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World

Frustration, defiance in village to be abandoned to the sea

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FAIRBOURNE, Wales (AP) — Like many others who came to Fairbourne, Stuart Eves decided the coastal village in northern Wales would be home for life when he moved here 26 years ago. He fell in love with the peaceful, slow pace of small village life in this community of about 700 residents, nestled between the rugged mountains and the Irish Sea.

“I wanted somewhere my children can have the same upbringing as I had, so they can run free,” said Eves, 72, who built a caravan park in the village that he still runs with his son. “You’ve got the sea, you’ve got the mountains. It’s just a stunning place to live.”

That changed suddenly in 2014, when authorities identified Fairbourne as the first coastal community in the U.K. to be at high risk of flooding due to climate change.

Predicting faster sea level rises and more frequent and extreme storms due to global warming, the government said it could only afford to keep defending the village for another 40 years. Officials said that by 2054, it would no longer be safe or sustainable to live in Fairbourne.

Authorities have been working with villagers on the process of so-called “managed realignment” — essentially, to move them away and abandon the village to the encroaching sea.

Overnight, house prices in Fairbourne nosedived. Residents were dubbed the U.K.’s first “climate refugees.” Many were left shocked and angry by national headlines declaring their whole village would be “decommissioned.” Seven years on, most of their questions about their future remain unanswered.

“They’ve doomed the village, and now they’ve got to try to rehome the people. That’s 450 houses,” said Eves, who serves as chair of the local community council. “If they want us out by 2054, then they’ve got to have the accommodation to put us in.”

No one here wants to leave. While many are retirees, there are also young families raising a next generation. Locals speak proudly of their tight-knit community. And although the village center only consists of a grocer’s, a fish and chip shop and a couple of restaurants, residents say the pebbly beach and a small steam train draw bustling crowds in the summer.

Natural Resources Wales, the government-sponsored organization responsible for the sea defenses in Fairbourne, said the village is particularly vulnerable because it faces multiple flooding risks. Built in the 1850s on a low-lying saltmarsh, Fairbourne already lies beneath sea level at high spring tide. During storms, the tidal level is more than 1.5 meters (5 feet) above the level of the village.

Scientists say U.K. sea levels have risen about 10 centimeters (4 inches) in the past century. Depending on greenhouse gas emissions and actions that governments take, the predicted rise is 70 centimeters to 1 meter by 2100.

Fairbourne is also at the mouth of an estuary, with additional risks of flash floods from the river running behind it. Officials have spent millions of pounds in strengthening a sea wall and almost 2 miles of tidal defenses.

While there are flood risks in many other villages along the Welsh coast, decisions on which areas to protect ultimately boil down to cost. Officials say that in the case of Fairbourne, the cost of maintaining flood defenses will become higher than “the value of what we’re protecting.”

The effects of climate change that negotiators at the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, are working to mitigate already are a reality here.

Catrin Wager, a cabinet member of Gwynedd Council, the local authority overseeing Fairbourne, stressed that while Fairbourne may be the first Welsh coastal village to be designated unviable due to climate change, it certainly won’t be the only one. There’s no precedent for how to develop policies for helping the villagers adapt, she said.

“We need more answers from the Welsh and U.K. governments, that’s my message going into this (U.N. summit),” Wager said. “We really need to get some guidance on not only mitigating the effects of climate change, but about how we adapt for things that are already happening.”

Across the U.K., half a million properties are at risk of coastal flooding — and that risk figure will jump to 1.5 million by the end of the 2080s, according to the Climate Change Committee, an independent advisory body set up under climate change laws.

Britain’s government, which is hosting the U.N. climate summit, needs to be much more upfront about such risks, said Richard Dawson, a member of the committee and professor of engineering at Newcastle University.

Ultimately, “difficult decisions” need to be made about many coastal settlements with disproportionately high numbers of older and poorer residents, he said, and officials need to prepare people for moving inland.

“Whatever happens at COP the sea level will continue to rise around the U.K., that’s something we absolutely need to prepare for,” Dawson said. “We have to be realistic. We can’t afford to protect everywhere. The challenge for government is that the problem is not being confronted with the urgency or openness that we need.”

In Fairbourne, a continuing standoff between villagers and officials underlines that challenge. Residents feel they have been unfairly singled out, and aren’t convinced there is a clear timeframe on how quickly sea levels will rise enough to threaten their homes. When and how will evacuation take place? Will they be compensated, and if so how much should it be?

There are no answers. The village vicar, Ruth Hansford, said many residents suffered “emotional fatigue” from years of uncertainty and negativity. Others simply decided to carry on with their lives.

Becky Offland and her husband recently took on the lease of the Glan Y Mor Hotel, going against the grain and investing in the village’s future. They’re hopeful their business will bring more visitors and financial support to Fairbourne.

