Patients enter Levi’s Stadium to receive Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines on Feb. 9 2021 in Santa Clara. The 49ers arena is a vaccine distribution site for Santa Clara County residents 65 and older and is expected to inoculate up to 15,000 people per day once supplies become available. Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters
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State health officials announced Friday that all counties will start playing by the same rulebook today, when Blue Shield will take over distribution of vaccines in California.
A patchwork of COVID-19 vaccine eligibility policies that differ from county to county has deeply frustrated Californians. So state officials hired Blue Shield, one of the state’s largest health insurers, to streamline and manage the logistics of allocating vaccines to local health departments and other vaccine providers.
Blue Shield spelled out some of the details of how the new oversight will work. Ten counties — eight in the Central Valley plus Imperial and Riverside — will go first. This means that Blue Shield will make recommendations to state health officials on how many doses should go to each of those counties, and which providers should get them.
Blue Shield CEO Paul Markovich said that its recommendations for how much to distribute doses to each county will be based on priority groups in the state’s vaccination tiers as well as the state’s goals to provide equity for disadvantaged communities.
All 58 counties are expected to go through the transition by the end of March. The most populated counties, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange and San Bernardino, will be in the second wave, with most Bay Area counties in the third wave.
Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state would revamp its vaccine distribution system, acknowledging that the fragmented, county-by-county approach was slow in getting vaccines to the public. Blue Shield is tasked with simplifying and speeding the process up.
The state’s goal is to scale up to 4 million immunizations per week, up from the current 1.4 million per week.
“It’s a high stakes issue, and if something goes wrong, the blowback to the Newsom administration would be severe,” said Democratic political consultant Steve Maviglio, who served as press secretary to former Governor Gray Davis. “The governor has staked his fortunes on making this vaccination system work. He’s trying to find the best way to make this a success.”
Markovich said making the switch takes time. To frustrated counties that may fear losing control of vaccine distribution, he said, “Give us a chance to make this work.”
What will the new system mean to Californians waiting for a vaccination and sorting through confusing options? Through this new system, state officials have promised consistency, where eligibility looks the same in all counties and distribution moves at a similar pace throughout the state.
As counties move to the Blue Shield system, myturn.ca.gov and 1-833-422-4255 will become the main routes for scheduling appointments. Currently, signing up for appointments looks different in each county, with different websites and phone numbers, often confusing and frustrating residents.
As counties move to the Blue Shield system, myturn.ca.gov and 1-833-422-4255 will become the main routes for scheduling appointments.
State public health officials have set general eligibility guidelines but allowed counties and health providers some leeway in interpreting them. While all started by vaccinating the highest-priority health care workers and nursing home residents, they soon diverged.
Some counties vaccinated people 75 and older. Others set the threshold at 65 years. Some rural counties quickly vaccinated their priority groups and started vaccinating teachers and other essential workers, while some large, urban counties kept the focus on higher-risk seniors. The city of Long Beach, which has its own health department, moved ahead of most counties and already has vaccinated teachers.
As a result, a teacher working in one city might be immunized, while a teacher in the neighboring city or county might not - — even if they are teaching in person rather than online.
California currently prioritizes health care workers, long-term care residents and staff, people 65 and older, educators, child care workers, food industry employees, farmworkers and first responders. People with high-risk medical conditions such as cancer and heart disease will become eligible for vaccination starting on March 15, bringing the total number of eligible Californians to between 17 and 19 million.
About 8.2 million doses have been administered since COVID-19 vaccinations began in December. About 15 percent of all Californians have received at least one dose.
“The governor has staked his fortunes on making this vaccination system work. He’s trying to find the best way to make this a success.” — Steve Maviglio, Democratic political consultant
At a press conference in Fresno, Newsom said California would receive 1.58 million doses next week. That allocation is expected to grow when the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine comes on line.
So far, Blue Shield has contracted with at least 30 providers who will be getting shots into arms. These include pharmacies, health systems and clinics, including Kaiser Permanente, OptumServe and Adventist Health.
Yolanda Richardson, the state’s secretary of Government Operations, said California is on track to soon administer about 3 million vaccines per week, although the biggest obstacle continues to be sufficient supply.
California’s deal with Blue Shield raised some eyebrows, but the state cited the company’s experience in operations and logistics.
“Clearly Blue Shield (is) not starting from ground zero. They have the networks and the doctors,” Maviglio said.
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CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
On March 1, 2021 at approximately 7:10am, Sawyer Mccanless was driving a 2016 Hyundai Elantra northbound on US 101, north of Salmon Creek, in Humboldt County. Angel Rocholazcano was driving his 2002 GMC Yukon southbound on US 101 north of Salmon Creek approaching the Hyundai. For reasons still under investigation, the Hyundai crossed into the southbound traffic lanes and head-on collided with the GMC. Both vehicles came to rest within the traffic lane, blocking all northbound and the #1 southbound lane. Both drivers sustained major injuries and were transported to St. Joseph Hospital.
