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Supervisors OK $24 Million Grant For COVID Outreach

 July 14, 2021 at 10:37 AM PDT

Speaker 1: 00:00 After many weeks, seeing daily COVID-19 cases dip into the double digits, San Diego county health officials announced 355 new cases on Monday. In fact, there have been more than 150 cases reported each day in San Diego since the beginning of July. And the likely culprit is the more contagious Delta variant of the virus. The increased numbers present a test between a new strain of COVID-19 among the un-vaccinated and a hoped for wall of immunity among those vaccinated in San Diego. Joining me is KPBS health reporter, Matt Hoffman, and Matt. Welcome. Speaker 2: 00:39 Hey Maureen, do we know for Speaker 1: 00:41 Sure if this increase in COVID cases is due to the Delta variant? We Speaker 3: 00:46 Don't know for sure. Now we do know that Delta cases are increasing here in San Diego based off cases that are sequenced, you know, since last week, they've nearly doubled up from like 54 to like 107. But keep in mind, we talk about sequence cases. Like, you know, if you or I were to test positive for coronavirus tomorrow, our case might not go to a lab to actually find out what strain of COVID that is. They only do like a very small percentage. I think statewide this month, it was like 5%, but that does give us a snapshot. And we know that it was around less than 10% we know in the state of California and in the U S that Delta is the dominant variant. Dr. Wilma Wooten did say yesterday that we will probably be seeing that be the dominant strain here in San Diego county. But it sounds like it's not yet, but keep in mind those sequenced cases, there is a lag time, you know, two to four weeks. So the data that we're seeing right now is sort of, you know, uh, a few weeks old. Now, what Speaker 1: 01:33 Other factors could be causing an increase in cases? Well, you know, health officials Speaker 3: 01:38 Have said since late June, they seen an overall increase in cases. And, you know, we were averaging for awhile about a hundred cases a day, 75 cases a day that has gone up recently to in the two hundreds. We even had a day where we had 300 cases. Now, some of those may be batches that are dropped, but health officials sort of attributed to, you know, more people going out and mixing, you know, the, the big, uh, June 15th reopening the blueprint was lifted, but the pandemic was not over. So probably a lot more people mixing, but it's sort of hard to say, have we Speaker 1: 02:05 Seen a corresponding increase in hospitalizations and deaths? We have seen an Speaker 3: 02:09 Increase in hospitalizations and county health officials presented that at their meeting yesterday, basically from the time period of June 12th, to July 11th, they seen a 46% increase in hospitalizations. Now we're still talking about, you know, small numbers. I don't think that there's this worry from health officials that we're necessarily going to overwhelm the hospital system right now, but they haven't seen an increase in intensive care unit admissions. They seem about a 10% increase during that same time. But they do think though that that's a lagging indicator in terms of, you know, if you're in the hospital right now, just in like a normal bed with coronavirus Smith, that worsens so to speak, or you might have to get put on a ventilator and then eventually go to the intensive care unit. So they expect that to change and they expect ICU admissions to also go up a little bit, Delta Speaker 1: 02:48 Varian pose a threat to people who are fully vaccinated. So Speaker 3: 02:52 There is some good news in terms of there's more and more data coming out that shows that people who are fully vaccinated. So, you know, that's either getting know one dose of the Johnson and Johnson or both doses of the Pfizer and Madonna that there is really, really good protection. Now we do know that there's more and more studies coming out that are showing that one shot just doesn't provide that same level of protection drops down significantly in terms of percentage points. So, uh, officials are really encouraging people to get their second doses if they haven't. We know that 140,000 San Diego or so have skipped their second doses. Um, and the message that health officials are sort of putting out there is, Hey, you know, you might think you're protected early on in the pandemic. You know, we know that one dose was good against the virus that was out there, but it's mutated a lot. Delta's becoming more dominant and that same protection is not there with just one dose. This Speaker 1: 03:38 Uptick that we're seeing in the number of COVID cases, most likely because of that Delta variant is being called a test case of how much a mutating virus can infiltrate an area with a largely vaccinated public. Can you explain that a little bit more? Right. So Speaker 3: 03:54 San Diego county health officials, you know, they set a goal of getting 75% of residents, ages 12 and over that's basically everybody who's eligible right now to get 75% of the eligible population vaccinated. Now they have hit that goal. You know, 2.2 million people have gotten at least one dose. Um, you mentioned, you know, there's 1.9 million San Diego are fully vaccinated, but that still means that there's, you know, more than a million San Diego, whether if they just, you know, don't want to get vaccinated or they're not eligible yet in terms of their, their minors, who haven't gotten their COVID vaccination. And we know that Delta does spreads so fast, it, it really just kind of takes over these communities. So there is a worry there that this Delta very, it will spread very, very quickly in terms of those who are in vaccinated. And are we Speaker 1: 04:35 Seeing pockets of resistance that health officials are worried about? The question Speaker 3: 04:39 Was posed to the county health officials during a last minute briefing that they called last week when they did say that they are seeing the lowest vaccination rates, um, out in the east county and then rural parts of north county speaking Speaker 1: 04:51 With KPBS health reporter, Matt Hoffman, Speaker 2: 04:53 Matt, thank you. Thanks Maureen. More