Although coronavirus cases and deaths have been on the steady decline in Contra Costa County over the last three months, the small number of people getting severely ill and dying are trending younger and are mostly unvaccinated, health officials reported Tuesday.
"Out of the 11 deaths we've had in the last week, three of them have been people in their 60s, two have been people in their 50s and two have been people in their 40s. So it's this unvaccinated group who is still at high risk," Dr. Chris Farnitano, the county's health officer, told the county Board of Supervisors.
In the last three months, he added, there have also been 128 recorded "breakthrough" cases among fully vaccinated people who still tested positive, with or without symptoms. But just one of them — an elderly person already in hospice care — died.
"We've had over 100 deaths in the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated during this time frame, the same three-month period," Farnitano said.
Meanwhile, only four of those breakthrough cases required hospitalization.
"So four cases in three months getting sick enough to be in the hospital compared to, we've had several hundred hospitalized cases of COVID in the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated during that same time frame," he said.
"That just tells you these are incredibly effective, very powerful vaccines. They're not perfect, but they dramatically prevent cases and, even more so, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID."
Farnitano said people who are fully vaccinated should feel comfortable dining indoors and resuming social gatherings, while people who are not vaccinated should continue to avoid those activities.
This week, the county hit a milestone of 1 million COVID-19 vaccinations administered, well before its stated goal of doing so by Memorial Day. More than 630,000 county residents are at least partially vaccinated — over 67% of the county's 16-and-older population. And more than 430,000 residents are fully vaccinated.
The county also recently renewed availability of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine — which had been temporarily shelved due to blood clotting concerns — and in many cases, people can now choose which brand of vaccine they receive. There are 9,000 available appointments this week, officials said.
Farnitano also noted that the West Coast variant of the virus is still the most prevalent in the county, though officials have tracked 32 cases of the UK variant. And although the county experienced a modest increase in cases after recent holidays and spring break vacations, it was less a "wave" than a "swell or a speedbump."
— Alex Emslie and Bay City News