“It’s like a big family, this place. It’s not a village, it’s a family,” said Offland, 36. “We’ll all fight to keep it where it is.”

Down the street, Fairbourne Chippy owner Alan Jones, 64, also said he has no plans to go anywhere.

“Until water actually comes in here, ’til we physically can’t work, we’ll carry on,” he said.

Eves said he and his son believe that “what will be, will be.” But he will mourn the inevitable disintegration of the village he loves.

“You can’t sort of take this village here, and put it over there and expect it to work again,” he said. “What you have here is a human catastrophe, albeit on a small scale.”

___

Read stories on climate issues by The Associated Press at https://apnews.com/hub/climate

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US

Los Angeles city council passes ordinace limiting homeless encampments amid frustration from residents

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Los Angeles city leaders approved a sweeping ordinance Wednesday that would restrict homeless encampments in certain areas as the issue continues to become a flashpoint in parts of the city overrun with tents, crime, trash and other quality of life issues. 

The City Council voted 13-2 to endorse the measure, with Councilmembers Nithya Raman and Mike Bonin opposing. Mayor Eric Garcetti still needs to sign the ordinance for it to go into effect 30 days after. 

The ordinance bans sleeping and camping in certain areas of the city and within 500 feet of schools, day care facilities, parks and libraries.

Outreach teams will offer shelter and service before any enforcement takes place. Enforcement will not occur until leaders have signed off on each location individually and outreach workers will return over a three-month period to see if homeless people return. 

Additional outreach will be conducted if they do, which means it could take up to four months to relocate people and clear an encampment, the Los Angeles Times reported.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF URGES LEADERS TO DECLARE STATE OF EMERGENCY OVER HOMELESS CRISIS

Homeless encampments line the bike path, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) disease pandemic continues, on Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 13, 2021. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
(Reuters)

Fox News has reached out to Garcetti’s office as well as the offices for Bonin and Raman. Both councilmembers are facing recall efforts over their handling of the homelessness crisis and crime in their districts.  

“People want housing,” Bonin said during Wednesday’s meeting. “They do not want warehousing. They don’t want shelter. They want housing.”

He noted that the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said several weeks that shelter beds were only available for 39% of the unhoused population in Los Angeles County.

In a statement released after the vote, Bonin elaborated on his dissenting vote. 

“Being a city where tens of thousands of people sleep on the streets every night is sick and inhumane. Being a city where five people die on the streets every day is barbaric and is grossly obscene,” he said. “We are a city of encampments, and that is a shame and a disgrace.”

“Most simply put, I voted against this ordinance because it tells people who are unhoused and unsheltered and have no place to go where they cannot sleep,” he added. “It does nothing to tell them where they can sleep.”

In a Twitter post before the council vote, Raman stated her objections to the ordinance and why she planned to vote against it.

CALIFORNIA GOV HOPEFUL KEVIN FAULCONER UNVEILS PROPOSAL TO FIX STATE’S HOMELESS CRISIS

“Because we set homelessness policy in our own districts, Councilmembers end up competing for scarce resources, implementing redundant services, and shuffling encampments from place to place,” she wrote. “Today’s ordinance will entrench that dysfunctional dynamic.” 

Critics allege the measure will criminalize homelessness in a region grappling with a shortage of affordable housing. 

“A bold and creative vision is needed to dramatically grow housing supply and fix systems that drive inflow into homelessness,” Amy Turk, the CEO for the Downtown Women’s Center, a women’s homeless service provider, said in a statement to FoxNews. “But implementing the ordinance restrictions without first providing clarity as to how we are engaging unhoused residents and where they can ultimately go only increases the odds of displacement and further traumatization.

Councilman Paul Koretz disagreed Wednesday, saying it instead “creates a new framework to keep portions of our public right-of-way accessible to everyone.”

In recent months, residents in some neighborhoods have voiced frustrations about encampments and the violent crime that often accompanies them. In Venice, tents are lined up along its famous boardwalk and have been seen on the beach, along with drugs and garbage. 

Since the expansion of the tent city, there have been shootings, fires, assaults and complaints of harassment from residents and visitors. A recent video posted online shows a fire inside a tent erected on the boardwalk while another shows a naked man on the beach in broad daylight as joggers and bicyclists pass by. 

Mary Ryavec, president of the Venice Stakeholders Association, told Fox News he was going to look and see what impact the ordinance has before celebrating. 

“I’m not jumping up and down,” he said. “I’m encouraged that they finally had taken some action in the right direction but it’s all got to be implemented.”

Chie Lunn, a Venice resident who is suing the city over its response to the homelessness crisis, said drug rehabilitation and job training is also needed to give many of those living on the street a form of structure. 

