COMMUNITY BRIEF

XBB.1.5 will be mild, like a common cold. Afterward comes natural immunity.

The once-pervasive BA.5 variant is in the “bivalent” booster along with the original 2020 coronavirus.

This is important because scientists in new independent studies published in Nature and the Lancet report the bivalent booster “did not produce robust neutralization against the newly emerged BA.2.75.2, BQ.1.1, or XBB.1” — in other words, these newer subvariants can evade immunity from infection and vaccination.

The bivalent combo was expedited by federal officials who asked drug-makers to test on mice rather than humans.

Pfizer submitted data based on 8 mice, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization.

On Dec. 8, the FDA amended that emergency use authorization to allow bivalent Covid-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer for children as young as 6 months.

California reports 60.9% of people have primary vaccinations and boosters, and 23.5% got the bivalent booster.

In Santa Cruz County, 68.3% have primary vaccinations and boosters, and 31.6% got the bivalent booster.

A study published in January in BMC Infectious Diseases based on an online survey by 2,840 people in December found that those perceiving loved ones harmed by the Covid-19 illness were more likely to be vaccinated, but those who knew someone who had been injured by the Covid-19 vaccine were more likely to be unvaccinated.

Of those who responded, 34% indicated they knew at least one person who had experienced significant health problems from Covid-19, including 165 people who had died, and 22% indicated they knew at least one person who experienced a health problem after Covid-19 vaccination, and 57 indicated the adverse event was death.

“COVID Update” page 10

*Includes commuters out of the county Source: California Employment Development Department. ••• Unemployment in Santa Cruz County was unchanged in December at 4.5% as the labor force grew from 132,000 to 133,500. For most of 2022, unemployment hovered around 3.8%, compared to 17+% in 2020, fueled by pandemic restrictions. Construction, a typically higherpaying sector, is healthy with more than 5,000 jobs. So is manufacturing, which tops 7,500 jobs.

“COVID Update” from page 9

“The large difference in the possible number of fatalities due to Covid-19 vaccination that emerges from this survey and the available governmental data should be further investigated,” concluded study author Mark Skidmore, economist at Michigan State University.

Florida

On Jan. 17, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced protections for medical freedom of choice, banning discrimination based on Covid vaccination, and medical freedom of speech, the right to disagree with the preferred narrative of the medical community.

The Florida Supreme Court, at his request, agreed to convene a grand jury to investigate any wrongdoing with respect to Covid-19 vaccines.

Studies funded by drugmakers that developed the vaccines have been published in peer-reviewed journals, and federal regulators granted emergency use authorization after reviewing data on their safety and effectiveness.

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo pointed out that pharmaceutical companies have not provided their data on Covid-19 vaccines to independent researchers.

Fired Employees Sue

On Jan. 19, New York City police officers, firefighters and healthcare workers who lost their jobs for refusing to comply with the city’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate filed a $250 million lawsuit against the city and Mayor Eric Adams seeking to end the mandate.

The 72 fired workers demand the city overturn the mandate, reinstate their jobs and compensate them with punitive damages.

The workers contend the mandate should be found “arbitrary and capricious” given that “President Joe Biden, Governor Kathy Hochul and Senator Chuck Schumer have all declared that the pandemic is over,” and that it was already rescinded for private sector employees and students, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed in the Bronx County Supreme Court of the State of New York, alleges the plaintiffs were mocked and ridiculed by colleagues, and some lost their homes and their ability to support their families.

On Jan. 13, New York Supreme Court Judge Gerard Neri declared the state’s vaccination mandate “null, void, and of no effect” and that it was “arbitrary and capricious” on the basis that Covid-19 vaccines do not stop transmission of the virus.

On Nov. 27, a published report by six pathologists from Heidelberg (Germany) University Hospital who performed autopsies on 25 individuals who died unexpectedly at home and within 20 days after Covid vaccination.

They found five cases where “autopsy findings indicated death due to acute arrhythmogenic cardiac failure. Thus, myocarditis can be a potentially lethal complication following mRNA-based antiSARS-CoV-2 vaccination.”

None had signs of a pre-existing heart disease.

The study, “Autopsy-based histopathological characterization of myocarditis after anti-SARS-CoV-2-vaccination,” appeared in Clinical Research in Cardiology, official journal of the German Cardiac Society.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website that deaths after COVID-19 vaccination are rare and that reports of adverse effects after vaccination, including deaths, “do not necessarily mean that a vaccine caused a health problem.”

Deaths per day in the U.S. fell this week to 786, according to ycharts.com, compared to 3,000 when the Delta variant raged.

Data for 2021 and 2022 show deaths peak in January, but that hasn’t happened in 2023.

Santa Cruz County reports 51 Covid deaths after Omicron, compared to 225 as of Dec. 15, 2021, before Omicron.

No local deaths were reported in the last two months.

The last nine deaths were people who were vaccinated, according to the county dashboard, all 65 or older with medical conditions.

Tests at Home

Santa Cruz County reports 355 active Covid cases, half the number from a month ago.

Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at UC Berkeley School of Public Health, contends Covid case data are not valuable for monitoring the virus because so many people buy tests sold at drugstores for use at home, which escape tracking by public health officials.

The Santa Cruz County Office of Education reported 698,700 tests with Inspire Diagnostics.

According to the Santa Cruz Office of Education, cases in schools peaked at 4,407 on Jan. 27, 2022, and fell in the past month from 363 to 164.

The 14-day positivity rate, 12.25% in January 2022, dipped in January 2023 from 2.71% to 2.09%.

2023 Changes

On Jan. 23, the FDA announced plans to offer a single dose of Covid-19 vaccine each fall, retiring the original vaccine and offering only the bivalent vaccine.

The CDC plans to provide a recommended vaccine schedule in 2023.

On Oct. 20, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted unanimously in favor of adding the Covid vaccine to the federal recommended immunization schedule for children and adults.

The existing schedule recommends 27 doses of vaccine between birth and age 6.

Starting at 6 months, children should get the Covid vaccine, plus boosters, the committee said.

The committee heard Dr. Tom Shimabukuro report the death of a boy 13 days after his first dose of Pfizer Covid vaccine. The autopsy showed the cause of death was heart inflammation known as myocarditis; tests found no evidence of viral infection.

The death was reported to the federal Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System, and verified by the CDC. Committee members determined Covid vaccine benefits outweigh the risks.

The CDC said its recommendation is not a mandate, with the decision up to states, counties and municipal officials.

California’s SB 277 requires students be vaccinated to attend public school; no exemptions for personal belief. Homeschoolers are exempt.

Free at-home test kit ordering is available for each household: To order at-home test kits, visit www.covid.gov/ tests or call 1-800-232-0233.

Local information: www.santacruz health.org/coronavirus or (831) 454-4242 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. n

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Santa Cruz County

In hospital with positive Covid test: 16 Intensive care: 0

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COVID Deaths: 276

As of Jan. 25

Age

85 and older: 121 • 75-84: 64 • 65-74: 49 60-64: 15 • 55-59: 4 • 45-54: 10

35-44: 8 • 25-34: 5

Underlying Conditions

Yes: 226 • No: 50

Vaccinated

Yes: 39 • No: 237

Race

White 163 • Latinx 90 • Asian 16 • Black 3

Amer Indian 1 • Hawaiian 1 • Another 2

Gender

Men: 140 • Women: 136 Location

At facility for aged: 118

Not at a facility: 158