Restaurant employees at higher coronavirus risk than healthcare workers: study

As the county confirms restaurant and food workers are currently eligible to receive their vaccines, new research shows they're in some of the most dangerous roles in the pandemic.

A new study from UC San Francisco shows that restaurant cooks have the highest risk of dying in the pandemic, even more than healthcare workers.

Palm Springs Mayor Christy Holstege is working with Riverside County officials on making vaccinating low-wage service workers a priority.

"We have a lot of restaurants, we have a lot of grocery stores, we have food workers who are on the frontlines, who are in tiny little kitchens in close quarters," Holstege said. "We have to make sure that they are vaccinated first and have access to the vaccine."

Carlos Garcia worked at Revel Public House in downtown Palm Springs. He contracted coronavirus in August, and within weeks, he died in the hospital. The vaccine came months too late to save his life.

"He's one of those guys that is in the trenches with you when it's hard and is laughing with you when the shift is over," said Mindy Reed, owner of the restaurant. "He's just one of those special chefs."

Holstege said vaccine distributions need to account for equity, as the pandemic disproportionately affects minorities.

"The Latino and community and Black community are at much higher rates of mortality and illness as well," she said. "They hold a higher percentage of those restaurant and food service jobs."

Because anyone over 65 years old is permitted by the state to be vaccinated currently, the floodgates are open to about 800,000 eligible people in the county.

But so far, only about 242,000 vaccine doses have been provided to the county, and there's only 21,000 of them left.

Holstege is calling for vaccination clinics specifically geared toward frontline workers. "If you're working all day, you're going to have a really hard time going on at 12 p.m. and logging in and getting an appointment in 30 minutes," she said. "That's prioritizing people who are safely sitting at home waiting for these appointments."

The Palm Springs Convention Center will start operating as a vaccination clinic next week, on February 12.