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Due to a COVID-19 vaccine shortage in LA County, Dodger Stadium and four other non-mobile vaccination sites will temporarily close this week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said at a press conference on Wednesday. .
The vaccination site at Dodger Stadium and other sites in the city will be closed on Friday and
Saturday.
And although only a fraction of residents aged 65 and over have received a COVID-19 vaccine and drug stocks remain woefully low, Los Angeles County will expand vaccinations to a range of essential workers in two to three weeks. , including teachers, the public. health director said Wednesday.
The move follows a call by the governor at the end of January for shots to be offered to workers in three categories: education / childcare; food and agriculture; and emergency services and law enforcement.
In Los Angeles County, these categories represent around 1.3 million people, which means that even after being eligible for vaccines, it will take weeks to fully immunize them all, requiring two doses three to four apart. weeks.
The expansion of vaccine eligibility will come even as the county continues to administer vaccines to currently eligible populations – healthcare workers, residents and nursing and long-term care facility staff, and residents of 65. years and older.
Sunny Saturday allowed residents to get outside and enjoy the return of alfresco dining. Kim Tobin reported on NBC4 News on Saturday, January 30, 2021.
Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer pointed out that to date, only 20% of residents aged 65 and over have received at least one dose of the drug. The county only receives an average of about 200,000 doses of the drug per week.
With vaccine supply also remaining low and the number of eligible residents expanding, securing an appointment for a vaccine could become considerably more difficult.
“We’re trying to keep up with what’s going on statewide,” Ferrer said. “… In some counties, small counties or smaller towns, they have already been able to start immunizing in those areas, and they have not completed immunizations for all of their residents 65 and over either.
“At this point, we would like to make significant progress in getting older people vaccinated,” she said. “… We hope that over the next two weeks you will see that number increase dramatically in terms of the number of seniors getting vaccinated.” But it’s also a recognition that we need to start with some of our core workers. It will be really hard to wait weeks, weeks, and weeks to complete an entire sector before moving on.
The county is prioritizing second doses of the vaccine, but appointments for the first dose are still available at Dodger Stadium. John Cádiz Klemack reported on NBC4 News on Tuesday, February 9, 2021.
Representatives from a wide range of sectors lobbied national and local authorities to make vaccines available, creating what Ferrer acknowledged to be a difficult process in deciding who will go first. The issue of teacher vaccination has become a major issue in recent days amid pressure from Governor Gavin Newsom and some local officials to bring students back to classrooms.
But Los Angeles Unified teachers and the superintendent said teachers and staff need to be vaccinated before this can happen, although the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said otherwise.
Ferrer pointed out on Wednesday that 1,700 schools opened last fall in the county with a limited number of students, and another 300 are operating under a waiver program that has allowed young students to return to campuses, and “We have seen very few outbreaks” of the virus, and those that did occur were small and easy to contain.
Ferrer said the county was also taking action to address disparities in vaccine distribution overall, with statistics released this week showing that of more than one million doses administered so far, only 3.5% went to black residents.
A man wanted to share his experience with COVID-19. Hetty Chang reported on NBC4 News on Monday, February 8, 2021.
She said the county opened 10 additional vaccination sites this week in eastern and southern Los Angeles, and mobile vaccination teams were moving to housing estates and senior centers in hard-hit communities. Community health workers are also dispatched to interact with residents, in some cases going door to door, to provide information about the vaccine and dispel any myths that might prevent people from getting the vaccine.
The county reported 141 more deaths from the coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the total death toll to 18,500. 3,434 other cases were also reported, bringing the total number of the entire pandemic to 1,155,309.
Deaths and cases have trended down in recent weeks as the county recovers from the winter surge in cases, as have hospitalizations. According to state figures, 3,772 people were hospitalized with COVID in Los Angeles County on Wednesday and 1,105 people in intensive care.
This is a dramatic drop from the start of January, when there were more than 8,000 people hospitalized. Ferrer said cases of the decline were encouraging, but tempered the optimism. “Our optimism around this decrease is cautious,” she said.
“The number is still more than three times the average daily rate of cases that we reported in September. Also, we are at a time of the year when people may be more tempted to come together. We hope all residents choose not to get together with people outside their homes or travel to celebrate Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day, or Presidents’ Day. “
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