Clinton County Health Department planning for a pivot to mass vaccination

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WILMINGTON — Staffers with the Clinton County Health Department (CCHD) are planning ahead to the time when they will move into the mass vaccination response stage for COVID-19.

Clinton County Health Commissioner Pam Bauer said Monday the Clinton County Health District will need an additional refrigerator or cooler to hold the vaccine.

At the monthly Clinton County Board of Health meeting, Clinton County Health District Director of Nursing Monica Wood reported that a regional work group has begun discussing mass vaccination, “getting that process started.”

Clinton County Health District Medical Director Terry Kerr Holten, M.D., said the vaccines that are likely to get approved first involve two doses.

Bauer said a county commissioner has asked who will decide who gets vaccinated first. That decision will be made at the federal level, which will provide a priority list.

“It’s not done at the local level,” she stated.

There were a few new local COVID-19 cases reported over the weekend, Wood said. As of Monday morning, the total number of cases that have occurred, including the active cases, is about 304 cases.

At mid-afternoon last Friday, there were 298 total cases, meaning six new cases for the weekend.

As for the local public schools, Bauer said the health department has not seen spread of the virus within the schools so far.

She commented that it seems masks are no big deal to the young students, and that it’s parents who probably have the bigger issue with facial coverings.

East Clinton Local Schools is the only district that to date has not had a single case of COVID, said Bauer. But all four districts have had at least one of their students quarantined.

Dr. Holten’s report to the board focused on children under 18 and COVID-19. Out of the total number of Clinton County cases, 17 of them have been in children under 18, which is just under 6 percent.

Statewide, the percentage of the total cases that involve children is 7 percent, or “about the same” as the county percentage, said Holten.

Nationwide, children represent 8.5 percent of total cases.

Of the 17 Clinton County juvenile cases, none of them have been hospitalized with COVID, said Holten. Statewide, children represent 2.4 percent of COVID hospitalizations.

The youngest Clinton Countian with the coronavirus was about 6 weeks old at the time, said the medical director, who added it was a probable case rather than a confirmed one.

There was also a probable case involving a 14-month-old Clinton County infant.

One Ohio child under 18 has died of COVID, reported Holten. Nationwide, there have been 92 deaths of children under 18.

Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.

Clinton County Health District Director of Nursing Monica Wood reports Monday to the Clinton County Board of Health.
https://www.wnewsj.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2020/09/web1_monica.jpgClinton County Health District Director of Nursing Monica Wood reports Monday to the Clinton County Board of Health. Gary Huffenberger | News Journal

By Gary Huffenberger

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