x
Breaking News
More () »

Solano County opens COVID vaccines to anyone age 16+ | COVID-19 Updates in Northern California

Solano County expanded vaccine eligibility to anyone age 16 or older who is living or working within the county starting April 14.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — ABC10 is following the latest coronavirus statistics and vaccine news for the Sacramento region and the state of California.

This blog will be updated throughout the day with the latest COVID-19 news. Click HERE to learn when and where you can sign-up to get the coronavirus vaccine near you.

Updates from April 13 can be found here.

MyTurn gets language update ahead, new vaccine selection feature for 16- and 17-year-olds

California Department of Public Health (CDPH) said it would update its vaccination scheduling tool MyTurn to increase accessibility online and in preparation for all Californians, 16 and older, to use the tool.

On the morning of April 15, at the latest, people who speak Arabic and Farsi will use the MyTurn site in their respective languages. Previously, Arabic and Farsi speakers could schedule appointments through the COVID-19 hotline, (833)422-4255, while speaking these languages. Arabic and Farsi are two of the top 12 non-English languages spoken in California according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The site will also be filtering out what kind of vaccine you receive for those ages 16 and 17. Since only the Pfizer vaccine is approved for people below the age of 18, the MyTurn site will only allow people under 18 to schedule an appointment at vaccination sites with Pfizer vaccines available.

Lastly, with the great demand expected tomorrow, the CDPH said it has increased its site's capability and does not expect a crash. The site should be able to handle around 300,000 people scheduling an appointment per hour.

Solano County opens COVID vaccines to anyone age 16+

Solano County expanded vaccine eligibility to anyone age 16 or older who is living or working within the county starting April 14.

"We are pleased to expand eligibility to all community members age 16 and older in Solano County," said Bela T. Matyas, M.D., M.P.H., Solano County Health Officer. “We ask that the public continue to be patient as the pace of administering vaccines depends on supply.”

Vaccinations are at no cost and available to all current eligible groups regardless of health insurance or immigration status, health officials said.

Those wishing to receive the vaccine need to sign up using the state’s vaccine notification and scheduling platform, www.myturn.ca.gov, or through the Solano County COVID-19 Vaccine Interest Form, www.bit.ly/solanovax.

Newsom pushes school reopening as many districts resist

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration says all California schools should reopen when the new academic year begins next fall, reiterating his announcement earlier this month. 

But his message remains merely a guideline, not a requirement. Newsom has said he plans to lift most of California’s coronavirus restrictions on June 15 to reopen the state to business-as-usual. He has said there will be no barriers to fully reopening. Yet, many California schools have still not reopened or will offer only partial in-person learning when they do. Those that are offering in-person classes are largely elementary schools.

Latest COVID numbers in the state of California

According to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), here are the latest coronavirus statistics in the state.

California has 3,606,882 confirmed COVID-19 cases to date, including 2,487 newly recorded confirmed cases Tuesday. The 7-day positivity rate is 1.7%, CPDH said.

There have been 56,837,538 tests conducted in California – an increase of 115,110 during the prior 24-hour reporting period.

So far, nearly 60,000 people (59,372) have died from COVID-19 in California since the start of the pandemic. The CDPH says, as of April 14, a total of 23,760,123 vaccine doses have been administered statewide.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 29,888,030 doses have been delivered to entities within the state.

UK variant found in Nevada County

Two separate cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, also known as coronavirus's UK variant, have been found in Nevada County. The B.1.429 variant was also recently found in Nevada County.

“Everyone who receives a positive lab indicating they have COVID-19 should maintain isolation precautions, limiting contact with others in their household and in the community to reduce the spread of the virus," Deputy Public Health Officer Dr. Glennah Trochet said in the press release. 

The cases were found on the east and west side of the county. 

'Zoom in a Room'? California's schools lag in reopening push

Some of California’s biggest school districts are starting to reopen classrooms this week, including Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. 

But California is lagging the rest of the country and, in some cases offering options that parents say are unacceptable. In San Francisco, many parents learned their children would be taught in the classroom by teachers working remotely. They are calling it “Zoom in a Room." Across the U.S., what it means to be back in school looks very different from one state to the next. 

Gov. Newsom has declared a return to business as usual in June, but it's unclear what that means for schools. Newsom plans to visit an elementary school in Sonoma County Wednesday afternoon where he'll address the progress of reopening schools across the state. The even will be live-streamed on the governor's social media accounts.

Resources guide for California families

Watch more from ABC10

Extended Interview: ABC10 Health Expert explains what's going on with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine 

Before You Leave, Check This Out