Columbus Public Health

Health officials are encouraging residents to test before they gather with family and friends.

City leaders from Columbus, Bexley, Whitehall, and Worthington are considering lifting mask requirements in the next few weeks.

The Celeste Center at the Ohio State Fairgrounds will become a drive-through COVID vaccine site once again starting on Wednesday. Appointments are encouraged but not required.

Columbus Public Health is currently out of at-home COVID-19 test kits but anticipates getting more from The Ohio Department of Health In January.

A major spike in Coronavirus cases throughout the state has nurses, doctors and other health officials very worried. They say we are headed into another deadly COVID winter, and if more Ohioans don't get vaccinated, the highly infectious omicron variant could lead to even more infections and hospitalizations, breaking last winter's records.

Franklin County residents are encouraged to test for COVID-19 before attending Thanksgiving gatherings. Columbus Public Health is making that easier with free test kits that will be offered Tuesday from 11 AM to 6 PM at the Celeste Center.

Columbus Public Health announced Monday they are offering COVID-19 Pfizer booster shots for those eligible.

With Columbus City Council approving a citywide mask mandate that began Tuesday morning, Columbus Public Health will be in charge of enforcing the ordinance.

For the past few months, Columbus has placed a social worker in the 911-dispatch unit to help triage calls for service. At the surface level, the program aims to divert calls away from police, but in a broader sense the initiative is meant to better diagnose what callers really need and to de-escalate volatile situations before first responders arrive.

Columbus Public Health hosts its final Vax For Cash clinics, at least for now, on Monday in Linden and on the city's eastside.