CA To Begin Vaccinating Nursing Home Residents, Staff

CALIFORNIA — As COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to climb across the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a plan to partner with pharmacies beginning Monday to vaccinate residents and staff at nursing homes and other congregate living facilities.

Newsom also shared during a Monday news conference that teachers, older residents and some other critical workers would hopefully begin to get coronavirus vaccines as early as next month. The state expects to receive nearly 1.8 million vaccine doses by the end of the week, Newsom said, and much of the Golden State has started to see a plateau in new hospital admissions, "with the major exception" being Southern California. Los Angeles County has been hit hardest, but SanBernardino and Riverside counties are also struggling, he said.

No one is immune, Newsom said. Even those who have not contracted COVID-19 could experience impacts in access to care if they need to be hospitalized for a car crash or stroke.

"The impact ... is being felt on the entire hospital system," the governor said.

Intensive care unit beds are full across Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, where the regional stay-at-home order was set to expire Monday. Newsom expects the state to extend the order Tuesday for those areas.

As LA County continued to eye disturbing trends in COVID-19 statistics, the state planned to send a full-time team to embed in the county, and facilitate greater coordination and load-sharing between hospitals, among other things, Newsom said.

Some 12,000-15,000 LA County COVID-19 cases have been reported each day in the past few weeks, and 96 percent of hospitals had to divert patients at some point Saturday — compared to 33 percent prior to the current surge. The average LA County hospital spent two-thirds of the day on Saturday diverting patients, and routine emergency room care is suffering as a result of the surge, Newsom said.

ICU capacity is at 9.5 percent in the Bay Area, 16.6 percent in the greater Sacramento area and 29.3 percent in Northern California — the only region seeing somewhat reasonable ICU capacity, he said.

Find a breakdown of the counties included in each region here.

As of Sunday, more than 2.1 million cases of COVID-19 and 24,000 associated deaths had been reported in California. Nearly 38,000 cases, on average, have been diagnosed over the past week.

The situation will inevitably worsen as Californians continue to travel over the holiday season. The state could see a surge, atop a surge, atop a surge, Newsom said.

He urged the public to take actions to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus and "not allow us to be victims of fate" as Californians prepare to endure a difficult February. State officials have sent more than 1,000 staff with the California National Guard and other groups to serve more than 100 facilities statewide.

"The trends have started to come down a little bit, but it's not enough. We need people not to let up their guard, to take this as seriously as possible," California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said during the news conference. "Right now, it's time to stay laser-focused on what we can do in the next days to come ... we're in charge of the future."

Starting Monday, California has partnered with the federal government as well as 499 CVS stores and 357 Walgreens stores to roll out a two-phase plan to vaccinate staff and residents of congregate living and health care facilities. LA County is the only county that will not participate, as its health department has its own vaccination strategy, Newsom said.

Those in skilled nursing facilities will be the first to receive vaccines. In the next phase, those at assisted living facilities, residential care and other long-term care facilities will be vaccinated, Newsom said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended a phased vaccine allocation, which put health care workers and long-term care facility residents in Phase 1A. This week, the state Community Vaccine Advisory Committee will meet to finalize the distribution plan for those in Phase 1B.

Californians in Phase 1B will hopefully begin receiving vaccines as soon as January, Newsom said. The first tier of Phase 1B currently includes people 75 and older, plus workers in education, child care, emergency services, and food and agriculture, while the second tier of Phase IB includes those who are homeless, incarcerated, or 65 years or older with an underlying health condition or disability. It also includes workers in the following sectors: transportation and logistics; industrial, residential, and commercial; and critical manufacturing.

Phase 1C is currently slated to include people ages 16 to 64 who have an underlying medical condition or disability. It could also include workers in the following sectors: water and waste management; defense; energy; chemical and hazardous; communications; IT; financial service; government; and community service.

Since Oct. 1, 65 percent of ICU admissions and 80 percent of deaths in California have been in people who are 61 years and older.

These priorities are set with regional, ethnic and socioeconomic equity in mind, Newsom said.