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SUN STAFF REPORT

Vaccinations at 28.7%

Jennifer Burchett, a nurse at the Clark County Health Department who was administering Moderna vaccine shots Thursday morning at the offices at 273 Shoppers Drive, said the staff expected to give 80 shots that day and had given 70 on Tuesday and 50 on Monday.

She said the department is close to having administered 5,000 doses, including many second shots.

Public Health Director Becky Kissick said Wednesday that the department had administered shots to inmates at the Clark County Detention Center Tuesday and planned an all-day vaccination clinic Thursday.

Kissick said it is hard to know how many vaccinations have been done in Clark County because the Health Department doesn’t have the numbers for Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, and other pharmacies that are doing them as well.

However, based on the most recent data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 28.7 percent of Clark County’s population have been vaccinated.

But the county is still not close to the number needed to mostly slow the spread of the disease.

“In accordance with the Johns Hopkins University definition, herd immunity is achieved by reaching a rate of immunized people high enough to keep the virus from spreading any further. Immunity can be achieved either through vaccination or by developing antibodies after recovering from the virus. Herd immunity is estimated to be reached if 60-70% of the population have immunity,” Kissick said.

COVID deaths at 24

The Clark County Health Department this week reported the county’s 24th death for which COVID-19 was a contributing factor.

The victim was a 69-year-old man, whose death was reported Monday.

“Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers,” Kissick said in an email.

Between April 24 and 26, there were 13 new cases of the respiratory disease reported in the county. On Tuesday, seven more new cases were reported, and on Wednesday, there were six more.

As of Wednesday, the Health Department was working 83 active cases of the total 2,775 in the county. The number who have recovered was 2,668.

The incidence rate was 14.58, which was in the orange, or accelerated spread category.

At least eighty-seven people have been hospitalized for the coronavirus in the county as of April 23.

Statewide, the Governor’s Office reported 716 new cases and 10 more deaths on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, 747 new cases and nine more deaths, for a total of 6,485 deaths.

Four hundred thirty-four people in Kentucky were hospitalized with COVID on Wednesday, 119 were in intensive care units and 59 were on ventilators.