Olmsted County continues to see steady decline in Covid cases
As the amount of vaccinated Olmsted County residents approaches 40,000, Public Health officials report the area’s Covid-19 case numbers have been in decline for six consecutive weeks — bringing statistics down to levels not seen since early fall, before the November case spike.
In a Thursday press conference, Public Health Director Graham Briggs said roughly one in four Olmsted County residents had received at least one vaccine dose. Fourteen percent of all residents (roughly 21,000 people) have completed the two-dose regimen — that’s a higher number than the statewide proportion of Minnesotans that have received one dose.
Briggs noted roughly half of Olmsted County’s educators and child care workers have received a dose, in addition to 44 percent of residents over 65 years old — the key demographics targeted in Phase 1B of Minnesota’s vaccine roll-out.
“We’re making serious progress, locally and across Minnesota,” said Briggs.
Representatives from Mayo Clinic and Olmsted Medical Center also said their respective institutions were close to fully vaccinating all staff; Tom Graham, director of plant operations at OMC, said the process should wrap up by the end of the week, and Mayo Clinic infectious disease expert Dr. Abinash Virk said roughly 2,500 eligible Mayo staff were still awaiting vaccination — no exact timetable was given on when the Clinic’s process would end.
The biggest current concern, Briggs, Graham and Virk say, continues to be vaccine supply. While the Biden administration promises to increase shipments in the coming weeks, more imminent appointments may have to be canceled, thanks to shipping delays caused by the winter storm that continues to ravage the south-central U.S.
Dr. Virk says the Clinic does not know whether or not they’ll receive a shipment this week, and added Mayo has resorted to administering vaccine intended to be used as a second dose to patients that still need their first. While the Clinic hopes to receive a shipment this weekend, it may be up to a full week before a shipment arrives — which may mean they would have to reschedule some appointments.
“We are trying to avoid any cancellations, so we haven’t really set up a lot of appointments for next week,” said Dr. Virk. “We don’t really know what our supplies will look like. If cancellations do happen, we’ll look at putting those [affected] patients back to the front of the line as soon as we have supply.”
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) project the delays, currently hampering vaccine distribution across America, will last less than a week.
This comes as the state of Minnesota rolled out a new “vaccine connector” tool Thursday, designed to alert residents when vaccine doses become available to them. With pharmacies also starting to administer vaccine and Mayo Clinic planning to roll out a text message program for employees, alerting them when vaccines become available, Briggs had one piece of advice: if someone tells you there’s a vaccine with your name on it, don’t delay.
“We’re doing everything we can to make it as least confusing as possible,” said Briggs. “If you’re an educator, you might be contacted through your school district, but that doesn’t mean you don’t want to have your name in the state’s lottery system. If I were advising a relative, particularly someone over 65, I’d say put your name in wherever possible, and the first place that calls? Go there.”
Public Health reported 163 new Covid-19 cases last week, the lowest number since the week of September 28. Seven-day rolling averages are now just above 20, and percent-positive rates have fallen to roughly six percent.
While the trends are encouraging, Briggs noted the area is not out of the woods yet. Three new Covid-related deaths were recorded this week in Olmsted County, bringing the total to 87 since the start of the pandemic.
Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.
