Brown County’s COVID-19 color code was downgraded from yellow to blue last week, but Brown County will be living under yellow-level restrictions until at least May 26.
That could be extended if we go back up to yellow again when the state health department reassesses test positivity and new case counts this week, which it does every Wednesday.
Yellow status requires masks to be worn in public places, including stores, and puts capacity restrictions on businesses and gatherings. The governor has removed the statewide mask mandate, but the Brown County health officer reinstated it and other measures for higher color codes on April 14 when Brown County rose from blue status to yellow for the first time in several months.
Brown County’s current COVID totals and stats changes between Tuesday, May 4 and Monday, May 10 are: 1,021 cases (up seven), 4,444 people tested (up 33), 41 deaths (no change) and 5,785 residents at least partially vaccinated (up 128).
So far, about 38 percent of Brown County’s population has received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.
At the May 5 Brown County Commissioners meeting, Public Health Preparedness Coordinator Corey Frost that the vaccine site at the Brown County Music Center had started to see a decrease in the number of people wanting the vaccine. The site offers the Moderna vaccine, which requires two shots.
Frost said the county may see a slight uptick in the positivity rate because there has been an increase in cases recently among young people.
On a typical day, the site can administer 150 doses of the vaccine. But on May 5, Frost said they had 80 appointments for the day.
“We’ve seen a lot of cancellations and interest has decreased quite a bit,” he said.
To counter this, Frost said the health department is doing outreach with service and community groups, trying to answer any questions people have about the vaccine, “let them know it’s a safe vaccine and we would like to see us get to 70 percent if we can,” he said.
“We certainly have a good stockpile of vaccine. We’re ready.”
The music center vaccination site is also now a walk-in vaccine clinic, not requiring people to make appointments, Frost said.
“Anyone can come in from anywhere in state and we will take you if we have the availability and we will put a shot in your arm,” he said.
The minimum age to receive the Moderna vaccine is 18.
Commissioners President Jerry Pittman said he knows some people are hesitant about getting the vaccine, but he encourages residents to get vaccinated.
“Some feel they don’t need it and others are afraid of side effects and so forth,” he said.
“It’s proven to be remarkably trouble free when you look at the numbers of people who have been vaccinated, the few that have had an allergic reaction. Some are worried about long-term consequences, but I think the long-term consequences of COVID far outweigh the possibilities of the vaccine.”
At the May 5 meeting, Frost also said that he had received a letter of intent from the state to continue testing here locally until the end of the year. The letter of intent comes with a $50,000 grant to cover the cost of testing until Dec. 31.
Frost said he would have to work with the commissioners to determine where the location for the testing site will be from July 1 to Dec. 31 since shows at the music center are currently scheduled to resume in September.
“I need to put a solid address on where we’re going to be doing this,” he told the commissioners.
No plans for a new testing site were discussed at that meeting. The commissioners meet again on Wednesday, May 19.
A previous version of this story had the number of vaccine appointments on May 5 at eight, but it was 80.
