Continued drop in COVID-19 cases has county, state focusing on vaccines

While new infections, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 continue to stay low in Wichita County and across the state, the focus continues to be on getting eligible residents vaccinated, and those eligible for any of the three vaccines available is expanding.

The Texas Department of State Health Services announced Tuesday that all Texas adults will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine regardles of age, occupation or health status beginning Monday, March 29.

Until now, those eligible for the vaccine was mainly restricted to healthcare workers, those 50 and older, those 16 and older with certain co-morbidities, and employees of school and daycare centers.

Health experts have indicated that 70-to-90-percent of Texans must be vaccinated in order to reach herd immunity and stop the spread of the virus. Texas has some 29 million residents, nearly a quarter of which are under th age of 18.

Wichita County Health Director applauded the new vaccine guidelines Tuesday, saying, “It will make our lives so much easier, because everyone who wants it can get it.”

Of the 105,631 Wichita County residents over the age of 16, 25,932 (24.55%) have received one dose of a COVID vaccine, and 16,463 (15.59%) are fully vaccinated.

The Wichita County-Wichita Falls Public Health District reported 55 new cases of COVID-19 in the county in a seven-day period ending Tuesday, March 23, up 10 from last week..

And for the second week in a row, no COVID-related deaths were reported in the same time period, keeping the death toll in Wichita County at 325 since the pandemic began.

This week, 92 more people were reported to have recovered from the virus.

As of Tuesday evening, nine Wichita County residents were hospitalized with the novel Coronavirus, with two of those in critical condition.

This week, the Wichita Falls-Wichita County Public Health Unit will receive 1,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine; and Electra Memorial Hospital and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice will receive 500 and 100 doses, respectively.

The Health Unit is partnering with the Clinics of North Texas and United Regional Hospital to administer the doses this week.

Those wishing to get the Covid-19 vaccine should contact their medical provider, pharmacy or the Wichita County Health District to get on a vaccintion list.

If an individual has signed up on the Health District’s waitlist or booked an appointment, and no longer needs to be on the waitlist or cannot make the appointment, they ask that you please call the Health District Hotline at 940-761-7909 to inform them.

The Health District is experiencing an issue with individuals not removing themselves from the waitlist and not showing up for appointments, which is a spot that could have been given to those next on the waiting list. It is important to note, those vaccines are still used and new appointments for new individuals are still scheduled, however, the process takes longer and is less efficient.