By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
Look for the big yellow tour bus this month in Yachats and Waldport.
No, it won’t be a country-Western star on tour, or an over-the-hill big hair band belting out hits from the 70s.
It will be a bus provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency ordered to Oregon by President Joe Biden to help tamp down the latest COVID-19 outbreak. It will be staffed by medical volunteers rounded up from throughout the state by the Oregon Health Authority and be delivering COVID-19 vaccines – including booster shots – coronavirus testing and other medical services.
It will be parked at the Yachats Commons from noon to 7 p.m. Oct. 24-25 and then move to Waldport Oct. 26-27.
“It all came about because the President ordered FEMA to go to Oregon,” said Susan Trachsel, spokeswoman for the Lincoln County Health Department. “Look for a big yellow tour bus.”
From Waldport, the bus is scheduled to move to Toledo Oct. 28-29 and then park at Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City from Oct. 31 through Nov. 5.
The bus comes as Lincoln County finishes a month with the second highest number of COVID-19 cases this year – 588 through Wednesday and 103 since last Friday. While high, that represents a decline from August’s record-breaking month of 789 cases – reflecting the statewide trend of a slow decline in the number of cases.
First booster clinic begins
On Friday, the county opens its first mass clinic to deliver booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine. The clinic runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the county fairgrounds in Newport – and will continue the next three Fridays in October.
As of Thursday night, just over half of the 300 appointments available had been taken. Appointments can now be made for clinics Oct. 8, Oct. 15, and Oct. 22 through the LCPH website. Trachsel said it seems as though people seeking the Pfizer booster are more calm about the process than when the initial doses of the vaccines were offered last winter.
“There doesn’t seem to be the urgency of the original shots,” she said.
But the county also delivered twice as many doses of the Moderna vaccine – 41,000 — as the Pfizer version, so it expects to see more demand for that booster when it is approved by the federal government.
But not everyone who got the two doses of the Pfizer vaccine are immediately eligible. The booster will be given only to people no earlier than six months after their second dose. For Friday’s first clinic, that means getting a second dose before March 31. Based on county records, Trachsel estimated 400 people would be eligible the first week with up to 600 the second week and then ranging from 150 to 300 a week after that.
The county is also offering booster shots at the mobile clinics that are regularly making the rounds of local communities.
The county is working with North Lincoln Fire & Rescue to operate a clinic at its station in the Taft neighborhood of Lincoln City. It also plans booster clinics at the Yachats Commons – but dates are still uncertain.
People getting the booster shot will have to show the vaccination card they got when they received their first and second doses. Because nurses will have to write on it, a photo or a copy of the original won’t work. Trachsel said people who can’t find their vaccine card to go to the health department’s website and order a new one – which can take up to five days.
People eligible for the Pfizer booster vaccine are:
- People 65 and older;
- People living in a long-term care facility;
- People 50-64 with underlying medical conditions; and
- People age 18-64 with underlying medical conditions or who are at a higher risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus due to where they live or work. This includes educators, childcare workers, grocery store employees, health care workers and people who live in congregate care settings.
Pfizer booster shots may also be available through a person’s regular medical provider. The only pharmacy in Lincoln County offering the booster currently is Walgreens in Newport, Trachsel said.
Other news
In other COVID-19 related news this week:
- Lincoln County reached the 80 percent threshold of having all residents 12 and older vaccinated, the fourth-highest rate of any county in Oregon.
- There are still disparities in the county, however. The Yachats area Zip code, for example, shows 86.4 percent of everyone age 12 and older vaccinated while the Tidewater Zip code has a vaccination rate of 46 percent. The rate for the Waldport Zip code is 68.8 percent.
- The Oregon Health Authority’s COVID-19 Weekly Report, released Wednesday showed a 2.1 percent decrease in daily cases, a 12 percent drop in hospitalizations and 115 deaths, down from 148 the week before.
- There were two patients in Lincoln County hospitalized Wednesday with the COVID-19 virus, Samaritan Health Services reported, one each in its Newport and Lincoln City hospitals.