By 
Spencer Custodio |
While Orange County officials continue to promote a massive coronavirus vaccination program, questions remain about how many doses the state distribution will flow into the province.
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Public health officials have yet to answer questions about a possible time frame or schedule of how many doses are expected in OC.
Government Gavin Newsom did not have a clear answer at a Friday news conference.
“Our decision is to administer all the existing doses that are in this condition as quickly and efficiently as possible. And we still have a lot of work to do in space, ” Newsom said, adding that the state has received about 3 million doses.
“We have hundreds of thousands more that we expect,” Newsom said, but did not say when the vaccines would arrive.
Meanwhile, the provincial health officer, dr. Clayton Chau, said the province is trying to set up five vaccination supersets in the province, hoping to vaccinate 8,000 people a day – a total of 40,000 people once OC can get the required vaccine supply.
This is 280,000 doses needed per week to fully launch the sites.
Disneyland was the first of five sites to open this week in an extensive publicity stunt.
Yet the website and mobile application used by Orange County to register people for vaccinations, Othena, was plagued by accidents of overloaded servers due to the huge demand from residents and people working in OC.
Although the registration website and program was sporadically down throughout the week, it was up and running again on Friday morning.
Questions and concerns were raised by some disabled people who are unable to go to Disneyland to be vaccinated.
‘It’s just not possible for people with mobility problems. This is amazing. I have called the health department several times, “said Amy Applebaum, a 59-year-old Fullerton resident.
Although Applebaum is not eligible for the first round of the dual vaccinations, she is worried about how she will get the shots once it is her turn.
“If I keep raising disabled people, they have no idea what to tell me,” she said. “It’s amazing. It is as if we do not exist. ”
Supervisor Doug Chaffee, who was part of the country’s effort to vaccinate, said officials were aware of the matter.
‘It’s very difficult at the moment, we just do not have enough to go around. We therefore ask that they be patient, but should consult their own doctor and let them know that the pharmacies are actually vaccinating people, ‘Chaffee said in a Friday interview.
He also said there were attempts at mobile vaccination.
“But they do not have much (vaccine stock),” Chaffee said.
Applebaum said her doctor did not know how to get her vaccinated.
‘They tell you to call your doctors, the doctors know nothing. The whole thing goes beyond comprehension, ”she said. ‘I have a letter from St. Jude who says I will not survive COVID. ‘
Questions are also asked of people who have parents in nursing homes.
One OC resident said they have been trying to get their mother a vaccine since last year but are not sure when it will hit the nursing home.
‘I can tell you that it was very worrying to some extent. There was some communication about it, then it stopped, ‘the resident said in a Friday telephone interview. “I thought they would get it by the end of the year.”
The resident did not want to be named because they feared it could endanger the care of their mother.
“So I know LA County and in the Inland Empire someone whose parents were vaccinated. A while ago, ‘they said. “It’s scary for anyone at high risk, and they’s the highest level.”
Healthcare workers and residents in nursing homes are the top priority.
OC, along with federal and state public health officials, earlier this week pushed everyone 65 and older into the top tier.
“The biggest risk, the most vulnerable population – for them not to have the vaccines and then open up to 65 and older, I find it outrageous and almost criminal,” the resident said.
State and local health departments have partnered with Walgreens and CVS to distribute the vaccines in nursing homes.
At a Wednesday news conference, Chau said he did not know exactly what was going on with the vaccinations for nursing homes.
“There is federal allocation coming to the pharmacies that vaccinate the long-term care facilities and competent nursing homes,” Chau said. “And we at the provincial level have no access to what the levels are.”
He said they were investigating the issue.
“From a provincial perspective, we want to see what the total doses allocated to the different entities are,” Chau said.
Although the provincial leadership has not officially announced the four other locations, Oliver Chi, manager of Huntington Beach City, told Voice of OC last week that provincial officials keep an eye on Knott’s Berry Farm, the Orange County Fairgrounds, The Great Park and Soka University.
Chi sits on the task force for vaccinating the province.
Meanwhile, bodies are piling up as provincial officials try to tackle vaccination barriers and people scramble to register a vaccination.
The health care agency reported 82 new deaths on Friday – a daily record increase so far.
Newly reported deaths can last for weeks due to delays.
According to the country, the virus has now killed 2,277 people out of 205,911 confirmed cases Healthcare Agency.
The agency reported that 376 people have died from the virus since the year began.
The virus has already killed more than three times as many people as the flu on an annual average.
In that context, Orange County has averaged about 20,000 deaths a year since 2016, including 543 annual flu deaths, according to state health data.
According to the state’s death statistics, cancer kills more than 4,600 people, heart disease kills more than 2,800, more than 1,400 die as a result of Alzheimer’s disease and strokes kill more than 1,300 people.
According to the latest available state data, Orange County exceeded its annual average of 20,000 deaths, with 21,110 people in November.
It is a difficult virus for the medical community to tackle because some people show no symptoms but can still spread it. Others feel slight symptoms, such as fatigue and mild fever.
Others end up in ICUs for days and weeks before making it out, while others eventually die from the virus.
Hospitalizations have declined slightly since last week.
As of Friday, 2,101 people have been admitted to the hospital, including 534 in intensive care units.
But OC maintained a high average of new cases.
The health care agency reported an additional 3,158 new cases on Friday.
And OC has averaged about 3,500 new cases per day over the past week.
Public health officials estimate that about 12% of all newly infected people are hospitalized within three weeks.
This means that more than 2,900 people could be admitted to hospital in the coming weeks, as hospitals discharge stabilized patients as quickly as possible.
OC nurses have shaken hands while many people die alone because families are not allowed to use virus units due to hospital protocols.
In a Wednesday telephone interview, registered nurse Choi Bagnol, who works at the Kaiser Medical Center in Irvine, said it was very heartbreaking to see people die.
“I believe no one should die alone. We made it a point where a patient is in comfortable care and they are waiting to succeed; we stay there when their heart rate drops. We stay there and hold their hands while they take their last breath. ”
For more information on the COVID-19 vaccine in Orange County, visit our Voice or OC information sheet: http://bit.ly/occovidvaccine.
Here is the latest information on the virus numbers in Orange County from data from the country:
Infections | Hospitalizations and deaths | City-by-city data | Demographics
Spencer Custodio is a reporter for the Voice of OC staff. You can reach him at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio
Reporter Nick Gerda contributed to this story.