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A worker packs the newly approved Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine into a cooler for shipping from the McKesson Corp. distribution facility in Shepherdsville, Ky.

Gov. Gavin Newsom watches farmworker Raul Dominguez receive a Pfizer coronavirus shot in a clinic set up at Fresno’s Stanley-Rea Community Center. Farmworkers have been one of the hardest hit communities since the start of the pandemic.

Former San Francisco residents Mark Glaser and Renee Dean, with their son Everett, walk on the trail behind their Santa Fe, N.M., home, where he can work remotely. A Chronicle analysis finds that the outflow of California residents, however, has been much less than often stated.

The Chronicle’s Live Updates page documents the latest events in the coronavirus outbreak in the Bay Area, the state of California and across the U.S. with a focus on health and economic impacts.

Resources on COVID-19 and California’s reopening: Use our interactive page to track the state and Bay Area’s reopening by county. For detailed maps and new city-by-city Bay Area data, check out The Chronicle’s Coronavirus Tracker. Find Bay Area COVID-19 testing sites that don’t require doctor referrals in our interactive map. Use our vaccine tracker to learn who is eligible for the coronavirus vaccine and how many doses have been given. To get regular updates on our coverage, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter.

• 3,551,757 cases in California, including 52,490 deaths

• 407,652 cases in the Bay Area, including 5,368 deaths. Click on The Chronicle’s Coronavirus Tracker for a U.S. map and state by state case count and tally of deaths.

8:59 a.m. Twitter will bar repeat offenders on fake vaccine news: Twitter says it has begun labeling tweets with misleading information about COVID-19 vaccines, and is using a “strike system” to remove repeat-violator accounts. Twitter said Monday that human reviewers are assessing whether tweets violate its misinformation policies, and eventually an automated component will be added. Twitter banned some COVID-related misinformation in December.

8:38 a.m. Deadly virus is taking fewer lives: The coronavirus killed an average of 403 Californians each day in February — shocking, but 25% lower than January’s daily average of 482, according to a Chronicle analysis of data. In all, the virus claimed 11,286 Californians in February. The Bay Area saw an even steeper plunge, with COVID-19 deaths falling by a third in February, to 40 deaths a day, compared to January’s 54. Read the full story here.

8:29 a.m. Vatican says pope’s trip to Iraq will be safe: The Vatican is defending Pope Francis’ decision to go to Iraq this weekend despite rising coronavirus infections there and concerns about crowds wanting to see him. The Vatican says health care precautions are being taken.On his first foreign trip since the start of the pandemic, the pope is due to celebrate Mass for an expected 10,000 people in a sports stadium.

8:24 a.m. L.A. nursing home pays in patient-“dumping” case: A nursing home accused of illegally “dumping” patients onto Los Angeles streets and into ill-equipped homes in order to take in more lucrative COVID-19 patients has settled a lawsuit by the city attorney, the Los Angeles Times reported. Lakeview Terrace will nearly double its nursing staff, allow increased oversight and pay $275,000 in penalties and costs to settle the suit that had accused the skilled nursing facility of sustained and intentional misconduct, the city attorney announced.

8:13 a.m. S.F. poised to move into red tier: San Francisco, languishing for many weeks with much of the state in the highly restrictive purple tier of California’s reopening blueprint, is poised to advance the the less constraining red tier this week. As cases continue to drop throughout the Bay Area, many San Franciscans may already be looking toward the next step: orange. Read The Chronicle’s story from Erin Allday here.

7:59 a.m. Brazilian variant infected people after they had COVID-19: Three studies offer a sobering history of the coronavirus variant called P.1 in Manaus, Brazil. It most likely arose there in November and fueled a surge in coronavirus cases, the New York Times reports. It also infected some people who had antibodies from bouts with COVID-19. And laboratory experiments suggest it could weaken the protective effect of a Chinese vaccine used in Brazil. The studies have not been published in scientific journals.

7:40 a.m. China distributes its vaccines globally: A large part of the world will end up getting coronavirus shots not with Western vaccines boasting headline-grabbing efficacy, but with China’s traditionally made shots. China has pledged roughly half a billion doses to more than 45 countries — with shots administered in more than 25 so far — according to a country-by-country tally by The Associated Press. Four of China’s many vaccine makers claim they can produce at least 2.6 billion doses this year.

7:35 a.m. Attacks on health workers occurring during pandemic: More than 1,100 threats or acts of violence occurred last year against health care workers and facilities, about 400 of them related to COVID-19, according to new report by Geneva-based Insecurity Insight and the University of California, Berkeley’s Human Rights Center. Many were many motivated by fear or frustration. A handful occurred in the U.S. none in California.

7:24 a.m. Another South African variant infection in Alameda County: Alameda County officials have reported a second case of coronavirus infection caused by the variant from South Africa that reduces the effectiveness of some vaccines. The second case is not connected to the one identified Feb. 9. In both cases, the individuals had recently returned from abroad, and almost certainly became infected overseas, public health officials said. Read more here.

7:11 a.m. Lack of verification leaves door open to vax cheaters: California has no guidelines on how vaccination sites should verify eligibility of people who show up for shots — some arriving before they qualify by job category or age. County rules vary. Some leave it to the vaccination site to decide on verification. Reliance largely on the honor system helps move to vaccinating more people quickly, but also leaves the rules open to abuse. Read the story here.

6:21 a.m. S.F. could move hundreds off streets into hotels — but where they go next is uncertain: In the latest push to keep people off San Francisco’s streets, the Board of Supervisors is poised to pass an emergency ordinance to move 560 more homeless people into shelter-in-place hotels over the next two months. The ordinance would formalize and extend the ongoing federally reimbursed program that leases hotel rooms for around 2,000 vulnerable homeless people, fill more hotel rooms and make available permanent housing for those in hotels. Read the full story here.

6:19 a.m. Bay Area parents worry classrooms won’t reopen full time in the fall. When will normal return?: It’s been nearly a year since the vast majority of California’s 6 million students have experienced a normal school day, and the hope for even a partial return to classrooms before summer is fading fast. Many Bay Area families are setting their sights on the fall, hoping public schools will be back in person five full days by then, but in some cases, creating a contingency plan if they’re not. Those plans include moving to a school district that’s open or enrolling in private school for those with options, but many families without financial resources are stuck with no way out. Read the full story here.

6:15 a.m. Report: Johnson & Johnson to team up with Merck to produce vaccine: President Joe Biden is reportedly preparing to announce that Merck will help Johnson & Johnson produce its coronavirus vaccine, news accounts are reporting. It’s a deal that would help boost supply of the newly authorized, single-dose vaccine.

4 p.m. Santa Clara County opens vaccination site for educators: A coronavirus vaccine site focused on education workers will deliver up to 500 shots a day at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, county officials announced Monday. The County Office of Education is working with local school districts to manage outreach and appointments for the site, which is now open, with a focus on districts that have been most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Educators and school personnel are some of our most essential workers and having vaccines available helps ensure a safer learning environment for students and staff,” said Dr. Mary Ann Dewan, the county’s superintendent of schools.

3:37 p.m. Video of teachers’ union official dropping off child at school stirs flap: A group of Berkeley public school parents posted a YouTube video showing the president of the teachers union — who they say has delayed schools reopening — dropping his daughter off at a private preschool. The video became a flashpoint in an escalating debate after a year of remote learning for many public school kids. Read more here.

