Sonoma County calls police and all first responders get COVID-19 shots

Sonoma County public health officials will fully vaccinate first responders (law enforcement, fire departments, emergency health workers) in all regions by September 1 or weekly virus on Wednesday. He said he would require inspection, masking and other safety measures.

Emphasizing the critical nature of the virus’s resurrection, county health officials also urged all local employers to follow county initiative and make full vaccination or weekly COVID-19 testing a requirement for employment. I did.

The public health order announced at the press conference was the second pandemic-related this week as the county is working on hospitalizations associated with widespread viral infections caused by the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19. It is a duty. In particular, this variant is primarily infected, sending residents of unvaccinated areas to hospitals.

On Monday, the county reinstated mandatory indoor masking in public. This is a previous move to prevent the rapid community spread of powerful delta virus strains. Officials said the variant is currently involved in 93% of all new coronavirus cases nationwide.

Also next week, county officials will present to the supervisory board a plan for consideration to extend the same vaccination or testing requirements to all 4,470 county workers.

“This is an important and necessary step to vaccinate a higher proportion of the population and stop the threat posed in the community due to delta variants,” said Dr. Sundari Mase, Sonoma County Health Officer. Said on Wednesday.

Of the county residents over the age of 12, 70.5% are fully vaccinated, far less than in Marin County, where more than 85% of the population is vaccinated.

Mase said the September 1 deadline should give all county police, fire departments, and emergency medical service agencies time to carry out vaccination requirements or mandatory tests.

County officials who attended a virtual press conference, including representatives of public health and economic development, said they did not know how many or percent of local first responders had not yet been vaccinated.

Mark Heine, Chief of the Sonoma County Fire Department, said there are about 500 full-time firefighters and a large number of volunteer fire brigades throughout the county. He said most fire departments have recently begun demanding proof of vaccination.

Heine said the Sonoma County Fire Department had about 120 full-time volunteer staff and estimated immunization rates between 70% and 75%.

Ken Sabano, chief of the Petaluma Police Department, said vaccination rates in his department reflected immunization rates from other city agencies, at around 75%.

Authorities said compliance with the county’s new orders should provide more information on the proportion of first responders inoculated.

The county vaccination directive is similar to the state’s requirement to vaccinate or test health care and high-risk meetinghouse workers at least once a week for pandemic disease. However, it is not as strict as the requirements for vaccination by large healthcare providers such as Kaiser Permanente.

Kaiser’s vaccination obligations issued on Monday do not allow weekly tests as an alternative, and those who choose not to be vaccinated must receive a medical or religious exemption. On Wednesday, Sutter Health took similar action, requiring all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

County health officer Mase said he chose to work with local law enforcement and emergency response agencies to increase vaccination coverage.

“I start here and work very hard with our fire department, law enforcement, EMS, and (disaster) shelter staff to see if more people can be vaccinated. I want to, “she said.

At a press conference, county public health staff said the latest COVID-19 data emphasized the need for more people to be fully vaccinated throughout the county. The virus infection rate in the county is 19.6 new daily infections per 100,000 inhabitants, and the share of all positive COVID-19 tests is currently 7%. These numbers have risen from the June numbers, indicating a dire struggle to curb the spread of delta variants.

Authorities said 50% of all intensive care patients in local hospitals, a total of 21 people, suffer from COVID-19. 61 people are hospitalized throughout the county due to coronavirus-related symptoms. Over 80% of hospitalizations and over 90% of ICU patients are unvaccinated.

Of the 21 ICU patients, 2 are fully vaccinated and have an underlying health condition.