Beaufort County Emergency Management: COVID-19 Update (3-12-20)

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Beaufort County Emergency Management: COVID-19 Update (3-12-20)

Published: Friday, March 12th, 2021 @ 9:32 am
By: Stan Deatherage ( More Entries )

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Transportation Assistance to Vaccine Appointments

Beaufort County remains committed to the goal of providing vaccinations to all eligible citizens as quickly as possible. If you have an appointment to receive the vaccine, and are unable to secure transportation to the vaccine site on your own, please call Beaufort Area Transit System (BATS) for assistance at (252) 946-5778.

Vaccine Opportunities

    Vidant Beaufort Hospital

    3srhtSponsomred

    Get your dose of hope! Vidant Health is currently offering COVID-19 vaccine appointments for eligible community members in Washington, Belhaven, and other locations. Encourage a friend, neighbor, or family member to schedule an appointment to receive the vaccine and help keep eastern North Carolina safe – #HelpUsENC.

    Visit HERE to schedule now.

    https://www.facebook.com/VidantBeaufortHospital/

    Greenville / Vidant Mega Vaccination Site

Vidant Hospital and the Pitt County Health Dept. have announced an up coming large-scale vaccination site at Greenville's Convention Center. See below for details and sceduling information:

A video tutorial of Vidant's scheduling process can be found HERE.

How Vaccine Supplies and Allocations Impact Beaufort County

    Since the rollout of the first COVID-19 vaccine within the US, conversations of stockpiles, shipments, who gets it, and how many they get have flooded national, state and local conversations. Each day brings with it a seemingly growing spectrum of statements, with some saying there are millions of doses just waiting to be administered to the public and others saying we do not have enough. The truth is, both are correct. Much of the distance between these two spectrums lies in federal, state and local providers' capabilities and the timeframe they have to act.

    Almost everything related to vaccinations revolves around 1-week increments. For example, each Tuesday, the Federal Government provides North Carolina with the number of vaccines they will receive the following week. North Carolina then takes Wednesday and Thursday to determine how best to disperse the state's shipment amongst its 100 counties. That number is shared with the counties and their partnering agencies on Thursday. Counties will have Friday through Sunday to develop a plan to administer their doses to the public best. Doses typically arrive in the county on Mondays or Tuesdays, with the goal of having all those doses dispersed by Friday.

    Because of this very short time frame, federal, state, and local providers must lean forward in their planning and make presumptions in regards to vaccination efforts. For example, we presume that the number of vaccines each provider receives will at least remain consistent and most likely increase as pharmaceutical companies develop a more robust supply chain.

    So how does all this impact Beaufort County? Let's start with the presumptions. Based on conversations with state officials, past shipments, and our partnerships with other county providers, we presume that Beaufort County will continue to receive at least 400 first shot doses per week, hence the reason for scheduling 400 appointments for each week of January.

    Now for the facts. On Thursday evenings, North Carolina provides us with the total number of vaccines we will receive for the following week. If we are scheduled to receive more than 400, we will expand our appointments accordingly for that week and issue a media release on how to schedule for those new appointments as soon as possible. If we will receive less than 400, we will cancel appointments accordingly and reschedule as soon as possible. (Cancellations will be messaged directly to the person scheduled using the communication methods provided when the appointment was made.)

    Beaufort County will physically receive those doses by carrier on Monday or Tuesday and will have until Friday to administer the entire quantity.

    This entire process is completed weekly for 1st dose vaccines.

    The 2nd vaccine dose uses an entirely different concept. Those shipments are received less frequently, and the quantities of those shipments are intended to provide you with enough 2nd dose vaccines to meet your current needs at any given time.

    COVID Testing

Beaufort County will be hosting drive-thru testing in January 2021 as follows:

Every Monday from 11am–5pm at Fresh Anointing Church (820 NC Hwy 33 Aurora, NC)
Every Tuesday from 9am–1pm at Cornerstone Church (1918W 5th St. Washington, NC)
Every Wednesday from 11am–5pm at The Wilkinson Center (144 W Main St. Belhaven, NC)
Every Friday from 11am–5pm at Spring Garden Missionary Baptist Church (526 Gladden St. Washington, NC)
Monday–Friday from 9am–Noon at Beaufort County’s Health Department (1436 Highland Dr., Washington, NC)

"Find My Testing Place"

Find a testing location near you by using the following link:

https://ncdhhs-covid19-dtra.powerappsportals.us/

NC Community Spread Map (Updated: 2/27)

North Carolina health officials are utilizing a county alert system to pinpoint counties with the highest levels of COVID-19 spread. This new map uses metrics informed by the White House Coronavirus Task Force and North Carolina's key metrics to categorize counties into three tiers

Yellow: Significant community spread
Orange: Substantial community spread
Red: Critical community spread

    Health officials are using a mix of criteria to determine what tier is assigned to a county. According to the state, a county must meet the threshold of case rate for that tier and meet the threshold for either percent positive or hospital impact in that county.

    Counties that do not meet criteria for orange or red tier are categorized as being in the yellow tier and should continue to be vigilant to prevent further spread of COVID-19.

    This map of North Carolina below shows which counties are in what tiers.

Significant

There is significant community spread.

These counties should continue to be vigilant to prevent further spread of COVID-19, but they do not meet orange or red criteria

Substantial

There is substantial community spread.

    These counties have a case rate that is between 101-200 new cases per capita in 14 days with at least 21 cases in 14 days.

    The percent positive date is between 8% and 10%, or there is a moderate impact on county hospital(s).

    Critical

There is critical community spread.

    These counties have a case rate that is greater than 200 new cases per capita in 14 days with at least 42 cases in 14 days.

    The percent positive date is greater than 10%, or there is a high impact on county hospital(s).

    NC Executive Orders

A complete list of current NC Executive Orders can be found HERE.

Resources

We have created a resource page that can accessed at:

    https://co.beaufort.nc.us/departments/human-services/public-health/2019-coronavirus-covid-19

    This resource page contains guidance for businesses, long term care facilities, families, and more.

    We are here to offer support and answer any questions or concerns. We are encouraging all community partners to share accurate information and promote it within your businesses, communities, and elsewhere. Beaufort County's website and Facebook page are great ways to stay up to date on accurate information.