3:30 p.m. Strings attached to school reopening plan may pose problems for Bay Area counties: The $6.6 billion school-reopening plan announced Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom comes with significant strings attached that could mean many Bay Area districts might see millions of dollars cut out of their cash windfall. The plan would provide $4.6 billion to help schools navigate reopening and learning loss, with money for staffing, ventilation, supplies, summer school or even an extended school year — on condition it be spent by Aug. 31. Read the full story here.

3:27 p.m. Today’s good — in fact, delicious — news: Bay Area favorite Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery is serving its famed cookies once again. The restaurant reopened its Mountain View location Monday nearly a year after saying it would permanently close its dozens of locations because of the coronavirus pandemic. Read the details.

3:23 p.m. U.S. death toll now above 514,000: More than 514,000 Americans now have died from COVID-19, according to Monday’s data recorded by Johns Hopkins University. Globally the death toll is more than 2.5 million. In California 52,299 lives had been lost as of Monday afternoon. New York is the No. 2 state in terms of lives lost, with a death toll of nearly 48,000.

3:19 p.m. ComicCon to stay virtual for 2021: The San Diego Comic Convention again will forgo its annual in-person event due to the pandemic, with an eye on possibly returning in 2022, organizers announced Monday. An abbreviated “online experience” will take place instead July 23-25. “Unfortunately, the challenges of this past year and the multiple postponements of our two largest events have left us with limited financial resources, so this year the online experience will be reduced to a three-day event,” a statement from organizers said.

3:14 p.m. Minimum wage plank unlikely in relief package: Democrats’ efforts to include a minimum wage increase in their $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill seemed all but dead Monday as Senate leaders prepared to begin debate on their version of the House-passed aid package. Top Democrats abandoned a potential amendment threatening tax increases on big companies that don’t boost workers’ pay to certain levels, according to the Associated Press. Democrats seemed to have exhausted their most realistic options for quickly salvaging the pay hike.

2:28 p.m. J&J distribution could raise racial or class fairness issues: Decisions to send Johnson & Johnson’s newly approved vaccine to harder-to-reach communities make practical sense, because the single-shot vaccine is easier to store and use. But they could drive perceptions of a two-tiered vaccine system, riven along racial or class lines — with marginalized communities getting what they think is an inferior product, the Washington Post reports. White House officials on Monday continued pounding home the message that all three approved vaccines are strong protectors against serious illness and death from the virus.

2:19 p.m. Mask rules really rile protesters at Trader Joe’s: An anti-mask group again targeted a Santa Cruz Trader Joe’s on Sunday. Some of them compared the grocery store to Nazi Germany becauseit enforced the county’s face-mask rules. Fliers placed around Santa Cruz called the protest “Freedom Day.” It was the latest in a string of anti-mask protests at Trader Joe’s stores in California and Oregon. Read the story here.

2 p.m. “Unrealistic” to think pandemic will end soon: Despite vaccines reducing hospitalizations and death, it’s “premature” and “unrealistic” to think the pandemic might be stopped by the end of the year, a senior World Health Organization official said Monday. The Associated Press reports that Dr. Michael Ryan, director of WHO’s emergencies program, warned against complacency, saying nothing is guaranteed in an evolving epidemic: “Right now the virus is very much in control.”

1:45 p.m. Russians think virus is a human-created bioweapon: Nearly two out of three Russians believe the conspiracy theory that the coronavirus is a bioweapon created by humans, according to a survey by the independent Levada Center polling agency reported in the Moscow Times. The results showed 64% of Russian respondents said COVID-19 was artificially created as a new form of biological weapon. That compares with 23% who said the virus emerged naturally and 13% who couldn’t answer.

1:33 p.m. Infection rates in health workers fall to pandemic low in L.A. County: Vaccinations are making an impact in California, with Los Angeles County public health director Barbara Ferrer saying Monday that COVID-19 cases among health care workers in the county have reached their lowest point since the start of the pandemic. This week, the county will dedicate days at its vaccination sites to educators, agricultural and food workers and emergency responders. People must show proof of working in the designated sector.

1:25 p.m. Variant spread grows in U.S.: The U.S. now has identified 2,400 cases of the so-called U.K. coronavirus variant, B.1.1.7, in 46 states, with 206 cases in California, according to CDC data. The CDC says 53 infections of the B.1.351 variant from South Africa have been identified, along with 10 of the P.1 variant first identified in Brazil.

12:57 p.m. Rodgers helps pandemic-battered businesses: Green Bay Packers quarterback and reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers has donated $1 million to help 80 locally owned businesses in or around his hometown of Chico. and in Butte County. Rodgers played at Pleasant Valley High School in Chico and one year at Butte College before moving on to play two seasons at Cal.

12:47 p.m. Trump got vax before leaving White House: Former President Donald Trump and Melania Trump both received a first coronavirus shot in January before leaving the White House, several news accounts said Monday, citing an Trump adviser. They received their second dose after moving out of the White House due to Trump’s loss to President Biden. Both Trumps were infected with the coronavirus in late September. Trump in his CPAC speech Sunday for the first time urged his supporters to get vaccinated.

12:35 p.m. California postitive test rates still dropping: The rate of coronavirus tests that are coming back positive in California continues a downward trend. The positive rate over the past seven days was 2.3% and over 14 days it was 2.6%.

12:05 p.m. Newsom foreshadows response to slowing progress on virus metrics: Gov. Gavin Newsom was asked Monday if the state’s reopening progress would change given the leveling off of downward coronavirus trends, indicators that prompted expressions of alarm and cautionary pleas from the White House Monday. “Well be making more announcements on that in the coming days,” Newsom told a news briefing. He said “we are all mindful” that numerous variants are spreading rapidly, and that conditions can change the state’s course. “We will be very responsive to those conditions and concerns,” he said.

11:59 a.m. Maybe even a state mandate to get schools opened in person: “We want schools to safely reopen. Period. Full stop,” Gov. Gavin Newsom told a briefing in Elk Grove Monday. He said he would not be opposed to taking steps to make school reopenings mandatory across the state, based on available data. “We have all the expectations that schools will safely reopen this fall.”

11:50 a.m. How many outbreaks in California schools? Data is not clear: Gov. Gavin Newsom was elusive Monday about data revealing the number of coronavirus infections and outbreaks in schools that have already reopened across the state. Newsom told a briefing at the Elk Grove Unified School District that the data would come as part of newly worked out legislation to incentivize school reopenings. He cited “specific language in this agreement that requires 24-hour reporting. ... We are laying that groundwork very prescriptively.” He also declined to say whether kids would need shots before returning to classrooms.

11:36 a.m. Seven more counties to exit purple: Another seven counties — and the state’s most densely populated areas — will advance this week out of the state’s most restrictive tier for reopening their economies, the purple level, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday. They will join 11 other counties that already have moved on to less-restrictive categories, and more should follow next week, he said. “We anticipate even more momentum.” He said tier assignments should not get in the way of reopening schools. “We’re not waiting to get out of this purple tier in order to get our kids safely back to in-person instruction.”

