Supervisors hear about COVID vaccine booster doses

In her weekly update during Monday’s Wright County Board of Supervisors meeting, Sandy McGrath reported an increase of 55 COVID cases in the past week, moving the county up to a total of 2,262 cases. There have been 30 new cases in the under 39-year-old group and 25 in 40+. She noted that she is still seeing breakthrough positives in vaccinated individuals, mostly from people who live with others with positive cases.  She encourages people to get tested if they suspect they’re ill and added that PCR tests are still the best and the most sensitive rather than rapid tests.

McGrath also explained that the FDA has authorized Pfizer vaccine booster shots for certain groups. This includes people aged 65 years and older, residents aged 18 years and older in long-term care settings, people aged 50–64 years with underlying medical conditions. The CDC also recommends that the following groups may receive a booster shot of Pfizer at least 6 months after completing their Pfizer primary series, based on their individual benefits and risks: people aged 18–49 years with underlying medical conditions and people aged 18–64 years at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional setting.

McGrath said people can reach out to where they got their Pfizer vaccine regarding the booster dose or Public Health with questions. Public Health will also be distributing more information via their website, social media and the county newspapers about booster clinics when Moderna and Johnson & Johnson boosters are also approved.

In other board business, they appointed Keith Sherman as a civil process server. The board approved a tax abatement order for a building that had inadvertently been assessed on two different parcels. They also briefly discussed county redistricting that will be in the works in the next months. The county hopes to use state-provided software for this process rather than pay MIDAS as they have in the past.