Santa Barbara County to Begin Vaccinating People 65 and Over Next Week | Coronavirus crisis

People over the age of 65 can start scheduling COVID-19 vaccine appointments in Santa Barbara County next week, the public health department said on Friday.

During the first two months of vaccine distribution, the county focused on health workers, residents of long-term care facilities and people 75 years and older.

Public health worker Dr Henning Ansorg estimated that at least two-thirds of the local population aged 75 and over have been vaccinated at this point, and these residents can continue to make appointments even if eligibility extends to more people.

Van Do-Reynoso, director of public health, said people aged 65 and over could start signing up for appointments on February 16, next Tuesday.

Workers in education, child care, food and agriculture cannot yet register.

In addition, state officials announced Friday that effective March 15, people aged 16 to 64 who are disabled or at high risk of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 will be eligible to receive the vaccine.

The underlying conditions set out in the guidelines include cancer, chronic kidney disease stage four or above, chronic lung disease, Down syndrome, pregnancy, heart disease, severe obesity, and type diabetes. 2, among others.

As the situation grows, the county will first shift to people aged 65 and over, Do-Reynoso said in a briefing on Friday.

“I just want to anchor ourselves in reality,” she added.

The county receives about 6,000 doses of the vaccine per week and the 65- to 74-year-old age range is estimated at 41,000, she said.

“So the bottom line is that vaccine stocks are still very limited,” she said, adding that vaccine suppliers are also making sure that anyone who has ever received a first dose receive a second dose in a timely manner.

“We have a lot more people than we have vaccines, and we are asking that until the vaccine supply increases, the community allows those who are most at risk of exposure and problems of serious health concerns to allow them to make their vaccine appointments first. ”

The California Department of Public Health has developed vaccine distribution guidelines with priority status for people considered to be at high risk of exposure to the virus and severe illness if infected.

Each county had some discretion, and Santa Barbara County decided to start with more than 75 residents before expanding to this larger group of 65 and over, Do-Reynoso said.

Ansorg said the county was ready to administer triple the amount of vaccine it has received so far, and those early shortages have led to a lot of frustration.

“This shortage made it necessary to prioritize the most vulnerable population to receive the vaccine first. These difficult first two months could have been avoided had the (federal) government actually obtained and shipped the number of doses it needed. had promised. We had prepared according to their promises, ”he said.

Today, production is “increasing” nationwide and a third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, will likely be available in the United States soon, he added.

Starting in mid-March, the state will transfer vaccine distribution to a third-party administrator. Blue Shield of California will then allocate vaccines directly to pharmacies, public and private health care networks, hospitals, pop-up sites and community health care centers.

This transition will streamline vaccine distribution and optimize the vaccine supply chain, Ansorg said.

The county received 61,000 doses of the vaccine on Friday and administered 99% of those doses, Do-Reynoso shared. “It’s a big and huge celebration for our community,” she said.

Public health launched a new COVID-19 vaccine dashboard on Friday, providing information such as doses administered by age, race, ethnicity and gender. The dashboard also describes the number of vaccines that have been allocated, ordered and administered as well as the percentage of the population fully vaccinated in each region of the county.

As the virus mutates and expands, Ansorg said N95 masks are ideal for protecting community members from the virus. Surgical masks are designed to protect the wearer’s environment, but are not as sufficient to protect the wearer from the outside environment, Ansorg said.

To ensure that the mask is tight enough to protect the wearer, he said some have found a solution by double masking.

Public health reported 87 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the lowest daily number since December 19.

“When I watched this morning I was really excited,” Ansorg said. “Our local case rates and positivity testing rates have finally gone down. It is a great relief for all of us.

There were 741 cases still considered infectious across the county, also the lowest number of active cases reported since December 13.

There were 139 COVID-19 patients hospitalized across the county and 28 required intensive care. The county’s critical care availability was 31.6%, according to Public Health.

A new death from COVID-19 was reported on Friday. The person was over 70, suffered from underlying health issues, and resided in Santa Maria.

There have been 367 COVID-19-related deaths to date.

Of the new cases on Friday, 29 were from Santa Barbara and 16 from Lompoc.

Santa Maria and the unincorporated area of ​​Goleta Valley and Gaviota both reported seven new cases, Santa Ynez Valley had six and Isla Vista recorded five.

The Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria region, Goleta and the unincorporated areas in North County all reported three new cases and Orcutt reported one.

There were seven cases still awaiting geographic location.

There have been 30,586 confirmed cases in the county since the start of the pandemic.

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