Thread by @shayshinecastle

COVID briefing. Presentation here: www-static.bouldercolorado.gov/docs/Item_1D_-…

Jeff Zayach, BoCo Public Health: "We're certainly hoping 2021 is going to be a better year."

He'll be joined later by Chris Campbell, BCPH's emergency manager, to talk vaccines.

Statewide, we're on the downside of a HUGE spike in COVID cases. BUT even that decline is so. much. higher. than case counts in all of 2020.

Question to look into: Why is Broomfield doing so much better than everywhere else in the Denver metro? Consistently the lowest in terms of cases, and a slight bump this fall/winter rather than a giant spike.

Zayach: "We are now in the orange level on the dial." That's the state's color dial, which is incredibly confusing and possibly meaningless, since the governor just moved everyone down without consulting local officials.

Colorado's COVID color dial be like Whose Line Is It Anyway.

"We expect to see this increase a bit more," Zayach says of statewide cases, because of the Christmas and New Year's Holiday. "We will not know exactly what that will look like until" Jan. 15 bc of the incubation period, testing, reports, etc.

We're going to see a bump in cases and hospitalizations, Zayach says, we just don't know yet how severe that will be.

Still plenty of testing capacity locally.
Zayach: "It's really important, especially after holidays like this, to get tested." Even without symptoms. "Please get tested."

184 deaths countywide, as of this afternoon.

"We want to do everything we can to prevent these deaths," Zayach says. We know how to do that: Social distancing, masking, testing, hygiene.

1 in 92 Coloradans infectious. "This number will probably go up a bit this week," Zayach says. "With this much infection in our community, we still have a high chance of people being exposed."

3-4 months ago, it was 1 in 800-900.

Roughly half those people are asymptomatic. "Hence, again, please take advantage of our testing," Zayach says.

Zayach: "This is preventable. We wouldn't have to have the debates we have about some of the prevention strategies" if we were maintaining 6 ft of distance" wearing masks, etc.

Campbell up now to talk vaccines. You can sign up here to get notified when it's your turn: bouldercounty.wufoo.com/forms/z14hos85…

6,000 vaccines administered in Boulder County so far.

"We're excited about that number, even though we know we have lots of work to do" still, Campbell says.

Local health care workers "almost" all vaccinated. We're four weeks in, as a reminder.

Anybody know how long it took to vaccinate everyone for polio? Or whatever the most recent/comparable emergent scenario?

Campbell: We've moved to Phase 1B, which is healthcare workers who are at moderate risk for COVID (outpatient and first responders)

Essential frontline journalists are also part of the new Phase 1B. I don't really know what that means — breaking news? healthcare reporters? — but in either case I'll be waiting for my turn as part of the general public, since I (mostly) work from home.

Campbell: About 60K vaccines per week allocated to Colorado, half Pfizer, half Moderna

Campbell: "The vaccine allocation is just not quite there. It's ramping up. It's going to take us a bit longer to work through this phasing."

Back to Phase 1B: Recent change is adding 70+ ages

That's about 30,000 people in Boulder County, Campbell says.

Or nearly 10% of the overall county population (~322K)

Campbell: The message for the community is, "The vaccine allocation ... it's going to take awhile to ramp up and be available to distribute."

Also added to 1B (to get vaccines after all the 70+ group): essential workers, essential government officials (and essential journalists, as previously mentioned)

Campbell: "We will work very hard to put that health equity and racial equity lens front and center."

County has hired a cultural broker for the vaccine process.

Phase 2 will "potentially" start in the spring: Older community members (60-69), those with underlying health conditions, other essential workers

Campbell: "We're going to be very transparent with the community about how much vaccine we have access to."

Phase 3 — general public — is supposed to start in the summer. (AKA 6 months away)

Le sigh.

Translation for you:

Campbell encouraging residents to sign up for the vaccine notification. Here's that link again: bouldercounty.org/families/disea…

Campbell: We hope residents will get the vaccine when they can. We will be encouraging them to.

"This is really going to help ultimately to get back to a little sense of normalcy. It will help impact our biz, our economy, some relief for healthcare workers who have been working tirelessly throughout this response, and ultimately save lives."

Until then, Campbell says: Social distance, wear masks.

Zayach: We've received a lot of phone calls in the last 24-48 hours.

The recent change in vaccine priorities meant BoCo went from plans to vaccinate roughly 20,000 people "to tens of more thousands of people overnight," Zayach says. "So we're having to do a little bit of adjustment."

Zayach: "We will get to our teachers and those critical service workers just as soon as we can. But we cannot do that until we've addressed all of those higher priority categories."

Yates with an "observation of the obvious."

Love those.

By March, he says, we're going to have 10-20% of our population vaccinated. It's "natural" that people might relax a bit. What's the plan for that period where a bunch of people have been vaccinated, but not enough to stop COVID from spreading?

