public meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. and will be streamed on Facebook.

6:07 p.m. San Mateo County reports 454 new cases: County public health officials reported 454 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday, according to data reviewed by The Chronicle. Public health officials have reported 30,650 total cases in San Mateo County since the start of the pandemic, state data shows.

4:22 p.m. Sonoma County is short of vaccines for eligible residents: Deputy public health officer Dr. Kismet Baldwin said in a press briefing Friday that the county has too few vaccines to give to everyone who is eligible, now that residents over age 65 can get the shot. “The supply of the vaccine is the most important limiting factor,” interim health officer Dr. Sundari Mase added. The county has also asked the state to provide for 50 vaccinators and 100 support staff, a request that is still being reviewed.

3 p.m. SJSU urges students returning from 150 miles outside Santa Clara County to quarantine for 10 days: San Jose State University officials reminded students who plan to return to on- or off-campus housing to “be mindful of the county mandated travel directive, which requires a 10-day quarantine for anyone coming to the county from more than 150 miles away.” Santa Clara County officials last month released new guidance shortening the length of quarantine from 14 days to 10 days.

2:30 p.m. Newsom does not anticipate shortage of second doses in California: Despite the news that the federal government had exhausted its vaccine stockpile, Gov. Gavin Newsom said that state is expected to have enough doses to deliver second jabs to residents who already received their first round of inoculations. “We don't see any issues at the moment as it relates to second doses,” Newsom said, speaking at Dodger Stadium on Friday. “We believe the second doses will be available based on what we've been told by the federal administration.”

2:28 p.m. California was misled by Trump administration about vaccine supply, Newsom says: Gov. Gavin Newsom said that California was kept in the dark by the shortage of vaccine doses from the outgoing administration and only found out about it through the press on Friday. “We all heard about it at the same time,” Newsom said during a press briefing at Dodger Stadium. He said the state has received 3 million doses so far but anticipates “hundreds of thousands” of more doses and is uncertain if California will receive them.

2:14 p.m. California ramps up vaccine effort: The state has administered 1.188 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine as of Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a press briefing at Dodger Stadium. “We’re making progress,”he said. Newsom said the state has 3,500 private partners in moving the vaccines out and 100,000 people eligible to provide vaccinations, including dentists, EMTs, nursing students and retired health care workers, as well as several National Guard strike teams. “We’re in a moment of urgency,” Newsom said. “We need to get these vaccines out of the freezer and into people’s arms.”

Coronavirus Pandemic

2:04 p.m. LA County to open additional mass vaccination sites: In addition to the previously mentioned large vaccination sites, including one at Dodger Stadium, county officials announced on Friday they will open five additional clinics at Pomona Fairplex, The Forum in Inglewood, Cal State Northridge, LA County Office of Education in Downey and Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia. Each site is expected to vaccinate 4,000 people a day. The sites will prioritize vaccinating 500,000 health care workers by the end of the month, working in tandem with several smaller sites. "We are all collectively working around the clock to get to more vaccines, more quickly," said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

1:22 p.m. Stocks close lower: The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq were all down less then 1% again after reports showed shoppers held back on spending during the holiday and investors studied Biden’s stimulus proposal as the pandemic is deepening the hole for the economy.

1:20 p.m. Biden: federal vaccine rollout ‘a dismal failure’: Speaking at a press briefing in Delaware on Friday, President-elect Joe Biden said the U.S. remains in “a very dark winter” with daily death rates soaring over 4,000 and the country fast approaching 400,000 cumulative COVID-19 fatalities. “That's staggering, to state the obvious,” Biden said. He also added that under the former administration's guidance, the “vaccine rollout in the United States has been a dismal failure thus far.”

12:54 p.m. Proposal to use Oakland Coliseum as vaccination site advances: The Oakland Coliseum could become a massive coronavirus vaccination site — possibly as soon as February. The commission that governs the complex agreed to form a task force Friday that will determine the details of how and when vaccines can be distributed at the Coliseum. Read the full story from The Chronicle’s Michael Williams here.

12:44 p.m. S.F. readying mass vaccination sites: San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced a partnership with private health care providers to open three large vaccination sites in the city, including locations at City College, SF Market and Moscone Center. The department of public health will work in partnership with private providers Kaiser, Dignity, Sutter Health and UCSF to get the doses out. “We have a plan,” Breed said during a press briefing on Friday. “We are moving these vaccines forward.” She added that the distribution plan depends on California's phased vaccine rollout guidelines, and will happen “once we have the supply to do so.” Read the full story from The Chronicle’s Trisah Thadani here.

12:00 p.m. Contra Costa has opened 20 vaccination sites, will add more next week: Contra Costa County has opened 20 vaccination sites including at Diablo Valley College, and are opening more every day, county health director Anna Roth said during a press briefing Friday. It plans to open additional vaccine clinics in Antioch and Richmond next week.

11:52 a.m. Contra Costa County residents over 75 prioritized for vaccine over 65-75 age group: Dr. Ori Tzvieli, operations chief for the county’s COVID-19 response, said in a press conference Friday there isn’t enough supply to meet demand for all seniors. The county is getting about 1,000 requests an hour on its website, and is tending to prioritize those over the age of 75, while still accepting information and scheduling later appointments for those over the age of 65. The county hopes to get to everyone in the eligible age group before the end of February.

11:47 a.m. Marin County asks healthy seniors to wait a little longer for shots: Given the high senior population in Marin, Dr. Matt Willis, the county public health officer, said that demand would exceed supply for a few weeks and asked healthier seniors to wait. “Everyone in Marin will have their turn,” Willis said in a statement. “But with the expansion of this next phase to all residents aged 65 and older, more than one third of our population is in the current tier. Given the current supply of vaccine, it will take several weeks to get to the next phase. If healthy individuals over the age of 65 and others in this group can hold back a few weeks to allow the more vulnerable to be vaccinated first, we encourage them to do so.”

11:46 a.m. Contra Costa County ramping up vaccines, but supply limited: The county and its private and public health system partners have given out about 36,000 of nearly 72,000 doses so far, with another 33,000 doses on the way, officials said at a press conference at a vaccination site in Pleasant Hill Friday. Scaling up takes trained staff and time to schedule appointments and monitor patients, said Dr. Ori Tzvieli, operations chief for COVID-19 response. By the end of next week, the county and its partners will be giving 3,600 shots per day, with up to 5,800 per day in a month, he said.

10:24 a.m. CDC warns variant could become dominant strain by March, exacerbating US hospital crisis: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned in a recent publication that the more highly transmissible B117 variant of the coronavirus, first discovered in the UK, is becoming widespread in the U.S. While the mutations do not make the virus deadlier, the agen