Santa Cruz Weighs Stay-At-Home Order While Awaiting Vaccines

SANTA CRUZ, CA — Santa Cruz County narrowly avoided falling under Gov. Gavin Newsom's stay-at-home Monday as updated metrics from the state showed the Bay Area region had sustained 17.8 percent capacity in intensive care units Monday.

The Bay Area region showed an ICU capacity of more than 16 percent prior to the update on Monday afternoon.

The order ropes Santa Cruz county in with 10 other counties under the Bay Area region and typically takes hold at midnight following the day a region falls beneath the 15 percent ICU capacity threshold.

Several counties in the Bay Area and the city of Berkeley, have opted into the order ahead of meeting ICU capacity in an attempt to stagger the surge of coronavirus cases.

And Santa Cruz County could be next to opt in, despite the slight uptick in intensive-care capacity. After neighboring Monterey County chose to opt into the order last week, Santa Cruz County was expected to consider a similar move Monday.

County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel will take a look at the data and decide whether the area should prohibit private gatherings and close nonessential businesses Monday, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported.

Santa Cruz County reported a 5.6 percent positivity rate over the past week, lower than the state's 8.4 percent positivity rate.

Simutaneously, public health officials were awaiting the arrival of the first shipment of Pfizer vaccine doses — 1,950 first doses to be exact.

Here's what we know about California's vaccine rollout:

How many vaccines will California receive and when?

Following the FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine, California will receive 327,000 doses in the rollout, beginning Sunday night or first thing Monday morning.

And depending on how quickly the Moderna vaccine is approved, a shipment of its vaccines could also be shipped to the Golden State in December. Newsom said Thursday that California could receive some 672,000 doses of Moderna in late December.

Both Pfizer and Moderna require two doses.

California public health officials have said that 2 million vaccines could arrive in California by the end of December, providing the first dose to 2 million. Second doses will follow as more shipments are approved and sent out.

Who will receive the first dose?

Healthcare workers and residents of "long-term care facilities," will receive the first dose, Newsom has said.

During Phase 1a of the rollout, state officials have drawn up the following three tiers of Californians who will be eligible to receive the first dose:

Tier 1

Acute care, psychiatric and correctional facility hospitals
Skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and similar settings for older or medically vulnerable individuals
Also, in concordance with ACIP, residents in these settings
Paramedics, EMTs and others providing emergency medical services
Dialysis centers

Tier 2

Intermediate care facilities for persons who need non-continuous nursing supervision and supportive care
Home health care and in-home supportive services
Community health workers
Public health field staff
Primary Care clinics, including Federally Qualified Health Centers, Rural Health Centers, correctional facility clinics, and urgent care clinics

Tier 3

Other settings and health care workers, including

Specialty clinics
Laboratory workers
Dental and other oral health clinics
Pharmacy staff not working in settings at higher tiers
Where will the first vaccines be distributed in California?

The initial 327,000 doses will be allocated to the following regions:

Region I: 126,750 doses: Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura

Region II: 80,497 doses: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Shasta, Solano and Sonoma

Region III: 8,592 doses: Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Santa Cruz, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity and Yuba

Region IV: 35,145 doses: Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne, Yolo

Region V: 16,706: Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa and Merced

Region VI: 59,910: Imperial, Inyo, Mono, Riverside and San Bernardino

When will the general public have widespread access to vaccines?

Newsom has said on several occasions over the past month that "mass vaccinations" would be unlikely until the spring of 2021. He has said that vaccines are likely to be very limited in the first rollout.

But the FDA is likely to approve Moderna and perhaps another vaccine in December and January of next year and Newsom has said the state will act quickly.

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