Over 1,000 doses to be handed out at COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Saturday in Atwater
Castle Family Health Centers is working with the Merced Union High School District to host a COVID-19 vaccination clinic this Saturday, Feb. 27 at Buhach Colony High in Atwater.
The clinic will be by appointment only and will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Buhach Colony gymnasium.
Over 1,000 vaccinations are expected to be handed out, according to MUHSD spokesperson Sam Yniguez.
Appointments can be scheduled by calling 209-726-1235.
Seniors 65 years and older are eligible to make an appointment. There will also be limited availability to residents in Tier 1 B, which includes food/agricultural, education, childcare and emergency services.
Merced County cases continue to drop
The Merced County Department of Public Health reported one COVID-19 related death, bringing the total of fatalities to 395 since the start of the pandemic.
The latest death was a man, over the age of 65. It was unknown whether he had underlying health conditions.
On Thursday, Merced County also reported 41 new cases, raising the total of residents infected by the virus to 28,915 since the start of the pandemic.
It’s the lowest daily case count in Merced County since there were 26 cases reported on Nov. 15, according to data provided by Merced County.
On Jan. 26, Merced County reported 168 new cases. The county has seen an average of 75.7 cases per day in the past week.
There are 1,124 Merced County residents estimated to be actively infected — a drop of 98 cases since Wednesday.
The number of residents hospitalized in Merced County due to the coronavirus is 25 — with eight people in the ICU.
According to the state, Merced County hospitals had two ICU beds remaining as of Thursday.
Merced County has a positivity rate of 6%, meaning the level of people among those who’ve been tested who had a positive result. That’s down from about 11% at the beginning of February.
California tops 8 million shots
The California Department of Public Health on its online vaccine data tracker reported Thursday providers have administered 8,003,120 doses, an increase of 239,452 from Wednesday after the state reported about 182,000 shots from Tuesday to Wednesday.
California is back on track to offering mass vaccinations after bad weather created vaccination supply issues last week.
Local health offices and hospital systems have been delivered about 10.5 million doses to date, meaning the state has injected about 76% of what it has received.
Two major priority changes have been announced for March.
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced California will dedicate at least 10% of its vaccine supply to education and child care workers starting next Monday.
And starting March 15, the state will open eligibility to those ages 16 to 64 who have high-risk health conditions including but not limited to cancer, heart conditions, severe obesity, Type 2 diabetes and pregnancy.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control on Tuesday reported California will receive about 819,000 first doses next week, up from about 763,000 this week. The state will get about 1.38 million shots in total next week, including its second-dose allocation.
Around the Valley
As a region, the six-county central San Joaquin Valley surpassed 209,000 COVID-19 infections to date, and the death toll is approaching 3,000. Thursday case updates from neighboring Valley counties included:
Stanislaus County reported three new deaths on Thursday, bringing the total of fatalities to 944 siince the start of the pandemic. There were 131 new cases reported, raising the total to 50,206.
Fresno County reported 53 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 97,794 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic. Fresno County had not provided an update on coronavirus fatalities on Thursday. On Wednesday, 11 additional deaths, raising the total of fatalties to 1,412 since the start of the pandemic.
Kings County: 35 new cases, 21,951 to date; no additional deaths, 218 to date. The totals include more than 7,200 cases and 17 deaths among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran.
Madera County: 37 new cases, 15,339 to date; no additional deaths, 209 to date.
Mariposa County: No new cases, 394 to date; no additional deaths, seven to date.
Merced County: 41 new cases, 28,915 to date; one additional death, 395 to date.
Tulare County: 54 new cases, 47,784 to date; seven additional deaths, 746 to date.
The Fresno Bee and Sacramento Bee contributed to this report.
