In the first indication that California will accept President Joe Biden’s call for everyone to be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine by May 1, Gavin Newsom said Friday that the state is getting rid of the restrictions on residents can vaccinate.
“We expect within five and a half weeks (to be) where we can virtually eliminate all tigers and make vaccines available to everyone across the spectrum,” Newsom said during a stop in San Francisco. “The supply will increase exponentially, and in a few weeks these issues will be significantly addressed.”
A Department of Public Health spokesman told the Bay Area News Group the state is likely to release more details next week. The move will follow several other states and more than 32 million Californians will be eligible for vaccines – including more than 5 million in the Bay Area five – but in turn will put more pressure on a distribution system plagued by delays, supply shortages and bureaucratic actions. twis.
The aggressive pressure to vaccinate comes as the number of new cases of coronavirus in California has dropped dramatically in recent weeks to levels not seen in almost a year.
The seven-day new fall average is about 2,830, lower than it has been since the Golden State’s first significant rise in early June and well below late December, when the average soared to as high as north of 45,000. Across the U.S., states have posted similar rosy data.
The falling rate has led to provinces in California starting to reopen more stores and businesses, and vaccinated people starting to feel more comfortable collecting and leaving their homes.
In Alameda County, the seven-day average rate dropped to the 80s, reaching a level not seen since October, and before that, June. In Contra Costa County, cases followed a similar pattern, averaging in the 90s. With the exception of a blip in June, San Francisco County’s rate – in its 20s – is lower than ever. San Mateo County’s rate reached the thirties. In Santa Clara County, the average is about 120, slightly higher than where it was during the fall.
But some places, including in California, have seen the levels of cases. The Atlantic COVID tracking project on Thursday noted that Michigan has seen a turnaround from earlier declines, with both cases and hospitalizations now rising there. Hospitalizations have increased by 45% since February, counteracting earlier optimism that even if the number of cases rises, the roll-out of vaccines could help keep patients out of hospital. The shots are effective in preventing death and hospitalization, but as in California, most people in Michigan are still not vaccinated.
“I think what Michigan is telling us is that we are not out of the woods,” UCSF epidemiologist George Rutherford said. “We have these variants in circulation, we change behavior, and certain parts of the country are vaccinated less than others, and there is a plan to make these things happen.”
According to the detection project, the Great Lakes State also has the second most confirmed cases in the US of the B.1.1.7, or the UK, variant of the original virus. The variant spreads more easily, and research suggests it may be more deadly, which may contribute to the worrying leap in cases and hospitalizations. The variant, along with several others, is also increasingly of concern in California. Recently, a new case of a South African variant that is resistant to some vaccines has surfaced in Santa Clara County. This is not the first case in the area, but it is doubly worrying because it is presumably the first case here from community transfer, not travel.
“We do not know which path this outbreak is going to take in Michigan, but it could be a gap for what happens when new variant populations encounter less vaccine access,” the detection project noted. on Twitter.
The urgency is clear, but the explosion of California’s vaccine was slow. A California Department of Public Health spokesman said the state expects to receive about 1.8 million doses of vaccine per week over the next few weeks – consistent with previous grants, even if the number of people eligible to be vaccinated, with at least 4 extended. Monday million to include people with certain disabilities and health conditions. Santa Clara County canceled thousands of vaccine appointments this week, citing a shortage of supplies. Other providers, including Sutter and Kaiser, have also canceled appointments over the past few months.
Although the supply of vaccines is still strict, the Biden government has said states should allow everyone 16 and older to sign up for a vaccine appointment by early May. Officials say they expect supply to rise significantly in April, and Biden’s government said on Friday it expects to have enough vaccine for each adult by the end of May.
But a new report from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, which examines how well states have fared when it comes to getting shots in the communities hardest hit by the deadly virus, calls California the fifth worst state. The data on which the report was based was ahead of the state’s decision to set aside 40% of its vaccine for high-risk communities – a plan that pushed the leaders of the Bay Area back because it affected communities in the Central Valley and Southern California mainly focused.
The report, Newsom said, “highlighted why we did it.”
Staff Writer Harriet Rowan reported.