San Rafael, CA – Marin County hospitals and skilled nursing facilities received the first of the county’s allocation of 1,950 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine December 16. This comes on the same day Governor Gavin Newsom followed through on a December 3 warning and issued a Stay-Home Order for 11 Bay Area counties, including Marin, based on limited intensive care unit (ICU) capacity as cases surge across the region.
Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County Public Health Officer, places a box with COVID-19 vaccine doses into a freezer on December 16, 2020. It was the first shipment of the Pfizer doses to be received in Marin County. “This couldn’t come soon enough,” said Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County Public Health Officer. “Vaccinating our front-line health care workers will protect them as they manage surges in cases.”
The vaccine doses are the first of weekly deliveries. The first doses will be divided among three local hospitals and 13 skilled nursing facilities. It will take several months to implement widespread vaccinations in the community.
At the same time, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is implementing its Regional Stay-Home Order for 11 counties in the Bay Area after the region’s collective ICU capacity dipped below the 15% threshold, reaching 12.9%. The order goes into effect at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, December 17, and will remain in place for a minimum of three weeks, contingent on CDPH projections of whether the region’s ICU capacity will return to and stay above the 15% threshold.
In Marin, hospitals are switching from normal to surge plan operations because of increased COVID-19 cases and stretched staffing in ICU units. ICU units in Marin hospitals reached full, pre-surge capacity on December 15. ICU capacity, as reported, reflects the normally staffed and immediately available beds.
“There is still room for people needing critical care, but this is the start of true hospital surge for Marin,” Willis said. “It’s critical that we see the link between our everyday behavior and our health care system — the transmission happening in the community is driving hospitalizations. With this surge, the state is moving toward even tighter restrictions for community and businesses to follow to help stabilize the curve.”
Marin has 29 ICU beds that can be staffed under normal operations, according to Marin County Public Health. The next step is considered surge operations, at which hospitals implement or consider:
- physicians assessing all ICU patients to determine whether/when it is appropriate and safe to promote patients out of the ICU;
- ·nursing staffs being asked on a voluntary basis to work extra shifts beyond their usual assignments; and
- additional nurses being pulled in from rapid response teams and break/relief nurse lists.
The Stay-Home Order that goes into effect Thursday night replaces Marin’s voluntary adoption of the order, extending beyond the original January 4 end date. In addition, some industries will be held to tighter standards under the state’s interpretation of the order. Businesses and residents are encouraged to review the state’s Regional Stay-Home Order webpage for clarification on which activities are permitted under the order.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s key steps to fight the pandemic includes protection of high-risk groups and health care workers, identifying and isolating cases, and tracing and quarantining people who have been in contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients. Everyone should be wearing face coverings, avoiding gatherings, postponing travel, and staying home whenever possible.
More information about COVID-19 testing in Marin can be found at Coronavirus.MarinHHS.org/Testing.