Most of California’s 40 million residents will be able to enjoy limited indoor activities, such as eating indoors or watching a movie at a theater in the middle of the week. coronavirus case rates remain low, state officials said Friday.
Officials said Sunday, 13 counties, including Los Angeles, could open restaurants, gyms and museums with limited capacity, a result that the state achieved a 2 million equity metric to get more vaccines to low-income communities. . Another 13 counties are expected to reopen Wednesday with a different metric.
Also next week, the state expands eligibility for the still-scarce vaccine.
Which counties can reopen on Sunday and why?
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that it would set aside 40 percent of the vaccine for residents of about 400 zip codes that the state considers most vulnerable based on metrics such as household income, access to health and education levels.
The issue is linking reopening standards to ensuring that people most affected by the pandemic are protected from the virus, he said. Once the state reaches the 2 million doses administered in these zip codes, which it did on Friday, the threshold is relaxed to leave the most restrictive level in a four-tier system with color codes that the state adopted in in August.
Previously, counties could move from the red level to the lower red level based on metrics that include the number of new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people per day over a period of several weeks. The threshold for entering the red level now goes from 7 cases per 100,000 residents to 10 cases.
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Counties eligible for reopening in 48 hours (Sunday) include Contra Costa and Sonoma in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. San Bernardino and Orange said they would do so Sunday, although Los Angeles County officials said they would wait until Monday.
What about the other counties?
San Diego, Sacramento, Riverside and Ventura are among 13 additional counties expected to reopen Wednesday through the normal reassignment process that occurs every Tuesday.
San Joaquin and Santa Barbara belong to this category. The harsh counties of Kern and Fresno in the central valley remain at the most restrictive level.
Who will be eligible for the vaccine on Monday?
The state opens vaccines to about 4.4 million people between the ages of 16 and 64 with disabilities and certain health conditions, such as severe obesity, type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease in the fourth or higher phase, and Down syndrome. .
California guidelines do not require medical documentation; instead, people will have to attest that they are eligible. This reduces access barriers, but also opens a gap for certain line jumpers.
San Francisco goes a step beyond the state, expanding permitted categories and adding people who are deaf, HIV-positive, or have behavioral health disabilities, including severe mental health disorders or substance use, to get vaccinated.
Dr. Paul Simon, head of science in Los Angeles County, said people will be asked to sign a certificate if they cannot provide documentation. “We certainly hope people don’t try to take advantage of the situation and be honest,” Simon said.
The state also extends eligibility to workers in transit and to residents and workers in shelters, prisons, and detention centers for the homeless. They are joined by teachers, food and agriculture workers, health workers and the elderly aged 65 and over to qualify for the vaccine.
What is the status of California’s new vaccine system?
In late January, Newsom announced that insurer Blue Shield would establish and administer a new vaccine tracking and delivery system. All 58 counties and three cities in the state with public health departments should use the state’s My Turn system to make appointments.
Blue Shield is expected to take control on March 31. But Santa Clara County has refused to sign a contract with the insurer, saying it can better vaccinate its residents with a higher-than-state appointment system.
Blue Shield CEO Paul Markovich said Friday that more than half of local health jurisdictions have changed to My Turn or will change soon, he said.
My turn is ideal for scheduling appointments at mass vaccination sites, but it’s not as good for cutting slots for vulnerable populations in smaller clinics, said Joe Prado, manager of the Fresno County Community Health Division. Expect the state online portal to improve.
“We will coexist with these two systems for a while longer,” he said.