COVID-19 General Thread for Colorado Springs (agricultural, homeless, health)

[Sonic_Spork]

Originally Posted by hollyt00

Yes, and I'm glad you had a good experience. There has been stories of people getting billed hundreds of dollars from Urgent Cares getting covid tests.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...rising-charges

For everyone, if you need to go to the Citadel Mall for free testing, go to the County Website and pre-register. It will make things go much faster for you and easier for the techs who are testing people.

Admittedly we have not been billed yet. That could change my opinion about all of this.

My insurance either covers urgent care to the point it's only $20 if it's in network, or basically anything out of network has this whole coinsurance formula and the provider is also allowed to "balance bill" I guess, which means they are not stuck only charging what Anthem says they should, and they can charge whatever they want and make me pay the difference. So it seems. Out of network providers have cost us a lot, I try to avoid them but occasionally I can't. I don't yet know if this home health provider was in or out of network. I'm sure I'll find out in time.

[Vision67]

El Paso County hospitalizations trend is down.

https://www.elpasocountyhealth.org/c...data-dashboard

[hollyt00]

Thank goodness! Trends are looking good. It appears Colorado didn't have the Thanksgiving spike that people were so worried about.

[Mike from back east]

Plug your zip code into this tool on the NY Times to see hospital status in your area.

[Gorges]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Plug your zip code into this tool on the NY Times to see hospital status in your area.

Excellent tool!

[Vision67]

A vaccination timeline for El Paso County

https://gazette.com/news/local/a-vac...6514018d9.html

"The coronavirus vaccine will likely not reach all the members of the highest priority group, which includes front line COVID-19 hospital workers and residents and staff of long-term care facilities until the end of January, El Paso County Public Health spokeswoman Michelle Hewitt said. The county has administered 9,000 vaccines to date, she said.

The second priority group, phase 1B, which includes other health providers, residents over 70 and others, will not start to get their vaccinations until late January or early February in the county, she said.

"While Phase 1B has expanded more broadly in terms of eligibility, it will take some time for the supply to catch up with the demand," Hewitt said.

It will likely take all winter to vaccinate members of the two highest priority groups, she said.

The county does not have exact dates for when vaccine distribution among certain groups will start, she said. More information about where and when members of priority groups can receive vaccines will be provided when it's available.

More info about who is included in vaccination phase 1B can be found at covid19.colorado.gov/vaccine."

https://covid19.colorado.gov/vaccine

[Vision67]

Safeway joins growing list of organizations providing COVID-19 vaccines in El Paso County

https://www.kktv.com/2021/01/26/safe...l-paso-county/

"COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - A popular supermarket chain in Colorado is joining a growing list of COVID-19 vaccine providers.

On Tuesday, El Paso County Public Health announced Safeway is the latest organization to offer a COVID-19 vaccine to people who are 70 and older along with anyone else who falls under Phases 1A and 1B in the State’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan. A full list of providers is at the bottom of this article. As of Monday, nearly 40,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to people in El Paso County.

Below are the list of participating Safeway pharmacy locations:

840 Village Center Drive
1920 South Nevada Avenue
6925 Mesa Ridge Parkway
1425 S. Murray Blvd.
7655 McLaughlin Rd.
6520 S. Academy Blvd.
2890 N. Powers Rd.
1121 N. Circle Dr.
624 Highway 105
3275 W. Colorado Ave.
8750 N. Union Blvd
5060 N. Academy Blvd.
7055 Austin Bluffs Parkway
“Vaccine supplies are limited, with demand exceeding current vaccine allocations from the federal level to Colorado to El Paso County communities,” Public Health Information Officer with El Paso County Public Health Michelle Hewitt wrote in a release.

The State also announced a new COVID-19 vaccine hotline this week that is available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and will be available 24/7 starting Feb. 1. You can call 1-877-CO VAX CO (1-877-268-2926) for information on vaccines in Colorado.

“We are excited to partner in the community to provide vaccines to our 70 and older seniors. We offer easy appointments and there is a website where you can contact the Safeway pharmacy nearest you. Although vaccines are limited, we will be setting appointments as vaccines are available,” said Nikki Price, Director of Pharmacy Operations for Safeway.

Individuals in Phase 1A or Phase 1B may call a provider to schedule vaccination. To learn more about how to receive a vaccine, visit elpasocountyhealth.org/how-will-i-get-the-vaccine. Agencies providing vaccines to eligible patients (based on the state’s phased distribution plan) are listed below:

Centura Health: centura.org/vaccine, centura.org/provider-search, 866-414-1562

UCHealth: uchealth.org/covidvaccine, 720-462-2255. UCHealth’s website and hotline can be accessed in Spanish, as well as almost 100 other languages through interpreter services.

Kaiser Permanente: Kp.org/covidvaccine/Colorado, 1-855-550-0951

Matthews-Vu: matthewsvu.com, 719-474-7380. This line will be monitored Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Optum and Mountain View Medical Group: cshp.net/covid-19-vaccine, 719-463-5650. Please send your first and last name, date of birth, and telephone number to COSvaccine@optum.com so our team can schedule an appointment or call.

Peak Vista Community Health Centers: peakvista.org/covid-19-patient-resources, 719-344-6500. Spanish translators are available.

Safeway Pharmacy: https://safeway.com/covidclinic or call the nearest pharmacy location. All appointments must be made online and are on a first-come, first-served basis.

Veterans Administration: va.gov/health-care/covid-19-vaccine/stay-informed, 1-888-336-8262 The PFC Floyd K. Lindstrom Veterans Affairs Clinic in Colorado Springs is now offering appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations to veterans enrolled in VA health care who are in the 1B priority group (75-plus). No action is required at this time for veterans wishing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine."

[mtngigi]

I'll wait to get a shot at my pcp's office. I haven't ventured into a grocery store in a long time - probably being paranoid, but grocery stores have too many people touching too many things. It would be nice if a few places could be chosen as designated spots that would be required to adhere to strict safely protocols. I'm thinking of the clinic at my King Soopers - it's part of the pharmacy, very small, and always busy.

If anyone takes advantage of this and uses a Safeway, I'll be curious as to how it went.

[dr.frog]

I'm in vaccination group IB.3 due to being in the 60-65 age range. Today was the first day of eligibility for this group, and I already snagged an appointment for Monday through UCHealth. Yesterday I checked the patient portal to see if there was any additional information, and I saw a questionnaire where they asked me to self-certify which group I'm in, and this afternoon already I got the e-mail to schedule my appointment. So I suggest that anybody else hoping to get vaccinated through UCHealth also check the portal for the questionnaire, whether you are in a currently-eligible group or not. It seems from their flow chart that they will not offer you an appointment until you confirm your eligibility.

They offered me a choice of Memorial North or locations in other parts of Colorado. I'm not sure if Memorial North is the only location in COS where they are doing vaccinations or if they offered me that location randomly or because it's not far from where I live. Anyway, it is in fact the closest UCHealth facility to where I now live in Wolf Ranch so I'm very happy to be able to get this done so quickly and conveniently.

I don't know which vaccine I'll be getting but it is one of the 2-dose ones. They schedule both appointments together, 4 weeks apart.

I hope this info is useful to others.

[dr.frog]

Update: the vaccine I'll be getting from UCHealth on Monday is the Moderna one. When you do the e-checkin on the patient portal, there's a long disclaimer about it that you have to accept -- there is no vaccine for COVID-19 that has been approved by the FDA yet, the Moderna vaccine is being made available under an Emergency Use Authorization instead, etc.