Long Beach Moves Into Yellow Tier and Starts Offering Booster Shots for 5 to 11 Year-Olds

LONG BEACH — With COVID-19 cases rising, the City of Long Beach has entered the yellow (medium) tier of COVID-19 Community Level, the second of three tiers outlined by the Centers for Disease Control or CDC. The Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services is urging residents to adhere to the Health Order.

The Health Department utilizes the CDC community levels to assess the impact of COVID-19 illness on health and healthcare systems. To determine the community level, a combination of three metrics are considered: new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days, new COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 population in the past seven days, and the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. As of May 20, COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population is 205.7, COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 population is 1.5, and 1.6% of staffed inpatient beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients, putting Long Beach in the Yellow Tier.

Many symptoms of COVID-19 resemble those of a cold, flu and allergies. Anyone experiencing congestion or a runny nose, the sniffles, sore throat, fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, nausea or vomiting or diarrhea should get tested for COVID-19 and otherwise stay home to prevent passing their illness onto others.

Details: longbeach.gov/covid19testing; 562.570.4636.

City to Begin Offering COVID-19 Boosters for Children Ages 5 to 11

LONG BEACH —Beginning May 23, the City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services or Health Department will begin offering booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.

The booster that will be given to children ages 5 to 11 will be the same lower dose of Pfizer vaccine that was received in their primary series. Children will be eligible for their booster five months after the completion of their primary series of Pfizer vaccine. In Long Beach, 5,002 children ages 5 to 11 have completed the Pfizer two-dose series and will be eligible by Monday, May 23. All minors need parental consent in order to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. The consent form is available online.

Boosters will be available on a walk-up basis starting May 23, and appointments for those ages 5 to 11 will be available on MyTurn starting Wednesday, May 25.