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“Next week, the majority of appointments at our vaccination sites will continue to be for second doses,” said Dr Paul Simon, scientific director of the county public health department, on Friday. “We will only deliver second doses to our Mega-POD Sites (distribution point).”
County-run Mega-PODs can be found at Pomona Fairplex, Magic Mountain, The Forum, Downey County Office of Education, and Cal State Northridge.
He said the first doses will be available in other locations, primarily at health centers, pharmacies “and other providers serving areas hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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Due to lack of doses, city-run sites such as Dodger Stadium, Hansen Dam, Crenshaw Clinic, San Fernando Clinic, and Lincoln Park Clinic are temporarily closed. The city ran out of vaccines late last week, and city-run sites are expected to reopen Tuesday or Wednesday.
The county receives about 200,000 doses each week, although the actual quantity has varied dramatically from week to week, making it difficult to plan ahead for reservations. Supplies were so limited this week that the city of Los Angeles was forced to shut down the vaccination site at Dodger Stadium and four other sites over the weekend as it ran out of supplies on Thursday afternoon.
“We share their frustration,” said Simon. “We are all frustrated. We know we could do a lot more if we had more doses. For example, we are currently receiving around 200,000 doses each week, and as we surveyed all of our providers, we are confident we could administer up to 600,000 doses per week. So we have a much, much greater capacity if we can get the vaccine available. ”
Simon and county health official Dr Muntu Davis both said increasing supplies would be critical as more and more people become eligible for vaccines – noting that the state planned to expand eligibility next month to all people 16 years of age or older with underlying health conditions or disabilities that make them highly vulnerable to death or serious illness from COVID.
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Davis acknowledged the generally improved downward trends in daily cases, but stressed that while the numbers are improving, they are still high and that “the risk of encountering someone with COVID-19 who does not know may to be not is always very high. ” ‘
The county reported 137 more deaths from COVID on Friday, while health officials in Long Beach announced 14 deaths and Pasadena one, bringing the total death toll to 18,804.
Another 3,497 new cases were also confirmed by the county, with 124 by Long Beach and 29 by Pasadena, bringing the cumulative total for the entire pandemic to 1,161,926.
The county has also reported 15 other cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, bringing the total to 90, including one death. Health officials noted that there had been a 35% increase in the number of MIS-C infections locally over the past two weeks. The syndrome usually develops in children after having COVID-19, although it has sometimes affected patients without a known previous infection.
According to state figures, there were 3,426 people hospitalized in the county due to COVID on Friday, with 1,032 people in intensive care. In early January, more than 8,000 people were hospitalized due to the virus.
“So there is some positive news as far as things are concerned,” Davis said. “We want that to keep going down because as the number of cases goes down we get into less restrictive levels and are able to consider opening up more economy … and have less restrictive changes. ”
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He urged people to continue to adhere to protocols such as masking and physical distancing. He acknowledged the changes that were formalized this week, allowing a resumption of indoor religious services with limited capacity and limits on activities during services. But he stressed that despite the change, “it is still safer for places of worship to only hold outside and remote services. These are the safest options for people at high risk of serious illness from COVID- 19 and those who live with it. “
Davis also expressed dismay at plans by Sun Valley Grace Community Church – which has repeatedly defied county and court orders by hosting massive domestic services – to hold an indoor religious conference in early March that draws generally more than 3000 people. He said the county is “exploring its options” to contest the event. Such conferences are banned due to health restrictions, but it is not clear whether the conflict would be exempted as a religious gathering.
On Friday evening, however, the church announced that it had chosen to postpone the conference in light of its “ongoing litigation and recent threats” from the county and state over the planned event.
In terms of vaccines, Simon said the most recent figures show 1,345,949 doses have been given in the county, including 1,047,074 first doses. In total, 13.5% of the county’s population aged 16 and over have received at least one dose and 3.8% of this population are fully immunized.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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