Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Breaking News:


Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry has passed away after a brief battle with cancer.

Allen County Health Board discusses COVID-19 and Coliseum clinic in quarterly meeting

Allen County’s executive health board discussed the latest COVID-19 trends and updates to the community during its executive meeting Tuesday evening.

Health commissioner Dr. Matthew Sutter spoke at length about hospitalizations, noting that unlike other areas in the state, the 3rd District hasn’t experienced any diversion issues -- when patients needing care are sent to other hospitals. He did, however, add that hospitalizations are still high… just not entirely because of COVID-19.

“Last year, hospital admissions were just down tremendously, ER visits were down tremendously, and so the hospitals were generally not full with things that were not COVID-19," Sutter said. "This time around, they have both COVID-19 patients as well as a variety of other very acutely ill patients.”

He added that, aside from a few breakthrough cases, COVID hospitalizations remain largely among those who are unvaccinated.

While COVID numbers have very slowly been decreasing from late-summer highs, the health department will be reopening a vaccine clinic in the Appleseed Room of the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum next Monday, October 18.

Department administrator Mindy Waldron says the move is intended to be proactive as certain groups become approved for the vaccine itself, and also boosters.

“We can always ebb and flow our staffing for what’s needed, but we’ll be ready for if kids are approved as well because we’ll probably have initial surges there,” Waldron said.

Additionally, as Halloween approaches in about three weeks, Sutter says families going out to trick-or-treat is “relatively safe,” noting quick and distant encounters as children go from house to house.

Zach joined 89.1 WBOI as a reporter and local host for All Things Considered, and hosted Morning Edition for the past few years. In 2022, he was promoted to Content Director.