By Michele Bever

SHDHD executive director

Wow – it’s the beginning of December 2021 already and the health department has been focused on the COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two years. By the middle of this month, it will be one year since the first COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Nebraska. Health department staff thought the vaccine was the best gift we could have wished for and we were able to give those first shots ahead of last year’s winter holidays.

A year ago, the health department was all-consumed in notifying positive cases, conducting contact tracing and helping people understand how they could use prevention layers to protect themselves and others from COVID-19 and help reduce the spread.

We were in the midst of a huge wave of COVID cases. The hospitals were full with patients suffering from COVID-19 and we were experiencing a surge of deaths associated with COVID. There were still state directed health measures and a Nebraska state of emergency in place that helped emphasize the severity of the situation.

So, last November and early December, health department staff members were looking gratefully forward to the vaccine arrival. It was our light at the end of the pandemic tunnel – the vaccine was a critical tool to help us fight the virus and protect South Heartland residents from the virus’s devastating effects on our health; our families’ health; our economy; on the way we worked, studied, played, worshiped; and, literally went on with our lives. We knew the vaccine could help us tame the pandemic and move us back toward some kind of normal.

The first COVID-19 vaccine to be authorized was allotted across the state in limited amounts. The first priority was to vaccinate those in high-risk professions – beginning with frontline healthcare workers. There was so much more demand for the vaccine than we had available – and we got it into arms as quickly as we could to those who were eligible, working down the state’s priority list as more vaccine arrived.

Since that time, more vaccine products are available, the eligible age has dropped to 5 years old, third doses were approved for individuals who are immune compromised, and booster shots, approved for anyone over 18, are in high demand. We continue to be focused on making COVID vaccine widely available by partnering with approved vaccine providers and pharmacies who are helping to make vaccine accessible in each of our four counties.

However, in terms of vaccination coverage in our district, we aren’t nearly where we hoped we would be by this time. Now, nearly one year since we began vaccinating, 46 percent of all South Heartland residents are fully vaccinated and 49 percent have received at least one shot. The good news: each week, more South Heartland residents in Adams, Clay, Nuckolls and Webster counties are newly fully vaccinated!

We are glad for these trends, even if it hasn’t happened as quickly as we would have hoped. COVID-19 vaccine is clearly the most effective tool we have against this virus. With the vaccination, we have increased protection against severe COVID illness, hospitalization because of COVID and deaths because of COVID.

Nebraska results show there is a 10x higher risk of being hospitalized if you are unvaccinated compared to people who are fully vaccinated. The vaccine has helped reduce severe illness and the need for hospitalization in older adults. Fortunately, residents age 65 and older have the highest vaccine coverage (87.4 percent in South Heartland) and, with that, we have seen fewer COVID-19 cases in the 65+ age group. Although there are “breakthrough” cases in vaccinated people, the illness is generally mild, which means the vaccines are working.

We can’t be complacent. Our battle against COVID-19 illness remains critical, due in part to virus variants and a still-too-low vaccination rate:

COVID case rates are on the rise again and this upward trend places our families, friends and co-workers at continued risk.

Community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is very high in the South Heartland health district.

In addition to COVID concerns, it is also the beginning of the influenza season. Hospitalization rates are climbing again. Medical centers are filling to capacity again.

What can you do? We are encouraging everyone to do their part to protect themselves and others and to reduce the heavy burden on our hospitals statewide. Over the next month, a time of year filled with festivities, holiday gatherings, travel and being around people you haven’t seen for some time, please remember these key prevention actions:

Stay home when you are sick. Stay home from work, school, church and other activities, and don’t attend or host gatherings if you have symptoms of illness.

Avoid crowded places while our COVID cases are so high (and wear a mask when you can’t avoid those crowds).

But, most importantly, you can - - and should - - get vaccinated for COVID and flu!

Please take care, practice prevention, and plan for limited and COVID-19-safe gatherings over the holidays. In this season of giving, give the gift of health and safety by doing your part to limit the spread of COVID-19.