Amid COVID Surge, States Make Vaccine Plans

On surging cases and hospital capacity —

Dallas Morning News: Dallas Is On Its Way To A Second, ‘Worse’ Spike In COVID-19 Cases, Says Parkland CEO
At the peak of Dallas County’s summer coronavirus wave, Parkland Memorial Hospital had a special COVID-19 unit known as the “red box” and 300 staffers to help people fight the disease at the center of a pandemic. By early September, the public hospital tasked with caring for the county’s poorest residents closed that area as cases trended down. But now, the hospital’s top doctor is warning that a nascent wave of COVID-19 could turn into something much worse. (Garcia, 10/20)

The Oklahoman: Officials Say Beds Still Available As COVID Hospitalizations Rise To Record Highs
As the number of people hospitalized due to complications of COVID-19 hit an all-time high Monday, state officials were quick to reassure Oklahomans that hospitals still have capacity. In a news conference Tuesday, officials also outlined a new, four-tiered hospital surge plan that they say will be complete in the coming days. Figures provided in conjunction with the surge plan also offered the first glimpse at just how many COVID-19 patients Oklahoma’s hospitals can handle. (Forman, 10/21)

Bloomberg: Covid Pandemic: Southwest Detroit Faces Pollution, Covid-19 Outbreaks
Generations of activists in Southwest Detroit say they’re tired of living under a cloud. They’ve demonstrated, filed petitions, shown up at public hearings, and watched as industry won regulatory victory after regulatory victory. This summer, as the Black Lives Matter protests raged, residents of an overwhelmingly minority Detroit-area neighborhood filed a civil-rights complaint related to the approval of a hazardous-waste storage facility’s ninefold expansion, arguing that pollution is a form of racism, too. (Koons and Ivry, 10/21)

AP: DC Debuts Smartphone-Based COVID-19 Exposure Alert System
The nation’s capital has become one of the first jurisdictions in the country to employ a new COVID-19 notification system, a joint Google-Apple venture that delivers alerts to people’s phones, notifying them that they may have been exposed to the coronavirus. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Tuesday urged all residents with Apple or Android smartphones to opt in to the new DC COVID Alert Notice system, or DC CAN. Bowser called it “a quick and easy way to know if you might have been exposed to COVID-19. Opting in is one more way you can protect yourself, your friends and family, and our entire community.” (Khalil, 10/20)

AP: Tennessee Launches New Website For COVID-19 Info
The Tennessee Department of Health has launched a new website to keep the public up to speed on the COVID-19 pandemic. The department says COVID19.tn.gov is designed to simplify some of the most frequently requested coronavirus data for desktop and mobile users. (10/21)

On state's vaccine distribution planning —

Detroit Free Press: Health Care Workers Will Get First COVID-19 Vaccine Doses In Michigan
Health care workers will be the first people in Michigan to get a coronavirus vaccine, according to an interim priority plan state health officials released Tuesday evening for when a COVID-19 vaccine is green-lighted in the U.S.  After that, local health departments will distribute the vaccine in their communities, prioritizing the people most vulnerable to severe complications of COVID-19, according to a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services COVID-19 Vaccination Plan. (Shamus, 10/20)

The Washington Post: Maryland Coronavirus Plan Says 14 Percent Of Residents Eligible For Early Vaccine When Available 
Fourteen percent of Maryland residents will be eligible for a coronavirus vaccine when one is available, according to a draft of the state’s vaccine distribution plan that was made public Tuesday. The plan was due to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week, part of a requirement that all states followed to give the federal government a glimpse of how officials would distribute a vaccine when one becomes available. (Fadulu, 10/20)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Plans 2-Phase Distribution Plan For Coronavirus Vaccine Once It’s Available 
Even though no coronavirus vaccine has been approved by regulators and widespread availability is likely months away, health officials are planning for how to vaccinate Marylanders. In a draft plan submitted to the federal government, Maryland health officials envision a two-phase program that would first vaccinate health care workers and some of the most vulnerable state residents, and eventually turn to the general population once a vaccine becomes widely available. (Wood and Miller, 10/20)

Cincinnati Enquirer: COVID-19 Vaccine Progress: Who Will Be First In Ohio To Get COVID-19 Vaccine?
A COVID-19 vaccine is likely months away for most Ohioans, but Ohio officials have already submitted a plan for how to distribute it. Ohio will prioritize high-risk healthcare workers, first responders and elderly and at-risk Ohioans in nursing homes and other congregate care settings in the first phase of distribution, according to a plan submitted to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Enquirer obtained the draft through a public records request.  (Borchardt, 10/20)

