Public Health staff turned the Del Norte County Airport into a mobile vaccination site in January. Photo courtesy of Fly Crescent City

After vaccinating roughly 400 people against COVID-19 at the Del Norte County Airport on Saturday, Public Health staff may take their operations over to the fairgrounds.

The Del Norte Public Health Branch is planning to begin offering the vaccine at the Del Norte County Fairgrounds twice a week soon, Public Health Officer Dr. Warren Rehwaldt told supervisors on Tuesday. Staff could get shots into the arms of roughly 300 people a day, he said.

The county also received allocations of the Johnson and Johnson one-dose vaccine, Rehwaldt told supervisors.

“It’s just one more tool in the tool chest in a sense,” he said. “This is the vaccine that, for now, we want to use to reach harder-to-reach populations — people (who find it) harder to get back for a second dose.”

In addition to only requiring a single shot, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine can be stored at refrigerated temperatures, Rehwaldt said.

“We don’t have to rush to get everyone done before the vaccine time window runs out,” he said.

On Tuesday, Del Norte County had three new cases of COVID-19, according to the county’s COVID-19 Information Hub. There are 26 active cases in the county and one hospitalization.

Rehwaldt called Del Norte County’s situation pretty good overall. In addition to more people receiving the vaccination through local medical offices, Public Health and Rite-Aid, the county is holding in the Red Tier, the second most restrictive tier on California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy. Case numbers could be better, but they could also be “dramatically worse,” Rehwaldt said.

Rehwaldt also spoke to new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating that those who are vaccinated against COVID-19 can gather indoors unmasked with others who have received the vaccine and those who are low risk for serious illness from the novel coronavirus.

“It’s an incentive to get people vaccinated and I hope it works,” he said.

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