MONDAY'S COVID UPDATE: Clay vaccination clinic to stay open this week

WHAT: Clay County COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic

WHERE: 6656 North State Road 59, Brazil, Indiana 47834

Appointments are scheduled at the Indiana State Department of Health at https://www.coronavirus.in.gov/vaccine/index.htm.

WHEN: Wednesday-Saturday, open at 1 p.m.

The Clay County Health Department’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Clay County 4-H Fairgrounds is planning on remaining open despite the current wintry blast, officials said Monday.

However, if the snowstorm causes travel hazards that people are urged to stay home, health officials have checked what would happen to appointments scheduled for this week.

Clay County Health Nurse Kim Hyatt and Emergency Planning Coordinator Tom Champion checked with the Indiana State Department of Health Saturday.

State health officials confirmed if a vaccine clinic is closed due to a severe weather event, people scheduled for appointments will receive a text on their cellphone advising them of the closure and the rescheduling process.

“Otherwise, we are planning on being open,” said Champion.

The local health department will contact those individuals who have not provided a cellphone number to the ISDH.

However, Hyatt said if it is bad enough that people are urged to stay home, the clinic will close.

“We don’t want our older citizens out in bad weather,” Hyatt said. “We will move them to a different day. We would rather be safe than take unnecessary risks when we can easily move to a different day.”

According to the Indiana State Department of Health data for Clay County on Monday, February 15, the Weekly 2-Metric Score is 1.5, and the 7-Day All Tests Positivity Rate (9.4%) places it in the YELLOW Category. The positivity rate in the county has been declining for a couple of weeks.

However, the continued rate of Weekly Cases per 100,000 Residents (a score of 144) the county is currently in the ORANGE ADVISORY category. This data shows that while the positivity level is dropping in the community, it is not dropping as fast, so this category is at a higher level.

A county’s advisory level can be different than its current overall weekly score.

ORANGE (moderate to high community spread)

Some of the restrictions include:

• Grade schools continue in-person; strong recommendation for hybrid learning for middle and high school students

• No assemblies or large group activities

• Strong recommendation to limit extra-curricular activities and have competitors and participants only, with no in-person attendees

• Discussions with parents about limiting social events outside of school

• County education leaders work with the local health department to consider implementing aggressive prevention efforts in schools and communities

Log onto https://www.coronavirus.in.gov/ to learn more about the ISDH response to COVID-19.