Is delta variant causing vaccine rates to go up in the valley?

Riverside County health officials said in their board of supervisors meeting on July 27 that there has been a 'five-fold' increase in positivity and case rates in the last two months:

• The case rate is 10.7 per 100,000 comparing it to a low of 1.5 per 100,000 earlier in June
• Overall positivity rate is 6.5% compared to a low of 1.1

Riverside County recently updated its vaccine rates by city:

Are the rising cases pushing more people to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated? News Channel 3 spoke with one Coachella resident, Brian Vicente who said that's what encouraged him to get the vaccine.

"I wasn't scared at first be honest, I would go out still like the same as I used to, but then I started seeing the news- a lot of people were dying from it," said Vicente. "Because the cases went up, and I wanted, like to be, safer my family. And so I don't need to worry about like, getting sick or anything."

Riverside County spokesperson, Jose Arballo Jr., said several cities in the valley have reached a plateau in their vaccine rates. The county's city vaccine report shows cities like palm springs and palm desert have over 70% fully vaccinated.

"So every day, in our clinics or mobile clinics, we vaccinate a few 100 people. Well, it used to be a few 1000 people every day," said Arballo. "The biggest influences on people, whether you're vaccinated or not now, is doctors, their family members, and their friends."

He said the county is putting its efforts to reach out to people who have been hesitant about the vaccine or have been waiting it out.

The mayor of the city of Coachella, Steven Hernandez, said he's struggling to get more people vaccinated. Coachella has one of the lowest fully vaccinated populations at 47.70%.

"Our community is lagging in vaccinations. I'm not sure if that's because of cultural factors. I'm not sure if it's because they've bought into conspiracies," he said. "It's not a matter of people not knowing about the vaccine. It's really a matter of choice. You know, it's people's choices."

Overall, Riverside County has been receiving more calls and questions about the Delta variant.

"Whether they're translated into more appointments specifically because of the variant. I couldn't tell you for sure, but I think I I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case," said Arballo.

The county said it hopes to bring more people into vaccine clinics by providing easily accessible information about the vaccine.