Day Around the Bay: COVID-19 Cases Surge In California, Up More Than 3% - SFist

What the report says

SFist’s latest “Day Around the Bay” roundup led with a reported rise in California COVID-19 test positivity, citing ABC7 figures showing 3.4% of tests coming back positive, up from just over 1% about a month earlier. The item points to a renewed statewide increase in detected infections, though the roundup does not provide hospitalization data, county-by-county trends, or details on specific variants. As general context, test positivity can signal wider spread, but it is also influenced by who is getting tested and how often.

The roundup also noted major local business and culture developments. SFist, citing the Chronicle, reported that Visa is cutting about 2,600 jobs, or roughly 7% of its workforce, with technology and product teams among those affected; the item said it was not yet clear how many Bay Area workers would be included. Also in San Francisco, Charli xcx is scheduled for an August 7 fan Q&A at Amoeba Music tied to preorders of her album “Music, Fashion, Film,” ahead of her Outside Lands opening-day performance. KRON4 was cited for news that anime retailer Animate plans a late-August pop-up inside New People Theatre in Japantown.

National and international items included a Futurism report that AI firms, including Anthropic, have been destroying large numbers of antique books for model training, after a judge found the practice protected by fair use. SFist also cited the Associated Press on a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Japan’s Kumamoto area on Kyushu that killed at least 13 people and caused a mall floor collapse.