Tenth of coronavirus vaccine appointments no-shows

For all the initial enthusiasm for vaccinations, a tenth of the people making appointments are not showing up or notifying health officials in time.

Jeanne Freeman of Carson City Health and Human Services stressed Thursday how important it is for people to keep their appointments or cancel at least 24 hours ahead of time.

That will become increasingly critical as eligibility for the vaccine expands on Monday to include those 16 and older.

Douglas County commissioners met in person for the first time Thursday since the coronavirus outbreak began and heard pleas from residents to open businesses and reject mask requirements.

Commissioner Mark Gardner proposed Douglas join other counties in issuing a resolution counter to state directives.

The county is working on drafting a plan for reopening to send to state health officials. Emergency Manager Tod Carlini said a draft of the plan will be sent to the county manager for inclusion on a future agenda.

“The plan as drafted encourages 100 percent opening, where we’re not under the same state controls,” Carlini said. “We’ve yet to see exactly how those are going to go. There may be some limitation on public gatherings and inside events.”

Douglas County did experience a brief surge in the percentage of positive cases recently, but that has subsided.

“The Douglas issue was not 100-percent identified, so it might have been a facility issue,” he said. “We are still seeing active cases drop. Hopefully that’s the trajectory we are on.”

This week Douglas dropped to 184 active cases of the virus with three new cases and 21 recoveries on Thursday. The county has had 2,678 cases of the virus since the outbreak began with 35 deaths.

Meanwhile, interest in asymptomatic testing has continued to decline with only 45 residents participating in a clinic at the Douglas County Community and Senior Center on Tuesday.

The senior center’s dining room remains closed, so the county conducted a drive-through Easter Dinner on Good Friday.

The traditional Easter egg hunt conducted by the Carson Valley Active 20-30 Club was cancelled after club members decided to instead focus on the upcoming Carson Valley Days.

Currently, Pfizer is the only COVID-19 vaccine authorized for use in individuals ages 16-17. Janssen and Moderna are not authorized for use in those under the age of 18 at this time. When booking an appointment, the vaccine brand is included in the event title. Events are by appointment only. To schedule an appointment and for more information on the vaccine visit https://gethealthycarsoncity.org/novel-coronavirus-2019/covid-19-vaccine/.