on San Speaker 1: 04:56 Diego county's polling results on vaccine. Hesitancy is coming up next. Speaker 4: 05:14 San Diego is seeing the largest number of COVID cases since April as the Delta variant becomes the dominant strain. Doctors are now getting a glimpse of what happens when restrictions are eased and people congregate while a pandemic is still ongoing, but with eight and 10 adults reporting, they are vaccinated. Why are we still seeing a rise in cases, a new survey suggest there are still too many people unlikely to get vaccinated despite being able to do so. David met president of FM three research who conducted the survey and Dr. Bob Gillespie, a sharp physician and the medical director of the San Diego black nurses association joins us. Welcome to you both. Speaker 3: 05:54 Thank you very much. Pleasure to be here. Speaker 4: 05:56 David, what were your top line findings from the survey? Speaker 5: 06:00 We surveyed, uh, several thousand adult residents of San Diego county. And while we found that 80%, uh, were vaccinated said they had an easy time getting vaccinated and a lot of confidence in the health benefits that it would provide about one in five adults. Tell us that not only are they not vaccinated yet, but a majority of them say they have no intention of getting vaccinated. And for most of them, what we found was they're relatively unconcerned about the risks of getting COVID. Um, they, uh, believe it would be easy to get vaccinated if they chose to do so. They don't see any particular logistical hurdles to get past, but they lack confidence in the safety of the vaccine. They're worried about side effects. They're worried that the vaccines development was too rushed and they're uncertain what its longterm impacts might be. And for all those reasons, as well as the fact that they're not worried about getting COVID themselves, uh, right now they just don't feel an urgency to get vaccinated. Dr. Speaker 4: 06:56 Gillespie, if those who are vaccine hesitant, don't get the vaccine. What can that mean for the community as a whole Speaker 3: 07:02 W well first, uh, with Jade, I think we should take a moment to take a step back and pat ourselves on the back. And the point being that if you look at historically, what we've done with flu vaccines has been in the range of 45, 50%. Even though this year, we had 55% because of the concerns that were out there for us to be at the numbers that we are now, that is very encouraging. That being said, um, we do have more work to do, and there can be obviously those who are not being vaccinated, the biggest concern is for them, for those people not getting vaccinated are at the highest risk. There are other issues such as the Delta, variant and other variants that can occur if we don't have everyone vaccinated. Speaker 4: 07:46 And then what can be done then to encourage those who are vaccine hesitant to get the vaccine? Speaker 3: 07:52 Well, I think we have to focus on, first of all, the 20% of people who are unvaccinated, who still feel that very likely to get vaccinated. And I looked at the survey and that's encouraging. So we still have that group. We have to focus on. If you look at the county data and you see those over 65, who've been vaccinated as well, over 90%. So the highest risk people have been vaccinated. We now have to focus on our young folks. If you look at the highest group that have not been vaccinated, those between the ages of 12 and 39. So we have to focus on that group. We have to talk about a condition called long haulers or long COVID and the impact of that condition for not death, but long-term conditions and issues that can occur. If these people aren't vaccinated focus on how this can impact their lives. Speaker 4: 08:42 And David, the survey looked at vaccine hesitancy by a number of demographics, including ethnicity. What did you find Speaker 5: 08:49 There? Well, I think, uh, first I just want to follow up on, on something, uh, Dr. Gillespie raised, which is an important point, which is those who are currently un-vaccinated can really be divided into two groups. Those who are vaccine hesitant, and those who are vaccine resistant, the first group, the hesitant, uh, largely younger San Diego ones are people who haven't had a chance to get vaccinated yet may not feel a lot of urgency about it, but they're open to it. And if we tell them it's free, it's administered by healthcare professionals. It's been thoroughly tested. Uh, they ought to be, uh, persuadable and they ought to be a willing to get vaccinated. And the survey data suggests that, but there is another group, those who are resistant who say that they will not get vaccinated, uh, and they are much more resistant to that kind of information. Speaker 5: 09:34 And it's likely going to be harder to get them, uh, to be willing, to take the vaccine. Now, in terms of demographically, who they are, the profile right now of those who are most resistant tends to be older, whiter, more affluent, and more highly educated than the rest of the county's population as a whole. And that's a shift from what we saw in some research at the end of last year, where it was some of those younger residents and communities of color that were a little bit more hesitant about the vaccine. Those ethnic differences seem to have a diminished overall. And at this point, those who are resistant to the vaccine are more likely to be white than they are members of communities of color. Speaker 4: 10:15 But when you look at it from an ethnicity lens, based on the percentage of those who have, and haven't gotten the vaccine, white people have the highest rate of getting the vaccine, can you explain how that works? Speaker 5: 10:25 Sure. So 83% of whites say that they've been vaccinated, 80% of respondents of color have that's a relatively small difference and it's around the surveys margin of error. But when we look at those who express the greatest resistance to getting vaccinated, who say they are not at all likely to get vaccinated, they are much more disproportionately white. And I think what some of that has to do with unfortunately is partisanship. Um, we have seen that, uh, uh, among white Republicans and other survey data, there is more