|
Restrictions on recreational sports for young people and adults, such as football, baseball, rugby and water polo, may be reversed soon, if Coronavirus positivity rates in Orange County continue to drop.
Editor’s note: As the only non-profit and non-partisan newsroom in Orange County, Voice of OC brings you the best and most comprehensive local news about Coronavirus absolutely free of charge. No ads, no paywalls. We need your help. Please make a tax-deductible donation today to support local news.
The new state guidance today says that counties in the red and purple layers – the two most restrictive – can allow high-contact sports if case rates are 14 or less per 100,000.
Weekly tests and results available within 24 hours of the competition would be required for all players.
Currently, Orange County is in the purple layer with an adjusted daily case rate averaging 20 new cases per 100,000 people, with a 7-day delay in reporting new cases, according to official data.
Public Health Officer and director of the county Health Agency, Dr. Clayton Chau, told the Voice of OC on Friday morning that Orange County really must make more progress before state restrictions apply to the region.
However, “we expect our case rate per 100,000 to reach less than 14 in a week or more,” Chau said in a text message.
The county, if it did so under the new guidance of the state, could also allow moderate contact sports, such as baseball, cheering and softball, to be played without the requirement for weekly testing.
Currently, the county under its purple tier status is restricted to allowing only low-contact sports, such as badminton, cycling and golf, to be played.
In the meantime, Orange County teachers and food and agriculture workers can receive the Coronavirus vaccine as early as next week, even as county officials shut down vaccination sites due to supply delays caused by severe weather conditions. In the USA
County officials plan to “reserve 30%” of a new vaccine shipment next week “to vaccinate educators, daycare centers, food and agriculture workers,” according to Chau.
“I don’t think (the recent delays in supply) that it will affect us to start vaccinating these populations in the aggregate sector,” Chau said in a text message on Thursday.
All vaccine allocations for the county so far have been prioritized for health professionals and the elderly aged 65 and over.
“Starting next week, we should be able to vaccinate educators,” said Chau in a Virtual City Hall on Wednesday night with County Supervisor Doug Chaffee and County Spanish Extension Specialist Martin Plascencia. “I want to remind people that educators over 65 were qualified to enroll and get vaccinated.
Asked by Voice of OC on Thursday whether teachers could access mass vaccination sites like Soka University or Santa Ana College, Chau said “Yes, but we are planning with the OECD and the districts to put vaccination sites on campuses throughout OC. “
“We are following the CDC’s guidelines in formulating strategies to minimize barriers to vaccination access for teachers, such as vaccination clinics in or near schools. For this, we have been planning with the OECD and school districts ”, he added.
Asked by Plascencia – answering questions from the public during City Hall – whether this would also apply to school officials, Chau said “we are working with the OECD (County Department of Education) and all school district superintendents on this.”
The Santa Ana Unified School District, for example, is “planning our list of priorities for those who will receive vaccines first in this phase,” said district spokesman Fermin Leal.
“This would include any civil servant – our snack workers and custodians,” said Leal. “We are also hearing different things about how many vaccines will be available. We are not predicting that there will be tens of thousands for everyone – just a limited amount and a kind of expansion ”.
There are doubts about how this can influence school reopening strategies across the county.
“Most of the local openings will be based on local geographic positivity rates,” said Chau at the city hall.
“We also followed the CDC’s guidance that access to vaccination should not be considered a condition for the reopening of schools for face-to-face education,” Chau said in a text message on Thursday.
Leal said SAUSD is not planning to reopen on a vaccine basis: “We are still in the wait and see mode. Our numbers are dropping to Covid-19 positivity rates. There is a possibility of opening without vaccines if our numbers are low enough. “
Tamara Fairbanks, president of the Newport-Mesa School District Teachers Union, said her district “has been a hybrid model, so we’ve been meeting with students in person even during the biggest outbreak, and I believe it will really ease some of the anxiety for teachers who have already worked personally. “
Vaccinating teachers, in conjunction with ensuring that the school district is actually adhering to and enforcing school safety guidelines, “is actually a step closer to having a safer work environment,” said Fairbanks.
“We had to constantly push for security compliance and stronger security compliance during personal learning. I don’t think that changes that, however, it alleviates some concerns, especially. When it comes to elementary school teachers, because they are so involved and exposed because some of their children don’t wear masks. I think it will end some concerns. ”
Meanwhile, official data shared at Wednesday’s city hall showed that more than 635,000 patients signed up for the Othena County vaccine registration application. Of that number, about 196,000 people were vaccinated with 261,000 consultations still scheduled.
Chau said the app will start asking users if they meet the eligibility criteria.
“People are frustrated because we don’t have enough vaccines distributed in Orange County and it’s not just in our county, it’s for all counties … The demand is actually greater than the number of vaccines available,” he said, adding:
“I am hopeful that more vaccines will be distributed in Orange County in a few weeks.”
The number of people hospitalized with the virus continues to drop, reaching 663 hospitalizations by Thursday.
Meanwhile, deaths have continued to increase, reaching 3,685 since the pandemic began, with 41 new deaths reported on Thursday.
To date, there have been 243,665 confirmed cases.
To put it in context, Orange County has averaged about 20,000 deaths from other causes per year since 2016, including 543 annual deaths from influenza, according to state health data.
According to state mortality statistics, cancer kills more than 4,600 people, heart disease kills more than 2,800, more than 1,400 die from Alzheimer’s disease and strokes kill more than 1,300 people.
Orange County has already exceeded its annual average of 20,000 deaths, with 23,883 people killed in December, according to the latest available state data.
Coronavirus deaths, however, have now outgrown flu, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and stroke as the cause of death in Orange County. Currently, cancer alone kills more residents annually than the virus.
Here is the latest information on virus numbers in Orange County from county data:
Infections | Hospitalizations and deaths | City to city data | Demography