COVID-19 situation continues to look good in Hill County

Hill County Public Health Director and Health Officer Kim Larson, in a Hill County Board of Health COVID-19 update last Friday, said the county is in good shape with regards to the pandemic.

She said as of last Thursday at 5 p.m. the county only had three active cases of COVID-19 and as many people being monitored in quarantine.

She said the rate-of-spread for the week of March 15 through 21 was 4.33 new cases per day per 100,000 residents.

Of the eligible population of Hill County 24 percent has been fully vaccinated, she said, with a further 37 percent having gotten a first dose.

Last Thursday the county held its first mass vaccination clinic for people 18 and older, with walk-indd accepted.

Larson said the waiting list of people wanting the vaccine that the department was keeping during Phase 1B+ has practically been eliminated.

“We don’t really have any wait lists at this point,” she said.

While the Hill County Health Department does not have access to the Pfizer vaccine, the only one approved for 16- and 17-year-olds, Larson said, they are working with Cascade County and the Fort Belknap Reservation to get Hill County youth vaccinated.

Larson said the county should be receiving more of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as well at some point, but the state has not indicated when that would be.

The next Board of Health COVID-19 update will be April 9 at 1 p.m.