Tuesday July 20 COVID-19 update: Douglas County reports 42 new cases

(WOWT) - Below are today’s vaccination updates as well as data reports on new cases and other COVID-19 stats reported by health officials across Nebraska and Iowa.

Keep scrolling to find helpful links and other information, including phone numbers to call for help getting signed up for your vaccine.

DCHD: Getting vaccinations to doctors’ offices

Douglas County Health Director Dr. Lindsay Huse gave her first report to the Board of Commissioners on Tuesday morning, saying that the county is seeing 6.5 cases per 100,000 people — a 170% increase from a month ago.

The delta variant is the dominant strain, she said, although the county is not sequencing all positive tests to see what kind they are.

The health department is focusing on getting COVID-19 vaccines into doctor’s offices and encouraging people who are able to get vaccinated to do so a soon as they can.

“Some people who experience hesitancy really want to hear about the vaccine from their own personal provider,” Dr. Huse said. “That seems to be something that’s borne out in the literature: that some of our hesitancy, certainly not all, is something that can be assuaged through our physicians, so we’re working with them now.”

TESTING UPDATE: The county is also working with providers in the community on where people can get tested for COVID-19 now that Test Nebraska has gone away; but that’s still a work in progress.

DCHD: Prioritizing youth vaccinations

The new county health director gave county supervisors a look at her plan of attack against COVID-19 in Douglas County during the board meeting Tuesday morning.

She said Tuesday that the county health department’s immediate focus would be vaccinating eligible youth as they head back to school next month.

She said DCHD is working with local school districts to have vaccinations available for families when they come into schools for registration for the 2021-22 academic year.

Douglas County cases update

The Douglas County Health Department on Tuesday reported it had confirmed 42 new positive cases of COVID-19 since midnight Monday, bringing the local total to 72,797 positive cases.

The rolling seven-day average is 37 cases — about three times as high as it was for most of June.

The local death toll remains at 736.

The health department also reported Monday that local hospitals were 74% full, with 386 beds available; and ICU beds were 68% full with 109 beds available. Of those patients, 33 were hospitalized with COVID-19, 14 of them in ICUs, and 10 on ventilators. DCHD is also monitoring three other patients for signs of COVID-19.

The DCHD COVID-19 dashboard no longer reports COVID-19 recoveries.

Vaccination clinics

Nebraska DHHS

Federal Retail Pharmacy Program: Pharmacies in and near the Omaha-metro area currently participating in the program include:

• Medicine Man Pharmacy, 15615 Pacific St. Suite 8, Omaha NE 668118
• Think Aksarben Pharmacy LLC, 710 W. Center Road, Omaha NE 68106
• ViaRx, 825 N. 90th St., Omaha NE 68114
• Walmart, 3010 E. 23rd St., Fremont NE 68025

Retail pharmacy vaccine sign-ups: Baker’s | CVS | Hy-Vee | Kohll’s | Kubat | Sam’s Club | Walmart

Douglas County

Douglas County COVID-19 vaccination clinics are limited this week:

• Tuesday: Get a vaccination from 4-7 p.m. at The Simple Foundation, located at 30th and W streets.
• Wednesday: Get a vaccination from 8:30-11:30 a.m. at the Allergy/Asthma/Immunology Medical Office, located at 2808 S. 80th Ave.

The DCHD clinic at 1111 S. 41st St. will be closed Thursday and Friday due to staff training, so Friday’s walk-in vaccination clinic will be canceled this week.

Around Omaha

DCHD WALK-IN CLINIC: Friday’s walk-in vaccination clinic is canceled for this week.

DOWNTOWN CLINIC: TotalWellness Health and the Metropolitan Community Church, located at 819 S. 22nd St., are hosting a COVID-19 vaccination clinic from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.

CHURCH CLINIC: Metropolitan Community Chuch of Omaha will host a walk-in COVID-19 vaccination clinic from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. No ID is required, but a parent or guardian must be present at the clinic with teens ages 12-18.

MCC FORT OMAHA: Vaccinations also will be distributed Mondays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Metropolitan Community College’s Fort Omaha campus, located at 5300 N. 30th St. Appointments will be made through the county’s vaccination registry.

TOTAL WELLNESS: DCHD has been working with Total Wellness, located at 9320 H Court, to establish a vaccination clinic from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

VETERANS: Any eligible veterans can go to the Omaha VA Medical Center’s COVID-19 vaccination clinics’ walk-in hours from 9 a.m. to noon weekdays and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays at the new Ambulatory Care Center.

Three Rivers health district

• In Dodge County, the Three Rivers Fremont location is open for walk-ins from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday; and 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday.
• In Saunders County, the Three Rivers clinic in Lake Wanahoo is open to walk-ins from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of the month.
• In Washington County, the clinic at First Lutheran Church in Blair is open to walk-ins from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month.

Off-line help

NEBRASKA VACCINE HOTLINE: Gov. Pete Ricketts has asked Nebraskans to call 402-552-6645 or toll-free at 833-998-2275 for more information on the Nebraska COVID-19 vaccination process. DO NOT call your local health department.

DOUGLAS COUNTY HELPLINE: Local COVID-19 information, in Spanish and English, is available from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, except for holidays. Call 402-444-3400 for assistance.

TEST NEBRASKA HOTLINE: To get answers about Test Nebraska tests, results, communications, etc., call 402-207-9377.

IOWA VACCINE HOTLINE: Older or home-bound Iowans looking for help scheduling a COVID-19 vaccination appointment can call 1-866-468-7887 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; or contact Connections Area Agency on Aging at 712-328-2540 or 1-800-432-9209.

REFERENCE NOTE -- 6 News pulls data from Nebraska and Iowa COVID-19 dashboards at 6 p.m. daily. Other reports in this post come from official news releases from area health departments and other authorities as stated.

Resource links

Vaccine sign-up: Douglas County | Sarpy/Cass | Three Rivers | Nebraska

Retail pharmacy vaccine sign-ups: Hy-Vee | Walmart | Sam’s Club | Kohll’s

Vaccine dashboard: Nebraska | Iowa

Vaccine information: Douglas County | Douglas County clinics | Nebraska | Nebraska FAQ | Nebraska timeline | Nebraska Phase 1A tiers | Nebraska Phase 1B tiers || Iowa | Pottawattamie County | Mills County | Fremont County

COVID-19 dashboards: Douglas County | Sarpy County | Three Rivers Health District | Lancaster County | Nebraska | Iowa | Worldwide

School dashboards: Omaha Public Schools | Millard Public Schools | Bellevue Public Schools | Westside Community Schools | Gretna Public Schools | Elkhorn Public Schools | Lincoln Public Schools | UNL | Midland University

COVID-19 risk dials: Omaha-Douglas County | Lincoln-Lancaster County

WOWT.com quick search: COVID-19 | Coronavirus | Vaccine

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