After spending 14 consecutive weeks at the highest level on the Jefferson County Health Department’s COVID-19 warning system, the county has been moved to the orange status, said Brianne Zwiener, the agency’s communications specialist.
The orange status is the second highest level on the Health Department’s four-color system and indicates widespread but controlled transmission of the coronavirus.
The red status, which is the highest level on the system, indicates widespread and uncontrolled transmission of the virus.
Health Department officials changed the status to orange today (Feb. 9), after the county has seen a recent decline in new positive COVID-19 cases.
“Though we are excited to share that our color status has dropped significantly, we must stay the course with our prevention efforts to maintain the gains we are currently seeing,” Health Department Director Kelley Vollmar said. “We encourage folks to continue wearing their masks, practice social distancing and proper hand washing, and consider receiving the COVID-19 vaccine when they are eligible.”
Several factors are evaluated when determining the color level, including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and White House Pandemic Task Force guidelines. However, the main indicator is the seven-day rolling average.
If the county has a rolling average of 10 to 25 cases per day per 100,000 residents it is in the orange level. The rolling average for the week of Jan. 31 to Feb. 6 was 24.95.
That was down from the previous week, when the seven-day rolling average number of cases in the county was 36.06 per day per 100,000 people in the county, which has a population of about 225,000.
For the week before that, the rolling average was 51.62 per day per 100,000 residents, the Health Department reported.
The color system also has a yellow stage, which indicates minimal to moderate transmission of the virus and a green stage that means no to minimal transmission.
Zwiener said the county has not seen new cases in the triple digits since Jan. 27, when there were 123 new ones. Since then, cases have remained in the double digits.
She also said the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests in the county has been below 20 percent for the last three weeks, which also is lower than it had been.
County COVID-19 stats
The Jefferson County Health Department reported 53 new COVID-19 cases today, for a total of 21,079 cases since the first ones were reported in March.
Of the county’s total coronavirus cases, 1,328 have been at long-term care facilities, which includes residents and staff members who live in Jefferson County, the Health Department reported.
The county has had a total of 180 COVID-19 deaths, and of those, 69 have been from long-term care facilities, according to the Health Department.
Vaccines
As of Feb. 5, the Health Department, Comtrea and Mercy Hospital Jefferson in Crystal City together had administered 5,421 COVID-19 vaccines in Jefferson County, Zwiener said.
On Monday (Feb. 8), the Health Department administered another 210 vaccination and was expected to distribute 90 more vaccines during a clinic held today.
All vaccinations are given by appointment only, and the Health Department will contact people who have registered for the vaccine and who are eligible to receive it under the state’s distribution plan to set up the appointments.
As of Monday, more than 44,000 people had signed up for vaccines through the Health Department, the agency reported.
To register for a vaccine through the Health Department, go to https://hipaa.jotform.com/210126757688060. People without internet access may call the registration line at 636-789-8941.
Only those who are included in Phase 1A, Phase 1B-Tier 1 and Phase 1B-Tier 2 of the state’s vaccine distribution plan may receive the Health Department vaccines at this time.
Zwiener said Comtrea, which offers health care services around the county, has administered 1,000 vaccines.
Comtrea will hold more vaccine clinics Feb. 17 and 18.
But, like the Health Department, Comtrea vaccinations are given by appointment only, and the agency will contact eligible people who have registered for the vaccine to set up the appointments.
To register with Comtrea, visit comtrea.org/vaccine-inquiry.
Mercy also has created an online sign-up method to help distribute vaccines to those eligible under the state’s vaccination plan. To sign up with Mercy, go to mercy.net/MOVaccine.
Other hospital systems and pharmacies also are registering people for the vaccines.
