Athletic push, good spirits, mental health days: News from around our 50 states
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February 1, 2021, 12:21 AM·49 min read
Alabama
People get COVID-19 vaccines during a drive-in clinic in the old Montgomery Mall parking lot in Montgomery, Ala., on Saturday.
Montgomery: The state will roughly double the number of people eligible to receive immunizations against COVID-19 this month even though there’s still not enough vaccine for everyone who qualifies for a shot, the head of the state health agency said Friday. Dr. Scott Harris, the state health officer, said everyone 65 and older, educators, court officials, corrections officers, postal employees, grocery store workers, some manufacturing workers, public transit workers, agriculture employees, state legislators and constitutional officers will be eligible to get vaccinations when the program expands Feb. 8. Currently, only people 75 and older, first responders, health care workers and long-term care residents ar
From USA TODAY Network and wire reports
Alabama
Montgomery: The state will roughly double the number of people eligible to receive immunizations against COVID-19 this month even though there’s still not enough vaccine for everyone who qualifies for a shot, the head of the state health agency said Friday. Dr. Scott Harris, the state health officer, said everyone 65 and older, educators, court officials, corrections officers, postal employees, grocery store workers, some manufacturing workers, public transit workers, agriculture employees, state legislators and constitutional officers will be eligible to get vaccinations when the program expands Feb. 8. Currently, only people 75 and older, first responders, health care workers and long-term care residents are eligible. The state has been hearing complaints that more people aren’t allowed to get in line for shots. The change means as many as 1.5 million people in the state will qualify for shots, up from about 700,000 currently, H
They care for Florida’s elderly, but home health care workers are struggling to get Covid-19 vaccines
Evelyn Aub is a spunky senior who doesn’t reveal her age to anyone. But she admits that she qualifies to receive the Covid-19 vaccine in Florida, which means she’s at least 65 years young.
“I’m completely independent,” Aub said. “Happy as a lark.”
Aub says her home in Palm Beach County, Florida, is her safe haven. Her car is her freedom and the Covid-19 vaccine is hope. And while getting an appointment for the vaccine online seemed “impossible,” her son, using multiple devices, managed to secure her an appointment for the vaccine at a Publix supermarket near her home.
Florida sending vaccine to Black towns near Lake Okeechobee
The state will set up a vaccine station in Belle Glade to serve it and its neighboring towns of Pahokee and South Bay
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Irma Mesa, 74, receives the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Christine E. Lynn Rehabilitation Center at Jackson Hospital, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021, in Miami. [ LYNNE SLADKY | AP ]
Published Jan. 30
FORT LAUDERDALE â The predominantly Black farming communities on the shore of Floridaâs Lake Okeechobee will get a coronavirus vaccine station after a public outcry over a decision to give Publix sole local distribution rights left lower-income families isolated and facing long drives to reach the supermarket chainâs nearest store.
“When problems are identified, what s important is that they are fixed,” he said.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, who represents the area and raised the issue Tuesday, said she is glad the state fixed the problem, but said it shows even officials don t understand that the county is not just the wealthy and middle-class neighborhoods along the Atlantic Coast.
More than 90% of those residents live within 2 miles (3 kilometers) miles of a Publix, but the chain has no stores in the mostly lower-income rural areas inland.
About 32,000 people combined live in Belle Glade and its smaller neighbors, according to the Census Bureau, and the median household income is about $26,000. That is right at the federal poverty line for a family of four.