COVID cases rise again in Stanislaus County. Officials hear more from vaccine skeptics
Stanislaus County’s top executive said Tuesday that COVID vaccination status is not and won’t be a requirement for people to access county services.
County Chief Executive Officer Jody Hayes said he made the statement at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting because information from the state on vaccination mandates can be confusing for the public.
In addition to state orders for health care workers, teachers and state employees to get vaccinated, San Francisco and Los Angeles are requiring proof of vaccination for using restaurants, malls, gyms, movie theaters, bars and other indoor venues. But those kind of policies have not surfaced in Stanislaus County.
With the county in the 20th month of the COVID-19 pandemic, county supervisors heard the latest update on the contagious respiratory disease that has killed 1,338 county residents and resulted in 77,563 confirmed infections.
Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, county health officer, said COVID transmission had been coming down but the county tallied more confirmed cases last week than the previous week.
A county health order maintains a mask requirement for people in indoor public settings, regardless of vaccination status, and the order won’t be lifted until cases drop below 20 per 100,000 population. The transmission rate was 22.3 per 100,000 as of Monday.
Vaishampayan said COVID hospital admissions have hovered around 115 to 120, with 25 to 35 patients in intensive care units. The health officer was hoping to see those admissions drop below 100.
In a community that’s divided over COVID vaccinations, Stanislaus County is not seeing an increase in vaccine demand, even with booster shots are authorized for seniors 65 and older and for other adults vulnerable to severe illness and employees working jobs with high risk of exposure to the virus.
Vaishampayan displayed a graph showing the full vaccination rate has crept up to 57.3% among eligible county residents age 12 and older. Vaccine protection is higher for the age groups most vulnerable to severe illness and death. It is 70.5% for those 65 and older and 67.8% for adults from 50 to 64 years old.
Almost 52% of adults are fully vaccinated in the 18-to-49 age group where disagreement about the vaccine seems the most intense.
The health officer said not enough attention has been drawn to long-term COVID illness and the symptoms of fatigue, brain fog and breathing problems lasting months after the initial infection. The long-term symptoms may affect one in four COVID sufferers.
Vaishampayan spoke briefly about a battleground issue for parents: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to mandate COVID vaccine for schoolkids.
The health officer said the requirement for schoolchildren won’t take effect until the school term following full FDA approval of the vaccines for children. Vaishampayan said that it won’t likely happen for a Jan. 1 effective date and that a July 1 start date is more likely.
Vaishampayan made a pitch for flu shots as the influenza season approaches. County public health is hoping to avoid a double surge of influenza and COVID-19 patients inundating hospitals this winter.
Mary Ann Lilly, managing partner of the county Health Services Agency, said an early COVID-19 treatment called monoclonal antibodies is now more available in Stanislaus County. The county made an effort to increase the availability of the infusion treatment and eight or nine health care providers now offer it for people who have just come down with symptoms, Lilly said.
The treatment has been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death if administered early in the course of illness.
Some are opposed to vaccine mandates
County supervisors also heard from speakers who don’t trust the coronavirus vaccines and oppose government mandates whether for schoolchildren, health workers, teachers or those working for larger employers.
Megan Barajas said the county could keep schools from losing staff if it took a stand against the state vaccination mandates. She said 30% of teachers at the charter school where she works are not vaccinated.
“I wear a mask to teach and remind my students to hold their masks over their noses,” she said. “One thing I won’t do is take a vaccine I do not want or need.”
She said the state requirement will force teachers to get vaccinated against COVID or lose their jobs. “In our school, we call that bullying,” she said.
County supervisors oversee local government departments and services but do not set COVID-19 policies for schools.
An opponent of mandatory COVID vaccination for schoolchildren noted that 513 deaths in children nationwide are attributed to COVID-19 based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
Former Ceres Mayor Chris Vierra said the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution against use of vaccine passports in any county office and also is discouraging COVID vaccination verification by private businesses.
Vierra said vaccine requirements as a condition of employment or utilization of services discriminates against people of color, a demographic that has the lowest vaccination rates.
Another speaker, who said she works as a respiratory therapist, said she thought her health care employer would terminate her over refusal to get vaccinated, but “there are so many of us, if they let us go, they won’t have a staff.”
She said fewer COVID-infected patients would end up in hospitals if they had early treatment and outpatient care.
This story was originally published October 26, 2021 at 4:06 PM.
