Mitigation Updates – Region Six in Phase 4
We still need to be vigilant, as we saw in October, it can spiral out of control very quickly if we are not careful.
Current Positivity Rate for Region 6 is: 5.1%
Vermilion County’s Positivity Rate is: 7.9%
Vaccination Updates
3,046 vaccine doses have been administered to Vermilion County residents. 211 have been fully vaccinated. We have a full schedule next week and the week after. We took names over the weekend as we opened up our waiting lists. Unfortunately, because of our website issues, it didn’t get changed in time, but we did release via the media that we were taking names and received hundreds of calls over the weekend. We will open the lines back up on February 16th to take appointments.
We have a full load tomorrow for our COVID19 clinics and next week! On February 11th, we will begin our clinics at the Fischer Theatre. We are also working with Carle and OSF as they begin to take on their patients to give vaccines. This is information for what their options are:
- If you are 75 and older, and a resident of Vermilion County, you may have the opportunity to receive a vaccine through special clinics at Carle Hoopeston Regional Health Center or Carle Danville on Fairchild. Please do not call your providers office, instead call 217-902-6100 to check appointment availability.
- OSF HealthCare is offering the COVID-19 Vaccine to patients by appointment only. Patients will receive an invite for their appointment via OSF MyChart, email, or phone. OSF is currently prioritizing patients using age (greater than 65) with additional risk factors to ensure patients most at risk receive the vaccination first.
This is an amazing partnership with both our hospitals that we are forever grateful for. Please be patient, as we have only been allotted 900 doses per week right now to divide between both hospitals and VCHD. I have put a request into the state as to why we need more as this will slow us down as our momentum builds and our phase 1b population is the largest of all phases.
Vaccine questions I am getting:
Right now, until the CDC and the State say otherwise, people will still need to isolate and quarantine even if they are vaccinated. Everything is still status quo.
COVID19 Variant Update
It was released that we have at least one case that we are aware of that is the new variant B.1.1.7 in Vermilion County. There is still a lot that we do not know about the variant. Right now, it is believed to be more contagious (patients have a higher vial load, meaning viral particles are shed more easily through coughs and sneezes). So far, they do not feel that it causes more severe illness or symptoms. However, anytime you see a rise in cases, it is likely you will also see a rise in hospitalizations and deaths.
Here is information from the CDC on this variant https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7003e2.htm
I would like to not have to wait and see how this impacts our community. It is imperative that we continue to take the necessary precautions.
Case updates
We are up to 7,359 cases (this is about 9.7% of our population) with 22 hospitalizations. Our total number of deaths related to COVID19 are 91. Our current active cases are at 567. We will be looking at new numbers late into the evening.
