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 Governor Andy Beshear announced yesterday the creation of four new regional COVID-19 vaccination sites including two in western Kentucky. The two locations in western Kentucky will be in Paducah at Baptist Health and Mercy Health Medical Pavilion. Beshear said all four sites will go live next week. “The three sites that you will see in just a little bit...are two in western Kentucky, We’ll show you those in a minute - Lourdes and Baptist in Paducah.” Beshear said. The interactive map showing vaccine locations which is found at govstatus.egov.com/kentucky-vaccine-map shows the Mercy Health location will actually be at the Mercy Health Medical Pavilion, which is next to Lourdes Hospital. The third site will be at Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center in Danville. And the fourth site is at the Kentucky horse park in Lexington. Beshear didn’t provide details about the dates and times when the Paducah vaccine locations will be open. The Purchase District Health Department said Mercy and Baptist will each receive 500 vaccine doses per week. Once it’s time to administer booster shots, the sites will begin receiving 1,000 doses per week. As regional sites, both locations will serve multiple counties in west Kentucky. The health department asked to be a vaccine site but was denied. The state is developing a vaccine plan for all health departments across the state. “Health Departments have been asked to target the vulnerable population with what is allocated to us. PDHD does not have a date for when vaccines will begin to be allocated to the health department again for 1st doses or the exact amount the state will allocate,” said health department officials in a Thursday news release. “Currently PDHD only has vaccines for the 2nd dose at PDHD. When PDHD receives vaccines, we will allocate them to the Health departments in Ballard, Carlisle, Fulton, Hickman, and McCracken counties in an equitable manner so that all five counties move into the next vaccination phase close to the same time. More information will be shared as it becomes available.” The Purchase District Health Department will maintain a registry for those who want to be vaccinated in the counties it serves. Sign up for that registry at purchasehealth.org. “We will continue to maintain this registry and utilize it to share information on when and where you may be vaccinated whether it is at one of our clinics or at a community partner’s site and to further inform them about the current ways that you can schedule a vaccine. You will not receive a phone call or a communication from the health department until we are able to schedule you or direct you to where you can be scheduled.” stated in the news release from the health department. Beshear shared the state’s new website where you can find out which phase of the state’s vaccination plan you belong to and where you will be able to make an appointment once you are eligible. There’s a hotline too. The state’s vaccine website is vaccine.ky.gov and the hotline is 855-598-2246. A TTY hotline is also available for people who are hearing impaired. That number is 855-326-4654. The hotline will be staffed from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. “Hotline operators are prepared to walk a person without internet throughout what’s on the website via a phone call,” said Kentucky Public Health Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack. “For those who are vaccine eligible, the operator can help them identify a vaccine location and connect them by phone or even help them look for an available appointment. For those not currently eligible, the operator can help the caller sign up for text or email notifications.” The governor said those 70 and older will be prioritized first across the state starting on February 1 and until further notice. But, other people from phases 1A and 1B will remain eligible for vaccination. The governor expects to announce two more regional vaccination sites next Thursday, as well as additional sites February 11.  If you are in Phase IA, B, or C, the Purchase District Health Department is providing a pre-registration vaccination form on the home page of its website. This quick form will help them coordinate the vaccination distribution.  You will be contacted to schedule an appointment as the Health Department works through the vaccine distribution phases. The pre-registration form and the Department’s vaccination plan can be found at http://www.purchasehealth.org/ The Health Department is working with Lourdes Mercy Health to begin vaccinating the 70+ population. For more information about scheduling a vaccine appointment through Mercy Health, visit https://www.mercy.com/mercy-health-monitoring-coronavirus-covid-19/covid-19-vaccine/kentucky or call 866-624-0366. Kentucky COVID-19 information through January 18, 2021: Total Positive Cases: 328,668 New Cases: 1,998 Graves: 28 McCracken: 28 Marshall: 25 Calloway: 12 Caldwell: 11 Trigg: 7 Fulton: 2 Carlisle: 2 Ballard: 1 Cases under 18: 219 New Deaths: 40 Total Deaths: 3,167 Hospitalized: 1,587 ICU: 397 Ventilator: 208 Positivity rate: 11.64% Recovered: 40,761  The Purchase District Health Department has laid out a plan for those wanting to be vaccinated for COVID-19. The have published timelines, scheduling, vaccination groups, and locations on their website. One McCracken County resident just returned home from an out-of-state visit and needed some information about the COVID plan. First, they wanted to get tested for COVID-19 in case they had come in contact with the virus. Second, they were in the 70 years and older group and wanted to know ‘when it’s their turn’ to get inoculated. For those on Medicare, to receive a rapid test, the cost locally is $90, according to this source. After reaching out to the Paducah/McCracken County Health Department, it was discovered that COVID-19 testing is taking place until noon most days. The test isn’t a rapid test, however results will be provided in 2 - 4 days. The Purchase District Health Department (PDHD) covers five counties in our area: McCracken, Ballard, Carlisle, Fulton, and Hickman. They are currently taking registration information for those 70 and older that want to be vaccinated. Either you may go online to the PDHD website: purchasehealth.org or register by phone. If you’re unable to register online, those in group 1B (including those 70 and older) will phone 270-444-9625, extension 161, and leave their name, phone number, and vaccination phase. After leaving your registration information or registering online, those 70 and older will be placed on a list for scheduling the inoculation. You’ll receive a phone call from the Purchase District Health Department (PDHD) when your group is getting close to having its turn. The vaccine appointments will take approximately 15 minutes.  Vaccination locations for those registering for appointments. As it stands: 70% of school personnel (K-12), in the five counties, will complete vaccinations by January , 2021. The remaining 30% will be completed by January 29, 2021.
