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STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK GRAPHS BY PAUL RIES As St. Luke’s Wood River offers clinics for COVID-19 vaccines for teachers, police and firefighters to access individually, South Central Public Health District is taking a slightly different approach. “We have a list of agencies, offices, etc., that we have been using to reach out and coordinate vaccination appointments. We prefer to go through employers because to qualify for Tier 1 and the first groups in Tier 2, people need to be gainfully employed in those areas,” said Brianna Bodily, public information officer for SCPHD.
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Blaine County recorded another 17 cases of coronavirus for a total of 1,675. It also lost one more resident to COVID for a total of 14 who have died of the virus since March.
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“If a business or facility qualifies and has not been contacted to set up an appointment, we ask that they call our hotline so we can arrange that clinic,” she added “We are not taking walk-in appointments right now. All vaccines need to scheduled in advance to ensure that we are making use of every single dose.” St. Luke’s meanwhile has scheduled vaccine clinics for dentists, pharmacists, Idaho Fish and Game officers and community food, housing and relief service workers and others on Saturday, Jan. 16; Tuesday, Jan. 19, and Thursday, Jan. 21, as it ramps up vaccinations in the valley. Those 65 and older will get their crack at the vaccines about the first of February. No appointments are being taken for that group yet. The need for vaccines is urgent as another Blaine County resident has died from COVID-19—the fourteenth since March.
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Idaho recorded 994 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday for a total of 153,358. Twenty-seven more Idahoans have died of the virus for a total of 1,591 deaths. To date, the state has issued 46,703 vaccine doses to 37,777 people.
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BLAINE COUNTY’S COVID RISK REMAINS HIGH Blaine County’s coronavirus caseload is again trending in the wrong direction. The county’s risk level was pronounced high on Thursday, according to the Harvard Global Health Institute metrics. The county averaged 27.9 cases per 100,000 residents between Jan. 3 and 9, up from 19.2 the week before and 8.1 the week before that. And the test positivity climbed to 7.51 percent, up from 6.33 percent last week and 4.33 percent the week before.
The goal is to have the percentage of people testing positive among those being tested below 5 percent. Hospitals both locally and regionally do have some wiggle room to treat patients, whether they be suffering from COVID-19, heart attacks or broken hips. But South Central Public Health District is investigating an active outbreak in one of the county’s long-term care facilities. Eleven new cases of coronavirus were reported during the week among those ages 18 through 29, and seven each in those between 30 and 39, 40 and 49 and 60 and 69. Six adults 70 and older contracted the virus, as did four in the 50-to-59 age group. There was one case reported among those 14 through 17 and two among those 5 through 10. No cases were reported for those ages 0 through 4 and 11-13.
VACCINATIONS Disneyland is living up to its reputation as “the happiest place on earth” as it is transformed into a mass vaccination site beginning today. Shuttered since mid-March the Anaheim park usually gets 50,000 visitors a day. It’ll shoot for big numbers again now as Orange County hopes to vaccinate all its residents by Independence Day. Cars have been lined up there awaiting vaccinations since Wednesday.
A VACCINE VACATION Florida is being overrun by “vaccine tourists” like the former chairman of Time Warner who are flying in from places like New York just to get the vaccine. Richard Parsons, also former chairman of Citigroup, told a reporter for the Palm Beach newspaper that Florida makes it easy to sign up for appointments online at a time when it was too confusing to figure out how to get a vaccine in New York. NO GO IN CANADA
The border closing between the United States and Canada has been extended to Feb. 21. The border has been closed since March due to the United States’ failure to get a handle on the coronavirus. Canada is on track to have every Canadian who wants a vaccine vaccinated by September, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. IMMUNITY PROTECTION The latest study—this one of 21,000 health care workers by Public Health England—indicates that those who have been infected with COVID-19 are likely protected against catching it for at least five months.
But researchers warned that some people do catch the virus again and that those with immunity may still be able to carry the virus in their nose or throat, transmitting it to others. Health officials say it’s still prudent for those who have had COVID to get a vaccination. There have been virtually no adverse events years after someone has taken a vaccine in the history of vaccinology, Dr. Anthony Fauci said this week on The Carlos Watson Show. FINE HAPPY
The United Kingdom has issued 45,000-plus COVID fines for those who are not complying with COVID precautions.
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