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No appointments necessary as county vaccination sites invite walk-ups

Dr. Ghazala Sharieff, of Scripps Health, administers a vaccination to Paula Ramirez at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
Dwayne Epps of La Mesa gets a fist bump from County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher after receiving a dose of the coronavirus vaccine last month.
(Sam Hodgson/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Effective immediately, anyone can walk into 16 sites countywide and receive their first dose until supplies run out

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Lower appointment demand drove the county to announce walk-in availability at 16 of its smaller vaccination locations Tuesday, providing a new no-appointment-necessary option for those who have not yet received a first dose.

The county health department announced the bold step midday Tuesday just after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tweaked mask-wearing guidance, stating that those who are fully vaccinated need not wear masks outdoors unless they are in crowds.

In an email, county communications director Mike Workman said that appointments at non-superstation centers have recently filled more slowly, influencing the decision to open up to walk-ins.

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“In recent days, appointments have not filled until that same afternoon,” Workman said, adding that a site at San Diego State University had 1,000 open slots Tuesday.

The move does not include vaccination super stations operated by big health care systems across the region, which did not appear to be seeing any slack in their demand for appointments.

The CDC says fully vaccinated Americans don’t need to wear masks outdoors anymore unless they are in a big crowd of strangers

April 27, 2021

Sharp HealthCare, which operates super stations in Chula Vista, La Mesa and San Marcos, reported that the public continued to snap up new appointments at those locations as quickly as they appeared on the state’s My Turn scheduling application.

Local new-case and hospitalization totals continued to trend downward in Tuesday’s report with 144 new positive tests reported and total hospitalizations dropping from 161 Sunday to 155 Monday.

The trend was not so beneficial in terms of the region’s case rate in the state’s latest tier report.

Released Tuesday, the weekly statewide report card lists San Diego County with 6.2 cases per 100,000 residents, up from last week’s score of 6.1 and the previous week’s score of 6.0. That’s three consecutive weeks over 5.9, the limit for the second-least-restrictive orange tier of the state’s reopening blueprint.

A fall back to the red tier, which would again reduce indoor and outdoor operating capacities for a host of venues, is not imminent because 2.3 percent of tests conducted in the state’s seven-day analysis period came back positive. The orange tier limit is 4.9 percent, and both scores would have to be out-of-bounds for a fall to red. Even if both scores verged to red, the state would not order a drop unless local hospitalization rates spiked.

But, while a fall does not appear likely anytime soon, neither does further movement in a positive direction.

Unlike its Southern California peers, San Diego County shows no signs of an imminent climb to the yellow tier, which would bring enhanced operating capacities for the remaining month and a half still to go before the tier system is scheduled to sunset on June 15.

Los Angeles County, having had a much worse holiday surge than San Diego, is almost there already. Tuesday’s tier report listed L.A. with an adjusted rate of 1.9 cases per 100,000 residents and a positivity rate of 0.9 percent. If the county with more than 10 million residents posts similar numbers next week, it will move to the yellow tier.

While not quite yellow yet, Orange County is also seeing lower case rates than San Diego, coming in at 2.6 per 100,000 and a positivity rate of 1.4 percent. Riverside County sits at 3.9 per 100,000.

The disparity is surprising given that San Diego County has so far had the best vaccination rate in Southern California. Getting more people vaccinated prevents infections, thus shrinking the new case numbers at the core of the tier system.

According to the latest county-by-county vaccination data from the California Department of Public Health, San Diego had administered 2.5 million doses, a rate of 77 per 100 residents, as of Tuesday afternoon. The rate was 77 in Orange County, 71 in Los Angeles County and 58 in Riverside County.

Dr. Eric McDonald, medical director of the county’s epidemiology department, did not respond Tuesday afternoon to a request for comment on the disparity.

Vaccination rates, though, now have a way to climb even higher with broad-based access to inoculation without taking the time to make an appointment.

Those who plan to make their way to their closest walk-in location should be aware that county sites are not allowing walk-ins at any time. Each site has specific days when no-appointment doses will be available, offering them from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on the days indicated below:

Tuesday through Saturday

  • East Public Health Center, 367 N. Magnolia Ave., El Cajon
  • Linda Rhoades Recreation Center, 600 N. Santa Fe Ave., Vista
  • Linda Vista Vaccine Site at University of San Diego, 5450 Linda Vista Road
  • Mar Vista High School, 524 Imperial Beach Blvd., Imperial Beach
  • First United Methodist Church, 341 Kalmia St., Escondido
  • Southwestern College, 460 W. San Ysidro Blvd., San Ysidro
  • San Diego State University (SDSU) Viejas Arena Lot 13, 5130 Canyon Crest Drive, San Diego
  • Mountain View – Educational Cultural Complex, 4343 Ocean View Blvd., San Diego

Sunday through Thursday

  • Lemon Grove Community Center, 3146 School Lane
  • Martin Luther King Community Center, 140 E. 12th St., National City
  • Oceanside – North Coastal Live Well Health Center, 1701 Mission Ave., Oceanside
  • South Region Live Well Center, 690 Oxford St., Chula Vista
  • Border View YMCA, 3601 Arey Dr., San Diego

Other days

  • Mexican Consulate, 1549 India St., San Diego; Tuesday through Thursday
  • Tubman-Chavez Community Center, 415 Euclid Ave., San Diego, Friday and Saturday
  • Copley-Price YMCA, 4300 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego, Mondays and Fridays

County-operated walk-through mobile vaccination clinics will vaccinate without appointments from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the following locations on the specific dates indicated:

  • Wednesday, April 27, Sherman Heights Community Center, 2258 Island Ave., San Diego
  • Thursday, April 29, Mission San Luis Rey, 4050 Mission Ave., Oceanside
  • Friday, April 30, Southwestern College Otay Lakes, 900 Otay Lakes Rd, Chula Vista
  • May 8, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 525 W. Vista Way, Vista
  • May 13, Northgate Market, City Heights, 5403 University Ave.
  • May 14, Mira Mesa Senior Center, 8460 Mira Mesa Blvd., San Diego
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