Santa Barbara County will start vaccinating people over 65 next week | Coronavirus crisis

People over 65 can start making appointments for the COVID-19 vaccine in Santa Barbara County next week, the Department of Public Health announced on Friday.

During the first two months of vaccine distribution, the county focused on health professionals, residents of long-term care facilities and people aged 75 and over.

Public health officer Dr. Henning Ansorg estimated that at least two-thirds of the local population over 75 years of age were vaccinated at this time, and these residents can continue to make appointments even when eligibility expands to more people.

Van Do-Reynoso, director of public health, said people aged 65 and over could start signing up for consultations on February 16, next Tuesday.

Education, daycare, food and agricultural workers are still unable to apply.

In addition, state officials announced on Friday that from March 15, individuals aged 16 to 64 who are disabled or at high risk of morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19 will be eligible to receive the vaccine .

The underlying conditions stated in the guidelines include cancer, chronic kidney disease stage four or more, chronic lung disease, Down syndrome, pregnancy, heart problems, severe obesity and type 2 diabetes, among others.

As the situation is expanding, the county will move first to individuals aged 65 and over, Do-Reynoso said during a news conference on Friday.

“I just want to base it on reality,” she added.

The county receives about 6,000 doses of vaccine per week and the 65-74 age group is estimated at 41,000 people, she said.

“So the conclusion is that vaccine supply is still very limited,” she said, adding that vaccine suppliers are also ensuring that everyone who has received the first dose receives a second dose in a timely manner.

“We have many more people than vaccines, and we ask that, until the vaccine supply increases, the community allows those who are most at risk of exposure and serious health problems to allow them to mark vaccines first. ”

The California Department of Public Health has developed vaccine distribution guidelines with priority status for people considered to be at high risk of exposure to the virus and serious illnesses, if infected.

Each county had some discretion, and Santa Barbara County decided to start with more than 75 residents before expanding to this larger group of 65, said Do-Reynoso.

Ansorg said the county is prepared to administer triple the number of vaccines it has received so far, and the initial shortage has generated a lot of frustration.

“This shortage made it necessary to prioritize the most vulnerable population to receive the vaccine first. These difficult first two months could have been avoided if the (federal) government had in fact guaranteed and dispatched the promised number of doses. We had prepared according to your promises, “he said.

Production is now “increasing” nationally, and a third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, is likely to be available in the United States soon, he added.

Beginning in mid-March, the state will change the distribution of the vaccine to a third-party administrator. Blue Shield of California will then distribute the vaccines directly to pharmacies, public and private health networks, hospitals, pop-up sites and community health centers.

This transition will streamline vaccine delivery and streamline the vaccine supply chain, said Ansorg.

By Friday, the municipality had received 61,000 doses of the vaccine and administered 99% of those doses, shared Do-Reynoso. “This is a big party for our community,” she said.

Public Health debuted a new COVID-19 vaccine panel on Friday, providing information such as doses administered by age, race, ethnicity and sex. The panel also describes the number of vaccines that have been allocated, requested and administered, as well as the percentage of the population fully vaccinated in each region of the county.

With the virus changing and expanding, Ansorg said N95 masks are ideal for protecting community members from the virus. Surgical masks are designed to protect the user’s environment, but are not sufficient to protect the user from the external environment, said Ansorg.

To ensure that the mask is tight enough to protect the wearer, he said that some have found a solution through double masking.

Public Health reported 87 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the lowest daily number since December 19.

“When I looked this morning, I was very excited,” said Ansorg. “Our local case rates and test positivity rates have finally dropped. It is a great relief for all of us. “

There were 741 cases still considered infectious across the municipality, also the lowest number of active cases reported since December 13.

There were 139 COVID-19 patients hospitalized across the county and 28 required intensive care. The availability of ICU in the municipality was 31.6%, according to Public Health.

A new COVID-19 fatality was reported on Friday. The individual was over 70 years old, had underlying medical conditions and resided in Santa Maria.

To date, there have been 367 fatalities related to COVID-19.

Of the new cases on Friday, 29 were from Santa Barbara and 16 from Lompoc.

Santa Maria and the unincorporated area of ​​Vale do Goleta and Gaviota reported seven new cases, Vale de Santa Ynez recorded six, and Isla Vista recorded five.

The Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria, Goleta and the unincorporated areas of North County reported three new cases and Orcutt reported one.

There were seven cases still pending geographic location.

There have been 30,586 confirmed cases in the county since the pandemic began.

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