1 Death, 58 New Covid-19 Cases In Tuolumne, 31 In Calaveras

Covid Cases by Episode Date Tuolumn and Calaveras from July to Jan

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Tuolumne County Public Health reports the death of a man in his 40s that was determined to be due to Covid-19, he was not vaccinated. There are 55 new Covid-19 positive residents identified since yesterday, 33 are unvaccinated. There are three new Sierra Conservation Center inmate cases for a total of 58 new cases. Tuolumne County’s active community cases decreased 58 to 240 including nine people who are hospitalized, two people in the hospital with Covid-19 are vaccinated. The 14-day average for Covid-19 hospitalized patients has increased 85.7% to 13 which is 6 more patients hospitalized from prior 14-day total. The state reports two ICU beds available in Tuolumne County.

Tuolumne County Public Health also shares, consistent with prior recommendation for adults, CDC is now recommending that moderately or severely immunocompromised 5–11-year-olds receive an additional primary dose of vaccine 28 days after their second shot. At this time, only the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is authorized and recommended for children aged 5-11 details are at cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/s0104-Pfizer-Booster.html The CDC has updated the recommendation for when many people can receive a booster shot, shortening the interval from 6 months to 5 months for people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine. This means that people can now receive an mRNA booster shot 5 months after completing their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series. The booster interval recommendation for people who received the J&J vaccine (2 months) or the Moderna vaccine (6 months), has not changed.

An mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) is recommended for a booster shot and you are eligible for a booster:

If you completed a Pfizer series at least 5 months ago
If you completed a Moderna series at least 6 months ago
If you got a J&J vaccine at least 2 months ago

The California Department of Public Health has extended the indoor masking requirement through February 15th.

Tuolumne County Public Health restates “While our COVID response team continues case investigation and contact tracing efforts, due to the large increase in cases that we are experiencing, we will not reach everyone. If you receive a positive test result, you will likely receive a text or email from a “Virtual Agent” to make contact and provide some information on what to do next. You can help slow the spread of Covid-19 by responding to texts, calls, or emails, and self-isolating when you have symptoms or a positive test result. Also notify any close contacts you’ve had from 2 days before you became ill or got tested. Any close contacts should follow current quarantine guidance and get tested 3-5 days after exposure. If you are at high risk of severe disease or hospitalization, you can contact your doctor to discuss potential treatment options. If you are not symptomatic, have not tested positive for COVID-19 recently, and are not in quarantine, get vaccinated or boosted.”

There have been 1,628 inmate cases at the Sierra Conservation Center, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) reports eight active Covid cases at the SCC. The SCC manages 3,202 inmates including all the southern fire conservation camps and has tested 26% of the prison’s population in the past 14 days.

The newly reported community cases include 13 cases age 17 or younger and 10 cases age 60 or older. The new Covid cases by gender and age: four girls and one boy age 11 or younger, three girls and five boys age 12 to 17, five women and six men age 18 to 29, five women and two men in their 30s, two women and four men in their 40s, six women and two men in their 50s, one woman and five men in their 60s, two women in their 70s, and two men in their 80s.

The total current case rate, a 14-day average for Tuolumne County increased to 51.6 from 46.4 per 100,000 population yesterday. The case rate reached a low of 15.1 on December 17th. A total of 110 individuals were released from isolation, in all 6,552 have been released from isolation. The number of active cases has been above 60 since near the end of July, the first three Delta cases were identified July 2nd active cases peaked August 16th at 407, with the lowest active cases since July being 62 on November 29th. The county sends samples from residents for sequencing which takes time, so far the Omicron Covid-19 variant has not been detected yet. A total of 59% of the population eligible to get vaccinated has been vaccinated.

Calaveras County Public Health reports 31 new cases since yesterday. There are 13 more active cases for a total of 63 active cases including three Covid hospitalizations. One of the new cases are age 17 or younger and six are age 65 and older, in total 857 under age 17 and 801 over 65 have been identified with Covid. There are 18 more recovered cases for a total of 4,587 cases recovered and 55.74% of the eligible population is fully vaccinated in the county.

Information about Omicron from Mariposa County Public Health was detailed here yesterday.

California Department of Public Health has said it sent about 2 million rapid tests to school districts at the beginning of December. A few days before Christmas, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a plan to purchase 6 million more test kits for students. According to the Associated Press about half of the kits were delivered last week. Others never arrived due in part to “distribution challenges” and delays caused by winter storms, California schools chief Tony Thurmond told reporters on Wednesday stating the shortfall was disappointing. Thurmond spoke about the California Community Schools Partnership Program, a $3 billion program that will fund schools, including health resources, mental health resources, and social service resources. Thurmond states, “I am pleased to share with you today that we will be pursuing a program that will help us have 10,000 more mental health clinicians in the state of California. I can’t think of anything more important right now in dealing with the trauma that students and families have experienced.” He announced his intention to work to retain 15,000 teachers by providing additional induction supports.

Columbia College states this morning they learned the home antigen testing kits they ordered in early December are not arriving this week as expected due to supply chain issues they were not shipped. They are postponing their planned Covid Testing protocol until test kits arrive with the shipment estimated to arrive on campus sometime next week. In the meantime, they request students continue to follow the fall semester guidelines until further notice. This includes masking indoors, distancing when guided, remaining home when symptomatic and completing the Covid Notification forms when indicated.

COVID-19 Testing Public health recommends scheduling an appointment to get tested 5 days after possible exposure and if you are having any symptoms, to get tested right away. The Tuolumne County State testing site schedule is 7 days a week from 7 AM to 7 PM at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds.  Appointments can be made at www.lhi.care/covidtesting or by calling 888-634-1123. Testing is also available at pharmacies, at Rapid Care, and the hospital emergency department if you are experiencing any symptoms, or contact your healthcare provider.

COVID-19 Vaccine appointments and booster vaccine shots are recommended for anyone age 16 and older (Pfizer only for age 16-17) Vaccine appointments for children ages 5 to 11 can be made through myturn.ca.gov, or by calling 833-422-4255, or through local pharmacies more details are here. For ways to manage a fear of needles or a phobia and help others with it, view the CDC’s information guide here. Learn more about self-care strategies by visiting namica.org