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Vulnerable groups at risk despite vaccine Local doctors give advice to high-risk population By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
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“I am telling my patients to please encourage their friends, neighbors and acquaintances to get vaccinated as soon as possible to help end the pandemic,” said Dr. Stuart Segal, rheumatologist at Sansum Clinic.
Immunocompromised people are wary of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new mask guidelines, worried that less mask adherence will lead to more COVID-19 cases among vulnerable groups. Some are afraid to be in public again, they expressed in Twitter posts. Two physicians at Sansum Clinic told the News-Press that patients should be cognizant of their vulnerability but didn’t recommend drastic measures. The concern follows the publication of John Hopkins Medicine research concluding that immunosuppressed patients
are less likely to build a strong immunity to COVID-19 after two doses of vaccine. The study looked at people with solid organ transplants and compared patients who do and don’t take antimetabolites, a class of drugs that are used to suppress the immune system. Of participants taking antimetabolites, 57% didn’t have an immune response to dose one or two of a COVID-19 vaccine. And 18% of transplant patients without antimetabolites didn’t form immunity. Dr. David Fisk, infectious disease expert with Cottage Health and Sansum Clinic, compared the data to the over 90% of Americans developing
immunity from vaccines. He noted that the vaccines approved for use in the United States have the highest rate of responsiveness. The issue may be more prominent in countries using vaccines with lower rates. He has seen people contract COVID-19 that had already been vaccinated — particularly those with weakened immune systems. “Conversely, not all groups of people with weakened immune systems have the same risk,” he told the News-Press on Wednesday. The conversation revolved around the groups studied to have drastic reactions, like those with organ transplants and certain forms of leukemia. But research
on immunocompromised patients has only recently started to publish. Specific antibody tests, often used in critical trials, can be used on patients to determine if they had an immune response. But there is not yet a standard for how strong of a reaction is enough to protect oneself from COVID-19. Another piece that is yet to be formally studied is changing when patients take their immunosuppressants to form a stronger response to a COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Stuart Segal, a rheumatologist at Sansum Clinic, said patients on these medications Please see VACCINES on A4
Animal Services’ new vision
Data shows pandemic’s impact on local economy
County division establishes measures to reduce shelter intake
By MADISON HIRNEISEN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
Santa Barbara County Animal Services is fetching a new vision to help the region’s furry friends, aiming to engage community partners and provide alternatives to impounding. The new vision, which centers on principles established by the nationwide Human Animal Support Services coalition, focuses on two primary goals. The first is reducing shelter intake and moving animals through the system quickly, and the second is reallocating resources to serve more animals and people outside of the shelter walls. In action, the fulfillment of these goals looks like engaging with local organizations to host free community clinics and creating pet food banks within local resource centers. It also means promoting the Animal Services’ foster program, which allows community members to care for an animal outside of the shelter until the pet is adopted. Animal Services, which is part of the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department, is already making strides to achieve these goals. Just a few weeks ago, Animal Services held a joint community clinic in Guadalupe, where more Please see VISION on A4
DAVE MASON/NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTO
Angela Yates, director of Santa Barbara County Animal Services, unveiled the new vision for the coming year, which centers on goals to reduce animal intake and reallocate resources. (This photo was taken last year at ASAP, where Ms. Yates was the executive director before becoming the Animal Services director.)