11:40 a.m. “Single mothers are celebrating this day,” says Newsom: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced details of a $6.6 billion plan to resume in-person learning with an incentive program in the state. “We expect that all our TK-2 classrooms open in the next month,” he said, starting with cohorts of those with greatest need as “the basis of building confidence and trust” before pushing for a full reopening. “You can’t reopen your economy unless you get your schools open for in-person instruction,” he said. “Single mothers are celebrating this day.” He noted however that the decline in cases and hospitalizations is starting to level off. “Things seem to be stabilizing, though we are seeing a little bit of a plateau. One needs to be mindful of that,” Newsom said.

11:28 a.m. Thursday and Friday will be special vax days for teachers: Thursday and Friday will be designated as special vaccination days for educators at the Oakland Coliseum and Cal State Los Angeles mass vaccination sites, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday. The shots they receive will be in addition to the 75,000 doses that the state is setting aside specifically for educators. The step is part of an effort to speed the in-person return to schools statewide.

11:15 a.m. “We now have a concrete reopening plan” for state schools: Assembly member Jim Cooper, D-Elk Grove (Sacramento County), appearing with Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday to promote a pair of bills aiming to resume in-person school, said: “SB86 and AB86 will get the ball rolling and our kids back in the classroom,” Cooper said. “We now have a concrete reopening plan.” The bills allow school districts to to develop their own reopening plans, he said, while providing incentives to help them get back on campus.

11:03 a.m. Biden expected to tell Mexico, sorry but no: White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that President Biden would not consider Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s expected request that the U.S. share its coronavirus vaccine supply with Mexico, Politico reports. The two leaders were to meet virtually Monday. Biden “is focused on ensuring that vaccines are accessible to every American. That is our focus,” Psaki told a White House press briefing. “The next step is economic recovery. And that is ensuring that our neighbors, Mexico and Canada, have similarly managed the pandemic, so that we can open our borders and build back better,” she added.

10:45 a.m. Indian PM gets a vax shot: Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India was vaccinated against the coronavirus on Monday as India began a new phase of its inoculation drive, one of the largest in the world. India has approved two vaccines for emergency use: one from Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, produced by the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine producer; and Covaxin, developed by an Indian pharmaceutical company. Vaccine hesitancy in India is high, with 58% of respondents expressing doubts.

9:59 a.m. Testing is on the decline: Testing for the coronavirus, which experts consider crucial to preventing outbreaks and virus spread, has fallen by 30 percent in recent weeks across the U.S. The week ended Feb. 24 saw fewer than 10 million tests, and down from nearly 14 million a week in early January, according to the Covid Tracking Project. Some areas report even sharper declines: Michigan is testing about half as many people as in November. Los Angeles County’s sites tested just 35 percent of their capacity last week.

9:50 a.m. Senate now dives into relief package: Senate Democrats considered reshaping parts of the House-passed COVID-19 relief bill on Monday, hoping to unveil their own version of the massive package and begin debate as early as Wednesday.They want to send President Biden legislation combating the pandemic and bolstering the economy by March 14, when emergency jobless benefits expire. Chances are dwindling for a way to retain a minimum wage boost in the $1.9 trillion relief package.

9:41 a.m. Urban-rural tensions spurred by vax availability: The coronavirus vaccine campaign has heightened tensions between rural and urban America, the Associated Press reports. From Oregon to Tennessee to upstate New York, complaints are surfacing of a real — or perceived — inequity in vaccine allocation. In some cases, recriminations over how scarce vaccines are distributed have taken on partisan tones. Some residents of cities where vaccines are short on supply are traveling hours to rural GOP-leaning communities to score COVID-19 shots.

9:30 a.m. Johnson & Johnson to develop booster for variants: Having won emergency use authorization for its single-dose vaccine, Johnson & Johnson now is working on a booster shot to better protect against emerging coronavirus variants. “While we’re encouraged and we’re confident in the current vaccine that we have, you’ve always got to be preparing for the future, and frankly for the unknown,” the company’s CEO Alex Gorsky said Monday, speaking to CNN.

9 a.m. Blue Shield vax management starts Monday: California’s shift to a new coronavirus vaccine distribution program was starting Monday, with a scheme developed by Blue Shield intended to unify a patchwork of eligibility standards and speed up vaccine rollout efforts. State officials hope to hit 4 million weekly vaccinations by the end of April. Read the full story here.

8:32 a.m. New vaccine will ramp up toward end of month: The government this week is distributing the full 3.9 million-dose inventory of Johnson & Johnson’s new one-shot vaccine. But “the supply will be limited in the next couple of weeks,” the White House said Monday. After that, “The company then expects to deliver 16 million doses by the end of March,” said White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients. He said the U.S. has averaged 1.7 million shots administered per day over the last seven days using the existing two vaccines, from Moderna and Pfizer.

8:18 a.m. California deal would return more students to classrooms: Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders have reached a deal on requirements for reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic that could get more students back into classrooms by the end of the month. The plan would provide $2 billion to school districts that resume at least some in-person instruction by March 31. Read the story here.

8:06 a.m. CDC chief warns of troubling stall in progress: CDC Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Monday that national progress on reducing new coronavirus infections has stalled and she is “deeply concerned about the potential shift in the trajectory of the pandemic.” Recent declines in new cases seem to have stalled at more 70,000 new cases daily, she told a briefing. With the growth of virus variants “a very real threat to our people and our progress,” she said she is “really worried” that a number of states are rolling back public health protrections and restrictions. “Now is not the time to stop,” she said “We cannot be resigned at 70,000 cases a day.”

7:25 a.m. Indoor dining is back, but is it safe?: The Chronicle’s Soleil Ho walks through why there’s reason to feel a little bit more confident with the latest reopening of indoor dining in parts of the Bay Area, and San Francisco on the cusp. With food workers now eligible for vaccine priority, both diners and restaurants can take confidence-inspiring safety steps, including making time to get staff vaccinated and using clear masking rules and signage. Read the story here.

7:12 a.m. Why can’t companies to share vax recipes?: Across Africa and Southeast Asia, and the halls of the WHO, vaccine makers are being urged to share their patent information more broadly to meet a yawning global shortfall. The Associated Press found factories that said they could start producing hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccines if they had the blueprints. Pharmaceutical companies that took taxpayer money to develop their drugs say they are negotiating production contracts case-by-case to protect their intellectual property and ensure safety.

6:32 a.m. Bay Area’s migration is real, but Postal Service data shows California exodus isn’t: Despite all the talk of people leaving the Bay Area during the pandemic, only a small fraction of residents have left the state, suggesting that reports of an exodus have been exaggerated, according to a Chronicle analysis of United States Postal Service data. Only 3.7% of the households and businesses that filed address changes in five Bay Area counties from March to November 2020 left California, a total of 4,264 move outs, according to the data. Read the full story here.

8:55 p.m. Oakland parents call for schools to open: San Francisco isn’t the only large Bay Area city where parents are frustrated by the absence of in-person learning. Adults who have banded together under the name OUSD Parents for Safe Reopening held a rally Sunday at Lake Merritt to call for classrooms to reopen — and soon. Sam Whiting has the story: “They aren’t driving me nuts,” the parent of two children told him, “but I can see the social and emotional toll of them being at home for a year.”

4:10 p.m. Newest vaccine coming Tuesday: Nearly 4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by Johnson & Johnson will be available across the country for injection beginning Tuesday, according to information presented at a White House briefing Sunday afternoon. Another 16 million doses will be available by the end of March, reaching a total of 100 million by the end of June, per the White House. The new vaccine only requires one shot to be effective. “We’re distributing the J&J vaccine as we do the Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients told the Associated Press.

