Los Angeles County will not accelerate coronavirus vaccines for people aged 65 and over, although California authorities announced on Wednesday, January 13, that local authorities can do so immediately.
LA County officials reported an additional 281 deaths and 14,564 cases on Wednesday. Nearly 13,000 people have died so far from COVID-19 in LA County with reported deaths now averaging 231 per day last week. The county has also approached 1 million confirmed cases, which means that about one in ten county residents at some point has been infected with the coronavirus.
With up to 800,000 health workers and residents of long-term care facilities to vaccinate first, LA county officials said they did not yet have enough vaccines to broaden their strategy. Residents over 65 in LA County are likely to be eligible to receive a vaccine in early February, although there is a chance that the process will be speeded up if more vaccines are delivered to the state and county, officials said.
“I know how frustrating it must seem to LA county people,” said director of public health Barbara Ferrer. “We are not done with our health professionals yet. And, in fact, we don’t have enough vaccine now to be able to do it more quickly with our healthcare professionals. “
Orange County has become one of the first in the state to take advantage of the state’s latest ad to start enrolling individuals 65 and older to receive a coronavirus vaccine.
Long Beach, which operates its own health department, announced earlier this week that vaccines will be available to people age 65 and older starting January 23.
Pasadena also maintains its own health department, where spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said public health officials still have less vaccines than they need to inoculate all health workers in the city. At the moment, officials do not expect that to change before next week, Derderian said, but they hope to increase the number of eligible patients as soon as they have sufficient doses.
Pasadena officials say they have significantly more facilities for seniors per capita than other parts of the county. More facilities mean more health professionals to vaccinate before they start vaccinating the general public.
A spokesman for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he agreed with the county’s decision and that the city was aligned with it.
So far, the county has inoculated some 194,000 health workers in acute care hospitals, along with a sizable portion of residents and staff in long-term care facilities. In addition, 44,000 health professionals have already received their final doses.
Ferrer said the state’s guidance helps to clarify that in Phase 1B, after health professionals, those 65 and older will be eligible along with others in that group. In the beginning, those over 75 were prioritized. Registration is not yet available for any of these groups, which also include emergency services and teachers. More information can be found at VaccinateLACounty.com.
The state’s action on Monday to open vaccines for people over 65 followed federal guidelines this week to do so, while the state was ranked as one of the slowest in the country, based on data from the Control Centers of Diseases.
In the months leading up to the LA County rollout, officials planned to inoculate some 350,000 health workers by the end of December, but those expectations, like those at the state and national levels, fell short. The county now expects to have vaccinated 500,000 by the end of January.
To date, the municipality has opened 75 vaccination distribution centers. This week, Dodger Stadium was being converted from a test site to a vaccination center, with the first injections being administered there on Thursday. On Tuesday, five more large-scale vaccination centers, which can handle more than 1,000 vaccines a day, will be opened, officials said.
In almost all measurements, the level of transmission of the coronavirus and the price it causes – not to mention the impact on companies – has been impressive. The average number of daily cases since November has increased by more than 1,000%. Increases in deaths also continue to represent real lives and real loved ones.
The rate of positivity, the percentage of people tested positive for the virus, is now 18%, meaning that about one in five people tested for the virus is positive. During much of the pandemic, positivity rates were around 3%.
Hospitalizations, however, have stabilized somewhat in almost 8,000 patients across the county – with nearly 1,700 in intensive care units. But the number has stabilized at an extraordinary level, officials say hospitals cannot sustain much longer. There are still about 750 new admissions for COVID patients each day, compared with about 250 a day in July.
Authorities also warned that current conditions could be a lull between the end of the Thanksgiving sudden rise and what could be another increase in patients based on the upcoming New Year and Christmas meetings.
“We expect the decline to continue, but we have not yet seen the results of the broadcast that took place during the Christmas and New Year holidays,” said Director of Health Services, Dr. Christina Ghaly. “It would be absolutely devastating. Even if the slight decline continues, we are nowhere near free. “
Wednesday’s county update did not include the latest numbers for Long Beach and Pasadena. Long Beach reported an additional 15 lives lost, increasing the death toll to 499, and 546 new cases increased the city’s total to 41,625. Pasadena reported 186 new cases, increasing its total to 8,821; two more deaths increased the death toll in the city to 186.
Meanwhile, Ferrer said on Wednesday that the British variant of COVID-19 poses a significant risk in LA County, possibly becoming the dominant strain in March, if left unchecked. Although it does not make patients sicker, the variant is more easily transmitted, said Ferrer.
“As the UK variant can spread more quickly, if left unchecked, that variant may dominate locally in March,” said Ferrer. “While our current transmission protection rules are effective, they only work when used properly.”
When asked whether a stricter public health order could be in place, Ferrer said the authorities were “considering all options at this point”.