A Contra Costa County health official said Tuesday that, despite falling COVID-19 numbers, the county could be facing “ticking time bombs” related to other health issues.
During the department’s regular pandemic briefing to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, county health officials said undiagnosed conditions, due to people not seeing doctors for other problems for more than a year, are coming back with a vengeance.
While countywide COVID-19 numbers continue to plummet, other numbers related to heart disease, cancer, strokes, and Alzheimer’s are already going up.
Dr. Gabriela Sullivan, the county health department’s ambulatory care medical director, said COVID-19 was the third-leading cause of death for Californians in 2020, behind usual suspects heart disease and cancer.
“Many people did not seek urgent care when they had symptoms of a heart attack or a stroke,” Sullivan said. “That’s likely what contributed to increased mortality.”
Nearly 50,000 more people died in California in 2020 than in 2019, about half of which were caused by COVID-19. The others were partially attributable to a 4 percent increase in heart disease fatalities and a 5 percent increase in stroke fatalities, Sullivan said. Non-COVID-19 emergency room visits were down about 42 percent nationwide.
“After years of actually seeing a decrease in mortality from heart disease in particular, you know we’ve made so many advances in heart disease, this last year saw an increase in mortality from heart disease,” Sullivan said.
There was also a spike in opioid-related deaths compared to the previous year — about 46 percent higher in California, and 33 percent in Contra Costa County.
Sullivan also said numbers of health screenings are trending downward significantly. While numbers of patients joining Contra Costa Health Plan have gone up, cancer screenings went down and are just starting to level off.
She said “there’s one bright spot.” Adult mental health screenings went up during the pandemic.
Regular wellness checks for children also went down, something the county will try to remedy in the coming months by reaching out to families and having providers show up to vaccine clinics and do them on site, especially those in communities of color. She said young African American children were about 20 percent less likely to get regular wellness visits during the pandemic.
“This disparity is very, very alarming to all of us,” she said.
County health director Anna Roth told the board, as of Monday, about 1.2 million Contra Costa residents had at least one vaccine dose — about 70 percent of the county. She said almost 60 percent of the county is fully vaccinated.
Roth also said that, despite contrary information from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the county will follow the state’s lead in not lifting mask mandates among vaccinated people yet.
Sorry, the trust is Gone & Never returning.
Routine Health screenings went down and “preventable” outcomes went up because a lot of Health care providers (HMO”S) stopped allowing people to come in for their Preventable screenings. I for one had at least 2 screenings cancelled and now when I try to get an appointment in a specialty clinic I was cancelled from, I’m now told I have to start from the beginning with my primary to get the “referral” process started all over again. That in its self is yet another deterrent.
Can’t we just stop the fear mongering?
Live every day to the fullest, be appreciative of what you have, be kind. We really never know when our time here is done.
And whose fault is that?
They cried “COVID COVID COVID” and made it nearly impossible to be seen by a physician for the past year. For anything short of “I’m dying” at John Muir Physicians Network you are either sent to urgent care or have to make an appointment three months in advance.
I had 2 lifelong friends who were turned away by the empty hospitals and they both went home and died. This has been a big lie the entire time. The virus is real but the so called facts that flip flopped like a fish out of water were used and over inflated. I have watched several interviews where physicians stated that they were pressured to put COVID on a death certificate.
It didn’t help when the medical people wouldn’t take regular patients. (That includes dentists.) Even some emergency locations turned people away that should have been in the hospital. Somehow a phone call or a zoom meeting, at best, just didn’t do it. So yeah, lots of people just live or died of other things other than the virus.
The frog has been boiled.
Some of us tried to warn the Board of Supervisors and County health officials that their scare-tactics and extreme shutdown measures would result in delayed diagnosis of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc…and those folks would suffer worse outcomes as a result. Mitchoff was more than happy to scold us and tell us she knew better.
Karen Mitchoff is filth
Is this a surprise to anybody with a brain.
Thanks Captain Obvious.
What is thy plan for this self created crisis?
Let me guess…….You want more money?
I’m afraid to get up in the morning for fear that either Newsom or The Department of Public Health may impose more draconian measures regarding mine and others liberties
Oh well. If people weren’t/aren’t feeling good and don’t want to mask up and go to the doctors then that’s what they get. I have never put off doctor appts or dentist appts for me or my kids during this time.
Nice virtue signal you are so much better than everyone else…
Aren’t you lucky Raiderette?