The 70 and over age group has an estimated start date of February 1, 2021. The complete group for Phase 1B is first responders, K-12 (teachers, staff, and daycare), and 70 and older. After 1B is 1C. This group is 60 and older, 16 and older with high risk disease states, and all other essential workers. WKCTC teachers, employees, and staff will fall under this category. As of Thursday, January 14, Kentucky has vaccinated 172, 537 226,185 vaccines have reached Kentucky 143,560 have been administered to the public Long term care facilities in Kentucky have received 98,475 28,977 have been administered  Today, January 9, Kentucky surpassed 300,000 positive COVID-19 cases since the pandemic first began. "This is everywhere," said Governor Andy Beshear in his COVID-19 update. There were 4,240 new cases reported today with a positivity rate of 12.32%, the highest since May. Twenty deaths were reported for a total of 2,876 Kentuckians that have lost their battle with COVID-19. Governor Beshear said, "We all have a duty to fight back against it. We need you to be at your best and we need to make sure we have the same tools available from our Department of Public Health to fight this virus that other states do." Beshear continued, "To date, our efforts have put us in a place based on adjusted population where we have lost half the people that Tennessee has. We have lost 1/4 of the people that North and South Dakota have lost. Failure to take this virus seriously and fail to respond to it like we are in a war, the battlefield can change making it a difference between life and death."
   Governor Andy Beshear shared a COVID-19 warning from the White House today regarding the escalation of COVID-19 cases. In the update, the Governor said that the rate of seriousness over previous surges is twice as concerning as it has been since the pandemic started. The White House believes the U.S. has a variant strain of coronavirus that has evolved within our country that is 50% more transmissible than the original CoV-2. The White House may be calling for aggressive mitigation for a more aggressive virus. The cause of the fourth surge in Kentucky and throughout the U.S. is believed to be the result of holiday gatherings. Beshear said that before the holidays, the third surge in Kentucky was beginning to see a decline in cases and that’s no longer the case. He urged Kentuckians to get tested if they had been around anybody over the holidays that doesn’t live in their household. To date, Kentucky has vaccinated 107,799 people. Just over the last three days, 47,000 doses of the 107K were administered. As it stands, Kentucky receives 53,000 doses of the vaccines each week to be administered. Dr. Stack said this will be the number received at least through February. Once vaccines arrive at their destination, the goal for distribution is to have 90% of all vaccines received administered within seven days. There’s been some concern over vaccination hesitancy within the long-term care population. Beshear is encouraging the healthcare population and those that are in the Phase 1A group to get vaccinated and show others that it’s safe. To televise that they’re taking the virus. It’s a vaccination that’s 95% effective. Kentucky’s ranking among other states in the country regarding COVID-19 statistics: As it stands, Kentucky is ranked 29th across the country in the rate of increase in positive COVID-19 cases. It’s ranked 41st in the number of new deaths and 19th in the country for increased positivity rate. Friday, January 8: Positive COVID-19 cases is 4,750 with 296,167 overall Positivity rate is 11.93% 1,748 are hospitalized 393 ICU 217 on ventilators There were 13 new deaths reported and three were from Marshall County. To date, there have been 2,856 deaths and over 2,000 were from long-term care facilities. Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of Kentucky's Department of Public Health hopes to start vaccinating those 70 and older (Phase 1B) over the next several weeks.
