Local COVID deaths mount Fourth vaccine clinic will have 1,200 open slots for those 65 and older

Despite recent improvements in the number of daily COVID-19 cases in the Yuba-sutter area, deaths continue to occur on a regular basis.

One Sutter County resident in their mid-80s died over the weekend due to COVID, while deaths of another four local residents, ranging from their mid-40s to early-90s, were reported Monday.

“While we know that those who are older and have underlying conditions are most vulnerable, we have also seen deaths of individuals in their 30s with no known underlying conditions,” said Bi-county Health Officer

Dr. Phuong Luu. “You just don’t know how your body will react, or how it will affect someone else you inadvertently infect, which is why continuing to practice the tenets is the most important tool we have while we work through vaccination.”

This weekend will be the fourth county-sponsored vaccine clinic. The area will

have 1,200 open slots for local residents 65 years and older.

Registration for the event opens every Wednesday at 9 a.m. Sutter County residents can find vaccination clinic information at Suttercounty.org/ vaccine (under “Vaccine Registration” page). Yuba County residents can find

information at Yuba.org/ vaccines (after selecting “For the Public,” go to “Vaccine Registration”). Those without internet access can call 634-7496 (Yuba County), or 8225985 (Sutter County).

Those who don’t make it onto the weekly registration list also have the opportunity to be waitlisted. Events over the past few weekends have seen dozens of no-shows or cancellations.

“Our clinic staff works to email those on the waitlist during the week if a spot opens up, and may call the day of the clinic if there are no-shows,” Luu said.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the Yuba-sutter area increased by 30 on Tuesday, bringing the total to 14,124 cases. There are currently 550 active cases in the area.

Forty-eight people

were hospitalized due to COVID-19 as of Tuesday evening, while 72 people recovered from the virus. A total of 128 local residents have died to date.

The area remains in the state’s most restrictive tier (purple). Yuba County is currently averaging 24 daily new cases per 100,000 people with a test positivity of 10.7 percent. Sutter County is averaging 36.3 daily new cases per

100,000 people with a test positivity of 12.7 percent. In order for either county to move into the next less restrictive tier (red), it would need to see daily new cases drop down between 4-7 cases per day per 100,000 people and a test positivity between 5-8 percent.

“(Monday), Yolo

County confirmed a UK B117 variant case. Now that the variant is confirmed in the greater

Sacramento region, it should be considered present in Yuba-sutter also,” Luu said. “The number of B117 cases are doubling every 10 days here in the United States – which indicates that the CDC projection of it becoming the dominant strain by March 2021 is still on track. The B117 strain is 50 percent more contagious and 30 percent deadlier than the current ‘wild-type’ strain.”