Riverside County COVID-19 Vaccine Update

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Coronavirus cases and virus-related deaths continued to balloon in Riverside County as the county's vaccination program gained momentum, health officials said this week.

"We have vaccinated 28,708 people countywide," Department of Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari told the Riverside County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. "There is a lag in reporting, so there may be more now. We are also expanding our approved providers. The number is increasing every day."

Currently, the list of vaccine providers contains 146 entities, and Saruwatari said roughly half of those have been supplied with either the Moderna or Pfizer SARS-Cov-2 shots. She said distribution is going at a brisk pace but has not been sufficient to equip all providers.

On Wednesday, Riverside County officials activated a "Type III All-Hazard Incident Management Team" to help coordinate the planning and implementation of massive vaccination for more than two million county residents.

The team comprised of officials from various agencies across the county is scheduled to work seven days a week to find locations to set up large, regional sites that can vaccinate thousands of county residents each day.

“Getting the vaccine out within the community as quickly as possible is critical as we move forward,” said Board Chair Karen Spiegel, Second District Supervisor. “These large-scale [sites] will ensure more vaccinations each day and more of our residents will be protected from the deadly virus.”

The county locations are in development, and will be announced as they are finalized, according to officials.

To date, the county has received 79,875 vaccine doses. Another 114,825 should be arriving before the end of the month, Saruwatari said Tuesday. See who's eligible to receive a vaccine now.

Supervisor Jeff Hewitt pointed out during Tuesday's board meeting that "so many people" have declined the vaccines, with reports indicating up to half of health care workers in some medical facilities countywide said "no" out of concern for potential risks.

"Are we making adjustments for that, taking it into consideration?" Hewitt asked, suggesting that the distribution plan might be more efficient if officials gauge what the response rate is going to be ahead of time in order to expeditiously move to the next people in line.

"We are making projections," Saruwatari said. "We are communicating with providers, and we'll be moving to the next phase of (mass immunization) even if everybody in the first phase (health care workers) isn't vaccinated."

The total number of coronavirus cases recorded in Riverside County since the public health documentation period began in early March is 227,827 compared to 216,275 on Monday, according to the Riverside University Health System.

The number of deaths stemming from COVID-19 stood at 2,294 as of Tuesday, up 44 from a day earlier.

Coronavirus hospitalizations countywide are at 1,660, down 15 from Monday, according to RUHS. That includes 354 intensive care unit patients, a drop of three from a day earlier.

Emergency Management Director Bruce Barton told the board about half of patients in hospitals countywide have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Barton said six facilities are at 100 percent of licensed bed capacity. However, all hospitals are resorting to surge plans to expand critical care space wherever possible. No patients are being transferred to facilities outside the county because of space limitations.

Riverside County and the entire 11-county Southern California region's ICU availability officially remains at 0 percent.

—Toni McAllister contributed to this report.