Dare County Health and Human Services Director Dr. Sheila Davies said Tuesday that “hopeful trends” in COVID-19 data are showing over the past week, but that the percent of positive tests is still concerning.
Davies noted in her weekly video update on the coronavirus that following an 800 dose allocation for this week, Dare County will only receive 300 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for the weeks of Feb. 8 and 15.
She also said the county has requested to host a mass vaccination event at the end of the month with an allocation of 3,000 doses, which would provide enough shots for all those 65 and over that are on the current waiting list.
[embedded content]
Studies from the CDC indicate that your risk of infection if exposed to someone with COVID 19 is decreased by:
- 85% with social distancing
- 77% by always wearing an appropriate mask which covers the mouth and nose
- 77% by keeping duration of contact less than 15 minutes
- 67% by frequent handwashing
Since our last report on 1/25, there are 153 new COVID-19 cases. Of these 153 new cases:
The total COVID-19 positive case count in Dare County is 2,592, of which there are 177 active cases among residents of Dare County. Currently, 9 residents are hospitalized due to complications from COVID-19.
COVID-19 Vaccine
As shared last week, Dare County’s first dose vaccine allocation from the state has been dramatically reduced. We were informed last week that our guaranteed weekly allocation from the state for the next 3 weeks is 300 doses per week. We were able to secure through a special event request an additional 500 doses for this week alone but for the week of February 8 and February 15 we will only be receiving 300 doses for each of those weeks.
Looking ahead, we are supposed to receive notification by this Friday of what our weekly allotment will be for the next 3 weeks. As soon as we have that information we will be able resume scheduling appointments for upcoming clinics from our waiting list. There are approximately 2,400 individuals aged 65 and older who are on our waiting list. Please be patient, you will each receive a call and get an appointment time as soon as we know we have vaccines available. Once we complete the scheduling of those 65 and over from the waiting list we will be in a position to move to Phase 3 of the state’s prioritization phases.
The vaccine allotment issue is only related to first doses this week. For the over 4,500 individuals who have already received their first dose, your second dose appointment still stands. We are scheduled to receive our second dose shipments from the state 3 – 4 weeks after we received the first dose. We received our first shipment of second doses last week and are scheduled to receive our second shipment today. We have not been informed that there are any issues with second dose allotments.
Information on COVID-19 vaccinations in Dare County can be found at www.darenc.com/covidvaccine. General information on the COVID-19 vaccines can be found on the state’s website www.covid19.ncdhhs.gov/vaccines.
Key Metrics
This past week there were 826 COVID-19 diagnostic tests performed in Dare County. This brings the total number of tests performed since early March to 31,495. There were 125 positive cases between January 25 and January 31. The percent of positive tests to overall tests in Dare County since we started testing in early March increased to 8.1%. The percent of positive tests to total tests for the past week decreased to 15.1%. Syndromic surveillance of the emergency department and urgent care centers showed a decrease in individuals presenting with COVID like symptoms.
This story originally appeared on OBXToday.com. Read More local stories here.
Be the first to comment