As local cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations continue to slowly decline, vaccination efforts in Lubbock County continue to increase.

The City of Lubbock reported just 161 new cases of the virus on Sunday, January 24th, which is the lowest case count since October 12th, 2020. Lubbock’s COVID hospitalization percentage has also decreased to 16.2 percent on Sunday, the lowest it's been since October 18th, 2020.

Meanwhile, KAMC News reports that the Lubbock metro area has the third highest vaccination rate of any metro area in the nation according to data from CovidActNow.org.

The site shows that Lubbock’s COVID vaccination rate for the 1st dose of the vaccine is at 8.6 percent of the population, ranking 3rd in the U.S. The Villages, Florida, ranks 2nd at 9.6 percent, and Amarillo, once a major COVID-19 hotspot in Texas, now ranks 1st in the nation with a metro vaccine rate of 11.2 percent.

Overall, Texas is ranked 25th among the states with 5.1 percent of the population having received their 1st dose of the COVID vaccine, and is ranked 3rd in terms of COVID testing positivity rates at 16.8 percent, just behind Arizona's 17.8 percent and Oklahoma's 19 percent.

In related news, the City of Lubbock has 5,000 more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine ready to be administered, and so the Lubbock Health Department has scheduled three more COVID-19 vaccine clinics this week. Each clinic will be held at the COVID-19 vaccine site inside the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center:

Tuesday, January 26th, 2021: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Wednesday, January 27th: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Thursday, January 28th: 2 to 8 p.m.

The Lubbock Health Department will begin accepting appointments for these clinics at 10 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 25, but you must be in Phase 1A or Phase 1B to qualify. To try and schedule your appointment, call the Lubbock Health Department at 806-775-2933.

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