Educators and Food Workers Eligible for COVID-19 Vaccines Next Week
By edhat staff
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department (PHD) announced educators and food service workers will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine next week.
During a press conference on Friday evening, PHD Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso confirmed the next tier of childcare providers, educators, emergency service workers, agricultural workers, and food/grocery employees will be eligible to receive the vaccine along with healthcare workers and anyone over the age of 65 years.
As of Tuesday, the county has administered 87% of the doses received. The percentage is lower than normal due to last week's storm delay, but PHD fully anticipates being caught up by next week.
PHD stated it will follow the state's guidance of a 70/30 vaccine administration approach. Approximately 70% of all vaccines received will be allocated to people aged 65 and older while 30% will be allocated for all other eligible sectors.
For educators, local Superintendents discussed prioritization with PHD on who will get vaccinated first and determined they would start with special education teachers who work with medically fragile students. At least 1,000 vaccines are earmarked for this group next week.
COVID-19 Numbers Plateau
PHD officials stated they are somewhat worried about the recent plateau in COVID-19 case rates and testing positivity
Health Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg stated the case rates are dropping, just not as drastically as before and he would have liked to see them go down faster. He said the plateau of metrics appears to be a global phenomenon with cases being stalled after a decline, and at this level, even a small number of active cases is enough to keep the virus spreading.
Dr. Do-Reynoso attributed the plateau to pandemic fatigue, people getting tired of all the personal sacrifices made in the past year. She encouraged the community to stay vigilant until everyone is vaccinated.
Approximately 80% of all infections are caused by 10% of people who are socializing and not following proper guidelines, said Dr. Ansorg. He said this is happening on a global scale and keeps the pandemic going.
Friday's Numbers
The PHD reports 2 deaths and 104 new cases on Friday. Two individuals were 70+ years of age. Both individuals had underlying health conditions. No deaths were associated with an outbreak at a congregate care site. The individuals resided in the city of Santa Barbara and the area including the City of Lompoc and the communities of Mission Hills and Vandenberg Village.
There have now been 409 deaths within the county since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Santa Barbara County currently has 382 active cases. Of those, 76 are hospitalized with 18 in the intensive care unit.
More data can be found at https://publichealthsbc.org/status-reports/.
68 Comments
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Feb 27, 2021 07:25 AMAnd presumably our schools used some of the millions of dollars to upgrade their ventilation options. We’ll see! It will be interesting to so see where that 10+ million GUSD took in emergency reopening funds went.
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Feb 27, 2021 12:42 AMThey didn’t forget, it’s just buried deep in their guidance.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/ventilation.html
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Feb 26, 2021 07:39 PMUnbelievable! I have been a teacher here for over 30 years. The public health dept will offer limited appts in Lompoc on the days we start teaching students in person. Our county health dept is so out of line. I signed up on Calvax.org and received an appt in Oxnard. Unfortunately, they are only taking care of their teachers from Ventura. Public health of Santa Barbara is horrific. What about Earl Warren, the Sears parking lot? Treat all residents with respect!
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Feb 27, 2021 06:42 AMThey can use the biggest locations around but without supply it is hard to vaccinate. Luckily the vaccines seem to be being provided in larger numbers now so I know that Cottage is going to be doing clinics 3 days a week now. The slowness has 100% been about lack of vaccines though....
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Feb 26, 2021 07:25 PMOh no the excuses appear to be running out for the teachers. Wait, you could still go on strike. Go for it!
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Feb 27, 2021 06:29 PMAnd yes I am staying it strongly... but the WHO And CDC are saying it as well. You ditched science though a long time ago... wish I had that school admin direct deposit! Well played!!!
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Feb 27, 2021 06:27 PMPit!! My guy/girl/edhatter!! What was Irrational about my post? The WHO and CDC are adamant that school needs to start ASAP! The long term effects are unknown... but the current estimate is schools closing in the US in 2020 will result in 5.53 million years of lost life. You have repeatedly posted that you are ok with that. And as such yes, you are willfully making Sb and the world a worse place. As per the studies, you are actually killing people and ending life early as well. Burn yes, you are right... I summed up the killing and projected early deaths/worse lives as empathetically as I could. Glad to see you back by though... I though being once again corrected on affordable housing from the San Marcos preserve might be the straw that broke the camels back!! That being corrected once again so definitely might deter from you posting! Honestly though I’m glad to have you back... cheers!
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Feb 27, 2021 06:18 PMDuke, from your post "you are willfully making sb and the world a worse place. " From your constant irrational and anti-empathetic posts, you have already pretty much ruined it. The only somewhat positive thing is that only the people on Edhat have to read and listen to your nattering.
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Feb 27, 2021 11:19 AMAnd Goleta unified the week after (March 8)! Hooray!!!!
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Feb 27, 2021 10:46 AMVaccines or not, SB Unified elementary teachers go back next week. (Week of March 1.) Try again?
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Feb 27, 2021 07:41 AMExcept we’ve seen many schools open in Santa Barbara, California and the US since September without issues. GUSD has hundreds of teachers/school admin kids on campus as well as special needs kids. The argument against schools opening breaks down immediately and definitively... but that much is obvious to all. Even the teachers union understands that... so now they are just doing everything they can to delay. They’ve already secured financial incentives for teachers... the longer they delay the more they can get in their ransom payment.
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Feb 27, 2021 07:35 AMJust an insanely self centered position that we allowed the teachers to take. Thanks for stealing 6 months of school from our kids! The kids you were supposed to be serving! Truly shameful!
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Feb 27, 2021 07:21 AMHappy - The science and consensus of the CDC and the WHO is quite clear... there has been virtually no studies showing additional spread in school and that school closures are causing irreparable long term harm. Countless studies referenced on here have shown no statistical uptick in transmission rate in places with school open or closed. If there is a community spike... schools can close for 2 weeks in conjunction with local measures... but this attempt to never reopen by the teachers is reprehensible. Dig a little deeper (or literally just go to the CDC or WHO websites). Your position and thinking is devastating our youth!
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Feb 27, 2021 12:36 AMYou’re incorrect, Duke. Active Covid cases surged faster in teachers & students than Quebec public.
https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1364399105972273155
The science is quite clear that without adequate ventilation schools will end up spreading the virus faster. And *I* had nothing to do with this situation. If the country would have fully masked up and stayed home for all non-essential activities for just 4-6 weeks all at once, we could have contained the virus well enough to re-open schools last fall. The longer we take to eradicate the virus, the more opportunity we give it to mutate into something worse. I’m sorry it’s inconvenient, but that’s just the way it is.
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Feb 26, 2021 08:52 PM7:46 they might as well quit then because it will never be “safe”, we don’t live in a safe world, we never have. Have you all forgotten what the real world is like in the past year or something?
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Feb 26, 2021 08:31 PM749pm - so the scientific community consensus is that there is no additional spread in school (beyond what is happening in the community). As such... You are the problem!!! you are willfully making sb and the world a worse place. Studies have shown an Estimated 5.5 million years of life lost due to schools being closed in 2020... that’s on you and your anti logic and science thinking. Schools being open add nothing to community spread... their closure though has a rippling effect through Society that will be felt for decades.
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Feb 26, 2021 07:49 PMUntil ventilation issues are adequately addressed, teachers have a valid concern for their safety until they’re vaccinated. Most schools can’t even achieve half of the recommended five air exchanges per hour. Unless that’s fixed, students will end up spreading it to the rest of the unvaccinated population.
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Feb 26, 2021 07:46 PMThe teachers that I know are anxious to go back to work when it is safe. Once their vaccinations are in effect, they’d love to teach in person.
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