The changes apply to 5 Star-certified restaurants. Author: Nate Lynn Updated: 8:29 PM MST January 22, 2021
SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. Patrons at Summit County restaurants will soon have a little more time to enjoy their adult beverages, the county s health department announced Friday.
Summit County Public Health said in a release it will now allow alcoholic beverage sale and consumption in 5 Star-certified restaurants until 10 p.m., starting Saturday.
The current cut-off time is 9:30 p.m.
“We hope that this change gives restaurants that have gone through the process of 5 Star Certification the ability to expand their sales with the extra half hour,” said Public Health Director Amy Wineland.
With Summit County nearing a “saturation point” in its efforts to vaccinate the 70-plus population, local officials are turning their gaze and resources to surrounding counties.
Starting this week, Summit County officials have been sending some doses to neighboring Clear Creek, Park and Lake counties. The goal is not to take doses away from Summit County residents but to help get the state to the next phase of vaccine distribution, which includes essential workers.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has made it clear that the state won’t be vaccinating essential workers until 70% of the state’s 70-and-older population is vaccinated. That group accounts for about half of the state’s hospitalizations and about 75% of deaths, according to state data.
Summit County, the fourth most populous in the state that include Akron, recently passed Franklin County, the most populous, to take second place in the public accounting of Ohioans who’ve died of COVID-19.
It’s a staggering milestone in a pandemic that’s been spiking since Nov. 1. Media from Akron to Cleveland have pounced on the bad news.
But something can t be right. Either Franklin County hospitals have achieved a marvel of modern medicine taming a virus that’s still disproportionately killing residents in Northeast Ohio and the rest of America or the state and local figures are off.
Tony Dejak / Associated Press
Originally published on January 21, 2021 3:29 pm
Ohio s public health departments are getting something Gov. Mike DeWine says they ve wanted for a long time: rapid, at-home COVID-19 tests. DeWine on Thursday announced a partnership with Abbott Labs and digital health care company eMed to administer the rapid antigen tests.
The state will spend $50 million in CARES Act funds for the tests – which will buy 2 million tests at $25 each.
Abbott Labs will provide the tests and eMed personnel will offer live guidance to help people properly administer the test in their homes. People are anxious. They re perfectly willing and glad to do [a test] at home so they don t have to go anywhere, but they want to make sure they re performing the test correctly, said eMed CEO Dr. Patrice Harris, a psychiatrist and former president of the American Medical Association, said during the governor s coronavirus briefing.
Jessica Kirk is looking forward to her turn to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
The 46-year-old mother of three and former medical secretary has a compromised immune system, which places her at greater risk of experiencing complications from the coronavirus that has already claimed more than 400,000 Americans’ lives.
Kirk is confident in the safety of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Her fellow community members, however, don’t all feel the same way.
Many of Kirk’s neighbors in the predominantly Black and low-income neighborhood of East Akron are hesitant to take the vaccine because they fear negative consequences.
“They think it’s just the government giving them something just to kill off, you know… the poor Black community. … [Not] just Black people, but minorities,” Kirk said on a frigid early January afternoon outside of Dave’s Supermarket, a bustling neighborhood grocery store.