3:45 a.m. California in odd position with overflowing bank account: Pandemic notwithstanding, California tax collections were $10.5 billion ahead of projections as of January: By the end of the fiscal year on July 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature could have a $19 billion surplus to spend, the Associated Press reports. In an odd twist, closure of businesses mostly cost lower-wage workers their jobs, while the wealthier worked from home, so that economic losses haven’t made their way up to the top of the income ladder. Coffers are so fat that, for just the second time ever, the state is projected to trigger a state law requiring the government to send refunds to taxpayers.

3:25 p.m. Trump blames his loss on virus: As he used his speech to demand severe restrictions on early voting and voting by mail, the former president claimed, with no evidence, that he was the victim of changes at the state and local level to make voting safer during the pandemic. Democrats “used COVID as way of cheating, and everybody knows it,” insisted Trump, who received 7 million fewer votes than President Joe Biden and was bested in the Electoral College by a 306-232 margin. He brushed aside the fact that courts at every level rejected the dozens of lawsuits filed by his supporters to reverse the outcome: “The Supreme Court didn’t have the guts or the courage to do anything about it, and neither did other judges.”

2:30 p.m. Trump claims credit for vaccine development: During his first public appearance since leaving the White House last month, Trump told attendees of the Conservative Political Action Conference on Sunday that his administration and he personal was responsible for the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out. Trump claimed that he had “pushed the FDA like they had never been pushed before,” and took credit for a vaccine that he said had “saved large portions of the world, not only our country ... Everybody go get your shot.”

1:47 p.m. Conservative conference boos masks: TV images of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida show many attendees massing indoors Sunday without face masks as former President Donald Trump addressed the gathering. When organizers from the stage urged them Friday to mask up to comply with the hotel rules, boos and shouts of “No” came from the crowd. Trump himself was maskless as usual.

1:22 p.m. Pandemic glances off some parts of L.A.County: While the winter surge blasted much of Los Angeles County with soaring coronavirus cases and deaths, the pandemic’s wrath was barely felt in West Hollywood, Malibu and Playa del Rey: Infection rates there actually fell, or rose far less than elsewhere, according to a Los Angeles Times data analysis. Some demographic factors were at play, such as low housing density, or West Hollywood’s large population of singles able to work from home. But residents and officials say other factors contributed: sea breezes, easy access to open space for exercising, a strong culture of mask compliance and, crucially, limited contact with other people.

12:22 p.m. CDC advisory panel gives thumbs-up on J&J vax: A CDC advisory panel on Sunday added its recommendation in favor of the nation’s third coronavirus vaccine, opening the way for the one-shot, Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be administered starting this week or people 18 and older. Meeting in emergency session, advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly endorsed its effectiveness. Their vote follows Saturday’s FDA emergency use authorization of the vaccine, and moves it to the CDC director for an official CDC recommendation to health providers. CDC panel members emphasized that all three vaccines now available in the U.S. are highly protective against the worst effects of the virus, including hospitalization and death.

11:30 a.m. Farmworker pop-up provides shots to hundreds in Morgan Hill: Farmworkers flocked Sunday to a coronavirus vaccine pop-up at the Monterey Mushrooms facility in Morgan Hill. About 1,000 from area farms were to receive shots Sunday and Wednesday in a county effort to reach those not near other vaccination sites. “The people who were doing the hardest work picking the fruit and processing it were the most hard hit by COVID-19 and it continues,” Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez told a press conference at the site. “The best way we can honor our frontline workers is what we’re doing today, which is getting them vaccinations.” Organizers hope the partnership between the county, United Farm Workers and Monterey Mushrooms be a model for collaborations in other regions of the state.

10:59 a.m. Texas storm as possible superspreader: More than a week after Texas was pounded by an icy storm that forced hundreds to huddle together in homes, cars and shelters to seek warmth, some say those conditions could lead to an increase in coronavirus cases, the New York Times reports. Due to reporting dropping off during the storm and then resuming, it is still too early too discern any specific growth or decline in case numbers. But experts are voicing concerns.

10:47 a.m. Lin “not slamming anyone” after coronavirus bigotry: A day after news that the G League is investigating a claim by Santa Cruz Warriors guard Jeremy Lin that he was called “coronavirus” during a game, Lin said he’s “not naming or shaming anyone.” He tweeted, “What good does it do in this situation for someone to be torn down? It doesn’t make my community safer or solve any of our long-term problems with racism.”

10:32 a.m. South Dakota governor disses Fauci: Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s top medical adviser, said Sunday that criticsm of him from Republican Gov. Kristi of South Dakota was “not really helpful” to the nation’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Noem won a standing ovation at the Conservative Political Action Conference for rebuking Fauci’s public health guidance, Politico reports. She boasted her state focused on hospital capacity instead of case numbers. “I don’t know if you agree with me, but Dr. Fauci is wrong a lot,” she said. Fauci on CBS’ “Face the Nation” said the remarks were “unfortunate ... because sometimes you think things are going well, and just take a look at the numbers. They don’t lie.” He added, “I’m sure that you can get a standing ovation by saying I’m wrong.”

10:10 a.m. Fauci says take J&J vax if available: Dr. Anthy Fauci said Sunday that people need to stop thinking about marginal differences in efficacy among the three available coronavirus vaccines. The latest, Johnson & Johnson, seen as a bit less efficacious than Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines, registers “85% efficacy after severe disease and critical disease,” Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week.” “We have three highly efficacious vaccines that are safe and efficacious. That’s the bottom line.” He said he’d take it himself if he were not already vaccinated. “This is a good vaccine. ... Just be really grateful that we have three really efficacious vaccines.”

8:47 a.m. Fraud plagues federal aid that pandemic-shocked Americans need: With more unemployment aid near the pipeline, states are seeing a new wave of fraud that’s already siphoned billions of dollars from pandemic-related jobless programs. Scammers are fleecing taxpayers, delaying legitimate payments and turning thousands of Americans into identity theft victims. Many states failed to adequately safeguard their systems, and a review by The Associated Press finds that some won’t even publicly acknowledge the extent of the problem.

8:22 a.m. Equity gap in Bay Area vaccinations: Black and brown folks have the lowest vaccination rates in all nine Bay Area counties. In San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, Latino residents, in particular, are victims of a gaping disparity in who gets that first shot in the arm, according to a comparison of U.S. census and state public health data. Read The Chronicle column from Justin Phillips.

8:12 a.m. Good news, but not enough, for S.F. budget: San Francisco has a $125 million budget surplus halfway through the fiscal year, reversing its short-term financial fortunes from a $116 million deficit three months ago. The gap was filled by higher-than-expected property tax revenue, increased federal reimbursements and lower expenses. The rare bit of good news for the pandemic-ravaged budget still isn’t enough to meet a likely deficit of over $500 million over the next two years. Read the story here.

8:05 p.m. Santa Clara County COVID-19 testing officer to discuss vaccine distribution in town hall: Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, Santa Clara County’s COVID-19 testing officer, is scheduled to discuss vaccine distribution — specifically about the vaccine for people with disabilities and their families — at noon Tuesday. Fenstersheib, who oversees vaccine distribution in the county. Click here to register for the virtual town hall.

