San Diego County plans to make one final push to get the population vaccinated against COVID-19 during the month of June before winding efforts down to a more flu-shot-like situation this summer and fall, county officials announced Wednesday.
More than 100 mobile vaccination events during June will seek to increase the portion of county residents who are vaccinated to the county's goal of 75% of those 12 and older — 2,101,936 people. As of Wednesday, 1,952,650 people have received one jab of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines — or 92.9% of the goal — and 1,544,252 people who have fully vaccinated with either two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna coronavirus vaccine or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine -- 73.5% of the goal.
More than 4.09 million doses have been received by the county, with more than 3.69 million administered. County officials reported receiving 145,780 doses this week.
San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher encouraged those who have been holding out to get vaccinated against the virus.
"The vaccine is free, it is safe and we know it is effective," Fletcher said.
To make the shot more appealing, the county will partner with the San Diego Padres. Any person vaccinated between Thursday and June 30 will be entered into a drawing with the possibility to win one of 100 pairs of Padres tickets. On June 12 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and June 26 from noon to 4 p.m., the county and the Padres will hold a vaccination event at Gallagher Square outside Petco Park, where the first 1,000 people to get a shot on both days will receive commemorative T-shirts.
Following June's efforts, the county will scale back vaccination efforts gradually. There will still be vaccines and tests available at sites around the county for the foreseeable future, Fletcher said.
A full list of available vaccination sites can be here.
County officials reported 42 new cases and four deaths on Wednesday, increasing the cumulative totals to 280,346 cases and 3,760 deaths.
Three men in their 60s with underlying medical conditions died on May 29 and one man in his 30s with no existing medical conditions died May 31.
Of 6,305 tests reported Wednesday, 0.7% returned positive and the two-week rolling average remains 0.7%.
San Diego County's latest state-reported COVID-19 numbers dipped low enough to set the region on a path to lift some restrictions as soon as Wednesday — if the numbers remain below a certain threshold.
The county remains in the orange tier of the state's four-tiered, color-coded reopening plan. On Tuesday, the state reported the county's adjusted case rate was 1.7 new daily cases per 100,000 population -- low enough to qualify for the yellow tier, the state's least restrictive. That is an improvement from last week's 2.4 new cases per 100,000.
The county's testing positivity rate is 1.3% and the health equity quartile positivity rate — the rate a county's most vulnerable quarter of people are testing positive for the virus — is 1.5%, both low enough to be in the yellow tier. Those rates have dropped from 1.5% and 1.8% from last week.
However, to land in the yellow tier next Tuesday, the county would need to report an average of fewer than two new cases per 100,000 for another week.
If that were to happen, less than a week before the state plans to lift most COVID-19-related limitations on June 15, no matter where the counties fall in those above metrics at the time, several businesses and venues would be able to increase capacity.
Outdoor music venues can increase to 67% capacity, restaurants and gyms can be 50% capacity — indoor and outdoor — indoor bars can be 25% or 100 people, whichever is fewer, and outdoor gatherings can expand to 200 people.
A full list of what will be open should the county descend into the yellow tier for that one week can be found here.
