By Ashley McCarty
The next stage of COVID-19 inoculation begins in Adams County on Tuesday, Jan. 19.
As of Jan. 14, the Adams County Health Department has reported 1,608 total cases, with 296 active, and 16 deaths.
“When all this started, we were tracking how many cases we have had since, and that number doesn’t mean much anymore because there are so many of them. But, Adams County has had, since all this started, just shy of 1,600 infections. For a county of close to 28,000 people, I think that’s about five percent, or there about. It’s enough that, when we started back in March, April and May, it was very uncommon to find someone that knew someone that had COVID-19. Now, everyone knows someone that has had COVID-19, and far too many of us know someone who had died from COVID-19,” said Adams County Health Commissioner Dr. William Hablitzel.
The better number to reflect the amount of viral infections would be cases per capita, or the number of infections over a two week period per 100,000 population. The CDC classifies high incidence as 100 new cases per 100,000.
“Recently, we had 704 new cases per capita. So, that’s seven times what the CDC considers high incidence. There’s a lot of infection out there. Brown County has been above 1,000. A month ago, we were opposite that. So, there’s a lot out there, and the numbers don’t mean as much now because it’s so wide spread, but the bottom line is there is a lot of infection. It’s so widespread now that it can be impossible to figure out where it came from, who picked it up from whom. That just reinforces the importance of masking, social distancing, hand hygiene, and avoiding groups, which has sort of been hard for people to embrace,” said Hablitzel.
Although it can be hard to tell how effective these precautionary methods are in regards to COVID-19, since it is a new illness, the community can see its effectivity in other viral illnesses.
“We’ve had almost no cases of influenza. This is January, and usually we’ve had a fair amount of flu already. I think what that shows is that, while we may not be able to show the effectiveness of masking from COVID-19 since it’s so new, the other viral illnesses we get this year we haven’t seen very many, and I think that’s directly because we are using masking, social distancing, and hand washing, all of the things that you do that helps protect against other respiratory infections. So, I think that’s a good indicator of how well we’ve been doing trying to prevent COVID-19,” said Hablitzel.
In Dec. 2020, the first round of Phase 1A vaccines were administered by the health department.
“We are completing Phase 1A, which is the group that makes up the front-line healthcare workers, nursing home and extended care facilities, residents and staff, and EMS. That’s the group in Phase 1A deemed those among our society at greatest risk for contracting COVID-19 or having a bad outcome as a result of it,” said Hablitzel.
It is currently unknown as to the number of individuals in the county who opted for Phase 1A.
“In the health department, we focused on those who were not being taken care of by the hospital, or in extended care facilities, some of the smaller facilities, community EMS and front-line healthcare in the community not tied to the hospital. The numbers, frankly, statewide, when you look at the nursing homes and we’ve seen in our EMS here have been disappointing, under 50 percent. Now, those people may opt to receive the vaccine later, and that’s fine, it’s voluntary, and there is concern. It’s something new. We still have to struggle to convince people to take the flu vaccine. This is newer, so there may be more hesitation. So, we deal with that,” said Hablitzel.
Phase 1B begins the week of Jan. 18. This phase will include those individuals aged 65 and up, those with severe congenital, developmental, or early onset medical disorders that make them particularly vulnerable (this includes cerebral palsy, spina bifida, congenital heart disease, Type 1 Diabetes, inherited metabolic disorders, and severe neurological disorders such as epilepsy, severe genetic disorders including Down Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, Prader-Willi Syndrome and Turner Syndrome; severe lung disease, including cystic fibrosis and severe asthma; sickle cell anemia; and alpha and beta thalassemia) and adults/employees in k-12 schools that want to go back, or to remain, educating in person.
“It’s by the week, so it’s the week of Jan. 18 for most institutions. We start vaccinating Tuesday. The state has sort of spread the 1B group out a little bit. The older individuals among 65 and older, we’ll start with them. The first week, we’ll start with those individuals 80 years of age and older. Each week, you drop the age by five years, so the next week it will be age 75 and older, the next 70 years and older and the fourth week anyone 65 years or older. Also in Phase 1B are schools, for teachers and school employees. Anyone that’s involved in and important in keeping the schools running, because that’s been identified as such a huge need. Targeting the schools will start the first week of February,” said Hablitzel.
