Covid-19 in OKC (coronavirus)

[FighttheGoodFight]

Do the county health departments give advance notification on their website or what?

Not that I found. This was tweeted by the Mayor then filled up in no time. I am guessing they get a batch of the vaccine then set up a clinic. I am not too worried as I am in phase 3 (I expect about March to get it) but there are a lot of people who want it. I keep seeing pharmacies telling people to stop calling as they don't have any info on if or when they will get doses.

[Jersey Boss]

Not that I found. This was tweeted by the Mayor then filled up in no time. I am guessing they get a batch of the vaccine then set up a clinic. I am not too worried as I am in phase 3 (I expect about March to get it) but there are a lot of people who want it. I keep seeing pharmacies telling people to stop calling as they don't have any info on if or when they will get doses.

Thanks. Seems typical of the way the state is coordinating this. I'm in phase 2 so I'm chomping at the bit.
So I go to the mayor's twitter and she posted this 19 hours ago. This is a horrible way to pass vital info to the community. The County HD has nothing on their website. So if the County Government is in charge why are they not communicating on their level? Unless you are hooked up to the mayor on twitter you are in the dark. BS

[mkjeeves]

Two day old story: Oklahoma State Department of Health officials said they’re finalizing plans for how they’ll distribute the COVID-19 vaccine when it is available for some members of the public in the next few weeks.

The department will have what they’re calling vaccine pods scattered across the state. Those pods could be places such as schools, community centers and, possibly, the state fairgrounds.

Authorities need a lot of space to make this happen.

In the next few weeks, those pods will open for people who are 65 and older, first responders and health care workers outside the hospital setting.

On Wednesday, Oklahoma County health officials said they’re now at the end of phase one of the vaccine plan. The first phase isn’t complete statewide yet, but top health leaders have said some parts of each phase can run at the same time.

“We have overlap, and we need to do that for efficiency’s sake,” said Keith Reed, deputy commissioner of the state Health Department. “If we were to wait until we completely finish one group before we started another, then that just delays getting vaccines into Oklahomans.”

KOCO 5 expects to ask questions of health department officials about the pod plan early next week. We’ll work to find out exactly when these will happen and how you will be able to sign up for an appointment.

https://www.koco.com/article/covid-1...se-2/35101107#

[FighttheGoodFight]

Thanks. Seems typical of the way the state is coordinating this. I'm in phase 2 so I'm chomping at the bit.
So I go to the mayor's twitter and she posted this 19 hours ago. This is a horrible way to pass vital info to the community. The County HD has nothing on their website. So if the County Government is in charge why are they not communicating on their level? Unless you are hooked up to the mayor on twitter you are in the dark. BS

I’m wondering if the health department deleted it after it was full? Stop people from trying to sign up since it was done? No clue

[king183]

The announcement was posted on Cleveland County social media pages. The mayor tweeted out that announcement within an hour after it was announced by the County.

My advice is to keep an eye on the county Facebook pages for these announcements.

[Pete]

This seems to be a continuation of the calamitous failures at the federal level.

They had said the goal was to administer 20 million vaccines by Jan. 1st and the number was only 2.79 million.

That's a huge miss and the entire process has been and continues to be chaotic.

[mkjeeves]

The announcement was posted on Cleveland County social media pages. The mayor tweeted out that announcement within an hour after it was announced by the County.

My advice is to keep an eye on the county Facebook pages for these announcements.

I just went to facebook and searched “Oklahoma County Health Department.” That turned up a bunch of posts of other counties with announcements about where and when they were vaccinating first responders and some with people over 65. Oklahoma County and State pages say to stay tuned.

[catch22]

It is amazing how poorly this is being run, not just in Oklahoma, but everywhere.

No one knows where they are in "line", no one knows how to get in line. It has been known all year since the start of this pandemic that a rapidly distributed vaccine would be necessary, even before a vaccine was really in the works. That's the better part of a year to get a process and plan in place. They could have set up a voluntary database of people who want the vaccine, accompanied by your personal physician's certification of health needs, or a statement from your employer of your eligibility based on essential worker class. They could have had months of getting the line organized, and then once the vaccine is out start clearing that line in order by contacting people with a "self serve" appointment system. A first year IT student could have a basic framework for this system done in the matter of hours. With 6 months lead time on getting a line organized, there would even be ample time to enroll people in this system who do not have a primary care physician to get a doctor's certification. Being voluntary it would certainly miss a lot of people, but this current system is missing everyone. At least it would have the people who are willing to get the vaccine organized and ready to go, ranked on their needs. If you opt out of the voluntary registration you would be placed in the back of the line.

I would go in tomorrow morning to get the vaccine, but I have no idea where I officially am in line, how to get in line, or how to even find out. Some preliminary guesses show me getting it this month or next as Colorado has transportation services ranked pretty high in the essential categories, as well as an immune disorder. But I have no idea...

[Pete]

^

It's all because of the lack of leadership and cohesive plan at the national level.

Mitt Romney went off about this, and he's absolutely right: it's a cluster.

[d-usa]

I got my vaccine, so I’m happy.

But I also realize that the only reason I got it was because my wife saw a post in our local neighborhood Facebook group where someone shared the Facebook post about the vaccination POD in Canadian county with a signup link.

[Jersey Boss]

Not everyone has a fb account either. Catch is exactly right on all the points he made.
The County Government and State Government gets an F. They should have had this set up months ago.

