Recording its biggest Covid-19 day since the World Health Organization [WHO] declared the novel coronvirus AKA SARS CoV-2 or Covid-19 global pandemic March 11, Los Angeles County’s Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer announced today 7,593 cases. Ferrer has concerns that LA County hospitals, both private and public, are filling up with Covid-19 beds, currently at about 75% capacity. She worries that by mid-December, if trends continue, hospitals would be a 107% of capacity, stretching medical system to the breaking point. County officials said today’s 7,593 breaks the previous highest day last week that saw 6,124 cases, in the biggest one-week gain since the Covid-19 epidemic began. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said if the current trends continue, he’ll have to impose a statewide stay-at-home-order to try to get a handle on the current viral spread.
New developments were announced today by the Centers for Disease Control land Prevention [CDC], giving first responders, paramedics, hospitals and nursing home personnel and residents the first chance to get Pfizer and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines. CDC’s 69-year-old Director Robert Redfield took the recommendations from a 13-1 vote from his infectious disease team, something Redfield now has to sign off on. “If these trends continue, were going to have to take much more dramatic, arguably drastic action,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom today. “The potential for a stay-at-home order for those regions in purple, including LA County, San Diego and San Francisco counties, the main population areas in the state. Ferrer saw a weekly increase from 7% to 12%, forcing the County Board of Supervisors to implement tough new restrictions on outdoor dining and activity.
FDA officials announced that emergency use applications from Pfizer and Moderna should be completed this week, with vaccines rolled out next week. Pfizer’s vaccines, which boast a 95% effectiveness rate, has more logistical problems manufacturing half-of the vaccine for U.S. consumption in Belgium, then transported packed in dry ice to maintain minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit. Federal Aviation Agency [FAA] officials said they can only load so much dry ice into cargo bays on United Airline’s fleet of jetliners to deliver the vaccine to its Minnesota distribution hub. Why Pfizer created mRNA vaccine that requires subzero temperatures is anyone’s guess. With people desperately needing the vaccines, it going to be more difficult to get the Pfizer vaccine to market because of logistical problems. Airlines can only use so much dry ice before it affects oxygen levels on the flights.
Priortizing who gets injections first, the CDC listed first responders and hospital personnel in acute care hospitals and rehab centers first in line. Nursing homes in the U.S. account for about 6% of Covid-19 cases but 40% of the nation’s deaths. With Phase III trials from vaccine makers testing more healthy subjects, no one knows how more sick elderly patents will tolerate the vaccines. There’s no question that hospital and nursing home personnel should get vaccinated first, it might be wise to wait-and-see how younger, able-bodied patients handle the double-injection vaccine. CDC’s 55-year-old Dr. Nancy Messonier, head of Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said the vaccine is “no walk in the park.” It could have adverse side effects on nursing home residents, prompting lower doses or different protocols. Messonier also worries about hospital personnel missing time after vaccines.
Desperate for vaccines, Messonier said the rollout should happen without delay, even in nursing homes with frail elderly patients with multiple co-morbidities. LA County Health Director Barbara Ferrer warned that today would not likely be the worst Covid-19 day, thinking, tomorrow and the days to follow would by far worse. “However, its will like not remain the worst day of the pandemic in Los Angeles County. That will be tomorrow, and the next day, and the next as cases, hospitalizations and deaths increase . . . “ Ferrer said, hinting at more drastic measures ahead. Public health officials must do everything possible to avoid overcrowding in ERs, hospitals and ICU units. Public health officials haven’t found a better way than social distancing through shutdown orders to slow the spread of the virus. Ferrer is concerned about the delayed reaction from the Thanksgiving holiday swamping the system
Rolling out the vaccines at the earliest possible time other than locking down large swaths of the country is the fastest way to get a handle of the virus spread. Whatever problems with the logistics of transporting vaccines at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit, vaccines should start getting to first responders, hospital and nursing personnel in the next few weeks. When it comes to the bulk of the population, the National Institutes of Health [NIH] and CDC must do a better job of educating the public about the necessity of taking vaccines. All the campaign rhetoric discouraged large number of citizens from taking the vaccine, fearful that it was not safe or effective. Now that vaccines are actually available in large part due to President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, it’s time to stop playing politics and make a nationwide push to get everyone vaccinated.
