Who won Californias $1.5 million COVID vaccine lottery?
If youre vaccinated and get a call from a 916 area code in the next couple of days, make sure you answer the phone. It could be a state official calling to tell you youre a millionaire. Capping off weeks of giveaways in a bid to convince more vaccine-wary residents to get inoculated against the deadly coronavirus, the state on Tuesday picked the 10 winners of Californias biggest COVID vaccine prizes  $1.5 million checks  the same day we celebrated a full reopening after 15 months of pandemic lockdowns and restrictions. Were here because of your hard work, Gov. Gavin Newsom said at the drawing from a stage at Universal Studios Hollywood, surrounded by Optimus Prime, minions and other animated characters from the theme park. But dont get too excited if youre from the Bay Area. Just one of the 10 big winners hailed from the region, specifically Marin County. Four came from Los Angeles County while Riverside, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Stanislaus and Ventura counties each boasted one winner. Tuesdays winners  who have only been identified by county  represent something of a departure from 30 earlier winners selected to receive $50,000 each. Roughly a third of those residents call the Bay Area home. Every resident in California  with a few exceptions like the governor himself, prisoners and state lottery workers  who received at least one shot was eligible to win, a pool of about 22 million people. But since more than a quarter, 26%, of vaccinated Californians live in Los Angeles, the county was more than well-represented among winners. Santa Clara County, with 6% of the states vaccinated residents, and Alameda with 5%, were both shut out from the big prize. Just 5.75% of vaccinated Californians live in the states smallest 33 counties, meaning the way the lottery-style giveaway is set up favors populated, highly vaccinated counties. But rural Stanislaus, home to 1.1% of vaccinated Californians, beat the odds with big winner on Tuesday. In two previous drawings, the major urban coastal counties came up big as the Golden State gave away $50,000 checks. But to coax the unvaccinated to step up, the state started giving away $50 gift cards to everyone who got a shot starting late last month. Other states, have designed their lotteries to improve the odds for people in communities with low-vaccine rates, like Oregon, which will award $10,000 checks to vaccinated residents in each of its 36 counties. If California had taken a similar county-based approach, a vaccinated resident of Yuba County  where vaccine reluctance is relatively high and only around 39% of residents age 12 and up, about 25,518 people, have had at least one dose  would have a much better chance of winning a prize than in heavily vaccinated San Francisco County, where nearly 80% of eligible residents, or roughly 634,000 people, have had at least one dose. Theres an argument to be made for either model, said Daniel Ostrov, a math professor at Santa Clara University. If the point of the money is to get more people vaccinated, I would guess the county-based model would probably be more effective, Ostrov said. But you have to balance that with fairness and Oregons system could be seen as less fair.  Its like the House versus the Senate, Ostrov added, referring to the U.S. House of Representatives, where state representation is based on population size, and the Senate, where each state gets two representatives regardless of how many residents live there. Regardless, the chances of winning in the states Vax for the Win incentive program were higher than for the regular lottery. According to Lottery USA, the odds of someone with a single lottery ticket winning the Mega Millions Jackpot are about one in 302.6 million. But, Ostrov said, this one shouldnt be about the odds, but about getting vaccinated  a win for each individual inoculated resident and all the people around them. I can see the change: Bay Area greets COVID reopening day with optimism, wariness  Evidence suggests COVID-19 was in US in late 2019  12 Disneyland rides and attractions reopening over the next month While the big giveaways might be over, the state is still trying to encourage unvaccinated residents to get a shot by passing out $50 gift cards to those who decide to get jabbed. And, Newsom said, in certain job sectors where vaccination rates remain stubbornly low  including police and fire departments  the state is working with trusted messengers to convince people of the importance and safety of the vaccine. Were not anticipating any mandates at this moment, the governor said. Assisting Newsom in announcing Tuesdays winners was Helen Cordova, an ICU nurse who was the first in the state to get vaccinated. I am feeling so emotional, Cordova said, adding that the coronavirus represented one of the hardest points of her career. It does a number on you.