Closing in on the 10K vaccination goal for county

Community immunity brings us closer to back to normal

[ By Mark Reaman ]

Gunnison County health officials are looking for 689 more arms to put a COVID vaccine into in order to reach the goal of having 10,000 people in the county fully vaccinated from the coronavirus. Once that happens, the expectation is that the county will lower the public health restrictions in place to fight the pandemic.

“All registrants in the Gunnison County Vaccine Interest Form will have been scheduled by the close of this week,” explained new Gunnison County public information officer Loren Ahonen. “Some of these individuals may not receive a shot this week due to scheduling conflicts, or may have gotten vaccinated elsewhere. However, by the end of the week we will have scheduled all of our available individuals from the database for a dose.”

Ahonen said that as of early this week, 7,542 Gunnison County residents are fully vaccinated (either two doses of Moderna/Pfizer or one Johnson & Johnson) and just over 9,300 Gunnison County residents have received at least one dose.

“As of today, we need everyone who has started the vaccination process to complete the sequence,” Ahonen said. “Additionally, we would need 689 more individuals to complete the full vaccination process to reach 10,000. Our target for achieving 10,000 continues to be Memorial Day based on the sequencing of second shots to deliver for full vaccination.”

Light at the end of the tunnel
Once the 10,000 vaccination mark is reached, officials will lower the COVID-19 restrictions. “Upon reaching Green on the Coronameter, local businesses will not have social distancing requirements that reduce their capacity,” said Ahonen. “Additionally, the event size limitations and approval process will no longer be necessary. So, yes, in many senses of the word, ‘normalcy’ will return. It will be incumbent upon individuals to determine how they interact in the community and economy. However, the facial covering requirement is scheduled to continue through the sunset period of the Gunnison County Public Health order on July 1.”

According to Ahonen, the 10K number is based on adult population in the county. The state is keeping track of everyone who gets a vaccine and that number is provided to the county. “The 10,000 person threshold was derived from the most recent (2019) State Demographers population numbers for Gunnison County,” he explained. “Given that only ‘adults’ are eligible for vaccination at this time, the total population 16 and over in Gunnison County was considered in this calculation. Having established that total adult population, 70-percent was calculated. In the science and public health realms, 70-percent is a threshold understood to significantly impact viral transmission. This is a threshold that should provide significant protection to our community, which is why it was utilized as the standard for herd/’community’ immunity.”

The number of people vaccinated that is reported comes from a state database called Colorado Immunization Information System (CIIS). This includes all vaccination sites in Gunnison County such as City Market and Walmart.

“Any Gunnison County resident who lists a Gunnison County address in their registration process (at the County, City Market, Walmart, or an out-of-county provider) will be included in our fully vaccinated tally,” said Ahonen. “The key is that they use a Gunnison County address on paperwork for first and second doses. If Gunnison County residents received a vaccination out of state, they can bring their vaccination card to Gunnison County Health and Human Services to be added to CIIS.”

Bringing the vaccine to you…
So the county is making a push to find the next 700 people to get a vaccine. “Inevitably, when we exhaust the available database, it will require altering the vaccine delivery process to try and reach the remaining, less engaged populations,” Ahonen stated. “We are currently working on plans to evolve the vaccination process to accommodate for future walk-in clinics. We believe walk-in clinics at accessible locations and hours will help attract additional populations who aren’t going out of their way to be vaccinated will make it easy for some people. We are planning to have a walk-in clinic in Crested Butte for May 1 from 9 a.m.-11:30 a.m. The location is still to be determined. This will be an open clinic where anyone who is interested can walk up and register for a vaccination at the site.

“We have vaccinated less than 20 percent of our 16-18-year-old population,” Ahonen continued. “So we have plenty of room to grow there. We hope to make more inroads in this population in the coming weeks.”

As of this week, the county has recorded 1,576 positive cases over the course of the pandemic. Last week Gunnison County had 21 positive tests for Gunnison County residents – most of which were associated with travel or exposure within the family. Ahonen said that as of this weekend, “the positivity in our testing was at 3.58 percent. We have not had any recent admits to GVH and hospitalization and ER visits remain low.”