Floyd County expands COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to disabled and their caregivers

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Another group of people will be eligible to sign up for COVID-19 vaccinations in Floyd County beginning today (Tuesday).

Floyd County Public Health announced on Friday that Phase 1B Tier 2 Group 1 — individuals with disabilities living in home settings who are dependent on attendant care staff, and their attendant care staff — can start signing up at the county online site, www.floydcoia.org.

A person with a disability is considered as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more “major life activities,” has a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment, the Public Health announcement said.

Persons who meet the definition of disabled in the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act or the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act are eligible.

Individuals identified as attendant care staff, even if they are a family member, are also eligible under this group.

To register to receive a vaccination, go to the county website, answer the questions and submit your information.

“This information will be collected by Floyd County Public Health staff. Residents will then receive a call when vaccine is available and appointments are being made,” the announcement said.

“If you don’t answer when we call to schedule the appointment, we will move on to the next person and call when our next vaccine shipment arrives,” Public Health said.

Floyd County Supervisor Linda Tjaden said the county opened up the vaccine eligibility because it was running into problems scheduling the available doses.

She said a clinic is set for this morning (Tuesday), but as of last week all the vaccine doses available had not been scheduled, essentially because people were not answering their phones when they were called.

“We have been calling and calling. I was here Saturday with the call center and I was making some calls,” she said.

“Basically they registered online, they give you a number, and we’re not getting them to answer their phones. There were some that we did call back, and they said they had already found a location, which is going to be a common thing, since there is more than one location that is opening up,” Tjaden said.

“But we’ve got the 200 doses so we decided to go ahead and open up another tier,” she said, adding that if the problem continues the county may begin to look at offering vaccinations at the county’s larger employers, such as Cambrex, Zoetis and Mitas (Trelleborg).

Tjaden said Floyd County Public Health can decide to advance through the different tiers in Phase 1B as it needs to to use its dose allotment, but it can’t advance to the next phase, which would include the general public under the age of 65, until the state allows it.

According to the latest vaccination information from the state COVID-19 website, coronavirus.iowa.gov, as of Sunday almost 18% of the residents of Floyd County have received at least the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

The data site shows that 2,121 Floyd County residents had received their first dose, and 712 residents had received both required doses, for a total of 2,833 residents who have received one or both doses. Not all of those doses were administered in Floyd County.

The site shows that 2,790 doses have been administered in Floyd County, with 2,435 initial doses and 355 boost doses.

As of Sunday, there had been 1,477 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among Floyd County residents, and 40 deaths. An additional death had been added to the state figures for the county since last week.

“We continue to encourage everyone to wear a mask, wash hands often, stay home when sick, and maintain social distancing practices,” Floyd County Public Health said. “Thank you all for keeping Floyd County safe!”