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Cases Up, But Not in ICU; What’s Next?, By Jondi Gumz
COMMUNITY NEWS
Cases Up, But Not in ICU; What’s Next?
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By Jondi Gumz
With the highly contagious coronavirus Omicron subvariants pushing up Bay Area case numbers – 1,715 in Santa Cruz County on May 23, health official have advised cautionary measures such as masking when indoors and of course vaccination.
That message came out before the graduation season. Many ceremonies are being held outdoors.
Statewide, Covid test positivity is 6.6.% — and it’s 5.4% among Santa Cruz County students, according to the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, which has provided 501,100 tests.
The map posted by the federal Centers for Disease Control & Prevention shows most counties at low transmission but northward from Santa Cruz County to the Oregon border is a region of medium transmission.
That didn’t discourage hundred of people from heading to Menlo Park, home of Facebook, now renamed Meta, to join Robert F. Kennedy Jr., founder of Children’s Health Defense, to protest Facebook’s removal of posts considered controversial or misinformation. The rally brought Reinette Senum, former Nevada City mayor now running for governor in the June 7 primary, calling for decisions that will serve the next seven generations.
For those who test positive and are at risk of severe illness, the CDC recommends asking your doctor for a prescription for Paxlovid, pills developed by Pfizer for higher risk individuals age 12 or older. The FDA granted emergency use authorization in December, and Paxlovid is now available at local CVS and RiteAid stores. Another product given federal emergency use authorization is Lafgevrio, produced by Merck.
On May 17, the FDA announced kids age 5 through 11 are eligible for a PfizerBioNTech booster shot five months after the first. The goal is to prevent severe case among children this age.
So far, the new subvariants are very easy to spread but do not seem as dangerous as Delta.
There are more people hospitalized — 1,900 in California, double form where it was but ICU Admissions were rising much more slowly and the number of deaths per day is trending down instead Santa Cruz County has 15 people hospitalized with Covid but none in intensive care.
With 51,000 county residents having had the infection, natural immunity may be a factor.
Parents of children under 5 seeking a vaccine are still waiting because the Food and Drug Administration has not authorized a Covid vaccine for their age group.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates almost 60 percent of the populace — including 76% percent of children — have had Omicron or another coronavirus variant.
California Parents United, founded by Carmel attorney Tracy Henderson, contends the State Department of Public Health guidance for schools is non-binding because the agency did not follow the rule-making process required by the Administrative Procedures Act.
If a child is refused in-pers0n instruction, Henderson advises filing a tort claim. Details at https://www.californiaparentsunited.org/call2action
New Signs of Normal
Cabrillo College in Aptos brought back in-person graduation May 20 outdoors at the football stadium. In-person graduation ceremonies are planned June 2 for Aptos Junior High, 11 a.m., and Aptos High, 4 p.m. the same day, both at Cabrillo’s football stadium.
Capitola‘s Classic Car Show returns June 11-12 in Capitola Village, and Capitola’s Twilight Concerts began June 15.
The Aptos Chamber bringing back the World’s Shortest Parade at 10 a.m. July 4. The theme is “team spirit.” The chamber also is seeking vendors for the party in the Aptos Village Park, which will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with music, craft booths, and food.
The Felton Remembers parade returns at 10 a.m. May 28 followed by the Covered Bridge Festival. Starting June 16, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk brings back live music Thursdays on the Colonnade with Friday night movies starting June 17.
The city of Scotts Valley is seeking help to host its Independence Day parade a day early, Sunday, July 3, with a fireworks celebration that night.
Proposed Laws
California lawmakers face a May 27 deadline to pass legislation; 10 bills deal with Covid-19 but five have been shelved or pulled.
Protection of the Educational Rights of Kids, headed by Amy Bohn in Newbury Park, which filed six lawsuits against vaccine mandates, is watching to see if these measures come back in a budget trailer bill in May — which avoids public hearings. The group is tracking these Covid-19 bills that remain active. They include: SB 866: To allow children 12 and older to get Covid vaccines without parental consent. Passed by Senate, awaiting action in Assembly.
AB 1419: To prohibit the representative of a minor from inspecting the minor’s patient record when the records relate to medical care related to the prevention or treatment of pregnancy. This bill goes with SB 866.
SB 1184: To authorize a health care provider or plan to disclose your child’s medical information to a school-linked services coordinator without parent consent. Senate may discuss next week. Senate vote may be next week.
SB 1479: To mandate Covid testing plans at schools.
AB 1797: To create a state immunization tracking system and give schools and other entities access to all vaccine records..
AB 2098: To classify a physician or surgeon disseminating or promoting misinformation or disinformation related to COVID-19 as unprofessional conduct and grounds for discipline. This is supported by Sen. Richard Pan, a physician, and opposed by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.
To track bills, see https://leginfo. legislature.ca.gov
With SB 871 pulled by the author, Gov. Newsom is delaying plans to mandate Covid vaccine for school children until July 2023.
Hospitalizations
Hospitalizations from Omicron had peaked in January, then plummeted and have been rising albeit slowly.
The state Department of Public Health reports test positivity, 23% in January, has ticked up from 1.7% to 6.6% and hospitalizations — 20,000 in January —dropped to 950 before rising to 1,900.
Santa Cruz County reports 1,715 active cases, with 15 hospitalizations, none in intensive care. One Covid death was reported in the past two weeks, bringing the total to 262. That person was 85 or older, with other medical conditions.
A new study by Dr. Audra Inness in the American Journal of Medicine reviewed more than 1,000 abstracts on restricting hospital visitors during the pandemic and found the policy’s connection to COVID-19 transmission was poorly studied.
New workplace rules adopted in California require unnvaccinated and vaccinated workers to be treated the same; no mask mandate for te unvaccinated. Requirements to disinfect surfaces were removed. Requirements for partitions and physical distancing were replaced by requirements for better ventilation. Employees testing positive can return to work masked five days later.
Omicron has a shorter incubation period then the early coronavirus variants.
Airline Mask Policy
If you’re flying Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, or United, masks are optional. Masks may be required at airports.
For airlines elsewhere, check https://www.afar.com/magazine/ which-airlines-require-masks
Airline masks became optional in the U.S. after a federal judge in Florida on April 18 voided the mask mandate ordered by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for airlines, trains and buses on Feb. 3, 2021.
The Justice Department appealed at the CDC’s request but the agency did not ask for a stay, which would have reinstated the mandate.
U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled in favor of Health Freedom Defense Fund and airline travelers Ana Carolina Daza and Sarah Pope, who claimed the CDC failed to provide a 30-day comment public period required for new regulations.
Mizzell provided a 59-page explanation, based on the Public Health Services Act of 1944, which specifies sanitation as a measure that could be necessary to prevent disease from spreading, but has no definition of sanitation.
“Wearing a mask cleans nothing,” the judge wrote. “At most it traps virus droplets. But it neither ‘sanitizes’ the person wearing the mask nor ‘sanitizes’ the conveyance.”
The government interprets “sanitation” to mean “applying of measures for preserving and promoting public health.” The judge disagreed, writing that historically, public health has been regulated at the state level, and the 1944 law has no clear language that Congress intended the CDC to take over.
The CDC did not allow public comment although the Administrative Procedures Act requires agencies provide a 30-day comment period on new rules.
