On Tuesday, Feb. 16, the county distributed 2,500 COVID-19 vaccines — a “record number” according to County Public Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein.
San Luis Obispo County continues in vaccine phase 1B, with residents 65-years-old and older eligible for the vaccine.
After this week’s vaccinations, approximately one in five residents of San Luis Obispo County have either natural immunity from contracting COVID-19 or have gotten the vaccine. Despite this massive success, there continues to be a shortage of vaccines.
“We know there is an awful amount of stress on the system: far more demand than we can accommodate so we ask people to please be patient,” Borenstein said.
The next group to receive the vaccine are critical infrastructure workers. For the order of vaccinations, see here.
So far there have been 35,925 first dose vaccines distributed in the county, with 28,398 vaccines administered to healthcare workers and residents older than 65. As of Feb. 12, 5,656 residents had received the second dose and completed the vaccination process.
Total SLO County Vaccinations
The county’s total COVID-19 cases reached 19,248, with 813 people actively sick.
While much lower than January peaks, these numbers coincide with the post-Halloween surges of early November. The weekly average of daily cases was 57, which is 59 cases lower than last week’s 107 cases a day.
Since the start of the pandemic, 210 people have died from COVID-19, with 10 deaths this past week. Borenstein expects more deaths to be announced as death certificates are confirmed, she said.
“These are real people with families who are missing their loved ones, and our hearts and condolences go out to their families,” Borenstein said.
Cal Poly’s COVID-19 dashboard data regarding student cases continues to be inconsistent, so it will not be included in this update.
Total Confirmed COVID-19 Cases in SLO County
The positivity rate 4.3, which means that about four of every 100 COVID-19 tests will come back positive.
The case rate is 15.6, which means that 15.6 per 100,000 people have COVID-19 — still double than required to move back into the lower tiers.
San Luis Obispo County continues to have high test rates, this week conducting 824.5 tests per 100,000 people — almost double the state average of 424 tests per 100,000 people.
Total COVID-19 Case Breakdown
Paso Robles (95 new cases) and San Luis Obispo (99 new cases) continue to have the most cases in the county, but they reported less cases last week than two weeks ago.