Questions and Answers about COVID-19 | News

The appeal contacted the Ubasatter Public Health Authority with a list of questions regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This includes inquiries about the disease itself, vaccinations, ongoing restrictions and recommendations.

The following answers were provided by Dr. Phuong Luu, Bi-County Health Officer.

Q: What kind of illness is COVID-19 and what kind of effect does it have on the body?

A: COVID-19 is a virus that mainly affects the respiratory system, mainly affects the lungs, and causes dyspnea and pneumonia. COVID-19 is increasingly known to cause problems in other organs due to a strong inflammatory response. There is a possibility of heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, etc.

Q: What are the symptoms to watch out for?

A: Cough, shortness of breath, fever / chills, fatigue, muscle or body pain, headache, loss of new taste or smell, sore throat, stuffy nose / runny nose, nausea / vomiting, diarrhea. All of these symptoms can be mistaken for a common cold or flu, so testing is the only way to tell if you are infected with COVID-19. You can be infected with both seasonal influenza and COVID-19 at the same time.

Q: Who is most affected by the virus?

A: It does not identify the virus (it is unclear if two local individuals in their thirties have an underlying condition of death from COVID-19). However, we know that older people and those with underlying health are at increased risk of more serious symptoms, hospitalization, and death. Eight of the 10 deaths from COVID-19 are over 65 years of age.

Q: What are the most important beliefs / protocols for flattening curves?

A: The virus is known to spread primarily through person-to-person contact, so its belief is to keep social distances, wear masks, and avoid gatherings and mixing with people outside the family. That, practicing hand hygiene, and even if your symptoms are mild, you are ill.

Q: Are you flattening the curve? Recall what “curve flattening” really means.

A: Epidemic flattening plays a role in sticking to the practice of the doctrine in order to slow the spread of the virus and reduce the burden on vulnerable healthcare systems. Looking at our numbers, it’s not enough to get out of the forest, but it looks like it’s bending a curve. The situation is volatile, with a single rally (one infected person) infecting dozens of people, some of whom can be hospitalized or even die, especially in the fall.

Q: Why did the message of wearing a mask change? Initially it was thought they wouldn’t help, but now they are a must-see.

A: The coronavirus is not new, but keep in mind that the strain has only been infected in humans for about a year. Also, the coronavirus is so new that scientists are learning more about it every day.

Scientists initially believed that COVID-19 would not be transmitted until the infected person became symptomatological. We now know that it is not true and most of the time it is in the asymptomatic stage of the disease. With that knowledge, wearing a mask keeps the nose and mouth droplets of all potentially infected people close to the mask and greatly reduces the chance of transmitting those droplets to others. Therefore, it became a major belief. We also know that face masks not only protect the person on the other side, but also protect you because many of the virus particles can be filtered out before they are inhaled.

Q: What should people know about coronavirus variants? Are they more deadly than the viruses we dealt with last year?

A: The British subspecies B117 spreads 50% faster than current “wild-type” strains and can be up to 30% deadly. Information on variants from South Africa and Brazil is still available. Both Pfizer and Moderna have confirmed that their vaccine is effective against British variants. Vaccines provide slightly less protection against the other two strains, but vaccination is still the best way to prevent serious illness and death.

Q: What is the impact if the variant reaches Yuba-Sutter?

A: It doesn’t matter, but when. It is imperative to vaccinate as many people over the age of 65 as possible at the highest risk, based on local data on who is hospitalized and who is likely to die of COVID-19.

Q: Is coronavirus a seasonal vaccination like influenza?

A: Probably. We need to see how the situation progresses, but the emergence of viral variants follows a pattern similar to the emergence of various influenza virus strains.

Q: Most people are waiting for their turn to get vaccinated. Can you outline when certain people can get them and how they know when their turn goes up? Does anyone contact them or do they need to contact someone?

