The Delaware Public Health District will have a walk-in COVID-19 vaccine clinic from 3-6 p.m. Saturday at the Unity Community Festival, 50 Ross St., Delaware.

The free clinic will offer the Johnson & Johnson one-shot COVID-19 vaccine.

A teen vaccine clinic for COVID-19 and school immunizations will be given from 3-6 p.m. Aug. 31 at the Genoa Township Fire Department, 7049 Big Walnut Road, Galena. The Pfizer vaccine will be offered. The clinic is by appointment only by calling 740-368-1700 or scanning QR code Teen2021.

Next month, there will be clinics for seventh and 12th graders at Buckeye Valley High School (Sept. 10), and Big Walnut High and Middle schools (Sept. 15). Use code TEEN2021 to register your student at DelawareHealth.org/school-clinics.

Another walk-in COVID-19 clinic open to the public will take place from 1-4 p.m. Oct. 2 at the Elm Valley Fire District Touch-a-Truck Event, 9821 U.S. Route 42, Ashley.

Last week, the Delaware Public Health District advised people to wear masks indoors and in crowds. However, “we are without authority to issue an order mandating schools to require everyone wear masks,” wrote Health Commissioner Shelia L. Hiddleson.

According to the COVID-19 Critical Factor Report Card issued by the health district Wednesday, two failed factors are responsible for the mask advisory: the level of SARS-CoV-2 community transmission, and the health system capacity. However, the county continues to have a passing mark in positivity rate, and capacity for early detection of increases in COVID-19 cases, as well as a satisfactory mark in COVID-19 vaccination coverage.

The weekly report the DPHD issues said there remains an average of 15 new cases per day per 100,000 population, with 17,712 total cases (up from 17,395 last week), 361 cases placed in isolation within the last 10 days (up from 292 last week), and 27,176 total vaccine doses administered by DPHD (up 35 from last week).

Delaware County is 14th-most in the state with 19,821 cases. The ODH said 354 Delaware County residents have been hospitalized, and 138 people have died. The discrepancies in the county totals by the two agencies (DPHD and ODH) is based on additional jurisdictions reporting to ODH.

The ODH is also reporting there have been more than 1.1 million cases of COVID-19 in the state, with 63,745 hospitalizations and 20,648 deaths.

The Ohio Department of Health’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccination Dashboard on Wednesday said Delaware County continues to lead the state’s 88 counties in the percentage of population who have started the vaccine, with 65% (136,228 people). No other county has 60%. Ohio’s totals are 5.9 million people, or 50.8% of the population, have started on the vaccine.

Delaware County also has the highest percentage of population who have completed receiving the vaccination, with 61.6% (129,009 people). The state totals are nearly 5.5 million people, or 47% of the population, have completed receiving the vaccine.

On July 27, the Centers for Disease Control recommended indoor masking, regardless of vaccination status. In a statement issued Wednesday, the CDC concludes “that a booster shot will be needed to maximize vaccine-induced protection and prolong its durability. … We are prepared to offer booster shots for all Americans beginning the week of Sept. 20 and starting 8 months after an individual’s second dose.”

The CDC’s COVID Data Tracker shows that cases and deaths in the United States have risen sharply in the last 30 days. As of Wednesday, there have been 36.9 million total cases of the coronavirus in the United States, resulting in 620,493 deaths. There have been 357.8 million total vaccines administered.

“This remains a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” due to the delta variant, said the White House COVID-19 Response Team Wednesday afternoon.

The Associated Press is reporting the “Biden administration to require that nursing home staff are vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition for federal funds.”

The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard said Wednesday afternoon that 2.8 million cases of coronavirus and 13,885 deaths from the infectious disease have hit the U.S. in the past 28 days. The U.S. had the most cases over the last 28 days than any other country in the world.

To date, 209 million people worldwide have had COVID-19, and 4.3 million have died from the global pandemic, with 17.2 million getting it in the past 28 days, with 261,206 people dying from it during that same time.

Thus far, 4.7 billion total vaccine doses have been administered, with 1.2 billion doses administered over the past 28 days.