Four more 'breakthrough' COVID-19 deaths reported in Ventura County

Four more fully vaccinated Ventura County residents died of COVID-19, public health officials reported this week.

The deaths push the total “breakthrough” deaths in Ventura County to seven out of 1,046 fatalities linked to the coronavirus throughout the pandemic. All seven people were 60 and older and diagnosed with pre-existing conditions that likely made them more vulnerable to the coronavirus.

The four newly reported fatalities occurred in the last three weeks. They were revealed Wednesday in weekly data from the California Department of Public Health. The metrics show that as COVID-19 cases rise across the county and nation in a surge targeting the unvaccinated, infections continue to hit people who have received all of their shots.

At least 289 more breakthrough infections in the county were reported or confirmed over a week, pushing the tally of fully vaccinated COVID-19 cases so far this year to 977. Doctors and public health officials said the vaccines are very effective in preventing severe illness and hospitalizations. 

The county's 51 "breakthrough" hospitalizations make up only 0.01% of the more than 480,000 Ventura County residents who are fully vaccinated. Statewide data shows the infection rate for unvaccinated people is six times higher than the rate for the vaccinated.

"There is enough data to show that the vaccine works," said Dr. Gagan Pawar, interim CEO of the private Clinicas del Camino Real health system, then citing masks and social distancing. "What’s changed is we stopped taking the precautions before we reached herd immunity."

The trends are confusing. About 18% of all of the county's COVID-19 infections are breakthrough cases since mid-June when California ended many of its restrictions. Health officials say the number is misleading because far more people are now vaccinated than are not.

More than 66% of county residents 12 and older are fully inoculated. Of those people, only 0.2% have tested positive for the virus. However, that rate is rising.

"It’s been the past two weeks; it’s been concerning," Pawar said of cases at Clinicas health centers across the county, suggesting some of the infections are linked to travel with people acquiring the virus elsewhere and bringing it back to the county.

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Doctors contend the rise shows the contagiousness of the delta variant. Its rapid spread means fully vaccinated people are more vulnerable than with less contagious variants but still get infected far less than unvaccinated people. They own an even smaller chance of serious illness.

All of Ventura County's breakthrough deaths have involved higher-risk groups. Doctors say older people with pre-existing conditions gain protection from the vaccines but remain more vulnerable to serious illness, hospitalization and potentially fatal complications.

"You’ve got to be sicker at baseline if you’re vaccinated to die of COVID," said Dr. Rick Rutherford, an emergency room doctor at Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura.

Breakthrough cases have risen at county-run hospitals in Ventura and Santa Paula, Rutherford said. And while older, health-compromised people remain more likely to need more care, the delta variant has brought more younger adults into the emergency rooms complaining of COVID-19-like symptoms. If they're vaccinated and don't have pre-existing conditions, most of those patients aren't sick enough to be hospitalized.

"They look miserable but they're not sick," Rutherford said.

Nearly 81% of the county's breakthrough COVID-19 cases involved people younger than the age of 65. Three of four zip codes with the highest volume of breakthrough cases are in east Ventura County with two in Simi Valley, one in Thousand Oaks and the other in Oxnard. Per capita counts are being calculated but health officials speculate the higher numbers may be linked partly to commutes to Los Angeles County where COVID case rates are higher. 

Doctors urge people to wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status. They are also pushing for more social distancing and other prevention steps.

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Doctors note that while the risk of hospitalization is reduced, vaccinated people can still spread the virus. They cite too the possibility of long-term effects that can last months, ranging from respiratory issues to cognitive problems sometimes called "brain fog." 

"There's all kinds of reasons for not wanting to have COVID," Rutherford said.

The breakthrough cases elicit nuanced responses that can seem conflicting to some. Experts emphasize the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing hospitalizations but also note the cases show that people remain vulnerable even after their shots.

Rutherford said the dissonance reflects the nature of a coronavirus that is not only new but is constantly mutating.

"Science is messy and the less experience we have with something, the messier it is," he said, asserting mutations have brought more breakthrough cases and an evolving understanding of who is vulnerable and to what extent. "The vaccine isn’t perfect but it is highly protective."

Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com or 805-437-0255.

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