SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — Santa Clara County has submitted its official vaccine plan to the state of California.
The announcement was made on Wednesday morning during a press conference.
County officials said they will get a limited supply like all other localities, but didn’t specify how many doses they will be given.
“The number of doses we will receive will evolve quickly over time,” the county said, but they are prepared to store and distribute the full volume of doses they will get.
Multiple freezers have already been installed, and additional freezers continue to be purchased and installed, the county said. They expect to get vaccine doses from different manufacturers.
The first doses will be directed to people who are at highest risk, like health care workers. They will keep track of who is getting vaccinated.
Addressing concerns about trying a new vaccine, the county said the doses have undergone clinical trials to ensure they are safe before localities receive them.
Santa Clara County health officials want to see “bold and swift sweeping federal measures” to contain the spread of coronavirus.
“We continue to be at risk of exceeding our hospital capacity,” the county said. As of Dec. 1, ICU occupancy in the hospitals serving the south and east part of San Jose was at 93%. The ICU units in other hospitals were at 84% capacity.
The hospitals in the hardest hit communities have the fewest beds for COVID-19 patients, the county said.
The county said its health officer Dr. Sara Cody and the rest of the health department has been trying to keep residents from traveling over the holidays. Addressing its new mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers, the county said it was to help contain spiraling chains of transmission.
It’s a broad mandate because it’s meant to keep people who already traveled from inadvertently spreading the disease, the county said.
“Just because you may test negative… all that means is you did not have detectable levels of the virus at that moment in time,” the county said.
The county said the situation where the San Jose mayor ignored a California order and gathered with five households on Thanksgiving is “under review.”
Earlier this week the county enacted a directive to local transit hubs, including San Jose International Airport, requiring returning travelers from a distance of 150-miles or more to self-quarantine for 14-days.
The county is also enacting the following restrictions:
- Stores and other facilities – 10% indoor capacity
- Grocery, pharmacy, drug stores – 25% capacity (access to food and medicine)
- Outdoor gatherings – maximum 100 people. The State limits such gatherings to First Amendment protected activities, such as religious services or protests.
- Professional, collegiate and youth sports prohibited unless the activity is outdoors and social distancing can be maintained at all times.
- Hotels/lodging – Essential travel only, or to help with quarantine and isolation
The county’s latest coronavirus data shows a big spike in cases this month, close to 200 more cases than the previously recorded spike in July.
