A dead bat discovered at a Fremont home has tested positive for rabies, and Alameda County health officials are urging anyone who may have had contact with the animal to seek medical attention immediately.

Let's be clear: rabies is essentially 100% fatal once symptoms appear. This isn't something to shrug off or "wait and see" about. If you or anyone you know touched or was bitten by this bat — or any bat, frankly — the clock is ticking.

Here's what to do:

• If you had contact with the bat, call the Alameda County Public Health Acute Communicable Disease Program at 510-267-3250 and get to a doctor now.
• If your pet had contact, call Fremont Animal Services at 510-790-6635 and reach out to your vet immediately.

This is one of those cases where government doing its job — issuing clear public health warnings, maintaining animal control services, tracking communicable diseases — is exactly what we want our tax dollars funding. No bloated task force, no six-month study, no committee meetings. Just straightforward: here's the threat, here's the number, go handle it.

Bats are actually the most common source of rabies transmission to humans in the United States, and their bites can be so small that people don't even realize they've been bitten. That's what makes these situations genuinely dangerous. You can be exposed while sleeping and never know it.

The broader takeaway? If you find a bat — dead or alive — in or around your home, don't touch it. Period. Call animal control and let the professionals handle it. Post-exposure rabies treatment works extremely well if you get it in time. The key words being "in time."

This is public health at its most basic: identify the threat, alert the public, provide resources. No bureaucratic overhead required.