| Ventura County Star
US intends to expand the hunt for coronavirus variants
As COVID-19 mutates into potentially more dangerous forms, the United States is making efforts to detect the new variant. Stanford Medicine has launched a major surveillance program to detect coronavirus variants in the San Francisco Bay Area. (February 4)
AP
Editor’s note: The Star makes this story free for readers due to coronavirus-related public health concerns. Please consider a digital subscription to The Star so we can continue this important work.
More than 80,000 Ventura County residents between the ages of 65 and 74 can now receive COVID vaccinations, but limited stock of vaccine means it could take months to protect everyone, officials announced Tuesday.
And while some counties opened the vaccination door to all seniors in January, Ventura County officials limited the vaccinations to a high-risk group that includes health workers and people 75 years and older.
That changed Tuesday with vaccinations now extended to all seniors.
Barry Zimmerman, leader for vaccination of the vaccine in Ventura County, said at a meeting of the Board of Supervisors that the province administered the first of two doses to 53% of the elderly aged 75 and older.
“It’s an excellent, excellent penetration,” he said, noting that progress is helping to expand the decision to allow younger seniors.
Province officials earlier said the group in line for vaccinations is people 65 to 74 who have health conditions that make them more vulnerable to serious COVID disease.
Instead, they opened the door for all people in the age group.
In an email after the meeting, Zimmerman said the province had decided it would be difficult to manage the qualifying factors to try to limit vaccinations to people with certain health conditions. He also noted that the whole age group is generally considered a higher risk.
Clinical systems that provide the vaccines on their premises are being asked to give the shots first to elderly people who are at greatest risk, Zimmerman said.
Delivery misery
Pipeline problems in delivering the vaccine from the state to the country continue and are likely to mean people will have to wait for vaccinations.
“We only get 10,000 maybe 12,000 in a good week,” Zimmerman said of the doses delivered. Officials said requests for more vaccines were constantly being addressed to the state.
At the current delivery rate, it could take 22 weeks to administer two doses to all the people currently eligible for vaccines, Zimmerman said.
“We’ll still have a lot of people we can not serve until we get more vaccination,” supervisor Kelly Long said.
Zimmerman also said the province is expected to start working in the next level of essential workers, including teachers, farm workers, law enforcement and grocery stores, by the end of March.
More: Experimental COVID-19 treatment aimed at keeping Ventura County residents out of hospitals
A small pilot program to vaccinate workers at two farms in Santa Clara Valley could begin later this week.
An upcoming boost
The vaccine supply may increase. Robert Levin, a health officer in Ventura County, noted that dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, promised a 16% boost in the federal government’s vaccination stock.
A third vaccine supplier, Johnson & Johnson, has applied for vaccination and a fourth AstraZeneca product may also appear.
People can register for appointments at https://www.venturacountyrecovers.org/vaccine-information/portal/. People without internet access can call 805-477-7161.
Appointments are directly dependent on the vaccine supply. Zimmerman said Tuesday there are no more first-dose appointments available for this week.
More slots are expected to be added to the system next week.
The province will also transition to the state’s My Turn appointment portal on February 22. At that point, people could possibly make appointments by the end of March, Zimmerman said.
The province is also continuing to set up more vaccination sites that only require appointments. A spot can be found later this week at 2340 N. Rose Ave. in Oxnard. Another site is expected at Adolfo Road 5100 in Camarillo later this month.
Other sites are planned for Santa Paula, Camarillo, Oxnard and Simi Valley. Private clinic systems, including Clinicas del Camino Real and the community health centers for family health, will also work with the country to offer vaccinations.
Vaccinations are also offered by pharmacies working with the province.
More: Conejo Valley Unified, teachers’ union negotiates COVID-19 teacher grants
Second wave doses
The province is also vaccinating a spate of people who received their first doses in January and are now receiving their second doses. The largest vaccination center in the area, the Ventura County Fairgrounds, is temporarily used exclusively for second doses.
Zimmerman said that as of Monday, nearly 99,000 doses of vaccine had been administered in the country. He said he was told the province has the 12th highest amount of vaccine in California.
Levin told supervisors that the vaccines are thought to be effective against the British variant of the virus, which is occurring at an increasing rate in the state and country.
It is feared that the variant may become the dominant tribe in some regions, Levin said, saying it could be 30% more contagious than the Wuhan tribe.
Last month, very small samples of two COVID-19 mutations were found in an Oxnard sewage study looking for evidence of the virus in human waste.
Both mutations are among the many found in the British tribe. Levin said the province was still awaiting laboratory results to determine whether the mutations discovered were indeed the strain that originated in England.
“The variants will inevitably come to Ventura County, but the vaccines we have appear to be protective,” he said.
Levin said samples taken from the Oxnard sewer project a week ago also show less evidence of one of the two mutations and no new evidence of the second.
The mutations are unlikely to disappear permanently, but the reduced presence is good news, Levin said.
“It buys us a few weeks or maybe months, and then by that time we will have given enough vaccine to make a problem,” Levin said.
More: COVID-19 Vaccinations for Veterinarians Launched at Oxnard Veterans Affairs Clinic
County improves
Ventura County Director of Public Health Rigoberto Vargas told the Board of Supervisors that the country’s COVID statistics continue to improve. As of Monday, 263 people with COVID needed hospital care – down from a peak of 449 in January.
The positivity rate and the number of cases is also declining, Vargas said.
State data showed that the unadjusted COVID case in the country dropped from an average of 80 cases per day per 100.00 population to 62 cases per day for the week ending 30 January.
The rate was still the highest in California.
The country’s COVID testing rate – an average of 800 tests per day per 100,000 people – is one of the best in the state. Officials say the high level of testing is a partial explanation for the high case.
Vargas on Tuesday reported five more deaths related to the virus, bringing the province’s total to 683.
Witness ‘horrible reality’
Supervisor Carmen Ramirez announced at the board meeting that her brother, Ricardo Ramirez, was dying from the virus. He was a 64-year-old retired electrician and an army veteran who lived on his boat in the Port of the Channel Islands.
He was “generous, kind, loving and cared for his family and our world,” she said in an email.
At the Board of Supervisors, she said death devastated her family.
“For those who think it’s not real, I’m a witness to its horrible reality,” she elaborated in an email on the point. “I just want to wake up in the morning and think it was a nightmare. . And he will still come through my front door to get his mail. ‘
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at [email protected] or 805-437-0255.
LOCAL JOURNALISM SUPPORT: Sign up here to see more such stories.