End of public health emergency isn't expected to impact vaccines in Lorain County

ELYRIA — An end to the national public health emergency early next year won't have much of an on-the-ground impact in Lorain County. The national state of emergency is set to end Jan. 11, after being extended every 90 days since March 2020. Ohio's state of emergency ended in June 2021. The national change in January may change how Lorain County Public Health and other agencies bill for the COVID-19 vaccine, Health Commissioner Mark Adams said, but many residents won't see much of an impact. After a Community Protection Team meeting Tuesday afternoon, Adams said having the emergency order in place allows the COVID-19 vaccine to be given out for free, but once the order expires the vaccine may be treated like any other preventive measure. Many private insurance plans, alongside Medicare and Medicaid will most likely cover the jab in the same manner as the annual flu shot, he said. In the meantime, he and other public health officials are still encouraging county residents to get their booster shots, including the bivalent booster, which appears to protect against new Omicron sub-strain — and getting it before the emergency ends will allow them to get it for free, without going through insurance. In talking to local pharmacies, he said they're averaging giving about 65 COVID-19 shots a day — compared to five or six flu shots pre-pandemic. "That's been steady for almost three weeks," he said. Dr. Rebecca Starck, president of Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital, said most of the patients coming into the hospital who test positive for COVID-19 are coming in for unrelated reasons. She said there has been a lag in people getting the bivalent vaccine overall — less than 15 million worldwide have received the latest vaccine. There have been new omicron subvarients detected in Great Britain, Adams said, but until they're listed as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization, he doesn't think they are cause for alarm in Northeast Ohio. The same is now true for monkeypox, following a question from Avon Lake Mayor Greg Zilka. The county has plateaued, with only about eight or nine cases total, Adams said. "We were able to get to the communities of concern and look at mitigating where that spread may be occurring," he said. That is a far cry from neighboring Cuyahoga County, with nearly half of the state's cases occurring there. Elsewhere in the county, life is returning to normal. Educational Service Center of Lorain County Superintendent Franco Gallo said many of the school administrators he's talked to feel like it's a normal school year. Lorain County Chamber of Commerce President Tony Gallo agreed, noting attendance at Chamber and other countywide events seem to be back to pre-pandemic levels. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.