resistance to taking the vaccine. Um, whereas whites who identify as democratic are more likely to get vaccinated and have higher rates of vaccination so far. So I think what we're seeing now is that the set of white adult residents of the county who are unvaccinated, uh, may differ in that way, ideologically, that may be influencing their willingness to get vaccinated. Speaker 4: 11:19 Dr. Gillespie, when this pandemic first started, the narrative was that people of color were more hesitant to get the vaccine. You've been a part of, of a lot of community-based vaccination efforts. What's your reaction to these findings from this? I Speaker 3: 11:33 Think the survey is excellent and it provides a lot of information, but remember also when you have a larger pool of people, who've already been vaccinated, that is, if you already have a large pool of whites who have been vaccinated, then you are pretty much, and especially in an influent group that knows how to get to the information, get the vaccine done. You have a much smaller pool of people to pull from, meaning that that's, that group would have gotten vaccinated because they would have had the means to do it. When you look at African-Americans, there had been some access issues. There've been some other issues that have been going on. So we have a larger pool to deal with to still encourage that group to move forward. And I think some of the data may be skewed because of that, because I still see how's it in people for reasons that we can talk about including concerns about the long-term effects of the vaccine, concerns about how quickly it was developed. Speaker 3: 12:26 And that's still out there. And I talk to people every day about that. But many of those people, once you give them the facts, you go over how the vaccine was developed. You go through the side effect profiles, you look at the issues related to clots or pericarditis that have come up. You can explain the importance of use of getting the vaccine and that the risk of having a problem is much less than the, um, the fact that the large benefit that you get for getting the vaccine. So I think it's a population is still has some that are racially divided and hesitant based on mistrust and other factors. But I would agree it's not nearly as much as we initially thought. Um, early on, Speaker 4: 13:08 And David, Dr. Gillespie mentioned the long-term effects of the vaccine being one reason that people say they are vaccine hesitant. What are some of the other reasons that you saw with your survey? Speaker 5: 13:19 Well, the primary concerns that people raised were, uh, concerns about the long-term effects, concerns about immediate side effects that they might experience. And in particular, uh, some of the respondents seem to be aware of some of the challenges faced relating to the J and J vaccine. Um, although the problems have arisen in a very small, uh, group of, of, uh, people in studies, um, they have gotten a fair amount of publicity. And so that's something that the respondents were aware of. Um, but it really was those health concerns. Uh, that seemed to be the biggest obstacle. It was not a belief that it was hard to get the vaccine hard, to get an appointment hard, to find a place to schedule it. It was not some of the more outlandish claims that we've heard about, about the sort of the motivations behind vaccination or what some of its other effects might be. And so, as, as Dr. Gillespie said very carefully, going through with people, be evidence that has been gathered, the incredible effectiveness that the vaccine has had so far, um, ought to help to allay some of those fears and concerns, and hopefully make people more comfortable with getting vaccinated. Speaker 4: 14:27 Dr. Gillespie hearing that. Uh, what would you like for people to know about those concerned with vaccine side effects? Speaker 3: 14:34 I think David alluded to the point, if you look at those who have had side effects that are real concerning side effects, you had a small group of patients, women between ages 18 to 48, the develop this issue of clotting, or you may have all heard about this whole thing with TTP, which is a very serious condition, but it occurred in a very small percentage of people, somewhere in the line of one in a million and some very small number and the same with [inaudible] and inflammation of the heart occurred in a small number of younger male, primarily patients who all recovered from this, that I know of, no one had had any long-term effects from that. So educating folks on these are short-term issues and that when you get the vaccine and you have a reaction that that's a normal reaction, that is when you have the muscle aches, et cetera, that's your body getting ready to defend itself if challenged with the actual virus. Speaker 3: 15:29 So we have to get those messages out. And I want to, again, point out it's important to talk about these other conditions, such as long COVID, which a long haulers condition, which I have several patients now who are young and can't get back to work. So these are things that young people we have to point to. We used to could use the argument. You could infect your older grandmother or your mother and father. But now the answer to that, when I say that is they're all vaccinated, we don't have to worry about them as much. So I still want to focus on directly how it would impact these young folks. And lastly, it's really important to make sure that 140,000 people who are overdue for their second vaccines, that they get that second shot and point out the importance that it's a two-shot vaccine and let's as J and J. And when you have to get that second shot to be fully protected, Speaker 4: 16:17 I've been speaking with David mats, president of FM three research who conducted the survey and Dr. Bob Gillespie, a sharp physician and the medical director of the San Diego black nurses association. Thank you both for joining us today. Thank you. Yeah.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to accept a $24.2 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that will be used to address COVID-19 disparities among underserved populations.
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