State’s virus indicators show steady progress
California’s coronavirus numbers continue to show signs of improvement.
The percentage of coronavirus tests that came back positive over the past seven days — a closely watched indicator for reopening the economy — has dropped to 3.5%. That’s down from over 11% a month ago.
Hospitalizations for coronavirus patients have dropped 38% over 14 days, and the rate of infection in the state has fallen to 0.65 — meaning each infected person infects fewer than one other person.
“That’s the lowest I’ve seen it,” California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Tomás Aragón said at a meeting of a state vaccine advisory committee on Wednesday. “That’s really good news.”
The falling transmission could help more counties move from California’s purple — or mostrestrictive — reopening tier to the slightlyless restrictive red tier, in which indoor dining at 25% capacity and some additional activities are allowed.
On Wednesday, Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said she expects the county to move into the red tier soon, though she did
not have an anticipated date. "It's difficult to know," she said. "We are encouraged by the case rates, which have continued to decline since the first week of February."
But, she cautioned, variants may impact case rates.
Vaccinations are ramping up across the state, though still not enough to meet demand.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said that some mass vaccination sites that opened across the state recently cannot operate at capacity. Some have temporarily closed, including the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
“We are throttling back many of those sites because of constraints on supply,” Newsom said Wednesday as he visited a vaccination clinic at a packinghouse in Coachella (Riverside County), an area that’s home to many farmworkers — where he also announced additional funding for a program that puts farm and food processing workers up in hotels if they contract the virus and have no place to isolate.
At the current pace doses are being administered, most Californians will have to wait until June or July to be vaccinated, Newsom said.
Under recent revisions to state guidelines, medical marijuana workers — including those involved in growth, transportation and distribution as well as more direct medicinal roles — and veterinarians now will have priority access to vaccines.
However, although both groups are now technically eligible under state guidelines, they will not necessarily get immediate access from individual counties, which often limit vaccinations to a subset of eligible people, such as
“That’s the lowest I’ve seen it. That’s really good news.” Dr. Tomás Aragón, director, California Department of Public Health, on California’s rate of COVID-19 infection of 0.65
those 65 and older, due to insufficient vaccine supplies.
Santa Clara County officials announced on Wednesday that they will expand vaccine accessibility to teachers, child care providers, emergency responders and food and agriculture workers on Feb. 28. Until then, the county will focus on vaccinating those 65 and over, pending vaccine availability.
"The more people we can get vaccinated the better off we all are," Cody said.
Mobile community clinics continue to pop up across the state.
A drivethrough, mass vaccination site opened Wednesday at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton. Run by the county, Stanford Valley Care and Sutter Health, it offers shots for health care workers and people 65 and over.
“It gives you a sigh of relief,” said Carl Sauceda, 79, of Hayward, who got his shot Wednesday morning.
Salonia Williams, 70, of Hayward, said she was not in a hurry to get vaccinated, but when she checked online and saw appointments open, “I thought, why wait? I feel good. I’m ready to dance.”