SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Assemblymember Dr. Akilah Weber, D-La Mesa, along with San Diego Unified leaders, announced new legislation Friday that would give school districts access to the state's immunization registry to see if a student is vaccinated against COVID-19.
School districts already had access to the California Immunization Registry to see if a student has been vaccinated against diseases such as measles or mumps. The new bill expands that access to COVID-19 records.
"This makes it very easy for the school districts, it makes it easy for the families. So we know who is out there who has their immunization, who needs their immunization," said Assemblymember Dr. Weber.
In addition to getting access to COVID vaccine records, the bill also requires doctors and public health centers to actually input vaccination data into the immunization registry, which is something that was not law before. It also requires that a patient's race and ethnicity be entered into the registry.
Assemblymember Dr. Weber said that data is important to make sure resources can get to the communities who need them most.
If the bill passes the legislature, it is expected to take effect by the start of the next school year.
"The immunization registry is already there. Many of your child's vaccines are already in some kind of immunization registry, many of your vaccines are already in some kind of an immunization registry. It is as safe as the medical records that you have when you go to see your physician, a lot of those are now electronic," said Assemblymember Dr. Weber.
This bill comes as the San Diego Unified School District is appealing a lawsuit over its vaccine mandate.
"This is just kind of another example of the state really getting ahead of themselves and being too sure of themselves and overreaching," said Sharon McKeeman of Let Them Breathe, Let Them Choose, the group that filed the lawsuit.
Back in December, a judge ruled that the district's mandate, which does not permit religious or personal belief exemptions, contradicts state law.
San Diego County is seeing a decrease in positive COVID-19 tests, but a rising death toll had public health officials Friday remind residents vaccines can save lives as the county reported 3,209 new infections and 22 deaths.
Hospitalizations and deaths are considered a lagging factor, so the above-average deaths due to the virus may be a result of the Omicron spike in December and January. Additionally, actual case counts may be higher due to the increasing popularity and availability of home antigen tests, results of which are not reported to the county.
In the past week, according to the county Health and Human Services Agency, 29,508 lab-confirmed cases were reported in the region, around half of the COVID-19 cases the week prior -- 60,548.
"It's important to note that lab-confirmed cases currently only make up a portion of the actual cases in the region, as more and more people rely on home antigen tests," said Dr. Wilma J. Wooten, county public health officer. "Virus activity in the region is likely a lot higher than confirmed cases reflect, so people should continue to take precautions to protect themselves and their loved ones."
New hospitalizations in the region have started to decrease in the past week, indicating that the peak of infections from the Omicron variant wave may have occurred.
According to the latest state data, the county's hospitalizations from the virus decreased by 24 to 1,105. The number of people in intensive care beds declined by 11 to 206 on Thursday. ICU beds available increased by 10 to 171.
Meanwhile, the county reported an additional 113 deaths since its last weekly update on Jan. 26. Since the beginning of the year, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 225 San Diegans.
"There is a common misconception that the Omicron variant is not as deadly as prior strains of COVID-19," Wooten said. "The latest data show that since the Omicron variant was first identified, COVID-19 deaths are on the rise, both here in San Diego and across the country.
"While you can still get COVID-19 despite being vaccinated and boosted, the vaccine keeps most people out of the hospital and reduces the risk of virus-related deaths," she said.
There were 35,675 new tests reported Tuesday, and the seven-day average positivity rate was 19.8%, down from 25.2% on Friday. The county reports this figure on Tuesdays and Fridays.
A total of 1,072,823 (51.8%) of San Diego County residents who are fully vaccinated have received a booster shot, according to the HHSA. Boosters are currently available for everyone 12 years and older.
The county has more than 400 vaccination sites including pharmacies, medical providers, clinics and county locations. Appointments can be made and sites can be found by calling 833-422-4255 or visiting the MyTurn or coronavirus-sd.com websites.
Nearly 2.88 million, or 91.4%, of San Diego County residents age 5 and older are at least partially vaccinated and more than 2.53 million, or 80.4%, are fully vaccinated.
WATCH: Dr. Akilah Weber announces new legislation on the vaccine registry for kids to go to school in Calif (Feb. 4, 2022)