London Breed, mayor of San Francisco, said on Wednesday she expects the city to enter the less restricted red level next week – meaning restaurants, movies and other businesses can start with limits – and leave the press, California’s most restrictive. ‘s four-tier system for reopening the economy. .
“With the continued improvement of our COVID-19 health indicators, we can move to the state’s red level next Wednesday, March 3,” Breed said in a Twitter post. “It’s a big step forward, but we still have to make progress.”
Only nine of California’s 58 counties are in the red level, including Marin and San Mateo in the Bay. With the red level, more people can shop indoors, and allow other businesses with fewer customers. Museums can open 25%, gyms 10%, and cinemas and restaurants at 25% or 100 people, whichever is less. Only two provinces, Sierra and Alpine, reached the orange level, which made even fewer restrictions possible.
The news came when the deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday exceeded 50,000 in the state.
New cases of coronavirus are still falling in the state, and more Californians are eligible to be vaccinated.
In San Francisco, teachers, grocery workers and emergencies living or working in the city were eligible to be vaccinated for the first time Wednesday.
But not everyone could make an appointment.
This is because San Francisco, like many health departments and providers across the state, prioritizes second shots for people who received their first doses a few weeks ago. According to the Department of Public Health, approximately 91,000 San Franciscans will need to receive their second doses within the next few weeks, and many newly eligible people will have to wait two or three weeks until more vaccines arrive.
Craig MacLellan, a worker at a San Francisco Whole Foods market, was one of thousands who were eligible for the vaccine on Wednesday. Around 9 a.m., he was looking at an online appointment system for vaccines. He expected to click on his job category, “food and agricultural workers”, to indicate his eligibility.
But he said the category was not listed. MacLellan checked in about an hour later, and while food and agricultural workers were now listed, the appointments were fully booked.
MacLellan said he feels safe at work as he is young and has no underlying health conditions. But he is worried about some of his colleagues.
“While I’m very excited to be in a group that can handle this, I understand that this is one of the biggest logistical challenges in American history,” MacLellan said. “I think tens of thousands of people are signing up on these sites today.”
Some still had luck on Wednesday.
“It’s a big relief,” said Frank Lara, a fifth-grade teacher at Buena Vista Horace Mann School in San Francisco. He received his first shot on Wednesday afternoon. ‘It’s obviously stressful to try to get there and hopefully everything is organized. But it’s a step closer to being in the classroom. ”
The vaccination of educators was a major point of contention for the city’s teachers’ union, which said unvaccinated teachers would not be allowed back into the classroom until San Francisco reached the orange level, meaning the virus was only “moderately” spread. .
San Francisco delivered up to 6,000 shots a day before the winter storm that hit the Middle East caused delays in supplies and mass vaccination sites in the city and in California. So far, 80% of the city’s health workers and people aged 65 and older who are in phase 1A – health workers and people living in long-term care facilities – have been vaccinated, London Mayor London Breed has vaccinated. said on Twitter Wednesday.
“We can now do more than 10,000 doses a day once we provide more,” Breed added.
The status of the delayed vaccinations in San Francisco remained unclear on Wednesday, and city officials did not respond to questions.
But three other Bay Area provinces that reported delays last week – Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa – said on Wednesday that thousands of doses of vaccination had now arrived.
The Marin County Department of Health said Wednesday that educators, food service workers and other emergency workers can begin vaccination appointments immediately. The agency said it was ready to open its stockpile after more than 60% of all residents of the province over the age of 65 had been vaccinated.
“We have made a lot of progress in vaccinating our health workers and elderly residents, and it’s time to move on to protect our vital workers,” he said. Matt Willis, a public health officer in Marin County, said in a statement.
The Santa Clara County Department of Health announced Wednesday that a large vaccination site at Gilroy High School will open Sunday. The site, co-founded with the Gilroy Unified School District, offers up to 2,000 doses of vaccinations per day to residents of the province who qualify under Phase 1B of the state’s vaccination plan, which includes educators and food workers.
“I am hopeful that many of our residents and employees will report in the near future,” said Dr. Deborah Flores, the school superintendent in Gilroy, said. “Please register and must be vaccinated as soon as possible.”
Both vaccinations currently available in the United States, made by Pfizer and Moderna, are given in two shots, 21 days or 28 days apart.
Meanwhile, some elementary schools in Sonoma County may start again as the number of coronavirus cases has dropped enough and other requirements have been met, Drs. Sundari Mase, Sonoma County health officer, said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Schools wishing to reopen can submit a reopening plan, with middle and high schools waiting until the province moves from the purple level to the red level.
While the number of new cases of coronavirus, hospital admissions and deaths due to COVID-19 continues to decline, medical experts continue to warn of the danger of asymptomatic spread.
Dr. Bob Wachter, Chairman of UCSF’s Department of Medicine, said On Monday on Twitter, 1.1% of coronavirus tests in his hospital are positive, although the patient has no symptoms. This means that about 1 in every 100 San Francisco people may be wandering around with the virus without knowing it.
“So do not watch, especially since, if you have not been vaccinated yet, you will get a chance within the next three months,” Wachter said.
The White House expects to award three to four million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine by the end of next week if it receives an authorization for emergency use from the food and drug administration, Jeff Zients, president of Biden’s coordinator COVID-19, said Wednesday. . The FDA is expected to make a final decision within a few days.
Michael Williams, Aidin Vaziri and Catherine Ho are authors of San Francisco Chronicle staff. Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]