While efforts are slowly ramping up at the federal level under new leadership at the White House to increase the number of COVID-19 vaccines sent out to the public, rural areas like Swain County are still receiving doses but in relatively small amounts.
Swain County Health Department Director Alison Cochran shared some good news and some somewhat frustrating news when she provided an update to the Swain County Board of Commissioners last Thursday, Jan. 28.
The good news: the holiday surge of positive cases has passed. On COVID-19 data, Cochran shared that as of Jan. 28, there were 15,431 tests conducted with 1,095 positive results since the pandemic began. That’s for a population in the county of under 15,000— meaning some people got tested more than once since testing began in March 2020. The biggest bulk of the positive cases, however, were from January.
“From Dec. 29 to now, there have been 3,492 tests completed and 402 tests were positive,” she said, confirming most of the cases were attributed to holiday gatherings.
Also on positive news, the health department has started administering the second dose of the Moderna vaccine to first responders and front-line healthcare workers who got the first dose in late December.
The less welcome news is that the number of additional vaccines sent to the county will remain relatively low for now. “Going forward, the state has said we will receive 100 doses each week for the next 3 weeks,” Cochran said.
With a limited supply, she explained that appointments have filled up quickly, and a waiting list has been started. The waitlist, which was at 350 people last Thursday since the department began booking them the previous day, would be cut off at 1,000, with the anticipation that it will take 10 weeks to get them all administered (based on the 100 doses arriving weekly).
After that time, she anticipates the department will “have to move onto the next phase in our county.” The county is still in phase 2 booking appointments for all healthcare workers and people 65 years and older.
Also noted during the discussion, because it is a federal program that is providing the vaccines for free, people can go across county lines and even state lines for appointments and cannot be turned away.
The board asked for a comparison to other surrounding counties. According to Cochran, neighboring Jackson County has a waiting list of more than 6,000 people and Graham County has one with 1,200 people.
According to information posted on North Carolina’s dashboard on Monday, there have been 127 active COVID-19 cases in Swain County over the past 14 days and 15 deaths—that’s an additional four deaths since the previous week.
On vaccines, Swain County has received 964 vaccines, with 948 first doses administered as of Monday and 16 second doses, according to the state dashboard.
Also last Wednesday, Gov. Roy Cooper extended the current stay at home order-or Phase 3- through the end of February.
For more information and to view statewide and county-level data, go to ncdhhs.gov.
Appointments may be made by contacting Swain County Health Department at 488-3198.