CALIF. TO DIRECT DOSES TO HIGH-RISK AREAS

40% of vaccine to be sent to ZIP codes deemed vulnerable

California will begin setting aside 40 percent of all vaccine doses for the state’s most vulnerable neighborhoods in an effort to inoculate people most at risk from the coronavirus and get the state’s economy open more quickly.

Two officials in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration shared details Wednesday on condition of anonymity.

The doses will be spread out among 400 ZIP codes with about 8 million people eligible for shots. Many of the neighborhoods are concentrated in Los Angeles County and the Central Valley. The areas are considered most vulnerable based on metrics such as household income, education level, housing status and access to transportation.

Once 2 million vaccine doses are given out in those neighborhoods, the state will make it easier for counties to move through reopening tiers that dictate business and school reopenings.

Right now, a county can move from the most restrictive purple tier to the lower red tier based on several metrics, including having 7 or fewer new COVID cases per 100,000 people per day over a period of several weeks. That metric will change to 10 new cases or fewer. In the red tier, businesses like restaurants and gyms can open for indoor services at limited capacity.

About 1.6 million vaccine doses have already been given in those 400 ZIP codes, and the state will hit the 2 million mark in the next week or two, officials said.

Once the state gives out 4 million doses in those neighborhoods, it will revise the metrics for getting into the less restrictive orange and yellow tiers.

The changes mark a fresh round of twists in California’s vaccination and reopening plans. Now half of California’s vaccine doses will be reserved for specific groups, as educators get a guaranteed 10 percent. People age 65 and older, farmworkers and emergency service workers are also eligible for shots.

More counties have already been moving into the red tier as caseloads, hospitalizations and deaths drop. The state’s average 2.2 percent test positivity rate over seven days is a record low.

Officials are making it easier to move through reopening tiers because the likelihood of widespread transmission that can overwhelm hospitals will decrease as more people are vaccinated. That’s particularly true as the most vulnerable populations that are more likely to get seriously ill receive the shots.

While race and ethnicity is not an explicit factor in designating vaccinations, the 400 vulnerable ZIP codes overlap heavily with neighborhoods with higher populations of Blacks, Latinos and Asian and Pacific Islanders, officials said.

Los Angeles County could move into the next phase of reopening with fewer restrictions as early as next week, though any actual lifting of coronavirus-related constraints would not happen immediately, county officials said earlier Wednesday.

Most San Francisco Bay Area counties have advanced to the next phase, which allows restaurants and movie theaters to open indoors at 25 percent capacity and gyms to operate at 10 percent capacity.

On Tuesday, seven counties moved out of the purple tier, but San Diego County wasn’t one of them, despite a continued downward trend in case rates.

San Diego’s modified case rate per 100,000 residents came in at 10.8, still over the limit of 7 that sets the lower bound for the red tier.