New Alameda County program will pay people in certain parts of Oakland to stay home if they have COVID-19

Residents in “high risk” neighborhoods including East Oakland, West Oakland, and Fruitvale/San Antonio are eligible for the $1,250 stipend.

By Momo Chang

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Health

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August 27, 2020

An image of a gloved hand holding a small vial that says "covid" and positive/negative. The positive is checked.

Photo by Prasesh Shiwakoti (Lomash) via Unsplash.

A new program from the county is estimated to impact 7,500 people who have tested positive for COVID-19, but due to “economic instability,” still need to work.

Named the Alameda County Responsibility to Community Health (ARCH) program, it was passed by the county board of supervisors on August 4, 2020. The program will cost about $10 million.

Residents in “high risk” neighborhoods including East Oakland, West Oakland, and Fruitvale/San Antonio are eligible. The stipends are $1,250 and will be a one time stipend for self-isolating for two weeks, and will be given in the form of a Visa pre-paid card.

The county has more information on their FAQs page for this program.

Author

Momo Chang

Momo Chang is a freelance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area and Senior Editor at Civil Eats. She served program alumni as the Oakland Voices Co-Director from 2019 to 2024. Her work focuses on healthcare, immigration, education, Asian American communities, food and culture. She is a former staff writer at the Oakland Tribune. Momo has received journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for investigative reporting and the Asian American Journalists Association, among others. Her work has appeared in the East Bay Express, San Francisco Chronicle, Wired, and The New York Times. Momo is primarily a print journalist who also produces audio and visual stories for documentary film and radio. She is a Senior Contributing Editor for Hyphen and formerly the Content Manager at the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).