In an effort to help vaccinate people who are homebound, MedStar has entered a new partnership with the University of North Texas Health Science Center (HCS) in Fort Worth.
Those who are homebound can register for an at-home vaccination online. Michael Potts, emergency management administer with MedStar, says the demand has been steady since launching the partnership with five to seven requests each week.
“Even though you’re homebound, you still have access to the public. You have access to people making deliveries, you have access to people doing maintenance on your home, medical equipment, different providers coming in,” Potts said. “That population requires just as much protection as the general public does.”
MedStar has all three vaccines available, and it is up to the patient which one he or she receives.
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The efforts to vaccinate continue at a time when Tarrant County health leaders say overall, trends related to COVID-19 are downward but there are some areas that are experiencing an uptick. At a briefing before county commissioners Tuesday, Tarrant County Public Health director Vinny Taneja said hospitalizations in Tarrant County have been trending up for the last two weeks.
“Two weeks ago, we hit a low of 91 people in the hospital. As you can see, that’s turned around back up. 112 in the hospital. That’s 2.54%. That alone in itself is not a big concern but just the turning of the indicator is a little worrisome,” Taneja said. “Trauma Service Area E remains stable. One thing to note of all the counties, Tarrant County currently has the most people hospitalized. 112. Dallas is a close second 101, so just a little concern that we’re the lead in that, unfortunately.”
In Tarrant County, at least 32% of residents have gotten one COVID-19 vaccine dose. According to the latest dashboard update, 27% are fully vaccinated.
