Coronavirus update: New vaccination sites open in Oakland, L.A. What about the Valley?
State officials will be able to dole out about 23% more first doses of COVID-19 vaccine next week than this week, according to an allocation update on Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That obviously came as another positive on a day state and federal officials opened mass vaccination sites at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and at Cal State Los Angeles, amid a statewide shortage of vaccine doses.
The two sites opened on Tuesday are run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), with FEMA and the Department of Defense providing resources and federal staffing support as well as operational support.
Around 3,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were expected to be administered at the sites on Tuesday and by the end of the week that would double to 6,000, levels they are expected to maintain for the foreseeable future. The two sites will draw vaccine supply from the federal government independently, and not from the same supply the state receives, and then allocates to counties and health care providers.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Feb. 8 that the San Joaquin Valley would get a similar site, supported by the federal government and managed by the state. That site has not yet been finalized, but Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti stressed at a press conference at the Cal State Los Angeles site that it is critical to build the state’s vaccine infrastructure so when more doses are available they can be administered quickly and efficiently.
“Inevitably people ask, ‘Well, you have all these large sites and now you have to throttle back,’” Newsom said. “While that’s true, again, the only limitation being supply, as the mayor said a moment ago and this is a really important point that he emphasized, we’re building the infrastructure where the only constraint is supply. But when the supply is ample, then we’re able to move aggressively and quickly.”
A Valley mass vaccination site was not addressed at the press conference, but Newsom said the state will be adding to that infrastructure. “I have great expectations you’re going to see more and more of these all throughout the state in the coming weeks and months,” he said.
The sites at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and Cal State Los Angeles were set up with a goal to expand vaccinations with a focus on communities with a high risk of COVID-19 exposure and infection.
“This is a framework, a focus not just on efficiency, not just speed but on the issue of equity, that’s what brings us here,” Newsom said. “It’s not just the spirit, not just the platitude of this being a North Star, but this is what this site is all about – proximate to a community that has been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic.”
Updates from the Central Valley
Public health officials updated COVID-19 case and death data on Tuesday following the weekend and the President’s Day holiday. Here are the updates from counties in the Central San Joaquin Valley since last reported:
- 1,053 new cases; 93,231 total
- 50 new deaths; 1,341 total
Kings County
- 125 new cases; 21,658 total
- 4 new deaths; 209 total
Madera County
- 98 new cases; 15,064 total
- 12 new deaths; 201 total
Mariposa County
- 2 new cases; 388 total
- 2 new deaths; 7 total
Merced County
- 500 new cases; 28,201 total
- 7 new deaths; 382 total
Tulare County
- 220 new cases; 46,934 total
- 6 new deaths; 697 total
To the north, San Joaquin County now has 65,359 total cases and over the weekend surpassed 1,000 coronavirus-related deaths with 1,018. Stanislaus County has 49,128 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 5,356 probable cases with six new deaths reported on Tuesday now has 905.
The two new deaths in Mariposa County were its first since Jan. 25. It has now had seven COVID-19 deaths.
Statewide there were 5,692 new cases reported by the CDPH, bringing the total to 3,412,057. There also were 64 new deaths and a total of 47,107.
Positivity rate falling, but Valley lagging
While the 7- and 14-day coronavirus test positivity rates continue to drop statewide several valley counties, while improving significantly from the height of a winter surge, still are tracking at much higher rates.
The 7-day rate on Tuesday was down to 3.5% in California, but in Kings County it was 8.8%, in Tulare County it was 8.4%, in Madera County it was 8.1%, in Fresno County it was 7.9% and in Merced County it was 7.5%.
The 14-day rate is down to 4.2% statewide, but it was 14.8% in Kings County, 10.6% in Merced County, 10.5% in Madera County, 10.0% in Tulare County and 9.8% in Fresno County.