Coronavirus: Vaccine allocations leading to frustration in Clark, Champaign Counties

Feb. 10—Gov. Mike Dewine says the state's next vaccine group will include a drop in age limit.

Currently, Ohioans ages 65 and older, K-12 school staff and people with a developmental or intellectual disability and a comorbid medical condition identified by the Ohio Department of Health are eligible to be vaccinated.

More than two million people in Ohio fit that criteria and are therefore eligible for vaccination in Phase 1b.

Ohio will hold vaccinations at ages 65 and older for several weeks, DeWine said. It is not clear when the next vaccine group, Phase 1c, will be announced or when it will begin.

DeWine stressed that the state is administering the vaccine to people who are the most vulnerable to the virus and that the state doesn't control how many doses of the vaccine it receives.

"I know people are frustrated about the small number of vaccines we are getting. I'm frustrated too," DeWine said.

Clark County Combined Health District Commissioner Charles Patteson said with the small number of doses the county is receiving, 700 last week and roughly 700 next week, the county is unable to "put a dent" in the number of people who want the vaccine and the number of those who can receive it.

"Unfortunately it's just not enough to really put a huge dent in vaccinations," Patterson said. "I'm happy the governor decided to hold vaccinations at 65 for a couple of weeks because the small amount of doses we are receiving is just causing more frustration for everyone involved."

The same can be said about Champaign County as well, where over 6,000 people have registered for vaccination in Phase 1b.

The Champaign Health District is urging residents who have registered for vaccination to be patient, as the county has received just 200 doses of vaccine this week, a statement from the health district said.

Clark County had 11,778 total cases of the coronavirus as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the ODH. The county also had 286 deaths and 13 probable deaths.

Champaign County had 2,705 cases and 28 total deaths, according to ODH.

Ohio reported less than 4,000 daily cases of the coronavirus for its fifth day in a row on Tuesday, according to ODH.

The state added 3,207 cases, bringing its total to 925,350.

Sunday and Monday Ohio reported record lows for daily cases in 2021, according to ODH. Monday was the first time this year that the state recorded less than 2,000 daily cases.

As of Tuesday, 1,974 coronavirus patients were hospitalized in Ohio. That's the eighth straight day hospitalizations in Ohio have remained under 2,500 for seven straight days.

If that continues, Ohio could have its curfew lifted as early as Thursday.

Currently, the curfew is from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. DeWine said he'd re-evaluate the curfew this Thursday after reducing it about two weeks ago.

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