“I’m hopeful that it will incentivize more people living on the streets to take up the resources that they need when offered and those who are living on the street by choice to understand that this isn’t the place for it,” she told Fox News in a text message. “

Venice resident Deborah Keaton said she isn’t optimistic that the ordinance will have any impact on the large encampment just 20 feet from her home. 

“They must be forced to move,” she told Fox News. “If this doesn’t force them to move to areas where they are not interfering with the residences, schools and businesses, what good will it do?”

Keaton said she lives about 20 feet from a large tent encampment where the homeless have tapped into nearby power lines to run their stereo systems and televisions late into the night.

“They party all night and the police are called everyday to cite them for disturbing the peace. But they are not going to go anywhere and this will not help that situation,” she said. 

In this July 1, 2019 file photo, a homeless man moves his belongings from a street near Los Angeles City Hall, background, as crews prepared to clean the area. The Los Angeles City Council has passed a sweeping anti-camping measure to remove widespread homeless encampments that have become an eyesore across the city. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

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Bonin, who represents Venice and other westside neighborhoods and was once on the verge of homelessness, and Raman, who has only been in office a few months and represents Hollywood and other areas, have pushed back against strong-handed proposals to clean up homeless encampments. 

Last month, Bonin said he wanted to clear the Venice encampment by August. In a message to constituents on Monday, he said 160 unhoused people in Venice had been brought indoors and connected to permanent housing services. 

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Health

Frustration grows over mask recommendations

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Posted:

MADISON, Wis. — Public health leaders in Dane County want to go on the offensive when it comes to COVID defense.

That’s the main reason they’re going beyond what the CDC recommends for our area when it comes to returning to wearing masks indoors.

The newest recommendations may suggest we have taken a step back in overcoming the pandemic, and with that comes frustration from people we spoke with Wednesday.

“If we were all getting vaccinated, we wouldn’t even be here right now. This thing would all be behind us right now,” said Clary’s Gourmet Popcorn owner Kenneth Clary.

The CDC and Public Health Madison & Dane County’s latest recommendations are serving as an unfriendly reminder of how the pandemic hurt Clary’s bottom line.

“The weekdays are still slow, everyone’s still working from home and they are just not coming down here during the week,” Clary said.

This week, Dane County surpassed 70 percent of all people having at least one dose of the vaccine, and the CDC does not currently list the county — or any surrounding ones — as having high or even substantial levels of COVID.

But PHMDC Director Janel Heinrich is taking that recommendation one step further.

“We’d like to prevent getting to an area of higher transmission, which is why we’re putting forth this advisory, to encourage mask-wearing to further give us better tools to further reduce the spread of this illness,” Heinrich said when announcing the recommendation Tuesday.

On Wednesday, PHMDC further explained their reasoning, saying that even though Dane County is seeing a moderate amount of cases as of right now, they see cases rising rapidly.

Doctors like UW Health’s Nasia Safdar understand that thought process and agree that it’s better to take a step back now to prevent falling completely back in the near future.

“If you’re continually confronted with circulating virus, it’s going to evade the vaccine in a sense that it will cause mild symptoms, which is what these breakthrough infections are,” Dr. Safdar said. “So if you have this added protection of the mask, I think we can help drastically reduce that risk.”

COPYRIGHT 2021 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.



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Health

Frustration with the unvaccinated mounts even as many Bay Area residents welcome new mask guidance

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As the hypercontagious delta variant continues to sweep across the nation, Bay Area residents are bracing for a prolonged pandemic — and adjusting yet again to the ever-evolving roster of COVID rules.

The latest twist came Wednesday, when California recommended that everyone wear masks once again in indoor public spaces.

In the Bay Area, where universal masking recommendations have been in effect for all counties but Solano for nearly two weeks, many people interviewed by The Chronicle on Wednesday expressed near-unanimous support for masking up again for the sake of protecting others — especially younger children, who aren’t eligible to be vaccinated yet. But for some, the acceptance is mixed with disappointment and defeat.

At the Starbucks in San Francisco’s West Portal neighborhood, coffee drinker Daniel Escudero of San Francisco said he was “OK about doing my part to end this thing” by masking up once more. But he was also frustrated.

“If people refuse to get vaccinated, it’s going to be hard to end the pandemic,” he said. “I’m not really angry at these people. I just find them stupid. I understand everyone has freedom and all that, but I really don’t get this.”

Escudero was speaking before California’s announcement, but a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made similar recommendations. California’s are more comprehensive, covering everyone in the state, whereas the federal advice applied only to areas where the virus is spreading rapidly — which is most, though not all, of California.

In San Francisco, meanwhile, Mayor London Breed said Wednesday the city is considering mandating masks for everyone indoors, regardless of vaccination status. She offered few details and said more information would be released later this week or early next week.