Inoculation phases are as follows:
● Week of Jan. 19 – 80 years of age and older.
● Week of Jan. 25 – 75 years of age and older; those with severe congenital or developmental disorders.
● Week of Feb. 1 – 70 years of age and older; employees of k-12 schools that wish to remain or return to in-person or hybrid models.
● Week of Feb. 8 – 65 years of age or older.
“As we get further into the vaccine program, where more and more of the community is eligible, there will be more providers. As we start this out, there will be three vaccine providers in Adams County that will start out with the Phase 1B program. The health department, we’ve been working with the Phase 1A group, we’ll continue with Phase 1B. Adams County Regional Medical Center is a vaccine provider, and HealthSource of Ohio, their office in Seaman will be a provider, as well. These three providers are places people can go to get a COVID-19 vaccine,” said Hablitzel.
All providers are only administering vaccine by appointment.
“The appointments are being done because of the handling of the vaccine. Once a vial is open, you need to use that vial within a certain period of time. We don’t want to waste any, so we want to make sure that we have a group that can use the entire vial. That’s one reason why a lot of providers are using appointments, even for drive-ups, so you have some sort of idea how many people are coming. As a precaution with most vaccines, we will watch someone for 15 minutes after the vaccine, and we’re certainly doing that with this. Some people with severe allergies we even watch for a half hour,” said Hablitzel.
The Adams County Health Department will be administering the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine; Adams County Regional Medical Center will be administering Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine.
“We certainly don’t have enough vaccines for everyone that’s interested. That’s another reason for appointments. We’re scheduling appointments for what we believe we will have. We don’t know how much vaccine we will be receiving until late in the week of the prior week. So, we know now what will be coming for next week. Sometimes you don’t hear that until the weekend. The statistics statewide, there’s 400,000 plus individuals that are eligible for vaccine in this age group; there’s only 100,000 doses available,” said Hablitzel.
So, not everyone will get the first round.
“More vaccine will be coming. The federal government is releasing more vaccine, more is being manufactured, more is being shipped and distributed. So, it’s always the people upfront, there’s not as much vaccine that you could use. Some counties have seen that with their Phase 1A. Clermont County right now, they still have Phase 1A to vaccinate, but they don’t have enough vaccines to do it. So, in total for the first week of Phase 1B, Adams County will be receiving 300 doses. There will be more than 300 people that are eligible for this vaccine, but that’s not all the vaccine we’ll get, we’ll get more the next week. So, some people may not get it the first week, and by doing appointments, we’re scheduling for what we believe we will have. We may have to call and move appointments back,” said Hablitzel.
It is vitally important for everyone vaccinated to come back for their second dose, he said.
“That’s perhaps the most important dose. You get about 50 percent protection from the first vaccine, and the second one gets you up to that 90/95 percent protection. So, we have to get people back for that second dose. It’s hard to get anyone back for anything. So, that will be a challenge. We will have the challenge of trying to remind people to come back for the second dose, while at the same time we’re giving people their first dose, the same time we’re doing flu shots, the same time we’re doing TB skin tests, the same time we’re doing everything else that the health department does,” said Hablitzel.
Since announcing vaccine registrations, the health department has received a number of calls and interested parties.
“We’re getting a lot of calls, there’s a lot of interest. The phones have been busy, and that’s a good sign. It shows that there’s interest, particularly among people that are in this 65 and older group. They recognize that they’re at risk. Plus, I think there’s more people interested in the vaccine now then there were three months ago when it was more a hypothetical discussion. Certainly we knew there were vaccines in trial, and we heard it was coming, and there was a lot of reluctance, because it’s new. But, there’s been more time. There’s been actually time to read the clinical trials that we used in developing these vaccines, to read the material that the FDA reviewed to issue emergency use authorization,” said Hablitzel.
The medical community has embraced the vaccine as being safe and effective, he said.
“Really, the only way we’re going to get out of this is by vaccine. We’re not going to — the ‘herd immunity’ from enough people getting sick is not realistic. Herd immunity was a term that was developed for estimating the number of people that need to be vaccinated. That’s where herd immunity came from, not from natural illness. The number of people that would have to become ill and potentially horribly ill with complications, potentially die, that’s not realistic. So, the vaccine I think is the best shot for getting out of this bind; of getting people back to work, getting people in school on a regular basis, but I think it’s going to be with us for a while,” said Hablitzel.
