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Informal family caregivers can now get the COVID-19 vaccine, but in some cases, their loved ones with certain medical conditions cannot, even though the state expanded the list of who is eligible last week.
In a Feb. 2 health advisory update, county health officials clarified that both formal and informal caregivers to the elderly and those living with a disability are eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
That group not only includes people who are paid to work in private residences, but also unpaid caregivers who provide daily care for their loved ones at home. In the case of informal caregivers, they do not need to live in the same home as the relative who they care for.
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San Diego County’s daily new-case total dipped below 1,000 for the first time since Nov. 29 Tuesday as the number of vaccination locations continued to increase despite continued uncertainty that there will be enough doses to meet the region’s demand.
That total landed just before the City of San Diego announced its first direct vaccine shipment of 1,200 doses, which will be used to inoculate people experiencing homelessness starting Wednesday morning. Earlier in the day, the region’s fourth vaccination super station opened in La Mesa even as UC San Diego announced its intention to open a fifth such center in Rimac Arena on its campus Monday.
“I think we all want to get together with our families this time of year,” Hansen told NBC 7 on Wednesday. “It’s been a very challenging year, and we’re feeling the distance from our family members, but what we’re seeing in San Diego County and kind of across the country is an increasing number of patients who are getting admitted to hospitals and stressing the hospital systems across the country and county.
Hansen said the thought of potential patients is on the mind of his colleagues. We need to do whatever we can to minimize further coronavirus infections, and so the thought of people gathering outside of their family definitely brings a concern to health care workers who are taking care of everybody,” Hansen said.
National Guard personnel descended on Palomar Medical Center Escondido Wednesday as the state announced activation of the 202-bed medical station installed on several floors of the facility back in April.
A spokesperson with the California Office of Emergency Services indicated that a “buildout” on “unused floors” of the 11-story hospital but did not specify why anything needed to be constructed given that hundreds of cots and other supplies have been in place and maintained in what the state calls a “warm status” since the spring.
With the number of staffed and immediately available intensive care beds dwindling in all San Diego County hospitals, and officials saying they are now converting dormant clinical areas for active use, an extra 200 beds would seem to be just what’s needed, a pressure-relief valve for the most strained locations in the South Bay and East County.