New evidence that even fully vaccinated people can transmit the delta variant more easily than previously believed has spurred health officials to act.

“I’m happy to wear this and I’m happy to stay alive,” said Maksim Grats, who along with his wife, Tatyana Grats, wore black fabric masks at the West Portal Starbucks, even while other customers were sitting inside bare faced.

The couple said they were trying to persuade a handyman who does work for them to get vaccinated, so far unsuccessfully.

“Wearing a mask and getting a shot is is not some Big Brother thing,” Tatyana Grats said. “It just makes sense.”

Like the Grats and many others in the Bay Area, Hernan Morales of Oakland hasn’t stopped masking. Morales, who works as a cook, said that at his restaurant, he and his co-workers have been wearing masks the whole time. The CDC’s guidance seemed like the right thing to do, he said in Spanish.

“It’s a little uncomfortable, especially while exercising,” he said as he wore his mask while working out by Lake Merritt with his 8-year-old son. But it’s worth it to keep the community healthy, he said, because “we have to take care of each other.”

Njeri Karanja is willing to follow the safety protocols, but says she’s very tired of it all. Hernan Morales works out at Lake Merritt in Oakland: “We have to take care of each other.”Claire Ramsey has a son who’s too young to be vaccinated, so she’s even more careful than she would have been.

Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

Cynthia Kear of San Francisco said she had already gone back to indoor masking, ahead of any rules that required it.

“I did stop wearing it, for a brief period, but the delta variant is so much stronger, and who knows what the next variant will be like,” she said.

She said she was trying to understand the handful of vaccine deniers that she knew.

“I don’t get it,” she said. “If everyone had gotten vaccinated, we wouldn’t be here.”

For some, a return to universal masking felt like slipping backwards.

“It’s sad,” said Krista Gaeta of Oakland as she and co-worker Claire Ramsey sat at Lake Merritt for an outdoor work meeting. “It feels like we’re regressing after we had such progress.”

Both are in favor of the new masking guidance and have kept wearing masks indoors in public spaces despite already being vaccinated. Still, they felt a bit defeated by the news.

Ramsey has a 10-year-old who can’t get vaccinated yet, so she’ll be even more careful now and won’t go back to indoor dining at restaurants for a while. Both said that they think more masks and more vaccinations are the way out of the pandemic.

Claire Ramsey has a son who’s too young to be vaccinated, so she’s even more careful than she would have been.

Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

“I wish more folks had confidence in the vaccine,” Gaeta said.

Christine Molina and Njeri Karanja of Oakland have also continued wearing masks indoors, such as at the grocery store and nail salon. Both have been vaccinated. While they’re very willing to follow the new guidance to err on the side of caution, the news was still disappointing.

“For me, it’s still a bummer,” Molina said.

“I’m ready to be done” with the pandemic, Karanja said.

Catherine Ho, Steve Rubenstein and Danielle Echeverria are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com, srubenstein@sfchronicle.com, danielle.echeverria@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho, @SteveRubeSF, @DanielleEchev



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World

Travelers’ Frustration Mounts at ‘Confusing’ British Covid Restrictions

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For the government’s last assessment, on July 14, industry experts had expected countries such as Italy, Germany and Canada to be moved to the “green list,” and Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to be upgraded to “amber” from “red,” based on the countries’ case numbers and vaccination rates. But only Bulgaria and Hong Kong were upgraded to green. No country has been moved off the red list since the traffic light system started.

The government has rejected criticism of its cautious approach, saying that it is necessary to protect the country’s successful vaccination program while it grapples with a new surge in Covid cases, which is driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.

“Our international travel policy is guided by one overwhelming priority — public health,” a spokesman for the Department of Transport, speaking anonymously in line with government policy, said in an email. “Traffic light allocations are based on a range of factors including genomic surveillance capability, transmission risk and variants of concern.”

Britain’s travel operators have called for an immediate overhaul of the system, saying that the lack of transparency and sudden changes have wreaked havoc among consumers and businesses and could put hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk.

More than 300,000 jobs were lost in the British travel sector last year, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council, and a further 218,000 jobs are at serious risk if international travel remains restricted, it said.

“While the domestic holiday market is reaping the benefits of ‘Freedom Day,’ with staycations booming, we are not out of the woods yet,” said Virginia Messina, a senior vice president of the W.T.T.C.

“International travel remains either off limits or frustratingly difficult for many,” she added. “This means the door to significant overseas travel still remains effectively closed.”

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Sports

Aaron Judge called team meeting amid Yankees frustration

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The Yankees staggered into the Subway Series on Friday night coming off their worst loss of the season and a day after team owner Hal Steinbrenner called out the team for its season-long underperformance.

