Push for testing and vaccination increases

A vaccination clinic was held over the weekend in Wasco at the old courthouse to help encourage residents to get vaccinated.

The lines were long and the push for vaccinating everyone is becoming more important, the Kern County Public Health reported, since over 95% of those contracting the Delta virus with possibly deadly consequences are unvaccinated.

The Kern County Public Health announced on Sept. 27 the latest covid-19 facts.

Public Health Public Information Officer Michelle Corson stated there are 349 newly reported confirmed cases in Kern County, bringing the total of confirmed cases to date to 138,233.

As of Sept. 27, there were no new deaths reported and a total of 1,540 covid-19 deaths have occurred since the pandemic began in March 2020.

“As of Sept. 27, 787,180 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to Kern County residents or 50% of Kern’s eligible population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19,” Corson said.

Also, as of Monday, Sept. 27, Kern County has 263 COVID-19 related hospitalizations and 74 are in ICU.

On Monday, Sept. 27, Wasco had 6,134 infected people, up from 6,104 on Sept. 23.

On Sept. 27, Shafter had 4,284 infected, down from 4,645 of Sept. 23.

Because of the national increase in the demand for testing, the Department of Public Health has worked with the state to deploy three additional, new free COVID-19 testing sites. There is one in Bakersfield, one in Delano and one in Tehachapi.

Also, COVID-19 testing is available as a free service to one of the county’s mobile COVID-19 vaccination units. Visit http://www.kernpublichealth.com to view an interactive map of local testing locations.

Under a new Public Health Order, COVID-19 vaccine providers are now required request a patient’s email address and mobile phone number for the state’s immunization registry. This information allows My Vaccine Record to generate and send a secure link to individuals who request their digital vaccination records to replace lost of unavailable records or provide a portable and reliable vaccine verification.

Vanguard Medical in Wasco, 845 7th St., is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for vaccination services. They offer Pfizer, Moderna and BioNTech.

Corson can be reached at 661-868-0288 for more information.