The Advocate

The Oaklandside published a new story on the recently released report by the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division on the mental health resources (or lack thereof) provided by Alameda County. You can read the story here  and the DOJ report here . Of particular interest to my fellow neighbors would be the conditions and practices at John George Psychiatric Pavilion in San Leandro: "An average of 1,111 people experiencing a mental health emergency enter John George Psychiatric Pavilion each month and remain there for up to 72 hours. The San Leandro hospital, which is operated by the county, provides care for people suffering nearly all of the acute psychiatric emergencies in the county. Nearly 240 people a month are admitted to inpatient services at the 80-bed public hospital, where they stay an average of 9 days. Some stay for months while they’re treated. Hundreds lasted for more than 30 days in a two-year period in 2017-2019. The hospital’s inpatient unit is used...

Almost 30,000 people have contracted COVID-19 in Alameda County and over 500 people have died from it. In San Leandro alone, we've had over 1,600 cases. The positive test rates in the most populated areas of the county, including most of San Leandro, vary from 5% to greater than 8%. The pandemic's impacted has disproportionately affected Black and Hispanic/Latino communities, particularly when adjusted as a share of the total population. But even when not looking at specific demographics, the devastation is startling, especially as we haven't even begun to review community spread from Thanksgiving yet. You can see the numbers for yourself, in a simple, interactive format on the county's website at https://covid-19.acgov.org/data. I understand people are scared. I understand people are frustrated. I understand there's lots of conflicting information crowding your media sources. I understand that the economic struggles are getting worse, the social and emotional tolls...