“It had a big impact,’’ Aaron Judge said of Steinbrenner’s comments on Thursday, when the Yankees’ managing general partner said he was “aggravated, frustrated, angry” about how the team had played over the first half of the season — and placed the blame squarely on the players instead of on general manager Brian Cashman or manager Aaron Boone.

The team has played poorly enough that Judge called a players-only meeting during the week.

The right fielder said he was moved to call the meeting, which the Yankees would normally hold closer to the All-Star break, because there were “some things on my mind, some things I was seeing over the course of the year. Usually around the All-Star break we have a meeting where guys address stuff after the first half is over with. I felt like there were some things that couldn’t wait to get brought up.”

Aaron Judge called a players-only meeting for the struggling Yankees.
Corey Sipkin

Judge declined to discuss the specifics of the meeting, but he noted the “quality of at-bats” was better in Wednesday’s loss.

“There was a lot of emotion,’’ Judge said.

He also agreed with Steinbrenner’s assessment.

“No matter what anybody says, it’s not a coach or the front office,’’ Judge said of who’s to blame. “It’s on the players. We’re the ones on the field out there competing. The front office has their hands in it to put the players on the field, but ultimately, it comes down to the work and the results on the field.”

Steinbrenner pointed directly at the offense as the primary disappointment this season.

The Yankees have lacked situational hitting, although some results have been better since MLB’s crackdown on pitchers using foreign substances.

But they still haven’t won consistently, and Boone knows that’s the only thing that will matter at the end of the season, despite Steinbrenner taking some of the immediate pressure off him on Thursday.

Aaron Boone
Bill Kostroun

“I’m appreciative of who I get to work with,’’ Boone said of the vote of confidence. “One of the things I’ve talked about here for a long time is this is a place I enjoy coming to work to. We’re obviously going through some tough times as a club. So while I appreciate that [support], it’s like, we’re trying to get better. Certainly, I’m one of the main figures that needs to be accountable to things.”

That time still might come if the Yankees fail to make the postseason, since Steinbrenner made no assurances Boone would keep his job beyond this year.

“Ultimately, one of my most important jobs is to make sure that I’m part of getting the most out of each and every player and that I’m creating an environment and a culture where guys can thrive,’’ Boone said. “For my part in that, I need to better at that and continue to evaluate and grill down on things where we can make improvements and ultimately get the most out of people. That’s one area we need to be better.”

Baserunning is another area in which the Yankees have been subpar, as Steinbrenner noted, and the Yankees are running short on time to fix their weaknesses.

Boone understands the urgency.

“There’s a lot of buzz around us right now, not all for good reason, obviously.” Boone said. “This is New York City. This is the greatest place to play baseball. You’ve got a team, in the Mets, that’s atop their division and they’re playing here at Yankee Stadium. So it’s a big deal to me and I would imagine it is to a lot of people as well.”

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Health

Counties express frustration with 8-minute warning on expanded vaccine eligibility

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KCRG reports during a weekly webinar Friday, multiple county officials shared their frustration with the Iowa Department of Public Health at being given little-to-no warning about the changes announced on Thursday, which open up vaccine eligibility to people 64 and younger with a medical condition that the CDC identified as possibly causing severe illness from COVID-19.An email KCRG-TV9′s i9 Investigative Unit received shows the Iowa Department of Public Health only alerted county health departments it was expanding eligibility criteria for COVID-19 vaccinations 8-minutes before the announcement was made.During the webinar, the state health department said it expects the recently announced change will add about 1 million people who are eligible to receive a vaccine. The department will not issue prioritization to people with certain illnesses, though individual counties may do so. The state also plans to rely on people attesting to their medical condition or smoking history truthfully. It will also vaccinate this new group while simultaneously vaccinating the tiers set up in January.The department said it made the decision after nearly 12 counties said it had completed vaccinating their population of people 65 years and older. Kelly Garcia, who is the interim director for the Iowa Department of Public Health, said the move was made to ensure open appointments were filled.“I know not every county is going to be in the same space and the move to open things up really is around the idea that a not insignificant number of both pharmacy partners and local public health agencies had open appointments,” she said. “And it has been our goal, our collective goal from the very beginning to fill as many appointments and get shots in arms as quickly as possible.”The new guidelines go into effect Monday, March 8. Each county has the flexibility on beginning vaccinations for people under age 65 with a medical condition.The department also indicated they were looking at state-managed vaccination clinics and do not expect any changes to be made to the governor’s next emergency proclamation. It also said the Infectious Disease Advisory Council, which is advising Iowa on which populations to vaccinate has no plans to meet again in the future.Communication IssuesChristy Roby Williams, who is the public health director for Muscatine County, said an earlier warning would give her more time to prepare her department.“I would respectfully request that the Iowa government consider communicating with state and local public health departments when phases are going to change (prior to the change),” she said in the chat feature on the call. “So we can better prepare our communications, call centers, employees and provide a rapid response to community.”Many others on the call agreed with this sentiment, including Becky Wolf. Wolf is the top health official in Greene County. “Providing 10 minutes advance notice before releasing to press creates HUGE issues locally especially going into Friday! We deserve better. We appreciate all you do for us in these impossible times.”Tim Richmond, who is the Wapello County Emergency Management Coordinator in Wapello County, said this has been a repeated complaint from local health agencies.“Locals should get advance notice of significant changes so we can manage local messaging, he said. ”Not doing so pits locals against stat partners unnecessarily. I don’t think this is done on purpose, but has been a repeated complaint throughout this entire pandemic.”Ken Sharp, who is the chair of the Infectious Disease Advisory Council. acknowledged the local public health departments have had few warnings on changes. “We hear you and we’ve heard you every time,” he said. “And we recognize that everything is so compressed and it just continues to be that way. We are doing everything we can to try and give as much notice. And we recognize that we just haven’t been able to get into a place where several days notice is just not something we’ve been able to do.”After Sharp responded, two different public health officials said they just wanted a warning greater than ten minutes.Redistributing vaccine doses to counties not finished with vaccinating people 65 and olderDuring the transition from Phase 1A to 1B, IDPH required everyone in a phase across the entire state of Iowa to receive a vaccine before any county could begin vaccinating people in the next group. This is no longer the case and multiple county health departments asked the state about redistributing vaccine doses to counties that haven’t finished vaccinating people older than 65. Ken Sharp said around 12 counties said it had completed vaccinating people 65 years old or older. Dana Cockrell, who is the assistant administrator for the Monroe County Health Department, asked why those counties can’t have their doses placed on hold.“If the minority of counties has met their need, can their shipments not be put on hold?” she asked in the chat. “We were just getting planning off of the ground to allocate to agricultural sectors that qualify and now the vaccine eligible crowd has grown exponentially. Give us their vaccines so that we can vaccinate the folks that qualify. Don’t saturate the field more.”Cockrell said the state is putting the local health department in a position to fail.“You are squashing our chances to make headway and succeed,” she wrote in the chat. “We went from successful plans forming to behind the eight ball, once again.” Sharp said it will not wait on every county in the state to be done with a phase before expanding eligibility.“We’re trying to find a balance between a number of counties who have been able to get through their waiting list,” he said. “And these are not just little, tiny counties, this is a broad range of counties including some we would consider large counties by Iowa standards. So we are trying to do our best to find that balance to allow counties to continue to progress through their populations.”Sharp also said it’s trying to uphold promises made in the past that it would not reduce allocation so counties could properly plan appointments. Sharp said that was a criticism IDPH received from county public health when it reallocated doses to other counties to catch up while transiting from Phase 1A to 1B.Charity Loecke, who is the coordinator for Delaware County Public Health, said the state should increase its allocation if the eligibility is going to increase. “I ask that if you extend eligibility then our vaccine allocation needs to increase!!,” she wrote in the chat. “This feels to us that there needs to be vaccine reallocated to other counties.”Sharp responded that it’s looking at allocation strategies and are working to increase allocations to counties, but it will take time because of the slow rollout of the vaccine.Other people on the call also told the state it needed more doses of the vaccine and have the capacity to handle more doses. IDPH actively looking into Mass Vaccination TestingKelly Garcia, who is the interim director for the Iowa Department of Public Health, said on the call the state is looking into hosting mass vaccination clinics as supply increases.Helen Eddy, who is the Director of the Polk County Health Department, asked if the state was considering state-managed mass vaccination clinics specifically at the Test Iowa site.Garcia responded it is and is looking to partner with counties as well. “We are thinking about hosting some of those from the stateside,” she said. “We would love to partner with counties or group of counties who would like to hold one together.”Johnson County wants to break down those with pre-existing conditions into smaller age groupsTwo different counties wanted IDPH to break down those newly eligible for a vaccine into smaller age groups.Sam Jarvis, who is a division manager with the Johnson County Public Health Department, requested that that age bands of ten years be in place for the additional expansion ineligibility.This article was originally published on KCRG.

DES MOINES, Iowa —

KCRG reports during a weekly webinar Friday, multiple county officials shared their frustration with the Iowa Department of Public Health at being given little-to-no warning about the changes announced on Thursday, which open up vaccine eligibility to people 64 and younger with a medical condition that the CDC identified as possibly causing severe illness from COVID-19.

An email KCRG-TV9′s i9 Investigative Unit received shows the Iowa Department of Public Health only alerted county health departments it was expanding eligibility criteria for COVID-19 vaccinations 8-minutes before the announcement was made.

During the webinar, the state health department said it expects the recently announced change will add about 1 million people who are eligible to receive a vaccine. The department will not issue prioritization to people with certain illnesses, though individual counties may do so. The state also plans to rely on people attesting to their medical condition or smoking history truthfully. It will also vaccinate this new group while simultaneously vaccinating the tiers set up in January.

The department said it made the decision after nearly 12 counties said it had completed vaccinating their population of people 65 years and older.

Kelly Garcia, who is the interim director for the Iowa Department of Public Health, said the move was made to ensure open appointments were filled.

“I know not every county is going to be in the same space and the move to open things up really is around the idea that a not insignificant number of both pharmacy partners and local public health agencies had open appointments,” she said. “And it has been our goal, our collective goal from the very beginning to fill as many appointments and get shots in arms as quickly as possible.”

The new guidelines go into effect Monday, March 8. Each county has the flexibility on beginning vaccinations for people under age 65 with a medical condition.

The department also indicated they were looking at state-managed vaccination clinics and do not expect any changes to be made to the governor’s next emergency proclamation.

It also said the Infectious Disease Advisory Council, which is advising Iowa on which populations to vaccinate has no plans to meet again in the future.

Communication Issues

Christy Roby Williams, who is the public health director for Muscatine County, said an earlier warning would give her more time to prepare her department.

“I would respectfully request that the Iowa government consider communicating with state and local public health departments when phases are going to change (prior to the change),” she said in the chat feature on the call. “So we can better prepare our communications, call centers, employees and provide a rapid response to community.”

Many others on the call agreed with this sentiment, including Becky Wolf. Wolf is the top health official in Greene County.

“Providing 10 minutes advance notice before releasing to press creates HUGE issues locally especially going into Friday! We deserve better. We appreciate all you do for us in these impossible times.”

Tim Richmond, who is the Wapello County Emergency Management Coordinator in Wapello County, said this has been a repeated complaint from local health agencies.

“Locals should get advance notice of significant changes so we can manage local messaging, he said. ”Not doing so pits locals against stat partners unnecessarily. I don’t think this is done on purpose, but has been a repeated complaint throughout this entire pandemic.”

Ken Sharp, who is the chair of the Infectious Disease Advisory Council. acknowledged the local public health departments have had few warnings on changes.

“We hear you and we’ve heard you every time,” he said. “And we recognize that everything is so compressed and it just continues to be that way. We are doing everything we can to try and give as much notice. And we recognize that we just haven’t been able to get into a place where several days notice is just not something we’ve been able to do.”

After Sharp responded, two different public health officials said they just wanted a warning greater than ten minutes.

Redistributing vaccine doses to counties not finished with vaccinating people 65 and older

During the transition from Phase 1A to 1B, IDPH required everyone in a phase across the entire state of Iowa to receive a vaccine before any county could begin vaccinating people in the next group. This is no longer the case and multiple county health departments asked the state about redistributing vaccine doses to counties that haven’t finished vaccinating people older than 65.

Ken Sharp said around 12 counties said it had completed vaccinating people 65 years old or older. Dana Cockrell, who is the assistant administrator for the Monroe County Health Department, asked why those counties can’t have their doses placed on hold.

“If the minority of counties has met their need, can their shipments not be put on hold?” she asked in the chat. “We were just getting planning off of the ground to allocate to agricultural sectors that qualify and now the vaccine eligible crowd has grown exponentially. Give us their vaccines so that we can vaccinate the folks that qualify. Don’t saturate the field more.”

Cockrell said the state is putting the local health department in a position to fail.

“You are squashing our chances to make headway and succeed,” she wrote in the chat. “We went from successful plans forming to behind the eight ball, once again.”

Sharp said it will not wait on every county in the state to be done with a phase before expanding eligibility.

“We’re trying to find a balance between a number of counties who have been able to get through their waiting list,” he said. “And these are not just little, tiny counties, this is a broad range of counties including some we would consider large counties by Iowa standards. So we are trying to do our best to find that balance to allow counties to continue to progress through their populations.”

Sharp also said it’s trying to uphold promises made in the past that it would not reduce allocation so counties could properly plan appointments. Sharp said that was a criticism IDPH received from county public health when it reallocated doses to other counties to catch up while transiting from Phase 1A to 1B.

Charity Loecke, who is the coordinator for Delaware County Public Health, said the state should increase its allocation if the eligibility is going to increase.

“I ask that if you extend eligibility then our vaccine allocation needs to increase!!,” she wrote in the chat. “This feels to us that there needs to be vaccine reallocated to other counties.”

Sharp responded that it’s looking at allocation strategies and are working to increase allocations to counties, but it will take time because of the slow rollout of the vaccine.

