# Day Around the Bay: COVID-19 Cases Surge In California, Up More Than 2% > Source: > Published: 2026-07-29 03:06:54+00:00 ### Local: - Visa laid off around 2,600 people, which makes up roughly 7% of its workforce, with many of the cuts affecting its technology and product teams, but it’s not clear how many Bay Area employees will be cut. [ [Chronicle](https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/visa-layoffs-ai-san-francisco-jobs-22363783.php)] - Animate, an anime pop-up shop, is set to open in late August inside New People Theatre in SF’s Japantown. [ [KRON4](https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/san-francisco-welcoming-new-anime-pop-up-store/)] - Charlie xcx will be appearing at Amoeba Music in SF on August 7 for a special Q & A for fans who preorder her album, *Music, Fashion, Film*, ahead of her performance on pening day of Outside Lands. [[Chronicle](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/music/articles/charli-xcx-announces-amoeba-san-030033550.html)] ### National: - There’s currently a COVID-19 surge happening in California, with 3.4% of tests showing positive results compared to a little over 1% a month earlier. [ [ABC 7](https://abc7.com/post/california-sees-summer-uptick-covid-19-cases-heres-what-know/19587920/)] - AI companies, including Anthropic, are destroying a massive quantity of antique books for training their models, which a judge recently found to be protected under fair use. [ [Futurism](https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-companies-destroying-rare-books)] - At least 13 people were killed in a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu, Japan late Tuesday afternoon, which caused the second floor of a mall to collapse. [ [Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/japan-earthquake-kumamoto-kagoshima-mall-factory-6b0fe69d44fa5c82ac4765a8ad82ebf6)] ### Video: - A pack of coyotes have taken over an abandoned construction site in West Hollywood, which neighbors have dubbed “coyote condo” — a trend that may just come to San Francisco, as housing construction [has also stalled here](https://sfist.com/2026/07/15/sf-supes-reduce-affordable-housing-requirement-as-costs-continue-to-stall-new-housing/). *Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist*