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SANTA CRUZ – Santa Cruz County has committed to getting the doses it receives from the state from its facilities on Emeline Avenue within 10 days, county spokesman Jason Hoppin said. That’s why mass vaccination sites are not only a topic of conversation in Governor Gavin Newsom’s social media briefings, but also in county-level appeals.
While Hoppin said plans for a mass vaccination site are underway, the county is not yet ready to announce details. He said it would not be a walk-in facility.
“I think people want to know we’re doing it,” he said. “Mass vaccination sites will be quite common once they are underway.”
The county had mass vaccination sites in its vaccine distribution plan, required for submission to the California Department of Public Health. Local health authorities have emphasized the idea of a vaccination point behind the wheel of distribution locations (or PODs).
“This eliminates the worry of crowd control while preserving social distancing and allows members of the same household to be vaccinated in one step,” wrote representatives of the Health Services Agency.
Currently, Santa Cruz County is in Phase 1a, or the initial phase guided by the state’s coronavirus vaccine distribution plan. Hoppin told the Sentinel that the anticipated date the county could enter Phase 1b, moving beyond healthcare professionals, staff and residents of collective living centers, to essential workers such as teachers and food workers, early February. Santa Cruz City Manager Martin Bernal said at the Santa Cruz City Council meeting on Tuesday afternoon that it could be as early as next week.
“Although we are still in the planning phase, County Public Health is working on planning mass immunization clinics in conjunction with our health care partners,” the Health Services Agency spokesperson said. Corinne Hyland. “We will complete those in phase 1a before moving on to phase 1b.”
As Santa Cruz County officials plan to vaccinate more people at once, they continue to monitor weekly dose shipments. Last night alone, Hoppin said, 5,000 doses of the vaccine entered the county health facility – mostly doses of Moderna vaccine. He said that in total, the county received 16,725 doses, of which 6,825 were doses of Pfizer vaccine and 9,900 doses of Moderna vaccine. Of these 16,725 doses, 5,315 were distributed to local hospitals and clinics.
Vaccine doses are valuable as community transmission increases across the county. Although there is a gap between statewide and local test positivity rates, the current positivity rate is 12.3% – a significant jump, Hoppin pointed out, from the rate. of positivity of 9.6% listed a week earlier. The positivity rate, updated every seven days, shows that if there is a big jump after Christmas, the trend shouldn’t end there.
“Over the next few weeks, this will translate into more hospitalizations, more infections and, unfortunately, more deaths,” Hoppin said. “It’s very important if people can stay at home as much as possible. Don’t get together with anyone outside of your home. If you must go in public, wear a mask. “
Five more deaths
Community transmission is visible in the deaths reported last week. More often than ever, residents who do not live in a collective living center – the host of the majority of deaths to this day due to the vulnerable populations that occupy the buildings – die.
On Monday, the county recorded 106 total deaths linked to the new coronavirus. On Tuesday, that number rose to 111.
The 107th death was a Latina in her 50s who died on January 1. She did not have any significant underlying health issues that would have contributed to her death. She was not a resident of a specialized nursing or residential care facility.
The 108th death was a white man in his 90s who died on January 6. He had at least one underlying health problem and resided at Dominican Oaks in Santa Cruz.
The 109th death was a white woman in her 80s who died on January 4. She had at least one underlying health problem. She was not a resident of a specialized nursing or residential care facility.
The 110th death was a white woman in her 80s who died on January 6. Like her predecessor, she had at least one underlying medical condition and was not residing in a nursing or residential care facility.
The 111th death was an 80-year-old white man who died on January 5. He had at least one underlying health condition that added to the stressors of his COVID-19 infection. He was not a resident of a qualified nursing care facility or residential care facility.
In numbers
Total number of cases: 11,010
Active cases: 2710
Recoveries: 8,189
Deaths: 111
Current ICU hospitalizations: 13
Hospitalizations: 335
Open intensive care beds: 2
Negative tests: 100,043
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