Other people on the call also told the state it needed more doses of the vaccine and have the capacity to handle more doses.

IDPH actively looking into Mass Vaccination Testing

Kelly Garcia, who is the interim director for the Iowa Department of Public Health, said on the call the state is looking into hosting mass vaccination clinics as supply increases.

Helen Eddy, who is the Director of the Polk County Health Department, asked if the state was considering state-managed mass vaccination clinics specifically at the Test Iowa site.

Garcia responded it is and is looking to partner with counties as well.

“We are thinking about hosting some of those from the stateside,” she said. “We would love to partner with counties or group of counties who would like to hold one together.”

Johnson County wants to break down those with pre-existing conditions into smaller age groups

Two different counties wanted IDPH to break down those newly eligible for a vaccine into smaller age groups.

Sam Jarvis, who is a division manager with the Johnson County Public Health Department, requested that that age bands of ten years be in place for the additional expansion ineligibility.

This article was originally published on KCRG.

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Health

Patience wears thin as vaccination scheduling problems continue

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Many Granite Staters are continuing to express frustration with the system used by the state to schedule their second vaccination dose.Gov. Chris Sununu said Wednesday that everyone eligible to be vaccinated in Phase 1B will receive the second vaccine dose within a week of the recommended date. But after massive problems with the scheduling system this week, many Granite Staters said they don’t have confidence in the system. Some called News 9 in tears, while others used profanity in their emails. Many said they don’t want to be told again to be patient.”Very frustrated. There is no place to turn,” said Neal Crossland, of Hudson. “There’s no answer, nobody out there to help you. You’re on your own.”Earlier this week, vaccine recipients were told to cancel their second appointments that were scheduled outside of the recommended timeframe. They were assured that a bevy of earlier slots would pop up on the scheduling website, only to watch other problems arise. The 211 call center then crashed.”Other states give second appointments at the same time,” said Julie Crossland, of Hudson. “Why are thousands of people waiting in line? They know we’ve gotten the first one.”Part of the problem is being attributed to the software run by the federal government called VAMS, which stands for Vaccine Administration Management System. The governor said New Hampshire opted in because the state never had the need for a large-scale vaccination system. “It’s a very clunky federal system that we have been using,” Sununu said. “We have a new system that the state is going to be implementing. We are building our own system. We are getting off the clunky federal stuff, and that will be up and running before the next phase.”Sununu said that anyone who doesn’t want to deal with the VAMS website doesn’t have to. He said the state will be calling people.”You can go in by the end of this week and move yourself up within a week of your scheduled date, and if you don’t for some reason, we will proactively reach out and make sure you know that that opportunity is available to you,” he said.Sununu said that by Friday or Saturday, the system should be up and running with all of the available dates for second shots, so for the 11,000 people still trying to book a timely appointment, waiting a couple of days to try the VAMS website might save them some frustration.

MANCHESTER, N.H. —

Many Granite Staters are continuing to express frustration with the system used by the state to schedule their second vaccination dose.

Gov. Chris Sununu said Wednesday that everyone eligible to be vaccinated in Phase 1B will receive the second vaccine dose within a week of the recommended date.

But after massive problems with the scheduling system this week, many Granite Staters said they don’t have confidence in the system. Some called News 9 in tears, while others used profanity in their emails. Many said they don’t want to be told again to be patient.

“Very frustrated. There is no place to turn,” said Neal Crossland, of Hudson. “There’s no answer, nobody out there to help you. You’re on your own.”

Earlier this week, vaccine recipients were told to cancel their second appointments that were scheduled outside of the recommended timeframe. They were assured that a bevy of earlier slots would pop up on the scheduling website, only to watch other problems arise. The 211 call center then crashed.

“Other states give second appointments at the same time,” said Julie Crossland, of Hudson. “Why are thousands of people waiting in line? They know we’ve gotten the first one.”

Part of the problem is being attributed to the software run by the federal government called VAMS, which stands for Vaccine Administration Management System. The governor said New Hampshire opted in because the state never had the need for a large-scale vaccination system.

“It’s a very clunky federal system that we have been using,” Sununu said. “We have a new system that the state is going to be implementing. We are building our own system. We are getting off the clunky federal stuff, and that will be up and running before the next phase.”

Sununu said that anyone who doesn’t want to deal with the VAMS website doesn’t have to. He said the state will be calling people.

“You can go in by the end of this week and move yourself up within a week of your scheduled date, and if you don’t for some reason, we will proactively reach out and make sure you know that that opportunity is available to you,” he said.

Sununu said that by Friday or Saturday, the system should be up and running with all of the available dates for second shots, so for the 11,000 people still trying to book a timely appointment, waiting a couple of days to try the VAMS website might save them some frustration.

Read original article here