By 
Spencer Custodio and Hosam Elattar |
Orange County’s private physicians, emergency physicians and elderly residents will soon receive coronavirus vaccines after pressure from local doctors and public health officials to increase vaccinations.
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The reformed deployment efforts come just while 2,259 people are in hospital, the highest score so far during the pandemic.
Dr Michelle Hure was a key proponent of vaccinating more people, including community health workers, after first expressing her concern last month.
Hure, a private physician practicing dermatological pathology, said there will be a major vaccination program at Orange County Medical Association’s headquarters, which is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 16 and 17.
“I got one of the nursing schools to give about 200 nursing students, and with their supervising RNs (registered nurses) they are all going to be vaccinated,” Hure said in a Friday interview. “I also got about 60 doctors in the community to sign up.”
According to government officials, pharmacy businesses have, according to government officials, prepared to vaccinate defenseless seniors.
Hire stood in line during the phone interview to get her first dose at the Orange County Fire Authority headquarters in Irvine.
She said she tried to get her first dose on Thursday, but things got stuck because staff did not check credentials, similar to experiences when Los Angeles County launched a similar program last week.
By Friday, the staff was much stricter, Hure said.
‘You had to show the appointment time, you had to show proof of identity that you are a nurse or doctor or an MA, your salary. They check everything. Now it is legal, ”said Hure.
Ruksana Omar, who cares for elderly people in a nursing home in OC, said she was excited to get her first dose of the two-part vaccine at OCFA headquarters on Friday.
JULIE LEOPO, voice of OC
Ruksana Omar, 61, an elderly caretaker in Orange County, was torn apart after receiving her first dose of coronavirus vaccine. January 8, 2021.
Meanwhile, health agency officials plan to set up at least five vaccination supersites.
“The first of the superpowls is expected to get underway hopefully within the next week,” said Oliver Chi, manager of Huntington Beach City. He is also in the task force for the vaccination of the province.
Chi said the goal is to vaccinate everyone in the province who wants one by July 4 through the supersites.
“We hope to have between 70 and 85% vaccination rates across the country so that we get to the point where the CDC is currently considering being safe to reopen everything at that point,” Chi said on a Friday. . telephone maintenance.
“With the goal of being at that point, we’re coming back to a pre-COVID lifestyle here in our region.”
Chi said the sites have been identified and are being finalized. There’s one at Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, the Orange County Fairgrounds, The Great Park and Soka University.
Public health officials are urging provinces to distribute vaccines to medical workers and the elderly living in nursing homes after changing the approach.
‘To maximize the administration of vaccines and reduce the potential for waste, local health departments and suppliers must immediately deliver COVID-19 vaccines to individuals in all levels of phase 1a, “Reads the news release from the California Department of Public Health.
Government officials are also expanding the suitability of the first rounds of vaccinations.
“In addition to health professionals at the forefront, it includes a wide range of people in health care settings such as community health care workers, field staff, health clinics, specialist clinics, laboratory workers, dental clinics and pharmacy staff,” the news release reads.
Orange County Fire Authority staff said they were following state guidelines Friday.
JULIE LEOPO, voice of OC
People are awaiting their first round of two-part coronavirus vaccination at Orange County headquarters in Irvine. January 8, 2021.
The state recommendations come after some confusion in the vaccination guidelines – the state vaccination guidelines place doctors in primary care in the second tier of the first phase, while guidelines used by the province seem to have private practice staff at a higher priority.
Officials from the OC health care agency also updated the country’s vaccination plan on Wednesday.
According to the updated guidelines, OC officials now want to vaccinate paramedics, nursing home staff and residents, laboratory workers, dental offices, primary care providers, community health workers and specialty clinics, such as dialysis centers.
OC and the state’s new approach to vaccinations comes after state officials on public health called local health departments across the state on Tuesday in an effort to promote vaccine distribution.
The phone calls come a day after Gavin Newsom admonished the slow rollout of vaccinations as ‘not good enough’ at a Monday news conference.
According to Newsom, only about a third of the 1.3 million vaccines were administered.
Hundreds of thousands more have been vaccinated since then, and government officials plan to vaccinate 1 million Californians by the end of next week.
Meanwhile, hospitals in Orange County are facing waves of coronavirus patients.
According to state data, 2,259 people were admitted to the hospital, including 514 in intensive care units, according to state data – record numbers for Orange County.
As of Thursday, the last numbers available at the country’s health agency, 1,972 people had died from the virus.
The virus has killed more than three times as many people as the flu each year.
In that context, Orange County has averaged about 20,000 deaths a year since 2016, including 543 annual flu deaths, according to health status 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 Orange County, Orange County has already exceeded its annual average of 20,000 deaths, with 21,110 people dying in November. latest available state data.
The coronavirus is also spread like wildfire in OC prisons.
More than 1,000 prisoners were infected – more than an increase of 1,200% compared to four weeks ago when 74 prisoners were infected.
Late last month, about 120 homeless people at 16 different shelters tested positive for the virus.
So far, the virus has killed a prisoner.
OC Bariff Don Barnes is expected to face hard questions in court today about his handling of the prison outbreaks.
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.
Meanwhile, public health officials are preparing for more deaths and launching a mass death program to deal with the waves of people dying from the virus.
‘The plan is intended to provide mutual assistance and will address the increase in storage needed to reduce the bottleneck caused by an increase in deaths. The resurgence, which is already beginning to take place, has prompted hospitals to release an increasing number of deaths to grain harvesters who then have to hold the bodies until they can send them to funeral workers to be processed for funerals, ‘reads a news release from the state office for emergency services.
Some OC families are delayed by burying their dead as bodies pile up at some hospitals in the country.
The registered nurse Gemma Seidl, who is also the executive director of acute care in the St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, said she has a backlog in funeral services.
‘We have families who have already arranged funeral services, but the mortuary itself cannot take the corpses because they do not have space. Therefore, they stay a little longer in our mortuary. ‘
Here is the latest information on virus numbers in Orange County:
Infections | Hospitalizations and deaths | City-by-city data | Demographics
Spencer Custodio is a reporter for Voice of OC. You can reach him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio