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Indoor dining, theaters and gyms will reopen on Sunday after Orange County virus indicators improve enough for state officials to push the county to the next level on the reopening system to statewide.
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The reopens also follow abrupt changes last week to the four-tiered reopening system, which essentially made it easier for counties to reopen once an additional 400,000 vaccines were given to people in the 400 hardest-hit postcodes in across the state.
This goal was reached on Friday.
“Once this measure of equity is achieved and because vaccines slow the spread of disease and serious illness, the previously announced update of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy to reflect advances in vaccine delivery between in force, ”read a press release on Friday. Department of Public Health.
OC goes from the most restrictive level, the purple level, to the red level.
This means Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm could reopen next month to limited capacity for California residents only.
Angel Stadium and other outdoor sports venues could also reopen next month.
“What this practically means is that California is making great strides on committing to deliver more doses to our hardest-hit communities across the state,” the agency secretary said. State Health and Human Services, Dr Mark Ghaly, at a press briefing on Friday.
Abrupt changes to theme park guidelines follow a series of sudden updates – from reopening measures to reopening schools – as Gov. Gavin Newsom is likely to face a recall election.
All neighboring OC counties are also expected to reach red by next Tuesday.
The pandemic has also placed a renewed focus on the systemic health issues facing working class neighborhoods across Orange County and on how local health clinics and community organizations are critical in addressing the various disparities.
Clinics and community organizations came together early in the pandemic to launch awareness campaigns to educate residents about the virus, provide testing and isolation resources.
Now, the clinics are helping to immunize residents of the hardest-hit communities.
“From day one, it was absolutely essential. It’s just that our systems are currently being put in place that don’t really respond to underserved and marginalized populations. So for all of our public health efforts, I think it’s the communities that are being overlooked, ”said Sanghyuk Shin, epidemiologist and public health expert at UC Irvine.
Shin said he was concerned that residents of OC’s most vulnerable communities would be hit again by new infections as reopenings proceed at an accelerated pace.
I have a feeling that over the past year, when the virus wakes up – constantly being too late to take action and opening up too early – this is a pattern that we see over and over again and I think that this is what contributes significantly to the number of deaths. and the diseases that we have seen, ”Shin said in a telephone interview on Friday.
He said infections hit working-class neighborhoods hard because most residents were unable to work from home, in addition to living in overcrowded housing.
“If you look at the professions where the virus is transmitted, these are the people who really don’t have the opportunity – the luxury of working from home – are badly affected. Of course, when things open up and there are more restaurants inside or outside and in other businesses, it’s those workers who are all the more exposed, ”Shin said. .
Meanwhile, OC’s coronavirus hospitalizations have dropped to levels not seen since before Winter Weaving, which has seen more than 2,000 people hospitalized.
245 people were hospitalized as of Friday, including 74 in intensive care units, according to the county health care agency.
Yet deaths continue to increase.
The virus has now killed 4,408 people, including 29 new deaths reported today.
That’s about eight times more deaths than the flu kills on an annual average.
Orange County has averaged around 20,000 deaths per year since 2016, including 543 annual flu deaths, according to state health data.
It also killed more than heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and stroke on an annual average, respectively.
The virus is also among the average for annual cancer deaths.
According to state mortality statistics, cancer kills more than 4,600 people, heart disease kills more than 2,800, more than 1,400 die of Alzheimer’s disease, and strokes kill more than 1,300 people.
Shin said he was worried the reopens would fuel another wave, which is impossible to predict how bad it could be.
“I think at this point it makes more sense to be cautious about opening and I think the message we’re sending about opening could potentially lead to a slower drop in the number of cases, as well as ‘to potentially higher numbers in the next wave. . That’s mainly what worries me, ”Shin said.
He also said reopenings depend on the number of deaths and hospitalizations officials are comfortable with.
“This is the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths that we are prepared to accept. In my opinion, I think we should do whatever we can to minimize this at this point until the vaccinations have really reached as many people as possible.
Spencer Custodio is a Voice of OC reporter. You can reach him at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter @SpencerCustodio
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