By Brett Milam
Editor
Clermont County Public Health continues the arduous logistical process of rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine with limited supplies.
Beginning the week of Feb. 8, the state will begin vaccinating those Ohioans 65 years of age and older.
Throughout the phased rollout, Clermont County Public Health has been holding clinics to vaccinate as many eligible people as possible.
For example, during the first week of February, CCPH held six clinics Monday through Saturday and delivered 900 vaccines to residents, which includes second doses of the vaccine for those who were in the IA group.
The 1A priority group includes frontline workers, residents and staff in nursing homes, residents and staff in assisted living facilities, patients and staff at state psychiatric hospitals, people with intellectual disabilities, and those with mental illnesses who live in group homes, the two homes for Ohio veterans, with one of those located in neighboring Brown County, and EMS responders.
As of Feb. 9, there have been 16,291 Clermont County residents who have received at least their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. With a population of more than 206,000 in the county, that represents about 8 percent of the population vaccinated.
The vaccine requires two doses.
“Just as it has been through all phases, it’s an ‘all hands on deck’ approach with our staff,” Julianne Nesbit, CCPH commissioner, told The Sun. “We have been utilizing staff from each division to assist with the clinics. We also have been getting more volunteers to assist, especially in non-clinical roles.”
Nesbit said the majority of volunteers come through the Medical Reserve Corps, some of whom have been registered for a long time and are used for public health emergencies like the pandemic. MRC is an arm of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and built up in conjunction with the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
Volunteers have also come from the call center set up by the local Emergency Management Agency.
“We have had many retired nurses offer to help. So, we are using some volunteers to give vaccines as well, which helps take some of the burden off of our permanent staff members,” Nesbit said. “Lastly, our Emergency Management Agency has been invaluable throughout this entire pandemic. But, the last few weeks has shown how fortunate we are in Clermont County to have a great relationship with our EMA.”
One of the big items the EMA has helped with is that call center for those trying to get on the waiting list for the vaccine, but who don’t have internet access, or to answer general vaccine-related questions.
“They have also been helping us daily make hundreds of phone calls to schedule vaccine appointments. In addition, they sent their staff members to our clinics to help during clinics as needed,” Nesbit added.
Another load off for CCPH is that when the vaccination phase for K-12 reaches Clermont at the end of the month, most of the schools in the county are partnering with Kroger pharmacies to get their staff members vaccinated.
“So, while we continue to meet regularly and offer guidance to our Educational Service Center when needed, Kroger will be handling the vaccinations. This allows us to continue to focus on vaccinating our most vulnerable residents,” Nesbit said.
With supplies short, there are about 19,500 names on the waiting list, which is both a positive reflection that people are signing up to be vaccinated, but also causing impatience among those waiting for their number to be called.
“We understand everyone’s concern and that our residents are anxious to get their loved ones vaccinated,” Nesbit said. “Our current process of scheduling appointments is very labor intensive on our end, but the majority of our residents have been pleased with our process from their perspective.”
As before, Nesbit emphasized patience with the process, as the state and the county continue to prioritize those who are most vulnerable. In other words, even though someone aged 65 is technically eligible now, that doesn’t mean they will get their number called. That’s because there are likely residents in their 80s still waiting, Nesbit explained.
According to county demographic information, about 1.3 percent of the county or about 2,678 residents are 85 years old and older, with another 3.6 percent or about 7,416 residents, aged 75 to 84.
Ascertaining the average wait time on the list is difficult; Nesbit said in the first few days alone, about 2,000 people signed up each day. That pace has slowed significantly since then, she said.
“We also typically only schedule our clinics out about one week ahead of time because we don’t know how much vaccine we will receive each week until the week prior,” Nesbit explained. “Under Ohio’s plan, the first week was open only to residents who were 80 years or older. During the second week, while people 75 and up were still eligible under Ohio’s plan, we were still focusing on our residents 80 and over because there were still so many on our list that hadn’t been vaccinated yet.”
For Nesbit, an encouraging sign is that when CCPH makes the call to someone on the list, about 40 percent of the people have already been vaccinated by another provider.
“This is about getting vaccines to the population so we are encouraged that other providers are receiving vaccines to provide to the public,” she said.
If CCPH doesn’t get a response when they call for whatever reason, they move onto the next person on the list.
“If that person does get back to us later, then we can schedule them at the next available appointment,” Nesbit said.
Another encouraging sign is that there likely will be more vaccines available by the end of February or early March. Governor Mike DeWine mentioned at his weekly press conference that Pfizer will increase the amount of doses sent to Ohio by 40 percent.
“Also, once the nursing homes have completed their vaccinations, those allotments will be redistributed, which will mean there will be more available for the rest of the population,” Nesbit said. “Our allotment of vaccines has decreased slightly this week as the state has begun vaccinating schools. The first doses of school vaccinations should be completed by the end of February and that will free up even more doses of vaccine.”
COVID-19 cases down since January; still high exposure and spread
Amid this logistical challenge is the fact that the virus itself is still an ongoing issue. However, the numbers have decreased over the last month and that’s a “welcome change,” Nesbit said.
For example, Nesbit said during the end of November and December, CCPH was sending letters to everyone who tested positive because they couldn’t keep up with the number of phone calls that a proper disease investigation would require.
“Now that the new cases have decreased, we are able to get back to doing proper disease investigations where we interview each person who tests positive, to identify contacts and conduct contact tracing,” she said.
As of Feb. 4, Clermont’s cases per 100,000 metric, which has been as high as 850 and more, was at 561.94, with 1,160 cases over the prior two weeks. That’s still a high incidence rate, keeping the county in the red designation per Ohio Public Health’s color-coded advisory system, but it’s a marked decrease. In addition, new cases on a seven-day average have decreased since the beginning of the year from 150.14 on Jan. 13 to 58.86 on Feb. 2.
Overall, the county has seen 17,362 cases, 719 hospitalizations and 126 deaths since the pandemic began nearly a year ago. In that time, 15,355 people are presumed to have “recovered” from the virus.
To get on the waiting list for the vaccine
To get added to the vaccine waiting list, eligible Clermont County residents can fill out the online waiting list survey on CCPH’s website here.
If a person does not have access to the internet, they can call the Clermont County Emergency Management Agency at 513-735-8500 and they will have someone available to help fill out the survey and get you added.