6:55 p.m. California expects to receive 380,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine ‘as early as this week,’ Newsom says: Gov. Gavin Newsom said that California expects to receive “around 380,000 doses” of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine “as early as this week.” The FDA authorized the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for emergency use in the United States, marking the third vaccine in the county, but the first one-dose vaccine. Newsom called the authorization “excellent news.”

5:20 p.m. San Francisco officials working on plans for Johnson & Johnson vaccine supply: Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose coronavirus vaccine marks a “positive development in the fight against” COVID-19, San Francisco public health officials said in a statement Saturday. City officials said all populations would benefit from the single-dose vaccine and said they are “working on operational plans to manage that supply.”

5:15 p.m. Johnson & Johnson vaccine comes after tireless work, says FDA official: The FDA’s emergency authorization of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine came after scientists and physicians worked tirelessly to evaluate the vaccine, said Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “Guided by our careful review of the science and data, we’ve determined that the vaccine’s known potential benefits clearly outweighs its known potential risks,” Marks said during a press call Saturday afternoon.

5:04 p.. Acting FDA chief says Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be key tool: In a press call shortly after the FDA authorized the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for emergency use, Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said the vaccine will be “one of our best tools for preventing COVID-19.” The expedited authorization, she said, came after a robust scientific review involving hundreds of pages of technical data on the vaccine, as well as input from external scientific and public health experts.”The process that FDA uses to review medical products is respected worldwide, and commonly referred to as the gold standard,” she said.

4:55 p.m. Nunes misleadingly attacks BART extension as “tunnel from Silicon Valley to S.F.” in wake of COVID relief bill: Republicans who oppose the $1.9 trillion recovery bill have characterized it as larded with pork, and made the funding for BART’s long-planned extension into downtown San Jose and Santa Clara their prime example. Read the story here.

4:02 p.m. San Francisco releases neighborhood-level data on vaccinations: So far, the San Francisco data does not appear to show a trend toward people in the wealthiest and whitest neighborhoods receiving a disproportionate share of doses. Read the article by The Chronicle’s Susie Neilson here.

3:20 p.m. U.S. authorizes use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine: The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization to a single-shot vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson — marking the third vaccine authorized for use in the U.S. Read the story here.

1:47 p.m. San Francisco may seem to be a ghost town, but there are signs of vitality: There is plenty of emptiness in San Francisco these days. But part of the cityscape, like Green Street, Valencia Street, Divisadero Street and Hayes Valley are now full of restaurants built on parklets, writes columnist Carl Nolte.

12:27 p.m. “We have no time to waste,” Biden says after $1.9 trillion relief bill advances: President Biden on Saturday urged the Senate to quickly approve the relief bill after the House voted in favor. “If we act now — decisively, quickly and boldly — we can finally get ahead of this virus. We can finally get our economy moving again. The people of this country have suffered far too much for too long. We need to relieve that suffering,” he said in remarks from the White House, adding that he called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, for her “extraordinary leadership.”

10:37 a.m.: Blue Shield to take over California vaccine distribution management Monday: The health plan provider will manage vaccine logistics in an effort to standardize distribution. Eight Central Valley counties, along with Imperial and Riverside counties, will initially receive Blue Shield oversight, followed by the remaining counties by the end of March.

9:00 a.m. Santa Clara to resume indoor church services at 20% capacity: The Supreme Court ruled in favor of five churches that challenged the county’s ban, following an earlier ruling that overturned the state ban on indoor religious services. County officials are still cautioning against indoor gatherings, which have been found to spread the coronavirus more than outdoor events.

8:00 a.m. FDA panel endorses Johnson & Johnson vaccine: An expert panel unanimously endorsed on Friday the single-dose vaccine, which had a 72% efficacy rate in the U.S. A full FDA approval is expected Saturday, which would make it the third vaccine available.

1:00 a.m. House passes $1.9 trillion relief bill: Representatives advanced the bill 219-212 in a near party-line vote, with all but two Democrats voting yes and Republicans opposing it. The bill includes $1,400 payments to individuals, unemployment benefits extended through August and a $15 minimum wage increase, despite the Senate parliamentarian ruling that the increase had to be dropped. The bill, the first major legislation of the Biden administration, now goes to the narrowly divided Senate.

5:30 p.m. Supervisor steps in to mediate for SFUSD reopening: Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton is mediating negotiations between the San Francisco’s teachers union and the district over the terms of a return to the classroom. The union and district still need to agree on the number and length of days that students would return. Walton, a former school board member for 8 years, helped Thursday and Friday. The teachers union said the two sides will meet again Saturday.

4:30 p.m. One thousand farm workers to get vaccinated at Morgan Hill facility, county officials say: Roughly 1,000 farm workers are scheduled to receive coronavirus vaccines on Sunday and Wednesday at the Monterey Mushrooms facility in Morgan Hill, Santa Clara County officials said. The vaccine clinic — which county officials hope “could serve as a model for collaboration in other regions of the state” — was announced on Friday in coordination with United Farm Workers, United Farm Workers Foundation, Monterey Mushrooms and county officials.

4:15 p.m. Sonoma County ‘on the cusp’ of moving out of purple tier: Sonoma County officials said that the county is getting closer to advancing out of the most restrictive purple tier of California’s blueprint for reopening the economy. “We are on the cusp,” said county health director Sundari Mase during a Friday briefing. Despite vaccinating roughly 25% of county residents, or about 100,000 people, she added that the county is increasing its testing capacity as background case levels remain high. “We’re encouraging people not to feel protected,” Mase said. “They can still get COVID.” She said once allowed to advance to the red tier, the county will immediately reopen following the state’s guidelines. Sonoma County has remained in the purple tier since August.

4 p.m. Vaccine supply is ‘flat,’ Sonoma County officials say: The county’s COVID Vaccine Chief said the county will not see an increase in doses it receives next week, forcing officials to hold off on scheduling first-dose appointments. Dr. Urmila Shende said Sonoma County will receive 7,680 doses next week. “That’s basically flat compared to the week before and the week before that. That puts us in a tough position,” she said. Shende said the county has the capacity to deliver up to 40,000 doses a week with adequate supply. “It’s extremely frustrating,” she said. “There’s nothing we can do about it.” The county is borrowing 250 doses from Kaiser to complete its scheduled second-dose appointments next week.

3:45 p.m. President Biden says, ‘It’s not time to relax’: Echoing comments made earlier in the day by Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, President Biden urged Americans to keep their guards up against the coronavirus. “Cases and hospitalizations could go back up as new variants emerge, and it is not the time to relax,” he said, during a tour of a vaccination center in Texas on Friday. “We have to keep washing our hands, stay socially distanced, and for God’s sake, wear your mask. The worst thing we could do now would be to let our guard down.” Walensky said during a White House press briefing that coronavirus cases nationally are starting to creep back up after falling sharply after the winter surge.

2:31 p.m. Open windows for safer schools, CDC says: As part of new guidance for reopening schools and childcare centers safely, the CDC recommends opening windows. The agency’s initial plan for reopening schools was criticized by infectious health experts for neglecting to address the airborne nature of the coronavirus, which is primarily spread via large and small particles. “If safe to do so, open windows and doors,” the CDC says. “Even just cracking open a window or door helps increase outdoor airflow, which helps reduce the potential concentration of virus particles in the air. If it gets too cold or hot, adjust the thermostat. Do not open windows or doors if doing so poses a safety or health risk.”

