By edhat team
The Santa Barara County Department of Public Health (PHD) said the county may be able to move to the red level as early as Friday.
During Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, PHD’s Director, Dr. Van Do-Reynoso, explained the statewide changes to the “Safer Economy Plan” metrics that incorporate vaccination rates.
California has relaxed the limits of color-coded layers that will allow more sectors to reopen based on the number of COVID-19 vaccines administered in communities most affected by the virus.
The state is using the Healthy Places Index (HPI), which uses various data points, such as economics, education, housing, etc., to determine health outcomes. California’s more than 1,650 postal codes have been divided into four quarters based on the HPI Index; generally, higher scores correlate with higher household incomes and lower scores with lower incomes.
When California reaches 2 million vaccinations in quartile 1 of the HPI, the highest “generalized” purple layer will change from 7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants to 10 cases per 100,000. Which means that if the 2 million mark were reached today, Santa Barbara County would be eligible to move to the less substantial “substantial” red level.
As of Monday, the state calculated that 1.875 million doses were administered, enabling the 2 million mark to be reached by Friday or early next week due to the current volume of vaccine distribution. Dr. Do-Reynoso called this “wonderful news” and declared that the level assignments would happen the next day, instead of having to wait until Tuesday.
The next limit is 4 million vaccinations, which then increases the “moderate” orange level, allowing a rate of 2 – 5.9 cases per 100,000 of the previous limit of 1-3.9.
As of Tuesday, Santa Barbara County has an expected adjusted case rate of 9.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, down from 10.9. This puts the county in the purple layer until the state reaches the vaccination limit of 2 million. The positivity of the current test is 3.6 and the equity in health is 5.1, both meet the requirements for the red level.
Vaccination efforts
Santa Barbara County received a 39% increase in COVID-19 vaccines this week, including the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Last week the municipality received 9,080 and this week 12,580 doses.
The municipality is following the state orientation of the 70/30 distribution model. People aged 65 and over will receive 70% of the vaccine supply, while other eligible sectors will receive 30%. Of the 30%, approximately 33% of vaccine consultations are open to educators, 31% to food and agriculture, 16% is a hybrid of food / ag and emergency services due to a combined clinic, 15% for daycare staff and 5 % for emergency medical services.
The PHD is awaiting state guidance on when to reduce the 65-year age restriction and reduce it further.
The public health officer, Dr. Ansorg, also said that the qualified nursing team’s hesitation regarding vaccination has improved a lot. Last month, it was reported that only 30% of employees in this sector had been vaccinated, most of them concerned about the side effects of the vaccine and false rumors broadcast on social networks.
Dr. Ansorg reported that now 70-80% of the entire qualified nursing staff in the county has been vaccinated. He attributes this increase to educational reach and to people feeling more relaxed after seeing their colleagues getting the vaccine.
Supervisor Das Williams expressed his concern about people trying to skip the line to get the vaccine and recalls that there are still people who are still at risk of dying from the virus.
“I ask people not to use the return to normal as their main motivator and still think about the health of the pub and keeping economic activity and economic survival as a priority. And the biggest thing for me are our schools and our mentally and well- being, learning and a future of mental health guaranteed before we get motivated and get rid of boredom, “said Williams.
New CDC recommendations
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has released new interim recommendations for people who are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
As he says, people who are fully vaccinated can visit other people who are fully vaccinated indoors, without a mask or at a distance. Fully vaccinated people can visit unvaccinated people from a single home with those who are at low risk of serious complications, indoors and without masks and distance. Fully vaccinated people can abstain from quarantine and testing after being exposed to a positive person known as COVID-19 who was asymptomatic.
Fully vaccinated people should:
- Continue to wear masks and physical distance in public, when visiting unvaccinated people who are most at risk, when visiting unvaccinated people from multiple families.
- Avoid medium to large face-to-face meetings
- Take the test if you are showing symptoms of COVID-19
- Continue to follow employers’ guidelines
- Follow CDC and local PHD travel restrictions.
COVID-19 numbers
Santa Barbara County registered its first COVID-19 case on March 15, 2020, almost a year ago. Dr. Do-Reynoso said the county has experienced peaks and valleys since then, with two periods of significant increase.
The first increase occurred in May 2020 and the second in December 2020 / January 2021, the last being the largest and longest during the pandemic. Since January 13, 2021, the municipality has experienced a downward trend.
From February 22 to March 8, 2021, active cases decreased by about 40%, which is “really good news,” said Dr. Do-Reynoso.
The county’s first death occurred on April 4, 2020 and since then 424 community members have died from COVID-19. In the past two weeks, deaths have increased by 7%. In the same period, hospitalizations decreased by 38% and length of stay in intensive care units (ICU) decreased by 12%.
As of this week, 71,851 county residents have been vaccinated. Of these, 50% are fully vaccinated.
More data can be found at https://publichealthsbc.org/status-reports/