Jane Dinsmoor, center left, and Bill Dinsmoor receive their first round of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine from Nurses Erica Purcell, left, and Tiffany Poss, right, during the first day of the drive through vaccinations for those 70 and older in the Benedict Music Tent parking lot in Aspen on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. The vaccinations are for those with an appointment only. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
Garfield County Public Health does not have immediate plans to run an off-site community drive-through COVID-19 vaccination clinic like the one now operating in Pitkin County.
Instead, it continues to rely on the county’s two hospitals, Valley View in Glenwood Springs and Grand River in Rifle, to administer vaccines to the first rounds of eligible residents within the hospital setting only.
Garfield County’s healthcare network easily has the capacity to administer twice as many COVID-19 vaccinations than it has given so far, Garfield County Public Health Director Yvonne Long said Monday.
The problem, she said, is that the county has only received about half the doses requested from the state of Colorado, which in turn relies on vaccine distribution at the federal level.
“That continues to be a struggle and a challenge for all of us, at the state and federal level, which then comes down to the local level,” Long said during a vaccine update to county commissioners Monday morning.
The request impacts about 56 students between both schools, according to a Friday news release.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the Garfield Re-2 School District has transitioned some students to online instruction based upon exposures to individuals who have been confirmed to have COVID-19 or COVID-19 like symptoms or illness,” the release states.
This is the second transition of Re-2 students to online learning and quarantine procedures within three days. About 113 students and 10 staff members were also asked to stay home, the district announced Tuesday.
Tuesday’s quarantines included individuals from Rifle High School, Elk Creek Elementary, Cactus Valley Elementary and Rifle Middle School.
More than 4,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Mesa County, according to the latest numbers from the county health department, including second doses for some of the