In Eau Claire County, only specific people are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

According to the Eau Claire County Information Hub, this list of eligibility has expanded to include more residents than it did previously.

The list of those eligible is as follows:

• Frontline health care workers, emergency medical services and other direct patient care
• Those who live in long-term care facilities
• First responders
• Corrections personnel
• People who are 65 or older
• Education or child care staff
• Those enrolled in the Medicaid long-term care program
• Some public-facing essential workers
• Non-frontline essential health care personnel
• Staff and residents in congregate living settings

Previously, vaccination was only available to the first five options on that list.

An unconfirmed number of UW-Eau Claire students received an email today at approximately 9:54 a.m. from UW-Eau Claire Finance and Administration, saying slots for vaccinations were available today at North High School and on Saturday, March 6 at Memorial High School.

All slots are currently filled; however, the email also said Mayo Clinic Health System has available vaccine appointments this week. The email lined out instructions to attain a vaccination with Mayo.

As of 3:20 p.m. on Tuesday, there are no new cases of COVID-19 at UW-Eau Claire among those tested at Zorn Arena out of the 358 tests given to on-campus students, 306 tests given to off-campus students and 110 tests given to faculty and staff.

According to the UW-Eau Claire COVID-19 dashboard, there have been 23,445 tests given since Jan. 23, with 41 tests being positive for COVID-19. The dashboard currently has a note stating a correction of the total off-campus student-tests given on Monday, March 1. The total changed from 589 tests given to 428 tests.

As of the report date of March 2, there are two students in isolation among on-campus students and three students in quarantine. 

The Barron County data has no new positive cases of COVID-19. However, there have been 25 total weekly tests given to students and 14 weekly tests given to faculty and staff as of Feb. 24.

As of 1:30 p.m. on March 1, the information from the Eau Claire City-County Health Department said there are 11 new student-connected positive cases of COVID-19 as well as two staff and faculty cases. 

Since September of 2020, the total number of student-connected cases of COVID-19 now rests at 1,077 cases, which is an increase of 11 cases from last week. The total number of staff and faculty-connected cases is now at 43 cases, an increase of two cases from last week.

In Eau Claire County, there have been a total of 11,018 positive cases of COVID-19, an increase of 57 cases since last week. There have also been a total of 48,322 negative tests for COVID-19, according to the Eau Claire County Information Hub.

There have been 104 confirmed deaths due to COVID-19 in Eau Claire County, which has not increased since last week. Out of all of the cases of COVID-19, 354 resulted in necessary hospitalization. 

There are currently 91 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 10,822 recovered cases currently. 

According to the Information Hub, the age group that has had the most cases of COVID-19 infections is the 18-24 group. Of the COVID-19 cases recorded, 26.1% are attributed to this group, with the next highest percentage belonging to those between the ages of 25 and 34 at 16.2%.

Spierings can be reached at [email protected].