Clark County falls behind the state with Hispanic vaccinations with 2.41% for the county versus 3.87% for the state.
“Not only in every category are we above the state average in Clark County, but we are also seeing since our minority outreach program began two weeks ago, we are beginning to see a narrowing in disparities,” Clark County Combined Health District Commissioner Charles Patterson said.
As of Tuesday, 20,081 vaccination shots had been given in Clark County, according to ODH. Of those vaccinations, 13.78% have gone to white residents, 8.58% have gone to African Americans and 2.41% to Hispanics.
That’s up from two weeks prior, right before the health district launched a campaign to encourage more Blacks, Hispanics and other people of color to get vaccinated for COVID-19. Then, vaccination numbers for those two minority groups were 5.72% and 1.79%.
Patterson said while the increase may seem small, only a couple of percentage points, it’s important to note that only 14.98% of Clark County’s entire population has received at least one vaccine shot.
“When we are talking about numbers like 13% of white Clark County residents have been vaccinated with at least one dose so far, we are starting to close that gap with 8% now” for African Americans, Patterson said.
The health district’s campaign included a video featuring several prominent members of the Black communities in Clark County and Springfield sharing their reasons for receiving the vaccine and encouraging Black, Hispanic and other residents of color to get vaccinated.
In addition to that, the health district and Rocking Horse Community Health Center started an outreach program with beauty salons, churches and the Springfield chapter of the NAACP, Patterson said.
“We have more work to do. The project is working but we need to keep that strategy,” Patterson said. “It’s time to step on the gas, not off it, so that we can begin to narrow even more.”
Clark County had 12,121 cases of the coronavirus as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Ohio Department of Health. The county also had 318 deaths and 14 probable deaths, according to the data from the CCCHD.
Ohio reported 2,775 daily cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, the most reported in nearly 10 days, according to ODH. On Sunday and Monday fewer than 2,000 daily cases were reported in the state.
Over the last 21 days, Ohio is reporting an average of 2,639 cases a day. Throughout the pandemic, a total of 958,153 cases have been recorded in the state.
Hospitalizations have continued to drop over the last few weeks in Ohio. As of Tuesday, there were 1,359 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the state. Two weeks ago, there were 1,924 hospitalized coronavirus patients.
Ohio added 159 hospitalizations and 29 ICU admissions Tuesday, bringing its total to 49,651 and 7,073 respectively.
Deaths increased by 94 in Ohio, for a total of 16,968.
Facts & Figures:
20,081: Total COVID-19 vaccination shots given in Clark County as of Tuesday
13.78: Percentage of those vaccines that have been given to white Clark County residents
8.58: Percentage of those vaccines that have been given to black Clark County residents
2.41: Percentage of those vaccines that have been given to Hispanic Clark County residents
Source: Ohio Department of Health
About the Author
