COVID-19 Task Force concern grows for homebound islanders
The Pine Island COVID-19 Task Force continued discussions about how best to serve homebound islanders in need of vaccinations at its Monday, March 22, meeting. Member Sue Dahod reported after having spoken with director of Public Safety for Emergency Response, Ben Abes, regarding the homebound that the best process would be to go to the designated website.
“Right now the only thing we can do is to facilitate those who don’t have email getting into the system by asking them to send their name, email address, home address and whether it’s the state or the county, they’ll ask for more information,” said Dahod.
Beacon of Hope Director Nancy Buthman said the Beacon just sent out an email notice from the Senior Friendship Center, with the Beacon Bites program deliveries to each of the program recipients.
Dr. Daniel Hanley, another Task Force member, told the group he is currently waiting on COVID vaccines and shared the following link with the group for those who are currently homebound but who would like to receive the vaccine: https://survey123.arcgis.com/ share/981e561ca7f84b33a6ddcb3fa61cd575
(If you need assistance completing the survey, please call 1-866-779-6121 and a representative will assist you)
“People can request vaccines be administered directly in their home,” said Hanley.
Task Force leader Eric McCrea said he is certain some of the people attending his church will likely need help getting registered for vaccinations. He sees an important role for the Task Force in helping people obtain the correct information to protect themselves.
Buthman said the Beacon would consider COVID vaccination appointments to qualify as a medical need, with transportation provided by the organization.
McCrea pointed out that the situation has the potential to get quite demanding as the age of people qualified to receive vaccinations becomes increasingly lower.
Member Martha Huard, who has been administering vaccines in Punta Gorda, said the assigned stations designated for these administrations are quickly growing, as she described the number of people coming in as non-stop.
“There are thousands being done every day in just that one facility,” said Huard.
According to fellow Task Force member Dr. James Koopman, the country is in a race between the resurgence of the more highly disseminating strains, such as the British strain, which he said is only weeks away from becoming dominant, and getting vaccines administered.
“If the more highly transmissible strains begin to dominate, it’s going to be much harder,” said Koopman, adding that there seems to be a general relaxation about contracting the virus since vaccines have now taken center stage. “We still have this race going on between these two and if we don’t win on the vaccine side, by knocking down the ongoing transmissions, by the time we get control we’re still going to have a lot more dead.”
“There’s an expectation of another surge,” said Dahod. “None of the doctors think there won’t be…it’s just a matter of how bad it will be.”