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In a press conference Friday, Judge-Executive Dan Mosley announced through a partnership with the Kentucky Department of Public Health and the Kentucky National Guard, a rural, mobile vaccine clinic will occur in Harlan County From April 1-6, excluding Sunday.

“The focus of this clinic is to get vaccines into the arms of individuals who reside in the most rural areas of our county, where access to vaccine options is limited due to transportation, socio-economic and healthcare barriers,” he said.

The COVID-19 vaccine will be provided at no cost to Harlan County residents seeking vaccination. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be administered during these clinics.

Clinics will take place at the following locations from noon to 6 p.m. on the following days:

• April 1: Closplint Church of God, Cloverfork (drive-through clinic)

• April 2: Senior Citizens Center, Bledsoe (walk-in clinic)

• April 3: Martin’s Fork Lake Office, Smith (drive-through clinic)

• April 5: Blackstar Pentecostal Church, Pathfork (drive-through clinic)

• April 6: Greater Mt. Sinai Baptist Church, Lynch (drive-through clinic)

“If you are homebound or have a loved one who is homebound due to health reasons, all efforts will be made to provide vaccination inside the residence for these individuals. If this is the situation, please call 606-573-6082 or 606-573-2600 to get your loved one signed up,” Mosley said.

“We will need their name, 911 address, telephone number, date of birth, and whether or not the individual is bed-confined. Deadline to submit names for this list is April 1 at noon.”

If you need transportation to a vaccine clinic, call 606-573-5335 to speak with Harlan County CAA.

“I stated on Friday at the vaccine project announcement that we were on pace last week to have the lowest week of COVID-19 cases numbers since early September. However, after that vaccine project announcement, we recorded nine new cases on Friday and 12 new cases on Saturday. This concluded the week with 37 total new cases, which is still consistent with recent weeks where we have seen case totals in the 30’s. Going into Friday, we had only recorded 16 cases for the week,” he said.

On Monday, the county recorded 11 new cases, 25 new cases total to start off the week.

The total case count stands at 2,539, with at least 67 active cases currently in Harlan County. There are nine Harlan Countians hospitalized with COVID-19. Approximately 1,950 have recovered from the virus.

The death total stands at 75, with the mortality rate recorded at 2.95 percent. The state’s mortality rate is 1.42 percent, and the nation’s mortality rate for COVID-19 is 1.81 percent.

COVID-19 vaccines are now available for anyone 40 and older at all locations statewide. Below is a list of vaccine locations in Harlan County:

• Harlan ARH: Anyone 18 and older may schedule an appointment. To set up an appointment, call 606-573-4520 or 606-573-8100. Appointments are available this week, there is no longer a waiting list.

• MCHC (Harlan/Cumberland): Sign up by calling 606-633-6081 or by visiting mchc.ky.com/covid.

• Walgreens (Cumberland): You can sign up online at walgreens.com/findcare/vaccination/covid-19 or call 606-589-2234.

• Harlan County Health Department: Call 606-573-4820 to schedule an appointment.

More than 1.3 million people in Kentucky have received at least one dose of the vaccine. This represents 40 percent of the adult population in the state. So far, 1,319,323 people have received at least a first dose of the vaccine in Kentucky, an increase of 133,000 doses from last Monday. This includes those allocated for and administered in long-term care facilities.

In Harlan County, as of Monday, more than 8,200 doses of the vaccine have been administered by Harlan ARH, the Harlan County Health Department, MCHC, Walgreens, or the contracted pharmacies assigned to service the long-term care facilities and assisted-living facility.

Approximately 5,517 doses have been first dose or “prime” doses, and approximately 2,721 doses have been second dose vaccines.
Gov. Andy Beshear announced 310 new cases Monday in Kentucky, bringing the state’s total cases to 425,333. The state’s death total from

COVID-19 is now at 6,042 after a backlog of deaths was discovered last week. The state’s positivity rate currently sits at 2.89 percent, continuing to decline.

The United States death toll from COVID-19 is now over 549,000 up more than 6,000 deaths since Monday evening of last week.

“Let’s all continue to wear our masks to show support for our brave healthcare workers. They are overworked and are trying to save lives each day.

They need our support to finish this battle,” Mosley said.