South African virus variant discovered in California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California has identified the state’s first two cases of the South African variant of the coronavirus in the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday as he touted overall positive trends in the state’s control of the virus.

The cases were found in Alameda and Santa Clara counties, both in the San Francisco Bay Area. In total, the state has less than 1,500 identified cases of different variants, Newsom said.

Scientists and health officials fear the variants could be more contagious, less responsive to treatments and more likely to re-infect people who already had the virus. The South African variant was first identified in the United States late last month in South Carolina.

“The issue of mutations is top of mind,” Newsom said during a visit to Fresno, the latest in a series of stops across the state to highlight vaccination efforts.

Infection rates falling

It was a dim note in an otherwise upbeat press conference, as Newsom announced that California’s infection rates, hospitalizations and cases continue to fall rapidly.

Less than 5% of people tested are now turning up positive results and daily confirmed infection cases have dropped to about 8,400 from a high of more than 50,000 a month ago, he said. More than 5 million vaccine doses have been administered.

Local and state elected officials, mostly Democrats, showered Newsom with praise for his handling of the coronavirus in a clear attempt to rebut criticism he’s received for his business restrictions and the disjointed vaccine rollout.

Meanwhile, a protester using a megaphone shouted “recall Gavin” during the news conference, a reference to the ongoing signature-gathering effort that is likely to gain enough backing to give voters the opportunity later this year to keep or fire the freshman Democrat.

“I don’t care that you’re Democrat or Republican, I care that you’re healthy and safe,” Newsom answered when asked to respond to the recall effort.

He said he’s been focused on getting kids back in schools, vaccinating Californians and reducing case rates so that businesses may reopen.

On schools, Newsom said he will soon reveal a plan for reopening them, crafted in partnership with the Legislature. But most districts have rejected Newsom’s earlier reopening plan and it wasn’t clear if or how the plan could compel districts to open for in-person instruction because schools are governed by local control.

Changing vaccination gears

Newsom’s vaccination road tour came as California prepares to shift operations from a county-driven vaccine effort to a centralized approach run by Blue Shield of California. The state will release the contract with the major health insurer this week and that the new program will be up and running by next week, Newsom said.

The goal of the new approach is to better collect data on who is getting vaccinated and to provide more transparency on how much vaccine is going where, he said.

The Biden administration is now giving the state a three-week preview of how many vaccine doses to expect, and the state is trying to give counties a similar forecast.

“This is dynamic and as you know well we’ve had fits and starts over the course of the last few months,” Newsom said.

It’s not clear how the new state vaccination system will work with systems already created by the counties, including portals where people can sign up for vaccinations.

Santa Clara County has asked for an exemption from the state sign-up portal, called MyTurn. Orange County health officials said they don’t want to ask people who already registered for appointments with the county system to have to sign up again with the state.

Health officers from both Northern and Southern California told legislative oversight committees Wednesday that the state’s current vaccine database is undercounting the number of vaccines administered, a development they fear could result in counties getting fewer doses going forward.

Yolo County has received 14,000 doses and administered 10,400 doses to date, said County Public Health Officer Dr. Aimee Sisson. But the state says it received 14,500 doses and administered just 7,500 of them.

“The system isn’t broken, it just looks like it is because doses being administered aren’t showing up,” she added.

Dr. Paul Simon, Los Angeles County’s chief science officer, said his county has received 1.2 million doses and administered 80% within four days of them being received. But he’s not confident the state’s data system reflects those numbers.

Racial data troubles

Incomplete data is making it difficult to track how many doses are going to Black and Latino residents who appear to be underserved, the two health officers said.

Dr. Erica Pan, the state epidemiologist, gave a breakdown of racial and ethnic data on vaccines to a different state legislative panel on Monday. But the state hasn’t made that information publicly available on its website.

Meanwhile, the state and local governments continue to announce new mass vaccination sites designed to give out a high volume of shots each day, but the state lacks enough supply for every site to operate at full capacity.

In another example of California’s patchwork system, thousands of COVID-19 vaccination appointment opportunities went unused at the Dodger Stadium inoculation site on Tuesday because of apparent confusion over who could get shots there.

Los Angeles County health officials had announced that the vaccine shortage would only allow inoculation of people needing a second shot at county-run sites starting Feb. 9. But Dodger Stadium is operated by the city of Los Angeles and is giving first and second doses.

No vaccine was wasted but about 3,000 fewer people than the daily average were inoculated at the stadium due to the confusion, said City Fire Department spokesman David Ortiz. The vaccine that wasn’t used Tuesday was made available Wednesday.