Central Ohioans seek shots in rural counties
Some counties still have shots available
Following Gov. Mike Dewine’s order to expand COVID-19 vaccine eligibility restriction to Ohioans 50 years and older, along with those who have Type 2 diabetes or end-stage renal disease, several rural health departments reported seeing out-of-towners schedule shots.
And most have opened their doors and welcomed any and all Ohioans seeking a vaccine.
Just this week, Crawford County Health Commissioner Kate Siefert reached out to the local tourism bureau and asked if it would mind setting up a “Happy Vaccination Day” display advertising Bucyrus to out-of-towners and offering coupons to local restaurants.
“We absolutely don’t mind at all if some folks from our neighboring or nearby counties are able to get in with us,” she said.
Siefert explained that if central
Ohioans aren’t able to schedule appointments in their home counties, Crawford County has openings next week after exhausting its waiting list the last few days.
“We’re happy to do it,” she said. “The whole point is to vaccinate all Ohioans.”
The county health department, 63 miles north of Columbus, is tracking where folks come from, but hasn’t analyzed the data from their consent forms yet and isn’t sure how many noncounty residents have been inoculated in Bucyrus.
“Honestly, it’s not a concern at all as long as they meet the governor’s and state’s eligibility plan,” Siefert added. “The virus certainly does not know any county boundary lines.”
In Knox County, Pam Palm, spokeswoman for the Mount Vernon-based health department, said providers aren’t required to ask patients their county of residence, but she’s noticed people tend to come from central Ohio counties and Ashland County.
Some have come from as far as Cuyahoga and Summit counties, she said.
“If somebody is in our county and they’re from somewhere else, we want to provide it for them, and especially since we’re concerned about creating herd immunity,” Palm said. “We want everybody to get the vaccine.”
Despite noticing an influx of people from outside Knox County, Palm said most vaccine doses have been given to county residents. She estimated that out of the nearly 7,000 first and second doses administered in Knox County, just a few hundred were given to out-ofcounty patients.
“Even though we have provided the vaccine to people who are outside of Knox County, I don’t think it’s interfered
with anybody from within the county who wants a vaccine,” Palm said.
In Coshocton County, just east of Knox County, the local health department held a vaccination clinic Thursday that vaccinated 704 patients, and 68% (479) of the patients were Coshocton County residents, Health Commissioner Steve Lonsinger said.
Of the remaining 225 patients, about half were residents of the six counties adjacent to Coshocton.
Not all county health departments, however, accept out-of-county patients.
Kelsey Ralston, spokeswoman for the Kenton-hardin Public Health Department, said the health department only vaccinates residents or those who work in the county.
“We have always had the guideline
that we are to serve the people in our community,” Ralston said.
Although local pharmacies and other independent providers are instructed to ask patients their counties of residence, Ralston said they aren’t held to the same residential guidelines as the health department. She recommended anyone experiencing a long wait time to go to an independent provider.
Ralston was unable to provide the number of vaccines administered in Hardin County, but she said the health department and all vaccine providers were trying to fill daily appointments as quickly as possible.
In Richland County, the Mansfieldbased public health department had been booked for months, but recently reached a plateau and has had to remind people to sign up for appointments, health education and communications specialist Reed Richmond said.
“We are seeing vaccine hesitancy on the part of the Black and brown communities who also are dealing with transportation issues,” he said. “(And) all of Richland County vaccine locations are in Ontario and Mansfield. We have no locations in the rural areas.”
Richmond explained that the department hasn’t necessarily seen an increase in out-of-county residents traveling to Mansfield for shots, but that might be coming in the next few weeks.
So far the department has vaccinated a little over a 1,000 Ohioans from outside of Richland County, he said. Some of those, however, were people who work in Richland County but don’t live there.
In southern Ohio, false rumors circulated on social media that the Ross County Public Health District was unable to maintain a standby list and had been tossing out unused vaccine.
“We absolutely are not throwing away any doses,” district health communications specialist Michaela Weaver said. “Somebody heard that through the grapevine on Facebook.”
Weaver explained that if the district has extra doses at the end of the day it will contact eligible Ohioans on a waiting list and ensure that not a single dose is wasted.
The health district is not restricting noncounty residents from scheduling appointments in Chillicothe, but hasn’t seen a serious uptick in people driving the hour or so from central Ohio, Weaver said. “We have quite a few spots to fill for next week, so if anyone who feels they’re able and want to come down they can,” she said. “They will have to come for the second dose, but if they’re willing to travel, more power to ‘em.” cdoyle@dispatch.com @cadoyle_18 sszilagy@gannett.com @sarahszilagy