Mobile Flu shots available / How to quarantine

From North Central Public Health District Officials:

North Central Public Health District (NCPHD) is offering free mobile flu vaccine clinics to organizations that can bring at least 10 people to an event. Health district nurses will go to the organization’s location and be onsite for up to an hour to provide free vaccines.

Distancing guidelines and safety will be maintained during the events.

NCPHD is offering free flu vaccines to anyone who wants one in Wasco, Sherman and Gilliam counties, regardless of whether they have insurance. The mobile vaccine clinics can take place in any of the three counties.

To arrange a flu vaccine clinic, please email Kristen Slatt at kristens@ncphd.org, or call 541-506-2752. Individuals who would like to come to the health district’s office for a vaccine can call 541-506-2600 to schedule an appointment. The office is located at 419 E. 7th St. in The Dalles.

The flu vaccine is available to everyone six months and older. However, the health district does not have the specialized high-dose vaccines more suited for those aged 65 and older.

"Flu vaccines are safe and effective, and with ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks, it is more important than ever to get a flu shot to keep the people around you healthy,” said Paul Cieslak, M.D., public health physician at the Oregon Health Authority.

A “twindemic” of two potentially fatal viruses circulating at the same time could burden the state’s health care system and result in many illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths, Cieslak said.

NCPHD has seen an unprecedented interest in the flu vaccine this fall, providing far more vaccines than it has in the past.

Getting the flu vaccine is the best way to prevent the flu. In some cases, the vaccination may not prevent the flu altogether but it can confer enough immunity to lessen the symptoms if a person does get it. And that can prevent hospitalization due to flu, taking some burden off the healthcare system when it is overwhelmed with COVID patients.

NCPHD got 500 doses of vaccine, some of which have been distributed to community partners including the regional jail in The Dalles, Arlington Medical Clinic, South Gilliam County Medical Clinic in Condon,

Community Meals in The Dalles, One Community Health in The Dalles, and Sherman County School District.

(For more information, please contact North Central Public Health District at (541) 506-2600 or visit us on the web.

How to Quarantine

North Central Public Health District (NCPHD) is following the updated federal and state quarantine guidance for people who have had close contact with someone with presumed or confirmed COVID-19. The updated guidance was created by the federal CDC and followed by the Oregon Health Authority.

All people who have had close contact with confirmed and presumptive cases must quarantine during the period in which they are most likely to become infectious. Close contact means being within six feet for at least 15

minutes of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or is presumed to have it.

The primary recommendation continues to be for all close contacts to stay home and at least six feet away from everyone, including household members, for the 14 days after their last exposure to a person with COVID-19.

Quarantine may be ended earlier in the following circumstances:

1. Quarantine can end after Day 10 without testing and if no symptoms have developed

2. Quarantine can end after Day 7 if a COVID test is done in the 48 hours before ending quarantine, and it

comes back negative. People can discontinue quarantine at these time points only if no symptoms have developed during that time, and they continue daily symptom monitoring through quarantine Day 14.

If any symptoms develop, those in quarantine should immediately self-isolate and tell their healthcare provider or NCPHD.

The option for a shortened quarantine does not apply to residents in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, or adult foster homes. It also doesn’t apply to people living in behavioral health residential treatment centers, and facilities for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. It also doesn’t apply to patients in hospitals or inpatient hospice facilities.