Butler County prepares for COVID vaccine

    Butler County is getting ready to receive the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine.

    The county was notified last week that they would, pending approval, be receiving 300 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as early as this week.

    The Moderna vaccine did receive federal approval late last week, clearing one of the last major hurdles between it and its distribution.

    First priority for the vaccinations will be for area healthcare providers and long term care staff and residents.

    Long term care facilities will not be using the county's allocation of vaccine. Instead they will receive the vaccine through a partnership with major pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens. This leaves the county responsible for the area's other frontline healthcare workers.

    Once the first priority class has received the vaccine, the county will move on to other healthcare workers that are in face-to-face contact with the public, such as dentists, optometrists, therapists, and EMTs.

    Butler County Public Health is working on contacting those groups to determine how and when they can arrange those vaccinations.

    "We need to find out for sure if they're willing to take the vaccine, how many they have that want it, and making arrangements," said Butler County Public Health Director Jennifer Becker.

    While Butler County Public Health was initially told to expect 300 doses, they have since been notified that the state may be receiving as much as 30% less than initially thought, so it is not yet known how much will ultimately be available when the time comes.

    "We don't know how that's going to play out as far as our actual individual county allocation," said Becker.

    [Editor's Note: Butler County has since been informed that it will receive 200 doses of vaccine this week.]

    It will still likely be some time before the vaccine is made freely available to the general public. Once supplies become less restricted, the vaccine will continue to be freely distributed at no cost, save maybe an administration fee for doctors or pharmacies that handle the actual inoculation.

    In the meantime, cases of COVID-19 continue to decline following a large spike across the month of November.

    "The whole month of November was pretty bad, but it has settled down," said Becker.

    As of Monday, December 21, a total of 1,191 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the county, increasing the county total from the week prior by 27, a significant decrease from the number of new cases from a week ago.

    The drop in new cases includes a particularly good Tuesday last week when no new cases were reported, the first time that's happened since September 24.

    "I couldn't hardly believe it," said Becker.

    With 932 cases considered recovered, there are currently 243 known active cases in the county.

    Currently, the state is reporting that 16 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported from Butler County.

    In Butler County, 5,462 individuals have been tested at some point during the pandemic, with a total of 16,429 tests performed on Butler County residents. In the last 14 days, 9.5% of individuals tested have been positive for the virus.

    News of the vaccine is welcome for the staff at Maple Manor Village in Aplington, which has just finished combating an outbreak of COVID-19 among their staff and residents.

    Maple Manor Village has had one or two cases here and there over the course of the pandemic, but reported a full blown outbreak of the virus on November 27, which ultimately reached 24 out of their 26 residents along with 33 employees.

    The long term care facility has been regularly testing their staff and residents every other week, but in recent weeks they've ramped up to at least twice weekly to keep a better eye on the virus' spread.

    "Any time any resident or staff has had any kind of symptom we tested them whether it was a testing day or not," said Maple Manor Administrator Cayla Smith.

    Residents that test positive are moved into isolation for 10 to 14 days while staff are sent home for a minimum of 10 days once they start showing symptoms.

    With just over three weeks since the outbreak was reported, there is, as of Monday, just one resident left in the facility waiting for the all clear before it can be considered COVID-free.

    And while the virus did make it through much of the staff and residents, it was largely contained to the facility, staying out of the attached assisted living facility all together. To make matters more complicated, the facility even went through an on-site survey as they managed the outbreak, which was passed with no concerns.

    "Little wins like that go a long way," said Smith.

    Right now, Maple Manor is working closely with ABCM Corporation as they wait for news on when they will be receiving their allotment of COVID-19 vaccine.

    "We are just waiting for further direction, but we are very optimistic about that news and hopefully for a light at the end of all of this for everybody," said Smith.

    Now on the other side of an outbreak and with a vaccine in sight, the staff at Maple Manor are glad to be over with this challenging time and are appreciative of the help they've received from ABCM, Butler County Public Health, and the state throughout the crisis.

    "It has been amazing as far as support and encouragement that we have received throughout this entire process," said Smith. "It has definitely brought us all closer together. It's been a difficult road, but we've grown a lot and learned a lot."

    "The amount of additional work and effort that the long term care facilities and their staff had had to take on this year has been unimaginable," said ABCM Lead Marketing Consultant Kara Koster. "Time and time again I've just heard amazing stories of just how strong those frontline workers are."