Supervisors hear COVID health/emergency concerns

At the Jan. 18, Riverside County Board of Supervisors’ meeting, Kim Saruwatari, director of the county Public Health Department, and Bruce Barton, director of the county Emergency Management Department, presented the board with a status report on how the recent COVID surge, driven by the Omicron variant, is affecting the county and its health care resources.

Saruwatari began the update with the comment that “there’s a lot activity in the county already.” She provided data comparing the first 10 days of January with the week after Thanksgiving and to January 2021, the midst of another COVID surge.

The patterns for the number of cases and the percentage of positive test results were similar. As Jan. 10, there were 103 cases per 100,000 county residents. This was 7.5 times greater than the rate — 14 to 100,000 residents — just after Thanksgiving, but lower than the 151.5 cases per 100,000 residents on Jan. 8, 2021.

Nevertheless, Saruwatari believes current data may not reflect the extent of the current COVID surge. She offered two reasons the number of cases may be underreported.

(((APPEND)))“First, people don’t get tested,” she said, “and second, many are using antigen tests [at home testing and the results] that don’t always get reported to us.”

Intensive care unit hospitalizations are increasing at a slower rate and the death rate is not increasing as fast as the earlier surges, she also noted.

However, one negative note for Riverside County was the “R-Effective” number. This is an estimate of how many other people one contagious individual can infect. In Riverside County, the estimate is 2.03 per case, but the statewide estimate is 1.58 new cases per infection.

She also discussed the value of getting the COVID vaccination and booster shot.

“We are doing a big push around the booster because we do know with Omicron variant that having the booster dose is very protective and lessens the chance of having severe disease.”

According to Saruwatari, as of Jan. 10, nearly 83% of county residents ages 65 and older have been vaccinated with one or two shots. The percentage who have also received the booster vaccine is lower. For all those ages 18 and older, vaccinated were nearly 73%.

However, for those residents older than age 16 and eligible for the booster, only a quarter of these individuals have taken it.

Saruwatari stressed other data to describe the benefit of the vaccine and urged the unvaccinated to take that step. In Riverside County, 90% of the people in hospitals for COVID and 90% of the deaths were individuals who were unvaccinated.

Consequently, the county will expand its efforts to provide clinics and testing facilities, she told the board.

Her agency is seeking to buy more antigen tests for county residents, but it has been difficult, she admitted. One advantage of the antigen test over the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the latter is so sensitive to the COVID virus, “it is likely to be positive up to 90 days after an infection.”

Barton addressed the effect of this surge on county hospital emergency departments (EDs) and he was less positive than his colleague.

“This surge is different in nature than previous surges,” he began. “The previous surges largely spared the [emergency departments]. We saw lower ED volume in previous surges. Now the EDs are just getting hammered.”

Near the end of the special presentation, several supervisors asked Saruwatari and Barton questions.

4th District Supervisor V. Manuel Perez was concerned about the number of cases and spread of the Omicron variant. He asked if it would be prudent for more county staff to work from home.

Saruwatari responded, “That’s a tough one, but the ultimate decision is the board’s. It’s a balance between providing county services that are critical and keeping folks safe. As a county, we have implemented a lot of things to keep our staff safe, including testing and dedicated employees to help those sick or exposed.”

However, before the presentation concluded, Supervisor Karen Spiegel (2nd District) opined, “… a lot of business are trying to work through this. … We have to take precautions for ourselves and our employees, but I certainly don’t want to see the message sent to this county that we’re closing down.”