 Purchase District Health Department Director Kent Koster discusses mass vaccinations and the need for indoor inoculations. Today’s meeting with city and county leaders in McCracken County discussed COVID-19 vaccine distribution for the purposes of keeping the public informed. Mayor George Bray, Judge Executive Craig Clymer and Director of the Purchase District Health Department Kent Koster were available on hand as disseminators of information and to answer questions. The format was by Zoom invite, YouTube video, or the city’s Facebook page.
Mayor Bray and Judge Clymer said the goal of the meeting was to give reliable information on COVID-19 vaccinations within our community. Safety being the first priority, local officials wish to provide residents with the best possible information and accept the responsibility of doing what’s best for its constituents. Bray said, "The state of Kentucky controls our vaccine, the amount of vaccine that we get, they allocate it to us." Koster began by giving a high level look at what’s going on with the vaccines. He said there are 330 million Americans and two vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna). There are 250 million Americans that are 18 and older. Of those 250 million, expectations are for 50 million to be vaccinated by March 1. Next, Koster discussed the number of Kentuckians that are over 70 years of age. He said that the age group represents over 11% of the population. This group is three to four times more likely to be hospitalized, four times more likely to end up in the ICU, and this group represents 75% of the deaths. It’s easy to see, this group needs to be vaccinated. Right now, Kentucky is in Phase 1A regarding vaccination groups. In this group, vaccination will go to long-term care residents and staff members. Distribution is being overseen by a national contract with CVS and Walgreens. Those in assisted living are also in Phase 1A. And, finally, frontline healthcare personnel. Phase 1B will vaccinate those 70 years and older along with other first responders. Next on the list are the educators in grades K-12. In our area, Lourdes-Mercy Health has received 975 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to date. Each vial contains five doses. Koster said that they’ve actually been able to get six doses per vial therefore expanding the number of persons being vaccinated. As of January 6, 944 people have been vaccinated. Because there were additional doses per vial, additional first responders were vaccinated. Lourdes has received their second shipment of the vaccine or the ‘booster’. Inoculations will begin Thursday. Baptist Health Paducah has received 1,200 doses of the Moderna vaccine. There are 600 more doses expected this week. Baptist staff and healthcare workers have vaccinated 760 to date. Baptist will be vaccinating approximately 850 community healthcare workers and expect completion by the end of next week. The Purchase District Health Department was allocated 200 doses and will have used them all by the first of this week. Another 400 will be ready to vaccinate next week. Koster said he’s been in contact with Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner for the Kentucky Department of Public Health about vaccinating WKCTC and Allied Health Services students. These students in the nursing program will help assist others with vaccinations in clinics. There was some discussion on surrounding counties starting to vaccinate those in the 1B Phase but Koster said after discussing the situation with Dr. Stack, these counties won’t receive additional shipments of the vaccine until all 1A Phase groups are vaccinated in our immediate area. Koster discussed mass vaccinations during this meeting. He said his hope is for mass vaccinations of 500 or more people per day will be possible when more populations are eligible for the vaccine. He said a more ideal situation would take place indoors. The drive-thru vaccination process isn’t ideal since patients have to be monitored for 15 minutes after being inoculated. Also discussed was the need for local physicians to get registered with the KYIR (Kentucky Immunization Registry) to set up providers to vaccinate their patients. Koster’s hope is for 65% of the population of Kentucky to be vaccinated by the end of June. If your questions weren't answered today, Judge Clymer said they would be getting to the public individually or by podcast.  News Conference Regarding COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution
Paducah– With the State of Kentucky providing additional information and clarity relative to the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine across the state, citizens of Paducah and McCracken County need to better understand how the vaccine is being distributed locally and when they might expect to receive it. To address these topics, the City of Paducah, McCracken County, and the Purchase District Health Department will hold a Zoom video news conference on Wednesday, January 6 at 2 p.m. Paducah Mayor George P. Bray, McCracken County Judge Executive Craig Clymer, and Purchase District Health Department Director Kent Koster will provide updates regarding our vaccination progress and the availability and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines in McCracken County. The public is invited to view the news conference on the following outlets: • Government 11 (for Comcast subscribers) • City of Paducah Youtube page (https://youtu.be/QBNtJbewrKQ) • City of Paducah Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CityofPaducahKentuckyGovernment |
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