Vaccinations increasing but so are COVID-19 cases

By Reed Anfinson
Publisher
Even as vaccinations steadily increase, with Countryside Public Health held out as an example of rapid progress in getting shots into the arms of its residents, worries are growing over the resurgence of COVID-19.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the more infectious and deadly British variant of the coronavirus was now the dominant strain spreading in the U.S. It is reporting the upward trend of the Brazilian variant infections as well.
Countryside has done over 130 vaccination clinics in its five counties and has been giving 300 to 400 shots a day. It has given over 7,000 shots. In all, when clinics, hospitals and pharmacies are included, nearly 18,000 vaccinations have been given in the agency’s five counties.
Countryside provides public health services to Swift, Big Stone, Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, and Yellow Medicine counties. So far, more than 41 percent of the residents of the five counties have been vaccinated. An average of 53.4 percent of those over 16 years of age have been vaccinated in the five counties, according to MDH.
The Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have all proven effective in preventing death and serious illness for those who still contract COVID-19.
“We are trying to hit every pocket  in every community so that people don’t have to travel,” Auch said. The goal is to get the areas saturated with people who have been immunized. They have been doing nursing homes, food processing plants, as well as conducting clinics at community centers.....
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