[Pete]

Not everyone has a fb account either. Catch is exactly right on all the points he made.
The County Government and State Government gets an F. They should have had this set up months ago.

I'm not sure they are given much notice.

Nobody should be surprised how this has gone given how everything covid-related has been handled to date.

I don't care what your politics are, the coming change is a very good thing when it comes to having a clear, organized, science-based approach to this entire catastrophe.

[mkjeeves]

I'm not sure they are given much notice.

Nobody should be surprised how this has gone given how everything covid-related has been handled to date.

I don't care what your politics are, the coming change is a very good thing when it comes to having a clear, organized, science-based approach to this entire catastrophe.

Yes it is.

Hard to make plans when you are doing everything you can to deny a problem exists like the state and national leadership have done.

[Jersey Boss]

Yes it is.

Hard to make plans when you are doing everything you can to deny a problem exists like the state and national leadership have done.

Federal and State both have the philosophy of Alfred E Neuman. "What, me worry?"

[timothy.a.owen]

It looks like Logan County has sign-up spots still available for the 65+ age group for Jan 7th in Guthrie...

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0...5fdc43-guthrie

Edit: Now full.

[Pete]

Hard to make plans when you are doing everything you can to deny a problem exists like the state and national leadership have done.

And the president is preoccupied with overturning an election and nothing else.

[catch22]

Even if it is short notice on when they will receive doses, you can still have a list in place. They are waiting until the UPS man shows up until they decide who to give it to. It needs to be the other way around - have the people ranked in order ready to receive it. If they can't make the offered times, put them back in the line and schedule the next person.

There is seemingly no organization to this. Relying on people to make their own appointments sets this up to be dragged out way longer as they will not want to deal with long waits on the phone or confusion on who to call and where to go. An actual list should have been developed and there should be people working that list making sure as many doses are distributed as quickly as possible. Maybe the government should offer American's a free ball cap or toaster oven with their vaccine - people would be lined up and camping out overnight to get it.

[Pete]

It doesn't just seem that there is no organization, this is the actual case and many people have called attention to this.

Fortunately, change is coming and soon.

[Pete]

BTW, I know a lot of people were a bit more careful over the holidays, but I know tons who had big family gatherings.

I fully expect January and February to be the worst months yet before things finally start to get better.

[FighttheGoodFight]

I expect we don’t see deaths/hospitalizations go down until after Feb. Biden said 100 million vaccinated in the first 100 days. This will be his first big test (of many).

[PoliSciGuy]

Yeah this is the good news/bad news portion of the epidemic. The good news is this is most likely going to be the last major peak we see. The bad news is it will most definitely be the worst and, depending on how widespread the B117 variant is, may swamp our healthcare system for weeks.

[LocoAko]

Two day old story: Oklahoma State Department of Health officials said they’re finalizing plans for how they’ll distribute the COVID-19 vaccine when it is available for some members of the public in the next few weeks.

The department will have what they’re calling vaccine pods scattered across the state. Those pods could be places such as schools, community centers and, possibly, the state fairgrounds.

Authorities need a lot of space to make this happen.

In the next few weeks, those pods will open for people who are 65 and older, first responders and health care workers outside the hospital setting.

On Wednesday, Oklahoma County health officials said they’re now at the end of phase one of the vaccine plan. The first phase isn’t complete statewide yet, but top health leaders have said some parts of each phase can run at the same time.

“We have overlap, and we need to do that for efficiency’s sake,” said Keith Reed, deputy commissioner of the state Health Department. “If we were to wait until we completely finish one group before we started another, then that just delays getting vaccines into Oklahomans.”

KOCO 5 expects to ask questions of health department officials about the pod plan early next week. We’ll work to find out exactly when these will happen and how you will be able to sign up for an appointment.

https://www.koco.com/article/covid-1...se-2/35101107#

I'm sure it's easier said than done and I'm armchair QBing, but it really blows my mind that we've had 9 months to prepare for this scenario (and it seems many of our state and federal leaders were essentially relying on a vaccine as our only way out of this rather than actually taking steps to combat it), and we're still scrambling to come up with ways to distribute it. I know much of this was always going to depend on the details of the vaccine, its efficacy, etc., but I feel like many of these broad strokes could've been hammered out a long time ago. Not to mention the profound failure of vaccination rates across the country stemming from a lack of federal leadership, as Pete mentioned.

(Edit: I've continued to catch up on this thread and see I'm not alone in these sentiments. Ha.)

[mugofbeer]

It doesn't just seem that there is no organization, this is the actual case and many people have called attention to this.

Fortunately, change is coming and soon.

I've not seen any reports of localities running out of the vaccine as of yet. I know about the early reports that states didn't get as much of the product as expected but the folks who give the shots seem to have what they need. What l am seeing is a lack of understanding by the public of the signup process and a shortage of people to administer the vaccinations.

I don't believe, as of yet, these two issues would fall under the responsibility of the federal government but the state and local administrators.

I was told by a relative in medicine that a significant problem in the planning and scheduling the different groups is that 40% of front-line medical workers refuse to get vaccinated as are a significant number of seniors. This is nationwide.

[securityinfo]

I was told by a relative in medicine that a significant problem in the planning and scheduling the different groups is that 40% of front-line medical workers refuse to get vaccinated as are a significant number of seniors. This is nationwide.

Fine. Tell your relative that I'll take one of their places. As might several others I know of.

[mugofbeer]

Don't think that's under her control. Just makes the shot administration planning and scheduling far harder.