Cal-Trans and Miranda Volunteer Fire Department assisted with traffic control. City Ambulance transported both drivers to the hospital. The California Highway Patrol is investigating this collision. Drugs or alcohol do not appear to be a factor in this collision.
US 101 northbound was diverted to SR 254 until one lane could be cleared for traffic.
Both northbound and southbound lanes of US 101 remained restricted to one way traffic control until all lanes were cleared.
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
On Feb. 27, 2021, at about 11:18 p.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a residence on the 5700 block of Dows Prairie Road in McKinleyville for the report of a domestic disturbance resulting in injuries.
Deputies arrived on scene and located a combative male suspect, later identified as 35-year-old Joseph Earl Thurston. Thurston continued to be combative and resist deputies as he was taken into custody.
Inside the residence, deputies located a 63-year-old female victim with serious injuries. The victim was transported to a local hospital and later transferred to an out of area hospital for treatment of her injuries.
During their investigation, deputies learned that Thurston and the victim had gotten into a verbal altercation inside the residence. When a male victim on scene attempted to intervene, Thurston reportedly began pursuing the male victim outside of the residence and threatened to kill him while wielding a piece of wood. The man fled to safety and was not injured. Thurston reportedly then re-entered the residence and physically assaulted the female victim.
Thurston was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of assault by force likely to produce great bodily injury (PC 245(a)(4)), criminal threats (PC 422) and resisting arrest (PC 148(a)(1)).
This case is still under investigation.
Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.
On February 28, 2021, at about 6:15 a.m., officers with the Eureka Police Department
responded to the 100 block of Harris Street to assist Humboldt Bay Fire with
investigating multiple suspicious car fires.
Vehicle fires were located at the 100 block of Harris Street, 100 block of Grotto Street,
and 2800 block of C Street. All fires were in close proximity and appeared to have
been set within 30 minutes of each other.
While patrolling the area, officers located 32-year-old Christopher Flagler exiting the
alley where there was an active vehicle fire. Flagler was detained and a records check
showed he had multiple warrants and was on probation. Flagler was found to be in
possession of a lighter and small bottle of flammable liquid.
Flagler was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility for
multiple incidents of arson, burglary, vandalism, and outstanding warrants.
This is an active and ongoing investigation. At this time, there are approximately 8
involved locations and approximately 15 victims reporting varying degrees of arson,
burglary, and vandalism. If you have surveillance of the suspect on the morning of
February 28 th in the Henderson Center area or if you are an unreported victim to a
similar crime in the area, please contact Detective Corrie Watson at (707) 441-4032.
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
On Feb. 28, 2021, at about 9:20 p.m., the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Emergency Communications Center was contacted by the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office regarding a stolen vehicle reportedly last seen traveling on Highway 96 toward Orleans.
Deputies were dispatched to patrol the area for the stolen vehicle. At about 9:58 p.m., deputies located the vehicle occupied by two individuals at a gas station on Highway 96 near Ishi-Pishi Road. Deputies conducted a high-risk traffic stop on the vehicle, detaining both occupants without incident.
The driver of the vehicle was identified as 27-year-old Timothy Floyd Eugene Stuart of Yreka. Stuart was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle (PC 496d(a)) and conspiracy to commit a crime (PC 182(a)(1)).
The passenger of the vehicle, a teenage female, was arrested and transported to juvenile hall on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle (PC 496d(a)) and conspiracy to commit a crime (PC 182(a)(1)).
This case is still under investigation.
Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
On March 1, 2021, just after 1 a.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a residence on the 4000 block of D Street, in the county’s jurisdiction of Eureka, for the report of a domestic disturbance resulting in injuries.
Deputies arrived at the residence and located an adult female victim with a laceration to the head. The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment of her injuries. Also at the residence, deputies located the suspect, 30-year-old Benjamin Thomas Kleiner. During their investigation, deputies learned that an altercation occurred between Kleiner and the victim. At some point during the altercation, Kleiner struck the victim with a glass bottle, causing injury.
Kleiner was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on fresh charges of assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm (PC 245(A)(1)) and inflicting corporal injury on a spouse (PC 273.5(A)), in addition to warrant charges of reckless driving (VC 23103) and driving under the influence of alcohol (VC 23152(B)).
Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.
There is no denying the fact that it is once again Monday and, once again, Humboldt’s President of Positivity is out there on the hunt for exquisite local scenery. This week, she has opted to traverse the Cock Robin Island Bridge in Loleta and — wouldn’t you know it? — she just happens to bump into her buddy, local photo whiz David Wilson!
What are the odds this would occur?! The world is magical.
