On the day that the number of coronavirus deaths in California reached 30,000, Disneyland and other venues like Dodger Stadium were established as super vaccination sites.
Recently confirmed infections are increasing at a dizzying rate of more than 250,000 per week and over the weekend a record 1,163 deaths have been reported – Orange County has exceeded 2,000 reported deaths.
Deprived of visitors for months because of the pandemic, Disneyland will soon receive thousands of visitors when it is one of the five planned mass vaccination sites in Orange County.
County officials announced the deal on Monday, January 11, to use the theme park in their effort to increase vaccines, as the number of Orange County residents hospitalized with the virus is over 2,200.
“Disneyland Resort, the largest employer in the heart of Orange County, has stepped up to host the county’s first Super POD (dispensation point) location – performing a monumental task in our vaccination distribution process,” chairman of the Board of Supervisors Andrew Do said in a press release.
Supervisor Doug Chaffee, whose district includes Disneyland, said its constituents “were highly impacted by COVID-19. These Super PODs are absolutely essential to stop this deadly virus. “
The county did not share details of exactly how or where on the Disneyland property the vaccination site would work, but the press release said it would open later this week to meet – by appointment only – people who live or work in Orange County and are eligible based on the state’s priority list.
Currently, the state is still in the vaccination phase of highest priority, aimed at people working in the health field, including employees of hospitals, laboratories and pharmacies, paramedics and paramedics, home health assistants, as well as residents and workers of institutions long stay.
Most skilled workers will be notified by their employer and will be directed to schedule an interview through an application, Othena, the county helped to develop.
“Disneyland Resort is proud to help support Orange County and the city of Anaheim with the use of our property, and we are grateful for all efforts to combat COVID-19,” Dr. Pamela Hymel, medical director, Disney Parks, Experiences and products, he said. “After a year in which so many in our community have faced unprecedented difficulties and uncertainties, there is now reason to be optimistic about administering a vaccine.”
Other planned locations for mass vaccines have not been named by the county – spokeswoman Molly Nichelson said the contracts are still being finalized – but Voice of OC previously reported that they could include the Costa Mesa, Orange County fairgrounds. Great Park in Irvine, Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park and Soka University campus in Aliso Viejo.
Large-scale vaccination for thousands of medical professionals will take place at baseball stadiums in Los Angeles and San Diego and at fairs in Fresno and Sacramento. They are among cities across the country that are converting huge parking lots into massive vaccination stations to increase vaccines after the initial launch fell below expectations.
Governor Gavin Newsom acknowledged that vaccine distribution has been very slow and he has promised that 1 million vaccines will be administered this week, more than double what has been done so far.
This effort will require what Newsom called a “hands-on deck approach”, including vaccinations dispensed by pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, dentists, paramedics and emergency medical technicians and members of the California National Guard.
Orange County is also recruiting volunteers to help manage its sites, including people with medical training and others for non-medical tasks. County officials have set a goal to complete all vaccines by July 4.
California’s death rate currently ranks third nationally, behind Texas and New York, which is number 1 with nearly 40,000 deaths. It took California six months to register its first 10,000 deaths. But in just one month, the total has increased from 20,000 to 30,000, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
Still, Newsom and the state’s chief health officer, Dr. Mark Ghaly, said there was a bit of hope, with hospitalizations stabilizing last week and vaccinations about to increase.
New hospital admissions dropped from around 3,500 each day earlier this month to around 2,500, “a significant difference” that shows that the peak of previous Christmas and Hanukkah holidays “is not as significant as we had predicted,” said Ghaly , secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency.
However, recent frightening jumps in new positive cases show that the state may simply have found time to prepare for what officials still hope will be a month-end peak driven in part by New Year celebrations, said Ghaly and Newsom .
The state may have “a little breathing space,” said Ghaly, enough for hospitals to prepare for, to ensure they can provide enough oxygen both at the medical facility and when sending patients home, and for 1,000 newly hired medical workers – arrived to be increased by another About 1,000 before peak peaks.
“I don’t want to think that we are out of danger at all,” said Ghaly, adding later that “We are at the beginning of the peak vacation. It looks encouraging at the moment. “
Information on Orange County vaccination efforts is at occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/covid-19-vaccine-resources.
The Associated Press and staff writer Brady MacDonald contributed to this report.