SANTA CRUZ – Santa Cruz County is committed to obtaining the doses it receives from the state of its facilities on Emeline Avenue within 10 days, said county spokesman Jason Hoppin. That’s why mass vaccination sites are not just a topic of conversation at Governor Gavin Newsom’s social media briefings, but on city-level calls as well.
While Hoppin said plans for a mass vaccination site are underway, the county is not yet ready to announce details. He said it will not be a temporary installation.
“I think people want to know what we are doing,” he said. “Mass vaccination sites will be quite common in the future, once they are in progress.”
The county had mass vaccination sites in its vaccine distribution plan, required for submission to the California Department of Public Health. Local health officials highlighted the idea of drive-thru vaccination distribution (or POD) locations.
“This eliminates the concern about crowd control while preserving social distance and allowing members of the same family to be vaccinated in one step,” wrote representatives of the Health Services Agency.
At present, Santa Cruz County is in Phase 1a, or the initial phase guided by the state’s coronavirus vaccine distribution plan. Hoppin told Sentinel that the expected date for the county to enter Phase 1b, going beyond medical professionals and staff and residents of assembled residential facilities, to essential workers such as teachers and food workers, in early February. Santa Cruz city manager Martin Bernal said during the Santa Cruz City Council meeting on Tuesday afternoon that it could be next week.
“Although we are still in the planning phase, County Public Health is working on scheduling mass vaccination clinics in collaboration with our health partners,” said Health Services Agency spokeswoman Corinne Hyland. “We will finish those in Phase 1a before moving on to Phase 1b.”
While Santa Cruz County leaders plan to vaccinate more people at once, they continue to monitor weekly dose shipments. Just last night, Hoppin said, 5,000 doses of the vaccine arrived at the county health facility – mostly doses of the Modern vaccine. He said that, in total, the municipality received 16,725 doses, 6,825 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 9,900 doses of the Modern vaccine. Of these 16,725 doses, 5,315 were distributed to local hospitals and clinics.
Vaccine doses are precious, as community transmission increases throughout the county. Although there was a discrepancy between the test positivity rate figures across the state and location, the current positivity rate is 12.3% – a significant jump, pointed out Hoppin, from the positivity rate of 9.6 % listed just a week earlier. The positivity rate, updated every seven days, shows that if there is a big jump after Christmas, the trend will not stop there.
“In the coming weeks, this will translate into additional hospitalizations, additional infections and, unfortunately, additional deaths,” said Hoppin. “It is very important that, if people can, stay at home as much as possible. Do not meet with anyone outside your home. If you have to go in public, wear a mask. “
Five additional deaths
Community transmission is visible in deaths reported in the past week. More often than not, residents who do not live in community facilities – host to most deaths, yet, so far due to the vulnerable populations that occupy the buildings – are dying.
On Monday, the county recorded 106 deaths in total related to the new coronavirus. On Tuesday, that number jumped to 111.
The 107th fatality was a Latin woman in her 50s who died on January 1. She had no significant underlying health problems that could have contributed to her death. She was not a resident of a specialist ward or residential care institution.
The 108th fatality was a white man in his 90s who died on January 6. He had at least one underlying health problem and was a resident of Dominican Oaks in Santa Cruz.
The 109th fatality was an 80-year-old white woman who died on January 4. She had at least one latent health problem. She was not a resident of a specialist ward or residential care institution.
The 110th fatality was an 80-year-old white woman who died on January 6. Like her predecessor, she had at least one underlying health problem and was not a resident of a specialist ward or residential care institution.
The 111th fatality was an 80-year-old white man who died on January 5. He had at least one underlying health condition that added to the stressors of his COVID-19 infection. He was not a resident of a specialized ward or residential care institution.
By the numbers
Total cases: 11,010
Active cases: 2,710
Recovery: 8,189
Kills: 111
Current ICU admissions: 13
Hospitalizations: 335
Open ICU beds: 2
Negative tests: 100,043