Vaccines begin distribution amidst spike

While COVID-19 cases continue to spike in Canyon Lake and throughout the county, the first vaccines have arrived and frontline medical professionals are being vaccinated. Thousands at area hospitals are receiving the vaccination with more vials on their way.

Meanwhile, the City of Canyon Lake continues an upward spike in positive COVID-19 cases. Cases have shot past 400 and continue to rise by double digits every day. Just last month, the city had a total of just 175 positive cases (on Nov. 24), which took over eight months to accumulate. The COVID-19 deaths, however, remain at four, with the last Canyon Lake death occurring the first of December.

The county (as well as all of Southern California) has no intensive care beds available for COVID-19 patients. Over 1,200 are hospitalized, up from 420 on Nov. 24.

The City of Canyon Lake responded on its Facebook page recently to complaints from its citizenry that despite the increase in local cases, there are still issues with some in the city not adhering to stay home orders, not wearing masks and gathering outside homes. City Manager Chris Mann has explained in Friday Flyer articles how the city’s hands are tied regarding enforcement because the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, with whom the city contracts for its police service, refuses to enforce what the state has mandated.

The city’s only recourse is to issue an Emergency Declaration like it did at the beginning of the pandemic and have its Code Enforcement team attempt to enforce the orders. As explained in its Facebook post, that enforcement met strong resistance, and with no police willingness to back up those code enforcement officers, the city backed off.

“Our Code Enforcement officers were faced with significant pushback from the community, even meeting with angry and hostile reactions on multiple occasions,” the city Facebook post said. “These enforcement efforts proved ineffective and placed our employees in dangerous situations for which they are not trained. Code Enforcement personnel are not police officers.”

The city suggests that those in the city who feel others’ behavior is endangering the health of the community, should report those concerns to the Riverside County Department of Health.

”The County Public Health Officer serves as the City’s Public Health Officer, and is responsible for addressing public health issues in Canyon Lake,” the city said. “As we have done from the beginning of this outbreak, the city will continue to provide information to the community and to encourage residents to follow all emergency orders and to take all recommended precautions.”

With vaccines arriving in the county, the hope for a return to normalcy is finally a reality. The process, though, is projected to take months. Riverside County has a COVID-19 Vaccination Plan.

The first batches of vaccines in the county are being used to vaccinate the critical healthcare workers. These workers are defined as those healthcare workers with direct patient contact who have potential for direct or indirect exposure.

Next in line are those at highest risk, primarily the aged in poor health. Hence, those in assisted living facilities (medically-vulnerable individuals) will be receiving the vaccine as soon as the critical healthcare workers have been vaccinated.

Also included in the first group, in lower tiers, are other health-related professionals, such as those in dental clinics and pharmacies.

Phase 1-B, after all those who have been vaccinated in 1-A, will receive the vaccine. The vaccine will go to those who play a key role in keeping essential functions of society and the elderly. Those individuals would include all those age 65 and older, law enforcement, food packing, distribution centers, agriculture workers, school teachers and staff, childcare providers and those with high risk for severe illness with underlying conditions.

The next two phases (2-A and 3-A) are basically the rest of the general population.

Now, it’s a waiting game on how quickly the vaccines can be produced and distributed. The county is optimistic and points to these three reasons:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for emergency use authorization. There are at least three more vaccines currently in large-scale clinical trials.

While there will be a limited supply of vaccinations at least initially, the federal government has heavily invested in the development of vaccines to help manufacturers quickly ramp up production and expand their availability in the weeks and months ahead.

Riverside County has received its first doses, which are prioritized for healthcare workers in acute care hospitals. Riverside County health officials are working closely with the state to guide distribution of later doses of the vaccine in the coming months, when supply will be sufficient for greater distribution.

“With so much grim news lately with the pandemic, it is great that we can give the public something so positive that we believe can turn this around,” Kim Saruwatari, director of Riverside County Public Health, said. “This is a turning point in the pandemic and we are looking forward to a time in the not-to-distant future when we can vaccinate tens of thousands of our neighbors against this virus.”