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Some of California’s largest counties – including Los Angeles – could be on the verge of unlocking some of their economies as early as this week if certain state-set goals are met.
The potentially accelerated opening in places like LA, Orange and San Bernardino counties is possible thanks to a rewrite of California’s coronavirus reopening plan that state officials announced last week.
It works like this: 40% of the COVID-19 vaccines available in the state will now be dedicated to residents of the most disadvantaged areas of California – a massive commitment according to officials will help address glaring inequalities in vaccine administration.
Once 2 million doses have been administered in these communities, the state will relax the threshold required for a county to graduate from the most restrictive purple category of the four-tier and color-coded roadmap to reopen the county. ‘State.
Currently, counties must have an adjusted daily rate of coronavirus cases equal to or less than seven new cases per day per 100,000 population to move to the most permissive red level. But once the state hits its 2 million dose target, which it will likely do this week, counties with a case rate of up to 10 new cases per day per 100,000 people would become eligible for the red level. .
According to state data, nearly 1.88 million total doses of the vaccine had been administered as of Monday in targeted communities – those in the lowest quartile of the California Healthy Places Index.
Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties were among those that had recorded adjusted case rates of less than 10 new cases per day per 100,000 people last week. If they dropped back below that threshold when the state updates its prioritization data on Tuesday, it appears those counties would be allowed to move to the next level of reopens.
“We understand that within 48 hours of the state announcing the vaccine trigger, LA County – as well as other counties with eligible case rates – would be moved into the red level and allowed to reopen.” for additional activities, ”LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a briefing Monday.
County health officials “are already working with the board of supervisors and all of our sectors to plan for what will be a reasonable and safe reopening, as permitted by the state, but appropriate for our county,” she said. for follow-up.
Red-level counties may allow indoor dining and cinema halls to reopen at 25% capacity or up to 100 people, whichever is less. In-person lessons would also be allowed to resume for students in Grades 7 to 12.
Indoor gymnasiums and dance and yoga studios can open at 10% capacity. Museums, zoos and aquariums can open indoor activities at 25% capacity, and non-essential stores and libraries can open at 50% capacity, starting at 25% capacity.
However, it is not certain that LA County would immediately reopen as widely as the red level allows. Counties can adopt rules that are stricter, but not more lenient, than those of the state.
“As we plan to go down to the red level, where additional reopenings will be allowed, we are taking a close look at the science to understand what practices can help reduce community transmission of COVID-19,” Ferrer said.
She referred to a study by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found that the death rate from COVID-19 slowed in counties where states needed masks and accelerated in counties where the States allowed eating out on site.
“This is something that we will need to take into account when we start more re-openings at our restaurants,” she said.
While changing the red level threshold would speed up reopening in some counties, others are set to move forward this week regardless. Based on the latest state data, 12 counties could potentially advance this week, nine of which are currently in the purple level: Alameda, Butte, Calaveras, Imperial, Mono, Placer, Santa Cruz, Solano and Tuolumne.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday the state is seeing “more and more progress every day as we reopen our economy and reopen our schools safely for in-person public education.”
“The light is really bright at the end of this tunnel,” he said at a briefing in Tulare County.
A larger potential reopening is among other positive news for LA County. Officials said the region is also set to receive its largest a week’s share of COVID-19 vaccines to date – a welcome boost, if perhaps short-lived, that will enable tens of thousands of Additional Angelenos to receive their first vaccine.
The expected total transport boost this week of about 312,000 doses is a substantial shipment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which federal drug regulators recently cleared for emergency use.
Officials hope the vaccine will give California – and the nation’s – vaccination campaign a boost because it only requires a single dose.
The other two vaccines licensed in the United States, one from Pfizer-BioNTech and the other from Moderna, require two injections, given weeks apart.
LA County expects to receive 53,700 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week.
Los Angeles city officials have said they plan to give 88,000 injections this week, and most of them – nearly 68,000 – will be first doses.
“Vaccines are our ticket to ending the pandemic, saving lives, rebuilding our communities and giving hope for a healthier future,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement. “We still have a long way to go to safely and quickly vaccinate as many Angelenos as possible – and a larger and more regular supply of doses this week means we can bring relief to more older people, more workers. frontline and essentials, and anyone eligible to receive a vaccine in our city.
However, this week’s benefit could be a failure, at least in the short term, as the rollout of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been hampered by production issues.
“All counties have benefited from the Johnson & Johnson supplemental dose this week, but we don’t know if there will be any additional Johnson & Johnson doses for the next two weeks,” Ferrer said. “And that would have a huge impact.”
Supplies have been a persistent problem for health agencies across the country.
Newsom said California is working on designing a system capable of delivering 4 million vaccines per week, although shipments have yet to come close to that level.
In LA County, officials say they could already offer more than 600,000 dating slots a week, if they had enough doses.
The state is moving towards a new vaccination program run by Blue Shield of California, with the goal of creating “more effective distribution, speed, fairness and transparency,” according to Newsom.
However, this move met with resistance from counties who believe the system would not be able to properly meet their unique needs and the diversity of their populations.
At the moment, COVID-19 vaccines are available for people 65 years of age or older, residents of long-term care facilities such as nursing homes, or working in education and daycare. ‘children, food and agriculture, health, law enforcement or emergency services.
The pool of residents who can receive the vaccines, however, is expected to grow significantly as the state extends eligibility to millions of people with underlying health conditions and disabilities starting next week.
Over the past week, providers statewide administered an average of 184,541 doses per day, according to data compiled by The Times.
To date, nearly 10.4 million total doses have been used statewide, including more than 2.5 million in LA County alone.
These figures, while encouraging, are still far below what is needed to end the pandemic. As a result, officials say it remains important, even for those who have been vaccinated, to continue to take measures to stem the transmission of the coronavirus – such as wearing masks in public, keeping a physical distance from those with whom they do not. not live and wash their hands regularly.
According to new guidelines released on Monday, the CDC said Americans could attend small indoor gatherings with other people, without masks or social distancing, once they were fully immunized.
“We have been through a lot over the past year, and with more and more people getting vaccinated, every day we are starting to take a turn,” CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky said at the meeting. ‘a briefing. “And as more Americans are vaccinated, more and more evidence tells us that there are activities that fully vaccinated people can resume at low risk for themselves.”
Residents should also feel confident about rolling up their sleeves, regardless of which vaccine they are receiving, according to Dr Christina Ghaly, director of health services for LA County.
“Although vaccines differ slightly, the ways in which they are the same are much more important and much more important than the ways in which they are different,” she said Monday. “They are similar in the attribute that matters most: and that is their ability to prevent the most severe disease developments with COVID, and the ability to prevent death. I urge you to get vaccinated, whatever it is, as soon as you are eligible. “
Times editors Chris Megerian and Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
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