Plans for higher education, workplace vaccination clinics

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Governor Mike DeWine provided the following updates this week on Ohio’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vaccination Status

Currently, anyone age 16 or older is eligible to receive the vaccine. In Preble County, there are four current vaccination sites:

The Gym at Eagles Point, 307 N. Cherry St., Eaton. 937-472-0087 or visit http://vaccinatepreble.com.

Walgreens, 1213 N. Barron St., Eaton. 937-456-2694 or http://www.walgreens.com/findcare/vaccination/covid-19.

CVS Pharmacy 6145, 1300 N. Barron St., Eaton. 888-300-4419 or http://www.cvs.com/immunizations/covid-19-vaccine.

Camden Village Pharmacy, 75 W. Central Ave., Camden. 937-453-1263 or http://www.camdenvillagepharmacy.com/covid-vaccine.

9,768 total doses of the COVID-19 vaccine (5,403 Moderna, 4,058 Pfizer and 307 Johnson & Johnson) have been distributed by Preble County Public Health. Vaccinations numbers are not available for other providers.

For more information about Ohio’s vaccination plan, visit coronavirus.ohio.gov/vaccine.

Higher Education Vaccinations

Gov. DeWine announced Thursday that the state will begin working with local colleges and universities to offer vaccination clinics on campuses across the state. These higher-education vaccination clinics will start on various campuses next week and will offer the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“Although young people are less likely to get sick from the coronavirus, they are significant carriers of the virus,” Gov. DeWine said. “By offering one-dose clinics on campus, students who wish to be vaccinated will have a nearby, convenient location to get the vaccine with their peers.”

The goal is to offer on-campus clinics to all of Ohio’s college students before the school year ends in May.

Workplace Vaccinations

Gov. DeWine also announced that Ohio will begin working with employers and other organizations to offer workplace vaccination clinics throughout Ohio. Beginning the week of April 12, vaccine providers can allot up to 25 percent of their vaccine allocation to be used to vaccinate their own employees or to partner with local employers, labor unions, and other organizations to vaccinate their employees at their work locations.

Increase in Cases, Variant Spread

For the past two Thursdays, Ohio’s statewide average was just under 150 cases per 100,000 population. The two-week case rate has now risen to 167.1 cases per 100,000. New cases had been relatively flat through the month of March, but cases are beginning to increase once again, which demonstrates the necessity that Ohioans choose to be vaccinated. To date, nearly 30 percent of Ohioans have received at least one dose of vaccine.

According to Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, chief medical officer at the Ohio Department of Health, variant activity continues to rise, closely mirroring what is occurring in the rest of the nation. Michigan is currently experiencing an increase in cases that is more than 3.5 times what Ohio is seeing, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this increase appears to be driven substantially by variants. Most of Ohio’s rising cases numbers and variant cases are happening in the area of the state bordering Michigan.

“Ohio remains in a race against a virus that is now more contagious and right back on our heels,” Dr. Vanderhoff said. “We can win this race as long as we don’t falter; as long as we press on with consistent masking and vaccination, especially in light of this week’s important and encouraging research out of the CDC confirming that the vaccines are powerful protection against COVID-19 and its variants.”

Gov. DeWine announced Thursday that as Ohio continues to receive increases in its vaccine allotment, the state will allot more doses to areas that are seeing case spikes or increases in vaccine demand.

Ohio Public Health Advisory System

New health data compiled by the Ohio Department of Health shows case increases in 56 counties over the past week, however, because there are not yet significant increases in healthcare utilization at the county level, most counties stayed at the same level this week.

Level changes include:

Van Wert County moved from yellow to orange.

Auglaize, Paulding and Scioto moved from red to orange.

Carroll, Mercer, and Morgan counties moved from orange to yellow.

Clinton County dropped from red to yellow.

Current Case Data

As of Thursday, April 3, there are 1,020,041 (+13,870) confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 reported in Ohio and 18,609 (+227) confirmed and probable COVID-19 deaths. A total of 53,169 (+630) people have been hospitalized throughout the pandemic, including 7,438 (+69) admissions to intensive care units. Ohio currently has 167.1 (+20.2) cases per 100,000 residents. In-depth data can be accessed by visiting coronavirus.ohio.gov.

Gov. DeWine updates

R-H Staff

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