Forty to fifty percent of healthcare workers in Riverside County initially declined taking the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Over the weeks since, the demand for the vaccine has increased among all segments of the tiers; although I do not have specific numbers,” wrote Jose Arballo Jr, senior public information specialist with Riverside University Health System – Public Health (RUHS), when asked about the current percentage of healthcare workers taking the vaccine. “I can tell you there is likely not going to be an update on the healthcare worker data anytime soon.”
RUHS released the following Monday: “This week, a higher-than-usual number of adverse events were reported with a specific lot of Moderna vaccine (Moderna Lot 041L20A) administered at one community vaccination clinic. Fewer than 10 individuals required medical attention over the span of 24 hours. That clinic was not in Riverside County.
“In Riverside County, officials reviewed the Moderna doses planned for use at the vaccine clinics in Corona, Menifee, Beaumont and Indio and determined they were not part of the impacted lot. Any adverse reactions at the Riverside County vaccine clinics so far have been rare.” The newspaper asked RUHS to quantify “rare” but did not receive a response by press time.
For more information on the vaccine, visit www.ruhealth.org/covid-19-vaccine or call 2-1-1. Seniors can call the Riverside County Office on Aging at 800-510-2020.
The county received 114,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine with an estimated more than 700,000 people currently eligible to receive it. Of the 2.4 million Riverside County residents, 343,000 are 65 years of age and older, according to the county.
According to the RUHS website, the area of Idyllwild-Pine Cove has a total of 88 reported COVID-19 cases since the outbreak and one death reported. Fifty-five of the 88 people have recovered. The numbers are from Friday, Jan. 15. The website was not updated by the time the newspaper went to press Tuesday.
Gov. Gavin Newsom put the Southern California region on a Stay-at-Home order. The order, which includes Riverside County, was triggered because of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacity in the region.
Riverside County has 0% ICU bed availability and 0% in the region, according to the county’s website.
For information on SBA’s assistance to small businesses, visit sba.gov/ppp or treasury.gov/cares. To contact the County of Riverside’s Business and Community Services department, call 951-955-0493 or send an email to [email protected] for local assistance.
Visit https://covid19.ca.gov/stay-home-except-for-essential-needs/, for more information on the current Stay-at-Home order.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said that his department would not be enforcing the order.
As of press time on Jan. 19, Riverside County has 233,899 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 2,517 deaths related to COVID-19 and 151,506 people have recovered. One thousand five hundred and sixty-three individuals are being hospitalized, and of those, 353 are in the ICU. The county’s positivity rate is 25.8%. The current adjusted case rate per 100,000 is 127.5.
As of press time on Jan. 12, Riverside County had 216,275 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 2,250 deaths related to COVID-19 and 145,380 people had recovered. One thousand six hundred and seventy-five individuals were being hospitalized, and of those, 357 were in the ICU. The county’s positivity rate was 23.1%. The current adjusted case rate per 100,000 was 107.2.
As of press time on Jan. 5, Riverside County had 198,236 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 2,096 deaths related to COVID-19 and 131,588 people had recovered. One thousand five hundred and forty-three individuals were being hospitalized, and of those, 330 were in the ICU. The county’s positivity rate was 22.6%. The current adjusted case rate per 100,000 was 140.5.
To date, 1,939,047 total tests have been given for COVID-19 in Riverside County, according to RUHS. 
