Both COVID-19 metrics and the weekly vaccine allocation are improving in Santa Barbara County, opening up vaccination eligibility to additional community members.
Santa Barbara County Public Health Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso presented COVID-19 data from the last half of February at a March 2 Board of Supervisors meeting. Over the two-week period, active cases decreased by 45 percent, hospitalizations decreased by 50 percent, and ICU rates decreased by 32 percent.
Deaths, however, increased by 17 percent in the two-week period. But Do-Reynoso said that overall, the metrics indicate good news.
“This is what we need to see with regards to the transmission of COVID-19 in our community,” Do-Reynoso said.
All of the metrics considered in the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening system additionally improved in Santa Barbara County, according to Do-Reynoso. The adjusted case rate as of March 2 sat at 13 cases per 100,000, the positivity rate at 5.1 percent, and the health equity metric at 8.2 percent. While the adjusted case rate is still solidly in the purple tier, the positivity rate is within the red tier, and the health equity metric is just 0.2 percent away from turning red.
In an effort to move the dial on the case rate, county officials are encouraging community members to get tested for COVID-19, even if they do not display symptoms. Counties that test widely are rewarded by the state with an adjustment in their case rates.
“More testing will mean that we can discover the asymptomatic cases sooner, and prevent the spread,” Do-Reynoso said. “And in addition, more testing will mean more reopening, ultimately.”
The county’s vaccine allocation increased by 22 percent from the last week of February to the first week of March.
“With additional vaccine production from Pfizer and from Moderna with the federal partnerships to CVS and Rite Aid, and the federal partnerships to our community health centers, our own county health care centers … we are, as a community, getting an infusion, an increase of vaccines across the board,” Do-Reynoso said.
Those in Phase 1A, which includes health care workers and people aged 75-plus, are still eligible for vaccination, but now so is the entirety of phase 1B. Community members who are 65 and older, as well as emergency service, agriculture and food, and education and child care workers, are eligible through the county’s new 70/30 distribution plan.
Do-Reynoso explained that 70 percent of the county’s weekly vaccine allocation will go to hospitals, while 30 percent will go to public health’s community vaccination sites. Hospital partners will cover the continued vaccination of those 65 and older as well as education workers. The county sites will handle food and agriculture workers, child care workers, and emergency services personnel.
This week, Lompoc Valley Medical Center will be vaccinating high priority education workers, who are “staff serving students who are unable to wear masks, who are medically fragile, or require support that does not allow for physical distancing,” Do-Reynoso said. The hospital will also begin to vaccinate the second priority group: staff who have significant in-person contact across multiple groups. Other education workers—such as those in-person but with minimal mixing, and those who work remotely—will not yet be vaccinated this week.
The county also ran a farmworker vaccination clinic over the weekend, (see: “Santa Barbara County successfully vaccinated nearly 500 farmworkers,” page 4) which Do-Reynoso said was a huge success.
With the Johnson & Johnson vaccine recently receiving federal emergency use authorization, Do-Reynoso anticipates that the county will get an allocation in the near future.
“We will await guidance from CDPH [California Department of Public Health] with regard to the population to be served, but nonetheless we are incredibly excited at this new option for a convenient, one-dose, easy-to-store, quick-acting vaccine for our providers as well as our community,” she said.
This article appears in Mar 4-11, 2021.