The Delaware Public Health District is staffing more drive-thru and walk-in clinics for the public to receive the flu and COVID-19 vaccines.

Today and Friday from 9-11 a.m. will be the last walk-in clinics during the Delaware County Fair. The clinic is located in the Merchants Building at Booth 602.

Other walk-in COVID-19 clinics 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; 5:30-6:30 p.m. Oct. 6 at Grace Clinic, 40 S. Franklin St., Delaware; 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 27 at CoHatch, 18 E. William St., Delaware; and 11:15 a.m.-noon Oct. 28 at Scioto Township Hall, 3737 Ostrander Road, Ostrander.

There will be two drive-thru clinics: 4-6 p.m. Sept. 29 at SourcePoint, 800 Cheshire Road, Delaware; and 3-5 p.m. Oct. 19 at Delaware County Board of Developmental Disabilities, 7991 Columbus Pike, Lewis Center. Appointments are needed for the drive-thru clinics and can be made by visiting https://forms.delawarehealth.org/Forms/flucovid and using code flucovid2021 or calling 740-368-1700 and selecting option 5.

In other local COVID-19 news, the health district is reporting the county is failing four out of five factors on its latest COVID-19 report card. Those factors are the level of community transmission; the positivity rate; capacity for early detection of increases in cases; and the latest, health system capacity.

“We continue to advise everyone to wear a mask in public indoor settings and in crowded areas, regardless of vaccination status,” the DPHD posted on Facebook.

The Ohio Department of Health’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) statistics show Delaware County has the 14th-most number of cases in the state with 22,222. There have been 365 people hospitalized and 145 deaths (up 5 from last week) in the county from the infectious disease.

Overall, 1.3 million people in Ohio have contracted coronavirus, with more than 70,000 hospitalizations and 21,000 deaths.

Delaware County continues to lead the state’s 88 counties in vaccination rates. A total of 140,513 residents, or 67% of the counties population, has started on the vaccine. Only one other county is at 60%; and statewide, 53% of Ohioans (6.2 million people) have started on their shots.

Delaware also leads the state in vaccination coverage, or completion of the shots, at 64%. In comparison, Franklin County is at 54%, and statewide, Ohio is at 49.5% completed.

On Sept. 15, the ODH updated its COVID-19 breakthrough chart. This year, there have been 24,335 hospitalizations and 7,547 deaths among individuals who were not fully vaccinated. Only 744 Ohioans were hospitalized and 97 deaths were reported among those who were fully vaccinated.

“Beginning October 8, 2021, a group of leading Columbus performing arts organizations will require all patrons, staff, and volunteers to provide proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test in order to attend their indoor arts events and performances,” read a recent press release. “This is in addition to all persons being required to wear masks indoors at all times regardless of vaccination status. The implementation of both precautions is critical to venues remaining open and performing arts organizations moving forward with their fall schedules.”

The Centers for Disease Control’s COVID-19 page shows that cases and deaths in the United States have fallen slightly over the last 30 days. As of Wednesday afternoon, there have been 42 million total cases of the coronavirus in the United States. There have been 672,738 Americans who have died from COVID-19. There have been 386.2 million total vaccines administered, up nearly 5 million in the past week.

The CDC’s COVID-19 County Check tracker said Tuesday, “In Delaware County, Ohio, community transmission is High. Everyone should wear a mask in public indoor settings.”

“Pfizer said Monday its COVID-19 vaccine works for children ages 5 to 11 and that it will seek U.S. authorization for this age group soon — a key step toward beginning vaccinations for youngsters,” Associated Press reported.

An online STAT article said more Americans will have died from COVID-19 than from the so-called Spanish flu a century ago. By some estimates, more Americans have died from COVID-19 than the U.S. Civil War. However, the population of the country then was a third of what it is now.

“Today, more than 210 million Americans — nearly 75 percent of people age 12 and older — have gotten at least their first shot,” the White House COVID-19 Response Team said on Sept. 17. “And just yesterday, we reached 180 million fully vaccinated Americans. That’s up from 2 million the day the President (Biden) took office.”

The Johns Hopkins University of Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center lists the most confirmed cases and number of deaths by U.S. county. Leading both categories is California’s Los Angeles County, with 1.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 25,852 deaths.

The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard said that 4.2 million cases of coronavirus and 45,822 deaths from the infectious disease have hit the U.S. in the past 28 days. Worldwide, 229.3 million people have contracted the infectious disease (16.4 million in the last 28 days), with 4.7 million deaths. There have been 5.9 billion vaccine doses administered, with 918 million administered in the last 28 days.

At a virtual summit on Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden called on world leaders to commit to vaccinating 70% of the world’s population against COVID-19 within a year.