Kaiser canceled both my set appointments for cancer screenings last April bc of the “ pandemic “ and I’ve yet to be able to reschedule
For a year Kaiser has refused most patients unless it was related to COVID. My own doctor couldn’t give me a blood pressure check required to renew my meds. I wonder how many people have stroked out because of this. Despicable!
like the ticking time bomb of racism being a public health crisis
BS!
you lefties all lie
Yes. Now that everything isn’t called “COVID” other diseases will come back.
bottom line… Vote to recall the mastermind.. Gavin Newsom
I agree! Let’s stop all the fear mongering. I’m so sick of the whining and complaining.
Wah wah wah! I’m too scared to get the vaccine because they can’t prove it won’t make me grow horns and a tail in ten years! Wah Wah Wah It’s a plot by Bill Gates to inject us with secret tracking devices! Wah wah wah! They’re making us all wear hazmat suits! Wah wah wah! My face is too delicate to wear a face mask! Wah wah wah I’m afraid I’m gonna die from rebreathing my stinky breath if I wear a face mask! Wah wah wah! It’s all all a plot by Soros to steal our freedom with a fake pandemic! Wah wah wah! I’m was gonna get a vaccine but now I’m not because they say I should! Wah wah wah! My skin is too delicate to wear a mask. Wah wah wah! I’m not gonna get a vaccine because the companies that developed them and sell them are gonna make money and I’m a socialist who thinks capitalism is evil! ! Wah wah wah!
Get your shot, wear a mask, and go to the doctor if you need to. Act like an adult. If that’s too scary and difficult for you, then stay home in your little bubble of fear because you are too much of a coward to get a shot or wear a mask or go to the doctor. The rest of us will go about our lives.
That’s right!
Let the rest of us live our lives! If you want the vaccine get the vaccine. You are a coward if you get the vaccine and then demand everyone around you get it as well.
What is the difference between a conservative vegetarian and a liberal vegetarian?
The conservative doesn’t eat meat. The liberal doesn’t eat meat and wants to stop you from eating meat.
I knew this would happen when doctors stopped seeing patients in person last year. For example, only last month I phoned Kaiser complaining of breast pain and abnormality. They wanted to set up a video appointment. How the hell can my OB/GYN inspect my breasts and feel for lumps in a phone appointment? And I needed to be seen in person. Extreme abdominal pain and other symptoms kept occurring over and over, and my doctor was refusing a colonoscopy because they said they were not seeing patients in person if avoidable. I bet late 2020 and 2021 will see a huge spike in mortality rates for things that could have been caught if found early.
You officials are the ones who created this situation and now you want to sling out more fear…I am completely desensitized.
so the fauci is the head of the niaid
and their call to fame is this
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
(conducts and >>>supports <<>> to better understand<<>>prevent<<< infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases.
not a scientist
but if he is the head and they are supposed to be preventing viruses
then why does he know nothing and defers to the cdc and w.h.o
why does he have no answers accept that its not china
even though
any yayhoo could have watched and heard that is started outside the lab
and spread east one city and country at a time until it came all the way back to china
and if he is the head of a organization that has access to our money and gives it to china labs
then why does he have no idea or any notion of understanding about where it came from
he claims most likely bats eaten by people
….yet how could it spread so fast and blatantly when the rest of the world does not eat bats …he has no answer
was it in the lab he says yes but was not released
and again the world does not eat bats
so obviously those people who ate lets say for argument
50 people ate bats
wouldnt those 50 people have to fly around the world to infect everyone since they say that a handkerchief or bandanna is good enough to wear to stop it???
i mean are people really that ignorant as to not question silly comments by people who are supposed to be highly educated and well versed and have access to knowledge we are restricted from
we have no answers over a year and almost a half later
and no one is looking for answers
not biden or pelosi or kamalalalala or the cdc or well we know now that who is owned by china as with most of the large businesses in the usa
not the cia or fbi or anyone cares where this thing came from
or the cost of it placed on the world
the losses or despair on the children
not one head cares or is even trying to find out
well back to fortnight i guess
and watching fresh from the boat
blackish
toodles
Three words for the Contra Costa County health department:
“No s**t, Sherlock”
bottom line;;;
Doctors now need more business , so scare everyone to run in …..
Take care of yourselves, too many quacks out there looking to make a buck at your expense.
Wow. It’s almost like they could have predicted this fallout from the year-long severe lockdown.
Just wait until they notice the “ticking time bomb” of kids (mostly low income) who were left behind during the year-long school shutdown.
I’m sure the solution to all of these problems is more taxpayer dollars being directed their way to “solve” these dire problems.
Tried scheduling a regular mammogram last night on Kaiser’s site and none available in WC, Martinez or Antioch until early July. Abnormal but makes sense. Overwhelming to the healthcare industry for a lot of things that people put off from last year.
Don’t know if it will help, but you can try to call Kaiser and speak to someone to make an appointment. My wife could not get an optometry appointment online anywhere (she tried multiple locations), and was able to book one for next week by calling.