Dilemma surrounds second round of COVID-19 vaccines
Who should be higher on priority list, the elderly or essential workers?
California is poised to make a hard and controversial choice amid limited supplies of the coronavirus vaccine: whether to prioritize essential workers for vaccination over the elderly.
Such a step, to be debated by a state advisory committee today, would help return schools and many businesses to some semblance of normalcy.
But it would delay protection for those at greatest risk of dying.
The deliberation comes as the state must decide how to divvy up the second round of vaccines, following the current campaign to protect 2.4 million health care workers as the first priority.
These next groups are much larger, which makes the prioritization much more difficult.
Only 2 million new vaccine doses are slated to arrive in January, although supplies will climb with each passing month.
California is home to 11.9 million essential workers, of which 5.9 million are considered highest priority, not including health care workers. About 6 million people are over the age of 65.
“These are tough decisions.
may see a further acceleration of cases after Christmas,” said Dr. Dean Winslow, a professor of medicine at Stanford University who specializes in infectious diseases.
Oakland International Airport expects to see about 200,000 travelers between Dec. 18 and Jan. 3 — compared with about 600,000 during that time last year. The busiest day is likely to be Sunday, with an estimated 13,500 people passing through the airport, according to Port of Oakland spokeswoman Marilyn Sandifur.
From Dec. 15-21, a total of 109,283 travelers departed San Francisco International Airport — down from 540,143 during the same time last year, according to airport spokesman Doug Yakel.
Passenger volume has been trending down since Thanksgiving. Over the November holiday, the number of travelers leaving the airport was down about 75% compared with last year. This month, it’s down more than 80% — possibly a result of the current health orders and travel advisories, Yakel said.
Representatives from San Jose International Airport did not respond to requests for travel numbers.
Despite the massive decrease in the number of people traveling for the holidays, health experts blame the current COVID-19 surge in part on Thanksgiving gatherings — including those involving travel. In response, San Francisco and Santa Clara County have ordered travelers coming to the region from outside the Bay Area to quarantine for 10 days. Of course, if they complied, it would mostly defeat the purpose of traveling to see family.
Coronavirus cases exploded in the Bay Area in the weeks after Thanksgiving. Alameda County was reporting an average of about 250 cases per day on Thanksgiving. That daily count has quadrupled to nearly 1,000 in less than a month. On Nov. 28, Santa Clara County was reporting about 500 cases per day, and in just three weeks that number has grown to 1,200 average daily cases, where it has stayed for more than a week.
Less than 14% of the Bay Area’s intensive care unit
beds are available, prompting worries that patient care will suffer if more COVID-19 cases flood the region’s hospitals.
“It’s hard not to see family and friends, but that’s what we have to do,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said Tuesday. “We know that if we can get through these holidays and avoid significant surges, we have the opportunity to get the virus under control so that next year we have the opportunity to celebrate with loved ones.”
This past Friday, Saturday and Sunday set a new national travel record — more than 1 million people went through TSA airport checkpoints each day. That’s the first time the 1 million mark was hit for three days in a row since the pandemic began in March.
On Tuesday, Oakland International Airport was nearly deserted, but a handful of travelers were checking in for flights or picking up their bags on carousels.
Givens orig inally planned on making the trek from Las Vegas to the East Bay by car because of the pandemic, but daunted by
the prospect of a nine-hour drive, she ended up booking a last-minute flight instead.
She planned to get tested for COVID-19 immediately upon arriving, quarantine with her sister in Oakland until getting her test results, and then go to Benicia to see her mother and grandmother.
Kade Kreiser, 20, was flying from Oakland on Tuesday to visit his mother in Dallas for Christmas. The prospect of boarding a flight during the pandemic didn’t faze him.
“It’s not that big of a worry to me,” he said. “I’d rather still live my life than not live my life because there’s something that might potentially harm me.”
Nor was Kreiser overly concerned with warnings from state health officials. After Gov. Gavin Newsom attended a dinner party at the ritzy French Laundry restaurant last month, Kreiser views the governor’s orders to stay home as hypocritical.
“It’s kind of like, if they’re not, why should I?” he said. “I want to see my family. I don’t get to see my mom a lot.”
Ralph Lockhart said he “absolutely” had reservations about flying to Atlanta to see his extended family for the holidays. But the 60-yearold Fremont resident figured he’d be OK as long as he kept his mask on — a yellow cloth mask printed with tiny airplanes — and practiced social distancing.
Devin Cox, 21, of Berkeley, was flying to Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday to see his brother and sister-in-law.
His whole family lives in Florida — including his parents, grandparents and uncles — but to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19, Cox doesn’t plan to see anyone outside his brother’s household.
Even gathering with his brother and sister-in-law makes Cox worry a bit. “But I think it’s worth it to me,” he said.
Winslow is forgoing a visit with his children and grandchildren — whom he misses dearly — this holiday season.
“I think this is a time right now,” he said, “where to get this deadly pandemic under control, we really need to have some shared sacrifice.”