CAITLIN ANTONIOS
CalMatters
In late January, Monterey Countyâs Board of Supervisors sent a letter to state leaders, urging them to prioritize its 64,000 farmworkers in one of the nationâs largest agricultural regions. A month later, Gov. Gavin Newsom visited a mobile vaccine clinic in Fresno, pledging tens of thousands of extra doses for farmworkers.
In turn, Chris Valadez, president of a nonprofit organization of growers, was confident he could run a mass vaccine clinic to vaccinate thousands of farmworkers. His group, the Grower-Shipper Association, partnered with Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas, a community-based health care provider.
But in late February, the state and county were focusing on vaccinating people 65 and older, so they didnât prioritize doses for farmworkers. With the Salinas Valley harvest season fast approaching, growers were worried that infections would start spreading, decimating their workforce.Â
For a variety of reasons, these residents have chosen not to be immunized.
âIâve always been on the fence about it,â said Joe Molina, age 56, about getting the shot.
âIâm not anti-vaxxer,â said Molina, âBut I like to have a lot more informationâ before getting immunized.
Molina said heâs concerned about possible adverse effects from the vaccine. And besides that, âIâm healthy. I donât hardly ever go to the doctor.â
Heâs not worried about getting COVID-19, he said. âNot at all. Because I take care of myself. I wear my mask. I wash my hands diligently. I donât believe in freaking out about COVID. Iâm taking what precautions I can. Iâm not afraid of it.â
The week began with 12 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest number for a Monday report since December, Napa County reported Monday.
There have been no COVID-related deaths reported locally in over a month, but the number of Napa County hospitalizations increased from seven on Friday to nine on Monday.
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Napa County Public Health Officer Karen Relucio, along with her counterparts in the Bay Area, issued a statement agreeing with federal and regional health officials who on Friday agreed that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was again safe to use against COVID-19 despite reports of blood clotting.
Unusual clusters of coronavirus cases among already-vaccinated residents and patients at the Yountville Veterans Home and Napa State Hospital were the result of a West Coast variant of COVID-19, state and county officials confirmed in a joint statement this week.
At least 49 cases were discovered among residents, patients and staff of the two facilities through the end of March, Napa County Public Health Officer Karen Relucio told the Register in an interview earlier this month. Though some of the staff members at each facility have chosen to remain unvaccinated, all of the infected residents and patients in question had previously been vaccinated, she said.
March 17, 2021
LordRunar/iStock
State health officials say 42 of California’s 58 counties have advanced into the second-highest Red Tier in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy recovery plan. That represents nearly 88-percent of the state’s population. The state’s vaccine equity metric allows a county to qualify for the Red Tier if they average less than ten new cases a day for every 100-thousand residents. The prior threshold was seven. The vaccine equity metric refers to the two-million vaccinations that have so far been administered across the state’s hardest-hit communities. There are still 11 counties stuck in the most restrictive Purple Tier.