Indoor restaurants, cinemas and gyms are reopening on Sunday after Orange County virus indicators have improved enough for state officials to elevate the county in the statewide reopening system.
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The reopens also followed last week’s abrupt changes to the four-tier reopening system, which essentially paved the way for counties to reopen as an additional 400,000 vaccines were administered to people in the 400 hardest-hit postal codes across the state.
That goal was reached on Friday.
“With this metric of equity achieved, and because vaccines slow the spread of serious illnesses, the previously announced update to the Safer Economy Project to account for progress in vaccine administration goes into effect,” says a state press release on Friday Department of Public Health.
The OC is moving from the most restrictive level, the Purple Level, to the Red Level.
This means that Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm may reopen next month with limited capacity for California residents only.
Angel Stadium and other outdoor sports facilities may also reopen next month.
“What it means practically is that California is making great strides in its commitment to deliver more doses to our most affected communities across the state,” said the secretary of the state Health and Human Services Agency, Dr. Mark Ghaly, in a press conference on Friday.
The abrupt changes in theme park guidelines follow a series of sudden updates – from the reopening of indicators to the reopening of schools – as Governor Gavin Newsom is likely to face a revocation election.
All neighboring OC counties are also expected to reach the Red Level next Tuesday.
The pandemic has also put a renewed focus on the systemic health issues facing working class neighborhoods across Orange County and on the importance of local health clinics and community organizations to deal with various disparities.
Community clinics and organizations met in the early stages of the pandemic to launch outreach campaigns to educate residents about the virus, bring testing and isolation resources.
Now, clinics are instrumental in vaccinating residents in the most affected communities.
“From the first day it was absolutely essential. It turns out that our systems currently in place do not really serve poor and marginalized populations. So, despite all of our public health efforts, I think these are the communities that are overlooked, ”said Sanghyuk Shin, an epidemiologist and public health specialist at UC Irvine.
Shin said he feared that residents of the most vulnerable communities in OC would be hit again by new infections, since reopening is happening at an accelerated pace.
I think last year, when the virus contracts – just constantly being too late to implement measures and opening up too early – is a pattern that we see repeatedly and I think that’s what contributes significantly to the number of deaths and the diseases that we saw it, ”said Shin in a telephone interview on Friday.
He said that infections had hit hard working-class neighborhoods because most residents did not have the option of working from home, other than living in overcrowded houses.
“If you look at the occupations where the virus is being transmitted, you will see that people who really do not have the opportunity – the luxury of working from home – are strongly affected. Of course, when things open up and there are more meals inside or outside the home and other businesses, it is these workers who are even more exposed, ”said Shin.
Meanwhile, OC coronavirus hospitalizations have been dropping to levels not seen since before the winter plot, which saw more than 2,000 people hospitalized.
On Friday, 245 people were hospitalized, including 74 in intensive care units, according to the county health agency.
However, deaths continue to increase.
The virus has already killed 4,408 people, including 29 new deaths reported today.
That’s about eight times more people killed than the flu kills on an annual average.
Orange County has averaged about 20,000 deaths per year since 2016, including 543 annual flu deaths, according to state health data.
It also kills more than heart disease, Alzheimer’s and stroke on an annual average, respectively.
The virus is also close to the annual average of cancer deaths.
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.
Shin said he is concerned that the reopenings could fuel another wave, which is impossible to predict how bad it could be.
“I think at this point it makes more sense to be cautious about opening up and I think that the message we get about opening up can lead to a slower decline in the number of cases, as well as potentially higher numbers as the next wave arrives. That’s mainly what I’m concerned with, ”said Shin.
He also said that the reopenings depend on how many deaths and hospitalizations the authorities are comfortable with.
“It is how many cases and hospitalizations and deaths we are willing to accept. In my opinion, I think we should do everything we can to minimize this at this point, until vaccinations have really reached as many people as possible. ”
Spencer Custodio is a reporter for the Voice of OC team. You can contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio