March 7, 2021
KEY MESSAGES – LA COUNTY MOVING TOWARDS RED TIER
Purple Tier -> Red Tier
L.A. County is very close to meeting the metric thresholds for the less restrictive Red Tier in the State’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
• This week, L.A. County’s adjusted case rate dropped to 7.2 new cases per 100,000 people, and the test positivity rate is 3.5%. Our case rate needs to remain at or below seven new cases per 100,000 residents for two consecutive weeks to FULLY move into the less restrictive Red Tier.
• If L.A. County moves into the Red Tier next week and stays in that tier for two consecutive weeks, the County will be allowed to have broader Red Tier reopening. For example, schools will then be eligible to reopen in-person learning for students in grades 7 through 12.
The State announced this week that it would begin setting aside 40% of vaccine doses for the most vulnerable neighborhoods as part of its strategy to inoculate the most impacted communities from the coronavirus based on the California Healthy Places Index.
• Once two million doses are given out in those neighborhoods, the State will lessen the restrictions making it easier for counties to move through the reopening tiers by lowering the requirement from 7 cases per 100k people to 10 cases per 100k people. It is anticipated this will happen in the next week or two.
• Once four million doses are administered, the State will revise the metrics for reopening sooner.
VACCINE INFORMATION: THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE THREE
The FDA has now approved three vaccines under the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for COVID-19. This includes Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and now Johnson & Johnson-Janssen. Here is some important information related to vaccines and dosages between the three:
• A single dose of Moderna or Pfizer is not the same thing as a single dose of Johnson and Johnson. The vaccines have different action mechanisms, were studied in different patient populations and at different times.
• The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is, for now, a one-dose vaccine. It is entirely possible that we will discover in several months that a second dose is necessary.
• The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were designed and tested to be two-dose vaccines. So far, the immunity observed in those patients is very strong.
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are mRNA vaccines. Both are a two-dose regimen administered 21-days for Pfizer and 28-days for Moderna.
• mRNA stands for messenger ribonucleic acid, which is more or less instructions for your body to make the protein, like a blueprint. Your cells recognize this and start to make antibodies and T-lymphocytes (T-cells) to fight it. If you get exposed in the future with the real thing, those cells will remember and fight it the same way.
Johnson & Johnson’s is a viral vector vaccine. This is a single-dose regimen.
• A viral vector is a virus that has been altered, so it doesn’t cause illness but still makes your immune system build up specific defenses: same result, different angle. Examples of viral vector vaccines are the flu and measles vaccines.
Neither method affects your DNA in any way and neither contain a live virus. All three vaccines are effective in preventing severe illness from COVID-19.
LA COUNTY CURRENT VACCINATION ELIGIBILITY
LA County is now vaccinating Tier 1A and Tier 1B. This includes:
• Healthcare workers (HCWs) at high and moderate risk exposure to the COVID-19 virus through their work in any role in health care or long-term care settings. High and moderate risk means the HCW has direct or indirect contact with patients or infectious materials (Phase 1A):
o Long term care facility residents (Phase 1A)
o Persons age 65 and over (Phase 1B Tier 1)
• Emergency Services (Phase 1B Tier 1)
o Who is included:
Police/law enforcement officers
National Security
Corrections officers and workers
Courts/Legal Counsel & Prosecution staff who are required to be in-person at court routinely and interact with clients in correctional facilities.
Includes judges and court administrators/staff, and staff who work in the Public Defender’s Office, Alternate Public Defender, District Attorney’s Office
Campus and school police
Rehabilitation and Re-entry
Federal law enforcement agencies
Police, Fire and Ambulance Dispatchers
Security staff to maintain building access control and physical security measures
DCFS, APS (workers physically responding to abuse and neglect of children, elderly and dependent adults)
Fusion Center employees, including analysts
Sworn animal control officers and human officers
Disaster Service Workers (DSWs) who are working IN PERSON and are actively deployed (not working remotely from home)
Exception: The following are NOT eligible:
US postal carriers/mail carriers
Water utility workers
Public Works staff
Cal Trans workers
Airline flight attendants
Aerospace workers
Disaster Service Workers (DSWs) who are working REMOTELY from home (e.g., contact tracers)
• Education/Childcare (Phase 1B Tier 1)
o Who is included:
Public Schools (K-12)
Independent Schools
Charter Schools
Daycare and Early Childhood Education
Exception: The following are NOT eligible:
Private nannies and babysitters
Homeschooling parents/guardians
Parents/guardians assisting with cooperative early care education
Private tutors
Contracted Educational Support Staff
Junior Colleges
Colleges & Universities
• Beach Cities Health District is vaccinating South Bay Educators at AdventurePlex through a Closed POD. This is NOT open to the public.
o Vaccines have been allocated to the schools by the Department of Public Health. They will be provided to the South Bay Consortium for School Vaccines, which includes the following school districts:
Centinela Valley Unified High School District
El Segundo Unified School District
Hawthorne School District
Hermosa Beach City School District
Inglewood Unified School District
Lawndale Elementary School District
Lennox School District
Manhattan Beach Unified School District
Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District
Redondo Beach Unified School District
Wiseburn Unified School District
*School districts are scheduling appointments for their staff members based on their criteria and the number of COVID-19 vaccines allotted to each school.
• Food/Agriculture (Phase 1B Tier 1)
o Who is included:
Foodservice/Restaurant workers
Food manufacturing workers
Grocery store workers
Animal agriculture workers, including those involved in veterinary health
Farmworkers
Veterinarians
Food and Agriculture-associated port and transportation workers
You can make an appointment to be vaccinated by clicking here if you are in one of the groups listed above. Residents who don’t have computer access may call (833) 540-0473 between 8 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. or 2-1-1 for assistance with appointments.
DO NOT REGISTER FOR AN APPOINTMENT IF YOU ARE NOT IN AN ELIGIBLE GROUP. Doing so will take an appointment slot away from those at the highest risk, and you will be turned away without proper documentation of your eligibility.
To find out when you will be eligible for a vaccine appointment, please click here.
You can also sign-up to receive the vaccine newsletter from the L.A. County Department of Public Health by clicking here.
To read the entire message or previous messages, please visit https://alertsouthbay.com/ and click on ‘COVID-19’.
