CLARK COUNTY, Ind. — As health officials celebrate huge strides made in the fight against COVID-19, they said they know the pandemic is not over yet.
Both Kentucky and Indiana have reported a steady decline of COVID cases and deaths. Clark County Health Officer Dr. Eric Yazel said daily COVID reports from the state mark the hour as much as any watch.
"That's been our routine as soon as we come back from lunch for 15 or 16 months now,” Yazel said.
When Yazel saw zero cases for the county Monday, he celebrated, then turned to new challenges he knows are waiting.
"The more people we can get vaccinated the better it is for the county as a whole,” Yazel said. “We're watching the Delta variant, we don't know what that will bring us, and we're monitoring breakthrough cases as well."
Kentucky and Indiana marked their first COVID cases on the same day, March 6, 2020.
In the last week, Indiana averaged 212 new cases each day compared to 389 cases a day this time last year. In Kentucky, the average this week was 168 cases a day compared to about 222 a day at the same time in 2020.
As cases leveled off, vaccination became the chief job of frontline workers, now adjusting to smaller community and pop up clinics.
"Once that began and testing demand dropped, we chose this date as the end date for this site and for the efforts we've done through here and our other drive-thru sites,” Dr. Hugh Shoff of UofL Health said Wednesday.
A sign of progress is also an ending in Louisville Wednesday. UofL Health shuttered its drive-thru testing and vaccination site downtown.
Though a shift in numbers is shifting the mindset for health officials, they're still pushing vaccination as the final step forward.
"As far as where we're at today versus where I thought we might be six months ago looking at this summer I think we're in really good shape,” Yazel said.
Yazel says in Clark County pop up vaccination clinics will be emphasized. He wants to encourage people, especially teens, to get vaccinated.
UofL Health is still vaccinating and testing people at its Urgent Care Plus locations.
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