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Winter storm hitting Midwest delays Pitkin County’s vaccination plans

Clinic set for this week in Aspen postponed, rescheduled for Feb. 25

Weather in the Midwest this week delayed vaccine shipments to Pitkin County so officials decided to cancel this week’s vaccination clinic previously scheduled for Friday, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The clinic, instead, was re-scheduled for Feb. 25, when the 1,100 doses that were to be received this week will be administered, said Tracy Trulove, Pitkin County spokeswoman. In addition, county public health officials plan to hold a clinic Feb. 26 to administer second doses, said Kurt Dahl, county environmental health director.

It was not clear Wednesday whether the county would receive another weekly allowance of first-dose vaccines next week in addition to the doses set for this week, Trulove said. That information has generally become available on Sundays, she said.



The state said Wednesday the delay impacts Colorado’s allocation of 133,000 vaccines that were expected to arrive Wednesday and Thursday.

Pitkin County public health officials are in the process of finishing first-dose vaccinations for county residents between the ages of 65 and 69. Trulove said 253 residents in that age group were signed up for the Friday clinic this week that was canceled.




Once that age group is finished, public health officials will move on to frontline workers, she said.

Meanwhile, Pitkin County’s COVID-19 case counts continue to decline, according to local epidemiology data. Just 25 new positive cases have been reported between Feb. 10 and Wednesday, dropping the seven-day incidence rate to 141, according to the data.

The incidence rate number lands the county on the low side of the Yellow-level restrictions, which would have to rise to 301 before Orange-level restrictions apply.

The county’s seven-day positivity rate also remains low, registering 2.7% on Wednesday, which is solidly in the lesser Blue-level restrictions. Hospitalizations in the county — the other important metric — remain low as well, with all four ICU beds available Wednesday, according to the local epidemiology data.

Dahl said public health officials are expecting a bump in cases because of the Presidents Day Weekend, though that may take several more days to manifest. In the meantime, the county’s metrics look good, he said.

“At this point, our numbers are doing very well,” Dahl said. “Hopefully we’ll continue the trend downward.”

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