CHARLOTTESVILLE — What if you threw a vaccination clinic and nobody came? That’s what happened at Eastern Hancock this week, when the county health department set up to provide shots but found no one to give them to.
Brittany Cecil, a public health nurse at the Hancock County Health Department, sat alone in the high school’s empty cafeteria, ready to administer vaccines to anyone who arrived. COVID-19 shots were available to students and community members; students could also receive the standard shots required to attend school.
“None so far,” she confirmed around 10:30 a.m. when asked how many patients she had seen that day.
That is causing some worry among health officials concerned about continuing transmission of the novel coronavirus, even though infection rates are a fraction of what they were last year at this time. The Eastern Hancock area has the lowest vaccination rate in the county and, like other county school districts, will likely reopen in the fall without many restrictions in place.
The same thing is playing out elsewhere, although vaccination rates overall are higher in the rest of the county. At a previous clinic, at Southern Hancock schools, Cecil said, vaccines were administered to about a dozen students. A handful of students have signed up for an upcoming clinic at Greenfield-Central, and another is planned for late July at Mt. Vernon, though no one has yet registered for that. Another clinic also is scheduled for Southern Hancock students.
The summertime vaccine clinic is a new innovation this year, though the health department generally offers the required vaccinations during the school year. This year, the department wanted to give students a chance to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before school doors reopen.
Cecil said there are probably a number of reasons why no families turned up to the vaccine clinic this week. Some were likely on vacation, since it came just after the July 4 weekend, and others just aren’t in the “back to school” mode yet. Some, she said, “aren’t ready to get the COVID vaccine yet.”
“There’s just a handful of reasons why people might not be here today,” she said.
Multiple COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for those ages 12 and older. Cecil said that in general, about 50% of vaccines at the health department are administered to those ages 12-18.
“They’re starting to trickle in,” she said.
While the overall vaccination rate in Hancock County is above 60%, it is lagging in parts of the county. A breakdown of vaccination data from the Indiana Department of Health showing vaccination rates by ZIP code indicates that vaccination rates are the lowest in the smallest, most rural communities.
The Fortville area has the highest rate, with 81% of its population age 12 and over fully vaccinated as of Friday. In the Greenfield ZIP code, 54% are fully vaccinated. But the rate is lower in EH’s attendance area. The percentage who are fully vaccinated is 40% in Shirley and Wilkinson and 34% in Charlottesville.
Statewide, 2,858,244 people have been fully vaccinated, according to data posted Friday by the state health department. In Hancock County, 41,645 people age 12 and over have been fully vaccinated.
The number of vaccinations being administered in the county also is tapering off. On May 1, 330 people were vaccinated, and on June 1, 334 people were. But on July 1, only 118 people received a vaccine. On Friday, the rolling seven-day average for the number of vaccinations administered per day was 83, the lowest since the earliest days of the vaccination campaign in December, according to the state’s dashboard
Eastern Hancock’s new superintendent, George Philhower, said the decision to offer a vaccine clinic was an experiment that obviously didn’t draw families in the area.
“This is the first time we’ve ever done that, so we didn’t know if people would take advantage of it or not,” Philhower said. “I guess our hypothesis was that putting something a little more centrally located for Eastern Hancock families would be something that they would use, but we had no clue.”
The Eastern Hancock School Board held an executive session on Tuesday afternoon that included talking about COVID-19 plans for the upcoming year, on which the board will vote at its meeting on Monday, July 12. The proposal plan was posted online Wednesday, July 7. It is available for review at easternhancock.org.
The plan proposes starting the school year without requirements for masking, social distancing, or COVID testing in place. Vaccination would also not be required. Teachers would be allowed to set up their classrooms according to their own preferences, and families and staff members would make individual decisions about whether to wear masks.
If a positive COVID test is confirmed in the school corporation, it will be reported to the health department. Parents will have to choose between two options for what to do if their student is identified as a close contact of a person who has tested positive. At the beginning of the year, they will be required to sign a form stating whether they would prefer for their students to stay home for a period of time recommended by health agencies, or to remain in school as long as they are asymptomatic. If parents choose the latter option, they must agree to waive the corporation’s responsibility for their child potentially contracting COVID-19.
Eastern Hancock does not plan to offer a virtual education option at the beginning of the year.
The plan states that all of these provisions could change if necessary and that the school corporation will continue consulting with the county health department.
Although he’s just started the job, Philhower said he’s already received feedback from parents about what they want school to look like.
“I think the general consensus throughout the county is that families would like things to return to as normal as possible,” he said. “I think we all would, if you ask us what we really wanted, that’s what we’d really want, is life to go back to what it was in 2019.”
At Eastern Hancock’s June board meeting, many of the parents assembled to give feedback on what they wanted to see in the 2021-22 school year said they did want to see the year start with a “back to normal” policy of no mask requirements, social distancing, contact tracing or vaccine requirements. About 460 people have signed a petition circulating on Facebook asking the school board not to adopt those policies.
Cecil said heading back to school without masks this year would not mean things are going back to normal. The COVID-19 virus is still circulating, and the delta variant — a version first detected in India and now present in many countries, including the U.S. — can be transmitted more easily. The new variant has led to an uptick in hospitalizations in several states, like Missouri, where it’s become more common.
“I am concerned about what back-to-school might look like,” Cecil said. “We are looking at a delta variant that seems much more transmissible than the other variants that we have dealt with, and it looks like it’s targeting kids a little more. So back-to-school, I’m anxious about.”
The clinics scheduled between now and the beginning of the school year are not the last chance for students to get vaccinated. The health department plans to visit each corporation about once a month to offer the opportunity during the school year, Cecil said.
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The Hancock County Health Department is offering vaccination clinics at sites in each school district in coming days. The events will offer COVID-19 vaccines for students and the community as well the usual vaccinations that are required to attend school. COVID vaccines are not required to attend school. To register for any of the events, visit patients.vaxcare.com/registration and use code IN10647.
Greenfield-Central schools: July 13
Southern Hancock schools: July 20
Mt. Vernon schools: July 27
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Three of the county’s four public school districts have posted back-to-school plans for dealing with COVID-19. You can read them by following these links:
Eastern Hancock: www.easternhancock.org. Look for the “EH Return to School Plan” link on the home page. The board is expected formally adopt the plan at its meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, July 12 at the administration offices, 10370 E. County Road 250N, Charlottesville.
Greenfield-Central: www.gcsc.k12.in.us. The district’s plan is expected to be released soon. The board is meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, July 12, at the district’s Educational Service Center, 700 N. Broadway St., and is expected to discuss a back-to-school strategy.
Mt. Vernon: www.mvcsc.k12.in.us. The district’s policy can be found under the link: “School Plans for COVID-19 Challenges” near the top of the home page.
Southern Hancock: www.newpal.k12.in.us. You can find the district’s “initial” plan near the top of the home page. The school board will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the administration offices, 4711 S. County Road 500W, New Palestine.
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