2:20 p.m. FDA advisers recommend authorization for Johnson & Johnson vaccine: The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted unanimously on Friday to recommend the agency grant emergency use authorization of the single-dose vaccine to people 18 and older. The FDA could grant the authorization as early as Friday night.

1:55 p.m. CDC warns of national rise in cases, but Bay Area is still dropping and counties are reopening: After more than a month of plunging coronavirus cases nationally, the numbers have started to flatten and even creep back up, prompting a grim warning from U.S. public health leaders Friday to remain cautious in the coming weeks. The situation was brighter in California and the Bay Area, where cases and hospitalizations continue to fall and counties have begun easing public health restrictions. Together, the national, state and local portraits underscored the precarious state of the pandemic even as vaccinations ramp up. Read the full story here.

12:10 p.m. Counties will get a three-week preview for vaccine deliveries: Starting March 1, California will offer counties a three-week preview of the number of vaccine doses they can expect, Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a briefing in Fresno on Friday. He also emphasized the state’s effort to prioritize vaccinations for educators, “so we can get our kids safely back to school.” He said the FEMA-operated mass vaccination sites at Oakland Coliseum and Cal State University, Los Angeles will have mobile units to serve the communities around the main venues. “We are going on-site and knocking on doors,” Newsom said.

12:09 p.m. California expects 380,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine: Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Friday that pending emergency use authorization of the single-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine by the FDA, California expects to receive more than 380,000 doses by as early as next week. Appearing at a vaccination site in Fresno, Newsom said the state has administered 1.4 million vaccine doses this week and expects to deliver 1.58 million next week, and 1.63 million the week after. “There is bright light at the end of the tunnel,” Newsom said.

12 p.m. Newsom returns to Fresno for vaccination update for agricultural workers: Gov. Gavin Newsom returned to California’s Central Valley on Friday to highlight the state’s efforts to vaccinate agricultural workers. He touted an increase of dedicated vaccine supply and the opening of 11 new vaccination sites in the region but said more work is required. “We are committed in stepping up our efforts,” said Newsom. The governor was introduced by the comedian George Lopez, who reminded people of the valuable work the state’s food workers do. “Everything that we eat, they touch first,” he said.

11:20 a.m. More than 70 million vaccine doses administered in U.S.: About 70.5 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in the United States, according to data published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than half of the population aged 65 and older have received its first dose, White House senior adviser Andy Slavitt said at a briefing. Nearly 7% of the total population has been fully vaccinated with both shots.

10:58 a.m. White House urges businesses to reinforce COVID protocols: The Biden administration introduced a three-part strategy on Friday aimed at getting major business institutions to reinforce basic COVID-19 safety protocols with their customers and employees. The plan asks businesses to require masking and social distancing on their premises, allowing for flexible scheduling and paid time off to encourage workers to get their shots and using their websites and products to echo public health advice.

10:02 a.m. Bank of America employees will get paid time off to get vaccinated: A company memo on Friday said employees will be compensated for up to two half-days this year in order to get the coronavirus vaccine. “The policy is designed to accommodate the two-dose regimen current vaccines require, and total time off taken for the vaccinations cannot exceed eight hours in 2021,” the memo said.

9:40 a.m. Now is ‘not the time’ to relax restrictions, warns CDC head: Citing an unexpected increase of new cases based on a national seven-day average, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that “things are tenuous” with the pandemic and urged caution in the rush to reopen the economy. “Now is not the time to relax restrictions,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, during a White House briefing on Friday. Despite an overall drop in case rates, she said, “these declines follow the highest peaks. So I want to be clear: cases, hospital admissions and deaths all remain very high. And the recent shift in the pandemic must be taken extremely seriously.” She cautioned that emerging variants discovered in New York and California could lead to another surge. “We may be done with the virus but clearly the virus is not done with us. We cannot get comfortable or give in to a false sense of security that the worst of the pandemic is behind us.”

9:21 a.m. ‘Concerning’ rise of new cases in the U.S.: While the nation saw daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations plummet in February, over the past three days the numbers have reversed course and started swinging back up. “The latest data suggests these declines may be stalling, potentially leveling off at still a very high number. We at CDC consider this a very concerning risk in the trajectory,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during a White House briefing on Friday. She warned that variants, such as the B.1.1.7 variant first discovered in the U.K., which is thought to be about 50% more transmissible than the standard virus, may become dominant by mid-March. “We may now be seeing the beginning effects of these variants in the most recent data,” Walensky said.

8:53 a.m. Santa Clara County relaxes restrictions, rules for face coverings: Starting Friday, the county announced it will relax restrictions on outdoor gatherings and youth activities. The health department expects to loosen additional limits when the county moves into the red tier, including loosening rules for indoor gatherings and indoor dining, which could happen as soon as next Wednesday. “With vaccinations now reaching more broadly into the community, including over half of those age 65 and older, we are making significant progress in protecting our most vulnerable community members,” said Dr. Sara Cody, County Health Officer, in a statement. The county said it will align with the state’s guidelines for youth sports and school reopenings. People will also allowed to gather and sing at outdoor gatherings without a face covering, provided that they stay at least 6 feet away from everyone who is not a member of their household.

7:52 a.m. Do coronavirus tests work on variants?: Most tests used to diagnose coronavirus infections are able to detect all currently circulating forms of the virus, including variants that have developed concerning mutations. The tests are designed to look for the presence of genetic material at multiple locations on the virus’s genome. So it’s conceivable that the virus could develop mutations that make it undetectable to the tests if the genome has changed in those locations. But most of the tests look at locations that are stable and do not change much. In fact, the tests were designed that way, so that they could continue to detect the virus even as it evolved. Read the full story here.

6:15 a.m. Bay Area COVID vaccinations now outpace California and U.S. Here’s where each county stands: At the beginning of the coronavirus vaccination rollout, California lagged behind most of the U.S. But as of this week, the state was all caught up. California as a whole had administered about 19,933 vaccines per 100,000 people as of Thursday, close to the overall U.S. rate of 20,250 doses per 100,000, according to the state’s and the CDC’s coronavirus trackers and 2019 U.S. census population estimates. California was No. 21 for percentage of people receiving at least one dose by state, according to The Chronicle’s Vaccine Tracker. Read the full story here.

4:25 p.m. Transit operators in Sonoma and Contra Costa counties eligible for vaccines: Transit operators in three Bay Area counties, including San Francisco, are now eligible for vaccines. A group of 20 transit heads sent a letter to Bay Area health officers Thursday urging that all counties in the region align their vaccine priority plans and prioritize transit operators, since transit agencies often operate across county lines.

4:51 p.m. 1,300 Stanford University students approved to live on campus for upcoming spring quarter: Roughly 1,300 Stanford University juniors and seniors have been approved to live on campus for the upcoming spring quarter, Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne and Provost Persis Drell said in a statement Thursday. The students are joining 6,600 students “with approved special circumstances” already living on campus, university officials said, including roughly 5,100 graduate students and 1,500 undergraduate students. University officials said models by Stanford’s School of Medicine project that the “trajectory of COVID-19 this spring is likely to be manageable,” and said “safeguards” will be put in place to protect on-campus residents, such as private sleeping spaces for undergraduates. Click here to read the full statement to the university community.

