photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health

Jan. 26 COVID-19 update from the health department.

Older residents, workers in a variety of industries and all of the other groups identified in Phase 2 of Douglas County’s vaccination plan will be allocated some vaccines every week, the county’s health department announced Tuesday.

But the health department’s spokesman said that doesn’t necessarily mean each group will receive an equal number of doses, and some details of how the allocation will work aren’t yet clear.

In a news release Tuesday, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health said that as doses became available in the county, they would be distributed “equitably” among the following groups: residents 65 and older; essential workers in local government; workers in the education sector; workers in the food service industry; people who live or work in congregate care settings; and anyone who was eligible to be vaccinated in Phase 1 but has not yet received a shot. A group of “workers critical to the functioning of the community” will also be included. Health department spokesman George Diepenbrock said that group included people such as transportation workers, DMV and postal workers, agricultural and food processing workers, and those who supply services or materials that are used as part of the pandemic response.

“Doses right now are extremely limited based on the supply. Given that everyone in Phase 2 is considered critical and a priority, each group will receive an allocation of doses every week,” Dan Partridge, director of Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, said in the news release. “We understand that this means not every group will receive a large allocation with the current scarcity of vaccine, but this approach allows us to move through Phase 2 together.”

Diepenbrock said the doses would be distributed “equitably,” not equally, meaning each group will not necessarily receive the same number of doses. He didn’t elaborate on how the doses might be allocated.

The release said that the county received fewer than 1,000 doses each week during Phase 1, and that the county’s Vaccine Planning Unit estimates that between 30,000 and 40,000 Douglas County residents could qualify for Phase 2. The county’s current plan involves vaccinating around 3,000 people each week, but that number could be tripled if the vaccine supply increases.

“This plan is flexible so Unified Command can respond in an equitable and timely manner to the amount of COVID-19 doses that Douglas County receives while also considering the needs of the entire community,” Douglas County Emergency Management Director Robert Bieniecki said in the release. “With the very limited amount of doses that we are receiving at this time, we encourage patience as we work to vaccinate everyone who wants a COVID-19 vaccine.”

Douglas County encourages those who are interested in receiving a vaccine to fill out the interest survey online at dgcoks.org/vaccineinterestform.

Douglas County reported 7,944 cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, an increase of 52 cases since Monday.

In Douglas County, 7,165 out of the 7,944 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 779 cases are active.

The county has averaged about 37 new cases per day over the last 14 days, according to a 14-day moving average graph updated weekdays by the health department. The current average of 37.29 new cases per day is down from a high of 80 cases per day in mid-November.

Douglas County has a 14-day COVID-19 incidence rate of 433.95 per 100,000 people. Fifteen patients at Lawrence’s hospital had COVID-19 on Tuesday, the same number as Monday. To date, 36 Douglas County residents have died of COVID-19.