About 6,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine were potentially pampered Wednesday at the Soka Super POD University vaccination site in Aliso Viejo because of a malfunctioning refrigerator.
“It’s in this range,” said Frank County CEO Orange Kim, about the number of potentially missed doses. “We don’t have an exact number yet.” It is still possible that vaccines could be used, Kim said.
The Pfizer vaccine must be placed in a special freezer and then transferred to a refrigerator to begin thawing. The next step is to mix it and let it thaw completely at room temperature before starting inoculations. The vaccine should be used within six hours of thawing at room temperature.
“We are in talks with the manufacturer to see what can be done with the vaccine,” Kim said. Kim stressed that none of the vaccines had been used and that other doses had been brought in, so appointments made for Wednesday would not be affected.
Dodger Stadium appointments remain unused because people are confused about the first dose appointments. Hetty Chang reported on NBC4 News on Tuesday, February 9, 2021.
Pharmacists who arrived at work at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday to begin vaccine preparation have noticed that the refrigerator is not working properly, Kim said. In addition to disappointment with potentially broken doses, the county received good news on Wednesday in a continuing downward trend in coronavirus and hospitalization cases.
The health care agency in Orange County reported 454 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the cumulative total to 240,220. “Everything is moving in the right direction,” Kim said of the case and hospitalization rates. “But I’m waiting a week to see if there are any problems in the Super Bowl … We’ll see what it looks like next week.”
Officials are worried about an increase in cases due to Super Bowl meetings last Sunday. Also, the county registered another 35 deaths, raising the number of deaths to 3,451. Death reports are staggered because they come from a variety of sources and are not always recorded immediately.
January was the deadliest month for COVID-19 in Orange County, with 893 deaths. In December, the death toll is 853. That means about half of the county’s deaths, since the first death on March 19, which occurred in December and January.
The plan to reopen the schools will be announced later this week, but some parents are in no hurry to send their children back to school. Kim Baldonado reported to NBC4 News on Tuesday, February 9, 2021.
Of the deaths on Wednesday, seven were qualified residents of the health care institution, bringing the total to 879 since the pandemic began. Three were residents of assisted living, bringing the total to 380.
The adjusted daily rate of cases per 100,000 people fell from 39 last Tuesday to 29.7 this week, and the seven-day average test positivity rate, with a seven-day lag, fell from 10.9% per week. increased to 9.4%.
The positivity rate of the quartiles in the county’s health capital, which measures cases in the most affected and needy parts of the county, fell from 13.9% last week to 12.4%. The numbers for the state color code level framework are updated on Tuesday.
To move to the less restrictive red level from the upper purple level of the state coronavirus regulatory system, the county needs to improve to 4 to 7 new cases daily per 100,000 and a positivity rate of 5% to 8% with a quartile of health equity at 5.3% to 8%.
The number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals fell from 1,058 on Tuesday to 1,009 on Wednesday, and the number of patients in intensive care fell from 324 to 310, according to OCHCA.
The availability of state-adjusted ICU beds in the county remains zero, and the unadjusted figure increased from 10.2% on Tuesday to 12.1% on Wednesday. The state created the adjusted metric to reflect the difference in beds available for patients with COVID-19 and patients without coronavirus.
OCHCA also reported 19,850 tests on Wednesday, bringing the total to 2,817,697.