3:06 p.m. Biden urges governors to support aid package: President Biden in his virtual address Thursday to the National Governors Association tried to rally support for his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, emphasizing the pandemic and the hobbled economy cross state borders. “The economic toll of this pandemic continues to tear through our country as brutally as the virus itself,” he said. The president has courted Republican governors for support as he faces resistance from GOP Congress members. He told the governors his plan includes “many of the things you have individually and collectively asked me for in recent conversations.”

2:31 p.m. Expansion of unemployment program will help many in Bay Area: Federal officials said Thursday that three new groups of people will now be eligible for payments from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program, created last year to help those who lost paychecks due to the pandemic and weren’t eligible for regular unemployment benefits. Some Californians could see thousands of dollars in retroactive benefits. Read The Chronicle’s story for details.

2:24 p.m. Europe’s new cases are down to half of winter peak: After strict clampdowns on public activity, Europe’s rates of coronavirus infection have been cut in half from the winter peak, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. Amid pressure to ease lockdowns, WHO officials noted new cases are still 10 times as high as they were last May, and broad concerns remain about new virus variants.

2:17 p.m. German consumers leave AstraZeneca vaccine unused: A preference for the vaccine developed by the German company BioNTech with Pfizer is causing a surplus in Germany of the shot developed by AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish company, according to state health officials. The New York Times reports that many people — including health workers — are declining the AstraZeneca shot, which is approved in Europe but not yet in the U.S., fearing it’s less effective than Pfizer-BioNTech’s.

1:49 p.m. No buts about it: China on Thursday denied subjecting U.S. diplomats to COVID-19 anal tests following reports from Washington that some of its personnel were being made to undergo the procedure. The Chinese Foreign Ministry told reporters at a briefing that “China has never asked U.S. diplomats in China to go through anal swab tests.”

1:43 p.m. Oakland kids may return to class within weeks: Oakland students could start heading back to classrooms within weeks, starting with the youngest children and most at-risk students across all grades, district officials said in a letter to families. The goal is to reopen the first schools by mid- to late March, the letter states. Read the full story.

1:35 p.m. BART’s pandemic losses to exceed $1 billion: BART expects ridership won’t be close to rebounding to pre-pandemic levels for at least five years and is grappling with “a crisis without precedent in our history,” the transit agency’s staff told the board Thursday. The result is that the pandemic is expected to cost the train system more than $1 billion in revenue losses through fiscal year 2022. Read The Chronicle’s story here.

1:19 p.m. California rolls out code system for educator vax priority: California plans a targeted vaccination outreach to educators and dedicated days for them at the Oakland Coliseum and Cal State Los Angeles sites, as well as use of special codes to ensure them priority, state health officials announced Thursday. The state will release 75,000 single-use codes each week, and also prioritize education workers, including eligible school staff, with mobile units and community vaccination sites. Read more here.

1:10 p.m. Free rides on public transit to vaccinations in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties: SamTrans and VTA are now offering free rides for people traveling to and from vaccination sites to get shots, following the same offer from Muni, BART and AC Transit. VTA also launched an interactive map to show transit routes to sites in the South Bay.

12:35 p.m. Biden predicts no lines for shots in April or May: President Biden said Thursday that while coronavirus shots have so far been limited and in demand, by April or May, “instead of long lines, we’ll have the vaccine waiting,” for anyone who wants it. Though polls show many Americans don’t want a shot, Biden predicted people will come around and he emphasized, “The vaccines are safe and effective.” He also said that the FDA’s decision on approving Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine will be made “without any political pressure from me.” If it happens, he said at a White House event, “We have a plan to roll it out as quickly as Johnson & Johnson can make it.”

12:25 p.m. BART operators in S.F. can now get shots: BART operators living or working in San Francisco are eligible to sign up for vaccines, along with Muni operators, BART’s assistant general manager, Rodd Lee, said Thursday. Mayor London Breed determined yesterday that transit operators are included in emergency services during Phase 1b of the state’s vaccination guidelines. The agency is advocating for other counties to make the same distinction, Lee said.

12:08 p.m. Joe Biden marks 50 million shots since taking office: The White House hosted the administration of coronavirus shots to several D.C.-area people on Thursday to symbolically mark the vaccination of 50 million people since President Biden took office. “The more people get vaccinated, the faster were going to beat this pandemic,”Biden said. The administration has increased distribution of vaccines to states by 70%, Biden said, and is ahead of schedule on his initial goal of 100 million shots in 100 days, arriving half way there in 37 days. “We are moving in the right direction,” he said.

11:56 a.m. Black Lives Matter fund helps struggling people: The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation is formally expanding its new $3 million financial relief fund to help people struggling during the pandemic. The foundation said Thursday that it will make up to 3,000 microgrants of $1,000 each to people in need. BLM is asking recipients to apply for the Survival Fund grants as it builds out its philanthropic arm. The money is deposited directly into recipients’ bank accounts or made available on prepaid debit cards, the Associated Press reports.

11:46 a.m. The big screen returns in Bay Area: The projectors are ready to roll again in the Bay Area, starting Friday. Several Century movie venues will be among the first to welcome back filmgoers, Cinemark announced after Marin and San Mateo counties advanced this week to the second-most-restrictive category of California’s reopening blueprint. Century’s Redwood Downtown 20, Century at Tanforan in San Bruno and Century Northgate in San Rafael will open Friday at 25% capacity. Screens will light up on Friday, March 5, at Century 20 Daly City, Century 12 San Mateo, Century Regency in San Rafael and Century Rowland Plaza in Novato. Read more.

11:30 a.m. Severe reinfection possible in cases without symptoms: Five residents of a Kentucky skilled nursing facility became infected with the coronavirus in two separate COVID-19 outbreaks three months apart, a new CDC report says. The severity of their illness increased significantly during the second outbreak and included one death. All “had either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic courses during the first infection,” a noteworthy finding that suggests mild or asymptomatic initial infections “do not produce sufficiently robust immune response to prevent reinfection,” the researchers said.

11:17 a.m. Dad says missing girl’s note talked of pandemic depression: The father of a 14-year-old San Francisco girl who went missing last week said his daughter left a note telling him that she was depressed because of social isolation caused by the pandemic. Katlin Gallaread has not been heard from since leaving her home sometime between the night of Feb. 16 and the following afternoon, police said. Read more here.

11:04 a.m. Costco raising minimum wage to $16: Costco is the latest company to raise its minimum wage. As Democrats in Congress seek a national $15 per hour minimum in the pandemic aid package Costco CEO Craig Jelinek told a Senate committee Thursday that the company next week will start U.S. store workers at $16 an hour — higher than rivals such as Amazon, Target and Best Buy. Costco has around 180,000 US employees, and 90% of them work hourly.

10:49 a.m. Don’t wait on vax, Fauci says: Dr. Anthony Fauci says if a coronavirus vaccine is available, regardless of which one, take it. The top U.S. infectious disease expert told NBC on Thursday that the liklihood of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine becoming available, “is nothing but good news” to help control the pandemic. But people should not to hold off on getting J&J’s while waiting for the slightly more effective Pfizer or Moderna shots, he said: “The longer one waits not getting vaccinated, the better chance the virus has to get a variant or a mutation.”

10:10 a.m. More than 2.5 million COVID-19 deaths worldwide: The pandemic has claimed at least 2,501,626 lives around the globe as of Thursday morning, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. The United States accounts for more than 500,000, or 20%, of those fatalities. California surpassed 50,000 deaths on Wednesday.

