Allen County Public Health: Mask up, or get the vaccine
Jul. 29—LIMA — The number of COVID-19 cases from Allen County reported to the Ohio Department of Health is growing at its fastest pace in months with a new variant. Still, only a third of the county's residents have taken the widely available vaccine.
"We can prevent a surge," Allen County Health Commissioner Kathy Luhn said.
There's no mystery how, Luhn said Wednesday during the City of Lima's weekly press conference.
"There's really two things we can do when we're presented with a disease that is infectious or communicable," she said. "One is to use a pharmaceutical approach. ... What we have is the vaccine," she said. "If you don't use pharmaceutical methods, then what you do is the non-pharmaceutical way, and those are the things we spent all of 2020 doing."
That means wearing masks, social distancing, hand-washing and disinfecting, she said.
Luhn noted that nationally, the people hospitalized and severely ill with the more easily spread delta variant appear to be non-vaccinated people. A data analysis of public records by News 5 in Cleveland showed that 99.5% of the people who died from COVID-19 this year in Ohio were unvaccinated. Of the people hospitalized, 98.8% weren't vaccinated.
Luhn also said Allen County Public Health recommends all students in kindergarten through 12th grade continue wearing masks in the upcoming school year. That matches advice offered at the state level.
Masks are still available if local nonprofits or businesses need them, Lima Chief of Staff Sharetta Smith said. Organizations can request them by calling Smith at 419-998-5596.
The region's vaccination rates are lower than statewide averages in several categories, according to Ohio Department of Health statistics. While 33.74% of Allen County residents completed their vaccines, 45.78% of Ohioans have. Only 24.44% of Black residents of the county have finished their vaccines, compared to 29.61% statewide. The numbers of white residents are also behind state averages, with 32.51% of white residents vaccinated in Allen County, compared to 43.53% statewide.
Putnam County has the highest vaccination rate in the region, at 39.17%, while Hardin County has the lowest at 29.85%. Auglaize County is at 32.12%.
Luhn noted the vaccine remains available at Allen County Public Health, 219 E. Market St., Lima, with openings from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays and Fridays and 9 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesdays.
"If you have questions or concerns about the vaccine, please talk to your healthcare provider — your pediatrician, your trusted resource for health care information — and get your questions answered," Luhn said.
Reach David Trinko at 567-242-0467 or on Twitter @Lima_Trinko.