Wearing masks and practicing precautions will be with us for a while, certainly this year.
“The good news is, I think we’re starting to, even some hard sell areas like masks and social distancing, I think you’re looking at compliance in stores is much better. Part of that is maybe some increased enforcement from the state, where they’re having inspectors from the Bureau of Workman’s Compensation come by and do some inspection, and that’s helped. It’s also in an odd way helped that more and more people are getting sick, and we’re seeing the effects it can have on people. So, I think more of us are conscious of that, and wearing masks; some of us are avoiding crowds. I think those precautions will need to be with us this year, certainly,” said Hablitzel.
Those individuals choosing not to get vaccinated will delay the process of overcoming the pandemic.
“If you go back to that term, that ‘herd immunity’, how many people do you need in the community to be protected to protect those that have not been vaccinated, have not had the illness — some people can’t take the vaccine. There’s some people that just can’t. So, you need enough people that are protected so this virus isn’t being transmitted rapidly throughout the community to reduce the risk of those who would otherwise be at risk. So, if half the community decides they don’t want this vaccine, that will leave a large number of people susceptible to this virus, and you can still get transmission of this virus and spread throughout the community,” said Hablitzel.
The choice you make of getting the vaccine for your protection and personal health is also a choice you’re making for the community.
“This is nothing new. We have seen this with measles, we see this with all of the diseases. We’ve seen an outbreak of measles periodically throughout the country. We saw it a couple years ago in Los Angeles at Disneyland. Even walking through the airport measles is so contagious that it hangs in the air for a couple of hours after you walk through. For measles, we actually need about 95 percent of the community vaccinated to protect from measles. We’ve done very well, or we’re doing very well, but I think there are some people that are very hesitant about vaccines,” said Hablitzel.
Vaccinations will also favor schools.
“It’s not going to be immediate, it’s going to take some time. We’re talking about a vaccine program. We’re a month into this and we’re really just getting started. We’ll have more and more vaccine as we get into spring, and summer, so it will take time to vaccinate enough people in our community to have an impact on the spread throughout the community. But, everyone that gets vaccinated will have an impact on that number of those new cases per capita. I think you’ll see those numbers go down. So, that will impact the school. Just like wearing masks, social distancing, avoiding large groups, that has enabled schools to open and to function,” said Hablitzel.
Manchester School District, in their recent board meeting on Jan. 13, discussed going back to school full-time. The effects of vaccines were a topic pondered in regards to their decision.
The bottom line is – is this vaccine safe?
“I think the answer is yes, it’s safe. I’ve taken the vaccine, I don’t know any medical colleagues that have not at this point. We are worried that it was rushed, that it wasn’t tested properly, but this new technology, this new way of developing vaccine, this messenger RNA vaccine, this technology has been in development for a decade. So, this is not something that was just created. This has been well thought out. This has been developed in the belief that this is a technology that might be helpful in the future for vaccines if there’s ever a pandemic. Enter COVID19, there was a clear need, and then they applied this new technology to it,” said Hablitzel.
It is remarkable that within a year from when this brand new virus was discovered there is now a vaccine available that has shown to be over 90 percent effective.
“That’s amazing. Now, there’s a lot of other vaccines in development. There’s over 50 that are in trials throughout the world, each using some different techniques and different technology. The Moderna and the Pfizer are the first two that’s been authorized to be used in this country. There will be more. So, I think if there’s hesitation because it’s new, it may not be safe, I think with everything that we know about this, it is safe. With every vaccine, there are certainly some side effects, and I experienced some of the side effects from it. I had some fever and some body aches the next day, but it was gone the day after. The fever, the body aches, what that is telling you is that your immune system has been activated, and you’re making antibodies. So, feeling that tells you that yes, it’s in there working. Most of us can tough that out,” said Hablitzel.
To set up your appointment:
Adams County Health Department — (937) 544-5547 or complete website form at www.adamscountyhealth.org.
Adams County Regional Medical Center — (937) 386-3015 to be placed on the wait list, you will be called back.
HealthSource of Ohio in Seaman — (937) 444-8009 or go to www.healthsourceofohio.org.
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