We are seeing what may be a fourth wave of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations locally as well as statewide. Executive Pastor Edward Williams of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Portland said last week “Every death is a real death. There are a lot of families who have suffered a lot of loss.” We are asking everyone to please double down on safety measures until most people are vaccinated. We have seen local cases increasing indicating the virus is still circulating in our community and now that they are back in session, in our schools. Remember the vaccines are not perfect, assuming 95% efficacy, approximately 1/20 vaccinated people can still get COVID-19 and/or be asymptomatic carriers/spreaders. We’ve already seen this in Oregon. As Hood River County continues vaccine distribution, please keep taking protective measures to help keep yourselves, your families, coworkers, loved ones, friends and communities safe and healthy. Please stay home if you are not feeling well!
Oregon has now administered more than 1,083,978 doses of Pfizer, 971,012 doses of Moderna and 61,539 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines! Hood River County ranks 3rd in the state for percentage of population vaccinated with 80 percent of our seniors already vaccinated. We are scheduling large clinics in the coming weeks as those qualified to receive the vaccine expands to include all those 16 and above on April 19th (note: only Pfizer vaccine is approved for those 16-18 years of age). The Hood River County vaccine clinic scheduling tool is available at hrccovid19.org. A new clinic schedule will be available every Monday and remain open until that week’s clinic is full. These clinics are only possible thanks to the tremendous volunteer support in our community. Thank you very much! Vaccinations are available through the Hood River County Health Department, some local primary care providers, as well as Rite Aid, Safeway, Walgreens and Wal-Mart pharmacies. If you do not have internet access please call the vaccination help line at 541.387.6911 to schedule a COVID-19 vaccination appointment with the Hood River County Health Department. Please, only make one appointment. If you cannot keep your appointment please cancel it so the dose that was saved for you can be distributed to someone else! This will help us greatly to insure that no dose is wasted!