[ad_1]
The delta wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is drawing to a close in California, with cases and hospitalizations declining statewide.
Some counties in California – including eight in the Bay Area and some in Los Angeles and Sacramento – have implemented new indoor mask mandates in response. Under these mandates, all people, regardless of their immunization status, were to hide indoors, unless actively eating or drinking.
Other counties in California have not implemented similar restrictions. Below is a breakdown comparing the evolution of the Delta Wave in notable counties in California, with and without an indoor mask warrant. This includes the vaccination rate for each county, the maximum number of cases per 100,000 population, the current case rate, the maximum number of hospitalizations per 100,000 population, and the current number of hospitalizations. While vaccination rates are current, they reflect county-wide vaccination trends that emerged before the delta surge.
All immunization numbers come from each county’s websites, while case and hospital numbers come from the California Department of Public Health.
In the Bay Area, only Solano County has not issued an indoor mask warrant. Solano has seen the worst-case scenario and an increase in hospitalizations in the region, but this may have more to do with the county’s low vaccination rate (66%) compared to its neighbors in the Bay Area (the next county the least vaccinated is 77%). Health experts widely agree that vaccines are a more effective intervention than masks.
The impact of vaccination appears in the data when comparing Solano County and neighboring Contra Costa County. Solano and Contra Costa had a similar maximum number of cases per capita (45 and 39, respectively), but Contra Costa recorded about half of the hospitalizations per capita than Solano, thanks to the fact that COVID-19 vaccines are very effective in protecting against serious illnesses and hospitalization.
This fact is further reinforced when looking at the number of hospitalizations in Marin and San Mateo counties, the only two Bay Area counties where more than 90% of eligible residents are fully immunized. In these two counties, the maximum number of hospitalizations per 100,000 population was six and five, respectively. The next closest was Santa Clara County (84% vaccination rate), with a peak of nine hospitalizations per 100,000 population.
Because Solano’s lagging vaccination rate compared to the rest of the region makes it a poor “control group” to assess mask warrants – and it is clear that vaccination played an important role in dictating the delta wave trajectory – worth looking to counties outside of the Bay Area.
Orange County – a county without a mask warrant – had a very similar outcome to neighboring Los Angeles County, the first county in California to bring back indoor masking in response to the delta. Not only were the hospitalization numbers the same, Orange County actually had a lower case rate. Orange County has a similar vaccination rate to Los Angeles County (Los Angeles County’s rate for the total population is 61%, just two percentage points lower than that of Orange County. ), which makes it much easier to compare the two counties with each other. to compare Solano County to other Bay Area counties.
Interestingly, San Diego County – which has a higher vaccination rate than Los Angeles and Orange counties – had a higher case rate than those two counties, but similar hospitalization figures. San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties have had nearly identical hospital outcomes despite different mask policies.
Sacramento County’s vaccination rate is higher (among eligible residents it is likely between 60% and 65%) than neighboring counties of San Joaquin and Stanislaus, two of the counties hardest hit by the Delta Wave. As a result, it is not surprising that there have been lower case and hospitalization rates, although it is impossible to assess how much of this difference comes from masks as opposed to vaccines.
Before anyone draws any drastic conclusions from this data, it’s worth pointing out that mask warrants don’t always equate to universal masking, and a lack of mask warrants doesn’t mean that no one in a county wears masks on purpose. .
However, solid conclusions can be drawn regarding the efficacy of the vaccine against hospitalization. When Gov. Gavin Newsom was pressed over the summer to implement a statewide indoor mask mandate in response to the delta, he objected and said the vaccination was the most important intervention.
“If we keep getting people vaccinated it will be pointless and this is the call for anyone who has not been vaccinated to get vaccinated,” he said.
[ad_2]
Source link