Dr. Chris Urbina taking this one.

Ya'll ever interact with someone so damn pleasant you just like them immediately? That's Dr. Urbina for me. Can't explain it.

Urbina: "That virus is still going to be circulating. It's not going away magically."

We still need to wear masks and social distance, Urbina says. "It's all our responsibilities to communicate that message."

And a reminder: Vaccine is 90% effective, so "there will still be ppl who will potentially get infections."

Friend: Is there further prioritization for the 75+ population, since their cases are increasing so much right now?
Campbell: "We are moving that direction."

But "the vaccine supply is going to be challenging."

Friend: How are we reaching people who don't sign up for vaccine notification? To make sure people aren't left behind.

Campbell: We're going through all channels with a communication plan: press releases, social media, cultural brokers, word of mouth, advertisements, etc.

"We're going to try every forum possible."

Friend: "I've been frustrated with the color categories." There's no distinction between indoor and outdoor activities. Is there any push to change that?

Zayach: "We do want ppl if they are going to gather together outside, the last # I heard from the state was 20X less chance of contracting or spreading the disease if they are outside."

He's gonna follow up on that request.

Friend: "That might make it a little less onerous (on people) if we do make that distinction" while everyone waits to get vaccinated.

Friend: Anything about the new strain that we should be aware of? That changes what we should be doing?
Urbina: "Viruses mutate. We've probably gone through a lot of mutations or variations." This one is more contagious.

"It's probably been here for awhile," Urbina says, but we don't have as good of surveillance as the U.K., where this was found.

But the things we're supposed to be doing now — social distancing, masks, washing hands — still apply, Urbina says. Those are still effective.

And they will continue to be effective through future variants, Urbina says.

So far, the vaccine will likely be effective against this new variant, Urbina says. It's being tested; it attacks the virus on many fronts because it stimulates our immune system, so it should protect us against the variant. "But we're looking at it closely."

Brockett: Is there any prioritization WITHIN groups, like 60-69 y.o. or the general population? Is it first-come, first-served?

Still TBD, but there are some considerations being given to social/racial equity, sounds like.

Wallach: Why are the medically compromised in Phase 2 rather than 1?
Urbina: "At this point, the earlier phases were issues around close contact with patients or COVID risk factors."

"Everybody is important. Everybody is going to have access to the vaccine eventually," Urbina says. We need to do what we can to protect the vulnerable until they can get vaccinated (i.e. social distancing, masks, etc.)

Wallach: "Are there any real prospects for an accelerated timeline" of vaccinations?

Campbell, with a little laugh: "I think this has been such a fluid scenario. I'd hesitate to say that isn't possible."

Some things are being discussed, like using only one dose of the vaccine — it requires 2 — to get wider distribution, Campbell says. That hasn't happened yet.

Right now, the focus is getting as many providers involved as possible, getting them ready so when the vaccine is available, they can go.

Campbell: The goal is getting "as many providers as possible, doing as many vaccines as possible, 7 days a week."

Urbina: There are 3 vaccines in the pipeline, too. "There's hope on the way."

Urbina: "There's also, if I can be blunt, with new federal leadership" there will hopefully be better plans to distribute and produce the vaccine.

Young: Can you still spread COVID once you're vaccinated?
Urbina: We're studying that. "We're learning as we go along. Remember, these vaccines were approved" under emergency conditions. There's still a year or two to learn everything we need to know.

Young asks what do we do if there's a "surplus" of vaccines in any category? (Due to low vaccination rates)
Urbina: "I don't think we'll have a surplus."

Urbina: I would hope that everyone would say, 'I want my vaccine.' But "we haven't seen that happen yet. Some people are quite hesitant."

We have to do a good job of talking about the safety, and the fact that the vaccine isn't just for you, Urbina says. It's for your family, your neighbor, school-aged children.

As we go along, he says, we'll find out more about why people aren't getting vaccinated and hopefully address those concerns.

Young makes a suggestion that people without adequate access to health care be prioritized. And suggests that notifications of vaccine info be added to utility bills.

Friend: Is there any shortage of medical personnel to help with vaccinations?
Campbell (another laugh): "It's another big question. ... The shot itself is the easy part." The logistics and handling are challenging, particularly bc it's in two doses.

One month apart.

Campbell: We vaccinated 420 folks today. We have to vaccinate 420 folks 28 days from now.

Campbell: We'll likely be asking for more help once these efforts ramp up.

Weaver with a thank you to Boulder County Public Health, who are adapting to rapidly changing orders from the state.

That's it for the briefing, but apparently there's something else COVID-related ...? Not sure what it is, but I'll start a new thread.

@threadreaderapp please unroll. Thank you.