Director of Health Van Do-Reynoso announces that Santa Barbara County will open COVID-19 vaccinations to people 65 and older next week. (Screenshot via Santa Barbara County photo)
People over 65 can start making COVID-19 vaccine appointments in Santa Barbara County next week, the Public Health Department announced Friday.
During the first two months of vaccine distribution, the province focused on health workers, residents of long-term care facilities, and people 75 and older.
Public Health Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg estimated that at least two-thirds of local over-75s are currently vaccinated, and those residents can continue to book appointments even if more people qualify.
Van Do-Reynoso, director of public health, said people 65 and older can sign up for appointments on Feb. 16, next Tuesday.
Employees in the education, childcare, food and agriculture sectors cannot register yet.
In addition, state officials announced Friday that starting March 15, individuals between the ages of 16 and 64 who are disabled or at high risk of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 will be eligible for the vaccine.
The underlying conditions listed in the guidelines include cancer, chronic kidney disease stage four or higher, chronic lung disease, Down syndrome, pregnancy, heart disease, severe obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
As the situation spreads, the province will first advance to those 65 and older, Do-Reynoso said at a briefing Friday.
“I just want to ground us in reality,” she added.
The province receives about 6,000 vaccine doses per week and the 65-74 age group 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 suppliers also make sure that anyone who has already received a first dose gets a second dose in a timely manner.
(Screenshot via Santa Barbara County image)
“We have far more people than we have vaccines for, and we ask that the community give those most at risk for exposure and serious health outcomes the opportunity to make their vaccine appointments first, until the vaccine supply increases.”
The California Department of Public Health has developed guidelines for the distribution of vaccines with a priority status for people who are considered at high risk of exposure to the virus and serious illness if infected.
Each county had some discretion, and Santa Barbara County decided to start with 75-plus residents before expanding to this larger 65-plus group, Do-Reynoso said.
Ansorg said the county was willing to administer triple the amount of vaccines it has received to date, and those early shortages led to much frustration.
This shortage made it necessary to prioritize the most vulnerable population to get the vaccine first. These difficult first two months could have been averted if the (federal) government had indeed secured and shipped the number of doses they promised their promises, ”he said.
Now production is “ramping up” nationwide and a third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, is likely to be available in the United States soon, he added.
A graph from the Feb. 9 Board of Supervisors meeting shows estimated populations of soon-to-be vaccinated groups in Santa Barbara County. (Graph from the Department of Health)
From mid-March, the state will shift the distribution of vaccines to an external manager. Blue Shield of California will then directly assign the vaccines to pharmacies, public and private health care networks, hospitals, pop-up locations, and community health care centers.
This transition will streamline vaccine distribution and optimize the vaccine supply chain, Ansorg said.
On Friday, the province received 61,000 doses of the vaccine, and 99% of those doses, Do-Reynoso shared. “This is a huge celebration for our community,” she said.
Public Health debuted a new COVID-19 vaccine dashboard on Friday, featuring information such as doses administered based on age, race, ethnicity, and gender. The dashboard also details the number of vaccines assigned, ordered, and administered, as well as the percentage of the population fully vaccinated in each region of the province.
As the virus mutates and spreads, 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 sufficient to protect the wearer from the outside environment, Ansorg said.
To make sure the mask is tight enough to protect the wearer, he said some have found a solution by double masking.
Public health reported 87 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the lowest daily number since December 19.
“When I watched this morning I was very excited,” said Ansorg. “Our local case studies and positivity tests are finally down. This is a great relief to all of us. “
There were 741 cases still considered contagious across the province, also the lowest number of active cases reported since December 13.
There were 139 COVID-19 hospitalized patients across the county, and 28 required intensive care. According to Public Health, the availability of the ICU was 31.6%.
A new COVID-19 fatality was reported Friday. The person was over 70, had underlying medical conditions, and lived in Santa Maria.
To date, there have been 367 COVID-19-related fatalities.
Of Friday’s new cases, 29 were from Santa Barbara and 16 from Lompoc.
Santa Maria and the unincorporated area of Goleta Valley and Gaviota both reported seven new cases, Santa Ynez Valley had six, and Isla Vista registered 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 geographic location.
There have been 30,586 confirmed cases in the province since the start of the pandemic.
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