Officials: County COVID Numbers Trending WellThe county’s COVID numbers are trending in the right direction and the vaccines are rolling out smoothly.
That’s according to information provided at the biweekly coronavirus press conference put on by Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer. He was joined Wednesday by County Health Officer Dr. William Remington, Kosciusko County Health Department Communicable Disease Nurse Teresa Reed, Kosciusko Community Hospital CEO Jae Dale and Bowen Center President and CEO Kurt Carlson.
Reed said in the last three weeks the county has averaged about 17 cases per week and the state’s positivity rate is 5%.
“That’s very upbeat for me,” Reed said. “Our vaccine clinic here at the Health Department has been going smoothly. ... There are vaccines available, and we are not having a shortage at this point at all, we have plenty. There are appointments available this week for those who meet the qualifications by the state.”
Reed said there is no need for people who have an appointment to show up early because there are no lines and there is no wait.
Remington said he’s pleased with the downward trend in cases and hopes the biggest surge the county will see is already in the rearview mirror from back in November.
He also reported people can make appointments for a COVID vaccine – if they are in the qualifying bracket put forth by the state – by visiting www.ourshot.in.gov or calling 211. Remington said he’s heard the 211 phone line is working much better now with less wait time.
“Schedule now if you’re in an inclusion group,” Remington urged.
Remington said he isn’t aware of any of the COVID-19 variants being present in the county.
“That’s what happens with these respiratory viruses that have a high-rev genetic engine, if you will, they mutate quickly,” Remington said. “Influenza does that, coronavirus does that. The good news is, that vaccines for either group will usually help you tremendously if it will not perfectly fit the latest variant. ... So far we have not seen anything that would suggest our current vaccine strategy will no longer work. It should work.”
Reed said the county’s schools also are seeing a downward trend in cases and said they’re working on implementing the changing guidelines from the state when it comes to what constitutes a close-contact in the classroom setting.
Carlson said Gov. Eric Holcomb recently issued a directive to schools that they need to be doing their own testing and the state is supplying each school system a certain number of tests based on the number of faculty and number of students.
“I reached out to all of the school systems in Kosciusko County and they were greatly relieved that we would be willing to do that testing on their behalf,” Carlson said. “So, Warsaw Community Schools, Wawasee, Tippecanoe Valley, Whitko, Lakeland Christan and Sacred Heart, when they receive the rapid tests from the state they can bring them to the test site and can refer anyone ... we will do the rapid test on them and fill out the form” and do all of the required paperwork “and then they can carry that immediately back to the school and let the school know what the results were.”
People can also call the Bowen Center’s hotline if they need help enrolling for a vaccine. About 80% of those calls, Carlson said, are from elderly people who have difficulty navigating a computer or no computer access. The Bowen Center is staffed with bilingual speakers, so that also helps because the state’s website is only in English, Carlson said.
Dale reported KCH has seen a decline in COVID cases as well, and that only a couple of patients are in-house and they’re not in the Intensive Care Unit.
KCH also provides vaccines from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, although they mostly are focused on first responders and healthcare workers that qualified for the 1A classification.
“Our visiting hours have really opened up,” Dale said, saying anyone in any department is now allowed to have one visitor at a time from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. If the patient is a child, both parents are allowed in at the same time. Multiple visitors are allowed, just not more than one at a time.
Dale also urged people who have COVID to schedule a check-up with their primary care physician because there is a syndrome going around called “long-haul COVID,” where symptoms of COVID can be long-lasting.
The next coronavirus press conference will be at 10:30 a.m. March 3 at Warsaw City Hall and is also available to view live online at www.warsaw.in.gov. The topic will continue to be about vaccinations.
“Our small businesses can’t take another year of this,” Thallemer said of urging citizens to get the vaccine. “Now, we have something we can all do and if we do it, I’m very optimistic we’ll be hopefully, maybe late summer, we’ll be ready to kind of open back up, but again, we’ll see how that goes. It’s our shot. It’s our time to make a difference. I look at it is as our chance to get opened back up and kind of get back on track.”
“Do it for your friends, do it for your business friends,” Remington said. “We don’t want another year of this for sure."
