During the Boone County Commissioners’ Oct. 4 meeting, Boone County Health Officer Dr. Herschell Servies told the Boone County Commissioners that COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are decreasing in the county.
“We are actually doing better,” Servies said. “In the last two weeks, we have gone from 260 positives to 151 to 121 this week, so we are definitely seeing a drop there. And nationally, if you’ve been paying attention to the news, it seems like we are over the hump as far as the delta (variant) goes.”
According to the Indiana State Dept. of Health, cases across the state have decreased in recent weeks. The state’s seven-day moving average of cases dipped from 4,139 Sept. 14 to 2,576 Oct. 3, according to the ISDH.
Although cases are decreasing, Servies expects regional outbreaks will continue for the foreseeable future.
“There will be some bumps,” Servies said.
Testing
The Boone County Health Dept. has opened a COVID-19 testing site at Witham Health Services. Servies said it is open from 8 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
“We’ve been extremely busy,” Servies said. “I think we did 283 tests the first week, and it’s interesting that only 34 of those were positive. It’s still out there. We do need to continue testing. We do need to continue asking people to think about getting the vaccination.”
Booster shots
The BCHD has begun administering booster shots of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to eligible Indiana residents, Servies said. The BCHD is offering vaccinations by appointment at 116 W. Washington St., Room B202, in Lebanon.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has outlined who is eligible to receive a booster shot. Booster shots are only available to Pfizer vaccine recipients who completed their initial series of inoculations at least 6 months ago and are:
•65 and older
•Age 18 or older who live in long-term care settings
•Age 18 or older who have underlying medical conditions
•Age 18 or older who work in high-risk settings
•Age 18 or older who live in high-risk settings
For more, visit cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/booster-shot.html.
