Eon Coffee is a restaurant on Hesperian Boulevard in Hayward, walking distance from Chabot College, one of many businesses that have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Eon has some savings, but coffee shops tend not to have big margins. The manager, Martin, hopes things will go back to normal soon.

“We are losing money, I don’t know exactly how much,” Martin explained. “But I’m afraid if I close, [we may] lose a lot of customers.”

The number of customers is now at one-third of normal. Eon has cut its slower evening hours to compensate, now closing at 5 p.m. instead of 10 p.m.

Eon has had to find alternative suppliers to get everything it needs. For instance, the bakery that used to deliver bread to Eon every day has slowed to three times a week and limited its options.

Chabot student Lucia goes to Eon about two times a semester but is “not buying from any coffee shops” right now.

Chabot student Antonio would consider picking up food to-go from Eon in the current situation. “I have been there a few different occasions, when I’m getting coffee before class or a sandwich or something.”

Customers stand at least six feet apart and employees regularly clean surfaces with disinfectants and bleach. The door is propped open so people do not need to touch the handle.

The manager allows the employees to decide if they feel safe to come to work each day and makes sure to provide masks and other equipment to those who did come.

On the evening of March 19, U.S. Representatives Barbara Lee and Eric Swalwell each hosted town halls over the telephone to talk about how Alameda County and the federal government are working on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Lee’s guest speakers included representatives from the Alameda County Public Health Department, Alameda County Community Food Bank, Alameda County Schools, and Oakland Unified School District. 

Swalwell spoke with faculty from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.

Congresswoman Lee clarified that the official order ‘shelter in place’ means that staying at home is critical, but people can go outside to get food or medicine, see the doctor, exercise, or other ‘essential activities.’ When outside, people need to practice ‘social distancing’ by keeping physical space between each other.

Schools throughout Alameda County have set up distance learning programs online, and a few in the form of paper packets. 

The main focus is to acquire more computers for students while partnering with internet providers to offer free Wi-Fi until the school year returns to normal. The schools are hiring additional personnel to distribute food to children who depend on school meals for their food security.

Alameda County Food Bank has shifted to pre-packing bags of groceries for recipients. They also want to raise awareness of how many people are eligible for the CalFresh program and don’t use it or even know they are eligible. There are no predictions of shortages in the national food supply. The best way to help the Food Bank right now is to donate money.

Congressman Swalwell mentioned companies in the East Bay that will begin to mass-produce “hundreds if not thousands” of coronavirus testing kits. Local science facilities can analyze the results of 300 to 800 tests within a 24 hour period. He stressed the importance these kits have in stopping the virus because “the more we know, the better we can contain it.”

COVID-19 is a disease caused by the novel (new) coronavirus, whose common symptoms are fever, cough, and shortness of breath, similar to the flu. The virus is spread mostly through coughing, but sometimes through touching infected surfaces.

This coronavirus is believed to have originated in bats before it spread to humans, according to Dr. Arthur Reingold. The virus started in China, but it is misleading to call it the “Chinese virus” because people of any nationality can be infected.

Swalwell sees the situation as two different crises: health and financial. The health crisis will be over for good when a vaccine is ready in twelve to eighteen months, but taking this special action will shorten the time and let the economy recover sooner.

The Bay Area has to shelter in place until most of the country follows so that the spread doesn’t start all over when someone comes in contact with a community that didn’t have a shelter in place order.

Swalwell will host an additional town hall on March 26 over Facebook Live.

Chabot College’s nursing program has been ranked #1 in California for 2020 in the 4th Annual Nursing School Program Rankings by RegisteredNursing.org. Chabot has been in second or third place for the last few years. The California list ranks 126 nursing programs, including those at four-year schools.

The ranking is based on the percentage of students passing the NCLEX-RN exam, an annual test run by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN). Chabot students who finish the program and take the test, pass the test close to 100% of the time, according to Kevin Kramer, Dean of Health, Kinesiology & Athletics. The state average is 85%.

Nursing is a two-year program at Chabot, with about two years of prerequisite classes selected by the BRN, such as anatomy, physiology, and microbiology. Students gain experience in hospitals, receive an associate degree, and then can take the official state board test to be qualified to work in nursing.

Connie Telles, Director of Chabot’s Nursing Program, explains that jobs may be possible with an associate degree, but cautions that “Most hospitals want graduates now with a bachelor’s degree a lot of places at least want them to be in a bachelor’s program.” Chabot has a ‘bridge’ program with CSU East Bay for students to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree in one year.

Kramer says the program gauges its success in how well its students do on the state board tests, rather than in comparison to other colleges on rankings. “Are the students passing the test? Are they graduating? If they’re doing that, then that makes us happy.”

The nursing program has three hundred people applying for the 40 spaces in Fall 2020. Applications for the Fall semester closed in January. Fall 2021 applications will open on Nov. 1, 2020.

This spring will see Chabot’s 53rd graduating class since the nursing program began in 1967.