Be sure to discuss information gathered from these resources with your health care providers to see if it is relevant to your individual situation. Health and medical information accessed through these websites is not intended to substitute for or to replace the advice or instruction of a health care professional.
PlaneTree Health Library's mission is to guide the public to trustworthy, accurate, and free health and medical information. In operation since 1989, it is a free, public, patient and consumer health library and 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. It does not accept advertisements; it has no commercial relationship with the sources of information on these webpages. Visit our online information guides linked from our main website at: www.planetree-sv.org
The purpose of this guide is to collect information on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 that is:
so that people in our communities (Santa Clara County, California) and throughout the U.S. can make their best choices for their own health and the health of their families and neighbors during this crisis.
Our medical librarian staff sort through the news sources, social media, hearsay, and hype so you don't have to. The links included here are factual to the best of our knowledge, and updated frequently (sometimes daily!). Look for the New! icon 
to locate recent updates.
County, state, and federal health authorities track many different data points - the number of positive tests, of hospitalizations, and of deaths, plus vaccination rates - to figure out how COVID-19 is trending through our communities. The Bay Area also measures SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater samples.
It is important to note that infections are much higher among people who are not vaccinated. This winter, the chances of getting COVID in Santa Clara County for unvaccinated people was more than 5 times as high. (Unvaccinated people also are more likely to end up in the hospital when they get sick with COVID.)
Latest news bulletins, guidance, and information for the state of California.
These webpages will have links to the most current bulletins for Bay Area Counties.
The U.S. National Library of Medicine has created a hub for relevant scientific / medical research articles. It is divided into sections for general information, mechanism [of infection and disease], transmission, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, case reports, and forecasting).
The text on this page is copyright PlaneTree Health Library, licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Linked contents are the responsibility of their creators or copyright holders.