As many as half a million additional people in San Diego County will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine Saturday, but supplies remain limited and it is expected to be weeks before anyone entering the next eligible tier can be admitted vaccinated.
Those working in emergency services, education and childcare, as well as food and agriculture can receive vaccinations starting Feb. 27. Each of these sectors covers a wide variety of occupations, and there are vaccination plans for certain subgroups of those groups.
Those not covered by a specific vaccination program for their occupation should contact their primary care physician or make an appointment at vaccinatiesuperstationsd.com.
Newly Qualified Essential Workers
Emergency services include law enforcement officers, whose vaccination appointments will be coordinated by Scripps Health. Others in that industry include those who work in 911 call centers, building security, disaster monitoring, and hazardous materials response.
Education and childcare includes all teachers and staff of those facilities. Those who work in transitional kindergarten up to age 12th grade will have appointments coordinated by the County Office of Education through the California Schools VEBA. They must use vebavaccinates.com and must not appear at vaccination sites prior to an appointment confirmed through VEBA
Education personnel working in daycare facilities or in higher education not covered by California Schools VEBA should go through their primary care physician or visit vaccinationsuperstationsd.com.
Food and agriculture includes workers for every grocery or convenience store; those who support the running of restaurants and quick meals, including food preparation; Food production; a variety of support functions for the food and animal feed industry.
The food and agriculture sector also includes agricultural workers. They will be the focus of a campaign by Operation Collaboration, a coalition of firefighters and medical personnel delivering COVID-19 vaccines across the region. Operation Collaboration will visit fields and agricultural areas to deliver vaccines to workers in remote areas of the province.
The newly eligible groups are in addition to health professionals and everyone 65 and older. People 16 and older with underlying conditions, regardless of occupation, can apply for vaccinations on March 15.
Status statistics:
- San Diego County’s state-calculated, adjusted number of cases is currently 15 cases per 100,000 residents (as of Feb. 23) and the region is in Purple Tier or Tier 1.
- The test positivity rate is 5%, which puts the County in Tier 2 or the Red Tier. While the test positivity rate for the county qualifies it for the red layer, the state uses the most restrictive measure – in this case, the adjusted number of cases – and assigns counties to that level. Therefore, the County remains in the Purple Level or Level 1.
- The district health equality statistic, which looks at test positivity for areas with the lowest healthy conditions, is 7.4% and is in the red or second tier. This metric does not move provinces to more restrictive levels, but should progress to a less restrictive layer.
- The California Department of Public Health reviews counties on a weekly basis. The next report is scheduled for Tuesday March. 2.
Outbreaks in the community:
- Seven new outbreaks in the community were confirmed on Feb. 24: four in corporate settings, one in a daycare / preschool / daycare setting, one in a faith-based agency setting, and one in a retail setting.
- In the past seven days (Feb. 18 to Feb. 24), 30 outbreaks were confirmed in the community.
- The number of outbreaks in the community remains above the trigger of seven or more in seven days.
- A community outbreak is defined as three or more COVID-19 cases in an environment and in people from different households in the past 14 days.
To test:
- 18,830 tests were reported to the county on Feb. 24, and the rate of new positive cases was 3%.
- The moving average percentage of positive cases over 14 days is 4.4%. Target is less than 8.0%.
- The 7-day, daily mean of tests is 14,464.
Cases, hospital admissions and IC admissions:
- On February 24, 519 cases were reported to the County. The total of the region is now 258,982.
- 13,095 or 5.1% of all cases require hospitalization.
- 1,580 or 0.6% of all cases and 12.1% of hospitalized cases had to be admitted to an intensive care unit.
Deaths:
- On February 24, 30 new COVID-19 deaths were reported. The total of the region is 3,260.
- Twelve women and 18 men died between January 14 and February 24.
- Of the 30 deaths reported on February 24, 10 people who died were aged 80 or older, nine were in their 70s, eight were in their 60s, one was 50, and two were 40.
- Twenty-seven had underlying medical conditions, two did not and one had a medical history pending.
More information:
The more detailed data summaries on the The county coronavirus-sd.com website are updated daily around 5pm.