TX– Wednesday, San Diego County health officials held a press briefing to share an update on our local coronavirus response and vaccine distribution process.
The briefing comes just a day after they paused use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, following federal guidance.
Even though California’s reopening process has began, we continue to lag behind the rest of the country that has safely reopened their economies, and returned to normal life.
Weeks ago, the Governor of Texas lifted all of the state’s COVID restrictions, and as a result, the state has seen a sharp decrease in cases and hospitalizations.
KUSI News asked Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, “Texas lifted all restrictions weeks ago and has seen a decline in cases & hospitalizations. Why can’t San Diego County expedite our reopening process since our cases are also down?”
Neither Supervisor Fletcher nor Dr. Wilma Wooten have criticized any of Governor Gavin Newsom’s reopening guidelines, despite them being the most restrictive in the entire country.
Supervisor Fletcher answered the question saying, “Texas has a death rate almost double that per person than San Diego County. Meaning, that if we had followed the model of Texas, we would have almost twice as many dead San Diegans. So I don’t think Texas is a model that we necessarily want to follow. We are opening things, we’ve seen considerable progress in opening, we’re doing it safely, we’re doing it responsibly, and we’re going to continue on the path we are on.”
But, Fletcher compared the County of San Diego death rate to the entire State of Texas.
As of April 14, 2021, the death rate per 100,000 people between California and Texas is not much different, despite their vastly different response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Per 100,000 people, Texas saw 170 deaths.
Per 100,000 people, California saw 153 deaths.
In San Diego County, there have been over 274,000 cases, with 3,621 deaths.
