More vaccines coming to county

One new local death reported

CELINA - Mercer County Health District officials on Tuesday were notified the district would receive an additional 500 COVID-19 vaccine doses from the state for its first drive-thru vaccine clinic planned for today.

Mercer County's drive-thru clinic, scheduled for people age 80 and older, is set to run 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. today at the Mercer County Fairgrounds. Clients will receive the Moderna vaccine.

The district anticipates having nearly 800 doses of the vaccine available for today's clinic.

It was unclear at press time if any spots are still open.

The health district plans to have weekly COVID-19 vaccine clinics on Wednesdays at the fairgrounds. People will have to register online through Eventbrite or by calling the health district's office at 567-890-2619.

Registration for the clinics will open at noon on Tuesdays, and staff will be able to help with registration over the phone until 3 p.m. The health district will announce information related to the clinics each Monday. No appointments will be scheduled before noon on Tuesdays.

People in other Phase 1B groups will be vaccinated in a tiered approach. Ohioans 75 years old and older and people with severe congenital or developmental disorders can be vaccinated the week of Jan. 25.

The week of Feb. 1, Ohioans 70 and older and people who work in schools can be vaccinated, and Ohioans 65 and older can be vaccinated the week of Feb. 8.

People in each age group will become eligible to receive the vaccine in the dates listed above, regardless of whether everyone in the previous age group has been vaccinated.

Due to the limited supply of doses, it will take weeks to vaccinate everyone in Phase 1B.

In a news release Tuesday, Gov. Mike DeWine's office detailed what conditions qualify as severe congenital or developmental disorders. However, the release noted people with these disorders must also have a developmental or intellectual disability to qualify.

To be eligible to be vaccinated during the week of Jan. 25, a person has to have a developmental or intellectual disability and one of the following conditions: cerebral palsy; spina bifida; severe congenital heart disease requiring hospitalizations within the past year; severe type 1 diabetes requiring hospitalization within the past year; inherited metabolic disorders, including phenylketonuria; severe neurological disorders, including epilepsy, and hydrocephaly and microcephaly.

Conditions also include severe genetic disorders, including Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, Turner syndrome and muscular dystrophy; severe lung disease, including asthma requiring hospitalization within the past year and cystic fibrosis; sickle cell anemia; alpha and beta thalassemia; and solid organ transplants.

According to the release, Ohioans with any of the aforementioned conditions who do not have a developmental or intellectual disability will be eligible to receive the vaccine the week of Feb. 15, which is three weeks later.

Mercer County Health District officials in a social media post also reported 38 new cases and one new death from COVID-19 in the county over the holiday weekend, raising total deaths in the county to 71 and the county's total number of cases to 3,665.

Officials also reported seven current hospitalization as well as 672 probable cases, 3,398 people who have recovered and 18 probable deaths from the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. Of the 3,665 confirmed cases, 176 are active.

In Auglaize County, 42 new cases of the virus was reported, raising that county's cumulative number of confirmed cases to 3,147.

Officials in a news release also reported 985 probable cases, 164 total hospitalizations, 51 deaths and 3,556 people who are presumed to have recovered.

The breakdown of total cases by community is Wapakoneta, 1,493; St. Marys, 1,178; Minster, 440; New Bremen, 413; Cridersville, 229; Waynesfield, 156; New Knoxville, 116; Spencerville, 28; the Lima area, 25; Uniopolis, 12; Buckland, 12; St. Johns, seven; New Hampshire, seven; the Botkins area, six; the Lakeview area, five; the Mendon area, two; the Fort Loramie area, two; and the Harrod area, one.

As of Tuesday night, the Ohio Department of Health reported a total 836,055 confirmed and probable cases, 43,605 total hospitalizations and 10,336 confirmed and probable deaths from COVID-19 in the state since the beginning of the pandemic.

COVID-19 cases/deaths:

There were 38 new cases in Mercer County. Auglaize had 42.