“Next week, the majority of appointments will be at our vaccination sites for second doses,” said Dr. Paul Simon, chief scientific officer for the department of public health, said. ‘We will only deliver second doses to our Mega-POD sites.
The Mega-PODs run by the province are on the Pomona Fairplex, Magic Mountain, the Forum, the County Office of Education in Downey and the North American state of Calridge.
He said the first doses would be available elsewhere, mainly at health centers, pharmacies “and other providers serving the areas hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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Due to the lack of doses, city venues such as Dodger Stadium, Hansen Dam, Crenshaw Clinic, San Fernando Clinic and Lincoln Park Clinic were temporarily closed. The vaccines ran out of vaccines late last week, and city equipment is expected to reopen on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The province received about 200,000 doses each week, although the actual amount varied greatly from week to week, making advance planning for bookings difficult. Stocks were so limited this week that the city of Los Angeles was forced to close the Dodger Stadium vaccination site and four other locations through the weekend because it depleted stocks by Thursday afternoon.
“We share their frustration,” Simon said. “We are all frustrated. We know we could have done a lot more if we had had more doses. For example, we now receive approximately 200,000 doses each week, and since we have researched all of our providers, we are confident that we can administer up to 600,000 doses per week. So we have a much, much greater capacity if we can get the available vaccine. ‘
Simon and the provincial health officer, dr. Muntu Davis, both said the increase in supplies will be critical as more people qualify for the shots. He notes that the state plans to be eligible next month for all people 16 years and older who have underlying medical conditions or disabilities. which makes them very susceptible to death or serious illness due to COVID.
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Davis realized the general downward trend in everyday cases, but stressed that although the numbers are getting better, they are still high, and that ‘the risk of running into someone with COVID-19 who may not know it is still very high not.’ ‘
The province reported another 137 COVID deaths on Friday, while Long Beach health officials announced 14 deaths and Pasadena one, raising the total death toll to 18,804.
Another 3,497 new cases were also confirmed by the country, along with 124 by Long Beach and 29 by Pasadena, which increased the cumulative total of the entire pandemic to 1,161,926.
The province also reported another 15 cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children or MIS-C, which increased the total to 90, including one death. Health officials noted that the number of MIS-C infections had increased by 35% over the past two weeks. The syndrome usually develops in children after they have COVID-19, although it sometimes affects patients with no known infection.
According to state figures, there were 3,426 people in the country in the hospital on Friday due to COVID, with 1,032 people in intensive care. In early January, more than 8,000 people were hospitalized for the virus.
“So there’s positive news in terms of things coming down,” Davis said. ‘We want it to keep going down, because if the number of cases goes down, we’re coming in at less limited levels and we can consider it more of the economy … and have less restrictive changes. ”
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He encouraged people to keep to protocols such as masking and physical distance. He acknowledged the changes formalized this week could mean that indoor church services with limited capacity and limited activities could be resumed during services. But he stressed that despite the change, “it is still safer for places of worship to hold only outdoor and remote services. It is the safest option for those at high risk for serious diseases of COVID-19 and those who live there.”
Davis also expressed his dismay at the plans of Sun Valley’s Grace Community Church – which has repeatedly challenged land and court orders by holding massive indoor services – to host an indoor religious conference in early March, which usually has more than 3,000 people lok. He said the province was exploring its options to challenge the opportunity. Such conferences are excluded under health restrictions, but it is unclear whether the conflict would be released as a religious gathering.
On Friday night, however, the church announced that it had chosen to postpone the conference in light of its’ ongoing litigation and recent threats from the country and the country over the planned event.
Regarding vaccines, Simon said the latest figures show that 1 345 949 doses have been administered in the country, of which 1 047 074 are first doses. A total of 13.5% of the country’s population aged 16 and over received at least one dose, and 3.8% of the population were fully vaccinated.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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