For the second week in a row, the Delaware Public Health District reported Delaware County now has two COVID-19 critical factors, which means it is still recommended that everyone — including the fully vaccinated — wear a mask in public indoor settings.

On Oct. 20, those failed factors were the level of community transmission (129 new cases per 100,000 people in the last week), and the capacity for early detection of increases in cases (109 new cases per 100,000 county public school staff and students in the past week).

However, those numbers are much better than the previous week. On Oct. 13, the health district reported a level of community transmission of 262 new cases per 100,000 people in the last week, and the capacity for early detection of increases in cases was 215 new cases per 100,000 county public school staff and students in the past week.

A passing grade for each factor would be less than 50 new cases per week.

The weekly COVID-19 report from the district on Oct. 20 said there were 21,727 total cases (up from 21,258 a week ago); with 929 placed in isolation within the last 10 days (down from 948 a week ago); an average of 20 new cases per day per 100,000 population (down from 38 a week ago); and 27,385 total vaccine doses administered by the health district.

The DPHD still has five “School Drive-Thru” flu and COVID-19 vaccine clinics which are open to the public: Big Walnut Middle School, 777 Cheshire Road, Sunbury, from 4-6 p.m. Oct. 21; Big Walnut High School, 555 S. Old 3C Road, Sunbury, from 3-5 p.m. Oct. 22; Olentangy High School, 675 Lewis Center Road, Lewis Center, from 4-6 p.m. Oct. 25; Buckeye Valley High School, 901 Coover Road, Delaware, from 4-6 p.m. Oct. 29; and Olentangy Orange High School, 2840 E. Orange Road, Lewis Center, from 4-6 p.m. Nov. 3.

Appointments are required for the drive-thru clinics, as are identification and insurance cards. To schedule, visit https://forms.delawarehealth.org/Forms/flucovid and use code flucovid2021, then click submit at the end of the form and check your email for confirmation.

There are also two walk-in flu and COVID-19 vaccine clinics: CoHatch, 18 E. William St., Delaware, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 27; and Scioto Township Hall, 3737 Ostrander Road, Ostrander, 11:15 a.m.-noon Oct. 28.

In other COVID-19 developments:

• On Oct. 11, AP reported, “Drug maker Merck asked U.S. regulators Monday to authorize its pill against COVID-19 in what would add an entirely new and easy-to-use weapon to the world’s arsenal against the pandemic.”

• On Oct. 13, the White COVID-19 Response Team said, “We’ve made tremendous progress across the past nine months. As of today, 77 percent of eligible Americans — those 12 and older — have gotten at least their first shot.”

• On Oct. 14, Biden said, “We now have 66 million eligible Americans that are unvaccinated, down from almost 100 million in July.”

• On Oct. 20, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said, “As of yesterday, the seven-day daily average of cases was about 75,500 cases per day, which represents a decrease of about 16% over the prior week. The seven-day average of hospital admissions was about 6,000 per day, also a decrease of about 11% from the prior week. And the seven-day average of daily deaths were about 1,200 per day, a decrease of about 3% from the previous week.”

• Also on Oct. 20, the White House announced, “Administration to make vaccination convenient, easily accessible, and free for kids ages 5-11 if authorized by the Food and Drug Administration and CDC… Today, 2-in-3 eligible individuals – 189 million Americans – are fully vaccinated. That’s an increase from approximately 2 million reported when the President took office.”