COVID-19 in Berrien County has slowed down since its peak levels back in November, and the county appears to be in a plateau with about 40 to 50 new cases identified per day lately. That’s according to Berrien County Health Officer Nicki Britten, who gave an update to the county board Thursday. She said deaths have slowed and hospitalizations hover around 40 or 50 per day while the percent positive goes down. The big news lately is the vaccine. Britten said the Berrien County Health Department is keeping three goals in mind as it vaccinates people.
“Number one, we want to prevent the health system from being overwhelmed by COVID-19 patient care,” Britten said. “We want our health system to have the ability to address all of the health needs, COVID-19 and otherwise.”
The other goals are protecting the vulnerable and maintaining critical infrastructure. Britten said they’re aiming at those age 75 and older as healthcare personnel are mostly now vaccinated. Then there are all of the others who are eligible.
“We don’t have enough vaccine to get through all 40,000 people in just a couple of weeks. We don’t have enough vaccine to get through them, even if only 50% of those individuals wanted a vaccine.”
Britten said the health department has administered about 2,700 shots, while Spectrum Health Lakeland has done around 5,000. The health department is accounting for second dose, which are in a different supply stream so those who get a first dose aren’t denied the second. At this time, there are more than 19,000 people on the Berrien County Health Department’s vaccine waiting list.