Composing for change Local composer writes concert piece for Foothills Forever By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The campaign to purchase the San Marcos Foothills West Mesa to prevent housing developments needs an additional $8.8 million in less than two weeks, to meet the $18.6 million goal by June 1. Cody Westheimer felt the urgency of the need for funds, and he decided to tell the story of the San Marcos Foothills in his own way, with song and film. On Wednesday morning, he released a two and a half minute
video on YouTube that features his original piece “Foothills Forever” for string orchestra, with scenic shots of the landscape and his intimate creative process. “I know we have a long way to go, but there’s such momentum behind it at this point that this is kind of my last desperate plea — to write an orchestral piece,” Mr. Westheimer told the News-Press. “It’s such a cherished space.” The Santa Barbara composer has been working as a film and TV composer for more than two decades, amassing well more than
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including ones shown on BBC, Smithsonian Channel, Tandem, PBS Nature and CBS. Mr. Westheimer grew up in Goleta, and his first orchestral work made its debut during a Santa Barbara Symphony concert. The composer was only 17 years old when he wrote the piece, titled “An Island is Born,” which he said was alluding to Santa Barbara’s Channel Islands. “I just enjoy telling stories,” he said. “I would say that’s kind of my knack, getting an efficient little Please see COMPOSER on A2
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Four out of five parents in Santa Barbara County had to either alter or reduce their work schedule or leave their job to care for and help educate their children during the pandemic. Forty percent fewer businesses are open. And lower-paying industry clusters have suffered an “economic earthquake.” That’s according to one of the first local COVID-19 impact reports. Those findings, among many others, were shared at the Regional Economic Action Coalition of the Central Coast’s webinar Wednesday morning to update county leaders and Workforce Development Boards in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The data is used to drive decisions and allocate federal funding. REACH released reports on the economic impact and recovery outlook for the Central Coast in general and Santa Barbara County in particular. The research was produced using data from a range of public and proprietary sources, according to the report. Most statistics were reported as of February 2021. Some of the key findings from the impact on the Central Coast were that: As of early February 2021, 40% fewer businesses were open on the Central Coast than in early March 2020; the industry clusters with the lowest-average wages are also the clusters that have been hit the hardest economically; and lowest-earning workers made up most of COVIDrelated job losses. In Santa Barbara County, key findings included that higherpaying industry clusters in the county experienced a minor recession through the pandemic, while lower-paying industry clusters went through an “economic earthquake.” Other findings were: Impacts of disruption to schools and childcare are substantial and are continuing to affect the county’s economy; the county’s high costs of living drive the greatest hiring challenges that nonprofit organizations face. And, according to REACH, despite the dawning of an economic recovery, most
households have moderate to negative outlooks on the immediate future and a more negative outlook for the next generation. Josh Williams, the president and principal researcher of BW Research, gave a presentation on the data, key challenges facing the region and potential paths to economic recovery. “Business revenues in both California and the Central Coast were almost one-third lower than they were in March of 2020,” Mr. Williams said at the webinar, which gained more than 350 attendees. “We’re starting to see recovery in some early March data, but the Southern Coast is a little bit lower in terms of business revenue.” He talked at length about the fact that the higher-earning industries in the county — such as information, communication, technology, finance, insurance, real estate, biotechnology and more — experienced little to no impact from the pandemic, yet the lower-earning industry clusters such as tourism, hospitality, recreation, retail and others saw the most severe impacts. However, more than half of the jobs on the Central Coast qualify as lower-wage positions, earning between $27,000 to $30,000 a year. The tourism, hospitality and recreation sector alone saw over a 50% decline in revenue. “(This is) particularly challenging, given the Central Coast does have a higher cost of living which tends to be higher than the rest of the state,” Mr. Williams said. “The people who are least able to afford a loss of employment and least able to afford living on the Central Coast have lost their jobs.” He also pointed out the impact the pandemic had on child care. A graph in the report showed that, in a survey taken by residents of the Central Coast, at least 81% of adults had to either alter their work schedule, reduce their work schedule or leave their job to take care of their child or children. And, more than half of those adults reported that the supervising adult’s work schedule or ability to work is still being affected. Furthermore, REACH’s data Please see REACH on B4
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100 hours of music for feature films, documentary series and iconic sports themes, according to IMDB. Most notably, Mr. Westheimer wrote the Tour de France theme for NBC, which the company is still using to date. He’s written other scores for Major League Soccer, the National Dog Show and the America’s Cup. His music has even played side by side with John Williams’ theme on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Mr. Westheimer has also written for many nature and wildlife documentaries and IMAX films,
“Not all groups of people with weakened immune systems have the same risk,” Dr. David Fisk, infectious disease expert with Cottage Health and Sansum Clinic, told the News-Press.
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