Fire chiefs seek CARES cash for shelter

Would be used for COVID-19 shots at county fairgrounds

WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners are being asked to use up to $400,000 in CARES Act money to build a shelter to accommodate vaccine administration efforts.

The request came Tuesday from several fire chiefs in the Trumbull County Fire Chiefs' Association Incident Management Team, a part of Trumbull County's emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and county health officials.

Jack Simon, a member of the Trumbull County Combined Health District's governing board, came to the commissioners' workshop to discuss the idea of using the emergency pandemic funding on a permanent structure at the Trumbull County fairgrounds. While the building would be permanent with a foundation, it would be a bare-bones structure, Simon said.

The chiefs urged the commissioners not to let the question languish in legal, because there is a need for the structure and vaccinations are only going to increase as more doses become available.

But before commissioners authorize a project, they are seeking legal advice from the prosecutor to ensure CARES Act funding can be used on the structure.

Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa had questions about how the structure would be used after the pandemic, and whether that might affect the eligibility for CARES Act funding.

Commissioner Niki Frenchko questioned whether other options had been fully considered.

Commissioners said they also want to ensure there isn't an existing county structure or a structure that can be leased instead of a new building. Another option would be to modify the county-owned building at the fairgrounds, the former Bazetta fire station, said James Pantalone, Howland fire chief, who was there representing the Trumbull County Fire Chief Association Incident Management Team.

The health board is asking commissioners to use up to $400,000 in CARES Act funding, that would include the excavation, building, electrical, HVAC system, drive entrances and exits, Simon said. It is expected to cost between $250,000 and $300,000, Simon said.

Simon and several of the fire chiefs in attendance listed several reasons why they believe a building is necessary, and why the fairgrounds is the right place to continue conducting mass vaccination.

"We need more lanes," said Bazetta fire Chief Dennis Lewis, logistics section chief with the association.

The fairgrounds afford the space for vehicles to line up, without causing traffic on Everett Hull Road. If there were space for more cars to reach the vaccination point at the same time, the wait time would be shorter for recipients, Lewis said.

Wait times are down to 45 minutes now for vaccinations, after highs of five hours on the first day and 2.5 hours on the second day of vaccinations, Pantalone said. More lanes would speed that up even more, he said.

With people in line to get first doses, and second doses soon, and as more phases open up more parts of the population to get the vaccine, traffic is only expected to increase at the vaccination site, said Burghill Vernon fire Chief George Snyder, planning section chief for the association.

The tents being used now are limited in space and get very cold, and health officials want the vaccines to be done inside, not outside, even when the weather warms, Simon said.

It would take six to eight weeks to construct the structure, but the chiefs also are going to work to develop a modification proposal for the old Bazetta fire station, too.

LEFTOVER VACCINE

Frenchko also questioned how leftover vaccine doses are used. After the vials -- which contain numerous doses -- are defrosted for use, they must be used within six hours.

If fewer than the registered number of people come to receive the vaccine, it must be used on others to prevent it from being wasted.

Though the Ohio Department of Health instructed vaccine distributors to ensure none is wasted, it did not give guidance on how to ensure it isn't wasted, Snyder said.

"I don't want to throw away one single dose," Snyder said.

Frenchko inquired about the process, because she said she heard some people were calling friends or families to come get a dose, and didn't like how that would look.

In a follow up email with the Trumbull County Combined Health District about protocols, the district states:

"When there are leftover doses that must be administered in a timely manner, individuals on both the Tier 1A and Tier 1B eligible lists are called to receive the vaccine. There is a very short window of time to have recipients available to receive the leftover doses, and we would much rather prefer to have individuals vaccinated than have to throw it away. As such, we will use any and all means to reach individuals on all of our lists to ensure that any COVID-19 vaccine is not going to waste, and if individuals on our list cannot be reached, we will find someone who can come out on a moment's notice. This is in compliance with the Ohio Department of Health and Governor DeWine's guidance on distributing vaccines."

Under this policy, no doses in the county have been wasted, according to the health district.