LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) —Lincoln’s Mayor, along with local health department officials, updates our community on its vaccination progress at 3:30 p.m. We’ll be streaming it live right here on klkntv.com.
Click here for a list of this week’s vaccination clinics.
Mayor Lierion Gaylor Baird says last week’s school-based clinics resulted in 2,600 students and families getting vaccinated.
Currently, the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department (LLCHD) is working to bring vaccinations to you through neighborhood clinics.
In order to fall back into the ‘green’ of the risk dial, LLCHD wants at least 75% of the county’s population to be fully vaccinated. This equals about 184,000 residents.
So far, 120,000 residents have been fully vaccinated. Health Director Pat Lopez says the most common reason she’s heard of people not getting vaccinated is that they ‘just haven’t gotten around to it.’ She encourages all residents to sign up for a vaccine with LLCHD or DHHS. They will reach out to you via email to schedule an appointment.
Lopez warns that COVID-19 cases among the youth population are on the rise, especially with variants. Out of our 57 identified COVID-19 variant cases, 31 are residents under the age of 30.
She says if the Pfizer vaccine is approved for 12-15-year-olds this week, LLCHD does have some dates in mind for teens to get the shot.
BACKGROUND: FDA expected to OK Pfizer vaccine for teens within week
Dr. Richmond joined the press conference via Zoom to discuss long-COVID in younger patients. He shared a story of a college-aged patient who was an avid runner. She contracted COVID-19 five months ago and is “still not able to get back to her running.”
“It is clear that COVID causes more serious illness, certainly more likely than other viral diseases… it is not a benign disease and- as I’ve said many times- it’s Russian Roulette.”
Tuesday, LLCHD reports only 18 new COVID-19 cases, raising the community total to 31,049. The total number of deaths remains at 232.
So far, over 28,150 residents have recovered from the virus. Twenty-nine patients are hospitalized with COVID-19 (21 are Lancaster County residents). Two patients are on ventilators.
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