County Prepares To Administer Delayed Vaccines As 812 New Cases, 34 Deaths Reported

San Diego CA

20 February, 2021

3:55 PM

Description

By Elizabeth Ireland, Times of San Diego February 20, 2021 San Diego County public health officials said they are ready to administer delayed COVID-19 vaccine doses as soon as they arrive as 812 new infections and 34 deaths were reported in the county Friday. "We have the mechanism in place to be able to administer all the doses we get in San Diego County," said Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county's public health officer. "In the meantime, we're asking San Diegans to be patient. As the delayed doses arrive, we will administer them to everyone who has an appointment and release new time slots." The federal government announced Friday it would attempt to get all delayed COVID-19 vaccines to their designated locations by the end of next week. Sub-freezing temperatures across much of the United States have delayed shipments of the vials around the country. As of Friday, of the 779,000 vaccine doses the county has received, 705,985 have been administered, more than 5,000 are awaiting processing and 67,000 are yet to be administered. A total of 18.2% of San Diego County's population over the age of 16 have received at least one dose and 6.1% are fully inoculated. The county has five vaccine super stations and 15 smaller neighborhood distribution sites. Friday's data increased the number of COVID-19 infections to 255,802 since the pandemic began, while the death toll increased to 3,169. In Friday's data, 19 men and 15 women died between Dec. 25. and Feb. 18. It is also the eighth consecutive day with cases below 1,000 and the 11th of the past 12 days to fall beneath that metric. Of 14,822 tests reported Friday, 5% returned positive, decreasing the 14-day rolling average of positive tests to 5.1% from Thursday's 5.2%. Four community outbreaks were reported Friday, two in business settings, one in a daycare/preschool/childcare setting and one in a retail setting. There have been 30 in the past week. — City News Service contributed to this article Times of San Diego is an independent online news site covering the San Diego metropolitan area. Our journalists report on politics, crime, business, sports, education, arts, the military and everyday life in San Diego. No subscription is required, and you can sign up for a free daily newsletter with a summary of the latest news.