Bay Briefing: Blood type among potential COVID-19 risk factors - San Francisco Chronicle

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Good morning, Bay Area. It’s Friday, July 10, and colleges are struggling on multiple fronts with what the fall semester will look like. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

Uneven risk

Infectious disease specialists say the worldwide pandemic is especially cruel to people with Type A blood, which apparently lacks certain compounds that help fight off the disease.

A study published June 17 in the New England Journal of Medicine found that people with Type A blood have a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 and suffering complications. The analysis, conducted by an international team of scientists, also showed that people with type O blood had potentially lower risk.

It was one of several recent reports on the phenomenon, which epidemiologists say is not unique to COVID-19, Peter Fimrite reports. But experts note it’s only one one of several factors — and socioeconomic problems such as poverty, obesity and stress may be bigger indicators on who gets the disease and has worst outcomes.

• Fauci on coronavirus pandemic: “Worst nightmare.”

• San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Supervisor Walton test negative for the coronavirus.

• El Dorado County supervisors call emergency meeting as South Lake Tahoe cases spike.

• Who fights the fires? As coronavirus ravages prison inmate fire crews, state forced to hire more firefighters.

Over 50 and homeless

Juventino Barojas at the bus stop where he sleeps on Mission Street in San Francisco.

For one San Francisco man, being newly homeless at 77 was already a nightmare — before the pandemic hit. Statistically, older adults like him are more likely to die of COVID-19.

The average age of homeless people in California and San Francisco is above 50, but often they appear even older. Street life trashes the immune system, experts say, and can age a person at least 15 years.

Writer Lizzie Johnson takes us through the day of Juventino Barojas and explains why he isn’t among the more than 1,700 homeless people who have been moved into hotel rooms since the beginning of the pandemic.

S.F. Homeless Project: Read our complete coverage here.

‘Every man’ loses in court

Prosecutors in New York can demand the release of President Trump’s income tax returns and financial records for an investigation of hush money payments, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The court also said Congress may seek the documents but has not yet provided an adequate justification for doing so.

“In our judicial system, the public has a right to every man’s evidence,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in the 7-2 ruling — joined by both of Trump’s Supreme Court appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — in the New York case, issued on the final day of the court’s term. “Since the earliest days of the Republic, ‘every man’ has included the president of the United States.”

• More from SCOTUS: Supreme Court sides with religious conservatives on contraceptives, teacher job security.

College life not as normal

Sixteen-year-olds Sasha Wizelman, Lily Frost and Raven Fonseca Jensen hang out at UC Berkeley.

A recent outbreak of the coronavirus at UC Berkeley, tied to summer fraternity parties, has highlighted a worrisome trend for colleges and universities: Young people are driving the virus’ recent rampage across the country.

The surge carries ominous implications for schools, including UC Berkeley and Stanford, planning to welcome students back to campus in August and September. That was already a daunting task, and now it’s complicated by this spike, Ron Kroichick reports.

• Scramble for international students: University of California officials say they will file a lawsuit against the U.S. government, alleging it violated the rights of international UC students by imposing new federal guidelines that could force them to leave the country during the upcoming fall term.

• Coronavirus infections spike among San Francisco General Hospital workers.

• ‘This is the most scared I’ve ever been in my life’: Amid major San Quentin coronavirus outbreak, former inmate, teens join public officials in calling for widespread release.

Around the Bay

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles (center), may be selected to be Joe Biden’s running mate in the Democratic presidential campaign.

• From Joe Garofoli: How Karen Bass — the other Californian on the short list for Joe Biden’s vice presidential pick — is different from her rivals.

• High-speed rail: California rolls out its vision for trains between San Jose and San Francisco, although the project is mired in financial uncertainty.

• Changing Pier 70: Sea level rise means a 2,250-ton building lift at S.F.’s Pier 70.

• 10 years later: Video of historic same-sex-marriage trial in S.F. to be released in August.

• Who needs 2020?: Giants and A’s release 2021 schedule, before shortened 2020 season starts. More: Matt Chapman questions A’s late start to camp, and Giants’ “baby” coaching staff might prove to be an advantage in long camp days.

• 160 rooms of distance: Winchester Mystery House to reopen for self-guided tours. More: With county fairs on hold, fairgrounds try to provide a little fun.

• Deep-fried what? Tuna belly burger restaurant Masabaga opens in Oakland.

• Favorable conditions: Kind weather helps firefighters keep Crews Fire near Gilroy at 5,400 acres.

• Declining but still high numbers in California: 1.3 million Americans — a fifth of them in California — join ranks of jobless. Freelancers and small businesses: California limited liability companies won’t have to pay annual $800 tax their first year, starting next year.

In Case You Missed It

Fitness instructor Brendan Bailey pulls weights as he works out at Lakeshore Park in Oakland.

While biking around Oakland’s Lake Merritt on a recent spring morning, Morgan Tyson saw something that made him stop: Two men at a pull-up bar were laughing, lifting dumbbells and blasting 1990s hip-hop from a speaker — and they had the whole place to themselves. Tyson decided to introduce himself and ask the men whether he could join.

That workout group of just three in April has now grown to more than 30 men and women gathering to work out daily on a vast lawn near Lake Merritt, creating a sense of community that many felt had disappeared after months of sheltering in place because of the coronavirus.

Reporter Brett Simpson writes about the new friendships and camaraderie that have formed at the outdoor “gym.”