April 15, 2021
Tax Day may have been postponed until May 17, but April 15 is still a significant day for two very important reasons:
  • Starting today, everyone 16 and older is eligible to be vaccinated
  • Gatherings are once again allowed

Vaccine update
Even though the county has paused the use of the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, at yesterday’s news conference officials said they don’t expect that to have a significant effect on the availability of appointments. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine made up a very small percentage of the vaccines available in San Diego County (less than 3%).

What will affect appointment availability is the large number of newly eligible residents. The best advice is to be patient – we’ve seen a surge of appointment demand right after each new group has become eligible, but it eventually subsides.

The city has links to many vaccine sites on our website, including the county’s site, which, in turn, has many links to the sites it runs. Even though a lot of providers have been centralized under the My Turn scheduling website, many have their own scheduling websites. So, the good news is there are lots of options; the bad news is it can be time consuming to regularly check all these sites, hoping to hit it just right to find an opening.

County officials did not provide an estimate of how many people would be newly eligible today, given that many have qualified under other criteria already.

New guidance for gatherings
One of the main mantras during the pandemic has been to avoid gathering with people outside your own household. Well, today under new state guidance, outdoor activities of up to 50 people are now permitted. Indoor gatherings are strongly discouraged but are allowed with modifications and if they do not exceed 25 people.

Private outdoor events are permitted for up to 100 people; 300 persons if all guests show proof of a recent COVID-19 test or full vaccination. A maximum of 150 are allowed at an indoor event if everyone has been tested or shows proof of complete vaccination.

Events and performances
You can also attend indoor, seated, live events or performances. For venues with a capacity of up to 1,500, a maximum of 15% or 200 people can attend; 35% if all guests have tested negative or have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19.

Here’s a complete list of activities that can take place under the orange tier and additional gathering guidance.

Vaccination progress
The widespread availability of the COVID-19 vaccine today comes exactly four months after the first vaccinations were given here in San Diego County. Progress has been steady, but the fact that just over a quarter of San Diego County residents are fully vaccinated speaks to how monumental a task mass vaccination really is.
 
Yesterday the county updated the way it’s calculating vaccination progress to reflect the goal of vaccinating 75% of those eligible. Before the county reported the percentage of the total population. Below are the latest numbers:
  • Almost 2.28 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been delivered to the region, and about 2.16 million have been logged as administered. This number includes both county residents and those who work in San Diego County.
  • Of those vaccinated to date, more than 757,000 county residents, or 28.2% of San Diegans 16 and older, are fully immunized.
  • Overall, nearly 1.22 million county residents have received at least one shot of the two-dose vaccine. That’s 45.2% of those eligible.
 
Johnson & Johnson “pause”
Yesterday a group that advises the CDC on vaccine safety said it wanted more information before making recommendations on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Dr. Anthony Fauci said he expects the pause on the vaccine’s use to last days or weeks rather than months. The CDC updated its website with the latest information, including what to look for if you have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine within the last two weeks.
 
Health officials stress that this step is being taken out of an abundance of caution, given that six people have had problems with blood clots out of almost 7 million who have received this vaccine in the United States.
 
Updated metrics
Sadly, a large number of deaths was reported yesterday in San Diego County. However, this doesn’t represent a spike; instead, it’s due to deaths that occurred in December and January that needed additional review before being classified as COVID-19 related. Nonetheless, this is a reminder that even as things start to look up, COVID-19 is still something to be taken seriously. And, even though we can celebrate how far we’ve come, we should not forget the 3,648 lives lost here in San Diego County – mothers, fathers, grandparents, sisters, brothers and friends who were taken from us too soon.
Additional stats are linked below:
County charts and graphs updated yesterday
 
Going back to red?
When the case numbers came out Tuesday, it caused some to wonder if we might be headed back to the more restrictive red tier, after having just finally made it to orange. At yesterday’s news conference, county officials explained that with the latest state system for calculating COVID-19 risk in a community, they do not think we are in danger of going back to red next week.
 
This is because even though our adjusted case rate is 0.1 over the red tier threshold, the other measures are looking good. This includes a testing positivity rate of only 2.5%. Officials also said a small uptick in cases was expected as more things open and activities resume.
 
As always, however, we should not take anything for granted. Please help keep us on this good path by:
  • Wearing a mask when you leave home
  • Maintaining distance from others
  • Closely following safety precautions if you are going to gather with people outside your household
  • Getting vaccinated as soon as you can
 
Say goodbye to the middle seat?
In news that will be welcome to anyone who has shared an armrest on a long flight, a new study was released yesterday showing that leaving middle seats on airplanes vacant significantly reduces the spread of COVID-19, by as much as 50%.
 
Here is all the latest guidance on travel from the CDC.
 
That’s all I’ve got for today. I’ll be back next Tuesday with more updates. In the meantime, please continue to follow health precautions even as restrictions ease. We have come so far and at this rate are on track to celebrate the Fourth of July with friends and family, as close to the before times as ever. Let’s keep our eyes on that prize!

Scott Chadwick
City Manager
City of Carlsbad | Website