10:05 a.m. Looking to the day when vax eligibility tiers disappear: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said that as more vaccine supply pours into California, he expects vaccine eligibility to significantly expand in the coming weeks. “I look forward to the day, and I think it’s coming sooner than we can imagine — in a month, month and a half, maybe two months max — where I think all of these tiers basically go away,” Garcetti told a news briefing Wednesday, “because we’re going to have so much vaccine supply in this country.”

9:52 a.m. Pfizer producing 3rd dose to battle variants: Pfizer and BioNTech announced Thursday they are evaluating safety and immunogenicity of a third dose of their COVID-19 vaccine to battle more aggressive coronavirus variants. The companies said their first-generation vaccines do protect against variants now circulating but they want to determine if an additional booster shot six to 12 months after the first two doses would help subdue more vaccine-resistant mutations.

9:46 a.m. Colleges account for more than 530,000 cases: More than 120,000 cases have been linked to American colleges and universities since Jan. 1, and more than 530,000 cases have been reported since the beginning of the pandemic, a New York Times survey found, with students returning to campuses as case numbers were soaring across much of the country. The Times also identified more than 100 deaths involving college students and employees.

9:41 a.m. Biden heralds 50 million shots: President Biden on Thursday planned to commemorate the 50 millionth coronavirus vaccination shot in the United States since he assumed office, with an event at the White House while focusing much of his day on the pandemic.

9:32 a.m. Nursing homes turn corner: The nation’s nursing homes, long the hotspots for COVID-19 deaths, finally are seeing a steep drop in new cases and deaths, a New York Times analysis of federal data shows. Since vaccines arrived, and were prioritized to long-term care facilities, starting in late December, new cases and deaths in nursing homes have outpaced national declines, offering an early glimpse at what may be in store for the rest of the country as more people get vaccinated.

9:23 a.m. China greenlights 2 vaccines: China approved two more COVID-19 vaccines for wider use Thursday, adding to its growing arsenal of shots. Authorities gave conditional approval to a vaccine from CanSino Biologics and one from state-owned Sinopharm. China now has four vaccines to immunize its population. CanSino said its one-shot vaccine is 65.28% effective 28 days after the shot.

9:17 a.m. “It’s up to you” to get vaccinated: A public service ad campaign unveiled Thursday aims to convince Americans to get COVID-19 vaccinations, telling them “It’s Up to You.” The campaign by the Ad Council and its partners is focused on those who may be hesitant to get the shots. As many as 1 in 3 Americans say they definitely or probably won’t get a shot, a recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found. Some scientists estimate that more than 2 in 3 Americans will need to get vaccinated to stop the epidemic.

9:13 a.m. Moscone Center, City College re-opening for vaccinations: After being closed due to a lack of coronavirus vaccine supply, both mass-vaccination sites at the Moscone Center and City College were back in business Thursday, San Francisco’s COVID Command Center told The Chronicle.

9:07 a.m. S.F. youth sports expected back next week: San Francisco health officials tweeted Thursday that if as expected the city advances to the red tier next week, meaning fewer coronavirus restrictions, it will allow youth sports under California’s eased-up guidelines. “We intend to follow those, with some additions, once we open in the red tier,” the health department tweet said. State guidelines for youth sports are expected Friday.

8:53 a.m. Rite Aid missed a week of vaccine: Rite Aid still hasn’t received a week’s worth of vaccine doses that were caught in weather-related delays and interrupted appointments, CEO Heyward Donigan said Thursday in an interview with Washington Post Live. “We just haven’t received the doses that we had assumed we would. ... It does look like we are going to get our allocation for this coming week.” He said some 300,000 calls a day came in when the company opened a call center, but the national chain is “underutilized” now due to lack of supply. “There’s just millions and millions of people trying to get through to get scheduled.”

8:46 a.m. Santa Clara County site serves hard-hit area: Service industry workers, teachers and caregivers were among the first residents to get vaccinated this week at a new vaccination site in East San Jose, one of the areas hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Read The Chronicle’s story from Lauren Hernández about who showed up.

8:11 a.m. Ugly legacy of “kung flu” racism: Asian Americans in the Bay Area say that they are experiencing a surge in bigotry — some say the worst in memory — since former President Donald Trump’s use of the terms “ Chinese flu” and “kung flu” to blame China for the pandemic, his way of deflecting questions about his own response. Such scapegoating has a long history. Read The Chronicle’s story and visual presentation from Janelle Bitker about what Bay Area residents are experiencing.

8:05 a.m. Some delayed vaccine deliveries have arrived: Three of the Bay Area counties that reported delays in their vaccine shipments last week due to fierce Midwest storms — Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa — said thousands of doses have now arrived.The status of the delayed vaccinations in San Francisco remained unclear as of Wednesday, and city officials did not respond to questions. The delays caused interruption in vaccinations at several locations.

7:45 a.m. Chicago gym outbreak raises alarms: Public health experts underscore the need for face coverings and at least six feet of physical distance when working out in gyms, citing a summer outbreak in Chicago that infected at least 68% of those attending high-intensity gym fitness classes. At least 55 out of 81 individuals attending classes at the gym between Aug. 24 and Sept. 1 tested positive for the coronavirus, a CDC report says.

7:38 a.m. Break out the tents: Hundreds of campsites across the Bay Area are opening in time for spring following a series of pandemic closures. This week’s warm weather, and declines in coronavirus infection rates, has jump-started campsite reservations at state, county and regional parks. Though some locations remain closed, Saturday night bookings are filling up through early summer at some popular campgrounds. Read the story here.

7:29 a.m. Jobless claims fall, but remain historically high: The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell sharply last week, a sign that layoffs may have eased. But jobless claims remain at a historically high level, even while dropping by 111,000 from the previous week to a seasonally adjusted 730,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It’s the lowest figure since late November, and coincides with a weakened job market that has made scant progress in the past three months.

7:16 a.m. Whatever happened to the regular flu?: The flu has virtually disappeared amid the coronavirus: It’s been the lowest flu season on record, the Centers for Disease Control says. Pandemic-driven mask-wearing, social distancing and virtual schooling were a big factor, along with less travel, experts say. And in ways not fully understood, it seems the coronavirus has essentially muscled aside flu and other bugs that are more common in the fall and winter, the Associated Press reports.

6:27 a.m. Researchers find new coronavirus variant in New York City: A new coronavirus variant — called B.1.526 — is spreading in New York City, two teams of researchers found, carrying a mutation “that may weaken the effectiveness of vaccines,” The New York Times reported. The variant first appeared in samples collected in November and is spreading rapidly.

6:14 a.m. Three Bay Area counties halt One Medical’s vax supply amid line-cutting flap: Three Bay Area counties have suspended coronavirus vaccine supplies to a San Francisco-based health care provider whose procedures allowed ineligible individuals to cut the line, according to local officials. The company, One Medical, is no longer receiving vaccines from San Francisco, San Mateo or Alameda counties, and San Francisco health officials said Wednesday they have directed One Medical to return more than 1,600 doses. Read the full story here.

See previous updates in The Chronicle’s comprehensive timeline of the coronavirus outbreak in the Bay Area.

Aidin Vaziri is a staff writer at The San Francisco Chronicle.

Rita Beamish is The San Francisco Chronicle topic editor.