Gov. Gavin Newsom announced during a news conference Friday vaccines allocated next month will be prioritized for educators, while also setting guidelines for youth sports to resume.
Ten percent of all first vaccine supplies delivered to the state after March 1 will be set aside for educators and child care workers in an effort to reopen in-person instruction for students quicker, Newsom said.
“We are also setting aside 10% of all first doses,” Newsom said during the briefing, “beginning with a baseline of 75,000 doses every week that will be made available for educators and child care workers that are supporting our efforts to get our kids back into in-person instruction.”
This announcement comes after Los Angeles County Public Health officials broadened vaccine eligibility to include teachers and certain sectors of frontline essential workers beginning March 1.
Grocery store workers, agriculture workers and law enforcement personnel are among the frontline essential workers who will be eligible to make vaccine appointments next month.
Youth sports
Newsom also announced new guidance that allows youth sports to resume in counties that have COVID-19 case rates of 14 people or less per 100,000. L.A. County has yet to qualify for youth sports to resume as the case rate remains above the threshold.
Nineteen counties across the state meet the threshold to resume youth sports, Newsom said.
“This is for outdoor sports and contact sports like football, rugby and water polo,” Newsom said. “We’re moving forward with caution and recognition of the significant advantages in terms of mitigating transmission when it comes to outdoor sports versus indoor sports. We’ll continue to work on indoor (sport) issues.”
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials released the following updated COVID-19 statistics Friday:
New COVID-19 cases reported in L.A. County in the past 24 hours: 2,459
Total COVID-19 cases in L.A. County: 1,176,772
New deaths related to COVID-19 reported: 150
Total COVID-19 deaths in L.A. County: 19,662
Hospitalizations countywide: 2,640; 31% of whom are in the ICU.
Hospitalizations at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital as of Feb. 19: 13, with 1,129 discharged since the onset of the pandemic.
COVID-19 cases reported in the Santa Clarita Valley in the past 24 hours: 64, 51 of which came from the city of Santa Clarita.
Total COVID-19 cases in the SCV: 25,463
Total COVID-19 deaths in the SCV: 246, with one additional death reported by Henry Mayo Friday.
The numbers of SCV cases, including all area health care providers’ daily figures and those at Pitchess Detention Center, broken down into region, are as follows:
City of Santa Clarita: 18,650
Unincorporated – Acton: 429
Unincorporated – Agua Dulce: 248
Unincorporated – Bouquet Canyon: 43
Unincorporated – Canyon Country: 763
Unincorporated – Castaic: 3,535 (majority of Castaic cases come from Pitchess Detention Center, exact number unavailable)
Unincorporated – Lake Hughes: 40
Unincorporated – Newhall: 66
Unincorporated – Placerita Canyon: 0
Unincorporated – San Francisquito Canyon/Bouquet Canyon: 14
Unincorporated – Sand Canyon: 15
Unincorporated – Saugus: 127
Unincorporated – Saugus/Canyon Country: 38
Unincorporated – Stevenson Ranch: 1,019
Unincorporated – Val Verde: 305
Unincorporated – Valencia: 171
