A man is being tested via nasal swab test at the Johnson County Health Department COVID-19 testing site.
With another state grant extension, COVID-19 testing and vaccinations will continue to be available from the Johnson County Health Department.
Local officials were not sure about the future of testing and vaccines in early June, but the Indiana Department of Health has opted to continue providing local health departments with vaccines and tests until at least the end of 2022. The previous grant was set to expire Wednesday, said Betsy Swearingen, county health department director.
The new grant removes the requirement to offer after hours availability for testing and vaccines.
Drive-up testing will be available at the health department during normal business hours, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Both rapid and PCR testing will be available for free to the public, Swearingen said.
With the expansion of vaccinations to children six months to 5 years, the health department began offering vaccines for that age group last week. Anyone six months and older can be vaccinated against COVID-19 at the health department, by appointment only. Third and fourth booster doses are also available for anyone who is eligible.
The health department is offering vaccines by appointment only to simplify work for staff and also to avoid wasting doses of the vaccines. Staff has always been conscious of conserving doses, but now it is uncertain whether the vaccine doses the state will provide to the county will be free. So, it is even more important to conserve doses now, Swearingen said.
Testing and vaccinations are still needed in the community. There is still a steady demand for both, as COVID-19 continues to circulate through the community, Swearingen said. Vaccinations picked up recently following the expansion of vaccine eligibility to children under 5, she said.
Over 101,000 Johnson County residents are at least partially vaccinated, nearly 95,000 are fully vaccinated with two doses, and over 47,700 are up-to-date on their vaccine, meaning they’ve received at least three doses, according to data from the state health department.
In the past seven days, 30 cases of COVID-19 were reported for Johnson County on the state’s COVID-19 dashboard. As of June 28, nearly 800 cases were reported — that is 10 more positive cases compared to May. However, the actual number of cases is likely higher because there is wide availability of at-home testing and those numbers are not reported to the state, Swearingen said.
Two Johnson County residents have died from COVID-19 in June, as of the 28th. That is down one from May, when three residents died of complications from the virus, according to state data.