In state prison news —

San Francisco Chronicle: San Quentin Must Release Or Transfer Half Its Prisoners Because Of Lack Of COVID Care, Court Rules
Finding that state officials have acted with “deliberate indifference” to the health of prisoners at San Quentin — where 75% of them have tested positive for the coronavirus and 28 have died — a state appeals court took the unprecedented step Tuesday of ordering at least half of the prison’s 2,900 inmates transferred or released. (Egelko, 10/20)

North Carolina Health News: Prison Deaths Continue As COVID Stabilizes 
The last photo Jennifer Wren has of her father shows him lying in a cardboard box, waiting for the crematorium. They’d spoken just two weeks before. Another month was passing quickly, and her father Roy Hood, an inmate at Greene Correctional Institution, answered what had become weekly questions about his persistent cough. (Critchfield, 10/21)

And more on COVID-19 in the states —

Modern Healthcare: COVID Adds To Surging Demand For Chicago Lab Space
Life sciences companies are looking for more than three times as much lab space in Chicago than they were at the beginning of last year as COVID-19 fuels demand for places to do biotech and pharmaceutical research, according to a new report. At the end of the second quarter, bioscience companies were seeking 658,000 square feet of lab space in the Chicago area, up from 175,000 square feet at the beginning of 2019, according to an analysis by real estate services firm CBRE. (Ecker, 10/20)

The Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Lawmakers Continue To Debate Governor’s Emergency Powers As Coronavirus Wears On
As they continue to face pressure from constituents who want them to end the COVID-19 state of emergency, Utah’s lawmakers met again Tuesday to discuss ways to rein in the executive branch’s powers but indicated there’s still a lack of consensus on how to move forward. Sen. Jake Anderegg, R-Lehi, said he and other lawmakers are working to find compromise on the issue among the House and Senate as well as the governor’s office and state and local health departments. But without language drafted, he said any changes to the state’s Emergency Management Act likely won’t come until next year’s general legislative session. (Stevens, 10/20)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Top U.S. Health Official To Tour Atlanta Hospitals, Tout Coronavirus Response
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is headed to Atlanta on Wednesday to tour local hospitals and meet with experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to highlight the Trump administration’s response to a still-raging pandemic that’s killed more than 7,000 Georgians. Azar will visit Grady Memorial Hospital, the state’s largest safety-net healthcare facility, to discuss how the team is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and then to Emory University Hospital to discuss new treatments for the virus. He’s also set to meet with emergency operations staff at the CDC and hold a press conference with local health officials. (Bluestein, 10/20)

Los Angeles Times: Disneyland, California Theme Parks Get Path To Reopening 
It might be many months before major parks are allowed to welcome guests again. Based on an Orange County official’s projections, Disneyland probably won’t open before summer — news that incensed park executives and local officials. The protocols announced Tuesday require large parks to wait longer than smaller ones. A large park, defined as one with a capacity of more than 15,000 visitors, can reopen once coronavirus transmission in its home county has fallen enough for the county to reach Tier 4 — the state’s least-restrictive designation. A small park, meanwhile, can welcome guests once its home county reaches Tier 3, the second-least-restrictive level. (Martin, 10/20)

Boston Globe: Officials Prevented Large Outdoor Gathering In Revere; Baker Says Such Meetings Threaten Everyone’s Health 
Tipped off by social media postings, state and Revere officials said Tuesday they prevented a large outdoor gathering planned for Oct. 10 in a city now facing its highest positive testing results since May, especially among younger people. Health and Human Services Secretary Mary Lou Sudders and Revere Mayor Brian J. Arrigo joined Governor Charlie Baker at a new testing site set up on the grounds of Suffolk Downs in Revere, a city that was one of the first hot spots when the coronavirus pandemic reached Massachusetts. (Ellement and Andersen, 10/20)

AP: Man Gets Prison For Sabotage That Caused PPE Delivery Delay
A former vice president of a medical device packaging company has been sentenced to a year in federal prison for sabotaging his former employer’s electronic shipping records, which prosecutors said delayed the delivery of personal protective equipment to health care providers. Christopher Dobbins, 41, received his last paycheck from Stradis Healthcare on March 26, and three days later used a fake user account he had created while working there to access the company’s computer systems, prosecutors in Atlanta said. He then created a second fake user account and used that to edit 115,581 records and delete 2,371 records before deactivating both fake accounts and logging out, prosecutors said. (10/20)