As the effort to vaccinate residents throughout Orange County continues, Newport Beach stepped up Tuesday afternoon to help fill the gap for residents who can’t make it to vaccine super points-of-dispensing sites.
The city held its first community vaccine clinic at the OASIS Senior Center in partnership with Hoag Presbyterian Hospital, which allocated about 300 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to be distributed to Newport Beach residents older than 65. Newport Beach spokesman John Pope said city staff reached out to eligible individuals via phone and email and signed them up for appointments.
City officials said there are currently no plans to make the clinic ongoing. Second doses are scheduled for April 13.
“Today is an important moment for this community and Hoag is privileged to partner with the city of Newport Beach as we provide COVID-19 vaccines to the senior population,” said Marcy Brown, the senior vice president and chief hospital operations officer at Hoag in a statement, “especially those who have had limited access to obtaining it.”
“We are proud of the passion and commitment of our staff and our city partners to vaccinate community members in need,” said Brown.
Orange County is currently vaccinating those over the age of 65, first responders and those working in healthcare, food or education. It is also now distributing vaccines to those older than 16 with chronic or underlying health conditions at its super points-of-dispensing sites at Disneyland, the Anaheim Convention Center and Soka University.
As of last Thursday, data indicated that about 430,200 people had been fully vaccinated. Numbers are updated every Thursday.
On Tuesday, the Orange County Health Care Agency reported that current numbers meet the three requirements needed to move the county forward into the next tier in the state’s reopening guidelines. That progression could happen as early as next week.
Tier assignments depend on a county’s adjusted daily case rate for every 100,000 residents, its test positivity rate and its health equity quartile positivity rate.
Current data indicate that Orange County’s adjusted daily case rate is now 3.5 for every 100,000 residents, and its positivity rate has dropped to 2.1%. The health equity quartile positivity rate is 3.2%.
Counties must log qualifying numbers for at least two weeks before they are able to progress into the next tier and have to remain in that tier for at least three weeks before they are able to move again.
Moving into the orange tier means bars that don’t serve food will be able to reopen outdoors, and indoor capacities can increase for restaurants, museums, zoos, aquariums, places of worship, movie theaters, gyms and fitness centers. Amusement parks will also be able to expand their capacities to 25%.
Orange County moved into the red tier on March 14.
Below are the coronavirus case counts and COVID-19 deaths for select cities in Orange County:
- Santa Ana: 44,466 cases; 810 deaths
- Anaheim: 41,364 cases; 815 deaths
- Huntington Beach: 10,462 cases; 205 deaths
- Costa Mesa: 8,799 cases; 125 deaths
- Irvine: 10,319 cases; 80 deaths
- Newport Beach: 3,704 cases; 71 deaths
- Fountain Valley: 3,445 cases; 80 deaths
- Laguna Beach: 816 cases; six deaths
Here are the case counts by age group, followed by deaths:
- 0 to 17: 25,963 cases; one death
- 18 to 24: 34,513 cases; ten deaths
- 25 to 34: 49,721 cases; 48 deaths
- 35 to 44: 38,860 cases; 102 deaths
- 45 to 54: 40,050 cases; 291 deaths
- 55 to 64: 31,506 cases; 649 deaths
- 65 to 74: 15,679 cases; 902 deaths
- 75 to 84: 7,941 cases; 1,142 deaths
- 85 and older: 5,366 cases; 1,490 deaths
Updated figures are posted daily at occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/coronavirus-in-oc. For information on getting tested, visit occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/covid-19-testing.
