Santa Barbara County will begin vaccinating age 65+ next week Coronavirus crisis

People over 65 could start making COVID-19 vaccine appointments in Santa Barbara County next week, the Department of Public Health announced Friday.

The first two months of vaccine distribution, the country focused on health workers, residents of long-term care facilities and people aged 75 and over.

Public health officer, dr. Henning Ansorg, has estimated that at least two-thirds of the local population over the age of 75 have been vaccinated, and residents can continue to book appointments even if the qualification increases to more people.

Van Do-Reynoso, director of public health, said people aged 65 and older could start signing up for appointments next Tuesday, February 16th.

Workers in the education, childcare, food and agricultural industries are not yet able to enter.

In addition, government officials announced Friday that beginning March 15, individuals between the ages of 16 and 64 who are disabled or at high risk for disease and mortality due to COVID-19 will be eligible to receive the vaccine.

The underlying conditions in the guidelines include cancer, chronic kidney disease stage four or more, chronic lung disease, Down syndrome, pregnancy, heart disease, severe obesity and type 2 diabetes.

As the situation expands, the province will only move to individuals 65 and older, Do-Reynoso said during an information session on Friday.

“I just want to ground ourselves in reality,” she added.

The province receives about 6,000 vaccine doses per week and the age group 65-74 is an estimated 41,000 people, she said.

“So, the takeaway is that the vaccine supply is still very limited,” she said, adding that vaccine providers are also making sure that everyone who has already received a first dose gets a second dose on time.

“We have a lot more people than we have vaccines for, and we ask that until the vaccine supply increases, the community allows those at greatest risk for exposure and serious health outcomes to enable them to make their vaccines first.”

The California Department of Public Health has developed guidelines for distributing vaccines with priority status to people who are seen as at high risk for exposure to the virus and serious diseases if they become infected.

Each province has some discretion, and Santa Barbara County decided to start with more than 75 residents before expanding to this larger 65-plus group, Do-Reynoso said.

Ansorg said the country was prepared to triple the amount of vaccines it had received so far, and the early shortages had led to much frustration.

“This shortage has made it necessary to put the most vulnerable population first to receive the vaccine first. This difficult first two months could have been averted if the (federal) government had indeed secured and sent the number of doses they had promised. their promises, ”he said.

Production is now on the rise at the national level, and a third Johnson & Johnson vaccine is likely to be available in the United States soon, he added.

Beginning in mid-March, the state will move the distribution of vaccines to a third-party administrator. Blue Shield of California will then allocate the vaccines directly to pharmacies, public and private health care networks, hospitals, pop-up sites and community health care centers.

Ansorg said the transition will streamline the distribution of vaccines and optimize the supply chain of vaccines.

As of Friday, the country had received 61,000 doses of the vaccine and administered 99% of the doses, Do-Reynoso shared. “This is a big, big festival for our community,” she said.

Public Health launched a new COVID-19 vaccine panel on Friday with information on doses administered by age, race, ethnicity and gender. The dashboard also describes the number of vaccines awarded, ordered and administered, as well as the percentage of the population fully vaccinated in each region of the province.

With the virus mutating and spreading, Ansorg said N95 masks are ideal for protecting community members from the virus. Surgical masks are designed to protect the wearer’s environment, but are not as adequate to protect the wearer from the outside, Ansorg said.

To ensure that the mask is tight enough to protect the wearer, he said some have found a solution by double-masking.

Public Health on Friday reported 87 new cases of COVID-19, the lowest daily number since December 19th.

“When I watched this morning, I was very excited,” Ansorg said. ‘Our local cases and the testing of positivity rates have finally slowed down. This is a great relief to all of us. ”

There were 741 cases still considered contagious across the country, also the lowest number of active cases reported since December 13th.

There were 139 COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital across the country, and 28 required intensive care. The province’s ICU availability was 31.6%, according to Public Health.

One new COVID-19 death was reported on Friday. The individual was over 70, had underlying medical conditions and was in Santa Maria.

There have been 367 deaths associated with COVID-19 so far.

Of Friday’s new cases, 29 were from Santa Barbara and 16 from Lompoc.

Santa Maria and the unincorporated area of ​​the Goleta Valley and Gaviota both reported seven new cases, the Santa Ynez Valley counted six and Isla Vista recorded five.

The Montecito-Summerland-Carpinteria area, Goleta, and the unincorporated areas of North County, all reported three new cases and Orcutt reported one.

There were seven more cases pending geographical location.

There have been 30,586 confirmed cases in the country since the pandemic began.

– Giana Magnoli, managing editor of Noozhawk, can be reached (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue can be reached at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Get in touch with Noozhawk on Facebook.