COVID-19 pandemic has had a deadly toll at residential care facilities for the elderly, and cases and deaths dropped dramatically after mass vaccinations
Housing and Development Newsletter
“The local public health department does not have oversight of this process,” county disaster preparedness manager Jan Koegler told Noozhawk via email. “As a supplement to this process, county public health has offered to vaccinate ASL (assisted-living facilities) workers and residents who can come to the vaccination PODs (points of distribution).”
At least 190 facilities in Santa Barbara County are enrolled in the federal pharmacy partnership program, Koegler said Friday.
“We are working with the facilities to obtain data on when they are scheduled to receive their first doses through the partnership,” Koegler said. “From the data we have collected so far, we calculate that 3,453 residents and staff have received at least a first dose. This number does not take into account how many have been vaccinated through a PHD (public health department), vaccine clinic or by another health care provider.”
Skilled-nursing, assisted-living and other communities serving older adults are prioritized for vaccines, which are in limited supply
Residents have not been scheduled for COVID-19 vaccine appointments yet at Oak Cottage of Santa Barbara at 1820 De la Vina St., a retirement community specializing in dementia care and Alzheimer’s disease. Oak Cottage and many other long-term care communities are eligible for vaccines, but there are limited supplies for the thousands of waiting residents. (Brooke Holland / Noozhawk photo) By Brooke Holland, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @BT Holland
January 20, 2021
| 8:46 p.m.
Deanna Zachrisson doesn’t know when her husband, a 75-year-old veteran living at Oak Cottage of Santa Barbara, will get his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.