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San Francisco health leaders report rising COVID-19 metrics and detail vaccine rollout progress
Summary
DPH Director Grant Colfax reported rising cases and regional ICU strain and an estimated reproductive rate of 1.11; Roland Pickens and DPH vaccine leads described phase 1a rollout, over 6,000 healthcare workers vaccinated locally and long-term-care resident vaccinations underway at Laguna Honda.
San Francisco's public health leadership updated the Health Commission on Jan. 5 about the city's COVID-19 trajectory and the status of the vaccine rollout, warning that holiday-related impacts remained uncertain while reporting concrete progress on vaccinations for health workers and long-term-care residents.
Director of Health Grant Colfax said the city had recorded 24,564 cumulative COVID-19 cases and 198 deaths to date, with hospitalizations and cases elevated. He reported regional ICU capacity at 5.9 percent and explained San Francisco's local ICU availability remained higher (about 34 percent) than neighboring counties due in part to local hospital capacity and recent reductions in elective admissions. Colfax said the city's case rate per 100,000 remained in the red (27.2) and that the estimated reproductive rate as of Jan. 3 was about 1.11.
Roland Pickens, the executive sponsor for the city's vaccine effort, described how the rollout is proceeding under the state's phased plan (phase 1a tiers). He said a little more than 6,000 San Francisco healthcare workers had received first doses through DPH and the San Francisco Health Network, and that many of those employees were city and county staff. Pickens said the federal CDC pharmacy partnership was administering long-term-care vaccinations and that Laguna Honda residents were expected to have more than 90 percent receive their first dose by the next day.
Pickens and DPH staff addressed coordination with multi-county entities (MCEs) such as Sutter, Kaiser, UCSF and Dignity: while those systems will receive direct allocations from the state, DPH is working with them to coordinate equitable access and to redistribute doses if necessary to avoid wastage. He said the city had begun outreach to private practitioners and independent providers (including behavioral health providers) and would support their registration and access through state systems and health-system partnerships.
Commissioners raised questions about the potential impact of new viral variants, where private practices and behavioral health clinicians fit into the phases, and the timing of public-facing guidance. DPH staff said they would bring additional analysis on hospital-level trends and follow up with clarifying guidance to independent providers and the medical society.