A: Following state guidance, local health authorities have the discretion to lower priorities based on very limited vaccine supplies and changing circumstances (by March in the United States). New British variants that are expected to dominate). We would like to ask all the residents for their patience. In the meantime, they can follow each county’s social media pages and websites updated with new information (yuba.org/vaccines/ suttercounty.org/vaccine).

Q: How does it work if I belong to a special group? Do you need to provide information from your doctor?

A: For example, residents are now required to provide proof of Phase 1A eligibility such as employer confirmations, employee badges, and IHSS pay slips. We will seek proof of residence to ensure that people over the age of 65 who are residents of Sutter and Yuba counties are vaccinated.

Q: Why is it so long to distribute vaccinations? Can you lay it out for us? Does it have anything to do with assignments? What are health authorities doing locally to speed up the process?

A: There is a difference between what you are assigned (what you are supposed to receive) and what you have physically. We plan vaccination clinics based on what we have physically. The problem is that the supply of vaccines is very limited, which is outside the control of the region. We rely on state and federal governments and hope we can speed things up in the coming weeks.

Q: How about taking a shot? Does it hurt? Are there any serious side effects?

A: The feedback we received is that, like the seasonal flu vaccine, the injection site hurts the arm. You can read news from around the world and read about some side effects, but they are quite few and in some cases have not yet been proven to be directly related to vaccines.

Vaccines are safe and are being scrutinized. Vaccinated people are required to sit in a waiting area on the premises and watch for side effects for at least 15 minutes.

Q: What about the person who took the first dose? Are they totally immunized or not immunized? Did you receive both shots?

A: The vaccine will not work until you take both doses. It is most effective about 2 weeks after the second dose.

Q: What will change for individuals after they receive both doses? Can they go out and worry? Do they still need to wear masks and social distance?

A: It may take some time for anyone who wishes to be vaccinated with COVID-19 to be vaccinated. A vaccine that is 95% effective means that it may not be possible to prevent 1 in 20 people who receive it from getting sick.

Vaccines may also prevent you from getting sick, but it is unclear at this time if you can still carry the virus and infect others. Therefore, it is important to continue preventative measures such as wearing a mask and physical distance until the effectiveness of the vaccine is understood.

Q: Is it possible to carry the virus after receiving both vaccines?

A: Yes. Vaccines protect you, especially our vulnerable people, from serious illness, but they do not prevent transmission to others.

Q: Is the COVID vaccine a one-time vaccine, like the varicella vaccine, or does it need to be given annually, like the flu shot?

A: Yes, seasonal COVID-19 vaccines may be found because the virus mutates and survives, but further investigation is underway in this regard.

Q: Can you explain how the local curfew differs from the current color tier system? Did state orders have a significant impact on our local numbers?

A: Temporary stay-at-home orders were the most restrictive in delaying the spread of the virus and suspending activities to ease the burden on hospitals during the fall and winter surges. The numbers remain high, but we are a region and appear to be curving.

Q: How does the Color Tiered System work?

A: Based on community communication within the county, through a lens of case count and test aggressiveness, the state outlines which companies can operate with what capabilities. These layers act to slow the spread by limiting close contact between people. If the county is good at containing the virus, it is allowed to work with higher abilities.

Q: Can you explain what the purple layer involves?

A: It is the most restrictive, and restaurant meals are limited to outdoor and takeaway. Due to the prevalence of viral activity in Ubasatter (and most California counties), the state has restricted activity to slow its spread.

Q: Specifically, is the restaurant only open to the outdoors? Is the bar closed?

A: Within the purple layer, the restaurant must be open outdoors or takeaway / delivery. The bar must be closed for both indoor and outdoor operations.

Q: What exactly is supposed to open and close?

A: It depends on which layer each county is in. See for a complete list. covid19.ca.gov..

Q: Do you have any hope of moving to the next tier?

A: Our numbers remain high, but we’ve been in the red layer before, so we can start over. We must play our part in maintaining those beliefs and slowing their spread.

Q: Is the hybrid school okay for now?

A: Please note that these decisions should be made at the school district level in consultation with the State Safe for All Schools Task Force.